Antipater Is Accused Before Varus, And Is Convicted Of
Laying A Plot [Against His Father] By The Strongest
Evidence. Herod Puts Off His Punishment Till He Should Be
Recovered, And In The Mean Time Alters His Testament.
1. Now the day following the king assembled a court of his kinsmen and
friends, and called in Antipater's friends also. Herod himself, with
Varus, were the presidents; and Herod called for all the witnesses, and
ordered them to be brought in; among whom some of the domestic servants
of Antipater's mother were brought in also, who had but a little while
before been caught, as they were carrying the following letter from her
to her son: "Since all those things have been already discovered to
thy father, do not thou come to him, unless thou canst procure some
assistance from Caesar." When this and the other witnesses were
introduced, Antipater came in, and falling on his face before his
father's feet, he said, "Father, I beseech thee, do not condemn me
beforehand, but let thy ears be unbiassed, and attend to my defense; for
if thou wilt give me leave, I will demonstrate that I am innocent."
2. Hereupon Herod cried out to him to hold his peace, and spake thus
to Varus: "I cannot but think that thou, Varus, and every other upright
judge, will determine that Antipater is a vile wretch. I am also afraid
that thou wilt abhor my ill fortune, and judge me also myself worthy
of all sorts of calamity for begetting such children; while yet I ought
rather to be pitied, who have been so affectionate a father to such
wretched sons; for when I had settled the kingdom on my former sons,
even when they were young, and when, besides the charges of their
education at Rome, I had made them the friends of Caesar, and made them
envied by other kings, I found them plotting against me. These have been
put to death, and that, in great measure, for the sake of Antipater;
for as he was then young, and appointed to be my successor, I took care
chiefly to secure him from danger: but this profligate wild beast, when
he had been over and above satiated with that patience which I showed
him, he made use of that abundance I had given him against myself; for I
seemed to him to live too long, and he was very uneasy at the old age
I was arrived at; nor could he stay any longer, but would be a king by
parricide. And justly I am served by him for bringing him back out of
the country to court, when he was of no esteem before, and for thrusting
out those sons of mine that were born of the queen, and for making him a
successor to my dominions. I confess to thee, O Varus, the great folly I
was guilty for I provoked those sons of mine to act against me, and cut
off their just expectations for the sake of Antipater; and indeed what
kindness did I do them; that could equal what I have done to Antipater?
to I have, in a manner, yielded up my royal while I am alive, and whom I
have openly named for the successor to my dominions in my testament, and
given him a yearly revenue of his own of fifty talents, and supplied him
with money to an extravagant degree out of my own revenue; and' when
he was about to sail to Rome, I gave him three talents, and recommended
him, and him alone of all my children, to Caesar, as his father's
deliverer. Now what crimes were those other sons of mine guilty of like
these of Antipater? and what evidence was there brought against them so
strong as there is to demonstrate this son to have plotted against
me? Yet does this parricide presume to speak for himself, and hopes
to obscure the truth by his cunning tricks. Thou, O Varus, must guard
thyself against him; for I know the wild beast, and I foresee how
plausibly he will talk, and his counterfeit lamentation. This was he who
exhorted me to have a care of Alexander when he was alive, and not to
intrust my body with all men! This was he who came to my very bed, and
looked about lest any one should lay snares for me! This was he who took
care of my sleep, and secured me from fear of danger, who comforted me
under the trouble I was in upon the slaughter of my sons, and looked to
see what affection my surviving brethren bore me! This was my protector,
and the guardian of my body! And when I call to mind, O Varus, his
craftiness upon every occasion, and his art of dissembling, I can hardly
believe that I am still alive, and I wonder how I have escaped such a
deep plotter of mischief. However, since some fate or other makes my
house desolate, and perpetually raises up those that are dearest to me
against me, I will, with tears, lament my hard fortune, and privately
groan under my lonesome condition; yet am I resolved that no one who
thirsts after my blood shall escape punishment, although the evidence
should extend itself to all my sons."
3. Upon Herod's saying this, he was interrupted by the confusion he was
in; but ordered Nicolaus, one of his friends, to produce the evidence
against Antipater. But in the mean time Antipater lifted up his head,
[for he lay on the ground before his father's feet,] and cried out
aloud, "Thou, O father, hast made my apology for me; for how can I be
a parricide, whom thou thyself confessest to have always had for
thy guardian? Thou callest my filial affection prodigious lies and
hypocrisy! how then could it be that I, who was so subtle in other
matters, should here be so mad as not to understand that it was not easy
that he who committed so horrid a crime should be concealed from men,
but impossible that he should be concealed from the Judge of heaven, who
sees all things, and is present every where? or did not I know what end
my brethren came to, on whom God inflicted so great a punishment for
their evil designs against thee? And indeed what was there that could
possibly provoke me against thee? Could the hope of being king do it?
I was a king already. Could I suspect hatred from thee? No. Was not I
beloved by thee? And what other fear could I have? Nay, by preserving
thee safe, I was a terror to others. Did I want money? No; for who was
able to expend so much as myself? Indeed, father, had I been the most
execrable of all mankind, and had I had the soul of the most cruel
wild beast, must I not have been overcome with the benefits thou hadst
bestowed upon me? whom, as thou thyself sayest, thou broughtest [into
the palace]; whom thou didst prefer before so many of thy sons; whom
thou madest a king in thine own lifetime, and, by the vast magnitude of
the other advantages thou bestowedst on me, thou madest me an object of
envy. O miserable man! that thou shouldst undergo this bitter absence,
and thereby afford a great opportunity for envy to arise against thee,
and a long space for such as were laying designs against thee! Yet was
I absent, father, on thy affairs, that Sylleus might not treat thee with
contempt in thine old age. Rome is a witness to my filial affection, and
so is Caesar, the ruler of the habitable earth, who oftentimes called me
Philopater. 47 Take here the letters he hath sent thee, they are more
to be believed than the calumnies raised here; these letters are my only
apology; these I use as the demonstration of that natural affection I
have to thee. Remember that it was against my own choice that I sailed
[to Rome], as knowing the latent hatred that was in the kingdom against
me. It was thou, O father, however unwillingly, who hast been my ruin,
by forcing me to allow time for calumnies against me, and envy at me.
However, I am come hither, and am ready to hear the evidence there
is against me. If I be a parricide, I have passed by land and by sea,
without suffering any misfortune on either of them: but this method of
trial is no advantage to me; for it seems, O father, that I am already
condemned, both before God and before thee; and as I am already
condemned, I beg that thou wilt not believe the others that have been
tortured, but let fire be brought to torment me; let the racks march
through my bowels; have no regard to any lamentations that this polluted
body can make; for if I be a parricide, I ought not to die without
torture." Thus did Antipater cry out with lamentation and weeping, and
moved all the rest, and Varus in particular, to commiserate his case.
Herod was the only person whose passion was too strong to permit him to
weep, as knowing that the testimonies against him were true.
4. And now it was that, at the king's command, Nicolaus, when he
had premised a great deal about the craftiness of Antipater, and had
prevented the effects of their commiseration to him, afterwards
brought in a bitter and large accusation against him, ascribing all
the wickedness that had been in the kingdom to him, and especially the
murder of his brethren; and demonstrated that they had perished by the
calumnies he had raised against them. He also said that he had laid
designs against them that were still alive, as if they were laying plots
for the succession; and [said he] how can it be supposed that he who
prepared poison for his father should abstain from mischief as to his
brethren? He then proceeded to convict him of the attempt to poison
Herod, and gave an account in order of the several discoveries that
had been made; and had great indignation as to the affair of Pheroras,
because Antipater had been for making him murder his brother, and had
corrupted those that were dearest to the king, and filled the whole
palace with wickedness; and when he had insisted on many other
accusations, and the proofs for them, he left off.
5. Then Varus bid Antipater make his defense; but he lay along in
silence, and said no more but this, "God is my witness that I am
entirely innocent." So Varus asked for the potion, and gave it to be
drunk by a condemned malefactor, who was then in prison, who died upon
the spot. So Varus, when he had had a very private discourse with Herod,
and had written an account of this assembly to Caesar, went away, after
a day's stay. The king also bound Antipater, and sent away to inform
Caesar of his misfortunes.
6. Now after this it was discovered that Antipater had laid a plot
against Salome also; for one of Antiphilus's domestic servants came,
and brought letters from Rome, from a maid-servant of Julia, [Caesar's
wife,] whose name was Acme. By her a message was sent to the king, that
she had found a letter written by Salome, among Julia's papers, and had
sent it to him privately, out of her good-will to him. This letter of
Salome contained the most bitter reproaches of the king, and the highest
accusations against him. Antipater had forged this letter, and had
corrupted Acme, and persuaded her to send it to Herod. This was proved
by her letter to Antipater, for thus did this woman write to him: "As
thou desirest, I have written a letter to thy father, and have sent that
letter, and am persuaded that the king will not spare his sister when he
reads it. Thou wilt do well to remember what thou hast promised when all
is accomplished."
7. When this epistle was discovered, and what the epistle forged against
Salome contained, a suspicion came into the king's mind, that perhaps
the letters against Alexander were also forged: he was moreover greatly
disturbed, and in a passion, because he had almost slain his sister on
Antipater's account. He did no longer delay therefore to bring him
to punishment for all his crimes; yet when he was eagerly pursuing
Antipater, he was restrained by a severe distemper he fell into.
However, he sent all account to Caesar about Acme, and the contrivances
against Salome; he sent also for his testament, and altered it, and
therein made Antipas king, as taking no care of Archelaus and Philip,
because Antipater had blasted their reputations with him; but he
bequeathed to Caesar, besides other presents that he gave him, a
thousand talents; as also to his wife, and children, and friends, and
freed-men about five hundred: he also bequeathed to all others a great
quantity of land, and of money, and showed his respects to Salome
his sister, by giving her most splendid gifts. And this was what was
contained in his testament, as it was now altered.