The Golden Eagle Is Cut To Pieces. Herod's Barbarity When He
Was Ready To Die. He Attempts To Kill Himself. He Commands
Antipater To Be Slain. He Survives Him Five Days And Then
Dies.
1. Now Herod's distemper became more and more severe to him, and this
because these his disorders fell upon him in his old age, and when he
was in a melancholy condition; for he was already seventy years of age,
and had been brought by the calamities that happened to him about
his children, whereby he had no pleasure in life, even when he was in
health; the grief also that Antipater was still alive aggravated his
disease, whom he resolved to put to death now not at random, but as soon
as he should be well again, and resolved to have him slain [in a public
manner].
2. There also now happened to him, among his other calamities, a
certain popular sedition. There were two men of learning in the city
[Jerusalem,] who were thought the most skillful in the laws of their
country, and were on that account had in very great esteem all over the
nation; they were, the one Judas, the son of Sepphoris, and the other
Matthias, the son of Margalus. There was a great concourse of the young
men to these men when they expounded the laws, and there got together
every day a kind of an army of such as were growing up to be men.
Now when these men were informed that the king was wearing away
with melancholy, and with a distemper, they dropped words to their
acquaintance, how it was now a very proper time to defend the cause
of God, and to pull down what had been erected contrary to the laws of
their country; for it was unlawful there should be any such thing in
the temple as images, or faces, or the like representation of any animal
whatsoever. Now the king had put up a golden eagle over the great gate
of the temple, which these learned men exhorted them to cut down; and
told them, that if there should any danger arise, it was a glorious
thing to die for the laws of their country; because that the soul was
immortal, and that an eternal enjoyment of happiness did await such as
died on that account; while the mean-spirited, and those that were not
wise enough to show a right love of their souls, preferred a death by a
disease, before that which is the result of a virtuous behavior.
3. At the same time that these men made this speech to their disciples,
a rumor was spread abroad that the king was dying, which made the
young men set about the work with greater boldness; they therefore let
themselves down from the top of the temple with thick cords, and this at
midday, and while a great number of people were in the temple, and cut
down that golden eagle with axes. This was presently told to the king's
captain of the temple, who came running with a great body of soldiers,
and caught about forty of the young men, and brought them to the king.
And when he asked them, first of all, whether they had been so hardy as
to cut down the golden eagle, they confessed they had done so; and when
he asked them by whose command they had done it, they replied, at the
command of the law of their country; and when he further asked them how
they could be so joyful when they were to be put to death, they replied,
because they should enjoy greater happiness after they were dead. 48
4. At this the king was in such an extravagant passion, that he overcame
his disease [for the time,] and went out, and spake to the people;
wherein he made a terrible accusation against those men, as being guilty
of sacrilege, and as making greater attempts under pretense of their
law, and he thought they deserved to be punished as impious persons.
Whereupon the people were afraid lest a great number should be found
guilty and desired that when he had first punished those that put them
upon this work, and then those that were caught in it, he would leave
off his anger as to the rest. With this the king complied, though not
without difficulty, and ordered those that had let themselves down,
together with their Rabbins, to be burnt alive, but delivered the rest
that were caught to the proper officers, to be put to death by them.
5. After this, the distemper seized upon his whole body, and greatly
disordered all its parts with various symptoms; for there was a gentle
fever upon him, and an intolerable itching over all the surface of his
body, and continual pains in his colon, and dropsical turnouts about
his feet, and an inflammation of the abdomen, and a putrefaction of his
privy member, that produced worms. Besides which he had a difficulty of
breathing upon him, and could not breathe but when he sat upright, and
had a convulsion of all his members, insomuch that the diviners said
those diseases were a punishment upon him for what he had done to the
Rabbins. Yet did he struggle with his numerous disorders, and still
had a desire to live, and hoped for recovery, and considered of several
methods of cure. Accordingly, he went over Jordan, and made use of those
hot baths at Callirrhoe, which ran into the lake Asphaltites, but are
themselves sweet enough to be drunk. And here the physicians thought
proper to bathe his whole body in warm oil, by letting it down into a
large vessel full of oil; whereupon his eyes failed him, and he came and
went as if he was dying; and as a tumult was then made by his servants,
at their voice he revived again. Yet did he after this despair of
recovery, and gave orders that each soldier should have fifty drachmae
a-piece, and that his commanders and friends should have great sums of
money given them.
6. He then returned back and came to Jericho, in such a melancholy state
of body as almost threatened him with present death, when he proceeded
to attempt a horrid wickedness; for he got together the most illustrious
men of the whole Jewish nation, out of every village, into a place
called the Hippodrome, and there shut them in. He then called for his
sister Salome, and her husband Alexas, and made this speech to them:
"I know well enough that the Jews will keep a festival upon my death
however, it is in my power to be mourned for on other accounts, and to
have a splendid funeral, if you will but be subservient to my commands.
Do you but take care to send soldiers to encompass these men that are
now in custody, and slay them immediately upon my death, and then all
Judea, and every family of them, will weep at it, whether they will or
no."
7. These were the commands he gave them; when there came letters from
his ambassadors at Rome, whereby information was given that Acme was put
to death at Caesar's command, and that Antipater was condemned to die;
however, they wrote withal, that if Herod had a mind rather to banish
him, Caesar permitted him so to do. So he for a little while revived,
and had a desire to live; but presently after he was overborne by his
pains, and was disordered by want of food, and by a convulsive cough,
and endeavored to prevent a natural, death; so he took an apple, and
asked for a knife for he used to pare apples and eat them; he then
looked round about to see that there was nobody to hinder him, and lift
up his right hand as if he would stab himself; but Achiabus, his first
cousin, came running to him, and held his hand, and hindered him from
so doing; on which occasion a very great lamentation was made in the
palace, as if the king were expiring. As soon as ever Antipater heard
that, he took courage, and with joy in his looks, besought his keepers,
for a sum of money, to loose him and let him go; but the principal
keeper of the prison did not only obstruct him in that his intention,
but ran and told the king what his design was; hereupon the king cried
out louder than his distemper would well bear, and immediately sent some
of his guards and slew Antipater; he also gave order to have him
buried at Hyrcanium, and altered his testament again, and therein made
Archelaus, his eldest son, and the brother of Antipas, his successor,
and made Antipas tetrarch.
8. So Herod, having survived the slaughter of his son five days, died,
having reigned thirty-four years since he had caused Antigonus to be
slain, and obtained his kingdom; but thirty-seven years since he had
been made king by the Romans. Now as for his fortune, it was prosperous
in all other respects, if ever any other man could be so, since, from a
private man, he obtained the kingdom, and kept it so long, and left
it to his own sons; but still in his domestic affairs he was a most
unfortunate man. Now, before the soldiers knew of his death, Salome and
her husband came out and dismissed those that were in bonds, whom the
king had commanded to be slain, and told them that he had altered his
mind, and would have every one of them sent to their own homes. When
these men were gone, Salome, told the soldiers [the king was dead], and
got them and the rest of the multitude together to an assembly, in the
amphitheater at Jericho, where Ptolemy, who was intrusted by the king
with his signet ring, came before them, and spake of the happiness the
king had attained, and comforted the multitude, and read the epistle
which had been left for the soldiers, wherein he earnestly exhorted them
to bear good-will to his successor; and after he had read the epistle,
he opened and read his testament, wherein Philip was to inherit
Trachonitis, and the neighboring countries, and Antipas was to be
tetrarch, as we said before, and Archelaus was made king. He had also
been commanded to carry Herod's ring to Caesar, and the settlements
he had made, sealed up, because Caesar was to be lord of all the
settlements he had made, and was to confirm his testament; and he
ordered that the dispositions he had made were to be kept as they were
in his former testament.
9. So there was an acclamation made to Archelaus, to congratulate him
upon his advancement; and the soldiers, with the multitude, went round
about in troops, and promised him their good-will, and besides, prayed
God to bless his government. After this, they betook themselves to
prepare for the king's funeral; and Archelaus omitted nothing of
magnificence therein, but brought out all the royal ornaments to augment
the pomp of the deceased. There was a bier all of gold, embroidered with
precious stones, and a purple bed of various contexture, with the dead
body upon it, covered with purple; and a diadem was put upon his head,
and a crown of gold above it, and a sceptre in his right hand; and near
to the bier were Herod's sons, and a multitude of his kindred; next to
which came his guards, and the regiment of Thracians, the Germans also
and Gauls, all accounted as if they were going to war; but the rest of
the army went foremost, armed, and following their captains and officers
in a regular manner; after whom five hundred of his domestic servants
and freed-men followed, with sweet spices in their hands: and the body
was carried two hundred furlongs, to Herodium, where he had given order
to be buried. And this shall suffice for the conclusion of the life of
Herod.
WAR BOOK 1 FOOTNOTES
1 (return) [ I see little difference in the several accounts in Josephus
about the Egyptian temple Onion, of which large complaints are made by
his commentators. Onias, it seems, hoped to have made it very like that
at Jerusalem, and of the same dimensions; and so he appears to have
really done, as far as he was able and thought proper. Of this temple,
see Antiq. B. XIII. ch. 3. sect. 1--3, and Of the War, B. VII. ch. 10.
sect. 8.]
2 (return) [ Why this John, the son of Simon, the high priest and
governor of the Jews, was called Hyrcanus, Josephus no where informs
us; nor is he called other than John at the end of the First Book of the
Maccabees. However, Sixtus Seuensis, when he gives us an epitome of
the Greek version of the book here abridged by Josephus, or of the
Chronicles of this John Hyrcanus, then extant, assures us that he was
called Hyrcanus from his conquest of one of that name. See Authent. Rec.
Part I. p. 207. But of this younger Antiochus, see Dean Aldrich's note
here.]
3 (return) [ Josephus here calls this Antiochus the last of the
Seleucidae, although there remained still a shadow of another king of
that family, Antiochus Asiaticus, or Commagenus, who reigned, or rather
lay hid, till Pompey quite turned him out, as Dean Aldrich here notes
from Appian and Justin.]
4 (return) [ Matthew 16:19; 18:18. Here we have the oldest and most
authentic Jewish exposition of binding and loosing, for punishing or
absolving men, not for declaring actions lawful or unlawful, as some
more modern Jews and Christians vainly pretend.]
5 (return) [ Strabo, B. XVI. p. 740, relates, that this Selene Cleopatra
was besieged by Tigranes, not in Ptolemais, as here, but after she had
left Syria, in Seleucia, a citadel in Mesopotamia; and adds, that when
he had kept her a while in prison, he put her to death. Dean Aldrich
supposes here that Strabo contradicts Josephus, which does not appear
to me; for although Josephus says both here and in the Antiquities, B.
XIII. ch. 16. sect. 4, that Tigranes besieged her now in Ptolemais,
and that he took the city, as the Antiquities inform us, yet does he
no where intimate that he now took the queen herself; so that both the
narrations of Strabo and Josephus may still be true notwithstanding.]
6 (return) [ That this Antipater, the father of Herod the Great was an
Idumean, as Josephus affirms here, see the note on Antiq. B. XIV. ch.
15. sect. 2. It is somewhat probable, as Hapercamp supposes, and partly
Spanheim also, that the Latin is here the truest; that Pompey did him
Hyrcanus, as he would have done the others from Aristobulus, sect. 6,
although his remarkable abstinence from the 2000 talents that were in
the Jewish temple, when he took it a little afterward, ch. 7. sect. 6,
and Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 4. sect. 4, will to Greek all which agree he did
not take them.]
7 (return) [ Of the famous palm trees and balsam about Jericho and
Engaddl, see the notes in Havercamp's edition, both here and B. II. ch.
9. sect. 1. They are somewhat too long to be transcribed in this place.]
8 (return) [ Thus says Tacitus: Cn. Pompelna first of all subdued the
Jews, and went into their temple, by right of conquest, Hist. B. V.
ch. 9. Nor did he touch any of its riches, as has been observed on the
parallel place of the Antiquities, B. XIV. ch. 4. sect. 4, out of Cicero
himself.]
9 (return) [ The coin of this Gadara, still extant, with its date from
this era, is a certain evidence of this its rebuilding by Pompey, as
Spanheim here assures us.]
10 (return) [ Take the like attestation to the truth of this submission
of Aretas, king of Arabia, to Scaurus the Roman general, in the words of
Dean Aldrich. "Hence [says he] is derived that old and famous Denarius
belonging to the Emillian family [represented in Havercamp's edition],
wherein Aretas appears in a posture of supplication, and taking hold of
a camel's bridle with his left hand, and with his right hand presenting
a branch of the frankincense tree, with this inscription, M. SCAURUS EX
S.C.; and beneath, REX ARETAS."]
11 (return) [ This citation is now wanting.]
12 (return) [ What is here noted by Hudson and Spanheim, that this grant
of leave to rebuild the walls of the cities of Judea was made by Julius
Caesar, not as here to Antipater, but to Hyrcanas, Antiq. B. XIV. ch.
8. sect. 5, has hardly an appearance of a contradiction; Antipater being
now perhaps considered only as Hyrcanus's deputy and minister; although
he afterwards made a cipher of Hyrcanus, and, under great decency of
behavior to him, took the real authority to himself.]
13 (return) [ Or twenty-five years of age. See note on Antiq. B. I. ch.
12. sect. 3; and on B. XIV. ch. 9. sect. 2; and Of the War, B. II.
ch. 11. sect. 6; and Polyb. B. XVII. p. 725. Many writers of the Roman
history give an account of this murder of Sextus Caesar, and of the war
of Apamia upon that occasion. They are cited in Dean Aldrich's note.]
14 (return) [ In the Antiquities, B. XIV. ch. 11. sect. 1, the duration
of the reign of Julius Caesar is three years six months; but here three
years seven months, beginning nightly, says Dean Aldrich, from his
second dictatorship. It is probable the real duration might be three
years and between six and seven months.]
15 (return) [ It appears evidently by Josephus's accounts, both here and
in his Antiquities, B. XIV. ch. 11. sect. 2, that this Cassius, one of
Caesar's murderers, was a bitter oppressor, and exactor of tribute
in Judea. These seven hundred talents amount to about three hundred
thousand pounds sterling, and are about half the yearly revenues of king
Herod afterwards. See the note on Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 11. sect. 4. It
also appears that Galilee then paid no more than one hundred talents, or
the seventh part of the entire sum to be levied in all the country.]
16 (return) [ Here we see that Cassius set tyrants over all Syria; so
that his assisting to destroy Caesar does not seem to have proceeded
from his true zeal for public liberty, but from a desire to be a tyrant
himself.]
17 (return) [ Phasaelus and Herod.]
18 (return) [ This large and noted wood, or woodland, belonging
to Carmel, called Apago by the Septuagint, is mentioned in the Old
Testament, 2 Kings 19:23; Isaiah 37:24, and by I Strabo, B. XVI. p. 758,
as both Aldrich and Spanheim here remark very pertinently.]
19 (return) [ These accounts, both here and Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 13. sect.
5, that the Parthians fought chiefly on horseback, and that only
some few of their soldiers were free-men, perfectly agree with Trogus
Pompeius, in Justin, B. XLI. 2, 3, as Dean Aldrich well observes on this
place.]
20 (return) [ Mariamac here, in the copies.]
21 (return) [ This Brentesium or Brundusium has coin still preserved, on
which is written, as Spanheim informs us.]
22 (return) [ This Dellius is famous, or rather infamous, in the history
of Mark Antony, as Spanheim and Aldrich here note, from the coins, from
Plutarch and Dio.]
23 (return) [ This Sepphoris, the metropolis of Galilee, so often
mentioned by Josephus, has coins still remaining, as Spanheim here
informs us.]
24 (return) [ This way of speaking, "after forty days," is interpreted
by Josephus himself, "on the fortieth day," Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 15. sect.
4. In like manner, when Josephus says, ch. 33. sect. 8, that Herod lived
"after" he had ordered Antipater to be slain "five days;" this is by
himself interpreted, Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 8. sect. 1, that he died "on
the fifth day afterward." So also what is in this book, ch. 13. sect.
1, "after two years," is, Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 13. sect. 3, "on the second
year." And Dean Aldrich here notes that this way of speaking is familiar
to Josephus.]
25 (return) [ This Samosata, the metropolis of Commagena, is well known
from its coins, as Spanheim here assures us. Dean Aldrich also confirms
what Josephus here notes, that Herod was a great means of taking the
city by Antony, and that from Plutarch and Dio.]
26 (return) [ That is, a woman, not, a man.]
27 (return) [ This death of Antigonus is confirmed by Plutarch and.
Straho; the latter of whom is cited for it by Josephus himself, Antiq.
B. XV. ch. 1. sect. 2, as Dean Aldrich here observes.]
28 (return) [ This ancient liberty of Tyre and Sidon under the Romans,
taken notice of by Josephus, both here and Antiq. B. XV. ch. 4. sect. 1,
is confirmed by the testimony of Sirabe, B. XVI. p. 757, as Dean Aldrich
remarks; although, as he justly adds, this liberty lasted but a little
while longer, when Augtus took it away from them.]
29 (return) [ This seventh year of the reign of Herod [from the conquest
or death of Antigonus], with the great earthquake in the beginning of
the same spring, which are here fully implied to be not much before the
fight at Actium, between Octavius and Antony, and which is known from
the Roman historians to have been in the beginning of September, in the
thirty-first year before the Christian era, determines the chronology
of Josephus as to the reign of Herod, viz. that he began in the year 37,
beyond rational contradiction. Nor is it quite unworthy of our notice,
that this seventh year of the reign of Herod, or the thirty-first before
the Christian era, contained the latter part of a Sabbatic year, on
which Sabbatic year, therefore, it is plain this great earthquake
happened in Judea.]
30 (return) [ This speech of Herod is set down twice by Josephus, here
and Antiq. B. XV. ch. 5. sect. 3, to the very same purpose, but by no
means in the same words; whence it appears that the sense was Herod's,
but the composition Josephus's.]
31 (return) [ Since Josephus, both here and in his Antiq. B. XV. ch.
7. sect. 3, reckons Gaza, which had been a free city, among the cities
given Herod by Augustus, and yet implies that Herod had made Costobarus
a governor of it before, Antiq. B. XV. ch. 7. sect. 9, Hardain has some
pretense for saying that Josephus here contradicted himself. But perhaps
Herod thought he had sufficient authority to put a governor into Gaza,
after he was made tetrarch or king, in times of war, before the city was
entirely delivered into his hands by Augustus.]
32 (return) [ This fort was first built, as it is supposed, by John
Hyrcanus; see Prid. at the year 107; and called "Baris," the Tower or
Citadel. It was afterwards rebuilt, with great improvements, by Herod,
under the government of Antonius, and was named from him "the Tower of
Antoni;" and about the time when Herod rebuilt the temple, he seems to
have put his last hand to it. See Antiq. B. XVIII. ch. 5. sect. 4; Of
the War, B. I. ch. 3. sect. 3; ch. 5. sect. 4. It lay on the northwest
side of the temple, and was a quarter as large.]
33 (return) [ That Josephus speaks truth, when he assures us that the
haven of this Cesarea was made by Herod not less, nay rather larger,
than that famous haven at Athens, called the Pyrecum, will appear, says
Dean Aldrich, to him who compares the descriptions of that at Athens in
Thucydides and Pausanias, with this of Cesarea in Josephus here, and in
the Antiq. B. XV. ch. 9. sect. 6, and B. XVII. ch. 9. sect. 1.]
34 (return) [ These buildings of cities by the name of Caesar, and
institution of solemn games in honor of Augustus Caesar, as here, and
in the Antiquities, related of Herod by Josephus, the Roman historians
attest to, as things then frequent in the provinces of that empire, as
Dean Aldrich observes on this chapter.]
35 (return) [ There were two cities, or citadels, called Herodium, in
Judea, and both mentioned by Josephus, not only here, but Antiq. B. XIV.
ch. 13. sect. 9; B. XV. ch. 9. sect. 6; Of the War, B. I. ch. 13. sect.
8; B. III. ch. 3. sect. 5. One of them was two hundred, and the other
sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem. One of them is mentioned by
Pliny, Hist. Nat. B. V. ch. 14., as Dean Aldrich observes here.]
36 (return) [ Here seems to be a small defect in the copies, which
describe the wild beasts which were hunted in a certain country by
Herod, without naming any such country at all.]
37 (return) [ Here is either a defect or a great mistake in Josephus's
present copies or memory; for Mariamne did not now reproach Herod with
this his first injunction to Joseph to kill her, if he himself were
slain by Antony, but that he had given the like command a second time
to Soemus also, when he was afraid of being slain by Augustus. Antiq. B.
XV. ch. 3. sect. 5, etc.]
38 (return) [ That this island Eleusa, afterward called Sebaste,
near Cilicia, had in it the royal palace of this Archelaus, king of
Cappadocia, Strabo testifies, B. XV. p. 671. Stephanus of Byzantiam
also calls it "an island of Cilicia, which is now Sebaste;" both whose
testimonies are pertinently cited here by Dr. Hudson. See the same
history, Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 10. sect. 7.]
39 (return) [ That it was an immemorial custom among the Jews, and their
forefathers, the patriarchs, to have sometimes more wives or wives and
concubines, than one at the same the and that this polygamy was not
directly forbidden in the law of Moses is evident; but that polygamy
was ever properly and distinctly permitted in that law of Moses, in the
places here cited by Dean Aldrich, Deuteronomy 17:16, 17, or 21:15, or
indeed any where else, does not appear to me. And what our Savior says
about the common Jewish divorces, which may lay much greater claim to
such a permission than polygamy, seems to me true in this case also;
that Moses, "for the hardness of their hearts," suffered them to have
several wives at the same time, but that "from the beginning it was not
so," Matthew 19:8; Mark 10:5.]
40 (return) [ This vile fellow, Eurycles the Lacedemonian, seems to
have been the same who is mentioned by Plutarch, as [twenty-live years
before] a companion to Mark Antony, and as living with Herod; whence he
might easily insinuate himself into the acquaintance of Herod's sons,
Antipater and Alexander, as Usher, Hudson, and Spanheim justly suppose.
The reason why his being a Spartan rendered him acceptable to the Jews
as we here see he was, is visible from the public records of the Jews
and Spartans, owning those Spartans to be of kin to the Jews, and
derived from their common ancestor Abraham, the first patriarch of the
Jewish nation, Antiq. B. XII. ch. 4. sect. 10; B. XIII. ch. 5. sect. 8;
and 1 Macc. 12:7.]
41 (return) [ See the preceding note.]
42 (return) [ Dean Aldrich takes notice here, that these nine wives of
Herod were alive at the same time; and that if the celebrated Mariamne,
who was now dead, be reckoned, those wives were in all ten. Yet it is
remarkable that he had no more than fifteen children by them all.]
43 (return) [ To prevent confusion, it may not be amiss, with Dean
Aldrich, to distinguish between four Josephs in the history of Herod.
1. Joseph, Herod's uncle, and the [second] husband of his sister Salome,
slain by Herod, on account of Mariamne. 2. Joseph, Herod's quaestor, or
treasurer, slain on the same account. 3. Joseph, Herod's brother, slain
in battle against Antigonus. 4. Joseph, Herod's nephew, the husband of
Olympias, mentioned in this place.]
44 (return) [ These daughters of Herod, whom Pheroras's wife affronted,
were Salome and Roxana, two virgins, who were born to him of his two
wives, Elpide and Phedra. See Herod's genealogy, Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 1.
sect. 3.]
45 (return) [ This strange obstinacy of Pheroras in retaining his wife,
who was one of a low family, and refusing to marry one nearly related to
Herod, though he so earnestly desired it, as also that wife's admission
to the counsels of the other great court ladies, together with Herod's
own importunity as to Pheroras's divorce and other marriage, all so
remarkable here, or in the Antiquities XVII. ch. 2. sect. 4; and ch. 3.
be well accounted for, but on the supposal that Pheroras believed, and
Herod suspected, that the Pharisees' prediction, as if the crown of
Judea should be translated from Herod to Pheroras's posterity and that
most probably to Pheroras's posterity by this his wife, also would prove
true. See Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 2. sect. 4; and ch. 3. sect. 1.]
46 (return) [ This Tarentum has coins still extant, as Reland informs us
here in his note.]
47 (return) [ A lover of his father.]
48 (return) [ Since in these two sections we have an evident account of
the Jewish opinions in the days of Josephus, about a future happy state,
and the resurrection of the dead, as in the New Testament, John 11:24,
I shall here refer to the other places in Josephus, before he became a
catholic Christian, which concern the same matters. Of the War, B. II.
ch. 8. sect. 10, 11; B. III. ch. 8. sect. 4; B. VII. ch. 6. sect. 7;
Contr. Apion, B. II. sect. 30; where we may observe, that none of these
passages are in his Books of Antiquities, written peculiarly for the use
of the Gentiles, to whom he thought it not proper to insist on topics
so much out of their way as these were. Nor is this observation to be
omitted here, especially on account of the sensible difference we
have now before us in Josephus's reason of the used by the Rabbins to
persuade their scholars to hazard their lives for the vindication of
God's law against images, by Moses, as well as of the answers those
scholars made to Herod, when they were caught, and ready to die for
the same; I mean as compared with the parallel arguments and answers
represented in the Antiquities, B. XVII. ch. 6. sect, 2, 3. A like
difference between Jewish and Gentile notions the reader will find in my
notes on Antiquities, B. III. ch. 7. sect. 7; B. XV. ch. 9. sect. 1. See
the like also in the case of the three Jewish sects in the Antiquities,
B. XIII. ch. 5. sect. 9, and ch. 10. sect. 4, 5; B. XVIII. ch. 1. sect.
5; and compared with this in his Wars of the Jews, B. II. ch. 8. sect.
2-14. Nor does St. Paul himself reason to Gentiles at Athens, Acts
17:16-34, as he does to Jews in his Epistles.]
BOOK II.
Containing The Interval Of Sixty-Nine Years.
From The Death Of Herod Till Vespasian Was Sent To Subdue
The Jews By Nero.
CHAPTER 1.
Archelaus Makes A Funeral Feast For The People, On The
Account Of Herod. After Which A Great Tumult Is Raised By
The Multitude And He Sends The Soldiers Out Upon Them, Who
Destroy About Three Thousand Of Them.
1. Now the necessity which Archelaus was under of taking a journey to
Rome was the occasion of new disturbances; for when he had mourned for
his father seven days, 1 and had given a very expensive funeral feast to
the multitude, [which custom is the occasion of poverty to many of the
Jews, because they are forced to feast the multitude; for if any one
omits it, he is not esteemed a holy person,] he put on a white garment,
and went up to the temple, where the people accosted him with various
acclamations. He also spake kindly to the multitude from an elevated
seat and a throne of gold, and returned them thanks for the zeal they
had shown about his father's funeral, and the submission they had made
to him, as if he were already settled in the kingdom; but he told them
withal, that he would not at present take upon him either the authority
of a king, or the names thereto belonging, until Caesar, who is made
lord of this whole affair by the testament, confirm the succession; for
that when the soldiers would have set the diadem on his head at Jericho,
he would not accept of it; but that he would make abundant requitals,
not to the soldiers only, but to the people, for their alacrity and
good-will to him, when the superior lords [the Romans] should have given
him a complete title to the kingdom; for that it should be his study to
appear in all things better than his father.
2. Upon this the multitude were pleased, and presently made a trial of
what he intended, by asking great things of him; for some made a clamor
that he would ease them in their taxes; others, that he would take off
the duties upon commodities; and some, that he would loose those
that were in prison; in all which cases he answered readily to their
satisfaction, in order to get the good-will of the multitude; after
which he offered [the proper] sacrifices, and feasted with his friends.
And here it was that a great many of those that desired innovations
came in crowds towards the evening, and began then to mourn on their own
account, when the public mourning for the king was over. These lamented
those that were put to death by Herod, because they had cut down the
golden eagle that had been over the gate of the temple. Nor was this
mourning of a private nature, but the lamentations were very great, the
mourning solemn, and the weeping such as was loudly heard all over the
city, as being for those men who had perished for the laws of their
country, and for the temple. They cried out that a punishment ought to
be inflicted for these men upon those that were honored by Herod; and
that, in the first place, the man whom he had made high priest should
be deprived; and that it was fit to choose a person of greater piety and
purity than he was.
3. At these clamors Archelaus was provoked, but restrained himself from
taking vengeance on the authors, on account of the haste he was in of
going to Rome, as fearing lest, upon his making war on the multitude,
such an action might detain him at home. Accordingly, he made trial to
quiet the innovators by persuasion, rather than by force, and sent his
general in a private way to them, and by him exhorted them to be quiet.
But the seditious threw stones at him, and drove him away, as he came
into the temple, and before he could say any thing to them. The like
treatment they showed to others, who came to them after him, many of
which were sent by Archelaus, in order to reduce them to sobriety, and
these answered still on all occasions after a passionate manner; and it
openly appeared that they would not be quiet, if their numbers were but
considerable. And indeed, at the feast of unleavened bread, which was
now at hand, and is by the Jews called the Passover, and used to be
celebrated with a great number of sacrifices, an innumerable multitude
of the people came out of the country to worship; some of these stood
in the temple bewailing the Rabbins [that had been put to death],
and procured their sustenance by begging, in order to support their
sedition. At this Archelaus was affrighted, and privately sent a
tribune, with his cohort of soldiers, upon them, before the disease
should spread over the whole multitude, and gave orders that they should
constrain those that began the tumult, by force, to be quiet. At these
the whole multitude were irritated, and threw stones at many of the
soldiers, and killed them; but the tribune fled away wounded, and had
much ado to escape so. After which they betook themselves to their
sacrifices, as if they had done no mischief; nor did it appear to
Archelaus that the multitude could be restrained without bloodshed; so
he sent his whole army upon them, the footmen in great multitudes, by
the way of the city, and the horsemen by the way of the plain, who,
falling upon them on the sudden, as they were offering their sacrifices,
destroyed about three thousand of them; but the rest of the multitude
were dispersed upon the adjoining mountains: these were followed by
Archelaus's heralds, who commanded every one to retire to their own
homes, whither they all went, and left the festival.
CHAPTER 2.
Archelaus Goes To Rome With A Great Number Of His Kindred.
He Is There Accused Before Caesar By Antipater; But Is
Superior To His Accusers In Judgment By The Means Of That
Defense Which Nicolaus Made For Him.
1. Archelaus went down now to the sea-side, with his mother and his
friends, Poplas, and Ptolemy, and Nicolaus, and left behind him Philip,
to be his steward in the palace, and to take care of his domestic
affairs. Salome went also along with him with her sons, as did also the
king's brethren and sons-in-law. These, in appearance, went to give him
all the assistance they were able, in order to secure his succession,
but in reality to accuse him for his breach of the laws by what he had
done at the temple.
2. But as they were come to Cesarea, Sabinus, the procurator of Syria,
met them; he was going up to Judea, to secure Herod's effects; but
Varus, [president of Syria,] who was come thither, restrained him from
going any farther. This Varus Archelaus had sent for, by the earnest
entreaty of Ptolemy. At this time, indeed, Sabinus, to gratify Varus,
neither went to the citadels, nor did he shut up the treasuries where
his father's money was laid up, but promised that he would lie still,
until Caesar should have taken cognizance of the affair. So he abode at
Cesarea; but as soon as those that were his hinderance were gone,
when Varus was gone to Antioch, and Archelaus was sailed to Rome, he
immediately went on to Jerusalem, and seized upon the palace. And when
he had called for the governors of the citadels, and the stewards [of
the king's private affairs], he tried to sift out the accounts of the
money, and to take possession of the citadels. But the governors of
those citadels were not unmindful of the commands laid upon them by
Archelaus, and continued to guard them, and said the custody of them
rather belonged to Caesar than to Archelaus.
3. In the mean time, Antipas went also to Rome, to strive for the
kingdom, and to insist that the former testament, wherein he was named
to be king, was valid before the latter testament. Salome had also
promised to assist him, as had many of Archelaus's kindred, who sailed
along with Archelaus himself also. He also carried along with him his
mother, and Ptolemy, the brother of Nicolaus, who seemed one of great
weight, on account of the great trust Herod put in him, he having been
one of his most honored friends. However, Antipas depended chiefly
upon Ireneus, the orator; upon whose authority he had rejected such as
advised him to yield to Archelaus, because he was his elder brother, and
because the second testament gave the kingdom to him. The inclinations
also of all Archelaus's kindred, who hated him, were removed to Antipas,
when they came to Rome; although in the first place every one rather
desired to live under their own laws [without a king], and to be under
a Roman governor; but if they should fail in that point, these desired
that Antipas might be their king.
4. Sabinus did also afford these his assistance to the same purpose by
letters he sent, wherein he accused Archelaus before Caesar, and highly
commended Antipas. Salome also, and those with her, put the crimes which
they accused Archelaus of in order, and put them into Caesar's hands;
and after they had done that, Archelaus wrote down the reasons of his
claim, and, by Ptolemy, sent in his father's ring, and his father's
accounts. And when Caesar had maturely weighed by himself what both had
to allege for themselves, as also had considered of the great burden of
the kingdom, and largeness of the revenues, and withal the number of the
children Herod had left behind him, and had moreover read the letters he
had received from Varus and Sabinus on this occasion, he assembled the
principal persons among the Romans together, [in which assembly Caius,
the son of Agrippa, and his daughter Julias, but by himself adopted
for his own son, sat in the first seat,] and gave the pleaders leave to
speak.
5. Then stood up Salome's son, Antipater, [who of all Archelaus's
antagonists was the shrewdest pleader,] and accused him in the following
speech: That Archelaus did in words contend for the kingdom, but that
in deeds he had long exercised royal authority, and so did but insult
Caesar in desiring to be now heard on that account, since he had not
staid for his determination about the succession, and since he had
suborned certain persons, after Herod's death, to move for putting the
diadem upon his head; since he had set himself down in the throne, and
given answers as a king, and altered the disposition of the army, and
granted to some higher dignities; that he had also complied in all
things with the people in the requests they had made to him as to their
king, and had also dismissed those that had been put into bonds by his
father for most important reasons. Now, after all this, he desires the
shadow of that royal authority, whose substance he had already seized to
himself, and so hath made Caesar lord, not of things, but of words. He
also reproached him further, that his mourning for his father was only
pretended, while he put on a sad countenance in the day time, but drank
to great excess in the night; from which behavior, he said, the late
disturbance among the multitude came, while they had an indignation
thereat. And indeed the purport of his whole discourse was to aggravate
Archelaus's crime in slaying such a multitude about the temple, which
multitude came to the festival, but were barbarously slain in the midst
of their own sacrifices; and he said there was such a vast number of
dead bodies heaped together in the temple, as even a foreign war, that
should come upon them [suddenly], before it was denounced, could not
have heaped together. And he added, that it was the foresight his father
had of that his barbarity which made him never give him any hopes of the
kingdom, but when his mind was more infirm than his body, and he was not
able to reason soundly, and did not well know what was the character of
that son, whom in his second testament he made his successor; and this
was done by him at a time when he had no complaints to make of him whom
he had named before, when he was sound in body, and when his mind was
free from all passion. That, however, if any one should suppose Herod's
judgment, when he was sick, was superior to that at another time, yet
had Archelaus forfeited his kingdom by his own behavior, and those his
actions, which were contrary to the law, and to its disadvantage.
Or what sort of a king will this man be, when he hath obtained the
government from Caesar, who hath slain so many before he hath obtained
it!
6. When Antipater had spoken largely to this purpose, and had produced a
great number of Archelaus's kindred as witnesses, to prove every part of
the accusation, he ended his discourse. Then stood up Nicolaus to plead
for Archelaus. He alleged that the slaughter in the temple could not
be avoided; that those that were slain were become enemies not to
Archelaus's kingdom, only, but to Caesar, who was to determine about
him. He also demonstrated that Archelaus's accusers had advised him
to perpetrate other things of which he might have been accused. But he
insisted that the latter testament should, for this reason, above all
others, be esteemed valid, because Herod had therein appointed Caesar to
be the person who should confirm the succession; for he who showed such
prudence as to recede from his own power, and yield it up to the lord
of the world, cannot be supposed mistaken in his judgment about him
that was to be his heir; and he that so well knew whom to choose for
arbitrator of the succession could not be unacquainted with him whom he
chose for his successor.
7. When Nicolaus had gone through all he had to say, Archelaus came,
and fell down before Caesar's knees, without any noise;--upon which he
raised him up, after a very obliging manner, and declared that truly
he was worthy to succeed his father. However, he still made no firm
determination in his case; but when he had dismissed those assessors
that had been with him that day, he deliberated by himself about the
allegations which he had heard, whether it were fit to constitute any
of those named in the testaments for Herod's successor, or whether the
government should be parted among all his posterity, and this because of
the number of those that seemed to stand in need of support therefrom.
CHAPTER 3.
The Jews Fight A Great Battle With Sabinus's Soldiers, And A
Great Destruction Is Made At Jerusalem.
1. Now before Caesar had determined any thing about these affairs,
Malthace, Arehelaus's mother, fell sick and died. Letters also were
brought out of Syria from Varus, about a revolt of the Jews. This was
foreseen by Varus, who accordingly, after Archelaus was sailed, went
up to Jerusalem to restrain the promoters of the sedition, since it was
manifest that the nation would not be at rest; so he left one of those
legions which he brought with him out of Syria in the city, and went
himself to Antioch. But Sabinus came, after he was gone, and gave them
an occasion of making innovations; for he compelled the keepers of the
citadels to deliver them up to him, and made a bitter search after the
king's money, as depending not only on the soldiers which were left by
Varus, but on the multitude of his own servants, all which he armed and
used as the instruments of his covetousness. Now when that feast, which
was observed after seven weeks, and which the Jews called Pentecost, [i.
e. the 50th day,] was at hand, its name being taken from the number
of the days [after the passover], the people got together, but not on
account of the accustomed Divine worship, but of the indignation they
had ['at the present state of affairs']. Wherefore an immense multitude
ran together, out of Galilee, and Idumea, and Jericho, and Perea, that
was beyond Jordan; but the people that naturally belonged to Judea
itself were above the rest, both in number, and in the alacrity of the
men. So they distributed themselves into three parts, and pitched their
camps in three places; one at the north side of the temple, another at
the south side, by the Hippodrome, and the third part were at the palace
on the west. So they lay round about the Romans on every side, and
besieged them.
2. Now Sabinus was affrighted, both at their multitude, and at their
courage, and sent messengers to Varus continually, and besought him to
come to his succor quickly; for that if he delayed, his legion would be
cut to pieces. As for Sabinus himself, he got up to the highest tower
of the fortress, which was called Phasaelus; it is of the same name with
Herod's brother, who was destroyed by the Parthians; and then he made
signs to the soldiers of that legion to attack the enemy; for his
astonishment was so great, that he durst not go down to his own men.
Hereupon the soldiers were prevailed upon, and leaped out into the
temple, and fought a terrible battle with the Jews; in which, while
there were none over their heads to distress them, they were too hard
for them, by their skill, and the others' want of skill, in war; but
when once many of the Jews had gotten up to the top of the cloisters,
and threw their darts downwards, upon the heads of the Romans,
there were a great many of them destroyed. Nor was it easy to avenge
themselves upon those that threw their weapons from on high, nor was it
more easy for them to sustain those who came to fight them hand to hand.
3. Since therefore the Romans were sorely afflicted by both these
circumstances, they set fire to the cloisters, which were works to be
admired, both on account of their magnitude and costliness. Whereupon
those that were above them were presently encompassed with the flame,
and many of them perished therein; as many of them also were destroyed
by the enemy, who came suddenly upon them; some of them also threw
themselves down from the walls backward, and some there were who, from
the desperate condition they were in, prevented the fire, by killing
themselves with their own swords; but so many of them as crept out from
the walls, and came upon the Romans, were easily mastered by them, by
reason of the astonishment they were under; until at last some of the
Jews being destroyed, and others dispersed by the terror they were in,
the soldiers fell upon the treasure of God, which was now deserted, and
plundered about four hundred talents, Of which sum Sabinus got together
all that was not carried away by the soldiers.
4. However, this destruction of the works [about the temple], and of the
men, occasioned a much greater number, and those of a more warlike sort,
to get together, to oppose the Romans. These encompassed the palace
round, and threatened to deploy all that were in it, unless they went
their ways quickly; for they promised that Sabinus should come to no
harm, if he would go out with his legion. There were also a great many
of the king's party who deserted the Romans, and assisted the Jews; yet
did the most warlike body of them all, who were three thousand of the
men of Sebaste, go over to the Romans. Rufus also, and Gratus, their
captains, did the same, [Gratus having the foot of the king's party
under him, and Rufus the horse,] each of whom, even without the forces
under them, were of great weight, on account of their strength and
wisdom, which turn the scales in war. Now the Jews in the siege, and
tried to break down walls of the fortress, and cried out to Sabinus and
his party, that they should go their ways, and not prove a hinderance to
them, now they hoped, after a long time, to recover that ancient liberty
which their forefathers had enjoyed. Sabinus indeed was well contented
to get out of the danger he was in, but he distrusted the assurances the
Jews gave him, and suspected such gentle treatment was but a bait laid
as a snare for them: this consideration, together with the hopes he had
of succor from Varus, made him bear the siege still longer.
CHAPTER 4.
Herod's Veteran Soldiers Become Tumultuous. The Robberies Of
Judas. Simon And Athronoeus Take The Name Of King Upon Them.
1. At this time there were great disturbances in the country, and that
in many places; and the opportunity that now offered itself induced a
great many to set up for kings. And indeed in Idumea two thousand of
Herod's veteran soldiers got together, and armed and fought against
those of the king's party; against whom Achiabus, the king's first
cousin, fought, and that out of some of the places that were the most
strongly fortified; but so as to avoid a direct conflict with them in
the plains. In Sepphoris also, a city of Galilee, there was one Judas
[the son of that arch-robber Hezekias, who formerly overran the country,
and had been subdued by king Herod]; this man got no small multitude
together, and brake open the place where the royal armor was laid up,
and armed those about him, and attacked those that were so earnest to
gain the dominion.
2. In Perea also, Simon, one of the servants to the king, relying upon
the handsome appearance and tallness of his body, put a diadem upon his
own head also; he also went about with a company of robbers that he had
gotten together, and burnt down the royal palace that was at Jericho,
and many other costly edifices besides, and procured himself very easily
spoils by rapine, as snatching them out of the fire. And he had soon
burnt down all the fine edifices, if Gratus, the captain of the foot
of the king's party, had not taken the Trachonite archers, and the
most warlike of Sebaste, and met the man. His footmen were slain in the
battle in abundance; Gratus also cut to pieces Simon himself, as he was
flying along a strait valley, when he gave him an oblique stroke upon
his neck, as he ran away, and brake it. The royal palaces that were
near Jordan at Betharamptha were also burnt down by some other of the
seditious that came out of Perea.
3. At this time it was that a certain shepherd ventured to set himself
up for a king; he was called Athrongeus. It was his strength of body
that made him expect such a dignity, as well as his soul, which despised
death; and besides these qualifications, he had four brethren like
himself. He put a troop of armed men under each of these his brethren,
and made use of them as his generals and commanders, when he made his
incursions, while he did himself act like a king, and meddled only with
the more important affairs; and at this time he put a diadem about his
head, and continued after that to overrun the country for no little time
with his brethren, and became their leader in killing both the Romans
and those of the king's party; nor did any Jew escape him, if any gain
could accrue to him thereby. He once ventured to encompass a whole troop
of Romans at Emmaus, who were carrying corn and weapons to their legion;
his men therefore shot their arrows and darts, and thereby slew their
centurion Arius, and forty of the stoutest of his men, while the rest
of them, who were in danger of the same fate, upon the coming of Gratus,
with those of Sebaste, to their assistance, escaped. And when these
men had thus served both their own countrymen and foreigners, and that
through this whole war, three of them were, after some time, subdued;
the eldest by Archelaus, the two next by falling into the hands of
Gratus and Ptolemeus; but the fourth delivered himself up to Archelaus,
upon his giving him his right hand for his security. However, this their
end was not till afterward, while at present they filled all Judea with
a piratic war.
CHAPTER 5.
Varus Composes The Tumults In Judea And Crucifies About Two
Thousand Of The Seditious.
1. Upon Varus's reception of the letters that were written by Sabinus
and the captains, he could not avoid being afraid for the whole legion
[he had left there]. So he made haste to their relief, and took with
him the other two legions, with the four troops of horsemen to them
belonging, and marched to Ptolenlais; having given orders for the
auxiliaries that were sent by the kings and governors of cities to
meet him there. Moreover, he received from the people of Berytus, as he
passed through their city, fifteen hundred armed men. Now as soon as the
other body of auxiliaries were come to Ptolemais, as well as Aretas the
Arabian, [who, out of the hatred he bore to Herod, brought a great army
of horse and foot,] Varus sent a part of his army presently to Galilee,
which lay near to Ptolemais, and Caius, one of his friends, for their
captain. This Caius put those that met him to flight, and took the city
Sepphoris, and burnt it, and made slaves of its inhabitants; but as for
Varus himself, he marched to Samaria with his whole army, where he did
not meddle with the city itself, because he found that it had made no
commotion during these troubles, but pitched his camp about a certain
village which was called Aras. It belonged to Ptolemy, and on that
account was plundered by the Arabians, who were very angry even at
Herod's friends also. He thence marched on to the village Sampho,
another fortified place, which they plundered, as they had done the
other. As they carried off all the money they lighted upon belonging
to the public revenues, all was now full of fire and blood-shed, and
nothing could resist the plunders of the Arabians. Emnaus was also
burnt, upon the flight of its inhabitants, and this at the command of
Varus, out of his rage at the slaughter of those that were about Arias.
2. Thence he marched on to Jerusalem, and as soon as he was but seen by
the Jews, he made their camps disperse themselves; they also went away,
and fled up and down the country. But the citizens received him, and
cleared themselves of having any hand in this revolt, and said that
they had raised no commotions, but had only been forced to admit the
multitude, because of the festival, and that they were rather besieged
together with the Romans, than assisted those that had revolted. There
had before this met him Joseph, the first cousin of Archelaus, and
Gratus, together with Rufus, who led those of Sebaste, as well as the
king's army: there also met him those of the Roman legion, armed after
their accustomed manner; for as to Sabinus, he durst not come into
Varus's sight, but was gone out of the city before this, to the
sea-side. But Varus sent a part of his army into the country, against
those that had been the authors of this commotion, and as they caught
great numbers of them, those that appeared to have been the least
concerned in these tumults he put into custody, but such as were the
most guilty he crucified; these were in number about two thousand.
3. He was also informed that there continued in Idumea ten thousand
men still in arms; but when he found that the Arabians did not act like
auxiliaries, but managed the war according to their own passions, and
did mischief to the country otherwise than he intended, and this out of
their hatred to Herod, he sent them away, but made haste, with his own
legions, to march against those that had revolted; but these, by the
advice of Achiabus, delivered themselves up to him before it came to a
battle. Then did Varus forgive the multitude their offenses, but sent
their captains to Caesar to be examined by him. Now Caesar forgave the
rest, but gave orders that certain of the king's relations [for some of
those that were among them were Herod's kinsmen] should be put to death,
because they had engaged in a war against a king of their own family.
When therefore Varus had settled matters at Jerusalem after this manner,
and had left the former legion there as a garrison, he returned to
Antioch.
CHAPTER 6.
The Jews Greatly Complain Of Archelaus And Desire That They
May Be Made Subject To Roman Governors. But When Caesar Had
Heard What They Had To Say, He Distributed Herod's Dominions
Among His Sons According To His Own Pleasure.
1. But now came another accusation from the Jews against Archelaus at
Rome, which he was to answer to. It was made by those ambassadors who,
before the revolt, had come, by Varus's permission, to plead for the
liberty of their country; those that came were fifty in number, but
there were more than eight thousand of the Jews at Rome who supported
them. And when Caesar had assembled a council of the principal Romans in
Apollo's 2 temple, that was in the palace, [this was what he had himself
built and adorned, at a vast expense,] the multitude of the Jews stood
with the ambassadors, and on the other side stood Archelaus, with his
friends; but as for the kindred of Archelaus, they stood on neither
side; for to stand on Archelaus's side, their hatred to him, and envy at
him, would not give them leave, while yet they were afraid to be seen by
Caesar with his accusers. Besides these, there were present Archelaus's
brother Philip, being sent thither beforehand, out of kindness by
Varus, for two reasons: the one was this, that he might be assisting
to Archelaus; and the other was this, that in case Caesar should make
a distribution of what Herod possessed among his posterity, he might
obtain some share of it.
2. And now, upon the permission that was given the accusers to speak,
they, in the first place, went over Herod's breaches of their law, and
said that he was not a king, but the most barbarous of all tyrants, and
that they had found him to be such by the sufferings they underwent from
him; that when a very great number had been slain by him, those that
were left had endured such miseries, that they called those that
were dead happy men; that he had not only tortured the bodies of his
subjects, but entire cities, and had done much harm to the cities of his
own country, while he adorned those that belonged to foreigners; and he
shed the blood of Jews, in order to do kindnesses to those people that
were out of their bounds; that he had filled the nation full of poverty,
and of the greatest iniquity, instead of that happiness and those laws
which they had anciently enjoyed; that, in short, the Jews had borne
more calamities from Herod, in a few years, than had their forefathers
during all that interval of time that had passed since they had come out
of Babylon, and returned home, in the reign of Xerxes 3 that, however,
the nation was come to so low a condition, by being inured to hardships,
that they submitted to his successor of their own accord, though he
brought them into bitter slavery; that accordingly they readily called
Archelaus, though he was the son of so great a tyrant, king, after the
decease of his father, and joined with him in mourning for the death of
Herod, and in wishing him good success in that his succession; while
yet this Archelaus, lest he should be in danger of not being thought the
genuine son of Herod, began his reign with the murder of three thousand
citizens; as if he had a mind to offer so many bloody sacrifices to God
for his government, and to fill the temple with the like number of dead
bodies at that festival: that, however, those that were left after so
many miseries, had just reason to consider now at last the calamities
they had undergone, and to oppose themselves, like soldiers in war, to
receive those stripes upon their faces [but not upon their backs, as
hitherto]. Whereupon they prayed that the Romans would have compassion
upon the [poor] remains of Judea, and not expose what was left of them
to such as barbarously tore them to pieces, and that they would join
their country to Syria, and administer the government by their own
commanders, whereby it would [soon] be demonstrated that those who are
now under the calumny of seditious persons, and lovers of war, know how
to bear governors that are set over them, if they be but tolerable ones.
So the Jews concluded their accusation with this request. Then rose up
Nicolaus, and confuted the accusations which were brought against the
kings, and himself accused the Jewish nation, as hard to be ruled, and
as naturally disobedient to kings. He also reproached all those kinsmen
of Archelaus who had left him, and were gone over to his accusers.
3. So Caesar, after he had heard both sides, dissolved the assembly for
that time; but a few days afterward, he gave the one half of Herod's
kingdom to Archelaus, by the name of Ethnarch, and promised to make him
king also afterward, if he rendered himself worthy of that dignity. But
as to the other half, he divided it into two tetrarchies, and gave them
to two other sons of Herod, the one of them to Philip, and the other to
that Antipas who contested the kingdom with Archelaus. Under this
last was Perea and Galilee, with a revenue of two hundred talents; but
Batanea, and Trachonitis, and Auranitis, and certain parts of Zeno's
house about Jamnia, with a revenue of a hundred talents, were made
subject to Philip; while Idumea, and all Judea, and Samaria were parts
of the ethnarchy of Archelaus, although Samaria was eased of one quarter
of its taxes, out of regard to their not having revolted with the rest
of the nation. He also made subject to him the following cities, viz.
Strato's Tower, and Sebaste, and Joppa, and Jerusalem; but as to the
Grecian cities, Gaza, and Gadara, and Hippos, he cut them off from the
kingdom, and added them to Syria. Now the revenue of the country that
was given to Archelaus was four hundred talents. Salome also, besides
what the king had left her in his testaments, was now made mistress of
Jamnia, and Ashdod, and Phasaelis. Caesar did moreover bestow upon her
the royal palace of Ascalon; by all which she got together a revenue of
sixty talents; but he put her house under the ethnarchy of Archelaus.
And for the rest of Herod's offspring, they received what was bequeathed
to them in his testaments; but, besides that, Caesar granted to Herod's
two virgin daughters five hundred thousand [drachmae] of silver, and
gave them in marriage to the sons of Pheroras: but after this family
distribution, he gave between them what had been bequeathed to him by
Herod, which was a thousand talents, reserving to himself only some
inconsiderable presents, in honor of the deceased.
CHAPTER 7.
The History Of The Spurious Alexander. Archelaus Is Banished
And Glaphyra Dies, After What Was To Happen To Both Of Them
Had Been Showed Them In Dreams.
1. In the meantime, there was a man, who was by birth a Jew, but brought
up at Sidon with one of the Roman freed-men, who falsely pretended,
on account of the resemblance of their countenances, that he was that
Alexander who was slain by Herod. This man came to Rome, in hopes of not
being detected. He had one who was his assistant, of his own nation, and
who knew all the affairs of the kingdom, and instructed him to say how
those that were sent to kill him and Aristobulus had pity upon them,
and stole them away, by putting bodies that were like theirs in their
places. This man deceived the Jews that were at Crete, and got a great
deal of money of them for traveling in splendor; and thence sailed to
Melos, where he was thought so certainly genuine, that he got a great
deal more money, and prevailed with those that had treated him to sail
along with him to Rome. So he landed at Dicearchia, [Puteoli,] and got
very large presents from the Jews who dwelt there, and was conducted by
his father's friends as if he were a king; nay, the resemblance in
his countenance procured him so much credit, that those who had seen
Alexander, and had known him very well, would take their oaths that he
was the very same person. Accordingly, the whole body of the Jews that
were at Rome ran out in crowds to see him, and an innumerable multitude
there was which stood in the narrow places through which he was carried;
for those of Melos were so far distracted, that they carried him in a
sedan, and maintained a royal attendance for him at their own proper
charges.
2. But Caesar, who knew perfectly well the lineaments of Alexander's
face, because he had been accused by Herod before him, discerned the
fallacy in his countenance, even before he saw the man. However, he
suffered the agreeable fame that went of him to have some weight with
him, and sent Celadus, one who well knew Alexander, and ordered him
to bring the young man to him. But when Caesar saw him, he immediately
discerned a difference in his countenance; and when he had discovered
that his whole body was of a more robust texture, and like that of a
slave, he understood the whole was a contrivance. But the impudence of
what he said greatly provoked him to be angry at him; for when he was
asked about Aristobulus, he said that he was also preserved alive, and
was left on purpose in Cyprus, for fear of treachery, because it would
be harder for plotters to get them both into their power while they were
separate. Then did Caesar take him by himself privately, and said to
him, "I will give thee thy life, if thou wilt discover who it was that
persuaded thee to forge such stories." So he said that he would discover
him, and followed Caesar, and pointed to that Jew who abused the
resemblance of his face to get money; for that he had received more
presents in every city than ever Alexander did when he was alive. Caesar
laughed at the contrivance, and put this spurious Alexander among his
rowers, on account of the strength of his body, but ordered him that
persuaded him to be put to death. But for the people of Melos, they had
been sufficiently punished for their folly, by the expenses they had
been at on his account.
3. And now Archelaus took possession of his ethnarchy, and used not the
Jews only, but the Samaritans also, barbarously; and this out of his
resentment of their old quarrels with him. Whereupon they both of them
sent ambassadors against him to Caesar; and in the ninth year of his
government he was banished to Vienna, a city of Gaul, and his effects
were put into Caesar's treasury. But the report goes, that before he was
sent for by Caesar, he seemed to see nine ears of corn, full and large,
but devoured by oxen. When, therefore, he had sent for the diviners,
and some of the Chaldeans, and inquired of them what they thought it
portended; and when one of them had one interpretation, and another had
another, Simon, one of the sect of Essens, said that he thought the
ears of corn denoted years, and the oxen denoted a mutation of things,
because by their ploughing they made an alteration of the country. That
therefore he should reign as many years as there were ears of corn; and
after he had passed through various alterations of fortune, should
die. Now five days after Archelaus had heard this interpretation he was
called to his trial.
4. I cannot also but think it worthy to be recorded what dream Glaphyra,
the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, had, who had at first
been wife to Alexander, who was the brother of Archelaus, concerning
whom we have been discoursing. This Alexander was the son of Herod the
king, by whom he was put to death, as we have already related. This
Glaphyra was married, after his death, to Juba, king of Libya; and,
after his death, was returned home, and lived a widow with her father.
Then it was that Archelaus, the ethnarch, saw her, and fell so deeply
in love with her, that he divorced Mariamne, who was then his wife,
and married her. When, therefore, she was come into Judea, and had been
there for a little while, she thought she saw Alexander stand by her,
and that he said to her; "Thy marriage with the king of Libya might have
been sufficient for thee; but thou wast not contented with him, but art
returned again to my family, to a third husband; and him, thou impudent
woman, hast thou chosen for thine husband, who is my brother. However, I
shall not overlook the injury thou hast offered me; I shall [soon] have
thee again, whether thou wilt or no." Now Glaphyra hardly survived the
narration of this dream of hers two days.
CHAPTER 8.
Archelaus's Ethnarchy Is Reduced Into A [Roman] Province.
The Sedition Of Judas Of Galilee. The Three Sects.
1. And now Archelaus's part of Judea was reduced into a province, and
Coponius, one of the equestrian order among the Romans, was sent as a
procurator, having the power of [life and] death put into his hands by
Caesar. Under his administration it was that a certain Galilean, whose
name was Judas, prevailed with his countrymen to revolt, and said they
were cowards if they would endure to pay a tax to the Romans and would
after God submit to mortal men as their lords. This man was a teacher
of a peculiar sect of his own, and was not at all like the rest of those
their leaders.
2. For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews. The followers
of the first of which are the Pharisees; of the second, the Sadducees;
and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are called
Essens. These last are Jews by birth, and seem to have a greater
affection for one another than the other sects have. These Essens reject
pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence, and the conquest over
our passions, to be virtue. They neglect wedlock, but choose out other
persons children, while they are pliable, and fit for learning, and
esteem them to be of their kindred, and form them according to their own
manners. They do not absolutely deny the fitness of marriage, and the
succession of mankind thereby continued; but they guard against the
lascivious behavior of women, and are persuaded that none of them
preserve their fidelity to one man.
3. These men are despisers of riches, and so very communicative as
raises our admiration. Nor is there any one to be found among them who
hath more than another; for it is a law among them, that those who come
to them must let what they have be common to the whole order,--insomuch
that among them all there is no appearance of poverty, or excess of
riches, but every one's possessions are intermingled with every other's
possessions; and so there is, as it were, one patrimony among all the
brethren. They think that oil is a defilement; and if any one of them be
anointed without his own approbation, it is wiped off his body; for they
think to be sweaty is a good thing, as they do also to be clothed in
white garments. They also have stewards appointed to take care of their
common affairs, who every one of them have no separate business for any,
but what is for the uses of them all.
4. They have no one certain city, but many of them dwell in every city;
and if any of their sect come from other places, what they have lies
open for them, just as if it were their own; and they go in to such as
they never knew before, as if they had been ever so long acquainted with
them. For which reason they carry nothing at all with them when they
travel into remote parts, though still they take their weapons with
them, for fear of thieves. Accordingly, there is, in every city where
they live, one appointed particularly to take care of strangers, and
to provide garments and other necessaries for them. But the habit and
management of their bodies is such as children use who are in fear of
their masters. Nor do they allow of the change of garments or of shoes
till be first torn to pieces, or worn out by time. Nor do they either
buy or sell any thing to one another; but every one of them gives what
he hath to him that wanteth it, and receives from him again in lieu of
it what may be convenient for himself; and although there be no requital
made, they are fully allowed to take what they want of whomsoever they
please.
5. And as for their piety towards God, it is very extraordinary; for
before sun-rising they speak not a word about profane matters, but put
up certain prayers which they have received from their forefathers, as
if they made a supplication for its rising. After this every one of them
are sent away by their curators, to exercise some of those arts wherein
they are skilled, in which they labor with great diligence till the
fifth hour. After which they assemble themselves together again into one
place; and when they have clothed themselves in white veils, they then
bathe their bodies in cold water. And after this purification is over,
they every one meet together in an apartment of their own, into which it
is not permitted to any of another sect to enter; while they go, after
a pure manner, into the dining-room, as into a certain holy temple, and
quietly set themselves down; upon which the baker lays them loaves in
order; the cook also brings a single plate of one sort of food, and sets
it before every one of them; but a priest says grace before meat; and it
is unlawful for any one to taste of the food before grace be said. The
same priest, when he hath dined, says grace again after meat; and when
they begin, and when they end, they praise God, as he that bestows their
food upon them; after which they lay aside their [white] garments, and
betake themselves to their labors again till the evening; then they
return home to supper, after the same manner; and if there be any
strangers there, they sit down with them. Nor is there ever any clamor
or disturbance to pollute their house, but they give every one leave to
speak in their turn; which silence thus kept in their house appears
to foreigners like some tremendous mystery; the cause of which is that
perpetual sobriety they exercise, and the same settled measure of
meat and drink that is allotted them, and that such as is abundantly
sufficient for them.
6. And truly, as for other things, they do nothing but according to the
injunctions of their curators; only these two things are done among them
at everyone's own free-will, which are to assist those that want it,
and to show mercy; for they are permitted of their own accord to afford
succor to such as deserve it, when they stand in need of it, and to
bestow food on those that are in distress; but they cannot give any
thing to their kindred without the curators. They dispense their anger
after a just manner, and restrain their passion. They are eminent for
fidelity, and are the ministers of peace; whatsoever they say also is
firmer than an oath; but swearing is avoided by them, and they esteem it
worse than perjury 4 for they say that he who cannot be believed without
[swearing by] God is already condemned. They also take great pains in
studying the writings of the ancients, and choose out of them what is
most for the advantage of their soul and body; and they inquire after
such roots and medicinal stones as may cure their distempers.
7. But now if any one hath a mind to come over to their sect, he is not
immediately admitted, but he is prescribed the same method of living
which they use for a year, while he continues excluded'; and they give
him also a small hatchet, and the fore-mentioned girdle, and the white
garment. And when he hath given evidence, during that time, that he can
observe their continence, he approaches nearer to their way of living,
and is made a partaker of the waters of purification; yet is he not
even now admitted to live with them; for after this demonstration of his
fortitude, his temper is tried two more years; and if he appear to be
worthy, they then admit him into their society. And before he is allowed
to touch their common food, he is obliged to take tremendous oaths,
that, in the first place, he will exercise piety towards God, and then
that he will observe justice towards men, and that he will do no harm to
any one, either of his own accord, or by the command of others; that he
will always hate the wicked, and be assistant to the righteous; that
he will ever show fidelity to all men, and especially to those
in authority, because no one obtains the government without God's
assistance; and that if he be in authority, he will at no time whatever
abuse his authority, nor endeavor to outshine his subjects either in his
garments, or any other finery; that he will be perpetually a lover of
truth, and propose to himself to reprove those that tell lies; that he
will keep his hands clear from theft, and his soul from unlawful gains;
and that he will neither conceal any thing from those of his own sect,
nor discover any of their doctrines to others, no, not though anyone
should compel him so to do at the hazard of his life. Moreover, he
swears to communicate their doctrines to no one any otherwise than as
he received them himself; that he will abstain from robbery, and will
equally preserve the books belonging to their sect, and the names of the
angels 5 [or messengers]. These are the oaths by which they secure their
proselytes to themselves.
8. But for those that are caught in any heinous sins, they cast them out
of their society; and he who is thus separated from them does often die
after a miserable manner; for as he is bound by the oath he hath taken,
and by the customs he hath been engaged in, he is not at liberty to
partake of that food that he meets with elsewhere, but is forced to eat
grass, and to famish his body with hunger, till he perish; for which
reason they receive many of them again when they are at their last gasp,
out of compassion to them, as thinking the miseries they have endured
till they came to the very brink of death to be a sufficient punishment
for the sins they had been guilty of.
9. But in the judgments they exercise they are most accurate and just,
nor do they pass sentence by the votes of a court that is fewer than
a hundred. And as to what is once determined by that number, it is
unalterable. What they most of all honor, after God himself, is the name
of their legislator [Moses], whom if any one blaspheme he is punished
capitally. They also think it a good thing to obey their elders, and the
major part. Accordingly, if ten of them be sitting together, no one of
them will speak while the other nine are against it. They also avoid
spitting in the midst of them, or on the right side. Moreover, they are
stricter than any other of the Jews in resting from their labors on the
seventh day; for they not only get their food ready the day before, that
they may not be obliged to kindle a fire on that day, but they will not
remove any vessel out of its place, nor go to stool thereon. Nay, on
other days they dig a small pit, a foot deep, with a paddle [which kind
of hatchet is given them when they are first admitted among them]; and
covering themselves round with their garment, that they may not affront
the Divine rays of light, they ease themselves into that pit, after
which they put the earth that was dug out again into the pit; and even
this they do only in the more lonely places, which they choose out for
this purpose; and although this easement of the body be natural, yet
it is a rule with them to wash themselves after it, as if it were a
defilement to them.
10. Now after the time of their preparatory trial is over, they are
parted into four classes; and so far are the juniors inferior to the
seniors, that if the seniors should be touched by the juniors, they must
wash themselves, as if they had intermixed themselves with the company
of a foreigner. They are long-lived also, insomuch that many of them
live above a hundred years, by means of the simplicity of their diet;
nay, as I think, by means of the regular course of life they observe
also. They contemn the miseries of life, and are above pain, by the
generosity of their mind. And as for death, if it will be for their
glory, they esteem it better than living always; and indeed our war with
the Romans gave abundant evidence what great souls they had in their
trials, wherein, although they were tortured and distorted, burnt and
torn to pieces, and went through all kinds of instruments of torment,
that they might be forced either to blaspheme their legislator, or to
eat what was forbidden them, yet could they not be made to do either of
them, no, nor once to flatter their tormentors, or to shed a tear;
but they smiled in their very pains, and laughed those to scorn who
inflicted the torments upon them, and resigned up their souls with great
alacrity, as expecting to receive them again.
11. For their doctrine is this: That bodies are corruptible, and that
the matter they are made of is not permanent; but that the souls are
immortal, and continue for ever; and that they come out of the most
subtile air, and are united to their bodies as to prisons, into which
they are drawn by a certain natural enticement; but that when they are
set free from the bonds of the flesh, they then, as released from a long
bondage, rejoice and mount upward. And this is like the opinions of the
Greeks, that good souls have their habitations beyond the ocean, in a
region that is neither oppressed with storms of rain or snow, or with
intense heat, but that this place is such as is refreshed by the gentle
breathing of a west wind, that is perpetually blowing from the ocean;
while they allot to bad souls a dark and tempestuous den, full of
never-ceasing punishments. And indeed the Greeks seem to me to have
followed the same notion, when they allot the islands of the blessed to
their brave men, whom they call heroes and demi-gods; and to the souls
of the wicked, the region of the ungodly, in Hades, where their fables
relate that certain persons, such as Sisyphus, and Tantalus, and Ixion,
and Tityus, are punished; which is built on this first supposition,
that souls are immortal; and thence are those exhortations to virtue and
dehortations from wickedness collected; whereby good men are bettered
in the conduct of their life by the hope they have of reward after their
death; and whereby the vehement inclinations of bad men to vice are
restrained, by the fear and expectation they are in, that although
they should lie concealed in this life, they should suffer immortal
punishment after their death. These are the Divine doctrines of the
Essens 6 about the soul, which lay an unavoidable bait for such as have
once had a taste of their philosophy.
12. There are also those among them who undertake to foretell things
to come, 7 by reading the holy books, and using several sorts of
purifications, and being perpetually conversant in the discourses of the
prophets; and it is but seldom that they miss in their predictions.
13. Moreover, there is another order of Essens, 8 who agree with the
rest as to their way of living, and customs, and laws, but differ from
them in the point of marriage, as thinking that by not marrying they
cut off the principal part of human life, which is the prospect of
succession; nay, rather, that if all men should be of the same opinion,
the whole race of mankind would fail. However, they try their spouses
for three years; and if they find that they have their natural
purgations thrice, as trials that they are likely to be fruitful, they
then actually marry them. But they do not use to accompany with their
wives when they are with child, as a demonstration that they do not many
out of regard to pleasure, but for the sake of posterity. Now the women
go into the baths with some of their garments on, as the men do with
somewhat girded about them. And these are the customs of this order of
Essens.
14. But then as to the two other orders at first mentioned, the
Pharisees are those who are esteemed most skillful in the exact
explication of their laws, and introduce the first sect. These ascribe
all to fate [or providence], and to God, and yet allow, that to act what
is right, or the contrary, is principally in the power of men, although
fate does co-operate in every action. They say that all souls are
incorruptible, but that the souls of good men only are removed into
other bodies,--but that the souls of bad men are subject to eternal
punishment. But the Sadducees are those that compose the second order,
and take away fate entirely, and suppose that God is not concerned in
our doing or not doing what is evil; and they say, that to act what is
good, or what is evil, is at men's own choice, and that the one or the
other belongs so to every one, that they may act as they please. They
also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the
punishments and rewards in Hades. Moreover, the Pharisees are friendly
to one another, and are for the exercise of concord, and regard for the
public; but the behavior of the Sadducees one towards another is in some
degree wild, and their conversation with those that are of their own
party is as barbarous as if they were strangers to them. And this is
what I had to say concerning the philosophic sects among the Jews.
CHAPTER 9.
The Death Of Salome. The Cities Which Herod And Philip
Built. Pilate Occasions Disturbances. Tiberius Puts Agrippa
Into Bonds But Caius Frees Him From Them, And Makes Him
King. Herod Antipas Is Banished.
1. And now as the ethnarchy of Archelaus was fallen into a Roman
province, the other sons of Herod, Philip, and that Herod who was called
Antipas, each of them took upon them the administration of their own
tetrarchies; for when Salome died, she bequeathed to Julia, the wife of
Augustus, both her toparchy, and Jamriga, as also her plantation of palm
trees that were in Phasaelis. But when the Roman empire was translated
to Tiberius, the son of Julia, upon the death of Augustus, who had
reigned fifty-seven years, six months, and two days, both Herod and
Philip continued in their tetrarchies; and the latter of them built the
city Cesarea, at the fountains of Jordan, and in the region of Paneas;
as also the city Julias, in the lower Gaulonitis. Herod also built the
city Tiberius in Galilee, and in Perea [beyond Jordan] another that was
also called Julias.
2. Now Pilate, who was sent as procurator into Judea by Tiberius, sent
by night those images of Caesar that are called ensigns into Jerusalem.
This excited a very great tumult among the Jews when it was day;
for those that were near them were astonished at the sight of them, as
indications that their laws were trodden under foot; for those laws do
not permit any sort of image to be brought into the city. Nay, besides
the indignation which the citizens had themselves at this procedure,
a vast number of people came running out of the country. These came
zealously to Pilate to Cesarea, and besought him to carry those ensigns
out of Jerusalem, and to preserve them their ancient laws inviolable;
but upon Pilate's denial of their request, they fell 9 down prostrate
upon the ground, and continued immovable in that posture for five days
and as many nights.
3. On the next day Pilate sat upon his tribunal, in the open
market-place, and called to him the multitude, as desirous to give them
an answer; and then gave a signal to the soldiers, that they should all
by agreement at once encompass the Jews with their weapons; so the band
of soldiers stood round about the Jews in three ranks. The Jews were
under the utmost consternation at that unexpected sight. Pilate also
said to them that they should be cut in pieces, unless they would admit
of Caesar's images, and gave intimation to the soldiers to draw their
naked swords. Hereupon the Jews, as it were at one signal, fell down in
vast numbers together, and exposed their necks bare, and cried out
that they were sooner ready to be slain, than that their law should be
transgressed. Hereupon Pilate was greatly surprised at their prodigious
superstition, and gave order that the ensigns should be presently
carried out of Jerusalem.
4. After this he raised another disturbance, by expending that sacred
treasure which is called Corban 10 upon aqueducts, whereby he brought
water from the distance of four hundred furlongs. At this the multitude
had indignation; and when Pilate was come to Jerusalem, they came
about his tribunal, and made a clamor at it. Now when he was apprized
aforehand of this disturbance, he mixed his own soldiers in their armor
with the multitude, and ordered them to conceal themselves under the
habits of private men, and not indeed to use their swords, but with
their staves to beat those that made the clamor. He then gave the signal
from his tribunal [to do as he had bidden them]. Now the Jews were so
sadly beaten, that many of them perished by the stripes they received,
and many of them perished as trodden to death by themselves; by which
means the multitude was astonished at the calamity of those that were
slain, and held their peace.
5. In the mean time Agrippa, the son of that Aristobulus who had
been slain by his father Herod, came to Tiberius, to accuse Herod the
tetrarch; who not admitting of his accusation, he staid at Rome, and
cultivated a friendship with others of the men of note, but principally
with Caius the son of Germanicus, who was then but a private person.
Now this Agrippa, at a certain time, feasted Caius; and as he was very
complaisant to him on several other accounts, he at length stretched out
his hands, and openly wished that Tiberius might die, and that he might
quickly see him emperor of the world. This was told to Tiberius by
one of Agrippa's domestics, who thereupon was very angry, and ordered
Agrippa to be bound, and had him very ill-treated in the prison for six
months, until Tiberius died, after he had reigned twenty-two years, six
months, and three days.
6. But when Caius was made Caesar, he released Agrippa from his bonds,
and made him king of Philip's tetrarchy, who was now dead; but when
Agrippa had arrived at that degree of dignity, he inflamed the ambitious
desires of Herod the tetrarch, who was chiefly induced to hope for the
royal authority by his wife Herodias, who reproached him for his sloth,
and told him that it was only because he would not sail to Caesar
that he was destitute of that great dignity; for since Caesar had made
Agrippa a king, from a private person, much mole would he advance him
from a tetrarch to that dignity. These arguments prevailed with Herod,
so that he came to Caius, by whom he was punished for his ambition, by
being banished into Spain; for Agrippa followed him, in order to accuse
him; to whom also Caius gave his tetrarchy, by way of addition. So Herod
died in Spain, whither his wife had followed him.
CHAPTER 10.
Caius Commands That His Statue Should Be Set Up In The
Temple Itself; And What Petronius Did Thereupon.
1. Now Caius Caesar did so grossly abuse the fortune he had arrived at,
as to take himself to be a god, and to desire to be so called also, and
to cut off those of the greatest nobility out of his country. He also
extended his impiety as far as the Jews. Accordingly, he sent Petronius
with an army to Jerusalem, to place his statues in the temple, 11 and
commanded him that, in case the Jews would not admit of them, he should
slay those that opposed it, and carry all the rest of the nation into
captivity: but God concerned himself with these his commands. However,
Petronius marched out of Antioch into Judea, with three legions, and
many Syrian auxiliaries. Now as to the Jews, some of them could not
believe the stories that spake of a war; but those that did believe them
were in the utmost distress how to defend themselves, and the terror
diffused itself presently through them all; for the army was already
come to Ptolemais.
2. This Ptolemais is a maritime city of Galilee, built in the great
plain. It is encompassed with mountains: that on the east side, sixty
furlongs off, belongs to Galilee; but that on the south belongs to
Carmel, which is distant from it a hundred and twenty furlongs; and that
on the north is the highest of them all, and is called by the people of
the country, The Ladder of the Tyrians, which is at the distance of
a hundred furlongs. The very small river Belus 12 runs by it, at the
distance of two furlongs; near which there is Menmon's monument, 13 and
hath near it a place no larger than a hundred cubits, which deserves
admiration; for the place is round and hollow, and affords such sand
as glass is made of; which place, when it hath been emptied by the many
ships there loaded, it is filled again by the winds, which bring into
it, as it were on purpose, that sand which lay remote, and was no more
than bare common sand, while this mine presently turns it into glassy
sand. And what is to me still more wonderful, that glassy sand which is
superfluous, and is once removed out of the place, becomes bare common
sand again. And this is the nature of the place we are speaking of.
3. But now the Jews got together in great numbers with their wives and
children into that plain that was by Ptolemais, and made supplication to
Petronius, first for their laws, and, in the next place, for themselves.
So he was prevailed upon by the multitude of the supplicants, and by
their supplications, and left his army and the statues at Ptolemais, and
then went forward into Galilee, and called together the multitude
and all the men of note to Tiberias, and showed them the power of the
Romans, and the threatenings of Caesar; and, besides this, proved
that their petition was unreasonable, because while all the nations
in subjection to them had placed the images of Caesar in their several
cities, among the rest of their gods, for them alone to oppose it, was
almost like the behavior of revolters, and was injurious to Caesar.
4. And when they insisted on their law, and the custom of their country,
and how it was not only not permitted them to make either an image of
God, or indeed of a man, and to put it in any despicable part of their
country, much less in the temple itself, Petronius replied, "And am
not I also," said he, "bound to keep the law of my own lord? For if I
transgress it, and spare you, it is but just that I perish; while he
that sent me, and not I, will commence a war against you; for I am under
command as well as you." Hereupon the whole multitude cried out that
they were ready to suffer for their law. Petronius then quieted them,
and said to them, "Will you then make war against Caesar?" The Jews
said, "We offer sacrifices twice every day for Caesar, and for the Roman
people;" but that if he would place the images among them, he must first
sacrifice the whole Jewish nation; and that they were ready to expose
themselves, together with their children and wives, to be slain. At
this Petronius was astonished, and pitied them, on account of the
inexpressible sense of religion the men were under, and that courage
of theirs which made them ready to die for it; so they were dismissed
without success.
5. But on the following days he got together the men of power privately,
and the multitude publicly, and sometimes he used persuasions to them,
and sometimes he gave them his advice; but he chiefly made use of
threatenings to them, and insisted upon the power of the Romans, and the
anger of Caius; and besides, upon the necessity he was himself under [to
do as he was enjoined]. But as they could be no way prevailed upon, and
he saw that the country was in danger of lying without tillage; [for it
was about seed time that the multitude continued for fifty days together
idle;] so he at last got them together, and told them that it was
best for him to run some hazard himself; "for either, by the Divine
assistance, I shall prevail with Caesar, and shall myself escape the
danger as well as you, which will be matter of joy to us both; or, in
case Caesar continue in his rage, I will be ready to expose my own
life for such a great number as you are." Whereupon he dismissed the
multitude, who prayed greatly for his prosperity; and he took the army
out of Ptolemais, and returned to Antioch; from whence he presently sent
an epistle to Caesar, and informed him of the irruption he had made into
Judea, and of the supplications of the nation; and that unless he had a
mind to lose both the country and the men in it, he must permit them
to keep their law, and must countermand his former injunction. Caius
answered that epistle in a violent-way, and threatened to have Petronius
put to death for his being so tardy in the execution of what he had
commanded. But it happened that those who brought Caius's epistle were
tossed by a storm, and were detained on the sea for three months,
while others that brought the news of Caius's death had a good voyage.
Accordingly, Petronins received the epistle concerning Caius seven and
twenty days before he received that which was against himself.
CHAPTER 11.
Concerning The Government Of Claudius, And The Reign Of
Agrippa. Concerning The Deaths Of Agrippa And Of Herod And
What Children They Both Left Behind Them.
1. Now when Caius had reigned three years and eight months, and had been
slain by treachery, Claudius was hurried away by the armies that were at
Rome to take the government upon him; but the senate, upon the reference
of the consuls, Sentis Saturninus, and Pomponius Secundus, gave orders
to the three regiments of soldiers that staid with them to keep the city
quiet, and went up into the capitol in great numbers, and resolved to
oppose Claudius by force, on account of the barbarous treatment they
had met with from Caius; and they determined either to settle the nation
under an aristocracy, as they had of old been governed, or at least to
choose by vote such a one for emperor as might be worthy of it.
2. Now it happened that at this time Agrippa sojourned at Rome, and that
both the senate called him to consult with them, and at the same time
Claudius sent for him out of the camp, that he might be serviceable to
him, as he should have occasion for his service. So he, perceiving that
Claudius was in effect made Caesar already, went to him, who sent him as
an ambassador to the senate, to let them know what his intentions were:
that, in the first place, it was without his seeking that he was hurried
away by the soldiers; moreover, that he thought it was not just to
desert those soldiers in such their zeal for him, and that if he should
do so, his own fortune would be in uncertainty; for that it was a
dangerous case to have been once called to the empire. He added further,
that he would administer the government as a good prince, and not like
a tyrant; for that he would be satisfied with the honor of being called
emperor, but would, in every one of his actions, permit them all to
give him their advice; for that although he had not been by nature
for moderation, yet would the death of Caius afford him a sufficient
demonstration how soberly he ought to act in that station.
3. This message was delivered by Agrippa; to which the senate replied,
that since they had an army, and the wisest counsels on their side,
they would not endure a voluntary slavery. And when Claudius heard what
answer the senate had made, he sent Agrippa to them again, with the
following message: That he could not bear the thoughts of betraying them
that had given their oaths to be true to him; and that he saw he must
fight, though unwillingly, against such as he had no mind to fight;
that, however, [if it must come to that,] it was proper to choose a
place without the city for the war, because it was not agreeable to
piety to pollute the temples of their own city with the blood of their
own countrymen, and this only on occasion of their imprudent conduct.
And when Agrippa had heard this message, he delivered it to the
senators.
4. In the mean time, one of the soldiers belonging to the senate drew
his sword, and cried out, "O my fellow soldiers, what is the meaning of
this choice of ours, to kill our brethren, and to use violence to our
kindred that are with Claudius? while we may have him for our emperor
whom no one can blame, and who hath so many just reasons [to lay claim
to the government]; and this with regard to those against whom we are
going to fight." When he had said this, he marched through the whole
senate, and carried all the soldiers along with him. Upon which all
the patricians were immediately in a great fright at their being thus
deserted. But still, because there appeared no other way whither they
could turn themselves for deliverance, they made haste the same way with
the soldiers, and went to Claudius. But those that had the greatest luck
in flattering the good fortune of Claudius betimes met them before the
walls with their naked swords, and there was reason to fear that those
that came first might have been in danger, before Claudius could know
what violence the soldiers were going to offer them, had not Agrippa ran
before, and told him what a dangerous thing they were going about, and
that unless he restrained the violence of these men, who were in a fit
of madness against the patricians, he would lose those on whose account
it was most desirable to rule, and would be emperor over a desert.
5. When Claudius heard this, he restrained the violence of the soldiery,
and received the senate into the camp, and treated them after an
obliging manner, and went out with them presently to offer their
thank-offerings to God, which were proper upon, his first coming to
the empire. Moreover, he bestowed on Agrippa his whole paternal kingdom
immediately, and added to it, besides those countries that had been
given by Augustus to Herod, Trachonitis and Auranitis, and still besides
these, that kingdom which was called the kingdom of Lysanius. This gift
he declared to the people by a decree, but ordered the magistrates to
have the donation engraved on tables of brass, and to be set up in the
capitol. He bestowed on his brother Herod, who was also his son-in-law,
by marrying [his daughter] Bernice, the kingdom of Chalcis.
6. So now riches flowed in to Agrippa by his enjoyment of so large a
dominion; nor did he abuse the money he had on small matters, but
he began to encompass Jerusalem with such a wall, which, had it been
brought to perfection, had made it impracticable for the Romans to take
it by siege; but his death, which happened at Cesarea, before he had
raised the walls to their due height, prevented him. He had then reigned
three years, as he had governed his tetrarchies three other years.
He left behind him three daughters, born to him by Cypros, Bernice,
Mariamne, and Drusilla, and a son born of the same mother, whose name
was Agrippa: he was left a very young child, so that Claudius made the
country a Roman province, and sent Cuspius Fadus to be its procurator,
and after him Tiberius Alexander, who, making no alterations of the
ancient laws, kept the nation in tranquillity. Now after this, Herod the
king of Chalcis died, and left behind him two sons, born to him of his
brother's daughter Bernice; their names were Bernie Janus and Hyrcanus.
[He also left behind him] Aristobulus, whom he had by his former wife
Mariamne. There was besides another brother of his that died a private
person, his name was also Aristobulus, who left behind him a daughter,
whose name was Jotape: and these, as I have formerly said, were
the children of Aristobulus the son of Herod, which Aristobulus and
Alexander were born to Herod by Mariamne, and were slain by him. But as
for Alexander's posterity, they reigned in Armenia.
CHAPTER 12.
Many Tumults Under Cumanus, Which Were Composed By
Quadratus. Felix Is Procurator Of Judea. Agrippa Is Advanced
From Chalcis To A Greater Kingdom.