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tragedy; yet did nobody suppose that Herod would be so barbarous as to murder his children; however, he carried them away to Tyre, and thence sailed to Cæsarea, and deliberated with himself, what sort of death the young men should suffer.

4. Now there was a certain old soldier of the king's, whose name was Tero, who had a son that was very familiar with, and a friend to Alexander, and who himself particularly loved the young men. This soldier was in a manner distracted out of the excess of the indignation he had at what was doing; and at first he cried out aloud as he went about, That justice was trampled under foot; that truth was pe"rished, and nature confounded; and that the life of man "was full of iniquity," and every thing else that passion could suggest to a man who spared not his own life; and at last he ventured to go to the king, and said, "Truly, I think, "thou art a most miserable man, when thou hearkenest to most wicked wretches, against those that ought to be dearest to thee; since thou hast frequently resolved that Phe66 roras and Salome should be put to death, and yet believest "them against thy sons; while these, by cutting off the succession of thine own sons, leave all wholly to Antipater, and thereby choose to have thee such a king as may be tho"roughly in their power. However, consider whether this "death of Antipater's brethren will not make him hated by "the soldiers; for there is nobody but commiserates the young men, and of the captains a great many shew their indignation at it openly." Upon his saying this, he named those that had such indignation; but the king ordered those men with Tero himself and his son, to be seized upon immediately.

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5. At which time there was a certain barber, whose name was Trypho. This man leaped out from among the people in a kind of madness, and accused himself, and said, "This "Tero endeavoured to persuade me also to cut thy throat "with my razor, when I trimmed thee, and promised that "Alexander should give me large presents for so doing." When Herod heard this, he examined Tero, with his son and the barber, by the torture; but as the others denied the accusation, he said nothing farther. Herod gave order that Tero should be racked more severely; but his son, out of pity to his father, promised to discover the whole to the king, If he would grant [that his father should be no longer tortur

ed;] when he had agreed to this, he said, "that his father, at the persuasion of Alexander, had an intention to kill him." Now some said this was forged, in order to free his father from his torments, and some said it was true.

6. And now Herod accused the captains, and Tero in an assembly of the people, and brought the people together in a body against them; and accordingly there were they put to death, together with [Trypho] the barber; they were killed by the pieces of wood, and the stones that were thrown at them. He also sent his sons to Sebaste, a city not far from Cæsarea, and ordered them to be there strangled; and as what he had ordered was executed immediately, so he commanded that their dead bodies should be brought to the fortress Alexandrium, to be buried with Alexander their grandfather by the mother's side. And this was the end of Alexander and Aristobulus.

CHAP. XXVIII.

How Antipater is hated of all men; and how the king espouses the sons of those who had been slain to his kindred; but that Antipater made him change them for other women. Of Herod's marriages and children.

1. Bur an intolerable hatred fell upon Antipater from the nation, though he had now an indisputable title to the succession; because they all knew that he was the person who contrived all the calumnies against his brethren. However, he began to be in a terrible fear, as he saw the posterity of those that had been slain growing up; for Alexander had two sons by Glaphyra, Tigranes and Alexander; and Aristobulus had Herod, and Agrippa, and Aristobulus his sons, with Herodias aud Mariamne his daughters, and all by Berenice, Salome's daughter; as for Glaphyra, Herod, as soon as he had killed Alexander, sent her back, together with her portion to Cappadecia. He married Berenice, Aristobulus' daughter, to Antipater's uncle by his mother, and it was Antipater, who, in order to reconcile her to him, when she had been at variance with him, contrived this match: he also got into Pherora's favour, and into the favour of Cæsar's friends by presents, and other ways of obsequiousness, and sent no small sums of money to Rome: Saturninus also, and his friends in Syria, were all well replenished with the presents he made them; ye the more he gave, the more he was hated, at not making these presents out of generosity, but spending his money out of fear.

Accordingly it so fell out, that the receivers bore him no more good will than before, but that those to whom he gave nothing were his more bitter enemies. However, he bestowed his money every day more and more profusely, on observing that, contrary to his expectations, the king was taking care about the orphans, and discovering at the same time his repentance for killing their fathers, by his commiseration of those that sprang from them.

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2. Accordingly Herod got together his kindred and friends, and set before them the children, and with his eyes full of tears, said thus to them: "It was an unlucky fate that "took away from me these children's fathers, which children are recommended to me by that natural commiseration "which their orphan condition requires; however, I will en "deavour, though I have been a most unfortunate father, to appear a better grandfather, and to leave these children "such curators after myself as are dearest to me. I there"fore betroth thy daughter Pheroras to the elder of these "brethren, the children of Alexander, that thou mayest be obliged to take care of them. I also betroth to thy son, An"tipater, the daughter of Aristobulus; be thou therefore a "father to that orphan, and ny son Herod [Philip] shall "have her sister, whose grandfather, by the mother's side, "was high-priest. And let every one that loves me be of my sentiments in these dispositions, which none that hath an affection for me will abrogate. And I pray God that he "will join these children together in marriage, to the advantage of my kingdom, and of my posterity, and may he look "down with eyes more serene upon them, than he looked up"on their fathers."

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3. While he spake these words, he wept, and joined the children's right hands together; after which he embraced them every one after an affectionate manner, and dismissed the assembly. Upon this, Antipater was in great disorder immediately, and lamented publicly at what was done; for he supposed that this dignity which was conferred on these orphans was for his own destruction, even in the father's lifetime, and that he should run another risk of losing the gov erument, if Alexander's son should have both Archelaus [a king,] and Pheroras a tetrarch to support them. He also considered how he was himself hated by the nation, and how they pitied these orphans; how great affection the Jews bare to those brethren of his when they were alive, and how glad

ly they remembered them now they had perished by his means. So he resolved by all the ways possible to get these espousals dissolved.

4. Now he was afraid of going subtilely about this matter with his father, who was hard to be pleased, and was presently moved upon the least suspicion: so he ventured to go to him directly, and to beg of him before his face, not to deprive him of that dignity which he had been pleased to bestow upon him, and that he might not have the bare name of a king, while the power was in other persons; for that he should never be able to keep the government, if Alexander's son was to have both his grandfather Archelaus, and Pheroras for his curators; and he besought him earnestly, since there was so many of the royal family alive, that he would change those [intended] marriages. Now the king had * nine wives, and children by seven of them; Antipater was himself born of Doris, and Herod [Philip] of Mariamne, the high priest's daughter; Antipas also and Archelaus were by Malthace, the Samaritan, as was his daughter Olympias, which his brother Joseph's + son had married; by Cleopatra of Jerusalem he had Herod and Philip, and by Pallas, Phasaelus; he had also two daughters, Roxana and Salome, the one by Phedra, and the other by Elpis; he had also two wives that had no children, the one his first cousin, and the other his niece; and besides these he had two daughters, the sisters of Alexander and Aristobulus, by Mariamne. Since, therefore, the royal family was so numerous, Antipater prayed him to change these [intended] marriages.

5. When the king perceived what disposition he was in towards these orphans, he was angry at it, and a suspicion came into his mind, as to those sons whom he had put to death, whether that had not been brought about by the false

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.)

To prevent confusion, it may not be amiss, with Dean Aldrich, to distinguish between four Josephs in the history of Herod. 1 Jọseph, Herod's uncle, and the [second] husband of his sister Salome, slain by Herod, on account of Mariamne. 2. Joseph. Herod's quæstor, 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.

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tales of Antipater; so at that time he made Antipater a long and peevish answer, and bid him be gone. Yet was he afterwards prevailed upon cunningly by his flatteries, and changed the marriages; he married Aristobulus' daughter to him, and his son to Pheroras' daughter.

6. Now one may learn in this instance how very much this flattering Antipater could do, even what Salome in the like circumstances could not do; for when she who was his sister, and who, by the means of Julia, Cæsar's wife, earnestly desired leave to be married to Sylleus the Arabian, Herod swore he would esteem her his bitter enemy, unless she would leave off that project: he also caused her against her own consent, to be married to Alexas, a friend of his, and that one of her daughters should be married to Alexas' son, and the other to Antipater's uncle by the mother's side. And for the daughters the king had by Mariamne, the one was married to Antipater, his sister's son, and the other. to his brother's son, Phasaelus.

CHAP. XXIX.

Antipater becomes intolerable. He is sent to Rome, and carries Herod's testament with him. Pheroras leaves his brother, that he may keep his wife. He dies at home.

1. Now when Antipater had cut off the hopes of the orphans, and had contracted such affinities as would be most for his own advantage, he proceeded briskly, as having a certain expectation of the kingdom, and as he had now assurance added to his wickedness, he became intolerable; for not being able to avoid the hatred of all people, he built his security upon the terror he struck into them. Pheroras also assisted him in his designs, looking upon him as already fixed in the kingdom. There was also a company of women in the court, which excited new disturbances; for Pheroras' wife, together with her mother and sister, as also Antipater's mother, grew very impudent in the palace. She also was so insolent as to affront the king's two daughters, on which account the king hated her to a great degree; yet although these women were hated by him, they domineered over others there was only Salome who opposed their good

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*These daughters of Herod whom Pheroras' wife affronted, were Salome and Roxana, two virgins, who were born to him of his two wives, Elpis, and Phedra. See Herod's genealogy, Antiq. Bɩ xyii, ch. i. § 3. vol iy.

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