friendship with Cæsar, and to supply his army with money, and all sorts of provisions which they wanted: and, accordingly, when they saw Antipater and the high-priest of the same sentiments, they did as they were desired. And when the Jews about Memphis heard that these Jews were come over to Cæsar, they also invited Mithridates to come to them so he came and received them also into his army. 2. And when Mithridates had gone over all Delta, as the place is called, he came to a pitched battle with the enemy, near the place called The Jewish Camp. Now Mithridates had the right wing, and Antipater the left; and when it came to a fight, that wing where Mithridates was, gave way, and was likely to suffer extremely, unless Antipater had come running to him with his own soldiers along the shore, when he had already beaten the enemy that opposed him: so he delivered Mithridates, and put those Egyptians who had been too hard for him to flight. He also took their camp, and continued in the pursuit of them. He also recalled Mithridates, who had been worsted, and was retired a great way off; of whose soldiers eight hundred fell, but of Antipater's fifty. So Mithridates sent an account of this battle to Cæsar, and openly declared that Antipater was the author of this victory, and of his own preservation, insomuch that Cæsar commended Antipater then, and made use of him all the rest of that war in the most hazardous undertakings: he happened also to be wounded in one of those engagements. 3. However, when Cæsar, after some time, had finished that war, and was sailed away for Syria, he honoured Antipater greatly, and confirmed Hyrcanus in the high-priesthood; and bestowed on Antipater the privilege of a citizen of Rome, and a freedom from taxes every where: and it is reported by many, that Hyrcanus went along with Antipater in this expedition, and came himself into Egypt. And Strabo of Cappadocia bears witness to this, when he says thus, in the name of Asinius: "After Mithridates had invaded Egypt, and with him Hyrcanus the high-priest of the Jews." Nay, the same Strabo says thus again, in another place, in the name of Hypsicrates, that "Mithridates at first went out alone, but that Antipater, who had the care of the Jewish affairs, was called by him to Askelon, and that he had gotten ready three thousand soldiers to go along with him, and encouraged other governors of the country to go along with him also; and that Hyrcanus, the high-priest, was also present in this expedition." This is what Strabo says. 4. But Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, came at this time to Cæsar, and "lamented his father's fate; and complained that it was by Antipater's means that Aristobulus was taken off by poison, and his brother was beheaded by Scipio, and desired that he would take pity of him, who had been ejected out of that principality which was dueto him." He also accused Hyrcanus and Antipater as governing the nation by violence, and offering injuries to himself. Antipater was present, and made his defence, as to the accusations that were laid against him. "He demonstrated that Antigonus and his party were given to innovation, and were seditious persons. He also put Cæsar in mind what difficult services he had undergone when he had assisted him in his wars, and discoursed about what he was a witness of himself. He added, that Aristobulus was justly carried away to Rome, as one that was an enemy to the Romans, and could never be brought to be a friend to them, and that his brother had no more than he deserved from Scipio, as being seized in committing robberies; and that this punishment was not inflicted on him in a way of violence or injustice by him that did it." 5. When Antipater had made this speech, Cæsar appointed Hyrcanus to be high-priest; and gave Antipater what principality he himself should choose, leaving the determination to himself; so he made him procurator of Ju dea. He also gave Hyrcanus leave to raise up the walls of his own city, upon his asking that favour of him, for they had been demolished by Pompey. And this grant he sent to the consuls at Rome, to be engraven in the capital. The decree of the senate was this that follows: "Lucius Ve * Take Dr. Hudson's note upon this place, which I suppose to be the truth" Here is some mistake in Josephus: for when he had promised us a decree for the restoration of Jerusalem, he brings in a decree of far greater antiquity, and that a league of friendship and union only. One may easily believe that Josephus gave order for one thing, and his amanuensis performed another, by transposing decrees that concerned the Hyrcani, and as deluded by the sameness of their names; for that belongs to the first high-priest of this name, [John Hyrcanus,] which Josephus here ascribes to one that lived later, [Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander Janneus.] However, the decree which he proposes to set down follows a little lower, in the collection of Roman decrees that concerned the Jews, and is that dated when Cæsar was consul the fifth time." See chap. x. 1.5. Vol- IV. C lerius, the son of Lucius the prætor, referred this to the senate, upon the ides of December, in the temple of Concord. There were present at the writing of this decree Lucius Coponius, the son of Lucius of the Colline tribe, and Papirius of the Quirine tribe, concerning the affairs which Alexander, the son of Jason, and Numinius, the son of Antiochus, and Alexander, the son of Dositheus, ambassadors of the Jews, good and worthy men, proposed, who came to renew that league of good-will and friendship with the Romans which was in being before. They also brought a shield of gold, as a mark of confederacy, valued at fiftythousand pieces of gold; and desired that letters might be given them, directed both to the free cities, and to the kings, that their country and their havens might be at peace, and that no one among them might receive any injury. It therefore pleased [the senate] to make a league of friendship and good-will with them, and to bestow on them whatsoever they stood in need of, and to accept of the shield which was brought by them. This was done in the ninth year of Hyrcanus the high-priest and ethnarch, in the month Panemus." Hyrcanus also received honours from the people of Athens, as having been useful to them on many occasions. And when they wrote to him, they sent him this decree, as it here follows: "Under the prutaneia and priesthood of Dyonysius, the son of Esculapius, on the fifth day of the latter part of the month Panemus, this decree of the Athenians was given to their commanders, when Agothecles was archon, and Eucles, the son of Menander of Alimusia, was the scribe. In the month Munychion, on the eleventh day of the Prutaneia, a council of the presidents was held in the theatre. Dorotheus the high-priest, and the fellow presidents with him, put it to the vote of the people. Dyonysius, the son of Dyonysius, gave the sentence since Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, the highpriest and ethnarch of the Jews, continues to bear goodwill to our people in general, and to every one of our citizens in particular, and treats them with all sorts of kindness; and when any of the Athenians come to him, either as ambassadors, or on any occasion of their own, he receives them in an obliging manner, and sees that they are conducted back in safety, of which we have had several former testimonies, it is now also decreed, at the report of Theodosius, the son of Theodorus, and upon his putting the people in mind of the virtue of this man, and that his purpose is to do us all the good that is in his power, to honour him with a crown of gold, the usual reward according to the law, and to erect his statue in brass in the temple of Demus, and of the graces; and that this present of a crown shall be proclaimed publicly in the theatre, in the Dyonysian shows, while the new tragedies are acting; and in the Panathenean, and Eleusinian, and Gymnical shows also; and that the commanders shall take care, while he continues in his friendship, and preserves his good will to us, to return all possible honour and favour to the man for his affection and generosity; that by this treatment it may appear how our people receive the good kindly, and repay them a suitable reward; and he may be induced to proceed in his affection towards us by the honours we have already paid him. That ambassadors be also chosen out of all the Athenians, who shall carry this decree to him, and desire him to accept of the honours we do him, and to endeavour always to be doing some good to our city." And this shall suffice us to have spoken as to the honours that were paid by the Romans, and the people of Athens, to Hyrcanus. How Antipater committed the care of Galilee to Herod, and that of Jerusalem to Phasaelus; as also how Herod, upon the Jews envy at Antipater, was accused before Hyrcanus. 1. Now, when Cæsar had settled the affairs of Syria, he sailed away and as soon as Antipater had conducted Cæsar out of Syria he returned to Judea. He then immediately raised up the wall which had been thrown down by Pompey; and, by coming thither, he pacified that tumult which had been in the country, and this by both threatening and advising them to be quiet: for that, "if they would be of Hyrcanus's side, they would live happily and lead their lives without disturbance, in the enjoyment of their own possessions; but if they were addicted to the hopes of what might come by innovation, and aimed to get wealth thereby, they should have him a severe master instead of a gentle governor, and Hyrcanus a tyrant instead of a king, and the Romans, together with Cæsar, their bitter enemies, instead of rulers, for that they would never bear him to be set aside whom they had appointed to govern." And when Antipater had said this to them, he himself settled the affairs of this country. 2. And seeing that Hyrcanus was of a slow and slothful temper, he made Phasaelus, his eldest son, governor of Jerusalem, and of the places that were about it, but committed Galilee to Herod, his next son, who was then a very young man, for he was but * fifteen years of age: but that youth of his was no impediment to him; but as he was a youth of great mind, he presently met with an opportunity of signalizing his courage; for finding that there was one Hezekias, a captain of a band of robbers, who over-ran the neighbouring parts of Syria with a great troop of them, he seized him, and slew him, as well as a great number of the other robbers that were with him; for which action he was greatly beloved by the Syrians; for when they were very desirous to have their country freed from this nest of robbers, he purged it of them: so they sung songs in his commendation in their villages and cities, as having procured them peace, and the secure enjoyment of their possessions; and, on this account, it was that he became known to Sextus Cæsar, who was a relation of the great Cæsar's, and was now president of Syria. Now Phasaelus, Herod's brother, was moved with emulation at his actions, and envied the fame he had thereby gotten, and became ambitious not to be behindhand with him in deserving it: so he made the inhabitants of Jerusalem bear him the greatest good-will, while he held the city himself, but did neither manage its affairs improperly, nor abuse his authority therein. conduct procured from the nation to Antipater such respect as is due to kings, and such honours as he might partake of if he were an absolute lord of the country. Yet did not this splendour of his, as frequently happens, in the least diminish in him that kindness and fidelity which he owed to Hyr canus. This 3. But now the principal men among the Jews, when *Those who will carefully observe the several occasional numbers and chronological characters in the life and death of this Herod, and of his children, hereafter noted, will see, that twenty-five years, and not fifteen, must for certain have been here Josephus's own num ber for the age of Herod, when he was made governor of Galilee. See chap. xxiii. 5. and chap. xxiv. 7. and particularly Antiq. B. xvii. ch. viii. 1. where about 44 years afterwards Herod dies an old man at about 70. |