cent up to it, which ascent is composed of steps of polished stones, in number two hundred. Within it are royal and very rich apartments, of a structure that provided both for security and for beauty. About the bottom there are habitations of such a structure as are well worth seeing, both on other accounts, and also on account of the water which is brought thither from a great way off, and at vast expences, for the place itself is destitute of water. The plain that is about this citadel is full of edifices, not inferior to any city in largeness, and having the hill above it in the nature of a castle.

5. And now, when all Herod's designs had succeeded according to his hopes, he had not the least suspicion that any troubles could arise in his kingdom, because he kept his people obedient, as well by the fear they stood in of him, for he was implacable in the infliction of his punishments, as by the provident care he had shewed towards them, after the most magnanimous manner, when they were under their distresses: But still he took care to have external security for his government as a fortress against his subjects; for the orations he made to the cities were very fine, and full of kindness; and he cultivated a seasonable good understanding with their governors, and bestowed presents on every one of them, inducing them thereby to be more friendly to him, and using his magnificent disposition, so as his kingdom might be the better secured to him, and this till all his affairs were every way more and more augmented. But then, this magnificent temper of his, and that submissive behaviour and liberality which he exercised towards Cæsar, and the most powerful men of Rome, obliged him to transgress the customs of his nation, and to set aside many of their laws, and by building cities after an extravagant manner, and erecting temples; * not in

* One may here take notice, that how tyrannical and extravagant soever Herod were in himself, and in his Grecian cities, as to those plays, and shews, and temples for idolatry, mentioned above ch. viii. § 1. and here also, yet durst even he introduce very few of them into the cities of the Jews, who, as Josephus here notes, would not even then have borne then, so zealous were they still for many of the laws of Moses, even under so tyrannical a government as this was of Herod the Great; which tyrannical government puts me naturally in mind of Dean Prideaux's honest reflection upon the like ambition after such tyrannical power in Pompey and Cæsar." One of these, [says he, at the year 60], could "not bear an equal, nor the other a superior; and through this ambitious humour and thirst after more power in these two men, the whole Roman em"pire being divided into two opposite factions, there was produced hereby the most destructive war that ever afflicted it; and the like folly too much reigns " in all other places. Could about thirty men be persuaded to live at home "in peace without enterprizing upon the rights of each other, for the vain glory "of conquest, and the enlargement of power, the whole world might be at quiet; "but their ambition, their follies, and their humour, leading them constantly "to encroach upon and quarrel with each other, they involve all that are un"der them in the mischiefs thereof; and many thousands are they which yearly "perish by it; so that it may almost raise a doubt, whether the benefit which

Judea indeed, for that would not have been borne, it being forbidden for us to pay any honour to images, or representations of animals, after the manner of the Greeks, but still he did thus in the country [properly] out of our bounds, and in the cities thereof. The apology which he made to the Jews for these things was this, that all was done, not out of his own inclinations, but by the commands and injunctions of others, in order to please Cæsar, and the Romans, as though he had not the Jewish customs so much in his eye as he had the honour of those Romans, while yet he had himself entire ly in view all the while, and indeed was very ambitious to leave great monuments of his government to posterity; whence it was that he was so zealous in building such fine cities, and spent such vast sums of money upon them.

6. Now upon his observation of a place near the sea, which was very proper for containing a city, and was before called Strato's Tower, he set about getting a plan for a magnificent city there, and erected many edifices with great diligence all over it, and this of white stone. He also adorned it with most sumptuous palaces, and large edifices for containing the people; and what was the greatest and most laborious work of all, he adorned it with an haven, that was always free from the waves of the sea. Its largeness was not less than the Pyræum [at Athens,] and had towards the city a double station for the ships. It was of excellent workmanship; and this was the more remarkable for its being built in a place that of itself was not suitable to such noble structures, but was to be brought to perfection by materials from other places, and at very great expences. This city is situate in Phenicia, in the passage by sea to Egypt, between Joppa and Dora, which are lesser maritime cities, and not fit for havens, on account of the impetuous south winds that beat upon them, which rolling the sands that come from the sea against the shores, do not admit of ships lying in their station, but the merchants are generally there forced to ride at their anchors in the sea itself. So Herod endeavoured to rectify this inconvenience, and laid out such a compass towards the land as might be sufficient for an haven, wherein the great ships might lie in safety; and this he effected by letting down vast stones of above fifty feet in length, not less than eighteen in breadth, and nine in depth, into twenty fathom deep, and as some were lesser, so were others bigger than those dimensions, This mole which he built by the sea-side was two hundred feet wide, the half of which was opposed to the current of

"the world receives from government be sufficient to make amends for the ca"lamities which it suffers from the follies, mistakes, and mal-administrations "of those that manage it."

the waves, so as to keep off those waves which were to break upon them, and so was called Procymatia, or the first breaker of the waves, but the other half had upon it a wall, with several towers, the largest of which was named Drusus, and was a work of very great excellence, and had its name from Drusus, the son-in-law of Cæsar, who died young. There were also a great number of arches where the mariners dwelt. There was also before them a key [or landing-place], which ran round the entire haven, and was a most agreeable walk to such as had a mind to that exercise; but the entrance or mouth of the port was made on the north quarter, on which side was the stillest of the winds of all in this place: And the basis of the whole circuit on the left hand, as you enter the port, supported a round turret, which was made very strong, in order to resist the greatest waves, while on the right hand, as you enter, stood two vast stones, and those each of them larger than the turret, which were over against them: these stood upright, and were joined together. Now there were edifices all along the circular haven, made of the politest stone, with a certain elevation, whereon was erected a temple, that was seen a great way off by those that were sailing for that haven, and had in it two statues, the one of Rome, the other of Cæsar. As the city itself was called Cesarea, which was also itself built of fine materials, and was of a fine structure; nay, the very subterranean vaults and cellars had no less of architecture bestowed on them than had the building above ground. Some of these vaults carried things at even distances to the haven and to the sea, but one of them ran obliquely, and bound all the rest together, that both the rain and the filth of the citizens were together carried off with ease, and the sea itself, upon the flux of the tide from without, came into the city, and washed it all clean. Herod also built therein a theatre of stone; and on the south quarter, behind the port, an amphitheatre also, capable of holding a vast number of men, and conveniently situated for a prospect to the sea. So this city was thus finished in* twelve years; during which time the king did not fail both to go on with the work, and to pay the charges that were necessary.

*Cesarea being here said to be rebuilt and adorned in twelve years, and soon afterwards in ten years, Antiq. B. XVI. ch. v. sect. 1. there must be a mistake in one of the places as to the true number, but in which of them it is hard posi tively to determine.

CHAP. X.

How Herod sent his sons to Rome; how also he was accused by Zenodorus, and the Gadarens, but was cleared of what they accused him of, and withal gained to himself the goodwill of Cæsar. Concerning the Pharisees, the Essenes, and Manahem.

§ 1. WHEN Herod was engaged in such matters, and when he had already re-edified Sebaste, [Samaria] he resolved to send his sons Alexander and Aristobulus to Rome, to enjoy the company of Cæsar, who, when they came thither, lodged at the house of* Pollio, who was very fond of Herod's friendship and they had leave to lodge in Cæsar's own palace, for he received these sons of Herod with all humanity, and gave Herod leave to give his kingdom to which of his sons he pleased; and besides all this, he bestowed on him Trachon and Batanea, and Auranitis, which he gave him on the occasion following: One+ Zenodorus had hired what was called the house of Lysanias, who, as he was not satisfied with its revenues, became a partner with the robbers that inhabited the Trachonites, and so procured himself a larger income, for the inhabitants of those places lived in a mad way, and pillaged the country of the Damascenes, while Zenodorus did not restrain them, but partook of the prey they acquired. Now, as the neighbouring people were hereby great sufferers, they complained to Varro, who was then president [of Syria,] and entreated him to write to Cæsar about this injustice of Zenodorus. When these matters were laid before Cæsar, he wrote back to Varro to destroy those nests of robbers, and to give the land to Herod, that so by his care the neighbouring countries might be no longer disturbed with these doings of the Trachonites, for it was not an easy thing to restrain them, since this way of robbery had been their usual practice, and they had no other way to get their living, because they had neither any city of their own, nor lands in their possession, but only some receptacles and dens in the earth, and there they and their cattle lived in common together However, they had made contrivances to get pools of

This Pollio, with whom Herod's sons lived at Rome, was not Pollio the Pharisee, already mentioned by Josephus, ch. i. sect. 1. and again presently "after this, ch. x. sect. 4. but Asinius Pollio the Roman, as Spanheim here ob

serves.

+ The character of this Zenodorus is so like that of a famous robber of the same name in Strabo, and that about this very country, and about this very time also, that I think Dr. Hudson hardly needed to have put a perhaps to his determination that they were the same.

water, and laid up corn in granaries for themselves, and were able to make great resistance, by issuing out on the sudden against any that attacked them; for the entrances of their caves were narrow, in which but one could come in at a time, and the places within incredibly large, and made very wide; but the ground over their habitations was not very high, but rather on a plain, while the rocks are altogether hard and difficult to be entered upon, unless any one gets into the plain road by the guidance of another, for these roads are not strait, but have several revolutions. But when these men are hindered from their wicked preying upon their neighbours, their custom is to prey one upon another, insomuch that no sort of injustice comes amiss to them. But when Herod had received this grant from Cæsar, and was come into this country, he procured skilful guides, and put a stop to their wicked robberies, and procured peace and quietness to the neighbouring people.

2. Hereupon Zenodorus was grieved, in the first place, because his principality was taken away from him, and still more so, because he envied Herod, who had gotten it; so he went up to Rome to accuse him, but returned back again without success. Now Agrippa was [about this time] sent to succeed Cæsar in the government of the countries beyond the Ionian sea, upon whom Herod light when he was wintering about Mitylene, for he had been his particular friend and companion, and then returned into Judea again. However, some of the Gadarens came to Agrippa, and accused Herod, whom he sent back hound to the king, without giving them the hearing; But still the Arabians, who of old bare ill will to Herod's government, were nettled, and at that time attempted to raise a sedition in his dominions, and, as they thought upon a more justifiable occasion; for Zenodorus, despairing already of success, as to his own affairs, prevented [his enemies] by selling to those Arabians a part of his principality, called Aurauitis, for the value of fifty talents; but as this was included in the donations of Cæsar, they contested the point with Herod, as unjustly deprived of what they had bought. Sometimes they did this by making incursions upon him, and sometimes by attempting force against him, and sometimes by going to law with him. Moreover, they persuaded the poorer soldiers to help them, and were troublesome to him, out of a constant hope that they should reduce the people to raise a sedition; in which designs those that are in the most miserable circumstances of life, are still the most earnest: and although Herod had been a great while apprised of these attempts, yet did not he indulge any severity to them, but by