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that while so many accusations were laid against him in Judea during seven months before this time, he was not made acquainted with any of them. The causes of which were, that the roads were exactly guarded, and that men hated Antipater; for there were nobody who would run any hazard himself, to gain him any advantages.

CHAP. V

Antipater's navigation from Rome to his father; and how he was accused by Nicolaus of Damascus, and condemned to die by his father, and by Quintilius Varus, who was then president of Syria; and how he was then bound till Cæsar should be informed of his cause.

§ 1. Now Herod, upon Antipater's writing to him, that

having done all that he was to do, and this in the manner he was to do it, he would suddenly come to him, concealed his anger against him, and wrote back to him, and bid him not delay his journey, lest any harm should befal himself in his absence. At the same time also he made some little complaint about his mother, but promised, that he would lay those complaints aside when he should return. He withal expressed his entire affection for him, as fearing lest he should have some suspicion of him, and defer his journey to him; and lest, while he lived at Rome, he should lay plots for the kingdom, and moreover, do somewhat against himself. This letter Antipater met with in Cilicia; but had received an account of Pheroras's death before at Tarentum. This last news affected him deeply; not, out of any affection for Pheroras, but because he was dead without having murdered his father, which he had promised him to do. And when he was at Celendris in Cilicia, he began to deliberate with himself about his sailing home, as being much grieved with the ejection of his mother. Now some of his friends advised him, that he should tarry a while somewhere, in expectation of farther information. But others advised him to sail home without delay; for that if he were once come thither, he would soon put an end to all accusations, and that nothing afforded any weight to his accusers at present but his absence. He was persuaded by these last, and sailed on, and landed at the haven called Sebastus which Herod had built at vast expences in honour of Caesar, and called Sebastus. And now was Antipater evidently in a miserable condition, while nobody came to him nor saluted him, as they did at his going away, with good wishes or joyful acclamations; nor was there How any thing to hinder them from entertaining him, on

the contrary, with bitter curses, while they supposed he was come to receive his punishment for the murder of his brethren.

2. Now Quintilius Varus was at this time at Jerusalem, being sent to succeed Saturninus, as president of Syria, and was come as an assessor to Herod, who had desired his advice in his present affairs; and as they were sitting together, Antipater came upon them, without knowing any thing of the matter; so he came into the palace clothed in purple. The porters indeed received him in, but excluded his friends. And now he was in great disorder, and presently understood the condition he was in, while upon his going to salute his father he was repulsed by him, who called him a murderer of his brethren, and a plotter of destruction against himself, and told him that Varus should be his auditor and his judge the very next day; so he found, that what misfortune he now heard of was already upon him, with the greatness of which he went away in confusion: upon which his mother and his wife met him, (which wife was the daughter of Antigonus who was king of the Jews before Herod), from whom he learned all circumstances which concerned him, and then prepared himself for his trial.

3. On the next day Varus and the king sat together in judgment, and both their friends were also called in, as also the king's relations, with his sister Salome, and as many as could discover any thing, and such as had been tortured; and besides these, some slaves of Antipater's mother, who were taken up a little before Antipater's coming, and brought with them a written letter, the sum of which was this, that "he "should not come back, because all was come to his father's "knowledge; and that Cæsar was the only refuge he had left

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to prevent both his and her delivery into his father's hands." Then did Antipater fall down at his father's feet, and besought him "not to prejudge his cause, but that he might be first "heard by his father, and that his father would keep him "still unprejudiced." So Herod ordered him to be brought into the midst, and then " lamented himself about his chil "dren, from whom he had suffered such great misfortunes; "and because Antipater fell upon him in his old age. He "also reckoned up what maintenance, and what education " he had given them; and what seasonable supplies of wealth "he bad afforded them, according to their own desires, none

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of which favours had hindered them from contriving against "him, and from bringing his very life into danger, in order "to gain his kingdom, after an impious manner, by taking away his life before the course of nature, their father's "wishes, or justice, required that that kingdom should

"come to them; and that he wondered what hopes could ele"vate Antipater to such a pass as to be hardy enough to at"tempt such things; that he had by his testament in writing "declared him his successor in the government; and while "he was alive he was in no respect inferior to him, either "in his illustrious dignity, or in power and authority, he "having no less than fifty talents for his yearly income, and "had received for his journey to Rome no fewer than thirty "talents. He also objected to him the case of his brethren "whom he had accused; and if they were guilty, he had "imitated their example; and if not, he had brought him "groundless accusations against his near relations; for that "he had been acquainted with all those things by him, and "by nobody else, and had done what was done by his apἐσ probation, and whom he now absolved from all that was "criminal, by becoming the inheritor of the guilt of such their "parricide."

4. When Herod had thus spoken, he fell a weeping, and was not able to say any more; but at his desire Nicolaus of Damascus, being the king's friend, and always conversant with him, and acquainted with whatsoever he did, and withr the circumstances of his affairs, proceeded to what remained, and explained all that concerned the demonstrations, and evidences of the facts. Upon which Antipater, in order to make his legal defence, turned himself to his father, and " enlarged "upon the many indications he had given of his good-will 66 to him; and instanced in the honours that had been done "him, which yet had not been done, had he not deserved "them by his virtuous concern about him; for that he had "made provision for every thing that was fit to be foreseen "before-hand, as to giving him his wisest advice; and when

ever there was occasion for the labours of his own hands, "he had not grudged any such pains for him. And that it "was almost impossible that he, who had delivered his father "from so many treacherous contrivances laid against him, "should be himself in a plot against him, and so lose all the "reputation he had gained for his virtue, by his wickedness "which succeeded it; and this while he had nothing to pro"hibit him, who had already appointed his successor, to enjoy the royal honour with his father also at present, and "that there was no likelihood that a person who had the one "half of that authority without any danger, and with a good "character, should hunt after the whole infamy and danger, "and this when it was doubtful whether he could obtain it or not; and when he saw the sad example of his brethren "before him, and was both the informer and the accuser against them, at a time when they might not otherwise

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"have been discovered; nay, was the author of the punish"ment inflicted on them, when it appeared evidently that they were guilty of a wicked attempt against their father; " and that even the contentions there were in the king's family were indications that he had ever managed affairs out of the sincerest affection to his father. And as to what "he had done at Rome, Cæsar was a witness thereto; who yet was no more to be imposed upon than God himself: of "whose opinions his letters sent hither are sufficient evi"dence; and that it was not reasonable to prefer the calum"nies of such as proposed to raise disturbances, before those "letters; the greatest part of which calumnies had been "raised during his absence, which gave scope to his enemies 66 to forge them, which they had not been able to do if " he had been there." Moreover he shewed the weakness of the evidence obtained by torture, which was commonly false; because the distress men are in under such tortures naturally obliges them to say many things in order to please those that govern them. He also offered himself to the tor

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5. Hereupon there was a change observed in the assembly, while they greatly pitied Antipater, who by weeping and putting on a countenance suitable to his sad case, made them commiserate the same; insomuch that his very enemies were moved to compassion; and it appeared plainly that Herod himself was affected in his own mind, although he was not willing it should be taken notice of. Then did Nicolaus begin to prosecute what the king had begun, and that with great bitterness; and summed up all the evidence which arose from the tortures, or from the testimonies." He principally "and largely cried up the king's virtues, which he had exhi"bited in the maintenance and education of his sons; while "he could never gain any advantage thereby, but still fell "from one misfortune to another. Although he owned, that "he was not so much surprised with that thoughtless beha"viour of his former sons, who were but young, and were "besides corrupted by wicked counsellors, who were the oc"casions of their wiping out of their minds the righteous "dictates of nature and this out of a desire of coming to the government sooner than they ought to do; yet that he "could not but justly stand amazed at the horrid wickedness "of Antipater, who, although he had not only had great "benefits bestowed on him by his father, enough to tame his reason, yet could not be more tamed than the most envenomed serpents; whereas even those creatures admit of some mitigation, and will not bite their benefactors, while "Antipater hath not let the misfortunes of his brethren be

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any hindrance to him, but he hath gone on to imitate their "barbarity notwithstanding. Yet wast thou, O Antipater, "(as thou hast thyself confessed), the informer as to what "wicked actions they had done, and the searcher out of the " evidence against them, and the author of the punishment "they underwent upon their detection. Nor do we say "this as accusing thee for being so zealous in thy anger "against them, but are astonished at thy endeavours to imi"tate their profligate behaviour; and we discover thereby, "that thou did not act thus for the safety of thy father, but "for the destruction of thy brethren, that by such outside "hatred of their impiety, thou mightest be believed a lover "of thy father, and mightest thereby get thee power enough "to do mischief with the greatest impunity; which design "thy actions indeed demonstrate. It is true, thou tookest "thy brethren off because thou didst convict them of their "wicked designs: but thou didst not yield up to justice "those who were their partners; and thereby didst make it " evident to all men, that thou madest a covenant with them 66 against thy father, when thou chosest to be the accuser of "thy brethren, as desirous to gain to thyself alone this ad"vantage of laying plots to kill thy father, and so to enjoy "double pleasure, which is truly worthy of thy evil disposi"tion, which thou hast openly shewed against thy brethren; on which account thou didst rejoice, as having done a most "famous exploit, not was that behaviour unworthy of thee. "But if thy intention were otherwise, thou art worse than "they; while thou didst contrive to hide thy treachery against

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thy father, thou didst hate them, not as plotters against "thy father, for in that case thou hadst not thyself fallen upon the like crime, but as successors of his dominions, " and more worthy of that succession than thyself. Thou "wouldest kill thy father after thy brethren, lest thy lies "raised against them might be detected; and lest thou "shouldest suffer what punishment thou hadst deserved, thou "hadst a mind to exact that punishment of thy unhappy "father, and didst devise such a sort of uncommon parricide 66 as the world never yet saw. For thou who art his son did not only lay a treacherous design against thy father, and "didst it while he loved thee and had been thy benefactor, "had made thee in reality his partner in the kingdom, and "had openly declared thee his successor, while thou wast not "forbidden to taste the sweetness of authority already, and "hadst the firm hope of what was future by thy father's "determination, and the security of a written testament. "But for certain, thou didst not measure these things accord"ing to thy father's various disposition, but according to thy

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VOL. III.

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