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temple. Now the law forbids those that propose to live according to it, to erect images* or representations of any living creature. So these wise men persuaded [their scholars] to pull down the golden eagle; alledging, That "although they should incur any danger, which might bring them to "their deaths, the virtue of the action now proposed to "them, would appear much more advantageous to them than "the pleasures of life; since they would die for the preser"vation and observation of the law of their fathers; since

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they would also acquire an everlasting fame and commen"dation; since they would be both commended by the pre"sent generation, and leave an example of life that would never be forgotten to posterity; since that common cala"mity of dying cannot be avoided by our living so as to escape any such dangers; that therefore it is a right thing "for those who are in love with a virtuous conduct, to wait "for that fatal hour by such a behaviour as may carry them "out of the world with praise and honour; and that this will "alleviate death to a great degree, thus to come at it by the "performance of brave actions, which bring us into danger

of it; and at the same time, to leave that reputation be"hind them to their children, and to all their relations, whe"ther they be men or women, which will be of great advan"tage to them afterward.”

3. And with such discourses as this did these men excite the young men to this action; and a report being come to them that the king was dead, this was an addition to the wise men's persuasions; so, in the very middle of the day, they got upon the place, they pulled down the eagle, and cut it into pieces with axes, while a great number of the people were in the temple. And now the king's captain, upon hearing what the undertaking was, and supposing it was a thing of a higher nature than it proved to be, came up thither, having a great band of soldiers with him, such as was sufficient to put a stop to the multitude of those who pulled down what was dedicated to God: so he fell upon them unexpectedly, and as they were upon this bold attempt, in a foolish presumption rather than a cautious circumspection, as is usual with the multitude, and while they were in disorder, and incautious of what was for their advantage; so he caught no fewer than forty of the young men, who had the courage to stay behind when the rest ran away, together with the authors of this bold attempt, Judas and Matthias, who thought it an ignominious thing to retire upon his approach, and led them to the king. And when they were come to the king, and he

*That the making of images, without an intention to worship them, was not unlawful to the Jews, see the note on Antiq. B. VIlI. ch. vii. sect. 5. Vol. I.

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had asked them if they had been so bold as to pull down what he had dedicated to God? "Yes, (said they) what was ❝contrived, we contrived, and what had been performed, "we performed it, and that with such a virtuous courage as "becomes men; for we have given our assistance to those "things which were dedicated to the majesty of God, and we have provided for what we have learned by hearing the "law; and it ought not to be wondered at, if we esteem "those laws which Moses had suggested to him, and were

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taught him by God, and which he wrote and left behind "him, more worthy of observation than thy commands. Ac"cordingly we will undergo death, and all sorts of punish"ment which thou canst inflict upon us, with pleasure, since 86 we are conscious to ourselves that we shall die, not for any "unrighteous actions, but for our love to religion." And thus they all said, and their courage was still equal to their profession, and equal to that with which they readily set about this undertaking. And when the king had ordered them to be bound, he sent them to Jericho, and called together the principal men among the Jews; and when they were come, he made them assemble in the theatre, and because he could not himself stand, he lay upon a couch, and " enu"merated the many labours that he had long endured on "their account, and his building of the temple, and what a "vast charge that was to him; while the Asamoneans, dur"ing the hundred twenty-five years of their government, "had not been able to perform any so great a work for the "honour of God as that was: that he had also adorned it "with very valuable donations; on which account he hoped "that he had left himself a memorial, and procured himself 66 a reputation after his death. He then cried out, that these "men had not abstained from affronting him, even in his "life-time, but that in the very day-time, and in the sight of "the multitude, they had abused him to that degree, as to "fall upon what he had dedicated, and in that way of abuse, "had pulled it down to the ground. They pretended, in"deed, that they did it to affront him; but if any one, considering the thing truly, they will find that they were guil"ty of sacrilege against God therein."

4. But the people, on account of Herod's barbarous temper, and for fear he should be so cruel as to inflict punishment on them, said, "What was done, was done without "their approbation, and that it seemed to them that the ac

tors might well be punished for what they had done." But as for Herod, he dealt more mildly with others [of the assem bly]; but he deprived Matthias of the high-priesthood, as in part on occasion of this action, and made Joazar, who was

Matthias's wife's brother, high-priest in his stead. Now it happened that during the time of the high-priesthood of this Matthias, there was another person made high-priest for a single day, that very day which the Jews observed as a fast. The occasion was this: This Matthias the high-priest, on the night before that day, when the fast was to be celebrated, seemed, in a dream,* to have conversation with his wife; and because he could not officiate himself on that account, Joseph, the son of Ellemus, his kinsman, assisted him in that sacred office. But Herod deprived this Matthias of the highpriesthood, and burnt the other Matthias, who had raised the sedition, with his companions, alive. And that very night there was an eclipse of the moon.†

5. But now Herod's distemper greatly increased upon him after a severe manner, and this by God's judgment upon him for his sins; for a fire glowed in him slowly, which did not so much appear to the touch outwardly, as it augmented his pains inwardly; for it brought upon him a vehement appetite to eating, which he could not avoid to supply with one sort of food or other. His entrails were also exulcerated, and the chief violence of his pain lay on his colon; an aqueous and transparent liquor also had settled itself about his feet, and a like matter afflicted him at the bottom of his belly. Nay, farther, his privy-member was putrified, and produced worms; and when he sat upright, he had a difficulty of breathing, which was very loathsome, on account of the stench of his breath, and the quickness of its returns: he had also convulsions in all parts of his body, which increased his strength to an insufferable degree. It was said by those who pretended to divine, and who were endued with wisdom to foretel such things, that God inflicted this punishment on the king, on account of his great impiety; yet was he still in hopes of re

*This fact, that one Joseph was made high-priest for a single day, on ocea sion of the action here specified, that befel Matthias, the real high-priest, in his sleep, the night before the great day of expiation, is attested to both in the Mishna and Talmud, as Dr. Hudson here informs us. And indeed, from this fact, thus fully attested, we may confute that pretended rule in the Talmud here mention. ed, and endeavoured to be excused by Reland, that the high-priest was not suffered to sleep the night before that great day of expiation; which watching would surely rather unfit him for the many important duties he was to perform on that solemn day, than dispose him duly to perform them. Nor do such Talmudical rules, when unsupported by better evidence, much less when contradicted thereby, seem to me of weight enough to deserve that so great a man as Reland should spend his time in endeavours at their vindication.

This eclipse of the moon (which is the only eclipse of either of the lumina ries mentioned by our Josephus in any of his writings,) is of the greatest consequence for the determination of the time for the death of Herod and Antipater, and for the birth and entire chronology of Jesus Christ. It happened March 13th, in the year of the Julian period 4710, and the 4th year before the Christian æra. See its calculation by the rules of astronomy, at the end of the Ase tronological Lectures, edit. Lat. page 451, 452.

covering, though his afflictions seemed greater than any one could bear. He also sent for physicians, and did not refuse to follow what they prescribed for his assistance, and went beyond the river Jordan, and bathed himself in the warm baths that were at Callirrhoe, which, besides their other general virtues, were also fit to drink; which water runs into the lake called Asphaltitis. And when the physicians once thought fit to have him bathed in a vessel full of oil, it was supposed that he was just dying; but, upon the lamentable cries of his domestics, he revived: and having no longer the least hopes of recovering, he gave order that every soldier should be paid fifty drachmæ ; and he also gave a great deal. to their commanders, and to his friends, and came again to Jericho, where he grew so choleric, that it brought him to do all things like a madman; and though he were near his death, he contrived the following wicked designs. He commanded that all the principal men of the entire Jewish nation, wheresoever they lived, should be called to him. Accordingly, there were a great number that came, because the whole nation was called, and all men heard of this call, and death was the penalty of such as should despise the epistles that were sent to call them. And now the king was in a wild rage against them all, the innocent as well as those that had afforded him ground for accusations; and when they were come, he ordered them to be all shut up in the hippodrome,* and sent for his sister Salome, and her husband Alexis, and spake thus to them: I shall die in a little time, so great are my pains, "which death ought to be cheerfully borne, and to be welcom"ed by all men; but what principally troubles me is this, "that I shall die without being lamented; and without such "mourning as men usually expect at a king's death. For "that he was not unacquainted with the temper of the Jews, "that his death would be a thing very desirable, and exceed"ingly acceptable to them; because during his lifetime they were ready to revolt from him, and to abuse the donations "he had dedicated to God; that it therefore was their busit ness to resolve to afford him some alleviation of his great 66 sorrows on this occasion; for that, if they do not refuse him "their consent in what he desires, he shall have a great "mourning at his funeral, and such as never any king had "before him; for then the whole nation would mourn from "their very soul, which otherwise would be done in sport " and mockery only. He desired therefore that as soon as "they see he hath given up the ghost, they shall place sol"diers round the hippodrome, while they do not know that

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"he is dead; and that they shall not declare his death to the "multitude till this is done, but that they shall give orders "to have those that are in custody shot with their darts; and "that this slaughter of them all will cause that he shall not "miss to rejoice on a double account. That as he is dying, "they will make him secure that his will shall be executed "in what he charges them to do; and that be shall have the "honour of a memorable mourning at his funeral. So he "deplored his condition, with tears in his eyes, and obtested "them by the kindness due from them, as of his kindred, "and by the faith they owed to God, and begged of them "that they would not hinder him of this honourable mourn❝ing at his funeral." So they promised him not to transgress his commands.

6. Now any one may easily discover the temper of this man's mind, which not only took pleasure in doing what he had done formerly against his relations, out of the love of life, but by those commands of his which savoured of no humanity: since he took care, when he was departing out of this life, that the whole nation should be put into mourning, and indeed made desolate of their dearest kindred, when he gave order that one out of every family should be slain, although they had done nothing that was unjust, or that was against him, nor were they accused of any other crimes; while it is usual for those who have any regard to virtue, to lay aside their hatred at such a time, even with respect to those they justly esteemed their enemies.

CHAP. VII.

Herod has thoughts of killing himself with his own hand: and a little afterwards he orders Antipater to be slain.

§ 1. As he was giving these commands to his relations,

there came letters from his ambassadors, who had been sent to Rome unto Cæsar, which, when they were read, their purport was this: That "Acme was slain by Cæsar, out of

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his indignation at what hand she had in Antipater's wicked "practices and that as to Antipater himself, Cæsar left it to "Herod to act as became a father and a king, and either to "banish him, or take away his life, which he pleased." When Herod heard this, he was somewhat better, out of the pleasure he had from the contents of the letters, and was elevated at the death of Acme, and at the power that was given him over his son; but as his pains were become very great, he was now ready to faint for want of somewhat to eat; so he called for an apple, and a knife; for it was his cus

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