was that came as the last storm, and entirely sunk the young men, when they were in great danger before. For Salome came running to the king, and informed him of what admonition had been given her; whereupon he could bear no longer, but commanded both the young men to be bound, and kept the one asunder from the other. He also sent Volumnius, the general of his army, to Cæsar immediately, as also his friend Olympus with him, who carried the informations in writing along with them. Now as soon as these had sailed to Rome, and delivered the king's letters to Cæsar, Cæsar was mightily troubled at the case of the young men ; yet did not he think he ought to take the power from the father of condemning his sons: so he wrote back to him, and appointed him to have the power over his sons; but said withal, That he would do well to make an examination "into this matter of the plot laid against him, in a public "court; and to take for his assessors his own kindred, "the governors of the province and if those sons be found "guilty, to put them to death; but if they appear to have "thought of no more than flying away from him, that he "should moderate their punishment."

and

2. With these directions Herod complied, and came to Berytus, where Cæsar had ordered the court to be assembled, and got the judicature together. The presidents sat first, as Cæsar's letters had appointed, who were Saturninus, and Pedanius, and their lieutenants that were with them, with whom was the procurator Volumnius also; next to them sat the king's kinsmen and friends, with Salome also, and Pheroras; after whom sat the principal men of all Syria, excepting Archelaus; for Herod had a suspicion of him, because he was Alexander's father-in-law. Yet did not he produce his sons in open court; and this was done very cunningly; for he knew well enough, that had they but appeared only, they would certainly have been pitied; and if withal they had been suffered to speak, Alexander would easily have answered what they were accused of; but they were in custody at Platane, a village of the Sidonians.

3. So the king got up and inveighed against his sons, as if they were present; and as for that part of the accusation that they had plotted against him, he urged it but faintly, because he was destitute of proofs; but he insisted before the assessors on the reproaches, and jests, and injurious carriage, and ten thousand the like offences against him, which were heavier than death itself; and when nobody contradicted him, he moved them to pity his case, as though he had been condemned himself, now he had gained a bitter victory against his sons. So he asked every one's sentence, which sentence

was first of all given by Saturninus, and was this, That he condemned the young men, but not to death; for that it was not fit for him, who bad three sons of his own now present, to give his vote for the destruction of the sons of another. The two lieutenants also gave the like vote; some others there were also who followed their example; but Volumnius began to vote on the more melancholy side, and all those that came after him condemned the young men to die, some out of flattery, and some out of hatred to Herod; but none out of indignation at their crimes. And now all Syria and Judea was in great expectation, and waited for the last act of this 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 This soldier was in a manner disyoung men. tracted 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

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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 dear"est to thee; since thou hast frequently resolved that Pheroras and Salome should be put to death, and yet believest "them against thy sons; while these, by cutting off the suc"cession of thine own sons, leave, all wholly to Antipater, "and thereby chuse to have thee such a king as may be tho"roughly in their own power. However, consider whether "this death of Antipater's brethren will not make him hated "by the soldiers; for there is no body but commiserates the "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.

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 accusations, and 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 tortured;] 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 that had been slain to his kindred; but that Antipater made him change them for other women. Of Herod's marriages, and children.

§ 1. BUT 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 and Mariamne, his daughters; and all by Bernice, Salome's daughter: as for Glaphyra, Herod, as soon as he had killed Alexander, sent her back, together with her portion to Cappadocia. He married Bernice, Aristobulus's 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 Pheroras'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; yet the more he gave, the more he was hated, as 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 expec tations, 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.

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 childrens' fathers, which children are recommended to me by that natural commiseration which "their orphan condition requires; however, I will endeavour

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though I have been a most unfortunate father, to appear a "better grandfather, and to leave these children such cura"tors after myself as are dearest to me. I therefore betroth "thy daughter, Pheroras, to the elder of these brethren, the "children of Alexander, that thou mayest be obliged to take 6. care of them. I also betroth to thy son Antipater, the "daughter of Aristobulus; be thou therefore a father to "that orphan, and my 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 king"dom, and of my posterity, and may be look down with eyes 66 more serene upon them than he looked upon their fathers."

3. While he spake these words, he wept, and joined the childrens' 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 his father's lifetime; and that he should run another risk of losing the government, if Alexander's sons 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 subtilly 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 were 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, Roxane 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 tales of Antipater; so at that time he made Antipater a long and a peevish answer, and bid him be gone. Yet he afterwards prevailed upon cunningly by his flatteries, and changed the marriages; he married Aristobulus's daughter to him, and his son to Pheroras's daughter.

6. Now one may learn in this instance how very much

* 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. Joseph, Herod's uncle, and the [second] husband of his sister Salome, slain by Herod on account of Mariamne. 2. Joseph, Herod's quætor, 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.