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kings, I found them plotting against me; these have been put to death, and that in great measure, for the sake of Antipater; for as he was then young, and appointed to be my successor, I took care chiefly to secure him from danger; but this profligate wild beast, when he had been over "and above satiated with that patience which I shewed him, "he made use of that abundance I had given him against my"self; for I seemed to him to live too long, and he was very uneasy at the old age I was arrived at; nor could he stay any longer, but would be a king by parricide. And justly am I served by him for bringing him back out of the country to court, when he was of no esteem before, and for thrusting out those sons of mine, that were born of the queen, and for making him a successor to my dominions. "I confess to thee, O Varus, the great folly I was guilty of; " for I provoked those sons of mine to act against me, and cut "off their just expectations for the sake of Antipater; and, "indeed, what kindness did I do to them, that could equal "what I have done to Antipater; to whom I have, in a manner, yielded up my royal authority while I am alive, and "whom I have openly named for the successor to my domi"nions in my testament, and given him a yearly revenue of "his own of fifty talents, and supplied him with money to an

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extravagant degree out of my own revenue; and when he was lately about to sail to Rome, I gave him three hundred ta"lents, and recommended him, and him alone of all my chil"dren, to Cæsar, as his father's deliverer. Now what crimes "were those other sons of mine guilty of like these of Anti

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pater; and what evidence was there brought against them "strong as there is to demonstrate this son to have plotted "against me? Yet does this parricide presume to speak for "himself, and hopes to obscure the truth by his cunning "tricks. Thou, O Varus, must guard thyself against him; "for I know the wild beast, and I foresee how plausibly he "will talk, and his counterfeit lamentation. This was he "who exhorted me to have a care of Alexander, when he was alive, and not intrust my body with all men! This was he who came to my very bed, and looked about lest any one should lay snares for me! This was he who took "care of my sleep, and secured me from any fear of danger, "who comforted me under the trouble I was in upon the slaughter of my sons, and looked to see what affection my "surviving brethren bore me! This was my protector, and "the guardian of my body! and when I call to mind, O Varus, his craftiness upon every occasion, and his art of dissembling, I can hardly believe that I am still alive, and I "wonder how I have escaped such a deep plotter of mis

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"chief. However, since some fate or other makes my house "desolate, and perpetually raises up those that are dearest "to me against me, I will, with tears, lament my hard for"tune, and privately groan under my lonesome condition; yet am I resolved that no one who thirsts after my blood "shall escape punishment, although the evidence should ex"tend itself to all my sons."

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3. Upon Herod's saying this, he was interrupted by the confusion he was in; but ordered Nicolaus, one of his friends, to produce the evidence against Antipater. But in the mean time Antipater lifted up his head (for he lay on the ground before his father's feet) and cried out aloud, "Thou, O father "hast made my apology for me; for how can I be a parricide, "whom thou thyself confessest to have always had for thy guardian? Thou callest my filial affection prodigious lies, "and hypocrisy; how then could it be that I, who was so "subtil in other matters should here be so mad, as not to un"derstand, that it was not easy that he who committed so "horrid a crime could be concealed from men, but impos"sible that he should be concealed from the Judge of heaven, "who sees all things, and is present every where? or did not "I know what end my brethren came to, on whom God in"flicted so great a punishment, for their evil designs against "thee? And indeed, what was there that could possibly pro"voke me against thee? Could the hope of being a king do "it? I was a king already. Could I suspect hatred from "thee? No. Was not I beloved by thee? And what other "fear could I have! Nay, by preserving thee safe, I was a "terror to others. Did I want money? No; for who was " able to expend so much as myself? Indeed, father, had I "been the most execrable of all mankind, and had I had the "soul of the most cruel wild beast, must I not have been "overcome with the benefits thou hadst bestowed upon me? "whom, as thou thyself sayest, thou broughtest [into the pa"lace ;] whom thou didst prefer before so many of thy sons; "whom thou madest a king in thine own life-time, and by "the vast magnitude of the other advantages thou bestowedst "C on me, thou madest me an object of envy. O miserable

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"man! that thou shouldst undergo this bitter absence, and thereby afford a great opportunity for envy to arise against "thee, and a long space for such as were laying designs "against thee! Yet was I absent, father, on thy affairs, that "Sylleus might not treat thee with contempt in thine old age. "Rome is a witness to my filial affection, and so is Cæsar, "the ruler of the habitable earth, who oftentimes called me "Philopater. Take here the letters he hath sent thee, they

*A lover of his father.

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are more to be believed than the calumnies raised here; "these letters are my only apology; these I use as the demonstration of that natural affection I have to thee. "member that it was against my own choice that I sailed [to "Rome] as knowing the latent hatred that was in the king"dom against me. It was thou, O father, however unwillingly, who hast been my ruin, by forcing me to allow time. " for calumnies against me, and envy at me. However, I am come hither, and am ready to hear the evidence there is "against me. If I be a parricide, I have passed by land and "by sea without suffering any misfortune on either of them;

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but this method of trial is no advantage to me; for it "seems, O father, that I am already condemned, both be"fore God and before thee; and, as I am already condemn. "ed, I beg that thou wilt not believe the others that have "been tortured, but let fire be brought to torment me; let "the racks march through my bowels; have no regard to 66 any lamentations that this polluted body can make; for if "I be a parricide, I ought not to die without torture." Thus did Antipater cry out with lamentation and weeping, and moved all the rest, and Varus in particular, to commiserate his case. Herod was the only person whose passion was too strong to permit him to weep, as knowing that the testimonies against him were true.

4. And now it was that, at the king's command, Nicolaus, when he had premised a great deal about the craftiness of Antipater, and had prevented the effects of their commisération to him, afterwards brought in a bitter and large accusation against him, ascribing all the wickedness that had been in the kingdom to him, and especially the murder of his brethren, and demonstrated that they had perished by the calumnies he had raised against them. He also said that he had laid designs against them that were still alive, as if they were laying plots for the succession; and [said he] how can it be supposed that he, who prepared poison for his father, should abstain from mischief as to his brethren? He then proceeded to convict him of the attempt to poison Herod, and gave an account in order of the several discoveries that had been made, and had great indignation as to the affair of Pheroras, because Antipater had been for making him murder his brother, and had corrupted those that were dearest to the king, and filled the whole palace with wickedness; and when he had insisted on many other accusations, and the proofs for them, he left off.

5. Then Varus bid Antipater make his defence; but he lay long in silence, and said no more but this, " God is my "witness that I am entirely innocent." So Varus asked for

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the potion, and gave it to be drunk by a condemned malefactor, who was then in prison, who died upon the spot. Varus, when he had had a very private discourse with Herod, and had written an account of this assembly to Cæsar, went away after a day's stay. The king also bound Antipater, and sent away to inform Cæsar of his misfortunes.

6. Now after this it was discovered that Antipater had laid a plot against Salome also; for one of Antiphilus's domestic servants came and brought letters from Rome, from a maidservant of Julia [Cæsar's wife] whose name was Acme. By her a message was sent to the king, that she had found a letter written by Salome, among Julia's papers, and had sent it to him privately, out of her good-will to him. This letter of Salome contained the most bitter reproaches of the king, and the highest accusations against him. Antipater had forged this letter, and had corrupted Acme, and persuaded her to send it to Herod. This was proved by her letter to Antipater; for thus did this woman write to him: "As "thou desirest, I have written a letter to thy father, and have "sent that letter, and am persuaded that the king will not 66 spare his sister when he reads it. Thou wilt do well to "remember what thou hast promised when all is accom"plished."

7. When this epistle was discovered, and what the epistle forged against Salome contained, a suspicion came into the king's mind, that perhaps the letters against Alexander were also forged he was moreover greatly disturbed, and in a passion, because he had almost slain his sister on Antipater's account. He did no longer delay therefore to bring him to punishment for all his crimes; yet, when he was eagerly pursuing Antipater, he was restrained by a severe distemper he fell into. However, he sent an account to Cæsar about Acme, and the contrivances against Salome: he sent also for his testament, and altered it, and therein made Antipas king, as taking no care of Archelaus and Philip, because Antipater had blasted their reputations with him; but he bequeathed to Cæsar, besides other presents that he gave him, a thousand talents; as also to his wife, and children, and friends, and freedmen, about five hundred; he also bequeathed to all others, a great quantity of land, and of money; and shewed his respects to Salome, his sister, by giving her most splendid gifts. And this was what was contained in his testament, as it was now altered.

CHAP. XXXIII.

The golden eagle is cut to pieces. Herod's barbarity when he was ready to die. He attempts to kill himseif. He commands Antipater to be slain. He survives him five days, and then dies.

§ 1. 1. Now Herod's distemper became more and more severe to him, and this, because these his disorders fell upon him in his old age, and when he was in a melancholy condition; for he was already almost seventy years of age, and had been brought low by the calamities that happened to him about his children, whereby he had no pleasure in life, even when he was in health; the grief also that Antipater was still alive, aggravated his disease, whom he resolved to put to death now, not at random, but as soon as he should be well again, and resolved to have him slain [in a public manner.]

2. There also now happened to him, among his other calamities, a certain popular sedition. There were two men of learning in the city [Jerusalem] who were thought the most skilful in the laws of their country, and were on that account had in very great esteem all over the nation; they were, the one Judas, the son of Sepphoris, and the other Matthias, the son of Margalus. There was a great concourse of the young men to these men, when they expounded the laws, and there got together every day a kind of an army of such as were growing up to be men. Now when these men were informed that the king was wearing away with melancholy, and with a distemper, they dropped words to their acquaintance, how it was now a very proper time to defend the cause of God, and to pull down what had been erected contrary to the laws of their country; for it was unlawful there should be any such thing in the temple as images, or faces, or the like representation of any animal whatsoever. Now the king had put up a golden eagle over the great gate of the temple, which these learned men exhorted them to cut down; and told them, that if there should any danger arise, it was a glorious thing to die for the laws of their country; because that the * soul

Since, in these two sections, we have an evident account of the Jewish opinions in the days of Josephus, about a future happy state, and the resurrection of the dead, as in the New Testament, John xi. 24. I shall here refer to the other places in Josephus, before he became a Catholic Christian, which concern the same matters. Of the War, B. II. chap. viii. sect. 10, 11. B. III. chap. viii. § 4. Vol. III. B. VII. chap. vi. § 7. Contra Apion, B. I. § 30. Vol. IV. Where we may observe, that none of these passages are in his books of Antiquities, written peculiarly for the use of the Gentiles, to whom he thought it

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