4. At the same time also did Antipas, another of Herod's sons, sail to Rome, in order to gain the government; being buoyed up by Salome with promises, that he should take that government; and that he was a much honester and fitter man than Archelaus for that authority; since Herod had, in his former testament, deemed him the worthiest to be made king, which ought to be esteemed more valid than his latter testament. Antipas also brought with him his mother, and Ptolemy, the brother of Nicolaus, one that had been Herod's most honoured friend, and was now zealous for Antipas; but it was Ireneus the orator, and one who, on account of his reputation for sagacity, was intrusted with the affairs of the kingdom, who most of all encouraged him to attempt to gain the kingdom: by whose means it was that, when some advised him to yield to Archelaus, as to his elder brother, and who had been declared king by their father's last will, he would not submit so to do. And when he was come to Rome, all his relations revolted to him; not out of their good will to him, but out of their hatred to Archelaus; though indeed they were most of all desirous of gaining their liberty, and to be put under a Roman governor; but if there were too great an opposition made to that, they thought Antipas preferable to Archelaus, and so joined with him in order to procure the kingdom for him. Sabinus also by letters accused Archelaus to Cæsar. 5. Now when Archelaus had sent in his papers to Cæsar, wherein he pleaded his right to the kingdom, and his father's testament, with the accounts of Herod's money, and with Ptolemy, who brought Herod's seal, he so expected the event; but when Cæsar had read these papers, and Varus's and Sabinus's letters, with the accounts of the money, and what were the annual incomes of the kingdom, and understood that Antipas had also sent letters to lay claim to the kingdom, he summoned his friends together, to know their opinions, and with them Caius, the son of Agrippa, and of Julia his daughter, whom he had adopted, and took him, and made him sit first of all, and desired such as pleased to speak their minds about the affairs now before them. Now Antipater, Salome's son, a very subtle orator, and a bitter enemy to Archelaus, spake first to this purpose: That "it was ridiculous in Archelaus to plead now to have the kingdom given him, since ae had, in reality, taken already the power over it to himself before Cæsar had granted it to him; and appealed to those bold actions of his, in destroying so many at the Jewish festival; and, if the men had acted unjustly, it was but fit the punishing them should have been reserved to those that were out of the country, but had the power to punish them; and not been executed by a man that, if he pretended to be a king, he did an injury to Cæsar, by usurping that authority before it was determined for him by Cæsar; but, if he owned himself to be a private person, his case was much worse, since he, who was putting in for the kingdom, could by no means expect to have that power granted him, of which he had already deprived Cæsar [by taking it to himself.] He also touched sharply upon him, and appealed to his changing the commanders in the army, and his sitting in the royal throne beforehand, and his determination of lawsuits; all done as if he were no other than a king. He appealed also to his concessions to those that petitioned him on a public account, and indeed doing such things, than which he could devise no greater if he had been already settled in the kingdom by Cæsar. He also ascribed to him the releasing of the prisoners that were in the Hippodrome, and many other things, that either had been certainly done by him, or were believed to be done, and easily might be believed to have been done, because they were of such a nature, as to be usually done by young men, and by such as, out of a desire of ruling, seize upon the govern. ment too soon. He also charged him with his neglect of the funeral mourning for his father, and with having merry meetings the very night in which he died; and that it was thence the multitude took the handle of raising a tumult, and if Archelaus could thus requite his dead father, who had bestowed such be. nefits upon him, and bequeathed such great things to him, by pretending to shea tears for him in the day time, like an actor on the stage, but every night making

mirth for having gotten the government, he would appear to be the same Ar caelaus with regard to Cæsar, if he granted him the kingdom, which he had been to his father; since he had then dancing and singing, as though an enemy of his were fallen, and not as though a man was carried to his funeral, that was so nearly related, and had been so great a bent factor to him. But he said that the greatest crime of all was this, that he came now before Cæsar to obtain the kingdom by his grant, while he had before acted in all things às he could have acted if Cæsar himself, who ruled all, had fixed him firmly in the government And what he most aggravated in his pleading was the slaughter of those about the temple, and the impiety of it, as done at the festival; and how they were elain like sacrifices themselves, some of whom were foreigners, and others of their own country, till the temple was full of dead bodies; and all this was done, not by an alien, but by one who pretended to the lawful title of a king, that he might complete the wicked tyranny which his nature prompted him to, and which is hated by all men. On which account his father never so much as dreamed of making him his successor in the kingdom, when he was of a sound mind, because he knew his disposition; and, in his former and more authentic testament, he appointed his antagonist Antipas to succeed; but that Archelaus was called by his father to that digni when he was in a dying condition, both of body and mind, while Antipas was called when he was ripest in his judgment, and of such strength of body as made him capable of managing his own affairs; and if his father had the like notion of him formerly that he hath now showed, yet hath he given a sufficient specimen what a king he is likely to be,when he hath [in effect] deprived Cæsar of that power of disposing of the kingdom, which he justly hath, and hath not abstained from making a terrible slaughter of his fellow citizens in the temple, while he was but a private person."

6. So when Antipater had made this speech, and had confirmed what he had said by producing many witnesses from among Archelaus's own relations, he made an end of his pleadings. Upon which Nicolaus arose up to plead for Ar chelaus, and said, "That what had been done at the temple was rather to be attributed to the mind of those that had been killed, than to the authority of Archelaus; for that those who are the authors of such things, are not only wicked in the injuries they do of themselves, but in forcing sober persons to avenge themselves upon them. Now, it is evident that what these did in way of oppo. sition was done under pretence indeed against Archelaus, but in reality against Cæsar himself; for they, after an injurious manner, attacked and slew those who were sent by Archelaus, and who came only to put a stop to their doings. They had no regard, either to God or to the festival, whom Antipater yet is not ashamed to patronise, whether it be out of his indulgence of an enmity to Archelaus, or out of his hatred of virtue and justice. For as to those who begin such tumults, and first set about such unrighteous actions, they are the men who force those that punish them to betake themselves to arms even against their wills. So that An. tipater in effect ascribes the rest of what was done to all those who were of coun. sel to the accusers, for nothing which is here accused of injustice has been done, but what was derived from them as its authors; nor are those things evil in themselves, but sc represented only in order to do harm to Archelaus. Such is these men's inclination to do an injury to a man that is of their kindred, their father's benefactor, and familiarly acquainted with them, and that hath ever lived in friendship with them; for that, as to this testament, it was made by the king when he was of a sound mind, and so ought to be of more authority than his former testament: and that for this reason, because Cæsar is therein left to be the judge and disposer of all therein contained: and for Cæsar, he will not, to be sure, at all imitate the unjust proceedings of those men, who, during Herod's whole life, had on all occasions been joint partakers of power with him, and yet do zealously endeavour to injure his determination, while they have not themselves had the same regard to their kinsman [which Archelaus had.] Cæsar will not

therefore disannul the testament of a man whom he had entirely supported, of his friend and confederate, and that which is committed to him in trust to ratify: nor will Cæsar's virtuous and upright disposition, which are known and uncontested through all the habitable world, imitate the wickedness of these men in con. demning a king as a madman, and as having lost his reason, while he hath be. queathed the succession to a good son of his, and to one who flies to Cæsar's upright determination for refuge. Nor can Herod at any time have been mis. taken in his judgment about a successor, while he showed so much prudence as to submit all to Cæsar's determination.

7. Now when Nicolaus had laid these things before Cæsar, he ended his plea ; whereupon Cæsar was so obliging to Archelaus, that he raised him up when he had cast himself down at his feet, and said, that "he well deserved the kingdom;" and he soon let them know, that he was so far moved in his favour, that he would not act otherwise than his father's testament directed, and that was for the ad. vantage of Archelaus. However, while he gave this encouragement to Arche. laus to depend on him securely, he made no full determination about him; and, when the assembly was broken up, he considered by himself, whether he should confirm the kingdom to Archelaus, or whether he should part it among all Herod's posterity; and this because they all stood in need of much assistance to support them.

CHAP. X.

A Sedition of the Jews against Sabinus; and how Varus brought the Authors of it

to Punishment.

§ 1. BUT before these things could be brought to a settlement, Malthace, Arche. faus's mother, fell into a distemper, and died of it; and letters came from Varus, the president of Syria, which informed Cæsar of the revolt of the Jews; for, after Archelaus was sailed, the whole nation was in a tumult. So Varus, since he was there himself, brought the authors of the disturbance to punishment: and when he had restrained them for the most part from this sedition, which was a great ore, he took his journey to Antioch, leaving one legion of his army at Jerusalem. to keep the Jews quiet, who were now very fond of innovation. Yet did not this at all avail to put an end to that their sedition; for, after Varus was gone away, Sabinus, Cæsar's procurator, staid behind, and greatly distressed the Jews, relying on the forces that were left there, that they would by their multitude protect, him; for he made use of them, and armed them as his guards, thereby so oppres sing the Jews, and giving them so great disturbance, that at length they rebelled; for he used force in seizing the citadels, and zealously pressed on the search after the king's money, in order to seize upon it by force, on account of his love of gain, and his extraordinary covetousness.

2. But on the approach of Pentecost, which is a festival of ours so called from the days of our forefathers, a great many ten thousands of men got together; nor did they come only to celebrate the festival, but out of their indignation at the madness of Sabinus, and at the injuries he offered them. A great number there was of Galileans, and Idumeans, and many men from Jericho, and others who had passed over the river Jordan, and inhabited those parts. This whole multitude joined themselves to all the rest, and were more zealous than the others in making an assault on Sabinus, in order to be avenged of him: so they parted themselves into three bands, and encamped themselves in the places following: some of them seized on the Hippodrome; and of the other two bands, one pitched them. selves from the northern part of the temple to the southern, on the east quarter; but the third band held the western part of the city, where the king's palace was. Their work tended entirely to besiege the Romans, and to enclose them on all

sides. Now Sabinus was afraid of these men's number, and of their resolution, who had little regard to their lives, but were very desirous not to be overcome, while they thought it a point of puissance to overcome their enemies. So he sent immediately a letter to Varus; and, as he used to do, was very pressing with him, and entreated him to come quickly to his assistance, because the forces he had left were in imminent danger, and would probably, in no long time, be seized upon and cut to pieces; while he did himself get up to the highest tower of the fortress Phasaelus, which had been built in honour of Phasaelus, king Herod's brother, and called so when the Parthians* had brought him to his death. So Sabinus gave thence a signal to the Romans to fall upon the Jews, although he did not himself venture so much as to come down to his friends, and thought he might expect that the others should expose themselves first to die on account of his avarice. However, the Romans ventured to make a sally out of the place, and a terrible battle ensued; wherein, though it is true the Romans beat their adversaries, yet were not the Jews daunted in their resolutions, even when they had the sight of that terrible slaughter that was made of them; but they went round about, and got upon those cloisters which encompassed the outer court of the temple, where a great fight was still continued, and they cast stones at the Romans, partly with their hands, and partly with slings, as being much used to those exercises. All the archers also in array did the Romans a great deal of mischief; because they used their hands dexterously from a place superior to the others, and because the others were at an utter loss what to do; for when they tried to shoot their arrows against the Jews upwards, these arrows could not reach them, insomuch that the Jews were easily too hard for their enemies. And this sort of fight lasted a great while, till at last the Romans, who were greatly dis tressed by what was done, set fire to the cloisters so privately, that those who were gotten upon them did not perceive it. This fire,† being fed by a great deal of combustible matter, caught hold immediately on the roof of the cloisters; so the wood, which was full of pitch and wax, and whose gold was laid on it with wax, yielded to the flame presently, and those vast works, which were of the highest value and esteem, were destroyed utterly; while those that were on the roof unexpectedly perished at the same time; for as the roof tumbled down, some of these men tumbled down with it, and others of them were killed by their enemies who encompassed them. There was a great number more, who, out of despair of saving their lives, and out of astonishment at the misery that surrounded them, did either cast themselves into the fire, or threw themselves upon their own swords and so got out of their misery. But as to those that retired behind the same way by which they ascended, and thereby escaped, they were all killed by the Romans, as being unarmed men, and their courage failing them; their wild fury being now not able to help them, because they were destitute of armour, insomuch, that, of those that went up to the top of the roof, not one escaped. The Romans also rushed through the fire, where it gave them room so to do, and seized on that treasure where the sacred money was reposited; a great part of which was stolen by the soldiers, and Sabinus got openly four hundred talents. 3. But this calamity of the Jews' friends, who fell in this battle, grieved them, as did also this plundering of the money dedicated to God in the temple. Ac. cordingly that body of them which continued best together, and was the most warlike, encompassed the palace, and threatened to set fire to it, and to kill all that were in it. Yet still they commanded them to go out presently, and promised that, if they would do so, they would not hurt them, nor Sabinus neither; at which time the greatest part of the king's troops deserted to them, while Rufus and Gratus, who had three thousand of the most warlike of Herod's army with See Antiq. B. xiv. ch. xiii. sect. 10, and Of the War, B. i. ch. xxi. sect. 9.

These great devastations made about the temple here, and Of the War, B. ii. ch. ui. sect. 3, seem no to have been fully reedified in the days of Nero; till whose time there were 18000 workmen continually employed in rebuilding and repairing that temple, as Josephus informs us, Antiq. B. xx. ch. ix sect. Í See the note on that place.

them, who were men of active bodies, went over to the Romans. There was also a band of horsemen under the command of Rufus, which itself went over to the Romans also. However, the Jews went on with the siege, and dug mines under the palace walls, and besought those that were gone over to the other side not to be their hinderance, now they had such a proper opportunity for the recovery of their country's ancient liberty; and for Sabinus, truly, he was desirous of going away with his soldiers, but was not able to trust himself with the enemy, on ac. count of what mischief he had already done them; and he took this great [pretended] lenity of theirs for an argument why he should not comply with them, and so, because he expected that Varus was coming, he still bore this siege.

4. Now at this time there were ten thousand other disorders in Judea, which were like tumults; because a great number put themselves into a warlike posture, either out of hopes of gain to themselves, or out of enmity to the Jews. In par ticular, two thousand of Herod's old soldiers, who had been already disbanded, got together in Judea itself, and fought against the king's troops; although Achiabus, Herod's first cousin, opposed them; but as he was driven out of the plains into the mountainous parts by the military skill of those men, he kept himself in the fastnesses that were there, and saved what he could.

5. There was also Judas,* the son of that Ezekias who had been head of the robbers; which Ezekias was a very strong man, and had with great difficulty been caught by Herod. This Judas, having gotten together a multitude of men of a profligate character about Sepphoris in Galilee, made an assault upon the palace [there,] and seized upon all the weapons that were laid up in it, and with them armed every one of those that were with him, and carried away what money was left there; and he became terrible to all men, by tearing and rending those that came near him; and all this in order to raise himself, and out of an ambitious desire of the royal dignity; and he hoped to obtain that as the reward, not of his virtuous skill in war, but of his extravagance in doing injuries.

6. There was also Simon, who had been a slave of Herod the king, but in other respects a comely person, of a tall and robust body; he was one that was much superior to others of his order, and had had great things committed to his care. This man was elevated at the disorderly state of things, and was so bold as to put a diadem on his head, while a certain number of the people stood by him, and by them he was declared to be a king, and thought himself more worthy of that dig nity than any one else. He burned down the royal palace at Jericho, and plun dered what was left in it. He also set fire to many others of the king's houses in several places of the country, and utterly destroyed them, and permitted those that were with him to take what was left in them for a prey; and he would have done greater things unless care had been taken to repress him immediately; for Gratus, when he had joined himself to some Roman soldiers, took the forces he had with him, and met Simon, and after a great and long fight, no small part of those that came from Perea, who were a disordered body of men, and fought rather in a bold than in a skilful manner, were destroyed: and although Simon had saved himself by flying away through a certain valley, yet Gratus overtook him, and cut off his head. The royal palace also at Amathus, by the river Jordan, was burned down by a party of men that were got together, as were those be. longing to Simon. And thus did a great and wild fury spread itself over the na tion, because they had no king to keep the multitude in good order, and because

* Unless this Judas, the son of Ezekias, be the same with that Theudas mentioned Acts, v. 36, Jose phus must have omitted him; for that other Theudas, whom he afterwards mentions under Fados, the Roman governor, B. xx. ch. v. sect. 1, is much too late to correspond to him that is mentioned in the Acts. The names Theudas, Thadeus, and Judas, differ but little. See Archbishop Usher's anuals at A. M. 4001. However, since Josephus does not pretend to reckon up the heads of all those ten thousand disorders in Judea, which he tells us were then abroad, see sect. 4 and 8, the Theudas of the Acts might be at the head of one of those seditions, though not particularly named by him. Thus he informs us here, sect. 6, and Of the War, B. ii. ch. iv. sect. 2, that certain of the seditious came and burned the rova' palace at Amathus, or Betharamphta, upon the river Jordan. Perhaps their leader, who is not named by Josephus, might be this Theudas