162

WARS OF THE JEWS.

[Book I they had gotten against him. Hereupon he recollected himfelf, and confidered what defence he should make against the accufations.

CHAP. XXXII.

Antipater is accufed before Varus, and is convicted of laying a plot [against his father by the strongest evidence. Herod puts off his punishment till he should be recovered, and in the mean time alters his teftament.

§ 1. NOW irends, and called in Antipater's OW the day following the king affembled a court friends alfo: Herod himfelf, with Varus, were the prefidents; and Herod called for all the witneffes, and ordered them to be brought in; among whom fome of the domeftic fervants of Antipater's mother were brought in alio, who had but a little while before been caught, as they were carrying the following letter from her to her fon: "Since all thofe things have been already discovered to thy father do not thou come to him, unlefs thou canst procure fome affiftance trom Cæfar." When this and the other witneffes were introduced, Antipater came in, and falling on his face before his father's feet, he said, " Father, I befeech thee do not condemn me before hand, but let thy ears be unbiaffed, and attend to my defence; for if thou wilt give me leave, I will demonftrate that I am innocent."

2. Hereupon Herod cried out to him to hold his peace, and fpake thus to Varus," I cannot but think that thou Varus and every other upright judge will determine that Antipater is a vile wretch. I am alio afraid that thou wilt abhor my ill fortune, and judge me alfo my felf worthy of all forts of calamity, for begetting fuch children; while yet I ought rather to be pitied, who have been fo affectionate a father to fuch wretched fons: For when I had fettled the kingdom on my former fons, even when they were young, and when, befides the charges of their education at Rome, I had made them the friends of æfar, and made them envied by other kings, I found them plotting against me, thele have been put to death, and that, in great measure, for the fake of Antipater; for as he was then young, and appointed to be my fucceffor, I took care chiefly to fecure him from danger: But this profligate whild beast, when he had been over and above fatiated with that patience which I thewed him, he made ufe of that abundance I had given him against my felf; for I feemed to him to live too long, and he was very uneafy at the old age Ι was arrived at; nor could he ftay any longer, but would be a king by parricide. And justly I am served by him for bringing him back out of the country to court, when he was of no esteem

before, and for thrufting out thofe fons of mine that were born of the queen, and for making him a fucceffor to my dominions. I confefs to thee, O Varus, the great folly I was guilty of; for I provoked thofe fons of mine to act against me, and eut off their juft expectations for the fake 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 fucceffor to my dominion in my teftament, and given him a yearly revenue of his own fitty talents, and fupplied him with money to an extravagant degree out of my own revenue; and when he was about to fail to Rome. I gave him three hundred talents, and recommended him, and him alone of all my children, to Cæfar, as his father's deliverer. Now what crimes were those other fons of mine guilty of like these of Antipater? and what evidence was there brought against them fo ftrong as there is to demonftrate this fon to have plotted against me? Yet does this parricide prefume to speak for himfelf, and hopes to obfcure the truth by his cunning tricks. Thou, O Varus, muft guard thy felf against him; for I know the wild beast, and I foresee how plaufibly 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 to intruft my body with all men! This was he who came to my very bed, and looked about left any one should lay fnares for me! This was he who took care of my fleep, and fecured me from any fear of danger, who comforted me under the troub le I was in upon the flaughter of my fons, and looked to fee what affection my furviving brethren bore me! This was my protector, and the guardian of my body! And when I call to mind, O Varus, his craftinefs upon every occafion, and his art of diffembling, I can hardly believe that I am still alive, and I wonder how I have efcaped fuch a deep plotter of mifchief. However, fince fome fate or other makes my house defolate, and perpetually raises up thofe that are dearest to me against me, I will, with tears lament my hard fortune, and privately groan under my lonesome condition; yet am I refolved that no one who thirfts after my blood shall escape punishment although the evidence fhould extend itfelf to all my fons.'

3. Upon Herod's faying this, he was interrupted by the confufion 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 (tor he lay on the ground before his father's feet), and cried out aloud, "Thou, Ofather, haft made my apology for me; for how can I be a parricide, whom thou thy felt confeffeft to have always had for thy guardian? Thou calleft my filial affection prodigious lies, and hypocrify; how then could it be that I, who was fo fubtile in other matters, fhould here be to mad as not to under

ftand that it was not eafy that he who committed fo horrid a crime fhould be concealed from men, but impoffible that he fhould be concealed from the Judge of heaven, who fees all things, and is prefent every where? or did not I know what end my brethren came to, on whom God inflicted fo great a punishment for their evil defigns against thee? And indeed what was there that could poffibly provoke me against thee? Could the hope of being king do it? I was a king already. Could I fufpect hatred from thee? No. Was not I beloved by thee? And what other fear could I have? Nay, by preferving thee fafe, I was a terror to others. Did I want money? No ; for who was able to expend fo much as my felf? Indeed, father, had I been the most execrable of all mankind, and had I had the foul of the moft cruel wild beast muft I not have been overcome with the benefits thou hadst bestowed upon me? whom as thou thy felf fay ft, thou broughteft [into the palace]: whom thou didst prefer before fo many of thy fons; whom thou' madeft a king in thine own lifetime, and by the vast magnitude of the other advantages thou beftoweft on me, thou madeft me an object of envy. O miferable man! that thou shouldft undergo this bitter ablence, and thereby afford a great opportunity for envy to arife against thee, and along space for fuch as were laying defigns against thee! Yet was I abfent, father, on thy affairs, that Sylleus might not treat thee with contempt in thine old age. Rome is a witness to my filial affec tion, and fo is Caefar, the ruler of the habitable earth, who oftentimes called me * Philopater. Take here the letters he hath fent thee, they are more to be believed than the calumnies raised here; these letters are my only apology; these I ufe as the demonstration of that natural affection I have to thee. member that it was against my own choice that I failed [to Rome, as knowing the latent hatred that was in the kingdom against me. It was thou, O father, however unwillingly, who haft 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 paffed by land and by fea, without fuffering any misfortune on either of them: But this method of trial is no advantage to me; for it feems, O father, that I am already condemned, both before God and before thee; and as I am already condemned, 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 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 lamen tation and weeping, and moved all the reft, and Varus in particular, to commiferate his cafe. Herod was the only

A lover of his father.

Re

perfon whofe paffion was too ftrong to permit him to weep, as knowing that the teftimonies 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 craftinels of Antipater, and had prevented the effects of their commiferation to him, afterwards brought in a bitter and large accufation against him, afcribing all the wickednefs that had been in the kingdom to him, and especially the murder of his brethren, and demonftrated that they had perifhed by the calumnies he had railed anainft them. He allo faid that he had laid defigns against them that were ftill alive, as it they were laying plots for the fucceffion; and (faid he) how can it be fuppofed that he who prepared poifon for his father, fhould abftain from mifchief as to his brethren? He then proceeded to convict him of the attempt to poifon Herod, and gave an account in order of the feveral difcoveries 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 infisted on many other accufations, and the proofs for them, he left off.

5. Then Varus bid Antipater make his defence; but he lay along in filence, and faid no more but this," God is my witnefs that I am entirely innocent.' So Varus asked for the potion, and gave it to be drunk by a condemned malefactor, who was then in prison, who died upon the fpot. So Varus, when he had had a very private difcourfe with Herod, and had written an account of this affembly to Cæfar, went away, after a day's ftay The king alfo bound Antipater, and fent away to inform Cæfar of his misfortunes.

6. Now after this, it was difcovered that Antipater had laid a plot against Salome allo; for one of Antiphilus's domestic fervants came and brought letters from Rome, from a maidfervant of Julia, [Cæfar's wife, whose name was Acme. By her a meffage was fent to the king, that the had found a letter written by Salome, among Julia's papers, and had fent it to him privately, out of her good-will to him. This letter of Salome contained to moft bitter reproaches of the king, and the highest accufations against him. Antipater had forged this letter, and had corrupted Acme. and perfuaded her to 'fend it to Herod. This was proved by her letter to Antipater, for thus did this woman write to him: As thou defireft, Í have written a letter to thy father, and have fent that letter, and am perfuaded that the king will not ipare his filter when he reads it. Thou wilt do well to remember what thou halt promised when all is accomplished."

7. When this epiftle was difcovered, and what the epiftle forged against Salome contained, a fufpicion came into the king's mind, that perhaps the letters against Alexander were alfo forged : He was moreover greatly disturbed, and in a pafVOL. III.

fion, because he had almost flain his fifter on Antipater's ac count. He did no longer delay therefore to bring him to punishment for all his crimes; yet when he was eagerly purfuing Antipater, he was reftrained by a fevere distemper he fell into. However, he fent an account to Cæfar about Acme, and the contrivances against Salome: He fent alfo for his teftament, and altered it, and therein made Antipas king, as taking no care of Archelaus and Philip, because Antipater had blafted their reputations with him ; but he bequeathed to Cæfar, befides other prefents that he gave him, a thousand talents; as alfo to his wife and children, and friends, and freedmen, about five hundred: He alfo bequeathed to all others a great quantity of land, and of money, and fhewed his refpects to Salome his fifter, by giving her moft fplendid gifts. And this was what was contained in his teftament, 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 himself. He commands Antipater to be flain. He furvives him five Days, and then dies.

NOW

WOW Herod's diftemper became more and more fevere to him and this because these his diforders tell upon him in his old age, and when he was in a melancholy condition; for he was already almoft feventy years of age, and had been brought low by the calamities that happened to him about his children, whereby he had no pleafure in life, even when he was in health; the grief alfo that Antipater was ftill alive aggravated his disease, whom he refolved to put to death now not at random, but as foon as he fhould be well a gain, and refolved to have him flain in a public manner.]

2. There also now happened to him, among his other calamities, a certain popular fedition. There were two men of learning in the city [Jerufalem,] who were thought the most fkilful in the laws of their country, and were on that account had in very great efteem all over the nation; they were, the one Judas, the fon of Sephoris, and the other Matthias, the fon of Margalus. There was a great concourfe of the young men to these men, when they expounded the laws, and there got together every day a kind of an army of fuch as were growing up to be men. Now when thefe men were informed that the king was wearing away with melancholy, and with a diflemper, they dropped words to their acquaintance how it was now a very proper time to defend the caufe of God, and to pull down what had been erected contrary to the laws of their country; for it was unlawful there fhould be any fuch