ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. + [BOOK XVII. CONTINUED.] CHAP. VI. Concerning the Disease that Herod fell into, and the Sedition which the Jews raised thereupon: with the Punishment of the Seditious. § 1. Now Herod's ambassadors made haste to Rome; but went as instructed, beforehand, what answers they were to make to the questions put to them. They also carried the epistles with them. But Herod now fell into a distemper; and made his will, and bequeathed his kingdom to [Antipas] his youngest son; and this out of that hatred to Archelaus and Philip, which the calumnies of Antipater had raised against them. He also bequeathed a thousand talents to Cæsar, and five hundred to Julia, Cæsar's wife, to Cæsar's children, and friends, and freedmen. He also distributed among his sons and their sons his money, his revenues, and his lands. He also made Salome his sister very rich: because she had continued faithful to him in all his circumstances, and was never so rash as to do him any harm: and as he despaired of recovering, for he was about the seventieth year of his age, he grew fierce, and indulged the bitterest anger upon all occasions; the cause whereof was this: that he thought himself despised, and that the nation was pleased with his misfortunes; besides which, he resented a sedition which some of the lower sort of men excited against him; the occasion of which was as follows: 2. There was one Judas, the son of Saripheus, Aε 20 84 60101 and Matthias, the son of Margalothus, two of the most eloquent men among the Jews, and the most celebrated interpreters of the Jewish laws; and men well beloved by the people, because of their education of their youth: for all those that were studious of virtue frequented their lectures every day. These men, when they found that the king's distemper was incurable, excited the young men that they would pull down all those works which the king had erected contrary to the law of their fathers; and thereby obtain the rewards which the law will confer on them for such actions of piety: for that it was truly on account of Herod's rashness in making such things as the law had forbidden, that his other misfortunes, and this distemper also, which was so unusual among mankind, and with which he was now afflicted, came upon him for Herod had caused such things to be made which were contrary to the law, of which he was accused by Judas and Matthias; for the king had erected over the great gate of the temple a large golden eagle of great value, and had dedicated it to the 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 alleging, 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 preservation and observation of the law of their fathers; since they would also acquire an everlasting fame and commendation; since they would be both commended by the present generation, and leave an example of life that would never be forgotten to pos * That the making of images, without an intention to worship them, was not unlawful to the Jews, see the note on Antiq. b. viii. ch. vii. sect. 5. terity; since that common calamity 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 behind them to their children, and to all their relations, whether they be men.or women; which will be of great advantage 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 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 hath 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 taught him by God, and which he wrote and left behind him, more worthy of observation than thy commands. Accordingly we will undergo death, and all sorts of punishment which thou canst inflict upon us with pleasure, since 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 "enumerated 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, during the hundred and 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 a reputation after his death. 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 |