CHAP. XI.

Herod is made Procurator of all Syria; Malichus is afraid of him, and takes Antipater off by Poison; whereupon the Tribunes of the Soldiers are

prevailed with to kill him.

1. THERE was at this time a mighty war raised among the Romans, upon the sudden and treacherous slaughter of Cæsar by Cassius and Brutus, after he had held the government for three years and seven months.* Upon this murder there were very great agitations; and the great men were mightily at difference one with another, and every one betook himself to that party where they had the greatest hopes of their own of advancing themselves. Accordingly, Cassius came into Syria, in order to receive the forces that were at Apamia, where he procured a reconciliation between Bassus and Marcus, and the legions which were at difference with him; so he raised the siege of Apamia, and took upon him the command of the army, and went about exacting tribute of the cities, and demanding their money to such a degree as they were not able to bear.

2. So he gave command that the Jews should bring in seven hundred talents; whereupon Antipater, out of his dread of Cassius's threats, parted the raising of this sum among his sons, and among others of his acquaintance, and to be done immediately; and among them he required one Malichus, who was at enmity with him, to do his part also, which necessity forced him to do. Now Herod, in the first place, mitigated the passion of Cassius, by bringing his share out of Galilee, which was a hundred talents, on which account he was in the highest favour with him; and when he reproached the rest for being tardy, he was angry at the cities themselves: so he made slaves of Gophna, and Emmaus, and two others of less note; nay, he proceeded as if he would kill Malichus, because he had not made greater haste in exacting his tribute; but Antipater prevented the ruin of this man, and of the other cities, and got into Cassius's favour,† by bringing in a hundred talents immediately.

3. However, when Cassius was gone, Malichus forgot the kindness that Antipater had done him, and laid frequent plots against him that had saved him, as making haste to get him out of the way, who was an obstacle to his wicked prac. tices; but Antipater was so much afraid of the power and cunning of the man that he went beyond Jordan in order to get an army to guard himself against his treacherous designs: but when Malichus was caught in his plot, he put upon Antipater's sons by his impudence; for he thoroughly deluded Phasaelus, who was the guardian of Jerusalem, and Herod who was intrusted with the weapons o war, and this by a great many excuses and oaths, and persuaded them to procure his reconciliation to his father. Thus was he preserved again by Antipater who dissuaded Marcus, the then president of Syria, from his resolution of killing Malichus on account of his attempts for innovation.

4. Upon the war between Cassius and Brutus, on one side, against the younger Cæsar [Augustus] and Antony, on the other, Cassius and Marcus got together an army out of Syria; and because Herod was likely to have a great share in pro viding necessaries, they then made him a procurator of all Syria, and gave him an army of foot and horse. Cassius promised him also, that after the war was over, he would make him king of Judea: but it so happened, that the power and

In the Antiquities, B. xiv. ch. xi. sect. 1, the duration of the reign of Julius Cæsar is 3 years f months, but here 3 years 7 months, beginning rightly, says Dean Aldrich, from his second dictatorship. h is probable the real duration might be 3 years and between 6 and 7 months.

It appears evidently by Josephus's accounts, both here and in his Antiquities, B. xiv. ch. xi. sect. 2, that this Cassius, one of Car's murderers, was a bitter oppressor and exacter of tribute in Judea. These 700 talents amounting to 300,000l. sterling, and are about half the yearly revenues of King Herod afterwards. See the note on Antiq. B. xvii. ch. xi. sect. 4. It also appears, that Galilee then paid no 'more than 109 talonts, or the 7th part of the entire sum to be levied in all the country.

hopes of his son became the cause of his perdition; for as Malichus was afraid of this, he corrupted one of the king's cupbearers with money to give a poisoned potion to Antipater; so he became a sacrifice to Malichus's wickedness, and died at a feast. He was a man in other respects active in the management of affairs, and one that recovered the government to Hyrcanus, and preserved it in his hands

5. However, Malichus, when he was suspected of poisoning Antipater, and when the multitude were angry at him for it, denied it, and made the people be lieve he was not guilty. He also prepared to make a greater figure, and raised soldiers; for he did not suppose that Herod would be quiet, who, indeed came upon him with an army presently, in order to avenge his father's death; but upon hearing the advice of his brother Phasaelus not to punish him in an open manner, lest the multitude should fall into a sedition, he admitted of Malichus's apology, and professed that he cleared him of that suspicion: he also made a pompous funeral for his father.

6. So Herod went to Samaria, which was then in a tumult, and settled the city in peace; after which, at the [Pentecost] festival, he returned to Jerusalem, having his armed men with him; hereupon Hyrcanus, at the request of Malichus, who feared his approach, forbade them to introduce foreigners to mix themselves with the people of the country, while they were purifying themselves: but Herod despised the pretence, and him that gave that command, and came in by night. upon which Malichus came to him, and bewailed Antipater; Herod also made him believe [he admitted of his lamentation as real,] although he had much ado to restrain his passion at him: however, he did himself bewail the murder of his father, in his letter to Cassius, who on other accounts, also hated Malichus; Cassius sent him word back, that he should avenge his father's death upon him, and privately gave order to the tribunes that were under him, that they should assist Herod in a righteous action he was about.

7. And because, upon the taking of Laodicea by Cassius, the men of power were gotten together from all quarters, with presents and crowns in their hands, Herod allotted this time for the punishment of Malichus. When Malichus suspected that, and was at Tyre, he resolved to withdraw his son privately from among the Tyrians, who was a hostage there, while he got ready to fly away into Judea; the despair he was in of escaping excited him to think of greater things; for he hoped that he should raise the nation to a revolt from the Romans, while Cassius was busy about the war against Antony, and that he should easily deposeHyrcanus, and get the crown for himself.

8. But fate laughed at the hopes he had; for Herod foresaw what he was so zealous about, and invited both Hyrcanus and him to supper; but calling one of the principal servants that stood by him to him, he sent him out, as though it were to get things ready for supper, but in reality, to give notice beforehand about the plot that was laid against him: accordingly, they called to mind what orders Cassius had given them, and went out of the city with their swords in their hands, upon the seashore, were they encompassed Malichus round about, and killed him with many wounds: upon which Hyrcanus was immediately affrighted, till he swooned away, and fell down at the surprise he was in; and it was with difficul ty that he was recovered; when he asked, who it was that had killed Malichus? and when one of the tribunes replied, that it was done by the command of Cassius, "Then, said he, Cassius hath saved both me and my country, by cutting off one that was laying plots against them both." Whether he spake according to his own sentiments, or whether his fear was such, that he was obliged to commend the action by saying so, is uncertain; however, by this method Herod inflicted punishment upon Malichus.

CHAP. XII.

Phasaelus is too hard for Felix; Herod also overcomes Antigonus in battle; and the Jews accuse both Herod and Phasaelus; but Antonius acquits them,

and makes them Tetrarchs.

§. 1. WHEN Cassius was gone out of Syria, another sedition arose at Jerusalem. wherein Felix assaulted Phasaelus with an army, that he might revenge the death of Malichus upon Herod, by falling upon his brother. Now Herod happened then to be with Fabius, the governor of Damascus; and as he was going to his brother's assistance, he was detained by sickness in the meantime Phasaelus was by himself too hard for Felix, and reproached Hyrcanus on account of his ingratitude, both for what assistance he had afforded Malichus, and for overlooking Malichus's brother, when he possessed himself of the fortresses; for he had gotten a great many of them already, and among them the strongest of them all, Masada.

2. However, nothing could be sufficient for him against the force of Herod, who, as soon as he was recovered, took the other fortresses again, and drove him out of Masada in the posture of a supplicant: he also drove away Marion the tyrant of the Tyrians out of Galilee, when he had already possessed himself of three fortified places; but as to those Tyrians whom he had caught, he preserved them all alive; nay, some of them he gave presents to, and so sent them away and thereby procured good will to himself from the city, and hatred to the tyrant Marion had, indeed, obtained that tyrannical power of Cassius, who* set tyrants over all Syria; and out of his hatred to Herod it was that he assisted Antigonus the son of Aristobulus, and principally on Fabius's account whom Antigonus had made his assistant by money, and had him, accordingly, on his side when he made his descent; but it was Ptolemy, the kinsman of Antigonus, that supplied all that he wanted.

3. When Herod had fought against these in the avenues of Judea, he was conqueror in the battle, and drove away Antigonus, returning to Jerusalem beloved by every body, for the glorious actions he had done; for those who did not before favour him, did join themselves to him now, because of his marriage into the family of Hyrcanus; for as he had formerly married a wife out of his own country of no ignoble blood, who was called Doris, of whom he begat Antipater so did he now marry Mariamne the daughter of Alexander, the son of Aristobu lus, and the grand-daughter of Hyrcanus, and was become thereby a relation of the king.

4. But when Cæsar and Antony had slain Cassius near Philippi, and Cæsar was gone to Italy, and Antony to Asia, amongst the rest of the cities which sent ambassadors to Antony, unto Bithyhia, the great men of the Jews came also, and accused Phasaelus and Herod that they kept the government by force, and that Hyrcanus had no more than an honourable name. Herod appeared ready to answer this accusation; and having made Antony his friend by the large sums of money which he gave him, he brought him to such a temper, as not to hear the others speak against him; and thus did they part at this time.

5. However, after this there came a hundred of the principal men among the Jews to Daphne by Antioch to Antony who was already in love with Cleopatra to the degree of slavery: these Jews put those men that were the most potent both in dignity and eloquence foremost, and accused the brethren. † But Mes. sala opposed them, and defended the brethren, and that while Hyrcanus stood by

Here we see that Cassius set tyrants over all Syria; so that his assisting to destroy Cæsar does ro aneni to have proceeded from his true eal for public liberty, but from a desire to be a tyrant himself. • Phaselus and Herod

num, on account of his relation to them. When Antony had heard both sides,' be asked Hyrcanus, which party was the fittest to govern? who replied, that Herod and his party were the fittest. Antony was glad of that answer; for he had been formerly treated in an hospitable and obliging manner by his father Antipater, when he marched into Judea with Gabinius; so he constituted the brethren tetrarchs, and committed to them the government of Judea.

6. But when the ambassadors had indignation at this procedure, Antony took fifteen of them, and put them into custody, whom he was also going to kill pre. sently, and the rest he drove away with disgrace; on which occasion a still greater tumalt arose at Jerusalem; so they sent again a thousand ambassadors to Tyre, where Antony now abode, as he was marching to Jerusalem: upon these men, who made a clamour, he sent out the governor of Tyre, and ordered him to punish all that he could catch of them, and to settle those in the administration whom he had made tetrarchs.

7. But before this, Herod and Hyrcanus went out upon the sea-shore, and earnestly desired of these ambassadors that they would neither bring ruin upon themselves, nor war upon their native country by their rash contentions; and when they grew still more outrageous, Antony sent out armed men, and slew a great many, and wounded more of them; of whom those that were slain were buried by Hyrcanus, as were the wounded put under the care of physicians by him: yet would not those that had escaped be quiet still, but put the affairs of the city into such disorder, and so provoked Antony, that he slew those whom he had in bonds also

CHAP. XIII.

The Parthians bring Antigonus back into Judea, and cast Hyrcanus and Phasaelus into Prison. The Flight of Herod and the Taking of Jerusalem, and what

Hyrcanus and Phasaelus suffered.

§ 1. Now two years afterward, when Barzapharnes, a governor among the Parthians, and Pacorus, the king's son, had possessed themselves of Syria, and when Lysanias had already succeeded upon the death of his father Ptolemy, the son of Menneus, in the government [of Chalcis,] he prevailed with the governor, by a promise of a thousand talents and five hundred women, to bring back Antigonus to his kingdom, and to turn Hyrcanus out of it. Pacorus was by these means induced so to do, and marched along the sea-coast, while he ordered Barzapharnes to fall upon the Jews as he went along the Mediterranean part of the country; but of the maritime people, the Tyrians would not receive Pacorus, although those of Ptolemais and Sidon had received him; so he committed a troop of his horse to a certain cupbearer belonging to the royal family,of his own name [Paco rus,] and gave him orders to march into Judea, in order to learn the state of affairs among their enemies, and to help Antigonus when he should want his assistance 2. Now as these men were ravaging Carmel, many of the Jews ran together to Antigonus, and showed themselves ready to make an incursion into the coun try; so he sent them before into that place called Drymus* [the woodland,] to seize upon the place; whereupon a battle was fought between them; and they drove the enemy away and pursued them, and ran after them as far as Jerusa lem, and as their numbers increased they proceeded as far as the king's palace; but as Hyrcanus and Phasaelus received them with a strong body of men, there happened a battle in the market-place, in which Herod's party beat the enemy, and shut them up in the temple, and set sixty men in the houses adjoining as a

This large and noted wood or woodland belonging to Carmel, called Avuos by the Septuagint, is men tioned in the Old Testament, 2 Kings, xix. 23, and Isa xxviii. 24 and by Strabo, B. xvi. p. 758, as both. Aldrich and Spanheim here remark very pertinently.

guard on them. But the people that were tumultuous against the brethren came in and burnt those men; while Herod in his rage for killing them, attacked and slew many of the people, till one party made incursions on the other by turns, day by day, in the way of ambushes, and slaughters were made continually among

them.

3. Now when that festival which we call Pentecost was at hand, all the places about the temple, and the whole city, was full of a multitude of people that were come out of the country, and which were the greatest part of them armed also, at which time Phasaelus guarded the wall, and Herod with a few guarded the royal palace; and when he made an assault upon his enemies, as they were out of their ranks, on the north quarter of the city, he slew a very great number of them, and put them all to flight; and some of them he shut up within the city and others within the outward rampart. In the meantime, Antigonus desired that Pacorus might be admitted to be a reconciler between them; and Phasaelus was prevailed upon to admit the Parthians into the city with five hundred horse, and to treat him in an hospitable manner, who pretended that he came to quell the tu. mult, but in reality he came to assist Antigonus: however, he laid a plot for Phasaelus, and persuaded him to go as an ambassador to Barzapharnes, in order to put an end to the war, although Herod was very earnest with him to the contrary, and exhorted him to kill the plotter, but not expose himself to the snares he had laid for him, because the barbarians are naturally perfidious. However, Pacorus went out and took Hyrcanus with him, that he might be the less suspected; he also left some of the horsemen,* called the Freemen, with Herod, and conducted Phasaelus with the rest.

4. But now when they were come to Galilee, they found that the people of that country had revolted and were in arms, who came very cunningly to their leader, and besought him to conceal his treacherous intentions by an obliging behaviour to them: accordingly, he at first made them presents, and afterward as they went away, laid ambushes for them; and when they were come to one of the maritime cities called Ecdippon, they perceived that a plot was laid for them; for they were there informed of the promise of a thousand talents, and how Antigonus had devoted the greatest number of the women that were with him, among the five hundred, to the Parthians: they also perceived that an ambush was always laid for them by the barbarians in the night-time: they had been also seized upon be. fore this, unless they had waited for the seizure of Herod first at Jerusalem, be. cause if he were once informed of this treachery of theirs, he would take care of himself; nor was this a mere report, but they saw the guards already not far off them.

5. Nor would Phasaelus think of forsaking Hyrcanus and flying away, although Ophelius earnestly persuaded him to it; for this man had learned the whole scheme of the plot from Saramalla, the richest of all the Syrians. But Phasaelus went up to the Parthian governor, and reproached him to his face for laying this treacherous plot against them, and chiefly because he had done it for money; and he promised him, that he would give him more money for their preservation than Antigonus had promised to give for the kingdom. But the sly Parthian endeavoured to remove all this suspicion by apologies and by oaths, and then went [to the other] Pacorus; immediately after which those Parthians who were left, and had it in charge, seized upon Phasaelus and Hyrcanus, who could do no more than curse their perfidiousness and their perjury.

6. In the mean time the cupbearer was sent [back,] and laid a plot how to seize upon Herod, by deluding him, and getting him out of the city, as he was commanded to do. But Herod suspected the barbarians from the beginning; and having then received intelligence that a messenger, who was to bring him the let.

These accounts, both here and Antiq. B. xiv. ch. xiii. sect. 5, that the Parthians fought chiefly or horseback, and that only some few of their soldiers were freedmen, perfectly agree with Trogus Pom peius, in Justin, B. xlv. 2, 3, as Dean Aldrich well observes or this place.