the enemy affrighted at his assault, but met him in arms, for their skill was that of warriors, but their boldness was the boldness of robbers: when, therefore, it came to a pitched battle, they put to flight Herod's left wing with their right one; but Herod, wheeling about on the sudden from his own right wing, came to their assistance, and both made his own left wing return back from its flight, and fell upon the pursuers, and cooled their courage, till they could not bear the attempts that were made directly upon them, and so turned back and ran away.

3. But Herod followed them, and slew them as he followed them, and destroyed a great part of them, till those that remained were scattered beyond the river [Jordan,] and Galilee was freed from the terrors they had been under, excepting from those that remained and lay concealed in caves, which required longer time ere they could be conquered: in order to which Herod, in the first place, distri buted the fruits of their former labours to the soldiers, and gave every one of them a hundred and fifty drachmæ of silver, and a great deal more to their com manders, and sent them into their winter quarters. He also sent to his youngest brother Pheroras to take care of a good market for them, where they might buy themselves provisions, and to build a wall about Alexandrium; who took care of both those injunctions accordingly.

4. In the meantime Antony abode at Athens, while Ventidius called for Silo and Herod to come to the war against the Parthians, but ordered them first to settle the affairs of Judea; so Herod willingly dismissed Silo to go to Ventidius but he made an expedition himself against those that lay in the caves. Now these caves were in the precipices of craggy mountains, and could not be come at from any side, since they had only some winding pathways very narrow, by which they got up to them; but the rock that lay on their front had beneath it valleys of a vast depth, and of an almost perpendicular declivity; insomuch that the king was doubtful for a long time what to do, by reason of a kind of impossibility there was of attacking the place. Yet did he at length make use of a contrivance that was subject to the utmost hazard; for he let down the most hardy of his men in chests, and set them at the mouths of the dens. Now these men slew the robbers and their families, and when they made any resistance they sent in fire upon them [and burnt them ;] and as Herod was desirous of saving some of them, he had proclamation made that they should come and deliver themselves up to him; but not one of them came willingly to him; and of those that were compelled to come, many preferred death to captivity. And here a certain old man, the father of seven children, whose children, together with their mother, desired him to give them leave to go out, upon the assurance and right hand that was offered them, slew them after the following manner. He ordered every one of them to go out, while he stood himself at the cave's mouth, and slew that son of his per petually who went out. Herod was near enough to see this sight, and his bowels of compassion were moved at it, and he stretched out his right hand to the old man, and besought him to spare his children; yet did not he relent at all upon what he said, but over and above reproached Herod on the lowness of his descent, and slew his wife, as well as his children; and when he had thrown their dead bodies down the precipice, he at last threw himself down after them.

5. By this means Herod subdued these caves, and the robbers that were ir them. He then left there a part of his army, as many as he thought sufficient, to prevent any sedition, and made Ptolemy their general, and returned to Sama. ria: he led also with him three thousand armed footmen and six hundred horsemen against Antigonus. Now here those that used to raise tumults in Galilee, having liberty so to do upon his departure, fell unexpectedly upon Ptolemy, the B. xiv. chap. xv. sect. 4, in like manner, when Josephus says, chap, xxxiii. sect. 8, that Herod lived after he had ordered Antipater to be slain 5 days, this is by himself interpreted, Antiq. B. xvii. chap. vii. sect 1, that he died on the 5th day afterward. So also what is in this book, chap. xiii. sect. 1, after two years is, Antiq. B. xiv. chap. xiii. sect. 3, on the second year. And Dean Aldrich here notes that this way œ speaking is familiar in Josephus.

general of his forces, and slew him: they also laid the country waste, and then retired to the bogs, and to places not easily to be found. But when Herod was informed of this insurrection, he came to the assistance of the country immediately, and destroyed a great number of the seditious, and raised the sieges of all those fortresses they had besieged: he also exacted the tribute of a hundred talents of his enemies, as a penalty for the mutations they had made in the country.

6. By this time the Parthians being already driven out of the country, and Pa. corus slain, Ventidius, by Antony's command, sent a thousand horsemen and two legions, as auxiliaries to Herod, against Antigonus. Now Antigonus besought Macheras, who was their general, by letter to come to his assistance, and made a great many mournful complaints about Herod's violence and about the injuries he did to the kingdom, and promised to give him money for such his assistance: but he complied not with his invitation to betray his trust; for he did not contemn him that sent him, especially while Herod gave him more money [than the other offered.] So he pretended friendship to Antigonus, but came as a spy to discover his affairs, although he did not therein comply with Herod, who dis suaded him from so doing. But Antigonus perceived what his intentions were beforehand, and excluded him out of the city, and defended himself against him as against an enemy from the walls, till Macheras was ashamed of what he had done, and retired to Emmaus to Herod; and as he was in a rage at his disap. pointment, he slew all the Jews whom he met with, without sparing those that were for Herod, but using them all as if they were for Antigonus.

7. Hereupon Herod was very angry at him, and was going to fight against Macheras as his enemy; but he restrained his indignation, and marched to Antony to accuse Macheras of maladministration. But Macheras was made sensible of bis offences, and followed after the king immediately, and earnestly begged and obtained that he would be reconciled to him. However, Herod did not desist from his resolution of going to Antony: but when he heard that he was besieging Samosata* with a great army, which is a strong city near to Euphrates, he made the greater haste, as observing that this was a proper opportunity for showing at once his courage, and for doing what would greatly oblige Antony. Indeed, when he came, he soon made an end of that siege, and slew a great number of the barbarians, and took from them a large prey; insomuch that Antony, who ad. mired his courage formerly, did now admire it still more. Accordingly, he heaped many more honours upon him, and gave him more assured hopes that he should gain his kingdom: and now King Antiochus was forced to deliver up Samosata

CHAP. XVII.

The Death of Joseph [Herod's Brother,] which had been signified to Herod in Dreams. How Herod was preserved twice, after a wonderful Manner. He cuts off the Head of Pappus, who was the Murderer of his Brother, and sends that Head to [his other Brother] Pheroras; and in no long

Time he besieges Jerusalem, and marries Mariamne.

1. In the meantime Herod's affairs in Judea were in an l state. He had left his brother Joseph with full power, but had charged him to make no attempts against Antigonus till his return; for that Macheras would not be such an assistant as he could depend on, as it appeared by what he had done already; but as soon as Joseph had heard that his brother was at a very great distance, he neglected the charge he had received, and marched towards Jericho with five cohorts which Macheras sent with him. This movement was intended for seizing * This Samosata, the metropolis of Comagena, is well known from its coins, as Spanheim here assures Js, Dean Aldrich also confirms what Josephus here notes, that Herod was a great means of taking the city by Antony, and that from Plutarch and Dio

on the corn, as it was now in the midst of summer; but when his enemies a tacked him in the mountains, and in places which were difficult to pass, he was both killed himself, as he was very bravely fighting in the battle, and the entire Roman cohorts were destroyed; for these cohorts were new raised men, gather. ed out of Syria, and there was no mixture of those called veteran soldiers among them, who might have supported those that were unskilful in war.

2. This victory was not sufficient for Antigonus, but he proceeded to that de. gree of rage as to treat the dead body of Joseph barbarously; for when he had gotten possession of the bodies of those that were slain, he cut off his head, although his brother Pheroras would have given fifty talents as a price of re demption for it. And now the affairs of Galilee were put into such disorder after this victory of Antigonus, that those of Antigonus's party brought the principal men that were on Herod's side to the lake, and there drowned them. There was a great change made also in Idumea, where Macheras was building a wall about one of the fortresses, which was called Gittha. But Herod had not yet been informed of these things; for after the taking of Samosata, and when Antony had set Sosius over the affairs of Syria, and given him orders to assist Herod against Antigonus, he departed into Egypt; but Sosius sent two legions before him into Judea to assist Herod, and followed himself soon after with the rest of his army.

3. Now when Herod was at Daphne, by Antioch, he had some dreams which clearly foreboded his brother's death; and as he leaped out of his bed in a disturbed manner, there came messengers that acquainted him with that calamity. So when he had lamented this misfortune for a while, he put off the main part of his mourning, and made haste to march against his enemies; and when he had performed a march that was above his strength, and was gone as far as Libanus, he got him eight hundred men of those that lived near to that mountain as his assistants, and joined with him one Roman legion, with which, before it was day, he made an irruption into Galilee, and met his enemies, and drove them back to the place which they had left. He also made an immediate and continued at. tack upon the fortress. Yet was he forced by a most terrible storm to pitch his camp in the neighbouring villages before he could take it: but when, after a few days time, the second legion that came from Antony joined themselves to him, the enemy were affrighted at his power, and left their fortifications in the night. time.

4. After this he marched through Jericho, as making what haste he could to be avenged on his brother's murderers; where happened to him a providential sign, out of which, when he had unexpectedly escaped, he had the reputation of being very near to God; for that day there feasted with him many of the prin cipal men, and after that feast was over, and all the guests were gone out, the house fell down immediately. And as he judged this to be a common signal of what dangers he should undergo, and how he should escape them in the war that he was going about, he in the morning set forward with his army, when about six thousand of his enemies came running down from the mountains, and began to fight with those in his forefront; yet durst they not be so very bold as to engage the Romans hand to hand, but threw stones and darts at them at a distance; by which means they wounded a considerable number; in which action Herod's own side was wounded with a dart.

5. Now as Antigonus had a mind to appear to exceed Herod, not only in the courage but in the number of his men, he sent Pappus, one of his companions, with an army against Samaria, whose fortune it was to oppose Macheras; but Herod overran the enemies' country, and demolished five little cities, and destroyed two thousand men that were in them, and burned their houses, and then returned to his camp; but his head quarters were at the village called Cana.

6. Now a great multitude of Jews resorted to him every day, both out of Jericho and the other parts of the country. Some were moved so to do out of

their hatred to Antigonus, and some out of regard to the glorious actions Herod had done; but others were led on by an unreasonable desire of change; so he fell upon them immediately. As for Pappus and his party, they were not terrified either at their number or at their zeal, but marched out with great alacrity to fight them, and it came to a close fight. Now other parts of their army made resistance for awhile; but Herod running the utmost hazard, out of the rage he was in at the murder of his brother, that he might be avenged on those that had been the authors of it, soon beat those that opposed him; and after he had beaten them, he always turned his force against those that stood to it still, and pursued them all; so that a great slaughter was made, while some were forced back into that village whence they came out: he also pressed hard upon the hindermost, and slew a vast number of them: he also fell into the village with the enemy, where every house was filled with armed men, and the upper rooms were crowded above with soldiers for their defence; and when he had beaten those that were on the outside, he pulled the houses to pieces, and plucked out those that were within: upon many he had the roofs shaken down, whereby they perished by heaps; and as for those that fled out of the ruins, the soldiers received them with their swords in their hands; and the multitude of those slain and lying on heaps was so great, that the conquerors could not pass along the roads. Now the enemy could not bear this blow, so that when the multitude of them which was gathered together saw that those in the village were slain, they dispersed themselves and fled away; upon the confidence of which victory Herod had marched immediately to Jerusalem, unless he had been hindered by the depth of winter's [coming on.] This was the impediment that lay in the way of this his entire glo. rious progress, and was what hindered Antigonus from being now conquered, who was already disposed to forsake the city.

7. Now when at the evening Herod had already dismissed his friends to refresh themselves after their fatigue, and when he was gone himself, while he was still hot in his armour, like a common soldier to bathe himself, and had but one servant that attended him, and before he was gotten into the bath, one of the enemies met him in the face with a sword in his hand, and then a second, and then a third, and after that more of them; these were men who had run away out of the battle into the bath in their armour, and they had lain there for some time iu great terror, and in privacy; and when they saw the king, they trembled for fear, and ran by him in a fright (although he were naked,) and endeavoured to get off into the public road: now there was by chance nobody else at hand that might seize upon these men, and for Herod, he was contented to have come to no harm himself, so that they all got away in safety.

8. But on the next day Herod had Pappus's head cut off, who was the general for Antigonus, and was slain in the battle, and sent it to his brother Pheroras, by way of punishment for their slain brother; for he was the man that slew Joseph. Now as winter was going off, Herod marched to Jerusalem, and brought his army to the wall of it; this was the third year since he had been made king at Rome : so he pitched his camp before the temple, for on that side it might be besieged: and there it was that Pompey took the city. So he parted the work among the army, and demolished the suburbs, and raised three banks, and gave orders to have towers built upon those banks, and left the most laborious of his acquaintance at the works. But he went himself to Samaria, to take the daughter of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, to wife, who had been betrothed to him be fore, as we have already said; and thus he accomplished this by the by, during the siege of the city, for he had his enemies in great contempt already.

9. When he had thus married Mariamne, he came back to Jerusalem with a greater army; Sosius also joined him with a large army, both of horsemen and footmen, which he sent before him through the midland parts, while he marched himself along to Phoenicia; and when the whole army was gotten together which were eleven regiments of footmen and six thousand horsemen, besides

the Syrian auxiliaries, which was no small part of the army, they pitched their camp near to the north wall. Herod's dependence was upon the decree of the senate, by which he was made king, and Sosius relied upon Antony, who sent the army that was under him to Herod's assistance.

CHAP. XVIII.

How Herod and Sosius tok Jerusalem by Force; and what Death Antigonus cami to. Also concerning Cleopatra's avaricious Temper.

1. Now the multitude of the Jews that were in the city were divided into sev eral factions; for the people that crowded about the temple, being the weakest part of them, gave it out, that as the times were, he was the happiest and most religious man who should die first. But as to the more bold and hardy men they got together in bodies, and fell a robbing others, after various manners; and these particularly plundered the places that were about the city, and this because there was no food left either for the horses or the men; yet some of the warlike men who were used to fight regularly were appointed to defend the city during the siege, and these drove those that raised the banks away from the wall; and these were always inventing one engine or another to be a hinderance to the engines of the enemy, nor had they so much success any way as in the mines under ground. 2. Now as for the robberies which were committed, the king contrived that ambushes should be so laid that they might restrain their excursions; and as for the want of provisions, he provided that they should be brought to them from great distances. He was also too hard for the Jews, by the Romans' skill in the art of war, although they were bold to the utmost degree. Now they durst not come to a plain battle with the Romans, which was certain death; but through their mines under ground they would appear in the midst of them on the sudden, und before they could batter down one wall they built them another in its stead; and, to sum up all at once, they did not show any want either of painstaking or of contrivances, as having resolved to hold out to the very last. Indeed, though they had so great an army lying round about them, they bore a siege of five months, till some of Herod's chosen men ventured to get upon the wall, and fell into the city, as did Sosius's centurions after them; and now they first of all seized upon what was about the temple; and upon the pouring in of the army there was slaughter of vast multitudes every where, by reason of the rage the Romans were in at the length of the siege, and by reason that the Jews, who were about Herod, earnestly endeavoured that none of their adversaries might remain; so they were cut to pieces by great multitudes, as they were crowded together in narrow streets and in houses, or were running away to the temple; nor was there any mercy shown either to infants, or to the aged, or to the weaker sex; insomuch that although the king sent about, and desired them to spare the people, nobody could be persuaded to withhold their right hand from slaughter, but they - slew people of all ages like madmen. Then it was that Antigonus, without any regard to his former or to his present fortune, came down from the citadel, and fell down at Sosius's feet, who, without pitying him at all, upon the change of his condi on, laughed at him beyond measure, and called him Antigona.* Yet did he not treat him like a woman, or let him go free, but put him into bonds, and kept him in custody.

3 But Herod's concern at present, now he had gotten his enemies under his power, was to restrain the zeal of his foreign auxiliaries; for the multitude of the strange people were very eager to see the temple, and what was sacred in the holy house itself; but the king endeavoured to restrain them, partly by

#i.e. a woman, not a man.