good will to Casar, and to the king's government, these very men did not swear, being above six thousand; and when the king imposed a fine upon them, Pherora's wife paid their fine for them. In order to requite which kindness of hers, since they were believed to have the foreknowledge of things to come by divine inspiration, they foretoiu how God had decreed, that Herod's government should cease, and his posterity should be deprived of it; but that the kingdom should come to her and Pheroras, and to their children. These predictions were no concealed from Salome, but were told the king; as also how they had perverted some persons about the palace itself: so the king slew such of the Pharisees as were principally accused, and Bagoas the eunuch, and one Carus, who exceeded all men of that time in comeliness, and one that was his catamite. He slew also all those of his own family who had consented to what the Pharisees foretold: and for Bagoas, he had been puffed up by them, as though he should be named the father and the benefactor of him who, by the prediction, was foretold to be their appointed king; for that this king would have all things in his power, and would enable Bagoas to marry, and to have children of his own body begotten.

CHAP. III

Concerning the Enmity between Herod and Pheroras: how Herod sent Antipater to Cæsar; and of the Death of Pheroras.

§ 1. WHEN Herod had punished those Pharisees who had been convicted of the foregoing crimes, he gathered an assembly together of his friends, and accused Pheroras's wife; and, ascribing the abuses of the virgins to the imprudence of that woman, brought an accusation against her for the dishonour she had brought upon them: That" she had studiously introduced a quarrel between him and his bro ther, and, by her ill temper, had brought them into a state of war, both by her words and actions; that the fines which he had laid had not been paid, and the offenders had escaped punishment by her means; and that nothing which had o late been done had been done without her; for which reason Pheroras would do well, if he would, of his own accord, and by his own command, and not at my entreaty, or as following my opinion, put this his wife away, as one that will still be the occasion of war between thee and me. And now Pheroras, if thou valuest thy relation to me, put this wife of thine away: for by this means thou wilt continue to be a brother to me, and wilt abide in thy love to me. Then said Pheroras (although he were pressed hard by the former words,) that "As he would not do so unjust a thing as to renounce his brotherly relation to him, so would he not leave off his affection for his wife: that he would rather choose to die than to live and be deprived of a ife that was so dear unto him." Hereupon Herod put off his anger against Pheroras on these accounts, although he himself thereby underwent a very uneasy punishment. However, he forbade Antipater and bis mother to have any conversation with Pheroras, and bid them to take care to avoid the assemblies of the women: which they promised to do; but still go together when occasion served, and both Pheroras and Antipater had their own merry meetings. The report went also, that Antipater had criminal conversation with Pheroras's wife; and that they were brought together by Antipater's mother. 2. But Antipater had now a suspicion of his father, and was afraid that the effects of his hatred to him might increase; so he wrote to his friends at Rome, and bid them send to Herod, that he would immediately send Antipater to Cæsar; which when it was done, Herod sent Antipater thither, and sent most noble presents along with him; as also his testament, wherein Antipater was appointed to be his successor; and that if Antipater should die first, his [Herod Philip] son by the high priest's daughter should succeed. And, together with Antipater, there went to Rome, Sylleus the Arabian, although he had done nothing of all that

VOL. II

Cæsar had enjoined him. Antipater also accused him of the same crimes of which he had been formerly accused by Herod. Sylleus was also accused by Aretas, that without his consent he had slain many of the chief of the Arabians at Petra; and particularly Soamus, a man that deserved to be honoured by all men: and that he had slain Fabatus, a servant of Cæsar's. These were the things of which Sylleus was accused, and that on the occasion following: There was one Corinthus belonging to Herod, of the guards of the king's body, and one who was greatly trusted by him. Sylleus had persuaded this man, with the offer of a great sum of money, to kill Herod: and he had promised to do it. When Fabatus had been made acquainted with this, for Sylleus had himself told him of it, he informed the king of it; who caught Corinthus, and put him to the torture, and thereby got out of him the whole conspiracy. He also caught two other Arabians, who were discovered by Corinthus; the one the head of a tribe, and the other a friend to Sylleus, who were both by the king brought to the torture, and confessed that they were coming to encourage Corinthus not to fail of doing what he had undertaken to do; and to assist him with their own hands in the murder, if need should require their assistance. So Saturninus, upon Herod's discovering the whole to him, sent them to Rome.

3. At this time Herod commanded Pheroras, that since he was so obstinate in his affection for his wife, he should retire into his own tetrarchy; which he did very willingly, and sware many oaths that he would not come again, till he heard that Herod was dead. And indeed, when, upon a sickness of the king's, he was desired to come to him before he died, that he might intrust him with some of his injunctions, he had such a regard to his oath, that he would not come to him: yet did not Herod so retain his hatred to Pheroras, but remitted of his purpose (not to see him,) which he before had, and that for such great causes as have been already mentioned: but as soon as he began to be ill, he came to him, and this without being sent for; and when he was dead, he took care of his funeral, and had his body brought to Jerusalem and buried there, and appointed a solemn mourning for him. This [death of Pheroras] became the origin of Antipater's misfortunes, although he were already sailed for Rome, God now being about to punish him for the murder of his brethren. I will explain the history of this matter very distinctly, that it may be for a warning to mankind, that they take care of conducting their whole lives by the rules of virtue.

CHAP. IV.

Pherora's Wife is accused by his Freedmen as guilty of poisoning him; and how Herod, upon Examination of the Matter by Torture, found the Poison; but so that it had been prepared for himself by his Son Antipater; and upon an Inquiry by Torture, he discovered the dangerous Designs of Antipater.

1. As soon as Pheroras was dead, and his funeral was over, two of Pherora's freedmen, who were much esteemed by him, came to Herod, and entreated him not to leave the murder of his brother without avenging it, but to examine into such an unreasonable and unhappy death. When he was moved with these words, for they seemed to him to be true, they said, that "Pheroras supped with his wife the day before he fell sick, and that a certain potion was brought him in such a sort of food as he was not used to eat; but that when he had eaten he died of it: that this potion was brought out of Arabia by a woman, under pretence indeed as a love potion, for that was its name, but in reality to kill Pheroras; for that the Arabian women are skilful in making such poisons: and the woman to whom they ascribe this was confessedly a most intimate friend of one of Sylleus's mistresses; and that both the mother and the sister of Pherora's wife had been

at the places where she lived, and had persuaded her to sell them this potion; and had come back and brought it with them the day before that of his supper." Hereupon the king was provoked, and put the women slaves to the torture, and some that were free with them; and as the fact did not yet appear, because none of them would confess it: at length one of them, under her utmost agonies, said no more than this, that "she prayed that God would send the like agonies upon Antipater's mother, who had been the occasion of these miseries to all of them." This prayer induced Herod to increase the women's tortures, till thereby all was discovered: "Their merry meetings, their secret assemblies, and the disclosing of what he had said to his son alone, unto Pheroras's women." (Now what Herod had charged Antipater to conceal was the gift of a hundred talents to him not to have any conversation with Pheroras.) "And what hatred he bore to his father; and that he complained to his mother how very long his father lived; and that he was himself almost an old man, insomuch that if the kingdom should come to him, it would not afford him any great pleasure: and that there were a great many of his brothers, or brother's children, bringing up, that might have hopes of the kingdom as well as himself, all which made his own hopes of it uncertain; for that even now, if he should himself not live, Herod had ordained that the government should be conferred, not on his son, but rather on a brother. He also had accused the king of great barbarity, and of the slaughter of his sons; and that it was out of the fear he was under, lest he should do the like to him, that made him contrive this his journey to Rome, and Pheroras contrive to go to his own tetrarchy."

2. These confessions agreed with what his sister had told him, and tended greatly to corroborate her testimony, and to free her from the suspicion of her unfaithfulness to him So the king having satisfied himself of the spite which Doris, Antipater's mother, as well as himself, bore to him, took away from her all her fine ornaments, which were worth many talents, and then sent her away, and entered into friendship with Pheroras's women. But he who most of all ir. ritated the king against his son, was one Antipater, the procurator of Antipater the king's son, who, when he was tortured, among other things, said that Antipater had prepared a deadly potion, and given it to Pheroras, with his desire that he would give it to his father during his absence, and when he was too remote to have the least suspicion cast upon him thereto relating; that Antiphilus, one of Antipater's friends, brought that potion out of Egypt; and that it was sent to Pheroras by Theudion, the brother of the mother of Antipater, the king's son, and by that means came to Pheroras's wife, her husband having given it her to keep. And when the king asked her about it, she confessed it; and as she was running to fetch it, she threw herself down from the housetop; yet aid she not kill herself, because she fell upon her feet: by which means when the king had comforted her, and had promised her and her domestics pardon, upon condition of their concealing nothing of the truth from him; but had threatened her with the utmost miseries if she proved ungrateful [and concealed any thing:] so sho promised and swore that she would speak out every thing, and tell after what manner every thing was done; and said what many took to be entirely true, that "the potion was brought out of Egypt by Antiphilus: and that his brother who was a physician, had procured it; and that when Theudion brought it us, she kept it, upon Pheroras's committing it to her: and that it was prepared by Antipater for thee. When, therefore, Pheroras was fallen sick, and thou camedst to him, and tookedst care of him, and when he saw the kindness thou hadst for him, his

His wife, her mother, and sister.-It seems to me, by this whole story put together, that Pheroras was not himself poisoned, as is commonly supposed; for Antipater had persuaded him to poison Herod ch. v. sect. 1, which would fall to the ground, if he were himself poisoned: nor could the poisoning of Pheroras serve any design that appears now going forward. It was only the supposal of two of his freedmen, that this love potion, or poison, which they knew was brought to Pheroras's wife, was made use of for poisoning him; whereas it appears to have been brought for her husband to poison Herod withal, as the future examinations demonstrate.

12

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my brother,

mind was overborne thereby. So he called me to him, and said to me, man! Antipater hath circumvented me in this affair of his father and by persuading me to have a murderous intention to him, and procuring a potion to be subservient thereto: do thou, therefore, go and fetch my potion (since my brother appears to have still the same virtuous disposition towards me which he had formerly, and I do not expect to live long myself, and that I may not defile my forefathers by the murder of a brother,) and burn it before my face:" that accordingly she immediately brought it, and did as her husband bade her; and that she burnt the greatest part of the potion; but that a little of it was left, that if the king, after Pheroras's death, should treat her ill, she might poison herself, and thereby get clear of her miseries." Upon her saying thus, she brought out the potion, and the box in which it was, before them all. Nay, there was another brother of Antiphilus's, and his mother also, who, by the extremity of pain and torture, confessed the same things, and owned the box [to be that which had been brought out of Egypt.] The high priest's daughter also, who was the king's wife, was accused to have been conscious of all this, and had resolved to conceal it for which reason Herod divorced her; and blotted her son out of his testament, wherein he had been mentioned as one that was to reign after him; and he took the high priesthood away from his father-in-law, Simeon, the son of Boe thus, and appointed Mattathias, son of Theophilus, who was born at Jerusalem, to be high priest in his room.

3. While this was doing, Bathyllus, also Antipater's freedman, came from Rome, and, upon the torture, was found to have brought another potion, to give it into the hands of Antipater's mother, and of Pheroras, that if the former potion. did not operate upon the king, this at least might carry him off. There came also letters from Herod's friends at Rome, by the approbation and at the sugges tion of Antipater, to accuse Archelaus and Philip, as if they calumniated their father on account of the slaughter of Alexander and Aristobulus, and as if they commiserated their deaths; and as if, because they were sent for home (for their father had already recalled them,) they concluded they were themselves also to be destroyed. These letters had been procured by great rewards, by Antipater's friends; but Antipater himself wrote to his father about them, and laid the heaviest things to their charge; yet did he entirely excuse them of any guilt, and said, they were but young men, and so imputed their words to their youth. But he said, that he had himself been very busy in the affair relating to Sylleus, and in getting interest among the great men; and on that account had bought splendid ornaments to present them withal, which cost him two hundred talents. Now, one may wonder how it came about, that while so many accusations were laid against him in Judea during seven months before this time, he was not made acquainted with any of them. The causes of which were, that the roads were exactly guarded, and that men hated Antipater; for there was nobody who would run any hazard himself, to gain him any advantages.

CHAP. V.

Antipater's Navigation from Rome to his Father; and how he was accused by Nico laus of Damascus, and condemned to die by his Father, and by Quintilius Varus, who was then President of Syria; and how he was then bound till Cæsar should be informed of his Cause.

§ 1. Now Herod, upon Antipater's writing to him, that having done all that he was to do, and in this manner he was to do it, he would suddenly come to him, At the same time concealed his anger against him, and wrote back to him, and bid him not to delay his journey; lest any harm should befall him in his absence.

also he made some little complaint about his mother; but promised, that he should lay those complaints aside when he should return. He withal expressed his entire affection for him, as fearing lest he should have some suspicion of him, and defer his journey to him; and lest, while he lived at Rome, he should lay plots for the kingdom, and, moreover, do somewhat against himself. This letter Antipater met with in Cilicia; but had received an account of Pheroras's death before at Tarentum. This last news affected him deeply; not out of any affection for Pheroras, but because he was dead without having murdered his father, which he had promised him to do. And when he was at Celendris, in Cilicia, he began to deliberate with himself about his sailing home, as being much grieved with the ejection of his mother. Now some of his friends advised him, that he should tarry awhile somewhere, in expectation of farther information. But others advised him to sail home without delay; for that if he were once come thither, he would soon put an end to all accusations, and that nothing afforded any weight to his accusers at present but his absence. He was persuaded by these last, and sailed on, and landed at the haven called Sebastus; which Herod had built at vast expenses in honour of Cæsar, and called Sebastus. And now was Antipater evidently in a miserable condition, while nobody came to him or saluted him, as they did at his going away, with good wishes or joyful acclamations; nor was there now any thing to hinder them from entertaining him, on the contrary, with bitter curses, while they supposed he was come to receive his punishment for the murder of his brethren.

Now Quintilius Varus was at this time at Jerusalem, being sent to succeed Saturninus, as president of Syria, and was come as an assessor to Herod, who had desired his advice in his present affairs; and as they were sitting together, Antipater came upon them, without knowing any thing of the matter; so he came into the palace clothed in purple. The porters indeed received him in, but excluded his friends. And now he was in great disorder, and presently understood the con. dition he was in; while upon his going to salute his father he was repulsed by him, who called him a murderer of his brethren, and a plotter of destruction against himself, and told him that Varus should be his auditor and his judge the very next day; so he found, that what misfortune he now heard of was already upon him, with the greatness of which he went away in confusion: upon which his mother and his wife met him (which wife was the daughter of Antigonus, who was king of the Jews before Herod,) from whom he learned all circumstances which concerned him, and then prepared himself for his trial.

3. On the next day Varus and the king sat together in judgment; and both their friends were also called in, as also the king's relations, with his sister Salome, and as many as could discover any thing, and such as had been tortured; and be. sides these some slaves of Antipater's mother, who were taken up a little before Antipater's coming, and brought with them a written letter, the sum of which was this: that "he should not come back, because all was come to his father's know. ledge; and that Cæsar was the only refuge he had left to prevent both his and her delivery into his father's hands." Then did Antipater fall down at his father's feet, and besought him "not to prejudge his cause, but that he might be first heard by his father, and that his father would keep himself unprejudiced." So Herod ordered him to be brought into the midst, and then "lamented himself about his children, from whom he had suffered such great misfortunes; and because Antipater fell upon him in his old age. He also reckoned up what maintenance and what education he had given them; and what seasonable supplies of wealth he had afforded them, according to their own desires: none of which favours had hindered them from contriving plots against him, and from bringing his very life into danger, in order to gain his kingdom, after an impious manner, by taking away his life before the course of nature, their father's wishes, or justice, re. quired that that kingdom should come to them; and that he wondered what hopes could elevate Antipater to such a pass, as to be hardy enough to attempt such