CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF 14 YEARS, [From the death of Alexander and Aristobulus, CHAP. I. How Antipater was hated by all the nation [of the Jews] for the slaughter of his brethren; and how, for that reason, he got into peculiar favour with his friends at Rome, by giving them many presents; as he did also with Saturninus, the president of Syria, and the governors who were under him: and concerning Herod's wives and children. 1. WHEN Antipater had thus taken off his brethren, and, had brought his father into the highest degree of impiety, till he was haunted with furies for what he had done, his hopes did not succeed to his mind, as to the rest of his life; for, although he was delivered from the fear of his brethren being his rivals as to the government, yet did he find it a very hard thing, and almost impracticable, to come at the kingdom, because the hatred of the nation against him on that account was become very great: and, besides this very disagreeable circumstance, the affair of the soldiery grieved him still more, who were alienated from him, from which yet these things derived all the safety which they had, whenever they found the nation desirous of innovation: and all this danger was drawn upon him by his destruction of his brethren. However, he governed the nation jointly with his father, being indeed no other than a king already; and he was for that very reason trusted, and the more firmly depended on, for the which he ought himself to have been put to death, as appearing to have betrayed his brethren out of his concern for the preservation of Herod, and not rather out of his ill-will to them, and, before them, to his father himself: and this was the accursed state he was in. Now, all Antipater's contrivances tended to make his way to take off Herod, that he might have nobody to accuse him in the vile practices he was devising; and that Herod might have no refuge, nor any to afford him their assistance, ren since they must thereby have Antipater for their open enemy; insomuch that the very plots he laid against his brethwere occasioned by the hatred he bore his father. But at this time he was more than ever set upon the execution of his attempts against Herod: because, if he were once dead, the government would now be firmly secured to him, but, if he were suffered to live any longer, he should be in danger upon a discovery of that wickedness of which he had been the contriver, and his father would of necessity then become his enemy. And on this account it was that he became very bountiful to his father's friends, and bestowed great sums on several of them, in order to surprise men with his good deeds, and take off their hatred against him. And he sent great presents to his friends at Rome particularly, to gain their good will; and above all the rest to Saturninus, the president of Syria. He also hoped to gain the favour of Saturninus's brother with the large presents he bestowed on him; as also he used the same art to [Salome] the king's sister, who had married one of Herod's chief friends. And, when he counterfeited friendship to those with whom he conversed, he was very subtle in gaining their belief, and very cunning to hide his hatred against any that he really did hate. But he could not impose upon his aunt, who understood him of a long time, and was a woman not easily to be deluded; especially while she had already used all possible caution in preventing his pernicious designs. Although Antipater's uncle, by the mother's side, were married to her daughter, and this by his own connivance and management, while she had before been married to Aristobulus, and while Salome's other daughter by that husband were married to the son of Calleas. But that marriage was no obstacle to her, who knew how wicked he was, in her discovering his designs, as her former kindred to him could not prevent her hatred of him. Now Herod had compelled Salome, while she was in love with Sylleus, the Arabian, and had taken a fondness for him, to marry Alexas, which match was by her submitted to at the instance of Julia, who persuaded Salome not to refuse it, lest she should herself be their open enemy, since Herod had sworn that he would never be friends with Salome if she would not accept of Alexas for her husband: so she submitted to Julia, as being Caesar's wife, and, besides that, as she advised her to nothing but what was very much for her own advantage. At this time also it was that Herod sent back king Archelaus's daughter, who had been Alexander's wife, to her father, returning the portion he had with her out of his own estate, that there might be no dispute between them about it. Now Herod brought up his sons' children with great care; for Alexander had two sons by Glaphyra; and Aristobulus had three sons by Berenice, Salome's daughter, and two daughters and, as his friends were once with him, he presented the children before them; and, deploring the hard fortune of his own sons, he prayed that no such ill fortune might befall these who were their children, but that they might improve in virtue, and obtain what they justly deserved, and might make him amends for his care of their education. He also caused them to be betrothed against they should come to the proper age of marriage; the elder of Alexander's sons to Pheroras's daughter, and Antipater's daughter to Aristobulus's eldest son. He also allotted one of Aristobulus's daughters to Antipater's son, and Aristobulus's other daughter to Herod, a son of his own, who was born to him by the high-priest's daughter; for it is the ancient practice among us to have many wives at the same time. Now the king made these espousals for the children, out of commiseration for them now they were fatherless, as endeavouring to render Antipater kind to them by these intermarriages. But Antipater did not fail to bear the same temper of mind to his brother's children, which he had borne to his brothers themselves; and his father's concerns about them provoked bis indignation against them on this supposal, that they would become greater than ever his brothers had been : while Archelaus, a king, would support his daughter's sons, and Pheroras a tetrach, would accept of one of the daughters as a wife to his son. What provoked him also was this, that all the multitude would so commiserate these fatherless children, and so hate him, [for making them fatherless,] that all would come out, since they were no strangers to his vile disposition towards his brethren. He contrived, therefore, to overturn his father's settlements, as thinking it a terrible thing that they should be so related to him, and be so powerful withall. So Herod yielded to him, and changed his resolution at his entreaty: and the determination now was, that Antipater himself should marry Aristobulus's daughter, and Antipater's son should marry Pheroras's daughter. So the espousals for the marriages were changed after this manner, even without the king's real approbation. Now Herod the king had at this time nine wives; one of them Antipater's mother, and another the high-priest's daughter, by whom he had a son of his own name. He had also one who was his brother's daughter, and another his sister's daughter; which two had no children. One of his wives also was of the Samaritan nation: whose sons were Antipas and Archelaus, and whose daughter was Olympias; which daughter was afterward married to Joseph, the king's brother's son; but Archelaus and Antipas were brought up with a certain private man at Rome. Herod had also to wife Cleopatra of Jerusalem, and by her he had his sons Herod and Philip; which last was also brought up at Rome; Pallas also was one of his wives, which bare him his son Phasaelus. And besides these, he had for his wives Phedra and Elpis, by whom he had his daughters Roxana and Salome, As for his elder daughters by the same mother with Alexander and Aristobulus, and whom Pheroras neglected to marry, he gave the one in marriage to Antipater, the king's sister's son, and the other to Phasaelus, his brother's son. And this was the posterity of Herod. -*** CHAP. II. Concerning Zamaris, the Babylonian Jew. Concerning the plots laid by Antipater against his father; and somewhat about the Pharisees. 1. AND now it was that Herod, being desirous of securing himself on the side of the Trachonites, resolved to build a village as large as a city for the Jews, in the middle of that country, which might make his country difficult to be assaulted, and whence he might be at hand to make sallies upon them, and do them a mischief. Accordingly, when he understood that there was a man that was a Jew come out of Babylon, with five hundred horsemen, all of whom could shoot their arrows as they rode on horseback, and, with an hundred of his relations, had passed over Euphrates, and now abode at Antioch by Daphne of Syria, where Saturni Those who have a mind to know all the family and descendants of Antipater the Idumean, and of Herod the great, his son, and have a memory to preserve them all distinctly, may consult Josephus, Antiq. B. xviii. chap. v. § 4. and Of the War, B. I. ch. xxviii. 4. and Noldius in Havercamp's edition, p. 336. and Spanheim, ib. 402 -405, and Reland, Palestin. Part i. p. 175, 176. nus, who was then president, had given them a place for habitation called Valatha, he sent for this man, with the multitude that followed him, and promised to give him land in the toparchy called Batanea, which country is bounded with Trachonites, as desirous to make that his habitation a guard to himself. He also engaged to let him hold the country free from tribute, and that they should dwell entirely without paying such customs as used to be paid, and gavė it him tax free. 2. The Babylonian was induced by these offers to come hither; so he took possession of the land, and built in it fortresses and a village, and named it Bathyra. Whereby this iman became a safe-guard to the inhabitants against the Trachonites, and preserved those Jews who came out of Babylon, to offer their sacrifices at Jerusalem, from being hurt by the Trachonite robberies; so that a great number came to him from all those parts where the ancient Jewish laws were observed, and the country became full of people by reason of their universal freedom from taxes. This continued during the life of Herod; but when Philip, who was [tetrarch] after him, took the government, he made them pay some small taxes, and that for a little while only; and Agrippa the Great, and his son of the same name, although they harassed them greatly, yet would they not take their liberty away. From whom, when the Romans have now taken the government into their own hands, they still gave them the privilege of their freedom, but oppress them entirely with the imposition of taxes. Of which matter I shall treat more accurately in the progress of this history.* 3. At length Zamaris, the Babylonian, to whom Herod had given that country for a possession, died; having lived virtuously, and left children of a good character behind him: one of whom Jacim, who was famous for his valour, and taught his Babylonians how to ride their horses; and a troop of them were guards to the forementioned kings. And when Jacim was dead in his old age, he left a son whose name was. Philip, one of great strength in his hands, and in other respects also more eminent for his valour than any of his cótemporaries; on which account there was a confidence and firm friendship between him and king Agrippa. He had also an army, which he maintained, as great as that of a king; which he exercised, and led wheresoever he had occasion to march. *This is now wanting, |