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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 these dens. Now these men slew the robbers and their families, and when they made 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 perpetually 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.

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5. By this means Herod subdued the caves, and the robbers that were in 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 Samaria 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 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 be sieged he also exacted the tribute of a hundred talents of his enemies, as a penalty for the mutations they had made in the country.

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6. By this time the Parthians being already driven out of the country, and Pacorus slain, Ventidius, by Antony's com

mand, 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 inade 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 prefended friendship to Antigonus, but came as a spy to discover his affairs: although he did not herein comply with Herod, who dissuaded 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 Ma cheras was ashamed of what he had done, and retired to Emmaus to Herod; and, as he was in a rage at his disappointment, 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 mal-administration. But Macheras was made sensible of his 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 eity 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 admired 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 king

This Samosata, the metropolis of Comagena, is well known from its coins, as Spanheim here assures us, Dean Aldrich also confirms what Josephus here notes, that Herod was a great means ot taking the city by Antony, and that from Plutarch and Dio

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dom and now king Antiochus was forced to deliver up Sa

mosata.

CHAP. XVII.

The death of Joseph, [Herod's brother,] which had been sig nified 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 mean time Herod's affairs in Judea were in an ill 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 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 on the corn, as it was now in the midst of summer; but when his enemies attacked 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, gathered 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 degree 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 redemption for it. And now the affairs of Galilee were put into such disorder after this victory of Antigo-nus's, 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 them 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 attack 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 nighttime.

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 to be very dear to God; for that evening there feasted with him many of the principal 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

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men, he scut Pappus, one of his companions, against Samaria, whose fortune it was to oppos but Herod overran the enemies country, an five little cities, and destroyed two thousand m in them, and burned their houses, and then re camp; but his head quarters was at the village

5. Now a great multitude of Jews resorted day, both out of Jericho, and the other parts of Sorae were moved so to do out of their hatred t and some out of regard to the glorious action done: but others were led on by an unreasona change; so he fell upon them immediately. A and his party, they were not terrified either at t or at their zeal, but marched out with great ala them, and it came to a close fight. Now other army made resistance for a while; but Herod utmost hazard, out of the rage he was in at th his brother, that he might be avenged on those th the authors of it, soon beat those that oppose after he had beaten them, he always turned his those that stood to it still, and pursued them a great slaughter was made, while some were ford to the village whence they came out; he also upon the hindermost, and slew a vast number o also fell into the village with the enemy, where was filled with armed men, and the upper rooms ed above with soldiers for their defence; and w beaten those that were on the outside, he pulled to pieces, and plucked out those that were wi many he had the roofs shaken down, whereby t ed by heaps, and as for those that fled out of the soldiers received them with their swords in their the multitude of those slain and lying on heaps w that the conquerors could not pass along the ro the enemy could not bear this blow, so that whe titude of them which was gathered together, saw in the village were slain, they dispersed themselv away; upon the confidence of which victory, marched immediately to Jerusalem, unless he had dered by the depth of winter's [coming on.] T impediment that lay in the way of this his entir

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