The Antiquities of the Jews
by
Flavius Josephus
Part 20 out of 26
ended his plea; whereupon Caesar was so obliging to Archelaus,
that he raised him up when he had cast himself down at his feet,
and said that he well deserved the kingdom; and he soon let them
know that he was so far moved in his favor, that he would not act
otherwise than his father's testament directed, and than was for
the advantage of Archelaus. However, while he gave this
encouragement to Archelaus to depend on him securely, he made no
full determination about him; and when the assembly was broken
up, he considered by himself whether he should confirm the
kingdom to Archelaus, or whether he should part it among all
Herod's posterity; and this because they all stood in need of
much assistance to support them.
CHAPTER 10.
A Sedition Against Sabinus; And How Varus Brought The Authors Of
It To Punishment.
1. But before these things could be brought to a settlement,
Malthace, Archelaus's mother, fell into a distemper, and died of
it; and letters came from Varus, the president of Syria, which
informed Caesar of the revolt of the Jews; for after Archlaus was
sailed, the whole nation was in a tumult. So Varus, since he was
there himself, brought the authors of the disturbance to
punishment; and when he had restrained them for the most part
from this sedition, which was a great one, he took his journey to
Antiocli, leaving one legion of his army at Jerusalem to keep the
Jews quiet, who were now very fond of innovation. Yet did not
this at all avail to put an end to that their sedition; for after
Varus was gone away, Sabinus, Caesar's procurator, staid behind,
and greatly distressed the Jews, relying on the forces that were
left there that they would by their multitude protect him; for he
made use of them, and armed them as his guards, thereby so
oppressing the Jews, and giving them so great disturbance, that
at length they rebelled; for he used force in seizing the
citadels, and zealously pressed on the search after the king's
money, in order to seize upon it by force, on account of his love
of gain and his extraordinary covetousness.
2. But on the approach of pentecost, which is a festival of ours,
so called from the days of our forefathers, a great many ten
thousands of men got together; nor did they come only to
celebrate the festival, but out of their indignation at the
madness of Sabinus, and at the injuries he offered them. A great
number there was of Galileans, and Idumeans, and many men from
Jericho, and others who had passed over the river Jordan, and
inhabited those parts. This whole multitude joined themselves to
all the rest, and were more zealous than the others in making an
assault on Sabinus, in order to be avenged on him; so they parted
themselves into three bands, and encamped themselves in the
places following: - some of them seized on the hippodrome and of
the other two bands, one pitched themselves from the northern
part of the temple to the southern, on the east quarter; but the
third band held the western part of the city, where the king's
palace was. Their work tended entirely to besiege the Romans, and
to enclose them on all sides. Now Sabinus was afraid of these
men's number, and of their resolution, who had little regard to
their lives, but were very desirous not to be overcome, while
they thought it a point of puissance to overcome their enemies;
so he sent immediately a letter to Varus, and, as he used to do,
was very pressing with him, and entreated him to come quickly to
his assistance, because the forces he had left were in imminent
danger, and would probably, in no long time, be seized upon, and
cut to pieces; while he did himself get up to the highest tower
of the fortress Phasaelus, which had been built in honor of
Phasaelus, king Herod's brother, and called so when the Parthians
had brought him to his death. (14) So Sabinus gave thence a
signal to the Romans to fall upon the Jews, although he did not
himself venture so much as to come down to his friends, and
thought he might expect that the others should expose themselves
first to die on account of his avarice. However, the Romans
ventured to make a sally out of the place, and a terrible battle
ensued; wherein, though it is true the Romans beat their
adversaries, yet were not the Jews daunted in their resolutions,
even when they had the sight of that terrible slaughter that was
made of them; but they went round about, and got upon those
cloisters which encompassed the outer court of the temple, where
a great fight was still continued, and they cast stones at the
Romans, partly with their hands, and partly with slings, as being
much used to those exercises. All the archers also in array did
the Romans a great deal of mischief, because they used their
hands dexterously from a place superior to the others, and
because the others were at an utter loss what to do; for when
they tried to shoot their arrows against the Jews upwards, these
arrows could not reach them, insomuch that the Jews were easily
too hard for their enemies. And this sort of fight lasted a great
while, till at last the Romans, who were greatly distressed by
what was done, set fire to the cloisters so privately, that those
that were gotten upon them did not perceive it. This fire (15)
being fed by a great deal of combustible matter, caught hold
immediately on the roof of the cloisters; so the wood, which was
full of pitch and wax, and whose gold was laid on it with wax,
yielded to the flame presently, and those vast works, which were
of the highest value and esteem, were destroyed utterly, while
those that were on the roof unexpectedly perished at the same
time; for as the roof tumbled down, some of these men tumbled
down with it, and others of them were killed by their enemies who
encompassed them. There was a great number more, who, out of
despair of saving their lives, and out of astonishment at the
misery that surrounded them, did either cast themselves into the
fire, or threw themselves upon their swords, and so got out of
their misery. But as to those that retired behind the same way by
which they ascended, and thereby escaped, they were all killed by
the Romans, as being unarmed men, and their courage failing them;
their wild fury being now not able to help them, because they
were destitute of armor, insomuch that of those that went up to
the top of the roof, not one escaped. The Romans also rushed
through the fire, where it gave them room so to do, and seized on
that treasure where the sacred money was reposited; a great part
of which was stolen by the soldiers, and Sabinus got openly four
hundred talents.
3. But this calamity of the Jews' friends, who fell in this
battle, grieved them, as did also this plundering of the money
dedicated to God in the temple. Accordingly, that body of them
which continued best together, and was the most warlike,
encompassed the palace, and threatened to set fire to it, and
kill all that were in it. Yet still they commanded them to go out
presently, and promised, that if they would do so, they would not
hurt them, nor Sabinus neither; at which time the greatest part
of the king's troops deserted to them, while Rufus and Gratus,
who had three thousand of the most warlike of Herod's army with
them, who were men of active bodies, went over to the Romans.
There was also a band of horsemen under the command of Ruffis,
which itself went over to the Romans also. However, the Jews went
on with the siege, and dug mines under the palace walls, and
besought those that were gone over to the other side not to be
their hinderance, now they had such a proper opportunity for the
recovery of their country's ancient liberty; and for Sabinus,
truly he was desirous of going away with his soldiers, but was
not able to trust himself with the enemy, on account of what
mischief he had already done them; and he took this great
[pretended] lenity of theirs for an argument why he should not
comply with them; and so, because he expected that Varus was
coming, he still bore the siege.
4. Now at this time there were ten thousand other disorders in
Judea, which were like tumults, because a great number put
themselves into a warlike posture, either out of hopes of gain to
themselves, or out of enmity to the Jews. In particular, two
thousand of Herod's old soldiers, who had been already disbanded,
got together in Judea itself, and fought against the king's
troops, although Achiabus, Herod's first cousin, opposed them;
but as he was driven out of the plains into the mountainous parts
by the military skill of those men, he kept himself in the
fastnesses that were there, and saved what he could.
5. There was also Judas, (16) the son of that Ezekias who had
been head of the robbers; which Ezekias was a very strong man,
and had with great dificulty been caught by Herod. This Judas,
having gotten together a multitude of men of a profligate
character about Sepphoris in Galilee, made an assault upon the
palace [there,] and seized upon all the weapons that were laid up
in it, and with them armed every one of those that were with him,
and carried away what money was left there; and he became
terrible to all men, by tearing and rending those that came near
him; and all this in order to raise himself, and out of an
ambitious desire of the royal dignity; and he hoped to obtain
that as the reward not of his virtuous skill in war, but of his
extravagance in doing injuries.
6. There was also Simon, who had been a slave of Herod the king,
but in other respects a comely person, of a tall and robust body;
he was one that was much superior to others of his order, and had
had great things committed to his care. This man was elevated at
the disorderly state of things, and was so bold as to put a
diadem on his head, while a certain number of the people stood by
him, and by them he was declared to be a king, and thought
himself more worthy of that dignity than any one else. He burnt
down the royal palace at Jericho, and plundered what was left in
it. He also set fire to many other of the king's houses in
several places of the country, and utterly destroyed them, and
permitted those that were with him to take what was left in them
for a prey; and he would have done greater things, unless care
had been taken to repress him immediately; for Gratus, when he
had joined himself to some Roman soldiers, took the forces he had
with him, and met Simon, and after a great and a long fight, no
small part of those that came from Perea, who were a disordered
body of men, and fought rather in a bold than in a skillful
manner, were destroyed; and although Simon had saved himself by
flying away through a certain valley, yet Gratus overtook him,
and cut off his head. The royal palace also at Amathus, by the
river Jordan, was burnt down by a party of men that were got
together, as were those belonging to Simon. And thus did a great
and wild fury spread itself over the nation, because they had no
king to keep the multitude in good order, and because those
foreigners who came to reduce the seditious to sobriety did, on
the contrary, set them more in a flame, because of the injuries
they offered them, and the avaricious management of their
affairs.
7. But because Athronges, a person neither eminent by the dignity
of his progenitors, nor for any great wealth he was possessed of,
but one that had in all respects been a shepherd only, and was
not known by any body; yet because he was a tall man, and
excelled others in the strength of his hands, he was so bold as
to set up for king. This man thought it so sweet a thing to do
more than ordinary injuries to others, that although he should be
killed, he did not much care if he lost his life in so great a
design. He had also four brethren, who were tall men themselves,
and were believed to be superior to others in the strength of
their hands, and thereby were encouraged to aim at great things,
and thought that strength of theirs would support them in
retaining the kingdom. Each of these ruled over a band of men of
their own; for those that got together to them were very
numerous. They were every one of them also commanders; but when
they came to fight, they were subordinate to him, and fought for
him, while he put a diadem about his head, and assembled a
council to debate about what things should be done, and all
things were done according to his pleasure. And this man retained
his power a great while; he was also called king, and had nothing
to hinder him from doing what he pleased. He also, as well as his
brethren, slew a great many both of the Romans and of the king's
forces, an managed matters with the like hatred to each of them.
The king's forces they fell upon, because of the licentious
conduct they had been allowed under Herod's government; and they
fell upon the Romans, because of the injuries they had so lately
received from them. But in process of time they grew more cruel
to all sorts of men, nor could any one escape from one or other
of these seditions, since they slew some out of the hopes of
gain, and others from a mere custom of slaying men. They once
attacked a company of Romans at Emmaus, who were bringing corn
and weapons to the army, and fell upon Arius, the centurion, who
commanded the company, and shot forty of the best of his foot
soldiers; but the rest of them were aftrighted at their
slaughter, and left their dead behind them, but saved themselves
by the means of Gratus, who came with the king's troops that were
about him to their assistance. Now these four brethren continued
the war a long while by such sort of expeditions, and much
grieved the Romans; but did their own nation also a great deal of
mischief. Yet were they afterwards subdued; one of them in a
fight with Gratus, another with Ptolemy; Archelaus also took the
eldest of them prisoner; while the last of them was so dejected
at the other's misfortune, and saw so plainly that he had no way
now left to save himself, his army being worn away with sickness
and continual labors, that he also delivered himself up to
Archclaus, upon his promise and oath to God [to preserve his
life.] But these things came to pass a good while afterward.
8. And now Judea was full of robberies; and as the several
companies of the seditious lighted upon any one to head them, he
was created a king immediately, in order to do mischief to the
public. They were in some small measure indeed, and in small
matters, hurtful to the Romans; but the murders they committed
upon their own people lasted a long while.
9. As soon as Varus was once informed of the state of Judea by
Sabinus's writing to him, he was afraid for the legion he had
left there; so he took the two other legions, (for there were
three legions in all belonging to Syria,) and four troops of
horsemen, with the several auxiliary forces which either the
kings or certain of the tetrarchs afforded him, and made what
haste he could to assist those that were then besieged in Judea.
He also gave order that all that were sent out for this
expedition, should make haste to Ptolemais. The citizens of
Berytus also gave him fifteen hundred auxiliaries as he passed
through their city. Aretas also, the king of Arabia Petrea, out
of his hatred to Herod, and in order to purchase the favor of the
Romans, sent him no small assistance, besides their footmen and
horsemen; and when he had now collected all his forces together,
he committed part of them to his son, and to a friend of his, and
sent them upon an expedition into Galilee, which lies in the
neighborhood of Ptolemais; who made an attack upon the enemy, and
put them to flight, and took Sepphoris, and made its inhabitants
slaves, and burnt the city. But Varus himself pursued his march
for Samaria with his whole army; yet did not he meddle with the
city of that name, because it had not at all joined with the
seditious; but pitched his camp at a certain village that
belonged to Ptolemy, whose name was Arus, which the Arabians
burnt, out of their hatred to Herod, and out of the enmity they
bore to his friends; whence they marched to another village,
whose name was Sampho, which the Arabians plundered and burnt,
although it was a fortified and a strong place; and all along
this march nothing escaped them, but all places were full of fire
and of slaughter. Emmaus was also burnt by Varus's order, after
its inhabitants had deserted it, that he might avenge those that
had there been destroyed. From thence he now marched to
Jerusalem; whereupon those Jews whose camp lay there, and who had
besieged the Roman legion, not bearing the coming of this army,
left the siege imperfect: but as to the Jerusalem Jews, when
Varus reproached them bitterly for what had been done, they
cleared themselves of the accusation, and alleged that the
conflux of the people was occasioned by the feast; that the war
was not made with their approbation, but by the rashness of the
strangers, while they were on the side of the Romans, and
besieged together with them, rather than having any inclination
to besiege them. There also came beforehand to meet Varus,
Joseph, the cousin-german of king Herod, as also Gratus and
Rufus, who brought their soldiers along with them, together with
those Romans who had been besieged; but Sabinus did not come into
Varus's presence, but stole out of the city privately, and went
to the sea-side.
10. Upon this, Varus sent a part of his army into the country, to
seek out those that had been the authors of the revolt; and when
they were discovered, he punished some of them that were most
guilty, and some he dismissed: now the number of those that were
crucified on this account were two thousand. After which he
disbanded his army, which he found no way useful to him in the
affairs he came about; for they behaved themselves very
disorderly, and disobeyed his orders, and what Varus desired them
to do, and this out of regard to that gain which they made by the
mischief they did. As for himself, when he was informed that ten
thousand Jews had gotten together, he made haste to catch them;
but they did not proceed so far as to fight him, but, by the
advice of Achiabus, they came together, and delivered themselves
up to him: hereupon Varus forgave the crime of revolting to the
multitude, but sent their several commanders to Caesar, many of
whom Caesar dismissed; but for the several relations of Herod who
had been among these men in this war, they were the only persons
whom he punished, who, without the least regard to justice,
fought against their own kindred.
CHAPTER 11.
An Embassage To Caesar; And How Caesar Confirmed Herod's
Testament.
1. So when Varus had settled these affairs, and had placed the
former legion at Jerusalem, he returned back to Antioch; but as
for Archelaus, he had new sources of trouble come upon him at
Rome, on the occasions following: for an embassage of the Jews
was come to Rome, Varus having permitted the nation to send it,
that they might petition for the liberty of living by their own
laws. (17) Now the number of the ambassadors that were sent by
the authority of the nation were fifty, to which they joined
above eight thousand of the Jews that were at Rome already.
Hereupon Caesar assembled his friends, and the chief men among
the Romans, in the temple of Apollo, (18) which he had built at a
vast charge; whither the ambassadors came, and a multitude of the
Jews that were there already came with them, as did also
Archelaus and his friends; but as for the several kinsmen which
Archelaus had, they would not join themselves with him, out of
their hatred to him; and yet they thought it too gross a thing
for them to assist the ambassadors [against him], as supposing it
would be a disgrace to them in Caesar's opinion to think of thus
acting in opposition to a man of their own kindred. Philip (19)
also was come hither out of Syria, by the persuasion of Varus,
with this principal intention to assist his brother [Archelaus];
for Varus was his great friend: but still so, that if there
should any change happen in the form of government, (which Varus
suspected there would,) and if any distribution should be made on
account of the number that desired the liberty of living by their
own laws, that he might not be disappointed, but might have his
share in it.
2. Now upon the liberty that was given to the Jewish ambassadors
to speak, they who hoped to obtain a dissolution of kingly
government betook themselves to accuse Herod of his iniquities;
and they declared that he was indeed in name a king, but that he
had taken to himself that uncontrollable authority which tyrants
exercise over their subjects, and had made use of that authority
for the destruction of the Jews, and did not abstain from making
many innovations among them besides, according to his own
inclinations; and that whereas there were a great many who
perished by that destruction he brought upon them, so many indeed
as no other history relates, they that survived were far more
miserable than those that suffered under him; not only by the
anxiety they were in from his looks and disposition towards them,
but from the danger their estates were in of being taken away by
him. That he did never leave off adorning these cities that lay
in their neighborhood, but were inhabited by foreigners; but so
that the cities belonging to his own government were ruined, and
utterly destroyed that whereas, when he took the kingdom, it was
in an extraordinary flourishing condition, he had filled the
nation with the utmost degree of poverty; and when, upon unjust
pretenses, he had slain any of the nobility, he took away their
estates; and when he permitted any of them to live, he condemned
them to the forfeiture of what they possessed. And besides the
annual impositions which he laid upon every one of them, they
were to make liberal presents to himself, to his domestics and
friends, and to such of his slaves as were vouchsafed the favor
of being his tax-gatherers, because there was no way of obtaining
a freedom from unjust violence without giving either gold or
silver for it. That they would say nothing of the corruption of
the chastity of their virgins, and the reproach laid on their
wives for incontinency, and those things acted after an insolent
and inhuman manner; because it was not a smaller pleasure to the
sufferers to have such things concealed, than it would have been
not to have suffered them. That Herod had put such abuses upon
them as a wild beast would not have put on them, if he had power
given him to rule over us; and that although their nation had
passed through many subversions and alterations of government,
their history gave no account of any calamity they had ever been
under, that could be compared with this which Herod had brought
upon their nation; that it was for this reason that they thought
they might justly and gladly salute Archelaus as king, upon this
supposition, that whosoever should be set over their kingdom, he
would appear more mild to them than Herod had been; and that they
had joined with him in the mourning for his father, in order to
gratify him, and were ready to oblige him in other points also,
if they could meet with any degree of moderation from him; but
that he seemed to be afraid lest he should not be deemed Herod's
own son; and so, without any delay, he immediately let the nation
understand his meaning, and this before his dominion was well
established, since the power of disposing of it belonged to
Caesar, who could either give it to him or not, as he pleased.
That he had given a specimen of his future virtue to his
subjects, and with what kind of moderation and good
administration he would govern them, by that his first action,
which concerned them, his own citizens, and God himself also,
when he made the slaughter of three thousand of his own
countrymen at the temple. How then could they avoid the just
hatred of him, who, to the rest of his barbarity, hath added this
as one of our crimes, that we have opposed and contradicted him
in the exercise of his authority? Now the main thing they desired
was this: That they might be delivered from kingly and the like
forms of government, (20) and might be added to Syria, and be put
under the authority of such presidents of theirs as should be
sent to them; for that it would thereby be made evident, whether
they be really a seditious people, and generally fond of
innovations, or whether they would live in an orderly manner, if
they might have governors of any sort of moderation set over
them.
3. Now when the Jews had said this, Nicolaus vindicated the kings
from those accusations, and said, that as for Herod, since he had
never been thus accused all the time of his life, it was not fit
for those that might have accused him of lesser crimes than those
now mentioned, and might have procured him to be punished during
his lifetime, to bring an accusation against him now he is dead.
He also attributed the actions of Archlaus to the Jews' injuries
to him, who, affecting to govern contrary to the laws, and going
about to kill those that would have hindered them from acting
unjustly, when they were by him punished for what they had done,
made their complaints against him; so he accused them of their
attempts for innovation, and of the pleasure they took in
sedition, by reason of their not having learned to submit to
justice and to the laws, but still desiring to be superior in all
things. This was the substance of what Nicolaus said.
4. When Caesar had heard these pleadings, he dissolved the
assembly; but a few days afterwards he appointed Archelaus, not
indeed to be king of the whole country, but ethnarch of the one
half of that which had been subject to Herod, and promised to
give him the royal dignity hereafter, if he governed his part
virtuously. But as for the other half, he divided it into two
parts, and gave it to two other of Herod's sons, to Philip and to
Antipas, that Antipas who disputed with Archelaus for the whole
kingdom. Now to him it was that Peres and Galilee paid their
tribute, which amounted annually to two hundred talents, (21)
while Batanea, with Trachonitis, as well as Auranitis, with a
certain part of what was called the House of Zenodorus, (22) paid
the tribute of one hundred talents to Philip; but Idumea, and
Judea, and the country of Samaria paid tribute to Archelaus, but
had now a fourth part of that tribute taken off by the order of
Caesar, who decreed them that mitigation, because they did not
join in this revolt with the rest of the multitude. There were
also certain of the cities which paid tribute to Archelaus:
Strato's Tower and Sebaste, with Joppa and Jerusalem; for as to
Gaza, and Gadara, and Hippos, they were Grecian cities, which
Caesar separated from his government, and added them to the
province of Syria. Now the tribute-money that came to Archelaus
every year from his own dominions amounted to six hundred
talents.
5. And so much came to Herod's sons from their father's
inheritance. But Salome, besides what her brother left her by his
testament, which were Jamnia, and Ashdod, and Phasaelis, and five
hundred thousand [drachmae] of coined silver, Caesar made her a
present of a royal habitation at Askelo; in all, her revenues
amounted to sixty talents by the year, and her dwelling-house was
within Archelaus's government. The rest also of the king's
relations received what his testament allotted them. Moreover,
Caesar made a present to each of Herod's two virgin daughters,
besides what their father left them, of two hundred and fifty
thousand [drachmae] of silver, and married them to Pheroras's
sons: he also granted all that was bequeathed to himself to the
king's sons, which was one thousand five hundred talents,
excepting a few of the vessels, which he reserved for himself;
and they were acceptable to him, not so much for the great value
they were of, as because they were memorials of the king to him.
CHAPTER 13.
Concerning A Spurious Alexander.
1. When these affairs had been thus settled by Caesar, a certain
young man, by birth a Jew, but brought up by a Roman freed-man in
the city Sidon, ingrafted himself into the kindred of Herod, by
the resemblance of his countenance, which those that saw him
attested to be that of Alexander, the son of Herod, whom he had
slain; and this was an incitement to him to endeavor to obtain
the government; so he took to him as an assistant a man of his
own country, (one that was well acquainted with the affairs of
the palace, but, on other accounts, an ill man, and one whose
nature made him capable of causing great disturbances to the
public, and one that became a teacher of such a mischievous
contrivance to the other,) and declared himself to be Alexander,
and the son of Herod, but stolen away. by one of those that were
sent to slay him, who, in reality, slew other men, in order to
deceive the spectators, but saved both him and his brother
Aristobulus. Thus was this man elated, and able to impose on
those that came to him; and when he was come to Crete, he made
all the Jews that came to discourse with him believe him [to be
Alexander]. And when he had gotten much money which had been
presented to him there, he passed over to Melos, where he got
much more money than he had before, out of the belief they had
that he was of the royal family, and their hopes that he would
recover his father's principality, and reward his benefactors; so
he made haste to Rome, and was conducted thither by those
strangers who entertained him. He was also so fortunate, as, upon
his landing at Dicearchia, to bring the Jews that were there into
the same delusion; and not only other people, but also all those
that had been great with Herod, or had a kindness for him, joined
themselves to this man as to their king. The cause of it was
this, that men were glad of his pretenses, which were seconded by
the likeness of his countenance, which made those that had been
acquainted with Alexander strongly to believe that he was no
other but the very same person, which they also confirmed to
others by oath; insomuch that when the report went about him that
he was coming to Rome, the whole multitude of the Jews that were
there went out to meet him, ascribing it to Divine Providence
that he has so unexpectedly escaped, and being very joyful on
account of his mother's family. And when he was come, he was
carried in a royal litter through the streets; and all the
ornaments about him were such as kings are adorned withal; and
this was at the expense of those that entertained him. The
multitude also flocked about him greatly, and made mighty
acclamations to him, and nothing was omitted which could be
thought suitable to such as had been so unexpectedly preserved.
2. When this thing was told Caesar, he did not believe it,
because Herod was not easily to be imposed upon in such affairs
as were of great concern to him; yet, having some suspicion it
might be so, he sent one Celadus, a freed-man of his, and one
that had conversed with the young men themselves, and bade him
bring Alexander into his presence; so he brought him, being no
more accurate in judging about him than the rest of the
multitude. Yet did not he deceive Caesar; for although there was
a resemblance between him and Alexander, yet was it not so exact
as to impose on such as were prudent in discerning; for this
spurious Alexander had his hands rough, by the labors he had been
put to and instead of that softness of body which the other had,
and this as derived from his delicate and generous education,
this man, for the contrary reason, had a rugged body. When,
therefore, Caesar saw how the master and the scholar agreed in
this lying story, and in a bold way of talking, he inquired about
Aristobulus, and asked what became of him who (it seems) was
stolen away together with him, and for what reason it was that he
did not come along with him, and endeavor to recover that
dominion which was due to his high birth also. And when he said
that he had been left in the isle of Crete, for fear of the
dangers of the sea, that, in case any accident should come to
himself, the posterity of Mariamne might not utterly perish, but
that Aristobulus might survive, and punish those that laid such
treacherous designs against them; and when he persevered in his
affirmations, and the author of the imposture agreed in
supporting it, Caesar took the young man by himself, and said to
him, "If thou wilt not impose upon me, thou shalt have this for
thy reward, that thou shalt escape with thy life; tell me, then,
who thou art, and who it was that had boldness enough to contrive
such a cheat as this. For this contrivance is too considerable a
piece of villainy to be undertaken by one of thy age."
Accordingly, because he had no other way to take, he told Caesar
the contrivance, and after what manner and by whom it was laid
together. So Caesar, upon observing the spurious Alexander to be
a strong active man, and fit to work with his hands, that he
might not break his promise to him, put him among those that were
to row among the mariners, but slew him that induced him to do
what he had done; for as for the people of Melos, he thought them
sufficiently punished, in having thrown away so much of their
money upon this spurious Alexander. And such was the ignominious
conclusion of this bold contrivance about the spurious Alexander.
CHAPTER 13.
How Archelaus Upon A Second Accusation, Was Banished To Vienna.
1. When Archelaus was entered on his ethnarchy, and was come into
Judea, he accused Joazar, the son of Boethus, of assisting the
seditious, and took away the high priesthood from him, and put
Eleazar his brother in his place. He also magnificently rebuilt
the royal palace that had been at Jericho, and he diverted half
the water with which the village of Neara used to be watered, and
drew off that water into the plain, to water those palm trees
which he had there planted: he also built a village, and put his
own name upon it, and called it Archelais. Moreover, he
transgressed the law of our fathers (23) and married Glaphyra,
the daughter of Archelaus, who had been the wife of his brother
Alexander, which Alexander had three children by her, while it
was a thing detestable among the Jews to marry the brother's
wife. Nor did this Eleazar abide long in the high priesthood,
Jesus, the son of Sie, being put in his room while he was still
living.
2. But in the tenth year of Archelaus's government, both his
brethren, and the principal men of Judea and Samaria, not being
able to bear his barbarous and tyrannical usage of them, accused
him before Caesar, and that especially because they knew he had
broken the commands of Caesar, which obliged him to behave
himself with moderation among them. Whereupon Caesar, when he
heard it, was very angry, and called for Archelaus's steward, who
took care of his affairs at Rome, and whose name was Archelaus
also; and thinking it beneath him to write to Archelaus, he bid
him sail away as soon as possible, and bring him to us: so the
man made haste in his voyage, and when he came into Judea, he
found Archelaus feasting with his friends; so he told him what
Caesar had sent him about, and hastened him away. And when he was
come [to Rome], Caesar, upon hearing what certain accusers of his
had to say, and what reply he could make, both banished him, and
appointed Vienna, a city of Gaul, to be the place of his
habitation, and took his money away from him.
3. Now, before Archelaus was gone up to Rome upon this message,
he related this dream to his friends: That he saw ears of corn,
in number ten, full of wheat, perfectly ripe, which ears, as it
seemed to him, were devoured by oxen. And when he was awake and
gotten up, because the vision appeared to beof great importance
to him, he sent for the diviners, whose study was employed about
dreams. And while some were of one opinion, and some of another,
(for all their interpretations did not agree,) Simon, a man of
the sect of the Essens, desired leave to speak his mind freely,
and said that the vision denoted a change in the affairs of
Archelaus, and that not for the better; that oxen, because that
animal takes uneasy pains in his labors, denoted afflictions, and
indeed denoted, further, a change of affairs, because that land
which is ploughed by oxen cannot remain in its former state; and
that the ears of corn being ten, determined the like number of
years, because an ear of corn grows in one year; and that the
time of Archelaus's government was over. And thus did this man
expound the dream. Now on the fifth day after this dream came
first to Archelaus, the other Archelaus, that was sent to Judea
by Caesar to call him away, came hither also.
4. The like accident befell Glaphyra his wife, who was the
daughter of king Archelaus, who, as I said before, was married,
while she was a virgin, to Alexander, the son of Herod, and
brother of Archelaus; but since it fell out so that Alexander was
slain by his father, she was married to Juba, the king of Lybia;
and when he was dead, and she lived in widowhood in Cappadocia
with her father, Archclaus divorced his former wife Mariamne, and
married her, so great was his affection for this Glphyra; who,
during her marriage to him, saw the following dream: She thought
she saw Alexander standing by her, at which she rejoiced, and
embraced him with great affection; but that he complained o her,
and said, O Glaphyra! thou provest that saying to be true, which
assures us that women are not to be trusted. Didst not thou
pledge thy faith to me? and wast not thou married to me when thou
wast a virgin? and had we not children between us? Yet hast thou
forgotten the affection I bare to thee, out of a desire of a
second husband. Nor hast thou been satisfied with that injury
thou didst me, but thou hast been so bold as to procure thee a
third husband to lie by thee, and in an indecent and imprudent
manner hast entered into my house, and hast been married to
Archelaus, thy husband and my brother. However, I will not forget
thy former kind affection for me, but will set thee free from
every such reproachful action, and cause thee to be mine again,
as thou once wast. When she had related this to her female
companions, in a few days' time she departed this life.
5. Now I did not think these histories improper for the present
discourse, both because my discourse now is concerning kings, and
otherwise also on account of the advantage hence to be drawn, as
well for the confirmation of the immortality of the soul, as of
the providence of God over human affairs, I thought them fit to
be set down; but if any one does not believe such relations, let
him indeed enjoy his own opinion, but let him not hinder another
that would thereby encourage himself in virtue. So Archelaus's
country was laid to the province of Syria; and Cyrenius, one that
had been consul, was sent by Caesar to take account of people's
effects in Syria, and to sell the house of Archelaus.
BOOK XVIII.
Containing The Interval Of Thirty-Two Years.
From The Banishment Of Archelus To The Departure From Babylon.
CHAPTER 1.
How Cyrenius Was Sent By Caesar To Make A Taxation Of Syria And
Judea; And How Coponius Was Sent To Be Procurator Of Judea;
Concerning Judas Of Galilee And Concerning The Sects That Were
Among The Jews.
1. Now Cyrenius, a Roman senator, and one who had gone through
other magistracies, and had passed through them till he had been
consul, and one who, on other accounts, was of great dignity,
came at this time into Syria, with a few others, being sent by
Caesar to he a judge of that nation, and to take an account of
their substance. Coponius also, a man of the equestrian order,
was sent together with him, to have the supreme power over the
Jews. Moreover, Cyrenius came himself into Judea, which was now
added to the province of Syria, to take an account of their
substance, and to dispose of Archelaus's money; but the Jews,
although at the beginning they took the report of a taxation
heinously, yet did they leave off any further opposition to it,
by the persuasion of Joazar, who was the son of Beethus, and high
priest; so they, being over-pesuaded by Joazar's words, gave an
account of their estates, without any dispute about it. Yet was
there one Judas, a Gaulonite, (1) of a city whose name was
Gamala, who, taking with him Sadduc, (2) a Pharisee, became
zealous to draw them to a revolt, who both said that this
taxation was no better than an introduction to slavery, and
exhorted the nation to assert their liberty; as if they could
procure them happiness and security for what they possessed, and
an assured enjoyment of a still greater good, which was that of
the honor and glory they would thereby acquire for magnanimity.
They also said that God would not otherwise be assisting to them,
than upon their joining with one another in such councils as
might be successful, and for their own advantage; and this
especially, if they would set about great exploits, and not grow
weary in executing the same; so men received what they said with
pleasure, and this bold attempt proceeded to a great height. All
sorts of misfortunes also sprang from these men, and the nation
was infected with this doctrine to an incredible degree; one
violent war came upon us after another, and we lost our friends
which used to alleviate our pains; there were also very great
robberies and murder of our principal men. This was done in
pretense indeed for the public welfare, but in reality for the
hopes of gain to themselves; whence arose seditions, and from
them murders of men, which sometimes fell on those of their own
people, (by the madness of these men towards one another, while
their desire was that none of the adverse party might be left,)
and sometimes on their enemies; a famine also coming upon us,
reduced us to the last degree of despair, as did also the taking
and demolishing of cities; nay, the sedition at last increased so
high, that the very temple of God was burnt down by their
enemies' fire. Such were the consequences of this, that the
customs of our fathers were altered, and such a change was made,
as added a mighty weight toward bringing all to destruction,
which these men occasioned by their thus conspiring together; for
Judas and Sadduc, who excited a fourth philosophic sect among us,
and had a great many followers therein, filled our civil
government with tumults at present, and laid the foundations of
our future miseries, by this system of philosophy, which we were
before unacquainted withal, concerning which I will discourse a
little, and this the rather because the infection which spread
thence among the younger sort, who were zealous for it, brought
the public to destruction.
2. The Jews had for a great while had three sects of philosophy
peculiar to themselves; the sect of the Essens, and the sect of
the Sadducees, and the third sort of opinions was that of those
called Pharisees; of which sects, although I have already spoken
in the second book of the Jewish War, yet will I a little touch
upon them now.
3. Now, for the Pharisees, they live meanly, and despise
delicacies in diet; and they follow the conduct of reason; and
what that prescribes to them as good for them they do; and they
think they ought earnestly to strive to observe reason's dictates
for practice. They also pay a respect to such as are in years;
nor are they so bold as to contradict them in any thing which
they have introduced; and when they determine that all things are
done by fate, they do not take away the freedom from men of
acting as they think fit; since their notion is, that it hath
pleased God to make a temperament, whereby what he wills is done,
but so that the will of man can act virtuously or viciously. They
also believe that souls have an immortal rigor in them, and that
under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according
as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the
latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the
former shall have power to revive and live again; on account of
which doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the body of the
people; and whatsoever they do about Divine worship, prayers, and
sacrifices, they perform them according to their direction;
insomuch that the cities give great attestations to them on
account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in the actions of
their lives and their discourses also.
4. But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this: That souls die with
the bodies; nor do they regard the observation of any thing
besides what the law enjoins them; for they think it an instance
of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom they
frequent: but this doctrine is received but by a few, yet by
those still of the greatest dignity. But they are able to do
almost nothing of themselves; for when they become magistrates,
as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes obliged to be,
they addict themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, because
the multitude would not otherwise bear them.
5. The doctrine of the Essens is this: That all things are best
ascribed to God. They teach the immortality of souls, and esteem
that the rewards of righteousness are to be earnestly striven
for; and when they send what they have dedicated to God into the
temple, they do not offer sacrifices (3) because they have more
pure lustrations of their own; on which account they are excluded
from the common court of the temple, but offer their sacrifices
themselves; yet is their course of life better than that of other
men; and they entirely addict themselves to husbandry. It also
deserves our admiration, how much they exceed all other men that
addict themselves to virtue, and this in righteousness; and
indeed to such a degree, that as it hath never appeared among any
other men, neither Greeks nor barbarians, no, not for a little
time, so hath it endured a long while among them. This is
demonstrated by that institution of theirs, which will not suffer
any thing to hinder them from having all things in common; so
that a rich man enjoys no more of his own wealth than he who hath
nothing at all. There are about four thousand men that live in
this way, and neither marry wives, nor are desirous to keep
servants; as thinking the latter tempts men to be unjust, and the
former gives the handle to domestic quarrels; but as they live by
themselves, they minister one to another. They also appoint
certain stewards to receive the incomes of their revenues, and of
the fruits of the ground; such as are good men and priests, who
are to get their corn and their food ready for them. They none of
them differ from others of the Essens in their way of living, but
do the most resemble those Dacae who are called Polistae (4)
[dwellers in cities].
6. But of the fourth sect of Jewish philosophy, Judas the
Galilean was the author. These men agree in all other things with
the Pharisaic notions; but they have an inviolable attachment to
liberty, and say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord.
They also do not value dying any kinds of death, nor indeed do
they heed the deaths of their relations and friends, nor can any
such fear make them call any man lord. And since this immovable
resolution of theirs is well known to a great many, I shall speak
no further about that matter; nor am I afraid that any thing I
have said of them should be disbelieved, but rather fear, that
what I have said is beneath the resolution they show when they
undergo pain. And it was in Gessius Florus's time that the nation
began to grow mad with this distemper, who was our procurator,
and who occasioned the Jews to go wild with it by the abuse of
his authority, and to make them revolt from the Romans. And these
are the sects of Jewish philosophy.
CHAPTER 2.
Now Herod And Philip Built Several Cities In Honor Of Caesar.
Concerning The Succession Of Priests And Procurators; As Also
What Befell Phraates And The Parthians.
1. When Cyrenius had now disposed of Archelaus's money, and when
the taxings were come to a conclusion, which were made in the
thirty-seventh year of Caesar's victory over Antony at Actium, he
deprived Joazar of the high priesthood, which dignity had been
conferred on him by the multitude, and he appointed Ananus, the
son of Seth, to be high priest; while Herod and Philip had each
of them received their own tetrarchy, and settled the affairs
thereof. Herod also built a wall about Sepphoris, (which is the
security of all Galilee,) and made it the metropolis of the
country. He also built a wall round Betharamphtha, which was
itself a city also, and called it Julias, from the name of the
emperor's wife. When Philip also had built Paneas, a city at the
fountains of Jordan, he named it Cesarea. He also advanced the
village Bethsaids, situate at the lake of Gennesareth, unto the
dignity of a city, both by the number of inhabitants it
contained, and its other grandeur, and called it by the name of
Julias, the same name with Caesar's daughter.
2. As Coponius, who we told you was sent along with Cyrenius, was
exercising his office of procurator, and governing Judea, the
following accidents happened. As the Jews were celebrating the
feast of unleavened bread, which we call the Passover, it was
customary for the priests to open the temple-gates just after
midnight. When, therefore, those gates were first opened, some of
the Samaritans came privately into Jerusalem, and threw about
dead men's bodies, in the cloisters; on which account the Jews
afterward excluded them out of the temple, which they had not
used to do at such festivals; and on other accounts also they
watched the temple more carefully than they had formerly done. A
little after which accident Coponius returned to Rome, and Marcus
Ambivius came to be his successor in that government; under whom
Salome, the sister of king Herod, died, and left to Julia,
[Caesar's wife,] Jamnia, all its toparchy, and Phasaelis in the
plain, and Arehelais, where is a great plantation of palm trees,
and their fruit is excellent in its kind. After him came Annius
Rufus, under whom died Caesar, the second emperor of the Romans,
the duration of whose reign was fifty-seven years, besides six
months and two days (of which time Antonius ruled together with
him fourteen years; but the duration of his life was
seventy-seven years); upon whose death Tiberius Nero, his wife
Julia's son, succeeded. He was now the third emperor; and he sent
Valerius Gratus to be procurator of Judea, and to succeed Annius
Rufus. This man deprived Ananus of the high priesthood, and
appointed Ismael, the son of Phabi, to be high priest. He also
deprived him in a little time, and ordained Eleazar, the son of
Ananus, who had been high priest before, to be high priest; which
office, when he had held for a year, Gratus deprived him of it,
and gave the high priesthood to Simon, the son of Camithus; and
when he had possessed that dignity no longer than a year, Joseph
Caiaphas was made his successor. When Gratus had done those
things, he went back to Rome, after he had tarried in Judea
eleven years, when Pontius Pilate came as his successor.
3. And now Herod the tetrarch, who was in great favor with
Tiberius, built a city of the same name with him, and called it
Tiberias. He built it in the best part of Galilee, at the lake of
Gennesareth. There are warm baths at a little distance from it,
in a village named Emmaus. Strangers came and inhabited this
city; a great number of the inhabitants were Galileans also; and
many were necessitated by Herod to come thither out of the
country belonging to him, and were by force compelled to be its
inhabitants; some of them were persons of condition. He also
admitted poor people, such as those that were collected from all
parts, to dwell in it. Nay, some of them were not quite free-men,
and these he was benefactor to, and made them free in great
numbers; but obliged them not to forsake the city, by building
them very good houses at his own expenses, and by giving them
land also; for he was sensible, that to make this place a
habitation was to transgress the Jewish ancient laws, because
many sepulchers were to be here taken away, in order to make room
for the city Tiberias (5) whereas our laws pronounce that such
inhabitants are unclean for seven days. (6)
4. About this time died Phraates, king of the Parthians, by the
treachery of Phraataces his son, upon the occasion following:
When Phraates had had legitimate sons of his own, he had also an
Italian maid-servant, whose name was Thermusa, who had been
formerly sent to him by Julius Caesar, among other presents. He
first made her his concubine; but he being a great admirer of her
beauty, in process of time having a son by her, whose name was
Phraataces, he made her his legitimate wife, and had a great
respect for her. Now she was able to persuade him to do any thing
that she said, and was earnest in procuring the government of
Parthia for her son; but still she saw that her endeavors would
not succeed, unless she could contrive how to remove Phraates's
legitimate sons [out of the kingdom;] so she persuaded him to
send those his sons as pledges of his fidelity to Rome; and they
were sent to Rome accordingly, because it was not easy for him to
contradict her commands. Now while Phraataces was alone brought
up in order to succeed in the government, he thought it very
tedious to expect that government by his father's donation [as
his successor]; he therefore formed a treacherous design against
his father, by his mother's assistance, with whom, as the report
went, he had criminal conversation also. So he was hated for both
these vices, while his subjects esteemed this [wicked] love of
his mother to be no way inferior to his parricide; and he was by
them, in a sedition, expelled out of the country before he grew
too great, and died. But as the best sort of Parthians agreed
together that it was impossible they should be governed without a
king, while also it was their constant practice to choose one of
the family of Arsaces, [nor did their law allow of any others;
and they thought this kingdom had been sufficiently injured
already by the marriage with an Italian concubine, and by her
issue,] they sent ambassadors, and called Orodes [to take the
crown]; for the multitude would not otherwise have borne them;
and though he was accused of very great cruelty, and was of an
untractable temper, and prone to wrath, yet still he was one of
the family of Arsaces. However, they made a conspiracy against
him, and slew him, and that, as some say, at a festival, and
among their sacrifices; (for it is the universal custom there to
carry their swords with them;) but, as the more general report
is, they slew him when they had drawn him out a hunting. So they
sent ambassadors to Rome, and desired they would send one of
those that were there as pledges to be their king. Accordingly,
Vonones was preferred before the rest, and sent to them (for he
seemed capable of such great fortune, which two of the greatest
kingdoms under the sun now offered him, his own and a foreign
one). However, the barbarians soon changed their minds, they
being naturally of a mutable disposition, upon the supposal that
this man was not worthy to be their governor; for they could not
think of obeying the commands of one that had been a slave, (for
so they called those that had been hostages,) nor could they bear
the ignominy of that name; and this was the more intolerable,
because then the Parthians must have such a king set over them,
not by right of war, but in time of peace. So they presently
invited Artabanus, king of Media, to be their king, he being also
of the race of Arsaces. Artabanus complied with the offer that
was made him, and came to them with an army. So Vonones met him;
and at first the multitude of the Parthians stood on this side,
and he put his army in array; but Artabanus was beaten, and fled
to the mountains of Media. Yet did he a little after gather a
great army together, and fought with Vonones, and beat him;
whereupon Vonones fled away on horseback, with a few of his
attendants about him, to Seleucia [upon Tigris]. So when
Artabanus had slain a great number, and this after he had gotten
the victory by reason of the very great dismay the barbarians
were in, he retired to Ctesiphon with a great number of his
people; and so he now reigned over the Parthians. But Vonones
fled away to Armenia; and as soon as he came thither, he had an
inclination to have the government of the country given him, and
sent ambassadors to Rome [for that purpose]. But because Tiberius
refused it him, and because he wanted courage, and because the
Parthian king threatened him, and sent ambassadors to him to
denounce war against him if he proceeded, and because he had no
way to take to regain any other kingdom, (for the people of
authority among the Armenians about Niphates joined themselves to
Artabanus,) he delivered up himself to Silanus, the president of
Syria, who, out of regard to his education at Rome, kept him in
Syria, while Artabanus gave Armenia to Orodes, one of his own
sons.
5. At this time died Antiochus, the king of Commagene; whereupon
the multitude contended with the nobility, and both sent
ambassadors to [Rome]; for the men of power were desirous that
their form of government might be changed into that of a [Roman]
province; as were the multitude desirous to be under kings, as
their fathers had been. So the senate made a decree that
Germanicus should be sent to settle the affairs of the East,
fortune hereby taking a proper opportunity for depriving him of
his life; for when he had been in the East, and settled all
affairs there, his life was taken away by the poison which Piso
gave him, as hath been related elsewhere. (7)
CHAPTER 3.
Sedition Of The Jews Against Pontius Pilate. Concerning Christ,
And What Befell Paulina And The Jews At Rome,
1. But now Pilate, the procurator of Judea, removed the army from
Cesarea to Jerusalem, to take their winter quarters there, in
order to abolish the Jewish laws. So he introduced Caesar's
effigies, which were upon the ensigns, and brought them into the
city; whereas our law forbids us the very making of images; on
which account the former procurators were wont to make their
entry into the city with such ensigns as had not those ornaments.
Pilate was the first who brought those images to Jerusalem, and
set them up there; which was done without the knowledge of the
people, because it was done in the night time; but as soon as
they knew it, they came in multitudes to Cesarea, and interceded
with Pilate many days that he would remove the images; and when
he would not grant their requests, because it would tend to the
injury of Caesar, while yet they persevered in their request, on
the sixth day he ordered his soldiers to have their weapons
privately, while he came and sat upon his judgment-seat, which
seat was so prepared in the open place of the city, that it
concealed the army that lay ready to oppress them; and when the
Jews petitioned him again, he gave a signal to the soldiers to
encompass them routed, and threatened that their punishment
should be no less than immediate death, unless they would leave
off disturbing him, and go their ways home. But they threw
themselves upon the ground, and laid their necks bare, and said
they would take their death very willingly, rather than the
wisdom of their laws should be transgressed; upon which Pilate
was deeply affected with their firm resolution to keep their laws
inviolable, and presently commanded the images to be carried back
from Jerusalem to Cesarea.
2. But Pilate undertook to bring a current of water to Jerusalem,
and did it with the sacred money, and derived the origin of the
stream from the distance of two hundred furlongs. However, the
Jews (8) were not pleased with what had been done about this
water; and many ten thousands of the people got together, and
made a clamor against him, and insisted that he should leave off
that design. Some of them also used reproaches, and abused the
man, as crowds of such people usually do. So he habited a great
number of his soldiers in their habit, who carried daggers under
their garments, and sent them to a place where they might
surround them. So he bid the Jews himself go away; but they
boldly casting reproaches upon him, he gave the soldiers that
signal which had been beforehand agreed on; who laid upon them
much greater blows than Pilate had commanded them, and equally
punished those that were tumultuous, and those that were not; nor
did they spare them in the least: and since the people were
unarmed, and were caught by men prepared for what they were
about, there were a great number of them slain by this means, and
others of them ran away wounded. And thus an end was put to this
sedition.
3. Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be
lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a
teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew
over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He
was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the
principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, (9)
those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he
appeared to them alive again the third day; (10) as the divine
prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful
things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from
him, are not extinct at this day.
4. About the same time also another sad calamity put the Jews
into disorder, and certain shameful practices happened about the
temple of Isis that was at Rome. I will now first take notice of
the wicked attempt about the temple of Isis, and will then give
an account of the Jewish affairs. There was at Rome a woman whose
name was Paulina; one who, on account of the dignity of her
ancestors, and by the regular conduct of a virtuous life, had a
great reputation: she was also very rich; and although she was of
a beautiful countenance, and in that flower of her age wherein
women are the most gay, yet did she lead a life of great modesty.
She was married to Saturninus, one that was every way answerable
to her in an excellent character. Decius Mundus fell in love with
this woman, who was a man very high in the equestrian order; and
as she was of too great dignity to be caught by presents, and had
already rejected them, though they had been sent in great
abundance, he was still more inflamed with love to her, insomuch
that he promised to give her two hundred thousand Attic drachmae
for one night's lodging; and when this would not prevail upon
her, and he was not able to bear this misfortune in his amours,
he thought it the best way to famish himself to death for want of
food, on account of Paulina's sad refusal; and he determined with
himself to die after such a manner, and he went on with his
purpose accordingly. Now Mundus had a freed-woman, who had been
made free by his father, whose name was Ide, one skillful in all
sorts of mischief. This woman was very much grieved at the young
man's resolution to kill himself, (for he did not conceal his
intentions to destroy himself from others,) and came to him, and
encouraged him by her discourse, and made him to hope, by some
promises she gave him, that he might obtain a night's lodging
with Paulina; and when he joyfully hearkened to her entreaty, she
said she wanted no more than fifty thousand drachmae for the
entrapping of the woman. So when she had encouraged the young
man, and gotten as much money as she required, she did not take
the same methods as had been taken before, because she perceived
that the woman was by no means to be tempted by money; but as she
knew that she was very much given to the worship of the goddess
Isis, she devised the following stratagem: She went to some of
Isis's priests, and upon the strongest assurances [of
concealment], she persuaded them by words, but chiefly by the
offer of money, of twenty-five thousand drachmae in hand, and as
much more when the thing had taken effect; and told them the
passion of the young man, and persuaded them to use all means
possible to beguile the woman. So they were drawn in to promise
so to do, by that large sum of gold they were to have.
Accordingly, the oldest of them went immediately to Paulina; and
upon his admittance, he desired to speak with her by herself.
When that was granted him, he told her that he was sent by the
god Anubis, who was fallen in love with her, and enjoined her to
come to him. Upon this she took the message very kindly, and
valued herself greatly upon this condescension of Anubis, and
told her husband that she had a message sent her, and was to sup
and lie with Anubis; so he agreed to her acceptance of the offer,
as fully satisfied with the chastity of his wife. Accordingly,
she went to the temple, and after she had supped there, and it
was the hour to go to sleep, the priest shut the doors of the
temple, when, in the holy part of it, the lights were also put
out. Then did Mundus leap out, (for he was hidden therein,) and
did not fail of enjoying her, who was at his service all the
night long, as supposing he was the god; and when he was gone
away, which was before those priests who knew nothing of this
stratagem were stirring, Paulina came early to her husband, and
told him how the god Anubis had appeared to her. Among her
friends, also, she declared how great a value she put upon this
favor, who partly disbelieved the thing, when they reflected on
its nature, and partly were amazed at it, as having no pretense
for not believing it, when they considered the modesty and the
dignity of the person. But now, on the third day after what had
been done, Mundus met Paulina, and said, "Nay, Paulina, thou hast
saved me two hundred thousand drachmae, which sum thou sightest
have added to thy own family; yet hast thou not failed to be at
my service in the manner I invited thee. As for the reproaches
thou hast laid upon Mundus, I value not the business of names;
but I rejoice in the pleasure I reaped by what I did, while I
took to myself the name of Anubis." When he had said this, he
went his way. But now she began to come to the sense of the
grossness of what she had done, and rent her garments, and told
her husband of the horrid nature of this wicked contrivance, and
prayed him not to neglect to assist her in this case. So he
discovered the fact to the emperor; whereupon Tiberius inquired
into the matter thoroughly by examining the priests about it, and
ordered them to be crucified, as well as Ide, who was the
occasion of their perdition, and who had contrived the whole
matter, which was so injurious to the woman. He also demolished
the temple of Isis, and gave order that her statue should be
thrown into the river Tiber; while he only banished Mundus, but
did no more to him, because he supposed that what crime he had
committed was done out of the passion of love. And these were the
circumstances which concerned the temple of Isis, and the
injuries occasioned by her priests. I now return to the relation
of what happened about this time to the Jews at Rome, as I
formerly told you I would.
5. There was a man who was a Jew, but had been driven away from
his own country by an accusation laid against him for
transgressing their laws, and by the fear he was under of
punishment for the same; but in all respects a wicked man. He,
then living at Rome, professed to instruct men in the wisdom of
the laws of Moses. He procured also three other men, entirely of
the same character with himself, to be his partners. These men
persuaded Fulvia, a woman of great dignity, and one that had
embraced the Jewish religion, to send purple and gold to the
temple at Jerusalem; and when they had gotten them, they employed
them for their own uses, and spent the money themselves, on which
account it was that they at first required it of her. Whereupon
Tiberius, who had been informed of the thing by Saturninus, the
husband of Fulvia, who desired inquiry might be made about it,
ordered all the Jews to be banished out of Rome; at which time
the consuls listed four thousand men out of them, and sent them
to the island Sardinia; but punished a greater number of them,
who were unwilling to become soldiers, on account of keeping the
laws of their forefathers. (11) Thus were these Jews banished out
of the city by the wickedness of four men.
CHAPTER 4.
How The Samaritans Made A Tumult And Pilate Destroyed Many Of
Them; How Pilate Was Accused And What Things Were Done By
Vitellius Relating To The Jews And The Parthians.
1. But the nation of the Samaritans did not escape without
tumults. The man who excited them to it was one who thought lying
a thing of little consequence, and who contrived every thing so
that the multitude might be pleased; so he bid them to get
together upon Mount Gerizzim, which is by them looked upon as the
most holy of all mountains, and assured them, that when they were
come thither, he would show them those sacred vessels which were
laid under that place, because Moses put them there (12) So they
came thither armed, and thought the discourse of the man
probable; and as they abode at a certain village, which was
called Tirathaba, they got the rest together to them, and desired
to go up the mountain in a great multitude together; but Pilate
prevented their going up, by seizing upon file roads with a great
band of horsemen and foot-men, who fell upon those that were
gotten together in the village; and when it came to an action,
some of them they slew, and others of them they put to flight,
and took a great many alive, the principal of which, and also the
most potent of those that fled away, Pilate ordered to be slain.
2. But when this tumult was appeased, the Samaritan senate sent
an embassy to Vitellius, a man that had been consul, and who was
now president of Syria, and accused Pilate of the murder of those
that were killed; for that they did not go to Tirathaba in order
to revolt from the Romans, but to escape the violence of Pilate.
So Vitellius sent Marcellus, a friend of his, to take care of the
affairs of Judea, and ordered Pilate to go to Rome, to answer
before the emperor to the accusations of the Jews. So Pilate,
when he had tarried ten years in Judea, made haste to Rome, and
this in obedience to the orders of Vitellius, which he durst not
contradict; but before he could get to Rome Tiberius was dead.
3. But Vitellius came into Judea, and went up to Jerusalem; it
was at the time of that festival which is called the Passover.
Vitellius was there magnificently received, and released the
inhabitants of Jerusalem from all the taxes upon the fruits that
were bought and sold, and gave them leave to have the care of the
high priest's vestments, with all their ornaments, and to have
them under the custody of the priests in the temple, which power
they used to have formerly, although at this time they were laid
up in the tower of Antonia, the citadel so called, and that on
the occasion following: There was one of the [high] priests,
named Hyrcanus; and as there were many of that name, he was the
first of them; this man built a tower near the temple, and when
he had so done, he generally dwelt in it, and had these vestments
with him, because it was lawful for him alone to put them on, and
he had them there reposited when he went down into the city, and
took his ordinary garments; the same things were continued to be
done by his sons, and by their sons after them. But when Herod
came to be king, he rebuilt this tower, which was very
conveniently situated, in a magnificent manner; and because he
was a friend to Antonius, he called it by the name of Antonia.
And as he found these vestments lying there, he retained them in
the same place, as believing, that while he had them in his
custody, the people would make no innovations against him. The
like to what Herod did was done by his son Archelaus, who was
made king after him; after whom the Romans, when they entered on
the government, took possession of these vestments of the high
priest, and had them reposited in a stone-chamber, under the seal
of the priests, and of the keepers of the temple, the captain of
the guard lighting a lamp there every day; and seven days before
a festival (13) they were delivered to them by the captain of the
guard, when the high priest having purified them, and made use of
them, laid them up again in the same chamber where they had been
laid up before, and this the very next day after the feast was
over. This was the practice at the three yearly festivals, and on
the fast day; but Vitellius put those garments into our own
power, as in the days of our forefathers, and ordered the captain
of the guard not to trouble himself to inquire where they were
laid, or when they were to be used; and this he did as an act of
kindness, to oblige the nation to him. Besides which, he also
deprived Joseph, who was also called Caiaphas, of the high
priesthood, and appointed Jonathan the son of Ananus, the former
high priest, to succeed him. After which, he took his journey
back to Antioch.
4. Moreover, Tiberius sent a letter to Vitellius, and commanded
him to make a league of friendship with Artabanus, the king of
Parthia; for while he was his enemy, he terrified him, because he
had taken Armenia away from him, lest he should proceed further,
and told him he should no otherwise trust him than upon his
giving him hostages, and especially his son Artabanus. Upon
Tiberius's writing thus to Vitellius, by the offer of great
presents of money, he persuaded both the king of Iberia and the
king of Albania to make no delay, but to fight against Artabanus;
and although they would not do it themselves, yet did they give
the Scythians a passage through their country, and opened the
Caspian gates to them, and brought them upon Artabanus. So
Armenia was again taken from the Parthians, and the country of
Parthis was filled with war, and the principal of their men were
slain, and all things were in disorder among them: the king's son
also himself fell in these wars, together with. many ten
thousands of his army. Vitellius had also sent such great sums of
money to Artabanus's father's kinsmen and friends, that he had
almost procured him to be slain by the means of those bribes
which they had taken. And when Artabanus perceived that the plot
laid against him was not to be avoided, because it was laid by
the principal men, and those a great many in number, and that it
would certainly take effect, - when he had estimated the number
of those that were truly faithful to him, as also of those who
were already corrupted, but were deceitful in the kindness they
professed to him, and were likely, upon trial, to go over to his
enemies, he made his escape to the upper provinces, where he
afterwards raised a great army out of the Dahae and Sacre, and
fought with his enemies, and retained his principality.
5. When Tiberius had heard of these things, he desired to have a
league of friendship made between him and Artabanus; and when,
upon this invitation, he received the proposal kindly, Artabanus
and Vitellius went to Euphrates, and as a bridge was laid over
the river, they each of them came with their guards about them,
and met one another on the midst of the bridge. And when they had
agreed upon the terms of peace Herod, the tetrarch erected a rich
tent on the midst of the passage, and made them a feast there.
Artabanus also, not long afterward, sent his son Darius as an
hostage, with many presents, among which there was a man seven
cubits tall, a Jew he was by birth, and his name was Eleazar,
who, for his tallness, was called a giant. After which Vitellius
went to Antioch, and Artabanus to Babylon; but Herod [the
tetrarch] being desirous to give Caesar the first information
that they had obtained hostages, sent posts with letters, wherein
he had accurately described all the particulars, and had left
nothing for the consular Vitellius to inform him of. But when
Vitellius's letters were sent, and Caesar had let him know that
he was acquainted with the affairs already, because Herod had
given him an account of them before, Vitellius was very much
troubled at it; and supposing that he had been thereby a greater
sufferer than he really was, he kept up a secret anger upon this
occasion, till he could be revenged on him, which he was after
Caius had taken the government.
6. About this time it was that Philip, Herod's ' brother,
departed this life, in the twentieth year of the reign of
Tiberius, (14) after he had been tetrarch of Trachonitis and
Gaulanitis, and of the nation of the Bataneans also, thirty-seven
years. He had showed himself a person of moderation and quietness
in the conduct of his life and government; he constantly lived in
that country which was subject to him; he used to make his
progress with a few chosen friends; his tribunal also, on which
he sat in judgment, followed him in his progress; and when any
one met him who wanted his assistance, he made no delay, but had
his tribunal set down immediately, wheresoever he happened to be,
and sat down upon it, and heard his complaint: he there ordered
the guilty that were convicted to be punished, and absolved those
that had been accused unjustly. He died at Julias; and when he
was carried to that monument which he had already erected for
himself beforehand, he was buried with great pomp. His
principality Tiberius took, (for he left no sons behind him,) and
added it to the province of Syria, but gave order that the
tributes which arose from it should be collected, and laid up in
his tetrachy.
CHAPTER 5.
Herod The Tetrarch Makes War With Aretas, The King Of Arabia, And
Is Beaten By Him As Also Concerning The Death Of John The
Baptist. How Vitellius Went Up To Jerusalem; Together With Some
Account Of Agrippa And Of The Posterity Of Herod The Great.
1. About this time Aretas (the king of Arabia Petres) and Herod
had a quarrel on the account following: Herod the tetrarch had,
married the daughter of Aretas, and had lived with her a great
while; but when he was once at Rome, he lodged with Herod, (15)
who was his brother indeed, but not by the same mother; for this
Herod was the son of the high priest Sireoh's daughter. However,
he fell in love with Herodias, this last Herod's wife, who was
the daughter of Aristobulus their brother, and the sister of
Agrippa the Great. This man ventured to talk to her about a
marriage between them; which address, when she admitted, an
agreement was made for her to change her habitation, and come to
him as soon as he should return from Rome: one article of this
marriage also was this, that he should divorce Aretas's daughter.
So Antipus, when he had made this agreement, sailed to Rome; but
when he had done there the business he went about, and was
returned again, his wife having discovered the agreement he had
made with Herodias, and having learned it before he had notice of
her knowledge of the whole design, she desired him to send her to
Macherus, which is a place in the borders of the dominions of
Aretas and Herod, without informing him of any of her intentions.
Accordingly Herod sent her thither, as thinking his wife had not
perceived any thing; now she had sent a good while before to
Macherus, which was subject to her father and so all things
necessary for her journey were made ready for her by the general
of Aretas's army; and by that means she soon came into Arabia,
under the conduct of the several generals, who carried her from
one to another successively; and she soon came to her father, and
told him of Herod's intentions. So Aretas made this the first
occasion of his enmity between him and Herod, who had also some
quarrel with him about their limits at the country of Gamalitis.
So they raised armies on both sides, and prepared for war, and
sent their generals to fight instead of themselves; and when they
had joined battle, all Herod's army was destroyed by the
treachery of some fugitives, who, though they were of the
tetrarchy of Philip, joined with Aretas's army.. So Herod wrote
about these affairs to Tiberius, who being very angry at the
attempt made by Aretas, wrote to Vitellius to make war upon him,
and either to take him alive, and bring him to him in bonds, or
to kill him, and send him his head. This was the charge that
Tiberius gave to the president of Syria.
2. Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's
army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what
he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew
him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise
virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety
towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing
[with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it,
not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins
[only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still
that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by
righteousness. Now when [many] others came in crowds about him,
for they were very greatly moved [or pleased] by hearing his
words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over
the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a
rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do any thing he should
advise,) thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any
mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties,
by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be
too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's
suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned,
and was there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the
destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and
a mark of God's displeasure to him.
3. So Vitellius prepared to make war with Aretas, having with him
two legions of armed men; he also took with him all those of
light armature, and of the horsemen which belonged to them, and
were drawn out of those kingdoms which were under the Romans, and
made haste for Petra, and came to Ptolemais. But as he was
marching very busily, and leading his army through Judea, the
principal men met him, and desired that he would not thus march
through their land; for that the laws of their country would not
permit them to overlook those images which were brought into it,
of which there were a great many in their ensigns; so he was
persuaded by what they said, and changed that resolution of his
which he had before taken in this matter. Whereupon he ordered
the army to march along
the great plain, while he himself, with Herod the tetrarch and
his friends, went up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God, an
ancient festival of the Jews being then just approaching; and
when he had been there, and been honorably entertained by the
multitude of the Jews, he made a stay there for three days,
within which time he deprived Jonathan of the high priesthood,
and gave it to his brother Theophilus. But when on the fourth day
letters came to him, which informed him of the death of Tiberius,
he obliged the multitude to take an oath of fidelity to Caius; he
also recalled his army, and made them every one go home, and take
their winter quarters there, since, upon the devolution of the
empire upon Caius, he had not the like authority of making this
war which he had before. It was also reported, that when Aretas
heard of the coming of Vitellius to fight him, he said, upon his
consulting the diviners, that it was impossible that this army of
Vitellius's could enter Petra; for that one of the rulers would
die, either he that gave orders for the war, or he that was
marching at the other's desire, in order to be subservient to his
will, or else he against whom this army is prepared. So Vitellius
truly retired to Antioch; but Agrippa, the son of Aristobulus,
went up to Rome, a year before the death of Tiberius, in order to
treat of some affairs with the emperor, if he might be permitted
so to do. I have now a mind to describe Herod and his family, how
it fared with them, partly because it is suitable to this history
to speak of that matter, and partly because this thing is a
demonstration of the interposition of Providence, how a multitude
of children is of no advantage, no more than any other strength
that mankind set their hearts upon, besides those acts of piety
which are done towards God; for it happened, that, within the
revolution of a hundred years, the posterity of Herod, which were
a great many in number, were, excepting a few, utterly destroyed.
(16) One may well apply this for the instruction of mankind, and
learn thence how unhappy they were: it will also show us the
history of Agrippa, who, as he was a person most worthy of
admiration, so was he from a private man, beyond all the
expectation of those that knew him, advanced to great power and
authority. I have said something of them formerly, but I shall
now also speak accurately about them.
4. Herod the Great had two daughters by Mariamne, the [grand]
daughter of Hyrcanus; the one was Salampsio, who was married to
Phasaelus, her first cousin, who was himself the son of
Phasaelus, Herod's brother, her father making the match; the
other was Cypros, who was herself married also to her first
cousin Antipater, the son of Salome, Herod's sister. Phasaelus
had five children by Salampsio; Antipater, Herod, and Alexander,
and two daughters, Alexandra and Cypros; which last Agrippa, the
son of Aristobulus, married; and Timius of Cyprus married
Alexandra; he was a man of note, but had by her no children.
Agrippa had by Cypros two sons and three daughters, which
daughters were named Bernice, Mariarune, and Drusius; but the
names of the sons were Agrippa and Drusus, of which Drusus died
before he came to the years of puberty; but their father,
Agrippa, was brought up with his other brethren, Herod and
Aristobulus, for these were also the sons of the son of Herod the
Great by Bernice; but Bernice was the daughter of Costobarus and
of Salome, who was Herod's sister. Aristobulus left these infants
when he was slain by his father, together with his brother
Alexander, as we have already related. But when they were arrived
at years of puberty, this Herod, the brother of Agrippa, married
Mariamne, the daughter of Olympias, who was the daughter of Herod
the king, and of Joseph, the son of Joseph, who was brother to
Herod the king, and had by her a son, Aristobulus; but
Aristobulus, the third brother of Agrippa, married Jotape, the
daughter of Sampsigeramus, king of Emesa; they had a daughter who
was deaf, whose name also was Jotape; and these hitherto were the
children of the male line. But Herodias, their sister, was
married to Herod [Philip], the son of Herod the Great, who was
born of Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the high priest, who had
a daughter, Salome; after whose birth Herodias took upon her to
confound the laws of our country, and divorced herself from her
husband while he was alive, and was married to Herod [Antipas],
her husband's brother by the father's side, he was tetrarch of
Galilee; but her daughter Salome was married to Philip, the son
of Herod, and tetrarch of Trachonitis; and as he died childless,
Aristobulus, the son of Herod, the brother of Agrippa, married
her; they had three sons, Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus; and
this was the posterity of Phasaelus and Salampsio. But the
daughter of Antipater by Cypros was Cypros, whom Alexas Selcias,
the son of Alexas, married; they had a daughter, Cypros; but
Herod and Alexander, who, as we told you, were the brothers of
Antipater, died childless. As to Alexander, the son of Herod the
king, who was slain by his father, he had two sons, Alexander and
Tigranes, by the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia.
Tigranes, who was king of Armenia, was accused at Rome, and died
childless; Alexander had ason of the same name with his brother
Tigranes, and was sent to take possession of the kingdom of
Armenia by Nero; he had a son, Alexander, who married Jotape,
(17) the daughter of Antiochus, the king of Commagena; Vespasian
made him king of an island in Cilicia. But these descendants of
Alexander, soon after their birth, deserted the Jewish religion,
and went over to that of the Greeks. But for the rest of the
daughters of Herod the king, it happened that they died
childless. And as these descendants of Herod, whom we have
enumerated, were in being at the same time that Agrippa the Great
took the kingdom, and I have now given an account of them, it now
remains that I relate the several hard fortunes which befell
Agrippa, and how he got clear of them, and was advanced to the
greatest height of dignity and power.
CHAPTER 6.
Of The Navigation Of King Agrippa To Rome, To Tiberius Caesar;
And Now Upon His Being Accused By His Own Freed-Man, He Was
Bound; How Also He, Was Set At Liberty By Caius, After Tiberius's
Death And Was Made King Of The Tetrarchy Of Philip.
1. A Little before the death of Herod the king, Agrippa lived at
Rome, and was generally brought up and conversed with Drusus, the
emperor Tiberius's son, and contracted a friendship with Antonia,
the wife of Drusus the Great, who had his mother Bernice in great
esteem, and was very desirous of advancing her son. Now as
Agrippa was by nature magnanimous and generous in the presents he
made, while his mother was alive, this inclination of his mind
did not appear, that he might be able to avoid her anger for such
his extravagance; but when Bernice was dead, and he was left to
his own conduct, he spent a great deal extravagantly in his daily
way of living, and a great deal in the immoderate presents he
made, and those chiefly among Caesar's freed-men, in order to
gain their assistance, insomuch that he was, in a little time,
reduced to poverty, and could not live at Rome any longer.
Tiberius also forbade the friends of his deceased son to come
into his sight, because on seeing them he should be put in mind
of his son, and his grief would thereby be revived.
2. For these reasons he went away from Rome, and sailed to Judea,
but in evil circumstances, being dejected with the loss of that
money which he once had, and because he had not wherewithal to
pay his creditors, who were many in number, and such as gave him
no room for escaping them. Whereupon he knew not what to do; so,
for shame of his present condition, he retired to a certain
tower, at Malatha, in Idumea, and had thoughts of killing
himself; but his wife Cypros perceived his intentions, and tried
all sorts of methods to divert him from his taking such a course;
so she sent a letter to his sister Herodias, who was now the wife
of Herod the tetrarch, and let her know Agrippa's present design,
and what necessity it was which drove him thereto, and desired
her, as a kinswoman of his, to give him her help, and to engage
her husband to do the same, since she saw how she alleviated
these her husband's troubles all she could, although she had not
the like wealth to do it withal. So they sent for him, and
allotted him Tiberias for his habitation, and appointed him some
income of money for his maintenance, and made him a magistrate of
that city, by way of honor to him. Yet did not Herod long
continue in that resolution of supporting him, though even that
support was not sufficient for him; for as once they were at a
feast at Tyre, and in their cups, and reproaches were cast upon
one another, Agrippa thought that was not to be borne, while
Herod hit him in the teeth with his poverty, and with his owing
his necessary food to him. So he went to Flaccus, one that had
been consul, and had been a very great friend to him at Rome
formerly, and was now president of Syria.
3. Hereupon Flaccus received him kindly, and he lived with him.
Flaccus had also with him there Aristobulus, who was indeed
Agrippa's brother, but was at variance with him; yet did not
their enmity to one another hinder the friendship of Flaccus to
them both, but still they were honorably treated by him. However,
Aristobulus did not abate of his ill-will to Agrippa, till at
length he brought him into ill terms with Flaccus; the occasion
of bringing on which estrangement was this: The Damascens were at
difference with the Sidonians about their limits, and when
Flaccus was about to hear the cause between them, they understood
that Agrippa had a mighty influence upon him; so they desired
that he would be of their side, and for that favor promised him a
great deal of money; so he was zealous in assisting the Damascens
as far as he was able. Now Aristobulus had gotten intelligence of
this promise of money to him, and accused him to Flaccus of the
same; and when, upon a thorough examination of the matter, it
appeared plainly so to be, he rejected Agrippa out of the number
of his friends. So he was reduced to the utmost necessity, and
came to Ptolemais; and because he knew not where else to get a
livelihood, he thought to sail to Italy; but as he was restrained
from so doing by want of money, he desired Marsyas, who was his
freed-man, to find some method for procuring him so much as he
wanted for that purpose, by borrowing such a sum of some person
or other. So Marsyas desired of Peter, who was the freed-man of
Bernice, Agrippa's mother, and by the right of her testament was
bequeathed to Antonia, to lend so much upon Agrippa's own bond
and security; but he accused Agrippa of having defrauded him of
certain sums of money, and so obliged Marsyas, when he made the
bond of twenty thousand Attic drachmae, to accept of twenty-five
hundred drachma as (18) less than what he desired, which the
other allowed of, because he could not help it. Upon the receipt
of this money, Agrippa came to Anthedon, and took shipping, and
was going to set sail; but Herennius Capito, who was the
procurator of Jamhis, sent a band of soldiers to demand of him
three hundred thousand drachmae of silver, which were by him
owing to Caesar's treasury while he was at Rome, and so forced
him to stay. He then pretended that he would do as he bid him;
but when night came on, he cut his cables, and went off, and
sailed to Alexandria, where he desired Alexander the alabarch
(19) to lend him two hundred thousand drachmae; but he said he
would not lend it to him, but would not refuse it to Cypros, as
greatly astonished at her affection to her husband, and at the
other instances of her virtue; so she undertook to repay it.
Accordingly, Alexander paid them five talents at Alexandria, and
promised to pay them the rest of that sum at Dicearchia
[Puteoli]; and this he did out of the fear he was in that Agrippa
would soon spend it. So this Cypros set her husband free, and
dismissed him to go on with his navigation to Italy, while she
and her children departed for Judea.
4. And now Agrippa was come to Puteoli, whence he wrote a letter
to Tiberius Caesar, who then lived at Capreae, and told him that
he was come so far in order to wait on him, and to pay him a
visit; and desired that he would give him leave to come over to
Caprein: so Tiberius made no difficulty, but wrote to him in an
obliging way in other respects; and withal told him he was glad
of his safe return, and desired him to come to Capreae; and when
he was come, he did not fail to treat him as kindly as he had
promised him in his letter to do. But the next day came a letter
to Caesar from Herennius Capito, to inform him that Agrippa had
borrowed three hundred thousand drachmae, and not pad it at the
time appointed; but when it was demanded of him, he ran away like
a fugitive, out of the places under his government, and put it
out of his power to get the money of him. When Caesar had read
this letter, he was much troubled at it, and gave order that
Agrippa should be excluded from his presence until he had paid
that debt: upon which he was no way daunted at Caesar's anger,
but entreated Antonia, the mother of Germanicus, and of Claudius,
who was afterward Caesar himself, to lend him those three hundred
thousand drachmae, that he might not be deprived of Tiberius's
friendship; so, out of regard to the memory of Bernice his
mother, (for those two women were very familiar with one
another,) and out of regard to his and Claudius's education
together, she lent him the money; and, upon the payment of this
debt, there was nothing to hinder Tiberius's friendship to him.
After this, Tiberius Caesar recommended to him his grandson, (20)
and ordered that he should always accompany him when he went
abroad. But upon Agrippa's kind reception by Antonia, he betook
him to pay his respects to Caius, who was her grandson, and in
very high reputation by reason of the good-will they bare his
father. Now there was one Thallus, a freed-man of Caesar, of whom
he borrowed a million of drachmae, and thence repaid Antonia the
debt he owed her; and by sending the overplus in paying his court
to Caius, became a person of great authority with him.
5. Now as the friendship which Agrippa had for Caius was come to
a great height, there happened some words to pass between them,
as they once were in a chariot together, concerning Tiberius;
Agrippa praying [to God] (for they two sat by themselves) that
Tiberius might soon go off the stage, and leave the government to
Caius, who was in every respect more worthy of it. Now Eutychus,
who was Agrippa's freed-man, and drove his chariot, heard these
words, and at that time said nothing of them; but when Agrippa
accused him of stealing some garments of his, (which was
certainly true,) he ran away from him; but when he was caught,
and brought before Piso, who was governor of the city, and the
man was asked why he ran away, be replied, that he had somewhat
to say to Caesar, that tended to his security and preservation:
so Piso bound him, and sent him to Capreae. But Tiberius,
according to his usual custom, kept him still in bonds, being a
delayer of affairs, if ever there was any other king or tyrant
that was so; for he did not admit ambassadors quickly, and no
successors were despatched away to governors or procurators of
the provinces that had been formerly sent, unless they were dead;
whence it was that he was so negligent in hearing the causes of
prisoners; insomuch that when he was asked by his friends what
was the reason of his delay in such cases, he said that he
delayed to hear ambassadors, lest, upon their quick dismission,
other ambassadors should be appointed, and return upon him; and
so he should bring trouble upon himself in their public reception
and dismission: that he permitted those governors who had been
sent once to their government [to stay there a long while], out
of regard to the subjects that were under them; for that all
governors are naturally disposed to get as much as they can; and
that those who are not to fix there, but to stay a short time,
and that at an uncertainty when they shall be turned out, do the
more severely hurry themselves on to fleece the people; but that
if their government be long continued to them; they are at last
satiated with the spoils, as having gotten a vast deal, and so
become at length less sharp in their pillaging; but that if
successors are sent quickly, the poor subjects, who are exposed
to them as a prey, will not be able to bear the new ones, while
they shall not have the same time allowed them wherein their
predecessors had filled themselves, and so grew more unconcerned
about getting more; and this because they are removed before they
have had time [for their oppressions]. He gave them an example to
show his meaning: A great number of flies came about the sore
places of a man that had been wounded; upon which one of the
standers-by pitied the man's misfortune, and thinking he was not
able to drive those flies away himself, was going to drive them
away for him; but he prayed him to let them alone: the other, by
way of reply, asked him the reason of such a preposterous
proceeding, in preventing relief from his present misery; to
which he answered, "If thou drivest these flies away, thou wilt
hurt me worse; for as these are already full of my blood, they do
not crowd about me, nor pain me so much as before, but are
somewhat more remiss, while the fresh ones that come almost
famished, and find me quite tired down already, will be my
destruction. For this cause, therefore, it is that I am myself
careful not to send such new governors perpetually to those my
subjects, who are already sufficiently harassed by many
oppressions, as may, like these flies, further distress them; and
so, besides their natural desire of gain, may have this
additional incitement to it, that they expect to be suddenly
deprived of that pleasure which they take in it." And, as a
further attestation to what I say of the dilatory nature of
Tiberius, I appeal to this his practice itself; for although he
was emperor twenty-two years, he sent in all but two procurators
to govern the nation of the Jews, Gratus, and his successor in
the government, Pilate. Nor was he in one way of acting with
respect to the Jews, and in another with respect to the rest of
his subjects. He further informed them, that even in the hearing
of the causes of prisoners, he made such delays, because
immediate death to those that must be condemned to die would be
an alleviation of their present miseries, while those wicked
wretches have not deserved any such favor; "but I do it, that, by
being harassed with the present calamity, they may undergo
greater misery."
6. On this account it was that Eutychus could not obtain a
bearing, but was kept still in prison. However, some time
afterward, Tiberius came from Capreae to Tusculanum, which is
about a hundred furlongs from Rome. Agrippa then desired of
Antonia that she would procure a hearing for Eutychus, let the
matter whereof he accused him prove what it would. Now Antonia
was greatly esteemed by Tiberius on all accounts, from the
dignity of her relation to him, who had been his brother Drusus's
wife, and from her eminent chastity; (21) for though she was
still a young woman, she continued in her widowhood, and refused
all other matches, although Augustus had enjoined her to be
married to somebody else; yet did she all along preserve her
reputation free from reproach. She had also been the greatest
benefactress to Tiberius, when there was a very dangerous plot
laid against him by Sejanus, a man who had been her husband's
friend, and wire had the greatest authority, because he was
general of the army, and when many members of the senate and many
of the freed-men joined with him, and the soldiery was corrupted,
and the plot was come to a great height. Now Sejanus had
certainly gained his point, had not Antonia's boldness been more
wisely conducted than Sejanus's malice; for when she had
discovered his designs against Tiberius, she wrote him an exact
account of the whole, and gave the letter to Pallas, the most
faithful of her servants, and sent him to Caprere to Tiberius,
who, when he understood it, slew Sejanus and his confederates; so
that Tiberius, who had her in great esteem before, now looked
upon her with still greater respect, and depended upon her in all
things. So when Tiberius was desired by this Antonia to examine
Eutychus, he answered, "If indeed Eutychus hath falsely accused
Agrippa in what he hath said of him, he hath had sufficient
punishment by what I have done to him already; but if, upon
examination, the accusation appears to be true, let Agrippa have
a care, lest, out of desire of punishing his freed-man, he do not
rather bring a punishment upon himself." Now when Antonia told
Agrippa of this, he was still much more pressing that the matter
might be examined into; so Antonia, upon Agrippa's lying hard at
her continually to beg this favor, took the following
opportunity: As Tiberius lay once at his ease upon his sedan, and
was carried about, and Caius, her grandson, and Agrippa, were
before him after dinner she walked by the sedan, and desired him
to call Eutychus, and have him examined; to which he replied, "O
Antonia! the gods are my witnesses that I am induced to do what I
am going to do, not by my own inclination, but because I am
forced to it by thy prayers." When he had said this, he ordered
Macro, who succeeded Sejanus, to bring Eutychus to him;
accordingly, without any delay, he was brought. Then Tiberius
asked him what he had to say against a man who had given him his
liberty. Upon which he said, "O my lord! this Caius, and Agrippa
with him, were once riding in a chariot, when I sat at their
feet, and, among other discourses that passed, Agrippa said to
Caius, Oh that the day would once come when this old fellow will
dies and name thee for the governor of the habitable earth! for
then this Tiberius, his grandson, would be no hinderance, but
would be taken off by thee, and that earth would be happy, and I
happy also." Now Tiberius took these to be truly Agrippa's words,
and bearing a grudge withal at Agrippa, because, when he had
commanded him to pay his respects to Tiberius, his grandson, and
the son of Drusus, Agrippa had not paid him that respect, but had
disobeyed his commands, and transferred all his regard to Caius;
he said to Macro, "Bind this man." But Macro, not distinctly
knowing which of them it was whom he bid him bind, and not
expecting that he would have any such thing done to Agrippa, he
forbore, and came to ask more distinctly what it was that he
said. But when Caesar had gone round the hippodrome, he found
Agrippa standing: "For certain," said he, "Macro, this is the man
I meant to have bound;" and when he still asked, "Which of these
is to be bound?" he said "Agrippa." Upon which Agrippa betook
himself to make supplication for himself, putting him in mind of
his son, with whom he was brought up, and of Tiberius [his
grandson] whom he had educated; but all to no purpose; for they
led him about bound even in his purple garments. It was also very
hot weather, and they had but little wine to their meal, so that
he was very thirsty; he was also in a sort of agony, and took
this treatment of him heinously: as he therefore saw one of
Caius's slaves, whose name was Thaumastus, carrying some water in
a vessel, he desired that he would let him drink; so the servant
gave him some water to drink, and he drank heartily, and said, "O
thou boy! this service of thine to me will be for thy advantage;
for if I once get clear of these my bonds, I will soon procure
thee thy freedom of Caius who has not been wanting to minister to
me now I am in bonds, in the same manner as when I was in my
former state and dignity." Nor did he deceive him in what he
promised him, but made him amends for what he had now done; for
when afterward Agrippa was come to the kingdom, he took
particular care of Thaumastus, and got him his liberty from
Caius, and made him the steward over his own estate; and when he
died, he left him to Agrippa his son, and to Bernice his
daughter, to minister to them in the same capacity. The man also
grew old in that honorable post, and therein died. But all this
happened a good while later.
7. Now Agrippa stood in his bonds before the royal palace, and
leaned on a certain tree for grief, with many others,. who were
in bonds also; and as a certain bird sat upon the tree on which
Agrippa leaned, (the Romans call this bird bubo,) [an owl,] one
of those that were bound, a German by nation, saw him, and asked
a soldier who that man in purple was; and when he was informed
that his name was Agrippa, and that he was by nation a Jew, and
one of the principal men of that nation, he asked leave of the
soldier to whom he was bound, (22) to let him come nearer to him,
to speak with him; for that he had a mind to inquire of him about
some things relating to his country; which liberty, when he had
obtained, and as he stood near him, he said thus to him by an
interpreter: "This sudden change of thy condition, O young man!
is grievous to thee, as bringing on thee a manifold and very
great adversity; nor wilt thou believe me, when I foretell how
thou wilt get clear of this misery which thou art now under, and
how Divine Providence will provide for thee. Know therefore (and
I appeal to my own country gods, as well as to the gods of this
place, who have awarded these bonds to us) that all I am going to
say about thy concerns shall neither be said for favor nor
bribery, nor out of an endeavor to make thee cheerful without
cause; for such predictions, when they come to fail, make the
grief at last, and in earnest, more bitter than if the party had
never heard of any such thing. However, though I run the hazard
of my own self, I think it fit to declare to thee the prediction
of the gods. It cannot be that thou shouldst long continue in
these bonds; but thou wilt soon be delivered from them, and wilt
be promoted to the highest dignity and power, and thou wilt be
envied by all those who now pity thy hard fortune; and thou wilt
be happy till thy death, and wilt leave thine happiness to the
children whom thou shalt have. But do thou remember, when thou
seest this bird again, that thou wilt then live but five days
longer. This event will be brought to pass by that God who hath
sent this bird hither to be a sign unto thee. And I cannot but
think it unjust to conceal from thee what I foreknow concerning
thee, that, by thy knowing beforehand what happiness is coming
upon thee, thou mayst not regard thy present misfortunes. But
when this happiness shall actually befall thee, do not forget
what misery I am in myself, but endeavor to deliver me." So when
the German had said this, he made Agrippa laugh at him as much as
he afterwards appeared worthy of admiration. But now Antonia took
Agrippa's misfortune to heart: however, to speak to Tiberius on
his behalf, she took to be a very difficult thing, and indeed
quite impracticable, as to any hope of success; yet did she
procure of Macro, that the soldiers that kept him should be of a
gentle nature, and that the centurion who was over them and was
to diet with him, should be of the same disposition, and that he
might have leave to bathe himself every day, and that his
freed-men and friends might come to him, and that other things
that tended to ease him might be indulged him. So his friend
Silas came in to him, and two of his freed-men, Marsyas and
Stechus, brought him such sorts of food as he was fond of, and
indeed took great care of him; they ,also brought him garments,
under pretense of selling them; and when night came on, they laid
them under him; and the soldiers assisted them, as Macro had
given them order to do beforehand. And this was Agrippa's
condition for six months' time, and in this case were his
affairs.
8. But for Tiberius, upon his return to Caprein, he fell sick. At
first his distemper was but gentle; but as that distemper
increased upon him, he had small or no hopes of recovery.
Hereupon he bid Euodus, who was that freed-man whom he most of
all respected, to bring the children (23) to him, for that he
wanted to talk to them before he died. Now he had at present no
sons of his own alive for Drusus, who was his only son, was dead;
but Drusus's son Tiberius was still living, whose additional name
was Gemellus: there was also living Caius, the son of Germanicus,
who was the son (24) of his brother [Drusus]. He was now grown
up, and had a liberal education, and was well improved by it, and
was in esteem and favor with the people, on account of the
excellent character of his father Germanicus, who had attained
the highest honor among the multitude, by the firmness of his
virtuous behavior, by the easiness and agreeableness of his
conversing with the multitude, and because the dignity he was in
did not hinder his familiarity with them all, as if they were his
equals; by which behavior he was not only greatly esteemed by the
people and the senate, but by every one of those nations that
were subject to the Romans; some of which were affected when they
came to him with the gracefulness of their reception by him, and
others were affected in the same manner by the report of the
others that had been with him; and, upon his death, there was a
lamentation made by all men; not such a one as was to be made in
way of flattery to their rulers, while they did but counterfeit
sorrow, but such as was real; while every body grieved at his
death, as if they had lost one that was near to them. And truly
such had been his easy conversation with men, that it turned
greatly to the advantage of his son among all; and, among others,
the soldiery were so peculiarly affected to him, that they
reckoned it an eligible thing, if need were, to die themselves,
if he might but attain to the government.
9. But when Tiberius had given order to Euodus to bring the
children to him the next day in the morning, he prayed to his
country gods to show him a manifest signal which of those
children should come to the government; being very desirous to
leave it to his son's son, but still depending upon what God
should foreshow concerning them more than upon his own opinion
and inclination; so he made this to be the omen, that the
government should be left to him who should come to him first the
next day. When he had thus resolved within himself, he sent to
his grandson's tutor, and ordered him to bring the child to him
early in the morning, as supposing that God would permit him to
be made emperor. But God proved opposite to his designation; for
while Tiberius was thus contriving matters, and as soon as it was
at all day, he bid Euodus to call in that child which should be
there ready. So he went out, and found Caius before the door, for
Tiberius was not yet come, but staid waiting for his breakfast;
for Euodus knew nothing of what his lord intended; so he said to
Caius, "Thy father calls thee," and then brought him in. As soon
as Tiberius saw Caius, and not before, he reflected on the power
of God, and how the ability of bestowing the government on whom
he would was entirely taken from him; and thence he was not able
to establish what he had intended. So he greatly lamented that
his power of establishing what he had before contrived was taken
from him, and that his grandson Tiberius was not only to lose the
Roman empire by his fatality, but his own safety also, because
his preservation would now depend upon such as would be more
potent than himself, who would think it a thing not to be borne,
that a kinsman should live with them, and so his relation would
not be able to protect him; but he would be feared and bated by
him who had the supreme authority, partly on account of his being
next to the empire, and partly on account of his perpetually
contriving to get the government, both in order to preserve
himself, and to be at the head of affairs also. Now Tiberius had
been very much given to astrology, (25) and the calculation of
nativities, and had spent his life in the esteem of what
predictions had proved true, more than those whose profession it
was. Accordingly, when he once saw Galba coming in to him, he
said to his most intimate friends, that there came in a man that
would one day have the dignity of the Roman empire. So that this
Tiberius was more addicted to all such sorts of diviners than any
other of the Roman emperors, because he had found them to have
told him truth in his own affairs. And indeed he was now in great
distress upon this accident that had befallen him, and was very
much grieved at the destruction of his son's son, which he
foresaw, and complained of himself, that he should have made use
of such a method of divination beforehand, while it was in his
power to have died without grief by this knowledge of futurity;
whereas he was now tormented by his foreknowledge of the
misfortune of such as were dearest to him, and must die under
that torment. Now although he was disordered at this unexpected
revolution of the government to those for whom he did not intend
it, he spake thus to Caius, though unwillingly, and against his
own inclination: "O child! although Tiberius be nearer related to
me than thou art, I, by my own determination, and the conspiring
suffrage of the gods, do give and put into thy hand the Roman
empire; and I desire thee never to be unmindful when thou comest
to it, either of my kindness to thee, who set thee in so high a
dignity, or of thy relation to Tiberius. But as thou knowest that
I am, together with and after the gods, the procurer of so great
happiness to thee; so I desire that thou wilt make me a return
for my readiness to assist thee, and wilt take care of Tiberius
because of his near relation to thee. Besides which, thou art to
know, that while Tiberius is alive, he will be a security to
thee, both as to empire and as to thy own preservation; but if he
die, that will be but a prelude to thy own misfortunes; for to be
alone under the weight of such vast affairs is very dangerous;
nor will the gods suffer those actions which are unjustly done,
contrary to that law which directs men to act otherwise, to go
off unpunished." This was the speech which Tiberius made, which
did not persuade Caius to act accordingly, although he promised
so to do; but when he was settled in the government, he took off
this Tiberius, as was predicted by the other Tiberius; as he was
also himself, in no long time afterward, slain by a secret plot
laid against him.
10. So when Tiberius had at this time appointed Caius to be his
successor, he outlived but a few days, and then died, after he
had held the government twenty-two years five months and three
days. Now Caius was the fourth emperor. But when the Romans
understood that Tiberius was dead, they rejoiced at the good
news, but had not courage to believe it; not because they were
unwilling it should be true, for they would have given huge sums
of money that it might be so, but because they were afraid, that
if they had showed their joy when the news proved false, their
joy should be openly known, and they should be accused for it,
and be thereby undone. For this Tiberius had brought a vast
number of miseries on the best families of the Romans, since he
was easily inflamed with passion in all cases, and was of such a
temper as rendered his anger irrevocable, till he had executed
the same, although he had taken a hatred against men without
reason; for he was by nature fierce in all the sentences he gave,
and made death the penalty for the lightest offenses; insomuch
that when the Romans heard the rumor about his death gladly, they
were restrained from the enjoyment of that pleasure by the dread
of such miseries as they foresaw would follow, if their hopes
proved ill-grounded. Now Marsyas, Agrippa's freed-man, as soon as
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