THE WARS OF THE JEWS
OR
THE HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
Book I: Chapter 16
HEROD TAKES SEPPHORIS AND SUBDUES THE ROBBERS THAT
WERE IN THE CAVES; HE AFTER THAT AVENGES HIMSELF UPON
MACHERAS, AS UPON AN ENEMY OF HIS AND GOES TO ANTONY
AS HE WAS BESIEGING SAMOSATA.
1. SO the Romans lived
in plenty of all things, and rested from war. However,
Herod did not lie at rest, but seized upon Idumea, and
kept it, with two thousand footmen, and four hundred
horsemen; and this he did by sending his brother
Joseph thither, that no innovation might be made by
Antigonus. He also removed his mother, and all his
relations, who had been in Masada, to Samaria; and
when he had settled them securely, he marched to take
the remaining parts of Galilee, and to drive away the
garrisons placed there by Antigonus.
2. But when Herod had reached Sepphoris, 23 in a
very great snow, he took the city without any
difficulty; the guards that should have kept it flying
away before it was assaulted; where he gave an
opportunity to his followers that had been in distress
to refresh themselves, there being in that city a
great abundance of necessaries. After which he hasted
away to the robbers that were in the caves, who
overran a great part of the country, and did as great
mischief to its inhabitants as a war itself could have
done. Accordingly, he sent beforehand three cohorts of
footmen, and one troop of horsemen, to the village
Arbela, and came himself forty days afterwards24 with
the rest of his forces Yet were not the enemy
aftrighted at his assault but met him in arms; for
their skill was that of warriors, but their boldness
was the boldness of robbers: when therefore it came to
a pitched battle, they put to flight Herod’s left wing
with their right one; but Herod, wheeling about on the
sudden from his own right wing, came to their
assistance, and both made his own left wing return
back from its flight, and fell upon the pursuers, and
cooled their courage, till they could not bear the
attempts that were made directly upon them, and so
turned back and ran away.
3. But Herod followed them, and slew them as he
followed them, and destroyed a great part of them,
till those that remained were scattered beyond the
river [Jordan;] and Galilee was freed from the terrors
they had been under, excepting from those that
remained, and lay concealed in caves, which required
longer time ere they could be conquered. In order to
which Herod, in the first place, distributed the
fruits of their former labors to the soldiers, and
gave every one of them a hundred and fifty drachmae of
silver, and a great deal more to their commanders, and
sent them into their winter quarters. He also sent to
his youngest brother Pheroas, to take care of a good
market for them, where they might buy themselves
provisions, and to build a wall about Alexandrium; who
took care of both those injunctions accordingly.
4. In the mean time Antony abode at Athens, while
Ventidius called for Silo and Herod to come to the war
against the Parthians, but ordered them first to
settle the affairs of Judea; so Herod willingly
dismissed Silo to go to Ventidius, but he made an
expedition himself against those that lay in the
caves. Now these caves were in the precipices of
craggy mountains, and could not be come at from any
side, since they had only some winding pathways, very
narrow, by which they got up to them; but the rock
that lay on their front had beneath it valleys of a
vast depth, and of an almost perpendicular declivity;
insomuch that the king was doubtful for a long time
what to do, by reason of a kind of impossibility there
was of attacking the place. Yet did he at length make
use of a contrivance that was subject to the utmost
hazard; for he let down the most hardy of his men in
chests, and set them at the mouths of the dens. Now
these men slew the robbers and their families, and
when they made resistance, they sent in fire upon them
[and burnt them]; and as Herod was desirous of saving
some of them, he had proclamation made, that they
should come and deliver themselves up to him; but not
one of them came willingly to him; and of those that
were compelled to come, many preferred death to
captivity. And here a certain old man, the father of
seven children, whose children, together with their
mother, desired him to give them leave to go out, upon
the assurance and right hand that was offered them,
slew them after the following manner: He ordered every
one of them to go out, while he stood himself at the
cave’s mouth, and slew that son of his perpetually who
went out. Herod was near enough to see this sight, and
his bowels of
compassion were moved at it, and he stretched out
his right hand to the old man, and besought him to
spare his children; yet did not he relent at all upon
what he said, but over and above reproached Herod on
the lowness of his descent, and slew his wife as well
as his children; and when he had thrown their dead
bodies down the precipice, he at last threw himself
down after them.
5. By this means Herod subdued these caves, and the
robbers that were in them. He then left there a part
of his army, as many as he thought sufficient to
prevent any sedition, and made Ptolemy their general,
and returned to Samaria; he led also with him three
thousand armed footmen, and six hundred horsemen,
against Antigonus. Now here those that used to raise
tumults in Galilee, having liberty so to do upon his
departure, fell unexpectedly upon Ptolemy, the general
of his forces, and slew him; they also laid the
country waste, and then retired to the bogs, and to
places not easily to be found. But when Herod was
informed of this insurrection, he came to the
assistance of the country immediately, and destroyed a
great number of the seditions, and raised the sieges
of all those fortresses they had besieged; he also
exacted the tribute of a hundred talents of his
enemies, as a penalty for the mutations they had made
in the country.
6. By this time (the Parthians being already driven
out of the country, and Pacorus slain) Ventidius, by
Antony’s command, sent a thousand horsemen, and two
legions, as auxiliaries to Herod, against Antigonus.
Now Antigonus besought Macheras, who was their
general, by letter, to come to his assistance, and
made a great many mournful complaints about Herod’s
violence, and about the injuries he did to the
kingdom; and promised to give him money for such his
assistance; but he complied not with his invitation to
betray his trust, for he did not contemn him that sent
him, especially while Herod gave him more money [than
the other offered]. So he pretended friendship to
Antigonus, but came as a spy to discover his affairs;
although he did not herein comply with Herod, who
dissuaded him from so doing. But Antigonus perceived
what his intentions were beforehand, and excluded him
out of the city, and defended himself against him as
against an enemy, from the walls; till Macheras was
ashamed of what he had done, and retired to Emmaus to
Herod; and as he was in a rage at his disappointment,
he slew all the Jews whom he met
with, without sparing those that were for Herod,
but using them all as if they were for Antigonus.
7. Hereupon Herod was very angry at him, and was
going to fight againstMacheras as his enemy; but he
restrained his indignation, and marched to Antony to
accuse Macheras of maladministration. But Macheras was
made sensible of his offenses, and followed after the
king immediately, and earnestly begged and obtained
that he would be reconciled to him. However, Herod did
not desist from his resolution of going to Antony; but
when he heard that he was besieging Samosata 25 with a
great army, which is a strong city near to Euphrates,
he made the greater haste; as observing that this was
a proper opportunity for showing at once his courage,
and for doing what would greatly oblige Antony.
Indeed, when he came, he soon made an end of that
siege, and slew a great number of the barbarians, and
took from them a large prey; insomuch that Antony, who
admired his courage formerly, did now admire it still
more. Accordingly, he heaped many more honors upon
him, and gave him more assured hopes that he should
gain his kingdom; and now king Antiochus was forced to
deliver up Samosata.
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