THE WARS OF THE JEWS
OR
THE HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
Book I: Chapter 24
THE MALICE OF ANTIPATER AND DORIS. ALEXANDER IS
VERY UNEASY ON GLAPHYRAS ACCOUNT. HEROD PARDONS
PHERORAS, WHOM HE SUSPECTED, AND SALOME WHOM HE KNEW
TO MAKE MISCHIEF AMONG THEM. HEROD’S EUNUCHS ARE
TORTURED AND ALEXANDER IS BOUND.
1. BUT now the
quarrel that was between them still accompanied these
brethren when they parted, and the suspicions they had
one of the other grew worse. Alexander and Aristobulus
were much grieved that the privilege of the first-born
was confirmed to Antipater; as was Antipater very
angry at his brethren that they were to succeed him.
But then this last being of a disposition that was
mutable and politic, he knew how to hold his tongue,
and used a great deal of cunning, and thereby
concealed the hatred he bore to them; while the
former, depending on the nobility of their births, had
every thing upon their tongues which was in their
minds. Many also there were who provoked them further,
and many of their [seeming] friends insinuated
themselves into their acquaintance, to spy out what
they did. Now every thing that was said by Alexander
was presently brought to Antipater, and from Antipater
it was brought to Herod with additions. Nor could the
young man say any thing in the simplicity of his
heart, without giving offense, but what he said was
still turned to calumny against him. And if he had
been at any time a little free in his conversation,
great imputations were forged from the smallest
occasions. Antipater also was perpetually setting some
to provoke him to speak, that the lies he raised of
him might seem to have some foundation of truth; and
if, among the many stories that were given out, but
one of them could be proved true, that was supposed to
imply the rest to be true also. And as to Antipater’s
friends, they were all either naturally so cautious in
speaking, or had been so far bribed to conceal their
thoughts, that nothing of these grand secrets got
abroad by their means. Nor should one be mistaken if
he called the life of Antipater a mystery of
wickedness; for he either corrupted Alexander’s
acquaintance with money, or got into their favor by
flatteries; by which two means he gained all his
designs, and brought them
to betray their master, and to steal away, and
reveal what he either did or said. Thus did he act a
part very cunningly in all points, and wrought himself
a passage by his calumnies with the greatest
shrewdness; while he put on a face as if he were a
kind brother to Alexander and Aristobulus, but
suborned other men to inform of what they did to
Herod. And when any thing was told against Alexander,
he would come in, and pretend [to be of his side], and
would begin to contradict what was said; but would
afterward contrive matters so privately, that the king
should have an indignation at him. His general aim was
this, — to lay a plot, and to make it believed that
Alexander lay in wait to kill his father; for nothing
afforded so great a confirmation to these calumnies as
did Antipater’s apologies for him.
2. By these methods Herod was inflamed, and as much
as his naturalaffection to the young men did every day
diminish, so much did it increase towards Antipater.
The courtiers also inclined to the same conduct, some
of their own accord, and others by the king’s
injunction, as particularly did Ptolemy, the king’s
dearest friend, as also the king’s brethren, and all
his children; for Antipater was all in all; and what
was the bitterest part of all to Alexander,
Antipater’s mother was also all in all; she was one
that gave counsel against them, and was more harsh
than a step-mother, and one that hated the queen’s
sons more than is usual to hate sons-in-law. All men
did therefore already pay their respects to Antipater,
in hopes of advantage; and it was the king’s command
which alienated every body [from the brethren], he
having given this charge to his most intimate friends,
that they should not come near, nor pay any regard, to
Alexander, or to his friends. Herod was also become
terrible, not only to his domestics about the court,
but to his friends abroad; for Caesar had given such a
privilege to no other king as he had given to him,
which was this, — that he might fetch back any one
that fled from him, even out of a city that was not
under his own jurisdiction. Now the young men were not
acquainted with the calumnies raised against them; for
which reason they could not guard themselves against
them, but fell under them; for their father did not
make any public complaints against either of them;
though in a little time they perceived how things were
by his coldness to them, and by the great uneasiness
he showed upon any thing that troubled him. Antipater
had also made their uncle Pheroras to be their enemy,
as well as their aunt
Salome, while he was always talking with her, as
with a wife, and irritating her against them.
Moreover, Alexander’s wife, Glaphyra, augmented this
hatred against them, by deriving her nobility and
genealogy [from great persons], and pretending that
she was a lady superior to all others in that kingdom,
as being derived by her father’s side from Temenus,
and by her mother’s side from Darius, the son of
Hystaspes. She also frequently reproached Herod’s
sister and wives with the ignobility of their descent;
and that they were every one chosen by him for their
beauty, but not for their family. Now those wives of
his were not a few; it being of oldpermitted to the
Jews to marry many wives, 39 and this king delighting
in many; all which hated Alexander, on account of
Glaphyra’s boasting and reproaches.
3. Nay, Aristobulus had raised a quarrel between
himself and Salome, whowas his mother-in-law, besides
the anger he had conceived at Glaphyra’s reproaches;
for he perpetually upbraided his wife with the
meanness of her family, and complained, that as he had
married a woman of a low family, so had his brother
Alexander married one of royal blood. At this Salome’s
daughter wept, and told it her with this addition,
that Alexander threatened the mothers of his other
brethren, that when he should come to the crown, he
would make them weave with their maidens, and would
make those brothers of his country schoolmasters; and
brake this jest upon them, that they had been very
carefully instructed, to fit them for such an
employment. Hereupon Salome could not contain her
anger, but told all to Herod; nor could her testimony
be suspected, since it was against her own son-in-law
There was also another calumny that ran abroad and
inflamed the king’s mind; for he heard that these sons
of his were perpetually speaking of their mother, and,
among their lamentations for her, did not abstain from
cursing him; and that when he made presents of any of
Mariamne’s garments to his later wives, these
threatened that in a little time, instead of royal
garments, they would clothe theft in no better than
hair-cloth.
4. Now upon these accounts, though Herod was
somewhat afraid of theyoung men’s high spirit, yet did
he not despair of reducing them to a better mind; but
before he went to Rome, whither he was now going by
sea, he called them to him, and partly threatened them
a little, as a king; but for the main, he admonished
them as a father, and exhorted them to
love their brethren, and told them that he would
pardon their former offenses, if they would amend for
the time to come. But they refuted the calumnies that
had been raised of them, and said they were false, and
alleged that their actions were sufficient for their
vindication; and said withal, that he himself ought to
shut his ears against such tales, and not be too easy
in believing them, for that there would never be
wanting those that would tell lies to their
disadvantage, as long as any would give ear to them.
5. When they had thus soon pacified him, as being
their father, they gotclear of the present fear they
were in. Yet did they see occasion for sorrow in some
time afterward; for they knew that Salome, as well as
their uncle Pheroras, were their enemies; who were
both of them heavy and severe persons, and especially
Pheroras, who was a partner with Herod in all the
affairs of the kingdom, excepting his diadem. He had
also a hundred talents of his own revenue, and enjoyed
the advantage of all the land beyond Jordan, which he
had received as a gift from his brother, who had asked
of Caesar to make him a tetrarch, as he was made
accordingly. Herod had also given him a wife out of
the royal family, who was no other than his own wife’s
sister, and after her death had solemnly espoused to
him his own eldest daughter, with a dowry of three
hundred talents; but Pheroras refused to consummate
this royal marriage, out of his affection to a
maidservant of his. Upon which account Herod was very
angry, and gave that daughter in marriage to a
brother’s son of his, [Joseph,] who was slain
afterward by the Parthians; but in some time he laid
aside his anger against Pheroras, and pardoned him, as
one not able to overcome his foolish passion for the
maid-servant.
6. Nay, Pheroras had been accused long before,
while the queen[Mariamne] was alive, as if he were in
a plot to poison Herod; and there came then so great a
number of informers, that Herod himself, though he w
as
an exceeding lover of his brethren, was brought to
believe what was said, and to be afraid of it also.
And when he had brought many of those that were under
suspicion to the torture, he came at last to
Pheroras’s own friends; none of which did openly
confess the crime, but they owned that he had made
preparation to take her whom he loved, and run away to
the Parthians. Costobarus also, the husband of Salome,
to whom the king had given her in marriage, after her
former husband had been put to death for
adultery, was instrumental in bringing about this
contrivance and flight of his. Nor did Salome escape
all calumny upon herself; for her brother Pheroras
accused her that she had made an agreement to marry
Silleus, the procurator of Obodas, king of Arabia, who
was at bitter enmity with Herod; but when she was
convicted of this, and of all that Pheroras had
accused her of, she obtained her pardon. The king also
pardoned Pheroras himself the crimes he had been
accused of.
7. But the storm of the whole family was removed to
Alexander, and all ofit rested upon his head. There
were three eunuchs who were in the highest esteem with
the king, as was plain by the offices they were in
about him; for one of them was appointed to be his
butler, another of them got his supper ready for him,
and the third put him into bed, and lay down by him.
Now Alexander had prevailed with these men, by large
gifts, to let him use them after an obscene manner;
which, when it was told to the king, they were
tortured, and found guilty, and presently confessed
the criminal conversation he had with them. They also
discovered the promises by which they were induced so
to do, and how they were deluded by Alexander, who had
told them that they ought not to fix their hopes upon
Herod, an old man, and one so shameless as to color
his hair, unless they thought that would make him
young again; but that they ought to fix their
attention to him who was to be his successor in the
kingdom, whether he would or not; and who in no long
time would avenge himself on his enemies, and make his
friends happy and blessed, and themselves in the first
place; that the men of power did already pay respects
to Alexander privately, and that the captains of the
soldiery, and the officers, did secretly come to him.
8. These confessions did so terrify Herod, that he
durst not immediatelypublish them; but he sent spies
abroad privately, by night and by day, who should make
a close inquiry after all that was done and said; and
when any were but suspected [of treason], he put them
to death, insomuch that the palace was full of
horribly unjust proceedings; for every body forged
calumnies, as they were themselves in a state of
enmity or hatred against others; and many there were
who abused the king’s bloody passion to the
disadvantage of those with whom they had quarrels, and
lies were easily believed, and punishments were
inflicted sooner than the calumnies were forged. He
who had just then been accusing another was accused
himself,
and was led away to execution together with him
whom he had convicted; for the danger the king was in
of his life made examinations be very short. He also
proceeded to such a degree of bitterness, that he
could not look on any of those that were not accused
with a pleasant countenance, but was in the most
barbarous disposition towards his own friends.
Accordingly, he forbade a great many of them to come
to court, and to those whom he had not power to punish
actually he spake harshly. But for Antipater, he
insulted Alexander, now he was under his misfortunes,
and got a stout company of his kindred together, and
raised all sorts of calumny against him; and for the
king, he was brought to such a degree of terror by
those prodigious slanders and contrivances, that he
fancied he saw Alexander coming to him with a drawn
sword in his hand. So he caused him to be seized upon
immediately, and bound, and fell to examining his
friends by torture, many of whom died [under the
torture], but would discover nothing, nor say any
thing against their consciences; but some of them,
being forced to speak falsely by the pains they
endured, said that Alexander, and his brother
Aristobulus, plotted against him, and waited for an
opportunity to kill him as he was hunting, and then
fly away to Rome. These accusations though they were
of an incredible nature, and only framed upon the
great distress they were in, were readily believed by
the king, who thought it some comfort to him, after he
had bound his son, that it might appear he had not
done it unjustly.
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