THE WARS OF THE JEWS
OR
THE HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
Book I: Chapter 27
HEROD BY CAESARS DIRECTION ACCUSES HIS SONS AT
EURYTUS. THEY ARE NOT PRODUCED BEFORE THE COURTS BUT
YET ARE CONDEMNED; AND IN A LITTLE TIME THEY ARE S ENT
TO S EBASTE, AND S TRANGLED THERE. 1. MOREOVER, Salome
exasperated Herod’s cruelty against his sons; for
Aristobulus was desirous to bring her, who was his
mother-in-law and his aunt, into the like dangers with
themselves; so he sent to her to take care of her own
safety, and told her that the king was preparing to
put her to death, on account of the accusation that
was laid against her, as if when she formerly
endeavored to marry herself to Sylleus the Arabian,
she had discovered the king’s grand secrets to him,
who was the king’s enemy; and this it was that came as
the last storm, and entirely sunk the young men when
they were in great danger before. For Salome came
running to the king, and informed him of what
admonition had been given her; whereupon he could bear
no longer, but commanded both the young men to be
bound, and kept the one asunder from the other. He
also sent Volumnius, the general of his army, to
Caesar immediately, as also his friend Olympus with
him, who carried the informations in writing along
with them. Now as soon as they had sailed to Rome, and
delivered the king’s letters to Caesar, Caesar was
mightily troubled at the case of the young men; yet
did not he think he ought to take the power from the
father of condemning his sons; so he wrote back to
him, and appointed him to have the power over his
sons; but said withal, that he would do well to make
an examination into this matter of the plot against
him in a public court, and to take for his assessors
his own kindred, and the governors of the province.
And if those sons be found guilty, to put them to
death; but if they appear to have thought of no more
than flying away from him, that he should moderate
their punishment.
2. With these directions Herod complied, and came
to Berytus, whereCaesar had ordered the court to be
assembled, and got the judicature together. The
presidents sat first, as Caesar’s letters had
appointed, who
were Saturninus and Pedanius, and their lieutenants
that were with them, with whom was the procurator
Volumnius also; next to them sat the king’s kinsmen
and friends, with Salome also, and Pheroras; after
whom sat the principal men of all Syria, excepting
Archelaus; for Herod had a suspicion of him, because
he was Alexander’s father-in-law. Yet did not he
produce his sons in open court; and this was done very
cunningly, for he knew well enough that had they but
appeared only, they would certainly have been pitied;
and if withal they had been suffered to speak,
Alexander would easily have answered what they were
accused of; but they were in custody at Platane, a
village of the Sidontans.
3. So the king got up, and inveighed against his
sons, as if they werepresent; and as for that part of
the accusation that they had plotted against him, he
urged it but faintly, because he was destitute of
proofs; but he insisted before the assessors on the
reproaches, and jests, and injurious carriage, and ten
thousand the like offenses against him, which were
heavier than death itself; and when nobody
contradicted him, he moved them to pity his case, as
though he had been condemned himself, now he had
gained a bitter victory against his sons. So he asked
every one’s sentence, which sentence was first of all
given by Saturninus, and was this: That he condemned
the young men, but not to death; for that it was not
fit for him, who had three sons of his own now
present, to give his vote for the destruction of the
sons of another. The two lieutenants also gave the
like vote; some others there were also who followed
their example; but Volumnius began to vote on the more
melancholy side, and all those that came after him
condemned the young men to die, some out of flattery,
and some out of hatred to Herod; but none out of
indignation at their crimes. And now all Syria and
Judea was in great expectation, and waited for the
last act of this tragedy; yet did nobody, suppose that
Herod would be so barbarous as to murder his children:
however, he carried them away to Tyre, and thence
sailed to Cesarea, and deliberated with himself what
sort of death the young men should suffer.
4. Now there was a certain old soldier of the
king’s, whose name wasTero, who had a son that was
very familiar with and a friend to Alexander, and who
himself particularly loved the young men. This soldier
was in a manner distracted, out of the excess of the
indignation he had at what was doing; and at first he
cried out aloud, as he went about, that justice was
trampled under foot; that truth was perished, and
nature confounded; and that the life of man was full
of iniquity, and every thing else that passion could
suggest to a man who spared not his own life; and at
last he ventured to go to the king, and said, “Truly I
think thou art a most miserable man, when thou
hearkenest to most wicked wretches, against those that
ought to be dearest to thee; since thou hast
frequently resolved that Pheroras and Salome should be
put to death, and yet believest them against thy sons;
while these, by cutting off the succession of thine
own sons, leave all wholly to Antipater, and thereby
choose to have thee such a king as may be thoroughly
in their own power. However, consider whether this
death of Antipater’s brethren will not make him hated
by the soldiers; for there is nobody but commiserates
the young men; and of the captains, a great many show
their indignation at it openly.” Upon his saying this,
he named those that had such indignation; but the king
ordered those men, with Tero himself and his son, to
be seized upon immediately.
5. At which time there was a certain barber, whose
name was Trypho.This man leaped out from among the
people in a kind of madness, and accused himself, and
said, “This Tero endeavored to persuade me also to cut
thy throat with my razor, when I trimmed thee, and
promised that Alexander should give me large presents
for so doing.” When Herod heard this, he examined Tero,
with his son and the barber, by the torture; but as
the others denied the accusation, and he said nothing
further, Herod gave order that Tero should be racked
more severely; but his son, out of pity to his father,
promised to discover the whole to the king, if he
would grant [that his father should be no longer
tortured]. When he had agreed to this, he said that
his father, at the persuasion of Alexander, had an
intention to kill him. Now some said this was forged,
in order to free his father from his torments; and
some said it was true.
6. And now Herod accused the captains and Tero in
an assembly of thepeople, and brought the people
together in a body against them; and accordingly there
were they put to death, together with [Trypho] the
barber; they were killed by the pieces of wood and the
stones that were thrown at them. He also sent his sons
to Sebaste, a city not far from Cesarea, and ordered
them to be there strangled; and as what he had ordered
was executed immediately, so he commanded that their
dead bodies should be brought to the fortress
Alexandrium, to be buried with
1380 Alexander, their grandfather by the mother’s
side. And this was the end of Alexander and
Aristobulus.
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