Flavius Josephus Against Apion (1)
BOOK 1
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF A HUNDRED AND SEVENTY YEARS.
CHAPTER 5.
HOW, UPON THE QUARRELS ONE AGAINST
ANOTHER ABOUT THE HIGH PRIESTHOOD ANTIOCHUS MADE AN EXPEDITION AGAINST
1. ABOUT this time, upon the death of Onias the high
priest, they gave the high priesthood to Jesus his brother; for that son which Onias left [or Onias IV.] was yet
but an infant; and, in its proper place, we will inform the reader of all the
circumstances that befell this child. But this Jesus, who was the brother of Onias, was deprived of the high priesthood by the king, who
was angry with him, and gave it to his younger brother, whose name also was Onias; for Simon had these three sons, to each of which the
priesthood came, as we have already informed the reader. This Jesus changed his
name to Jason, but Onias was called Menelaus. Now as
the former high priest, Jesus, raised a sedition against Menelaus, who was
ordained after him, the multitude were divided between them both. And the sons
of Tobias took the part of Menelaus, but the greater part of the people
assisted Jason; and by that means Menelaus and the sons of Tobias were
distressed, and retired to Antiochus, and informed him that they were desirous
to leave the laws of their country, and the Jewish way of living according to
them, and to follow the king's laws, and the Grecian way of living. Wherefore
they desired his permission to build them a Gymnasium at
2. Now Antiochus, upon the agreeable situation of the affairs of his
kingdom, resolved to make an expedition against Egypt, both because he had a
desire to gain it, and because he contemned the son of Ptolemy, as now weak,
and not yet of abilities to manage affairs of such consequence; so he came with
great forces to Pelusium, and circumvented Ptolemy Philometor by treachery, and seized upon Egypt. He then
came to the places about
3. King Antiochus
returning out of
4. Now it came to pass, after two years, in the hundred forty and fifth year, on the twenty-fifth day of that month which is by us called Chasleu, and by the Macedonians Apelleus, in the hundred and fifty-third olympiad, that the king came up to Jerusalem, and, pretending peace, he got possession of the city by treachery; at which time he spared not so much as those that admitted him into it, on account of the riches that lay in the temple; but, led by his covetous inclination, (for he saw there was in it a great deal of gold, and many ornaments that had been dedicated to it of very great value,) and in order to plunder its wealth, he ventured to break the league he had made. So he left the temple bare, and took away the golden candlesticks, and the golden altar [of incense], and table [of shew-bread], and the altar [of burnt-offering]; and did not abstain from even the veils, which were made of fine linen and scarlet. He also emptied it of its secret treasures, and left nothing at all remaining; and by this means cast the Jews into great lamentation, for he forbade them to offer those daily sacrifices which they used to offer to God, according to the law. And when he had pillaged the whole city, some of the inhabitants he slew, and some he carried captive, together with their wives and children, so that the multitude of those captives that were taken alive amounted to about ten thousand. He also burnt down the finest buildings; and when he had overthrown the city walls, he built a citadel in the lower part of the city, (17) for the place was high, and overlooked the temple; on which account he fortified it with high walls and towers, and put into it a garrison of Macedonians. However, in that citadel dwelt the impious and wicked part of the [Jewish] multitude, from whom it proved that the citizens suffered many and sore calamities. And when the king had built an idol altar upon God's altar, he slew swine upon it, and so offered a sacrifice neither according to the law, nor the Jewish religious worship in that country. He also compelled them to forsake the worship which they paid their own God, and to adore those whom he took to be gods; and made them build temples, and raise idol altars in every city and village, and offer swine upon them every day. He also commanded them not to circumcise their sons, and threatened to punish any that should be found to have transgressed his injunction. He also appointed overseers, who should compel them to do what he commanded. And indeed many Jews there were who complied with the king's commands, either voluntarily, or out of fear of the penalty that was denounced. But the best men, and those of the noblest souls, did not regard him, but did pay a greater respect to the customs of their country than concern as to the punishment which he threatened to the disobedient; on which account they every day underwent great miseries and bitter torments; for they were whipped with rods, and their bodies were torn to pieces, and were crucified, while they were still alive, and breathed. They also strangled those women and their sons whom they had circumcised, as the king had appointed, hanging their sons about their necks as they were upon the crosses. And if there were any sacred book of the law found, it was destroyed, and those with whom they were found miserably perished also.
CHAPTER 7.
HOW JUDAS OVERTHREW THE FORCES OF
APOLLONIUS AND SERON AND KILLED THE GENERALS OF THEIR ARMIES THEMSELVES; AND
HOW WHEN, A LITTLE WHILE AFTERWARDS LYSIAS AND GORGIAS WERE BEATEN HE WENT UP
TO
1. WHEN Apollonius, the general of the Samaritan forces, heard this, he took his army, and made haste to go against Judas, who met him, and joined battle with him, and beat him, and slew many of his men, and among them Apollonius himself, their general, whose sword being that which he happened then to wear, he seized upon, and kept for himself; but he wounded more than he slew, and took a great deal of prey from the enemy's camp, and went his way. But when Seron, who was general of the army of Celesyria, heard that many had joined themselves to Judas, and that he had about him an army sufficient for fighting, and for making war, he determined to make an expedition against him, as thinking it became him to endeavor to punish those that transgressed the king's injunctions. He then got together an army, as large as he was able, and joined to it the runagate and wicked Jews, and came against Judas. He came as far as Bethhoron, a village of Judea, and there pitched his camp; upon which Judas met him; and when he intended to give him battle, he saw that his soldiers were backward to fight, because their number was small, and because they wanted food, for they were fasting, he encouraged them, and said to them, that victory and conquest of enemies are not derived from the multitude in armies, but in the exercise of piety towards God; and that they had the plainest instances in their forefathers, who, by their righteousness, exerting themselves on behalf of their own laws, and their own children, had frequently conquered many ten thousands, - for innocence is the strongest army. By this speech he induced his men to contenm the multitude of the enemy, and to fall upon Seron. And upon joining battle with him, he beat the Syrians; and when their general fell among the rest, they all ran away with speed, as thinking that to be their best way of escaping. So he pursued them unto the plain, and slew about eight hundred of the enemy; but the rest escaped to the region which lay near to the sea.
2. When king Antiochus heard of these things, he was very angry at what had
happened; so he got together all his own army, with many mercenaries, whom he
had hired from the islands, and took them with him, and prepared to break into
3. Upon this Lysias chose Ptolemy, the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor, and Gorgias, very potent men among the king's friends, and
delivered to them forty thousand foot soldiers, and seven thousand horsemen,
and sent them against
4. And this was the speech which Judas made to encourage them. But when the enemy sent Gorgias, with five thousand foot and one thousand horse, that he might fall upon Judas by night, and had for that purpose certain of the runagate Jews as guides, the son of Mattathias perceived it, and resolved to fall upon those enemies that were in their camp, now their forces were divided. When they had therefore supped in good time, and had left many fires in their camp, he marched all night to those enemies that were at Emmaus. So that when Gorgias found no enemy in their camp, but suspected that they were retired, and had hidden themselves among the mountains, he resolved to go and seek them wheresoever they were. But about break of day Judas appeared to those enemies that were at Emmaus, with only three thousand men, and those ill armed, by reason of their poverty; and when he saw the enemy very well and skillfully fortified in their camp, he encouraged the Jews, and told them that they ought to fight, though it were with their naked bodies, for that God had sometimes of old given such men strength, and that against such as were more in number, and were armed also, out of regard to their great courage. So he commanded the trumpeters to sound for the battle; and by thus falling upon the enemies when they did not expect it, and thereby astonishing and disturbing their minds, he slew many of those that resisted him, and went on pursuing the rest as far as Gadara, and the plains of Idumea, and Ashdod, and Jamnia; and of these there fell about three thousand. Yet did Judas exhort his soldiers not to be too desirous of the spoils, for that still they must have a contest and battle with Gorgias, and the forces that were with him; but that when they had once overcome them, then they might securely plunder the camp, because they were the only enemies remaining, and they expected no others. And just as he was speaking to his soldiers, Gorgias's men looked down into that army which they left in their camp, and saw that it was overthrown, and the camp burnt; for the smoke that arose from it showed them, even when they were a great way off, what had happened. When therefore those that were with Gorgias understood that things were in this posture, and perceived that those that were with Judas were ready to fight them, they also were affrighted, and put to flight; but then Judas, as though he had already beaten Gorgias's soldiers without fighting, returned and seized on the spoils. He took a great quantity of gold, and silver, and purple, and blue, and then returned home with joy, and singing hymns to God for their good success; for this victory greatly contributed to the recovery of their liberty.
5. Hereupon Lysias was confounded at the defeat of the army which he had sent, and the next year he got together sixty thousand chosen men. He also took five thousand horsemen, and fell upon Judea; and he went up to the hill country of Bethsur, a village of Judea, and pitched his camp there, where Judas met him with ten thousand men; and when he saw the great number of his enemies, he prayed to God that he would assist him, and joined battle with the first of the enemy that appeared, and beat them, and slew about five thousand of them, and thereby became terrible to the rest of them. Nay, indeed, Lysias observing the great spirit of the Jews, how they were prepared to die rather than lose their liberty, and being afraid of their desperate way of fighting, as if it were real strength, he took the rest of the army back with him, and returned to Antioch, where he listed foreigners into the service, and prepared to fall upon Judea with a greater army.
6. When therefore the generals of Antiochus's armies had been beaten so often, Judas assembled the people together, and told them, that after these many victories which God had given them, they ought to go up to Jerusalem, and purify the temple, and offer the appointed sacrifices. But as soon as he, with the whole multitude, was come to Jerusalem, and found the temple deserted, and its gates burnt down, and plants growing in the temple of their own accord, on account of its desertion, he and those that were with him began to lament, and were quite confounded at the sight of the temple; so he chose out some of his soldiers, and gave them order to fight against those guards that were in the citadel, until he should have purified the temple. When therefore he had carefully purged it, and had brought in new vessels, the candlestick, the table [of shew-bread], and the altar [of incense], which were made of gold, he hung up the veils at the gates, and added doors to them. He also took down the altar [of burnt-offering], and built a new one of stones that he gathered together, and not of such as were hewn with iron tools. So on the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, which the Macedonians call Apeliens, they lighted the lamps that were on the candlestick, and offered incense upon the altar [of incense], and laid the loaves upon the table [of shew-bread], and offered burnt-offerings upon the new altar [of burnt-offering]. Now it so fell out, that these things were done on the very same day on which their Divine worship had fallen off, and was reduced to a profane and common use, after three years' time; for so it was, that the temple was made desolate by Antiochus, and so continued for three years. This desolation happened to the temple in the hundred forty and fifth year, on the twenty-fifth day of the month Apeliens, and on the hundred fifty and third olympiad: but it was dedicated anew, on the same day, the twenty-fifth of the month Apeliens, on the hundred and forty-eighth year, and on the hundred and fifty-fourth olympiad. And this desolation came to pass according to the prophecy of Daniel, which was given four hundred and eight years before; for he declared that the Macedonians would dissolve that worship [for some time].
7. Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices of the temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon; but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid sacrifices; and he honored God, and delighted them by hymns and psalms. Nay, they were so very glad at the revival of their customs, when, after a long time of intermission, they unexpectedly had regained the freedom of their worship, that they made it a law for their posterity, that they should keep a festival, on account of the restoration of their temple worship, for eight days. And from that time to this we celebrate this festival, and call it Lights. I suppose the reason was, because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us; and that thence was the name given to that festival. Judas also rebuilt the walls round about the city, and reared towers of great height against the incursions of enemies, and set guards therein. He also fortified the city Bethsura, that it might serve as a citadel against any distresses that might come from our enemies.
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS,
CHAPTER 8.
HYRCANUS RECEIVES THE HIGH PRIESTHOOD, AND EJECTS PTOLEMY OUT OF THE COUNTRY. ANTIOCHUS MAKES WAR AGAINST HYRCANUS AND AFTERWARDS MAKES A LEAGUE WITH HIM.
1. SO Ptolemy retired to one of the fortresses that was above
2. But Antiochus, being very uneasy at the miseries that Simon had brought upon him, he invaded Judea in the fourth years' of his reign, and the first year of the principality of Hyrcanus, in the hundred and sixty-second olympiad. (20) And when he had burnt the country, he shut up Hyrcanus in the city, which he encompassed round with seven encampments; but did just nothing at the first, because of the strength of the walls, and because of the valor of the besieged, although they were once in want of water, which yet they were delivered from by a large shower of rain, which fell at the setting of the Pleiades (21)
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF THIRTY-TWO YEARS.
THE WAR BETWEEN ARISTOBULUS AND HYRCANUS ABOUT THE KINGDOM; AND HOW THEY MADE ANAGREEMENT THAT ARISTOBULUS SHOULD BE KING, AND HYRCANUS LIVE A PRIVATE LIFE; AS ALSO HOW HYRCANUS A LITTLE AFTERWARD WAS PERSUADED BY ANTIPATER TO FLY TO ARETAS.
1. WE have related the affairs of queen Alexandra, and her death, in the foregoing book and will now speak of what followed, and was connected with those histories; declaring, before we proceed, that we have nothing so much at heart as this, that we may omit no facts, either through ignorance or laziness; (1) for we are upon the history and explication of such things as the greatest part are unacquainted withal, because of their distance from our times; and we aim to do it with a proper beauty of style, so far as that is derived from proper words harmonically disposed, and from such ornaments of speech also as may contribute to the pleasure of our readers, that they may entertain the knowledge of what we write with some agreeable satisfaction and pleasure. But the principal scope that authors ought to aim at above all the rest, is to speak accurately, and to speak truly, for the satisfaction of those that are otherwise unacquainted with such transactions, and obliged to believe what these writers inform them of.
2. Hyrcanus then began his high priesthood on the third year of the hundred and seventy-seventh olympiad, when Quintus Hortensius and Quintus Metellus, who was called Metellus of Crete, were consuls at Rome; when presently Aristobulus began to make war against him; and as it came to a battle with Hyrcanus at Jericho, many of his soldiers deserted him, and went over to his brother; upon which Hyrcanus fled into the citadel, where Aristobulus's wife and children were imprisoned by their mother, as we have said already, and attacked and overcame those his adversaries that had fled thither, and lay within the walls of the temple. So when he had sent a message to his brother about agreeing the matters between them, he laid aside his enmity to him on these conditions, that Aristobulus should be king, that he should live without intermeddling with public affairs, and quietly enjoy the estate he had acquired. When they had agreed upon these terms in the temple, and had confirmed the agreement with oaths, and the giving one an. other their right hands, and embracing one another in the sight of the whole multitude, they departed; the one, Aristobulus, to the palace; and Hyrcanus, as a private man, to the former house of Aristobulus.
CHAPTER 4.
HOW POMPEY WHEN THE CITIZENS OF
1. NOW when Pompey had pitched his camp at Jericho, (where the palm tree grows, and that balsam which is an ointment of all the most precious, which upon any incision made in the wood with a sharp stone, distills out thence like a juice,) (4) he marched in the morning to Jerusalem. Hereupon Aristobulus repented of what he was doing, and came to Pompey, had [promised to] give him money, and received him into Jerusalem, and desired that he would leave off the war, and do what he pleased peaceably. So Pompey, upon his entreaty, forgave him, and sent Gabinius, and soldiers with him, to receive the money and the city: yet was no part of this performed; but Gabinius came back, being both excluded out of the city, and receiving none of the money promised, because Aristobulus's soldiers would not permit the agreements to be executed. At this Pompey was very angry, and put Aristobulus into prison, and came himself to the city, which was strong on every side, excepting the north, which was not so well fortified, for there was a broad and deep ditch that encompassed the city (5) and included within it the temple, which was itself encompassed about with a very strong stone wall.
2. Now there was a sedition of the men that were within the city, who did
not agree what was to be done in their present circumstances, while some
thought it best to deliver up the city to Pompey; but Aristobulus's
party exhorted them to shut the gates, because he was kept in prison. Now these
prevented the others, and seized upon the temple, and cut off the bridge which
reached from it to the city, and prepared themselves to abide a siege; but the
others admitted Pompey's army in, and delivered up both the city and the king's
palace to him. So Pompey sent his lieutenant Piso
with an army, and placed garrisons both in the city and in the palace, to
secure them, and fortified the houses that joined to the temple, and all those
which were more distant and without it. And in the first place, he offered
terms of accommodation to those within; but when they would not comply with
what was desired, he encompassed all the places thereabout with a wall, wherein
Hyrcanus did gladly assist him on all occasions; but
Pompey pitched his camp within [the wall], on the north part of the temple,
where it was most practicable; but even on that side there were great towers,
and a ditch had been dug, and a deep valley begirt it round about, for on the
parts towards the city were precipices, and the bridge on which Pompey had
gotten in was broken down. However, a bank was raised, day by day, with a great
deal of labor, while the Romans cut down materials for it from the places round
about. And when this bank was sufficiently raised, and the ditch filled up,
though but poorly, by reason of its immense depth, he brought his mechanical
engines and battering-rams from
3. Which thing when the Romans understood, on those days which we call Sabbaths they threw nothing at the Jews, nor came to any pitched battle with them; but raised up their earthen banks, and brought their engines into such forwardness, that they might do execution the next day. And any one may hence learn how very great piety we exercise towards God, and the observance of his laws, since the priests were not at all hindered from their sacred ministrations by their fear during this siege, but did still twice a-day, in the morning and about the ninth hour, offer their sacrifices on the altar; nor did they omit those sacrifices, if any melancholy accident happened by the stones that were thrown among them; for although the city was taken on the third month, on the day of the fast, (6) upon the hundred and seventy-ninth olympiad, when Caius Antonius and Marcus Tullius Cicero were consuls, and the enemy then fell upon them, and cut the throats of those that were in the temple; yet could not those that offered the sacrifices be compelled to run away, neither by the fear they were in of their own lives, nor by the number that were already slain, as thinking it better to suffer whatever came upon them, at their very altars, than to omit any thing that their laws required of them. And that this is not a mere brag, or an encomium to manifest a degree of our piety that was false, but is the real truth, I appeal to those that have written of the acts of Pompey; and, among them, to Strabo and Nicolaus [of Damascus]; and besides these two, Titus Livius, the writer of the Roman History, who will bear witness to this thing. (7)
[64] (\O dh\ kai\ (Rwmai=oi sunido/ntej kat' e)kei/naj ta\j h(me/raj,
a(\ dh\ sa/bbata kalou=men,
ou)/t' e)/ballon tou\j )Ioudai/ouj ou)/te ei)j xei=raj au)toi=j u(ph/ntwn,
xou=n de\ kai\ pu/rgouj a)ni/stasan kai\ ta\ mhxanh/mata prosh=gon,
w(/st' au)toi=j ei)j th\n e)piou=san e)nerga\ tau=t' ei)=nai.
[65] ma/qoi d' a)/n tij e)nteu=qen th\n u(perbolh\n h(=j e)/xomen peri\ to\n qeo\n eu)sebei/aj kai\ th\n fulakh\n tw=n no/mwn, mhde\n u(po\ th=j poliorki/aj dia\ fo/bon e)mpodizome/nwn pro\j ta\j i(erourgi/aj,
a)lla\ di\j th=j h(me/raj prwi/+ te kai\ peri\ e)na/thn w(/ran i(erourgou/ntwn e)pi\ tou= bwmou=,
kai\ mhde\ ei)/ ti peri\ ta\j prosbola\j du/skolon ei)/h ta\j qusi/aj pauo/ntwn. [66] kai\ ga\r a(lou/shj th=j po/lewj peri\ tri/ton mh=na th=| th=j nhstei/aj h(me/ra| kata\ e)na/thn kai\ e(bdomhkosth\n kai\ e(katosth\n o)lumpia/da u(pateuo/ntwn Gai/+ou )Antwni/ou
kai\ Ma/rkou Tulli/ou
Kike/rwnoj oi( pole/mioi me\n ei)speso/ntej e)/sfatton tou\j e)n tw=| i(erw=|,
[67] oi( de\ pro\j tai=j qusi/aij ou)de\n h(=tton i(erourgou=ntej diete/loun, ou)/te u(po\ tou= fo/bou tou= peri\ th=j yuxh=j ou)/q' u(po\ tou= plh/qouj tw=n h)/dh foneuome/nwn a)nagkasqe/ntej a)podra=nai pa=n q' o(/ ti de/oi paqei=n tou=to par' au)toi=j u(pomei=nai toi=j bwmoi=j krei=tton ei)=nai nomi/zontej h)\ parelqei=n ti tw=n nomi/mwn. [68] o(/ti de\ ou) lo/goj tau=ta mo/non e)sti\n e)gkw/mion yeudou=j eu)sebei/aj e)mfani/zwn, a)ll' a)lh/qeia, marturou=si pa/ntej oi( ta\j kata\ Pomph/ion pra/ceij a)nagra/yantej, e)n oi(=j kai\ Stra/bwn kai\ Niko/laoj kai\ pro\j au)toi=j Ti/toj Li/bioj o( th=j (Rwmai+kh=j i(stori/aj suggrafeu/j.
(kata\ = http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?layout.reflang=greek;layout.refembed=2;layout.refwordcount=1;layout.refdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0145;layout.reflookup=kata%2F;layout.refcit=book%3D14%3Asection%3D66;doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3D%2317145;layout.refabo=Perseus%3Aabo%3Atlg%2C0526%2C001 )
CHAPTER 14.
HOW HEROD GOT AWAY FROM THE KING OF ARABIA AND MADE HASTE TO GO INTO EGYPT AND THENCE WENT AWAY IN HASTE ALSO TO ROME; AND HOW, BY PROMISING A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY TO ANTONY HE OBTAINED OF THE SENATE AND OF CAESAR TO BE MADE KING OF THE JEWS.
1. AS for Herod, the great miseries he was in did not discourage him, but made him sharp in discovering surprising undertakings; for he went to Malchus, king of Arabia, whom he had formerly been very kind to, in order to receive somewhat by way of requital, now he was in more than ordinary want of it, and desired he would let him have some money, either by way of loan, or as his free gift, on account of the many benefits he had received from him; for not knowing what was become of his brother, he was in haste to redeem him out of the hand of his enemies, as willing to give three hundred talents for the price of his redemption. He also took with him the son of Phasaelus, who was a child of but seven years of age, for this very reason, that he might be a hostage for the repayment of the money. But there came messengers from Malchus to meet him, by whom he was desired to be gone, for that the Parthians had laid a charge upon him not to entertain Herod. This was only a pretense which he made use of, that he might not be obliged to repay him what he owed him; and this he was further induced to by the principal men among the Arabians, that they might cheat him of what sums they had received from [his father] Antipater, and which he had committed to their fidelity. He made answer, that he did not intend to be troublesome to them by his coning thither, but that he desired only to discourse with them about certain affairs that were to him of the greatest importance.
2. Hereupon he resolved to go away, and did go very prudently the road to
3. So he set sail from thence to Pamphylia, and falling into a violent storm, he had much ado to escape to Rhodes, with the loss of the ship's burden; and there it was that two of his friends, Sappinas and Ptolemeus, met with him; and as he found that city very much damaged in the war against Cassius, though he were in necessity himself, he neglected not to do it a kindness, but did what he could to recover it to its former state. He also built there a three-decked ship, and set sail thence, with his friends, for Italy, and came to the port of Brundusium; and when he was come from thence to Rome, he first related to Antony what had befallen him in Judea, and how Phasaelus his brother was seized on by the Parthians, and put to death by them, and how Hyrcanus was detained captive by them, and how they had made Antigonus king, who had promised them a sum of money, no less than a thousand talents, with five hundred women, who were to be of the principal families, and of the Jewish stock; and that he had carried off the women by night; and that, by undergoing a great many hardships, he had escaped the hands of his enemies; as also, that his own relations were in danger of being besieged and taken, and that he had sailed through a storm, and contemned all these terrible dangers of it, in order to come, as soon as possible, to him, who was his hope and only succor at this time.
4. This account made Antony commiserate the change that had happened in
Herod's condition; (26)
and reasoning with himself that this was a common case among those that are
placed in such great dignities, and that they are liable to the mutations that
come from fortune, he was very ready to give him the assistance he desired, and
this because he called to mind the friendship he had had with Antipater because
Herod offered him money to make him king, as he had formerly given it him to
make him tetrarch, and chiefly because of his hatred to Antigonus;
for he took him to be a seditious person, and an enemy to the Romans. Caesar
was also the forwarder to raise Herod's dignity, and to give him his assistance
in what he desired, on account of the toils of war which he had himself
undergone with Antipater his father in Egypt, and of the hospitality he had
treated him withal, and the kindness he had always showed him, as also to
gratify Antony, who was very zealous for Herod. So a senate was convocated; and Messala first,
and then Atratinus, introduced Herod into it, and
enlarged upon the benefits they had received from his father, and put them in
mind of the good-will he had borne to the Romans. At the same time, they
accused Antigonus, and declared him an enemy, not
only because of his former opposition to them, but that he had now overlooked
the Romans, and taken the government from the Parthians.
Upon this the senate was irritated; and
5. And this was the principal instance of Antony's affection for Herod, that
he not only procured him a kingdom which he did not expect, (for he did not
come with an intention to ask the kingdom for himself, which he did not suppose
the Romans would grant him, who used to bestow it on some of the royal family,
but intended to desire it for his wife's brother, who was grandson by his
father to Aristobulus, and to Hyrcanus by his
mother,) but that he procured it for him so suddenly, that he obtained what he
did not expect, and departed out of Italy in so few days as seven in all. This
young man [the grandson] Herod afterward took care to have slain, as we shall
show in its proper place. But when the senate was dissolved,
CHAPTER 16.
HOW HEROD, WHEN HE HAD MARRIED
MARIAMNE TOOK
1. AFTER the wedding was over, came Sosius through
2. Now the Jews that were enclosed within the walls of the city fought against Herod with great alacrity and zeal (for the whole nation was gathered together); they also gave out many prophecies about the temple, and many things agreeable to the people, as if God would deliver them out of the dangers they were in; they had also carried off what was out of the city, that they might not leave any thing to afford sustenance either for men or for beasts; and by private robberies they made the want of necessaries greater. When Herod understood this, he opposed ambushes in the fittest places against their private robberies, and he sent legions of armed men to bring its provisions, and that from remote places, so that in a little time they had great plenty of provisions. Now the three bulwarks were easily erected, because so many hands were continually at work upon it; for it was summer time, and there was nothing to hinder them in raising their works, neither from the air nor from the workmen; so they brought their engines to bear, and shook the walls of the city, and tried all manner of ways to get its; yet did not those within discover any fear, but they also contrived not a few engines to oppose their engines withal. They also sallied out, and burnt not only those engines that were not yet perfected, but those that were; and when they came hand to hand, their attempts were not less bold than those of the Romans, though they were behind them in skill. They also erected new works when the former were ruined, and making mines underground, they met each other, and fought there; and making use of brutish courage rather than of prudent valor, they persisted in this war to the very last; and this they did while a mighty army lay round about them, and while they were distressed by famine and the want of necessaries, for this happened to be a Sabbatic year. The first that scaled the walls were twenty chosen men, the next were Sosius's centurions; for the first wall was taken in forty days, and the second in fifteen more, when some of the cloisters that were about the temple were burnt, which Herod gave out to have been burnt by Antigonus, in order to expose him to the hatred of the Jews. And when the outer court of the temple and the lower city were taken, the Jews fled into the inner court of the temple, and into the upper city; but now fearing lest the Romans should hinder them from offering their daily sacrifices to God, they sent an embassage, and desired that they would only permit them to bring in beasts for sacrifices, which Herod granted, hoping they were going to yield; but when he saw that they did nothing of what he supposed, but bitterly opposed him, in order to preserve the kingdom to Antigonus, he made an assault upon the city, and took it by storm; and now all parts were full of those that were slain, by the rage of the Romans at the long duration of the siege, and by the zeal of the Jews that were on Herod's side, who were not willing to leave one of their adversaries alive; so they were murdered continually in the narrow streets and in the houses by crowds, and as they were flying to the temple for shelter, and there was no pity taken of either infants or the aged, nor did they spare so much as the weaker sex; nay, although the king sent about, and besought them to spare the people, yet nobody restrained their hand from slaughter, but, as if they were a company of madmen, they fell upon persons of all ages, without distinction; and then Antigonus, without regard to either his past or present circumstances, came down from the citadel, and fell down at the feet of Sosius, who took no pity of him, in the change of his fortune, but insulted him beyond measure, and called him Antigone [i.e. a woman, and not a man;] yet did he not treat him as if he were a woman, by letting him go at liberty, but put him into bonds, and kept him in close custody.
3. And now Herod having overcome his enemies, his care was to govern those foreigners who had been his assistants, for the crowd of strangers rushed to see the temple, and the sacred things in the temple; but the king, thinking a victory to be a more severe affliction than a defeat, if any of those things which it was not lawful to see should be seen by them, used entreaties and threatenings, and even sometimes force itself, to restrain them. He also prohibited the ravage that was made in the city, and many times asked Sosius whether the Romans would empty the city both of money and men, and leave him king of a desert; and told him that he esteemed the dominion over the whole habitable earth as by no means an equivalent satisfaction for such a murder of his citizens'; and when he said that this plunder was justly to be permitted the soldiers for the siege they had undergone, he replied, that he would give every one their reward out of his own money; and by this means be redeemed what remained of the city from destruction; and he performed what he had promised him, for he gave a noble present to every soldier, and a proportionable present to their commanders, but a most royal present to Sosius himself, till they all went away full of money.
4. This destruction befell the city of Jerusalem when Marcus Agrippa and Caninius Gallus were consuls of Rome (30) on the hundred eighty and fifth olympiad, on the third month, on the solemnity of the fast, as if a periodical revolution of calamities had returned since that which befell the Jews under Pompey; for the Jews were taken by him on the same day, and this was after twenty-seven years' time. So when Sosius had dedicated a crown of gold to God, he marched away from Jerusalem, and carried Antigonus with him in bonds to Antony; but Herod was afraid lest Antigonus should be kept in prison [only] by Antony, and that when he was carried to Rome by him, he might get his cause to be heard by the senate, and might demonstrate, as he was himself of the royal blood, and Herod but a private man, that therefore it belonged to his sons however to have the kingdom, on account of the family they were of, in case he had himself offended the Romans by what he had done. Out of Herod's fear of this it was that he, by giving Antony a great deal of money, endeavored to persuade him to have Antigonus slain, which if it were once done, he should be free from that fear. And thus did the government of the Asamoneans cease, a hundred twenty and six years after it was first set up. This family was a splendid and an illustrious one, both on account of the nobility of their stock, and of the dignity of the high priesthood, as also for the glorious actions their ancestors had performed for our nation; but these men lost the government by their dissensions one with another, and it came to Herod, the son of Antipater, who was of no more than a vulgar family, and of no eminent extraction, but one that was subject to other kings. And this is what history tells us was the end of the Asamonean family.
[487] Tou=to to\ pa/qoj sune/bh th=| (Ierosolumitw=n
po/lei u(pateu/ontoj e)n (Rw/mh| Ma/rkou )Agri/ppa
kai\ Kanidi/ou Ga/llou e)pi\ th=j e(katosth=j o)gdohkosth=j
kai\ pe/mpthj o)lumpia/doj tw=|
tri/tw|
mhni\ th=| e(orth=| th=j nhstei/aj, w(/sper e)k peritroph=j th=j genome/nhj e)pi\
Pomphi/ou toi=j
)Ioudai/oij sumfora=j: [488] kai\ ga\r u(p' e)kei/nou th=| au)th=| e(a/lwsan h(me/ra| meta\ e)/th ei)kosiepta/. So/ssioj de\ xrusou=n a)naqei\j tw=| qew=| ste/fanon a)ne/zeucen a)po\ (Ierosolu/mwn
)Anti/gonon
a)/gwn
desmw/thn )Antwni/w|. [489] dei/saj de\ (Hrw/dhj mh\ fulaxqei\j )Anti/gonoj u(p'
)Antwni/ou kai\ komisqei\j ei)j (Rw/mhn u(p' au)tou= dikaiologh/shtai pro\j th\n su/gklhton, e)pideiknu\j au)to\n me\n
e)k basile/wn, (Hrw/dhn de\ i)diw/thn, kai\ o(/ti prosh=ken au)tou= basileu/ein tou\j pai=daj dia\ to\ ge/noj, ei) kai\ au)to\j ei)j (Rwmai/ouj e)ch/marten: [490] tau=ta fobou/menoj polloi=j xrh/masi pei/qei to\n )Antw/nion a)nelei=n )Anti/gonon. ou(= genome/nou tou= de/ouj me\n (Hrw/dhj a)palla/ssetai, pau/etai d' ou(/twj h( tou= )Assamwnai/ou a)rxh\ meta\ e)/th e(kato\n ei)kosie/c.
oi)=koj lampro\j ou(=toj h)=n kai\ dia/shmoj ge/nouj te e(/neka kai\ th=j i(eratikh=j timh=j w(=n te u(pe\r tou= e)/qnouj oi( gonei=j au)tou= diepra/canto. [491] a)ll' ou(=toi me\n dia\ th\n pro\j a)llh/louj sta/sin th\n a)rxh\n a)pe/balon, mete/bh d' ei)j (Hrw/dhn to\n
)Antipa/trou oi)ki/aj o)/nta dhmotikh=j kai\ ge/nouj i)diwtikou= kai\ u(pakou/ontoj toi=j basileu=sin. kai\ tou=to me\n to\ te/loj th=j )Assamwnai/wn
genea=j pareilh/famen.
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF EIGHTEEN YEARS.
CHAPTER 5.
HOW HEROD MADE WAR WITH THE KING
OF
1. HEREUPON Herod held himself ready to go against the king of Arabia, because of his ingratitude to him, and because, after all, he would do nothing that was just to him, although Herod made the Roman war an occasion of delaying his own; for the battle at Actium was now expected, which fell into the hundred eighty and seventh olympiad, where Caesar and Antony were to fight for the supreme power of the world…
2. At this time it was that the fight happened at Actium, between Octavius Caesar and Antony, in the seventh year of the reign of Herod (8) and then it was also that there was an earthquake in Judea, such a one as had not happened at any other time, and which earthquake brought a great destruction upon the cattle in that country.
CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF TWELVE YEARS.
CHAPTER 5.
HOW HEROD CELEBRATED THE GAMES
THAT WERE TO RETURN EVERY FIFTH YEAR UPON THE
1. ABOUT this time it was that Cesarea Sebaste, which he had built, was finished. The entire
building being accomplished: in the tenth
year, the solemnity of it fell into
the twenty-eighth year of Herod's reign, and into the hundred and ninety-second
olympiad.
Book I
CHAPTER 21.
OF THE [TEMPLE AND] CITIES THAT WERE BUILT BY HEROD AND ERECTED FROM THE VERY FOUNDATIONS; AS ALSO OF THOSE OTHER EDIFICES THAT WERE ERECTED BY HIM; AND WHAT MAGNIFICENCE HE SHOWED TO FOREIGNERS; AND HOW FORTUNE WAS IN ALL THINGS FAVORABLE TO HIM.
8. He also built the other edifices, the amphitheater, and theater, and market-place, in a manner agreeable to that denomination; and appointed games every fifth year, and called them, in like manner, Caesar's Games; and he first himself proposed the largest prizes upon the hundred ninety-second olympiad; in which not only the victors themselves, but those that came next to them, and even those that came in the third place, were partakers of his royal bounty. He also rebuilt Anthedon, a city that lay on the coast, and had been demolished in the wars, and named it Agrippeum. Moreover, he had so very great a kindness for his friend Agrippa, that he had his name engraved upon that gate which he had himself erected in the temple.
Notice: The Quintennial Games are held every four (4) years. The word quinquennium, even in the Greek, denotes Roman inclusive reckoning:
(pentaethrikou\j = http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/morphindex?lang=greek&lookup=pentaethrikou%2Fs&bytepos=188596&wordcount=1&embed=2&doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0147 )
[415] Ta/ ge mh\n loipa\ tw=n e)/rgwn, a)mfiqe/atron kai\ qe/atron kai\ a)gora/j, a)/cia th=j proshgori/aj e)nidru/sato. kai\ pentaethrikou\j a)gw=naj katasthsa/menoj o(moi/wj e)ka/lesen a)po\ tou= Kai/saroj, prw=toj au)to\j a)=qla me/gista proqei\j e)pi\ th=j e(katosth=j e)nenhkosth=j deute/raj o)lumpia/doj,
e)n oi(=j ou) mo/non oi( nikw=ntej,
a)lla\ kai\ oi( met' au)tou\j kai\ oi( tri/toi tou= basilikou= plou/tou metela/mbanon. [416] a)nakti/saj de\ kai\ )Anqhdo/na th\n para/lion katarrifqei=san e)n pole/mw|
)Agri/ppeion proshgo/reuse:
tou= d' au)tou= fi/lou di' u(perbolh\n eu)noi/aj kai\ e)pi\ th=j pu/lhj e)xa/racen to\ o)/noma, h(\n au)to\j e)n tw=| naw=| kateskeu/asen.
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)
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