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1. Now a little afterward there came into Judea a man that was
much superior to Arehelaus's stratagems, who did not only
overturn that reconciliation that had been so wisely made with
Alexander, but proved the occasion of his ruin. He was a
Lacedemonian, and his name was Eurycles. He was so corrupt a man,
that out of the desire of getting money, he chose to live under a
king, for Greece could not suffice his luxury. He presented Herod
with splendid gifts, as a bait which he laid in order to compass
his ends, and quickly received them back again manifold; yet did
he esteem bare gifts as nothing, unless he imbrued the kingdom in
blood by his purchases. Accordingly, he imposed upon the king by
flattering him, and by talking subtlely to him, as also by the
lying encomiums which he made upon him; for as he soon perceived
Herod's blind side, so he said and did every thing that might
please him, and thereby became one of his most intimate friends;
for both the king and all that were about him had a great regard
for this Spartan, on account of his country.
2. Now as soon as this fellow perceived the rotten parts of the
family, and what quarrels the brothers had one with another, and
in what disposition the father was towards each of them, he chose
to take his lodging at the first in the house of Antipater, but
deluded Alexander with a pretense of friendship to him, and
falsely claimed to be an old acquaintance of Archelaus; for which
reason he was presently admitted into Alexander's familiarity as
a faithful friend. He also soon recommended himself to his
brother Aristobulus. And when he had thus made trial of these
several persons, he imposed upon one of them by one method, and
upon another by another. But he was principally hired by
Antipater, and so betrayed Alexander, and this by reproaching
Antipater, because, while he was the eldest son he overlooked the
intrigues of those who stood in the way of his expectations; and
by reproaching Alexander, because he who was born of a queen, and
was married to a king's daughter, permitted one that was born of
a mean woman to lay claim to the succession, and this when he had
Archelaus to support him in the most complete manner. Nor was his
advice thought to be other than faithful by the young man,
because of his pretended friendship with Archelaus; on which
account it was that Alexander lamented to him Antipater's
behavior with regard to himself, and this without concealing any
thing from him; and how it was no wonder if Herod, after he had
killed their mother, should deprive them of her kingdom. Upon
this Eurycles pretended to commiserate his condition, and to
grieve with him. He also, by a bait that he laid for him,
procured Aristobulus to say the same things. Thus did he inveigle
both the brothers to make complaints of their father, and then
went to Antipater, and carried these grand secrets to him. He
also added a fiction of his own, as if his brothers had laid a
plot against him, and were almost ready to come upon him with
their drawn swords. For this intelligence he received a great sum
of money, and on that account he commended Antipater before his
father, and at length undertook the work of bringing Alexander
and Aristobulus to their graves, and accused them before their
father. So he came to Herod, and told him that he would save his
life, as a requital for the favors he had received from him, and
would preserve his light [of life] by way of retribution for his
kind entertainment; for that a sword had been long whetted, and
Alexander's right hand had been long stretched out against him;
but that he had laid impediments in his way, prevented his speed,
and that by pretending to assist him in his design: how Alexander
said that Herod was not contented to reign in a kingdom that
belonged to others, and to make dilapidations in their mother's
government after he had killed her; but besides all this, that he
introduced a spurious successor, and proposed to give the kingdom
of their ancestors to that pestilent fellow Antipater: - that he
would now appease the ghosts of Hyrcanus and Mariamne, by taking
vengeance on him; for that it was not fit for him to take the
succession to the government from such a father without
bloodshed: that many things happen every day to provoke him so to
do, insomuch that he can say nothing at all, but it affords
occasion for calumny against him; for that if any mention be made
of nobility of birth, even in other cases, he is abused unjustly,
while his father would say that nobody, to be sure, is of noble
birth but Alexander, and that his father was inglorious for want
of such nobility. If they be at any time hunting, and he says
nothing, he gives offense; and if he commends any body, they take
it in way of jest. That they always find their father
unmercifully severe, and have no natural affection for any of
them but for Antipater; on which accounts, if this plot does not
take, he is very willing to die; but that in case he kill his
father, he hath sufficient opportunities for saving himself. In
the first place, he hath Archelaus his father-in-law to whom he
can easily fly; and in the next place, he hath Caesar, who had
never known Herod's character to this day; for that he shall not
appear then before him with that dread he used to do when his
father was there to terrify him; and that he will not then
produce the accusations that concerned himself alone, but would,
in the first place, openly insist on the calamities of their
nation, and how they are taxed to death, and in what ways of
luxury and wicked practices that wealth is spent which was gotten
by bloodshed; what sort of persons they are that get our riches,
and to whom those cities belong upon whom he bestows his favors;
that he would have inquiry made what became of his grandfather
[Hyrcanus], and his mother [Mariamne], and would openly proclaim
the gross wickedness that was in the kingdom; on which accounts
he should not be deemed a parricide.
3. When Eurycles had made this portentous speech, he greatly
commended Antipater, as the only child that had an affection for
his father, and on that account was an impediment to the other's
plot against him. Hereupon the king, who had hardly repressed his
anger upon the former accusations, was exasperated to an
incurable degree. At which time Antipater took another occasion
to send in other persons to his father to accuse his brethren,
and to tell him that they had privately discoursed with Jucundus
and Tyrannus, who had once been masters of the horse to the king,
but for some offenses had been put out of that honorable
employment. Herod was in a very great rage at these informations,
and presently ordered those men to be tortured; yet did not they
confess any thing of what the king had been informed; but a
certain letter was produced, as written by Alexander to the
governor of a castle, to desire him to receive him and
Aristobulus into the castle when he had killed his father, and to
give them weapons, and what other assistance he could, upon that
occasion. Alexander said that this letter was a forgery of
Diophantus. This Diophantus was the king's secretary, a bold man,
and cunning in counterfeiting any one's hand; and after he had
counterfeited a great number, he was at last put to death for it.
Herod did also order the governor of the castle to be tortured,
but got nothing out of him of what the accusations suggested.
4. However, although Herod found the proofs too weak, he gave
order to have his sons kept in custody; for till now they had
been at liberty. He also called that pest of his family, and
forger of all this vile accusation, Eurycles, his savior and
benefactor, and gave him a reward of fifty talents. Upon which he
prevented any accurate accounts that could come of what he had
done, by going immediately into Cappadocia, and there he got
money of Archelaus, having the impudence to pretend that he had
reconciled Herod to Alexander. He thence passed over into Greece,
and used what he had thus wickedly gotten to the like wicked
purposes. Accordingly, he was twice accused before Caesar, that
he had filled Achaia with sedition, and had plundered its cities;
and so he was sent into banishment. And thus was he punished for
what wicked actions he had been guilty of about Aristobulus and
Alexander.
5. But it will now be worth while to put Euaratus of Cos in
opposition to this Spartan; for as he was one of Alexander's most
intimate friends, and came to him in his travels at the same time
that Eurycles came; so the king put the question to him, whether
those things of which Alexander was accused were true? He assured
him upon oath that he had never heard any such things from the
young men; yet did this testimony avail nothing for the clearing
those miserable creatures; for Herod was only disposed and most
ready to hearken to what made against them, and every one was
most agreeable to him that would believe they were guilty, and
showed their indignation at them.
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