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1. A Very sad calamity now befell the Jews that were in
Mesopotamia, and especially those that dwelt in Babylonia.
Inferior it was to none of the calamities which had gone before,
and came together with a great slaughter of them, and that
greater than any upon record before; concerning all which I shall
speak accurately, and shall explain the occasions whence these
miseries came upon them. There was a city of Babylonia called
Neerda; not only a ver populous one, but one that had a good and
a large territory about it, and, besides its other advantages,
full of men also. It was, besides, not easily to be assaulted by
enemies, from the river Euphrates encompassing it all round, and
from the wails that were built about it. There was also the city
Nisibis, situate on the same current of the river. For which
reason the Jews, depending on the natural strength of these
places, deposited in them that half shekel which every one, by
the custom of our country, offers unto God, as well as they did
other things devoted to him; for they made use of these cities as
a treasury, whence, at a proper time, they were transmitted to
Jerusalem; and many ten thousand men undertook the carriage of
those donations, out of fear of the ravages of the Parthians, to
whom the Babylonians were then subject. Now there were two men,
Asineus and Anileus, of the city Neerda by birth, and brethren to
one another. They were destitute of a father, and their mother
put them to learn the art of weaving curtains, it not being
esteemed ,disgrace among them for men to be weavers of cloth. Now
he that taught them that art, and was set over them, complained
that they came too late to their work, and punished them with
stripes; but they took this just punishment as an affront, and
carried off all the weapons which were kept in that house, which
were not a few, and went into a certain place where was a
partition of the rivers, and was a place naturally very fit for
the feeding of cattle, and for preserving such fruits as were
usually laid up against winter. The poorest sort of the young men
also resorted to them, whom they armed with the weapons they had
gotten, and became their captains; and nothing hindered them from
being their leaders into mischief; for as soon as they were
become invincible, and had built them a citadel, they sent to
such as fed cattle, and ordered them to pay them so much tribute
out of them as might be sufficient for their maintenance,
proposing also that they would be their friends, if they would
submit to them, and that they would defend them from all their
other enemies on every side, but that they would kill the cattle
of those that refused to obey them. So they hearkened to their
proposals, (for they could do nothing else,) and sent them as
many sheep as were required of them; whereby their forces grew
greater, and they became lords over all they pleased, because
they marched suddenly, and did them a mischief, insomuch that
every body who had to do with them chose to pay them respect; and
they became formidable to such as came to assault them, till the
report about them came to the ears of the king of Parthia
himself.
2. But when the governor of Babylonia understood this, and had a
mind to put a stop to them before they grew greater, and before
greater mischiefs should arise from them, he got together as
great an army as he could, both of Parthians and Babylonians, and
marched against them, thinking to attack them and destroy them
before any one should carry them the news that he had got an army
together. He then encamped at a lake, and lay still; but on the
next day (it was the sabbath, which is among the Jews a day of
rest from all sorts of work) he supposed that the enemy would not
dare to fight him thereon, but that he would take them and carry
them away prisoners, without fighting. He therefore proceeded
gradually, and thought to fall upon them on the sudden. Now
Asineus was sitting with the rest, and their weapons lay by them;
upon which he said, "Sirs, I hear a neighing of horses; not of
such as are feeding, but such as have men on their backs; I also
hear such a noise of their bridles, that I am afraid that some
enemies are coming upon us to encompass us round. However, let
somebody go to look about, and make report of what reality there
is in the present state of things; and may what I have said prove
a false alarm." And when he had said this, some of them went out
to spy out what was the matter; and they came again immediately,
and said to him, that "neither hast thou been mistaken in telling
us what our enemies were doing, nor will those enemies permit us
to be injurious to people any longer. We are caught by their
intrigues like brute beasts, and there is a large body of cavalry
marching upon us, while we are destitute of hands to defend
ourselves withal, because we are restrained from doing it by the
prohibition of our law, which obliges us to rest [on this day]."
But Asiueus did not by any means agree with the opinion of his
spy as to what was to be done, but thought it more agreeable to
the law to pluck up their spirits in this necessity they were
fallen into, and break their law by avenging themselves, although
they should die in the action, than by doing nothing to please
their enemies in submitting to be slain by them. Accordingly, he
took up his weapons, and infused courage into those that were
with him to act as courageously as himself. So they fell upon
their enemies, and slew a great many of them, because they
despised them and came as to a certain victory, and put the rest
to flight.
3. But when the news of this fight came to the king of Parthia,
he was surprised at the boldness of these brethren, and was
desirous to see them, and speak with them. He therefore sent the
most trusty of all his guards to say thus to them: "That king
Artsbanus, although he had been unjustly treated by you, who have
made an attempt against his government, yet hath he more regard
to your courageous behavior, than to the anger he bears to you,
and hath sent me to give you his right hand and security;
and he permits you to come to him safely, and without any
violence upon the road; and he wants to have you address
yourselves to him as friends, without meaning any guile or deceit
to you. He also promises to make you presents, and to pay you
those respects which will make an addition of his power to your
courage, and thereby be of advantage to you." Yet did Asineus
himself put off his journey thither, but sent his brother Anileus
with all such presents as he could procure. So he went, and was
admitted to the king's presence; and when Artabanus saw Anileus
coming alone, he inquired into the reason why Asineus avoided to
come along with him; and when he understood that he was afraid,
and staid by the lake, he took an oath, by the gods of his
country, that he would do them no harm, if they came to him upon
the assurances he gave them, and gave him his right hand. This is
of the greatest force there with all these barbarians, and
affords a firm security to those who converse with them; for none
of them will deceive you when once they have given you their
right hands, nor will any one doubt of their fidelity, when that
is once given, even though they were before suspected of
injustice. When Artabanus had done this, he sent away Anileus to
persuade his brother to come to him. Now this the king did,
because he wanted to curb his own governors of provinces by the
courage of these Jewish brethren, lest they should make a league
with them; for they were ready for a revolt, and were disposed to
rebel, had they been sent on an expedition against them. He was
also afraid, lest when he was engaged in a war, in order to
subdue those governors of provinces that had revolted, the party
of Asineus, and those in Babylonia, should be augmented, and
either make war upon him, when they should hear of that revolt,
or if they should be disappointed in that case, they would not
fail of doing further mischief to him.
4. When the king had these intentions, he sent away Anileus, and
Anileus prevailed on his brother [to come to the king], when he
had related to him the king's good-will, and the oath that he had
taken. Accordingly, they made haste to go to Artsbanus, who
received them when they were come with pleasure, and admired
Asineus's courage in the actions he had done, and this because he
was a little man to see to, and at first sight appeared
contemptible also, and such as one might deem a person of no
value at all. He also said to his friends, how, upon the
comparison, he showed his soul to be in all respects superior to
his body; and when, as they were drinking together, he once
showed Asineus to Abdagases, one of the generals of his army, and
told him his name, and described the great courage he was of in
war, and Abdagases had desired leave to kill him, and thereby to
inflict on him a punishment for those injuries he had done to the
Parthian government, the king replied, "I will never give thee
leave to kill a man who hath depended on my faith, especially not
after I have sent him my right hand, and endeavored to gain his
belief by oaths made by the gods. But if thou be a truly warlike
man, thou standest not in need of my perjury. Go thou then, and
avenge the Parthian government; attack this man, when he is
returned back, and conquer him by the forces that are under thy
command, without my privity." Hereupon the king called for
Asineus, and said to him, "It is time for thee, O thou young man!
to return home, and not provoke the indignation of my generals in
this place any further, lest they attempt to murder thee, and
that without my approbation. I commit to thee the country of
Babylonia in trust, that it may, by thy care, be preserved free
from robbers, and from other mischiefs. I have kept my faith
inviolable to thee, and that not in trifling affairs, but in
those that concerned thy safety, and do therefore deserve thou
shouldst be kind to me." When he had said this, and given Asineus
some presents, he sent him away immediately; who, when he was
come home, built fortresses, and became great in a little time,
and managed things with such courage and success, as no other
person, that had no higher a beginning, ever did before him.
Those Parthian governors also, who were sent that way, paid him
great respect; and the honor that was paid him by the Babylonians
seemed to them too small, and beneath his deserts, although he
were in no small dignity and power there; nay, indeed, all the
affairs of Mesopotamia depended upon him, and he more and more
flourished in this happy condition of his for fifteen years.
5. But as their affairs were in so flourishing a state, there
sprang up a calamity among them on the following occasion. When
once they had deviated from that course of virtue whereby they
had gained so great power, they affronted and transgressed the
laws of their forefathers, and fell under the dominion of their
lusts and pleasures. A certain Parthian, who came as general of
an army into those parts, had a wife following him, who had a
vast reputation for other accomplishments, and particularly was
admired above all other women for her beauty. Anileus, the
brother of Asineus, either heard of that her beauty from others,
or perhaps saw her himself also, and so became at once her lover
and her enemy; partly because he could not hope to enjoy this
woman but by obtaining power over her as a captive, and partly
because he thought he could not conquer his inclinations for her.
As soon therefore as her husband had been declared an enemy to
them, and was fallen in the battle, the widow of the deceased was
married to this her lover. However, this woman did not come into
their house without producing great misfortunes, both to Anileus
himself, and to Asineus also; but brought great mischiefs upon
them on the occasion following. Since she was led away captive,
upon the death of her husband, she concealed the images of those
gods which were their country gods, common to her husband and to
herself: now it was the custom of that country for all to
have the idols they worship in their own houses, and to carry
them along with them when they go into a foreign land; agreeable
to which custom of theirs she carried her idols with her. Now at
first she performed her worship to them privately; but when she
was become Anileus's married wife, she worshipped them in her
accustomed manner, and with the same appointed ceremonies which
she used in her former husband's days; upon which their most
esteemed friends blamed him at first, that he did not act after
the manner of the Hebrews, nor perform what was agreeable to
their laws, in marrying a foreign wife, and one that transgressed
the accurate appointments of their sacrifices and religious
ceremonies; that he ought to consider, lest, by allowing himself
in many pleasures of the body, he might lose his principality, on
account of the beauty of a wife, and that high authority which,
by God's blessing, he had arrived at. But when they prevailed not
at all upon him, he slew one of them for whom he had the greatest
respect, because of the liberty he took with him; who, when he
was dying, out of regard to the laws, imprecated a punishment
upon his murderer Anileus, and upon Asineus also, and that all
their companions might come to a like end from their enemies;
upon the two first as the principal actors of this wickedness,
and upon the rest as those that would not assist him when he
suffered in the defense of their laws. Now these latter were
sorely grieved, yet did they tolerate these doings, because they
remembered that they had arrived at their present happy state by
no other means than their fortitude. But when they also heard of
the worship of those gods whom the Parthians adore, they thought
the injury that Anileus offered to their laws was to be borne no
longer; and a greater number of them came to Asineus, and loudly
complained of Aniteus, and told him that it had been well that he
had of himself seen what was advantageous to them; but that
however it was now high time to correct what had been done amiss,
before the crime that had been committed proved the ruin of
himself and all the rest of them. They added, that the marriage
of this woman was made without their consent, and without a
regard to their old laws; and that the worship which this woman
paid [to her gods] was a reproach to the God whom they
worshipped. Now Asineus was sensible of his brother's offense,
that it had been already the cause of great mischiefs, and would
be so for the time to come; yet did he tolerate the same from the
good-will he had to so near a relation, and forgiving it to him,
on account that his brother was quite overborne by his wicked
inclinations. But as more and more still came about him every
day, and the clamors about it became greater, he at length spake
to Anileus about these clamors, reproving him for his former
actions, and desiring him for the future to leave them off, and
send the woman back to her relations. But nothing was gained by
these reproofs; for as the woman perceived what a tumult was made
among the people on her account, and was afraid for Anileus, lest
he should come to any harm for his love to her, she infused
poison into Asineus's food, and thereby took him off, and was now
secure of prevailing, when her lover was to be judge of what
should be done about her.
6. So Anileus took the government upon himself alone, and led his
army against the villages of Mithridates, who was a man of
principal authority in Parthin, and had married king Artabanus's
daughter; he also plundered them, and among that prey was found
much money, and many slaves, as also a great number of sheep, and
many other things, which, when gained, make men's condition
happy. Now when Mithridates, who was there at this time, heard
that his villages were taken, he was very much displeased to find
that Anileus had first begun to injure him, and to affront him in
his present dignity, when he had not offered any injury to him
beforehand; and he got together the greatest body of horsemen he
was able, and those out of that number which were of an age fit
for war, and came to fight Anileus; and when he was arrived at a
certain village of his own, he lay still there, as intending to
fight him on the day following, because it was the sabbath, the
day on which the Jews rest. And when Anileus was informed of this
by a Syrian stranger of another village, who not only gave him an
exact account of other circumstances, but told him where
Mithridates would have a feast, he took his supper at a proper
time, and marched by night, with an intent of falling upon the
Parthians while they were unaprrized what they should do; so he
fell upon them about the fourth watch of the night, and some of
them he slew while they were asleep, and others he put to flight,
and took Mithridates alive, and set him naked upon an ass
which, among the Parthians, is esteemed the greatest reproach
possible. And when he had brought him into a wood with such a
resolution, and his friends desired him to kill Mithridates, he
soon told them his own mind to the contrary, and said that it was
not right to kill a man who was of one of the principal families
among the Parthians, and greatly honored with matching into the
royal family; that so far as they had hitherto gone was
tolerable; for although they had injured Mithridates, yet if they
preserved his life, this benefit would be remembered by him to
the advantage of those that gave it him; but that if be were once
put to death, the king would not be at rest till he had made a
great slaughter of the Jews that dwelt at Babylon; "to whose
safety we ought to have a regard, both on account of our relation
to them, and because if any misfortune befall us, we have no
other place to retire to, since he hath gotten the flower of
their youth under him." By this thought, and this speech of his
made in council, he persuaded them to act accordingly; so
Mithridates was let go. But when he was got away, his wife
reproached him, that although he was son-in-law to the king, he
neglected to avenge himself on those that had injured him, while
he took no care about it, but was contented to have been made a
captive by the Jews, and to have escaped them; and she bid him
either to go back like a man of courage, or else she sware by the
gods of their royal family that she would certainly dissolve her
marriage with him. Upon which, partly because he could not bear
the daily trouble of her taunts, and partly because he was afraid
of her insolence, lest she should in earnest dissolve their
marriage, he unwillingly, and against his inclinations, got
together again as great an army as he could, and marched along
with them, as himself thinking it a thing not to be borne any
longer, that he, a Parthian, should owe his preservation to the
Jews, when they had been too hard for him in the war.
7. But as soon as Anileus understood that Mithridates was
marching with a great army against him, he thought it too
ignominious a thing to tarry about the lakes, and not to take the
first opportunity of meeting his enemies, and he hoped to have
the same success, and to beat their enemies as they did before;
as also he ventured boldly upon the like attempts. Accordingly,
he led out his army, and a great many more joined themselves to
that army, in order to betake themselves to plunder the people,
and in order to terrify the enemy again by their numbers. But
when they had marched ninety furlongs, while the road had been
through dry [and sandy] places, and about the midst of the day,
they were become very thirsty; and Mithridates appeared, and fell
upon them, as they were in distress for want of water, on which
account, and on account of the time of the day, they were not
able to bear their weapons. So Anileus and his men were put to an
ignominious rout, while men in despair were to attack those that
were fresh and in good plight; so a great slaughter was made, and
many ten thousand men fell. Now Anileus, and all that stood firm
about him, ran away as fast as they were able into a wood, and
afforded Mithridates the pleasure of having gained a great
victory over them. But there now came in to Anileus a conflux of
bad men, who regarded their own lives very little, if they might
but gain some present ease, insomuch that they, by thus coming to
him, compensated the multitude of those that perished in the
fight. Yet were not these men like to those that fell, because
they were rash, and unexercised in war; however, with these he
came upon the villages of the Babylonians, and a mighty
devastation of all things was made there by the injuries that
Anileus did them. So the Babylonians, and those that had already
been in the war, sent to Neerda to the Jews there, and demanded
Anileus. But although they did not agree to their demands, (for
if they had been willing to deliver him up, it was not in their
power so to do,) yet did they desire to make peace with them. To
which the other replied, that they also wanted to settle
conditions of peace with them, and sent men together with the
Babylonians, who discoursed with Anileus about them. But the
Babylonians, upon taking a view of his situation, and having
learned where Anileus and his men lay, fell secretly upon them as
they were drunk and fallen asleep, and slew all that they caught
of them, without any fear, and killed Anileus himself also.
8. The Babylonians were now freed from Anileus's heavy
incursions, which had been a great restraint to the effects of
that hatred they bore to the Jews; for they were almost always at
variance, by reason of the contrariety of their laws; and which
party soever grew boldest before the other, they assaulted the
other: and at this time in particular it was, that upon the ruin
of Anileus's party, the Babylonians attacked the Jews, which made
those Jews so, vehemently to resent the injuries they received
from the Babylonians, that being neither able to fight them, nor
bearing to live with them, they went to Seleucia, the principal
city of those parts, which was built by Seleucus Nicator. It was
inhabited by many of the Macedonians, but by more of the
Grecians; not a few of the Syrians also dwelt there; and thither
did the Jews fly, and lived there five years, without any
misfortunes. But on the sixth year, a pestilence came upon these
at Babylon, which occasioned new removals of men's habitations
out of that city; and because they came to Seleucia, it happened
that a still heavier calamity came upon them on that account
which I am going to relate immediately.
9. Now the way of living of the people of Seleucia, which were
Greeks and Syrians, was commonly quarrelsome, and full of
discords, though the Greeks were too hard for the Syrians. When,
therefore, the Jews were come thither, and dwelt among them,
there arose a sedition, and the Syrians were too hard for the
other, by the assistance of the Jews, who are men that despise
dangers, and very ready to fight upon any occasion. Now when the
Greeks had the worst in this sedition, and saw that they had but
one way of recovering their former authority, and that was, if
they could prevent the agreement between the Jews and the
Syrians, they every one discoursed with such of the Syrians as
were formerly their acquaintance, and promised they would be at
peace and friendship with them. Accordingly, they gladly agreed
so to do; and when this was done by the principal men of both
nations, they soon agreed to a reconciliation; and when they were
so agreed, they both knew that the great design of such their
union would be their common hatred to the Jews. Accordingly, they
fell upon them, and slew about fifty thousand of them; nay, the
Jews were all destroyed, excepting a few who escaped, either by
the compassion which their friends or neighbors afforded them, in
order to let them fly away. These retired to Ctesiphon, a Grecian
city, and situate near to Seleucia, where the king [of Parthia]
lives in winter every year, and where the greatest part of his
riches are reposited; but the Jews had here no certain
settlement, those of Seleucia having little concern for the
king's honor. Now the whole nation of the Jews were in fear both
of the Babylonians and of the Seleucians, because all the Syrians
that live in those places agreed with the Seleucians in the war
against the Jews; so the most of them gathered themselves
together, and went to Neerda and Nisibis, and obtained security
there by the strength of those cities; besides which their
inhabitants, who were a great many, were all warlike men. And
this was the state of the Jews at this time in Babylonia.
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