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1. When Cassius was gone out of Syria, another sedition arose at
Jerusalem, wherein Felix assaulted Phasaelus with an army, that
he might revenge the death of Malichus upon Herod, by falling
upon his brother. Now Herod happened then to be with Fabius, the
governor of Damascus, and as he was going to his brother's
assistance, he was detained by sickness; in the mean time,
Phasaelus was by himself too hard for Felix, and reproached
Hyrcanus on account of his ingratitude, both for what assistance
he had afforded Maliehus, and for overlooking Malichus's brother,
when he possessed himself of the fortresses; for he had gotten a
great many of them already, and among them the strongest of them
all, Masada.
2. However, nothing could be sufficient for him against the force
of Herod, who, as soon as he was recovered, took the other
fortresses again, and drove him out of Masada in the posture of a
supplicant; he also drove away Marion, the tyrant of the Tyrians,
out of Galilee, when he had already possessed himself of three
fortified places; but as to those Tyrians whom he had caught, he
preserved them all alive; nay, some of them he gave presents to,
and so sent them away, and thereby procured good-will to himself
from the city, and hatred to the tyrant. Marion had indeed
obtained that tyrannical power of Cassius, who set tyrants over
all Syria and out of hatred to Herod it was that he assisted
Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, and principally on Fabius's
account, whom Antigonus had made his assistant by money, and had
him accordingly on his side when he made his descent; but it was
Ptolemy, the kinsman of Antigonus, that supplied all that he
wanted.
3. When Herod had fought against these in the avenues of Judea,
he was conqueror in the battle, and drove away Antigonus, and
returned to Jerusalem, beloved by every body for the glorious
action he had done; for those who did not before favor him did
join themselves to him now, because of his marriage into the
family of Hyrcanus; for as he had formerly married a wife out of
his own country of no ignoble blood, who was called Doris, of
whom he begat Antipater; so did he now marry Mariamne, the
daughter of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, and the
granddaughter of Hyrcanus, and was become thereby a relation of
the king.
4. But when Caesar and Antony had slain Cassius near Philippi,
and Caesar was gone to Italy, and Antony to Asia, amongst the
rest of the cities which sent ambassadors to Antony unto
Bithynia, the great men of the Jews came also, and accused
Phasaelus and Herod, that they kept the government by force, and
that Hyrcanus had no more than an honorable name. Herod appeared
ready to answer this accusation; and having made Antony his
friend by the large sums of money which he gave him, he brought
him to such a temper as not to hear the others speak against him;
and thus did they part at this time.
5. However, after this, there came a hundred of the principal men
among the Jews to Daphne by Antioch to Antony, who was already in
love with Cleopatra to the degree of slavery; these Jews put
those men that were the most potent, both in dignity and
eloquence, foremost, and accused the brethren. But Messala
opposed them, and defended the brethren, and that while Hyrcanus
stood by him, on account of his relation to them. When Antony had
heard both sides, he asked Hyrcanus which party was the fittest
to govern, who replied that Herod and his party were the fittest.
Antony was glad of that answer, for he had been formerly treated
in an hospitable and obliging manner by his father Antipater,
when he marched into Judea with Gabinius; so he constituted the
brethren tetrarchs, and committed to them the government of
Judea.
6. But when the ambassadors had indignation at this procedure,
Antony took fifteen of them, and put them into custody, whom he
was also going to kill presently, and the rest he drove away with
disgrace; on which occasion a still greater tumult arose at
Jerusalem; so they sent again a thousand ambassadors to Tyre,
where Antony now abode, as he was marching to Jerusalem; upon
these men who made a clamor he sent out the governor of Tyre, and
ordered him to punish all that he could catch of them, and to
settle those in the administration whom he had made tetrarchs.
7. But before this Herod, and Hyrcanus went out upon the
sea-shore, and earnestly desired of these ambassadors that they
would neither bring ruin upon themselves, nor war upon their
native country, by their rash contentions; and when they grew
still more outrageous, Antony sent out armed men, and slew a
great many, and wounded more of them; of whom those that were
slain were buried by Hyrcanus, as were the wounded put under the
care of physicians by him; yet would not those that had escaped
be quiet still, but put the affairs of the city into such
disorder, and so provoked Antony, that he slew those whom he had
in bonds also.
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