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1. For after the death of their father, the elder of them,
Aristobulus, changed the government into a kingdom, and was the
first that put a diadem upon his head, four hundred seventy and
one years and three months after our people came down into this
country, when they were set free from the Babylonian slavery.
Now, of his brethren, he appeared to have an affection for
Antigonus, who was next to him, and made him his equal; but for
the rest, he bound them, and put them in prison. He also put his
mother in bonds, for her contesting the government with him; for
John had left her to be the governess of public affairs. He also
proceeded to that degree of barbarity as to cause her to be pined
to death in prison.
2. But vengeance circumvented him in the affair of his brother
Antigonus, whom he loved, and whom he made his partner in the
kingdom; for he slew him by the means of the calumnies which ill
men about the palace contrived against him. At first, indeed,
Aristobulus would not believe their reports, partly out of the
affection he had for his brother, and partly because he thought
that a great part of these tales were owing to the envy of their
relaters: however, as Antigonus came once in a splendid manner
from the army to that festival, wherein our ancient custom is to
make tabernacles for God, it happened, in those days, that
Aristobulus was sick, and that, at the conclusion of the feast,
Antigonus came up to it, with his armed men about him; and this
when he was adorned in the finest manner possible; and that, in a
great measure, to pray to God on the behalf of his brother. Now
at this very time it was that these ill men came to the king, and
told him in what a pompous manner the armed men came, and with
what insolence Antigonus marched, and that such his insolence was
too great for a private person, and that accordingly he was come
with a great band of men to kill him; for that he could not
endure this bare enjoyment of royal honor, when it was in his
power to take the kingdom himself.
3. Now Aristobulus, by degrees, and unwillingly, gave credit to
these accusations; and accordingly he took care not to discover
his suspicion openly, though he provided to be secure against any
accidents; so he placed the guards of his body in a certain dark
subterranean passage; for he lay sick in a place called formerly
the Citadel, though afterwards its name was changed to Antonia;
and he gave orders that if Antigonus came unarmed, they should
let him alone; but if he came to him in his armor, they should
kill him. He also sent some to let him know beforehand that he
should come unarmed. But, upon this occasion, the queen very
cunningly contrived the matter with those that plotted his ruin,
for she persuaded those that were sent to conceal the king's
message; but to tell Antigonus how his brother had heard he had
got a very the suit of armor made with fine martial ornaments, in
Galilee; and because his present sickness hindered him from
coming and seeing all that finery, he very much desired to see
him now in his armor; because, said he, in a little time thou art
going away from me.
4. As soon as Antigonus heard this, the good temper of his
brother not allowing him to suspect any harm from him, he came
along with his armor on, to show it to his brother; but when he
was going along that dark passage which w{s called Strato's
Tower, he was slain by the body guards, and became an eminent
instance how calumny destroys all good-will and natural
affection, and how none of our good affections are strong enough
to resist envy perpetually.
5. And truly any one would be surprised at Judas upon this
occasion. He was of the sect of the Essens, and had never failed
or deceived men in his predictions before. Now this man saw
Antigonus as he was passing along by the temple, and cried out to
his acquaintance, (they were not a few who attended upon him as
his scholars,) "O strange!" said he, "it is good for me to die
now, since truth is dead before me, and somewhat that I have
foretold hath proved false; for this Antigonus is this day alive,
who ought to hare died this day; and the place where he ought to
be slain, according to that fatal decree, was Strato's Tower,
which is at the distance of six hundred furlongs from this place;
and yet four hours of this day are over already; which point of
time renders the prediction impossible to be fill filled." And
when the old man had said this, he was dejected in his mind, and
so continued. But in a little time news came that Antigonus was
slain in a subterraneous place, which was itself also called
Strato's Tower, by the same name with that Cesarea which lay by
the sea-side; and this ambiguity it was which caused the
prophet's disorder.
6. Hereupon Aristobulus repented of the great crime he had been
guilty of, and this gave occasion to the increase of his
distemper. He also grew worse and worse, and his soul was
constantly disturbed at the thoughts of what he had done, till
his very bowels being torn to pieces by the intolerable grief he
was under, he threw up a great quantity of blood. And as one of
those servants that attended him carried out that blood, he, by
some supernatural providence, slipped and fell down in the very
place where Antigonus had been slain; and so he spilt some of the
murderer's blood upon the spots of the blood of him that had been
murdered, which still appeared. Hereupon a lamentable cry arose
among the spectators, as if the servant had spilled the blood on
purpose in that place; and as the king heard that cry, he
inquired what was the cause of it; and while nobody durst tell
him, he pressed them so much the more to let him know what was
the matter; so at length, when he had threatened them, and forced
them to speak out, they told; whereupon he burst into tears, and
groaned, and said, "So I perceive I am not like to escape the
all-seeing eye of God, as to the great crimes I have committed;
but the vengeance of the blood of my kinsman pursues me hastily.
O thou most impudent body! how long wilt thou retain a soul that
ought to die on account of that punishment it ought to suffer for
a mother and a brother slain! How long shall I myself spend my
blood drop by drop? let them take it all at once; and let their
ghosts no longer be disappointed by a few parcels of my bowels
offered to them." As soon as he had said these words, he
presently died, when he had reigned no longer than a year.
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