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1. About this time it was that Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus,
came to Caesar, and became, in a surprising manner, the occasion
of Antipater's further advancement; for whereas he ought to have
lamented that his father appeared to have been poisoned on
account of his quarrels with Pompey, and to have complained of
Scipio's barbarity towards his brother, and not to mix any
invidious passion when he was suing for mercy; besides those
things, he came before Caesar, and accused Hyrcanus and
Antipater, how they had driven him and his brethren entirely out
of their native country, and had acted in a great many instances
unjustly and extravagantly with relation to their nation; and
that as to the assistance they had sent him into Egypt, it was
not done out of good-will to him, but out of the fear they were
in from former quarrels, and in order to gain pardon for their
friendship to [his enemy] Pompey.
2. Hereupon Antipater threw away his garments, and showed the
multitude of the wounds he had, and said, that as to his
good-will to Caesar, he had no occasion to say a word, because
his body cried aloud, though he said nothing himself; that he
wondered at Antigonus's boldness, while he was himself no other
than the son of an enemy to the Romans, and of a fugitive, and
had it by inheritance from his father to be fond of innovations
and seditions, that he should undertake to accuse other men
before the Roman governor, and endeavor to gain some advantages
to himself, when he ought to be contented that he was suffered to
live; for that the reason of his desire of governing public
affairs was not so much because he was in want of it, but
because, if he could once obtain the same, he might stir up a
sedition among the Jews, and use what he should gain from the
Romans to the disservice of those that gave it him.
3. When Caesar heard this, he declared Hyrcanus to be the most
worthy of the high priesthood, and gave leave to Antipater to
choose what authority he pleased; but he left the determination
of such dignity to him that bestowed the dignity upon him; so he
was constituted procurator of all Judea, and obtained leave,
moreover, to rebuild those walls of his country that had
been thrown down. These honorary grants Caesar sent orders to
have engraved in the Capitol, that they might stand there as
indications of his own justice, and of the virtue of Antipater.
4. But as soon as Antipater had conducted Caesar out of Syria he
returned to Judea, and the first thing he did was to rebuild that
wall of his own country [Jerusalem] which Pompey had overthrown,
and then to go over the country, and to quiet the tumults that
were therein; where he partly threatened, and partly advised,
every one, and told them that in case they would submit to
Hyrcanus, they would live happily and peaceably, and enjoy what
they possessed, and that with universal peace and quietness; but
that in case they hearkened to such as had some frigid hopes by
raising new troubles to get themselves some gain, they should
then find him to be their lord instead of their procurator; and
find Hyrcanus to be a tyrant instead of a king; and both the
Romans and Caesar to be their enemies, instead of rulers; for
that they would not suffer him to be removed from the government,
whom they had made their governor. And, at the same time that he
said this, he settled the affairs of the country by himself,
because he saw that Hyrcanus was inactive, and not fit to manage
the affairs of the kingdom. So he constituted his eldest son,
Phasaelus, governor of Jerusalem, and of the parts about it; he
also sent his next son, Herod, who was very young, with
equal authority into Galilee.
5. Now Herod was an active man, and soon found proper materials
for his active spirit to work upon. As therefore he found that
Hezekias, the head of the robbers, ran over the neighboring parts
of Syria with a great band of men, he caught him and slew him,
and many more of the robbers with him; which exploit was chiefly
grateful to the Syrians, insomuch that hymns were sung in Herod's
commendation, both in the villages and in the cities, as having
procured their quietness, and having preserved what they
possessed to them; on which occasion he became acquainted with
Sextus Caesar, a kinsman of the great Caesar, and president of
Syria. A just emulation of his glorious actions excited Phasaelus
also to imitate him. Accordingly, he procured the good-will of
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, by his own management of the city
affairs, and did not abuse his power in any disagreeable manner;
whence it came to pass that the nation paid Antipater the
respects that were due only to a king, and the honors they all
yielded him were equal to the honors due to an absolute lord; yet
did he not abate any part of that good-will or fidelity which he
owed to Hyrcanus.
6. However, he found it impossible to escape envy in such his
prosperity; for the glory of these young men affected even
Hyrcanus himself already privately, though he said nothing of it
to any body; but what he principally was grieved at was the great
actions of Herod, and that so many messengers came one before
another, and informed him of the great reputation he got in all
his undertakings. There were also many people in the royal palace
itself who inflamed his envy at him; those, I mean, who were
obstructed in their designs by the prudence either of the young
men, or of Antipater. These men said, that by committing the
public affairs to the management of Antipater and of his sons, he
sat down with nothing but the bare name of a king, without any of
its authority; and they asked him how long he would so far
mistake himself, as to breed up kings against his own interest;
for that they did not now conceal their government of affairs any
longer, but were plainly lords of the nation, and had thrust him
out of his authority; that this was the case when Herod slew so
many men without his giving him any command to do it, either by
word of mouth, or by his letter, and this in contradiction to the
law of the Jews; who therefore, in case he be not a king, but a
private man, still ought to come to his trial, and answer it to
him, and to the laws of his country, which do not permit any one
to be killed till he hath been condemned in judgment.
7. Now Hyrcanus was, by degrees, inflamed with these discourses,
and at length could bear no longer, but he summoned Herod to take
his trial. Accordingly, by his father's advice, and as soon as
the affairs of Galilee would give him leave, he came up to
[Jerusalem], when he had first placed garrisons in Galilee;
however, he came with a sufficient body of soldiers, so many
indeed that he might not appear to have with him an army able to
overthrow Hyrcanus's government, nor yet so few as to expose him
to the insults of those that envied him. However, Sextus Caesar
was in fear for the young man, lest he should be taken by his
enemies, and brought to punishment; so he sent some to denounce
expressly to Hyrcanus that he should acquit Herod of the capital
charge against him; who acquitted him accordingly, as being
otherwise inclined also so to do, for he loved Herod.
8. But Herod, supposing that he had escaped punishment without
the consent of the king, retired to Sextus, to Damascus, and got
every thing ready, in order not to obey him if he should summon
him again; whereupon those that were evil-disposed irritated
Hyrcanus, and told him that Herod was gone away in anger, and was
prepared to make war upon him; and as the king believed what they
said, he knew not what to do, since he saw his antagonist was
stronger than he was himself. And now, since Herod was made
general of Coelesyria and Samaria by Sextus Caesar, he was
formidable, not only from the good-will which the nation bore
him, but by the power he himself had; insomuch that Hyrcanus fell
into the utmost degree of terror, and expected he would presently
march against him with his army.
9. Nor was he mistaken in the conjecture he made; for Herod got
his army together, out of the anger he bare him for his
threatening him with the accusation in a public court, and led it
to Jerusalem, in order to throw Hyrcanus down from his kingdom;
and this he had soon done, unless his father and brother had gone
out together and broken the force of his fury, and this by
exhorting him to carry his revenge no further than to threatening
and affrighting, but to spare the king, under whom he had been
advanced to such a degree of power; and that he ought not to be
so much provoked at his being tried, as to forget to be thankful
that he was acquitted; nor so long to think upon what was of a
melancholy nature, as to be ungrateful for his deliverance; and
if we ought to reckon that God is the arbitrator of success in
war, an unjust cause is of more disadvantage than an army can be
of advantage; and that therefore he ought not to be entirely
confident of success in a case where he is to fight against his
king, his supporter, and one that had often been his benefactor,
and that had never been severe to him, any otherwise than as he
had hearkened to evil counselors, and this no further than by
bringing a shadow of injustice upon him. So Herod was prevailed
upon by these arguments, and supposed that what he had already
done was sufficient for his future hopes, and that he had enough
shown his power to the nation.
10. In the mean time, there was a disturbance among the Romans
about Apamia, and a civil war occasioned by the treacherous
slaughter of Sextus Caesar, by Cecilius Bassus, which he
perpetrated out of his good-will to Pompey; he also took the
authority over his forces; but as the rest of Caesar's commanders
attacked Bassus with their whole army, in order to punish him for
the murder of Caesar, Antipater also sent them assistance by his
sons, both on account of him that was murdered, and on account of
that Caesar who was still alive, both of which were their
friends; and as this war grew to be of a considerable length,
Marcus came out of Italy as successor to Sextus.
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