|
1. After this Antiochus made a friendship and league with
Ptolemy, and gave him his daughter Cleopatra to wife, and yielded
up to him Celesyria, and Samaria, and Judea, and Phoenicia, by
way of dowry. And upon the division of the taxes between the two
kings, all the principal men framed the taxes of their several
countries, and collecting the sum that was settled for them, paid
the same to the [two] kings. Now at this time the Samaritans were
in a flourishing condition, and much distressed the Jews, cutting
off parts of their land, and carrying off slaves. This happened
when Onias was high priest; for after Eleazar's death, his uncle
Manasseh took the priesthood, and after he had ended his life,
Onias received that dignity. He was the son of Simon, who was
called The Just: which Simon was the brother of Eleazar, as I
said before. This Onias was one of a little soul, and a great
lover of money; and for that reason, because he did not pay that
tax of twenty talents of silver, which his forefathers paid to
these things out of their own estates, he provoked king Ptolemy
Euergetes to anger, who was the father of Philopater. Euergetes
sent an ambassador to Jerusalem, and complained that Onias did
not pay his taxes, and threatened, that if he did not receive
them, he would seize upon their land, and send soldiers to live
upon it. When the Jews heard this message of the king, they were
confounded; but so sordidly covetous was Onias, that nothing of
things nature made him ashamed.
2. There was now one Joseph, young in age, but of great
reputation among the people of Jerusalem, for gravity, prudence,
and justice. His father's name was Tobias; and his mother was the
sister of Onias the high priest, who informed him of the coming
of the ambassador; for he was then sojourning at a village named
Phicol, where he was born. Hereupon he came to the city
[Jerusalem], and reproved Onias for not taking care of the
preservation of his countrymen, but bringing the nation into
dangers, by not paying this money. For which preservation of
them, he told him he had received the authority over them, and
had been made high priest; but that, in case he was so great a
lover of money, as to endure to see his country in danger on that
account, and his countrymen suffer the greatest damages, he
advised him to go to the king, and petition him to remit either
the whole or a part of the sum demanded. Onias's answer was this:
That he did not care for his authority, and that he was ready, if
the thing were practicable, to lay down his high priesthood; and
that he would not go to the king, because he troubled not himself
at all about such matters. Joseph then asked him if he would not
give him leave to go ambassador on behalf of the nation. He
replied, that he would give him leave. Upon which Joseph went up
into the temple, and called the multitude together to a
congregation, and exhorted them not to be disturbed nor
aftrighted, because of his uncle Onias's carelessness, but
desired them to be at rest, and not terrify themselves with fear
about it; for he promised them that he would be their ambassador
to the king, and persuade him that they had done him no wrong.
And when the multitude heard this, they returned thanks to
Joseph. So he went down from the temple, and treated Ptolemy's
ambassador in a hospitable manner. He also presented him with
rich gifts, and feasted him magnificently for many days, and then
sent him to the king before him, and told him that he would soon
follow him; for he was now more willing to go to the king, by the
encouragement of the ambassador, who earnestly persuaded him to
come into Egypt, and promised him that he would take care that he
should obtain every thing that he desired of Ptolemy; for he was
highly pleased with his frank and liberal temper, and with the
gravity of his deportment.
3. When Ptolemy's ambassador was come into Egypt, he told the
king of the thoughtless temper of Onias; and informed him of the
goodness of the disposition of Joseph; and that he was coming to
him to excuse the multitude, as not having done him any harm, for
that he was their patron. In short, he was so very large in his
encomiums upon the young man, that he disposed both the king and
his wife Cleopatra to have a kindness for him before he came. So
Joseph sent to his friends at Samaria, and borrowed money of
them, and got ready what was necessary for his journey, garments
and cups, and beasts for burden, which amounted to about twenty
thousand drachmae, and went to Alexandria. Now it happened that
at this time all the principal men and rulers went up out of the
cities of Syria and Phoenicia, to bid for their taxes; for every
year the king sold them to the men of the greatest power in every
city. So these men saw Joseph journeying on the way, and laughed
at him for his poverty and meanness. But when he came to
Alexandria, and heard that king Ptolemy was at Memphis, be went
up thither to meet with him; which happened as the king was
sitting in his chariot, with his wife, and with his friend
Athenion, who was the very person who had been ambassador at
Jerusalem, and had been entertained by Joseph. As soon therefore
as Athenion saw him, he presently made him known to the king, how
good and generous a young man he was. So Ptolemy saluted him
first, and desired him to come up into his chariot; and as Joseph
sat there, he began to complain of the management of Onias: to
which he answered, "Forgive him, on account of his age; for thou
canst not certainly be unacquainted with this, that old men and
infants have their minds exactly alike; but thou shalt have from
us, who are young men, every thing thou desirest, and shalt have
no cause to complain." With this good humor and pleasantry of the
young man, the king was so delighted, that he began already, as
though he had had long experience of him, to have a still greater
affection for him, insomuch that he bade him take his diet in the
king's palace, and be a guest at his own table every day. But
when the king was come to Alexandria, the principal men of Syria
saw him sitting with the king, and were much offended at it.
4. And when the day came on which the king was to let the taxes
of the cities to farm, and those that were the principal men of
dignity in their several countries were to bid for them, the sum
of the taxes together, of Celesyria, and Phoenicia, and Judea,
with Samaria, [as they were bidden for,] came to eight thousand
talents. Hereupon Joseph accused the bidders, as having agreed
together to estimate the value of the taxes at too low a rate;
and he promised that he would himself give twice as much for
them: but for those who did not pay, he would send the king home
their whole substance; for this privilege was sold together with
the taxes themselves. The king was pleased to hear that offer;
and because it augmented his revenues, he said he would confirm
the sale of the taxes to him. But when he asked him this
question, Whether he had any sureties that would be bound for the
payment of the money? he answered very pleasantly, "I will give
such security, and those of persons good and responsible, and
which you shall have no reason to distrust." And when he bid him
name them who they were, he replied, "I give thee no other
persons, O king, for my sureties, than thyself, and this thy
wife; and you shall be security for both parties." So Ptolemy
laughed at the proposal, and granted him the farming of the taxes
without any sureties. This procedure was a sore grief to those
that came from the cities into Egypt, who were utterly
disappointed; and they returned every one to their own country
with shame.
5. But Joseph took with him two thousand foot soldiers from the
king, for he desired he might have some assistance, in order to
force such as were refractory in the cities to pay. And borrowing
of the king's friends at Alexandria five hundred talents, he made
haste back into Syria. And when he was at Askelon, and demanded
the taxes of the people of Askelon, they refused to pay any
thing, and affronted him also; upon which he seized upon about
twenty of the principal men, and slew them, and gathered what
they had together, and sent it all to the king, and informed him
what he had done. Ptolemy admired the prudent conduct of the man,
and commended him for what he had done, and gave him leave to do
as he pleased. When the Syrians heard of this, they were
astonished; and having before them a sad example in the men of
Askelon that were slain, they opened their gates, and willingly
admitted Joseph, and paid their taxes. And when the inhabitants
of Scythopolis attempted to affront him, and would not pay him
those taxes which they formerly used to pay, without disputing
about them, he slew also the principal men of that city, and sent
their effects to the king. By this means he gathered great wealth
together, and made vast gains by this farming of the taxes; and
he made use of what estate he had thus gotten, in order to
support his authority, as thinking it a piece of prudence to keep
what had been the occasion and foundation of his present good
fortune; and this he did by the assistance of what he was already
possessed of, for he privately sent many presents to the king,
and to Cleopatra, and to their friends, and to all that were
powerful about the court, and thereby purchased their good-will
to himself.
6. This good fortune he enjoyed for twenty-two years, and was
become the father of seven sons by one wife; he had also another
son, whose name was Hyrcanus, by his brother Solymius's daughter,
whom he married on the following occasion. He once came to
Alexandria with his brother, who had along with him a daughter
already marriageable, in order to give her in wedlock to some of
the Jews of chief dignity there. He then supped with the king,
and falling in love with an actress that was of great beauty, and
came into the room where they feasted, he told his brother of it,
and entreated him, because a Jew is forbidden by their law to
come near to a foreigner, to conceal his offense; and to be kind
and subservient to him, and to give him an opportunity of
fulfilling his desires. Upon which his brother willingly
entertained the proposal of serving him, and adorned his own
daughter, and brought her to him by night, and put her into his
bed. And Joseph, being disordered with drink, knew not who she
was, and so lay with his brother's daughter; and this did he many
times, and loved her exceedingly; and said to his brother, that
he loved this actress so well, that he should run the hazard of
his life [if he must part with her], and yet probably the king
would not give him leave [to take her with him]. But his brother
bid him be in no concern about that matter, and told him he might
enjoy her whom he loved without any danger, and might have her
for his wife; and opened the truth of the matter to him, and
assured him that he chose rather to have his own daughter abused,
than to overlook him, and se him come to [public] disgrace. So
Joseph commended him for this his brotherly love, and married his
daughter; and by her begat a son, whose name was Hyrcanus, as we
said before. And when this his youngest son showed, at thirteen
years old, a mind that was both courageous and wise, and was
greatly envied by his brethren, as being of a genius much above
them, and such a one as they might well envy, Joseph had once a
mind to know which of his sons had the best disposition to
virtue; and when he sent them severally to those that had then
the best reputation for instructing youth, the rest of his
children, by reason of their sloth and unwillingness to take
pains, returned to him foolish and unlearned. After them he sent
out the youngest, Hyrcanus, and gave him three hundred yoke of
oxen, and bid him go two days' journey into the wilderness, and
sow the land there, and yet kept back privately the yokes of the
oxen that coupled them together. When Hyrcanus came to the place,
and found he had no yokes with him, he contenmed the drivers of
the oxen, who advised him to send some to his father, to bring
them some yokes; but he thinking that he ought not to lose his
time while they should be sent to bring him the yokes, he
invented a kind of stratagem, and what suited an age older than
his own; for he slew ten yoke of the oxen, and distributed their
flesh among the laborers, and cut their hides into several
pieces, and made him yokes, and yoked the oxen together with
them; by which means he sowed as much land as his father had
appointed him to sow, and returned to him. And when he was come
back, his father was mightily pleased with his sagacity, and
commended the sharpness of his understanding, and his boldness in
what he did. And he still loved him the more, as if he were his
only genuine son, while his brethren were much troubled at it.
7. But when one told him that Ptolemy had a son just born, and
that all the principal men of Syria, and the other countries
subject to him, were to keep a festival, on account of the
child's birthday, and went away in haste with great retinues to
Alexandria, he was himself indeed hindered from going by old age;
but he made trial of his sons, whether any of them would be
willing to go to the king. And when the elder sons excused
themselves from going, and said they were not courtiers good
enough for such conversation, and advised him to send their
brother Hyrcanus, he gladly hearkened to that advice, and called
Hyrcanus, and asked him whether he would go to the king, and
whether it was agreeable to him to go or not. And upon his
promise that he would go, and his saying that he should not want
much money for his journey, because he would live moderately, and
that ten thousand drachmas would be sufficient, he was pleased
with his son's prudence. After a little while, the son advised
his father not to send his presents to the king from thence, but
to give him a letter to his steward at Alexandria, that he might
furnish him with money, for purchasing what should be most
excellent and most precious. So he thinking that the expense of
ten talents would be enough for presents to be made the king, and
commending his son, as giving him good advice, wrote to Arion his
steward, that managed all his money matters at Alexandria; which
money was not less than three thousand talents on his account,
for Joseph sent the money he received in Syria to Alexandria. And
when the day appointed for the payment of the taxes to the king
came, he wrote to Arion to pay them. So when the son had asked
his father for a letter to the steward, and had received it, he
made haste to Alexandria. And when he was gone, his brethren
wrote to all the king's friends, that they should destroy him.
8. But when he was come to Alexaudria, he delivered his letter to
Arion, who asked him how many talents he would have (hoping he
would ask for no more than ten, or a little more); he said he
wanted a thousand talents. At which the steward was angry, and
rebuked him, as one that intended to live extravagantly; and he
let him know how his father had gathered together his estate by
painstaking, and resisting his inclinations, and wished him to
imitate the example of his father: he assured him withal, that he
would give him but ten talents, and that for a present to the
king also. The son was irritated at this, and threw Arion into
prison. But when Arion's wife had informed Cleopatra of this,
with her entreaty, that she would rebuke the child for what he
had done, (for Arion was in great esteem with her,) Cleopatra
informed the king of it. And Ptolemy sent for Hyrcanus, and told
him that he wondered, when he was sent to him by his father, that
he had not yet come into his presence, but had laid the steward
in prison. And he gave order, therefore, that he should come to
him, and give an account of the reason of what he had done. And
they report that the answer he made to the king's messenger was
this: That "there was a law of his that forbade a child that was
born to taste of the sacrifice, before he had been at the temple
and sacrificed to God. According to which way of reasoning he did
not himself come to him in expectation of the present he was to
make to him, as to one who had been his father's benefactor; and
that he had punished the slave for disobeying his commands, for
that it mattered not Whether a master was little or great: so
that unless we punish such as these, thou thyself mayst also
expect to be despised by thy subjects." Upon hearing this his
answer he fell a laughing, and wondered at the great soul of the
child.
9. When Arion was apprized that this was the king's disposition,
and that he had no way to help himself, he gave the child a
thousand talents, and was let out of prison. So after three days
were over, Hyrcanus came and saluted the king and queen. They saw
him with pleasure, and feasted him in an obliging manner, out of
the respect they bare to his father. So he came to the merchants
privately, and bought a hundred boys, that had learning, and were
in the flower of their ages, each at a talent apiece; as also he
bought a hundred maidens, each at the same price as the other.
And when he was invited to feast with the king among the
principal men in the country, he sat down the lowest of them all,
because he was little regarded, as a child in age still; and this
by those who placed every one according to their dignity. Now
when all those that sat with him had laid the bones Of the
several parts on a heap before Hyrcanus, (for they had themselves
taken away the flesh belonging to them,) till the table where he
sat was filled full with them, Trypho, who was the king's jester,
and was appointed for jokes and laughter at festivals, was now
asked by the guests that sat at the table [to expose him to
laughter]. So he stood by the king, and said, "Dost thou not see,
my lord, the bones that lie by Hyrcanus? by this similitude thou
mayst conjecture that his father made all Syria as bare as he
hath made these bones." And the king laughing at what Trypho
said, and asking of Hyrcanus, How he came to have so many bones
before him? he replied," Very rightfully, my lord; for they are
dogs that eat the flesh and the bones together, as these thy
guests have done, (looking in the mean time at those guests,) for
there is nothing before them; but they are men that eat the
flesh, and cast away the hones, as I, who am also a man, have now
done." Upon which the king admired at his answer, which was so
wisely made; and bid them all make an acclamation, as a mark of
their approbation of his jest, which was truly a facetious one.
On the next day Hyrcanus went to every one of the king's friends,
and of the men powerful at court, and saluted them; but still
inquired of the servants what present they would make the king on
his son's birthday; and when some said that they would give
twelve talents, and that others of greater dignity would every
one give according to the quantity of their riches, he pretended
to every one of them to be grieved that he was not able to bring
so large a present; for that he had no more than five talents.
And when the servants heard what he said, they told their
masters; and they rejoiced in the prospect that Joseph would be
disapproved, and would make the king angry, by the smallness of
his present. When the day came, the others, even those that
brought the most, offered the king not above twenty talents; but
Hyrcanus gave to every one of the hundred boys and hundred
maidens that he had bought a talent apiece, for them to carry,
and introduced them, the boys to the king, and the maidens to
Cleopatra; every body wondering at the unexpected richness of the
presents, even the king and queen themselves. He also presented
those that attended about the king with gifts to the value of a
great number of talents, that he might escape the danger he was
in from them; for to these it was that Hyrcanus's brethren had
written to destroy him. Now Ptolemy admired at the young man's
magnanimity, and commanded him to ask what gift he pleased. But
he desired nothing else to be done for him by the king than to
write to his father and brethren about him. So when the king had
paid him very great respects, and had given him very large gifts,
and had written to his father and his brethren, and all his
commanders and officers, about him, he sent him away. But when
his brethren heard that Hyrcanus had received such favors from
the king, and was returning home with great honor, they went out
to meet him, and to destroy him, and that with the privity of
their father; for he was angry at him for the [large] sum of
money that he bestowed for presents, and so had no concern for
his preservation. However, Joseph concealed the anger he had at
his son, out of fear of the king. And when Hyrcanus's brethren
came to fight him, he slew many others of those that were with
them, as also two of his brethren themselves; but the rest of
them escaped to Jerusalem to their father. But when Hyrcanus came
to the city, where nobody would receive him, he was afraid for
himself, and retired beyond the river Jordan, and there abode,
but obliging the barbarians to pay their taxes.
10. At this time Seleucus, who was called Soter, reigned over
Asia, being the son of Antiochus the Great. And [now] Hyrcanus's
father, Joseph, died. He was a good man, and of great
magnanimity; and brought the Jews out of a state of poverty and
meanness, to one that was more splendid. He retained the farm of
the taxes of Syria, and Phoenicia, and Samaria twenty-two years.
His uncle also, Onias, died [about this time], and left the high
priesthood to his son Simeon. And when he was dead, Onias his son
succeeded him in that dignity. To him it was that Areus, king of
the Lacedemonians, sent an embassage, with an epistle; the copy
whereof here follows:
"Areus, King Of The Lacedemonians, To Onias, Sendeth Greeting.
"We have met with a certain writing, whereby we have discovered
that both the Jews and the Lacedemonians are of one stock, and
are derived from the kindred of Abraham It is but just
therefore that you, who are our brethren, should send to us about
any of your concerns as you please. We will also do the same
thing, and esteem your concerns as our own, and will look upon
our concerns as in common with yours. Demoteles, who brings you
this letter, will bring your answer back to us. This letter is
four-square; and the seal is an eagle, with a dragon in his
claws."
11. And these were the contents of the epistle which was sent
from the king of the Lacedemonians. But, upon the death of
Joseph, the people grew seditious, on account of his sons. For
whereas the elders made war against Hyrcanus, who was the
youngest of Joseph's sons, the multitude was divided, but the
greater part joined with the elders in this war; as did Simon the
high priest, by reason he was of kin to them. However, Hyrcanus
determined not to return to Jerusalem any more, but seated
himself beyond Jordan, and was at perpetual war with the
Arabians, and slew many of them, and took many of them captives.
He also erected a strong castle, and built it entirely of white
stone to the very roof, and had animals of a prodigious magnitude
engraven upon it. He also drew round it a great and deep canal of
water. He also made caves of many furlongs in length, by
hollowing a rock that was over against him; and then he made
large rooms in it, some for feasting, and some for sleeping and
living in. He introduced also a vast quantity of waters which ran
along it, and which were very delightful and ornamental in the
court. But still he made the entrances at the mouth of the caves
so narrow, that no more than one person could enter by them at
once. And the reason why he built them after that manner was a
good one; it was for his own preservation, lest he should be
besieged by his brethren, and run the hazard of being caught by
them. Moreover, he built courts of greater magnitude than
ordinary, which he adorned with vastly large gardens. And when he
had brought the place to this state, he named it Tyre. This place
is between Arabia and Judea, beyond Jordan, not far from the
country of Heshbon. And he ruled over those parts for seven
years, even all the time that Seleucus was king of Syria. But
when he was dead, his brother Antiochus, who was called
Epiphanes, took the kingdom. Ptolemy also, the king of Egypt,
died, who was besides called Epiphanes. He left two sons, and
both young in age; the elder of which was called Philometer, and
the youngest Physcon. As for Hyrcanus, when he saw that Antiochus
had a great army, and feared lest he should be caught by him, and
brought to punishment for what he had done to the Arabians, he
ended his life, and slew himself with his own hand; while
Antiochus seized upon all his substance.
|
|