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THE WORKS 
 
 OF 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, 
 
" This History is spoken of in the highest terms by men of the 
 greatest learning and the soundest judgment, from its first publication 
 to the present time. 
 
 " The fidelity, the veracity, and the probity of Josephus, are univer- 
 sally allowed : and Scaliger in particular declares, that not only in the 
 affairs of the Jews, but even of foreign nations, he deserves more credit 
 than all the Greek and Roman writei's put together. Certain at least it 
 is, that he had that mostessentiaUqualification of an historian, — a perfect 
 and accurate knowledge of all the transactions which he relates ; that he 
 had no prejudices to mislead hira in the representation of them ; and that, 
 above all, he meant no favour to the Christian cause. For even allow- 
 ing the so much controverted passage, in which he is supposed to bear 
 testimony to Christ, to be genuine, it does not appear thai he ever be- 
 came a convert to His religion, but continued probably s ^edous Jew 
 to the end of his life.* 
 
 Vide JPisJicp.Poy-teu^'b Lr-^tv-ec, Vol IL 2 234. • 
 
.^€5!^ 
 
 '^^^ 
 
tli^'ra-ve.-l by J b Mou 
 
 C'TT''-' 
 
 
THE WORKS 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, 
 
 THE LEARNED AND AUTHENTIC JEWISH HISTORIAN. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED 
 
 THREE DISSERTATIONS, 
 
 CONCERNING JESUS CHRIST, JOHN THE BAPTIST, JAMES THE JUST, 
 GOD'S COMMAND TO ABRAHAM, ETC. 
 
 WITH A COMPLETE INDEX TO THE WHOLE. 
 
 ^ 
 
 m.,^^-^^^^'^^^ 
 
 Bt WILLIAM WHISTON, A.M. 
 
 COHFLEIX Hr ONE VOLTTKX. 
 
 AUBURN AND BUFFALO: 
 
 JOHN E. BEARDSLEY. 
 
 1857. 
 
r. 
 
 
 3/^3S 
 
 A]\Ol 
 
 a r 
 
.^'■mni 
 
 
 THE 
 
 
 LIFE OF FLAYIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 ^\ 
 
 § J . The family from which I am derived is 
 not an ignoble one, but hath descended all 
 along from the priests ; and as nobility among 
 several people is of a diflFerent origin, so with 
 us to be of the sacerdotal dignity, is an indi- 
 cation of the splendour of a family. Now, I 
 am not only sprung from a sacerdotal family 
 in general, but from the first of the twenty- 
 four* courses; and as among us there \f, not 
 only a considerable diflFerence between one 
 family of each course and another, I am of 
 the chief family of that first course also; nay, 
 farther, by my mother, I am of the royal blood ; 
 for the children of Asamoneus, from whom 
 that family was derived, had both the office 
 of the high priesthood, and the dignity of a 
 king, for a long time together. I will accord- 
 ingly set down my progenitors in order. My 
 grandfather's father was named Simon, with 
 the addition of Psellus: he lived at the same 
 time with that son of Simon the high priest, 
 who first of all the high priests was named 
 Uyrcanus. This Simon Psellus had nine 
 sons, one of whom was Matthias, called Eph- 
 lias: he married the daughter of Jonathan 
 the high priest ; which Jonathan was the first 
 of the sons of Asamoneus, who was high 
 priest, and was the brother of Simon the high 
 priest also. This Matthias had a son called 
 
 • We may hence correct the error of the T^tin copy of 
 the second book Against Apion, sect, 8 (for th« Greek it 
 there lost), which says, there were then only four tribes 
 or courses of the priests, instead of twenty-four. Nor 
 is this testimony to be disregarded, as if Josepbus there 
 contradicted what he bad sdfirmed here; because even 
 the account there given better agrees to twenty-four 
 than to four courses, while he says that each of those 
 courses contained above 5,000 men, which, multiplied by 
 only four, will make not more than 20.000 priests ; where- 
 as the number 120,000, as multiplied by 24, seems much 
 the most probable, they being about one tenth of the 
 whole people, even after the captivity. 8e« Ezra ii. 
 36 — 39; Nehem. vii. 39 — 42; I Esd. v, 24, 2.>: with 
 Ezra, ii. 64; Nehem. vii. 66; 1 Esd. v. 41. Nor with this 
 common reading or notion of but four courses of priests, 
 agree with Josephus's own further assertion elsewhere 
 (Antiq. b. vii. ch. xiv. sect. 7), that David's partition of 
 the priestB into twenty-four courses, had continued to 
 that day. i 
 
 'it5 
 
 Matthias Curtus, and that in the first year of 
 the government of Hyrcanus: his son's name 
 was Joseph, born in the ninth year of the 
 reign of Alexandra: his son Matthias was 
 born in the tenth year of the reign of Arche- 
 laus; as was I born to Matthias in the first 
 year of the reign of Caius Caesar. I have 
 three sons: Hyrcanus, the eldest, was bom 
 in the fourth year of the reign of Vespasian, 
 as was Justus born in the seventh, and Agrippa 
 in the ninth. Thus have I set down the 
 genealogy of my family as I have found it de- 
 scribed f in the public records, and so bid 
 adieu to those who calumniate me [as of a 
 lower original]. 
 
 2. Now, my father Matthias was not only 
 eminent on account of his nobility, but had a 
 higher commendation on account of his righte- 
 ousness; and was in great reputation in Je- 
 rusalem, the greatest city we have. I was 
 myself brought up with my brother, whose 
 name was Matthias, for he was my own bro- 
 ther, by both father and mother; and I made 
 mighty proficiency in the improvements of my 
 learning, and appeared to have both a great 
 memory and understanding. Moreover, when 
 I was a child, and about fourteen years of 
 age, I was commended by all for the love I 
 had to learning; on which account the high 
 priests and principal men of the city came 
 then frequently to me together, in order to 
 know my opinion about the accurate under-j 
 standing of points of the law; and when I 
 was about sixteen years old, I had a mind to 
 make trial of the several sects that were among 
 us. These sects are three : — The first is that 
 of the Pharisees, the second that of the Sad- 
 ducees, and the third that of the Essens, as 
 we hav« frequently told you; for I thought 
 that by this means I might choose the best, if 
 1 were once acquainted with them all; so I 
 
 t An eminent example of the care of the Jews about 
 their genealogies, especially as to the priests. See Against 
 Apion, b. L sect 7. 
 
 A 
 
THE LIFE OF FLaVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 contented myself with hard fare, and under- 
 went great difficulties, and went through them 
 all. Nor did I content myself with these 
 trials only; but when I was informed that 
 one, whose name was Banus, lived in the 
 desert, and used no other clothing than grew 
 upon trees, and had no other food than what 
 grew of its own accord, and bathed himself 
 in cold water frequently, both by night and 
 by day, in order to preserve his chastity, I 
 imitated him in those things, and continued 
 with him three years.* So when I had ac- 
 complished my desires, I returned back to the 
 city, being now nineteen years old, and began 
 to conduct myself according to the rules of the 
 sect of the Pharisees, which is of kin to the 
 Beet of the Stoics, as the Greeks cftll them. 
 
 3. But when I was in the twenty-sixth 
 year of my age, it happened that I took a 
 Yoyage to Rome; and this on the occasion 
 which I shall now describe. At the time 
 when Felix was procurator of Judea, there 
 were certain priests of my acquaintance, and 
 very excellent persons they were, whom on a 
 small and trifling occasion he had put into 
 bonds, and sent to Rome to plead their cause 
 before Caesar. These I was desirous to pro- 
 cure deliverance for; and that especially be- 
 cause I was informed that they were not un- 
 mindful of piety towards God, even under 
 their afflictions; but supported themselves 
 with figs and nuts.f Accordingly I came to 
 Rome, though it were through a great num- 
 ber of hazards, by sea; for, as our ship was 
 drowned in the Adriatic Sea, we that were in 
 it, being about six hundred in number,^ swam 
 for our lives all the night; when, upon the 
 first appearance of the day, and upon our sight 
 of a ship of Cyrene, I and some others, eighty 
 in all, by God's providence, prevented the 
 rest, and were taken up into the other ship: 
 and when I had thus escaped, and was come 
 to Dicearchia, which the Italians call Puteoli, 
 
 * When Josepbus here says, that from sixteen to nine- 
 teen, or for three years, he made trial of the three Jewish 
 ■ects, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essens, 
 and yet says presently, in all our copies, that he stayed 
 besides with one particular ascetic, called JJanus, ttu,^ 
 mirct, with him, and this still before he was nineteen, 
 there is little room left for his trial of the three other 
 sects. I suppose, therefore, that for {r«»' miru, tvilh him, 
 the old reading might be rat;' tcircK, with them; which is 
 a very small emendation, and takes away the diiTiculty 
 before us. Nor is Dr. Hudson's conjecture, hinted at by 
 Mr. Hall in his preface to the Doctor's edition of Jose- 
 pbus,atall improbable,thatthis Banus, by this his descrip- 
 tion, might well be a follower of John the Baptist, and 
 that from him Josephus mipht easily imbibe such notions, 
 as afterwards prepared him to have a favourable opinion 
 of Jesus Christ himself, who was attested to by John the 
 itaptist 
 
 + We may note here, that religious men ainont; the 
 Jews, or at least those that were priests, were some- 
 times ascetics also, and, like Daniel and his companions 
 in Babylon (Dan. i. 8—16), ate no flesh, but ></»• und 
 nutt, Ac. only. This was like the {»i-«;(p«>-ja, or austrre 
 diet of the Christian ascetics in I'a.ssion Wt^k. Cun- 
 
 •titut. T. la 
 
 t It has been thought the numlter of Paul and his 
 companions on ship-board (Acts xxvii. :iH\. which are 
 876 in our copies, are too many; whereas we liml heir. 
 that JoHcphus and bis companions, a very few years after 
 the other, were about &>0. 
 
 I became acquainted with AHturius, an actor 
 of plays, and much beloved by Nero, but a 
 Jew by birth ; and through his interest became 
 known to Poppea, Caesar's wife; and took 
 care, as soon as possible, to entreat her to 
 procure that the priests might be set at liber- 
 ty; and when, besides this favour, I had* ob- 
 tained many presents from Poppea, I returned 
 home again. 
 
 4. And now I perceived innovations were 
 already begun, and that there were a great 
 many very much elevated, in hopes of a re- 
 volt from the Romans. I therefore endea- 
 voured to put a stop to these tumultuous per- 
 sons, and persuaded them to change their 
 minds; and laid before their eyes against 
 whom it was that they were going to fight 
 and told them that they were inferior to the 
 Romans not only in martial skill, but also in 
 good fortune; and desired them not rashly, 
 and after the most foolish manner, to bring 
 on the dangers of the most terrible mischiefs 
 upon their country, upon their families, and 
 upon themselves. And this I said with vehe- 
 ment exhortation, because I foresaw that the 
 end of such a war would be most unfortunate 
 to us. But I could not persuade them ; for 
 the madness of desperate men was quite too 
 hard for me. 
 
 5. I was then afraid, lest, by inculcating 
 these things so often, I should incur their 
 hatred and their suspicions, as if I were of 
 our enemies* party, and should run into the 
 danger of being seized by them and slain, 
 since they were already possessed of Antonia, 
 which was the citadel; so I retired into the 
 inner court of the temple; yet did I go out 
 of the temple again, after Manahem and the 
 principal of the band of robbers were put to 
 death, when I abode among the high priests 
 and the chief of the Pharisees; but no small 
 fear seized upon us when we saw the people 
 in arms, while we ourselves knew not what 
 we should do, and were not able to restrain 
 the seditious. However, as the danger was 
 directly upon us, we pretended that we were 
 of the same opinion with them; but only ad- 
 vised them to be quiet for the present, and to 
 let the enemy go away, still hoping that 
 Gessius [Florus] would not be long ere he 
 came, and that with great forces, and so put 
 an end to these seditious proceedings. 
 
 6. But, upon his coming and fighting, he 
 was beaten, and a great many of those that 
 were with him fell; and this disgrace which 
 Gessius [with Cestius] received, became the 
 calamity of om whole nation; for those that 
 were fond of the war were so far elevated with 
 this success, that they had hopes of finally con- 
 quering the Romans. Of which war another 
 occasion was njinistered; which was this: — 
 Thoi^ie that dwelt in the neighbouring cities of 
 Syria seized u|)<)n such Jews as dwelt aujoiig 
 theiii. with their wives and children, and slew 
 tlunn, when they had not the least occasion af 
 
 ftr * 
 
_ TJ -^ f 'XT 
 TETE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 .J^:^^ 
 
 8 
 
 complaint against them; for they did neither 
 attempt any innovation or revolt from the 
 Romans, nor had they given any marks of 
 hatred or treacherous designs towards the Sy- 
 rians: but what was done by the inhabitants 
 of §cythopolis was the most impious and most 
 \iighly criminal of all;* for when the Jews, their 
 ♦enemies, came upon them from without, they 
 forced the Jews that were among them to bear 
 arms against their own countrymen, which it 
 is unlawful for us to do ;t and when, by their 
 assistauce, they had joined battle with those 
 who attacked them, and had beaten them, af- 
 ter that victory they forgot the assurances they 
 had given these their fellow-citizens and con- 
 federates, and slew them all: being in number 
 many ten thousands [13,000]. The like mis- 
 eries were undergone by those Jews that were 
 the inhabitants of Damascus; but we have 
 given a more accurate account of these things 
 in the books of the Jewish war. I only men- 
 tion them now, because I would demonstrate 
 to my readers that the Jews' war with the 
 Romans was not voluntary, but that, for the 
 main, they were forced by necessity to enter 
 into It. 
 
 7. So when Gessius had been beaten, as 
 we have said already, the principal men of 
 Jerusalem, seeing that the robbers and inno- 
 vators had arms in great plenty, and fearing lest 
 they, while they were unprovided with arms, 
 should be in subjection to their enemies, which 
 <iho came to be the case afterwards, — and, be- 
 ing informed that all Galilee had not yet re- 
 volted from the Romans, but that some part 
 of it was still quiet, they sent ine and two 
 others of the priests, who were men of excel- 
 lent characters, Joazar and Judas, in order to 
 persuade the ill men there to lay down their 
 arms, and to teach them this lesson, — That it 
 were better to have those arms reserved for 
 the most courageous men that the nation had 
 [than to be kept there;] for that it had been 
 resol ved. That those our best men should al- 
 ways have their arms ready against futurity; 
 but still so, that they should wait to see what 
 the Romans would do. 
 
 8. When I had therefore received these in- 
 structions, I came into Galilee, and found the 
 people of Sepphoris in no small agony about 
 their country, by reason that the Galileans had 
 resolved to plunder it, on account of the friend- 
 ship they had with the Romans; and because 
 they had given their right hand, and made a 
 league with Cestius Gallus, the president of 
 Syria: but I delivered them all out of the 
 fear they were in, and persuaded the multi- 
 tude to deal kindly with them, and permitted 
 
 • Sef Jewish U ar. b ii. ch. xviii. sect. 3. 
 
 + 1 he Jews mi^ht coilt^t this unlawfiiliipss of fighting 
 aj^ainst their l»reihren from that law of Moses (I.evit. 
 XJT, 16) " Thon «hatt not stand aeainst the blood ol thy 
 neitjhbour;" and that (ver. 17) '* Thou shall not avenge 
 nor l»w>ranyj{rii(lee, atfainst the children of thy people; 
 but thoii nhliU love thy iieiyibonr as thy?^if ;" as well as 
 from ?n;i'.y other piae-s in 'he Pematrucb And Prophets. 
 'Ite A itiq. Ik vUi. ci vui. ^ct. -i 
 
 them to send to those that were their own hos- 
 tages with Gessius to Dora, which is a city of 
 Phcenicia, as often as they pleased ; though I 
 still found the inhabitants of Tiberias ready to 
 take arms, and that on the occasion follow- 
 ing: — 
 
 9. There were three faction* in this city. 
 The first was composed of men of worth and 
 gravity; of these Julius Capellu* was the head. 
 Now he, as well as all bis companions, Herod 
 the son of Miarus, and Herod the son of Ga- 
 malus, and Compsus the son of Compsus (for 
 as to Compsus's brother Crispus, who had once 
 been governor of the city under the great king* 
 [Agrippa], he was beyond Jordan in his own 
 possessions) ; all these persons before named 
 gave their advice, that the city should then 
 continue in their allegiance to the Romans 
 and to the king ; but Pistus, who was guided 
 by his son Justus, did not acquiesce in that 
 resolution, otherwise he was himself naturally 
 of a good and virtuous character : but the se- 
 cond faction was composed of the most igno- 
 ble persons, and was determined for war. But 
 as for Justus, the son of Pistus, who vrns the 
 head of the third faction, although he pre- 
 tended to be doubtful about going to war, yet 
 was he really desirous of innovation, as sup- 
 posing that he should gain power to himself 
 by the change of affairs. He therefore came 
 into the midst of them, and endeavoured to 
 inform the multitude that "the city Tiberias 
 had ever been a city of Galilee; and that in 
 the days of Herod the tetrarch, who had built 
 it, it had obtained the principal place ; and that 
 he had ordered that the city Sepphoris should 
 be subordinate to the city Tiberias : that they 
 had not lost this pre-eminence even under 
 Agrippa the father; but had retained it until 
 Felix was procurator of Judea ; but he told 
 them, that now they had been so unfortunate 
 as to be made a present by Nero to Agrippa, 
 junior; and that upon Seppboris's submission 
 of itself to the Romans, that was become the 
 capital city of Galilee, and that the royal trea- 
 sury and the archives were now remove<l from 
 them." When he had spoken these things, 
 and a great many more against king Agrippa, 
 in order to provoke the people to a revolt, he 
 added, That " this was the time for them to 
 take arms, and join with the Galileans as 
 their confederates' (whom they might com- 
 mand, and who would now willingly assist 
 them, out of the hatred they bear to the peo- 
 ple of Sepphoris; because they preserved their 
 fidelity to the Romans), and to gather a great 
 number of forces, in order to punish them." 
 And, as he said this, he exhorted the multi- 
 tude [to go to war] ; for his abilities lay in 
 making harangues to the people, and in being 
 too hard in his speeches for such as opposed 
 him, though they advised what was more to 
 
 • That this Herod Aerippa, the father, was of old 
 called the Great A'iny. as here, appears by hU coint ttili 
 reiuaiiiing; to whiclt Havercamp refers lu. 
 
THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 tbeir advantage, and this by his craftiness and 
 his fallacies, for he was not unskilful in the 
 learning of the Greeks ; and in dependence 
 on that skill it was that he undertook to write 
 a history of these affairs, as aiming, by this 
 way of haranguing, to disguise the truth ; but 
 as to this man, and how ill were his character 
 and conduct of life, and how he and his bro- 
 ther were, in great measure, the authors cf 
 our destruction, I shall give the reader an ac- 
 count in the progress of my narration. So 
 when Justus had, by his persuasions, prevailed 
 with the citizens of Tiberias to take arms, 
 nay, and had forced a great many so to do 
 against their wills, he went out, and set the 
 villages that belonged to Gadara and Hippos 
 on fire ; which villages were situated on the 
 borders of Tiberias, and of the region of Scy- 
 thopolis. 
 
 10. And this was the state Tiberias was 
 now in; but as for Gischala, its affairs were 
 thus: — When John, the son of Levi, saw 
 some of the citizens much elevated upon their 
 revolt from the Romans, he laboured to re- 
 strain them, and entreated them that they 
 would keep their allegiance to them ; but he 
 conld not gain his purpose, although he did 
 nis endeavours to the utmost; for the neigh- 
 bouring people of Gadara, Gabara, and So- 
 gaiia, with the Tyrians, got together a great 
 army, and fell upon Gischala, and took Gis- 
 chala by force, and set it on fire ; and when 
 they had entirely demolished it, they returned 
 home. Upon which John was so enraged, 
 that he armed all his men, and joined battle 
 with the people forementioned ; and rebuilt 
 Gischala after a manner better than before, 
 and fortified it with walls for its future secu- 
 rity. 
 
 n. But Gamata persevered in its allegi- 
 ance to the Romans for the reason following: 
 — Philip, the son of Jacimus, who was their 
 governor under king Agrippa, had been un- 
 expectedly preserved when the roy.il palace at 
 Jerusalem had been besieged; but, as he fled 
 away, had fallen into another danger; and 
 that was, of being killed by Manahem, and 
 the robbers that were with him ; but certain 
 Babylonians, who were of his kindred, and 
 were then in Jerusalem, hindered the robbers 
 from executing their design. So Philip staid 
 there four days, and fled away on the fifth, 
 having disguised himself with fictitious hair, 
 that he might not be discovered ; and when 
 he was come to one of the villages to him be- 
 longing, but one that was situated at the bor- 
 ders of the citadel of Garnala, he sent to some 
 of those that were under him, and command- 
 ed them to come to him ; but God himself 
 Hindered that his intention, and this for his 
 own advantage also; for had it not so hap- 
 pened, he had certainly perished ; for a fever 
 Laving seized upon him immediately, he wrote 
 to Agrippa and Bernice, and gave them to 
 (me of his freedmen to carry them to Varuf>, 
 
 who at this time w a-* procurator of the king 
 dom, which the king and his sister had in- 
 trusted bini withal, while they were gone to 
 Berytus with an intention of meeting Ge?sius. 
 When Varus had received these letters of Phi- 
 lip, and had learned that he was preserved, he 
 was very uneasy at it, as supposing that he 
 should appear useless to the king and his sis- 
 tt.'f, now Philip was come. He therefore pro- 
 duced the carrier of the letters before the 
 multitude, and accused him of forging the 
 same ; and said, that he spfekt fe s^i/ when he 
 related that Philip was at JeriiSfeWa., fighting 
 among the Jews against the Romans. So he 
 slew him. And when this freedman of Phi- 
 lip did not return again, Philip was doubtful 
 what should be the occasion of his stay, and 
 sent a second messenger with letters, that he 
 might, upon his return, inform him what had 
 befallen the other that had been sent before, 
 and why he tarried so long. Varus accused 
 this messenger also, when he came, of telling 
 a falsehood, and slew him; for he was puffed 
 up by the Syrians that were at Caesarea, and 
 had great expectations ; for they said that 
 Agrippa would be slain by the Romans for the 
 crimes which the Jews had committed, and 
 that he should himself take the government, 
 as derived from their kings ; for Varus was, 
 by the confession of all, of the royal family, 
 as being a descendant of Sohemus, who had 
 enjoyed a tetrarchy about Libanus; for which 
 reason it was that he was puffed np, and kept 
 the letters to himself. He contrived also that 
 the king should not meet with those writings, 
 by guarding all the passes, lest any one should 
 escape, and inform the king what had been 
 done. He moreover slew many of the Jews, 
 in order to gratify the Syrians of Csesarea. He 
 had a mind also to join with the Trachonites 
 in Batanea, and to take up arms and make an 
 assault upon the Babylonian Jews that were 
 at Ecbatana; for that was the name they went 
 by. He therefore called to him twelve of the 
 Jews of Cajsarea, of the best chnracter, and 
 ordered them to go to EcbatauK, and infonu 
 their country men who dwelt there, That Varus 
 hath heard that " \ou intend to march aijainst 
 the king; but, not l>elieving that report, he 
 hath sent us to persuade you to lay down your 
 arms; and that this compliance will be a sign 
 that he did well not to give credit to those that 
 raised the report concerning you." He also 
 enjoined theui to send seventy of their prin- 
 cipal men to make a defence for them as to 
 the accusation laid against them. So when 
 the twelve messengers csune to their country- 
 men at Ecl>atana, and foutul that they had no 
 designs of innovation at all, they persuaded 
 them to seiul the seventy men also ; who, not 
 at all suspecting what would (Mjuie, sent them 
 accordingly. So these seventy went down 
 to Cfesarea, together with the twelve ambas- 
 sadors; where Varus met them with tlie kiin^'s 
 forces Hnd slew them all, togethtr with tht 
 
THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 [^t^eWe] ambassadors, and made an expedi- 
 tion against the Jews of Ecbatana. But one 
 there was of the seventy who escaped, and 
 made haste to ijiform the Jews of their com- 
 ing; upon which they took their arms, with 
 their wives and children, and retired to the 
 citadel at Gamala, leaving their own villages 
 full of all sorts of good things, and having 
 many ten thousands of cattle therein. When 
 Philip was informed of these things, he also 
 came to the citadel of Garaala; and when he 
 was come, the multitude cried aloud, and de- 
 sired him to resume the government, and to 
 make an expedition against Varus and the 
 Syrians of Caesarea; for it was reported that 
 they had slain the king. But Philip restrain- 
 ed I heir zeal, and put them in mind of the 
 benetits the king had bestowed upon them ; 
 and told them how powerful the Romans 
 were, and said it was not for their advantage 
 to make war with them; and at length he 
 prevailed with them. But now, when the king 
 WHS acquainted with Varus's design, which was 
 to cut off the Jews of Caesarea, being mwny 
 ten thousands, with their wives and chilui cr., 
 and all in one day, he called to him Equiculus 
 Modius, and sent him to be Varus's succes- 
 sor, as we have elsewhere related. But still 
 l*hilip kept possession of the citadel of Ga- 
 mala, and of the country adjoining to it, which 
 
 give us leave, but were at length entirely over, 
 come by us, and were induced to be of our 
 opinion. So Jesus the son of Sapphias, one 
 of those whom we have already mentioned as 
 the leader of a seditious tumult of mariners 
 and poor people, prevented us, and took with 
 him certain Galileans, and set the entire pa- 
 lace on tire, and thought he should get a grea 
 deal of money thereby, because he sa\T som 
 of the roofs gilt with gold. They also plun 
 dered a great /leal of the fnrniture, which was 
 done without our approbation; for, after we 
 had discoursed with Capellus and the princi- 
 pal men of the city, we departed from Beth- 
 niaus, and went into the Upper Galilee. But 
 Jesii^f and his party slew all the Greeks that 
 were inhabitants of Tiberias, and as many 
 others as were thei** enemies before the war 
 began. 
 
 13. When I understood this state of things, 
 I was greatly provoked, and went down to 
 Tiberias, and took all the care I could of the 
 royal furniture, to recover all that could be 
 recovere<i from such as had plundered it. They 
 ''on^isted "^f candlesticks made of Corinthian 
 brass, and of royal tables, and of a great 
 quantity of uncoined silver ; and I resolved to 
 preserve whatsoever came to my hand for the 
 king. So I sent for ten of the principal men 
 of the senate, and for Capellus the son of 
 
 thereby continued in their allegiance to the Antyllus, and comniilted the furniture to 
 Romans. them, with tliis charge, That they should part 
 
 12. Is'ow, as soon as I was come into Gal- with it to nobody else but to myself. From 
 ilee, and had learned this state of things by thence I and my fellow-legates went to Gis- 
 the information of such as told me of them, chala, to John, as desirous to know his inten- 
 I wrote to the sanhedrim at Jerusalem about tions, and soon saw that he was for innova- 
 thera, and required their direction what I tions, and had a mind to the principality, for 
 should do Their direction was, that I should he desired me to give him authority to carry 
 continue there, and that, if my fellow-legates otf that corn which belonged to Caesar, and 
 were willing, 1 should join with them in the lay in the villages of Upper Galilee ; and he 
 care of Galilee. But those my fellow-legates pretended that he would expend what it came 
 having gotten great riches from those tithes to in building the walla of his own citv. But 
 which as priests were their dues, and were when 1 perceived what he endeavored at, and 
 given to them, determined to return to their|What he had in his mind, I said I would not 
 own country. Yet when I desired them to permit him so to do: for that I thought either 
 stay so long, that we might first settle the to keep it for the Romans or for myself, now 
 public affairs, they complied with me. bo 1:1 was entrusted with the public affairs there 
 removed together with them, from the city of by the people of Jerusalem: but, when he was 
 Sepphoris, and came to a certain village called not able to prevail with me, he betook himself 
 Bethmaus, four furlongs distant from Tiberi- tomy fellow-legates, for they had no sagacity 
 as ; and thence I sent messer.gei-s to the sen- in providing for futurityand were very ready 
 ate of Tiberias, and desired that the princi-to take bribes: so he corrupted them with 
 pal men of the city would come to me ; and money to decree, That all that corn which was 
 When they were come, Justus himself being within his province should be delivered to 
 also with them, I told them that I was sent to him ; while 1, who was but one, was outvoted 
 them by the people of Jerusalem as a legate, by two, and held mj' tongue. Then did John 
 together with these other priests, in order to introduce another cunning contrivance of his; 
 persuade them to demolish that house which for he said that those Jews who inhabited C»- 
 tlerod the tetrarch had built there, and which sarea Philippi, and were shut up by the order 
 had the figures o( living creatures in it, al- of the king's deputy there, had sent to him to 
 though our laws have forbidden us to make desire him, that, since they had no oil that 
 any such figures ; and I desired that they was pure for their use, he would provide ;» 
 would give us leave so to do immediately, sufficient quantity of such oil for them, lest 
 But for a good while Capellus and the priii- they should be forced to make use of oil that 
 iipal men belonging to the citv would not came from the Greeks,and thereby transgres? 
 
THE LIFE OF FLAv^IUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 their "oym laws. Now this was said by John, 
 act out of his regard to religion, but out of 
 his most flagrant desire of gain ; for he knew 
 that two sextaries were sold with them of Cse- 
 sarea for one drachma; but that at Gischala 
 fourscore sextaries were sold for four sextaries: 
 so he gave order that all the oil which was 
 there should be carried away, as having my 
 permission for so doing; which yet I did not 
 grant him voluntarily, but only out of fear 
 of the multitude, since, if I had forbidden 
 him, I should have been stoned by them. — 
 When I had therefore permitted this to be 
 done by John, he gained vast sums of money 
 by this his knavery. 
 
 14. But when I had dismissed my fellow- 
 legates, and sent them back to Jerusalem, I 
 took care to have arms provided, and the 
 cities fortified; and when I had sent for the 
 most hardy among the robbers, I saw that it 
 was not in my power to take their arms from 
 them; but I persuaded the multitude to allow 
 them money as pay, and told them it was better 
 for them to give them a little willingly rather 
 than to [be forced to] overlook them when 
 they plundered their goods from them. And 
 when I had obliged them to take an oath not 
 to come into that country, unless they were 
 invited to come, or else when they had not 
 their pay given them, I dismissed them, and 
 charged them neither to make an expedition 
 against the Romans, nor against those their 
 neighbours that lay round about them; for 
 my first care was to keep Galilee in peace. 
 So I was willing to have the principal of the 
 Galileans, in all seventy, as hostages for their 
 fidelity, but still under the notion of friend- 
 ship. Accordingly, I made them my friends 
 and companions as I journeyed, and set them 
 to judge causes; and with their approbation 
 it was that I gave my sentences, while I en- 
 deavoured not to mistake what justice re- 
 q lired, and to keep my hands clear of all 
 bribery in those determinations. 
 
 1.5. 1 was now about the thirtieth year of 
 rny ai^e; in which time of life it is a hard 
 thing for any one to escape the calumnies of 
 the envious, although he restrain himself 
 from fulfilling any unlawful desires, especially 
 \* here a person is in great authority. Yet did 
 preserve every woman free from injuries; 
 
 lul H« to what presents were offered me, I 
 «lr<*[»ist'd them, as not standing in need of 
 tlioni; nor indeed would 1 take those tithes, 
 wliii h \vi*re due to me as a priest, from those 
 tb-t brought them. Yet do I confess, that I 
 took part of the spoils of those Syrians whi<h 
 inhabited the cities that adjoined to us, when 
 I ha<l conquered them, and that I sent them 
 to my kindred at Jerusalenj; although, when 
 1 twice took Sepphoris by force, and Tiberias 
 four times, and Gadara once, and when I had 
 subdued and tiiken John, who often laid 
 treacherous snares for me, I did not punish 
 
 Mrith death] either lim or any of the people 
 
 fore-named, as the progress of this discoursa 
 will show. And on this account, I suppose, 
 it was that God,* who is never unacquainted 
 with those that do as they ought to do, deli- 
 vered me still out of the hands of these my 
 enemies, and afterwards preserved me when I 
 fell into those many dangers which I shall 
 relate hereafter. 
 
 16. Now the multitude of the Galileans 
 had that great kindness for me, and fidelity 
 to me, that when their cities were taken by 
 force, and their wives and children carried 
 into slavery, they did not so deeply lament 
 for their own calamities, as they were solici- 
 tous for my preservation. But when John 
 saw this, he envied me, and wrote to%ie, de- 
 siring that I would give him leave to come 
 down, and make use of the hot baths of Tibe- 
 rias for the recovery of the health of his body. 
 Accordingly, I did not hinder him, as having 
 no suspicion of any wicked designs of his; 
 and I wrote to those to whom I had commit- 
 ted the administration of the affairs of Tibe- 
 rias by name, that they should provide a lodg- 
 ing for John, and for such as should come 
 with him, and should procure him what ne- 
 cessaries soever he should stand in need of. 
 Now at this time my abode was in a village of 
 Galilee, which is named Cana. 
 
 17. But when John was come to tht city 
 of Tiberias, he persuaded the men to revolt 
 from their fidelity to me, and to adhere to 
 him; and many of them gladly received that 
 invitation of his, as ever fond of innovations, 
 and by nature disposed to changes, and de- 
 lighting in seditions; but they were chiefly 
 Justus and his father Pistus that were earnest 
 in their revolt from me, and their adherence 
 to John, But I came upon them, and pre- 
 vented them; for a messenger had' come to 
 me from Silas, whom I had made governor 
 of Tiberias, as I have said already, and had 
 told me of the inclinations of the people 
 of Tiberias, and advised me to make haste 
 thither; for that, if I made any delay, the 
 city would come under another's jurisdiction. 
 Upon the receipt of this letter of Silas, I took 
 two hundred men along with me, and travel- 
 led all night, having sent before a messenger 
 to let the people of Tiberias know that I was 
 coming to them. When I came near to the 
 city, which was early in the morning, the 
 multitude came out to meet me, and John 
 came with them, and saluted me, but in a 
 most disturbed maimer, as being afraid that 
 my coming was to call him to an account for 
 what I was now sensible he was doing. So 
 he, in great haste, went to his lodging. But 
 when I was in the open place of the city, 
 
 • Our Josrphus shows, both h«-re and evt^ry whrre, thnt 
 lie was a mont retiKious person, and one that hud a deep 
 fiense of (Jod and his providencir upon his mind: and 
 nscrilwd all his nninerons und wonderftil rs'-apt-s and 
 preservations, in tin»es of danger, to (Jod's hlen»inK him, 
 and lakinj; eare of hini; and this on .tccoiint of his arti 
 of piety, jnstice, hnnianily, and charity, to the Jews hit 
 hrethren. 
 
TIYF. LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 f.aving dismissed the guards I had about me, 
 excepting one, and ten armed men that were 
 with him, I attempted to make a speech to 
 the multitude of the people of Tiberias; and 
 standing on a certain elevated place, I entreated 
 them not to be so hasty in their revolt; for 
 that such a change in their behaviour would 
 be to their reproach, and that they would then 
 lustly be suspected by those that should be 
 their governors hereafter, as if they were not 
 ukely to be faithful to them neither. 
 
 18. But before I had spoken all I designed, 
 I heard one of my own domestics bidding me 
 come down; for that it was not a proper time 
 to take care of retaining the good will of the 
 people of Tiberias, but to provide for ray own 
 safrty, and escape my enemies there; for John 
 had chosen the most trusty of those armed 
 men that were about him out of those thou- 
 sand that he had with him, and had given 
 them orders when he sent them, to kill me, 
 having learned that I was alone, excepting 
 some of my domestics. So those that were 
 sent came as they were ordered, and they had 
 executed what they came about, had I not 
 leaped down from the elevation I stood on, 
 and with one of my guards, whose name was 
 James, been carried [out of the crowd] upon 
 the back of one Herod of Tiberias, and guided 
 by him down to the lake, where I seized a 
 ship, and got into it, and escaped my enemies 
 unexpectedly, and came to Taricheae. 
 
 19. Now, as soon as the inhabitants of that 
 city understood the perfidiousness of the peo- 
 ple of Tiberias, they were greatly provoked 
 at them. So they snatched up their arms, 
 and desired me to be their leader against 
 them; for they said they would avenge their 
 commander's cause upon them. They also 
 carried the report of what had been done to 
 me to all the Galileans, and eagerly endea- 
 voured to irritate them against the people of 
 Tiberias, and desired that vast numbers of 
 them would get together, and come to them, 
 that they might act in concert with their com- 
 mander, what should be determined as fit to 
 be done. Accordingly, the Galileans came 
 to me in great numbers, from all parts, with 
 their weapons, and besought me to assault 
 Tiberias, to take it by force, and to demolish 
 it, till it lay even with the ground, and then 
 to make slaves of its inhabitarits, with their 
 wives and children. Those that were Jose- 
 ph us's friends also, and had escaped out of 
 Tiberias, gave him the same advice. But I 
 did not comply with them, thinking it a ter- 
 rible thing to begin a civil war among them; 
 for 1 thought that this contention ought not 
 to proceed farther than words; nay, I told 
 them that it was not for their own advantage 
 to do what they would have me to do, while 
 the Ron)ans expected no other than that we 
 should destroy one another by our mutual 
 seditions; and by saying this, I put a stop to 
 the anger of the Galileans. 
 
 20. But now John was afiaid for himself, 
 since his treachery had proved unsuccessful; 
 so he took the armed men that were about 
 him, and removed from Tiberias to Gischala, 
 and wrote to me to apologize for himself con- 
 cerning what had been done, as if it had been 
 done without his approbation ; and desired 
 me to have no suspicion of him to his disad 
 vantage. He also added oaths and certai 
 horrible curses upon himself, and supposed 
 he should be thereby believed in the points he 
 wrote about to me. 
 
 21. But now another great number of the 
 Galileans came together again with their wea- 
 pons, as knowing the man, how wicked and 
 how sadly perjured he was, and desired nie 
 to lead them against him, and promised me 
 that the}fc would utterly destroy both him and 
 Gischala. Hereupon I professed that I was 
 obliged to them for their readiness to serve 
 me; and that I would more than requite 
 their good- will to me. However, I entreated 
 them to restrain themselves; and begged of 
 them to give me leave to do what I intended, 
 which was, to put an end to these troubles 
 without bloodshed ; and when I had prevailed 
 with the multitude of the Galileans to let me 
 do so, I came to Sepphoris. 
 
 22. But the inhabitants of this city having 
 determined to continue in their allegiance to 
 the Romans, were afraid of my coming to 
 them; and tried, by putting me upon another 
 action, to divert me, that they might be freed 
 from the terror they were in. Accordingly 
 they sent to Jesus, the captain of those rob- 
 bers who were in the confines of Ptolemaic, 
 and promised to give him a great deal ot 
 money, if he would come with those forces he 
 had with him, which were in number eight 
 hundred, and fight with us. Accordingly hf 
 complied with what they desired, upon the 
 promises they had made him, and was desi 
 rous to fall upon us when we were unpre 
 pared for him, and knew nothing of his con; 
 irig beforehand; so he sent to me, and desireO 
 that I would give him leave to come aiu 
 salute me. When I had given him that leavt 
 which I did without the least knowledge o- 
 his treacherous intentions beforehand^he tooK 
 his band of robbers, and made haste to com 
 to me. Yet did not this his knavery succee 
 well at last; for, as he was already nearly ap 
 proaching, one of those with him deserter' 
 him, and came to me, and told me what be 
 had undertaken to do. When I was informed 
 of this, I went into the market-place, and 
 pretended to know nothing of his treacherous 
 purpose. I took with me many Galileans 
 that were armed, as also some of those of 
 Tiberias; and, when I had given orders that 
 all the roads should be carefully guarded, I 
 charged the keepers of the gates to give h«1. 
 mittance to none but Jesus, when he c'.v.n . 
 with the principal of bis men, and to extl..<.v 
 the rest; and in case they aiqied to force 
 
THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 themtelres in, to use stripes [in order to repel 
 them]. Accordingly, those that had received 
 such a charge did as they were bidden, and 
 Jesus came in witlh a few others; and when 
 I had ordered him to throw down his arms 
 immediately, and told him, that if he refused 
 so to do, he was a dead man, he seeing armed 
 men standing all round about him, was terri- 
 ed, and complied; and as for those of his 
 ollowers that were excluded, when they were 
 informed that he was seized, they ran away. 
 I then called Jesus to me by himself, and 
 told him, that ** I was not a stranger to that 
 treacherous design he had against me, nor 
 was I ignorant by whom he was sent for; 
 that, however, I would forgive him what he 
 kad done already, if he would repent of it, 
 ind be faithful to me hereafter." And thus, 
 upon his promise to do all that I desired, I 
 let him go, and gave him leave to get those 
 whom he had formerly had with him together 
 again. But I threatened the inhabitants of 
 Sepphoris, that, if they would not leave off 
 their ungrateful treatment of me, I would 
 punish them sufficiently. 
 
 23. At this time.it was that two great 
 men, who were under the jurisdiction of the 
 king [Agrippa], came to me out of the region 
 of Trachonitis, bringing their horses and their 
 arms, and carrying with them their money 
 also ; and when the Jews would force them 
 to be circumcised, if they would stay among 
 them, I would not permit them to have any 
 force put upon them,* but said to them, 
 •' Every one ought to worship God accord- 
 ing to his cwn inclinations, and not to be 
 constrained by force; and that these men, 
 who had fled to us for protection, ought not 
 to be so treated as to repent of their coming 
 hither." And when I had pacified the mul- 
 titude, I provided for the men that Nvere come 
 to us whatsoever it was they wanted, accord- 
 ing to their usual way of living, and that in 
 great plenty also. 
 
 24. Now king Agrippa sent an armv to 
 make themselves masters of the citadel of 
 Gamala, and over it Equiculus Modius; but 
 the forces that were sent were not enow to 
 encompass the citadel quite round, but lay 
 before it in the open places, and besieged it. 
 
 it when Ebutius the decurion, who was in- 
 usted with the government of the great plain, 
 heard that I was at Simonias, a village situ- 
 ated in the confines of Galilee, and was dis- 
 tant from him sixty furlongs, he took a hun- 
 dred horsemen that were with him by night, 
 and a certain number of footmen, about two 
 kuiidred, and brought the inhabitants of the 
 
 • Joscphas^i opinion ia hert well worth notinjf,— 
 that trtry one it to he permitted to worsliip God ac- 
 cording; to hi* own conscience, and is nut to be com- 
 pelled in matters of religion; as one may here observe, 
 on the contrai J, that the rest of the Jews wer* still for 
 ■bli|pni( all thatc who married Jewesses to be circumcis- 
 ed, and beoome Jews; and were ready to destroy all that 
 would not •abask to do so. Mm Met 31, and 1hiIl« ix M. 
 
 city Gibea along with him as auxiliaries, and 
 marched in the night, and came to the village 
 where I abode. Upon this I pitched my 
 camp over against him, which had a great 
 number of forces in it; but Ebutius tried to 
 draw us down into the plain, as greatly de- 
 pending upon his horsemen; but we would 
 not come down; for when I was satisfied o! 
 the advantage that his horse would have if we 
 came down into the plain, while we were all 
 footmen, I resolved to join battle with the ene- 
 my where I was. Now Ebutius and his party 
 made a courageous opposition for some time: 
 but when he saw that his horse were useless 
 to him in that place, he retired back to the 
 city Gibea, having lost three of his men in 
 the fight. So I followed him directly with 
 two thousand armed men ; and when I was 
 at the city Besara, that lay in the confines ol 
 Ptolemais, but twenty furlongs from Gibea, 
 where Ebutius abode, I placed my armed 
 men on the outside of the village, and gave 
 orders that they should guard the passes with 
 great care, that the enemy might not disturb 
 us until we should have carried off the corn,, 
 a great quantity of which lay there : it belong- 
 ed to Bernice the queen, and had been gathered 
 together out of the neighbouring villages into 
 Besara: so I loaded my camels and asses, a 
 great number of which I had brought along 
 with me, and sent the corn into Galilee. 
 When I had done this, I offered Ebutius 
 battle; but when he would not accept of the 
 offer, for he was terrified at our readiness and 
 courage, I altered my route, and marched to- 
 wards Neopolitanus, because 1 had heard that 
 the country about Til)erias was laid waste by 
 him. This Neopolitanus was raptain of a 
 troop of horse, and had the custody of Scytho- 
 polis intrusted to his cure by the enemy; and 
 when I had hindered him from doing any 
 farther mischief to Tiberias, 1 set myself to 
 make provision for the affairs of Galilee. 
 
 25. But when John, the son of Levi, who, 
 as we before told you, abode at Gisrhal.-i. wa» 
 informed how all things had siicceedeti to luy 
 mind, and that I was much in favour with 
 those that were under me, as also that the 
 enemy were greatly afraid of nu*, he was not 
 pleased with it, as thinking my prosperity 
 tended to his ruin. So he took up a hitter 
 envy ami eiiniity against me; and hopiiij:, 
 that if he couhl inflame those that were uimIlt 
 me to hate uic, he should put an end to the 
 prosperity 1 wa" in, he tried to pcri'uajle tli« 
 inhabitants of Tiherijis. and of Sepphori^i (and 
 for those of (JMhara he supposfd they wouhl 
 be also of the same mind with tlu* otlwrs;. 
 whi<*h werr the greatest <-itif< of (Jalilee, to 
 revolt frtnn tht ir suhjiTtioii to n)iv :nui to be 
 of his party; sind tolil thi-ui that he would 
 command them hotter than I did. As for 
 the people of Si'pphoris. w 1 o holont;i'd to 
 neither of us. heniuse they had rliosen to be 
 in subjection to the Romany they did not 
 
'•'HE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSKPHCS. 
 
 comply with bis proposal; and tor those of 
 Tiberias, they did not indeed so fur comply 
 as to make a revolt from under me, but they 
 agreed to be his friends, while the inhabitants 
 of Gabara did go over to John; and it was 
 Simon that persuaded them so to do, one who 
 was both the principal man in the city and a 
 particular friend and companion of John. It 
 8 true, these did not openly own the making 
 
 revolt, because they were in great fear of 
 the Galileans, and had frequent experience of 
 the good- will they bore to me; yet did they 
 privately watch for a proper opportunity to 
 lay snares for me; and indeed I thereby came 
 into the greatest danger on the occasion fol- 
 lowing. 
 
 26. There were some bold young men of 
 the village of Dabaritta, who observed that 
 the wife of Ptolemy, the king's procurator, 
 was to make a progress over the great plain 
 with a mighty attendance, and with some 
 hoisemen that followed as a guard to them, 
 and this out of a country that was subject to 
 the kuig and queen, into the jurisdiction of 
 the Romans; and fell upon them on a sud- 
 den, and obliged the wife of Ptolemy to fly 
 away, and plundered all the carriages. They 
 also came to me to Taricheie, with four mules' 
 loading of garments, and other furniture; and 
 the weight of the silver they brought was not 
 small; and there were five hundred pieces of 
 gold also. Now I had a mind to preserve 
 the*e spoils for Ptolemy, who was my coun- 
 tryman; and it is proliibited' by our laws 
 even to spoil our enemies; so I said to those 
 that brought these spoils, that they ought to 
 be kept, in order to rebuild the walls of Jeru- 
 salem with them when they came to be sold; 
 but the young men took it very ill that they 
 did not receive a part of those spoils for them- 
 «L'lves, as they expected to have done; so they 
 went among the villages in the neighbour- 
 hoo<l of Tiberia.-*, and told the people that I 
 was going to betray their country to the Ro- 
 mans, and that I used deceitful language to 
 theui, when I said that what had been thus 
 Rotton by rapine should be kept for the re- 
 building of the walls of the city of Jerusidem; 
 although I had resolved to restore these spoils 
 again to their former owner; and indeed they 
 vvere herein not mistaken as to my intentions; 
 for when I had gotten clear of them, I sent 
 
 • How Jo«ephn» roulil say Ihto tliat the Jewish l;iws 
 forhadr Ihrm to •• spoil even tlifir rnrniir.*,'' while \et. a 
 • ttle hrdifr lii<t Tiiiir. (iiibS ivioiir hati uirnMnne-l it :«^ ihfn 
 k ci rrritt iiia\iiu with thrm. ^ I lioii Ahalt love th; iiiri<!i' 
 Soiii, Mu\ h.xlf tliiiie riH-iny** (Matt v. A\], is xwjrth o-ir 
 inquiry. I take it that Ji»>e|>h(is Iwviiig liern now lor 
 many years an Khioiiite Christian, had leariinl this inter- 
 prt-ialiiiii of the law of Mosoh Iriini I'hrist.whiini he owned 
 lor the true ^lesslah, as it IbIIows in the siicreeilini; 
 TersL*!«. whit-li. thoiuh he micht not reail in St Matthew'-i 
 poNprl. yi-t iui:;ht he h.ite r«-ad iiiiuh the same expusitioii 
 111 tlieirowii KhiiMl'te oi Naznieiif K>>9|iel itM-If. of which 
 iinpro^nieiits nmde U\ JoM-phiis. alter he was l»eri>m- a 
 Christian, wr have alreail\ haii several examples in this 
 his l.iie. MTl. :i. 1:1. I .. I'li-Jl. it. am' ^ha!l have many 
 BioTe therein Ixhne its conrhKion. as well as w«» have 
 tiiciB cls«whrrc ill all bis later writings. 
 
 for two of the principal men, Dassion, and. 
 Janneus the son of Levi, persons that were 
 among the chief friends of tht king, and com- 
 manded them to take the furniture that had 
 been plundered, and to send it to him; and 
 I threatened that I would order them to be 
 put to death by way of punishment, if they 
 discovered this my command to any othe' 
 person. 
 
 27. Now, when all Galilee was filled wit! 
 this rumour, that their country was abotit to 
 be betrayed by nie to the Romans, and when 
 all men were exasperated against me, and 
 ready to bring me to punishment, the inhabi- 
 tants of Taricheae did also themselves suppose 
 that what the young men said was true, and 
 persuaded my guards and armed men to leave 
 me when I was asleep, and to come presently 
 to the hippodrome, in order there to take 
 counsel against me their commander; and 
 when they had prevailed with them, and they 
 were gotten together, they found there agrea* 
 company assembled already, who all joined in 
 one clamour, to bring the man who was so 
 wicked to them as to betray them, to his due 
 punishment; and it was Jesus, the son of 
 Sapphias, who principally set them on. He 
 was ruler in Tiberias, a wicked man, and na- 
 turally disposed to make disturbances in mat- 
 ters of consefjuence ; a seditious person he 
 was indeed, and an innovator beyond every 
 bo<ly else. He theti took the laws of Mose? 
 into his hands, and came into the midst of the 
 people, and said, "O my fellow-citizens! H 
 you are not disposed to hate Josephus on 
 your own account, have regard, however, to 
 I these laws of your country, which your com 
 ' iMander-in-chief is going to betray; hate him 
 therefore on both these accounts, and bring 
 the man who hath acted thus insolentlv to his 
 deserved punishment." 
 
 2S. When he had said this, and the multi- 
 tude had openly applaiuled him for what he 
 had sjiid, he took some of the armed men, and 
 made haste away to the house in which I 
 lodged, as if he would kill me immediately, 
 while I wiis wholly insensible of all till this 
 disturbance happened; and by reason of th 
 pains 1 had been taking, was fallen fast asleep; 
 but Simon, who was intrusted with the care ol 
 my body, and was the only person that stayed 
 with me, and saw the violent incursion the 
 citizens made upon me, awaked me and told 
 me of the danger I was in, -and desired me to 
 h't him kill me. that I might <lie bravely, and 
 like a general, before my enemies came in, 
 and forced me [to kill myself] or killed me 
 themselves. Thus did he discourse to me; 
 but I iTommitted the care of my life to God, 
 and miule haste to go out to the multitude. 
 Arioriliiigly, I put on a black garment, and 
 hung my sword at my neck, and went bj 
 such a diirereiit way to the hip[)odrome 
 wherein 1 thoufiht none of my adversarie* 
 would meet me: so I appeared among them 
 
10 
 
 THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 ►on the sudden, and fell down flat on the earth, 
 and bedewed the ground with my tears: then 
 I seemed to them all an object of compassion; 
 and when I perceived the change that was 
 made in the multitude, I tried to divide their 
 opinions before the armed men should return 
 from my house; so I granted them that I 
 had been as wicked as they supposed me to 
 be ; but still I entreated them to let me first 
 inform them for what use I had kept that 
 money which arose from the plunder; and 
 that they might then kill me, if they pleased: 
 and, upon the multitude's ordering me to 
 speak, the armed men came upon me, and 
 when they saw me they ran to kill me; but 
 when the multitude bade them hold their 
 hands, they complied; and expected that as 
 soon as I should own to them that I kept the 
 money for the king, it would be looked on as 
 a confession of my treason, and they should 
 then be allowed to kill me. 
 
 29. When, therefore, silence was made by 
 the Whole multitude, I spake thus to them: 
 — •' O my countrymen! I refuse not to die, 
 if justice so require. However, I am desirous 
 to tell you the truth of this matter before I 
 die ; for as I know that this city of yours 
 [Taricheae] was a city of great hospitality, and 
 filled with abundance of such men as have 
 left their own countries, and are come hither 
 to be partakers of your fortune, whatever it 
 be, I had a mind to build walls about it, out 
 of this money, for which you are so angry 
 with me, while yet it was to be expended in 
 building your own walls." Upon my saying 
 this, the people of Taricheae and the strangers 
 cried out. That "they gave m« thanks; and 
 desired me to be of good courage," although 
 the Galileans and the people of Tiberias con- 
 tinued in their wrath against me, insomuch 
 that there arose a tumult among them, while 
 some threatened to kill me, and some bade me 
 not to regard them; but when I promised 
 them that I would build them walls at Tibe- 
 rias, and at other cities that wanted them, 
 they gave credit to what I promised, and re- 
 turned every one to his own home. So I 
 e:>caped the forementioned danger, beyond all 
 my hopes; and returned to my own house, 
 accompanied with my friends, and twenty 
 armed men also. 
 
 oO. However, these robbers and other au- 
 thors of this tumult, who were afraid on their 
 own account, lest I should punish them for 
 what they had done, took six hundred armed 
 men, and came to the house where I abotle, 
 in order to set it on fire. When this their in- 
 sult was told me, I thought it indecent for 
 me to run away, and I resolved to expose my- 
 self to danger, and to act with some boldness; 
 so 1 gave order to shut the doors, and went 
 up into an upper room, and desired that they 
 would send in some of their men to receive 
 the money [from the spoils]; for I told thenn 
 they would then have no occjisiun to be angry 
 
 with me ; and when they had sent in one of 
 the boldest of them all, I had him whipped 
 severely; and I commanded that one of his 
 hands should be cut off, and hung about his 
 neck ; and in this case was he put out to those 
 that sent him. At which procedure of mine 
 they were greatly affrighted, and in no small 
 consternation ; and were afraid that they should 
 themselves be served in like manner, if they 
 stayed there ; for they supposed that I had in 
 the house more armed men than they had them 
 selves; so they ran away immediately, whfle 
 I, by the use of this stratagem, escaped this ^ 
 their second treacherous design against me. 
 
 31. But there were still some that irritated 
 the multitude against me, and said that those 
 great men that belonged to the king ought 
 not to be suffered to live, if they would not 
 change their religion to the religion of those 
 to whom they fled for safety ; they spake re- 
 proachfully of them also, and said, that they 
 were wizards, and such as called in the Ro- 
 mans upon them. So the multitude was soon 
 deluded by such plausible pretences as M'ere 
 agre able to their own inclinations, and were 
 prevailed on by them; but when I vvas-infonn- 
 ed of this, I instructed the multitude again, 
 that those who fled to them for refuge ought 
 not to be persecuted : I also laughed at the 
 allegation about witchcraft;* and told them 
 that the Romans would not maintain so many 
 ten thousand soldiers, if they could overcome 
 their enemies by wizards. Upon my saying 
 this, the people assented for a while ; but they 
 returned again afterwards, as irritated by some 
 ill people against the great men ; nay, they once 
 made an assault upon the house in which they 
 dwelt at Taricheae, in order to kill them; 
 which when I was informed of, I was afraid 
 lest so horrid a crime should take effect, and 
 nobody else would make that city their refuge 
 any more. I therefore c;ime myself, and some 
 others with me, to the house where these great 
 men lived, and locked the doors, and had a 
 trench drawn from their house leading to the 
 lake, and sent for a ship, and embarked there- 
 in with them, and sailed to the confines of 
 Hippos: I also paid them the value of their 
 horses; nor in such a flight could I have their 
 horses brought to them. I then dismissed 
 them ; and begged of them earnestly thai they 
 would courageously bear this distress which 
 befel them. 1 was also myself greatly dis 
 pleased that I was coinpelled to expose those 
 that had fled to ine, to go again into an ene 
 my's country; yet did 1 think it more eligible 
 that they should perish among the Romans, 
 if it should so happen, than in the country 
 that was under my jurisdiction. However, 
 they escaped at length, and king Agrippa for- 
 gave them their offences; and this was the 
 conclusion of what concerned these men. 
 
 • Here we may observe the vnlicar Jewish notion ol 
 vvi'chcratt; txit ihut our Juaephiiv was too wise to give 
 any couutenance to it 
 
THE LIFE OF I i, \VI(S JOSKPHUS. 
 
 n 
 
 32. But as for the inhabitants of the city of 
 Tibenas, they wrote to the king, and desired 
 him to send them forces sufficient to be a guard 
 to their country; for that they were desirous 
 to come over to him. This was what they 
 wrote to him ; but when I came to them, they 
 desired me to build their walls, as I had pro- 
 mised them to do; for they had heard that the 
 walls of TaricheBe were already built. I agreed 
 to their proposal accor<lingly ; and when I had 
 made preparation for the entire building, I 
 grave order to the architects to go to work ; but 
 on the third day, when I was gone to Tari- 
 che», Avhich was thirty furlongs distant from 
 Tibenas, it so fell out, that some Roman horse- 
 men were discovere<l on their march, not far 
 from the city, which made it to be supposed 
 that the forces were come from the king ; 
 upon which they shouted, and lifted up their 
 voices in commendations of the king, and in 
 reproaches against me. Hereupon one came 
 running to me, and told me what their dispo- 
 sitions were; and that they had resolved to 
 revolt from me: — upon hearing which news 
 I was very much alarmed; for I had already 
 sent away my armed men from Tarichece to 
 their own homes, because the next day was 
 our Sabbath; for I would not have the people 
 of Taricheae disturbed [on that day] by a mul- 
 titude of soldiers ; and indeed, whenever I 
 sojourned at that city, I never took any par- 
 ticular care for a guard about my own body, 
 because I had had frequent instances of the 
 fidelity its inhabitants bore to me. I had now 
 about me no more than seven armed men, be- 
 sides some friends, and was doubtful what to 
 do; for to send to recall my own forces I did 
 not think proper, because the present day was 
 almost over; and had those forces been with 
 me, I could not take up arms on the next day, 
 because our laws forbade us so to do, even 
 though our necessity should be very great; and 
 ;f I should permit the people of Taricheae, 
 and the strangers with them, to guard the city, 
 T saw that they would not be sufficient for that 
 purpose, and I perceived that 1 should be 
 obliged to delay my assistance a great while; 
 for I thought with myself that the forces that 
 came from the king would prevent me, and 
 that I should be driven out of the city. I con- 
 sidered, therefore, how to get clear of these 
 forces by a stratagem; so I immediately placed 
 those my friends of Taricheae, on whom 1 
 could best confide, at the gates, to watch those 
 very carefully who went out at those gates; I 
 aho called to me the heads of families, and 
 bade every one of them to seize upon a ship.* 
 to go on board it, and to take a master with 
 
 • In thiA section, as well as in sect '.8 and 3n, those 
 small vessels tint sailed on the sea of G^Jileo, are called 
 by Josephus N»irf, and IlXo/oc. and 2«a^a/; .. i. plainly 
 thipn; so that we need not wonder at our F.v.t nee lists, 
 who still call them ships; nor ouijht we to render them 
 boats, as some do. Their nuniher was in a'l 2.<ti. as we 
 learn from our author elsewhere. Jewish War, b. ii. cb 
 cxL «-ct. 8. 
 
 them, and follow him to the city of Tiberias. 
 I also myself went on board one of those ships, 
 with my friends, and the seven armed men al- 
 ready mentioned, and sailed for Tiberias. 
 
 33. But now, when the people of Tiberias 
 perceived that there were no forces come from 
 the king, and yet saw the whole lake full of 
 ships, they were in fear what would become 
 of their city, and were greatly terrified, aa 
 supposing that the ships were full of men on 
 board ; so they then changed their minds, and 
 threw down their weapons, and met me \v\i\\ 
 their wives and children, and made acclama- 
 tions to me with great commendations; for 
 they imayrined that 1 did not know their for- 
 mer inclinations [tu have been against me], ♦ 
 so they persuaded me to spare the city; but 
 when I was come near enough, I gave order 
 to the masters of the ships to cast anchor a 
 good way off the land, that the people of Ti- 
 berias might not perceive that the ships had 
 no men on board; but I went nearer to the 
 people in one of the ships, and rebuked them 
 for their folly, and that they were so fickle as, 
 without any just occasion in the world, to re- 
 volt from their fidelity to me. However, I 
 
 j assured them that I Would entirely forgive 
 I them for the time to come, if they would send 
 j ten of the ringleaders of the midtitude to me; 
 
 and when they complied readily with this pro- 
 I posal, and sent me the men forementioiied. I 
 ' put them on board a ship, and sent them away 
 
 to Taricheae, and ordered them to be kept in 
 
 prison. 
 
 34. And by this stratagem it was that I 
 gradually got all the senate of Tiberias into 
 my power, and sent them to the city foremen- 
 tioned, with many of the principal men among 
 the populace; and those not fewer in number 
 than the other: but, when the multitude saw 
 into what great miseries they had br(»uyh» 
 themselves, they desired me to punish the an- 
 thor of this sedition: his name was (^lir-i- 
 young man; bold and rash in his undertak-» 
 ings. Now, since I thought it not agreeabio 
 to piety to put one of my own people to death, 
 and yet found it necessary to punish him. 1 
 ordered Levi, one of my own guards, to go to 
 him, and cut off one of Clitus's hands ; hut 
 as he that was ordered to do this, was afraid 
 to go out of the ship alone among so great a 
 multitude, I was not willing that the timor. 
 ousness of the soldier should appear to the 
 people of Tiberias; — so I called to Clitus 
 himself, and said to him, " Since thou deserv- 
 est to lose both thine hands for thy ingrati- 
 tude to me, be thou thine own executioner, 
 lest, if thou refusest so to be, thou undergo a 
 worse punishment." And when he earnestly 
 begired of me to spare him one of his hands, 
 it was with difficulty th it I granted it. So, 
 in order to prevent the loss of both his hands, 
 he willingly took his sword, and cut off hia 
 oWM It'ft hand; and this put an end to the 
 .-editio I 
 
12 
 
 THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 35. Now the men of Tiberias, after I was 
 Ifone to Taricheae, perceived what stratagem I 
 had used against them, and they admired how 
 I had put an end to their foolish sedition, 
 without shedding of blood. But now, when 
 I had sent for some of those multitudes of 
 the people of Tiberias out of prison, among 
 whom were Justus and his father Pistus, I 
 made them to sup with me; and during our 
 supper-time I said to them, that I knew the 
 power of the Romans was superior to all 
 others ; but did not say so [publicly] because 
 of the robbers. So I advised them to do as 
 I did, and to wait for a proper opportunity, 
 and not to be uneasy at my being their com- 
 mander ; for that they could not expect to have- 
 another who would use the like moderation 
 that I had done. I also put Justus in mind 
 how the Galileans had cut off his brother's 
 hands before ever I came to Jerusalem, upon 
 an accusation laid against him, as if he had 
 been a rogue, and had forged some letters; as 
 also how the people of Gamala, in a sedition 
 they raised against the Babylonians, after the 
 departure of Philip, slew Chares, who was a 
 kinsman of Philip, and withal how they had 
 wisely punished Jesus, his brother Justus's sis- 
 ter's husband [with death]. "When I had said 
 this to them during supper-time, I in the morn- 
 ing ordered Justus, and all the rest that were in 
 prison, to be loosed out of it, and sent away. 
 36. But before this it happened that Philip, 
 the son of Jacimus, went out of the cita- 
 del of Gamala upon the following occasion* 
 When Philip had been informed tnat Varus 
 was put out of his government by king Agrip- 
 pa and that Equiculus Modius, a man that 
 was of old his friend and companion, was 
 come to succeed him, he wrote to him, and 
 related what turns of fortune he had had, and 
 desired him to forward the letters he sent to 
 the king and queen. Now, when Modius had 
 received these letters he was exceedingly glad, 
 f and sent the letters to the king and queen, who 
 were then about Berytus. But when king 
 Agrippa knew that the story about Philip was 
 false Cfor it had been given out, that the Jews 
 had begun a war with the Romans, and that 
 this Philip had been their commander in that 
 war), he sentsome horsemen to conduct Philip 
 to him; and when he was come, he saluted 
 him very obligingly, and showed him to the 
 Roman commanders, and' told them that this 
 was the man of whom the report had gone 
 about as if he had revolted from the Romans. 
 He also bid him to take some horsemen with 
 him, and to go quickly to the citadel of Ga- 
 mala, and to bring out thence all his domes- 
 tics, and to restore the Babylonians to Batanea 
 again. He also gave it him in charge to take 
 alt possible care that none of his subjects 
 should be guilty of mjiking any innovation. 
 Accordingly, upon these directions from tl'e 
 king, he made ha#tc to do what he was com- 
 manded. 
 
 37. Now there was one Joseph, the son of 
 a female physician, who excited a great many 
 young men to join with him. He also inso- 
 lently addressed himself to the principal per- 
 sons at Gamala, and persuaded them to revolt 
 from the king, and take up arms, and gave 
 them hopes that .hey should, by his means, 
 recover their liberty: and some they forced 
 into the service; and those that would not 
 acquiesce in what they had resolved on, they 
 slew. They also slew Chares, and with him 
 Jesus, one of his kinsmen, and a brother of 
 Justus of Tiberias, as we have already said. 
 Those of Gamala also wrote to me, "desiring 
 me to send them an armed force, and work- 
 men to raise up the walls of their city; nor 
 did I reject either of their requests. The 
 region of Gaulanitis did also revolt from the 
 king, as far as the village of Solyma. I also 
 built a wall about Seleucia and Soganni, 
 which are villages naturally of very great 
 strength. Moreover, I, in like manner, walled 
 several villages of Upper Galilee, though they 
 were very rocky of themselves. Their names 
 are Jamnia, and Meroth, and Achabare. 1 
 also fortified, in the Lower Galilee, the cities 
 Taricheae, Tiberias, Sepphoris, and the vil- 
 lages, the cave of Arbela, Bersobe, Selamin, 
 Jotapata, Capharecho, and Sigo, and Japha, 
 and Mount Tabor.* I also laid up a great 
 quantity of corn in these places, and arms 
 withal, that might be for their security after- 
 ward. 
 
 38. But the hatred that John, the son ot 
 Levi, bore to me, grew now more violent, 
 while he could not bear my prosperity with 
 patience. So he proposed to himself, by all 
 means possible, to make awtiy with nie; and 
 built the walls of Gischala, which whj> thi' platrc 
 of his nativity. He then sent hi;* broth i 
 Simon, and Jonathan, the son of Sisenna, and 
 about a hundred armed men, to Jerusalem, tc 
 Simon, the son of Gamaliel,}" in order to per- 
 suade him to induce the commonalty of Jeru- 
 salem to take from me the government over the 
 Galileans, and to give tTieir suffrages for con- 
 ferring that authority upon him. This Simon 
 was of the city of Jerusalem, afid of a very 
 noble family, of the sect of the Pharisees, 
 which are supposed to excel others in the ac- 
 curate knowledge of the laws of their coun- 
 try. He wiis a man of great wisdom and 
 reason, and capable of restoring public affairs 
 by his prudence, when they were in an ill 
 posture. He was also an old friend and com- 
 panion of John; but at that time he had a 
 difference with me. When therefore he had 
 
 • Part of these fortifications on Mount Tubor mny 
 be tbojie Mill reniaininR, and which were si en lately by 
 Mr. M.inndrel. See his I ravels, p. IV2. 
 
 + 'I his ftamaliel may be the vrry same that is men- 
 tioned by the rabbins in the Mishna. in Jiichasin, and in 
 Porta ^i<mi». as is observed in the latin notes. He 
 miuht he also that (iamalie! II. whose (grandfather via» 
 C»!i?n;iliel I. who is nieniioned in Acts v. :ii; and »: 
 wtlll^e feet St PanI nos brought up, Acts xxii. 3. Si* 
 Frid at the year 449 
 
THE LIFE OF FLAVILS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 13 
 
 received such an exhortation, he persuaded 
 tile high priests, Ananus, and Jesus the son 
 of Gauiala, and some others of the same se- 
 ditious faction, to cut me down, now 1 was 
 growing so great, and not to overU)ok me 
 while I was aggrandizing myself to the height 
 of glory; and he said that it would be for the 
 advantage of the Galileans if 1 were deprived 
 of my government there. Ananas also, and 
 his friends, desired them to make no delay 
 about the matter, lest 1 should get the know- 
 ledge of what was doing too soon, and should | 
 come and make an assaidt upon the city with 
 a great army. This was the counsel of Simon ; 
 but Anamis the high priest demonstrated to 
 them that this- was not an easy thing to be 
 done, because many of the high priests and 
 of the rulers of the people, bore witness that 
 1 had acted like an excellent; general, and that 
 it was the work of ill men to accuse one 
 against whom they had nothing to say. 
 
 ;i9. When Simon heard Ananas say this, 
 he desired that the messengers would conceal 
 the thing, and not let it come among many; 
 for that he would take care to have Josephus 
 removed out of Galilee very quickly. So he 
 called for John's brother [Simon], and charg- 
 ed him that they should send presents to Ana- 
 nus and his friends; for, as he said, they might 
 probably, by that means, persuade them to 
 change their minds. And indeed Simon did 
 at length thus compass what he aimed at; for 
 A nanus, and those with him, being corrupted 
 by bribes, agreed to expel me out of Galilee, 
 without making the rest of the citizens ac- 
 quainted with what they were doing. Ac- 
 cordingly they resolved to send men of dis- 
 tinction as to their families, and of distinction 
 as to their learning also. Two of these were 
 of the popuUce, Jonathan* and Ananias, by 
 sect Pharisees; while the third, Jozar, was of 
 the stock cf the priests, and a Pharisee also; 
 Hud Simon, the last of them, was of the young- 
 est of the high priests. Th^se had it given 
 them in charge, that, when they were come to 
 the multitude of the Galileans, they should 
 ask them what was the reason of their love to 
 me? and if they said that it was because I was 
 born at Jerusalem, that they should reply, that 
 they four were all born at the same place; and 
 if they should say, it was because I was well 
 versed in their law, they should reply, that 
 Ui'ither were they unacquainted with the prac- 
 tices of their country; but if, besides these, 
 they should say they loved me because 1 was 
 a priest, they should reply, that two of these 
 were priests also. 
 
 40. Now, when they had given Jonathan 
 aiul his companions these instructions, they 
 gave them forty thousand [drachmae] out of 
 the public money: but when they heard that 
 there was a certain Galilean that then sojourn- 
 
 * This Jonathan n also taken notice of in the Latin 
 notes, a» the same that is mentioned by the rabbins iu 
 Furta Mtisi&. 
 
 ed at Jerusalem, whose name was Jesus, who 
 had about him a band of six hundred armed 
 men, they sent for him, and gave him three 
 months' pay, and gave him orders to follow 
 Jonathan and his companions, and be obedi- 
 ent to them. They also gave mcmey to three 
 hundred men that were citizens of Jerusalem, 
 to maintain them all, and ordered them also 
 to follow the ambassadors; and when they had 
 complied, and were gotten ready for the march, 
 Jonathan and his companions went out with 
 them, having along with them Jolm's brother 
 and a hundred armed men. The (tharge that 
 was given them by those that sent them was 
 this: That if I would voluntarily lay down 
 my arms, they should send me alive to the 
 city of Jerusalem; but that, in case I op- 
 posed them, they should kill me, and fear 
 nothing; for that it was their command for 
 them so to do. They also wrote to John 
 to make all ready for fighting me, and gave 
 orders to the inhabitants of Sepphoris, and 
 Gabara, and Tiberias, to send auxiliaries to 
 John. 
 
 41. Now, as my father wrote me an account 
 of this (for Jesus the son of Gamala, who 
 was present in that council, a friend and com- 
 panion of mine, told him of it), I was very 
 much troubled, as discovering thereby that my 
 fellow-citizens proved so ungrateful to me, as, 
 out of envy to give order that I should be 
 slain; my father earnestly pressed me also in 
 his letter to come to him, for that he longed 
 to see his son before he died. I informed 
 my friends of these things, and that in three 
 days* time I should leave the country and go 
 home . Upon hearing this, they were all very 
 sorry, and desired me, with tears in their eyes, 
 not to leave them to be destroyed; for so they 
 thought they should be, if I were deprived Oi 
 the command over them: but as I did not 
 grant their request, but was taking care of my 
 own safety, the Galileans, out of their dread 
 of the consequence of my departure, that they 
 should then be at the mercy of the robbers, 
 sent messengers over all Galilee to inform them 
 of my resolution to leave them. Whereupon, 
 as soon as they heard it, they got together in 
 great numbers, from all parts, with their wives 
 and children; and this they did, as it appeared 
 to me, not more out of their affection to me, 
 than out of their fear on their own accouii! ; 
 for, while I staid with them, they supposed 
 that they should suffer no harm. So they all 
 came into the great plain, wherein I lived, the 
 name of which was Asochis 
 
 4-i. But wonderful it was what a dream 1 
 saw that very night; for when I had betaken 
 myself to my bed, as grieved and disturbed at 
 the news that had been written tome, it seem- 
 ed to me, that a certain person stood by me,t 
 
 + This I take to be the first of Josephus's remarkable 
 or divine drt-ams, which were predictive of the Rre.it 
 tliiims thill afterwards c^nic to pass,- of which .lee more 
 in thf note on Antiq. b iii. chap. viii. sect 9. The 
 other is in th» War. b. lii. ch. Tiii. sect. 3, 0. 
 
THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 14^ 
 
 and said, "0 Josephus! leave off to afflict 
 thy soul, and put away all fear; for what now 
 grieves thee will render thee very considera- 
 ble, and in all respects most happy ; for thou 
 shalt get over not only these difficulties, but 
 many others, with great success. However, 
 be not cast down, but remember that thou art 
 to fight with the Romans." When I had seen 
 this dream, I got up with an intention of go- 
 ing down to the plain. Now, when the whole 
 multitude of the Galileans, among whom were 
 the women and children, saw me, they threw 
 themselves down upon their faces, and, with 
 teats in their eyes, besought me not to leave 
 them exposed to their enemies, nor to go away 
 and permit their country to be injured by 
 them; but, when 1 did not comply with their 
 entreaties, they compelled me to take an oath, 
 that I would stay with them: they also cast 
 abundance of reproaches upon the people of 
 Jerusalem, that they would not let their coun- 
 try enjoy peace. 
 
 43. When I heard this, and saw what sor- 
 row the people were in, I was moved with com- 
 passion to them, and thought it became me to 
 undergo the most manifest hazards for the sake 
 of so great a multitude ; so I let them know 
 I would stay with them; and when I had 
 given order that five thousand of them should 
 come to me armed, and with provisions for 
 their maintenance, I sent the rest away to 
 their own homes; and, when those five thou- 
 sand were come, I took them, together with 
 three thousand of the soldiers that were with 
 me before, and eighty horsemen, and marched 
 to the village of Chabolo, situated in the con- 
 fines of Ptolemais, and there kept my forces 
 together, pretending to get peady to fight with 
 Placidus, who was come with two cohorts of 
 footmen, and one troop of horsemen; and was 
 sent thither by Cestius Gallus to burn those 
 villages of Galilee that were near Ptolemais. 
 Upon whose casting up a bank before the city 
 Ptolemais, I also pitched my camp at about 
 the distance of sixty furlongs from that vil- 
 lage; and now we frequently brought out our 
 forces as if we would light, but proceeded no 
 farther than skirmishes at a distance ; for when 
 Placidus perceived that I was earnest to come 
 to battle, he was afraid, and avoided it; yet 
 did he not remove from the neighbourhood 
 of Ptolemais. 
 
 44. About this time it was that Jonathan 
 and his fellow-legates came. They were sent, 
 as we have said already, by Siuioii, and A na- 
 nus the high-priest; aud Jonathan contrived 
 how he might catch me by treachery; for he 
 durst not make any attempt upon me opetdy. 
 So he wrote me the following epistle: — "Jona- 
 than and those that are with him. and are sent by 
 the people of .lerusalem to Josephus, send 
 greeting. We are sent by the pruicipal men 
 of Jerusalem, who have heard that John of 
 Giscliala hath laid many snares for thee, to 
 rebuke him. and to exhort him to be subject 
 
 to thee hereafter. We are also desirous to 
 consult with thee about our common concerns, 
 and what is fit to be done. We, therefore, 
 desire thee to come to us quickly, and to 
 bring only a few men with thee; for this vil- 
 lage will not contain a great number of soldiers." 
 Thus it was that they wrote, as expecting one 
 of these two things: either that I should come 
 without armed men, and then they should have 
 me wholly in their power : or, if I came with a 
 great number, they should judge me to be a 
 public enemy. Now it was a horseman who 
 brought the letter, a man at other tinjes bold, 
 and one that had served in the army undei 
 the king. It w^as the second hour of the 
 night that he came, when I was feasting with 
 my friends and the principal of the Galileans. 
 This man, upon my servant's telling me that 
 a certain horseman of the Jewish nation was 
 come, was called in at my command, but did 
 not so much as salute me at all, but held out 
 a letter, and said, " This letter is sent thee by 
 those that are come from Jerusalem ; do thou 
 write an answer to it quickly, for I am obUged 
 to return to them very soon." Now my guests 
 could not but wonder at the boldness of the 
 soldier; but I desired him to sit down and 
 sup with us; but when he refused so to do, 
 I held the letter in my hands as I received it, 
 and fell a-talking with my guests about other 
 matters; but, a few hours afterwards, I got 
 up, and, when I had dismissed the rest to go 
 to their beds, 1 bid only four of my intimate 
 friends to stay ; and ordered my servant to get 
 some wine ready. I also opened the letter 
 so that nobody could perceive it; and under- 
 standing thereby presently the purport of the 
 writing, I sealed it up again, and appeared as 
 if I had not yet read it, but only held it 
 in my hands. I ordered twenty drachmae 
 should be given the soldier for the charges of 
 his journey; and when he took the money, 
 and said that he thanked me for it, I perceived 
 that he loved money, and that he was to l)e 
 caught chiefly by that means; and I said to 
 him, " If thou wilt but drink with iis, thou 
 shalt have a drachma for every glass thou 
 drinkest." So he gladly embraced this pro- 
 posal, and drank a great deal of wine, in order 
 to get the more money, and was so drunk, 
 that at last he could not keep the secrets he 
 was intrusted with, but discovered them with- 
 out my [)utting questions to him, viz. That a 
 treacherous design was contrived against me; 
 and tl)at I was doomed to die by those that 
 sent him. When I heard this, I wrote back 
 this answer: — "Josephus to Jonathan, and 
 those that are with him, sendeth greeting. 
 Upon the information that you are come in 
 health into Galilee, I rejoice, and this espe- 
 cially because I can now resign the care of 
 public affairs here into your hands, and return 
 into my native country, — which is what I 
 have desired to do a great while; and I con- 
 fess I ought not oidy to come to you as fiu 
 
THE L[FE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 16 
 
 as Xaloth, but farther, and this without your 
 commands: but I desire you to excuse me, 
 because I cannot do it now, since I watch the 
 motions of Placidus, who hath a mind to go 
 up into Galilee; and this I do here at Cha- 
 bolo. Do you, therefore, on the receipt of 
 this epistle, come hither to me. Fare you 
 well." 
 
 45. When I had written thus, and given 
 the letter to be carried by the soldier, I sent 
 along with him thirty of the Galileans of the best 
 characters, and gave them instructions to salute 
 those ambassadors, but to say nothing else to 
 them. I also gave orders to as many of those 
 armed men, whom I esteemed most faithful to 
 nie, to go along with the others, everyone with 
 him whom he was to guard, lest some conversa- 
 tion might pass between those whom I sent and 
 those who were with Jonathan. So those men 
 went [to Jonathan]. But, when Jonathan and 
 his partners had failed in this their first at- 
 tempt, they sent meanotherletter,the contents 
 whereof were as follows: — "Jonathan, and 
 those with him, to Josephus, send greeting. 
 We require thee to come to us to the village 
 Gabaroth, on the third day, without any 
 armed men, that we may hear what thou hast 
 to lay to the charge of John [of Gischala]." 
 When they had written this letter they sa- 
 luted the Galileans whom I sent; and came to 
 Japha, which was the largest village of all 
 Galilee, and encompassed with very strong 
 walls, and had a great number of inhabitants 
 In it. There the multitude of men, with their 
 wives and children, met them, and exclaimed 
 loudly against them; and desired them to be 
 gone, and not to envy them the advantage of 
 o/i excellent commander. With these clamours 
 Jonathan and his partners were greatly pro- 
 voked, although they durst not show their 
 anger openly; so they made them no answer, 
 but went to other villages. But still the same 
 clamours met them from all the people, who 
 said, " Nobody should persuade them to have 
 any other commander besides Josephus." So 
 Jonathan and his partners went away from 
 them without success, and came to Seppho- 
 ris, the greatest city of all Galilee. Now the 
 men of that city, who inclined to the B.omans 
 in their sentiments, met them indeed, but nei- 
 ther praised nor reproached me; and when 
 they were gone down from Sepphoris to 
 Asochis, the people of that place made a cla- 
 mour agamst them, as those of Japha had 
 done; whereupon they were able to contain 
 themselves no longer, but ordered the armed 
 men that were with them to beat those that 
 made the clamour with their clubs; and when 
 they came to Gabara, John met them with 
 three tho\isand armed men; but, as I under- 
 stood by their letter that they had resolved to 
 fi^ht against me, I arose from Chabolo, with 
 three tliousaiid armed men also, but left in m\ 
 eanip one of my fastest friends, and came to J<)- 
 tjipata, as desirous to be near them, thedistance 
 
 being no more than forty furlongs. Whence 
 I wrote thus to them: — " If you are very de- 
 sirous that I should come to you, you know 
 there are two hundred and forty cities and 
 villages in Galilee: I will come to any of 
 them w^ich you please, excepting Gabara and 
 Gischala, — the one of which is John's native 
 city, and the other in confederacy and friend- 
 ship with him." 
 
 46. When Jonathan and his partners had 
 received this letter, they wrote me no more 
 answers, but called a council of their friends 
 together ; and taking John into their consul- 
 tation, they took counsel together by what 
 means they might attack me. John's opinion 
 was, that they should write to all the cities 
 and villages that were in Galilee ; for that 
 there must be certainly one or two persons in 
 every one of them that were at variance with 
 me; and that they should be invited to come, 
 to oppose me as an enemy. He would also have 
 tnem send this resolution of theirs to the city 
 of Jerusalem, that its citizens, upon the know- 
 ledge of my being adjudged to be an enemy 
 by the Galileans, might themselves also con- 
 firm that determination. He said also, that 
 when this was done, even those Galileans who 
 were well affected to me, would desert me, out 
 of fear. When John had given them this coun- 
 sel, what he had said was very agreeable to 
 the rest of them. I was also made acquainted 
 with these affairs about the third hour of the 
 night, by the means of one Saccheus, who had 
 belonged to them, but now deserted them and 
 came over to me, and told me what they were 
 about; so I perceived that no time was to be 
 lost. Accordingly I gave command to Jacob, 
 an armed man of my guard, whom I esteemed 
 faithful to me, to take two hundred men, and 
 to guard the passages that led from Gabara 
 to Galilee, and to seize upon the passengers, 
 and send them to me, especially such as were 
 caught with letters about them : I also sent 
 Jeremias himself, one of my friends, with six 
 hundred armed men, to the borders of Galilee, 
 in order to watch the roads that led from the 
 country to the city of Jerusalem ; and gave him 
 charge to lay hold of such as travelled with 
 letters about them, to keep the men in bonds 
 upon the place, but to send me the letters. 
 
 47. When I had laid these comniands upon 
 them, I gave them orders, and bid them take 
 their arms and bring three days* prevision 
 with them, and be with me the next day. I 
 also parted those that were about rne into 
 four parts, and ordained those of them that 
 were most faithful to me to be a guard to my 
 body. I also set over them centurions ; and 
 commanded them to take care that not a sol- 
 dier w hich they (lid not know should mingle 
 liiniself among them. Now, on the fifth day 
 following, when I \vas at Gabaroth, I found 
 the entire plain that was before the village 
 full of HPined men, who were come out of 
 Galilee to assist me: many others of the 
 
16 
 
 THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 multitude also out of the village, ran along 
 with me; but as soon as I had taken my 
 place, and began to speak to them, they all 
 made an acclamation, and called me the Be- 
 nefactor and Saviour of the country; and 
 when I had made them my ackr\pwledge- 
 ments, and thanked them [for their affection 
 to me], I also advised them to fight with no- 
 body,* nor to spoil the country, but to pitch 
 their tents in the plain, and be content with 
 the sustenance they had brought with them; 
 for I told them I had a mind to compose 
 these troubles without shedding any blood. 
 Now it came to pass, that on the very same 
 day those who were sent by John with letters, 
 fell among the guards whom I had appointed to 
 watch the roads; so the men were themselves 
 kept upon the place, as my orders were ; but 
 I got the letters, vvhich were full of reproaches 
 and lies; and I intended to fall upon :hese 
 men, without saying a word of these matters 
 to any body. 
 
 48. Now, as soon as Jonathan and his com- 
 panions heard of my coming, they took all 
 their own friends, and John with them, and 
 retired to the house of Jesus, which indeed 
 was H large castle, and no way unlike a cita- 
 del; so they privately led a band of armed 
 men therein, and shut all the other doors but 
 one, which they kept open, and they expected 
 that I should come out of the road to them, 
 to salute them; and indeied they had given 
 orders to the armed men, that when I came 
 they should let nobody besides me come in, 
 but should exclude others ; as supposing that, 
 by this means, they should easily get me 
 under their power: but they were deceived 
 in their expectation, for I perceived what 
 snares they had laid for me. Now, as soon 
 as I was got off my journey, I took up my 
 lodgings over against them, and pretended to 
 be asleep; so Jonathan and his party, think- 
 ing that I was really asleep and at rest, made 
 haste to go down into the pl;iin to persuade 
 the people that I was an ill governor: l)ut 
 the matter proved otherwise; for, upon their 
 appearance, there was a cry made by the Gali- 
 leans immediately, declaring their good opi- 
 nion of me as their governor; and they made 
 a clamour against Jonathan and his partners 
 for coming to them when they had suffered 
 no harm, and as though they would overturn 
 their happy settlement; and desired them by 
 all means to go back again, for that they 
 would never be persuaded to have any other 
 to rule over them but myself. When I heard 
 of this, I did not fear to go down into the 
 midst of them ; J went therefore myself down 
 presently, to hear what Jonathan and his 
 
 • Josephns's directions to his soldiers here are much 
 the same that John the Baptist gave (Luke iii. 14): — 
 ** Do violence to no man, neither accuse any fal.i«*ly. and 
 DC content with your waRcs." Whence Dr. HiKbon 
 confirms this conjecture, that Josephus, in some tliiiips, 
 was, even now, a follower of John the Uapti.'^l, whicli is 
 no way iniprobable. See »he note on sccU i. 
 
 companions said. As soon as I appeared, 
 there was immediately an acclamation made 
 to me by the whole multitude, and a cry in 
 my commendation by them, who confessed 
 their thanks were owing to me for my cood 
 government of them. 
 
 49. When Jonathan and his companions 
 heard this they were in fear of their own 
 lives, and in danger lest they should be as- 
 saulted by the Galileans on my account; so 
 they contrived how they might run away; but 
 as they were not able to get off, for I desired 
 them to stay, they looked down with concern 
 at my words to them. 1 ordered, therefore, 
 the multitude to restrain entirely their accla- 
 mations, and placed the most faithful of my 
 armed men upon the avenues, to be a guard 
 to us, lest John should unexpectedly fall 
 upon us; and 1 encouraged the Galileans to 
 take their weapons, lest they should be dis- 
 turbed at their enemies, if any sudden insult 
 should be made upon them; and then, in the 
 first place, I put Jonathan and his partners in 
 mind of their [former] letter, and after what 
 manner they had written to me, and declared 
 they were sent by the common consent of the 
 people of Jerusalem, to make up the differ- 
 ences I had with John, and how they had 
 desired me to come to them; and as I spake 
 thus, I publicly showed that letter they had 
 written, till they could not at all deny what 
 they had done, the letter itself convicting them. 
 1 then said, '* O Jonathan, and you that are 
 sent with him as his colleagues, if I were to 
 be judged as to my behaviour, compared with 
 that of John's, and had brought no more than 
 two or three witnesses,! good men and true, 
 it is plain you had been forced, upon the exa- 
 mination of their characters beforehand, to 
 discharge the accusations : that, therefore, you 
 may be informed that I have acted well in the 
 affiiirs of Galilee, I think tliree witnesses too 
 few to be brought by a man that hath done 
 as he ought to do; so I give you all these 
 for witnesses. Inquire of them J how I have 
 lived, and whether I have not behaved myself 
 with all decency, and after a virtuous niainier 
 among them. And I farther conjure you, O 
 Galileans! to hide no part of the truth, l«ut 
 to speak before these men as before judges, 
 v\hether I have in any thing acted otherwise 
 than well." 
 
 50. While I was thus speaking, the united 
 voices of all the people joined together, and 
 called me their Beiii'factor and Saviour, and 
 attested to my former behaviour, and exhorted 
 
 + We here 1< am the practice of the Jews, in the day 
 of .lo8(*phii5. to inquire into the chanicters of witiie».se 
 l;rfiire they were admitted; and that their number oujjh 
 to tie three, or two at the least, also exactly as in the law 
 ol Mostrs, and in the Apostolical Constitutions, h. ii, ch 
 xxxvii Nee Horeh Covenant Hevived, page 97, 98. 
 
 t This appeal to the whole body of the (ialileans by 
 Jo'^ephus, and the testimony they gave him of integrity iir 
 his conduct as their governor, is very like that appeal ati« 
 testimony in thecafic ol the propliet Sainuci (1 Sani. \'u 
 i— ,'>); and porhaps was done by Joscphui in imitat'a. 
 of hiu. 
 
THE- LIFE OF FLWU'S JOSKPHUS, 
 
 17 
 
 me to continue so to do hereafter ; and they ] 
 all said, upon their oaths, that their wives had 
 been preserved free from injuries, and that no 
 one had ever been aggrieved by me. After 
 this, I read to the Galileans two of those epis- 
 tles which had been sent by Jonathan and his 
 colleagues, and which those whom I had ap- 
 pointed to guard the road had taken, and sent 
 to me. These were full of reproaches and of 
 lies, as if I had acted more like a tyrant than 
 a governor against them ; with many other 
 things besides therein contained, which were 
 no better indeed than impudent falsities. I 
 also informed the multitude how I came by 
 these letters, and that those who carried them 
 delivered them up voluntarily; for I was not 
 willing that my enemies should know any 
 thing of the guards I had set, lest they should 
 be afraid, and leave off writing hereafter. 
 
 51. When the multitude heard these things, 
 they were greatly provoked at Jonathan and 
 his colleagues that were with him, and were 
 going to attack thein. and kill them ; and this 
 they had certainly done, unless I had restrained 
 the anger of the Galileans, and said, that 
 " I forgave Jonathan and his colleagues what 
 was past, if they would repent, and go to 
 their own country, and tell those who sent 
 them the truth, as to my conduct." When I 
 had said this, I let them go, although I knew 
 they would do nothing of what they had pro- 
 mised. But the multitude were very much 
 enraged against them, and entreated me to 
 (^ve them leave to punish them for their inso- 
 lence; yet did I try all methods to persuade 
 them to spare the men; for I knew that every 
 instance of sedition was pernicious to the pub- 
 lic welfare. But the multitude was too angry [ 
 with them to be dissuaded ; and all of them 
 went immediately to the house in which Jona- 
 than and his colleagues abode. However, 
 when I perceived tnat their rage could not be 
 restrained, I got on horseback, and ordered 
 the multitude to follow me to the village So- 
 gane, which was twenty furlongs olFGabara; 
 and by using this stratagem, I so managed 
 myself, as not to appear to begin a civil war 
 amongst them. 
 
 52. But when I was come near Sogane, I 
 caused the multitude to make a halt, and ex- 
 horted them not to be so easily provoked to 
 anger, and to the inflicting such punishments as 
 could not be afterwards recalled: I also gave 
 order, that a hundred men, who were already 
 in years, and were principal men among them, 
 should get themselves ready to go to the city of 
 Jerusalem, and should make a complaint before 
 the people, of such as raised seditions in the 
 country. And I said to them, that " in case 
 they be moved with what you sa/, you shall de- 
 sire the community to write to me, and to enjoin 
 me to continue in Galilee, and to order Jona- 
 than and his colleagues to depart out of it." 
 When I had suggested these iristrut^tions to 
 them, and vvliilc they were ijettiug theuj*ulvcs 
 
 ready as fast as they could, I sent them on 
 this errand the third day after they had been 
 assembled: 1 also sent five hundred armed 
 men with them [as a guard]. I then 'wrote 
 to my friends in Samaria, to take care that 
 they might safely pass through the country: 
 for Samaria was already under the Romans, 
 and it was absolutely necessary for those that 
 go quickly [to Jerusalem] to pass through 
 that country; for in that road you may, in 
 three days' time, go from Galilee to Jerusa- 
 lem. I also went myself, and conducted the 
 old men as far as the bounds of Galilee, and 
 set guards in the roads, that it might not be 
 easily known by any one that these men were 
 gone. And when I had thus done, I went 
 and abode at Japha. 
 
 53. Now Jonathan and his colleagues, hav- 
 ing failed of accomplishing what they would 
 have done against me, sent John back to 
 Gischala, but went themselves to the city of 
 Tiberias, expecting it would submit itself to 
 them ; and this was founded on a letter which 
 Jesus, their then governor, had written them, 
 promising that, if they came, the multitude 
 would receive them, and choose to be under 
 their government ; so they went their ways 
 with this expectation. But Silas, who, as 
 I said, had been left curator of Tiberias by 
 me, informed me of this, and desired me to 
 make haste thither. Accordingly, I complied 
 with his advice immediately, and came thither ; 
 but found myself in danger of ray life, from 
 the following occasion: Jonathan and his col- 
 leagues had been at Tiberias, and had per- 
 suaded a great many of such as had a quarrel 
 with me to desert me; but when they heard 
 of ray coming, they were in fear for them- 
 selves, and came to me ; and when they had 
 saluted me, they said that I was a happy man 
 in having behaved myself so well in the go- 
 vernment of Galilee ; and they congratulated 
 me upon the honours that were paid me : for 
 they said that my glory was a credit to them, 
 since they had been my teachers and fellow- 
 citizens ; and they said farther, that it was but 
 just thayUiey should prefer my friendship to 
 them ratner than John's, and that they would 
 have immediately gone home, but that they 
 staid that they might deliver up John into my 
 power; and when they said this, they took 
 their oaths of it, and those such as are most 
 tremendous amongst us, and, such as I did not 
 think fit to disbelieve. However, they desired 
 me to lodge somewhere else, because the next 
 day was the Sabbath; and that it was not fit 
 the city of Tiberias should be disturbed [on 
 that day]. 
 
 54. So I suspected nothing, and went away 
 to Tarichea; yet did I withal leave some to 
 make inquiry in the city how matters were, 
 and whether any thing was said about me: I 
 also set many persons all the way that led 
 froiu Tariche:B to Tiberias, that they might 
 comnmui -ate from one to another, if they 
 
18 
 
 THE LIFE OF FLA7IUS J0SEPHU8. 
 
 learned any news from those that were left in 
 the city. On the next day, therefore, they 
 all camejnto the Proseucha;* it was a large 
 edifice, and capable of receiving a great num- 
 ber of people ; thither Jonathan went in, and 
 though he durst not openly speak of a revolt, 
 yet did he say that their city stood in need of 
 a better governor than it then had. But Jesus, 
 who was the ruler, made no scruple to speak 
 out, and said openly, " O fellow-citizens ! it 
 is better for you to be in subjection to four 
 than to one ; and those such as are of high 
 birth, and not without reputation for their 
 wisdom;" and pointed to Jonathan and his 
 colleagues. Upon his saying this, Justus came 
 in and commended him for what he had said, 
 and persuaded some of the people to be of 
 his mind also. But the multitude were not 
 pleased with what was said, and had certainly 
 gone into a tumult, unless the sixth hour, 
 which was now come, had dissolved the as- 
 sembly, at which hour our laws require us to 
 go to dinner on Sabbath-days ; so Jonathan 
 and his colleagues put off their council till the 
 next day, and went off without success. When 
 I was informed of these affairs, I determined 
 to go to the city of Tiberias in the morning. 
 Accordingly, on the next day, about the first 
 hour of the day, I came from Taricheae, and 
 found the multitude already assembled in the 
 Proseucha; but on what account they were 
 gotten together, those that were assembled did 
 not know. But when Jonathan and his col- 
 leagues saw me there unexpectedly, they 
 were in disorder; after which they raised a 
 report of their own contrivance, that Roman 
 horsemen were seen at a place called Union, 
 in the borders of Galilee, thirty furlongs dis- 
 tant from the city. Upon which report Jo- 
 nathan and his colleagues cunningly exhorted 
 me not to neglect this matter, nor to suffer 
 the land to be spoiled by the enemy. And 
 this they said with a design to remove me out 
 of the city, under the pretence of the want of 
 extraordinary assistance, while they might dis- 
 pose the city to be my enemy. 
 
 55. As for myself, although I knew of 
 their design, yet did I comply with what they 
 proposed, lest the people of Tiberias should 
 have occasion to suppose that I was not care- 
 ful of their security. I therefore went out; 
 but, when I was at the place, I found not the 
 least footstep of any enemy; so I returned as 
 fast as ever I could, and found the whole 
 council assembled, and the body of the peo- 
 ple gotten together, and Jonathan and his col- 
 leagues bringing vehement accusations against 
 me. as one who had no concern to ease them 
 
 • It U worth noting here, that thert waa now a ipreat 
 Prosrucba, or place of prayer, In the city of Tiberius 
 Itself, though such Proseucha used to be out of cities, hs 
 the synagogues were within them. Of them, see 1^ 
 Moyue on Polycarp's I-'pintle, page 76. It is also worth 
 «ur remark, that the Jews, in the days of Josephus, used 
 to dine at the sixth hour, or noon; and that, in obodicuoe 
 to their notions of tho law of Aloses al»& 
 
 of the burdens of war, and as one that live<3 
 luxuriously. And as they were discoursing 
 thus, they produced four letters as written to 
 them, from some people that lived at the bor- 
 ders of Galilee, imploring that they would 
 come to their assistance, for that there was an 
 army of Romans, both horsemen and foot- 
 men, who would come and lay waste the coun- 
 try on the third day; they desired them also 
 
 to make haste, and not to overlook them 
 
 When the people of Tiberias heard this, they 
 thought they spake truth, and made a clamour 
 against me, and said I ought not to sit still, 
 but to go away to the assistance of their coun- 
 trymen. Hereupon I said (for I understood 
 the meaning of Jonathan and his colleagues) 
 that I was ready to comply with what they 
 proposed, and without delay to march to the 
 war which they spake of, yet did I advise 
 them, at the same time, that since these let- 
 ters declared that the Romans would make 
 their assault in four several places, they should 
 part their forces into five bodies, and make 
 Jonathan and his colleagues generals of each 
 body of them, because it was fit for brave men 
 not only to give counsel, but to take the place 
 of leaders, and assist their countrymen when 
 such a necessity pressed them ; for, said I, it 
 is not possible for me to lead more than one 
 party. This advice ot mine greatly pleased 
 the multitude; so they compelled them to go 
 forth to the war. But their designs were put 
 into very much disorder, because they had not 
 done what they had designed to do, on account 
 of my stratagem, which was opposite to theii 
 undertakings. 
 
 56. Now there was one whose name wa» 
 Ananias (a wicked man he was, and very mis- 
 chievous); he proposed that a general religi- 
 ous fastf should be appointed the next day 
 for all the people, and gave order that at the 
 same hour they should come to the same place, 
 without any weapons, to make it manifest be- 
 fore God, that while they obtained his assis- 
 tance, they thought all these weapons useless. 
 This he said, not out of piety, but that they 
 might catch me and my friends unarmed, 
 i Now, I was hereupon forced to comply, lest 
 I should appear to despise a proposal that 
 tended to piety. As soon, therefore, as we 
 were gone home, Jonathan and his colleagues 
 wrote to John to come to them in the morn- 
 ing, and desiring him to come with as many 
 soldiers as he possibly could, for that they 
 should then be able easily to get me into their 
 hands, and to do all they desired to do.— 
 When John had received this letter, he resolv- 
 ed to comply with it. As for myself, on the 
 next day, I ordered two of the guards of my 
 body, whom I esteemed the most courageous 
 and most faithful, to hide daggers under their 
 
 ■f One may observe here, that this lay-Pharisee, Ana* 
 nias, as we have seen he was (sect. 31*). took upon him U- 
 appoint a fast at I ibrrias. and was obeyed ; though lu 
 deed it was not out ot religion, but knavish policy. 
 
THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPIIUS. 
 
 19 
 
 garments, and to go along with me, that we 
 might defend ourselves, if any attack should 
 be made upon us by our enemies. I also my- 
 self took my breast- plate, and girded on my 
 sword, so that it might be, as far as it was pos- 
 sible, concealed, and came into the Proseucha. 
 
 57. Now Jesus, who was the ruler, com- 
 manded that they should exclude all that came 
 with me, for he kept the door himself, and 
 suffered none but his friends to go in. And 
 while we were engaged in the duties of the 
 day, and had betaken ourselves to our pray- 
 ers, Jesus got up, and inquired of me what 
 was become of the vessels that were taken out 
 of the king's palace when it w^as burnt down, 
 [and] of that uncoined silver: and in whose 
 possession they now were ? This he said, in 
 order to drive away time till John should come. 
 I said that Capellus, and the ten principal men 
 of Tiberias, had them all ; and I told him that 
 they might ask them whether I told a lie or 
 not. And when they said they had them, he 
 asked me. What is become of those twenty 
 pieces of gold which thou didst receive upon 
 the sale of a certain weight of uncoined mo- 
 ney? I replied, that I had given them to 
 those ambassadors of theirs, as a maintenance 
 for them, when they were sent by them to Je- 
 rusalem. So Jonathan and his colleagues said 
 that I had not done well to pay the ambassa- 
 dors out of the public money. And when 
 the multitude were very angry at them for 
 this, for they perceived the wickedness of the 
 men, I understood that a tumult was going to 
 arise ; and being desirous to provoke the peo- 
 ple to a greater rage against the men, I said, 
 " But if I have not done well in paying our 
 ambassadors out of the public stock, leave off 
 your anger at me, for I will repay the twenty 
 pieces of gold myself." 
 
 58. When I had said this, Jonathan and 
 his colleagues held their peace; but the peo- 
 ple were still more irritated against them, 
 upon their openly showing their unjust ill-will 
 to me. When Jesus sayv this change in the 
 people, he ordered them to depart, but desired 
 the senate to stay, for that they could not 
 examine things of such a nature in a tumult; 
 and as the people were crying oui that they 
 would not leave me alone, there came one 
 and told Jesus and his friends privately, that 
 John and his armed men were at hand : where- 
 upon Jonathan and his colleagues, being able 
 to contain themselves no longer (and perhaps 
 the providence of God hereby procuring my 
 deliverance, for, had not this been so, I had 
 certainly been destroyed by John), said, " O 
 you people of Tiberias ! leave off this inquiry 
 about the twenty pieces of gold; for Josephus 
 hath not deserved to die for them ; but he 
 hath deserved it by his desire of tyrannizing, 
 and by cheating the multitude of the Gali- 
 leans with his speeches, in order to f,'ain the 
 dominion over them." When he had said 
 this, they presently laid hands upon uie, and 
 
 endeavoured to kill me : but as soon as those 
 that were with me saw what they did, they 
 drew their swords, and threatened to smite 
 them, if they offered any violence to me. 
 The people also took up stones, and were 
 about to throw them at Jonathan; and so 
 they snatched me from the violence of my 
 enemies. 
 
 59. But as I was gone out a little way, I 
 was just upon meeting John, who was march- 
 ing with his armed men. So I was afraid of 
 him, and turned aside, and escaped by a nar- 
 row passage to the lake, and seized on a ship, 
 and embarked in it, and sailed over to Tari- 
 cheiB. So, beyond my expectation, I escaped 
 this danger. Whereupon I presently sent for 
 the chief of the Galileans, and told them after 
 what manner, against all faith given, 1 had 
 been very near to destruction from Jonathan 
 and his colleagues, and the people of Tiberias. 
 Upon which the multitude of the Galileans 
 were very angry, and encouraged me to delay 
 no longer to make war upon them, but to 
 permit them to go against John, and utterly 
 to destroy him, as well as Jonathan and his 
 colleagues. However, I restrained them, 
 though they were in such a rage, and desired 
 them to tarry awhile, till we should be in- 
 formed what orders those ambassadors that 
 were sent by them to the city of Jerusalem 
 should bring thence ; for I told them that it 
 was best to act according to their determina- 
 tion; whereupon they were prevailed on. At 
 which time also John, when the snares he 
 had laid did not take effect, returned back to 
 Gischala. 
 
 60. Now, in a few days those ambassadors 
 whom we had sent, came back again and in- 
 formed us that the people were greatly pro- 
 voked at Ananus, and Simon the son of Ga- 
 maliel, and their friends ; that, without any 
 public determination, they had sent to Gali- 
 lee, and had done their endeavours that I 
 might be turned out of the government. The 
 ambassadors said farther, that the people were 
 ready to burn their houses. They also brought 
 letters, whereby the chief men of Jerusalem, 
 at the earnest petition of the people, confirmed 
 me in the government of Galilee, and en- 
 joined Jonathan and his colleagues to return 
 home quickly. When I had gotten these 
 letters, I came to the village Arbela, where I 
 procured an assembly of the Galileans to meet, 
 and bid the ambassadors declare to them the 
 anger of the people of Jerusalem at what had 
 been done by Jonathan and his colleagues, 
 and how much they hated their wicked doings, 
 and how they had confirmed me in the go- 
 vernment of their country, as also what related 
 to the order they had in writing for Jona- 
 than and his colleagues to return home. So 
 I immediately sent them the letter, and bid 
 him that carried it to inquire, as well as he 
 could, how they intended to act [on this occa- 
 sion]. 
 
20 
 
 THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 61. Now when they nad received that let- 
 tfef, and were thereby £,-reatly disturbed, they 
 sent for John, and for the senators of Tibe- 
 rias, and for the principal men of the Gaba- 
 rens, and proposed to hold a council, and de- 
 sired them to consider what was to be done 
 by them. However, the governors of Ti!)e- 
 rias were greatly disposed to keep the govern- 
 ment to themselves; for thfey said it was not 
 tit to desert their city, now it was committed 
 to their trust, and that otherwise I should not 
 delay to fall upon them ; for they pretended 
 falsely that so I had threatened to do. Now 
 John was not only of their opinion, but ad- 
 vised them, that two of them should go to 
 accuse me before the multitude [at Jerusa- 
 lem], that I did not manage the affairs of 
 Galilee as I ought to do; and that they would 
 easily persuade the people, because of their 
 dignity, and because the whole multitude were 
 very mutable. — When, therefore, it appeared 
 that John had suggested the wisest advice to 
 them, they resolved that two of them, Jona- 
 than and Ananias, should go to the people of 
 Jerusalem, and the other two [Simon and 
 Joazar] should be left behind to tarry at Tibe- 
 rias. They also took along with them a hun- 
 dred soldiers for their guard. 
 
 62. However, the governors of Tiberias 
 took care to have their city secured with walls, 
 and commanded their inhabitants to take their 
 arms. They also sent for a great many sol- 
 diers from John, to assist them against me, if 
 there should be occasion for them. Now 
 John was at Gischala. Jonathan, therefore, 
 and those that were with him, when they were 
 departed from Tiberias, and as soon as they 
 were come to Dabaritta, a village that lay in 
 the utmost parts of Galilee, in the great plain, 
 they, about midnight, fell among the guards 
 i had set, who both commanded them to lay 
 aside their weapons, and kept them in bonds 
 upon the place, as 1 had charged them to do. 
 This news was written to me by Levi, who 
 had the command of that guard committed to 
 him by me. Hereupon 1 said nothing of it 
 for two days; and, pretending to know no- 
 thing about it, I sent a message to the people 
 of Tiberias, and advised them to lay their 
 arms aside, and to dismiss their men, that they 
 might go home; but supposing that Jona- 
 than, and those that were with them, were al- 
 ready arrived at Jerusalem, they made re- 
 proachful answers to me; yet was I not terri- 
 fied thereby, but contrived another stratagem 
 against them ; for I did not think it agreeable 
 with piety to kindle the fire of war against the 
 citizens. As I was desirous to draw those 
 men away from Tiberias, I chose out ten 
 thousand of the best of my armed men, and 
 divided them into three bodies, and ordered 
 them to go privately, and lie still as an am- 
 busli, in the villages. I also led a thousand 
 into another village, which lay indeed in the 
 mouHtains, as did thv others, but only four 
 
 furlongs distant from Tiberias; and gave 
 orders, that when they saw my signal, they 
 should come down immediately, while I my- 
 self lay with my soldiers in the sight of every 
 body. Hereupon the people of Tiberias, as 
 the sight of me, came running out of the city 
 perpetually, and abused me greatly. Nay, 
 their madness was come to that height, that 
 they made a decent bier for me, and, standing 
 about it, they mourned over me in the way of 
 jest and sport; and I could not but be my- 
 self in a pleasant humour upon the sight of 
 this madness of theirs. 
 
 63. And now being desirous to catch Simon' 
 by a wile, and Joazar with him, I sent a nies- 
 sage to them, and desired them to come a 
 little way out of the city, and many of their 
 friends to guard them; for I said I would 
 come down to them, and make a league with 
 them, and divide the government of Galilee 
 with them. Accordingly Simon was deluded, 
 on account of his imprudence, and out of the 
 hopes of gain, and did not delay to come; 
 but Joazar, suspecting snares were laid for 
 him, staid behind. So when Simon was come 
 out, and his friends w^ith him for his guard, 
 I met him, and saluted him with great civi- 
 lity, and professed that 1 was obliged to hinj 
 for his coining up to me ; but a little while 
 afterwards 1 walked along with him, as though 
 I would say something to him by himself; 
 and when I had drawn him a good way from 
 his friends, I took him about the middle, and 
 gave him to my friends that were with me, 
 to carry him into a village; and commanding 
 my armed men to rome down, I with them 
 made an assault upon Tiberias. Now, as the 
 fight grew hot on both sides, and the soldiers 
 belonging to Tiberias were in a fair way to 
 conquer me (for in\ armed men were already 
 fled awayj, I saw the jxjsture of my affairs; 
 and encouraging those that were with me, I 
 pursued those of Tiberias, even when they 
 were already conquerors, into the city. I 
 also sent another band of soldiers into the 
 city by the lake, aiid'ga^e them orders to set 
 on fire the first house they could seize upon. 
 When this was done the people of Tiberias 
 thought that their city was taken by force, 
 and so threw down their arms for fear; and 
 implored, they, their wives, and children, that 
 I would spare their (rity. So I was overper- 
 suaded by their entreaties, and restrained the 
 soldiers from the vehemency with which they 
 pursued them; while I myself, upon the com- 
 ing on of the evening, returned back with my 
 soldiers, and went to refresh myself. I also 
 invited Simon to sup with me, and comforted 
 him on occasion of what had happened ; and 
 I promised that I would send him safe and 
 secure to Jerusalem, and withal would give 
 him provisions for liis journey thither. 
 
 64. But on the ni'xt day, I brought ten 
 thousand arim-d men with me, and came to Ti- 
 bet las. 1 then sent tor I be principal men uf the 
 
THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 21 
 
 multitude into the public place, and enjoined 
 them to tell me who were the authors of the 
 revolt; and when they told ine who the men 
 were, I sent them bound to the city Jotapata; 
 but as to Jonathan and Ananias, I freed them 
 from their bond>-, and gave them provisions 
 for their journey, together with Simon and 
 Joazar, and five hundred ariaed men who 
 should guurd them; and so i sent them to 
 Jerusalem. The people of Tiberias also casne 
 to me again, and desired that 1 would forgive 
 them for what they had done; and they said 
 they would amend what they had done amiss 
 with regard to nje, by their fidelity for the 
 dme to come; and they besought me to pre- 
 serve what spoils remained upon the plunder 
 of the city, for those that had lost them. 
 Accordingly, I enjoined those that had got 
 them, to bring them all before us; and when 
 they did not comply for a great while, and I saw 
 one of the soldiers that were about rae with a 
 garment un that was more splendid than ordi- 
 aary, I asked him whence he had it; and when 
 he replied that be had it out of the plunder 
 of the city, I had him punished with stripes; 
 and I threatened all the rest to inflict a severer 
 punishment upon them, unless they produced 
 before us whatsoever they had plundered ; and 
 when a great many spoils were brought to- 
 gether, I restored to every one of Tiberias 
 what they claimed to be their own. 
 
 65. And now I am come to this part of 
 tay narration, I have a mind to say a few 
 things to Justus, who hath himself written a 
 history concerning these affairs; as also to 
 others who profess to write history, but have 
 little regard to truth, and are not afraid, either 
 out of ill-will or good- will to some persons, 
 to relate falsehoods. These men do like those 
 who compose forged deeds and conveyances; 
 and because they are not brought to the like 
 punishment with them, they have no regard 
 to truth. When, therefore, Justus undertook 
 to write about these facts, and about the 
 ■ Jewish war, that he might appear to have 
 been an industrious man, he falsified in what 
 he related about me, and could not speak 
 truth even about his own country; whence it 
 is, that, being belied by him, I am under a 
 necessity to make my defence ; and so I shall 
 say what I have concealed till now; and let 
 no one wonder that I have not told the world 
 these things.a great while ago; for although 
 it be necessary for a historian to write the 
 truth, yet is such a one not bound severely to 
 animadvert on the wickedness of certain men, 
 — not out of any favour to them, but out of 
 an author's own moderation. How then 
 comes it to pass, O Justus! thou most saga- 
 cious of writers (that 1 may address myself 
 to him as if he were here presentj, for so thou 
 boastest of thyself, that I and the Galileans 
 have been the authors of that sedition which 
 thy country engaged in. both against the Ro- 
 mans and against the king [Agrippa, junior]? 
 
 — for before ever I was appointed governor 
 of Galilee by the community of Jerusalem, 
 both thou and all the people of Tiberias had 
 not only taken up arms, but had made war 
 with Decapolis of Syria. Accordingly, thou 
 hadst ordered their villages to be burnt, and a 
 domestic servant of thine fell in the battle. 
 Nor is it I only M'ho say this ; but so it is 
 written in the Commentaries of Vespasian, 
 the emperor^ as also how the inhabitants of 
 Decapolis came clamouring to Vespasian at 
 Ptolemais, and desired that thou, who wast 
 the author £of that war], mightst be brought 
 to punishment^ and thou hadst certainly been 
 punished at the command of Vespasian, had 
 not king Agrippa, wiio had power given him 
 to have thee put to death, at the earnest en- 
 treaty of bis sister Bernice, changed the pu- 
 nishment from death into a long imprison- 
 ment. Thy political administration of afiairs 
 afterward doth also clearly discover both thy 
 other behaviour in life, and that thou wast the 
 occasion of thy country's revolt from the Ro- 
 mans; plain signs of which I shall produce 
 presently. I have also a mind to say a few 
 things to the rest of the people of Tiberias on 
 thy account; and to demonstrate to those 
 that light upon this history, that you bear no 
 good- will, neither to the Romans nor to the 
 king. To be sure, the greatest cities of Gali- 
 lee, O Justus ! were Sepphoris, and thy coun- 
 try Tiberias; but Sepphoris, situated in the 
 very midst of Galilee, and having many vil- 
 lages about it, and able with ease to have been 
 bold and troublesome to the Romans, if they 
 had so pleased, — yet did it resolve to con- 
 tinue faithful to those their masters, and at 
 the same time excluded me out of their city, 
 and prohibited all their citizens from joining 
 with the Jews in the war ; and, that they might 
 be out of danger from me, they, by a wile, 
 got leave of me to fortify their city with walls; 
 they also, of their own accord, admitted of a 
 garrison of Roman legions, sent them by Ces- 
 tius Gallus, who was then president of Syria, 
 and so had rae in contempt, though I was then 
 very powerful, and all were greatly afraid of 
 me ; and at the same time that the greatest of 
 our cities, Jerusalem was besieged, and that 
 temple of ours, which belonged to us all, was 
 in danger of falling under the enemy's power; 
 they sent no assistance thither, as not willing 
 to have it thought they would bear arms 
 against the Romans; but as for thy country, 
 O Justus! situated upon the lake of Gene- 
 sareth, and distant from Hippos thirty fur- 
 longs, from Gadara sixty, and from Scytho- 
 polis, which was under the king's jurisdiction, 
 a hundred and twenty; when there was no 
 Jewish city near, it might easily have pre- 
 served its fidelity [to the Romans] if it had so 
 pleased them to do ; for the city and its peo- 
 ple had plenty of weapons ; but, as thou say- 
 est, I was then the author [of their revolt] ; 
 and pray, O Justus! wh« was that author t^' 
 
22 
 
 THE LIFE OF FLAVILS JOSLPIIT S. 
 
 terwardsf — ^forthou knowest that I was in the 
 power of the Romans before Jerusalem was 
 besieged, and before the same time Jotapata 
 was taken by force, as well as many other for- 
 tresses, and a great many of the Galileans 
 fell in the war. It was therefore then a pro- 
 per time, when you were certainly freed from 
 any fear on my account, to throw away your 
 weapons, and to demonstrate to the king and 
 to the Romans, that it was not of choice, but 
 as forced by necessity, that you fell into the 
 war against them ; but you staid till Vespasian 
 came himself as far as your walls, with his 
 whole army; and then you did indeed lay 
 aside your weapons out of ffear, and your city 
 had for certain been taken by force, unless 
 Vespasian had complied with the king's sup- 
 plication for you, and had excused your mad- 
 ness. It was not I, therefore, who was the 
 author of this, but your own inclinations to 
 war. Do not you remember how often I got 
 you under my power, and yet put none of you 
 to death? Nay, you once fell into a tumult 
 one against another, and slew one hundred 
 and eighty-five of your citizens, not on ac- 
 count of your good-will to the king and to 
 the Romans, but on account of your own 
 wickedness, and this while I was besieged by 
 the Romans in Jotapata. Nay, indeed, were 
 there not reckoned up two thousand of the 
 people of Tiberias during the siege of Jeru- 
 salem, some of whom were slain, and the rest 
 caught and carried captives? But thou wilt 
 pretend that thou didst not engage in the war, 
 since thou didst flee to the king ! Yes, indeed, 
 thou didst flee to him ; but I say it was out of 
 fear of me. Thou sayest, indeed, that it is I 
 who am a wicked man. But then, for what 
 reason was it that king Agrippa, who procured 
 thee thy life when thou wast condemned to 
 die by Vespasian, and who bestowed so much 
 riches upon thee, did twice afterward put thee 
 in bonds, and as often obliged thee to run 
 away from thy country, and, when he had once 
 ordered thee to be put to death, he granted 
 thee a pardon at the earnest desire of Ber- 
 nice? And when (after so many of thy wicked 
 pranks) he had made thee his secretary, he 
 caught thee falsifying his epistles, and drove 
 thee away from his sight. But I shall not 
 inquire accurately into these matters of scan- 
 dal against thee. Yet cannot I but wonder 
 at thy impudence, when thou hast the assur- 
 ance to say, that thou hast better related these 
 aflfiiirs [of the war] than have all the others 
 that have written aboutthem, whilst thou didst 
 iOt know what was done in Galileo; for thou 
 /ast then at Berytus with the king; nor didst 
 thou know how much the Romans suffered at 
 the siege of Jotapata, or what miseries they 
 brought upon us; nor couldst thou learn by 
 inquiry what I did during that siege myself; 
 for all those that might afford such informa- 
 tion were quite destroyed in that siege. But 
 p«rhAp» thou wilt say, thou bast written of 
 
 what was done against the pecpfe of Jerosa. 
 lem exactly. But how should that be? fos 
 neither wast thou concerned in that .war, nw 
 hast thou read the commentaries of Caesar ; 
 of which we have evident proof, because thou 
 hast contradicted those commentaries of Cnesar 
 in thy history. But if thou art so hardy as 
 to affirm that thou hast written that history bet- 
 ter than all the rest, why didst thou not pub- 
 lish thy history while the emperors Vespasian 
 and Titus, the generals in that war, as well as 
 king Agrippa and his family, who were men 
 very well skilled in the learning of the Greeks, 
 were all alive? for thou hast had it written 
 these twenty years, and then mightst thou 
 have had their testimony of thy accuracy. But 
 now when these men are no longer with us, 
 and thou thinkest thou canst not be contra- 
 dicted, thou venturest to publish it. But the.T 
 I was not in like manner afraid of ray own 
 writing, but I offered my books to the emper- 
 ors themselves, when the facts were almost 
 under men's eyes; for I was conscious to my- 
 self that I had observed the truth of the facts; 
 and as I expected to have their attestation to 
 them, so I was not deceived in such expecta- 
 tion. Moreover, I immediately presented my 
 history to many other persons, some of whom 
 were concerned in the war, as was king Agrip- 
 pa and some of his kindred. Now the em- 
 peror Titus was so desirous that the knowledge 
 of these affairs should be taken from these 
 books alone, that he subscrihed his own hand 
 to them, and ordered that they should be pub- 
 lished; and for king Agrippa, he wrote me sixty- 
 two letters, and attested to the truth of what 
 I had therein delivered; two of which letters 
 I have here subjoined, and thou mayst thereby 
 know their contents: — " King Agrippa to 
 Josephus, his dear friend, sendeth greeting. I 
 have read over thy book with great pleasure, 
 and it appears to me that thou hast done it 
 much more accurately, and with greater rare, 
 than have the other writers. Seiul me the rest 
 of these books. Farewell, my dear friend." 
 " King Agrippa to Josephus, his dear friend, 
 sendeth greeting. It seems by what thou hast 
 written, that thou standest in need of no in- 
 struction, in order to our information from the 
 beginning. However, when thou comest to 
 me, I will inform thee of a great many things 
 which thou dost not know." So when this 
 history was perfected, Agrippa, neither by way 
 of flattery, which was not agreeable to bin), 
 nor by way of irony, as thou wilt say (for he 
 was entirely a stranger to such an evil dispo- 
 sition of mind), but he wrote this by way of 
 attestation to what was true, as all that road 
 histories may do. And so much shall be said 
 concerning Justus,' which I am obliged to 
 add by way of digression. 
 
 • The chamcter of thw hisfnnr of Justus of Tihtrian, 
 the rival of our .InKfijIiii* whioh \» m-w lost, with it« 
 Hilly remainiiii; fi;ii;iii(Tit. urt- uivfii ii<i by a verv able 
 critic, t'hbtiu.H, wliu rr;i(] that history It is in ih« 3J() 
 
THE LIFE OF FLAVItIS JOSRPHUS. 
 
 23 
 
 60. Now, when I had settled the affairs of | 
 Tiberias, and had assembled my friends as a 
 sanhedrim, I consulted what I should do as to 
 John: whereupon it appeared to be the opin- 
 ion of all the Galileans that I should arm 
 them all, and march against John, and punish 
 him as the author of all the disorders that had 
 happened. Yet was not I pleased with their 
 determination ; as purposing to compose these 
 troubles without bloodsheti. Upon this I ex- 
 horted them to use the utmost care to learn 
 the names of all that were under John ; which 
 when they had done, and I thereby was ap- 
 prized who the men were, I published an edict, 
 wherein I offered security and iny right hand 
 ■to such of John's party as had a mind to re- 
 pent; and I allowed twenty days' time to such 
 as would take this most advantageous course 
 for themselves. I also threatened, that unless 
 they threw down their arras, I would burn 
 their houses, and expose their goods to public 
 sale. When the men heard of this, they were 
 in no small disorder, and deserted John; and 
 to the number of four thousand threw down 
 their arms, and came to me. So that no others 
 staid with John but his own citizens, and about 
 fifteen hundred strangers that came from the 
 metropolis of Tyre; and when John saw that 
 he had been outwitted by my stratagem, he 
 continued afterward in his own country, and 
 WHS in great fear of me. 
 
 H7. But about this time it was that the peo- 
 ple of Sepphoris grew insolent, and took up 
 arms, out of a confidence they had in the 
 strength of their walls, and because they saw 
 me engaged in other affairs also. So they 
 sent to Cestius Gallus, who was president of 
 Syria, and desired that he would either come 
 quickly to them, and take their city under his 
 protection, or send them a garrison. Accord- 
 ihgly Gallus promised' them to come, but 
 did not send word when he would come: and 
 when I had learned so much, I took the sol- 
 diers that were with me, and made an assault 
 
 cixle of his Blbliotheca, and runs thus:— "I have read 
 (says Photius) the chronolosry of Justus of Tiberias, 
 whose title is this, [7'Ae Chronology of] the Kings of 
 Judak, nhich succeeded one another. This [Justus] came 
 out of the city of Tiberias in Galilee. He begins his 
 history from Moses, and ends it not till the death of 
 Acrippa, the seventh [ruler] of the family of Herod, and 
 the last kin^ of the Jews; who took the Rovernment 
 under Claudius, bad it ausrmented under Nero, and still 
 more augmented by Vespasian. He died in the third 
 year of Trajan, when also his history ends. He is ver\ 
 concise in his language, and slightly passes over tbost- 
 affairs that were most necessary to be insisted on,- and 
 being under the Jewish prejudices, as indeed he waf him 
 self also a Jew by birth, he makes not the least mention 
 of the appearance of Christ, of what things happened to 
 him, or of the wonderful works that he did. He was the 
 son of a certain Jew, whose name was Pistus. He was 
 a man, as he is described by Josephus. of a most profli- 
 tfate character; a slave both to money and to pleasure, 
 in public affairs he was opposite to Josephus; and it i-- 
 niated, that he laid many plots against him; but thai 
 Josephus. though he had his enemy frequently under his 
 power, did only reproach him in words, and so let liiiii 
 p. I without farther punishment. He says also, thit trie 
 histc-.ry which this man wrote is for the main fabulous, 
 and chiefly as to those parts win re he dt-scribes the Ko- 
 maa war with the Jews, and the takin:; ul JerusalLui." 
 
 upon the people of Sepphoris, ana took the 
 city by force. The Galileans took this op- 
 portunity, as thinking they had now a proper 
 time for showing their hatred to them, since 
 they bore ill-will to that city also. They then 
 exerted themselves, as if they would destroy 
 them all utterly, with those that sojourned 
 there also. So they ran uponthem, and set 
 their houses on fire, as finding them without 
 inhabitants; for the men, out of fear, ran to- 
 gether to the citadel. So the Galileans car- 
 ried off every thing, and omitted no kind of 
 desolation which they could bring upon their 
 countrymen. When I saw this, I was ex- 
 ceedingly troubled at it, and cominanded them 
 to leave off, and put them in mind that it was 
 not agreeable to piety to do such things to 
 their countrymen: but since they neither 
 would hearken to what I exhorted, nor to 
 what I commanded them to do (for the haired 
 they bore to the people there was too hard for 
 my exhortations to them), I bade those my 
 friends, who were most faithful to me, and 
 were about me, to give out reports, as if the 
 Romans were falling upon the other part of 
 the city with a great army ; and this I did, 
 that, by such a report being spread abroad, I 
 might restrain the violence of the Galileans, 
 and preserve the city of Sepphoris. And at 
 length this stratagem had its effect; for, upon 
 hearing this report, they were in fear for them- 
 selves, and so they left off plundering, atid ran 
 away; and this more especially, because they 
 saw me, their general, do the same also; for, 
 that I might cause this report to be believed, 
 
 I preteiuled to be in fear as well as they 
 
 Thus were the inhabitants of Sepphoris un- 
 expectedly preserved by this contrivance of 
 mine. 
 
 68. Nay, indeed, Tiberias had like to have 
 been plundered by the Galileans also upon the 
 following occasion: — The chief men of the 
 senate wrote to the king, and desired that he 
 would come to them, and take possession of 
 their city. The king promised to come, and 
 wrote a letter in answer to theirs, and gave it 
 to one of his bed-chamber, whose name was 
 Crispus, and who was by birth a Jew, to carry 
 it to Tiberias. When the Galileans knew that 
 this man carried such a letter, they caught him 
 and brought him to me; but as soon as the 
 whole multitiule heard of it, they were en- 
 raged, and betook themselves to their arms. 
 So a great many of them got together from 
 all quarters the next day, and came to the city 
 Asochis, where 1 then lodged, and made heavy 
 clamours, and called the city of Tiberias a 
 traitor to them, and a friend to the king; ana 
 desired leave of me to go down and utterly de- 
 stroy it; for they bore the like ill-will to the 
 people of Tiberias as they did to those of Sep- 
 phoris. 
 
 69. When I heard this, I was in doubt what 
 to do, and he-itated l)y what means I might 
 deliver Tiberius frutn the ra^'t of ihc Gali- 
 
24 
 
 THE LIFI-: OF FLAVIUS JO.SEFHUS. 
 
 leans; for I could not deny that tliose of Ti- 
 berias had written to the kinj^, and invited hnn 
 to come to them; for his letters to them, in 
 answer thereto, would fully prove the truth of 
 that. So 1 sat a long time umsiiig with my- 
 self, and then said to them, " I know well 
 enough that the people of Tiberias have of- 
 fended; nor shall I forbid you to plunder the 
 city. However, such things ought to be done 
 with discretion; for they of Tiberias have not 
 been the only betrayers of our liberty, but 
 many cf the most eminent patriots of the 
 Galileans, as they pretended to be, have done 
 the same. Tarry therefore till 1 shall thor- 
 oughly find out those authors of our danger, 
 and then you shall have them all at once under 
 your power, with all such as you shall your- 
 selves bring in also." Upon my saying this, 
 I pacified the multitude, and they left off their 
 anger, and went their ways ; and I gave or- 
 ders that he who brought the king's letters 
 should be put into bonds; but in a few days 
 I pretended that I was obliged, by a necessary 
 affair of my own, to go out of the kingdom. 
 I then called Crispus privately, and ordered 
 him to make the soldier that kept him drunk, 
 and to run away to the king. So when Ti- 
 berias was in danger of being utterly destroyed 
 a second time, it escaped the danger by my 
 skilful management, and the care that I had 
 for its preservation. 
 
 70. About this time it was that Justus, the 
 son of Pistus, without my knowledge, ran 
 away to the king ; the occasion of which I 
 will here relate. Upon the beginning of the 
 war between the Jews and the Romans, the 
 people of Tiberias resolved to submit to the 
 king, and not to revolt from the Romans; 
 while Justus tried to persuade them to betake 
 themselves to their arms, as being himself de- 
 sirous of innovations, and having hopes of 
 obtaining the government of Galilee, as well 
 as of his own country [Tiberias] also. Yet 
 did he not obtain what he hoped for, because 
 the Galileans bore ill-will to those of Tiberias, 
 and this on account of their anger at what 
 miseries they had suffered from them before 
 the war ; thence it was that they would not 
 endure that Justus should be their governor. 
 I myself also, who had been uitrusted by the 
 community of -Jerusalem with the govern- 
 ment of Galilee, did frequently come to that 
 degree of rage at Justus, that I had aln)ost 
 resolved to kill him, as not able to bear his 
 mischievous disposition. He was therefore 
 much afraid of me, lest at length my passion 
 should come to extremity; so lie went to the 
 king, as supposing that he would dwell better 
 and more safely with him. 
 
 71. Now when the people of Sepphoris 
 had, in so surprising a manner, escaped their 
 first danger, they sent to Cestius Gall us, and 
 dcirired him to come to them iunnediately, and 
 take possession of their city, or elsf to send 
 I'orces sutlicient to rcprci>:i all ihuir cmicmuus' 
 
 incursions upon them ; and at the last they 
 did prevail with Gallus to send them a consi- 
 derabh^ army, both of horse and foot, which 
 came in the night-time, and which tliey ad- 
 mitted into the city. But when the country 
 round about it was harassed by the Roman 
 army, I took those soldiers that were about 
 me, and came to Garisme, where 1 cast up a 
 bank, a good way off the city Sepphoris; and 
 when 1 was at twenty furlongs distance, I 
 came upon it by night, and made an assault 
 upon its walls with my forces: and when 1 
 had ordered a considerable number of my sol- 
 diers to scale them with ladders, I became 
 master of the greatest part of the city. But 
 soon after, our unacquaintedness with the 
 places forced us to retire, after we had killed 
 twelve of the Roman footmen, and two horse- 
 men, and a few of the people of Sej)phoris, 
 with the loss of only a single man of our own. 
 And when it afterwards came to a battle in 
 the plain against the horsemen, and we had 
 undergone the dangers of it courageously for 
 a long time, we were beaten; for upon the 
 Romans encompassing me about, my solditM'u 
 were afraid, and fled back. There fell in that 
 battle one of those that had been intrusted to 
 guard my body; his name was Justus, who 
 at this time had the same post with the king. 
 At the same time also there came forces, both 
 horsemen and footmen, from the king, and 
 Sylla their commander, who w^as the capt;iif» 
 of his guard ; this Sylla pitched his can)p at 
 five furlongs distance from Julias, and set a 
 guard upon the roads, both that which led to 
 Cana, and that which led to the fortress 
 Gamala, that he might hinder their inhabi- 
 tants from getting provisions out of Galilee. 
 
 72. As soon as I had got intelligence of 
 this, I sent two thousand armed men, and a 
 captain over them, whose name was Jereniiiili, 
 who raised a bank a furlong off Julias, neur 
 to the river Jordan, and did no more th;in 
 skirmish with the enemy ; till I took three 
 thousand soldiers myself, and came to thcui 
 But on the next day, when I had laid an am- 
 bush in a certain valley, not far from the 
 banks, I provoked those that belonged to the 
 king to come to a battle, and gave orders to 
 my own soldiers to turn their backs upon 
 them, until they should have drawn the ene- 
 my away from their camp, and brought tlu-u) 
 out into the field, which was done accord- 
 ingly; for Sylla, supposing that our party did 
 really run away, was ready to pursue tlieui, 
 when our soldiers that lay in ambush took 
 them on their backs, and put them all into 
 great disorder. I also inunediately made a 
 sudden turn with my own forces, and met 
 those of the king's party, and put them to 
 flight. And I had performed great things 
 that day, if a certain fate had not been my 
 hindcrance ; for the horse on which I ro'io, 
 uiid upon whose ItMek I fought, fell iiuo a 
 quagmire, and threw me on the ground; luid 
 
THE MFK. OF FI.AVIUS JOSFPHUS. 
 
 25 
 
 I was bruised on my wrist, and carried into a 
 village named Cepharnome, or Capernaum. 
 When my soldiers heard of this, they were 
 afraid I had been worse hurt than I was; 
 and so they did not go on with their pursuit 
 any farther, but returned in very great con- 
 cern for me. I therefore sent for the phy- 
 sicians, and while I was under their hands, I 
 continued feverish that day; and as the phy- 
 sicians directed, I was that night removed to 
 Taricheae. 
 
 73. When Sylla and his party were in- 
 formed what happened to me, they took cou- 
 rage again; and understanding that the watch 
 was negligently kept in our camp, they by 
 night placed a body of horsemen in ambush 
 beyond Jordan, and when it was day they 
 provoked us to fight; and as we did not re- 
 fuse it, but came into the plain, their horse- 
 men appeared out of that ambush in which 
 they had lain, and put our men into disorder, 
 and made them run away; so they slew six 
 men of our side. Yet did they not go off 
 with the victory at last; for when they heard 
 that some armed men were sailed from Ta- 
 richeae to Julias, they were afraid, and retired. 
 
 74. It was not now long before Vespasian 
 came to Tyre, and king Agrippa with him ; 
 but the Tyrians began to speak reproachfully 
 of the king, and called him an enemy to the 
 Romans ; for they said that Philip, the gene- 
 ral of his army, had betrayed the royal palace 
 and the Roman forces that were in Jerusa- 
 lem, and that it was done by his command. 
 When Vespasian heard of this report, he re- 
 buked the Tyrians for abusing a man who 
 was both a king and a friend to the Romans ; 
 but he exhorted the king to send Philip to 
 Rome, to answer for what he had done before 
 Nero. But when Philip was sent thither, he 
 did not come into the sight of Nero, for he 
 found him very near death, on account of the 
 troubles that then happened, and a civil war; 
 and so he returned to the king. But when 
 Vespasian was come to Ptolemais, the chief 
 men of Decapolis of Syria made a clamour 
 against Justus of Tiberias, because he had 
 set their villages on fire: so Vespasian de- 
 livered him to the king, to be put to death by 
 those under the king's jurisdiction; yet did 
 the king [only] put him into bonds, and con- 
 cealed what he had done from Vespasian, as I 
 ha.e before related. But the people of Sep- 
 phvris met Vespasian, and saluted him, and 
 had forces sent him, with Placidus their com- 
 mander: he also went up with them, as I 
 also followed them, till Vespasian came rnto 
 Galilee. As to which coming of his, and 
 after what manner it wa3 ordered, and how 
 he fought his first battle with me near the 
 village Taricheae, and how from thence they 
 went to Jotapata, and how I was taken alive, 
 and bound, and how I was afterwards loosed, 
 with all that was done by me in the Jewish 
 war, and during the siege of Jerusalem, I 
 
 have accurately related them in the books 
 concerning the War of the Jews. However, 
 it will, I think, be fit for me to add now an 
 account of those actions of my life which I 
 have not related in that book of the Jewish 
 war. 
 
 75. For, when the siege of Jotapata was 
 over, and I was among the Romans, I was 
 kept with much care, by means of the great 
 respect that Vespasian showed me. More- 
 over, at hia command, I married a virgin, who 
 was from among the captives of that country ,* 
 yet did she not live with me long, but was 
 divorced, upon my being freed from my bonds, 
 and my going to Alexandria. However, I 
 married another wife at Alexandria, and was 
 then sent, together with Titus, to the siege 
 of Jerusalem, and was frequently in danger 
 of being put to death, — while both the Jews 
 were very desirous to get me under their power, 
 in order to have me punished ; and the Romans 
 also, whenever they were beaten, supposed 
 that it was occasioned by my treachery, and 
 made continual clamours to the emperors, 
 and desired that they would bring me to pim- 
 ishment, as a traitor to theni : but Titus 
 Caesar was well acquainted with the uncer- 
 tain fortune of war, and returned no answer 
 to the soldiers' vehement solicitations against 
 me. Moreover, when the city Jerusalem was 
 taken by force, Titus Caesar persuaded me 
 frequently to take whatsoever I would of the 
 ruins of my country, and said that he gave 
 me leave so to do ; but when my country was 
 destroyed, I thought nothing else to be of any 
 value which 1 could take and keep as a com- 
 fort under my calamities; so I made this re- 
 quest to Titus, that my family might have 
 their liberty : I had also the holy books f by 
 Titus's concession; nor was it long after, 
 that I asked of him the life of my brother, 
 and of fifty friends with him ; and was not 
 denied. When I also went once to the tem- 
 ple, by the permission of Titus, where there 
 were a great multitude of captive women and 
 children, I got all those that I remembered 
 as among my own friends and acquaintances, 
 to be set free, being in number about one 
 hundred and ninety ; and so I delivered them, 
 without their paying any price of redemption, 
 and restored them to their /ormer fortune ; 
 and when I was sent by Titus Caesar with 
 Cerealius, and a thousand horsemen, to a cer- 
 tain village called Thecoa, in order to know 
 whether it was a place fit for a camp, as I 
 came back, I saw many captives crucified ; 
 
 + Here Josephus, a priest, honestly confesses that he did 
 that at the command of Vespasian, which he had before 
 told us was not lawful for a priest to do by the law of 
 Moses, Antiq. b. iii. cliap. xii. sect. 2. I mean, the 
 takincc a captive woman to wife. See also Against Ap- 
 pion, b. i. sect. 7. But he seems to have been qaickly 
 sensible that his compliance with the commands of an 
 emperor would not excuse him, for he soon put her 
 away, as Reiand justly observes here. 
 
 + "of this most remarkable clause, and its mostimpor. 
 tant consequences, see Essay on the Old Testamcnti 
 paije l<*t— I9d. 
 
26 
 
 THE LIFE OF FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. 
 
 and remembered tbree of them as my former 
 acquaintance. I was very sorry at this in my 
 mind •and went with tears in my eyes to 
 Titus, and told him of them ; so he imme- 
 diately commanded them to be taken down, 
 and to have the greatest care taken of them, 
 in order fo (ivir recovery; yet two of them 
 died uPxIfy the physician's hands, while the 
 third recovered. 
 
 76. But when Titus had composed the 
 troubles in Judea, and conjectured that the 
 lands which I had in Judea would bring me 
 no profit, because a garrison to guard the 
 country was afterward to pitch there, he gave 
 me another country in the plain ; and, when 
 he was going away to Rome, he made choice 
 of me to sail along with him, and paid me 
 great respect ; and when we were come to 
 Rome, I had great care taken of me by Ves- 
 pasian ; for he gave me an apartment in his 
 own house, which he lived in before he came 
 to the empire. He also honoured me with 
 the privilege of a Roman citizen, and gave 
 me an annual pension ; and continued to 
 respect me to the end of his life, without any 
 abatement.of his kindness to me; which very 
 thing made me envied, and brought me into 
 danger; for a certain Jew, whose name was 
 Jonathan, who had raised a tumult in Cyrene, 
 and had persuaded two thousand men of that 
 country to join with him, was the occasion of 
 their ruin; but when he was bound by the 
 governor of that country, and sent to the em- 
 peror, he told him that I had sent him both 
 weapons and money. However, he could not 
 conceal his being a liar from Vespasian, who 
 condemned him to die; according to which 
 sentence he was put to death. Nay, after 
 that when those that envied my good fortune 
 did frequently bring accusations against me, 
 by God's providence I escaped them all. I 
 
 also received fronn Vespasian no small quan* 
 tity of land, as a free gift, in Judea ; about 
 which time I divorced my wife also, as not 
 pleased with her behaviour, though not til) 
 she had been the mother of three children; 
 two of whom are dead, and one, whom I 
 named Hyrcanus, is alive. A.^t*'" this I mar- 
 ried a wife who had lived at Crf »^, *jvt a Jew- 
 ess by birth ; a woman she was of wninetit 
 parents, and such as were the most illustrious 
 in all the country, and whose character was 
 beyond that of most other women, as her fu- 
 ture life did demonstrate. By her I had two 
 sons ; the elder's name was Justus, and the 
 next Simonides, who was also named Agrippa: 
 and these were the circumstances of my do- 
 mestic affairs. However, the kindness of the 
 emperor to me continued still the same ; for 
 when Vespasian was dead, Titus, who suc- 
 ceeded him in the government, kept up the 
 same respect for me which I had from his 
 father; and when I had frequent accusations 
 laid against me, he would not believe them : 
 and Domitian, who succeeded, still augmented 
 his respects to me; for he punished those 
 Jews that were my accusers; and gave com- 
 mand that a servant of mine, who was a 
 eunuch, and my accuser, should be punished. 
 He also made that country I had in Judea 
 tax free, which is a mark of the greatest ho- 
 nour to him who hath it; nay, Domitia, the 
 vvife of Caesar, continued to do me kindnesses: 
 And this is the accoimt of the actions of my 
 whole life ; and let others judge of my cha- 
 racter by them as they please ; but to thee, O 
 Epaphroditus,* thou most excellent of men ' 
 do I dedicate all this treatise of our Antiqui- 
 ties; and so, for the present, I here conclude 
 the whole. 
 
 • Of this Epaphroditus, see the note on the Prefae* 
 to the Aotiqaitie*. 
 
THE 
 
 AJSrriQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 PREFACE* 
 
 § 1. Those who undertake to write histories, 
 do not, I perceive, take that trouble on one 
 «u(l the same accoant, but for many reasons, 
 and those such as are very different one from 
 another; for some of them apply themselves 
 to this part of learning to show tkeir skill in 
 com position, and that they may therein acquire 
 areputation for speaking finely; others of them 
 there are who write histories, in order to gra- 
 tify those that happened to be concerned in 
 them, and on that account "have spared no 
 pains, but rather gone beyond their own abi- 
 lities in the performance; but others there are, 
 who, of necessity and by force, are driven to 
 write history, because they were concerned in 
 the facts, and so cannot excuse themselves 
 from committing them to wTiting, for the ad- 
 vantage of posterity: nay, there are not a few 
 who are induced to draw their historical facts 
 out of darkness into light, and to produce 
 them for the benefit of the public, on account 
 of the great importance of the facts them- 
 gelves with which they have been concerned. 
 Now of these several reasons for writing his- 
 tory, I must profess the two last were ray own 
 reasons also; for since I was myself interested 
 in that war which we Jews had with the Ro- 
 mans, and knew myself its particular actions, 
 and what conclusion it had, I was forced to 
 cive the history of it, because I saw that 
 others perverted the truth of those actioiis in 
 their writings, 
 
 2. Now I have undertaken the present 
 work, as thinking it will appear to all the 
 Greeksf worthy of their study; for it will 
 contain all our antiquities, and the constitu- 
 tion of our government, as interpreted out of 
 the Hebrew Scriptures; and indeed I did for- 
 merly intend, when I wrote of the war,^ to 
 explain who the Jews originally were, — what 
 fortunes they had been subject to, — and by 
 
 • This prefac* of Josephus is excellent in its kind, 
 and hiuhly worthy the repeated perusal of tl)e reader, 
 before he set about the perusal of the work itself 
 
 •f I hat is, all the Gentiles, both Greeks and Romans. 
 
 t Wf may seasooalily note here, that .losepliiis wrote 
 his Seven Books of the Jewish War, loi^j before he 
 •"ole tiM'se his Antiquities Those huo'^ of the Ws\r 
 ""♦•re piiMished about A. I>. 73; at'd these Autiquiti' <-. 
 t D.iti, about ei^bteeo vears later. 
 
 what legislator they liad been instructed in 
 piety, and the exercise of other virtues, — 
 what wars also they had made in remote ages, 
 till they were unwillingly engaged in this last 
 v/ith the Romans ; but because this work 
 would take up a great compass, I separated it 
 into a set treatise by itself, with a beginning 
 of its own, and its own conclusion; but in 
 process of time, as usually happens to such 
 as undertake great things, I grew weary, and 
 went on slowly, it being a large subject, and 
 a difficult thing to translate our history into 
 a foreign, and to us unaccustomed language. 
 However, some persons there were who de- 
 sired to know our history, and so exhorted 
 me to go on with it; and, above all the rest, 
 Epaphroditus,§ a man who is a lover of all 
 kind of learning, but is principally delighted 
 with the knowledge of history; and this on 
 account of his having been himself concerned 
 in great affairs, and many turns of fortune, 
 and having shown a wonderful vigour of an 
 excellent nature, and an immoveable virtuous 
 resolution in them all. I yielded to this man's 
 persuasions, who always excites such as have 
 abilities in what is useful and acceptable, to 
 join their endeavours with his. I was also 
 ashamed myself to permit any laziness of dis- 
 position to have a greater influence npon me 
 than the delight of taking pains in such studies 
 as were very useful: I thereupon stirred up 
 myself, and went on with my work more 
 cheerfully. . Besides the foregoing motives, I 
 had others which I greatly reflected on ; and 
 these were, that our forefatjjiers were willing 
 to communicate such things to others ; and 
 that some of the Greeks took considerable 
 pains to know the affairs of our nation. 
 
 3. I found, therefore, that the second of 
 the Ptolemies was a king who was extraor- 
 dinarily diligent in what concerned learning 
 and the collection of books ; that he was also 
 
 I This Epaphroditns was certainly alive in the third 
 vear of Irajan, A, D. 100. See the note on the first 
 book A^inst Apion. sect 1. Who he was we do not 
 know; lor as to Kpaphroditus, the freed-man of Nero, 
 and afterwards Don^itian's secretary, who was put to 
 ileaih bv Domitiaii. in the 1 4th or loth year of his reien. 
 lie could not be alive in thf third of Irajan. 
 
28 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JKWft, 
 
 peculiarly ambitious to procure a translation 
 of our law, and of the constitution of our 
 government therein contained, inio the Greek 
 tongue. Now Eleazar, the high priest, one 
 not inferior to any other of that dignity 
 among us, did not envy the forenamed king 
 the participation of that advantage, which 
 otherwise he would for certain have denied 
 him, but that he knew the custom of our 
 nation was, to hinder nothing of what we 
 esteemed ourselves from being communicated 
 to others. Accordingly, I thought it became 
 me both to imitate the generosity of our high 
 priest, and to suppose there might even now 
 be many lovers of learning like the king;, for 
 he did not obtain all our writings at that time ; 
 but those who were sent to Alexandria as in- 
 terpreters, gave him only the books of the 
 law, while there were a vast number of other 
 matters in our sacred books. They indeed 
 contain in them the history of five thousand 
 years ; in which time happened many strange 
 accidents, many chances of war, and great 
 actions of the commanders, and mutations of 
 the form of our government. Upon the 
 whole, a man that will peruse this history, 
 may principally learn from it, that all events 
 succeed well, even to an incredible degree, 
 and the reward of felicity is proposed by God; 
 but then it is to those that follow his will, and 
 do not venture to break his excellent laws ; — 
 end that so far as men any way apostatize 
 from the accurate observation of them, what 
 was practicable before, becomes impractica- 
 ble;* and whatsoever they set about as a good 
 thing is converted into an incurable calamity: 
 — and now I exhort all those that peruse these 
 books to apply their minds to God; and to 
 examine the mind of our legislator. Whether 
 he hath not understood his nature in a man- 
 ner worthy of him; and hath not ever ascrib- 
 ed to him such operations as become his 
 power, and hath not preserved his writings 
 from those indecent fables which others have 
 framed, although, by the great distance of 
 time when he lived, he might have securely 
 forged such lies; for he lived two thousand 
 years ago-; at which vast distance of ages the 
 poets themselves have not been so hardy as to 
 tix even the generations of their gods, much 
 less the actions of their men, or their own 
 laws. A 1 procjBed, therefore, I shall accu- 
 rately d< u'ribe wnat is contained in our re- 
 cords, in the order of time that belongs to 
 them; for I have already promised so to do 
 throughout this undertaking, and this without 
 adding any thing to what is therein contained, 
 or taking away any thing therefrom. 
 
 4. But because almost all our constitution 
 depends on the wisdom of Moses, our legisla- 
 tor, I cannot avoid saying somewhat concern- 
 ing him beforehand, thoigh I shall do it brief- 
 
 • Josephns here plainly alludes to the famoufi Greek 
 proverb: U God be with us, every thing that U impossi- 
 bl* bMomes poMibk. 
 
 ly ; 1 mean, lieeause otherwise those that read 
 my book muy wonder how it comes to pass 
 that my discourse, which promises an account 
 of laws and historictd facts, contains so muc"fe 
 of philosophy. The reader is therefore to know, 
 that Mosses deemed it exceeding necessary, 
 that he who would conduct his own life well,, 
 and give laws to others, in the first place 
 should consider the divine nature, and, upow 
 the contemplation of God's operations, !-houl<l 
 thereby imitate the best of all patterns, so far 
 as it is possible for human nature to do, and 
 to endeavour to follow after it; neither could 
 the legislator himself have a right mind with- 
 out such a contemplation; nor would any 
 thing he should write tend to the promotion 
 of virtue in his readers: I mean, unless they 
 be taught first of all, that God is the Father 
 and Lord of all things, and sees all things, 
 and that thence he bestows a happy liie upon 
 those that follow him; bat plunges such as 
 do not walk in the paths of virtue into inevit- 
 able mi"series. Now when Moses was desirou? 
 to teach this lesson to his countrymen, he did 
 not begin the estaWishment of his laws after 
 the same manner tbat other legislators did ; I 
 mean, upon contracts and other rites between 
 one man and another, but by raising their 
 minds upwards to regard God, and his crea- 
 tion of the world; and by persuadhig them» 
 that we men are the moot excellent of tbe 
 creatures of God upon earth. Now, whea 
 once he bad brought them to submit to relr- 
 gion, he easily persuaded them to submit in 
 all other things ; for, as to other legislators, 
 they followed fables, and, by their discourses, 
 transferred the most re^roaehful of human 
 vices luito the gods, and »o afforded wicke«i 
 men the most pbusible excuses for tl;eir 
 crimes* but, as for our legislator, when he hatl 
 once demonstrated that God was poss.sssed of 
 perfect virtue, he. supposed that men alsv 
 ought to strive after the paitioi[);»tioii of it; 
 and on those who did not so th-hik and f > 
 believe, he inflicted the severest punrt-hment ». 
 I exhort, therefore, my readeis to examipi 
 this whole undertaking in that view ; f*>» 
 thereby it will appear to them that there ia 
 nothing therein disagreeable either to the ma- 
 jesty of God, or to his love to mankind ; fo< 
 all things have here a reference to the nature 
 of the nmverse; while our legishtor speak* 
 some things wisely, but enigmatically, and 
 others imder a decent allegory, but still ex- 
 plains such things as reqnire<l a direct expli. 
 cation phiinly and expressly. However, those 
 that have a mind to know the reasons of ever> 
 thing, may find here a very curious philoso- 
 phical thewy, which I now iijdec<bhall waive 
 the explication of; but if God afford me tinjft 
 for it, 1 will set about writing it,t after 1 
 
 + As to thi« intende«1 work of Jo»«-phiiR. eoncerning 
 Ihe M■H^ons of many <•♦ ttie Jcwmh laws, and wliat phi- 
 .i)s(ip' ical or alleiforicai lenne thry would Iwar. the lf>s« 
 f wl.iih witrk. u by »€\m* of the learnt-d aot lourh r» 
 
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 29 
 
 have finished the present work. I shall now 
 Ijetake myself to the history before me, after 
 1 have first mentioned what Moses says of the 
 
 creation of the world, which I find described 
 in the sacred books after the manner follow- 
 ing. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 CONTAININO THE INTERVAL OF THREE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE YEARS. 
 
 FROM THE CREATION TO THE DEATH OF ISAAC. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION OF THE WORLD, AND THE 
 DISPOSITION OF THE ELEMENTS. 
 
 § 1. In the beginning God created the hea- 
 ven and the earth ; but when the earth did 
 not come int^ sight, but was covered with 
 thick darkness, and a wind moved upon its 
 surface, God commanded that there should be 
 light; and when that was made, he considered 
 the whole mass, and separated the light and 
 the darkness; and the name he gave to one 
 was Night, and the other he called Daij ; and 
 he named the beginning of light and the time 
 of rest, The Eoeniti'j and The Morning; and 
 this was indeed the lirst day: but Moses said 
 it was one day, — the cause of which I am 
 able to give even now; but because I have 
 promised to give such reasons for all things 
 in a treatise by itself, I shall put off its expo- 
 sition till that time. After this, on the second 
 day, he placed the heaven over the whole 
 world, and separated it from the other parts; 
 and he determined it should stand by itself 
 He also placed a crystalline [firmament] round 
 it. and put it together in a marmer agreeable 
 to the earth, and fitted it for giving moisture 
 and rain, and for affording the advantage of 
 dews. On the third day he appointed the 
 dry land to appear, with the sea itself round 
 about it; and on the very same day he made 
 the plants and the seeds to spring out of the 
 earth. On the fourth day he adorned the 
 heaven with the sun, the moon, and the other 
 >itars; and appointed them their motions and 
 courses, that the vicissitudes of the seasons 
 might be clearly signified. And on the fifth 
 
 ffn-tted, I am inclinable in part to Fabricius's opinion, 
 ;>)>. Havercamp, p. ftJ. ti4. tliat "we need no« doubt but, 
 aiimn^ some vain and frigid conj^rtures derivt'd fri>m 
 Jewish imasinatiotis, Jospphns woiiH bay*- taiiglit us a 
 ^reaJer number of excelli-nt and nsi-fiil tbin<:», wbicii 
 ptrhaps nobody, neither amon;; the Jews nor a;in>ni; the 
 Ciirixtians. can now inform us of; so that I would give 
 great dea] to find it still c\tanC 
 
 day he produced the living creatures, both 
 those that swim and those that fly; the former 
 in the sea, the latter in the air: he also sorted 
 them as to society and mixtnre, for procrea- 
 tion, and that their kinds might increase and 
 multiply. On the sixth day he created the 
 four-footed beasts, and made them male and 
 female: on the same day he also formed man. 
 Accordingly Moses says. That in just six days 
 the world and all that is therein was made; 
 and that the seventh day was a rest, and a re- 
 lease- from the labour of such operations; — 
 whence it is that we c'elebrate a rest from our 
 labours on that day, and call it the Sabbath ; 
 which word denotes res/ in the Hebrewtongue. 
 2. Moreover, Moses, after the seventh day 
 was over,* begins to talk philosophically; and 
 concerning the formation of man, S;ays thus: 
 That Gftd took dust from the ground, and 
 formed man, and inserted in him a spirit and 
 a soul.f This man was called Adam, which 
 in the Hebrew tongue signifie3 one that is red, 
 because he was formed out of red earth com- 
 poimded together; for of that kind is virgin 
 and true earth. God also presented the living 
 creatures, when he had made them, according 
 to their kinds, both male and female, to Adam, 
 who gave them those names by which they are 
 still called. But when he saw that Adam had 
 
 ♦ Since Josephus. in his Preface, sect. 4, says that 
 Moses wrote some things enigmatically, ^ome allegori- 
 cally, and the rest in plain words, since in* !,s account 
 of the first chapter of Genesis, and the first mree verses 
 of the second, he elves us no hints of: y mystery at all; 
 but when he here comes to ver. 4. &c. he says that Clo- 
 ses, after the 8"venth day was over, h»gan to talk philo- 
 sophicallv, it is not very improbable that he understood 
 the rest of the second and the third chapters in some enig- 
 matical, or allegorical, or philosophical sense. The 
 'hange of the name tif God, just at this place, from Elo- 
 hira to Jehovah Elohim, from Givl to Lord God, in the 
 Hebrew. Samaritan, an 1 Septnagint.does also nota little 
 favour some such change in the narration or construction. 
 
 + We m;iy observe here, that Josephus supposed man 
 to be compijurided of spirit, siiul, and body, with St. Paul, 
 1 Thess V. 'Zi, and the rest of 'he ancients: he elsewhere 
 s.'tys also, that the blood of animo's was forbidden to be 
 eaten, as haviut; in it soul and spitit. Antiq.b. iiuchapk 
 xi. s«et 2. 
 
30 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 no female companion, no society, for there 
 was no such created, and that he wondered at 
 the other animals which were male and female, 
 he laid him asleep, and took away one of his 
 ribs, and out of it formed the woman ; where- 
 upon Adam knew her when she was brought 
 to him, and acknowledged that she was made 
 out of himself. Now a woman is called in 
 the Hebrew tongue Issa; but the name of 
 this vvom in was Eve, which signifies the mo- 
 ther of all living. 
 
 3. Moses says farther, that God planted a 
 paradise in the east, flourishing with all sorts 
 of trees; and that among them was the tree 
 of life, and another of knowledge, whereby 
 was to be known what was good and evil; 
 and that when he brought Adam and his wife 
 into this garden, be commanded them to take 
 care of the plants. Now the garden was wa- 
 tered by one river,* which ran round about 
 the whole earth, and was parted into four 
 parts. And Phison, which denotes a multi- 
 tude, running into India, makes its exit into 
 the sea, and is by the Greeks called Ganges. 
 Euphrates also, as well as Tigris, goes down 
 into the Red Sea.f Now the name Euphra- 
 tes, or Phrath, denotes either a dispersion, or 
 a. flower: by Tigris, or Diglath, is signified 
 what is swift, with narrowness: and Geon 
 runs through Egypt, and denotes what arises 
 from the east, which the Greeks call Nile. 
 
 4. God therefore commanded that Adam 
 and his wife should eat of all the rest of the 
 plants, but to abstain from the tree of know- 
 ledge; and foretold to them, that, if they 
 touched it, it would prove their destruction. 
 But while all the living creatures had one 
 language, J at that time the serpent, which 
 
 * Whence this strange notion came, whifti yet is not 
 peculiar to Josephus, but', as Dr. Hudson says here, is 
 derived from older authors, as if four of the greatest 
 rivers in the world, running two of them at vast dis- 
 tances from the other two, by some means or other wa- 
 tered paradise, is hard to say. Only, since Josephus has 
 already appeared to allegorize this history, and takes no- 
 tice that these four names had a particular signification ; 
 Phison for Gannes, a multitude; Phrath for Euphrates, 
 either a dispersion or a Jlntver ; Higlath for Tigris, what 
 is swift, with tuti-rowness ; and Geon for Nile, what 
 arises' from the east,— we perhaps mistake him when 
 we suppose he literally means those for rivers; especially 
 as to G«*on or Nile, which arises from the east, while he 
 very well knew the literal Nile arises from the south; 
 though what farther allegorical sense he had in view, is 
 now, I fear, impos?(ible to be determined. 
 
 + By the Ked Sea is not here meant the Arabian Gulf, 
 whicd ahrnc we now call by that name, but all that Soutb 
 Sea, which included the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, 
 A>>farasthR East Indies; as Ueland and Hudson here 
 truly note, from the old geographers. 
 
 ♦ Hence it appears that Josephus thoTight several, at 
 least, of the brule animals, particularly the serpent, couM 
 »peak before the Fall. And I think few of the more per- 
 fect kinds of those animals want the organs of speech at 
 this day. Many inducements theie are al.so to a notion. 
 that the present state they are in i« not their original 
 •late; and that their capacities have been once much 
 Kreuter than we now see them, and arc capable of beiiuf 
 reatf>red to their former condition. But as to this most 
 ancient, and authentic, and proliably allegorical account 
 n{ that grand athiir of the fall of our first parents. I 
 hare somewhat more t<i say in way of conjecture, but 
 being only a conjecture. I omit it: only thus far, that 
 tbo iiiiputMtiun uf the sin of our lirst parents to Hit ii 
 
 then lived together with Adam and his wife, 
 shewed an envious disposition, at his supposal 
 of their living happily, and in obedience to 
 the commands of God ; and imagining, that, 
 when they disobeyed them, they would fall 
 into calamities, he persuaded the woman, out 
 of a malicious intention, to taste of the tree 
 of knowledge, telling them, that in that tree 
 was the knowledge of good and evil; which 
 knowledge when they should obtain, they 
 would lead a happy life, nay, a life not infe- 
 rior to that of a god : by which means he 
 overcame the woman, and persuaded her to 
 despise the command of God. Now when 
 she had tasted of that tree, and was pleased 
 with its fruit, she persuaded Adam to make 
 use of it also. Upon this they perceived that 
 they were become naked to one another; and 
 being ashamed thus to appear abroad, they 
 invented somevvhat to cover them ; for the tree 
 sharpened their understanding; and they co- 
 vered themselves with fig-leaves; and tying 
 these before them, out of modesty, they 
 thought they were happier than they were 
 before, as they had discovered what they were 
 in want of. But when God came into the 
 garden, Adam, who was wont before to come 
 and converse with him, being conscious of his 
 wicked behaviour, went out of the way. This 
 behaviour surprised God; ar^d he asked what 
 was the cause of this his procedure; and why 
 he, that before delighted in that conversation, 
 did now fly from it, and avoid it. When ho 
 made no reply, as conscious to himself that 
 he had transgressed the command of God, 
 God said, " I had before determined about 
 you both, how you might lead a happy life, 
 without any afl[li(;tion, and care, and vexation 
 of soul; and that all things which might con- 
 tribute to your enjoyment and pleasure should 
 grow up by my providence, of their own ac- 
 cord, without your own labour and pains, 
 tfiking; which state of labour and pains-tak 
 ing would soon bring on old age; and death 
 would not be at any remote distance: but 
 now thou hi^st abused this my good-will, and 
 hast disobeyed my commands; for thy sileru-e 
 is not the sign of thy virtue, but of thy evil 
 consdence." However, Adam excused liis 
 sin, and entreated God not to be angry at hiui, 
 anti laid the blame of what was done upon 
 his wife; and said that he was deceived by 
 her, an<l thence became an offender; while she 
 again accused the serpent. But God allotted 
 him punishment, because he weakly submitted 
 to the coinisel of his wife; and said, the ground 
 should not henceforth yield its fruits of its 
 own accord, but that when it should be ha- 
 rassed by their labour, it should bring forth 
 some of its fruits, and refuse to bring forth 
 
 posterity, any farther than as some way the cause or oc 
 casi«in of man's mortality, seems almost entirely ground. 
 less; and that both man. and the otiier subordinate ciea- 
 t ores, are hfreafier to h« driivered troin tbe curse then 
 broiiiflit upon tbetn. :ind at last to be delivered fronxthat 
 bondage of corruptiou. Hum. viii. lU— ii. 
 
CHAP. II 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 di 
 
 others. He also made Eve liable to the in- 
 conveniency of breeding, and the sharp pains 
 of bringing forth children, and this because 
 she persuaded Adam with the same ai^uments 
 wherewith the serpent had persuaded her, and 
 had thereby brought him into a calamitous 
 cortditioH. He also deprived the serpent of 
 speech, out of indignation at his malicious 
 disposition towards Adam, Besides this, he 
 inserted poison under his tongue, and made 
 him an enemy to men; and suggested to them 
 that they should direct their strokes against 
 his head, that being the place wherein lay his 
 Miisohievous designs towards men, and it being 
 easiest to take vengeance on him that way: 
 and when he had deprived him of the use of 
 his feet, he made him to go rolling all along, 
 and dragging himself upon the ground. And 
 when God had appointed these penalties for 
 them, he removed Adam and Eve out of the 
 g^ardea into another place. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 CONCERNING THE POSTERITY OF ADAM, AND 
 THE TEN GENERATIONS FROM HIM TO THE 
 DELUGE. 
 
 § 1. Adam and Eve had two sons; the elder 
 pf them was named Cain; which name, when 
 it is interpreted, signifies a possession. The 
 younger was Abel, which signifies sorrow. 
 They had also daughters. Now, the two 
 brethren were pleased with different courses 
 of life; for Abel, the younger, was a lover of 
 righteousness, and. believing that God was 
 present at all his actions, he excelled in vir- 
 tue; and his employment was that of a shep- 
 herd. But Cain was not only very wicked 
 in other respects, but was wholly intent upon 
 getting; and he first contrived to plough the 
 grDund. He slew his brother on the occasion 
 following: — They had resolved to sacrifice to 
 God. Now Cain brought the fruits of the 
 earth, and of his husbandry; but Abel brought 
 milk, and the first-fruits of his flocks; but God 
 was more delighted with the latter oblation,* 
 when he was honoured with what grew natur- 
 ally of its own accord, than he was with what 
 was the invention of a covetous man, and got- 
 ten by forcing the ground ; whence it was that 
 Cain was very angry that Abel was preferred 
 I)y God before him; ajid he slew his brother, 
 and hid his dead body, thinkiiig to escape dis- 
 covery. But God, knowing what had been 
 done, came to Cain, and asked him what was 
 become of his brother, because he had not seen 
 
 • St. John's accoant of the reason why God accepted 
 the s.-<crifice of AheU and rejected that of Cain,- as also ' 
 whv Cain slew Ai>el. on account ot that his acceptance 
 «\ith God, — is much l>eiter than this of Josephns: [ 
 moiin. because *• Cain was of tlieevil one, and slew his 
 brotimr. And wherefore slew he him ^ Because his 
 own works were evii. and hi.« brother's nVhteoiis." 1 
 .'ohii iii. 12. Josephus's reason seems to be no better 
 than a pharisaical notion or tradition. 
 
 him of many days, whereas he used to observe 
 them con versing together at other times. But 
 Cain was in doubt with himself, and knew not 
 what answer to give to God. At first he said 
 that he was himself at a loss about his bro- 
 ther's disappearing; but when he was pro- 
 voked by God, who pressed him vehemently, 
 as resolving to know what the matter « as, he 
 replied, he was not his brother's guardian or 
 keeper, nor was he an observer of what he 
 did. But in return, God convicted Cain, as 
 having been the murderer of his brother; and 
 said, '• I wonder at thee, that thou knowest 
 not what has become of a man whom thou thy- 
 self hast destroyed." God therefore did not 
 inflict the punishment [of death] upon him, 
 on account of his oflfering sacrifice, and there- 
 by making supplication to him not to be ex- 
 treme in his wrath to him; but he made him 
 accursed, and threatened his posterity in the 
 seventh generation. He also cast him, to- 
 gether with his ^vife, out of that land. And 
 when he was afraid, that in wandering about 
 he should fall among wild beasts, and by that 
 means perish, God bid him not to entertain 
 such a melancholy suspicion, and to go over 
 all the earth without fear of what mischief he 
 might suffer from wild beasts; and setting a 
 mark upon him that he might be known, he 
 commanded him to depart. 
 
 2. And when Cain had travelled over many 
 countries, he, with his wife, built a city, named 
 Nod, which is a place so called, and there he 
 settled his abode; where also he had children. 
 However, he did not accept of his punish- 
 ment in order to amendment, but to increase 
 his wickedness ; for he only aimed to procure 
 every thing that was for his owti bodily plea- 
 sure, though it obliged him to be injurious 
 to his neighbours. He augmented his house- 
 hold substance with much wealth, by rapine 
 and violence; he excited his acquaintance to 
 procure pleasures and spoils by robbery, and 
 became a great leader of men into wicked 
 courses. He also introduced a change in that 
 way of simplicity wherein men lived before; 
 and was the author of measures and weights. 
 And whereas they lived innocently and gene- 
 rously while they knew nothing of such arts, 
 he changed the world into cunning craftiness. 
 He first of all set boundaries about lands; he 
 built a city, and fortified it with walls, and he 
 compelled' his family to come together to it; 
 and called that city Enoch, after the name of 
 his eldest son Enoch. Now Jared was the 
 son of Enoch ; whose son was Malaliel ; whose 
 son was Mathusela; whose son was Lamech; 
 who had seventy-seven children by two wives, 
 Silla and Ada. Of those children by Ada, 
 one was Jabel; he erected tents, and loved 
 the life of a shepherd. But Jubal, who was 
 born of the same mother with him, exercised 
 himself in music ;f and invented the psaltery 
 
 ' + From this Jubal, not improbably, came Jobel. the 
 trumpet of jobel or jubilee> that large and loud musical 
 
82 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWIS. 
 
 UOOK !, 
 
 and the harp. But Tubal, one of his chil- 
 dren by the other wife, exceeded all men in 
 strength, and was very expert and famous in 
 martial performances. He procured what 
 tended to the pleasures of the body by that 
 method J and first of all invented the art of 
 making brass. Lamech was also the father 
 of a daughter, whose name was Naamah; 
 nd because he was so skilful in matters of 
 divine revelation, that he knew he was to be 
 punished for Cain's murder of his brother, he 
 made that known to his wives. Nay, even 
 while Adam was alive, it came to pass that 
 the posterity of Cain became exceeding wicked, 
 every one successively dying one after ano- 
 ther, more wicked than the former. They 
 were intolerable in war, and vehement in 
 robberies; and if any one were slow to mur- 
 der people, yet was he bold in his profligate 
 behaviour, in acting unjustly, and doing in- 
 j uries for gain. 
 
 3. Now Adam, who was the first man, 
 and made out of the earth (for our discourse 
 must now be about him), after Abel was 
 slain, and Cain fled away on account of his 
 murder, was solicitous for posterity, and had 
 a vehement desire of children, he being two 
 hundred and thirty years old; after which 
 time he lived other seven hundred, and then 
 died. He had indeed many other children,* 
 but Seth in particular. As for the rest, it 
 would be tedious to name them ; I will there- 
 fore only endeavour to give an account of 
 those that proceeded from Seth. Now this 
 Seth, when he was brought up, and came to 
 those years in which he could discern what 
 was good, became a virtuous man; and as 
 he was himself of an excellent character, so 
 did he leave children behind him who imita- 
 ted his virtues.f All these proved to be of 
 good dispositions. They also inhabited the 
 same country without dissensions, and in a 
 happy condition, without any misfortunes 
 falling upon them till they died. They also 
 were the inventors of that peculiar sort of 
 wisdom which is concerned with the heavenly 
 bodies, and their order. And that their in- 
 ventions might not be lost before they were 
 sufficiently known, upon Adam's prediction 
 that the world was to be destroyed at one 
 time by the force of fire, and at another time 
 by the violence and quantity of water, they 
 made two pillars; J the one of brick, the other 
 
 instrument, used in proclaiming the liberty at the year 
 of jubilee. 
 
 • The number of Adam's children, as says the old tra- 
 dition,wa8 thirty-three sons, and twenly-lhice daughters. 
 
 + VVhat is here said of Seth and his posterity, that 
 they were very good and yirtuous, and at the same time 
 very happy, without any considerable misfortunes, for 
 ■even generations [see ch. ii. sect. 1, before; and ch. iii. 
 sect. 1, hereafter] is exactly agreeable to the state of the 
 world and the conduct of Providence in all the fir.st aijes. 
 
 t Of Josephus's mistake here, when he took. Seth the 
 •on of Adam for Seth or Sesostris, king of Ksrypt, the 
 en-cter of this pillar in the land of Siriad, see Lssny on 
 the Old Testament, Appendix, p. LW, !(.«. Alth.uiili 
 fbe main of this relaUou mi^ht be true, and Adam mi^lit 
 
 of stone: they m.scribcd their discoveries on 
 them both, that in case the pillar of brick 
 should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of 
 stone might remain, and exhibit those disco- 
 veries to mankind ; and also inform them that 
 there was another pillar of brick erected by 
 them. Now this remains in the land of Si- 
 riad to this day. 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 CONCERNING THE FLOOD; AND AFTER WHAT 
 MANNER NOAH WAS SAVED JN AN ARK, WITH 
 HIS KINDRED, AND AFTERWARDS DWELT IN 
 THE PLAIN &F SHINAR. 
 
 § 1. Now this posterity of Seth continued to 
 esteem God as the Lord of the imiverse, an<} 
 to have an entire regard to virtue, for seven 
 generations ; but in process of time they were 
 perverted, and forsook the practices of theii 
 forefathers, and did neither pay those honour* 
 to God which were appointed them, nor had 
 they any concern to do justice towards men. 
 But for what degree of zeal they had formerly 
 shown for virtue, they now showed by their 
 actions a double degree of wickedness; where- 
 by they made God to be their enemy; for 
 many angels § of God accompanied with \vo^ 
 men, and begat sons that proved unjust, aiid 
 despisers of all that was good, on account of 
 the confidence they had in their own strength ; 
 for the tradition is, That these men did what 
 resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians 
 call giants. But Noah was very uneasy at 
 what they did; and, being displeased at theii 
 conduct, persuaded them to change their di&. 
 positions and their acts for the better; — but, 
 seeing that they did not yield to him, but 
 were slaves to their wicked pleasures, he was 
 afraid they would kill him, together with liis 
 wife and children, and those they had mar- 
 ried; so he departed out of that land. 
 
 2. Now God loved this man for his righte- 
 ousness; yet he not only condemned those 
 other men for their wickedness, but delentii- 
 ned to destroy the whole race of mankind, and 
 to make another race that should be pure from 
 wickedness; an<l cutting short their lives, m.d 
 making their years not so ua^uy as they for- 
 merly lived, but one hundred and twenty 
 oidy,]| he turned the dry land into si'a; aiid 
 
 foretell a conflajtratiou and a deluge, which all antiquity 
 witnesses td be itn ancient tradition; nay, Setli's pusii- 
 rity miylit enclave thrir inveniious in astronomy on two 
 such pillars, yet it i.s no way t-iedihtethat tiiey could sur- 
 vive the deluge, which has buried all such piilHi.s mid 
 edifices (nrumler ground, in fi.e sexliroeut ol its watiT.s, 
 esperially since tlie like pillarji of the KKvpliun iieUi or 
 Se.soslris wen- extaut alii-r the fl.ioti, in liit- land ot Ni- 
 riad. and p^'rhaps lu lltf ilusHot Jijbephu.s also, :>s isshowu 
 in the place htie lettrrt-d »i>. 
 
 } This notion, tlmt the lallen angel.s were. In soma 
 sense, the Callifrs of the old j;iants, was the con.slant 
 opinion of aniitjnity. 
 
 II .lod.'pliii!. I.trc »upi)oM's. thai li.t- life of these 
 giants, tor of tl>»'iu only ilo 1 uiiii<-i»uii<i liim, was now 
 
-^ OP TTTP. ^ ' 
 
 vmv'j 
 
 y^v ^^ ' 
 
CHAP. Ill, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF^THE JEWS, 
 
 33 
 
 thu3 were all these men destroyed: but Noah 
 alone was saved; for God suggested to him 
 the following contrivance "ai^^ way of escape: 
 — That he should make an ark of four stories 
 high, three hundred* cubits long, fifty cubits 
 broad, and thirty cubits high. Accordingly 
 he entered into that ark, and his wife and 
 sons, and their wives; and put into it not 
 only other provisions, to support their wants 
 there, but also sent in with the rest all sorts 
 of living creatures, the male and his female, 
 for the preservation of their kinds; and others 
 of them by sevens. Now this ark had firm 
 walls, and a roof, and was braced with cross 
 beams, so that it could not be any way drown- 
 ed or overborne by the violence of the water; 
 and thus was Noah, with his family, preserved. 
 Now he was the tenth from Adam, as being 
 the son of Lamech, whose father was Mathu- 
 sala. He was the son of Enoch, the son of 
 Jared; and Jared was the son of Malaleel, 
 who, with many of his sisters, were the chil- 
 dren of Cainan, the son of Enos. Now Enos 
 was the son of Seth, the son of Adam. 
 
 3. This calamity happened in the six hun- 
 dredth year of Noah's government [age], in 
 the second month,f called by the Macedonians 
 Dins, but by the Hebrews Marchesuan ; for so 
 did they order their year in Egypt; but Mo- 
 ses appointed that Nisan, which is the same 
 with Xanthicus, should be the first month for 
 their festivals, because he brought them out 
 of Egypt in that month: so that this month 
 began the year as to all the solemnities they 
 observed to the honour of God, although he 
 preserved the original order of the months as 
 to selling and buying, and other ordinary af- 
 fairs. Now he says that this flood began on 
 the twenty-seventh [seventeenth] day of the 
 forementioned month ; and this was two thou- 
 sand six hundred and fifty-six [one thousand 
 six hundred and fifty-six] years from Adam, 
 the tirst man; and the time is written down 
 in our sacred books, those who then lived hav- 
 ing noted down, J with great accuracy, both 
 the births and deaths of illustrious men. 
 rwluced to 120 years; which is confinied by the frtif- 
 .■nent of Enocli, sect. 10. in Aiithent. Rec. Par. I. p. 26ft. 
 F'Tastothp restof mankind. Josephus himself confesses 
 .heir lives were much Knisjer than 120 years, for many 
 generations after the Flood, as we shall see presently; 
 and he says they were gradually shortened till the davs 
 Df Moses. and then fixed [for some time] at 120, chap vi. 
 sect. 5. Nor indeed need we suppose that either Enoih 
 or Josephus meant to interpret these 120 years for the 
 life of men before the Flood, to be different from the 121) 
 years of God's patience [perhaps while the ark was pre- 
 parinsr] tli the Delnge: which 1 take to he the ineaiiiiiij 
 ot t;<)d, when he threatened this wickeil worM. t ,i Tf 
 they su ion,' continued impenitent, their da>s should be 
 uo more tlian 12(» years. 
 
 • A cubit is about iwenty-one English inches. 
 
 + Josephus here truly determines that the year at the 
 Flood bei^an about the autumnal equinox. As to what 
 day of the month the Flood began, our Hebrew and Sa- 
 maritan, aiid perhaps Josephus's own copy, more rightly 
 placed it on the l7th day, instead of the 2;th, as here; 
 for Josephus ag^rees with them as to the distance of 1.50 
 days, to the i;th day of the 7th month; as Gen. vii. ult 
 with viii. :i. 
 
 I Josephus nere takes notice, that these ancient gene- 
 elogies wen* *ir<* set tlown hv those that then lived, aad 
 
 'L For indeed Seth was bom when Adam 
 was in his two hundred and thirtieth year, 
 who lived nine hundred and thirty years. 
 Seth begat Enos in his two hundred and 
 fifth year ; who, when he had lived nine hun- 
 dred and twelve years, delivered the govern- 
 ment to Cainan his son, whom he had in his 
 hundred and ninetieth year: he lived niu 
 hundred and five years. Cainan, when h 
 had lived nine hundred and ten years, had hi 
 son Malaleel, who was born in his hundred 
 and seventieth year. This Malaleel, having 
 lived eight hundred and ninety-five years, died, 
 leaving his son Jared, whom he begat when he 
 was in his himdred and sixty-fifth year. He 
 lived nine hundred and sixty-two years ; and 
 then his son Enoch succeeded him, who was 
 born when his father was one hundred and 
 sixty-two years old. Now he, when he had 
 lived three hundred and sixty-five years, de- 
 parted, and went to God ; whence it is that 
 they have not written down his death. Now 
 Mathusala, the son of Enoch, who was born to 
 him when he was one hundred and sixty-five 
 years old, had Lamech for his son when he 
 was one hundred and eighty-seven years of 
 age; to whom he delivered the government, 
 when he had retained it nine hundred and 
 sixty-nine years. Now Lamech, when he had 
 governed seven hundred and seventy-seven 
 years, appointed Noah, his son, to be ruler of 
 the people, who was born to Laniech when he 
 was one hundred and eighty-two years old, 
 and retained the government nine hundred 
 and fifty years. These years collected to- 
 gether make up the sum before set down; 
 but let no one inquire into the deaths of these 
 men, for they extended their lives along to- 
 gether with their children and grandchildren; 
 but let him have regard to their births only. 
 
 5. When God gave the ^gnal, and it began 
 to rain, the water poured down forty entire 
 days, till it became fifteen cubits higher than 
 the earth ; which was the reason why there 
 was no greater number preserved, since they 
 had no place to fly to. When the rain ceased, 
 the water did but just begin to abate, after 
 one himdred and fifty days ("that is, on the 
 seventeenth day of the seventh month), it then 
 ceasing to subside for a little while. After this 
 the ark rested on the top of a certain moun- 
 tain in Armenia; which, when Noah under- 
 stood, he opened it; and seeing a small piece 
 of land about it, he continued quiet, and con- 
 cived some cheerful hopes of deliverance; 
 but a few days afterward, when the water was 
 decreased to a greater degree, he sent out a 
 raven, as desirous to learn whether any other 
 part of the earth were left dry by the water, 
 
 from them were transmitted down to posterity; which 
 I supiMJse to be the true account of that matter. For 
 there is no reason to imagine that men were not taught 
 to read and write soon after. they were taught to speak; 
 and perhaps all by the .Messiah himself, who, under the 
 Father, was the Creator or Governor of mankind. an<^ 
 who frequently, in those early days, appeartsl to them. 
 C 
 
34 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK L 
 
 and whether be might go out of the ark with 
 eafety ; but the raven, finding all the ftnd 
 still overflowed, returned to Noah again. 
 And after seven days he sent out a dove, to 
 know the state of fhe ground; which canae 
 lack to him covered with mud, and bringing 
 an olive branch. Hereby Noah learned that 
 the earth was become clear of the flood. So 
 a'ter he had staid seven more days, he sent 
 the living creatures out of the ark; and both he 
 and his family went out, when be also sacrificed 
 to God, and feasted with his companions. 
 
 However, the Armenians call this place 
 
 [xWoZarrj^iov*) The Place of Descent; for the 
 ark being saved in that place, its remains are 
 shown there by the inhabitants to this day. 
 
 6. Now all the writers of barbarian histo- 
 ries make mention of this flood and of this 
 ark; among whom is Berosus the Chaldean; 
 for when he is describing the circumstances 
 of the flood, he goes on thus: — *' It is said 
 there is still some part of this ship in Arme- 
 nia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans; and 
 that some people carry off pieces of the bitu- 
 men, which they take away, and use chiefly 
 as amulets for the averting of mischiefs." 
 Hieronymus the Egyptian, also, who wrote 
 the Phoenician Antiquities, and Mnaseas, 
 and a great many more, mak»e mention of the 
 same. Nay, Nicolaus of Damascus, in his 
 ninety-sixth book, hath a particular relation 
 about the'm, where he speaks thus: — " There 
 is a great mountain in Armenia, over Minyas, 
 called Baris, upon which it is reported that 
 many who fled at the time of the Deluge were 
 saved ; and that one who was carried in an 
 ark came on shore upon the top of it; and 
 that the remains of the timber were a great 
 while preserved. This might be the man 
 about whom Moses, the legislator of the Jews, 
 wrote." 
 
 7. But as for Noah, he was afraid, since 
 God had determined to destroy mankind, lest 
 he should drown the earth every year; so he 
 offered burnt-offerings, and besought God 
 that nature mi^ht hereafter go on in its for- 
 mer orderly course, and that he would not 
 bring on so great a judgment any more, by 
 which the whole race of creatures might be 
 in danger of destruction ; but that, having 
 now punished the wicked, he would of his 
 
 • This \TeZ(x.Tf,iitM, or Place 0/ Descent, is the pro- 
 per rendfrin? of ihe Armenian name of this very city. 
 It is called in Ptolemy Nuxiiana, and hy Moses Choren- 
 ensis, the Armenian historian, Idsheiian ; but at the 
 place itself, Nachtdsheuan, which signifies The first 
 place of descent ; and is a lasting niotitunent of the pre- 
 fcervatinn of Noah in the ark, upon the top of that 
 mruntain, at whose foot it was boilt, as the first city or 
 town after the Floo<l. See Antiq. b. xx. ch. ii. sect. 3; 
 and Moses Chorenensis, who also says elsewhere, that 
 another town was related by tradition to have been 
 called Seron, or The Place of Dispersion, on account 
 of the dispersion of Xisiithnis's or Noah's sons, from 
 thence first made. Whether any remains of this ark be 
 still preserved, as the people of the country suppose, I 
 cannot certainly tell. Mons. Tournefort h.id, not verv 
 lonjc since, a mind to see thf place himself, but met wiiii 
 tooyrrat dangers and difHrnltiek to venture thron^jh them 
 
 goodness spare the remainder, and such as he 
 had hitherto judged fit to be delivered from 
 so severe a calamity; for that otherwise these 
 last must be more miserable than the first, 
 and that they must be condemned to a worse 
 condition than the others, unless they be suf- 
 fered to escape entirely; that is, if they be 
 reserved for another deluge, while they must 
 be aflElicted with the terror and sight of the 
 first deluge, and must also be destroyed by a 
 second. He also entreated God to accept of 
 his sacrifice, and to grant that the earth might 
 never again undergo the like effects of his 
 wrath ; that men might be permitted to go on 
 cheerfully in cultivating the same — to build 
 cities, and live happily in them; and that 
 they might not be deprived of any of those 
 good things which they enjoyed before the 
 Flood; but might attain to the like length of 
 days and old age which the ancient people 
 had arrived at before. 
 
 8. When Noah had made these supplica- 
 tions, God, who loved the man for his righte- 
 ousness, granted entire success to his prayers ; 
 and said, that it was not he who brought the 
 destruction on a polluted world, but that they 
 underwent that vengeance on account of their 
 own wickedness; and that he had not brought 
 men into the world if he had himself deter- 
 mined to destroy them, it being an instance 
 of greater^ wisdom not to have granted them 
 life at all, than, after it was granted, to pro- 
 cure their destruction; "but the injuries," 
 said he, *' they offered to my holiness and vir- 
 tue, forced me to bring this punishment upon 
 them ; but I will leave off for the time to 
 come to require such punishments, the effects 
 of so great wrath, for their future wicked ac- 
 tions, and especially on account of thy pray- 
 ers ; but if I shall at any time send tempests 
 of rain in an extraordinary manner, be not 
 affrighted at the largeness of the showers, for 
 the waters shall no more overspread the earth. 
 However, I require you to abstain from shed, 
 ding the blood of men, and to keep yourselves 
 pure from murder; and to punish those that 
 commit any such thing. I permit you to 
 make use of all the other living creatures at 
 your pleasure, and as your appetites lead you; 
 for I have made you lords of them all, botli 
 of those that walk on the land, and tho?e that 
 swim iti the waters, and of those that fly in 
 the regions of the air on high — excepting 
 their blood, for therein is the life : but I will 
 give you a sign that I have left off my anger, 
 by my bow ' [whereby is meant the rainbow, 
 for they determined that the rainbow was the 
 bow of God]; and when God had said and 
 promised thus, he went away. 
 
 {). Now wlien Noah had lived three him- 
 dred and fifty years after the Flood, and that 
 all that time happily, he died, having lived 
 the number of nine himdred and fifty years: 
 hut let no one, upon ooniparing the lives of 
 the ancients with our lives, and with the few 
 
CHAP. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF I'HK JEWS. 
 
 35 
 
 jTcars which we now live, think that what we 
 have said of them is false; or make the 
 shortness of our lives at present an argu- 
 ment that neither did they attain to so long 
 a duration of life; for those ancients were 
 beloved of God, and [lately] made by God 
 himself; and because their food was then 
 fitter for the prolongation of life, might well 
 live so great a number of years; and besides, 
 God afforded them a longer time of life on 
 account of their virtue, and the good use they 
 made of it in astronomical and geometrical 
 discoveries, which would not have afforded 
 the time of foreielliug [the periods of the 
 stars] unless they had lived six hundred years; 
 for the Great Year is completed in that inter- 
 val. Now I have for witness to what I 
 have said, all those that have written Antiqui- 
 ties, both among the Greeks and barbarians ; 
 for even Manetho, who wrote the Egyptian 
 History, and Berosus, who collected the Chal- 
 dean Monuments, and Mochus, and Hes- 
 tiaeus, and besides these, Hieronymus the 
 Egyptian, and those who composed the Phoe- 
 nician History, agree to what I here say : 
 Hesiod also, and Hecata?us, Hellanicus, and 
 Acusilaus; and besides these, Ephorus and 
 Nicolaus relate that the ancients lived a thou- 
 Band years: but as to these matters, let every 
 one look upon them as be thinks fit. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CONCERNING THE TOWER OF BABYLON, AND 
 THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES. 
 
 § 1. Now the sons of Noah were three, — 
 Shem, Japhet, and Ham, born one hundred 
 years before the Deluge. These first of all 
 descehded from the mountains into the plains, 
 and fixed their habitation there; and persuad- 
 ed others, who were greatly afraid of the lower 
 grounds on account of the flood, and so were 
 very loth to come down from the higher places, 
 to venture to follow their examples. Now the 
 plain in which they first dwelt was called Shi- 
 nar. God also commanded them to send co- 
 lonies abroad, for the thorough peopling of the 
 earth, — that they might not raise seditions 
 among themselves, but might cultivate a great 
 part of the earth, and enjoy its fruits after a 
 plentiful manner: but they were so ill in- 
 structed, that they did not obey God; for 
 which reason they" fell into calamities, and 
 were made sensible, by experience, of what 
 sin they had been guilty; for when they flour- 
 ished with a numerous youth, God admonish- 
 e<l them again to send out colonies; but they, 
 imagining the prosperity they enjoyed was not 
 derived from the favour of God, but suppos- 
 ing that their own power was the proper cause 
 of the plentiful condition they were in, did 
 
 nc^t obey him. Nay, they added to this their 
 disobedience to the divine will, the suspicion 
 that they were therefore ordered to send out 
 separate colonies, that, being divided asunder, 
 they might the more easily be oppressed. 
 
 2. Now it was Nimrod who excited them 
 to such an affront and contempt of God. He 
 was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah 
 — a bold man, and of great strength of hand 
 He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God 
 as if it was through his means they were 
 happy, but to believe that it was their own 
 courage which procured that happiness. He 
 also gradually changed the government into 
 tyranny, — seeing no other way of turning men 
 from tiie fear of God, but to bring them into 
 a constant dependence upon his power. He 
 also said he would be revenged on God, if he 
 should have a mind to drown the world again; 
 for that he would build a tower too high for . 
 the waters to be able to reach ! and that he 
 would avenge himself on God for destroying 
 their forefathers! 
 
 3. Now the multitude were very ready to fol- 
 low the determination of Nimrod,and to esteem 
 it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and 
 they built a tower, neither sparing any pains, 
 nor being in any degree negligent about the 
 work; and by reason of the multitude of 
 hands employed in it, it grew very high, 
 sooner than any one could expect; but the 
 thickness of it was so great, and it was sc^. 
 strongly built, that thereby its great height 
 seemed, upon the view, to be less than it real- 
 ly was. It was built of burnt brick, cement- 
 ed together with mortar, made of bitumen, 
 that it might not be liable to admit water. 
 When God saw that they acted so madly, he 
 did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since 
 they were not grown wiser by the destruction 
 of the former dinners; but he caused a tu- 
 mult among them, by producing in them di- 
 vers languages; and causing that, through the 
 multitude of those languages, they should not 
 be able to un<!erstand one another. The place 
 wherein they built the tower is now called 
 Babylon; because of the confusion of that 
 language which they readily understood be- 
 fore; for the Hebrews mean by the word Ba- 
 bel, Confusion. The Sibyl also makes mention 
 of this tower, and of the confusion of the 
 language, when she says thus:— "When all 
 men were of one language, some of them built 
 a high tower, as if they vvould thereby ascend 
 up to heaven ; but the gods sent storms of 
 wind and overthrew the tower, and gave every 
 one his peculiar language ; and for this reason 
 it was that the city was called Babylon." But 
 as to the plain of Shinar, in the country of 
 Batiylonia, Hestiaeus mentions it, when he 
 says thus: — " Such of the priests as were sav- 
 ed, took the sacred vessels of Jupiter Enya 
 lius, and came to Shinar of Babylonia." 
 
36 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK 1 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AFTER WHAT MANNER THE POSTERITY OF 
 NOAH SENT OUT COLONIES, AND INHA- 
 BITED THE WHOLE EARTH. 
 
 After "this they were dispersed abroad, on 
 account of their languages, and went out by 
 colonies every where; and each colony took 
 possession of that land which they light upon, 
 and unto which God led them; so that the 
 whole continent was tilled with them, both 
 the inland and maritime countries. There 
 were some also who passed over the sea in 
 ships, and inhabited the islands; and some of 
 those nations do still retain the denominations 
 which were given them by their first founders ; 
 but some have lost them also ; and some have 
 only admitted certain changes in them, that 
 they might be the more intelligible to the in- 
 habitants; and they were the Greeks who be- 
 came the authors of such mutations ; for when, 
 in after-ages, they grew potent, they claimed 
 to themselves the glory of antiquity, — giving 
 names to the nations that sounded well (in 
 Greek) that they might be better understood 
 among themselves; and setting agreeable 
 forms of government over them, as if they 
 were a people derived from themselves. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW EVERY NATION WAS DENOMINATED FROM 
 THEIR FIRST INHABITANTS. 
 
 § 1. Now they were the grand-children of 
 Noah, in honour of whom names were im- 
 posed on the nations by those that first seized 
 upon them. Japhet, the soji of Noah, had 
 seven sons: they inhabited so, that, beginning 
 at the mountains Taurus and Amanus, they 
 proceeded along Asia, as far as the river Ta- 
 nais, and along Europe to Cadiz; and settling 
 themselves on the lands which they light upon, 
 which none had inhabited before, they called 
 the nations by their own names; for Gomer 
 founded those whom the Greeks now call Ga- 
 latians [Galls], but were then called Gomer- 
 ites. Magog founded those that from him 
 were named Magogites, but who are by the 
 Greeks called Scythians. Now as to Javan 
 and Madai, the sons of Japhet; from Madai 
 came the Madeans, who are called Medes by 
 the Greeks; but from Javan, Ionia and all 
 the Grecians are derived. Thobel founded 
 the Thobelites, who are now called Iberes; 
 and the Mosocheni were founded l)y Mosoch ; 
 now they are Cappadociaiih. There is ali<o a 
 mark of their ancient denomination still lo be 
 shown; for there is even now among them a 
 city called Mazaca, which may inform those 
 
 that are able to understand, that so was the 
 entire nation once called. Thiras also called 
 those whom he ruled over Tnirasians; but 
 the Greeks changed the name into Thracians. 
 And so many were the countries that had the 
 children of Japbet for their inhabitants. Of 
 the three sons of Gomer, Aschanax founded 
 the Aschanaxians, who are now called by the 
 Greeks Rheginians. So did Riphath found 
 the Ripheans, now called Paphlagonians ; and 
 Thrugramma the Thrugrammeans, who, as 
 the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians. 
 Of the three sons of Javan also, the son of 
 Japhet, Elisa gave name to the Eliseans, who 
 were bis subjects; they are now the iEolians. 
 Tharsus to the Tharsians ; for so was Cilicia 
 of old called ; the sign of which is this, that 
 the noblest city they have, and a metropolis 
 also, is Tarsus, the tau being by change put 
 for the theta. Cethimus possessed the island 
 Cethima; it is now called Cyprus: and from 
 that it is that all islands, and the greatest part 
 of the sea-coasts, are named Cethim by the 
 Hebrews: and one city there is in Cyprus 
 that has been able to preserve its denomina- 
 tion; it is called Citius by those who use the 
 language of the Greeks, and has not, by the 
 use of that direct, escaped the name of Q.*- 
 thim. And so many nations have the children 
 and grand-children of Japhet possessed. Now 
 when I have premised sonnewhat, which per- 
 haps the Greeks do not know, I will return 
 and explain what I have omitted; for such 
 names are pronounced here after the manner 
 of the Greeks, to please my readers; for our 
 own country language does not so pronounce 
 them: but the names in all cases are of one 
 and the same ending; for the name we here 
 pronounce Noeas is there Noah, and in every 
 ease retains the same termination. 
 
 2. The children of Ham possessed the land 
 from Syria and Amanus, and the mountains 
 of Libanus, seizing upon all that was on its 
 sea-coasts and as far as the ocean, and keep- 
 ing it as their own. Some indeed of its names 
 are utterly vanished away; others of them 
 being changed, and another sound given them, 
 are hardly to be discovered ; yet a few there 
 are which have kept their denominations entire : 
 for of the four sons of Ham, time has not at 
 all hurt the name of Chus; for the Ethiopians, 
 over whom he reigned, are even at this day, 
 both by themselves and by all men in Asia, 
 called Chusites. The memory also of the 
 MesraitCK is preserved in their name; for all 
 we who inhabit this country [of Judea] cjill 
 Egypt Mestre, and the Egyptians Mestrcans. 
 Phut also was the founder of Libya, and 
 called the inhabitants Phutites, from himself: 
 there is also a river in the country of tlie 
 Moors which bears that name; whence it is 
 that we may see the greatest part of the Gre- 
 cian historiographers mention that river and 
 the adjoining country by the aiipellation of 
 Phut: but the namt it h»« now has been by 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 37 
 
 change given it from one of the sons of Mes- 
 raiin, who was called Lybyos. We will in- 
 form yon presently what has been the occasion 
 why it hAS been called Atrica aLso. Canaan, 
 the fOiirth son of Ham, inhibited the country 
 iiovv called Judea, and called it from his own 
 name Canaan. The c nUiren of these [four] 
 were these: Sabas, whj founded the Sabeans; 
 Evilas, who founded the Evileans, who are 
 called Getuli; Sabathes founded the Sabath- 
 eui; they are now called by the Greeks, Asta- 
 borans; Sabactas settled the Sabactens; and 
 Ragmus the Ragmeans; and he had two sons, 
 the one of whom, Judadas, settled the Juda- 
 dsans, a nation of the western Ethiopians, 
 and left them his name; as did Sabas to the 
 Sabeans. But Nimrod, the son of Chus, staid 
 and tyrannized at Babylon, as we have already 
 informed you. Now all the children of Mes- 
 raim, being eight in number, possessed the 
 country from Gaza to Egypt, though it re- 
 tained the name of one only, the Philistim ; 
 for the Greeks call part of that country Pa- 
 lestine. As for the rest, Ludieim, and Ene- 
 niim, and Labim, who alone iidiabited in Li- 
 bya, and called the country from himself, 
 Nedim, and Phethrosim, and Chesloim, and 
 Cephthorim, we know nothing of them be- 
 sides their names; for the Ethiopic war,* 
 which we shall describe hereafter, was the 
 cause that those cities were overthrown. The 
 sons of Canaan were these: Sidonius, who 
 also built a city of the same name; it is called 
 by the Greeks, Sidon; Amathus inhabited in 
 Amathine, which is even now called Amathe 
 by the inhabitants, although the Macedonians 
 named it Epiphania, from one of his poste- 
 rity: Arudeus possessed the island Aradus: 
 Arucas possessed Arce, which is in Labanus; 
 — but for the seven others, [Eueus], Chetteus, 
 Jebuseus, Amorreus, Gergesus, Eudeus, Sin- 
 eus, Samareus, we have nothing in the sacred 
 books but their names, for the Hebrews over- 
 threw their cities; and their calamities came 
 upon them on the occasion following: — . 
 
 3. Noah, when, after the Deluge, the earth 
 was re-settled in its former condition, set 
 about its cultivation; and when he had plant- 
 ed it with vines, and when the fruit was ripe, 
 and he had gathered the grapes in their sea- 
 son, and the wine was ready for use, he of- 
 fered sacrifice, and feasted, and, being drunk, 
 he fell asleep, and lay naked in an unseemly 
 manner. When his youngest son saw this, 
 he came laughing, and showed him to his bre- 
 thren; but they covered their fiither's naked- 
 ness. And when Noah was made sensible of 
 
 • One observation ought not here to be neglected, 
 with regard to that Etliiopic war. which Moses, as ge- 
 neral of the Egyptians, put an end to, Antiq b. ii. chap. 
 X., and about which our late writers seem very much 
 anconcernedj viz. That it was a warot that consequence, 
 as to occasion the removal or destruction ot six or seven 
 nations of the posterity of Mifxraim. with their cities: 
 which Josephus would not have said, if he hail not had 
 Hncient records to justify those his assertions, thuugji 
 tbuse records be now all lust> 
 
 what had been done, he prayed for prosperity 
 to his other sons; but for Ham, he did not 
 curse him, by reason of his nearness in blood, 
 but cursed his posterity. And when the rest 
 of them escaped that curse, God inflicted it 
 on the children of Canaan. But as to these 
 matters, we shall speak more hereafter. 
 
 4. Shem, the third son of Noah, had five 
 sons, who inhabited the land that began at 
 Euphrates, and reached to the Indian ocean ; 
 for Elam left behind him the Elamites, the 
 ancestors of the Persians. Ashur lived at 
 the city Nineve; and natned his subjects As- 
 syrians, who became the most fortunate na- 
 tion, beyond others. Arphaxad named the 
 Arphaxadites, who are now called Chaldeans. 
 Aram had the Aramites, which the Greeks 
 call Syrians; as Laud founded the Laudites, 
 which are now called Lydians. Of the four 
 sons of Aram, Uz foiuided Trachonitis and 
 Damascus; this country lies between Pales- 
 tine and Celesyria. Ul founded Armenia: 
 and Gather the Bactrians; and Mesa the 
 Mesaneans; it is now called Charax Spasini. 
 Sala was the son of Arphaxad; and his son 
 was Heber, from whom they originally called 
 the Jews Hebrews.f Heber begat Joctan and 
 Phaleg: he was galled Phaleg, because he 
 was born at the dispersion of the nations to 
 their several countries; for Phaleg, among 
 the Hebrews, signifies division. Now Joctan, 
 one of the sons of Heber, had these sons, 
 Elmodad, Saleph, Asermoth, Jera, Adoram, 
 Aizel, Decla, Ebal, Abimael, Sabeus, Ophir, 
 Euilat, and Jobab. These inhabited from 
 Cophen, an Indian river, and in part of Asia 
 adjoining to it. And this shall suffice con- 
 cerning the sons of Shem. 
 
 5. I will now treat of the Hebrews. The 
 son of Phaleg, whose father was Heber, was 
 Ragau; whose son was Serug, to whom was 
 born Nahor ; his son was Terah, who was the 
 father of Al)ram, who accordingly was the 
 tenth from Noah, and was born in the two 
 hundred and ninety-second year after the 
 Deluge; for Terah begat Abram in his se- 
 ventieth year. Nahor begat Haran when he 
 was one hundred and twenty years old; Na- 
 hor was born to Serug in his hundred and 
 thirty-second year; Ragau had Serug at one 
 hundred and thirty ; at the same age also Pha- 
 leg had Ragau; Heber begat Phaleg in his 
 hundred and thirty-fourth year; he himself 
 being begotten by Sala when he was an hun- 
 dred and thirty years old, whom Arphaxad 
 
 + That the Jews were called Hebrews, from this their 
 progenitor Heber. our author Josephus here riichtly af- 
 firms; and not from Abram the Hebrew, or paMenger 
 over i;uphrates. as many of the moderns suppose. Shem 
 is also called the father of all the children of Heber, or 
 of all the Hebrews, in a history long before Abtam passed 
 over Euphrates ((ien. X. 21), though it must be confessed 
 th;it (Gen xiv 13). where the original says they told 
 Abrnm the Hebrt-w, the Septuagint renders it the passen- 
 ijtr. Tt a-ryf. IJiit tilis IS spoken only of Abram himself, 
 wti(» h.ul lpf-en lately passed over Kuphrates: and is ano- 
 ther si,'iiirtoati<>n of the Hebrew word, taken as &n ap- 
 pellative, and not as a proper name. 
 
38 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 had for his son in the hundred and thirty- 
 hfth year of his age. Arphaxad was the son 
 of Shein, and born twelve years after the 
 Deluge. Now Abram had two brethren, 
 Nahor and Haran: of these Haran left a son, 
 Lot ; as also Sarai and ISIilcha his daughters, 
 an<i died among the Chaldeans, in a city of 
 the Chaldeans, called [Ir; and his monument 
 is shown to this day. These married their 
 nieces. Nahor married Milcha, and Abram 
 riiarried Sarai. Now Terah hating Chaldea, 
 on account of his mourning for Haran, they 
 all removed to Haran of Mesopotamia, where 
 Terah died, and was buried, when he had lived 
 to be two hundred and five years old; for 
 the life of man was already, by degrees, di- 
 minished, and became shorter than before, till 
 the birth of Moses; after whom the term of 
 human life was one hundred and twenty years, 
 God determining it to the length that Moses 
 happened to live. Now Nahor had eight sons 
 by Milcha; Uz and Buz, Kemuel, Chesed, 
 Azau, Pheldas, Jadelph, and Hethuel. These 
 were all the genuine sons of Nahor; for Teba 
 and Gaam, and Tachas, and Maaca, were 
 born of Reuma his concubine; but Bethuel 
 had a daughter, Rebecca, — and a son, Laban. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW ABRAM OUR FOREFATHER WENT OUT OF 
 THE LAND OF THE CHALDEANS, AND LIVED 
 IN THE LAND THEN CALLED CANAAN, BUT 
 NOVT JUDEA. 
 
 § 1. Now Abram having no son of his own, 
 adopted Lot, his brother Ilaran's son, and his 
 wife Sarai's brother ; and he left the land of 
 Chaldea when he was seventy-five years old, 
 and at the command of God went into Ca- 
 naan, and therein he dwelt himself, and left 
 it to his posterity. He was a person of great 
 sagacity, both for understanding all things 
 and persuading his hearers, and not mistaken 
 in his opinions; for which reason he began to 
 have higher notions of virtue than others had, 
 and he determined to renew and to change 
 the opinion all men happened then to have 
 concerning God; for he was the first that 
 ventured to publish this notion, That there 
 was but one God, the Creator of the universe; 
 and that, as to other [go<ls]. if they contri- 
 buted any thing to the happiness of men, thfit 
 each of them afforded it only according to his 
 appointment, and not by their own power. 
 This his opinion was derived from the irregu- 
 lar phenomena that were visible both at land 
 and sea, as well as those that ha[»pen to the 
 8un and moon, and all the heaverdy bodies, 
 thus: — ♦' If [said he] these bodies hnd power 
 of their own, they would certai/dy take Ciire 
 of their own regular motions; but sim-e thev 
 do not preserve such regularity, they make it 
 
 plain, that so far as they co-operate to our 
 advantage, they do it not of their own abili- 
 ties, but as they are subservient to Him that 
 commands them; to whom alone we ought 
 justly to offer our honour and thanksgiving." 
 For which doctrines, when the Chaldeans and 
 other people of Mesopotamia raised a tumult 
 against him, he thought fit to leave that 
 country; and at the command, and by the 
 assistance of God, he came and lived in the 
 land of Canaan. And when he was there 
 settled, he built an altar, and performed a 
 sacrifice to God. 
 
 2. Berosus mentions our father Abram 
 without naming him, when he says thus : — 
 " In the tenth generation after the Flood, 
 there was among the Chaldeans a man righte- 
 ous and great, and skilful in the celestial sci- 
 ence." But Hecataeus does more than barely 
 mention him; for he composed and left be- 
 hind him a book concerning him. And Ni- 
 colaus of Damascus, in the fourth book of 
 his history, says thus: — "Abram reigned at 
 Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with 
 an army out of the land above Babylon, 
 called the land of the Chaldeans. But after a 
 long time he got him up, and removed from 
 that country also with his people, and went 
 into the land then called the land of Canaan, 
 but now the land of Judea, and this when 
 his posterity were become a multitude ; as to 
 which posterity of his, we relate their history 
 in another work. Novv the name of Abram 
 is even still famous in the country of Da- 
 mascus; and there is shown a village named 
 from him, The Habitation oj Abram." 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 THAT WHEN THERE WAS A FAMINE IN CANAAN 
 ABRAM WENT THENCE INTO EGYPT; AND 
 AFTER HE HAD CONTINUED THERE A 
 WHILE, HE RETURNED BACK AGAIN. 
 
 § 1. Now, after this, when a famiiie had in- 
 vaded the land of Canaan, and Abram had 
 discovered that the Egyptians were in a flour- 
 ishing condition, he was disposed to go down 
 to them, both to partake of the plenty they 
 enjoyed, and to become an auditor of their 
 priests, and to know what they said concern- 
 ing the gods; designing either to follow them, 
 if they had better notions than he, or to con- 
 vert them into a better way, if his own notions 
 proved the truest. Now, seeing he was to take 
 Sarai with him, and was afraid of the madness 
 of the Egyptians with regard to women, lest 
 the king should kill him on account of his 
 wife's great beauty, he contrived this device. 
 — he pretended to be her brother, and di- 
 rected her in a dissenibling way to pretend the 
 same, for he said it wotdd be for their benefit. 
 Now, as soon as he came into Egypt, it hap- 
 
GHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 39 
 
 pened to Abram as he supposed it would ; for 
 me fame of his wife's beauty was greatly talked 
 of, for which reason Pharaoh the king of 
 Ej,'ypt would not be satisfied with what was 
 reported of her, but would needs see her him- 
 self, and was preparing to enjoy her; but God 
 put a stop to his unjust inclinations, by send- 
 iiij,' upon him a distemper, and a sedition 
 agjiinst his government. And when he in- 
 quired of the priests, how he might be freed 
 from these calamities, they told him that this 
 his miserable condition was derived from the 
 wrath of God, upon account of his inclina- 
 tions to abuse the stranger's ^\^fe. He then 
 out of fear asked Sarai who she was, and who 
 it was that she brought along with her. And 
 when he had found out the truth, he excused 
 himself to Abram, that supposing the woman 
 to be his sister, and not his wife, he set his 
 affections on her, as desiring an affinity with 
 him by marrying her, but not as incited by 
 lust to abuse her. He also made him a large 
 present in money, and gave him leave to enter 
 into conversation with the most learned among 
 the Egyptians; from which conversation, his 
 virtue and his reputation became more con- 
 spicuous than they had been before. 
 
 2. For whereas the Egyptians were formerly 
 addicted to different customs, and despised 
 one another's sacred and accustomed rites, and 
 were very angry one with another on that ac- 
 count, Abram conferred with each of them, 
 and, confuting the reasonings they made use 
 
 » of, every one for their own practices, demon- 
 strated that such reasonings were vain and 
 void of truth; whereupon he was admired by 
 them in those conferences as a very wise man, 
 and one of great sagacity, when he discoursed 
 on any subject he undertook; and this not only 
 in understanding it, but in persuading other 
 men also to assent to him. He communicated 
 
 V to them arithmetic, and delivered to them 
 the science of astronomy; for, before Abram 
 came into Egypt, they were unacquainted with 
 those parts of learning; for that science came 
 from the Chaldeans into Egypt, and from 
 tbence to the Greeks also. 
 
 3. As soon as Abram was come back into 
 Canaan, he parted the land between him and 
 
 . Lot, upon account of the tumultuous behavi- 
 our of their shepherds, concerning the pastures 
 wherein they should feed their flocks. How- 
 ever, he gave Lot his option, or leave, to 
 choose which lands he would take ; and he 
 took himself what the other left, which were 
 the lower grounds at the foot of the mouti- 
 tains ; and he himself dwelt in Hebron, which 
 is a city seven years more ancient than Tanis 
 3f F'gypt. But Lot possessed the land of the 
 cl:iin, and the river Jordan, not far from the 
 city of Sodom, which was then a fine city ; 
 but is now destroyed by the will and wrath of 
 Goil; — the cause of which I shall show in its 
 jMopcr place hereafter. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DESTRUCTIOX OF THE SODOMITES BT 
 THE ASSYRIAN WAR. 
 
 At this time, when the Assyrians had the 
 dominion over Asia, the people of Sodom 
 were in a flourishing condition, both as to 
 riches and the number of their youth. There 
 were five kings that managed the affairs of 
 this country ; Ballas, Barsas, Senabar, and 
 Sumobor, with the king of Bela ; and each 
 king led on his own troops ; and the Assy- 
 rians made war upon them ; and, dividing 
 their army into four parts, fought against 
 them. Now every part of the army had its 
 own commander; and when the battle was 
 joined, the Assyrians were conquerors; and 
 imposed a tribute on the kings of the Sodom- 
 ites, who submitted to this slavery twelve 
 years ; and so long they continued to pay 
 their tribute; but on the thirteenth year they 
 rebelled, and then the army of the Assyrians 
 came upon them, under their commanders 
 Amraphel, Arioch, Chodorlaomer, and Tidal. 
 These kings had laid waste all Syria, and 
 overthrown the offspring of the giants; and 
 when they were come over against Sodom, 
 they pitched their camp at the vale called the 
 Slime Pits, for at that time there were pits in 
 that place; but now, upon the destruction of 
 the city of Sodom, that vale became the 
 Lake Asphaltites, as it is called. However, 
 concerning this lake we shall speak more 
 presently. Now when the Sodomites joined 
 battle with the Assyrians, and the fight was 
 very obstinate, many of them were killed, and 
 the rest were carried captive ; among which 
 captives was Lot, who had come to assist the 
 Sodomites. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 HOW ABRAM FOUGHT WITH THE ASSYRIANS, 
 AND OVERCAME THEM, AND SAVED THB 
 SODOMITE PRISONERS, AND TOOK FROM THE 
 ASSYRIANS THE PREY THEY HAD GOTTEN. 
 
 § I. When Abram heard of their calamity, 
 he was at once afraid for Lot his kinsman, 
 and pitied the Sodomites, his friends and 
 neighbours; and thinking it proper to afford 
 theui assistance, he did not delay it, but 
 uiarched hastily, and the fifth night fell upon 
 the Assyrians, near Dan, for that is the name 
 of the other spring of Jordan ; and before 
 they could arm themselves, he slew some as 
 they were in their beds, before they could 
 suspect any harm; and others, who were not 
 yet gone to sleep, but were so drunk thej 
 
40 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 could not fight, ran away. Abram pursued 
 »fter them, till on the second day he drove 
 them in a body unto Hoba, a place belong- 
 ing to Damascus ; and thereby demonstrated 
 that victory does not depend on multitude 
 Hnd the nnmber of hands, but the alacrity and 
 courage of soldiers overcome the most nume- 
 rous bodies of men, while he got the victory 
 over so great an army with no more than 
 three hundred and eighteen of his servants, 
 and three of his friends: but all those that 
 fled returned home ingloriously. 
 
 2. So Abram, when he had saved the cap- 
 tive Sodomites who had been taken by the 
 Assyrians, and Lot aAso, his kinsman, return- 
 ed home in peace. Now the king of Sodom 
 met him at a certain place, which they called 
 The King's Dale, where Melchisedec, king 
 of the city Salem, received him. That name 
 signifies the righteous king; and such he was 
 without dispute, insomuch that, on this ac- 
 count, he was made the priest of God: how- 
 ever, they afterward called Salem Jerusalem. 
 
 • Now this Melchisedec supplied Abram's army 
 hi a hospitable manner, and gave them provi- 
 sions in abundance ; and as they were feasting, 
 he began to praise him, and to bless God for 
 subduing his enemies under him. And when 
 Abram gave him the tenth part of his prey, 
 he accepted of the gift: but the king of So- 
 dom desired Abram to take the prey, but en- 
 treated that he might have those men restored 
 to him whom Abram had saved from the As- 
 syrians, because they belonged to him; but 
 Abram would not do so; nor would make 
 any other advantage of that prey than what 
 his servants had eaten; but still insisted that 
 he should afford a part to his friends that had 
 assisted him in the battle. The first of them 
 was called Eschol, and then Enner, and 
 Mambre. 
 
 3. And God commended his virtue, and 
 said, Thou shalt not, however, lose the rewards 
 thou hast deserved to receive by such thy glo- 
 rious actions. He answered. And what ad- 
 vantage will it be to me to have such rewards, 
 when I have none to enjoy them after me? — 
 for he was hitherto childless. And God pro- 
 misea that he should have a son, and that his 
 posterity should be very numerous, insomuch 
 that their number should be like the stars. 
 When he heard that, ho offered a sacrifice to 
 God, as he commanded him. The manner 
 of the sacrifice was this: — He took an heifer 
 of three years old, and a she-goat of three 
 years old, and a ram in like manner of three 
 years old, and a turtle dove and a pigeon;* 
 and, as he was enjoined, he divided the three 
 former; but the birds he did not divide. After 
 which, before he built his altar, where the 
 
 • It is worth notinif here, that God required no other 
 Mcriflces under the law of Moneii. than what were taken 
 from these five kinds of animals which he here required 
 of Abram. Nor did the Jews feed upon any other do- 
 niestir. animals than the three here named, ^s Keland 
 •bwnres on Aatiq b. iv. ch. iv. sect. 4 
 
 birds of prey flew about, as desirous o' blood, 
 a divine voice came to him, declaring that 
 their neighbours would be grievous to his 
 posterity when they should be in Egypt, for 
 four hundred years.f during which time they 
 should be afflicted; but afterwards should 
 overcome their enemies, should conquer the 
 Canaanites in war, and possess themselves of 
 their land, and of their cities. 
 
 4. Now Abram dwelt near the oak called 
 Ogyges, — the place belongs to Canaan, not 
 far from the city of Hebron : but being un- 
 easy at his wife's barrenness, he entreated 
 God to grant that he might have male issue ; 
 and God required of him to be of good cou- 
 rage; and said, that he would add to all the 
 rest of the benefits that he had bestowed on 
 him ever since he led him out of Mesopota- 
 mia, the gift of children. Accordingly Sarai, 
 at God's command, brought to his bed one ot 
 her handmaidens, a woman of Egyptian de- 
 scent, in order to obtain children by her; and 
 when this handmaid was with child, she tri- 
 umphed, and ventured to affront Sarai, as if 
 the dominion were to come to a son to be 
 born of her: but when Abram resigned her 
 into the hand of Sarai, to punish her, she 
 contrived to fly avvay, as not able to bear the 
 instances of Sarai's severity to her; and she 
 entreated God to have compassion on her. 
 Now a divine angel met her, as she was go- 
 ing forward in the wilderness, and bid her re- 
 turn to her master and mistress; for, if she 
 would submit to that wise advice, she would 
 live better hereafter; for that the reason of 
 her being in such a miserable case was this, 
 that she had been ungrateful and arrogant to- 
 wards her mistress. He also told her, that if 
 she disobeyed God, and went on still in her 
 way, she should perish; but if she would 
 return back, she should become the mother of 
 a son who should reign over that country. 
 These admonitions she obeyed, and returned 
 to her master and mistress, and obtained for- 
 giveness. A little while afterwards, she bare 
 Ismael, which may be interpreted Heard of 
 God, because God had heard his mother's 
 prayer. 
 
 5. The forementioned son was born to 
 Abram when he was eighty-six years old; 
 but when he was ninety-nine God appeared 
 to him, and promised him that he should have 
 a son by Sarai, and commanded that his name 
 should be Isaac; and showed him, that from this 
 son should spring great nations and kings, and 
 that they should obtain all the land of Canaiin 
 by war, from Sidon to Egypt. But he charged 
 him, in order to keep his posterity unmixed 
 with others, that they should be circumcised 
 in the flesh of their foreskin, and that this 
 should be done on the eighth day after they 
 were born : the reason of which circumcision 
 I will explain in another place. And Abram 
 
 + As to this adlirtion of Abram's posterity for 400 
 years, see Antiq. b. ii. ch. ix. sect. 1. 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 41 
 
 inquiring also concerning Ismael, whether he 
 should live or not, God signified to him that 
 he should live to be very old, and should be 
 the father of great nations. Abram, there- 
 fore, gave thanks to God for these blessings ; 
 a'ld then he, and all his family, and his son 
 Isnjael, were circumcised immediately, the 
 son being that day thirteen years of age, and 
 he ninety-nine. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 rfOW GOD OVERTHREW THE NATION OF THE 
 SODOMITES, OUT OF HIS WRATH AGAINST 
 THEM FOR THEIR SINS. 
 
 § 1. About this time the Sodomites grew 
 proud, on account of their riches and great 
 wealth: they became unjust towards men, 
 and impious towards God, insomuch that 
 they did not call to mind the advantages they 
 received from him : they hated strangers, 
 and abused themselves with Sodomitical prac- 
 tices. God was therefore much displeased 
 at them, and determined to punish them for 
 their pride, and to overthrow their city, and 
 to lay waste their country, until there should 
 neither plant nor fruit grow out of it. 
 
 2. When God had thus resolved concern- 
 ing the Sodomites, Abraham, as he sat by the 
 oak of Mambre, at the door of his tent, saw 
 three angels; and, thinking them to be stran- 
 gers, he rose up and saluted them, and de- 
 sired they would accept of an entertainment, 
 and abide with him ; to which when they 
 agreed, he ordered cakes of meal to be made 
 presently: and when he had slain a calf, he 
 roasted it, and brought it to them, as they 
 sat under the oak. Now they -made a show 
 of eating; and besides, they asked him about 
 his wife Sarah, where she was; and when he 
 said she was within, they said they would 
 come again hereafter, and find her become a 
 mother. Upon which the woman laughed, 
 and said that it was impossible she should 
 bear children, since she was ninety years of 
 age, and her husband was an hundred. Then I 
 they concealed themselves no longer, but de- | 
 clared that they were angels of God ; and that 
 one of them was sent to inform them about 
 the child, and two of the overthrow of So- 
 dom. 
 
 3. When Abraham heard this, he was 
 grieved for the Sodomites ; and he rose u[), 
 and besought God for them, and entreated 
 him that he would not destroy the righteous 
 with the wicked. And when God had replied 
 that there was no good man ainong the So- 
 domites; for if there were but ten such men 
 among them, he would not punish any of 
 them for their sins, Abraham held his peace. 
 And tliL* angels came to the city of the So- 
 domite's, an;] Lnl entreated them to accept of 
 
 a lodging with him ; for he was a very gene- 
 rous and hospitable man, and one that had 
 learned to imitate the goodness of Abraham. 
 Now when the Sodomites saw the young 
 men to be of beautiful countenances, and 
 this to an extraordinary degree, and that they 
 took up their lodgings with Lot, they resolved 
 themselves to enjoy those beautiful boys by 
 force and violence; and when Lot exhorted 
 them to sobriety, and not to offer any thing 
 immodest to the strangers, but to have re- 
 gard to their lodging in his house ; and pro- 
 mised, that if their inclinations could not be 
 governed, he would expose his daughters to 
 their lust, instead of these strangers — neither 
 thus were they made ashamed. 
 
 4. But God was much displeased at their 
 impudent behaviour, so that he both smote 
 those men with blindness, and condemned the 
 Sodomites to universal destruction. But Lot, 
 upon God's informing him of the future de- 
 struction of the Sodomites, went away, taking 
 with him his wife and daughters, who were 
 two, and still virgins ; for those that were be- 
 trothed* to them were above the thoughts of 
 going, and deemed that Lot's words were tri- 
 fling. God then cast a thunderbolt upon the 
 city, and set it on fire, with its inhabitants; 
 and laid waste the country with the like burn- 
 ing, as I formerly said when I wrote the Jew- 
 ish war.f But Lot's wife continually turn- 
 ing back to view the city as she went from it, 
 and being too nicely inquisitive what would 
 become of it, although God had forbidden her 
 so to do, was changed into a pillar of salt;+ 
 for I have seen it, and it remains at this day. 
 Now he and his daughters fled to a certain 
 small place, encompassed with the fire, and 
 settled in it. It is to this day called Zoar, 
 for that is the word which the Hebrews use 
 for a small thing. There it was that he lived 
 a miserable life, on account of his having no 
 company, and his want of provisions. 
 
 5. But his daughters, thinking that all 
 mankind were destroyed, approached to their 
 
 • These sons-in-law to Lot, as they are called (Gen. 
 xix. 12 - 14). mi|i?ht be so styled because they were be- 
 trothed to Lot's daughters, though not yef married to 
 them. See the note on Antiq. b. xiv. ch. xiii. sect I. 
 
 + Of the War, b. ir. ch. viii. sect. 4. 
 
 t This pillar of salt was, we see here, standing in the 
 days of Josephus; and he had seen it. That it was 
 Standing then, is also attested by Clement of Itome, con- 
 temporary with josephus; as also that it was so in the next 
 century, is attested by Irenaeus, with the addition of an 
 hypothesis, how it came to last so long, with all its mem- 
 bers entire. — Whether the account that some modern tra- 
 vellers give be true, that it is still standing. I do not know. 
 Its remote situation, at the utmost southern point of 
 the Sea of Sodom, in tlie wild and dangerous deserts of 
 Arabia, makes it exceeding difficult for inquisitive tra- 
 vellers to examine the place; and for common reports of 
 country people, at a distance, they are not very satisfac- 
 tory. In the mean time. I have no opinion of l^ Clerc's 
 dissertation or hypothesis about this question, which can 
 only be determined by eye-witnesses. When CXiristian 
 princes, so called, lay aside their foolish and unchristian 
 wars and quarrels, and send a body of fit persons to tra- 
 vel over the east, and bring us faithful accounts of all 
 ancient monuments, and pro<Mire us copies of all ancient 
 records, at presen: l.ist among us. we may hope (or fall 
 saiistactiou iu such inquiries, but hardly btsfore. 
 
42 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK 1, 
 
 father,* though taking care not to be perceived. 
 This they did, that human kind might not ut- 
 terly fail. And they bare sons: the son of 
 the elder was named Moab, which denotes one 
 derived from his father. The younger bare 
 Ammon, which name denotes one derived 
 from a kinsman. The former of whom was 
 the father of the Moabites, which is even still 
 a great nation; the latter was the father of the 
 Ammonites: and both of them are inhabitants 
 of Celesyria. And such was the departure 
 of Lot from among the Sodomites. 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 CONCERNING ABIMELECH; AND CONCERNING 
 ISMAEL, THE SON OF ABRAHAM; AND CON- 
 CERNING THE ARABIANS, WHO WERE HIS 
 POSTERITY. 
 
 § 1. Abraham now removed to Gerar of 
 Palestine, leading Sarah along with him, un- 
 der the notion of his sister, using the like dis- 
 simulation that he had used before, and this 
 out of fear; for he was afraid of Abimelech, 
 the king of that country, who did also him- 
 self fall in love with Sarah, and was disposed 
 to corrupt her; but he was restrained from 
 satisfying his lust by a dangerous distemper, 
 which befell him from God. Now when his 
 physicians despaired of curing him, he fell 
 asleep, and saw a dream, warning him not to 
 abuse the stranger's wife; and when he re- 
 covered, he told his friends that God had in- 
 flicted that disease upon him, by way of pu- 
 nishment, for his injury to the stninger, and 
 in order to preserve the chastity of his wife ; 
 for that she did not accompany him as his sis- 
 ter, but as his legitimate wife ; and that God 
 had promised to be gracious to him for the 
 time to come, if this person be once secure of 
 his wife's chastity. When he had said this, 
 by the advice of his friends, he sent for Abra- 
 ham, and bid him not be concerned about 
 his wife, or fear the corruption of her chastity ; 
 for that God took care of him, and that it was 
 by his providence that he received his wife 
 ^again, without her suffering any abuse ; and he 
 appealed to God, ajid to his wife's conscience, 
 and said that he had not any inclination 
 Ht first to enjoy her, if he had known she was 
 his wife; but since, said he, thou ledst her 
 about as thy sister, I was guilty of no offence. 
 lie also entreated him to be at peace with 
 him, and to make God propitious to him; 
 
 • I see no proper wicked intention in these daucliters 
 of Ixit, when in a case which appeared to ttieiii nl un- 
 avoidable nere»sity, they procured themselves to he with 
 child by their father. Without such an iinavoidahle 
 uecessity, incest is a horrid crime i but whether in ^<M^h 
 a case of necessity as they upprehetided this to be. ac- 
 cording to Josephus, il was any such ciime, I am nut 
 satisfied. In the mean time, their inak'nj; tlieir lather 
 arunk, and their solicitous cuneealment ul what they diil 
 from hira. showH that thry despaired of' perMiiadiiii; him 
 to an action which, ut tlie hest. could not but be very .tus- 
 piri iif> aiid skockinx to so good a man. 
 
 and that if he thought fit to continue with him, 
 he should have what he wanted in abundance ; 
 but that if he designed to go aw ay, he should 
 be honourably conducted, and have whatso- 
 ever supply he wanted when he came thither. 
 Upon his saying 4;his, Abraham told him that 
 his pretence of kindred to his wife was no lie, 
 because she was his brother's daughter; and 
 that he did not think himself safe in his tra- 
 vels abroad, without this sort of dissimulation ; 
 and that he was not the cause of his distem- 
 per, but was only solicitous for his own safety. 
 He said also, that he was ready to stay with 
 him. Whereupon Abimelech assigned him 
 laiid and money; and they covenanted to 
 live together without guile, and took an 
 oath at a certain well called Beersheba, which 
 may be interpreted TheWellofthe Oath. And 
 so it is named by the people of the country 
 unto this day. 
 
 2. Now in a little time Abraham had a son 
 by Sarah, as God had foretold to him, whom 
 he named Isaac, which signifies Laugliter ; 
 and indeed they so called him, because Sarah 
 laughed when God f said that she should bear 
 a son, she not expecting such a thing, as be- 
 ing past the age of child-bearing, for she was 
 ninety years old, and Abraham a hundred; 
 so that this son was born to them both in the 
 last year of each of those decimal numbers. 
 And they circumcised him upon the eighth 
 (lay. And from that time the Jews continue 
 the custom of cirt-i.mcising their sons within 
 that number of days. But as for the Arab- 
 ians, they circumcise after the thirteenth year, 
 because Isniael, the founder of their nation, 
 who was born to Abraham of the concubine, 
 was circumcised ut that age; concerning 
 whom I will presently give a particular ac- 
 count with great exactness. 
 
 3. As for Sarah, she at first loved Ismael, 
 who was born of her own handmaid H.igar, 
 with an affection not inferior to that of her own 
 son, for he was brought up, in order to succeed 
 in the government; but when she herself had 
 born Isaac, she was not willing that Ismui 1 
 should be brought up with him, as being too 
 old for him, and able to do him injuries when 
 their father should be dead ; she therefore |)er- 
 suaded Abraham to send him and his mother 
 to some distant country. Now, at the fiist he 
 did not agree to what Sarah was so zealous for, 
 and thought it an instance of the greatest bar- 
 barity to send away a young child J and a vvo- 
 
 + It is w«'il worth observation, that Jo.^ephus here 
 call.s that principal ani;el, who appeared to Ahraham, 
 and foretold the birth of Isaac, directly Gud ; which 
 lanunate of Josephus here, prepares us to believe tho»« 
 other expressions of his, that Jcsua was a nise man, ij 
 il hflnwjul to culi him n man, Atitiq b. xviii. chap. li. 
 sect. 3; iind of God the Word, in his' lumiily concerniiit; 
 Hades, may be both genuine. Nor is the other expies* 
 sion.of rfio/He nw(/e/, used presently, and before, also ot 
 aiiyotiiur sicnilicalion. 
 
 t .losephns hereiulls Ismael a youuR child or infant, 
 thoiiuh he wa.^ about 13 years ofagi-i as Judas calls kini 
 self and his brethren young men, when he was 4"*, and 
 hud two children. Anti<|. b. ii cliup. vi. sect. 8, snd they 
 N^ire of niticb the sam« aye; as is a daMi!«el of l8 
 
CHAP. XIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 43 
 
 man unprovided of necessaries ; but at length 
 he agreed to it, because God was pleased with 
 what Sarah had determined; so he delivered 
 Ismael to his mother, as not yet able to go by 
 hiin>elf; and commanded her to take a bottle 
 of water, and a loaf of bread, and so to depart, 
 and to take Necessity for her guide. But as 
 soon as her necessary provisions failed, she 
 found herself in an evil case; and when the 
 water was almost spent, she laid the young 
 child, who was ready to expire, under a fig-tree, 
 and went on farther, that so he might die while 
 she was absent. But a divine angel came to 
 her, and told her of a fountain hard by, and 
 bid her take care and bring up the child, be- 
 cause she should be very happy by the preser- 
 vation of Ismael. She then took courage, upon 
 the prospect of what was promised her, and, 
 meeting with some shepherds, by their care she 
 got clear of the distresses she had been in. 
 
 4. When the lad was grown up, he married 
 a wife, by birth an Egyptian, from whence the 
 mother was herself derived originally. Of this 
 wifewerebornto Ismael twel > esons: Nabaioth, 
 Kedar, Abdeel, M.ib-am, Idumas, Masmaos, 
 Masaos, Chodad, Theman, Jetur, Naphesus, 
 Oadmas. These inhabited all ihe country from 
 Euphrates to the Red Sea, and called it Na- 
 batene. They are an Arabian Jiation, and name 
 their tribes from these, both because ot their 
 own virtue, and because ot the dignity of Ab- 
 raham their father. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CONCERNING ISAAC, THE LEGITIMATE SON OF 
 ABRAHAM. 
 
 § I. Now Abraham greatly loved Isaac, as be- 
 ing his oidy begotten,* and given to him at the 
 borders of old age, by the favour of God. The 
 child also endeared hinjself to his parents still 
 more, by the exercise of every virtue, and ad- 
 hering to his duty to his parents, and being 
 zealous in the worship of God. Abraham also 
 placed his own happiness in this prospect, that, 
 when he should die, he should leave this his son 
 in a safe and secure condition; which accord- 
 ingly he obtained by the will of God; who, be- 
 ing desirous to make an experiment of Abra- 
 ham's religious disposition towards himself, ap- 
 peared to him, and enumerated all the blessings 
 he had bestowed on him ; how he had made him 
 
 years old called a little child. Mark v. 39— 42, five seve- 
 ral times. Herod also is said by Joseplius to be a very 
 ynui)^ man at 25 .See the note on Ant h. xiv ch ix. s 2, 
 and uf the War, b. i. ch. x. And Aris(i.!uil\is is stjled a 
 very Jit'le child at 16 years of aj;e. Ant b, xv. r.li. ii s. G, 
 7. Doniitian is also called by liim a very youni; child, 
 when he went on his German expedition at about l« 
 voars of a(;e, of the War. b. vii. ch. iv, s. i. Samson's 
 wife, and Hiith. when they were widows, are called chil- 
 divn. Ant. b. v. ch. viii. s. fi, and ch. ix. sect. 2, 3. 
 
 * Note, that both here and Heb.xi.l7. Isaac is called 
 Ahiaham's only benotten son. tlMii^'h l>e at the same 
 tiiie had anothHr son. Ismiel. 'IIk- "^eptiiaifint e\iir»-s>es 
 ll»e true meaning, l>y rt-oderins; tlie text ihe helmed so7i. 
 
 superior to his enemies; and that his son Isaac, 
 who was the principal part of his present hap- 
 piness, was derived from him; and he said 
 that he required this son of his as a sacrifice 
 and holy oblation. Accordingly he command- 
 ed him to carry him to the mountain Moriah, 
 and to build an altar, and offer him for a 
 burnt-offering upon it; for that this would 
 best manifest his religious disposition towards 
 him, if he preferred w hat was pleasing to God, 
 before the preservation of his own son. 
 
 2. Now Abraham thought that it was not 
 right to disobey God in any thing, but that he 
 was obliged to serve him in every circumstance 
 of life, since all creatures that live enjoy their 
 life by his providence, and the kindness he be- 
 stows on them. Accordingly he concealed 
 this command of God, and his own intentions 
 about the slaughter of his son, from his wife, 
 as also from every one of bis servants, other- 
 wise he should have been hindered from his 
 obedience to God; and he took Isaac, together 
 with two of his servants, and laying what things 
 were necessary for a sacrifice upon an ass, he 
 went away to the mountain. Now the two 
 servants went along with him two days; but 
 on the third day, as soon as he saw the moun- 
 tain, he left those servants that were with him 
 till then in the plain, and, having his son alone 
 with him, he came to the mountain. It was 
 that mountain upon which king David after- 
 wards built the temple.f Now they had 
 brought with them every thing necessary for 
 a sacrifice excepting the animal that was to be 
 offered only. Now Isaac was twenty-five years 
 old. And as he was building the altar he asked 
 his father what he Was about to offer, since 
 there was no animal there for an oblation: — 
 to wliich it was answered, " That God would 
 provide himself an ollation, he being able to 
 make a plentiful prov ision for men out of what 
 they have not, and to deprive ethers of what 
 they already have, when they put too much trust 
 therein ; that therefore, if God pleased to be 
 present and propitious at this sacrifice, he 
 would provide himself an oblation." 
 
 3. As soon as the altar was prepared, and 
 Abraham had laid on the wood, and all things 
 were entirely ready, he said to his son, " O 
 son! I poured out a vast number of prayers 
 that I might have thee for my son; when thou 
 wastcome into the world, thv.re was nothing 
 that could contribute to thy support for which 
 I was not greatly solicitous, nor any thing 
 wherein I th(ni>;ht myself happier than to see 
 thee grown up to man's estate, and that I might 
 leave thee at my death the successor to my 
 dominion; but since it was by God's will that 
 1 became thy father, and it is now his will that 
 
 + Here is a plain error in the copies, which say that 
 king David afterwards bnilt the temple on this mount Mo- 
 riah. while it was certainly no other than king Solomon 
 who built that temple, as indeed Procopius cites it from 
 Josephus. For it was for certain David, and not Solo- 
 mon, who built the first altar there, as we learn, 2 Sam. 
 xxiv.l8. iw'-t fMi.xxi.22,&c.and Ant.b.vii.ch.xiii.6.4. 
 
44 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 I relmquish thee, bear this consecration to God 
 with a generous mind; for I resign thee up to 
 God, who has thought fit no w to require this tes- 
 timony of honour to himself, on account of the 
 favours he hath conferred on me, in being to 
 me a supporter and defender. Accordingly 
 thou, my son, wilt now dje, not in any common 
 way of going out of the world, but sent to 
 God, the Father of all men, beforehand, by 
 thy own father, in the nature of a sacrilicp. I 
 suppose he thinks thee worthy to get clear of 
 this world neither by disease, neither by war, 
 nor by any other severe way, by which death 
 usually comes upon men, but so that he will 
 receive thy soul with prayers and holy offices 
 of religion, and will place thee near to him- 
 self, and thou wilt there be to me a succourer 
 and supporter in my old age ; on which ac- 
 count I principally brought thee up, and thou 
 wilt thereby procure me God for my Com- 
 forter instead of thyself." 
 
 4. Now Isaac was of such a generous dis- 
 position as became the son of such a father, 
 and was pleased with this discourse; and said 
 '* That he was not worthy to be born at first, 
 if he should reject the determination of God 
 and of his father, and should not resign him- 
 self up readily to both their pleasures; since it 
 would have been unjust if he had not obeyed, 
 even if his father alone had so resolved." So 
 he went immediately to the altar to be sacri- 
 ficed. And the deed had been done if God 
 had not opposed it ; for he called loudly to 
 Abraham by his name, and forbade him to 
 slay his son ; and said, " It was not out of a 
 desire of human blood that he was commanded 
 to slay his son, nor was he willing that he 
 should be taken away from him whom he had 
 made his father, but to try the temper of his 
 mind, whether he would be obedient to such 
 a command. Since, therefore, he now was 
 satisfied as to that his alacrity, and the sur- 
 prising readiness he showed in this his piety, 
 he was delighted in having bestowed such 
 blessings upon him; and that he would not 
 be wanting in all sorts of concern about him, 
 and in bestowing other children upon him ; 
 and that his son should five to a very great 
 age; that he should live a happy life, and 
 bequeath a large principality to his children, 
 who should be good and legitimate." He 
 foretold also, that his family should increase 
 into many nations;* and that those patriarchs 
 
 • It seems both here, and in God's parallel blessing to 
 Jacob (chap. xix. sect. I), that Josephus had yet no no- 
 tion of the bidden meanint; of that most important and 
 roost eminent promise, " In tliy seed shall all the fami- 
 lies ot the earth be blessed ! He saith not. And to seeds, 
 as of many, but as of onej and to thy seed, which is 
 Christ," GaL iii. 16. Nor is it any wonder, he bein?, I 
 think, as jret not a Chri.ntian; and had he been a Chris- 
 tian, yet since he was, to be sure, till the latter part of his 
 life, no more than an Kbionite Christian, who, aboTe 
 all the apostles, rejected and despised St. I'iiul, it would 
 be no (jreat wonder if he did not now follow his inter- 
 relation. In the mean time, we have tu eflect St. 
 Paul's exposition in the Tesianienl of Reuben, sect, 6, 
 In Aulhent. R^c. I'art i. p. a02. who charges bin sons 
 **to worship the s««d of Judah, who should die for 
 
 should leave behind them an everlasting name, 
 that they should obtain the possession of the 
 land of Canaan, and be envied by all men. 
 When God had said this, he produced to 
 them a ram, which did not appear before, for 
 the sacrifice. So Abraham and Isaac receiv- 
 ing each other unexpectedly, and having ob- 
 tained the promises of such great blessings, 
 embraced one another; and when they had 
 sacrificed, they returned to Sarah, and lived 
 happily together, God affording them his as- 
 sistance in all things they desired. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CONCERNING SARAH, ABnAHAM's WIFE; AND 
 now SHE ENDED HER DAYS. 
 
 Now Sarah died a little while after, having 
 lived one hundred and twenty-seven years*. 
 They buried her in Hebron; the Canaanites 
 publicly allowing them a burying- place : — 
 which piece of ground Abraham'bought, for 
 four hundred shekels, of Ephron, an inhabi- 
 tant of Hebron ; and both Abraham and his 
 descendants built themselves sepulchres in 
 that place. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HOW THE NATION OF THE TROGLODYTES WERE 
 DERIVED FROM ABRAHAM BY KETURAH. 
 
 Abraham after this married Keturah.bywhom 
 six sons were born to hiin ; men of cour- 
 age and of sagacious minds: — Zanibran, and 
 Jazar, and Madan, and Madian, and Josabak," 
 and Sous. Now the sons of Sous were Saba- 
 than and Dadan; — the sons of Dadan were 
 Latusim, and Assur, and Luom; — the sons 
 of Madian were Ephas, and Ophren, and 
 Anoch, and Ebidas, and Eldas. Now, for 
 all these sons and grandsons, Abraham con- 
 trived to settle them in colonies ; and they took 
 possession of Troglodytis, and the country ol 
 Arabia the Happy, as far as it reaches to the 
 Red Sea. It is related of this Ophren, that 
 he made war against Liliv'a, and took it; and 
 that his grandi'hildrin, when they inhabited 
 it, called it (from liis name) Africa; and in- 
 deed Alexander Polvhistor gives his attesta- 
 tion to what 1 here sav; who speaks thus: — 
 " Cleodcmus the prophet, who was also called 
 
 them in visible and invi.siblt- ««farsj and should be among 
 them an eternal kinj;." Nt>r is that observation of a 
 learned foreiRiifr o( my acquaintance to be despised, 
 who takes n»itice. that, as seeds, in the plural, must 
 signify postetity ,- so set-fl. in the singular, may siimiiy 
 either pmtrnta. or a sitKjIe person; and that in this 
 promise of all nations btiiig happy in the seed of Abra- 
 ham, or Isaaf. or Ja»'»b. &<•. it is always used in the sin- 
 gular. 'I o whicli i shall add. that it is sometimes, as 
 it were, paraphrased liy Mie Min of Ahraliam. the sou of 
 Uaviu, &c. w liicb ii> cupabic uf uo such ambiguity. 
 
CHAP XVI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 45 
 
 Malchu' "~o wrote a history of the Jews. 
 in agreeiH^iit with the History of Moses, their 
 legislator, relates, that there were many sons 
 born to Abraham by Keturah; nay, he names 
 three of them, Apher, and Siirim, and Japh- 
 ran: that from Surim was the land of Assyria 
 denominated; and that from the other two 
 (Apher and JaphranJ the country t)f Africa 
 took its name; because tbo.*e men wexe auxi- 
 liaries to Hercules, when he fought against 
 Libya and Antaeus; and tluit Hercules mar- 
 ried Aphra^s daujjhter, atid of her he begat a 
 son, Diodorus; and that Sophon was his son; 
 from whom that barburous people called So- 
 phacians were denominated." 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HOW ISAAC TOOK REBEKA TO WIFE. 
 
 § 1. Now when Abraham, the fathei of Isaac, 
 had resolved to take Rebeka, who was grand- 
 daughter to his brother Nahor, for a wife to 
 fais son Isaac, who was then about forty years 
 old, he sent the ancientest of his servants 
 to betroth her, after he had obliged them to 
 give him the strongest assurances of his fide- 
 lity;— which assurances were given after the 
 manner following: — They put each other's 
 hands under each other's thighs; then they 
 called upon God as the witness of what was 
 to be done. He also sent such presents to 
 those that were there, as were in esteem on 
 account that they either rarely or never were 
 seen in that country. The servant got thi- 
 ther not under a considerable time ; for it re- 
 quires much time to pass through Mesopota- 
 mia, in which it is tedious travelling, both in 
 winter, for the depth of the clay — and in 
 summer, for want of water; and, besides this, 
 for the robberies therj committed, which are 
 not to be avoided by travellers but by caution 
 beforehand. However, the servant came to 
 Haran; and when he was in the suburbs, he 
 met a considerable number of maidens going 
 to the water; he therefore prayed to God that 
 Hfebeka might be found among them, or her 
 whom Abraham sent him as hi.s servant to 
 espouse to his son, in case his will were that 
 this marriage should be consummsted; and I 
 that she might be made known to hiui by the 
 sign. That while others denied him water to 
 drink, she might give it him. 
 
 2. With this intention he went to the well, 
 and desired the maidens to give him some 
 water to drink: but while the others refused, 
 on pretence that they wanted it all at home, 
 and could spare none for him, one only of the 
 company rebuked them for their peevish be- 
 haviour towards the stranger; and said. What 
 is there that you will ever communicate to any 
 body, who have not s;) much as given the man 
 some water? She tiien offered him water in 
 
 an obliging manner; and now he tegan to 
 hope that his grand aflfiiir would succeed ; but 
 desiring still to know the truth, he commended 
 her for he^ generosity and good nature, that 
 she did not scruple to afford a sufficiency 
 of water to those that wanted it, though it 
 cost her some pains to draw it; and asked 
 who were her parents, and wished them joy 
 of such a daughter. •' And mayest thou be 
 espoused," said he, " to their satisfaction, in- 
 to the family of an agreeable husband, and 
 bring him legitimate children 1" Nor did she 
 disdain to satisfy his inquiries, but told him 
 her family. " They," says she, " call me Re- 
 beka ; my father was Bethuel, but he is dead ; 
 and Laban is my brother ; and, together with 
 my mother, takes care of all our family af- 
 fairs, and is the guardian of my virginity." 
 When the servant heard this, he was very glad 
 at what had happened, and at Vhat was told 
 him, as perceiving that God had thus plainly 
 directed his journey: and producing his brace- 
 lets, and some other ornaments which it was 
 esteemed decent for virgins to wear, he gave 
 them to the damsel, by way of acknowledg- 
 ment, and as a reward for her kindness in 
 giving him water to drink; saying, it was but 
 just that she should have them, because she 
 was so much more obliging than any of the 
 rest. She desired also that he would come 
 and lodge with them, since the approach of 
 the night gave him not time to proceed far- 
 ther; and producing his precious ointment* 
 for women, he said he desired to trust them 
 to none more safely than to such as she had 
 shown herself to be; and that he believed he 
 might guess at the humanity of her mother 
 and brother, that they would not be displea- 
 sed, from the virtue he found in her; for he 
 would not be burdensome, but would pay the 
 hire for his entertainment, and spend his own 
 money. To which she replied, that he guess- 
 ed right as to the humanity of her parents; 
 but complained that he should think them so 
 parsimonious as to take money, for that he 
 should have all on free cost : but she said she 
 would first inform her brother Laban, and, if 
 he gave her leave, she would conduct him in. 
 3, As soon then as this was over, she in- 
 troduced the stranger; and for the camels, 
 the servants of Laban brought them in, and 
 took care of them; and he was himself brought 
 in to supper by Laban. And, after supper, 
 he says to him, and to the mother of the dam- 
 sel, addressing himself to her, " Abraham is 
 the son of Terah, and a kinsman of yours; for 
 Nahor, the grandfather of these children, was 
 the brother of Abraham, by both father and 
 mother; upon which account he hath sent me 
 to you, being desiious to take this damsel for 
 his son to wife. He is his legitimate son, 
 and is brought up as his only heir. He could 
 indeed have had the most happy of all the 
 women in that country for him, but he would 
 not have his sou m&rry any of them ; but, ou| 
 
46 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 f^ 
 
 \ 
 
 of re,s:ard to his own relations, he desired to 
 match him here, whose affection and inclina- 
 tion I wonld not have you despise; for it 
 was by the goad pleasure of God tliat other 
 accidents fell out in my journey, and that 
 thereby I lighted upon your daughter and your 
 house; for when I was near to the city, I saw 
 a great many maidens coming to a well, and I 
 prayed that I might meet with this damsel, 
 which has come to pass accordingly. Do 
 you, therefore, confirm that marriage, whose 
 espousals have been already made by a divine 
 appearance; and show the respect you have 
 for Abraham, who hath sent me with so much 
 solicitude, in giving your consent to the mar- 
 riage of this damsel." Upon this they un- 
 derstood it to be the will of God, and greatly 
 approved of the offer, and sent their daugh- 
 ter, as was desired. Accordingly Isaac mar- 
 ried her, the inheritance being now come to 
 him; for the children by Keturah were gone 
 to their own remote habitations. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CONCERNING THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM. 
 
 A LITTLE while after this, Abraham died. 
 He was a man of incomparable virtue, and 
 honoured by God in a manner agreeable to 
 his piety towards him. The whole time of 
 his life was one hundred seventy and five 
 years; and he was buried in Hebron, with 
 his wife Sarah, by their sons Isaac and Is- 
 maeL 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CONCERNING THE SONS OF ISAAC, ESAU AND 
 JACOB. OF THEIR NATIVITY AND EDUCA- 
 TION. 
 
 § 1. Now Isaac's wife proved with child, 
 after the death of Abraham;* and when her 
 belly was greatly burdened, Isaac was very 
 anxious, and inquired of God; who answer- 
 ed, that Rebeka should bear twins; and that 
 two nations should take the names of those 
 sons; and that he who appeared the second 
 should excel the. elder. Accordingly she, in 
 a iit'.le time, as God had foretold, bare twins; 
 the elder of whom, from his head to his feet, 
 WHS very rough and hairy; but the younger 
 "^ook hold of his heel as they were in the birth. 
 Wow the father loved the elder, who was 
 called Esau, a name agreeable to his rough- 
 
 • The birth of Jacob and Esan is here said to he after 
 Abraham^s death t it iihould have been after Saraii's 
 death. The order of the narratinn in Onesis, not al- 
 ^dVB exactly according to the order of time, seems to 
 nave ?ot Joscpbiu into this wror, as Dr. Uernard ob. 
 
 ness, for the Hebrews call such an hairy 
 roughness [Esau,f or] Seir; but Jacob the 
 younger was best beloved by his mother. 
 
 2. When there was a famine in the land, 
 Isaac resolved to go into Egypt, the land 
 there being good; but he went to Gerar, as 
 God commanded him. Here Abimelech the 
 king received him, because Abraham had for- 
 merly lived with him, and had been his 
 friend; and as in the beginning he treated 
 him exceeding kindly, so he was hindered 
 from continuing in the same disposition to 
 the end, by his envy at him; for when he 
 saw that God was with Isaac, and look such 
 great care of him, he drove him away from 
 him. But Isaac, when he saw how envy had 
 changed the temper of Abimelech, retired to 
 a place called the Valley, not far from Gerar; 
 and as he was digging a well, the shepherds' 
 fell upon him, and began to fight, in order to 
 hinder the work; and because he did not de- 
 sire to contend, the shepherds seemed to get 
 the better of him; so he still retired, and dug 
 another well; and when certain other shep- 
 herds of Abimelech's began to offer him vio- 
 lence, he left that also, and still retired; thus 
 purchasing security to himself by a rational 
 and prudent conduct. At length the king 
 gave him leave to dig a well without disturb- 
 ance. He named this well Rehoboth, which 
 denotes a large space; but of the former wells, 
 one was called Escon, which denotes strife; 
 the other Sitenna, which name signifies en- 
 mity. 
 
 3. It was now that Isaac's affairs increased^ 
 and his power was in a flourishing condition- 
 and this from his great riches. But Abi- 
 melech, thinking Isaac throve in opposition 
 to him, while their living together made then) 
 suspicious of each other, and Isaac's retiring, 
 showing a secret enmity also, he was afraid 
 that his former friendship with Isaac would 
 not secure him, if Isaac should endeavour 
 to revenge the injuries he had formerly offer- 
 ed him; he therefore renewed his friend^hip 
 with him, and brought with him Philoc, one 
 of his generals. And when he had obtained 
 every thing he desired, by reason of Isaac's 
 good nature, who preferred the earliei*friend- 
 ship Abimelech had shown to himself and his 
 father to his later wrath against him, he re- 
 turned home. 
 
 4. Now when E^au, one of the sons of 
 Isaac," whom the father principally loved, was 
 now come to the age of forty years, he mar- 
 ried Adah, the daughter of Helon, and Aho- 
 libamah, the dauf^hter of Esebeon; which 
 Helon and Esebeon were great lords amcng 
 the Canaanites, thereby taking upon hinjself 
 the authority, and pretending to have domi- 
 nion over his own marriages, without so nuich 
 as askmg the advice of his father; for had 
 Isaac been the arbitrator, he had not given 
 
 + For Seir in .l<i».'p)uiM. the coherence requires that we 
 r«ad Esau or S%ti, wl.i. .. signify lliu sume thing 
 
CHAP. XVITL 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 47 
 
 him leave to marry thus, for he was not 
 pleased with contracting any alliance with the 
 people of that country; but not caring to be 
 uneasy to his son, by commanding him to put 
 away these wives, he resolved to be silent. 
 
 5. But when he was old, and could not 
 see at all, he called Esau to him, and told 
 him, that besides his blindness, and the dis- 
 order of his eyes, his very qld age hindered 
 him from his worship of God [by sacrifice]; 
 he bid him therefore to go out a hunting, 
 and when he had caught as much venison at 
 he could, to prepare him a supper,* that after 
 this he might make supplication to God, to be 
 to him a supporter and an assister during the 
 whole time of his life; saying, that it was un- 
 certain when he should die, and that he was 
 desirous, by his prayers for him, to procure, 
 beforehand, God to be merciful to him. 
 
 6. Accordingly Esau went out a hunting ; 
 but Rebekaf thinking it proper to have the 
 supplication made for obtaining the favour of 
 God 10 Jacob, and that without the consent 
 of Isaac, bid hina kill kids of the goats, and 
 jii t'p.ire a supper. So Jacob obeyed his mo- 
 ther, according to all her instructions. Now 
 when the supper was got ready, he took a 
 goat's skin, and put it about his arm, that by 
 reason of its hairy roughness, he might by his 
 father be believed to be Esau; for they being 
 twins, and in all things else alike, differed 
 only in this thing. This was done out of his 
 feiir, that before his father had made his sup- 
 
 • The supper cf savoury meat, as we call it (Gen. 
 xxvii. 4). to be causjht by liiint:n?, was intended plainly 
 for a festival or a sacrifice; and upon the prayers that 
 were frequent at sacrifices, Isaac expected, as was then 
 usual in such eminent cases, that a divine impulse would 
 come upon him, in order to the solemn blessin? of his 
 •on there present, and his foretelling his future behavi- 
 our and fortune. Whence it must be, that when Isaar 
 had unwittingly blessed Jacob, and was afterwards made 
 . sensible of his mistake, yet did he not attempt to alter 
 it, how earnestly soever his affection for Esau mi«(ht in- 
 cline him to wish it might be altered, because he knew 
 that this blessin? came not from himself, but from God, 
 and that an alteration was out of his power. A second 
 afflatus then came upon him, and enabled him to foretell 
 Ksau's future behaviour and fortune also. 
 
 + Whether Jacob or his mother Rebeka were most 
 blameahie ia this imposition upon Isaac in his old aa;e, 
 I cannot determine. However, the blessing, beins; de- 
 livered as a prediction of future events, by a divine im- 
 pulse, and foretelling; things to befal to the posterity of 
 Jacob and Esau in future ages, was for certain provi- 
 dential; and according to what Rebeka knew to be the 
 purpose of God, when he answered her inquiry, "before 
 the children were born" (Gen. xxv. 23), " that one peo- 
 p'e should be stronger than the other people; and the 
 elder, Esau, should serve the younger, Jacob." Whether 
 Isaac knew or remembered this old oracle, delivered in 
 our copies only to Rebeka; or whether, if he knew and 
 remenfbered it, he difl not endeavour to alter the divine 
 determination, out of his fondness for his elder and 
 worse son Esau, to the damage of his younger and bet- 
 ter son Jacob; as Josephus elsewhere supposes, Antiq. 
 b. ii ch. vii. sect. 3, I cannot certainly say. If so, this 
 might tempt Rebeka to contrive, and Jacob to put this 
 imposition upon him. However, Josephus says here, 
 that it was Isaac, and not Rebeka, who inquired of God 
 at first, and received the forementioned oracle (sect. I); 
 which, if it be the true reading, renders Isaac's proce- 
 dure more inexcusable. Nor was it probably any thing 
 else that so much encouraged Esau formerly to_matry 
 two Canaanitish wives, without his parents' consent, aa 
 Isaac's unhappy fondness for him. 
 
 plications, he should be caught in his evil 
 practice; and lest he should, on the contrary, 
 provoke his father to curse him. So he 
 brought in the supper to his father. Isaac 
 perceiving, by the peculiarity of his voice, who 
 he was, called his son to him, who gave him 
 his hand, which was covered with the goat's 
 skin. "When Isaac felt that, he said, '* Thy 
 voice is like the voice of Jacob, yet, because 
 of l^e thickness of thy hair, thou seemest to 
 be Esau." So suspecting no deceit, he ate 
 the supper, and betook himself to his prayers 
 and intercessions with God; and said, " O 
 Lord of all ages and Creator of all substance; 
 for it was thou that didst propose to my fa- 
 ther great plenty of good things, and hast 
 vouchsafed to bestow on me what I have ; 
 and hast promised to my posterity to be their 
 kind supporter, and to bestow on them still 
 greater blessings, — do thou, therefore, con- 
 firm these thy promises, and do not overlook 
 me, because of my present weak condition, 
 on account of which I most earnestly pray to 
 thee. Be gracious to this my son ; and pre- 
 serve him, and keep him from every tning 
 that is evil. Give him a happy life, and the 
 possession of as many good things as thy 
 power is able to bestow. Make him terrible 
 to his enemies, and honourable and beloved 
 among his friends!" 
 
 7. Thus did Isaac pray to God, thinking 
 his prayers had been made for Esau. He 
 had but just finished them, when Esau came 
 in from hunting; and when Isaac perceived 
 his mistake, he was silent; but Esau required 
 that he might be made partaker of the like 
 blessing from his father that his brother had 
 partook of; but his father refused it, because 
 all his prayers had been spent upon Jacob; 
 so Esau lamented the mistake. However, 
 his father being grieved at his weeping, said, 
 that " he should excel in hunting and strength 
 of body, in arms, and all such sorts of work ; 
 and should obtain glory for ever on those ac- 
 counts, he and his posterity after him ; but 
 still should serve his brother." 
 
 8. Now the mother delivered Jacob, when 
 she was afraid that his brother would inflict 
 some punishment upon him, because of the 
 mistake about the prayers of Isaac ; for she 
 persuaded her husband to take a wife for 
 Jacob out of Mesopotamia, of her own kin- 
 dred, Esau having married already Basem- 
 math, the daughter of Ismael, without his 
 father's consent ; for Isaac did not like the 
 Canaanites, so that he disapproved of Esau's 
 former marriages, which made him take Ba- 
 semmath to wife, in order to please him; and 
 indeed he had a great affection for her. 
 
48 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 HOOK I. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 CONCERNING JACOB's FLIGHT INTO MESOPO- 
 TAMIA, BY REASON OF THE FEAR HE WAS 
 IN OF HIS BROTHER. 
 
 § 1. Now Jacob was sent by his motber to 
 Mesopotamia, in order to marry Laban her 
 brother's daughter (which marriage was per- 
 mitted by Isaac, on account of his obsequi- 
 ousness to the desires of bis wifej ; and he 
 accordingly journeyed through the land of 
 Canaan ; and because he hated the people of 
 that country, he would not lodge with any of 
 them, but took up his lodging in the open 
 air, and laid his head on a heap of stones 
 that he had gathered together. At which time 
 he saw in his sleep such a vision standing by 
 him : — he seemed to see a ladder, that reached 
 from the earth unto heaven, and persons de- 
 scending upon the ladder that seemed more 
 excellent than human; and at last God him- 
 self stood above it, and was plainly visible to 
 him ; who, calling him by his name, spake to 
 bim these words: — 
 
 2. *' O Jacob, it is not fit for thee, who 
 art the son of a good father, and grandson of 
 one who had obtained a great reputation for 
 bis eminent virtue, to be dejected at thy pre- 
 sent circumstances, but to hope for better 
 times, for thou shalt have great abundance of 
 all good things by my assistance; for I brought 
 Abraham hither, out of Mesopotamia, when 
 he was driven away by his kinsmen, and I 
 made thy father a happy man; nor will I be- 
 stow a less degree of happiness on thyself; 
 be of good courage, therefore, and under my 
 conduct proceed on this thy journey, for the 
 marriage thou goest so zealously about shall 
 be consummated; and thou shalt have chil- 
 dren of good characters, but their multitude 
 shall be innumerable; and they shall leave 
 what they have to a still more numerous pos- 
 terity, to whom, and to whose posterity, I 
 give the dominion of all the land, and their 
 posterity shall fill the entire earth and sea, so 
 far as the sun beholds them ; but do not thou 
 fear any danger, nor be afraid of the many 
 labours thou must undergo, for by my provi- 
 dence I will direct thee what thou art to do 
 in the time present, and still much more in 
 the time to come." 
 
 3. Such were the predictions which God 
 made to Jacob ; whereupon he became very 
 joyful at what he had seen and heard; end 
 he poured oil on the stones, because on them 
 the prediction of such great benefits was 
 made. He also vowed a vow, that he would 
 offer sacrifices upon them, if he lived and re- 
 turned safe; and if he came again in such a 
 condition, he would give the tithe of what he 
 had gotten to God. He also judged tlie 
 place to b« honourable, and gave it the name 
 
 of Bethel, which, in the Greek, is interpreted, 
 The House of God. 
 
 4. So he proceeded on his journey to Me- 
 sopotamia, and at length came to Haran; 
 and meeting with shepherds in the suburbs, 
 with boys grown up, and maidens sitting 
 about a certain well, he staid with them, as 
 wanting water to drink; and beginning to 
 discourse with them, he asked them whether 
 they knew such a one as Laban, and whether 
 he was still alive. Now they all said they 
 kiiew him, for he was not so inconsiderable a 
 person as to be unknown to any of them ; 
 and-that his daughter fed her father's flock 
 together with them; and that indeed they 
 wondered that she was not yet come, for by 
 her means thou mightest learn more exactly 
 whatever thou desirest to know about that 
 family. While they were saying this the 
 damsel came, and the other shepherds that 
 came down along with her. Then they 
 showed her Jacob, and told her that he was a 
 stranger, who came to inquire about her fa- 
 ther's affairs. But she, as pleased, after the 
 custom of children, with Jacob's coming, 
 asked him who he was, and whence he came 
 to them, and what it was he lacked that he 
 came thither. She also wished it might be 
 in their power to supply the wants he came 
 about. 
 
 5. But Jacob was quite overcome, not so 
 much by their kindred, nor by that affection 
 which might arise thence, as by his love to 
 the damsel, and his surprise at her beauty, 
 which was so flourishing, as few of the women 
 of that age could vie with. He said then, 
 " There is a relation between thee and me, 
 elder than either thy or my birth, if thou be 
 the daughter of Laban; for Abraham was the 
 son of Terah, as well as Haran and Nahor. 
 Of the last of whom (Nahor) Bethuel thy 
 grandfather was the son. Isaac my father 
 was the son of Abraham and of Sarah, who 
 was the daughter of Haran. But there is a 
 nearer and later cement of mutual kindred 
 v\hich we bear to one another, for my mother 
 Rebeka was sister to Laban thy father, both 
 by the same father and mother; I therefore 
 and thou are cousins-german; and I am now 
 come to salute you, and to renew that affniity 
 which is proper between us." Upon this the 
 damsel, at the mention of Rebeka, as usually 
 happens to young persons, wept, and that out 
 of the kindness she had for her father, and 
 en)braced Jacob, «he having learned lyi ac- 
 count of Rebeka from hcc father, and knew 
 that her parents loved to hear her named ; and 
 when she bail saluted him, she said that "he 
 brought the most desirable and greatest plea- 
 sures to her father, with all their family, who 
 was always mentioning his mother, and always 
 thinking of her, and her alone; and that this 
 will make thee e(fual in his eyes to any advan- 
 tageous circumstances whatsoever." 'J'hen 
 sihe liid hiui (^o to her futher. and follow her 
 
CHAP. XIX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JE^S. 
 
 49 
 
 while she conducted him to him; and not to 
 deprive hitn of such a pleasure, by staying any 
 longer away from him. 
 
 6. When she had said thus, she brought 
 him to Laban; and being owned by his uncle, 
 he was secure himself, as being among his 
 friends; and he brought a great deal of plea- 
 sure to them by his unexpected coming. But 
 a little while afterward, Laban told him that 
 he could not express in words the joy he had 
 at his comijig ; but still he inquired of him 
 the occasion of his coming, and why he left 
 his aged mother and father, when they wanted 
 to be taken care of by him; and that he 
 would afford him all the assistance he wanted. 
 Then Jacob gave him an -account of the 
 whole occasion of his journey, and told him, 
 ••"that Isaac had two sons that were twins, 
 himself and Esau; who, because he failed of 
 his father's prayers, which by his mother's 
 wisdom were putf up for him, sought to kill 
 him, as deprived of the" kingdom* which was 
 to be given him of God, and of the blessings 
 for which their father prayed; and that this 
 was the occasion of his coming hither, as his 
 mother had commanded him to do: for we 
 are all (says he) brethren one to another; but 
 our mother esteems an alliance with your fa- 
 mily more than she does one with the families 
 of the country; so I look upon yourself and 
 God to be the supporters of my travels, and 
 think myself safe in my present circum- 
 stances." 
 
 7. Now Laban promised to treat him with 
 great humanity, both on account of his an- 
 cestors, and particularly for the sake of his 
 mother, towards whom, he said, he would show 
 his kindness, even though she were absent, by 
 taking care of him; for he assured him he 
 would make him the head shepherd of his 
 flock; and give him authority sufficient for 
 that purpose; and when he should have a 
 mind to return to his parents, he would send 
 him back with presents, and this in as honour- 
 able a manner as the nearness of their relation 
 should require. This Jacob heard gladly; 
 and said he would willingly, and with plea- 
 sure, undergo any sort of pains while he tar- 
 ried with him, but desired Rachel to wife, as 
 the reward of those pains, who was not only 
 on other accounts esteemed by him, but also 
 because she was the means of his coming to 
 him ; for he said he was forced by the love of 
 the dam?el to make this proposal. Laban 
 was well pleased with this agreement, and 
 consented to give the damsel to him, as not 
 desirous to meet with any better son-in-law; 
 
 • By this "deprivation of the kingdom that was to be 
 ?iven Esau of God," as the first-born, it appears that 
 Josephus thought that a " iiingdoni to be derived from 
 (iod" was due to liim whom Isaac should bless as his 
 f)ist-born; which I take to be that kingdom which was 
 txpected under the Messiah, who therefore was to be 
 boru of his posterity whom Isaac should so bless. Jacob, 
 therefore, by obtaining this blessing of the first-born, 
 became the genuine heir of that kingdom, in opposition 
 to Esau 
 
 and said he would do this, if he would stay 
 with him some time, for he was not willing to 
 send his daughter to be among the Canaanites, 
 for he repented of the alliance he had made 
 already by marrying his sister there. And 
 when Jacob had given his consent to this, he 
 agreed to stay seven years; for so many years 
 he had resolved to serve his father-in-law, that, 
 having given a specimen of his virtue, it might 
 be better known what sort of a man he was: 
 and Jacob accepting of his terms, after the 
 time was over, he made the wedding feast; 
 and when it was night, without Jacob's per- 
 ceiving it, he put his other daughter into bed 
 to him, who was both elder than Rachel, and 
 of no comely countenance: Jacob lay with her 
 that night, as being both in drink and in the 
 dark. However, when it was day, he knew 
 what had been done to him ; and he reproached 
 Laban for his unfair proceeding with him; 
 who asked pardon for that necessity which 
 forced him to do what he did ; for he did not 
 give him Lea out of any ill design, but as 
 overcome by another greater necessity ; that, 
 notwithstanding this, nothing should hinder 
 him from marrying Rachel; but that when 
 he had served another seven years, he would 
 give him her whom he loved. Jacob sub" 
 mitted to this condition, for his love to the 
 damsel did not permit him to do otherwise ; 
 and when another seven years were gone, he 
 took Rachel to wife. 
 
 8. Now each of these had handmaids, by 
 their father's donation. Zilpha was hand- 
 maid to Lea, and Bilha to Rachel; by no 
 means slaves,* but however subject to their 
 mistresses. Now Lea was sorely troubled at 
 her husband's love to her sister; and she ex- 
 pected she should be better esteemed if she 
 bare him children- so she entreated God per- 
 petually ; and when she had born a son, and 
 her husband was on that account better recon- 
 ciled to her, she named her son Reubel, be- 
 cause God had had mercy upon her, in giving 
 her a son ; for that is the signification of this 
 'name. After some time she bare three more 
 sons ; Simeon, which name signifies that God 
 had hearkened to her prayer. Then she bare 
 Levi, the conjirmer of their friendship. After 
 him was born Judah, which denotes thanksgiv- 
 ing. But Rachel, fearing lest the fruitfulness 
 of her sister should make herself enjoy a less 
 share of Jacob's affections, put to bed to him 
 
 • Here we have the difference between slaves for life 
 and servants, such as we now hire for a time agreed upon 
 on both sides, and dismiss again after the time contracted 
 for is over, which are no slaves, but free men and free 
 women. Accordingly, when the apostolical constitutions 
 forbid a clergyman to marry perpetual servants or slaves, 
 b. vi. ch. xvvj. it is meant only of the former sort; as 
 we learn elsewhere from the same constitutions, ch.xjvii. 
 Can. Ixxxii. But concerning these twelve sons of Jacob; 
 the reasons of their several names, and the times of their 
 several births in the intervals here assigned,— their sever- 
 al excellent characters, their several faults and repent' 
 ance. the several accidents of their lives, with their se- 
 veral prophecies at their deaths, see the Testaments of 
 these twelve patriarchs, still preserved at large in tho 
 Autbent. lice- part i. p. 294— 4'iJ. 
 
j52 
 
 And when tbe angel had said what is before 
 related, be disappeared ; but Jacob was pleased 
 with these things, and named the place 
 Phanuel which signifies the face of Gad. Now 
 when he felt pain, by this struggling, upon 
 his broad sinew, he abstained from eating that 
 sinew himseif afterward; and for his sake it 
 is still not eaten by us. 
 
 3. When Jacob understood that his bro- 
 ther was near^ he ordered his wives to go be- 
 fore, each by herself, with the handmaids, that 
 they might see the actions of the men as they 
 were fighting, if Esau were >«5 disposed. He 
 then went up to his brother Esau, and bowed 
 down to him, who had no evil design upoji 
 him, but saluted him; and asked him about 
 the company of the children and of the wo- 
 men ; and desired, when he had understood all 
 he wanted to know about them, that he would 
 go along with him to their father; but Jacob 
 pretending that the cattle were weary, Esau 
 returned to Seir, for there was his place of 
 habitation; he having named the place Rough-' 
 ness, from his own hairy roughness. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 CONCERNING THE VIOLATION OF DINa's 
 CHASTITY. 
 
 § 1. Hereupon Jacob came to the place, till 
 this day called Tents (Succoth) ; from whence 
 he went to Shechem, which is a city of the 
 Canaanites. Now as the Shechemites were 
 keeping a festival, Dina, who was the only 
 daughter of Jacob, went into the city to see 
 the finery of the women of that country. But 
 when Shechem, the son of Hamor the king, 
 saw her, he defiled her by violence; and, be- 
 ing greatly in love with her, desired of his fa- 
 ther that he would procure the damsel to him 
 for a wife: — to which desire he oondeseended, 
 and came to Jacob, desiring him to give leave 
 that his son Shechem might, according to law, 
 marry Dina. But Jacob, not knowing how 
 to deny the desire of one of such great dig- 
 nity, and yet not thinking it lawful to marry 
 his daughter to a stranger, entreated him to 
 give him leave to have a consultation about 
 what he desired him to do. So the king went 
 away, in hopes that Jacob would grant him 
 this marriage. But Jacob informed his sons 
 of the defilement of their sister, and of the 
 address of Hamor; and desired them to give 
 their advice what they should do. Upon this, 
 the greatest part said nothing, not knowing 
 what advice to give. But Simeon and Levi, 
 the brethren of the damsel by the same mo- 
 ther, agreed between themselves upon the 
 action following: It being now the time of a 
 festival, when the Shechemites were employed 
 in ease and feasting, they fell upon the watch 
 when they were asleep, and, coming into the 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK Jt 
 
 city, slew all the m.ales ;* as also the king an^ 
 his son with them; but spared the women 
 and when thejf had done this without theij 
 father's consent,, they brought away theii 
 sister. 
 
 2. Now while Jacob was astonished at th.9^ 
 greatness of this act, and wtis severely blaming 
 his sons for it, God stood by him, and bid him 
 be of good courage; but to purify his tents, 
 and to offer those sacrifices which he had vowed 
 to ofier when he went first into Mesopotamia, 
 and saw his vision. As he was therefore 
 purifying his followers,, he lighted upon the 
 gods of Laban (for he did not before know they 
 were stolen by Rachel) ; an/^ he hid them i» 
 the earth, under an oak, in Shechem ; and de- 
 parting thence, he offered sacrifice at Bethel,, 
 the place where he saw his dream, when \ut 
 went first into Mesopotamia. 
 
 3. And when he was gone thence, and wa» 
 come over-against Ephrata, he there buried 
 Rachel, who died in cbild-bed; she was the 
 only one of Jacob's kindred that had not the 
 honour of burial at Hebron; and when he had 
 mourned for her a great while, he called the 
 son that was born of her Benjamin, f because 
 of the sorrow the mother had with him. These 
 are aU the children of Jacob, twelve males 
 and one female ; -— of them eight vvere legiti- 
 mate, viz. six of Lea, and two of Rachel ; and 
 four were of the handmaids, two of each; all 
 whose names have been set down already. 
 
 CHAPTER XXn. 
 
 HOW ISAAC DIED, AND WAS BURIED IN HEBRON. 
 
 From thence Jacob came to Hebron, a city 
 situate among the Canaanites ; and there it 
 was that Isaac lived: and so they lived toge- 
 ther for a little while ; for as to Rebeka, Ja- 
 cob did not find her alive. Isaac also died 
 not long after the coming of his son ; and 
 was buried by his sons, with bis wife, in He- 
 bron, where they bad a monument belonging 
 to them from their forefathers. Now Isaac 
 
 • Of this slaiiRhter of tlie Shechemites hy Simeon and 
 Levi, see Auth. Rec. Part 1, y. 3(ll>, 418, 43-2—439. But 
 why Josephus has omitted the'ciicumcision of these 
 Shechemites, a» the occasion of their death; and of Ju- 
 cob's ereat griefs as in the Testament of Levi, J 3. 1 can- 
 not tell. 
 
 + Since Beiioni signifies the son of my .wrrow, and 
 Benjamin the sen of days, or one born m the father's old 
 aye (Gen. xliv. 20.)» 1 suspect Josephus's present copies 
 to he here imperfect; and I suppose that, in correspon- 
 dence to other copies, he wrote that Rachel called her 
 son's name Uenoni; hnt his father called him Benjamin. 
 Gen.xxxv. 18. Asfor Bcn^rain. ascommonlyex4)Iained, 
 the son of the rioht h<uid, it niakjes no sense at all, and 
 sterns to be a ijross modern error only. T1:e Samaritaa 
 always writes this name truly Benjamim, which probalvly 
 is here of the same signification, only with the Chal<Ie« 
 termination in, instead of im in the tUhrfw. as we pro-. 
 nounco Chernhin or €'heriil)ii» indiffi'rentty. Accorrl- 
 inirly, hoth the fViaamwit of Benjamin (.sert. i, p. 40l>» 
 and J'hilo de Nominitm fllutatioue (p. Uxyj), write ''V* 
 name Uenj-.itiiin; hut explain it Dot thv son of tk« ri^< 
 handf but lh« «oa of days. 
 
CHAP. II, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 63 
 
 was a man who was beloved of God, and was 
 
 vouchsafed great instances of providence by 
 God, after Abraham his father, and lived to 
 
 be exceeding old ; for when he had lived vir- 
 tuously one hundred and eighty-five years, he 
 then (fied. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 CONTAINING THB INTERVAL OF TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY TEARS. 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF ISAAC TO THE EXODUS OUT OF EGYPT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW ESAU AND JACOB, ISAAC's SONS, DIVIDED 
 THEIR habitations; AND ESAU POSSESSED 
 IDUMEA, AND JACOB CANAAN. 
 
 § 1. After the death of Isaac, his sons di- 
 vided their habitations respectively; nor did 
 they retain what they had before ; but Esau 
 departed from the city of Hebron, and left it 
 to his brother, and dwelt in Seir, and ruled 
 over Idumea. He called the country by that 
 name from himself, for he was named Adorn; 
 which appellation he got on the following oc- 
 casion: — One day returning from the toil of 
 hunting very hungry (it was when he was a 
 child ill age), he lighted on his brother when 
 he was getting ready lentile-pottage for his din- 
 ner, which was of a very red colour; on which 
 account he the more earnestly longed for it, 
 and desired him to give him some of it to 
 eat: but he made advantage of his brother's 
 hunger, and forced him to resign up to him 
 his birthright; and he, being pinched with 
 famine, resigned it up to him, under an oath. 
 Whence it came, that, on account of the red- 
 ness of this pottage, he was, in way of jest, 
 by his contemporaries, called Adorn, for the 
 Hebrews call what is red Adorn; and this 
 was the name given to this country: but the 
 Greeks gave it a more agreeable pronuncia- 
 tion, and named it Idumea. 
 
 2. He became the father of five sons; of 
 whom Jaus, and Jalomus, and Coreus, were 
 by one wife, whose name was Alibama; but 
 of the rest, Aliphaz was born to him by Ada, 
 and Raguel by Basemmath: and these were 
 the sons of Esau. Aliphaz had five legiti- 
 mate sons: Theman, Omer, Sa[)hus, Go- 
 tham, and Kanaz; for Amalek was not legi- 
 timate, but by a concubine, whose name was 
 Thamna. These dwelt in that part of Idu- 
 mea which is cdled Gebaiitis, and that deno- 
 minated firom Amalek, Amal»-kitis: for Idu- 
 
 1 mea was a large country, and did then pre- 
 serve the name of the whole, while in its seve- 
 ral parts it kept the names of its peculiar 
 inhabitants. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW JOSEPH, THE YOUNGEST OF JACOB's 
 SONS, WAS ENVIED BY HIS BRETHREN, 
 WHEN CERTAIN DREAMS HAD FORESHOWN 
 HIS FUTURE HAPPINESS. 
 
 § 1 , It happened that Jacob came to so great 
 happiness as rarely any other person had ar- 
 rived at. He was richer than the rest of the 
 inhabitants of that country; and was at once 
 envied and admired for such virtuous sons, 
 for they were deficient in nothing, but were 
 of great souls, both for labouring with their 
 hands av.d enduring of toil; and shrewd also 
 in understanding; and God exercised such a 
 providence over him, and such a care of his 
 happiness, as to bring him the greatest bless- 
 ings, even out of what appeared to be the 
 most sorrowful condition; and to make him 
 the cause of our forefathers' departure out of 
 Egypt, him and his posterity. The occasion 
 was this: — When Jacob had his son Joseph 
 born to him by Rachel, his father loved him 
 above the rest of his sons, both because of the 
 beauty of his body, and the virtues of his 
 mind; for he excelled the rest in prudence. 
 This affection of his father excited the envy 
 and the hatred of his brethren; as did also 
 his dreams which he saw, and related to his 
 father and to them, which foretold his future 
 happiness, it being usual with mankind to 
 envy their very nearest relations such their 
 prosperity. Now the visions which Joseph 
 saw ii' his sleep were these: — 
 
 2. When they were in the middle of har- 
 vest, and Joseph was sent by his father, with 
 
64 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OP THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 his brethren, to gather the fruits of the earth, 
 he saw a vision in a dream, but greatly ex- 
 ceeding the accustomary appearances that 
 come when we are asleep; which, when he 
 was got up, he told his brethren, that they 
 might judge what it portended. He said, he 
 saw the last night, that his wheat-sheaf stood 
 still in the place where he set it, but that their 
 sheaves ran to bow down to it, as servants 
 bow down to their masters ; but as soon as they 
 perceived the vision foretold that he should 
 obtain power and great wealth, and that his 
 power should be in opposition to them, they 
 gave no interpretation of it to Joseph, as if 
 the drearn were not by them understood: but 
 they prayed that no part of what they sus- 
 pected to be its meaning might come to pass; 
 and they bare a still greater hatred to him on 
 that account. 
 
 3. But God, in opposition to their envy, 
 sent a second vision to Joseph, which was 
 much more wonderful than the former; for 
 it seemed to him that the sun took with him 
 the moon and the rest of the stars, and came 
 down to the earth, and bowed down to him. 
 He told this vision to his father, and that, as 
 suspecting nothing of ill-will from his breth- 
 ren, when they were there also, and desired 
 him to interpret what it should signify. Now 
 Jacob was pleased with the dream; for, con- 
 sidering the prediction in his mind, and 
 shrewdly and wisely guessing at its meaning 
 he rejoiced at the great things thereby signi- 
 fied, because it declared the future happiness 
 of his son; and that, by the blessing of God 
 the time would come when he should be ho- 
 noured, and thought worthy of worship by his 
 parents and brethren, as guessing that the 
 moon and sun were like his mother and fa- 
 ther ; the former, as she that gave increase 
 and nourishment to all things, and the latter, 
 he that gave form and other powers to them; 
 and that the stars were like his brethren, 
 since they were eleven in number, as were 
 the stars that receive their power from the 
 sun and moon. 
 
 't. And thus did Jacob make a judgment 
 of this vision, and that a shrewd one also; 
 but these interpretations caused very great 
 gnef to Joseph's brethren; and they were 
 affected to him hereupon as if he werg a cer- 
 tairj stranger that was to have those good 
 thuigs which were signified by the dreams, 
 and not as one that was a brother, with whom 
 it was probable they should be joint partakers; 
 and as they had been p'lrtners in the same 
 parentage, so should they be of the same 
 happiness. They also resolved to kill the 
 lad; and having fully ratified that intention 
 of theirs, as ^on as their collection of the 
 fruits was over, they went to Shechem, which 
 is a country good for feeding of cattle, and 
 for pasturaKe; there they fed their flocks 
 without acqiiaintii.jr their father with their 
 removal thither; whereupon he liad melan- 
 
 choly suspicions about them, as being igno- 
 rant of his sons' condition, and receiving no 
 messenger from the flocks that could inform 
 him of the true state they were in; so, because 
 he was in great fear about them, he sent Jo- 
 seph to the flocks, to learn the circumstances 
 his brethren were in, and to bring him word 
 how they did. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HOW JOSEPH WAS THUS SOLD BY HIS BRETH- 
 REN INTO EGYPT, BY REASON OF THEIR 
 HATRED TO HIM; AND HOW HE THERE 
 GREW FAMOUS AND ILLUSTRIOUS, AND HAD 
 HIS BRETHREN UNDER HIS POWER. 
 
 § 1. Now these brethren rejoiced as soon as 
 they saw their brother coming to them, not 
 indeed as at the presence of a near relation, 
 or as at the presence of one sent by their fa- 
 ther, but as at the presence of an enemy, and 
 one that by divine providence was delivered 
 into their hands; and they already resolved 
 to kill him, and not let slip the opportunity 
 that lay before them ; but when Reubel, the 
 eldest of them, saw them thus disposed, and 
 that they bad agreed together to execute their 
 purpose, he tried to restrain them, showing 
 them the heinous enterprise they were going 
 about, and the horrid nature of it ; that this 
 action would appear wicked in the sight of 
 God, and impious before men, even though 
 they should kill one not related to them, but 
 much more flagitious and detestable to appear 
 to have slain their own brother ; by which 
 act the father must be treated unjustly in the 
 son's slaughter, and the mother* also be in 
 perplexity while she laments that her son is 
 taken away fr^m her, and this not in a na- 
 tural way neither. So he entreated them to 
 have a regard to their own consciences, and 
 wisely to consider what mischief would betide 
 them upon the death of so good a child, and 
 their youngest brother; that they would also 
 fear God, who was already both a spectator 
 and a witness of the designs they had against 
 their brother; that he would love them, if 
 they abstained from this act, and yielded to 
 repentance and amendment ; but in case they 
 proceeded to do the fact, all sorts of punish- 
 ments would overtake them from God for 
 this murder of their brother, since they pol- 
 luted his piovidence, which was everywhere 
 present, and which did not overlook what was 
 done, either in deserts or in cities; for where- 
 soever a man is, there ought he to suppose 
 
 • We may here observe, that in correspondence to 
 Joseph's second dream, which implied that his mother, 
 who was tlien alive, as well as his father, should como 
 and bow down to him, Josephiis repicsents htr here at 
 still ali\e after she was dead, for the decorum of the 
 dream that foretold it; as the interpretation of thedreaiQ 
 does also in all our copies. Gen. xxxvii 10. 
 
Joseph sold to the Ishmaelites.— Page 65. 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 56 
 
 that Grod is also. He told them farther, that 
 their consciences would be their enemies, if 
 they attempted to go through so wicked an 
 enterprise, which they can never avoid, whether 
 it be a good conscience, or whether it be such 
 a one as they will have within thera when 
 once they have killed their brother. He also 
 added this besides to what he had before said, 
 that it was not a righteous thing to kill a 
 brother, though he had injured them ; that it 
 is a good thing to forget the actions of such 
 near friends, even in things wherein they 
 might seem to have offended ; but that they 
 were going to kill Joseph, who had been 
 guilty of nothing that was ill towards them, 
 in whose case the infirmity of his small age 
 should rather procure him mercy, and move 
 them to unite together in the care of his pre- 
 servation: that the cause of killing him made 
 the act itself much worse, while they deter- 
 mined to take him off out of envy at his fu- 
 ture prosperity, an equal share of which they 
 would naturally partake while he enjoyed it, 
 since they were to him not strangers, but the 
 nearest relations, for they might reckon upon 
 what God bestowed upon Joseph as their 
 own; and that it was fit for them to believe, 
 that the anger of God would for this cause be 
 more severe upon them, if they slew him who 
 was judged by God to be worthy of that pros- 
 perity which was to be hoped for; and while, 
 by murdermg hira, they made it impossible 
 for God to bestosv it upon him. 
 
 2. Reubel said these, and many other 
 things, and used entreaties to them, and 
 thereby endeavoured to divert them from the 
 murder of their brother; but when he saw 
 that his discourse had not mollified them at 
 all. and that they made haste to do the fact, 
 he advised them to alleviate the wickedness 
 they were going about, in the manner of tak- 
 ing Joseph off; for as he had exhorted them 
 first, when they were going to revenge them- 
 selves, to be dissuaded from doing it, so, since 
 the sentence for killing their brother had pre- 
 vailed, he said that they would not, however, 
 be so grossly guilty, if they would be per- 
 suaded to follow his present advice, which 
 would include what they were so eager about, 
 but was not so very bad, but, in the distress 
 they were in, of a lighter nature. He begged 
 of them, therefore, not to kill their brother 
 with their own hands, but to east him into 
 the pit that was hard by, and so to let him 
 die; by which they would gain so much, that 
 they would not defile their own hands \vith 
 his blood. To this the young men readily 
 agreed ; so Reubel took the lad and tied him 
 to a cord, and let him down gently into the 
 pit, for it had no water at all in it ; who, 
 when he had done this, went his way to seek 
 for such pasturage as was fit for feeding his 
 flocks. 
 
 3. But Judas, being one of Jacob's sons 
 also, seeing some Arabians, of the posterity 
 
 of Ismael, carrying spices and Syrian wares 
 out of the land of Gilead to the Egyptians, 
 after Reubel was gone, advised his brethren 
 to draw Joseph out of the pit, and sell him 
 to the Arabians; for if he should die among 
 strangers a great way off, they should be 
 freed from this barbarous action. This, 
 therefore, was resolved on; so they drew Jo- 
 seph up out of the pit, and sold him to the 
 merchants for twenty pounds,* He was no\}f 
 seventeen years old : but Reubel, coming in 
 the night-time to the pit, resolved to save 
 Joseph, without the privity of his brethren ; 
 and when, upon his calling to him, he made 
 no answer, he was afraid that they had de- 
 stroyed him after he was gone; of which he 
 complained to his brethren ; but when they 
 had told him what they had done, Reubel 
 left off his mourning. 
 
 4. When Joseph's brethren had done thus 
 to him, they considered what they should do 
 to escape the suspicions of their father. Now 
 they had taken away from Joseph the coat 
 which he had on when he came to them at 
 the time they let him down into the pit ; so 
 they thought proper to tear that coat to pieces, 
 and to dip it into goat's blood, and then to 
 carry it and show it to their father, that he 
 might believe he was destroyed by wild 
 beasts ; and when they had so done, they 
 came to the old man, but this not till what 
 had happened to bis son had already come to 
 his knowledge. Then they said that they 
 had not seen Joseph, nor knew what mishap 
 had befallen hira, but that they had foujid 
 his coat bloody and torn to pieces, whence 
 they had a suspicion that he had fallen among 
 wild beasts, and so perished, if that was the 
 coat he had on when he came from home. 
 Now Jacob had before some better hopes that 
 his son was only made a captive; but now he 
 laid aside that notion, and supposed that this 
 coat was an evident argument that he was 
 dead, for he well remembered that this was 
 the coat he had on when he sent him to his 
 brethren; so he hereafter lamented the lad as 
 now dead, and as if he had been the father of 
 no more than one, without taking any com- 
 fort in the rest ; and so he was also a^iected 
 with his misfortune before he met wjth Jo- 
 seph's brethren, when he also conjectured that 
 Joseph was destroyed by wild beasts. He 
 sat down also clothed in sackcloth and in 
 heavy affliction, insomuch that he found no 
 ease when his sons comforted him, neither did 
 his pains remit by length of time. 
 
 • The Septua^int have twenty pieces of gold; the 
 Testament of Gad thirty; the Hebrew and Samaritaa 
 twenty of silver.- and the vulgar Latin thirty. What 
 •was the true number and true sum, cannot therefore 
 now be known. 
 
66 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CONCEENING THE SIGNAL CHASTITY OP 
 JOSEPH. 
 
 § 1. Now Potiphar, an Egyptian, who was 
 chief cook to king Pharaeh, bought Joseph 
 of the merchants, who sold him to him. He 
 *had him in the greatest honour, and taught 
 him the learning that became a free man, 
 and gave him leave to make use of a diet 
 better than was allotted to slaves. He in- 
 trusted also the care of his house to him. So 
 he enjoyed these advantages, yet did not he 
 leave that virtue which he had before, upon 
 such a change of his condition; but he de- 
 monstrated that wisdom was able to govern 
 the uneasy passions of life, in such as have it 
 in reality, and do not only put it on for a 
 show, under a present state of prosperity. 
 
 2. For when his master's wife was fallen 
 in love with him, both on account of his 
 beauty of body and his dexterous management 
 of aflfairs; and supposed, that if she should 
 make it known to him, she could easily per- 
 suade him to come and lie with her, and that 
 he would look upon it as a piece of happy for- 
 tune that his mistress should entreat him, as 
 regarding that state of slavery he was in, and 
 not his moral character, which continued after 
 his condition was changed: so she made 
 known her naughty inclinations, and spake 
 to him about lying with her. However, he 
 rejected her entreaties, not thinking it agree- 
 able to religion to yield so far to her, as to 
 do what would tend to the affront and injury 
 of him that purchased him, and had vouch- 
 safed him so great honours. He, on the con- 
 trary, exhorted her to govern that passion; 
 and laid before her the impo^ibility of her 
 obtaining her desires, which he thought might 
 be conquered, if she had no hope of succeed- 
 ing: and he said, that as to himself, he would 
 endure any thing whatever before he would 
 be persuaded to it; for although it was fit 
 for a slave, as he was, to do nothing contrary 
 to his mistress, he might well be excused in a 
 case where the contradiction was to such sort 
 
 !fo( commands only. But this opposition of 
 Joseph, when she did not expect it, made her 
 still more violent in her love to him; and as 
 she was sorely beset with this naughty pas- 
 sion, so she resolved to compass her 'design 
 by a second attempt. 
 
 3. When, therefore, there was a public fes- 
 tival coming on, in which it was the custom 
 for women to come to the public solemnity, 
 she pretended to her husband that she was 
 sick, as contriving an opportunity for solitude 
 and leisure, that she might entreat Joseph 
 again; which opportunity being obtained, she 
 used more kind words to him than before ; 
 and said that it had been good for him to 
 have yielded to her firiit itoUcitHtion, and to 
 
 have given her no repulse, both because of the 
 reverence he ought to bear to her dignity who 
 solicited him, and because of the vehemence 
 of her passion, by which she was forced, 
 though she were his mistress, to condescend 
 beneath her dignity; but that he may now, 
 by taking more prudent advice, wipe off the 
 imputation of his former folly; for, whether 
 it were that he expected the repetition of 
 her solicitations she had now made, and that 
 with greater earnestness than before, for that 
 she had pretended sickness on this very ac- 
 count, and had preferred his conversation be- 
 fore the festival and its solemnity; or whether 
 he opposed her former discourses, as not be- 
 lieving she could be in earnest, she now gave 
 him sufficient security, by thus repeating her 
 application, that she meant not in the least 
 by fraud to impose upon him; and assured 
 him, that if he complied with her affections, 
 he might expect the enjoyment of the advan- 
 tages he already bad ; and if he were submi-s- 
 sive to her, he should have still greater ad- 
 vantages; but that he must look for revenge 
 and hatred from her, in case he rejected her 
 desires, and preferred the reputation of chas- 
 tity before his mistress; for that he would 
 gain nothing by such procedure, because she 
 would then become his accuser, and would 
 falsely pretend to her husband that be had 
 attempted her chastity; and that Potiphar 
 would hearken to her words rather than to 
 his, let his be ever so agreeable to the truth. 
 4. When the woman had said thus, and 
 even with tears in her eyes, neither did pity 
 dissuade Joseph from his chastity, nor did 
 fear compel him to a compliance with her; 
 but he opposed her solicitations, and did not 
 yield to her threatenings, and was afraid to 
 do an ill thing, and chose to undergo the 
 sharpest punishment rather than to enjoy his 
 present advantages, by doing what his own 
 conscience knew would justly deserve that 
 he should die for it. He also put her in 
 mind that she was a married woman, and that 
 she ought to cohabit with her husband only ; 
 and desired her to suffer these considerations 
 to have more weight with her than the short 
 pleasure of lustful dalliance, which would 
 bring her to repentance afterwards, would 
 cause trouble to her, and yet would not amend 
 what had been done amiss. He also sug- 
 gested to her the fear she would be in lest they 
 should be caught; and that the advantage oi 
 concealment was uncertain, and that only 
 while the wickedness was not known [would 
 there be any quiet for them]; but that she 
 might have the cnjoyu>ent of her husband's 
 company without any danger: and he told 
 her, that in the comprtny of her husband she 
 might have great boldness from a pood con- 
 science, both before (Jod and before men: 
 nay, that she wotild act In-tter like his mistress, 
 and make use of her authority over him better 
 while she persisted in her chastity, than whca 
 
I I'll 
 
 fl C RUK4P S> 
 
 Joseph interpretbg the Dreams of the King's Butler and Baker.— Page 67. 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 67 
 
 they were both ashamed for what wickedness 
 they had been guilty of; and that it is much 
 better to depend on a good life, well acted, 
 and known to have been so, than upon the 
 hopes of the concealment of evil practices. 
 
 5. Joseph, by saying this, and more, tried 
 to restrain the violent passion of the woman, 
 and to reduce her affections within the rules 
 of reason ; but she grew more ungovernable 
 and earnest in the matter ; and since she des- 
 paired of persuading him, she laid her hands 
 upon him, and had a mind to force him. But 
 as soon as Joseph had got away from her an- 
 ger, leaving also his garment with her, for he 
 left that to her, and leaped out of her chamber, 
 she was greatly afraid lest he should discover 
 her lewdness to her husband, and greatly trou- 
 bled at the affront he had offered her; so she 
 resolved to be beforehand with him, and to 
 accuse Joseph falsely to Potiphar, and by that 
 means to revenge herself on him for his pride 
 and contempt of her; and she thought it a 
 wise thing in herself, and also becoming a 
 woman, thus to prevent his accusation. Ac- 
 cordingly she sat sorrowful and in confusion, 
 framing herself sojiypocritically and angrily, 
 that the sorrow, which was really for her 
 being disappointed of her lust, might appear 
 to be for the attfempt upon her chastity; so 
 that when her husband came home, and was 
 disturbed at the sight of her, and inquired 
 what was the cause of the disorder she was in, 
 she began to accuse Joseph: and, "O hus- 
 band," said she, " mayst thou not live a day 
 longer if thou dost not punish the wicked 
 slave who has desired to defile thy bed; who 
 has neither minded who he was when he came 
 to our house, so as to behave himself with 
 modesty; nor has he been mindlfel of what 
 favours he had received from thy bounty fas 
 he must be an ungrateful man indeed, unless 
 he, in every respect, carry himself in a man- 
 ner agreeable to us) : this man, I say, laid a 
 private design to abuse thy wife, and this at 
 the time of a festival, observing when thou 
 wouldst be absent. So that it now is clear 
 that his modesty, as it appeared to be formerly, 
 was only because of the restraint he was in 
 out of fear of thee, but that he was not really of 
 a good disposition. This has been occasioned 
 by his being advanced to honour beyond what 
 he deserved, and what he hoped for; insomuch 
 that he concluded, that he who was deemed 
 fit to be trusted with thy estate and the govern- 
 ment of thy family, and was preferred above 
 thy eldest servants, might be allowed to touch 
 thy wife also." Thus when she had ended 
 her discourse, she showed him his garment, 
 as if he then left it with her when he attempted 
 to force her. But Potiphar not being al)le 
 to disbelieve what his wi e's te us showed, and 
 what his wife said, and what he saw hiu'.self, 
 and being seduced by his love to his wife, did 
 iio* set hiniseif ;ibout the exam'iiatioti of the 
 tr^*h; but. taking it for granted that bis wife 
 
 was a modest woman, and condemning Joseph 
 as a wicked man, he threw him into the male- 
 factors' prison; and had a still higher opinion 
 of his wife, and bare her witness that she was 
 a woman of a becoming modesty and chastity. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WHAT THINGS BEFELL JOSEPH IN PRISON. 
 
 § I. Now Joseph, commending all his affairs 
 to God, did not betake himself to make hi? 
 defence, nor to give an account of the exact 
 circumstances of the fact, but silently under- 
 went the bonds and the distress he was in, 
 firmly believing that God, who knew the 
 cause of his affliction and the truth of the fact, 
 would be more powerful than those that in- 
 flicted the punishments upon him : — a prooi 
 of whose providence he quickly received ; for 
 the keeper of the prison taking notice of his 
 care and fidelity in the affairs he had set him 
 about, and the dignity of his countenance, 
 relaxed his bonds, and thereby made his heavy 
 calamity lighter, and more supportable to 
 him : he also permitted him to make use of 
 a diet better than that of the rest of the pri- 
 soners. Now, as his fellow-prisoners, when 
 their hard labours were over, fell to discours- 
 ing one among another, as is usual in such as 
 are equal sufferers, and to inquire one of ano- 
 ther, what were the occasions of their being 
 condemned to a prison: among them the 
 king's cup-bearer, and one that had been res- 
 pected by him, was put in bonds, on the king's 
 anger at him. This man was under the same 
 bonds with Joseph, and grew more familiar 
 with him ; and upon his observing that Joseph 
 had a better understanding than the rest had, 
 he told him of a dream he had, and desired he 
 would interpret its meaning, complaining that, 
 besides the afflictions he underwent from the 
 king, God did also add to him trouble from 
 his dreams. 
 
 2. He therefore said, that in his sleep he 
 saw three clusters of grapes hanging upon 
 three branches of a vine, large already, and 
 ripe for gathering; and that he squeezed 
 them into a cup which the king held in bis 
 hand; and when he had strained the wine, 
 he gave it to the king to drink, and that he 
 received it from him with a pleasant counte- 
 nance. This, he said, was what he saw; and 
 he desired Jo-^eph, that if he had any portion 
 O'' understanding in such matters, he would 
 tell him what this vision foretold: — who bid 
 him be of good cheer, and expect to be loosed 
 from his bonds in three days' time, because 
 the king desired his service, and was about to 
 restore him to it again; for he let him know 
 that God bestows the fruit of the vine upon 
 men for good; which wine is poured out to 
 him, and is the pledge of fidelity and mutual 
 
58 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 eonfidence among men ; and puts an end to 
 their quarrels, takes away passion and grief 
 out of the minds of them that use it, and makes 
 them cheerful. " Thou sayest that thou didst 
 squeeze this wine from three clusters of grapes 
 with thine hands, and that the king received 
 it : know, therefore, that this vision is for thy 
 good, and foretells a release from thy present 
 distress within the same number of days as 
 the branches had whence thou gatheredst thy 
 grapes in thy sleep. However, remember 
 what prosperity I have foretold thee when 
 thou hast found it true by experience ; and 
 when thou art in authority, do not overlook us 
 in this prison, wherein thou wilt leave us when 
 thou art gone to the place we have foretold ; 
 for we are not in prison for any crime ; but 
 for the sake of our virtue and sobriety are we 
 condemned to suffer the penalty of malefac- 
 tors, and because we are not willing to injure 
 him that has thus distressed us, though it were 
 f»r our own pleasure." The cup-bearer, there- 
 fore, as was natural to do, rejoiced to hear such 
 an interpretation of his dream, and waited the 
 completion of what had been thus shown him 
 beforehand. 
 
 3. But another servant there was of the 
 king, who had been chief baker, and was now 
 bound in prison with the cup-bearer ; he also 
 was in good hope, upon Joseph's interpre- 
 tation of the other's vision, for he had seen a 
 dream also; so he desired that Joseph would 
 tell him what the visions he had seen the 
 night before might mean. They were these 
 that follow: — " Methought," says he, " I 
 carried three baskets upon my head ; two were 
 full of loaves, and the third full of sweatmeats 
 and other eatables, such as are prepared for 
 kings ; but that the fowls came flying, and 
 eat them all up, and had no regard to my at- 
 tempt to drive them away ;" — and he expected 
 a prediction like to that of the cup-bearer. 
 But Joseph, considering and reasoning about 
 the dream, said to him, that he would willingly 
 be an interpreter of good events to him, and not 
 of such as his dream denounced to him ; but he 
 told him that he had only three days in all to 
 live, for that the [three] baskets signify, that on 
 the third day he should be crucified, and de- 
 voured by fowls, while he was not able to help 
 himself. Now both these dreams had the same 
 several events that Joseph foretold they should 
 have, and this to both the parties; for on the 
 third day before mentioned, when the king so- 
 lemnized his birth-day, he crucified the chief 
 baker, but set the butler free from his bonds, 
 and restored him to his former ministration. 
 
 4. But God freed Joseph from his confine- 
 ment, after he had endured his bonds two 
 years, and had received no assistance from 
 the cup-bearer, who did not remember what 
 be had said to him rorm2rly; and God con- 
 trived this method of deliverance for him, 
 Pharaoh the king had seen in his sleep the 
 
 evening two visions; and after them 
 
 had the interpretations of them both given 
 him. He had forgotten the latter, but re- 
 tained the dreams themselves. Being there- 
 fore troubled at what he had seen, for it 
 seemed to him to be all of a melancholy na- 
 ture, the next day he called together the 
 wisest men among the Egyptians, desiring to 
 learn from them the interpretation of his 
 dreams. But when they hesitated about them, 
 the king was so much the more disturbed. 
 And now it was that the memory of Joseph, 
 and his skill in dreams, came into the mind 
 of the king's cup-bearer, when he saw the 
 confusion that Pharaoh was in ; so he came 
 and mentioned Joseph to him, as also the 
 vision he had seen in prison, and how the 
 event proved as he had said ; as also that the 
 chief baker was crucified on the very san)e 
 day ; and that this also happened to him ac- 
 cording to the interpretation of Joseph. That 
 Joseph himself was laid in bonds by Potiphar, 
 who was his head cook, as a slave ; but, he 
 said, he was one of the noblest of the stock 
 of the Hebrews ; and said farther, his father 
 lived in great splendour. *' If, therefore, 
 thou wilt send for him, and not despise him 
 on the score of his misfortunes, thou wilt 
 learn what thy dreams signify." So tlJe 
 king commanded that they should bring Jo- 
 seph into his presence ; and those who received 
 the command came and brought him with 
 them, having taken care of his habit, that it 
 might be decent, as the king had enjoined 
 them to do. 
 
 5. But the king took him by the hand ; 
 and, " O young man," says he, " for my ser- 
 vant bears witness that thou art at present the 
 best and most skilful person I can consult 
 with ; vouchsafe me the same favours which 
 thou bestowedst on this servant of mine, and 
 tell me what events they are which the visions 
 of my dreams foreshow; and I desire thee to 
 suppress nothing out of fear, nor to flatter 
 me with Iving words, or with what may please 
 me, although the truth should be of a melan- 
 choly nature. For it seemed to me that, as I 
 walked by the river, I saw kine fat and vfery 
 large, seven in number, going from the river 
 to the marshes; and other kine of the same 
 number like them, met them out of the 
 marshes, exceeding lean and ill-favoured, 
 which ate up the fat and the large kine, and 
 yet were no better than before, and not less 
 miserably pinched with famine. After I had 
 seen this vision, I awaked out of my sleep ; 
 and being in disorder, and considering with 
 myself what this appearance should be, I fell 
 asleep again, and saw another dream, much 
 more wonderful than the foregoing, which 
 still did more affright and disturb me: — I 
 saw seven ears of corn growing out of one 
 root, havnig their hetids borne down by the 
 weight of the grain>*, and bending down with 
 the fruit, which was now ripe and fit for reap- 
 ing; and near these I saw seven other eaw 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 60 
 
 of corn, meagre and ^ycak, for want of rain, 
 which fell to eating and consuming those that 
 were fit for reaping, and put me into great 
 astonishment." 
 
 6. To which Joseph replied : "Thisdream," 
 said he, " O king, although seen under two 
 forms, signifies one and the same event of 
 things; for when thou sawest the fat kine, 
 which is an animal made for the plough and 
 for labour, devoured by the worse kine, and 
 the ears of corn eaten up by the smaller ears, 
 they foretell a famine, and want of the fruits 
 of the earth for the same number of years, 
 and equal with those when Egypt was in a 
 happy state; and this so far, that the plenty 
 of these years will be spent in the same num- 
 ber of years of scarcity, and that scarcity of 
 necessary provisions will be very difficult to 
 be corrected; as a sign whereof, the ill-fa- 
 voured kine, when they had devoured the 
 better sort, could not be satisfied. But still 
 God foreshows what is to come upon men, 
 not to grieve them, but that, when they know 
 it beforehand, they may by prudence make 
 the actual experience of what is foretold the 
 more tolerable. If thou, therefore, carefully 
 dispose of the plentiful crops which will come 
 innhe former years, thou wilt procure that 
 the future calamity will not be felt by the 
 Egyptians." 
 
 7. Hereupon the king wondered at the 
 discretion and wisdom of Joseph; and asked 
 him by what means he might so dispense the 
 foregoing plentiful crops, in the happy years, 
 as to make the miserable crops more tolerable. 
 Joseph then added this his advice: To spare 
 the good crops, and not permit the Egyptians 
 to spend them luxuriously; but to reserve 
 what they would have spent in luxury beyond 
 their necessity, against the time of want. He 
 also exhorted him to take the corn of the hus- 
 bandmen, and give them only so much as will 
 be sufficient for their food. Accordingly 
 Pharaoh being surprised at Joseph, not only 
 for his interpretation of the dream, but for 
 the counsel he had given him, entrusted him 
 with dispensing the corn; with power to do 
 what he thought would be for the benefit of 
 the people of Egypt, and for the benefit of 
 the king, as believing that he who first disco- 
 vered this method of acting, would prove the 
 best overseer of it. But Joseph having this 
 power given him l>y the king, with leave to 
 make use of his seal, and to wear purple, 
 drove in his chariot through all the land of 
 Egypt, and took the corn of the husbandmen,* 
 allotting as much to every one as would be 
 sufficient for seed and for food, but without 
 discovering to any one the reason why he did 
 
 80. 
 • That is, bought It for Pharaoh at a Tery low price. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 HOW JOSEPH, WHEN HE WAS BECOME FAMOUS 
 IN' EGYPT, HAD HIS BRETHREN IN SUBJEC- 
 TION. 
 
 § 1. Joseph was now grown up to thirty 
 years of age, and enjoyed great honours from 
 the king, who called him Psothom Phanech, 
 out of regard to his prodigious degree of 
 wisdom; for that name denotes the revealtr 
 of secrets. He also married a wife of very 
 high quality: for he married the daughter of 
 Petephres,t one of the priests of Heliopolis: 
 she was a virgin, and her name was Asenath. 
 By her he had children before the scarcity 
 came on; Manasseh, the elder, which signi- 
 fies forgetful, because his present happiness 
 made him forget his former misfortunes; and 
 Ephraim, the younger, which signifies restored, 
 because he was restored to the freedom of 
 his forefathers. Now after Egypt had hap- 
 pily passed over seven years, according to Jo- 
 seph's interpretation of the dreams, the famine 
 came upon them in the eighth year; and be- 
 cause this misfortune fell upon them when 
 they had no sense of it beforehand, J they 
 were all sorely afflicted by it, and came run- 
 ning to the king's gates; and he called upon 
 Joseph, who sold the corn to them, being be- 
 come confessedly a saviour to the whole mul- 
 titude of the Egyptians. Nor did he open 
 this market of corn for the people of that 
 country only, but strangers bad liberty to 
 buy also; Joseph being willing that all men, 
 who are naturally akin to one another, should 
 have assistance from those that lived in happi- 
 ness. 
 
 2. Now Jacob also, when he understood 
 that foreigners might come, sent all his sons 
 into Egypt to buy corn; for the land of Ca- 
 naan was grievously afflicted with the famine, 
 and this great misery touched the whole con- 
 tinent. He only retained Benjamin, who 
 was born to him by Rachel, and was of the 
 same mother with Joseph. These sons of 
 Jacob then came into Egypt, and applied 
 themselves to Joseph, wanting to buy corn; 
 for nothing of this kind was done without his 
 approbation, since even then only was tha 
 honour that was paid the king himself advan- 
 
 + This Potiphar, or, as Josephus, Petephres, who was 
 now a priest of On, or Heliopolis, is the same name in 
 Josephus, -and perhaps in iMoses also, wUh him who is 
 before called head cook or captain of the pnard, and to 
 whom Joseph was sold. See Gen. xxxvii 3.j, xxxix. 1, 
 with xli. JO. They are also affirmed to be one and the 
 same person in the Testament of Joseph (s. 18). for he is 
 there said to have married the daughter of his master and 
 mistress. Nor is this a notion peculiar to that testa- 
 ment, but. as Dr. Bernard confesses (note on Antiq b ii. 
 ch iv. s. 1), common to Josephus, to the Septuagiut iu 
 terpreters, and to other learned Jews of old time. 
 
 ,1 this entire ignorance ot the Kayptians of these 
 years of famine before they came, told us before, as well 
 as here (chap. v. sect 7), by Josephus, seems to be al- 
 most incredible. It is id no other copy that I know of. 
 
60 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 tageous to the persons that paid it, when they 
 took care to honour Joseph al-x). Now when 
 he well knew his brethren,they thought nothing 
 of him; for he was but a youth when he left 
 them, and was now come to an age so much 
 greater, that the lineaments of his face were 
 changed, and he was not known by them : 
 besides this, the greatness of the dignity 
 wherein he appeared, suffered them not so 
 much as to suspect it was he. He now made 
 trial what sentiments they had about affairs of 
 the greatest consequence; for he refused to sell 
 them corn, and said they were come as spies 
 of the king's affairs ; and that they came 
 from several countries, and joined themselves 
 together, and pretended that they were of 
 kin, it not being possible that a private man 
 should breed up so many sons, and those of 
 so great beauty of countenance as they were, 
 such an education of so many children being 
 not easily obtained by kings .themselves. 
 Now this he did in order to discover what 
 concerned his father, and what happened to 
 him after his own departure from him, and as 
 desiring to know what was become of Benja- 
 min his brother ; for he was afraid that they 
 had ventured on the like wicked enterprise 
 against him that they had done to himself, 
 and had taken him off also. 
 
 3. Now these brethren of his were under 
 distraction and terror, and thought that very 
 great danger hung over them ; yet not at all 
 reflecting upon their brother Joseph, and 
 standing firm under the accusations laid 
 against them, they made their defence by 
 Reubel, the eldest of them, who now became 
 their spokesman : *' We come not hither," 
 said he, " with any unjust design, nor in 
 order to bring any harm to the king's affairs; 
 we only want to be preserved, as supposing 
 your humanity might be a refuge for us from 
 the miseries which our country labours under, 
 we having heard that you proposed to sell 
 corn, not only to your own countrymen, but to 
 strangers also, and that you determined to 
 allow that corn, in order to preserve all that 
 want it; but that we are brethren, and of the 
 same common blood, the peculiar lineaments 
 of our faces, and those not so much different 
 from one another, plainly show. Our father's 
 name is Jacob, an Hebrew man, who had 
 twelve of us for his sons by four wives; which 
 twelve of us, while we were all alive, were a 
 happy family; but when one of our brethren, 
 whose name was Joseph, died, our affairs 
 changed for the worse; for our father could 
 not forbear to make a long lamentation for 
 him ; and we are in affliction,' both by the 
 calamity of the death of our brother, and the 
 miserable state of our aged father. We are 
 now, therefore, come to buy corn, having in- 
 trusted the care of our father, and tlie provi- 
 fion for our family, to Benjamin, our young- 
 eifc brother; and if tbou sende^it tu our house, 
 
 thou mayest learn whether we are guilty « • 
 the least falsehood in what we say." 
 
 4. And thus did Reubel endeavour to per- 
 suade Joseph to have a better opinion of them. 
 But when he had learned from them that Ja- 
 cob was alive, and that his brother was not 
 destroyed by them, he for the present put them 
 in prison, as intending to examine more into 
 their affairs when he should be at leisure. 
 But on the third day he brought them out, 
 and said to them, " Since you constantly 
 affirm that you are not come to do any harm 
 to the king's affairs; that you are brethren, 
 and the sons of the father whom you named, 
 you will satisfy me of the truth of what you 
 say, if you leave one of your company with 
 me, who shall suffer no injury here; and if, 
 when ye have carried corn to your father, you 
 will come to me again, and bring your bro- 
 ther, whom you say you left there, along with 
 you, for this shall be by me esteemed an as- 
 surance of the truth of what you have told 
 me." Hereupon they were in greater griet 
 than before; they wept, and perpetually de- 
 plored one among another the calaniity of Jo- 
 seph; and said, " They were fallen into this 
 misery as a punishment inflicted by God for 
 what evil contrivances they had against hii\»." 
 And Reubel was large in his reproaches of 
 them for their too late repentance, whence no 
 profit arose to Joseph ; and earnestly exhorted 
 them to bear with patience whatever they suf- 
 fered, since it was done by God in way of pun- 
 ishment, on his account. Thus they spake 
 to one another, not imagining that Joseph un- 
 derstood their language. A general sadness 
 also seized on them^at Reubel's words, and a 
 repentance for what they had done; and they 
 condemned the wickedness they had perpetra- 
 ted, for which they judged they were justly 
 punished by God. Now when Joseph saw that 
 they were in this distress, he was so affected 
 at it that he fell into tears, and, not being 
 willing that they should take notice of him, he 
 retired ; and after a while came to them again, 
 and taking Symeon,* in order to his being a 
 pledge for his brethren's return, he bid them 
 take the corn they had bought, and go their 
 way. He also commanded his steward pri- 
 vily to put the money which they had brought 
 with them for the purchase of corn into their 
 sacks, and to dismiss them therewith; who 
 did what he was commanded to do. 
 
 5. Now when Jacob's sons were come into 
 the land of Canaan, they told their father what 
 had happened to them in Egypt, and that they 
 were taken to have come thither as spies upon 
 the king; and how they said they were bre- 
 thren, and had left their eleventh brother with 
 their father, but were not believed; and how 
 
 • The reason why Symeon might be selected out of 
 the rest for Joseph's prisoner, is plain in the IVstamcut 
 of Svmeon, viz. that he was one of the bitterest of ail 
 Joseph's brethren ai,'aiii!tt him. >>■( t. 2,' which Approra 
 also in part by the Teittament of Zabulon, sect. ;v 
 
CHAP. VI 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 61 
 
 they had left Symeon with the governor, un- 
 til Benjamin should go thither, and be a tes- 
 timonial of the truth of what they hr^d said: 
 and they begged of their father to fear nothing, 
 but to send the lad along with them. But 
 Jacob was not pleased with any thing his sons 
 had done; and he took the detention of Sy- 
 meon heinously, and thence thought it a fool- 
 ish thing to give up Benjamin also. Neither 
 did he yield to Reubel's persuasion, though be 
 begged it of him ; and gave leave that the grand- 
 father might, in way of requital, kill his own 
 sons, in case any harm came to Benjamin in 
 the journey. So they were distressed, andknew 
 not what to do: nay, there was another acci- 
 dent that still disturbed them more, — the mo- 
 ->?y that was found hidden in their sacks of corn, 
 f et when the corn they had brought failed 
 them, and when the famine still afflicted them, 
 and necessity forced them, Jacob did* [not] 
 still resolve to send Benjamin with his breth- 
 ren, although there was no returning into 
 Egypt uidess they came with what they had 
 promised. Now the misery growing every 
 day worse, and his sons begging it of him, he 
 had no other course to take in his present cir- 
 cumstances. And Judas, who was of a bold 
 temper on other occasions, spake his mind very 
 freely to him: " That it did not become him 
 to be afraid on account of his son, nor to sus- 
 pect the worst, as he did; for nothing could 
 be done to his son but by the appointment of 
 God, which must also for certain come to pass, 
 though he were at home with him; that he 
 ought not to condemn them to such manifest 
 destruction; nor deprive them of that plenty of 
 food they might have from Pharaoh, by his un- 
 reasonable fear about his son Benjamin, but 
 ought to take care of the preservation of Sy- 
 meon, lest, by attempting to hinder Benjamin's 
 journey, Symeon should perish. He exhorted 
 him to trust God for him; and said he would 
 either bring his son back to him safe, or toge- 
 ther with hi<, lose his own life." So that Jacob 
 was at length persuaded, and delivered Benja- 
 min to the.m, with the price of the corn dou- 
 bled ; he also sent presents to Joseph of the 
 fruits of the land of Canaan; balsam and rosin, 
 as also turpentine and honey.f Now their father 
 shed many tears at the departure of his sons, 
 as well as themselves. His concern was, that he 
 might receive them back again safe after their 
 journey; and their concern was, that they 
 n)ight find their father well, and no way afflicted 
 with grief for them. And this lamentation last- 
 ed a whole day ; so that the old man was at last 
 tired with grief, and staid behind; but they 
 went on their way for Egypt, endeavouring to 
 mitigate their gri^f for their present misfor- 
 tunes, withthe hopes of better success hereafter. 
 
 • The coherence seems to me to s*>ow that the nega- 
 tive particle is here wanting, which 1 have supplied in 
 brackets; and I wonder none have hitherto suspecttd 
 that it tmjjhi to be supplied. 
 
 + Of the precious Balaam of Judea, and tho turpentine, 
 •ee the uote un Antiq- b, viii. ch. sect. 6 
 
 G. As soon as they came iato Egypt, they 
 were brought down to Joseph: but here no 
 small fear disturbed them, lest they should ba 
 at'cused about the price of the corn, as if they 
 had cheated Joseph. They then made a loi.'g 
 apology to Joseph's steward; and told him, 
 that when they came home they found the mo- 
 ney in their sacks, and that they had now 
 brought it along with them. He said he did 
 not know what they meant: — so they were 
 delivered from that fear. And when he had 
 loosed Symeon, and put him into a handsome 
 habit, he suffered him to be with his brethren; 
 at which time Joseph came from his attend- 
 ance on the king. So they offered him their 
 presents; and upon his putting the question 
 to them about their father, they answered, that 
 they foimd him well. He also, upon his dis- 
 covery that Benjamin was alive, asked whether 
 this was their younger brother? for he had 
 seen him. Whereupon they said he was: he. 
 replied, that the God over all was his protec- 
 tor. But when his affection to him made him 
 shed tears, he retired, desiring be might not 
 be seen in that plight by his brethren. Then 
 Joseph took them to supper, and they were set 
 down in the same order as they used to sit at 
 their father's table. And although Joseph 
 treated them all kindly, yet did' he send a 
 mess to Benjamin that was double to what 
 the rest of the guests had for their shares. 
 
 7. Now when after supper they had com- 
 posed themselves to sl^ep, Joseph commanded 
 i his steward both to give them their measures 
 of corn, and to hide its price again in their 
 sacks; and that withal they shoiild put into 
 Benjamin's sack the golden cup, out of which 
 he loved himself to drink: — which things he 
 did, in onler to make trial of his brethren, 
 whether they would stand by Benjamin when 
 he should be accused of having stolen the cup, 
 and should appear to be in danger; or whether 
 they woufd leave him, and, depending on their 
 own innoceiicy, go to their father without 
 him. — When the servant had done as he was 
 bidden, the sons of Jacob, knowing nothing 
 of all this, went their way, and took Symeon 
 along with them, and had a double cause of 
 joy, both because they had received him again, 
 and because they took back Benjamin to their 
 father, as they had promised. But presently 
 a troop of horsemen encompassed them, and 
 brought with them Joseph's servant, who had 
 put the cup into Benjamin's sack. Upon 
 which unexpected attack of the horsemen they 
 were much disturbed, and asked what the rea- 
 son was that they came thus upon men, who 
 a little before had been by their lord thought 
 worthy of an honourable and hospitable re- 
 ception ! They replied, by calling them wick- 
 ed wretches, who had forgot that very hospi- 
 table and kind treatment which Joseph had 
 given them, and did not scruple to be injuri- 
 ous to him, and to carry off that cup out of 
 which he ha«i in so friendly a manner, drank 
 
62 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IL 
 
 to thein, and not regarding tlieir friendship with 
 Joseph, no more than the danger they should 
 be in if they were taken, in comparison of the 
 unjust gain. Hereupon he threatened that 
 they should be punished; for though they had 
 escaped the knowledge of him who was but 
 a servant, yet had they not escaped the know- 
 lodge of God, nor had gone off with what they 
 hnd stolen; and after all, asked why we come 
 upon them? as if they knew nothing of the 
 n)atter : and he told them that they should 
 inunediately know it by their puai?hment. 
 This, and more of the same nature, did the 
 servant say, in way of reproach to them : but 
 they being wholly ignorant of any thing here 
 that concerned them, laughed at what he said ; 
 and wondered at the abusive language which 
 the servant gave them, when he was so hardy 
 as to accuse those who did not before so much 
 as retain the price of their corn, which was 
 found in their sacks, but brought it again, 
 though nobody else knew of any such thing, — 
 so far were they from offering any injury to 
 Joseph voluntarily. But still, supposing that 
 a search would be a more sure justification of 
 themselves than their own denial of the fact, 
 they bid him search them, and that if any of 
 them had been guilty of the theft, to punish 
 them all;^or being no way conscious to them- 
 selves of any crime, they spake with assurance, 
 and, as they thought, without any danger to 
 themselves also. The servants desired there 
 might be a search made; but they said the 
 punishment should extend to him alone who 
 should be found guilty of the theft. So they 
 made the search; and, having searched all the 
 rest, they came last of all to Benjamin, as 
 knowing it was Benjamin's sack in which they 
 had hidden the cup, they having indeed searched 
 the rest ofily for a show of accuracy : so 
 the rest were out of fear for themselves, and 
 were now only concerned about'^Benjamin, but 
 still were well assured that he would also be 
 found innocent ; and they reproached those 
 that came after them for their hindering them, 
 while they might, in the mean while, have got- 
 ten a good way on their journey. But as soon 
 as they had 'searched Benjamin's sack, they 
 fouiul the cup, and took it from him; and all 
 was changed into mourning and lamentation. 
 They rent their garuu-nts, and wept for the 
 punishment which their brother was to under- 
 go for his theft, and for the delusion they had 
 put on their fither, when they promised they 
 \^ould bring Benjamin safe to him. What 
 H(U\i:A to their misery was, that this melan- 
 choly accident came unfortunately at a time 
 when they thought they had been gotten off 
 clear: but they confessed that this misfortune 
 of their brother, as well as the ^rief of their fa- 
 ther for him, was owing to themselves, since 
 \t was they that forced their faiher to send him 
 with them, when he was averse to it. 
 
 8. The horsemen tlien took Benjamin, and 
 brought him to JoKeuh his biethreu also 
 
 following him ; who, when he saw him in 
 custody, and them in the habit of mourners, 
 said, " How came you, vile wretches as you are, 
 to have such a strange notion of my kindness 
 to you, and of God's providence, as impudent- 
 ly to do thus to your benefactor, who in such 
 an hospitable manner had entertained you?'" 
 — Whereupon they gave up themselves to be 
 punished, irj order to save Benjamin ; and 
 called to mind what a wicked enterprize they 
 had been guilty of against Joseph. They 
 also pronounced him more happy than them- 
 selves, if he were dead, in being freed from 
 the miseries of this life; and if he were alive, 
 that he enjoyed the pleasure of seeing God's 
 vengeance upon them. They said farther, that 
 they were the plague of their father, since they 
 should now add to his former affliction for 
 Joseph, this other affliction for Benjamin. 
 Reubel also was large in cutting them upon 
 this occasion. But Joseph dismissed them ; 
 for he said they had been guilty of no offence, 
 and that he would content himself with the 
 lad's punishment; for he said it was not a fit 
 thing to let him go free, for the sake of those 
 who had not offended ; nor was it a fit thing 
 to punish them together with him who had been 
 guilty of stealing. And when he promised to 
 give them leave to go away in safety, the rest 
 of them were under great consternation, and 
 were able to say nothing on this sad occasion? 
 But Judas, who had persuaded their father to 
 send the lad from him, being otherwise also a 
 very bold and active man, determined to hazard 
 himself for the preservation of his brother, 
 " * It is true," said he, " O governor, that we 
 have been very wicked with regard to thee, and 
 on that account deserve punishment; even all 
 of us may justly be punished, although the theft 
 were not committed by all, but only by one of 
 us, and he the youngest also: but yet there 
 remains some hope for us, who otherwise must 
 be under despair on his account, and this 
 frotn thy goodness, which promises us a de- 
 liverance out of our present danger. Aiul 
 now I beg thou wilt not look at us, or at that 
 great crime we have been guilty of, but at thy 
 own excellent nature, and take advice of thine 
 own virtue, instead of that wrath thou hast 
 against us; which passion those that other- 
 wise are of lower character indulge, as they 
 do their strength, and that not only on great, 
 but also on very trifling occasions. Overcome, 
 Sir, that passion, and be not subdued by it, 
 nor suffer it to slay those that do not other- 
 wise presume upon their own safety, but are 
 desirous to accept of it from thee; for this is 
 not the first time that thou wilt bestow it on 
 us, but before, when we came to buy corn, 
 
 • This oration seems to me too lnri»e. and too un- 
 usual a diRiession, to have heen composed by Judas on 
 this ocrasion It seems to me a speech or declamiitinn 
 composed formerly, in the person of .Indas. and in the 
 way of oratory, that layby him, and which he thouu'lit 
 (it to insert on this occasion. See two more such speeches 
 or 'iM-.lamations, Autiq U vL ch. xiv. sect. 4. 
 
The Cup found in Benjamin's Sick.— Page 62, 
 
CHAP. VL 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 03 
 
 thou affordedst us great plenty of food, and 
 gavest us leave to carry so much home to our 
 family as has preserved them from perishing 
 by tamine. Nor is there any difference between 
 not overlooking men that were perishing for 
 want of necessaries, and not punishing those 
 that seem to be offenders, and have been so un- 
 fortunate as to lose the advantage of that glori- 
 ous benefaction which they received from thee. 
 This will be an instance of equal favour, 
 though bestowed after a different manner; 
 for thou wilt save those this way whom thou 
 didst feed the other ; and thou wilt hereby 
 preserve alive, by thy own bounty, those souls 
 which thou didst not suffer to be distressed by 
 famine,Jt being indeed at once a wonderful 
 and a great thing to sustain our lives by corn, 
 and to bestow on us that pardon, whereby, 
 now we are distressed, we may continue those 
 lives. And I am ready to suppose, that God 
 is willing to afford thee this opportunity of 
 showing thy virtuous disposition, by bringing 
 us into this calamity, that it may appear thou 
 canst forgive the injuries that are done to thy- 
 Belf, and mayst be esteemed kind to others, 
 besides those who, on other accounts, stand in 
 need of thy assistance; since it is indeed a 
 right thing to do well to those who are in 
 distress for want of food, but still a more 
 glorious thing to save those who deserve to be 
 punished, when it is on account of heinous 
 offences against thyself; for if it be a thing 
 deserving commendation to forgive such as 
 have been guilty of small offences, that tend 
 So a person's loss, and this be praiseworthy in 
 him that overlooks such offences, to restrain 
 a man's passion as to crimes which are capi- 
 tal to the guilty, is to be like the most excel- 
 lent nature of God himself: — and truly, as 
 for myself, had it not been that we had a 
 father, who had discovered, on occasion of 
 the death of Joseph, how miserably he is 
 always afflicted at the loss of his sons, I had 
 not made any words on account of the saving 
 of our own lives; I mean, any farther than 
 as that would be an excellent character for 
 thyself, to preserve even those that would 
 have nobody to lament them when they were 
 dead, but we would have yielded ourselves up 
 to suffer whatsoever thou pleasedst; but now 
 (for we do not plead for mercy to ourselves, 
 though indeed, if we die, it will be while we 
 are young, anil before we have had the enjoy- 
 ment of life) have regard to our father, and 
 take pity of his old age, on whose account it 
 is that we make these supplications to thee. 
 We beg thou wilt give us those lives which 
 this wickedness of ours has rendered obnoxi- 
 ous to thy punishment; and this for his sake 
 who is not himself wicked, nor does his bein<? 
 our father make us wicked. He is a good 
 man, and not worthy to have such trials of 
 his patience; and now, ae are absent, he is 
 alliicted with care for us: but if he hear of 
 our deaths, and what w<ts the cause "^it, be 
 
 will on that account die an immature death; 
 and the reproachful manner of our ruin will 
 hasten his end, and will directly kill him, nay, 
 will bring him to a miserable death, while he 
 will make haste to rid himself out of the world, 
 and bring himself to a state of insensibility, 
 before the sad story of our end come abroad 
 into the rest of the world. Consider these 
 things in this manner, although our wicked- 
 ness does now provoke thee with a just desire 
 of punishing that wickedness, and forgive it 
 for our father's sake ; and let thy commise- 
 ration of him weigh more with thee than our 
 wickedness. Have regard to the old age of 
 our father, who, if we perish, will be. very 
 lonely while he lives, and will soon die him- 
 self also. Grant this boon to the name of 
 fathers, for thereby thou wilt honour him 
 that begat thee, and wilt grant it to thyself 
 also, who enjoy est already that denomination ; 
 thou w^ilt then, by that denomination, be pre- 
 served of God, the Father of all, — by show- 
 ing a pious regard to which, in the case of 
 our father, thou wilt appear to honour him 
 who is styled by the same name; I mean, if 
 thou wilt have this pity on our father, upon 
 this consideration, how miserable he will be if 
 he be deprived of his sons! It h thy part 
 therefore to bestow on us what God has given 
 us, when it is in thy power to take it away, 
 and so to resemble him entirely in charity ; 
 for it is good to use that power, which can 
 either give or take away, on the merciful side; 
 and when it is in thy power to destroy, to for- 
 get that thou ever hadst that power, and to 
 look on thyself as only allowed power for 
 preservation ; and that the more any one ex- 
 tends this power, the greater reputation does 
 he gain to himself. Now, by forgiving our 
 brother what he has unhappily committed, 
 thou wilt preserve us all; for we cannot 
 think of living if he be put to death, since we 
 dare not show ourselves alive to our father 
 without our brother, but here must we par- 
 take of one and the same catastrophe of his 
 life; and so far we beg of thee, O governor, 
 that if thou condemnest our brother to die, 
 thou wilt punish us together with him, as 
 partners of his crime, — for we shall not think 
 it reasonable to be reserved to kill ourselves 
 for grief of our brother's death, but so to die 
 rather as equally guilty with him of this 
 crime ! I will only leave with thee this one 
 consideration, and then will say no more, viz. 
 That our brother committed his fault when 
 he was young, and not yet of confirmed 
 wisdom in his conduct; and that men natu- 
 rally forgive such young persons. I end 
 here, without adding what more I have to 
 say, that in case thou condemnest us, that 
 omission may be supposed to have hurt us, 
 and permitted thee to take the severer side ; 
 but in case thou settest us free, that this may 
 be ascri'Ded to thy own goodness, of which 
 thou art inwardly conscious, that thou freest 
 
64 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK ir. 
 
 us from condemnation ; and that not b^^arely 
 preserving us, but by granting us sucn a fa- 
 vour as will make us appear more righteous 
 than we really are, and by representing to 
 thyself more motives for our deliverance than 
 we are able to produce ourselves. If, there- 
 fore, thou resolvest to slay him, I desire thou 
 wilt slay me in his stead, and send him back 
 to his father; or if thou pleasest to retain him 
 with thee as a slave, I am fitter to labour for 
 thy advantage in that capacity, and, as thou 
 seest, am better prepared for either of those 
 sufferings."* So Judas, being very willing 
 to undergo any thing whatever for the deliver- 
 ance of his brother, cast himself down at Jo- 
 seph's feet, and earnestly laboured to assuage 
 and pacify his anger. All his brethren also 
 fell down before him, weeping and delivering 
 themselves up to destruction for the preserva- 
 tion of the life of Benjami-n. 
 
 10. But Joseph, as overcome now with his 
 affections, and no longer able to personate an 
 angry man, commanded all that were present 
 to depart, that he might make himself known 
 to his brethren when they were alono; and 
 when the rest were gone out, he made him- 
 self known to his brethren; and said, " I 
 commend you for your virtue, and your kind- 
 ness to our brother : I find you better men 
 than I could have expected from what you 
 contrived about me. Indeed, I did all this 
 to try your love to your brother; so I believe 
 you were not wicked by nature in what you 
 did in my case, but that all has happened ac- 
 cording to God's will, who has hereby pro- 
 cured our enjoyment of what good things we 
 have ; and, if he continue in a favourable 
 disposition, of what we hope for hereafter. 
 Since, therefore, I know that our father is 
 safe and well, beyond expectation, and I see 
 you so well disposed to your brother, I will 
 no longer remember what guilt you seem to 
 have had about me, but will leave off to hate 
 you for that your wickedness; and do rather 
 return you my thanks, that you have concur- 
 red with the intentions of God to bring things 
 to their present state. I would have you 
 also rather to forget the same, since that im- 
 prudence of yours is come to such a happy 
 conclusion, than to be uneasy and blush at 
 those your offences. Do not, therefore, let 
 your evil intentions, when you condemned 
 me, and that bitter remorse which might fol- 
 low, be a grief to you now, because those in- 
 tentions were frustrated. Go, therefore, your 
 way, rejoicing in what has happened by the 
 Divine Providence, and inform your father 
 of it, lest he should be spent with cares for 
 you, and deprive me of the most agreeable 
 part of my felicity ; I mean, lest he should 
 die before he comes into my sight, and en- 
 
 • In all this »p«»ech of Jndas we may observe, that 
 JoRcphus still supposed that death was the punishment 
 of theft in F.gypt. in the days of Joseph, thoui,^ it never 
 WM M amouK the -lews* by the law of Moses. 
 
 joys the good things that we now have. 
 Bring, therefore, with you our father, and 
 your wives and children, and all your kin- 
 dred, and remove your habitations hither; for 
 it is not proper that the persons dearest to me 
 should live remote from me, now my affairs 
 are so prosperous, especially when they must 
 endure five more years of famine." When 
 Joseph had said this, he emoraced his breth- 
 ren, who were in tears and sorrow ; but the 
 generous kindness of their brother seemed to 
 leave among them no room for fear, lest they 
 should be punished on account of what they 
 had consulted and acted against him ; and 
 they were then feasting. Now the king, as 
 soon as he heard that Joseph's brethren were 
 come to him, was exceeding glad of it, as if 
 it had been a part of his own good fortune ; 
 and gave them waggons full of corn, and gold 
 and silver, to be conveyed to his father. Now 
 when they had received more of their brother, 
 part to be carried to their father, and part as 
 free gifts to every one of themselves, Benja- 
 min having still more than the rest, they de- 
 parted. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE REMOVAL OF JOSEPH'S FATHEP.,WITH ALI 
 HIS FAMILY, TO HIM, ON ACCOUNT OF THE 
 FAMINE. 
 
 § 1. As soon as Jacob came to know, by hig 
 sons returning home, in what state Joseph 
 was; that he had not only escaped death, for 
 which yet he lived all along in mourning, but 
 that he lived in splendour and happiness, and 
 ruled over Egypt, jointly with the king, and 
 had intrusted to his care almost all his affairs, 
 he did not think any thing he was told to be 
 incredible, considering the greatness of the 
 works of God, and his kindness to him, al- 
 though that kindness had, for some late times, 
 been intermitted ; so he immediately and 
 zealously set out upon his journey to him. 
 
 2. When he came to the Well of the Oath 
 (Beersheba), he offered sacrifice to God ; 
 and being afraid that the happiness there was 
 in Egypt might tempt his posterity to fall in 
 love with it and settle in jt, and no more 
 think of removing into the land of Canaan, 
 and possessing it, as God had promised them ; 
 as also being afraid, lest, if this descent into 
 Egypt were made without the will of God, 
 his family might be destroyed there; out of 
 fear, withal, lest he should depart this life 
 before he came to the sight of Joseph, he fell 
 asleep, revolving these doubts in his mind. 
 
 3. But God stood by him, and called to 
 him twice by his name; and when he askeo 
 who he was, God said, " No, sure ; it is not 
 just that thou, Jacob, shouldst be unac- 
 quainted with that God who has been ever 
 

 ^:- 
 
Joseph Receiving his Father, in Egypt— Page 66. 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 65 
 
 ^ protector and a helper to thy forefathers, 
 and after them to thyself: for when thy fa- 
 ther would have deprived thee of the domi- 
 nion, I gave it thee ; and by my kindness it 
 was that, when thou wast sent into Mesopo- 
 tamia all alone, thou obtainedst good wives, 
 and returnedst with many children, and much 
 wealth. Thy whole family also has been 
 preserved by my providence; and it was I 
 who conducted Joseph thy son, whom thou 
 gavest up for lost, to the enjoyment of great 
 prosperity. I also made him lord of Egypt, 
 so that he differs but little from a king. Ac- 
 cordingly, I come now as a guide to thee in 
 this journey ; and foretell to thee, that thou 
 shalt die in the arms of Joseph : and I in- 
 forin thee, that thy posterity shall be many 
 ages in authority and glory, and that I will 
 settle them in the land which I have promised 
 them." 
 
 4. Jacob, encouraged by this dream, went 
 on more cheerfully for Egypt with his sons, 
 and all belonging to them. Now they were 
 in all seventy. I once, indeed,' thought it 
 best not to set down the names of this family, 
 especially because of their difficult pronunci- 
 ation [by the Greeks]; but, upon the whole, 
 I think it necessary to mention those names, 
 that I may disprove such as believe that we 
 came not originally from Mesopotamia, but 
 are Egyptians. Now Jacob had twelve sons ; 
 of these Joseph was come thither before. We 
 will therefore set down the names of Jacob's 
 children and grandchildren. Reubel had 
 four sons — Anoch, Phallu, Assaron, Charmi ; 
 Symeon had six — Jamuel, Jamin, Avod, Ja- 
 chin. Soar, Saul ; Levi had three sons — Ger- 
 som, Caath, Merari ; Judas had three sons — 
 Sala, Phares, Zerah; and by Phares two 
 grandchildren — Esrom and Amar ; Issachar 
 had four sons — Thola, Phua, Jasob, Samaron ; 
 Zabulon had with him three sons — Sarad, 
 Helon, Jalel. So far is the posterity of Lea ; 
 with whom went her daughter Dina. These 
 are thirty-three. Rachel had two sons, the 
 one of whom, Joseph, had two sons also, 
 Manasseh and Ephraim. The other, Benja- 
 min, had ten sons — Bolau, Bacchar, Asabel, 
 Geras, Naaman, Jes, Ros, Momphis, Opphis, 
 Arad. These fourteen added to the thirty- 
 three before enumerated, amount to the num- 
 ber forty-seven ; and this was the legitimate 
 posterity of Jacob. He had besides, by Bilhah, 
 the handmaid of Rachel, Dan and Nephthali; 
 which last had four sons that followed him — 
 Jesel, Guni, Issari, and Sellim. Dan had an 
 only-begotten son, Usi. If these be added 
 to those before mentioned, they complete the 
 number fifty-four. Gad and Aser were the 
 sons of Zilpha,who was the handmaid of Lea. 
 These had with them. Gad seven — Saphoniah, 
 Augis, Sunis, Azabon, Aerin, Eroed, Ariel ; 
 Aser had a daughter, Sarah, and six male 
 children, whose names were Jomne, Isus, 
 Isoui, Barb, Abar, and Melchiel. If we add 
 
 these, which are sixteen, to the fifty-four, the 
 forementioned number [70] is completed,* Ja 
 cob not being himself included in that number 
 
 5. When Joseph understood that his father 
 was coming, for Judas his brother was come 
 before him, and informed him of his approach, 
 he went out to meet him ; and they met to- 
 gether at Heroopolis. But Jacob almost 
 fainted away at this unexpected and great 
 joy ; however, Joseph revived him, being yet 
 not himself able to contain from being affect- 
 ed in the same manner, at the, pleasure he 
 now had ; yet was he not wholly overcome 
 with his passion, as his father was. After 
 this he desired Jacob to travel on slowly ; 
 but he himself took five of his brethren with 
 him, and made haste to the king, to tell him 
 that Jacob and his family were come ; which 
 was a joyful hearing to him. He also bid 
 Joseph tell him what sort of life his brethren 
 loved to lead, that he might give them leave 
 to follow the same ; who told him they were 
 good shepherds, and had been used to follow 
 no other employment but this alone. Where- 
 by he provided for them, that they should 
 not be separated, but Uve in the same place, 
 and take care of their father ; as also hereby 
 he provided, that they might be acceptable to 
 the Egyptians, by doing nothing that would 
 be common to them with the Egyptians ; for 
 the Egyptians are prohibited to meddle with 
 feeding of sheep.f 
 
 6. When Jacob was come to the king, and 
 saluted him, and wished all prosperity to his 
 government, Pharaoh asked him how old he 
 now was ; upon whose answer, that he wjis a 
 hundred and thirty years old, he admired Ja- 
 cob on account of the length of his life. And 
 when he had added, that still he had not lived 
 so long as his forefathers, he gave him leave 
 to live with his children in Hcliapolis; for 
 in that city the king's shepherds had their 
 pasturage. 
 
 7. However, the famine increased among 
 the Egyptians; and this heavy judgment 
 grew more oppressive to them, because nei 
 ther did the river overflow the' ground, for it 
 did not rise to its former height, nor did God 
 send rain upon it; J nor did they indeed make 
 
 * All the Greek copies of Josephus hare the negative 
 particle here, that Jacob himself was not reckoned one 
 of the seventj- souls that came into Egypt : but the old 
 Latin copies want it, and directly assure us he was one 
 of them. It is therefore hardly certain which of these 
 was Josephus's true reading, since the number serenty 
 is made up without him, if we reckon Leah for one; 
 but if she be not reckoned, Jacob must himself be one, 
 to complete the number. 
 
 t Josephus thought that the Egyptians hated or de- 
 spised the employment of a shepherd in the days of Jo- 
 seph ; whereas Bishop Cumberland has shown that they 
 rather hated such Phoenician or Canaanite shepherds 
 that had long enslaved the Egyptians of old time. See 
 his Sanchoniatho, p. 361. 362. 
 
 X Reland here puts the question, how Josephus could 
 complain of its not raining in Egypt during this famine, 
 while the ancients affirm that it never does naturally 
 rain there. His answer is, that when the ancients deny 
 that it rains in Egypt, they only mean the Upper Egypt 
 above the Delta, which ia called Egypt iu the strictest 
 
66 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK It. 
 
 the least provrsionfor themselves, so ignorant 
 were they what was to be done ; but Joseph 
 sold them corn for their money. But when 
 their money failed them, they bought corn 
 with their cattle and their slaves; and if any 
 of them had a small piece of land, they gave 
 up that to purchase them food, by which 
 means the king became the owner of all their 
 substance ; and they were removed, some to 
 one place and some to another, that so the 
 possession of their country might be firmly 
 assured to the king, excepting the lands of 
 the priests; for their country continued still 
 in their own possession. And indeed this 
 sore famine made their minds as well as their 
 bodies slaves; and at length compelled them 
 to procure a sufficiency of food by such dis- 
 honourable means. But when this misery 
 ceased, and the river overflowed the ground, 
 and the ground brought forth its fruits plen- 
 tifully, Joseph came to every city, and ga- 
 thered the people thereto belonging together, 
 and gave them back entirely the land which, 
 by their own consent, the king might have 
 possessed alone, and alone enjoyed the fruits 
 of it. He also exhorted them to look on it as 
 every one's own possession, and to fall to 
 their husbandry with cheerfulness; and to 
 pay, as a tribute to the king, the fifth part* ot 
 the fruits for the land which the king, when 
 it was his own, restored to them. These men 
 rejoiced upon their becoming unexpectedly 
 owners of their lands, and diligently observed 
 what was enjoined them; and by this means 
 Joseph procured to himself a greater autho- 
 rity among tho Egyptians, and greater love 
 to the king from them. Now this law, that 
 they should pay the fifth part of their fruits 
 as tribute, continued until their latter kings. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OF THE DEATH OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. 
 
 § 1. Now wherf* Jacob had lived seventeen 
 years in Egypt, he fell into a disease, and 
 died in the presence of his sons; but not till 
 he made his prayers for their enjoying pros- 
 perity, and till he had foretold to them pro- 
 phetically how every one of them was to dwell 
 in the land of Canaan. But this happened 
 many years afterward. He also enlarged 
 upon the praises of Joseph ;f how he had not 
 
 sense; but that in the Delta [and by consequence in the 
 Lower (''t;ypt adjoining to it], it did of old, and still 
 does, rain sometimes. See the Note on Aiitiq. h. iii. 
 ch. i. 8«ct. (i. 
 
 • Josephus supposes that Joseph now restored the 
 Ejryptians their lands a^jain, upon the payment of a fifth 
 part ab tribute. It seems to me rather that the land 
 wu now considered as Pharaoh's land, and this fifth 
 part as its rent, to he paid to him, as he was tiieir land- 
 lord, and they his tenants; and that the lands were not 
 properly resK)red, and this fifth part reserved as tribute 
 only till the days of Nesostris. See Essay on the Old 
 Testament, Append. \\S. 149. 
 
 *■ As to th-s cncuiiiium upon Joseph, as pre^iaratorv 
 !• J.kMiJ*s adoptin)( E phi aim and ManasseL into bTa 
 
 remembered the evil doings of his brethren to 
 their disadvantage; nay, on the contrary, was 
 kind to them, bestowing upon them so many 
 benefits, as seldom are bestowed on men s 
 own benefactors. He then commanded his 
 own sons that they should admit Joseph's 
 sons, Epbraim and Manasseh, into their num- 
 ber, and divide the land of Cafiaan in cotn- 
 mon with them ; concerning whom we shall 
 treat hereafter. However, he made it his re- 
 quest that he might be buried at Hebron. So 
 he died, when he had lived full a hundred 
 and fifty years, three only abated, havijig not 
 been behind any of his ancestors in piety to- ^ 
 words God, and having such a recoivipense 
 for it, as it was fit those should have who were 
 so good as these were. But Joseph, by the 
 king's permission, carried his father's dead 
 body to Hebron, and there buried it, at a 
 great expense. Now his brethren were at 
 first unwilling to return back with him, be- 
 cause they were afraid lest, now their father 
 was dead, he should punish them for their 
 secret practices against him; since he waa 
 now gone, for whose sake he had been so 
 gracious to them. But he peivsuaded them to 
 fear no harm, and to entertain no suspicions 
 of him : so he brought them along with him, 
 and gave them great possessions, and nevei 
 left off his particular concern for them. 
 
 2. Joseph also died when he had lived a 
 hundred and ten years; having been a man 
 of admirable virtue, and conductifig all hi? 
 affairs by the rules of reason ; and used his 
 authority with moderation, which was the 
 cause of his so great felicity among the Egyp. 
 tians, even when he catne from another coun- 
 try, and that in such ill circumstances also, 
 as we have already described. At length his 
 brethren died, after they had lived happily in 
 Egypt, Now the posterity and sons of these 
 men, after some tin)e, carried their bodies, 
 and buried them at Hebron ; but as to the 
 bones of Joseph they carried them iiito the 
 land of Canaan afterward, when the Hebrews 
 went out of Egypt, for so bad Joseph made 
 them promise hirn upon oath ; but what be- 
 came of every one of these men, and by what 
 toils they got the possession of the land of 
 Canaan, shall be shown hereafter, when I 
 have first explained upon what account it was 
 that they left Egypt. 
 
 own family, and to be admitted for two tribes, which 
 Jiisephus here mentions, all our copies of (TQne«l^9 or^i% 
 it (rh. xlviii.); nor do we know whence ne tooR it, re 
 whether it be not his own cmbcliisibuent cii.'y. 
 
CHAP. IX, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 67 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CONCEUMNG TH\l AFFLICTIONS THAT BEFELL 
 THE HEBREWS IN EGYPT, DURING FOUR 
 IIUNDHED YEAES.* 
 
 1. Now it happened that the Egyptians 
 grew delicate and lazy, as to pains-taking; 
 and gave themselves up to other pleasures, 
 and in particular to the love of gain. They 
 also became very ill affected towards the He- 
 brews, as touched with envy at their prospe- 
 rity; for when they saw how the nation of 
 the Israelites flourished, and were become 
 eminent already in plenty of wealth, which 
 they had acquired by their virtue and natural 
 love of labour, they thought their increase 
 wa» to their own detriment; and having, in 
 length of time, forgotten the benefits they 
 hud received from Joseph, particularly the 
 crown being now come into another family, 
 they became very abusive to the Israelites, 
 and contrived many ways of afflicting them; 
 for they enjoined them to cut a great number 
 of channels for the river, and to build walls 
 for their cities and ratnparts, that they might 
 restrain the river, and hiiuler its waters from 
 stagnating, upon its running over its own 
 banks: they set them also to build pyramids,! 
 and by all this wore them out; and forced 
 them to learn all sorts of mechanical arts, 
 and to accustom themselves to hard labour. 
 And four hundred years did they spend under 
 these afflictions; for they strove one against 
 the other which should get the mastery, the 
 Egyptians desiring to destroy the Israelites 
 oy these labours, and the Israelites desiring 
 to hold out to the end under them. 
 
 2 While the alfairs of the Hebrews were 
 in this condition, there was this occasion offered 
 itself to the Egyptians, which made them 
 more solicitous for the extinction of our na- 
 tion. One of those sacred scribes, J who are 
 very sagacious in foretelling future events tru- 
 ly, told the kiriir. that about this time there 
 would a child be born to the Israelites, who, 
 if he were reared, would bring the Egyptian 
 dominion low, and would raise the Israelites; 
 that he would excel all men in virtue, and ob- 
 
 ♦ As to the affliction of Abraham's posterity for 400 
 years, see Antiq. book i chap. x. sei;t. :i; and as to what 
 cilij-s they built in Esjypt, un-Vr Pharaoh Sesostris, and 
 of Pharaoh Sesostris's drowning m the I'ed Sea, see 
 Essay on the Old Testament, Append, p 139—16-2. 
 
 + Of this building of the p>ramids of Egypt by the 
 Israelites, see Perizonius Orig. iEgyptiac. chap. xxi. It 
 is not impossible Ihey might build one or more of the 
 small ones; but the large ones seem much later. Only, 
 if they be all built of stone, this does not so well agree 
 with the Israelites' labours, which are said to have been 
 in brick, and not in stone, as Mr. Sandys observes in his 
 Travels, p, 127, 128. 
 
 t Dr. Bernard informs us here, that instead of this 
 single priest or prophet of the Egyptians, without a 
 name in Josephus, the larsjum of Jonathan names the 
 two famous antagonists of .Moses, Janne.s and Jamlires 
 Nor is it at all unlikely that it might he one of these 
 who foreboded so murh misery to the ELyptians, and 
 6(1 M.uch happiness to ihe Israelites, truui the rearing; of 
 
 tain a glory that would be remembered through 
 all ages. Which thing was so feared by the 
 king, that, according to this man's opinion, 
 he commanded that tuc_y should cast every 
 male child, which was born to the Israelites, 
 into the river, and destroy it; that besides this, 
 the Egyptian midwives§ should watch the la- 
 bours of the Hebi-ew wonie.i, ai.d observe 
 what is born, for those were the women \v}.n 
 were enjoined to do the office of midwives to 
 them ; and by reason of their relation to the 
 king, would not transgress his commands. He 
 enjoined also. That if any parents should dis- 
 obey him, and venture to save their male 
 children alive,;| they and their families should 
 be destroyed. This was a severe affliction in- 
 deed to those that suffered it, not only as they 
 were deprived of their sons, and, while they 
 were the parents themselves, they were obliged 
 to be subservient to the destruction of their 
 own children, but as it was to be supposed to 
 tend to the extirpation of their nation, while 
 upon the destruction of their children, and 
 their own gradual dissolution, the calamity 
 would become very hard and inconsolable to 
 them: and this was the ill state they were in. 
 But no one can he too hard for the purpose 
 of God, though he contrive ten thousand 
 subtile devices for that end ; for this child, 
 whom the sacred scribe foretold, was brought 
 up and concealed from the observers appointed 
 by the king; and he that foretold him did 
 not mistake in the consequences of his preser- 
 vation, which were brought to pass after the 
 manner following: — 
 
 3. A man, whose name was Amram, one 
 (^f the nobler sort of the Hebrews, was afraid 
 ibr his whole nation, lest it should fail, by the 
 want of young men to be brought up here- 
 after, and was very uneasy at it, his wife be- 
 ing then with child*, and he knew not what to 
 do. Hereupon he betook himself to prayer 
 to God; and- entreated him to have compas- 
 sion on those men who had nowise transgressed 
 the laws of his worship, and to afford them 
 deliverance from the miseries they at that time 
 endured, and to render abortive their enemies' 
 hopes of the destruction of their nation. Ac- 
 cordingly God had mercy on him, and was 
 moved by his supplication. He stood by him 
 in his sleep, and exhorted him not to despair 
 of his future favours. He said farther, that 
 
 ? Josephns is clear that these midwives were Egyp- 
 tians, and not Isra'-lites, as in our other copies: which 
 is very probiblc, it being not easily to be supposed tha 
 Pharaoh i>Mi.d trust tiie Israelite midwives to execute 
 .so barbarous a command against their own nation. Con- 
 sult, ther«;fore, and correct hence, our ordinary copies, 
 Exod. i. ld,.22. And, indeed, Josephus seems to have 
 had much completer copies of the Pentateuch, or other 
 authentic records now lost, about the birth and actions 
 of Moses, than either our Hebrew, Samaritan, or Greek 
 Bibles afford us, which enabled him to be so large aud 
 particular about him. 
 
 II Of this grandfather of Sesostris, Harnesses the Great, 
 who slew the Israelite infants, and of the inscription on 
 his obelisk, containing, in my opinion, one of the oldest 
 records of mankind, see Essay on th« Old T«iL App«a<L 
 p 139. 145, 147, air— 220. 
 
68 
 
 ANTIQUITIES Of THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II, 
 
 he did not forget their piety towards him, and 
 would always reward them for it, as he had 
 formerly granted his favour to their forefathers, 
 and made them increase from a few, to so 
 great a multitude. He put him in mind, that 
 when Abraham was come alone out of Meso- 
 potamia into Canaan, he had been made hap- 
 py, not only in other respects, but that when 
 his wife was at first barren, she was afterwards 
 by him enabled to conceive seed, and bear 
 him sons. That he left to Ismael and to his 
 posterity the country of Arabia; as also to his 
 sons by Ketura, Troglodytis: a'nd to Isaac, 
 Canaan. That by my assistance, said he, he 
 did great exploits in war, which, unless you 
 be yourselves impious, you must still remem- 
 ber. As for Jacob, he became well known to 
 strangers also, by the greatness of that pros- 
 perity in which he lived, and left to his sons, 
 who came into Egypt with no more than seven- 
 ty souls, while you are now become above six 
 hundred thousand. Know, therefore, that I 
 shall provide for you all in common what is 
 for your good, and particularly for thyself 
 what shall make thee famous ; for that child, 
 out of dread of whose nativity the Egyptians 
 have doomed the Israelite children to destruc- 
 tion, shall be this child of thine, and shall be 
 concealed from those who watch to destroy 
 him ; and when he is brought up in a surpris- 
 ing way, he shall deliver the Hebrew nation 
 from the distress -they are under from the 
 Egyptians. His memory shall be famous while 
 the world lasts; and this not only among the 
 Hebrews, but foreigners also : — all which shall 
 be the effect of my favour to thee, and to thy 
 posterity. He shall also have such a brother, 
 that he shall himself obtain my priesthood, 
 and his posterity shall have it after him to 
 the end of the world. 
 
 4. When the vision had informed him of 
 these things, Amram awaked and told it to 
 Jochebed, who was his wife. And now the 
 fear increased upon them on account of the 
 prediction in Amram's dream ; for they were 
 under concern, not only for the child, but on 
 account of the great happiness that was come 
 to him also. However, the mother's labour 
 was such as afforded a confirmation to what 
 was foretold by God ; for it was not known 
 to those that watched her, by the easiness of 
 her pains, and because the throes of her deli- 
 very did not fall upon her with violence. And 
 now they nourished the child at home private- 
 ly for three months; but after that time Am- 
 ram, fearing he should be discovered, and by 
 falling under the king's displeasure, both he 
 and his child should perish, and so he should 
 make the promise of God of none effect, he 
 determined rather to intrust the safety and care 
 of the child to God, than to depend on his 
 own concealment of him, which he looked 
 upoa as a thing uncertain, and whereby both 
 the rhild, so privately to be nourished, and 
 himaelf, should be in imminent danger; but 
 
 he believed that God would some way foi 
 certain procure the safety of the child, in or 
 der to secure the truth of his own predictions 
 When they had thus determined, they made 
 an ark of bulrushes, after the manner of a 
 cradle, and of a bigness sufficient for an in 
 fant to be laid in, without being too straitened 
 they then daubed it over with slime, which 
 would naturally keep out the water from en- 
 tering between the bulrushes, and put the in- 
 fant into it, and setting it afloat upon the ri- 
 ver, they left its preservation to God ; so the 
 river received the child, and carried him along. 
 But Miriam, the child's sister, passed along 
 upon the bank over against him, as her mother 
 had bid her, to see whither the ark would be 
 carried ; where God demonstrated that hu- 
 man wisdom was nothing, but that the Su- 
 preme Being is able to do whatsoever he plea- 
 ses: that those who, in order to their own 
 security, condemn others to destruction, and 
 use great endeavours about it, fail of theii 
 purpose ; but that others are in a surprising 
 manner preserved, and obtain a prosperouf 
 condition almost from the very midst of then 
 calamities ; those, I mean, whose dangers 
 arise by the appointment of God. And, in- 
 deed, such a providence was exercised in the 
 case of this child, as showed the power of 
 God. 
 
 5. Thermuthis was the king's daughter. 
 She was now diverting herself by the banks of^., 
 the river; and seeing a cradle borne along by 
 the current, she sent some that could swim, 
 and bid them bring the cradle to her. When 
 those that were sent on this errand, came to 
 her with the cradle, and she saw the little child,, 
 she was greatly in love with it, on account of 
 its largeness and beauty ; for God had taken 
 such great care in the formation of Moses, 
 that he caused him to be thought worthy of 
 bringing up, and providing for, by all those 
 that had taken the most fatal resolutions, oft 
 account of the dread of his nativity, for the 
 destruction of the rest of the Hebrew nation. 
 Thermuthis bid them bring her a woman that 
 might afford her breast to the child ; yet would 
 not the child admit of her breast, but turned 
 away from it, and did the like to many other 
 women. Now Miriam was by when this hap- 
 pened, not to appear to be there on purpose, 
 but only as staying to see the child; and she 
 said, " It is in vain that thou, O queen, call- 
 est for these women for the nourishing of the 
 child, who are no way of kin to it; but still, 
 if thou wilt order one of the Hebrew women 
 to be brought, perhaps it may admit the breast 
 of one of its own nation." Now since sho 
 seemed to speak well, Thermuthis bid her pro- 
 cure such a one, and to bring one of those 
 Hebrew women that gave suck. So when she 
 had such authority given her, she came back , 
 and brought tlie mother, who was known to' 
 nobody there. And now the child gladly ad- 
 mitted the breast, and soemed to stick close to 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE.JI^VS. 
 
 69 
 
 it ; and so it was, that, at the queen's desire, 
 the nursing of the child was entirely intrusted 
 to the mother. 
 
 6. Hereupon it was that Thermuthis im- 
 posed this name Mouses upon him, from what 
 had happened when he was put into the river; 
 for the EgA'ptians call water by the name 
 of Mo, and such as are saved out of it, by the 
 name of Uses ,- so by putting these two words 
 together, they imposed this name upon hira ; 
 and he was, by the confession of all, according 
 to God's prediction, as well for his greatness 
 of mind as for his contempt of difficulties, the 
 best of all the Hebrews ; for Abraham was his 
 ancestor, of the seventh generation. For Mo- 
 ses was the son of Amram, who was the son 
 of Caath, whose father, Levi, was the son of 
 J^cob, who was the son of Isaac, who was the 
 son of Abraham. Now Moses's understand- 
 ing became superior to his age, nay, far be- 
 yond that standard ; and when he was taught, 
 he discovered greater quickness of apprehension 
 
 jthan was usual at his age ; and his actions at 
 that time promised greater, when he should 
 come to the age of a man. God did also give 
 him that tallness, when he was but three years 
 old, as was wonderful ; and as for his beauty, 
 there was nobody so unpolite as, when they 
 saw Moses, they were not greatly surprised at 
 the beauty of his countenance ; nay, it hap- 
 pened frequently, that those that met him as 
 he was carried along the road, were djliged 
 to turn again upon seeing the child ; that they 
 left what they were about, and stood still a 
 great while to look on him ; for the beauty of 
 the child was so remarkable and natural to 
 him on many accounts, that it detained the 
 spectators, and made them stay longer to look 
 upon him. 
 
 7. Thermuthis, tJierefore, perceiving him 
 to be so remarkable a child, adopted him for 
 her son, having no child of her own. And 
 when one time she had carried Moses to her 
 father, she showed him to him, and said she 
 thought to make him her father's successor, 
 if it should please God she should have no 
 legitimate child of her own; and said to him, 
 " I have brought up a child who is of a di- 
 vine form,* and of a generous mind ; and as 
 I have received him from the bounty of the 
 river, in a wonderful manner, I thought pro- 
 per to adopt him for my son, and the heir of 
 thy kingdom." And when she had said this, 
 she put the infant into her father's hands : so 
 he took him, and hugged him close to his 
 breast; and on his daughter's account, in a 
 pleasant way, put his diadem upon his head ; 
 but Moses threyv it down to the ground, and, 
 in a puerile mood, he wreathed it round, and 
 trod upon it with his feet : which seemed to 
 bring along with it an evil presage concern- 
 
 * "WTiat Josephns here says of the heauty of Moses, 
 that he was of a divine form, is very like what St. 
 Stephen savs of tlie same beauty, that Moses was heau- 
 tiful in the' sight of God, Acts viL 20. 
 
 ing the kingdom oi Egypt. But when the 
 sacred scribe saw this (he was the same per- 
 son who foretold that his nativity would bring 
 the dominion of that kingdom low), he made 
 a violent attempt to kill him; and crying out 
 in a frightful manner, he said, "This, O 
 king! this child is he of whom God foretold, 
 that if we kill him we shall be in no danger; 
 he himself affords an attestation to the predic- 
 tion of the same thing, by his trampling upon 
 thy government, and treading upon thy dia- 
 dem. Take him, therefore, out of the way, 
 and deliver the Egyptians from the fear they 
 are in about him ; and deprive the Hebrews 
 of the hope they have of being encouraged 
 by him." But Thermuthis prevented him, 
 and snatched the child away. And the king 
 was not hasty to slay him, God himself, 
 whose providence protected Moses, inclining 
 the king to spare him. He was, therefore, 
 educated with great care. So the Hebrews 
 depended on him, and were of good hopes 
 that great things would be done by hira ; but 
 the Egyptians were suspicious of what would 
 follow such his education. Yet because, if 
 Moses had been slain, there was no one, either 
 akin or adopted, that had any oracle on his 
 side for pretending te (he crown of Egypt, 
 and likely to be of greater advantage to them, 
 they abstained from killing him 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW MOSES MADB WAR WITH THB KTHIOPIAKS. 
 
 § 1. Moses, therefore, when he was bom, 
 and brought up in the foregoing manner, and 
 came to the age of maturity, made his virtue 
 manifest to the Egyptians; and showed that 
 he was bom for the bringing them down, and 
 raising the Israehtes; and the occasion he 
 laid hold of was this : — The Ethiopians, who 
 are next neighbours to the Eg3rptians, made 
 an inroad into their country, which they seized 
 upon, and carried oflf the effects of the Egyp- 
 tians, who, in their rage, fought against them, 
 and revenged the affronts they had received 
 from them; but, being overcome in battle, 
 some of them were slain, and the. rest ran 
 away in a shameful manner, and by that 
 means saved themselves; whereupon the 
 Ethiopians followed after them in the pur- 
 suit, and thinking that it would be a mark of 
 cowardice if they did not subdue all Egypt, 
 they went on to subdue the rest with greater 
 vehemence; and when they had tasted the 
 sweets of the country, they never left oflf the 
 prosecution of the war; and as the nearest 
 parts had not courage enough at first to fight 
 with them, they proceeded as far as Memphis, 
 and the sea itself; while not one of the cities 
 was able to oppose them. The Egyptians, 
 
W) 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 under this sad oppression, betook themselves 
 to their oracles and prophecies; and when 
 God had given thera this counsel, to make 
 use of Moses the Hebrew, and take his assist- 
 ance, tne king commanded his daughter to 
 produce him, that he might be the general* 
 of" their army. Upon which, when she had 
 made him swear he would do him no harm, 
 she delivered him to the king, and supposed 
 his assistance would be of great advantage to 
 them. She withal reproached the priest, who, 
 when they had before admonished the Egyp- 
 tians to kill him, was not ashamed now to own 
 their want of his help. 
 
 2. So Moses, at the persuasion both of 
 Thermuthis and the king himself, cheerfully 
 undertook the business: and the sacred scribes 
 of both nations were glad; those of the Egyp- 
 tians, that they should at once overcome their 
 enemies by his valour, and that by the same 
 piece of management Moses would be slain ; 
 but those of the Hebrews that they should 
 escape from the Egyptians, because Moses 
 was to be their generaL{?but Moses prevented 
 the enemies, and took and led his army before 
 those enemies were apprized of his attacking 
 them; for he did not march by the river, but 
 by land, where he gave a wonderful demon- 
 stration of his sagacity ; for when the ground 
 was difficult to be passed over, because of the 
 multitude of serpents (which it produces in 
 vast numbers, and indeed is singular in some 
 of those productions, which other countries 
 do not breed, and yet such as are worse than 
 others in power and mischief, and an unusual 
 fierceness of sight, some of which ascend out 
 of the ground unseen, and also fly in the air, 
 and so come upon men at unawares, and do 
 them a mischief), Moses invented a wonder- 
 ful stratagem to preserve the army safe, and 
 without hurt; for he made baskets, like unto 
 arks, of sedge, and filled them with ibes,f 
 and carried them along with them ; which 
 animal is the greatest enemy to serpents ima- 
 ginable, for they fly from them when they 
 come near them ; and as they fly they are 
 caught and devoured by them, as if it were 
 done by the harts ; but the ibes are tame 
 creatures, and only enemies to the serpentine 
 kind: but about these ibes I say no more at 
 present, since the Greeks themselves are not 
 
 • The history of Moses, as general of the Lj^yptians 
 acainst the Ethiopians, is wholly omitted in our Uibles; 
 but in thus cited by Irena^us, from Josephus, and that 
 soon after his own aiifer — "Josephus says, that when 
 MoM-s was nourished in the king's palace, he was ap- 
 pointed general of the army af^inst the Ethiopians, and 
 conquered them, when he married that kinj;'* dau^h- 
 trr; beuause, out of her affection for him, she delivered 
 the city up to him." See the Fragments of Irenaens, 
 op. edit. Grab. p. 472, Nor perhaps did St. Stepimn 
 refer to any thing else when he said of Moses, before he 
 was sent by God to the Israelites, that he was not only 
 Seamed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, but was 
 also mighty in words and in deeds. Ac's vii, 22. 
 
 + Pliny speaks of these birds called Jbes; and says, 
 "The Egyptians invoked them against the serpents." 
 Hist. Nat. book x. chap. 28. Strabo speaks of this 
 Uiland Meroe, and the rivers Astapus and Astaboras, 
 took (▼Lp.77L,786{ aad<M>ok xvii. p. 8i4. | 
 
 unacquainted with this sort of hird. As soon, 
 therefore, as Moses was come to the land 
 which was the breeder of these serpents, he 
 let loose the ibes, and by their means repelled 
 the serpentine kind, and used them for his 
 assistants before the army came upon that 
 ground. When he had therefore proceeded 
 thus on his journey, he came upon the Ethio- 
 pians before they expected him ; and, joining 
 battle with them, he beat them, and deprived 
 them of the hopes they had of success against 
 the Egyptians, and went on in overthrowing 
 their cities, and indeed made a great slaugh- 
 ter of these Ethiopians, 'f Now when the 
 Egyptian army had once tasted of this pros- 
 perous success, by the means of Moses, they 
 did not slacken their diligence, insomuch that 
 the Ethiopians were in danger of being re- 
 duced to slavery, and all sorts of destruction ; 
 and at length they retired to Saba, which was 
 a royal city of Ethiopia, which Cambyses 
 afterwards named Meroe, after the name of 
 his own sister. The place was to be besieged ^ 
 with very great difficulty, since it was both 
 encompassed by the Nile quite round, and 
 the other rivers, Astapus and Astaboras, made 
 it a very difficult thing for such as attempted 
 to pass over them ; for the city was situate 
 in a retired place, and was inhabited after the 
 manner of an island, being encompassed with 
 a strong wall, and having the rivers to guard 
 them from their enemies, and having great 
 ramparts between the wall and the rivers, in- 
 somuch, that when the waters come with the 
 greatest violence it can never be drowned; 
 which ramparts make it next to impossible 
 for even such as are gotten over the rivers to 
 take the city. However, while Moses was 
 uneasy at the army's lying idle (for the ene- 
 mies durst not come to a battle), this acci- 
 dent happened: — Tharbis was t'he daughter 
 of the king of the Ethiopians: she happened 
 to see Moses as he led the army near the 
 walls, and fought with great courage ; and 
 admiring the subtilty of his undertakings, 
 and believing him to be the author of the 
 Egyptians' success, when they had before de- 
 spaired of recovering their liberty, and to be 
 the occasion of the great danger the Ethio- 
 pians were in, when they had before boasted 
 of their great achievements, she fell deeply 
 in love with him; and upon the prevalency 
 of that passion, sent to him the most faithful 
 of all her servants to discourse with him about 
 their marriage. He thereupon accepted the 
 offer, on ^audition she would procure the de- 
 livering up of the city ; and gave her the assur- 
 ance of an oath to take her to his wife; and 
 that when he had once taken possession of 
 the city, he would not break his oath to her. 
 No sooner was the agreement made, but it took 
 effect immediately ; and when Moses had cut 
 off the Ethiopians, he gave thanks to God, 
 and consummated his marriagk^, and led ilie 
 Kgyptians back to their own land 
 
CHAP. XII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS* 
 
 71 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 HOW MOSES FLED OUT OF EGYPT INTO MIDIAN. 
 
 § 1. Now the Egyptians, after they had been 
 preserved by Moses, entertained a hatred to 
 him, and were very eager in compassing their 
 designs against him, as suspecting that he 
 would take occasion, from his good success, 
 to raise a sedition, and bring innovations into 
 Egypt; and told the king he ought to be 
 slain. The king had also some intentions of 
 himself to the same purpose, and this as well 
 out of envy at his glorious expedition at the 
 head of his army, as out of fear of being 
 brought low by him; and being instigated by 
 the sacred scribes, he was ready to undertake 
 to kill Moses; but when he had learned be- 
 forehand what plots there were against him, 
 he went away privately; and, because the 
 public roads were watched, he took his flight 
 through the deserts, and where his enemies 
 could not suspect he would travel ; and, 
 though he was destitute of food, he went on, 
 and despised that difficulty courageously ; 
 and when he came to the city jNIidian, which 
 lay upon the Red Sea, and was so denomi- 
 nated from one of Abraham's sons by Ketu- 
 rah, he sat upon a certain well, and rested 
 himself there after his laborious journey, and 
 the affliction he had been in. It was not far 
 from the city, and the time of the day was 
 noon, where he had an occasion offered him 
 by the custom of the country of doing what 
 recommended his virtue and afforded him an 
 opportunity of bettering his circumstances. 
 
 2. For that country having but little water, 
 the shepherds used to seize on the wells be- 
 fore others came, lest their flocks should want 
 water, and lest it should be spent by others be- 
 fore they came. There were now come, there- 
 fore, to t his well seven sisters that were virgins, 
 the daughters of Raguel, a priest, and one 
 thought worthy by the people of the country of 
 great honour. These virgins, who took care of 
 their father's flocks, which sort of work it was 
 customary and very familiar for women to do 
 in the country of the Troglodites, they came 
 first of all, and drew water out of the well in 
 a quantity sufficient for their flocks, into 
 troughs, which Avere made for the reception 
 of that water; but when the shepherds came 
 upon the maidens, and nrove them away, that 
 they might have the command of the water 
 themselves, Moses, thinking it would oe a 
 terrible reproach upon him if he overlooked 
 the young women under unjust oppression, 
 ami >hould suffer the violence of the men to 
 prevail over the right of the maidens, he drove 
 away the men, who had a mind to more than 
 tlu;ir share, and afforded a proper assistance 
 to the women; who, when tt.ev had received 
 Kich a bi^netit from him, curat to their father. 
 
 and told hira how they bad been affronted by 
 the shepherds, and assisted by a stranger, a:'d 
 entreated that he would not let this generous 
 action be done in vain, nor go without a re- 
 ward. Now the father took it well from his 
 daughters that they were so desirous to re- 
 ward their benefactor ; and bid them bring 
 Moses into his presence, that he might be 
 rewarded as he deserved; and when xMose; 
 came, he told him what testimony his daugh- 
 ters bare to him, that he had assisted them ; 
 and that, as he admired him for his virtue, he 
 said that Moses had bestowed such his assist- 
 ance on persons not insensible of benefits, 
 but where they were both able and willing to 
 return the kindness, and even to exceed the 
 measure of his generosity. So he made him 
 his son, and gave him one of his daughters in 
 marriage; and appointed him to be the 
 guardian and superintendant over his cattle; 
 for of old, all the wealth of the barbarians 
 was in those cattle. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CONCERNING THE BURNING BUSH, AND THE 
 ROD OF MOSES. 
 
 § 1. Now Moses, when he had obtained the 
 favour of Jethro, for that was one of the 
 names of Raguel, staid there and fed his 
 flock ; but some time afterward, taking his 
 station at the mountain called Sinai, he drove 
 his flocks thither to»feed them. Now this is 
 the highest of all the mountains thereabout^ 
 and the best for pasturage, the herbage being 
 there good ; and it had not been before fed 
 upon, because of the opinion men had that 
 God dwelt there, the shepherds not daring to 
 ascend up to it; and here it was that a won- 
 derful prodigy happened to Moses ; for a fire 
 fed upon a thorn-bush, yet did the green 
 leaves and the flowers continue untouched, 
 and the fire did not at all consume the fruit- 
 branches, although the flame was great and 
 fierce. Moses was affrighted at this strange 
 sight, as it was to him ; but he was still more 
 astonished when the fire uttered a voice, and 
 called to him by name, and spake words to 
 him, by which it signified how bold he had 
 been in venturing to come into a place whither 
 no man had ever come before, because the 
 place was divine; and advised him to remove 
 a great way off from the flame, and to be con- 
 tented with what he had seen; and though 
 he were himself a good man, and the off- 
 spring of great men, yet that he should not 
 pry any farther: and he foretold to him, that 
 he should have glory and honour among men, 
 by the blessing of God upon him. He also 
 commanded him to go away thence with i;on- 
 fidence to Egypt, in order to his being the 
 commander and conductor of the body of the 
 Hebrews, and to his delivering his own peo« 
 
72 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK n 
 
 vie from xne injuries they suffered there; 
 ' For," said God, " they shall inhabit this 
 happy land which your forefather Abraham 
 inhabited, and shall have the enjoyment of all 
 sorts of good things; and thou, by thy pru- 
 dence, shalt guide them to those good things." 
 But still he enjoined him, when he had brought 
 the Hebrews out of the land of Egypt, to come 
 to that place, and to offer sacrifices of thanks- 
 giving there. Such were the divine oracles 
 which were delivered out of the fire. 
 
 2. But Moses was astonished at what he 
 saw, and much more at what he heard ; and 
 he said, " I think it would be an instance of 
 too great madness, O Lord, for one of that 
 regard I bear to thee, to distrust thy power, 
 since I myself adore it, and know that it has 
 been made manifest to my progenitors; but 
 I am stiir in doubt how I, who am a private 
 man, and one of no abilities, should either 
 persuade my own countrymen to leave the 
 country they now inhabit, and to follow me 
 to a land whither I lead them ; or, if they 
 should be persuaded, how can I force Pha- 
 raoh to permit them to depart, since they 
 augment their own wealth and prosperity by 
 the labours and .works they put upon theml" 
 
 3. But God persuaded him to be cou- 
 rageous on all occasions, and promised to be 
 with him, and to assist him in his • words, 
 when he was to persuade men; and in his 
 deeds, when he was to perform wonders. He 
 bid him also to take a signal of the truth of 
 what he said, by throwing his rod upon the 
 ground ; which when he iiad done, it crept 
 along, and was become a serpent, and ruUed 
 itself round in its folds, and erected its head, 
 as ready to revenge itself on such as shoald 
 assault it; after which it became a rod again 
 as before. After this God bid Moses to pat 
 his right hand into his bosom: he obeyed, 
 and when he took it out it was white, and in 
 colour like to chalk, but afterward it returned 
 to its wonted colour again. He also, upon 
 God's command, took some of the water that 
 was near him, and poured it upon the ground, 
 and saw the colour was that of blood. Upon 
 the wonder that Moses showed at these signs, 
 God exhorted him to be of good courage, 
 and to be assured that he would be the great- 
 est support to him ; and bid him make use of 
 those signs, in order to obtain belief among 
 all men, that "thou art sent by me, and 
 dost all things according to my commands. 
 Accordingly, I enjoin thee to make no more 
 ^lays, but to make haste to Egypt, and to 
 travel night and day, and not to draw out the 
 time, and so make the slavery of the Hebrews 
 and their sufferings to last the longer." 
 
 4. Moses, having now seen and heard these 
 wonders that assured him of the truth of these 
 promises of God, had no room left him to dis- 
 believe them : he entreated him to grant him 
 that j>ower when he should be in Egypt; and 
 'je«ought him to vouobvafe him tlie knowledge 
 
 of his own name; and, since he had heard 
 and seen him, that he would also tell him his 
 name, that when he offered sacrifice he might 
 invoke him by such his name in his oblations. 
 Whereupon God declared to him his holy 
 name, which had never been discovered to 
 men before ; concerning which it is not law- 
 ful for me to say any more.* Now these 
 signs accompanied Moses, not then only, but 
 always when he prayed for them: of all 
 which signs he attributed the firmest assent to 
 the fire in the bush; and believing that God 
 would be a gracious supporter to him, he 
 hoped he should be able to deliver his own 
 nation, and bring calamities on the Egyptians. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HOW MOSES AND AARON RETURNED INTO 
 EGYPT TO PHARAOH. 
 
 § 1. So Moses, when he understood that the 
 Pharaoh, in whose reign he fled away, was 
 dead, asked leave of Raguel to go to Egypt, 
 for the benefit of his own people: and he 
 took with him Zipporah, the daughter of Ra- 
 guel, whom he had married, and the children 
 he had by her, Gersom and Eleazar, and 
 made haste into Egypt. Now the former of 
 those names, Gersom, in the Hebrew tongue, 
 signifies that he was in a strange land; and 
 Eleazar, that, by the assistance of the God of 
 his fathers, he had escaped from the Egyptians 
 Now when they were near the borders, Aaror 
 his brother, by the command of God, met 
 him, to whom he declared what had befallen 
 him at the mountain, and the commands that 
 God had given him. But as they were go- 
 ii.'g forward, the chief men among the He- 
 brews, having learned that they were coming, 
 met them ; to whom Moses declared the signs 
 he had seen; and while they could not be- 
 lieve them, he made them see them. So they 
 took courajje at these surprising and unex- 
 pected tiights^ and hoped well of their entire 
 deliverance, as believing now that God took 
 care of th.^ir p.^sprvation. 
 
 2. Since tuen Moses found that the He- 
 brews would bs obedient to whatsoever he 
 should direct, as they promised to be, and 
 were in love with libtrt /, he came to the king, 
 who had indeed but lately received the govern- 
 
 * This swpcrstitiouR fi»«r o*'tli"<c*'>>'>i Jn»tli«» name with 
 four letters, which of lato ve ^jiTv Leen weed falsely to 
 pronounce Jehovah, but f^.-ni' t-'La/e boen oriKi>i»lly 
 pronouncec^l .7ehoh, or Jao, \c ii ^vsr, 1 tMfK, ffeartl of till 
 this pasRas;e of Josephus; an\ IhN Rupvrhtition. in not 
 pronouncing? that name, hat; ccuti\.u >d among the Rab- 
 binical Jews to this clay (though v\ ethiir the Samaritans 
 and Caraitcs observed it so early, Ao?.s not appenr). 
 Josephus also durst not set down ihe very words of the 
 ten commandmeDts, as wo shall see hereafter. Antiq. 
 book iii. chap. v. sert. 4 ; which superstitious silence, I 
 think, has vet not W'U continue<l even by the Kabbins. 
 It is however no doi'bt. but both these cautious conceal-, 
 ments were taught Jiseuhus by the I'harisees; a IxKly 
 of Hiou at onoe very m ^•aX and very vuperstitious. 
 
CHAP. XIY. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 73 
 
 ment, and told him how much he had done 
 for the good of the Egyptians, when they 
 were despised by the Ethiopians, and their 
 country laid waste by them; and how he had 
 been the commander of their forces, and had 
 laboured for them, as if they had been his 
 own people; and he informed him in what 
 danger he had been during that expedition, 
 without having any proper returns made him 
 as he had deserved. He also informed him 
 distinctly v^hat things happened to him at 
 mount Sinai; and what God said to him; 
 and the signs that were done by God, in order 
 to assure him of the authority of those com- 
 mands which he had given him. He also ex- 
 horted him not to disbelieve what we told him, 
 nor to oppose the will of God. 
 
 3. But when the king derided Moses, he 
 made him in earnest see the signs that were 
 done at mount Sinai. Yet was the king very 
 angry with him, and called him an ill man, 
 who had formerly run away from his Egyp- 
 tian slavery, and came now back with deceit- 
 ful tricks, and wonders and magical arts, to 
 astonish him. And when he had said this, 
 he commanded the priests to let him see the 
 same wonderful sights; as knowing that the 
 Egyptians were skilful in this kind of learn- 
 ing, and that he was not the only person who 
 knew them, and pretended them to be divine; 
 as also he told him, that when he brought 
 such wonderful sights before him, he would 
 only be believed by the unlearned. Now 
 when the priests threw down their rods, they 
 became serpents. But Moses was not daunted 
 at it; and said, "0 king, I do not myself 
 despise the wisdom of the Egyptians, but I 
 say that what I do is so much superior to 
 what these do by magic arts and tricks, as 
 divine power exceeds the power of man : but 
 I will demonstrate that what I do is not done 
 
 •by craft, or counterfeiting what is not really 
 true, but that they appear by the providence 
 and power of God." And when he had said 
 this, he cast his rod down upon the ground, 
 and commanded it to turn itself into a ser- 
 pent. It obeyed him, and went all around, and 
 devoured the rods of the Egyptians, which 
 seemed to be dragons, until it had consumed 
 them all. It then returned to its own form, 
 and Moses took it into his hand again. 
 
 4. However, the king was no more moved 
 when this was done than before ; and being 
 very angry, he said that he should gain no- 
 thing by this his cunning and shrewdness against 
 the Egyptians; — and he commanded him 
 that was the chief task-master over the He- 
 brews, to give them no relaxation from their 
 labours, but to compel them to submit to 
 greater oppressions than before; and though 
 he allowed them chaff before for making 
 their bricks, he would allow it them no longer; 
 but he made them to work hard at brick- 
 making, in the day-time, and to gather chaff 
 in the night. Now when their labour was 
 
 thus doubled upon them, they laid the blame 
 upon Moses, because their labour and their 
 misery were on his account become more se- 
 vere to them. But Moses did not let his cour- 
 age sink for the king's threatenings; nor did 
 he abate of his zeal on account of the 'He- 
 brews' complaints ; but he supported himself, 
 and set his soul resolutely against them both, 
 and used his own utmost diligence to procure 
 liberty to his countrymen. So he went to 
 the king, and persuaded him to let the He- 
 brews go to mount Sinai, and there to sacri- 
 fice to God, because God had enjoined them 
 so to do. He persuaded him also not to 
 counterwork the designs of God,, but to esteem 
 his favour above all things, and to permit 
 them to depart, lest, before he be aware, he 
 lay an obstruction in the way of the divine 
 commands, and so occasion his own suffering 
 such punishments as it was probable any one 
 that counterworked the divine commands 
 should undergo, since the severest afflictions 
 arise from every object to those that provoke 
 the divine wrath against them; for such as 
 these have neither the earth nor the air for 
 their friends ; nor are the fruits of the womb 
 according to nature, but every thing is un- 
 friendly and adverse towards them. He said 
 farther, that the Egyptians should know this 
 by sad experience ; and that besides, the He- 
 brew people should go out of their country 
 without their consent. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CONCERNING THE TEN PLAGUES WHICH CAMB 
 UPON THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 § 1. But when the king despised the words 
 of Moses, and had no regard at all to them, 
 grievous plagues seized the Egyptians ; every 
 one of which I will describe, both because no 
 such plagues did ever happen to any other 
 nations as the Egyptians now felt, — and be- 
 cause I would demonstrate that Moses did not 
 fail in any one thing that he foretold them ; and 
 because it is for the good of mankind, that they 
 may leam this caution : — Not to do any thing 
 that may displease God, lest he be provoked 
 to wrath, and avenge their iniquities upon 
 them. For the Egyptian river ran with bloody 
 water at the command of God, insomuch that 
 it could not be drunk, and they had no other 
 spring of water neither; for the water was 
 not only of the colour of blood, but it brought 
 upon those that ventured to drink of it, great 
 pains and bitter torment. Such was the river 
 to the Egyptians ; but it was sweet and fit for 
 drinking to the Hebrews, and no "way different 
 from what it naturally used to be. As the king 
 therefore knew not what to do in these sur- 
 prising circumstances, and was in fear for the 
 Egyptians, he gave the Hebrews leave to go 
 
74 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 I^OOK II 
 
 eway; but when the plague ceased, he changed ' 
 bis mind again, and would not suffer them to go. 
 
 2. But when God saw that he was un- 
 grateful, and upon the ceasing of this calam- 
 ity would not grow wiser, he sent another 
 plague upon the Egyptians: — An innumer- 
 able multitude of frogs consumed the fruit of 
 the ground ; the river was also full of them, 
 ir.souuich that those who drew water had it 
 spoiled by the blood of these animals, as they 
 died in, and were destroyed by, the water ; 
 and the country was full of filthy slime, as 
 they were born and as they died : they also 
 spoiled their vessels in their houses, which 
 they used, and were found among what they 
 ate and what they drank, and came in great 
 numbers upon their beds. There was also an 
 ungrateful smell, and a stink arose from them, 
 as they were born, and as they died therein. 
 Now, when the Egyptians were under the 
 oppression of these miseries, the king ordered 
 Moses to take the Hebrews with him, and be 
 gone. Upon which the whole multitude of 
 the frogs vanished away ; and both the land 
 and the river returned to their former natures. 
 But as soon as Pharaoh saw the land freed 
 from this plague, he forgot the cause of it, 
 and retained the Hebrews ; and, as though 
 he had a mind to try the nature of more such 
 judgments, he would not yet suffer Moses 
 and his people to depart, having granted that 
 liberty rather out of fear than out of any good 
 consideration.* 
 
 3. Accordingly God punished his falseness 
 with another plague, added to the former; 
 for there arose out of the bodies of the Egyp- 
 tians an innumerablequantity of lice, by which, 
 wicked as they were, they miserably perished, 
 as not able to destroy this sort of vermin 
 either with washes or with ointments. At 
 which terrible judgment the king of Egypt 
 was in disorder, upon the fear into which he 
 reasoned himself, lest his people should be 
 destroyed, and that the maimer of this death 
 was also reproachful, so that he was forced 
 in part to recover himself from his wicked 
 temper to a sounder mind, for he gave leave for 
 the Hebrews themselves to depart. But when 
 the plague thereupon ceased, he thought it 
 proper to require that they should leave their 
 children and wives behind them, as pledges 
 of their return ; whereby he provoked God 
 to be more vehemently angry at him, as if he 
 thought to impose on his providence, and as if it 
 were only Moses, and not God, who punished 
 the Egyptians for the sake of the Hebrews ; 
 for he filled that country full of various sorts 
 of pestilential creatures, with their various 
 properties, such indeed, as had never come 
 into the sight of men before, by whose means 
 the men perished themselves, and the land 
 
 • Of thi« judicial liardening the hearts, and blindinvj 
 the eyes of wicked men, or inratuatii)i< them, as a just 
 punishment for their other wilful n ins, to their own dt-- 
 •truciioni see the note on Antiq. b- vii. ch. tx. sect. 6. 
 
 was destitute of husbandmen for its culti- 
 vation; but if any thing escaped destruction 
 from them, it was killed by a distemper which 
 the men underwent also. 
 
 4. But when Pharaoh did not even then 
 yield to the will of God, but, while he gave 
 leave to the husbands to take their wives with 
 them, yet insisted that the children should be 
 left behind, God presently resolved lo punioii 
 his wickedness with several sorts of calamities, 
 and those worse than the foregoing, which yet 
 had so generally afflicted them; for their bo- 
 dies had terrible boils, breaking forth with 
 blains, while they were already inwardly con- 
 sumed; and a great part of the Egyptians per- 
 ished in this manner. But when the king 
 was not brought to reason by this plague, hail 
 was sent down from heaven ; and such hail it 
 was, as the climate of Egypt had never suffered 
 before, nor was it like to that which falls in 
 other climates in winter time,* but was larger 
 than that which falls in the middle of spring 
 to those that dwell in the northern and north- 
 western regions. This hail broke down their 
 boughs laden with fruit. After this a tribe 
 of locusts consumed the seed which was not 
 hurt by the hail; so that to the Egyptians all 
 hopes of the future fruits of the ground were 
 entirely lost. 
 
 5. One would think the forementioned ca- 
 lamities might have been sufficient for one that 
 was only foolish, without wickedness, to make 
 him wise, and to make him sensible what was 
 for his advantage. But Pharaoh, led not so 
 much by his folly as by his wickedness, even 
 when he saw the cause of his miseries, he still 
 contested with God, and wilfully deserted the 
 cause of virtue; so he bid Moses take the He- 
 brews away, with their wives and children, but 
 to leave their cattle behind, since their outi 
 cattle were destroyed. But when Moses said 
 that what he desired was unjust, since they 
 were obliged to offer sacrifices to God of thost 
 cattle ; and the time being prolonged on this 
 account, a thick darkness, without the least 
 light, spread itself over the Egyptians, where- 
 by their sight being obstructed, and theii 
 breathing hindered by the thickness of the air 
 they died miserably, and under a terror lest 
 they should be swallowed up by the dark cloud. 
 Besides this, when the darkness,after three days 
 and as many nights, was dissipated, and when 
 Pharaoh did not still repent and let the Hebrews 
 go, Moses came to him and said, " How long 
 wilt thou be disobedient to the command ot 
 God ? for he enjoins thee to let the Hebrews 
 go; nor is there any other way of being freed 
 from the calamities you are under, unless you 
 do so." But the king was angry at what he 
 said, and threatened to cut off his head if he 
 camp any more to trouble him about these mat- 
 ters. Hereupon Moses said he would not 
 
 • A« to this winter or spring hail near F.^rypt and Ju^ 
 dea, see the lit;* on thunder and lightni^ig there, in 
 the QDle on Aatiq. b. vi. ch. v. sect, vi. 
 
CHAP. XV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 75 
 
 speak to him any more about tiem, for that 
 he himself, together with the principal men 
 among the Egyptians, should desire the He- 
 brews to go away. So when Moses had said 
 this, he went his way. 
 
 6 But when God had signified, that withone 
 more plague he would compel the Egyptians to 
 let the Hebrews go, he commanded Mo^es to 
 tell the people that they should have a sacrifice 
 ready, and that they should prepare them- 
 selves on the tenth day of the month Xan- 
 thicus, agjkinst the fourteenth (which month 
 is culled by the Egypiians Pharmuth, and 
 Nisan by the Hebrews; but the Mucedonians 
 call it XanthicusJ and that he should carry 
 away the Hebrews with all they had. Accord- 
 ingly, he having got the Hebrews ready for 
 their departure, and having sorted the people 
 into tribes, he kept them together in one 
 place: but when the fourteenth day was come, 
 and all were ready to depart, they offered the 
 sacrifice, and purified their houses with the 
 blood, using bunches of hyssop for that pur- 
 pose; and when they had supped, they burnt 
 the remainder of the flesh, as just ready to de- 
 part. Whence it is that we do still offer this 
 sacrifice in like manner to this day, and call 
 this festival Pascha, which signifies the feast of 
 the passover; because on that day God passed 
 us over, and sent the plague upon the Egyp- 
 tians ; for the destruction of the first-born 
 came upon the Egyptians that night, so that 
 many of the Egyptians who lived near the 
 king's palace, persuaded Pharaoh to let the 
 Hebrews go. Accordingly he called for Mo- 
 ses, and bid them begone; as supposing, that 
 if ORce the Hebrews were gone out of the 
 country, Egypt should be freed from its 
 miseries. They also honoured the Hebrews 
 with gifts;* some, in order to get them to 
 depart quickly, and others on account of their 
 neighbourhood, and the friendship they had 
 with them. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HOW THE HEBREWS, UNDER THE CONDUCT OF 
 MOSES, LiFT EGYPT. 
 
 § 1. So the Hebrews went out of Egypt, 
 while the Egyptians wept, and repented that 
 they had treated them so hardly. — ^^Now they 
 
 • Thes« large presents made to the Fsraelltes, of ves- 
 sels of silver, and vessels of ^old. and raiment, were, as 
 Josfphus truly calls them, gifts really given them; not 
 lent tliem, as our Enijlish falsely renders thera. They 
 were spoils required, not borrowed of them. Gen. xv. 14, 
 Kxod. iii. 22, xi. 2, Psalm cv. 37, as the same version 
 falsely renders the Hebrew word here used, Exo<i. xii. 
 ai, 3tj. (jod had ordered the Jews to demand these as 
 their pay and reward, during their long and bitter slavers 
 in K»iypt, as atonements for the lives of the Egyptians, 
 and as the condition of the Jews' departure, and of the 
 Egyptians' deliverance from these teriii);e judgments 
 which bad they not now ceased, they had soon been ali 
 dead men. as ihev themselves confess, cti xii. 3'-i. Noi 
 was there any sense in borrowiiii; #r lending, when the 
 iMachtes were fiaaUy depurtiag out of the land for ever. 
 
 took their journey by Letopolis, a place at that 
 time deserted, but where Babylon was built 
 afterwards, when Cambyses laid Egypt waste : 
 but as they went away hastily, on the third 
 day they came to a place called Baalzephon, 
 on the Red Sea ; and when they had no food 
 out of the land, because it was a desert, they 
 eat of loaves kneaded of flour, only warmed b> 
 a gentle heat; and this food they made use ot 
 for thirty days; for what they brought with 
 them out of Egypt; would not suffice them 
 any longer time; and this only while they 
 dispensed it to each person, to use so much 
 only as would serve for necessity, but not for 
 satiety. Whence it is that, in memory of the 
 want we were then in, we keep a feast for 
 eight days, which is called the feast of uri' 
 leavened bread. Now the entire multitude of 
 those that went out, including the women and 
 children, was not easy to be numbered; but 
 those that were of an age fit for war, were six 
 hundred thousand. 
 
 2. They left Egypt in the month Xanthi- 
 cus, on the fifteenth day of the lunar months 
 four hundred and thirty years after our fore- 
 father Abraham came into Canaan, but two 
 hundred and fifteen years only after Jacob re- 
 moved into Egypt.f It was the eightieth 
 year of the age of Moses, and of that of Aaron 
 three more. They also carried out the bones 
 of Joseph with them, as- he had charged his 
 sons to do. 
 
 3. But the Egyptians soon repented 'that 
 the Hebrews were gone; and the king also 
 was mightily concerned that this had been 
 procured by. the magic arts of Moses; so 
 they resolved to go after them. Accordingly 
 they took their weapoits, and other warlike 
 furniture, and pursued after them, in order 
 to bring them back, if once they overtook 
 them, because they would now have no tJre- 
 tence to pray to God against them, since they 
 had already been permitted to go out ; and 
 they thought they should easily overcome 
 them, as they had no armour, and would be 
 weary with their jour?ley; so they made haste 
 in their pursuit, and asked of every one they 
 met which way they were gone. And indeed 
 that land w^as difficult to be travelled over, 
 not only by armies, but by single persons. 
 Now Moses led the Hebrews this way, that 
 in case the Egyptians should repent and be 
 desirous to pursue after them, they might 
 undergo the punishment of their wickedness, 
 and of the breach of those promises they had 
 made to them. As also he led them this way 
 on account of the Philistines, who had quar- 
 
 + Why our Masorete copy so gronndlessly abridges this 
 account in Exod. xii. 40. as to ascribe 4:30 years to the 
 sole peregrination of the Israelites in >Egvpt when it is 
 clear even by that Masorete chronology elsewhere, as 
 well as from the express text itself, in the Samaritan, 
 .*«eptuagint. and Josephus, that.they sojourned in Egypt 
 but half that time, — and that by consequence, the other 
 half of their peregrination was in the land of Canaan, 
 before they came into Egypt, — is hard to say. See Essay 
 oa the Old Testament, p. 62, 63. 
 
76 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK a 
 
 relied with them, and hated them of old, that 
 by all means they might not know of their 
 departure, for their country is near to that of 
 Egypt; and thence it was that Moses led 
 them not along the road that tended to the 
 land of the Philistines, but he was desirous 
 that they should go through the desert, that 
 so after a long journey, and after many 
 afflictions, they might enter upon the land of 
 Canaan. Another reason of this was, that 
 God commanded him to bring the people to 
 mount Sinai, that there they might oifer him 
 sacrifices. Now when the Egyptians had 
 overtaken the Hebrews, they prepared to 
 fight them, and by their multitude they drove 
 them into a narrow place; for the number 
 that pursued after them was six hundred cha- 
 riots, with fifty thousand horsemen, and two 
 hundred thousand footmen, all armed. They 
 also seized upon the passages by which they 
 imagined the Hebrews might fly, shutting 
 them up* between inaccessible precipices and 
 the sea ; for there was [on each side] a [ridge 
 of] mountains that terminated at the sea, 
 which were impassable by reason of their 
 roughness, and obstructed their flight; where- 
 fore they there pressed upon the Hebrews 
 with their army, where [the ridges of] the 
 mountains were closed with the sea; which 
 army they placed at the chops of the moun- 
 tains, that so they might deprive them of any 
 passage into the plain. 
 
 4. When the Hebrews, therefore, were 
 neither able to bear up, being thus, as it were, 
 besieged, because they wanted provisions, nor 
 saw any possible way of escaping ; and if 
 they should have thought of fighting, they 
 had no weapons; they expected a universal 
 destruction, unless they delivered themselves 
 up to the Egyptians. So they laid the blame 
 on "Moses, and forgot all the signs that had 
 been wrought by God for the recovery of 
 
 * Take the main part of Reland's excellent note here, 
 which greatly illustrates Josephus, and the Scripture, in 
 this history, as follows : — " [A trayeller, says lieland, 
 whM* name was] Eneman,*when he returned out of 
 Egypt, told me that he went the same way from Egypt 
 to mount Sinai, which he supposed the Israelites of old 
 travelled; and that he found several mountainous 
 tracks, that ran down towards the Red Sea. He thought 
 the Israelites had proceeded as ftir as the desert of 
 Eliiam (Exod. xfii. 20), when they were commanded hy 
 God to return back (Exod. xiv. 2), and to pitch their 
 camp between Migdql and the sea; and that when they 
 were not able to fly, unless by sea, they were shut in on 
 each side by mountains. lie also thought We might 
 evidently learn hence, how it might be said that the Is- 
 raelites were in Etham before they went over the sea. 
 and yet might be said to have come into Etham after 
 they had passed over the sea also. Besides, he gave me 
 an accfjunt how he passed over a river in a boat near the 
 city Suez, which he says must needs be the Ileroopolis 
 of the ancients, since that city could not bo situate any- 
 where else in that neighbourhood^" 
 
 As to the famous passage produced here by Dr. Ber- 
 nard, out of Herodotus, as the most ancient heathen 
 testimony of the Israelites coming from th« Red Sea 
 Into Palestine, Bishop Cumberland has shown that it 
 t>elonKS to the old Canaanite or I'hoenician shepherds, 
 and their retiring out of Egypt into Canaan or Phoe- 
 nicia, long iMfore the dayi of Mosm. Saucbouiatho, 
 
 their freedom; and this so far, that their in, 
 credulity prompted them to tlurow stones a> 
 the prophet, while he encourged them and 
 promised them deliverance ; and they resolved 
 that they would deliver themselves up to the 
 Egyptians. So there was sorrow and lamen- 
 tation among the women and children, who 
 had nothing but destruction before their eyes, 
 while they were encompassed with mountains, 
 the sea, and their enemies, and discerned no 
 way of flying from them. 
 
 5. But Moses, though the multitude looked 
 fiercely at him, did not, however, give over 
 the care of them, but despised all dangers, 
 out of his trust in God, who, as he had 
 afforded them the several steps ahead'y taken 
 for the recovery of their liberty, which he had 
 foretold them, would not now suflfer them to 
 be subdued by their enemies, to be either 
 made slaves or be slain by them : and, stand- 
 ing in the midst of them, he said, " It is not 
 just of us to distrust even men, when they 
 have hitherto well managed our affair!?, as if 
 they would not be the same men hereafter ; but 
 it is no better than madness, at this time, to 
 despair of the providence of God, by whose 
 power all those things have been performed 
 which he promised when you expected no 
 such things: I mean all that I have been 
 concerned in for your deliverance and escape 
 from slavery. Nay, when we are in the ut- 
 most distress, as you see we are, we ought 
 rather to hope that God will succour us, by 
 whose operation it is that we are now encom- 
 passed within this narrow place, that he may 
 deliver us out of such difficulties as are other- 
 wise insurmountable, and out of which nei- 
 ther you nor your enemies expect you can be 
 delivered, and may at once demonstrate his 
 own power and his providence over us. Nor 
 does God use to give his help in small diffi- 
 culties to those whom he favours, but in such 
 cases where no one can see how any hope in 
 man can better their condition. Depend, 
 therefore, upon such a protector as is able to 
 make small things great, and to show that 
 this mighty force against you is nothing but 
 weakness, and be not affrighted at the Egyp- 
 tian army, nor do yoi^ despair of being pre- 
 served, because the sea before, and the moun- 
 tains behind, afford you no opportunity for 
 flying ; for even these mountains, if God so 
 please, may be made plain ground for you, 
 and the sea become dry land." 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HOW TOE SEA WAS DIVIDED ASUNDER FOR THl 
 HEBREWS, WHEN THEY WERE PURSUED BT 
 THE EGYPTIANS, AND 80 GAVE THEM AN 
 OPPORTUNITY OF ESCAPING FROM THEM. 
 
 § 1. When Mo?cs had Raid this, he led theim 
 to the aca, while the Egyptians looked on , 
 
CHAP. XVI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 77 
 
 for they were within sight. Now these were 
 so distressed by the toil of their pursuit, that 
 they thought proper to put off fighting till the 
 next day. But when Moses was come to the 
 sea-shore, he took his rod, and made suppli- 
 cation to God, and called upon him to be 
 their helper and assistant ; and said, " Thou 
 art not ignorant, O Lord, that it is beyond 
 human strength and human contrivance to 
 avoid the difficulties we are now under ; but 
 it must be thy work altogether to procure de- 
 liverance to this army, which has left Egypt 
 at thy appointment. We despair of any 
 other assistance or contrivance, and have re- 
 course only to that hope we have in thee; 
 and if there be any method that can promise 
 us an escape by thy providence, we look up 
 to thee for it. And let it come quickly, and 
 manifest thy power to us ; and do thou raise 
 up this people unto good courage and hope 
 of deliverance who are deeply sunk into a 
 disconsolate state of mind. We are in a 
 helpless place, but still it is a place that thou 
 possessest ; still the sea is thine, the mountains 
 also that enclose us are thine ; so that these 
 mountains will open themselves if thou com- 
 mandest them, and the sea also, if thou com- 
 mahdest it, will become dry land. Nay, we 
 might escape by a flight through the air, if 
 thou shouldst determine we should have that 
 way of salvation." 
 
 2. When Moses had thus addressed him- 
 self to God, he smote the sea with his rod, 
 which parted asunder at the stroke, and re- 
 ceiving those waters into itself, left the ground 
 dry, as a road and a place of flight for the 
 Hebrews. Now when Moses saw this ap- 
 pearance of God, and that the sea went out 
 of its own place, and left dry land, he went 
 first of all into it and bid the Hebrews to 
 follow him along that divine road, and to re- 
 joice at the danger their enemies that followed 
 them were in; and gave thanks to God for 
 this so surprising a deliverance which appeared 
 from him. 
 
 3. Now, while these Hebrews made no 
 stay, but went on earnestly, as led by God's 
 presence with them, the Egyptians supposed 
 at first that they were distracted, and were 
 going rashly upon manifest destruction. But 
 when they saw that they were gone a great 
 way without any harm, and that no obstacle 
 or difficulty fell in their journey, they made 
 haste to pursue them, hoping that the sea 
 would be calm for them also. They put their 
 horse foremost, and went down themselves 
 into the sea. Now the Hebrews, while these 
 were putting on their armour, and therein 
 spending their time, were beforehand with 
 them, and escaped them, and got first over to 
 the land on the other side without any hurt. 
 Whence the others were encouraged, and 
 more courageously pursued them, as hoping 
 
 , no harm would come to them neither: but 
 the E^ptians wer? not aware that they went 
 
 into a road made for the Hebrews, and not 
 for others; that this road was made for the 
 deliverance of those in danger, but not for 
 those that were earnest to make use of it for 
 the others' destruction. As soon, therefore, 
 as ever the whole Egyptian army was within 
 it, the sea flowed to its own place, and came 
 down with a torrent raised by storms of wind,* 
 and encompassed the Egyptians. Shower.^ 
 of rain also came do\^Jn from the sky, and 
 dreadful thunders and lightning, with flashes 
 of fire. Thunder-bolts also were darted upon 
 them ; nor was there any thing which used to 
 be sent by God upon men, as indications of 
 his wrath, which did not happen at this time ; 
 for a dark and dismal night oppressed them. 
 And thus did all these men perish, so that 
 there was not one man left to be a messenger 
 of this calamity to the rest of the Egyptians. 
 
 4. But the Hebrews were not able to con- 
 tain themselves for joy at their wonderful deli- 
 verance, and destruction of their enemies. Nov 
 indeed, supposing themselves firmly delivered, 
 when those that would have forced them 
 into slavery were destroyed, and when they 
 found they had God so evidently for their 
 protector; and now these Hebrews having 
 escaped the danger they were in, after this 
 manner, and besides that, seeing their ene- ' 
 mies punished in such a way as is never re- 
 corded of any other men whomsoever, were 
 all the night employed in singing of hymns, 
 and in mirth.f Moses also composed a song 
 
 * Of these storms of \rind, thunder and lightning, at 
 this drowning of Pharaoh's army, almost wanting in our 
 copies of Exodus, hut fully extant in that of David, 
 Psalm Ixxvii. 16, 17, 18, and in that of Josephus here, 
 see Essay on the Old Test. Append, p. 154, 155. 
 
 t What some have here objected against this passage 
 of the Israelites over the Red Sea, in this one night, 
 from the common map?, viz. that this sea being here 
 about thirty miles broad, so great an army could not 
 pass over it in so short a time, is a great mistake. Mons. 
 Thevenot, an authentic eye-witness, informs, us, that 
 this sea, for about five days' journey, is nowhere more 
 than about eight or nine miles over-cross, and in one 
 place but four or five miles, according to De Lisle's map, 
 which is made from the best travellers themselves, and 
 not copied from others. What has been further ob- 
 jected against this passage of the Israelites, and drown- 
 ing of the Egj-ptians, being miraculous also, viz. that 
 Moses might carry the Israelites over at a low tide with- 
 out any miracle, while yet the Egyptians, not knov>ing 
 the tide so.well as he, might be drowned upon the return 
 of the tide, is a strange story indeed! That Moses, who 
 never had lived there, should know the quantity and 
 time of the flux and reflux of the Red Sea better than 
 the Egj'ptians themselves in its neighbourhood! Yet 
 does Artapanus, an ancient heathen historian, inform 
 us, that this was what the more ignorant Memphites, 
 who lived at a greater distance, pretended, though he 
 confesses, that the more learned Ileliopolitans, who 
 lived much nearer, owned the destruction of the Egyp- 
 tians, and the deliverance of the Israelites, to have been 
 miraculous ; and De Castro, a mathematician, who sur- 
 veyed this sea with great exactness, informs us, that 
 there is no great flux or reflux in this part of the Red 
 Sea, to give a colour to this hj'pothesis ; nay, that at 
 the elevation of the tide there is little above half the 
 height of a man. See Essay on the Old Test. Append, 
 p. 239, 240. So vain and groundless are these and the 
 like evasions and subterfuges of our modern sceptics 
 and unbelievers, and so certainly do thorough inquiries 
 and authentic evidence disprove and confute such eva- 
 sions and subterfuges upon all occaaions 1 
 
78 
 
 ANTIQUITIES <.F THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK U 
 
 unto God, containing his praises, and a 
 thanksgiving for his kindness, in hexameter 
 verse.* 
 
 5. As for myself, I have delivered every 
 part of this history as I found it in the sacred 
 
 to destroy the monarchy of the Persians; 
 and this is confessed to be true by all that 
 have writterv about the actions of Alexander; 
 but as to these events, let every one determme 
 as he pleases. 
 
 books; nor let any one wonder at the s+range- j 6. On the next day Moses gathered to- 
 nessofthenarration, ifavi^ay weredisco/ired getht/i* the weapons of the Egyptians, which 
 to those men of old time, who were free from 
 the wickedness of the modern ages, whether 
 it happened by the will oi viod, or whether it 
 happened of its own accord, — while, for the 
 sake of these that accomnanied Alexander, 
 king of ^4a»edo/Jia, who yet lived, compara- 
 tively, but a little while ago, the Pamphylian 
 Sea retired and afforded them a passage f 
 through itself, when they had no other way 
 to go ; I mean, when it was the will of God 
 
 • Wbat that hexameter verse, in which Moses's tri- 
 umphant song is here said to be written, distinctly 
 means, our present ia:norance of the old Hebrew metre 
 or meastire will not let us determine. Nor does it ap- 
 pear to me certain that even Josephus himself had a dis- 
 tinct notion of it, though he speaks of several sorts of 
 that metre or measure, both here and elsewhere. Antiq. 
 book iv. ch. viii. sect 44 ; and book vii. ch. xii. sect. 3. 
 
 + Take here the original passages of the four old au- 
 thors that still remain, as to this transit of Alexander 
 the Great over the Pamphylian Sea: I mean, of Callis- 
 ihenes, strabo, Arrian, and Appian. As to Callisthenes, 
 who himself accompanied Alexander in this expedition, 
 Eustathius, in his Notes on the third Iliad of Homer, 
 (as Dr. Bernard here informs us) says. That " this Callis- 
 thenes wrote how the Pamphylian Sea did not only open 
 a passage for Alexander, but, by rising and elevating its 
 waters, did pay him homage as its king." Strabo's account 
 is this (Geog. book. xiv. p. G66): " Now about Phaselis 
 is that narrow passage, by the sea-side, through which 
 Alexander led his araiy. There is a mountain called 
 Climax, which adjoins to the Sea of Pamphylia, leaving 
 a narrow passage on the shore, which, in calm weather, 
 is bare, so as to be passable by travellers; but when the 
 sea overflows, it is covered to a great degree by the 
 waves. Now then, the ascent by the mountains being 
 round about and steep, in still weather they make use 
 of the road along the coast; but Alexander fell into the 
 winter season, and committing himself chiefly to fortune 
 he marched on before the waves retired ; and so it hap- 
 pened that they were a whole day in journeying over it, 
 and were under water up to the navel." Arrian's account 
 is this (book i. p. 72, 73): " When Alexander removed 
 from Phaselis, he sent some part of his army over the 
 mountains to Perga; which road the Thracians showed 
 hira. A dilficult way it was, but short However ho 
 
 were brought to the camp of the Hebrews by 
 the current of the sea, and the force of the 
 winds assisting it; and he conjectured that 
 this also happened by Divine Providence, 
 that so they might not be destitute o*" weapons. 
 So when he had ordered the liei>.cv\s to arm 
 themselves with them, he led them to mount 
 Sinai, in order to offer sacrifice to God, and 
 to render oblations for the salvation of the 
 multitude, as he was charged to do beforehand, 
 himself conducted those that were with him hy the sea- 
 shore. This road is impassable at any other time than 
 when the north wind blows; but if the south wind pre- 
 vail, there is no passing by the shore. Now at this time, 
 after strong south winds, a north wind blew; and that 
 not without the Divine Providence (as both he and they 
 that were with him supposed) and afforded him an easy 
 and quick passage." Appian, when he compares Cfesar 
 and Alexander together (De Bel. Civil, book ii. p 5-2J) 
 says, " 1 hat they both depended on their boldness and 
 fortune, as much as on their skill in war." As an instance 
 of which, Alexander journeyed over a country without 
 water, in the heat of summer, to the oracle of [JupiterJ 
 Hammon, and quickly passed over the Bay of Pam- 
 phylia, when, by Divine Providence, the sea was cut 
 off: — thus Providence restraining the sea on his ac- 
 count, as it had sent him rain when he travelled [over 
 the desert]." 
 
 N.B. — Since, in the days of Josephus, as he a.ssures ns, 
 all the more numerous original historians of Alexander 
 gave the account he has here ."iet down, as to the provi- 
 dential going hack of the waters of the Pamphylian Sea, 
 when he was going with his army to destroy the Persian 
 monarchy, which the forenamed authors now remaining 
 fully confirm, it is without all just foundation that Jo- 
 sephus is here blamed hy some late writers for quoting 
 those ancient authors upon the present occasion; nor 
 can the reflections of Plutarch, or any other author later 
 than Josephus, be in the least here alleged to contradict 
 him. Josephus went by all the evidence he then had, 
 and that evidence of the most authentic sort also So 
 that whatever the moderns may think of the thing it.self 
 there is hence not the least colour for finding fault with 
 Josephus: he would rather have been macb to blamt 
 had be omitted these quotations. 
 
BOOK ni. 
 
 CONTAINING THB INTERVAL OF TWO JZAT3. 
 
 FROM THE EXODUS OUT OF EGYPT, TO THE REJECTION 
 OF THAT GENERATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW MOSES, WHEN HE HAD BROUGHT THE 
 PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT, LED THEM TO MOUNT 
 SINAI ; BUT NOT TILL THEY HAD SUFFERED 
 MUCH IN THEIR JOURNEY. 
 
 § 1. When the Hebrews bad obtained such 
 a wonderful deliverance, the country was a 
 great trouble to them, for it was entirely a 
 desert, and without all sustenance for them ; 
 and also had exceeding little water, so that it 
 not only was not at all sufficient for the men, 
 but not enough to feed any of the cattle; for 
 it was parched up, and had no moisture that 
 might afford nutriment to the vegetables; so 
 they were forced to travel over this country, 
 as having no other country but this to travel 
 in. They had indeed carried water along 
 with them, from the land over which they 
 had travelled before, as their conductor had 
 bidden them: but when that was spent, they 
 were obliged to draw water out of wells, with 
 pain, by reason of the hardness of the soiL 
 Moreover, what water they found was bitter, 
 and not fit for drinking, and this in small 
 quantities also; and as they thus travelled, 
 they came late in the evening to a place called 
 Marah,* which had that name from the bad- 
 ness of its water, for Mar denotes bitterness. 
 Thither they came, afflicted both by the te- 
 diousness of their journey, and by their want 
 cf food, for it entirely failed them at that 
 time. Now here was a well, which made 
 them choose to stay in the place, which, al- 
 though it were not sufficient to satisfy so 
 great an army, did yet afford them some com- 
 fort, as found in such desert places; for they 
 heard from those who had been to search, that 
 there was nothing to be found, if they tra- 
 velled on farther. Yet was this water bitter, 
 
 • Dr. Bernard taices notice here, that this place. Mar, 
 where the waters were bitter, is called by the Syrian* 
 and Arabians iMariri, and by the Syrians sometimes Mo- 
 rath, all derived from the Hebrew Mar. He also takes 
 notice, that it is called The Bitter Fountain by Pliny 
 himself; which waters remain there to this day, and are 
 8tiU bitter, as Thevenot assures iisj and that there are 
 also abundance of palm-trees- See his Travels, part i. 
 cttap. xxvL p. 166. 
 
 and not fit for men to drink; and not only 
 so, but it was intolerable even to the cattle 
 themselves. 
 
 2. When Moses saw how much the people 
 were cast down, and that the occasion of it 
 could not be contradicted, for the people were 
 not in the nature of a complete army of men, 
 who might oppose a manly fortitude to the 
 necessity that distressed them; the multitude 
 of the children, and of the women also, being 
 of too weak capacities to be persuaded by rea- 
 son, blunted the courage of the men them- 
 selves, — he was therefore in great diffi- 
 culties, and made every body's calamity his 
 own; for they ran all of them to him, and 
 begged of him; the women begged for their 
 infants, and the men for the women, that he 
 would not overlook them, but procure some 
 way or other for their deliverance. He there- 
 fore betook himself to prayer to God, that he 
 would change the water from its present bad- 
 ness, and make it fit for drinking. And when 
 God had granted him that favour, he took the 
 top of a stick that lay down at his feet, and 
 divided it in the middle, and made the section 
 lengthways. He then let it down into the 
 well, and persuaded the Hebrews that God 
 had hearkened to his prayers, and had pro- 
 mised to render the water such as they desired 
 it to be, in case they would be subservient to 
 him in what he should enjoin him to do, and 
 this not after a remiss or negligent manner. 
 And when they asked what they were to do 
 in order to have the water changed for the bet- 
 ter, he bid the strongest men among them that 
 stood there, to draw up water f ; and told them, 
 
 + The additions here to Moses's account of the sweet- 
 ening of the waters at Marah, seem derived from soms 
 ancient profane author, and he such an author also a. 
 looks less authentic than are usually followed by Jose- 
 phus. Philo has not a syllable of these additions, nor any 
 other ancienter writer that we know of. Had Josephu. 
 written these his Antiquities for the use of Jews, ha 
 would hardly have given them these veiy improbable 
 circumstances; but writinc; to Gentiles, that they inigh- 
 not complain of his omission of any accounts of such 
 miracles derived from Gentiles, he did not think proper 
 to conceal what he had met with there about this mat 
 ter: which procedure is perfectly agreeable to the cha. 
 acter and usace of Josephus upon many occasions. Thi» 
 note is. I confess, barely conjectural, and since Jos»\ 
 phus never tells us when his own copy, taken out of tlk 
 
80 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK III 
 
 that when the greatest part was drawn up, the 
 reipainder would be fit to drink : so they la- 
 boured at it till the water was so agitated and 
 purged as to be fit to drink. 
 
 3. And now removing from thence they 
 came to Elim ; which place looked well at a 
 distance, for there was a grove of palm-trees ; 
 but when they came near to it, it appeared to 
 be a bad place, for the palm-trees were no 
 more than seventy ; and they were ill grown 
 and creeping trees, by the want of water, for 
 the country about was all parched, and no 
 moisture sufficient to water them, and make 
 them hopeful and useful, was derived to them 
 from the fountains, which were in number 
 twelve : they were rather a few moist places 
 than springs, which not breaking out of the 
 ground, nor running over, could not suffi- 
 ciently water the trees. And when they dug 
 into the sand, they met with no water ; and 
 if they took a few drops of it into their hands, 
 they found it to be useless, an account of its 
 mud. The trees also were too weak to bear 
 fruit, for want of being sufficiently cherished 
 and enlivened by the water. So they laid the 
 blame on their conductor, and made heavy 
 complaints against him ; and said that this 
 their miserable state, and the experience they 
 had of adversity, were owing to him ; for that 
 they had then journeyed an entire thirty days 
 and had spent all the provisions they had 
 brought with them ; and meeting with no re- 
 lief, they were in a very desponding condition. 
 And by fixing their attention upon nothing 
 but their present misfortunes, they were hin- 
 dered from remembering what deliverances 
 they had received from God, and those by the 
 virtue and wisdom of Moses also ; so they 
 were very angry at their conductor, and were 
 zealous in their attempt to stone him, as the 
 direct occasion of their present miseries. 
 
 4. But as for Moses himself, while the 
 multitude were irritated and bitterly set 
 against him, he cheerfully relied upon God, 
 and upon his consciousness of the care he had 
 taken of these his own people : and he came 
 into the midst of them, even while they clam- 
 oured against him, and had stones in their 
 hands in order to dispatch him. Now he was 
 of an agreeable presence, and very able to per- 
 suade the people by his speeches; according- 
 ly he began to mitigate their anger, and ex- 
 horted them not to be over-mindful of their 
 present adversities, lest they should thereby 
 suffer the benefits that had formerly been be- 
 stowed on them to slip out of their memo- 
 ries ; and he desired them by no means, on ac- 
 
 temple, had such editions, or when any ancient notes 
 ■applied them; or indeed when they are derived from 
 Jewish, and when from Gentile antifiulty, — ^we can go 
 no farther than bare conjectures in such cases ; only the 
 Botions of Jews were generally so dilTerent from those 
 of Gentiles; that we may sometimes make no improba- 
 ble ooDJecturen to which sort such additions belong. 
 See also somewhat like these additions in Joscphus's 
 aeeonnt of Elisha'e making sweet the bitter and barren 
 •priog near Jericho, War, b. iv. oh. Tiii sect. 3. 
 
 count of their present uneasiness, to cast those 
 great and wonderful favours and gifts, which 
 they had obtained of God, out of their mind^ 
 but to expect deliverance out of those thei? 
 •present troubles which thoy could not free 
 themselves from, and this by the means of that 
 Divine Providence which watched over them ; 
 seeing it is probable that God tries their vir- 
 tue, and exercises their patience by these ad- 
 verMties, that it may appear what fortitude 
 they have, and what memory they retain of 
 his former wonderful works in their favour, 
 and whether they will not think of them upon 
 occasion of the miseries they now feel. He 
 told them, it appeared they were not really 
 good men, either in patience, or in remember- 
 ing what had been successfully done for them, 
 sometimes by contemning God and his com- 
 mands, when by those commands they left the 
 land of Egypt; and sometimes by behaving 
 themselves ill towards him who was the ser- 
 vant of God, and this when he bad never de- 
 ceived them, Either in what he said, or had or- 
 dered Hhem to do by God's command. He 
 also put them in mind of all that had passed i 
 how the Egyptians were destroyed when they 
 attempted to detain them, contrary to the com- 
 mand of God; and afte» what manner the 
 very same river was to the others bloody, and 
 not fit for drinking, but was to them sweet and 
 fit for drinking; and how they went a new 
 road through the sea, which fled a long way 
 from them, by which very means they were 
 themselves preserved, but saw their enemies 
 destroyed; and that when they were in want 
 of weapons, God gave them plenty of them r 
 — and so he recounted all the particular in- 
 stances, how when they were, in appearance, 
 just going to be destroyed, God had saved 
 them in a surprising manner; that he had still 
 the same power; and that they ought not even 
 now to despair of his providence over them ; 
 and accordingly he exhorted them to continue 
 quiet, and to consider that help would not come 
 too late, though it come not immediately, if 
 it be present with them before they suffer any 
 great misfortune ; that they ought to reason 
 thus ; that God delays to assist them, not be- 
 cause he has no regard to them, but because 
 he will first try their fortitude, and the plea- 
 sure they take in their freedom, that he may 
 learn whether you have souls great enough to 
 bear want of food, and scarcity of water, on 
 its account ; or whether you rather love to be 
 slaves, as cattle arc slaves to such as own them, 
 and feed them liberally, but only in order i<j 
 make them more useftil in their service. That 
 as for himself, he shall not be so much con- 
 cerned for his own preservation ; for if he die 
 unjustly, he shall not reckon it any afiliction ; 
 but that he is concerned for them, lost, by 
 casting stones at him, they should bo thought 
 to con<lemn God himself. 
 
 5, By this means Mosps pacified the people, 
 and restrained them from stoning him, and 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JET^S. 
 
 8i 
 
 brought them to repent of what they were go- 
 ing to do ; and because he thought the neces- 
 sity they were under made their passion less 
 unjustifiable, he thought he ought to apply 
 himself to God by prayer and supplication ; 
 and, going up to an eminence, he requested of 
 God ibr some succour for the people, and 
 some way of deliverance from the want they 
 were in, because in him, and in him alone, 
 was their hope of salvation: and he desired 
 that he would forgive what necessity had forced 
 the people to do, since such was the nature 
 of mankind, hard to please, and very complain- 
 ing under adversities. Accordingly, God pro- 
 mised he would take care of them, and afford 
 them the succour they were desirous of. Now 
 when Moses had heard this from God, he 
 came down to the multitude : but as soon as 
 they saw him joyful at the promises he had 
 received from God, they changed their sad 
 countenances into gladness. So he placed 
 himSelf in the midst of them, and told them 
 he came to bring them from God a deliverance 
 from their present distresses. Accordingly, 
 a little after came a vast number of quails, 
 which is a bird more plentiful in this Arabian 
 gulf than anywhere else, flying over the sea, 
 and hovered over them, till, wearied with their 
 laborious flight, and, indeed, as. usual, flying 
 very near to the earth, they fell down upon 
 the Hebrews, who caught them, and satisfied 
 their hunger with them, and supposed that this 
 was the method whereby God meant to sup- 
 ply them with food. Upon which Moses re- 
 turned thanks to God for affording them his 
 assistance so suddenly, and sooner than he 
 had promised them. 
 
 6. But presently aft«r this first supply of 
 food, he sent them a second; for as Moses 
 was lifting up his hands in prayer, a dew fell 
 down : and Moses, when he found it stick to 
 his hands, supposed this was also come for 
 food from God to them : he tasted it ; and' 
 perceiving that the people knew not what it 
 was, and thought it snowed, and that it was 
 what usually fell at that time of the year, he 
 informed them that this dew did not fall from 
 heaven after the manner they irfiagined, but 
 came for their preservation and sustenance. 
 So he tasted it, and gave them some of it, 
 that they might be satisfied about what he 
 told them. They also imitated their con- 
 ductor, and were pleased with the food, for it 
 was like honey in sweetness and pleasant 
 taste, but like in its body to bdellium, one of 
 the sweet spices, and in bigness equal to cori- 
 ander seed. And very earnest they were in 
 gathering it ; but they were enjoined to gather 
 it equally ;* the measure of an omer for each 
 one every day, because this food should not 
 
 * It seems to me, fi-om what Moses (Exod. xvi. 18), 
 St. Paul (2 Cor. viii. 15), and Jo?ephu8 here, say, com- 
 pared together, that the quantity of manna that fell 
 daily, and did not putrefy, was just so much as came 
 to an omer a-piece, through the whole host of Israel, 
 and no more. 
 
 come in too small a quantity, lest the weaker 
 might not be able to get their share, by rea- 
 son of the overbearing of the strong in col- 
 lecting it. However, these strong men, when 
 they had gathered more than the measure ap- 
 pointed for them, had no more than others, 
 but only tired themselves more in gathering 
 it, for they found no more than an ome 
 a-piece ; and the advantage they gut oy wha 
 was surperfluous was none at all, it corrupting, 
 both by the worms breeding in it, and by its 
 bitterness. So divine and wonderful a food 
 was this ! It algo supplied the want of other 
 sorts of food to those that fed on it,- and even 
 now, in all that place, this manna comes down 
 in rain,t according to what Moses then ob- 
 tained of God, to send it to the people for their 
 sustenance. Now the Hebrews call this food 
 manna; for the particle ma.i, in our language, 
 is the asking of a question. What is this? 
 So the Hebrews were very joyful at what was 
 sent them from heaven. Now they made use 
 of this food for forty years, or as long as they 
 wer^in the wilderness. 
 
 7. As soon as they were removed thence, 
 they came to Rephidim, being distressed to the 
 last degree by thirst ; and while in the fore- 
 going days they had lit on a few small foun- 
 tains, but now found the earth entirely desti- 
 tute of water, they were in an evil case. 
 They again turned their anger against Moses ; 
 but he at first avoided the fury of the multi- 
 tude, and then betook himself to prayer to 
 God, beseeching him, that as he had given 
 them food when they were in the greatest 
 want of it, so he would give them drink, since 
 the favour of giving them food was of no va- 
 lue to them while they had nothing to drink : 
 and God did not long delay to give it them, 
 but promised Moses that he would procure 
 them a fountain, and plenty of water from a 
 place they did not expect any ; so he com- 
 manded him to smite the rock which they saw 
 lying there,J with his rod, and out of it to re- 
 ceive plenty of what they wanted; for he had 
 
 t This supposal, that the sweet honey dew or manna, 
 so celebrated in ancient and modern authors, as falling 
 usually in Arabia, wa.s of the very same i^ort with this 
 manna sent to the Israelites, savours more of Gentilism 
 than of Judaism or Christianity. It is not improbable 
 that some ancient Gentile author, read by Josephus, so 
 thought ; nor would he here contradict hiin : though 
 just before, and Antiq. b. iv. chap. iii. sect. 2. he seems 
 directly to allow that it had not been seen before. How- 
 ever, this food from heaven is here described to be like 
 snow ; aud in Artapanus, a heathen writer, it is com- 
 pared to meal, -like to oatmeal, in colour like to snow, 
 rained down by God" (Essay on the Old Test. Append, 
 p. 2.j0 •; but as to the derivation of the word manwa, 
 whether from man, which Josephus says then signiBed 
 ^^llal is it t or from mavnah, to divide, i. e. a dividend 
 or portion allotted to everj- one, it is uncertain : I in- 
 cline to the latter derivation. This manna is called 
 angels' food (Psalm Ixxviii. 26>, and by our Saviour 
 (John vi. 31, 4c.), as well as by Josephus here and else- 
 where (Antiq. b. iii. ch. v. sect. 3), said to be sent ihe 
 Jews from heaven. 
 
 t This rock is there at this day, as the travellers 
 agree, and must be the same that was there in the 
 days of .Mo.=es. as being too large to be brought thither 
 by our motlern carriages. 
 
82 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 taken care that drink should come to them 
 without any labour or pains-taking. When 
 Moses had received this command from God, 
 he came to the people, who waited for him, 
 and looked upon him ; for they saw already 
 that he was coming apace from his eminence. 
 As soon as he was come, he told them that 
 God would deliver them from their present 
 distress, and had granted them an unexpec- 
 ted favour; and informed them, that a river 
 should run for their sakes out of the rock ; 
 but they were amazed at that hearing, sup- 
 posing they were of necessity to cut the rock 
 in pieces, now they were distressed by their 
 thirst, and by their journey — while Moses, 
 only smiting the rock with bis rod, opened a 
 passage, and out of it burst water, and that 
 in great abundance, and very clear ; but they 
 were astonished at this wonderful effect, and, 
 as if were, quenched their thirst by the very 
 sight of it. Sd they drank this pleasant, this 
 sweet water; and such it seemed to be, as 
 might well be expected where God was the 
 donor. They were also in admiration how 
 Moses was honoured by God; and they made 
 grateful returns of sacrifice to God for his 
 providence towards them. Now that Scrip- 
 ture which is laid up in the temple,* informs 
 us, how God foretold to Moses, that water 
 should in this manner be derived out of the 
 rock. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW THE AMALEKITES, AND THE NEIGHBOUR- 
 ING NATIONS, MADE WAR WITH THE HE- 
 BREWS, AND WERE BEATEN, AND LOST A 
 GREAT PART OF THEIR ARMY. 
 
 § 1. The name of the Hebrews began already 
 to be everywhere renowned, and rumours 
 about them ran abroad. This made the in- 
 habitants of those countries to be in no small 
 fear. Accordingly, they sent ambassadors to 
 one another, and exhorted one another to de- 
 fend themselves, and to endeavour to destroy 
 these men. Those that induced the rest to 
 do so, were such as inhabited Gobolitis and 
 Petra. ' They were called Amalekites, and 
 were the most warlike of the nations that 
 lived thereabout; and whose kings exhorted 
 one another and their neighbours to go to 
 this war against the Hebrews; telling them 
 that an army of strihgers, and such a one as 
 bad run away from slavery under the Egyp- 
 tians, lay in wait to ruin them ; which army 
 they were not, in common prudence and re- 
 gard to their own safety, to overlook, but to 
 crush them before they gather strength, and 
 
 • Note here, that the small book of the principal 
 
 law* of Mosf:»i!< ever said to be laid up .n llie holy house 
 
 *. Itself; but the larger I'entuteuch, as here, somewhere 
 
 within the limits of the temple uud its courts only. See 
 
 Antiq. b. V. cb. i. sect 17. 
 
 come to be in prosperity ; and perhaps attack 
 them first in a hostile manner, as presuming 
 upon our indolence in not attacking them 
 before; and that we ought to avenge our- 
 selves of them for what they have done in the 
 wilderness, but that this cannot be so well 
 done when they have once laid their hands oa 
 our cities and our goods : that those w^o en- 
 deavour to crush a power in its first rise, are 
 wiser than those that endeavour to put a stop 
 to its progress when it is become formidable; 
 for these last seem to be angry only at the 
 flourishing of others, but the former do not 
 leave any room for their enemies to become 
 troublesome to them. After they had sent 
 such ambassages to the neighbouring nations, 
 and among one another, they resolved to at- 
 tack the Hebrews in battle. 
 
 2. These proceedings of the people of 
 those countries occasioned perplexity and 
 trouble to Moses, who expected no such war- 
 like preparations; and when these nations 
 were ready to fight, and the multitude of the 
 Hebrews were obliged to try the fortune of 
 war, they were in a mighty disorder, and in 
 want of all necessaries, and yet were to make 
 war with men who were thoroughly well pre- 
 pared for it. Then, therefore, it was that 
 Moses began to encourage them, and to ex- 
 hort them to have a good heart, and rely on 
 God's assistance, by which they had been ad- 
 vanced into a state of freedom, and to hope 
 for victory over those who were ready to fight 
 with them, in order to deprive them of that 
 blessing: that they were to suppose their own 
 army to be numerous, wanting nothing, nei- 
 ther weapons, nor money, nor provisions, nor 
 such other conveniences as, when men are in 
 possession of, they fight undauntedly; and 
 that they are to judge themselves to have all 
 these advantages in the divine assistance. 
 They are also to suppose the enemy's army 
 to be small, unarmed, weak, and such as wan( 
 those conveniences which they know must h& 
 wanted, when it is God's will that they shall 
 be beaten ; and how valuable God's assistance 
 is, they had experienced in abundance of 
 trials ; and those such as were more terrible 
 than war, for that is only against men ; but 
 these were against famine and thirst, things 
 indeed that are in their own nature insupe- 
 rable ; as also against mountains, and that sea 
 which afforded them no way of escaping; yet 
 had all these difficulties been conquered by 
 God's gracious kindness to them. So he ex- 
 horted them to be courageous at this time, 
 and to look upon their entire prosperity to 
 depend on the present conquest of their ene- 
 mies. 
 
 3. And with these words did Moses encou- 
 rage the multitude, wRo then called together 
 the princes of their tribes and their chief men; 
 both separately and conjointly. The young 
 men he charged to ohey tbeir elders, and the 
 elders to hearken to their leader. So the 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 83 
 
 people were elevated in their minds, and 
 ready to try their fortune in battle, and hoped 
 to be thereby at length delivered from all 
 their miseries : nay, they desired that Moses 
 would immediately lead them against their 
 enemies without the least delay, that no back- 
 wardness might be a hinderance to their pre- 
 sent resolution. So Moses sorted all that 
 were fit for war into different troops, and set 
 Joshua, the son of Nun, of the tribe of Eph- 
 raim, over them ; one that was of great cou- 
 rage, and patient to undergo labours; of great 
 abilities to understand, and to speak what was 
 proper; and very serious in the worship of 
 God ; and indeed made, like another Moses, 
 a teacher of piety towards God. He also 
 appointed a small party of the armed men to 
 be near the water, and to take care of the 
 children, and the women, and of the entire 
 camp. So that whole night they prepared 
 themselves for the battle ; they took their 
 weapons, if any of them had such as were 
 well made, and attended to their commanders 
 as ready to rush forth to the battle as soon as 
 Moses should give the word of command. 
 Moses also kept awake, teaching Joshua after 
 what manner he should order his camp. But 
 when the day began, Moses called for Joshua 
 again, and exhorted him to approve himself 
 in deeds such a one as his reputation made 
 men expect from him ; and to gain glory by 
 the present expedition, in the opinion of those 
 under him, for his exploits in this battle. 
 He also gave a particular exhortation to the 
 principal men of the Hebrews, and encouraged 
 the whole army as it stood armed before him. 
 And when he had thus animated the army, 
 both by his words and works, and prepared 
 every thing, he retired to a mountain, and 
 committed the army to God and to Joshua. 
 
 4. So the armies joined battle, and it 
 came to a close fight, hand to hand, both sides 
 showing great alacrity, and encouraging one 
 another. And indeed while Moses stretched 
 out his hands towards heaven,* the Hebrews 
 were too hard for the Amalekites: but Moses 
 not being able to sustain his hands thus 
 stretched out (for as often as he let down his 
 hands, so often were his own people worsted), 
 be had his brother Aaron, and Hur their 
 sister Miriam's husband, to stand on each 
 
 * This eminent circumstance, that while 'Moses's 
 hands were lifted up towards heaven, the Israelites pre- 
 vailed, and while they were letdown towards the earth, the 
 Amalekites prevailed, seems to me the earliest intima- 
 tion we have of the proper posture used ot old in solemn 
 prayer, which was the stretchini; out of the hands [and 
 eyes] towards heaven, as other passajjes of the Old and 
 New Testament inform us Nay. by the way, this pos- 
 ture seem« to have continued in the Christian church, 
 till the clergy, instead of learning their prayers by heart, 
 read them out of a hook, which is in a great measure 
 inconsistent with such an elevated posture, and which 
 seems to me to have been only a later practice, intro- 
 diiired under the corrnpt state of the church; though 
 the constant use ol divine forms of prayer, praise, and 
 Ihanksgivins, appears to me to have ht-en the practice 
 of God's people, patriarchs. Jews>, and Christians, in all 
 the past :i2es 
 
 side of him, and take hold of his hands, and 
 not permit his weariness to prevent it, but to 
 assist him in the extension of his hands. 
 When this was done, the Hebrews conquered 
 the Amalekites by main force ; and indeed 
 they had all perished, unless the approach of the 
 night had obliged the Hebrews to desist from 
 killing any more. So our forefathers obtained 
 a most signal and most seasonable victory 
 for they not only overcame those that fough 
 against them, but terrified also the neighbour- 
 ing nations, and got great and splendid advan 
 tages, which they obtained of their enemies by 
 their hard pains in this battle: for when they had 
 taken the enemy's ramp, they got ready booty 
 for the public, and for their own private 
 families, whereas till then they had next any 
 sort of plenty, of even necessary food. The 
 forementioned battle, when they had once got 
 it, was also the occasion of their prosperity, 
 not only for the present, but for the future 
 ages also; for they not only made slaves of 
 the bodies of their enemies, but subdued their 
 minds also, and after this battle, became 
 terrible to all that dwelt round about them. 
 Moreover, they acquired a vast quantity of 
 riches; for a great deal of silver and gold was 
 left in the enemy's camp ; as also brazen 
 vessels, which they made common use of in 
 their families ; many utensils also that were 
 embroidered, there were of both sorts, that is 
 of what were weaved, and what were the or- 
 naments of their armour, and other things that 
 served for use in the family, and for the fur- 
 niture of their rooms; they got also the prey 
 of their cattle, and of whatsoever uses to 
 follow camps, when they remove from one 
 place to another. So the Hebrews now valued 
 themselves upon their courage, and claimed 
 great merit for their valour; and they perpet- 
 ually inured themselves to take pains, by 
 which they deemed every difficulty might be 
 surmounted. Such were the consequences of 
 this battle. 
 
 5. On the next day, Moses stripped the 
 dead bodies of their enemies, and gathered 
 together the armour of those that were fled, 
 and gave rewards to such as had signalized 
 themselves in the action ; and highly com- 
 mended Joshua, their general, who was at- 
 tested to by all the army, on account of the 
 great actions he had done. Nor was any one 
 of the Hebrews slain ; but the slain of the 
 enemy's army were too many to be enumera- 
 ted. So Moses offered •sacrifices of thanks- 
 I giving to God, and built an altar, which he 
 named The Lord the Conqueror. He also 
 ' foretold that the Amalekites should utterly be 
 ! destroyed ; and that hereafter none of them 
 should remain, because they fought against 
 the Hebrews, and this when they were in the 
 wilderness, and in their distress also. More 
 over, he refreshed the army with feasting. 
 And thus did they fight this first battle with 
 those that ventured to oppose them, after the^ 
 
84 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OP THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 were gone out of Egypt But when Moses 
 had celebrated this festival for the victory, he 
 permitted the Hebrews to rest for a few days, 
 and then he brought them out after the fight, 
 in order of battle; for they had now many 
 soldiers in light armour. And going gradually 
 on, he came to mount Sinai, in three months' 
 time after they were removed out of Egypt ; 
 at which mountain, as we have before related, 
 the vision of the Bush, and the other wonder- 
 ful appearances, had happened. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 THAT MOSES KINDLY RECEIVED HIS FATHER-IN- 
 LAW, JETHRO, WHEN H« CAME TO HIM TO 
 MOUNT SINAI. 
 
 Now when Raguel, Moses's father-in-law, 
 understood in what a prosperous condition his 
 affairs were, he willingly came to meet him. 
 And Moses took Zipphorah, his wife, and his 
 children, and pleased himself with his com- 
 ing. And when he had offered sacrifice, he 
 made a feast for the multitude, near the Bush 
 he had formerly seen ; which multitude, every 
 one, according to their families, partook of 
 the feast. But Aaron and his family took 
 Raguel, and sung hymns to God; as to him 
 who had been the author and procurer of 
 their deliverance, and their freedom. They 
 also praised their conductor, as him by whose 
 virtue it was that all things had succeeded so 
 well with them. Raguel also, in his eucha- 
 ristical oration to Moses, made great enco- 
 miums upon the whole multitude: and he 
 could not but admire Moses for his fortitude, 
 and that humanity he had shown in the deli- 
 very of his friends. 
 
 CHAPTER rV. 
 
 HOW RAGUEL SUGGESTED TO MOSES TO SET 
 HIS PEOPLE IN ORDER, UNDER THEIR RULERS 
 OF THOUSANDS, AND RULERS OF HUNDREDS, 
 WHO LIVED WITHOUT ORDER BEFORE ; AND 
 HOW MOSES COMPLIED IN ALL THINGS WITH 
 HIS FATHER-IN-LAW'S ADMONITION. 
 
 § 1. The next day, as Raguel saw Moses in 
 the midst of a crowd of business (for he deter- 
 mined the differences of those that'referred them 
 to him, every one still going to him, and sup- 
 posing that they should then only obtain jus- 
 tice, if he were the arbitrator ; and those that 
 lost their causes thought it no harm while they 
 thought they lost them justly, and not by par- 
 tiality); Raguel, however, said nothing to 
 him at *hat time, as not desirous to be any 
 hinderance to such as had a mind to make use 
 of the virtue of their conductor. But after- 
 
 ward he took him to himself, and when he 
 had him alone, he instructed him in what he 
 ought to do; and advised him to leave the 
 trouble of lesser causes to others, but himself 
 to take care of the greater, and of the people's 
 safety ; for that certain others of the Hebrews 
 might be found that were fit to determine 
 causes, but that nobody but a Moses could 
 take care of the safety of so many ten thou- 
 sands. " Be not, therefore," says he, " insen- 
 sible of thine own virtue, and what thou hast 
 done by ministering under God to the people's 
 preservation. Permit, therefore, the deter- 
 mination of common causes to be done by 
 others, but do thou reserve thyself to the atten- 
 dance on God only, and look out for methods 
 of preserving the multitude from their pre- 
 sent distress. Make use of the method I 
 suggest to you, as to human affairs ; and take 
 a review of the army, and appoint chosen 
 rulers over tens of thousands, and then over 
 thousands; then divide them into five hun- 
 dreds, and again into hundreds, and into 
 fifties ; and set rulers over each of them, who 
 may distinguish them into thirties, and keep 
 them in order ; and at last number them by 
 twenties and by tens: and let there be one 
 commander over each number, to be denomi- 
 nated from the number of those over whom 
 they are rulers, but such as the whole multi- 
 tude have tried, and do approve of, as being 
 good and righteous men ;* and let these rulers 
 decide the controversies they have one with 
 another. But if any great cause arise, let 
 them bring the cognisance of it before the 
 rulers of a higher dignity ; but if any great 
 difficulty arise that is too hard for even their 
 determination, let them send it to thee. By 
 these means two advantages will be gained ; 
 the Hebrews will have justice done them, 
 and thou wilt be able to attend constantly 
 on God, and procure him to be more favour- 
 able to the people." 
 
 , 2. This was the admonition of Raguel; 
 and Moses received his advice very kindly, 
 and acted according to his suggestion. Nor 
 did he conceal the invention of this method, 
 nor pretend to it himself, but informed the 
 multitude who it was that invented it: nay, 
 he has named Raguel in the books he wrote, 
 as the person who invented this ordering of 
 the people, as thinking it right to give a true 
 testimony to worthy persons, although he 
 might have gotten reputation by ascribing to 
 himself the inventions of -other men ; whence 
 we may learn the virtuous disposition of 
 Moses : but of such his disposition, we shall 
 have proper occasion to speak in other places 
 of these books. 
 
 * This manner of electing the jiuljres and officers of 
 the Israelites by the testimonies and sufTrap:es of the 
 people, before they were ordained liy (Jod, or l)y Mo>!es, 
 deserves to bo carefully noted, because it was the pat- 
 tern of the like manner of tbe choice and ordination 
 of Uinhops, Presbytera, and Deacons, in the ChristiaQ 
 church. 
 
 - ■i 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 85 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW MOSES ASCENDED UP TO MOUNT SINAI, 
 AND RECEIVED LAWS FROM GOD, AND DE- 
 LIVERED THEM TO THE HEBREWS. 
 
 § 1. Now Moses called the multitude to- 
 gether, and told them that he was going from 
 them unto mount Sinai to converse with God ; 
 to receive from him, and to bring back, with 
 him, a certain oracle ; but he enjoined them 
 to pitch their tents near the mountain, and 
 prefer the habitation that was nearest to God, 
 before one more remote. When he had said 
 this, he ascended up to mount Sinai, which is 
 the highest of all the mountains that are in 
 that country,* and is not only very difficult 
 to be ascended by men, on account of its vast 
 altitude, but because of the sharpness of its 
 precipices also ; nay, indeed, it cannot be 
 looked at without pain of the eyes : and be- 
 sides this, it was terrible and inaccessible, on 
 account of the rumour that passed about, that 
 God dwelt there. But the Hebrews removed 
 their tents as Moses had bidden them, and 
 took possession of the lowest parts of the 
 mountain ; and were elevated in their minds, 
 in expectation that Moses would return from 
 God with promises of the good things he had 
 proposed to them. So they feasted and waited 
 for their conductor, and kept themselves pure 
 as in other respects, and not accompanying 
 with their wives for three days, as he had 
 before ordered them to do. And they prayed 
 to God that he would favourably receive 
 Moses in his conversing with him, and be- 
 stow some such gift upon them by which 
 they might live well. They also lived more 
 plentifully as to their diet ; and put on their 
 wives and children more ornamental and de- 
 ' cent clothing than they usually wore. 
 
 2. So they passed two days in this way of 
 feasting; but on the third day, before the 
 sun was up, a cloud spread itself over the 
 whole camp of the Hebrews, such a one as 
 none had before seen, and encompassed the 
 place where they had pitched their tents ; and 
 while all the rest of the air was clear, there 
 came strong winds, that raised up large 
 showers of rain, which became a mighty tem- 
 pest. There was also Such lightning, as was 
 
 * Since this mountain, Sinai, is here said to he the 
 highest of all the mountains that are in that country, 
 it must be that now called St. Katherine's, which is one- 
 third higher than that within a mile of it, now called 
 Sinai, as Mons. Thevenot informs us, Travels, part i. 
 chap, xxiii. p. 168. The other name of it, Horeb, is 
 never used by Jesephus. and perhaps was its name 
 among the Egyptians only, whence the Israelites were 
 lately come, as Sinai was its name among the Arabians, 
 Canaanites, and other notions. Accordingly, when (1 
 Kings ix. 8) the Scripture says that Elijah came to 
 Horeb, the mount of God. Josephus justly says (Antiq. 
 b. v. iii. chap. xiii. sect. 7), that he came to the moun- 
 tain called Sinai : and Jerome, here cited by Dr. Hud- 
 son, says, that he took this mountain to have two 
 tiames, Sinai and Choreb. De Nomin. Heb.p. 427. 
 
 terrible to those that saw it; and thunder, 
 with its thunder-bolts, was sent down, and 
 declared God to be there present in a gra- 
 cious way to such as Moses desired he should 
 be gracious. Now, as to those matters, every 
 one of my readers may think as he pleases : 
 but I am under a necessity of relating this 
 history as it is described in the sacred books. 
 This sight, and the amazing sounds that came 
 to their ears, disturbed the Hebrews to a pro- 
 digious degree, for they were not such as 
 they were accustomed to ; and then the ru- 
 mour that was spread abroad, how God fre- 
 quented that mountain, greatly astonished 
 their minds, so they sorrowfully contained 
 themselves within their tents, as both suppos- 
 ing Moses to be destroyed by the divine 
 wrath, and expecting the like destruction for 
 themselves. 
 
 3. When they were under these apprehen- 
 sions, Moses appeared as joyful and greatly 
 exalted. When they saw him, they were 
 freed from their fear, and admitted of more 
 comfortable hopes as to what was to come. 
 The air also was become clear and pure of its 
 former disorders, upon the appearance of 
 Moses; whereupon he called together the 
 people to a congregation, in order to their 
 hearing what God would say to them ; and 
 when they were gathered together, he stood 
 on an eminence whence they might all hear 
 him, and said, " God has received me gra- 
 ciously, O Hebrews, as he has formerly done, 
 and has suggested a happy m^fcod of living 
 for you, and an order of political government, 
 and is now present in the camp ; I therefore" 
 charge you, for his sake and the sake of his 
 works, and what we have done by his means, 
 that you do not put a low value on what I 
 am going to say, because the commands have 
 been given by me that now deliver them to 
 you, nor because it is the tongue of a man 
 that delivers them to you ; but if you have a 
 due regard to the great importance of the 
 things themselves, you will understand the 
 greatness of him .whose institutions they arC; 
 and who has not disdained to communicate 
 them to me for our common advantage ; for 
 it is not to be supposed that the author of 
 these institutions is barely Moses, the son of 
 Amram and Jochebed, but he who obliged 
 the Nile to run bloody for your sakes, and 
 tamed the haughtiness of the Egyptians by 
 various sorts of judgments; he who pro- 
 vided a way through the sea for us ; he whc 
 contrived a method of sending us food from 
 heaven, when we were distressed for want of 
 it ; he who made the water to issue out of a 
 rock, when we had very little of it before; 
 he by whose means Adam was made to par- 
 take of the fruits both of the land and of the 
 sea; he by whose means Noah escaped the 
 deluge ; he by whose means our forefather 
 Abraham, of a wandering pilgrim, was made 
 the heir of the land of Canaan , he by whose 
 
86 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 means Isaac was born of parents that were 
 very old ; he by whose means Jacob was adorn- 
 ed with twelve virtuous sons; he by whose 
 means Joseph became a potent lord over the 
 Egyptians: he it is who conveys these instruc- 
 tions to you by me as his interpreter. And 
 let them be to you venerable, and contended 
 for more earnestly by you than your own 
 children and your own wives; for if you will 
 follow them, you will lead a happy life; you 
 will enjoy the land fruitful, the sea calm, and 
 the fruit of the womb born complete, as na- 
 ture requires; you will be also terrible to 
 your enemies : for I have been admitted into 
 the presence of God, and been made a hearer 
 of his incorruptible voice; so great is his con- 
 cern for your nation, and its duration." 
 
 4. When he had said this, he brought the 
 people, with their wives and children, so near 
 the mountain, that they might hear God him- 
 self speaking to them about the precepts which 
 they were to practise; that the energy of what 
 should be spoken might not be hurt by its 
 utterance by the tongue of a man, which 
 could but imperfectly deliver it to their un- 
 derstanding. And they all heard a voice that 
 came to all of them from above, insomuch 
 that no one of these words escaped them, 
 which Moses wrote on two tables; which it is 
 not lawful for us to set down directly, but 
 their import we will declare.* 
 
 5. The first commandment teaches us. That 
 there is but one God, and that we ought to 
 worship hi%only; — the second commands 
 us not to make the image of any living crea- 
 ture to worship it; — the third, That we must 
 not swear by God in a false matter; — the 
 fourth, That we must keep the seventh day, 
 by resting from all sorts of work; — the fifth, 
 That we must honour our parents; — the 
 sixth. That we must abstain from murder; — 
 the seventh. That we must not commit adul- 
 tery; — the eighth. That we must not be guil- 
 ty of theft ; — the ninth. That we must not 
 bear false witness; — the tenth. That we must 
 not admit of the desire of any thing that is 
 another's. 
 
 6. Now when the multitude had heard God 
 himself giving those precepts which Moses 
 had discoursed of, they rejoiced at what was 
 said; and the congregation was dissolved: 
 but on the following days they came to his 
 tent, and desired him to bring them, besides, 
 other laws from God. Accordingly he ap- 
 pointed such laws, and afterwards informed 
 them in what manner they should act in all 
 cases ; which laws I shall make mention of 
 in their proper time ; but I shall reserve most 
 of those laws for another vvork,f and make 
 there a distinct explication of them. 
 
 • Of this and %nother like snperutitions notion of the 
 Pharis*^s. wliict) .losfphiiR complied wilh, see the note 
 on Antlq. h. ii. cip. xii. sect. iv. 
 
 + Tbi» other work of .loRephuii. here rrft-rn-d to, 
 •eems to be that whicli Atw* not iif>p»-ar to have been 
 «Ter oublished, which >et he intrndrd to publish, about 
 
 7. When matters were brought to this state, 
 Moses went up again to Mount Sinai, of which 
 he had told them beforehand. He made his 
 ascent in their sight; and while he staid there 
 so long a time (for he was absent from tbem 
 forty days), fear seized upon the Hebrews, 
 lest Mo?es should have come to any harm ; 
 nor was there any thing else so sad, and that 
 so much troubled them, as this supposai that 
 Moses was perished. Now there was a va- 
 riety in their sentiments about it; some say 
 ing that he was fallen among wild beasts; 
 and those that were of this opinion were 
 chiefly such as were ill-disposed to him ; but 
 others saying that he was departed, and gone 
 to God; but the wiser sort were led by their 
 reason to embrace neither of those opinions 
 with any satisfaction, thinking, that as it was 
 a thing that sometimes happens to men to 
 fall among wild beasts, and perish that way 
 so it was probable enough that he might de- 
 part and go to God, on account of his virtue; 
 they therefore were quiet, and expected the 
 event: yet were they exceeding sorry upon 
 the supposai that they were deprived of a go- 
 vernor and a protector, such a one indeed as 
 they could never recover again; nor would 
 this suspicion give them leave to expect any 
 comfortable event about this man, nor could 
 they prevent their trouble and melancholy 
 upon this occasion. However, the camp 
 durst not remove all this while, because Mo- 
 ses had bidden them afore to stay there. 
 
 8. But when the forty days, and as many 
 nights, were over, Moses came down, having 
 tasted nothing of food usually appointed for 
 the nourishment of men. His appearance 
 filled the army with gladness, and he declared 
 to them what care God had of them, and by 
 what manner of conduct of their lives they 
 might live happily; telling them, that during 
 these days of his absence he had suggested to 
 him also that he would have a tabernacle built 
 for him, into which he would descend when 
 he came to them ; and how we should carry 
 it about with us when we remove from this 
 place; and that there would be no longer ary 
 occasion for going up to mount Sinai, but 
 that he would himself come and pitch his ta- 
 bernacle amongst us, and be present at our 
 prayers; as also, that the tabernacle should be 
 of such measures and construction as he had 
 shown him ; and that you are to fall to the 
 work, and prosecute it diligently. When he 
 had said this, he showed them the two tables, 
 with the ten commandments engraven upon 
 them, five upon each table; and the writing 
 was by the hand of God. 
 
 the reasons of many of the laws of Mows: of wblch MO 
 i the note on the Preface, sect. 4. 
 
CHAP. vr. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 87 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONCERNING THE TABERNACLE WHICH MOSES 
 BCILT IN THE WILDERNESS FOR THE HO- 
 NOUR OF GOD, AND WHICH SEEMED TO BE 
 A TEMPLE. 
 
 § 1. Heredpon the Israelites rejoiced at what 
 tbey bnd seen and heard of their conductor, 
 and were not wanting in diligence according 
 to their ability; for they brought silver, and 
 gold, and brass, and of the best sorts of wood, 
 and such as would not at all decay by putre- 
 faction ; camels' hair also, and sheep-skins, 
 some of them dyed of a blue colour, and 
 some of a scarlet; some brought the flower 
 for the purple colour, and others for white, 
 with wool dyed by the flowers aforemention- 
 ed; and tine linen and precious stones, which 
 those that use costly ornaments set in ouches 
 of gold; they brought also a great quantity 
 of spices; for of these materials did Moses 
 build the tabernacle, which did not at all dif- 
 fer from a moveable and ambulatory temple. 
 Now when these things were brought together 
 with great diligence, (for every one was am- 
 bitious to further the work even beyond their 
 ability,) he set architects over the works, and 
 this by the command of God ; and indeed the 
 very same which the people themselves would 
 have chosen, had the election been allowed to 
 them. Now their names are set down in 
 writing in the sacred books; and they were 
 these : Besaleel the son of Uri, of the tribe 
 of Judah, the grandson of Miriam, the sister 
 of their conductor; and Aholiab, the son of 
 Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Now the 
 people went on with what they had under- 
 taken with so great alacrity, that Moses was 
 obliged to restrain them, by making procla- 
 mation, that what had been brought was suf- 
 ficient, as the artificers had informed him ; so 
 tho.y fell to work upon the building of the 
 tabernacle. Moses also informed them, ac- 
 cording to the direction of God, both what 
 the measures were to be, and its largeness; 
 • and how many vessels it ought to contain for 
 the use ^ the sacrifices. The women also I 
 were amoitious to do their parts, about the ^ 
 garments of the priests, and about other 
 things that would be wanted in this work, 
 both for ornament, and for the divine service 
 itself. 
 
 2. Now when all things were prepared, the 
 gold, and the silver, and the brass, and what 
 WHS woven, Moses, when he had appointed 
 beforehand that there should be a festival, and 
 that sacrifices should be offered according to 
 every ones ability, reared up the tabernacle;* 
 and when he had measured the open court, 
 
 * <lf th.s tabernacle t 
 aii'l iuriij'ure, sfe nty di 
 *ui. i .. X. xi. \'u. hereto beloUijiug. 
 
 f Moses, with its several p irts 
 s<Ti|)ti >!! it lar«;<» chap. vi. vii 
 
 fifty cubits broad and a hundred long, he set 
 up brazen pillars, five cubits high, twenty on 
 each of the longer sides, and ten pillars for 
 the breadth behind; every one of the pillars 
 also had a ring. Their chapiters were of sil- 
 ver, but their bases were of brass: they re- 
 sembled the sharp ends of spears, and were 
 of brass, fixed into the ground. Cords were 
 also put through the rings, and were tied at 
 their farther ends to brass nails of a cubit 
 long, which, at every pillar, were driven into 
 the floor, and would keep the tabernacle from 
 being shaken by the violence of winds; but 
 a curtain of fine soft linen went round all the 
 pillars, and hung down in a flowing and loose 
 manner from their chapiters, and enclosed the 
 whole space, and seemed not at all unlike to 
 a wall about it. And this was the structiue of 
 three of the sides of this enclosure ; but as fur 
 the fourth side, which was fifty cubits in ex- 
 tent, and was the front of the whole, twenty 
 cubits of it were for the opening of the gates, 
 wherein stood two pillars on each side, after 
 the resemblance of open gates. These were 
 made wholly of silver, and polished, and that 
 all over, excepting the bases, which were of 
 brass. Now on each side of the gates there 
 stood three pillars, which were inserted into 
 the concave bases of the gates, and were 
 suited to them; and round them was drawn a 
 curtain of fine linen; but to the gates them- 
 selves, which were twenty cubi-ts in extent, 
 and five in height, the curtain was composed 
 of purple, and scarlet, and Ifiue, and fine 
 linen, and embroidered with many and divers 
 sorts of figures, excepting the figures of ani- 
 mals. Within these gates was the brazen 
 laver for purification, having a basin beneath 
 of the like matter, whence the priests might 
 wash their hands and sprinkle their feet; and 
 th's was the ornamental construction of the 
 inclo«'ire about the court of the tabernacle,, 
 which was exposed to the open air. 
 
 3. As to the tabernacle itself, Moses placed 
 it in the middle of that court, with its front 
 to the east, that, when the sun arose, it might 
 send its first rays upon t. Its mgth, when 
 it was set up, was t'liirty cioits, and its 
 breadth was twelve [ten] cuoits. The one 
 of its walls was on the south, and the other 
 was exposed to the north, and on the back 
 part of it remained the west. It was neces- 
 sary that its height should be equal to its 
 breadth [ten cubits]. There were also pillars 
 made of wood, twenty on each side; they 
 were wrought into a quadrangular figure, in 
 breadth a cubit and a half, but the thickness 
 was four fingers: they had thin plates of gold 
 affixed to them on both sides, inwardly and 
 outwardly : they had each of them two tenons 
 belonging to them, inserted into their bases, 
 and these were of silver, in each of which 
 bases there was a socket to receive the tenon; 
 but the pillars on the west wall were six. 
 Now all thesH tenons and sockets accurately 
 
.88 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OP THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK m. 
 
 fitted one another, insomuch that the joints 
 were invisible, and both seemed to be one 
 entire and united wall. It was also covered 
 with gold, both within and without. The 
 number of pillars was equal on the opposite 
 sides, and there were on each part twenty, 
 and every one of them had the third part of 
 a span in thickness ; so that the number of 
 thirty cubits were ifully made up between 
 them ; but as to the wall behind, where the 
 six pillars made up together only nine cu- 
 bits, they made two other pillars, and cut them 
 out of one cubit, which they placed in the 
 corners, and made them equally fine with the 
 other. Now every one of the pillars had rings 
 of gold afiixed to their fronts outward, as if 
 they had taken root in the pillars, and stood 
 one row over against another round about, 
 through which were inserted bars gilt over 
 with gold, §ach of them five cubits long, and 
 these bound together the pillars, the head of 
 one bar running into another, after the nature 
 of one tenon inserted into another ; but for 
 the wall behind, there was but one row of 
 bars that went through all the pillars, into 
 which row ran the ends of the bars on each 
 side of the longer walls ; the male with its 
 female being so fastened in their joints, that 
 they held the whole firmly together; and for 
 this reason was all this joined so fast together, 
 that the tabernacle might not be shaken, 
 either by the winds, or by any other means, 
 but that it might preserve itself quiet and 
 immovable (jbntinually. 
 
 4. As for the inside, Moses parted its length 
 into three partitions. At the distance of ten 
 cubits from the most secret end, Moses placed 
 four pillars, the workmanship of which was 
 the very same with that of the rest ; and they 
 stood upon the like basis with them, each a 
 small matter distant from his fellow. Now 
 the room within those pillars was the most 
 holy place ; but the rest of the room was the 
 tabernacle, which was open for the priests. 
 However, this proportion of the measures of 
 the tabernacle proved to be an imitation of 
 the system of the world: for that third part 
 thereof which was within the four pillars, to 
 which the priests were not admitted, is, as it 
 were, a Heaven peculiar to God ; but the 
 space of the twenty cubits, is, as it were, sea 
 and land, on which men live, and so this part 
 is peculiar to the priests only; but at the 
 front, where the entrance was made, they 
 placed pillars of gold, that stood on bases of 
 brass, in number seven ; but then they spread 
 ever the tabernacle veils of fine linen and 
 purple, and blue, and scarlet colours, embroi- 
 dered. The first veil was ten cubits every 
 way, and this they spread over the pillars 
 which parted the temple, and kept the most 
 holy place concealed within ; and this veil 
 was that which made this part not visible to 
 any. Now the whole temple was called The 
 Holy Place ,- but that part which was within 
 
 tne four pillars, and to which none were ad- 
 mitted, was called The Holy of Holies. This 
 veil was very ornamental, and embroidered 
 with all sorts of flowers which the earth pro- 
 duces ; and there were interwoven into it all 
 sorts of variety that might be an ornament, 
 excepting the forms of animals. Another 
 veil there was which covered the five pillars 
 that were at the entrance. It was like the 
 former in its magnitude, and texture, and 
 colour; and at the corner of every pillar a 
 ring retained it from the top downwards half 
 the depth of the pillars, the othfer half afford- 
 ing an entrance for the priests, who crept un- 
 der it. Over this there was a veil of linen, 
 of the same largeness with the former : it was 
 to be drawn this way or that way by cords, 
 the rings of which, fixed to the texture of the 
 veil, and to the cords also, were subservient 
 to the drawing and undrawing of the veil, 
 and to the fastening it at the corner, that then 
 it might be no hinderance to the view of the 
 sanctuary, especially on solemn days ; but that 
 on other days, and especially when the wea- 
 ther was inclined to snow, it might be ex- 
 panded, and afford a covering to the veil of 
 divers colours; whence that custom of ours 
 is derived, of having a fine linen veil, after 
 the temple has been built, to be drawn over 
 the entrances ; but the ten other curtains were 
 four cubits in breadth, and twenty-eight in, 
 length; and had golden clasps, in order to 
 join the one curtain to the other, which was 
 done so exactly that they seemed to be one 
 entire curtain. These were spread over the 
 temple, and covered all the top and parts of 
 the walls, on the sides and behind, so far as 
 within one cubit of the ground. There were 
 other curtains of the same breadth with these, 
 but one more in number, and longer, for they 
 were thirty cubits long ; but these were woven 
 of hair, with the like subtilty as those of wool 
 were made, and were extended loosely down 
 to the ground> appearing like a triangular 
 front and elevation at the gates, the eleventh 
 curtain being used for this very purpose. 
 There were also other curtains made of skins 
 above these, which afforded covering and pro- 
 tection to those that were woven, both in hot 
 weather and when it rained ; and great was 
 the surprise of those who viewed these cur- 
 tains at a distance, for they seemed not at all 
 to differ from the colour of the sky ; but those 
 that were made of hair and of skins, reached 
 down in the same manner as did the veil at 
 the gates ; and kept off" the heat of the sun, 
 and what injury the rains might do ; and after 
 this manner was the tabernacle reared. 
 
 5. There was also an ark made sacred to 
 God, of wood that was naturally strong, and 
 could not be corrupted. This was called Eron, 
 in- our own language. Its construction was 
 thus: Its length was five spans, but its breadth 
 and height was each of them three spana 
 It was covered all over with gold, both with- 
 
2j!^^^ 
 
 
Higli Priest in his Robes.— Page 89. 
 
CHAP. vn. 
 
 ANTIQXHTIES OF l-HE JEWS. 
 
 89 
 
 in and without, so that the wooden part was 
 not seen. It had also a cover united to it, by 
 golden hinges, after a wonderful manner; 
 which cover was every way evenly fitted to it, 
 and had no eminences to hinder its exact con- 
 junction. There were also two golden rings 
 belonging to each of the longer boards, and 
 passing through the entire wood, and through 
 them gilt bars passed along each board, that 
 it might tljereby be moved, and carried about, 
 as occasion should require; for it was not 
 drawn in a cart by beasts of burden, but borne 
 on the shoulders of the priests. Upon this its 
 cover were two images, which the Hebrews 
 call Cherubims ,• they are flying creatures, but 
 their form is not like to that of any of the crea- 
 tures which men have seen, though Moses 
 said he had seen such beings near the throne 
 of God. In this ark he put the two tables 
 whereon the ten commandments were writ- 
 ten, five upon each table, and two and a half 
 upon each side of them ; and this ark he 
 placed in the most holy place. 
 
 6. But in the holy place he placed a table, 
 like those at Delphi ; its length was two cu- 
 
 ♦ bits, and its breadth one cubit, and its height 
 three spans. It had feet also, the lower part 
 of which were complete feet, resembling those 
 which the Dorians put to their bedsteads ; but 
 the upper parts towards the table were wrought 
 into a square form. The table had a hollow 
 towards every side, having a ledge of four 
 fingers' depth, that went round about like a 
 spiral, both on the upper and lower part of the 
 body of the work. Upon enery one of the 
 feet was there also inserted a ring, not far 
 from the cover, through which went bars of 
 wood beneath, but gilded, to be taken out 
 upon occasion, there being a cavity where it 
 was joined to the rings ; for they were not en- 
 tire rings ; but before they came quite round 
 they ended hi acute points, the one of which 
 was inserted into the prominent part of the 
 table, and the other into the foot; and by these 
 it was carried wjhen they journeyed. Upon 
 this table, which was placed on the north side 
 of the temple, not far from the most holy place, 
 were laid twelve unleavened loaves of bread, 
 six upon each heap, one above another : they 
 . were made of two tenth-deals of the purest 
 flour, which tenth-deal [an omer] is a mea- 
 sure o!" the Hebrews, containing seven Athe- 
 nian cotylse; and above those loaves were put 
 two vials full of fi-ankincense. Now after 
 seven days other loaves were brought in their 
 stead, on the day which is by us called the 
 Sabbath; for we call the seventh day the 
 Sabbath. But for the occasion of this inven- 
 tion of placing loaves here, we will speak to 
 it in another place. 
 
 7. Over against this table, near the south- 
 ern wall, was set a candlestick of cast gold, 
 hollow within, being of the weight of one 
 hundred pounds, which the Hebrews call 
 Chinchares ; if it be turned into the Greek lan- 
 
 guage, it denotes x talent. It was made "with 
 its knobs, and lilies, and pomegranates, and 
 bowls (which ornaments amounted to seventy 
 in all) ; by which means the shaft elevated 
 itself on high from a single base, and spread 
 itself into as many branches as there are pla- 
 nets, including the sun among them. It ter- 
 minated in seven heads, in one row, all stand- 
 ing parallel to one another ; and these branches 
 carried seven lamps, one by one, in imitation of 
 the number of the planets. These lamps looked 
 to the east and to the south, the candlestick 
 being situate obliquely. 
 
 8. Now between this candlestick and the 
 table, which, as we said, were within the sanc- 
 tuary, was the altar of incense, made of wood 
 indeed, but of the same wood of which the 
 foregoing vessels were made, such as was not 
 liable to corruption ; it was entirely crusted 
 over with a golden plate. Its breadth on each 
 side was a cubit, but the altitude double. 
 Upon it was a grate of gold, that was extant 
 above the altar, which had a golden crown en- 
 compassing it round about, whereto belonged 
 rings and bars, by which the priests carried it 
 when they journeyed. Before this tabernacle 
 there was reared a brazen altar, but it was 
 within made of wood, five cubits by measure 
 on each side, but its height was but three, in 
 like manner adorned with brass plates as 
 bright as gold. It had also a brazen hearth 
 of net-work; for the ground underneath re- 
 ceived the fire from the hearth, because it had 
 no basis to receive it. Hard by this altar lay 
 the basins, and the vials, and the censers, and 
 the chaldrons, made of gold ; but the other ves- 
 sels, made for the use of the sacrifices, were 
 all of brass. And such was the construction 
 of the tabernacle ; and these were the vessels 
 thereto belonging. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CONCERNING THE GARMENTS OF THE PRIESTS, 
 AND OP THE HIGH-PRIEST. 
 
 § 1. There were peculiar garments appoint- 
 ed for the priest?, and for all the rest, which 
 they call Cahansess [priestly] garments, as also 
 for the high-priest, which they call Cahanaeae 
 Rabbae, and denote the high-priest's garments. 
 Such was therefore the habit of the rest ; but 
 when the f riest approaches the sacrifices, he 
 purifies himself with the purification which 
 the law prescribes; and, in the first place, he 
 puts on that which is called Machanase, which 
 means somewhat that is fast tied. It is a girdle, 
 composed of fine twined linen, and is put 
 about the privy parts, the feet being to be 
 inserted into them, in the nature of breeches ; 
 but about half of it is cut off, and it ends at 
 the thighs, and is there tied fast 
 
90 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK II) 
 
 2. Over this he wore a linen vestment, made 
 of fine flax doubled: it is called Chethone, and 
 denotes linen, for we call Unen by the name 
 of Chethone. This vestment reaches down to 
 the feet, and sits close to the body; and has 
 sleeves that are tied fast to the arms: it is 
 girded to the breast a little above the elbows, 
 by a girdle often going round, four fingers 
 broad, but so loosely woven, that you would 
 think it were the skin of a serpent. It is em- 
 broidered with flowers of scarlet, and purple, 
 and blue, and fine twined linen; but the warp 
 was nothing but fine linen. The beginning 
 of its circumvolution is at the breast ; and 
 when it has gone often round, it is there tied, 
 and hangs loosely there down to the ancles : 
 I mean this, all the time the priest is not 
 about any laborious service, for in this position 
 it appears in the most agreeable manner to the 
 spectators; but when he is obliged to assist 
 at the offering sacrifices, and to do the appoint- 
 ed service, that he may not be hindered in his 
 operations by its motion, he throws it to the 
 left, and bears it on his shoulder. Moses in- 
 deed calls this belt Ahaneth; but we have 
 learned from the Babylonians to call it Emia, 
 for so it is by them called. This vestment 
 has no loose or hollow parts any where in it, 
 but only a narrow aperture about the neck ; 
 and it is tied with certain strings hanging 
 down from the edge over the breast and back, 
 and is fastened above each shoulder: it is 
 called Massabazanes. . , 
 
 3. Upon, his head he wea.^"a^'cap, not 
 brought to a conic form nor encircling the 
 whole head, but still covering more than the 
 half of it, which is called Masnaei/iphthes : and 
 its make is such that it seems to be a crown, 
 being made of thick swathes, but the contex- 
 ture is of linen ; and it is doubled round many 
 times, and sewed together : besides which, a 
 piece of fine linen covers the whole cap from 
 the upper part, and reaches down to the fore- 
 head, and hides the seams of the swathes, which 
 would otherwise appear indecently: this ad- 
 heres closely upon the solid part of the head, 
 and is thereto so firmly fixed, that it may 
 not fall off during the sacred service about 
 the sacrifices. So we have now shown you 
 what is the habit of the generality of the 
 priests. 
 
 4. The high-priest is indeed adorned with 
 the same garments that we have described, 
 without abating one: only over these he puts 
 oti a vestment of a blue colour. T)iis also is 
 a long robe, reaching to his feet [in our lan- 
 guage it is called Meeir^, and is tied round 
 with a girdle, embroidered with the same co- 
 lours and flowers as the former, with a mixture 
 of gold interwoven. To the bottom of which 
 garment are hung fringes, in colour like 
 pomegranates, with golden bells,* by a curi- 
 ous and beautiful contrivance; so that be- 
 
 • Till- hm; of thrwf gnlden belli at the bottom of tlie 
 li!|th-prie»t'a long Kunueut, Kems to nic to buvr been tbiM: 
 
 tween two bells hangs a pomegranate, and be- 
 tween two pomegranates a bell. Now thi^ 
 vesture was not composed of two pieces, nor 
 was it sewed together upon the shoulders and 
 the sides, but it was one long vestment so 
 woven as to have an aperture for the neck ; 
 not an oblique one, but parted all along the 
 breast and the back. A border also was 
 sewed to it, lest the aperture should look too 
 indecently: it was also parted where the 
 hands were to come out. 
 
 5. Besides these, the high-priest put on a - 
 third garment, which is called the Ephod, 
 which resembled the Epomis of the Greeks. 
 Its make was after this manner: it was wo- 
 ven to the depth of a cubit, of several colours, 
 with gold intermixed, and embroidered, but 
 it left the middle of the breast uncovered : it 
 was made with sleeves also; nor did it appear 
 to be at all differently made from a short coat. 
 But in the void place of this garment there 
 was inserted a piece of the bigness of a span, 
 embroidered with gold, and the other colours 
 of the ephod, and was called Essen [the breast- 
 plate], which in the Greek language signifies 
 the Oracle. This piece exactly filled up the ^ 
 void space in the ephod. It was united to it by 
 golden rings at every corner, the like rings 
 being annexed to the ephod, and a blue riband 
 was made use of to tie them together by those 
 rings: and that the space between the rings 
 might not appear empty, they contrived to fill 
 it up with stitches of blue ribands. There 
 were also two sardonyxes upon the ephod, at 
 the shoulders, to fasten it in the nature of but- 
 tons, having each end running to the sardo- 
 nyxes of gold, that they might be buttoned by 
 them. On these were engraven the names ot 
 the sons of Jacob, in our own country letters, 
 and in our own tongue, six on each of the 
 stones, on either side; and the elder sons' 
 names were on the right shoulder. Twelve 
 stones also were there upon the breast-plate, 
 extraordinary in largeness and beauty; and 
 they were an ornament not to be purchased 
 by men, because of their immense value. 
 These stones, however, stood in three rows, 
 by four in a row, and wece inserted into the 
 breast-plate itself, and they were set in ouches 
 of gold, that were themselves inserted in the 
 breast-plate, and were so made that they might 
 not fall out. Now the first three stones were a 
 sardonyx, a topaz, and an emerald. The second 
 
 That by shaking his garment at the time of his oflerlng 
 incense in the temple, on the jjreat day of expiation, of 
 at other proper perio<ls of his sacred ministrations there, 
 on the ureal festivals the people miKht have notice ot 
 it, and might full to tiieir own prayers at the time of in- 
 r.enst* or »ther proper periods; and so the whole con- 
 ifrejjation might at once oiler those common prayers 
 jointly with the high priest himself to the Almighty. 
 See Lu^^e i. 10. Hev. viii. 3,4. Nor probably is the son 
 of Sirarh to be otherwise understood, when he says of 
 Aaron the first high-priest. Ecclus xlv. y. " And God 
 encompassed Aaron with pomegranates, and with many 
 golden ImjIIs round about, that as he went there inij;ht l>e 
 a sound, iiid a noise made that niiglit be heard in th9 
 temple, fui a tnt-iuorial to tbe ctiildren of bis people.'* 
 
CHAP. VI 
 
 ANTIQUITIES V)F TU^ JEWS, 
 
 91 
 
 row contained a carbunt-le, a jasper, and a 
 sapphire. The first of the third row was a 
 ligure, then an amethyst, and the third an agate, 
 being the ninth of the whole number. The 
 first of the fourth row was a chrysolite, the 
 next was an onyx, and then a beryl, which 
 was %e last of all. Now the names of all 
 those sons of Jacob were engraven in these 
 stones,whom we esteem the heads of our tribes, 
 each stone having the honour of a name, in 
 the order according to which they were born. 
 And whereas the rings were too weak of them- 
 selves to bear the weight of the stones, they 
 made two other rings of a larger size, at the 
 edge of that part of the breast-plate which 
 reached to the neck, and inserted into the 
 very texture of the breast-plate, to receive 
 chains finely wrought, which connected them 
 with golden bands to the tops of the shoul- 
 ders, whose extremity turned backwards, and 
 went into the ring, on the prominent back 
 part of the ephod ; and this was for the secu- 
 rity of the breast-plate, that it might not fall 
 out of its place. There was also a girdle sewed 
 to the breast-plate, which was of the fore- 
 mentioned colours, with gold intermixed, 
 which, when it had gone once round, was tied 
 again upon the seam, and hung down. There 
 were also golden loops that admitted its 
 fringes at each extremity of the girdle, and 
 included them entirely. 
 
 f). The high-priest's mitre was the same 
 that we described before, and ^as wrought 
 like that of all the other priests; above which 
 there was another, with swathes of blue em- 
 broidered, and round it was a golden crowa 
 polished, of three rows, one above another; 
 out of which arose a cup of gold, which re- 
 sembled the herb which we call Saccharus; 
 but those Greeks that are skilful in botany 
 call it Ht/osci/amus. Now, lest any one that 
 has seen this herb, but has not been taught its 
 name, and is unacquainted with its nature, or, 
 having known its name, knows not the herb 
 when he sees it, I shall give such as these are a 
 description of it. This herb is oftentimes in tall- 
 ness above three spans, but its root is like that 
 of a turnip (for he that should compare it there- 
 to would not be mistaken) ; but its leaves are 
 like the leaves of mint. Out of its branches 
 it sends out a calyx, cleaving to the branch ; 
 and a coat encompasses it, which it naturally 
 ()uts off when it is changing, in order to pro- 
 duce its fruit. This calyx is of the bigness 
 of the bone of the little finger, but in the com- 
 pass of its aperture is like a cup. This I will 
 farther describe, for the use of those that are 
 unacquainted with it. Suppose a sphere be 
 divided into two parts, round at the bottom, 
 but having another segment that grows up to 
 a circumference from that bottom; suppose 
 it become narrower by degrees, and that the 
 cavity of that part grow decently smaller, and 
 then gradually grow wider af^ai;! at the brim. 
 •ucb as we see in the naval of a pomeg'anate. 
 
 with its notches. And indeed such a coat 
 grows over this plant as renders it an hemi- 
 sphere, and that, as one may say, turned ac- 
 curately in a lathe, and having its notches ex- 
 tant above it, which, as I said, grow like a 
 pomegranate, only that they are sharp, and 
 end in nothing but prickles. Now the fruit is 
 preserved by this coat of the calyx, which fruit 
 is like the seed of the herb Sideritis: it sends 
 out a flower that may seem to resemble that 
 of poppy. Of this was a crown made, as far 
 as from the hinder part of the head to each of 
 the temples ; but this Ephielis, for so this 
 calyx may be called, did not cover the fore- 
 head, but it was covered with a golden plate,* 
 which had inscribed upon it the name of God 
 in sacred characters. And su^.h were the or- 
 naments of the high-priest. 
 
 7. Now here one may wnnder at the ill- 
 will which men bear to «s, and which they 
 profess to bear on account of our despising 
 that Deity which they pretend to honour ; 
 for if any one do but consider the fabric of 
 the tabernacle, and take a view of the gar- 
 ments of the high-priest, and of those vessels 
 which we make use of in our sacred minis- 
 tration, he will find that our legislator was a 
 divine man, and that we are unjustly re- 
 proached by others: for if any one do without 
 prejudice, and with judgment, look upon 
 these things, he will find they were every one 
 made in way of imitation and representation 
 of the universe. When Moses distinguished 
 the tabernacl v-i'V^'three parts.f and allowed 
 two of them to the priests, as a place accessi- 
 ble and common, he denoted the land and 
 the sea, these being of general access to all ; 
 but he set apart the third division for God, 
 because heaven is inaccessible to men. And 
 when he ordered twelve loaves to be set on the 
 table, he denoted the year, as distinguished 
 into so many months. By branching out the 
 candlestick into seventy parts, he secretly in- 
 timated the Decani, or seventy divisions of 
 the planets; and as to the seven lamps upon 
 the candlesticks, they referred to the course 
 of the planets, of which that is the number. 
 The veils, too, which were composed of four 
 things, they declared the four elements ; for 
 the fine linen was proper to signify the 
 earth, because the flax grows out of the earth; 
 the purple signified the sea, because that co- 
 lour is dyed by the blood of a sea shell-fish ; 
 
 • The reader oueht to take notice here, that the very 
 Mosaic Petalo'1, or golden plate, for the forehead of the 
 Jewish hiffh-priest, was itself preserved, not only till the 
 daysof Josephii's. butof Orig;en; and that its inscription, 
 Holiness to the Lord^ was in the Samaritan characters. 
 — See Antiq. b. viii. ch, iii. sect. 8, Essay on the Old 
 Test. p. 154, and Reland, l)e Spol. Templi, p 132. 
 
 + When Josephus, both here and chap. vi. sect. 4, 
 supposes the tabernacle to have been parted into three 
 parts, he seems to esteem the bare entrance to be a third 
 division, distinct from the ho'iy and tiie most holy pbcesj 
 and this the rather, because in the temple afterwarn there 
 was a real distinct third part, which was called the Porch 
 otherwise Josephus would contradict his own descriptioa 
 of tlir taliernacle, which givM us a particular account ol 
 D.) more than two parts. 
 
92 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK m. 
 
 the blue is fit to signify the air; and the 
 scarlet will naturally be an indication of fire. 
 Now the vestment of the high-priest being 
 made of linen, signified the earth; the blue 
 denoted the sky, being like lightning in its 
 pomegranates, and in the noise of the bells 
 resembling thunder. And for the ephod, it 
 showed that God had made the universe of 
 four [elements] ; and as for the gold inter- 
 woven, I suppose it related to the splendour 
 by which all things are enlightened. He 
 also appointed the breast-plate to be placed 
 in the middle of the ephod, to resemble the 
 earth, for that has the very middle place of 
 the world. And the girdle which encompassed 
 the high-priest round, signified the ocean, 
 for that goes round about and includes the 
 universe. Each of the sardonyxes declares 
 to us the sun and the moon ; those, I mean, 
 that were in the nature of buttons on the 
 high-priest's shoulders. And for the twelve 
 stones, whether we understand by them the 
 months, or whether we understand the like 
 number of the signs of that circle which the 
 Greeks call the Zodiac, we shall not be mis- 
 taken in their meaning. And for the mitre, 
 which was of a blue colour, it seems to me 
 to mean heaven ; for how otherwise could the 
 name of God be inscribed upon if? That it 
 was aJipo illustrated with a crown, and that of 
 gold also, is because of that splendour with 
 which God is pleased. Let this explication* 
 suffice at present, since the course of my nar- 
 ration will often, and on many occasions, 
 afford me the opportunity of enlarging upon 
 the virtue of our legi&lator. 
 
 CHAPTER Vm. 
 
 OP THE PRIESTHOOD OP AARON 
 
 § 1. When what has been described was 
 brought to a conclusion, gifts not being yet 
 presented, God appeared to Moses, and en- 
 joined him to bestow the high-priesthood upon 
 Aaron his brother, as upon him that best of 
 
 * This explication of the mystical meaning of the 
 Jewish tabernacle and its vessels, with the garments of 
 the high-jjriest, is taken out of Philo, and fitted to Gen- 
 tile philosophical notions. This may possibly be for- 
 given in Jews, greatly versed in heathen learning and 
 philosophy, as Philo had ever been, and as Josephus 
 had long been when he wrote these Antiquities. In the 
 mean time, it is not to be doubted, but in their edu- 
 cation they must have both learned more Jewish inter- 
 pretations, such as we meet with in the Epistle of Bar- 
 nabas, in that to the Hebrews, and elsewhere among the 
 old Jews. Accordingly, when Josephus wrote his books 
 of the Jewish War, for the use of the Jews, at which 
 time he was comparatively young, and less used to Gen- 
 tile books, we find one specimen of such a Jewish in- 
 terpretation ; for there (b. vii. ch. v. sect. 5,) he makes 
 the seven branches of the temple-candlestick, with their 
 •even lamps, an emblem of the seven days of creation 
 and rest, which are here emblems of the seven planets. 
 Nor certainly ought ancient Jewish emblems to be ex- 
 plained any other way than according to ancient Jewish, 
 and not GentiU, notionv. Sea of the War, b. i. ch. 
 UxiU. Met. 2. 
 
 them all deserve to obtain that honour, on 
 account of its virtue. And when he had 
 gathered the multitude together, he gave 
 them an account of Aaron's virtue, and of 
 his good-will to them, aad of the dangers he 
 had undergone for their sakes. Upon which, 
 when they had given testimony to him in all 
 respects, and showed their readiness to receive 
 him, Moses said to them, " O you Israelites, 
 this work is already brought to a conclusion, in 
 a manner most acceptable to God, and accord, 
 ing to our abilities. And now since you see 
 that he is received into this tabernacle, we 
 shall first of all stand in need of one that may 
 officiate for us, and may minister to the sacri- 
 fices, and to the prayers that are to be put up 
 for us ; and indeed had the inquiry after such 
 a person been left to me, I should have 
 thought myself worthy of this honour, both 
 because all men are naturally fond of them- 
 selves, and because I am conscious to myself 
 that I have taken a great deal of pains for 
 your deliverance; but now God himself has 
 determined that Aaron is worthy of this ho- 
 nour, and has chosen him for his priest, as 
 knowing him to be the most righteous person 
 among you. So that he is to put on the vest- 
 ments which are consecrated to God ; he is 
 to have the care of the altars, and to make 
 provision for the sacrifices ; and he it is that 
 must put up prayers for you to God, who will 
 readily hear them, not only because he is 
 himself solicig)us for your nation, but also 
 because he will receive them as offered by 
 one that he hath himself chosen to this 
 office.""!" The Hebrews were pleased with 
 what was said, and they gave their approba- 
 tion to him whom God had ordained ; for 
 Aaron was, of them all, the most deserving 
 of this honour, on account of his own stock 
 and gift of prophecy, and his brother's virtue. 
 He had at that time four sons, Nadab, Abihu, I 
 Eleazer, and Ithamar. t 
 
 2. Now Moses commanded them to makoi 
 use of all the utensils which were more than-^ 
 were necessary to the structure of the taber*?» 
 nacle, for covering the tabernacle itself, thes 
 candlestick, and altar of incense, and the others 
 vessels, that they might not be at all hurt f 
 when they journeyed, either by the rain, oi I 
 by the rising of the dust. And when he had ; 
 gathered the multitude together again, he or-<^ 
 dained that they should offer half a shekel | 
 for every man, as an oblation to God ; whichli- 
 shekel is a piece among the Hebrews, and i9# 
 equal to four Athenian drachmae.J Where- 1| 
 
 t It is well worth our observation, that the two prin» i 
 cipal qualifications required in this section, for the con-*| 
 stitution of the first high-priest, (viz. that he should 
 have an excellent character for virtuous and -good ac- 
 tions ; OS also that he nhould have the approbation of 
 the people,) are here noted by Josephus, even where the 
 nomination belonged toGoil himself, which are the very 
 same qualifications which the Christian religion requirei^ 
 in the choice of CliriHtiiin Itishops, priests, and deacons;', 
 as the Apostolical Const it utions inform us, b. ii. chap. iiL * 
 
 X This weight and vnluc of the Jewish shekel, in th« *^ 
 days of Jo8«phus, equal to ubout 2». lUd. atttriing, is, by ^ 
 
€HAP. vm. 
 
 ant:iquities of the jews. 
 
 93 
 
 upon they readily obeyed what Moses had 
 r-ommanded ; and the number of the offerers 
 was six hundred and five thousand five hun 
 dred and fifty. Now this money that was 
 brought by the men that were free, was given 
 by such as were above twenty years old, but 
 under fiftyi and what was collected was spent 
 in the uses of the tabernacle. 
 
 3. Moses now purified the tabernacle and 
 the priests; which purification was performed 
 after the following manner : — He commanded 
 them to take five hundred shekels of choice 
 myrrh, an equal quantity of cassia, and half 
 the foregoing weight of cinnamon and cala- 
 mus (this last is a sort of sweet spice); to 
 beat them small, and wet them with an hin of 
 oil of olives (an hin is our own country mea- 
 sure, and contains two Athenian ckoas, or 
 congiuses),' then mix them together, and boil 
 them, and prepare them afrer the art of the 
 apothecary, and make them into a very sweet 
 ointment; and afterward to take it to anoint 
 and to purify the priests themselves, and all the 
 tabernacle, as also the sacrifices. There were 
 also many, and those of various kinds, of 
 sweet spices, that belonged to the tabernacle, 
 and such as were of very great price, and were 
 brought to the golden altar of incense, the na- 
 ture of which I do not now describe, lest it 
 should be troublesome to my readers ; but in- 
 cense* was to be flj(|fered twice a-day, both be- 
 fore sun-rising and at sun-setting. They were 
 also to keep oil ready purified for the lamps ; 
 three of which were to give light all day long,']' 
 upon the sacred candlestick, before God, and 
 the rest were to be lighted at the evening, 
 
 4. Now all was finished. Besaleel and 
 Aholiab appeared to be the most skilful of 
 the workmen ; for they invented finer works 
 than what others had done before them, and 
 were of great abilities to gain notions of what 
 they were formerly ignorant of; and of these, 
 Besaleel was judged to be the best. Now 
 the whole time they were about this work was 
 the interval of seven months; and after this 
 it was that was ended the first year since their 
 departure out of Egypt. But at the beginning 
 of the second year, on the month Xanthicus, 
 as the Macedonians call it, but on the month 
 Nisan, as the Hebrews call it, on the new 
 moon, they consecrated the tabernacle, and 
 all its vessels, which I have already described, 
 the learned Jews, owned to be one-fifth larger than 
 were their old shekels; which determination agrees 
 perfectly with the remaining shekels that have Sama- 
 ritan inscriptions, coined generally by Simon the Mac- 
 cabee, about 230 years before Josephus published his 
 Antiquities, which never weigh more than 2s. 4id., and 
 commonly but 2s. 4id. See Reland De Nummia Sama- 
 ritanorum, p. 188. 
 
 * The incense was here offered, according to Jose- 
 
 E bus's opinion, before sun-rising, and at sun-setting ; 
 ut in the days of Pompey, according to the same Jose- 
 phus, the sacrifices were offered in the morning, and 
 at the ninth hour. Antiq. b. xiv. ch. iv. sect. 3. 
 
 t Hence Ave may correct the opinion of the modem 
 Rabbins, who say that only one of the seven lamps 
 burned in the day-time ; whereas our Josephus, an eye 
 witiwss, says there were thriae. 
 
 5. Now God showed himself pleased with 
 the work of the Hebrews, and did not permit 
 their labours to be in vain; nor did he dis- 
 dain to make use of what they had made, but 
 he came and sojourned with them, and pitched 
 his tabernacle in the holy house. And in 
 the following manner did he come to it: — 
 The «ky was clear, but there was a mist over 
 the tabernacle only, encompassing it, but not 
 with such a very deep and thick cloud as is 
 seen in the winter season, nor yet in so thin a 
 one as men might be able to discern any thing 
 through it; but from it there drooped a sweet 
 dew, and such a one as showed the presence 
 of God to those that desired and believed it. 
 
 6. Now when Moses had bestowed such 
 honorary presents on the workmen, as it was 
 fit they should receive, who had wrought so 
 well, he offered sacrifices in the open court of 
 the tabernacle, as God commanded him; a 
 bull, a ram, and a kid of the goats, for a 
 sin-offering. Now I shall speak of what we 
 do in our sacred offices in my discourse about 
 sacrifices; and therein shall inform men in 
 what cases Moses bid us offer a whole burnt- 
 offering, and in what cases the law permits us 
 to partake of them as of food. And when 
 Moses had sprinkled Aaron's vestments, him- 
 self, and his sons, with the blood of the beasts 
 that were slain, and had purified them with 
 spring waters and ointment, they became 
 God's priests. After this manner did he con- 
 secrate them and their garments for seven 
 days together. The same he did to the taber- 
 nacle, and the vessels thereto belonging, both 
 with oil first incensed, as I said, and with the 
 blood of bulls and of rams, slain day by day 
 one, according to its kind. But on the eighth 
 day he appointed a feast for the people, and 
 commanded them to offer sacrifice according 
 to their abiUty. Accordingly they contended 
 one with another, and were ambitious to ex- 
 ceed each other in the sacrifices which they 
 brought, and so fulfilled Moses's injunctions. 
 But as the sacrifices lay upon the altar, a sud- 
 den fire was kindled from among them of its 
 own accord, and appeared to the sight like 
 fire from a flash of lightning, and consumed 
 whatsoever was upon the altar. 
 
 7. Hereupon an affliction befell Aaron, con- 
 sidered as a man and a father, but was un- 
 dergone by him with true fortitude; for he 
 had indeed a firmness of soul in such acci- 
 dents, and he thought this calamity came upon 
 him according to God's will; for whereas 
 he had four sons, as I have said before, the two 
 elder of them, Nadab and Abihu, did not 
 bring those sacrifices which Moses bade them 
 bring, but which they used to offer formerly, 
 and were burnt to death. Now when the fire 
 rushed upon them, and began to bum them, 
 nobody could quench it. Accordingly they 
 died in this manner. And Moses bid theu: 
 father and their brethren to take up their 
 bodies, to carry them out of the camp, and to 
 
94 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, ot 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 bury them magnificently. Now the multi- 
 tude lamented them, and were deeply affected 
 at this their death, which so unexpectedly be- 
 fell them. But Moses entreated their breth- 
 ren a»d their father not to be troubled for 
 them, and to prefer the honour of God before 
 their grief about them ; for Aaron had already 
 put on his sacred garments. 
 
 8. But Moses refused all that honour which 
 he saw the multitude ready to bestow upon 
 him, and attended to nothing else but the ser- 
 vice of God. He went no more up to mount 
 Sinai ; but he went into the tabernacle, and 
 brought back answers from God for what he 
 prayed for. His habit was also that of a pri- 
 vate man ; and in all other circumstances be 
 behaved himself like one of the common peo- 
 ple, and was desirous to appear without dis- 
 tinguishing himself from the multitude, but 
 would have it known that he did nothing else 
 but take care of them. He also set down in 
 writing the form of their government, and those 
 laws, by obedience whereto they would lead 
 their lives so as to please God, and so as to have 
 no quarrels one among another. However, the 
 laws he ordained were such as God suggested 
 to them; so I shall now discourse concern- 
 ing that form of government, and those laws. 
 
 9. 1 will now treat of what I before omit- 
 ted, the garment of the high-priest: for he 
 [Moses] left no room for the evil practices of 
 [false] prophets; but if some of that sort 
 should attempt to abuse the divine authority, 
 he left it to God to be present at his sacrifices 
 when he pleased, and when he pleased to be 
 absent.* And he was willing this should be 
 known, not to the Hebrews only, but to those 
 foreigners also who were there. For as to 
 those stones,f which we told you before the 
 
 ♦ Of this strange expression, that Moses " left it to 
 God to he present at his sacrifices when he pleased, and 
 when he pleassed to be abs'.>nt," see the note on b. ii. 
 ai^ainst Apion, sect. 16. 
 
 + These answers by the oracle of Urim and Thum- 
 mim, which words sijjHify light and perjection, or, as 
 the .Septuugint render thera, revelation and truth, and 
 denote nothing further, that I see, but the shining; stones 
 themselves, whicii were used, in this method of illumin- 
 ation, m revealing the will of God, after a perfect and 
 true manner, to his people Israel: I say, these answers 
 were not made by the shining of the precious stones, 
 after an awkward manner, in the high-priest's breast- 
 plate, as the modern Kabbins vainly suppose; for cer- 
 tainly the shining of the stones might precede or ac- 
 ciiipany the oracle, without itself delivenug that oracle 
 ;>.'e Aiitiq. b vi. chap. vi. se^t. 4), but rather by an 
 nudible voice from the mercy-seat between the cheru- 
 hiuis. See Prideaux's Connect, at the year 531. This 
 orach- had been sileat, as Josephus here infurm^i us, two 
 bundled years before he wrote his Antiquities, or ever 
 since the days of the last good high-priest of the family 
 III (lie Maccabees, John Hyrcanus. Now it is here very 
 well worth our observation, that the oracle before us was 
 TiKt by which God appeared to be present with, and gave 
 directions to, his people Israel as their king, all the while 
 tliey submitted to him in that capacity; and did not set 
 over them such independent kings as governed accord- 
 ing to their own wills and political maxims, instead of 
 divine directions. Accordingly, we meet with this ora- 
 cle (Ijesides anKelic and prophetic admonitions) all along 
 from the ddys of ^1ose4 ai:rt Joshua to the anointing of 
 »ftnl, the fir«t of the snccessioii ut the kings (Numb, 
 xxvii. 21{ Josh.vi 0,&c i xix 60; Judges, i 1; xviii.4, 
 1»«U li, aa, ^ a7, tn, x*i. l, &«., J Smn. L 
 
 high-priest bare on his shoulders, which were 
 sardonyxes (and I think it needless to describe 
 their nature, they beingknown to every body), 
 the one of them shiited out when God was 
 present at their sacrifices; I mean that which 
 was in the nature of a button on his right 
 shoulder, bright rays darting out thence, a:^!) 
 
 17, 18; iii. per tot, iv. per tot.); nay, till Saul's rejec- 
 tion of the divine commands in the war with Amaiek, 
 when he took upon him to act as he (bought fit (1 Sam. 
 xiv. a, 18, 19, 3ti, 37), then this oracle left Saul entirely . 
 (which indeed he had seldom consulted before, 1 Sam. 
 xiv. 3o; I Cliron. x. 14; xiii. 3, Antiq. b. vii. chap. iv. 
 sect. 2). and accompanied David, who was anointed to 
 succeed him, and who consulted God by it frequently, 
 and complied with its directions constantly (1 Sam. xiv. 
 37, 41; sv. 26; xxii. 13, 16; xxiii. 9, 10; xxx 7, H, Itf,- 
 2 Sam. ii. 1, v. lit, 23; xxi. 1; xxiii. 14; 1 Chron. xiv. 
 10, 14; Antiq. b. vi. chap. xii. sect. 5). Saul, indeed, 
 long after his rejection by God, and when God had given 
 him up to destruction for his disobedience, did once after- 
 wards endeavour to consult God when it was too late ; 
 but God would not then answer him, neither by dreams, 
 nor by Urim, nor by prophets ( 1 Sam. xxviii. G). ^«r 
 did any of David's successors, the kings of Juda, that^ 
 we know of, consult God by this oracle, till the very* 
 Babylonish captivity itself, when those kings were at an 
 end; they taking upon them, I suppose, too much of 
 despotic power and royalty, and too little owning the 
 God of Israel for the supreme King of Israel, though a 
 few of them consulted the prophets sometimes, and were 
 answered by them. At the return of the two tribes, with- 
 out the return of the kingly government, the restoration 
 of this oracle was expected (Neh. vii. 6-3; 1 Esd. v, 40; 
 1 Mace. iv. 46; xiv. 41). And indeed it may seem to have 
 been restored for some time alter the Babylonish capti- 
 vity, at least in the days of that excellent high-priest, 
 John Hyrcanus, whom Josephus esteemed as a king, a 
 priest, and a prophet; and who, he says, foretold several 
 things that came to pass accordingly; but about the 
 time of his death, he here implies, that this oracle quite 
 ceased, and not before. The following hii;h-priests now 
 1 utting diadems on their heads, and ruling according to 
 their own will, and by their own authority, like the other 
 kings of the I'agan countries about them; so that while 
 the tiod of Israel was allowed to be the supreme King 
 of Israel, and his directions to be their authentic guides, 
 God gave them such directions as their supreme kiiM» 
 and governor; and they were properly under a theocracy, 
 by this oracle of Urim, but no longer (see Dr. Bernard's 
 notes here), though I confess 1 caiawt but esteem thr 
 high-priest Jaddns's divinu dream (Antiq. b. xi. chap, 
 viii. .sect. 4), and the high-priest Caiaphas's most remark- 
 able prophecy (John xi 47— 5'.i),as two small remains or 
 specimens of this ancient oracle, which properly behmced 
 to the Jewish high-priests: nor perhaps ought we en- 
 tirely to lorget that eminent prophetic dream of our 
 Josephus him.seli (one next to a high-priest, as of the 
 family of the Asamoneans or Maccabees), as to the suc- 
 cession of Vespasian and Titus to the Koman Empire, 
 and that in the days of Nero, and before either Galba, 
 Otho. or Vitellius were thought of to succeed him. (Of 
 the War, b. iii. chap. viii. sect. U.) This, i think, may 
 well be looked on as the very last instance of any thing 
 like the prophetic Urim among the Jewish nation, and 
 just preceded their fatal desolation: but how it could 
 possibly come to pass that such great men as Sir John 
 Marsham and Dr. Spenser, should imagine that this 
 oracle of (JrimandTbuinmim. with other practices, at 
 old or older than the law of Moses, should have been 
 ordstined in imitation of somewhat like them among the 
 Egyptians, which we never hear of till the days of Dio- 
 dorus siculus, Ml\a.n, and Maimonides, or little earlier 
 than the Christian era at the highe.st. is almost unac- 
 countable; while the main business of the law of Moset 
 was evidently to preserve the Israelites Iroin the idola- 
 tious and superstitious practices of the neighbouring 
 Pagan nations; and while it is so undeniable, that the 
 evidence for the great antiquity of Moses's law is incom- 
 parably beyond that fi>r the like or greater antiquity of 
 such customs in Egypt or other nation.s, which indeed 
 is ginerally none at all. it i.n most ub!>u.'d to derive iiny 
 of Moses'* law.'< Irom tl.e iiiniutioii i>l those heailion 
 practices, such h)p.ilUi sf.» dt'iiioii>tiati- t<; us huw lar 
 inclination ran piev,,il nvor evMltnce, m e\eu some ot 
 tU« miMt Wtiriiwd pad ul luaukiud. 
 
OP T] 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 95 
 
 been seen even by thosis that were most re- 
 mote; which splendour yet was not before 
 natural to the stone. This his appeared a 
 wonderful thing to such as have not so far 
 indulged themselves in philosophy, as to de- 
 spise Divine Revelation. Yet will I mention 
 what is still more wonderful than this: for God 
 declared beforehand, by those £welve stones 
 which the high- priest bare on his breast, and 
 which were inserted into his breast-plate, 
 when they should be victorious in battle; for 
 so great a splendour shone forth from them 
 before the army began to march, that all the 
 people were sensible of God's being present 
 for their assistance. Whence it came to pass 
 that those Greeks, who had a veneration for 
 our laws, because they could not possibly 
 contradict this, called that breast-plate the 
 Oracle. Now this breast-plate, and this sar- 
 donyx, left off shining two hundred years be- 
 fore I composed this book, God having been 
 displeased at the transgression of his laws. Of 
 which things we shall further discourse on a 
 fitter opportunity; but I will now go on with 
 my proposed narration. 
 
 10. The tabernacle being now consecrated, 
 and a regular order being settled for the 
 priests, the multitude judged that God now 
 d^velt among them, and betook themselves to 
 sacrifices and praises to God, as being now 
 delivered from all expectation of evils, and 
 as entertaining a hopeful prospect of better 
 tnnes hereafter. They offered also gifts to 
 God, some as common to the whole nation, 
 and others as peculiar to themselves, and 
 these tribe by tribe ; for the heads of the 
 tri!)es combined together, two by two, and 
 brought a waggon and a yoke of oxen. These 
 auiouMtetl to six, and they carried the taber- 
 nacle when they journeyed. Besides which, 
 each head of a tribe brought a bowl, and a 
 charger, and a spoon, of ten darics, full of 
 incense. Novv the charger and the bowl were 
 of silver, and together they weighed two hun- 
 dred shekels, but the bowl cost no more than 
 seventy shekels; and these were full of fine 
 flojr mingled with oil, such as they used on 
 the altar about the sacrifices, Tbey brought 
 also a young bullock, and a ram, with a lamb 
 of a year old, for a wbole burnt-offering; as 
 also a goat for the forgiveness of sins. Every 
 one of the heads of the tribes brought also 
 o:her sacrifices, cdWeA peace-p^'erinysioT every 
 diy two bulls, and five rams, with lambs of 
 a year old, and kids of the goats. These 
 heads of tribes were twelve days in sacrificing, 
 one sacrificing every day. Now Moses went 
 no longer up to mount Sinai, but went into 
 the tabernacle, and learned of God what they 
 were to do, and what laws. should be made; 
 which laws were preferable to what have been 
 devised by human understanding, and proved 
 to be firmly observed for all time to come, as 
 l»eing believed to h the gift of God, inso- 
 much tbiit the Hel>rt;ws did not trans^jrcss 
 
 any of those laws, either as tempted in times 
 of peace by luxury, or in times of war by dis- 
 tress of affairs. But I say no more here con- 
 cerning them, because I have resolved to conv- 
 pose another work concerning our laws. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE MANNER OF OUR OFFERING SACRIFICES. 
 
 § 1. I WILL now, however, make mention of 
 a few of our laws which belong to purifica- 
 tions, and the like sacred offices, since I am 
 accidentally come to this matter of sacrifices. 
 These sacrifices were of two sorts; of those 
 sorts one was offered for private persons, and 
 the other for the people in general; and they 
 are done in two different ways : in the one 
 case, what is slain is burnt, as a whole burnt- 
 offering, whence that name is given to it; but 
 the other is a thank-offering, and is designed 
 for feasting those that sacrifice. I will speak 
 of the former. Suppose a private man offer 
 a burnt-offering, he must slay either a bull, a 
 lamb, or a kid of the goats, and the two latter 
 of the first year, though of bulls he is per- 
 mitted to sacrifice those of a greater age; but 
 all burnt-offerings are to be of males. When 
 they are slain the priests sprinkle the blood 
 round about the altar: they then cleanse the 
 bodies, and divide them into parts, and salt 
 them with salt, and lay them upon the altar, 
 while the pieces of wood are piled one upon 
 another, and the fire is burning; they next 
 cleanse the feet of the sacrifices and the in- 
 wards in an accurate manner, and so lay them 
 to the rest to be purged by the tire, while 
 the priests receive the hides. This is the way 
 of offering a burnt-offering. 
 
 2. But those that offer thank-offerings do 
 indeed sacrifice the same creatures, but such 
 as are unblemished, and above a year old; 
 however, they may take either males or fe- 
 males. They also sprinkle the altar with their 
 blood; but they lay upon the altar the kid- 
 neys and the caul, and all the fat, and the 
 lobe of the liver, together with the rump of 
 the lamb ; then, giving the breast and the 
 right shoulder to the priest, the offerers feast 
 upon the remainder of the flesh for two days; 
 and what remains they burn. 
 
 3. The sacrifices for sins are offered in the 
 same manner as is the thank-offering. But 
 those who are unable to purchase complete 
 sacrifices, offer two pigeons, or turtle doves; 
 the one of which is made a burnt-offering to 
 God, the other they give as food to the priests. 
 But we shall treat more accurately about the 
 oblation of these creatures in our discourse 
 concerning sacrifices. But if a person fall 
 into sin by ignorance, he offers an ewe lamb, of 
 a female kid of the goats, of the same age; 
 and the priests sprinkle the blood at the altar, 
 not after the former manner, but at the corners 
 of iu Thev also bring the kidneys and th« 
 
9« 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 ;est of the fat, together with the lobe of the 
 liver, to the altar, while the priests bear away 
 the hides and the flesh, and spent it in the 
 holy place, on the same dayj* for the law 
 does hot permit them to leave of it until the 
 morning. But if any one sin, and is conscious 
 of it himself, but hath nobody that can prove 
 it upon him, he offers a ram, the law enjoin- 
 ing him so to do ; the flesh of which the priests 
 eat as before, in the holy place, on the same 
 da;^. And if the rulers offer sacrifices for 
 their sins, they bring the same oblations that 
 private men do ; only they so far differ, that 
 they are to bring for sacrifice a bull or a kid 
 of the goats, both males. 
 
 4. Now the law requires, both in private 
 and public sacrifices, that the finest flour be 
 also brought ; for a lamb the measure of one 
 tenth-deal, — for a ram two, — and for a bull 
 three. This they consecrate upon the altar, 
 when it is mingled with oil; for oil is also 
 brought by those that sacrifice ; for a bull the 
 half of an hin, and for a ram the third part of 
 the same measure, and one quarter of it for 
 a lamb. This hin is an ancient Hebrew mea- 
 sure, and is equivalent to two Athenian choas 
 (or congiuses). They bring the same quantity 
 of oil which they do of wine, and they pour the 
 wine about the altar ; but if any one does not 
 offer a complete sacrifice of animals, but brings 
 fine flour only for a vow, he throws a handful 
 upon the altar as its first fruits, while the priests 
 take the rest for their food, either boiled or 
 mingled with oil, but made into cakes of bread. 
 But whatsoever it be that a priest himself of- 
 fers, it must of necessity be all burnt. Now 
 the law forbids us to sacrifice any animal at 
 the same time with its dam: and, in other 
 cases, not till the eighth day after its birth. 
 Other sacrifices there are also appointed for 
 escaping distempers, or for other occasions, in 
 which meat-off*erings are consumed, together 
 with the animals that are sacrificed ; of which 
 it is not lawful to leave any part till the next 
 day, only the priests are to take their own 
 share. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CONCERNING THE FESTIVALS; AND HOW EACH 
 DAY OP SUCH FESTIVAL 18 TO BE OBSERVED. 
 
 § 1. The law requires, that out of the pub- 
 lic expenses a Iamb of the first year be killed 
 every day, at the beginning and at the" ending 
 
 * What Reland well observefl here, out of Josephus, 
 as compared with the law of Moses, Lev. viii. 15 (that 
 the eatinj? of the sacrifice the some day it was offered, 
 seems to mean only before the morning of the next, al- 
 though the latter part, i. e. ^he night, be in gtrictness 
 port of the next day, according to the Jewish reckoning) 
 la greatly to be observed upon other occasions also. The 
 Jewish maxim, in such cases, it seems, is this : That the 
 day goes before the night ; and this appears to me to be 
 the language both of the Old and New Testament. See 
 also the note on Antiq. b. iv. ch. iv. 8e«t. 4, and Roland's 
 sole vu h. iv. ebap. vUi. sect. 98, 
 
 of the day ; but on the seventh day, which is 
 called the Sabbath, they kill two, and sacrifice 
 them in the same manner. At the new moon, 
 they both perform the daily sacrifices, and slay 
 two bulls, with seven lambs of the first year, 
 and a kid of the goats also, for the expiation 
 of sins ; that is, if they have sinned through 
 ignorance. 
 
 2. But on the seventh month, which the 
 Macedonians call Hyperberetseus, they make 
 an addition to those already mentioned, and 
 sacrifice a bull, a ram, and seven lambs, and 
 a kid of the goats, for sins. 
 
 3. On the tenth day of the same lunar 
 month, they fast till the evening ; and this day 
 they sacrifice a bull, and two rams, and seven 
 lambs, and a kid of the goats, for sins. And, 
 besides these, they bring two kids of the goats ; 
 the one of which is sent alive out of the limits 
 of the' ca^pp into the wilderness for the scape- 
 goat, and to be an expiation for the sins of the 
 whole multitude; but the other is brought 
 into a place of great cleanness within the 
 limits of the camp, and is there burnt, with its 
 skin, without any sort of cleansing. With 
 this goat was burnt a bull, not brought by the 
 people, but by the high-priest, at his own 
 charges ; which, when it was slain, he brought 
 of the blood into the holy place, together with 
 the blood of the kid of the goats, and sprinkled 
 the ceiling with his finger seven times, as also 
 its pavement, and again as often toward the 
 most holy place, and about the golden altar : 
 he also at last brings it into the open court; 
 and sprinkles it about the great altar. Besides 
 this, they set the extremities, and the kidneys, 
 and the fat, with the lobe of the liver, upon 
 the altar. The high-priest likewise presents 
 a ram to God as a burnt-offering. 
 
 4. Upon the fifteenth day of the same 
 month, when the season of the year is chang- 
 ing for winter, the law enjoins us to pitch 
 tabernacles in every one of our houses, so that 
 we preserve ourselves from the cold of that 
 time of the year ; as also that when we should 
 arrive at our own country, and come to that 
 city which we should have then for our metro- 
 polis, because of the temple therein to be built, 
 and keep a festival for eight days, and offer 
 burnt-offerings, and sacrifice thank-offerings, 
 that we should then carry in our hands a 
 branch of myrtle, and willow, and a bough of 
 the palm-tree, with the addition of the pome- 
 citron. That the burnt-offering on the first 
 of those days was to be a sacrifice of thirteen 
 bulls, and fourteen lambs, and fifteen rams, 
 with the addition of a kid of the goats, as an 
 expiation for sins: and on the following days 
 the same number of lambs, and of rams, with 
 the kids of the goajts ; but abating one of the 
 bulls every day till they amounted to seven 
 only. On the eighth day all work was laid 
 aside, and then, as we said before, they sacri- 
 ficed to God a bullock, a ram, and seven lambs, 
 with a kid of tho goats, for an expiation oi 
 
CHAP. X/. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 97 
 
 sins. And this « the accustomed solemnity 
 of the Hebrews, when they pitch their taber- 
 nacles. 
 
 5. In the month of Xanthicus, which is by 
 us called Nisan, and is the beginning of our 
 year, on the fourteenth day of the lunar month, 
 when the sun is in Aries (for in this month it 
 Was that we were delivered from bondage un- 
 der the Egyptians), the law ordained that we 
 should every year slay that sacrifice which I 
 before Oohl you we slew when we came out of 
 Egyp',an<i which was called tne Passover; 
 hnd so we do celebrate this passover in com- 
 panie., leaving nothing of what we sacrifice 
 till tlje day following. The feast of unlea- 
 vened bread succeeds that of the passover, and 
 foils on the fifteenth day of the month, and 
 conwmues seven days, wherein they feed on 
 un/ ravened bread ; on every one of which days 
 tv i) bulls are killed, and one ram, and seven 
 lr.nbs. Now these lambs are entirely burnt, 
 ) esides the kid of the goats which is added to 
 til the rest for sins; for it is intended as a 
 feast for the priests on every one of those days. 
 But on the second day of unleavened bread, 
 which is the sixteenth day of the month, they 
 first partake of the fruits of the earth, for be- 
 fore that day they do not touch them. And 
 while they suppose it proper to honour God, 
 from whom they obtain a plentiful provision, 
 in the first place, they o3er the first-fruits of 
 their barley, and that in the manner following: 
 They take a handful of the ears, and dry them, 
 then beat them small, and purge the barley 
 from the bran ; they then bring one tenth deal 
 to the altar, to God; and, casting one handful 
 of it upon the fire, they leave the rest for the 
 use of the priests; and after this it is that they 
 may publicly or privately reap their harvest. 
 They also at this participation of the first-fruits 
 of the earth, sacrifice a lamb, as a burnt-offer- 
 ing to God. 
 
 6. When a week of weeks has passed over 
 after this sacrifice ('which weeks contain forty 
 and nine days), on the fiftieth day, which is 
 Pentecost, but is called by the Hebrews Asar- 
 tha which signifies Pentecost, they bring to 
 God a loaf, made of wheat flour, of two tenth 
 deals, with leaven; and for sacrifices they bring 
 two lambs; and when they have only present- 
 ed them to God, they are made ready for sup- 
 per for the priests; nor is it perncitted to leave 
 any thing of them till the day following. They 
 also slay three bullocks for a burnt-offering, 
 and two rams; and fourteen lambs, with two 
 kids of the goats, for sins; nor is there any 
 one of the festivals but in it they offer burnt- 
 otlerings; they also allow themselves to rest 
 on every one of them. Accordingly, the law 
 prescribes in them all what kinds they are to 
 sacrifice, and how they are to rest entirely, and 
 must slay sacrifices, in order to feast upon 
 them. 
 
 7. However, out of the common charges, 
 baked bread [was set on the table of shew- 
 
 bread], without leaven, of twenty-four tenth 
 deals of flour, for so much is spent upon this 
 bread; two heaps of these were baked; they 
 were baked the day before the Sabbath, but 
 were brought into the holy place on the morn- 
 irg of the Sabbath, and set upon the noly ta- 
 ble, six on a heap, one loaf still standing over- 
 against another; where two golden cups full of 
 frankincense were also set upon them, and 
 there they remained till another Sabbath, and 
 then other loaves were brought in their st^ad, 
 while the loaves were given to the priests for 
 tBeir food, and the frankincense was burnt in 
 that sacred fire wherein all their offerings were 
 burnt also; and so other frankincense was set 
 upon the loaves instead of what was there 
 before. The [high] priest also, of his own 
 charges, offered a sacrifice, and that twice 
 every day. It was made of flour mingled 
 with oil, and gently baked by the fire; the 
 quantity was one tenth deal of flour; he 
 brought the half of it to the fire in the morn- 
 ing, and the other half at night. The account 
 of these sacrifices I shall give more accurately 
 hereafter; but I think I have premised what 
 for the present may be sufficient concerning 
 them. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 OF THE PURIFICATIONS. 
 
 § 1. Moses took out the tribe of Levi from 
 communicating with the rest of the people, 
 and set them apart to be a holy tribe ; and 
 purified them by water taken from perpetual 
 springs, and with such sacrifices as were usu- 
 ally offered to God on the like occasions. He 
 delivered to them also the tabernacle, and the 
 sacred vessels, and the other curtains, which 
 were made for covering the tabernacle, that 
 they might minister under the conduct of the 
 priests, who had been already consecrated to 
 God. 
 
 2. He also determined concerning animals; 
 which of them might be used for food, and 
 which they were obliged to abstain from; 
 which matters, when this work shall give me 
 occasion, shall be farther explained ; and the 
 causes shall be added, by which he was moved 
 to allot some of them to be our food, and en- 
 joined us to abstain from others. However, 
 he entirely forbade us the use of blood for 
 food, and esteemed it to contain the soul and 
 spirit. He also forbade us to eat the flesh of 
 an animal that died of itself, as also the caul, 
 and the fat of goats, and sheep, and bulls. 
 
 3. He also ordered, that those whose bodies 
 were aflJicted with leprosy, and who had a 
 gonorrhoea, should not come into the city ;* 
 
 • We may here note, that Josephus frequently calls 
 the camp tke city, and the ccMirt of the Mosaic taberna- 
 cle a temple, and the tabernacle itself a holy house, with 
 allusion to the latter city, temple, and holy house, whicb 
 he knew so well long afterwards. 
 G 
 
98 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK Uh 
 
 nay, he removed the women, when they had 
 their natural purgations, till the seventh day; 
 after which he looked on them as pure, and 
 permitted them to come in again. The law 
 permits those also who have taken care of fu- 
 nerals to come in after the same manner, when 
 this number of days is over; but if any con- 
 tinued longer than that number of days in a 
 state of pollution, the law appointed the of- 
 fering two lambs for a sacrifice; the one of 
 which they are to purge by fire, and for the 
 other, the priests take it for themselves. In 
 the same manner do those sacrifice who hdve 
 had the gonorrhoea. But he that sheds his 
 seed in his sleep, if he go down into cold wa- 
 ter, has the same privilege with those that have 
 lawfully accompanied with their wives. And 
 for the lepers, he suffered them not to come 
 into the city at all, nor to live with any others, 
 as if they were in effect dead persons; but if 
 any one had obtained, by prayer to God, the 
 recovery from that distemper, and had gained 
 a healthful complexion again, such a one re- 
 turned thanks to God, with several sorts of 
 sacrifices; concerning which we will speak 
 hereafter, 
 
 4. Whence one cannot but smile at those 
 who say that Moses was himself afflicted with 
 the leprosy when he fled out of Egypt, and 
 that he became the conductor of those who 
 on that account left that country, and led them 
 into the land of Canaan ; for, had this been 
 true, Moses would not have made these laws 
 to his own dishonour, which indeed it was 
 more likely he would have opposed, if others 
 had endeavoured to introduce them; and this 
 the rather, because there are lepers in many 
 nations, who yet are in honour, and not only 
 free from reproach and avoidance, but who 
 have been great captains of armies, and been 
 entrusted with high offices in the common 
 wealth, and have had the privilege of enter- 
 ing into holy places and temples; so that no- 
 thing hindered, but if either Moses himself, 
 or the multitude that was with him, had been 
 liable to such a misfortune in the colour of 
 his skin, he/night have made laws about them 
 for their credit and advantage, and have laid 
 no manner of difficulty upon them. Accord- 
 ingly, it is a plain case, that it is out of vio- 
 lent prejudice only that they report these things 
 about us; but Moses was pure from any such 
 distemper, and lived with countrymen who 
 were pure of it also, and thence made the 
 laws which concerned others that had the dis- 
 temper. He did this for the honour of God; 
 but as to these matters, let every one consider 
 them after what manner he pleases. 
 
 5. As to the women, when they have born 
 a child, Moses forbade them to come into the 
 temple, or touch the sacrifices, before forty 
 ^ays were over, supposing it to be a boy; but 
 if she has born agiil, the law is that she can- 
 not De admitted before twice tliat number of 
 days be ovgr; and when {jftfr U'*' l/i'fpi-e-mi'n- 
 
 tioned time appointed for them, they perform 
 their sacrifices, the priests distribute them De- 
 lore God. 
 
 6. But if any one suspect that his wite has 
 been guilty of adultery, he was to bnng a 
 tenth deal t>f barley flour; thoy ther cast one 
 handful to God, and gave the rest of it to Ih'? 
 priests for food. . One of the priests set the 
 woman at the gates that are turned towards 
 the temple, and took the veil from her head, 
 and wrote the name of God on parchment, 
 and enjoined her to swear that she had not at 
 all injured her husband ; and to wisfi that, if 
 she had violated her chastity, her right thigh 
 might be put out of joint; that her belly might 
 swell, and that she might die thjjs: but that 
 if her husband, by the violence of his affec- 
 tion, and of the jealousy which arose from it, 
 had been rashly moved to this suspicion, that 
 she might bear a male child in the tenth 
 month. Now when these oaths were over, 
 the priest wiped the name of Gov out of tho 
 parchment, and wrung the water into a viai. 
 He also took some dust out of the temple Cif 
 any happened to be there), and put a little of 
 it into the vial, and gave it her to drink ; 
 whereupon the woman, if she were unjustly 
 accused, conceived with child, and brought it 
 to perfection in her womb: but if ?he had 
 broken her faith of wedlock to her husband, 
 and had sworn falsely before God, she died 
 in a reproachful manner: her thigh fell off 
 from her, and her belly swelled with a dropsy 
 And these are the ceremonies about sacrifices, 
 and about the purifications thereto belonging, 
 which Moses provided for his countrymen. 
 He also prescribed the following laws to 
 them : — 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 BBVERAL LAWS. 
 
 § 1. As for adultery, Moses forbade it en 
 tirely, as esteeming it a happy thing that men 
 should be wise in the affairs of wedlock ; and 
 that it was profitable both to cities and fami 
 lies that children should be known to be ge 
 nuine. He also abhorred men's lying with 
 their mothers, as one of the greatest crimes 
 and the like for lying with the father's wife 
 and with aunts, and sisters, and son's wives 
 as all instances of abominable wickedness 
 He also forbade a man to lie with his wif* 
 when she was defiled by her natural purga 
 tion: and not to come near brute beasts; noi 
 to approve of the lying with a male, which 
 was to hunt after unlawful pleasures on ac 
 count of beauty. To those who were guilty 
 of such insolent behaviour, he ordained death 
 for their punishment. 
 
 2, As for the priests, he prescribed to theip 
 
CWAP. XU. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 99 
 
 * double degree of purity:* for he restrained 
 tneir. in the instances above, and moreover for- 
 oade tfiem to oiarry harlots. He also forbade 
 them to marry a slave, or a captive, and such 
 as got their living by cheating trades, and by 
 keeping inns: as also a woman parted from 
 her husband, on any account whatsoever. 
 ISay, he did not think it proper for the hi^^h- 
 priest to marry even the widow of one that 
 was dead, though he allowed that to the 
 priests^ but he permitted him only to marry 
 & virgin, and to retain her. Whence it is 
 that the high-priest is not to come near to one 
 that is dead, although the rest are not prohi- 
 bited from coining near to their brethren, or 
 parents, or children, when they are dead; but 
 they are to be unblemished in all respects. 
 He ordered that the priest, who had any blem- 
 ish, should have his portion indeed among the 
 priests; but he forbade him to ascend the al- 
 tar, or to enter into the holy house. He also 
 enjoined them, not only to observe purity in 
 their sacred ministrations, but in their daily 
 conversation, that it might be unblameable 
 also; aiid on this account it is that those who 
 wear the sacerdotal garments are without spot, 
 and eminent for their purity and sobriety : nor 
 are they permitted to drink wine so long as 
 they wear those garments.f Moreover, they 
 offer sacrifices that are entire, and have no 
 defect whatsoever. 
 
 3. And truly Moses gave them all these 
 precepts, being such as were observed dufing 
 his own life-time; but though he lived now 
 in the wilderness, yet did he make provision 
 how they might observe the same laws when 
 they should have taken the land of Canaan. 
 He gave then rest to the land from plough- 
 ing and planting every seventh year, as he had 
 prescribed to them to rest from working every 
 seventh day; and ordered, that then what grew 
 of its own accord out of the earth, should in 
 common belong to all that pleased to use it, 
 making no distinction in that respect between 
 their own countrymen and foreigners : and he 
 ordained, that they should do the same after 
 seven times seven years, which in all are fifty 
 years; and that fiftieth year is called by the 
 Hebrews The Jubilee, wherein debtors are 
 freed from their debts, and slaves are set at 
 Jiberty; which slaves became such, though 
 they were of the sara6 stock, by transgressing 
 some of those laws the punishment of which 
 was not capital, but they were punished by 
 
 • These words of Josephus are remarkable, that the 
 lawtjiver of the Jews required of the priests a double 
 desjree of'purity, in comparison of tliut require*! of the 
 peoole, of which he gives seyeral instances immediately. 
 It was for certain tiie case also amoiiij the first Christians, 
 of the clersjy, in comparison of the iaity. as the Aposto- 
 lical Constitutions and Canons everywhere inform us. 
 
 + We must here note, with Reland, that the precept 
 given to the prie«ls of not driukins; wine while they wore 
 tlie sacred garments, is equivalent to their abstinence 
 &ora it all the while they ministeied in ihe temple; be- 
 cause they then always, and thi-u oily, wore those Siicred 
 garments, whicli were laid u;» lliere from one time of 
 aiiuutratioii to vuuUter 
 
 this method of slavery. This year also re- 
 stores the land to its former possessors in the 
 maimer following : — When the Jubilee is 
 come, which name denotes liberty, he that 
 sold the land, and he that bought it, meet to- 
 gether, and make an estimate, on one hand, 
 of the fruits gathered; and, on the other hand, 
 of the expenses laid out upon it. If the fruits 
 gathered come to more than the expenses laid 
 out, he that sold it takes the land again; but 
 if the expenses prove more than the fruits, 
 the present possessor receives of the former 
 owner the difference that was wanting, and 
 leaves the land to him ; and if the fruits re- 
 ceived, and the expenses laid out, prove equal 
 to oixe another, the present possessor relin- 
 quishes it to the former owners. Moses would 
 have the same law obtain as to those houses 
 also which were sold in villages; but he made 
 a different law for sucb as were sold in a city; 
 for if he that sol'l it tendered the purchaser 
 his money again within a year, he was forced 
 to restore it; but m case a whole year had in- 
 tervened, the purchaser was to enjoy what he 
 had bought. This was the constitution of the 
 laws which Mcscs learned of God when the 
 camp lay under mount Smai; and this he de- 
 livered in writing to the Heb'*ew?, 
 
 4. Now when thissettlement of laws seemed 
 to be well over, Moses thought fit at length 
 to take a review of the host, as thinking it 
 proper to settle the affairs of war So he 
 charged the heads oi the tribes, exceptmy- the 
 tribe of Levi, to take an exact account ol tn«j 
 number of those that were able to go to wa;-; 
 for as to the Levites they were tioly, and tree 
 from all such burdens. Now wben tne peo- 
 ple had been numbered, there were found six 
 hundred thousand that were able to go to 
 war, from twenty to^ifty years of age, besides 
 three thousand six hundred and tiily. Instead 
 of Levi, Moses took Manasseh, the son of 
 Joseph, among the heads of tribes ; and Eph- 
 raim instead of Joseph. It was indeed the de- 
 sire of Jacob himself to Joseph, that he would 
 give him his sons to be his own by adoption, 
 as I have before related. 
 
 5. When they set up the tabernacle, they 
 received it into the midst of their camp, three 
 of the tribes pitching their tents on each side 
 of it ; and roads were cut througb the micist 
 of these tents. It was hke a well-appointed 
 market ; and every thing was there ready for 
 sale in due order; and all sorts of artificers 
 were in the shops; and it resembled nothmg 
 so much as a city that sometimes was move- 
 able, and sometimes fixed. The priests had 
 the first places about the tabernacle; then the 
 Levites, who, because their whole midtitude 
 was reckoned from thirty days old, were 
 twenty-three thousand eight hundred and 
 eighty males; and, during the time that the 
 cloud stood orer the tabernacle, they thought 
 proper to stay in the same place, as suppos- 
 
 i ing that God there inhabited among them ; 
 
100 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEW». 
 
 BOOK ITI. 
 
 but when that removed th«y journeyed also. 
 6. Moreover, Moses was the inventor of 
 the form of their trumpet, which was made 
 of silver. Its description is this: — In length 
 it was little less than a cubit. It was com- 
 posed of a narrow tube, somewhat thicker 
 than a flute, but with so much breadth as was 
 sufficient for admission of the breath of a 
 man's mouth: it ended in the form of a bell, 
 like common trumpets. Its sound was called 
 in the Hebrew tongue Asosra. Two of these 
 being made, one of them was sounded when 
 they required the multitude to come together 
 to congregations. When the first of them 
 gave a signal, the heads of the tribes were to 
 assemble, and consult about the affairs to 
 them properly belonging; but when they gave 
 the signal by both of them, they called the 
 multitude together. Whenever the tabernacle 
 was removed, it was done in this solemn or- 
 der: — At the first alarm of the trumpet, those 
 whose tents were on the east quarter prepared 
 to remove; when the second signal was given, 
 those that were on the south quarter did the 
 like; in the next place, the tabernacle was 
 taken to pieces, and was carried in the midst 
 of six tribes that went before, and of six that 
 followed, all the Levites assisting about the 
 tabernacle; when the third signal was given, 
 that part which had their tents towards the 
 west put themselves in motion ; and at the 
 fourth signal those on the north did so like- 
 wise. They also made use of these trumpets 
 in their sacred ministrations, when they were 
 bringing their sacrifices to the altar, as well 
 on the Sabbaths as on the rest of the [festival] 
 days; and now it was that Moses offered that 
 sacrifice which was called the Passover in the 
 Wilderness, as the first he had offered after 
 the departure out of Egypt. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HOW MOSES REMOVED FROM MOUNT SINAI, 
 AND CONDUCTED THE PEOPLE TO THE 
 BORDSaS OF THE CANAANITK3. 
 
 A LITTLE while afterwards he rose up, an(f 
 went from mount Sinai; and, having passed 
 through several mansions, of which we 
 will speak anon, he came to a place called 
 Hazeroth, where the multitude began again to 
 be mutinous, and to blame Moses for the mis- 
 fortunes they had suffered in their travels; 
 aud that when he had persuaded them to leave 
 a good land, they at once bad lost that land, 
 mid instead of that happy state he had pro- 
 mised them, they were still wandering in their 
 present miserable condition, being already in 
 want of water; and if the manna should bap- 
 pen to fail, they must then utterly perish. 
 Jfet while they generally spake many and 
 8or« t-bings s^fainst the iBan„ there was ooe of 
 
 them who exhorted them not to be unmind^ 
 ful of Moses, and of what great pains he ha5 
 been at about their common safety; and not 
 to despair of assistance from God. The mul- 
 titude thereupon became still more unruly,, 
 and more mutinous against Moses than be- 
 fore. Hereupon Moses, although he vvas so- 
 basely abused by them, encouraged ibem in 
 their despairing condition, and promised that 
 he would procure them a great quantity o^ 
 flesh-meat, and that not for a few days only, 
 but for many days. This they were not will- 
 ing to believe; and when one of them asked 
 whence he could obtain such vast plenty of 
 what he promised, he replied, " Neither God 
 nor I, although we hear such opprobrious Ian- 
 guage from you, will leave off our labours 
 for you ; and this shall soon appear also." 
 As soon as ever be had said this, the whole 
 camp was filled with quails, and they stood 
 round about them, and gathered them in great 
 numbers. However, it was not long ere 
 God punished the Hebrews for their inso- 
 lence, and those reproaches they had used to- 
 wards him, for no small number of then* 
 died ; and still to this day the place retain* 
 the memory of this destruction, and is named 
 Kibroth-hattaavah,. which is. The Graves oj 
 Lust. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HOW MOSES SENT SOBfE PERSONS TO SEARCB 
 OUT THE LAND OF THE CANAANITES, ANl> 
 THE LARGENESS OF THEIR CITIES; ANO 
 FARTHER, THAT WHEN THOSE WHO WB'iB 
 SENT WERE RETURNED, AFTER FORTY DA YS^ 
 AND REPORTED THAT THEY SHOULD NOT 
 BE A MATCH FOR THEM, AND EXTOLLED 
 THE STRENGTH OF THE CANAANITES, THB 
 MULTITUDE WERE DISTURBED, AND FELL 
 INTO DESPAIR; AND WERE RESOLVED TO 
 STONE MOSES, AND TO RETURN BACK AGAIN 
 INTO EGYPT, AND SERVE THE EGYPTIANS, 
 
 § 1. When Moses had led the Hebrews away 
 from thence to a place called Paran, which was 
 near to the borders of the Canaanites, and a 
 place difficult to be coiitiBued in, he gathered 
 the miiltitiule together to a congregation ; 
 and standing in the midst of them, he said, 
 " Of the two things that God determined to 
 bestow upon us, Liberty, and the Possession 
 of a Happy Country,, the one of them ye al- 
 ready are partaiiers of, by the gift of God» 
 and the other you will quickly i^btain ; fop 
 we now have our abode near the borders ol 
 the Canaanites, and nothing can hinder the 
 acquisition of it, when we now at last are 
 fallen upon it : I say, not only no king nor 
 city, but neither the whole race of mankind,, 
 if they were all gathered together, could du 
 it. Let us therefore prepare ourselves fo» 
 the work, for the Caua;xnitu» will uoi resign 
 
CHAP. XV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 101 
 
 up their land to us wthout fighting, but it 
 must be wrested from them by great struggles 
 in war. Let us then send spies, who may 
 take a view of the goodness of the land, and 
 what strength it is of; but, above all things, 
 let us be of one mind, and let us honour God, 
 who above all is our helper and assister." 
 
 2. When Moses had said thus, the multi- 
 tude requited him with marks of respect ; 
 and chose twelve spies, of the most eminent 
 men, one out of each tribe, who, passing over 
 all the land of Canaan from the borders of 
 Egypt, came to the city Hamath, and to 
 mount Lebanon; and having learned the na- 
 ture of the land, and of its inhabitants, they 
 came home, having spent forty days in the 
 whole work. They also brought with them 
 of the fruits which the land bare; they also 
 showed them the excellency of those fruits, 
 and gave an account of the great quantity of 
 the good things that land afforded, which were 
 motives to the multitude to go to war. But 
 then they terri6ed them again with the great 
 difficulty there was in obtaining it; that the 
 rivers were so large and deep that they could 
 not be passed over; and that,the hills were so 
 high that they could not travel along for 
 them; that the cities were strong with walls, 
 and their firm fortifications round about 
 them. They told them also, that they found 
 at Hebron, the posterity of the giants. Ac- 
 cordingly these spies, who had seen the land 
 of Canaan, when they perceived that all these 
 dilficulties were greater there than they had 
 met with since they came out of Egypt, they 
 were affrighted at them themselves, and en- 
 deavoured to affright the multitude also. 
 
 3. So they supposed, from what they had 
 heard, that it was impossible to get the pos- 
 session of the country. And when the congre-- 
 gation was dissolved, they, their wives and 
 children, continued their lamentation, as if 
 God would not indeed assist them, but only 
 promised them fair. They also again blamed 
 Moses, and made a clamour against him and his 
 brother Aaron, the high-priest. Accordingly 
 they passed that night very ill, and with 
 contumelious language against them; but in 
 the morning they ran to a congregation, in- 
 tending to stone Moses and Aaron, and so to 
 return back into Egypt. 
 
 4. But of the spies, there were Joshua, the 
 Bon of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, and 
 Caleb of the tribe of Judah, that were afraid 
 ot the consequence, and came into the midst 
 of them, and stilled the multitude, and\de- 
 sired them to be of good courage; and nei- 
 ther to condemn God as having told them 
 lies, nor to hearken to those who had affright- 
 ed them, by telling them what was not true 
 concerning the Canaanites, but to those that 
 encouraged them to hope for good success; 
 and that they should gain possession of the 
 happiness promised them, because neither the 
 height of mountains nor the depth of risers 
 
 could hinder men of true courage from at- 
 tempting them, especially while God would 
 take care of them beforehand, and be assis- 
 tant to them. " Let us then go," said they, 
 "against our enemies, and have no suspicion 
 of ill success, trusting in God to conduct us, 
 and following those that are to be our lead- 
 ers." Thus did these two exhort them, and 
 endeavour to pacify the rage they were in. 
 But Moses and Aaron fell on the ground, and 
 besought God, not for their own deliverance, 
 but that he would put a stop to what the 
 people were unwarily doing, and would bring 
 their minds to a quiet temper, which were 
 now disordered by their present passion. The 
 cloud also did now appear, and stood over the 
 tabernacle, and declared to them the presence 
 of God to be there. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HOW MOSES WAS DISPLEASED AT THIS, AND 
 FORETOLD THAT GOD WAS ANGRY, AND 
 THAT THEY SHOULD CONTINUE IN THE WIL- 
 DERNESS FOR FORTY YEARS, AND NOT, 
 DURING THAT TIME, EITHER RETURN INTO 
 EGYPT, OR TAKE POSSESSION OF CANAAN, 
 
 § I. MosES came now boldly to the multi- 
 tude, and informed them that God was moved 
 at their abuse of him, and would inflict pun- 
 ishment upon them, not indeed such as they 
 deserved for their sins, but such as parents 
 inflict on their children, in order to their cor- 
 rection : For, he said, that when he wasin the 
 tabernacle, and was bewailing with tears that 
 destruction which was coming upon them, God 
 put him in mind what things he had done for 
 them, and what benefits they had received 
 from him, and yet how ungrateful they had 
 been to him; that just now they had been in- 
 duced, through the timorousness of the spies, 
 to think that their words were truer than his 
 own promise to them ; and that on this ac- 
 count, though he would not indeed destroy 
 them all, nor utterly exterminate their nation, 
 which he had honoured more than any other 
 part of mankind, yet he would not permit 
 them to take possession of the land of Canaan, 
 nor enjoy itd happiness ; but would make 
 them wander in the wilderness, and live with- 
 out a fixed habitation, and without a city, for 
 forty years together, as a punishment for this 
 their trangression ; but that he hath promised 
 to give that land to our children, and that he 
 would make them the possessors of those 
 good things which, by your ungoverned pas- 
 sions, you have deprived yourselves of 
 
 2. When Moses had discoursed thus to 
 them, according to the direction of God. the 
 multitude grieved, and were in atlliction; and 
 entreated Moses to procure their reroncilia. 
 tion to God. and to permit them no longe- 
 
102 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 wander in the wilderness, but to bestow cities 
 upon them; but he replied, that God would 
 not admit of any such trial, for that God was 
 not moved to this determination from any hu- 
 man levity or anger, but that he had judici- 
 ally condemned them to that punishment. 
 Now we are not to disbelieve that Moses, 
 who was but a single person, pacified so many 
 ten thousands when they were in anger, and 
 converted them to a mildness of temper; for 
 God was with him, and prepared the way to 
 his persuasions of the multitude; and as they 
 had often been disobedient, they were now 
 sensible that such disobedience was disadvan- 
 tageous to them, and that they had still there- 
 by fallen into calamities. 
 
 3. But this man was admirable for his vir- 
 tue, and powerful in making men give credit 
 to what he delivered, not only during the 
 time of his natural life, but even there is still 
 130 one of the Hebrews who does not act even 
 now as if Moses were present, and ready to 
 punish him if he should do any thing that is 
 indecent; nay, there is no one but is obe- 
 dient to what laws he ordained, although they 
 might be concealed in their transgressions. 
 There are also many other demonstrations 
 that his power was more than human, for still 
 some there have been, who have come from 
 the parts beyond Euphrates, a journey of four 
 months, through many dangers, and at great 
 expenses, in honour of our temple ; and yet, 
 when they had offered their oblations, could 
 not partake of their own sacrifices, because 
 Moses had forbidden it, by somewhat in the 
 law that did not permit them, or somewhat 
 that had befallen them, which our ancient cus- 
 
 toms made inconsistent therewth ; some of 
 these did not sacrifice at all, and others left 
 their sacrifices in an imperfect condition ; nay, 
 many were not able, even at first, so much as 
 to enter into the temple, but went their ways 
 in this state, as preferring a submission to the 
 laws of Moses before the fulfilling of their own 
 inclinations, even when they had no fear upon 
 them that any body could convict them, but 
 only out of a reverence to their own con- 
 science. Thus this legislation, which appeared 
 to be divine, made this man to be esteemed 
 as one superior to his own nature. Nay, far- 
 ther, a little before the beginning of this 
 war, when Claudius was emperor of the Ro- 
 mans, and Ismael was our high-priest, and 
 when so great a famine* was come upon us, 
 that one tenth deal [of wheat] was sold for four 
 drachmae, and when no less than seventy cori 
 of flour were brought into the temple, at the 
 feast of unleavened bread (these cori are 
 thirty-one Sicilian, but forty-one Athenian 
 medimni), not one of the priests was so hardy 
 as to eat one crumb of it, even while so great 
 a distress was upon the land; and this out of 
 a dread of the law, and of that wrath which 
 God retains against acts of wickedness, eveij 
 when no one can accuse the actors. Whence 
 we are not to wonder at what was the-n done, 
 while to this very day the writings left by Mo- 
 ses have so great a force, that even those that 
 hate us do confess, that he who established 
 this settlement was God, and that it was by 
 the means of Moses, and of his virtue: but 
 as to these matters, let every one take them 
 as he thinks fit. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 OONTAININO THE INTERVAL OF THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS. 
 
 FROM THE REJECTION OF THAT GENERATION, TO THE 
 DEATH OF MOSES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE FIGHT OF THE HEBREWS WITH THE 
 NAANITE8, WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF 
 SES; AND THEIR DEFEAT. 
 
 OA- 
 MO- 
 
 the 
 
 § 1. Now this life of the Hebrews m 
 wilderness was so disagreeable and trouble- 
 some to them, and they were so uneasy at it, 
 
 that although God had forbidden them to ' 
 meddle with the Canaanites, yet could they 
 not be persuaded to be obedient to the words 
 of Moses, and to be quiet; but supposing 
 they should be able to beat their enemies, 
 even without his approbation, they accused 
 
 * This gfreat famine in the days of Claxulius, is ngain 
 mentioned in Autiq. b. xx. chap. ii. sect. 6 : aad Acti 
 xi. 28. 
 
CHAP. II, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 103 
 
 him, and suspected that he made it his busi- 
 ness to keep them in a distressed condition 
 that they might always stand in need of his 
 assistance. Accordingly they resolved to fight 
 with the Canaanites, and said that God gave 
 them his assistance, — not out of regard to 
 Moses's intercessions, but because he took care 
 of their entire nation, on account of then 
 forefathers, whose aflfairs he took under his 
 own conduct; as also, that it was on account 
 of their own virtue that he had formerly pro- 
 cured them their liberty, and would be assist- 
 ing to them, now they were willing to take 
 pains for it. They also said that they were pos- 
 sessed of abilities sutiicient for the conquest of 
 their enemies, although Moses should have a 
 mind to alienate God from them ; that, how- 
 ever, it was for their advantage to be their 
 own masters, and not so for to rejoice in their 
 deliverance from the indignities they endured 
 under the Egyptians, as to bear the tyranny 
 of Moses over them, and to suffer themselves 
 to be deluded, and live according to his plea- 
 sure, as though God did only foretell what con- 
 cerns us out of his kindness to him, as if they 
 were not all the posterity of Abraham ; that 
 God made him alone the author of all the 
 Knowledge we have, and we must still learn 
 t from him; that it would be a piece of pru- 
 dence to oppose his arrogant pretences, and 
 to put their confidence in God, and to resolve 
 to take possession of that land which he had 
 promised them, and not to give ear to him, 
 who, on this account, and under the pretence 
 of divine authority, forbade them so to do. 
 Considering, therefore, the distressed state 
 they were in at present, and that in those de- 
 sert places they were still to expect things 
 would be worse with them, they resolved to 
 fight with the Canaanites, as submitting only 
 to God, their supreme commander, and not 
 waiting for any a-sistance from their legislator. 
 
 2. When, therefore, they had come to this 
 resolution, as being best for them, they went 
 against their enemies; but those enemies were 
 not dismayed either at the attack itself, or at 
 the great multitude that made it, and received 
 rhein with great courage. Many of the He- 
 brews were slain ; and the remainder of the 
 army, upon the disorder of their troops, were 
 pursued, and fled, after a shameful manner, 
 tJ their camp. Whereupon this unexpected 
 misfortune made them quite despond ; and 
 they hoped for nothing that was good; as ga- 
 thering from it, that this afl3iction came from 
 the wrath of God, because they rashly went 
 out to war without his approbation. 
 
 3. But when Moses saw how deeply they 
 were affected with this defeat, and being afraid 
 lest the enemies should grow insolent upon 
 this victory, and should be desirous of gaining 
 still greater glory, and should attack them, be 
 resolved that it was proper to withdraw the 
 army into the wilderness to a farther distance 
 froju the Cana/^ites: so the multitude gave 
 
 themselves up again to his conduct ; for they 
 were sensible that, without his care for them, 
 their affairs could not be in a good coj»diiiou; 
 and he caused the host to remove, and he went 
 farther into the wilderness, as intending there 
 to let them rest, and not to permit them to 
 fight the Canaanites before God should afford 
 them a more favourable opportunity. 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 THE SEDITION OF CORAH AND OF THE MULTI- 
 TUDE AGAINST MOSES, AND AGAINST HIS 
 BROTHER, CONCERNING THE PRIESTHOOD. 
 
 § 1. That which is usually the case of great 
 armies, and especially upon ill success, to be 
 hard to be pleased, and governed yvith diffi- 
 culty, did now befall the Jews ; for they be- 
 ing in number six hundred thousand^ and, by 
 reason of their great multitude, not readily 
 subject to their governors, even in prosperity, 
 they at this time were more than usually an- 
 gry, both against one another and against 
 their leader, because of the distress they were 
 in, and the calamities they then endured. Such 
 a sedition overtook them, as w^e have not the 
 like example either among the Greeks or the 
 Barbarians, by which they were in danger of 
 being all destroyed, but were notwithstanding 
 saved by Moses, who would not remember 
 that he had been almost stoned to death by 
 them. Nor did God neglect to prevent their 
 ruin ; but, notwithstanding the indignities they 
 had offered their legislator and the laws, and 
 their disobedience to the commandments which 
 he had sent them by Moses, he delivered them 
 from those terrible calamities, which, without 
 his providential care, had been brought upon 
 them by this sedition. So I will first explain 
 the cause whence this sedition arose, and then 
 will give an account of the sedition itself; as 
 also of what settlements Moses made for their 
 government, after it was over. 
 
 2. Corah, a Hebrew of principal account, 
 both by his family and by his wealth, one that 
 was also able to speak well, and one that could 
 easily persuade the people by his speeches, saw 
 that Moses was in an exceeding great dignity, 
 and was uneasy at it, and envied him on that 
 account (he was of the same tribe with Moses, 
 and of kin to him), was particularly grieved, 
 because he thought he better deserved that 
 honourable post on account of his great riches, 
 and not inferior to him in his birth. So he 
 raised a clamour against him among the Le- 
 vites, who were of the same tribe, and espe- 
 cially among his kindred, saying, " That it wa« 
 a very sad thing that they should overlook 
 Moses, while he hunted after, and paved the 
 way to glory for himself, and by ill arts should 
 obtain it, under the pretence of God's coni- 
 mund, while, contrary to the lawsj he had 
 
104 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV 
 
 given the priesthood to Aaron, not by the 
 common suffrage of the multitude, but by 
 his own vote, as bestowing dignities in a 
 tyrannical way on whom he pleased." He 
 aclded, " That this concealed way of impos- 
 ing on them was harder to be borne than if 
 it had been done by an open force upon them, 
 because he did now not only take away 
 their power without their consent, but even 
 /while they were unapprised of his contri- 
 . vances against them; for whosoever is con- 
 scious to himaelf that he deserves any dig- 
 nity, aims to get it by persuasion, and not 
 by an arroaant method of violence; but 
 those that believe it impossible to obtain 
 those honours justly, made a show of good- 
 ness, and do not introduce force, but by cun- 
 ning tricks grow wickedly powerful: that 
 it was proper for the multitude to punish 
 such men, even while they think themselves 
 concealed in their designs, and not suffer 
 them to gain strength till they have them 
 for their open enemies. " For what account," 
 added he, " is Moses able to give, why he 
 has bestowed the priesthood on Aaron and 
 his sons? for if God had determined to be- 
 stow that honour on one of the tribe of Levi, 
 I am more worthy of it than he is; I myself 
 being equal to Moses by my family, and 
 superior to him both in riches and m age: 
 but if God had determined to bestow it on 
 the eldest tribe, that of Reuben might 
 have it most justly; and then Dathan, and 
 Abiram, and [On, the son of] Peleth, 
 would have it; for these are the oldest men 
 of that tribe, and potent on account of their 
 groat wealth also." 
 
 3. Now Corah, when he said this, had a 
 mind to appear to take care of the public 
 wolfare; but in reality he was endeavouring 
 to procure to have that dignity transferred 
 by the multitude to himself. Thus did he, 
 out of a malignant design, but with plausi- 
 ble words, discourse to those of his own 
 tribe; and when these words did gradually 
 spreaxl to more of the people, and when the 
 hearers still added to what tended to the 
 scandals that were cast upon Aaron, the 
 wh ole army was full of them. Now of those 
 that conspired with Corah, there were two 
 hundred and fifty, and those of the principal 
 men also, who were eager to have the 
 priesthood taken away from Moses's bro- 
 ther, and to bring him into disgrace: nay, 
 the multitude themselves were provoked to 
 be seditious, and attempted to stone Moses, 
 and gathered themselves together after an 
 indecent manner, with confusion and dis- 
 order. And now they all were, in a tumul- 
 tuous manner, raising a clamour before the 
 tabernacle of God, to prosecute the tyrant, 
 and to relieve the multitude from their 
 slavery under him who, under colour of the 
 divine commands, laid violent injunctions 
 upon them ; for that had it been God who 
 chose one that was to perform the office of 
 a priest, he would have raised a worthy 
 person to that dijinity, and would not have 
 
 produced such a one as was inferior to many 
 others, nor have given him that officej and 
 that in case he had jcudged it fit to bestow 
 it on Aaron, he would have permitted it to 
 the multitude to bestow it, and not have 
 left it to be bestowed by his own brother. 
 
 4. Now although Moses had a great while 
 ago foreseen this calumny of Corah, and 
 had seen that the people were irritated, yet 
 was he not affrighted at it; but being of 
 good courage, because he had given them 
 right advice about their affairs, and know- 
 ing that his brother had been made par- 
 taker of the priesthood at the command oi 
 God, and not by his own favour to him, he 
 came to the assembly; and, as for the mul- 
 titude, he said not a word to them, but spake 
 as loud to Corah as he could; and being 
 very skilfulin making speeches, and having 
 this natural talent, among others, that he 
 could greatly move the multitude with his 
 discourses, he said, " O Corah, both thou 
 and all these with thee (pointing to the 
 two hundred and fifty men) seem to be 
 worthy of this honour; nor do I pretend 
 but that this whole company may be worthy 
 of the like dignity, although they may not 
 be so rich, or so great as you are; nor have 
 I taken and given this office to my brother, 
 because he excelled others in riches, for 
 thou exceedeth us both in the greatness of 
 thy wealth;* nor indeed because he was of 
 an eminent family, for God, by giving us 
 the same common ancestor, has made our 
 families equal; nay, nor was it out of 
 brotherly affection, which another might 
 yet have justly done; for certainly, unless 
 I had bestowed this honour ©ut of regard 
 to God, and to his laws, I had not passed 
 by myself and given it to another, as being 
 nearer of kin to myself than to my brother, 
 and having a closer intimacy with myself 
 than I have with him; for surely it wbui(i 
 not be a wise thing for me to expose myself 
 to the dangers of offending, and to btistow 
 the happy employment on this account upon 
 another. But 1 am above such base pi ac- 
 tices; nor would God have overlooked this 
 matter, and seen himself thus despised; uov 
 would he have suffered you to be ignorant 
 of what you were to do in order to pkabo 
 him ; but he hath himself chosen one tiuit 
 is to perform that sacred office to him, ami 
 thereby freed us from that care. So that 
 it was not a thing that 1 pretend to give, 
 but only according to the determination oi 
 God; I therefore propose it still to be con- 
 tended for by sueh as please to put in for 
 it, only desiring, that he who has been al- 
 ready preferred, and has already obtained 
 it, may be allowed now also to offer himself 
 for a candidate. He prefers your })eace, 
 and your living without sedition, to this 
 honourable employment, althougti in truth 
 
 • Reland here tttl>f» n<'»ice, thnt al>h<»m;li our Bible* 
 say little or nothii»g o! \hv»f riches <4 ('on*h, yet thai 
 both thtf Jf wsand Mahumniedann.as well a» JoMiphtM 
 are full of it. 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 lOi 
 
 it was with your approbation that he obtained 
 it; for though God were the donor, yet do we 
 not oflFend when we think fit to accept it with 
 your good- will; yet would it have been an 
 instance of impiety not to have taken that ho- 
 nourable employment when he offered it; nay, 
 it had been exceedingly unreasonable, when 
 God had thought fit any one should have it 
 for all time to come, and had made it secure 
 and firm to him, to have refused it. How- 
 ever, he himself will judge again who it shall 
 be whom he would have to offer sacrifices to 
 him, and to have the direction of matters of 
 religion; for it is absurd that Corah, who is 
 ambitious of this honour, should deprive God 
 of the power of giving it to whom he pleases. 
 Put an end, therefore, to your sedition and 
 disturbance on this account; and to-morrow 
 morning do every one of you that desire the 
 priesthood bring a censer from home, and come 
 hither with incense and fire: and do thou, O 
 Cornh, leave the judgment to God, and await 
 to see on which side he will give his determin- 
 ation upon this occasion, but do not thou make 
 thyself greater than God. Do thou also come, 
 that this contest about this honourable employ- 
 ment may receive determination. And I sup- 
 pose we may admit Aaron without offence, to 
 offer himself to this scrutiny, since he is of the 
 same lineage with thyself, and has done nothing 
 in his priesthood that can be liable to exception. 
 Come ye therefore together, and offer your 
 incense in public before all the people ; and 
 when you offer it, he whose sacrifice God shall 
 accept shall be ordained to the priesthood, and 
 shall be clear of the present calumny on Aaron, 
 as if I had granted him that favour because 
 he was my brother." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HOW THOSE THAT STIRRED UP THIS SEDITION 
 WERE DESTROYED, ACCORDING TO THE WILL 
 OF GOD; AND HOW AARON, MOSEs's BRO- 
 THER, BOTH liE AND HIS POSTERITY, RE- 
 TAINED THE PRIESTHOOD. 
 
 § I. When Moses had said this, the multi- 
 tude ]^h off the turbulent behaviour they had 
 indulged, and the suspicion they had of Mo- 
 ses, and commended what he had said; for 
 those proposals were good, and were so es- 
 teemed of the people. At that time therefore 
 they dissolved the assemble ; but on the next 
 day they came to the contrregation, in order 
 to be present at the sacrifice, and at the de- 
 termination that was to be made between 
 the candidates for the priesthood. Now this 
 congregation proved a turbulent one, and 
 the multitude were in great suspense in ex- 
 pectuxion of what was to be done; for some 
 of them would have been pleased if Moses 
 had been convicted of evil practices; but the 
 
 wiser sort desired that they might be delivered 
 from the present disorder and disturbance: 
 for they were afraid, that if this sedition went 
 on, the good order of their settlement would 
 rather be destroyed; but the whole body of 
 the people do naturally delight in clamours 
 against their governors, and, by changing their 
 opinions upon the harangues of every speaker 
 disturb the public tranquillity. And now Mo 
 ses sent messengers for Abiram and Dathan, 
 and ordered them to come to the assembly, 
 and wait there for the holy offices that were 
 to be performed. But they answered the 
 messengers, that they would not obey his sum- 
 mons; nay, would not overlook Moses's be- 
 haviour, who was^rowing too great for them 
 by evil practices. Now when Moses heard 
 of this their answer, he desired the heads of 
 the people to follow him, and he went to the 
 faction of Dathan, not thinking it any fright- 
 ful thing at all to go to these "insolent people; 
 so they made no opposition, but went along 
 with him. But Dathan and his associates, 
 when they understood that Moses and the 
 principal of the people were coming to them, 
 came out, with their wives and children, 
 and stood before their tents, and looked to see 
 what Moses would do. They had also their 
 servants about them to defend themselves, in 
 case Moses should use force against them. 
 
 2. But he came near, and lifted up his 
 hands to heaven, and cried out with a loud 
 voice, in order to be heard by the whole mul- 
 titude, and said, " O Lord of the creatures 
 that are in the heaven, in the earth, and in the 
 sea; for thou art the most authentic witness 
 to what I have done, that it has all been done 
 by thy appointment, and that it was thou that 
 affordedst us assistance when we attempted 
 any thing, and shovvedst mercy to the Hebrews 
 in all their distresses, do thou come now, and 
 hear all that I say, for no action nor thought 
 escapes thy knowledge; so that thou wilt not 
 disdain to speak what is true for my vindica- 
 tion, without any regard to the ungrateful im- 
 putations of these men. As fpr what was 
 done before I was born, thou knowest best, as 
 not learning them by report, but seeing them, 
 and being present with them when they were 
 done; but for what has been done of late, and 
 which these men, although they know them 
 well enough, unjustly pretend to suspect, be 
 thou my witness. When I lived a private 
 quiet life, I left those good things, which by 
 my own dilij^ence, and by thy counsel, 1 en- 
 joyed with Raguel my father-in-law; and I 
 gave myself up to this people, and underwent 
 many miseries on their account. I also bore 
 great labours at first, in order to obtain liberty 
 for them, and now in order to their preser- 
 vation; and have always showed mysell ready 
 to assist them in every distress of theirs. Now, 
 therefore, since I am suspected by those very 
 men whose being is owing to my labours, 
 come thou, as it is reasonable to hope thou . 
 
106 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 wilt; thou, I say, who showedst me that lire 
 at mount Sinai; and madest me to bear its 
 voice, and to see the several wonders which 
 that place afforded me; thou who command- 
 edst me to go to Egypt, and declare thy w?ll 
 to this people; thou who disturbedst the happy 
 estate of the Egyptians, and gavest us the op- 
 portunity of tiying away from our slavery un- 
 der them, and madest the dominion of Pha- 
 raoh inferior to my dominion; thou who didst 
 make the sea dry land for us, when we knew 
 not whither to go, and didst overwhelm the 
 Egyptians with those destructive waves which 
 had been divided for us; thou who didst be- 
 stow upon us the security of weapons when 
 we were naked ; thou who didst make the 
 founlfains that were corrupted to flow, so as 
 to be fit for drinking, and didst furnish us 
 with water that came out of the rocks, when 
 we were in the greatest want of it; thou who 
 didst preserve our lives with [quails, which 
 was] food from the sea, when the fruits of the 
 ground failed us ; thou who didst send us 
 Buch food from heaven as had never been seen 
 before ; thou who didst suggest to us the 
 knowledge of thy laws, and appoint to us a 
 form of government, — come thou, I say, O 
 Loqd of the whole world, and that as such a 
 Judge and a Witness to me as cannot be 
 bribed, and show how I have never admitted 
 of any gift against justice from any of the He- 
 brews, and have never condemned a poor man 
 that ought to have been acquitted, on account 
 of one that was rich ; and have never attempted 
 to hurt this commonwealth. I am now 
 here present, and am suspected of a thing the 
 remotest from my intentions, as if I had given 
 the priesthood to Aaron, not at thy command, 
 but out of my own favour to him; do thou at 
 this time demonstrate that all things are ad- 
 ministered by thy providence, and that no- 
 thing happens by chance, but is governed by 
 thy will, and thereby attains its end: as also 
 demonstrate that thou takest care of those that 
 have done good to the Hebrews; demonstrate 
 this, I say, by the punishment of Abiram and 
 Dathan^ who condemn thee as an insensible 
 Being, and one overcome by my contrivances. 
 This wilt thou do by inflicting such an open 
 punishment on these men who so madly fly 
 in the face of thy glory, as will take them out 
 of the world, not in an ordinary manner, but 
 so that it may appear they do not die after the 
 manner of other men: let that ground which 
 they tread upon open about them and con- 
 sume them, with" their families and goods. 
 This will be a demonstration of thy power to 
 all men : and this method of their sufferings 
 ■will be an instruction of wisdom for those that 
 entertain profane s- ntiments of thee. By 
 this means I shall be found a good servant, in 
 the precepts thou hast given by me. But if 
 the calumnies they have raised against me be 
 true, mayst thou preserve these men from 
 
 every evil accident, and bring all that destruc- 
 tion on me which I have imprerate<^ 'ipon 
 them. And when thou hast inflicted ounish- 
 ment on those that have endeavoured to deal 
 unjustly with this people, bestow upc^ ♦hem 
 concord and peace. Save this multitude that 
 follow thy commandments, and preserve them 
 free from harm, and let them not partake of 
 the punishment of those that have sinned; for 
 thou knowest thyself it is not just, that for the 
 wickedness of those men the whole body of 
 the Israelites should suffer punishment." 
 
 3. When Moses had said this, with tears in 
 his eyes, the ground was moved on a sudden; 
 and the agitation that set it in motion was like 
 that which the wind produces in waves of the 
 sea. The people were all affrighted; and the 
 ground that was about their tents sunk down 
 at the great noise, with a terrible sound, and 
 carried whatsoever was dear to the seditious 
 into itself, who so entirely perished, that there 
 was not the least appearance that any man had 
 ever been seen there, the earth that had opened 
 itself about them, closing again, and be- 
 comiiig entire as it was before, insomuch that 
 such as saw it afterward, did not perceive that 
 any such accident had happened to it. Thu3 
 did these men perish, and become a demon- 
 stration of the power of God. And truly, 
 any one would lament them, not only on ac- 
 count of this calamity that befell them, which 
 yet deserves our commiseration, but also oe- 
 cause their kindred were pleased with their 
 sufferings ; for they forgot the relation they 
 bare to them, and at the sight o/ this sad ac- 
 cident approved of the judgment given against 
 them ; and because they looked upon the 
 people about Dathan as pestilent men, they 
 thought they perished as such', and did not 
 grieve for them. 
 
 4. And now Moses called for those that 
 contended about the priesthood, that trial 
 might be made who should be priest, and that 
 he whose sacrifice God was best pleasefl with 
 might be ordained to that function. There 
 attended two hundred and tifty men, who in- 
 deed were honoured by the oeopie, not only 
 on account of the power ot their ancestors, but 
 also on account of their own, in which they 
 excelled the others : Aaron also and Corah 
 came forth, and they all offered incense, in 
 those censers of theirs which they bfouwht 
 with them, before the tabernacle. Here- 
 upon so great a lire shone out as no one ever 
 saw in any that is made by the hand ot man, 
 neither in those eruptions out ot the earth 
 that are caused by subterraneous burnings, 
 nor in such fires as arise of their own accord 
 in the woods, when the agitation is caused by 
 the trees rubbing one agauist anotner : but 
 this fire was very bright, and han a ternnlu 
 flame, such as is kindled at the command of 
 God; by whose irruption on them, ali rhe 
 company, and Corah himself, were destroy- 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 107 
 
 ed,* and this so entirely, that their very 
 bodies left no remains behind them. Aaron 
 alone was preserved, and not at all hurt by the 
 fire, because it was God that sent the fire to 
 burn those only who ought to be burned. 
 Hereupon Moses, after these men were de- 
 stroyed, was desirous that the memory of this 
 judgment might be delivered down to poster- 
 ity, and that future ages mi^'bt be acquainted 
 with it ; and so he comina'-ided Eleazar, the 
 son of Aaron, to put their censers near the 
 brazen altar, that they might be a memorial 
 to posterity of whet these men suffered, for 
 supposing that the power of God might be 
 eluded. And thus Aaron was now no longer 
 esteemed to have the priesthood by the fa- 
 vour of Moses, but by the public judgment 
 of God; and thus he and his children peace- 
 ably enjoyed the honour afterward. 
 
 CHAPTER IV? 
 
 WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HEBREWS DURING 
 THlttTY-EIGHT YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 § 1. However, this sedition was so far from 
 ceasing upon this destruction, that it grew 
 much stronger, and became more intolerabie. 
 And the occasion of its growing worse was of 
 that nature, as made it likely the calamity 
 would never cease, but last for a long time ; 
 for the men, believing already that nothing is 
 done without the providence of God, would 
 have it that these things came thus to pass, 
 not without God's favour to Moses ; they 
 therefore laid the blame upon him, that God 
 was so angry, and that this happened, not so 
 much because of the wickedness of those that 
 were punished, as because Moses procured 
 the punishment; and that these men had been 
 destroyed without any sin of theirs, only be- 
 cause they were zealous about the divine wor- 
 ship; as also, that he who had been the cause 
 of this diminution of the people, by destroy- 
 ing MO many men, and those the most excel- 
 lent of them all, besides his escaping any pun- 
 ishu.ent himself, had now given the priest- 
 hood to his brother so firmly, that nobody 
 oould any longer dispute it with him ; for no 
 one else, to be sure, could now put in for it, 
 since he must have seen those that first did 
 so to have miserably perished. Nay, besides 
 this, the kindred of those that were destroyed 
 made great entreaties to the multitude to 
 abate the arrogance of Moses, because it would 
 be safest for them so to do. 
 
 2. Now Moses, upon his hearing for a 
 
 • It appears here, and from the Samaritan Pentateuch, 
 and ill elFect. from the Psalmist, as als.> from the Apos- 
 tolical Consfitutioiig, from t lement's first episUe to the 
 Corinthians, from Itrnatius's epistle to the .Maijnesians, 
 Bn«l from Kusebius. that (-orah was not swallowed up 
 with the Keubenites, but burned with the Levites of his 
 owa tnb«. See £s.say on the Old I'estameut, p. (>1, 66. 
 
 good while that the people were fumitltuous, 
 was afraid that they would attempt seme 
 ocner innovation, and that some great and sad 
 caiaiiaty would be the consequence. He 
 called the multitude to a congregation, and 
 patiently heard what apology tney had to 
 make for themselves, witnout opposing them, 
 and this lest he should imbittcj the multi- 
 tude: he only desired the heads of the tribe 
 to bring their rods,! with the names of their 
 tribes inscribed upon them, and that he should 
 receive the priesthood in wuose rod God should 
 give a sign. This was agreed to. So the 
 rest brought their rods, as did Aaron also, 
 who had written the tribe of Levi on his rod, 
 T'oese rods Moses laid up in the tabernacle of 
 God. On the next day he brought out the 
 rods, which were known from one another by 
 those who brought them, they having dis- 
 tinctly noted them, as had the multitude also; 
 ana as to the rest, in the same form Moses 
 had received them, in that they saw them 
 still ; but they also saw buds and branches 
 grown out of Aaron's rod, with ripe fruits 
 upon them: they were almonds, the rod hav- 
 ing been cut out of that tree. I'he people 
 were so amazed at this strange sight, that 
 though iVloses and Aaron were bei'ure under 
 sotne degree of hacred, they now laid that 
 hatred aside, and oe#jan to aiimire the judg- 
 ment of God concerning them ; so tVvat iiere- 
 atter they applauded wuai God had decieed, 
 ana permitted Aaron to er.joy the priesthood 
 peaceably. And thus God ordttiiied* him 
 priest three several times, u:iu he retained 
 that honour without farther Gisturoance. And 
 hereby this sedir.ion of the Kebrews, which 
 had been a great one, and had lasted a great 
 while, was at last composed, 
 
 3. And now Moses, because the tribe of 
 Levi was made free from war and warlike 
 expeditions, and was set apart for the divine 
 worship, lest they should wani and seek after 
 the necessaries of life, and so neglect the 
 temple, commanded the Hebrews, accordijig 
 to the will of God, that when they should 
 gain the possession of the land of Canaarj, 
 they should assign forty-eight good and fair 
 cities to the Levites; and penniv; them to en- 
 joy their suburbs, as far as the limit of two 
 thousand cubits would extend from the walls 
 of the city. And besides this, he appointed 
 that the people should pay the lithe of their 
 annual fruits of the earth, both to the Levites 
 and to the priests. And this is what that 
 tribe receives of the muititJtit,-; but 1 think 
 it necessary to set down what isj paid by ail, 
 peculiarly to the priests. 
 
 4. Accordingly he commanded the Levites 
 to yield up to the priests thirteen of their 
 forty-eight cities, and to set apart for theta 
 
 + Concernine these twelve rods of the twelve tribe* 
 of Israel, see St. Clement's account, ciuca laijjsr Itap 
 that in our Bibles, 1 Epist. sect. 45; as is JusepUus's pr» 
 sent account in some mecsure larger also. 
 
108 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK TV 
 
 the tenth part of the tithes which they every 
 year receive of the people; as also, that it was 
 but just to otfer to God the first-fruits of the 
 entire product of the ground; and that they 
 should oflfer the first-born of those four-footed 
 beasts that are appointed for sacrifices, if it be 
 a male, to the priests, to be slain, that they 
 and their entire families may eat them in the 
 holy city; but that the owners of those first- 
 born which !i' not appointed for sacrifices in 
 the laws of our country, should bring a shekel 
 and a half in their stead : but for the first- 
 born of a man, five shekels: that they should 
 also have the first-fruits out of the shearing 
 of the sheep; and that when any baked 
 bread-corn, and made loaves of it, they should 
 give somewhat of what they had baked to 
 them. Moreover, when any have made a sa- 
 cred vow, I mean those that are called Naza- 
 rites, that suffer their hair to grow long, and 
 use no wine, when they consecrate their hair,* 
 and offer it for a sacrifice, they are to allot 
 • that hair for the priests [to be thrown into the 
 fire]. Such also as dedicate themselves to 
 God, as a corban, which denotes what the 
 Greeks call a gift, when they are desirous of 
 being freed from that ministration, are to lay 
 down money for the priests; thirty shekels if 
 it be a woman, and fifty if it be a man ; but 
 if any be too poor to pay the appointed sum, 
 it shall be lawful for the priests to determine 
 that sum as they think fit. And if any slay 
 beasts at home for a private festival, but not for 
 a religious one, they are obliged to bring the 
 maw and the cheek [or breast], and the right 
 shoulder of the sacrifice, to the priests. With 
 these Moses contrived that the priests should 
 be plentifully maintained, besides what they 
 bad out of those offerings for sins, which the 
 people gave them, as I have set it down in 
 the foregoing book. He also ordered, that 
 out of every thing allotted for the priests, 
 their servants, [their sons,] their daughters, 
 and their wives, should partake, as well as 
 themselves, excepting what came to them out 
 of the sacrifices that were offered for sins; 
 for of those none but the males of the family 
 cf the priests might eat, and this in the temple 
 also, and that the same day they were offered. 
 5. When Moses had made these constitu- 
 tions, after the sedition was over, he removed, 
 together with the whole army, and came to 
 the borders of Idumea. He then sent am- 
 bassadors to the king of the Idumeans, and 
 desired him to give him a passage through his 
 country; and agreed to send him what hos- 
 tages he should desire, to secure him from an 
 injury. He desired him also, that he would 
 allow bis army liberty to buy provisions; and 
 if he insisted upon it^ he would pay down a 
 price for the very water they should drink. 
 But the king was not pleased with this ambas- 
 
 • OrotlQB, on Numb. vi. 18, take* notice that the 
 Grreka also, as well an the Jews, sometiaies coDoecraled 
 tbc hair of tlieir l>eads tu the k^^ 
 
 sage from Moses.: nor did he allow a passag* 
 for the army, but brought his people armed to 
 meet Moses, and to hinder them, in case they 
 should endeavour to force their passage. Up- 
 on which Moses consulted God by the oracle, 
 who would not have him begin the war first, 
 and so he withdrew his forces, and travelled 
 round about through the wilderness. 
 
 6. Then it was that Miriam, the sister of 
 Moses, came to her end, having completed her 
 fortieth year f since she left Egypt, on the first 
 day J of the lunar month Xanthicus. They 
 then made a public funeral for her, at a great 
 expense. She was buried upon a certain 
 mountain, which they call Sin ; and when they 
 had mourned for her thirty days, Moses puri- 
 fied the people after this manner: He brought 
 a heifer that had never been used to the plough 
 or to husbandry, that was complete in all its 
 parts, and entirely of a red colour, at a little 
 distance from the camp, into a place perfectly 
 clean. This ^ifer was slain by the high-priest, 
 and her blood sprinkled with his finger seven 
 times before the tabernacle of God; after this, 
 the entire heifer was burnt in that state, to- 
 gether with its skin and entrails; and they 
 threw cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet 
 wool, into the midst of the fire; then a clean 
 man gathered all her ashes togethc, and laid 
 them in a place perfectly clean. When there- 
 fore any persons were defiled by a dead body, 
 they put a little of these ashes into spring 
 water, with hyssop, and, dipping part of these 
 ashes in it, they sprinkled them with it, both 
 on the third day, and on the seventh, and af- 
 ter that they were clean. This he CTijoined 
 them to do also when the tribes should come 
 into their own land. 
 
 7. Now when this purification, which their 
 leader made upon the morning for his sister, 
 as it has been now described, was over, he 
 caused the army to remove and to march 
 through the wilderness and through Arabia ; 
 and when he came to a place which the Ara- 
 bians esteem their metropolis, which was for- 
 merly called Arce, but has now the name of 
 Petra, at this place, which was encompassed 
 with high mountains, Aaron went up one of 
 them in the sight of the whole army, Moses 
 having before told him that he was to die, for 
 this place was over against them. He put off 
 his pontifical garments, and delivered them to 
 Eleazar his son, to whom the high-priesthood 
 belonged, because he was the elder brother; 
 and died while the multitude looked upon 
 him. He died in the same year wherein he 
 
 + Josephns here uses this phrase "whet^the fortieth year 
 was completed," for when it washe^un; as does St. Luke, 
 " wlicii tlie day of Pentecost was completed," Acts ii 1. 
 
 X Whethtr Miriam died, as Josephus's Greek copies 
 imply, on the f^rst day of the month, may be doubted, 
 because the Latin copies say it was on the tenth, and so 
 si^y the .Inwish calendars also, as Dr. iternard assures us. 
 It is said lief sepiilchic is still extant near Petia, the old 
 ciipi<Al city of Arabia Petrica, at this day; as also that oi 
 Aaron, not fir off. 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 109 
 
 lost bis sister, having lived m all a hundred 
 twenty and three years. He died on the 
 first day of that lunar month which is called 
 by the Athenians Hecatombaeon, by the Mace- 
 donians Lous^ but by the Hebrews Abba. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW MOSES CONQUERED SIHON AND OG, KINGS 
 OF THE AMORITES, AND DESTROYED THEIR 
 WHOLE ARMY, AND THEN DIVIDED THEIR 
 LAND BY LOT TO TWO TRIBES AND A HALF 
 OF THE HEBREWS. 
 
 § 1. The people nnourned for Aaron thirty 
 days, and when this mourning was over, Mo- 
 ses removed the army from that place, and 
 came to the river Arnon, which, issuing out 
 of the mountains of Arabia, and running 
 through all that wilderness, falls into the lake 
 Asphaltitis, and becomes the limit between the 
 land of the Moabites and the land of the 
 Amorites. This land is fruitful, and suffi- 
 cient to maintain a great number of men, 
 with the good things it produces. Moses 
 therefore sent messengers to Sihon, the king 
 of , this country, desiring that he would grant 
 his army a passage, upon what security he 
 should please to require; he promised that he 
 should be no way injured, neither as to that 
 country which Sihon governed, nor as to its 
 inhabitants; and that he would buy his provi- 
 sions at such a price as should be to their ad- 
 vantage, even though he should desire to sell 
 them their very water. But Sihon refused his 
 offer, and put his army into battle array, and 
 was preparing every thing in order to hinder 
 their passing over Arnon. 
 
 2. When Moses saw that the Amorite king 
 ,vas disposed to enter upon hostilities with 
 them, he thought he ought not to bear that 
 insult; and, determining to wean the Hebrews 
 from their indolent temper, and prevent the 
 disorders which arose thence, which had been 
 the occasion of their former sedition (nor in- 
 deed were they now thoroughly easy in their 
 minds), he inquired of God, whether he would 
 give him leave to fight? which when he had 
 done, and God also promised him the victory, 
 he was himself very courageous, and ready to 
 proceed to fighting. Accordingly he encou- 
 raged the soldiers; and he desired of them 
 that they would take the pleasure of fighting, 
 now God gave them leave so to do. They 
 then upon the receipt of this permission, 
 which they so much longed for, put on their 
 whole armour, and set about the work with- 
 out delay. But the Amorite king was not 
 now like to himself when the Hebrews were 
 ready to attack him; but both he himself was 
 atfrighted at the Hebrews, and his army, 
 which before had showed themselves to be of 
 good courage, were then found to be tim r 
 
 ous: so they could not sustain the first onset, 
 nor bear up against the Hebrews, but lied 
 away, as thinking this would afford them a 
 more likely way for their escape than fighting; 
 for they depended upon their cities, which 
 were strong, from which yet they reaped no 
 advantage when they were forced to fly to 
 them; for as soon as the Hebrews saw them 
 giving ground, they immediately pursued them 
 close; and when they had broken their ranks, 
 they greatly terrified them, and some of them 
 broke off from the rest, and ran away to the 
 cities. Nowthe Hebrews pursued them briskly, 
 and obstinately persevered in the labours they 
 had already undergone; and being very skilful 
 in slinging, and very dexterous in throwing of 
 darts, or any thing else of that kind ; and also 
 having nothing but light armour, which made 
 them quick in the pursuit, they overtook their 
 enemies; and for those that were most remote, 
 and could not be overtaken, they reached them 
 by their slings and their bows, so that many 
 were slain ; and those that escaped the slaugh- 
 ter were sorely wounded, and these were more 
 distressed with thirst than with any of those 
 that fought against them, for it was the sum- 
 mer season; and when the greatest number of 
 them were brought down to the river out of a 
 desire to drink, as also when others fled away 
 by troops, the Hebrews came round them, and 
 shot at them ; so that, what with darts and what 
 with arrows, they made a slaughter of them 
 all. Sihon their king was also slain. So the 
 Hebrews spoiled the dead bodies, and took 
 their prey. The land also which they took 
 was full of abundance of fruits, and the army 
 went all over it without fear, and fed their 
 cattle upon it; and they took the enemies pri- 
 soners, for they could no way put a stop to 
 them, since all the fighting men were destroy- 
 ed. Such was the destruction which overtook 
 the Amorites, who were neither sagacious in 
 counsel, nor courageous in action. Hereup>on 
 the Hebrews took possession of their land, 
 which is a country situate between three rivers, 
 and naturally resembling an island: the river 
 Arnon being its southern limit; the river Jab- 
 bok determining its northern side, which, 
 running into Jordan, loses its own name, and 
 takes the other; while Jordan itself runs along 
 by it, rn its western coast. 
 
 3. When matters were come to this state, 
 Og, the king of Gilead and Gaulanitis, fell 
 upon the Israelites. He brought an array with 
 him, and came in haste to the assistance of his 
 friend Sihon ; but though he found him al- 
 ready slain, yet dftl he resolve still to come 
 and fight the Hebrews^ supposing he should 
 ^e too hard for them, and being desirous to 
 try their valour; but failing of his hope, he 
 was both himself slain in the battle, and all 
 his army was destroyed. So Moses passed 
 over the river Jabbok, and overran the king- 
 dom of Og. He overthew their cities, and 
 >".• V all their inhibitants, who yet exceeded in 
 
no 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 riches all ibe men in that part of the eonti- 
 iieiit, on Hccount of the goodness of the soil, 
 and the great quantity of their wealth. Now 
 Og hail very few equals, either in the large- 
 ness of his body or handsomeness of his 
 appearance. Ha was also a man of great 
 activity in toe use of his hands, so that his 
 actions were not unequal to the vast largeness 
 and handsome appearance of his body; and 
 men could easily guess at his strength and 
 magnitude when they took his bed at Rabbath, 
 the royal city of the Ammonites; its structure 
 was of iron, its breadth four cubits, and its 
 length a cubit more than double thereto. 
 However, his iali did not only improve the 
 circumstances of the Hebrews for the present, 
 but by his death he was the occasion of fur- 
 ther good success to tnem; for they presently 
 took those sixty cities which were encom- 
 passed with excellent walls, and had been 
 suuject to mm; and ail got ootu in general 
 and in particidar a great prey. 
 
 CHAPli^R Yi. 
 
 CONCERNING i>Al.AAM IHF. fKOPHET, AND 
 WH^T KIND OF MAN HE W.VS. 
 
 ^ I. "Now Closes, when he had brought his 
 army to Joraan, ritcned his ramn in the great 
 pjaii. over apainst Jencno. 'i'nis city is a very 
 happy situation., ana very fit for producing 
 palm.-treetf ana oaisam; and now the Israel- 
 ites Degan to be very proud of themselves, and 
 were very eager for figfatuig. Moses then, 
 after he had oiT'jrcd for a few days sacrifices 
 of thanksgiving to God, and feasted the peo- 
 ple, sent a party of armed men to lay waste 
 the country of the Midianites, and to take 
 their cities^ Now the occasion which he took 
 for making war upon them was this that fol- 
 lows; — 
 
 2. When Balak, the king of the Moabites, 
 who had from his ancestors a friendship and 
 league with the Miaianite>, saw how great 
 the Israelites were grown, he was much af- 
 frighted on account of his own and his king- 
 dom s dantjer; for he was not acquainted 
 with thjs, that the Hebrews would not meddle 
 with any otner country, hut were to be con- 
 tented with the possession of the land of Ca- 
 naan, God having forbidden them to go any 
 farther.* So he, with more haste than wis- 
 dom, resolved to make an attempt upon them 
 
 • WJ.at Jobephiis hf le remarks i« well worth our re- 
 nwri ill lliiw \,Wci- aWopxi/.. That th<; Israditts were 
 rev»r to meiiillf with the Moahites or Amiiionitfs. .or 
 »ny ptner pei>pl«. hut those bt-hmKin^ to Ihf l.md of 
 Ckiiauii. uud tiif countrieii ofSihon anrl Oj; beyond .lor- 
 dan. M f.ir K* ttie deM-it and Kuphrales; and that th»re- 
 fore no other people hud reujion to fear the coiKiuestrt ol 
 thr iMurliteH; hut that thtme countries (jivi-n them h\ 
 Gt«'. *'tre th-ir prop.-r and iwinliar porti. n n.i.orm I'-i 
 natKT*; wn I ih.ii a I who fiidctMiured in di.sposM-Hrt thi-i^ 
 BiKht c»er lie ju^n^ de»tr.ij.d hy liieni. 
 
 by words: but he did not judge it prudent to 
 fight against them, after they had such pros- 
 perous successes, and even became out of ill 
 successes more happy than before ; but he 
 thought to hinder them, if he could, trom 
 growing greater, and so he resolved to send 
 ambassadors to the Midianites about faein. 
 Now these Midianites knowing there was one 
 Balaam, who lived by Euphrates, and was the 
 greatest of the prophets at that time, and one 
 that was in friendship with them, sent some 
 of their honourable princes along with the 
 ambassadors of Balak, to entreat the prophet 
 to come to them that he might imprecate 
 curses to the destruction of the Israelites. So 
 Balaam received the ambassadors, and treated 
 them very kindly; and when he had supped, 
 he inquired what was God's will, and what 
 this matter was for which the Midianiies en- 
 treated him to come to them. But when God 
 opposed his going, he came to the ambassa- 
 dors, and told them that he was himself very 
 willing and desirous to comply with their re- 
 quest, but informed them that God was oppo- 
 site to his intentions, even that God who had 
 raised him to great reputation on account of 
 the truth of his predictions; for that this army, 
 which they entreated him to come and curse, 
 was in. the favour of God; on which acc9unt 
 he advised them to go home again, and not 
 to persist in their enmity against the Israelites: 
 and when he had given them that answer, he 
 dismissed the ambassadors. 
 
 3. Now the Midianites, at the earnest re- 
 quest and fervent entreaties of Balak, sent 
 other ambassadors to Balaam, who, desiring 
 to gratify the men, inquired again of God ; 
 but he was displeased at this [second] trial, f 
 and bid him by no means to contradict the 
 ambassadors. Now Balaam did not imagine 
 that God gave this injunction in order to de- 
 ceive him, so he went along with the ambas- 
 sadors; but when the divine angel met him 
 in the way, when he was in a narrow passage, 
 and hedged in with a wall on both sides, the 
 ass on which Balaam rode understood that it 
 
 + Not^, that .losephns never supposes Balaam to he 
 an idolater. Jjur to seek idolatrous enchantnienis, or to 
 P'-opliesy faLsely, but to be no other tlian an ill-dispos«;d 
 proyhet ol the ♦rue <»od; and intiniutes that God's an- 
 swer the -vcond time, permitting him to go, was ironi- 
 cal, and on desitfn that he should he deceived (which 
 sort of deception, by way of punishment for former 
 crimes, Josephus nev^r scruples to admit, as ever 
 esteeminfj such wicked men justly and providentially 
 deceived). But perhaps we had better keep heie cIom*: 
 to the text, which says (Numb, xxiii. 20. il,) that (lod 
 only permitted Balaam to go along with the ambassa- 
 dors, in case they came and called him, or positively 
 insisted on his going along with them on any terms; 
 whereas Balaam seems out o( impatience to have nsen 
 up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and rather to 
 have called them, than staid for their calling him; s<» 
 Jiealous does lie seem to have been for his reward for di 
 vinatiun, his wages of unrighteousness (Numb xxii. 7, 
 17, 18,37; a IVt. ii. h^; Jude v. II); which rewaid or 
 wages the truly religious prophets of God never required 
 nor acopted, as our Josephus justly takes notice m 
 the cases of Samuel, Antiq. h. v cliap. iv. sett. I, and 
 Daniel, Antiq. h. x chap. xi. sec». 'X See al.so (-en. 
 XIV. tJ, •Xi; -^ KiiiRS V. li>, lo, 20, 27- Acts viii. l«~;^4 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 111 
 
 was a divine spirit that met him, and thrust 
 Balaam to one of the walls, without regard 
 to the stripes which Balaam, when he was 
 hurt by the wail, gave her; but when the ass, 
 upon the angel's continuing to distress her, 
 and upon the stripes which were given her, 
 fell down, by the will of God she made use 
 of the voice of a man, and complained of Ba- 
 laam as acting unjustly to her; that vvhereas 
 he bad no fault. to find with her in her former 
 service to him, he now inflicted stripes upon 
 her, as not understanding that she was hin- 
 dered from serving him in what he was now 
 going about, by the providence of God. And 
 when he was disturbed by reason of the voice 
 of the ass, which was that of a man, the an- 
 gel plainly appeared to him, and blamed him 
 for the stripes he had given his ass; and in- 
 formed him that the brute creature was not 
 in fault, but that he was himself come to ob- 
 struct his journey, as being contrary to the 
 will of God. Upon which Balaam was 
 afraid, and was preparing to return back 
 again : yet did God excite him to go on his 
 intended journey, but added this injunction, 
 that he should declare nothing but what he 
 himself should suggest to his mind. 
 
 4. When God had given him this charge, 
 he came to Balak; and when the king had 
 entertained him in a magnificent manner, he 
 desired him to go to one of the mountains to 
 take a view of the state of the camp of the 
 Hebrews. Balak himself also came to the 
 mountain, and brought the prophet along 
 with him, with a royal attendance. This 
 mountain lay over their heads, and was dis- 
 tant sixty furlongs from the camp. Now 
 when he saw them, he desired the king to 
 build him seven altars, and to bring him as 
 many bulls and rams; to which desire the 
 king did presently conform. He then slew 
 the sacrifices, and oflfered them as burnt-offer- 
 ings, that he might observe some signal of 
 the flight of the Hebrews. Then said he, 
 " Happy is this people, on whom God be- 
 stows the possession of innumerable good 
 things, and grants them his own providence 
 to he their assistant and their guide ; so that 
 there is not any nation among mankind but 
 you will be esteemed superior to them in vir- 
 tue, and in the earnest prosecution of the 
 best rules of life, and of such as are pure 
 from wickedness, and will leave those rules 
 to your excellent children, and this out of the 
 regard that God bears to you, and the provi- 
 sion of such things for you as may render 
 you happier than any other people under the 
 sun. You shall retain that land to which he 
 hath sent you, and it shall ever be under the 
 command of your children; and both all the \ 
 earth, as well as the sea, shall be filled with • 
 your glory : and you shall he sufficiently ' 
 numerous to supply the world in general, and 
 every region of it in particular, with inhabi- 
 tants out of vour stc'ck. However. O blessed 
 
 army ! wonder that you are become so many 
 from one father: and truly, the land of Ca- 
 naan can now hold you, as beine: vet con.pa- 
 ratively few; but know ye that the whoie world 
 is proposed to be your place of nam cation tor 
 ever. The multitude of your postenty a'lso 
 shall live as well in the islands as on the con- 
 tinent, and that more in number than are the 
 stars of heaven. And when you are Decoir.e 
 so many, God will not relinquish tne care of 
 you, but will aflford you an abundance of ail 
 good things in times of peace, unth victory 
 and dominion in times of war. May the chil- 
 dren of your enemies have an inciniation to 
 fight against you, and may they be so hardy 
 as to come to arms, and to assault you in 
 battle, for they will not return witd victory, 
 nor will their .return be agreeable to their 
 children and wives. I'o so great a degree of 
 valour will you be raised oy the providence of 
 God, who is able to diminish the alWuence of 
 some, and to supply the wants ot others." 
 
 5. Thus did Balaam speak by inspiraiion, as 
 not being in his own power, but moved to say 
 what he did by the divine Spirit. But then 
 Balak was displeased, and said he had broken 
 the contract he had made, wnereby he was to 
 come, as he and his confederates had invited 
 him, by the promise ot great presents: for 
 whereas he came to curse their enemies, be 
 had made an encomium upon them, and had 
 declared that they were the happiest of men. 
 To which Balaam replied, " (> Balak,, it tnou 
 rightly considerest this whoie matter, canst 
 thou suppose that it is in our power to he si- 
 lent, or to say any thing, when tUe Spirit of 
 God seizes upon us? — for he puts such words 
 as he pleases in our mouths, and such dis- 
 courses as we are not ourselves conscious of. 
 I well remember by what entreaties both you 
 and the Midianites so joyfully brought me 
 hither, and on that account I took this jour- 
 ney. It was my prayer, that I might not put 
 any affront upon you, as to what you desired 
 of me; but God is more powerful than the" 
 purposes I had made to serve you ; for those 
 that take upon them to foretell the affairs of 
 mankind, as from their own abilities, are en- 
 tirely unable to do it, or to forbear to utter 
 what God suggests to them, or to offer vio- 
 lence to his will; for when he prevents us and 
 enters into us, nothing that we say is our own. 
 I then did not intend to praise this army, nor 
 to go over the several good things which God 
 intended to do to their race; but since he was 
 so favourable to them, and so ready to bestow 
 upon them a happy life and eternjil glory, he 
 suggested the declaration of those things to 
 me : but now, because it is ray desire to 
 oblige thee thyself, as will as the Midianites?, 
 whose entreaties it is not decent for me to 
 reject, go to, let us again rear other altars, and 
 offer the like sacrifices that we did before, that 
 I may see whether I can persuade God to 
 permit me to bind these men with curses." 
 
112 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK I? 
 
 Which, when Balak had agreed to, God would 
 not even upon second sacritices, consent to 
 his cursing the Israelites.* Then fell Ba- 
 laam upon his face, and foretold what cala- 
 mities would befall the several kings of the 
 nations, and the most eminent cities, some 
 of which of old were not so much as inha- 
 bited; which events have come to pass among 
 the several people concerned, both in the fore- 
 going ages, and in this, till my own memory, 
 both by sea and by land. From which com- 
 pletion of all these predictions that he made, 
 one may easily guess that the rest will have 
 their completion in time to come. 
 
 6. But Balak being very angry that the 
 Israelites were not cursed, sent away Balaam 
 without thinking him worthy of any honour. 
 Whereupon, when he was just upon his jour- 
 ney, in order to pass the Euphrates, he sent 
 for Balak, and for the princes of the Midian- 
 ites, and spake thus to them: — O Balak, 
 and you Midianites that are here present (for 
 I am obliged even without the will of God, 
 to gratify you), it is true no entire destruction 
 can seize upon the nation of the Hebrews, 
 neither by war, nor by plague, nor by scar- 
 city of the fruits of the earth, nor can any 
 other unexpected accident be their entire 
 ruin ; for the providence of God is concerned 
 to preserve them from such a misfortune; nor 
 will it permit any such calamity to come up- 
 on them whereby they may all perish; but 
 some small misfortunes, and those for a short 
 time, whereby they may appear to be brought 
 low, may still befall them ; but after that they 
 will flourish again, to the terror of those that 
 brought those mischiefs upon them. So that 
 if you have a mind to gain a victory over 
 them for a short space of time, you will ob- 
 tain it by following my directions: — Do you 
 therefore set out the handsomest of such of 
 your daughters as are most eminent for beau- 
 ty,! and proper to force and conquer the mo- 
 desty of those that behold them, and these 
 decked and trimmed to the highest degree you 
 are able. Then do you send them to be near 
 the Israelites' camp, and give them in charge, 
 that when the young men of the Hebrews de- 
 sire their company, they allow it them; and 
 when they see that they are enamoured of 
 them, let them take their leaves; and if they 
 entreat them to stay, let them not give their 
 consent till they have persuaded them to leave 
 off their obedience to their own laws and the 
 
 • Whether Josephus had in his copy but two attempts 
 of Balaam in all to curse Israel; or whether by this liis 
 twice offering sacrifice, he meant twice besides that first 
 time already mentioned, which yet is not very probable 
 cannot now be certainly determined. In the mean time, 
 all other copies have three such attempts of Balaam to 
 curse them in the present history. 
 
 + Such a large and distinct account of this perversion 
 of Jhe Israelites by the Midiauite women, of which our 
 ether copies give us but short intimations (Numb xxxi. 
 J6j a Pet. ii. I5{ Jude 11; Rev. ii. 14j. is preserved, 
 %» Ileland informs us, in the Samaritan Chronicle, in 
 Fhilo, and in other writings of the Jews, as well at htre 
 by Joscphu* 
 
 worship of that God who established them, anil 
 to worship the gods of the Midianites and 
 Moabites; for by this means God will be 
 angry at them." J Accordingly, when Ba- 
 laam had suggested this counsel to thein, be 
 went his way. 
 
 7. So when the Midianites had sent thei* 
 daughters, as Balaam had exhorted them, the 
 Hebrew young men were allured by their 
 beauty, and came to discourse with them, and 
 besought them not to grudge them the enjoy- 
 ment of their beauty, nor to deny them their 
 conversation. These daughters of the Midi- 
 anites received their words gladly, and con- 
 sented to it, and staid with them; but when 
 they had brought them to be enamoured of them, 
 and their inclinations to them were grown to 
 ripeness, they began to think of departing 
 from them: then it was that these men be- 
 came greatly disconsolate at the women's de- 
 parture, and they were urgent with them nv^, 
 to leave them, but begged they would o« - 
 tinue there, and become their wives; and tl y 
 promised them they should be owned as m s 
 tresses of all they had. This they said wit\ 
 an oath, and called God for the arbitrator o 
 what they promised; and this with tears 'n 
 their eyes, and ajl other such marks of concern 
 as might show how miserable they though, 
 themselves without them, and so might move 
 their compassion for them. So the women, a/ 
 soon as they perceived they had made the'/i 
 their slaves, and had caught them with tb/ir 
 conversation, began to speak thus to them:- . 
 
 8. " O you illustrious young men! we ha e 
 houses of our own at home, and great plei.ty 
 of good things there, together with the n» 
 tural affectionate love of our parents at d 
 friends; nor is it out of our want of any si-cb 
 things that we came to discourse with yoi/ . 
 nor did we admit of your invitation with d^- 
 sign to prostitute the beauty of our bodies foi 
 gain; but taking you for brave and wortl/ 
 men, we agreed to your request, that we m\(jt)t 
 treat you with such honours as hospitality n> 
 quired: and now seeing you say that you 
 have a great affection for us, and are troublei^ 
 when you think we are departing, we are n t 
 averse to your entreaties; and if we may re- 
 ceive such assurance of your good-will as w ; 
 think can be alone sufficient, we will be g'.ad 
 to lead our lives with you as your wives; but 
 we are afraid that you will in time be iveary 
 of our company, and will then abuse us, and 
 send us back to our parents, nfter an ignonii- 
 nious manner." And they desired that the" 
 wouhi excuse them in their guarding against 
 that danger. But the young men professed 
 they would give them any assurance they 
 should desire ; nor did they at all contradict 
 
 t This grand maxim, That Go<J'8 people of Israel 
 could never be hurt nor destroyed, but by drawing tli«'iii 
 to sin against God, appears to be trtie, by the entire his- 
 tory of that people, both in the Bible and in Josepbus; 
 and is often taken notice of in tnem both See in parti- 
 cular a most remarkuhle Ammoiute testimony to this 
 purpose Judith V. 5 — '21. 
 
OHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 113 
 
 what they requested, so great was the passion 
 they had for them. " If then," said they, 
 "this be your resolution; since you make use 
 of such customs and conduct of life as are en- 
 tirely different from all other men,' insomuch 
 that your kinds of food are peculiar to your- 
 selves, and your kinds of drink not common 
 to others, it will be absolutely necessary, if 
 you would have us for your wives, that you 
 do withal worship our gods; nor can there be 
 any other demonstration of the kindness which 
 you say you already have, and promise to have 
 hereafter to us, than this, that you worship the 
 same gods that we do. For has any one reason 
 to complain, that now you are come into this 
 country, you should worship the proper gods 
 of the same country? especially while our 
 gods are common to all men, and yours such 
 as belong to nobody else but yourselves." So 
 they said they must either come into such 
 methods of divine worship as all others came 
 into, or else they must look out for another 
 world, wherein they may live by themselves, 
 according to their own laws. 
 
 9. Now the young men were induced by the 
 fondness they had for these women, to think 
 they spake very well ; so they gave them- 
 selves up to what they persuaded them, and 
 transgressed their own laws; and supposing 
 there were many gods, and resolving that they 
 would sacrifice to them according to the laws 
 of that country which ordained them, they 
 both were delighted with their strange food, 
 and went on to do every thing that the 
 women would have them do, though in contra- 
 diction to their own laws; so far, indeed, that 
 this transgression was already gone through 
 the whole army of the young men, and they 
 fell into a sedition that was much worse than 
 the former, and into danger of the entire abo- 
 lition of their own institutions ; for when 
 once the youth had tasted of these strange cus- 
 toms, they went with insatiable inclinations 
 into them; and even where some of the prin- 
 cipal men were illustrious on account of the 
 virtues of their fathers, they also were cor- 
 rupted together with the rest. 
 
 10. Even Zimri, the head of the tribe of 
 Simeon, accompanied with Cozbi, a Midianit- 
 ish woman, who was the daughter of Sur, a 
 man of authority in that country ; and being 
 desired by his wife to disregard the laws of 
 Moses, and to follow those she was used to, he 
 complied with her; and this both by sacrificing 
 
 « What Josephus here puts into the mouths of these 
 Midianite women, who came to entice the Israelites to 
 lewdness and idolatry, viz. that their worship of the God 
 of Israel, in opposition to their idol gods, implied their 
 livin? according to the holy laws which the true God had 
 given thrra by Moses, in opposition to those impure laws 
 which weie observed under their false gods, well deserves 
 onr consideration; and gives us a substantial reason for 
 the great concern that was ever shown, under the law of 
 Moses, to preserve the Israelites from idolatry, and in 
 the worship of the true God; it being of no less conse- 
 •juence than. Whether God's people sbiiild be governed 
 hy the holy laws of the tnie God. or hy the impure laws 
 deriTRd from Demons under the Pagan idolatry. 
 
 after a manner different from his own, and by 
 taking a stranger to wife. When things were 
 thus, Moses was afraid that matters should 
 grow worse, and called the people to a con- 
 gregation, but then accused nobody by name, 
 as unwilling to drive those into despair who, 
 by lying concealed, might come to repent- 
 ance ; but he said that they did not do what 
 was either worthy of themselves, or of their 
 fathers, by preferring pleasure to God, and to 
 the living according to his will ; that it wae 
 fit they should change their courses while 
 their affairs were still in a good state ; au^ 
 think that to be true fortitude which offers not 
 violence'tq their laws, but that which resists 
 their lusts. And besides that, he said it waa 
 not a reasonable thing, when they had lived so- 
 berly in the wilderness, to act madly now when 
 they were in prosperity; and that they ought 
 not to lose, now they hare abundance, what 
 they had gained when they had little: — and 
 so did he endeavour, by saying this, to correct 
 the young men, and to bring them to repent- 
 ance for what they had done. 
 
 11. But Zimri arose up after him, and said, 
 " Yes, indeed, Moses, thou art at liberty to 
 make use of such laws as thou art so fond of, 
 and hast, by accustoming thyself to them, 
 made them firm; otherwise, if things had not 
 been thus, thou hadst often been punished be- 
 fore now, and hadst known that the Hebrews 
 are not easily put upon ; but thou shalt not 
 have me one of thy followers in thy tyran- 
 nical commands, for thou dost nothing else 
 hitherto but, under pretence of laws, and of 
 God, wickedly impose on us slavery, and gain 
 dominion to thyself, while thou deprivest us 
 of the sweetness of life, which consists in act- 
 ing according to our own wills, and is the 
 right of free men, and of those that have no 
 lord over them. Nay, indeed, this man is 
 harder upon the Hebrews than were the Egyp- 
 tians themselves, as pretending to punish, ac- 
 cording to his laws, every one's acting what 
 is most agreeable to himself; but thou thyself 
 better deservest to suffer punishment, who 
 presumest to abolish what every one acknow- 
 ledges to be what is good for him, and aimest 
 to make thy single opinion to have more force 
 than that of all t^e rest: and what I now do, 
 and think to be right, I shall not hereafter 
 deny to be according to my own sentiments. 
 I have married, as thou sayest rightly, a 
 strange woman, and thou hearest what 1 do 
 from myself as from one that is free ; for 
 truly I did not intend to conceal myself. I 
 also own that I sacrificed to those gods to 
 whom you do not think it fit to sacrifice ; and 
 I think it right to come at truth by inquiring 
 of many people, and not like one that lives 
 under tyranny, to suffer the whole hope of my 
 life to depend upon one man ; nor shall any 
 one find cause to rejoice who declares himself 
 to have more authority over my actions 
 myself." 
 
114 
 
 ANTIQUITIES Of THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 12. Now when Zimri had said these things, 
 about what he and some others bad wickedly 
 done, the people held their peace, both out of 
 fear of what might come upon them, and be- 
 cause they saw that their legislator was not 
 willing to bring his insolence before the pub- 
 lic any farther, or openly to contend with 
 him ; for he avoided that, lest many should 
 imitate the impudence of his language, and 
 thereby disturb the multitude. Upon this the 
 assembly was dissolved. However, the mis- 
 chievous attempt had proceeded farther, if 
 Zimri had not been first slain, which came to 
 pass on the following occasion: — Phineas, a 
 man in other respects better than the rest of 
 the young men, and also one that surpassed 
 his contemporaries in the dignity of his father 
 (for he was the son of Eleazar the high-priest, 
 and the grandson of [Aaron] Moses's bro- 
 ther), who was greatly troubled at what was 
 done by Zimri, he resolved in earnest to inflict 
 punishment on him, before his unworthy be- 
 haviour should grow stronger by impunity, 
 and in order to prevent this transgression from 
 proceeding farther, which would happen if the 
 ringleaders were not punished. He was of 
 so great magnanimity, both in strength of 
 •mind and body, that when he undertook any 
 very dangerous attempt, he did not leave it 
 off till he overcame it, and got an entire vic- 
 tory. So he came to Zimri's tent, and slew 
 him with his javelin, and with it he slew 
 Cozbi also. Upon which all those young 
 men that had a regard to virtue, and aimed 
 to do a glorious action, imitated Phineas's 
 boldness, and slew those that werii found to 
 be guilty of the same crime with Zimri. Ac- 
 cordingly, many of those that had transgressed 
 perished by the magnanimous valour of these 
 young men, and the rest all perished by a plague, 
 which distemper God himself inflicted upon 
 them. So that all tho^s their kiiidred, who, 
 instead of hindering them from such^ wi("'. ' '^ 
 actioniS, as they ought to have done, had peV-'' 
 suaded them to go on, were esteemed by God 
 as partners in their wickedness, and died. 
 Accordingly, there perished out of the army 
 no fewer than fourteen* [twenty-four] thou- 
 sand at this time. 
 
 13. This was the cause why Moses was 
 provoked to send an army to destroy the Mi- 
 dianites, concerning which expedition we shall 
 speak presently, when we have first related 
 what we have omitted; for it is but just not 
 to pass over our legislator's due encomium, 
 on account of his conduct here, because, al- 
 though this Balaam, who was sent for by the 
 Midianites to curse the Hebrews, and vvnen 
 he was hindered from doing it by divine nro- 
 ridence, did still suggest that advice to them, 
 
 • The mistake in all Josephus's copies. Greek and 
 Lahn, which have here fourteen thousand, instead of 
 twent)-rour thousand, is so flagrant, that our very learned 
 ettitors, Bernard and Hudson, have put the latter num- 
 ber directly into the text I choose rather to put it in 
 nrat-kets. 
 
 by making use of which oiir enemies had wel' 
 nigh corrupted the whole multitude of the 
 Hebrews with their wiles, till some of them 
 were deeply infected with their opinions; yet 
 did he do him great honour, by setting down 
 his prophecies in writing. And while it was 
 in his power to claim this glory to himself, 
 and make men believe they were his own pre- 
 dictions, there being no one that could be a 
 witness against him, and accuse him for so 
 doing, he still gave his attestation to him, 
 and did him the honour to make mention of 
 him oil this account. But let every one think 
 of these matters as he pleases. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW THE HEBREWS FOUGHT WITH THE 
 MIDIANITES, AND OVERCAME THEM. 
 
 § 1. Now Moses sent an army against the ^ 
 land of Midian, for the causes forementioned, _ 
 in all twelve thousand, taking an equal num- 
 ber out of every tribe, and appointed Phineas 
 for their commander; of which Phineas we 
 made mention a little before, as he that had 
 guarded the laws of the Hebrews, and had 
 inflicted punishment on Zimri when he had 
 transgressed tjiem. Now the Midianites per- 
 ceived beforehand how the Hebrews were 
 coming, and would suddenly be upon them 
 60 they assembled their army together, and 
 fortified the entrances into their country, and 
 there awaited the enemy's coming. When 
 they were come, and they had joined battle 
 with them, an immense multitude of the Mi- 
 dianites fell; nor could they be numbered,^^ 
 they w^ere so very many: and, among them, 
 fell all their kings, five in number, viz. Evi, 
 Zur, Reba, Hur, and Rekem, who was of the 
 same name with a city, the chief and capital 
 of all Arabia, which is still now so called b}- 
 the whole Arabian nation, Arecem, from the 
 name of the king that built it; but is by the 
 Greeks called Petra. Now when the enemies 
 were discomfited, the Hebrews spoiled their 
 country, and took a great prey, and destroyed 
 the men that were its inhabitants, together 
 with the women; only they let the virgins 
 alone, as Moses had commanded Phineas to 
 do, who indeed came back, bringing with 
 him an army that had received no harm, and 
 a great deal of prey; fifty -two thousand 
 beeves, seventy -five thousand six hundred 
 sheep, sixty thousand asses, with an immense 
 quantity of gold and silver furniture, which 
 the Midianites made use of in their houses; 
 for they were so wealthy, that they were very 
 luxurious. There were also led captive about 
 thirty-two thousand virgins.f So Moses parted 
 
 •f The slaughter of all the Midianite women that had 
 prostituted themselves to the lewd Israeliies, and the 
 preservation of those that had not heen RUilty therein; 
 the last- of which were no fewer than thirty-two thou- 
 
THAP. yiT. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OK lllE JEWS. 
 
 115 
 
 the prey into parts, and gave one fiftieth purt 
 to Eleazar and the two priests, and another 
 fiftieth part to the Levites; and distributed 
 the rest of the prey among the people. After 
 which tliey lived happily, as having obtained an 
 abundance of good things by their valour, and 
 thtre being no mislbrtune that attended them, 
 or iiindered their enjoyment of that happiness. 
 
 2. iiut Moses was now grown old, and 
 appointed Joshua for his successor, both to 
 receive directions from God as a prophet, 
 and for a commander of the army, if they 
 should at any time stand in need of such a 
 one; and this was done by the conamand of 
 God, that to him the care of the public 
 should be committed. Now Joshua had been 
 instructed in all those kinds of learning 
 which concerned .the laws; and God himself, 
 and Moses, had been his instructor. 
 
 3. At this time it was that the two tribes 
 of Gad and Reubel, and the half tribe of Ma- 
 nasseh, abounded in a multitude of cattle, as 
 well as in all other kinds of prosperity ; whence 
 they had a meeting, and in a body came and 
 besought Moses to give them, as their pecu- 
 liar portion, t.iat land of the Atnorites which 
 they had taken by right of war, because it 
 was fruitful, and good for feeciing of cattle ; 
 but Moses, supposing that they were afraid of 
 fighting with the O.maanites. and invented 
 this provision tor ttieir cattle as a handsome 
 excuse lor avoiding tlnit war. lie called them 
 arrant cowards, and said the* had only con- 
 trived a decent excuse tor that cowardice; 
 and that they had a mind to live m luxury 
 and ease, wtiile ad the rest were labouring 
 with great pains to obtain tne land they were 
 desirous to have ; and that they were not 
 willing to maich along, a. id undergo the re- I 
 maining hard service, whereby they were, 
 under the divine promise, to pass over Jordan, 
 and overcome those our enemies which God 
 liad shown them, and so obtain their land. 
 
 sani, both here and Numb, xxxi 1.5. 16. 17. a5, 40, 46, 
 and both by the particular command of God; are highly 
 remarkable, and show that, even in nations otherwise 
 for their wickedness doomed to tlestruction, the inno- 
 cent were sometimes particularly and providentially 
 Liken care of, and delivered from that destruction; 
 which directly implies, that it was the wickedness of the 
 nations of Canaan, and noihini; else, th it occasioned 
 their excision. See Gen. xv. 16; 1 Sam. xv. 18, 3:3. 
 A post. Constit. b. viii ch. xii p. 402 In the first of 
 winch places, the reason of the delay of the punishment 
 of the Amorites is'tfiven. because " their iniquity was 
 not yet full " In the second, Saul is ordered to go and 
 ••destroy the sinners, the Amalekites;" plainly irr.pty- 
 ngj that they were tlierefore to he destroyed, because 
 they were sinners, and not otherwise. In {he third, the 
 reason is given why king Agag was not to be spatsd, 
 viz. because of his former cruelty: " As thy sword hath 
 made the (Hebrew) women childless, so shall thy mother 
 be made childless amon^ women by the Hebrews." In 
 the last place, the apostles, or their amanuensis Ele- 
 ment, gave this reason for the necessity of the coming 
 of Christ, that " men had formerly perverted botn the 
 positive law, and that of nature; and had cast out of 
 their mind the memory of the Flood, the burning of 
 Sodom, the plagues of the Egyp'ians. and the slaughter 
 of the inhabitants of Palestine." as signs of the most 
 aiiiKziiig impenitence and insen»ibilit>, under the pun- 
 ubment of horrid wickednenv 
 
 But the>e tribes, when they saw that Moses 
 was angry with them, and when they could 
 not deny but he had a just cause to be dis- 
 pleased at their petition, made an apology for 
 themselves; and said, that it was not on ac- 
 count of their fear of dangers, nor on account 
 of their laziness, that they made this request 
 to him, but that they might leave the prey 
 they had gotten in places of safety, and there- 
 by might be more expedite, and ready to un- 
 dergo difficulties, and to fight battles. They 
 added this also, that when they had built 
 cities, wherein they might preserve their chil- 
 dren, and wives, and possessions, if he would 
 bestow them upon them, they would go along 
 with the rest of the army. Hereupon Moses 
 was pleased with what they said ; so he called 
 for Eleazar, the high-priest, and Joshua, and 
 the chief of the tribes, and permitted these 
 tribes to possess the land of the Amorites; 
 but upon this condition, that they should 
 join with their kinsmen in the war until all 
 things wete settled. Upon which condition 
 they took possession of the country, and built 
 them strong cities, and put into them their 
 children, and their wives, and whatsoever else 
 they had that might be an impediment to the 
 labours of their future marches. 
 
 4. Moses also now built those ten cities 
 which were to be of the number of the forty- 
 eight [for the Levites]; three of which he al- 
 lotted to those that slew any persons involunta- 
 rily, and fled to them; and he assigned the 
 same time for their banishment with that of 
 the life of that high-priest under whom the 
 slaughter and flight happened; after which 
 death of the high priest he permitted the 
 slayer to return home. During the time of 
 his exile, the relations of him that was slain 
 may, by this law, kill the manslayer, if they 
 caught him vvithout the bounds of the city to 
 which he flef', though ^his permission was not 
 gr^' ted to any other person. Now the cities 
 
 .; uich were set apart for this flight were these : 
 Bezer, at the borders of Arabia; Ramoth, of 
 the land of Gilead ; and Golan, iti the land 
 of Bashan. There were to be also, by Moses's 
 command, three other cities allotted for the 
 habitation of these fugitives out of the cities 
 of the Levites, but not till after they should 
 be in possession of the land of Canaan. 
 
 5. At this time the chief men of the tribe 
 of Manasseh came to Moses, and informed 
 him that there whs an eminent man of their 
 tribe dead, w bose name was Zelophehad, who 
 left no male children, but left daughters; and 
 asked him whether these daughters might in- 
 herit his land or not. He made this answer. 
 That if they shall marry in their own tribe, 
 they shall carry their estate along with them ; 
 but if they dispose of themselves in marriage 
 to men of another tribe, they shall leave their 
 inheritance in their father's tribe. And then it 
 was that .Muses ordained, that every one's in- 
 heritance should continue in his own tribe. 
 
116 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV 
 
 CHAPTER Vlir. 
 
 THE POT.ITY SETTLED BY MOSES; AND H t)W 
 HK DISAPPEARED FUOM AMONG MANRfSD. 
 
 § 1. When forty years were completed, with 
 in thirty days, Moses gathered the congrega- 
 tion together near Jordan, where the city 
 Abila now stands, a place full of palm-trees; 
 and all the people being come togethei he 
 spake thus to them: — , 
 
 2. " O you Israelites and fellow-sol'^ iers, 
 who have been partners with me in this long 
 and uneasy journey ; since it is now the "will 
 of God, and the course of old age, at a hun- 
 dred and twenty, requires it that I should 
 depart out of this life ; and since God has 
 forbidden me to be a patron or an assistant to 
 you in what remains to be done beyond Jor- 
 dan, I thought it reasonable not to leave off 
 my endeavours even now for your happiness, 
 but to do my utmost to procure for you the 
 eternal enjoyment of good things, and a me- 
 morial for myself, when you shall be in the 
 fruition of great plenty and prosperity: come, 
 therefore, let me suggest to you by what means 
 you may be happy, and may leave an eternal 
 prosperous possession thereof to your children 
 after you, and then let me thus go out of the 
 world; and I cannot buttleserve to be be- 
 lieved by you, both on account of the great 
 things I have already done for you, and because, 
 when souls are about to leave the body, they 
 speak with the sincerest freedom. O children 
 of Israel! there is but one source of happi- 
 ness for all mankind, the favour of God,* 
 for he alone is able to give good things to 
 those that deserve them, and to deprive those 
 of them that sin against him; towards whom, 
 if you behave yourselves according to his will, 
 and according to what I, who well understand 
 his mind, do exhort you to, you will both be 
 esteemed blessed, and will be admired by all 
 men; and will never come into misfortunes, 
 nor cease to be happy: you will then preserve 
 the possession of the. good things you already 
 have, and will quickly obtain those that you 
 are at present in want of, — only do you be 
 obedient to those whom God would have you 
 to follow: — nor do you prefer any other con- 
 stitution of government before the laws now 
 given you; neither do you disregard that way 
 of divine worship which you now have, nor j 
 change it for any other form : and if you do 
 this, you will be the most courageous of all 
 men, in undergoing the fatigues of war, and 
 will not be easily conquered by any of your 
 
 • Josephus here, in this one sentence, sums up liis 
 notion of Moses's very long and very serioiis exhortations 
 in the book of Deuteronomy; and his words are so true, 
 and of such importance, that they deserve to he had in 
 •onsUnt remembrance, both by Jews and Christians : — 
 ••O childrrn of Israel '. there is but one source of happi- 
 MH far all mtjxkkui^-— tkt /av9ur q/ t;*^." 
 
 enemies; for while God is present with you 
 to assist you, it is to be expected that you will 
 be able to despise the opposition of all man- 
 kind; and great rewards of virtue are pro- 
 posed for you, if you preserve that virtue 
 through your whole lives. Virtue itself is 
 indeed" the principal and the first reward, and, 
 after that it bestows abundance of others; so 
 that your exercise of virtue towards other men 
 will make your own lives happy, and render 
 you more glorious than foreigners can be, and 
 procure you an undisputed reputation with 
 posterity. These blessings you will be able 
 to obtain, in case you hearken to and observe 
 those laws which, by divine revelation, I have 
 ordained for you; that is, in case you withal 
 meditate upon the wisdom that is in them. I 
 am going from you myself, rejoicing in the 
 good things you enjoy; arid I recommend 
 you to the wise conduct of your law, to the 
 becoming order of your polity, and to the vir- 
 tues of your commanders, who will take care 
 of what is for your advantage; and that God, 
 who has been till now your leader, and by 
 whose good- will I have myself been useful to 
 you, will not put a period now to his provi- 
 dence over you, but, as long as you desire to 
 have him your Protector in \our pursuits after 
 virtue, so long will you enjoy his care over 
 you. Your high-priest also Eleazar, as well 
 as Joshua, with the senate, and chief of your 
 tribes, will go before you, and suggest the best 
 advices to you; by following which advices 
 you will continue to be happy: to whom do 
 you give ear without reluctance, as sensible 
 that all such as know well how to be govern- 
 ed, will also know how to govern, if they be 
 promoted to that authority themselves; and 
 do not you esteem liberty to consist in op- 
 posing such directions as your governors think 
 lit to give you for }our practice, — as at pre- 
 sent indeed you place your liberty in nothing 
 else but abusing your benefactors; which 
 error if you can avoid for the time to come, 
 \ our affairs will be in a better condition than . 
 they have hitherto been; nor do you ever in-'^ 
 dulge such a degree of passion in these mat- 
 ters as you have oftentimes done when you 
 have been very angry at me; for you know 
 that I have been oftener in danger of death 
 from you 'than from our enemies. What I 
 now put you in njind of, is not done in order 
 to reproach you; for I do not tTiink it proper, 
 now I am going out of the world, to bring 
 this to your remembrance, in order to leave 
 you offended at me, since, at the time when I 
 underwent those hardships from you, I was 
 not angry at you; but I do it in order to make 
 you wiser hereafter, and to teach you that this 
 will be for \ our security : I mean, that you 
 never be injurious to those that preside over 
 you, even when you are become rich, as you 
 will be to a great degree when you have pas- 
 sed over Jordan, and are in possession of the 
 laud of Canaun. Sinue, wh«n you shall hav« 
 
cnAP. viii. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS 
 
 117 
 
 once proceeded so far by your wealth, as to a 
 contempt and disregard of virtue, you will 
 also forfeit the favour of God; and when you 
 Lave made hira your enemy, you will be 
 beaten in war, and will have the land which 
 you possess tAken away again from you by 
 your enemies, and this with great reproaches 
 upon your conduct. You will be scattered 
 ©ver the whole world, and will, as slaves, en- 
 tirely fill both sea and land ; ainl when once 
 you have had the experience of what I now 
 say, you will repent and remember the laws 
 you have broken, when it is too late. Whence 
 I would advise you, if yoa intend to preserve 
 these laws, to leave none of your enemies alive 
 when you have conquered them, but to look 
 apon it as for your advantage to destroy them 
 all, lest, if you permit them to live, you taste 
 of their manners, and thereby corrupt your 
 «wn proper institutions. I also do farther 
 exhort you, to overthrow their altars, and 
 their groves, and whatsoever temples they have 
 among them, and to burn all such, their nation, 
 and their very memory with fire; for by this 
 means alone the safety of your own happy 
 constitution can be firmly secured to you. 
 And in order to prevent your ignorance of 
 virtue, and. the degeneracy of your nature 
 into vice, I have also ordained you laws, 
 by divine suggestion, and a form of govern- 
 ment, which are so good, that, if you regu- 
 larly observe them, you will be esteemed of 
 all men the most happy." 
 
 3. When he had spoken thus, he gave them 
 the laws and the constitution of government 
 written in a book. Upon which the people 
 fell into tears, and appeared already touched 
 with the sense that they should have a great 
 want of their conductor, because they remem- 
 bered what a number of dangers he had passed 
 through, and what care he had taken of 
 their preservation: they desponded about what 
 would come upon them after he was dead, and 
 thought they should never have another go- 
 vernor like him ; and feared that God would 
 then take less care of them when Moses was 
 gone, who used to intercede for them. They 
 also repented of what they had said to him in 
 the wilderness when they were angry; and 
 were in grief on those accounts, insomuch 
 that the whole body of the people fell into 
 tears with such bitterness, that it was past the 
 power of words to comfort them in their af- 
 fliction. However, Moses gave them some 
 consolation; and by calling them off the 
 thought, how worthy he was of their weeping 
 for him, he exhorted them to keep to that 
 form of government he had given them; and 
 then the congregation was dissolved at thattime. 
 
 4. Accordingly, I shall now first describe 
 this form of government which was agreeable 
 to the dignity and virtue of Moses ; and shall 
 thereby inform those that read these Antiqui- 
 ties, what our original settlements were, and 
 shall th«n proceed to the remaining historiss. 
 
 Now those settlements are all still in writing, 
 as he left them ; and we shall add nothing by 
 way of ornament, nor any thing besides what 
 Moses left us; only we shall so far innovate, 
 as to digest the several kinds of laws into a 
 regular system: for they were by him left in 
 writing as they were accidentally scattered in 
 their delivery, and as he upon inquiry had 
 learned them of God. On which account I 
 have thought it necessary to premise this ob- 
 servation beforehand, lest any of my own 
 countrymen should blame me, as having been 
 guilty of an offence herein. Now part of our 
 constitution will include the laws that belong 
 to our political state. As for those laws which 
 Moses left concerning our common conversa- 
 tion and intercourse one with another, I have 
 reserved that for a discourse concerning our 
 manner of life, and the occasions of those 
 laws; ^^'hich I propose to myself, ^vith God's 
 assistance, to write, after I have finished the 
 work I am now upon. 
 
 5. When you have possessed yourselves of 
 the land erf Canaan, and have leisure to en- 
 joy the good things of it, and when you have 
 afterward determined to build cities, if you 
 will do what is pleasing to God, you will have 
 a secure state of happiness. Let there be then 
 one city of the land of Canaan, and this si- 
 tuate in the most agreeable place for its good- 
 ness, and very eminent in itself^ and let it be 
 that which God shall choose for himself by 
 prophetic revelation. Let there also be one 
 temple therein, and one altar, not reared of 
 
 hewn stones, but of such as you gather to- ^^.^ 
 gether at random ; which stones, when they 
 are whited over with mortar, will have a hand- * 
 some appearance, and be beautiful to the sight. 
 Let the ascent to it be not by steps,* but by 
 an acclivity of raised earth. And let there 
 be neither an altar nor a temple in any other 
 city; for God is but one, and the nation of 
 the Hebrews is but one. 
 
 6. He that blasphemeth God, let. him be 
 stoned, and let him hang upon a tree all that 
 day, and then let him be buried^ in an igno- 
 minious and obscure manner. 
 
 7. Let those that live as remote as the 
 bounds of the land which the Hebrews shall 
 possess, come to that city where the temple 
 shall be, and this three times in a year, that they 
 may give thanks to God for his former bene- 
 
 • This law, both here and Exod. xx. 25, 26, of not 
 going up to God's altar by ladder-steps, but on an accli- 
 vity, seems not to have belonged to the altar of the ta- 
 bernaclfc, which was in all but three cubit* high, Exod. 
 xxvii. 1; nor to that of Erekiel, which was expressly to 
 be gone up to by steps, xliii. 17; but rather to occasional 
 altars of any considerable altitude and largeness; as also 
 probably to Solomon's alUr, to which it is here applied 
 by Josephus, as well as to that in Zorobabel's and He- 
 rod's temple, which were, I think, all ten cubits high. 
 Se« 2 Cbron. iv. 1, and Antiq. h. viii. chap. iii. sect. 7 
 The reason why these temples, and these only, were to 
 have this ascent on an acclivity, and not by steps, is obvi- 
 ous; that before the invention of stairs, such as we now 
 use, decency could not be otherwise provided for in the 
 loose garments which the priests wore, as the law required. 
 See Lamy of the TalMrnacle aod Temple, p. 444, 
 
118 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IT, 
 
 tits, and may entreat Idm for those they shall 
 want hereafter ; and let them, by this means, 
 maintain a friendly correspondence with one 
 another by such meetings and feastings together 
 — for it is a good thing for those that are of the 
 same stock, and under the same institution of 
 laws, not to be unacquainted with each othe**; 
 which acquaintance will be maintained by thus 
 'conversing together, and by seeing and talk- 
 ing with one another, and so renewing the me- 
 morials of this union; for if they do not thus 
 converse together continually, they will ap- 
 pear like mere strangers to one auother. 
 
 8. Let there be taken out of your fruits a 
 tenth, besides that which you have allotted to 
 give to the priests and Levites. This you 
 may indeed sell in the country, but it is to be 
 used in those feasts and sacnfices that are to 
 be celebrated in the holy city : for it is fit that 
 you should enjoy those fruits of the earth 
 which God gives you tq possess, so as may be 
 to the honour of the donor. 
 
 9. You are not to offer sacrifices put of 
 the hire of a woman who is a harlot,* for the 
 Deity is not pleased with any thing that arises 
 from such abuses of nature ; of which sort 
 none can be worse than this prostitution of 
 the body. In like manner no one may take 
 the price of the covering of a bitch, either of 
 one that is used in hunting, or in keeping of 
 sheep, and thence sacrifice to God. 
 
 10. Let no one blaspheme those gods which 
 other cities esteem such ; f nor may any one 
 steal what belongs to strange temples j nor take 
 away the gifts that are dedicated to any god. 
 
 11. Let not any one of you wear a gar- 
 ment made of woollen and linen, for that is 
 appointed to be for the priests alone 
 
 12. When the multitude are assembled to- 
 gether unto the holy city for sacrificing every 
 seventh year, at the Feast of Tabernacles, let 
 the high-priest stand upon a high desk, whence 
 he may be heard, and let him read the laws 
 to all the people; J and let neither the women 
 nor the children be hindered from hearing, 
 no, nor the sA-vants neither ; for it is a good 
 thing that those laws should be engraven in 
 their souls, and preserved in their memories, 
 that so it may not be possible to blot them 
 out ; for by this means they will not be guilty, 
 of sin, when they cannot plead ignorance of 
 what the laws have enjoined them. The laws 
 also will have a greater authority among them 
 as foretelling what they will suffer if they 
 break them : and imprinting in their souls by 
 
 • The hire of public or secret harlots was given to 
 Venus in Syria, as Lucian informs us, n. 878 j and aga'nst 
 some such vile practice of the old idolaters, this law 
 seems to have been made. 
 
 + The Apostolical Constitutions, b. ii. chap, xxvl 
 ■*;S.V **'» ^''P'Jund this law of Moses (Exod. xxii. a8", 
 •♦Thou sbalt not revile or blaspheme the eods," of ma- 
 pstratesi Which is a much mor* -probable exposition 
 ttian this of JoKphus, of heathen gods, as here, and 
 against 4pion, b. ii. sect. 34. 
 
 t What book of the law was thus publicW read, see 
 ttenota w Antlq. \). x. chap, v, sect. o. and I i:»d ix. 
 
 this hearing what they command them to do, 
 that so there may always be within their minds 
 that intention of the laws which they have 
 despised and broken, and have thereby been 
 the causes of their own mischief. Let the 
 children also learn the laws, as the first thing 
 they are taught, which will be the best thing 
 they can be taught, and will be the cause of 
 their future felicity. 
 
 13. Let every one commemorate before 
 God the benefits uh'-^h he bestowed upon 
 them at their deliverance out of the land of 
 Egypt, and this twice every day, both when 
 the day begins, -and when the hour of sleep 
 com?s on, gratitude being in its own nature 
 a just thing, and serving not only by way of 
 return for past, but also by way of invitation 
 o» future favours. They are also to inscribe 
 the principal blessings they have received 
 from God upon their doors, and show the 
 same remeuTbrance of them upon their arms; 
 as also they are to bear on thtlr forehead and 
 their arm those wonders which declare the 
 power of God, and his good-will towards 
 them, that God's readiness to bless them may 
 appear everywhere conspicirous about them.§ 
 
 14. Let there be seven men to judge ir» 
 every city,[| and these such as have been be- 
 fore most zealous in the exercise of virtue and 
 righteousness. Let every judge have two 
 officers allotted him out of the tribe of Levi. 
 Let those that are chosen to judge in the se- 
 veral cities be had in great honour; and let 
 none be permitted to revile any others when 
 these are present, nor to carry themselves in 
 an insolent manner to them; it being natural 
 that reverence towards those in high offices 
 among men should procure men's fear and 
 reverence towards God. Let those that judge 
 be permitted to determine according as they 
 think to be right, unless any one can show 
 that they have taken bribes, to the perversion 
 of justice, or can allege any other accusation 
 against them, whereby it may appear that they 
 have passed an unjust sentence; lor it is not 
 fit that causes should be openly determined 
 out of regard to gain, or to the dignity of the 
 suitors, but that the judges should esteem what 
 
 i Whether these phylacteries, and other Jewish me- 
 morials of the law here mentioned by Josephus, and by 
 Moses (besides the fringes on the borders of their gar- 
 ments. Numb. XV. 37), were literally meant by God, ] 
 much question. 'I'nai they have been loitj? obst-rved by ^ 
 the I'liarisees and Rabbinical Jews, is certain; however, 
 the Karaites, who receive not the unwritten traditions of 
 the olders, but keep close to the written law, wiUi Je- 
 rome and Grotius, think they were not literally to bo 
 nniU-rstood; as Bernard and Iteland here take notice. 
 Nor indeed do I remember that, either in the ancienter 
 books of the Old Testament, or in the books we ccU/ 
 Apocrypha, there are any signs of such literal observa- 
 tions appearing among the Jews, though their real o» 
 mystical signification, t e. the ronstunt remembranc* 
 and observation of the la«*s of (Jod by Moiies, be fre- 
 quently inculcated in all tne sacred writingh. 
 
 II Here, as well as elsewhere, sect. 31, ol his Litb, 
 sect. 14, and of the War, b. ii. th. xx. sect. A, are but 
 seven judges appointed lor small cilie.n. instead ^^{ tiie.jty- 
 three in the modern Kahhins; whirh modrrn Rahhins 
 
 I are alw.iyx but of very luUe aulhuriij iu eoinparison uf 
 
 ' our Joaepbus. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 119 
 
 is right before all other things, otherwise God 
 will by that means be despised; and esteenaed 
 interior to those the dread of whose power 
 has occasioned the unjust sentence; for jus- 
 tice is the power of God. He, therefore, that 
 gratifies those in great dignity, supposes them 
 more potent than God himself. But if these 
 judges be unable to give a just sentence about 
 the causes that come before them (which case 
 is not unfrequent in human affairs), let them 
 send the cause undetermined to the holy city, 
 and there let the high-priest, the prophet, and 
 the sanhedrim, determine as it shall seem 
 good to them. 
 
 15. But let not a single witness be credit- 
 ed; but three, or two at the least, and those 
 such whose testimony is confirmed by their 
 good lives. But let not the testimony of wo- 
 men be admitted, on account of the levity 
 and boldness of their sex;* nor let servants 
 be admitted to give testimony, on account of 
 the ignobility of their soul; since it is pro- 
 bable that they may not speak truth, either out 
 of hope of gain, or fear of punishment. But 
 if any one be believed to have borne false wit- 
 ness, let him, when he is convicted, suffer all 
 the very same punishments which he against 
 whom he bore witness was to have suffered. 
 
 l(j. If a murder be committed in any place, 
 and he that did it be not found, nor is there 
 any suspicion upon one as if he had hated the 
 man, and so had killed him, let there be a 
 very diligent inquiry made after the man, and 
 rewuds proposed to any one who will discover 
 huu; but if still no information can be pro- 
 cured, let the magistrates and senate of those 
 cities that lie near the place in which the 
 murder was committed, assemble together, 
 a:ul ujeasure the distance from the place 
 wVcr.' the dead body lies; then let the ma- 
 gistrates of the nearest city thereto pui chase 
 a heifir, and bring it to a valley, and to a 
 place therein where there is no land ploughed 
 or trees planted, and let them cut the sinews 
 of the heifer; then the priests and Levites, 
 and the senate of that city, shall take water 
 and wash their hands over the head of the 
 heifer; and they shall openly declare that 
 their hands are innocent of this murder, and 
 that they have neither done it themselves, nor 
 been assisting to any that did it. They shall 
 also beseech God to be merciful to them that 
 no such horrid act may any more be done in 
 that land. 
 
 17. Aristocracy, and the way of living un- 
 der it, is the best constitution : and may you 
 never have any inclination to any other form 
 of government; and may you always love 
 that form, and have the laws for your gover- 
 
 * T have never observed elsewhere, that in the Jewish 
 government, women were not admitted as legal witness- 
 es in courts of justice. None of our copies of the Penta- 
 U!U<:h sr.y a word of it. It is very probable, however, 
 that tliis was the exposition of the Scribes and Phara- 
 8eo8,and the practice of Ihe Jews in the days of Josepbus. 
 
 nors, and govern all your actions according 
 to them; for you need no supreme governor 
 but God. But if you shall desire a king, let 
 him be one of your own nation; let him be 
 always careful of justice and other virtues 
 perpetually ; let him submit to the laws, and 
 esteem God's commands to be his highest 
 wisdom ; but let him do nothing without the 
 high-priest and the votes of the senators : let 
 him not have a great number of wives, nor 
 pursue after abundance of riches, r.or a mul- 
 titude of horses, whereby he may grow too 
 proud to submit to the laws. And if he af- 
 fect any such things, let him be restrained, 
 lest he become so potent that his state be in- 
 consistent with your welfare. 
 
 18. Let it not be esteemed lawful to re- 
 move boundaries, neither our own, nor of 
 those with whom we are at peace. Have a 
 care you do not take those land-marks away 
 which are, as it were, a divine and unshaken 
 limitation of rights made by God himself, to 
 last for ever; smce this going beyond limits 
 and gaining ground upon others, is the occa- 
 sion of wars and seditions; for those that re- 
 move boundaries are not far off an attempt 
 to subvert the laws. 
 
 19. He that plants a piece of land, the 
 trees of which produce fruits before the fourth 
 year, is not to bring thence any first-fruits to 
 God, nor is he to make use of that fruit him- 
 self, for it is not produced in its proper sea- 
 son ; for when nature has a force put upon 
 her at an unseasonable time, the fruit is not 
 proper for God, nor for the master's use; but 
 let the owner gather all that is grown on the 
 fourth year, for then it is in its proper season ; 
 and let him that has gathered it carry it to 
 the holy city, and spend that, together with 
 the tithe of his other fruits, in feasting with 
 his friends, with the orphans, and the widows. 
 But on the fifth year the fruit is his own, 
 and he may use it as he pleases. 
 
 20. You are not to sow with seed a piece 
 of land which is planted with vines ; for it 
 is enough that it supply nourishment to that 
 plant, and be not harassed by ploughing also. 
 You are to plough your land with oxen, and 
 not to oblige other animals to come under the 
 same yoke with them, but to till your land 
 with those beasts that are of the same kind 
 with each other. The seeds are also to be 
 pure, and without mixture, and not to be 
 compounded of two or three sorts, since Na- 
 ture does not rejoice in the union of things 
 that are not in their own nature alike : nor 
 are you to permit beasts of different kinds to 
 gender together, for there is reason to fear 
 that this unnatural abuse may extend from 
 beasts of different kinds to men, though it 
 takes its first rise from evil practices about 
 such smaller things. Nor is any thing to be 
 allowed, by imitation whereof any degree of 
 subversion may creep into the constitution; 
 nor do the laws neglect small matters, but 
 
120 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 provide that even those may be managed after 
 en unblameable manner. 
 
 21. Let not those that reap and gather in 
 the corn that is reaped, gather in the glean- 
 bgs also, but let them rather leave some 
 handfuls for those that are in want of the ne- 
 cessaries of life, that it may be a support and a 
 supply to them, in order to their subsistence. 
 In like manner when they gather their grapes, 
 .et them leave some smaller bunches for the 
 DOor, and let them pass over some of the fruits 
 of the olive trees, when they gather them, and 
 leave them to be partaken of by those that 
 have none of their own ; for the advantage 
 arising from the exact collection of all, will not 
 be so considerable to the owners as will arise 
 from the gratitude of the poor ; and God 
 will provide that the land shall more willing- 
 ly produce what shall be for the nourishment 
 of its fruits, in case you do not merely take 
 care of your own advantage, but have regard 
 to the support of others also : nor are you to 
 muzzle the mouths of the oxen when they 
 tread the ears of corn in the thrashing-floor; 
 for ic is not just to restrain our fellow- labour- 
 ing animals, and those that work in order to 
 'ts production, of this fruit of their labours : 
 nor are you to prohibit those that pass by at 
 the time when your fruits are ripe to touch 
 them, but to give them leave to fill themselves 
 full of what you have ; and this whether they 
 be of your own country or strangers, — as be- 
 ing glad of the opportunity of giving them 
 some part of your fruits when they are ripe ; 
 but let it not be esteemed lawful for them to 
 carry any away : nor let those that gather the 
 grapes, and carry them to the wine-presses, 
 restrain tho?e whom they meet from eating of 
 them; for it is unjust, out of envy, to hinder 
 those that desire it, to partake of the good 
 things that come into the world according to 
 God's will, and this while the season is at the 
 height, and is h.istening away as it pleases 
 God. Nay, if some, out of bashfulness, are 
 unwilling to touch these fruits, let them be 
 encouraged to take of them (I mean, those 
 that are Israelites) as if they were themselves 
 the owners and lords, on account of the kin- 
 dred there is between them : nay, let them 
 desire men that come from other countries, to 
 partake of these tokens of friendship which 
 God has given in their proper season ; for 
 that is not to be deemed as idly spent, which 
 any one out of kindness communicates to an- 
 other, since God bestows plenty of good things 
 on men, not only for themselves to reap the ad- 
 trantage, but also to give to others in a way of 
 generosity; and he is desirous, by this means, 
 to make known to others his peculiar kind- 
 ness to the people of Israel, and how freely 
 he communicates happiness to them, while 
 they abundantly communicate out of their 
 great superfluities to even these foreigners 
 also. But for him that acts contrary to this 
 law let him be beaten with forty stripes, rave 
 
 one,' by the public executioner; let him un- 
 dergo this punishment, which is a most ig'io- 
 minious one for a free man, and this because 
 he was such a slave to gain as to lay a blot 
 upon his own dignity; for it is proper for 
 you who have had the experience of the afflic- 
 tions in Egypt, and of those iu the wilder- 
 ness, to make provision for those that are in 
 the like circumstances; and while you have 
 now obtained plenty yourselves, through the 
 mercy and providence of God, to distribute 
 of the same plenty, by the like sympathy, to 
 such as stand in need of it. 
 
 22. Besides those two tithes, which I have 
 already said you are to pay every year, the 
 one for the Levites, the other for the festivals, 
 you are to bring every third year a tithe to 
 be distributed to those that want;-f to wo- 
 men also that are widows, and to children that 
 are orphans. But as to the ripe fruits, let them 
 carry that which is ripe first of all into the 
 temple; and when they have blessed God fur 
 that land which bare them, and which he had 
 given them for a possession, when they have 
 also offered those sacrifices which the law has 
 commanded them to bring, let them give the 
 first-fruits to the priests. But when any one 
 hath done this, and hath brought the tithe of 
 all that he hath, together with those first-fruits 
 that are for the Levites, and for the festivals, 
 and when he is about to go home, let him 
 stand before the holy house, and return thanks 
 to God, that he hath delivered them from the 
 injurious treatment they had in Egypt, and 
 hath given them a good land, and a large, and 
 lets them enjoy the fruits thereof; and when 
 he hath openly testified that he hath fully paid 
 the tithes [and other dues] according to the 
 laws of Moses, let him entreat God that he 
 will be ever merciful and gracious to him ; 
 and continue so to be to all the Hebrews, 
 both by preserving the good things which he 
 hath already given them, and by adding what 
 it is still in his power to bestow upon them. 
 
 23. Let the Hebrews marry, at the age fit 
 for it, virgins that are free, and born of good 
 parents. And he that does not marry a virgin, 
 let him not corrupt another man's wife, and . 
 marry her, nor grieve her former husband : 
 nor let free men marry slaves, although their 
 affections should strongly bias any of them so 
 to do; for it is decent, and for the dignity of 
 the persons themselves, to govern those their 
 affections. And farther, no one ought to marry 
 a harlot, whose matrimonial oblations, aris- 
 ing from the prostitution of her body, God 
 will not receive ; for by these means the dis- 
 
 • This penalty of " forty stripes, save one," here men- 
 tioned, and sect. 23, was five times inflicted on St. I'uul 
 iiimself by the Jews, 2 Cor. xi. 24. 
 
 • + Josephns's plain and express Interpretation of this 
 law of iVIoses, Dent xiv. 2a 2y; xxvi. 12, &r. that the 
 Jews were hound every third year to pay three tith«tj 
 that to the l.evites. ihut for sacrifices at Jerusalem, and 
 this for the indifcent, the widpw, and the orphans, \n 
 fully ccnfirnied t>y the practice of good old Tohit, even 
 when he wax a c.tptive in Assyria, iii{iunst the opiuioQd oi 
 ttie Rutihin*. I'ohtt, i. ti, 7, S. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 121 
 
 positions of the children will be liberal and 
 virtuous; I mean, when they are not born of 
 base parents, and of the lustful conjunction of 
 such as marry women that are not free. If 
 any one has been espoused to a woman as to 
 a virgin, and does not afterward find her so 
 to be, let him bring his action, and accuse 
 her, and let him make use of such indications* 
 to prove his accusation as he is furnished 
 withal; and let the father or the brother of the 
 damsel, or some one that is after them nearest 
 of kin to her, defend her. If the damsel ob- 
 tain a sentence in her favour, that she had not 
 been guilty, let her live with her husband 
 that accused her; and let him not have any 
 farther power at all to put her away, unless 
 she give him very great occasions of suspicion, 
 and such as can be no way contradicted ; but 
 for him that brings an accusation and calumny 
 against his wife in an impudent and rash man- 
 ner, let him be punished by receiving forty 
 stripes save one, and let him pay fifty shekels 
 to her father: but if the damsel be convicted, 
 as having been corrupted, and is one of the 
 common people, let her be stoned, because 
 she did not preserve her virginity till she were 
 lawfully married ; but if she were the daugh- 
 ter of a priest, let her be burnt alive. If any 
 one has two wives, and if he greatly respect 
 and be kind to one of them, either out of his 
 affection to her, or for her beauty, or for some 
 other reason, while the other is of less esteem 
 with him; and if the son of her that is beloved 
 be the younger by birth than another born 
 of the other wife, but endeavours to obtain 
 the right of primogeniture from his father's 
 kindness to his mother, and would thereby 
 obtain a double portion of his father's sub- 
 stance, for that double portion is what I have 
 allotted him in the laws, — let not this be per- 
 mitted ; for it is unjust that he who is the elder 
 by birth should be deprived of what is due 
 to him, on the father's disposition of his estate, 
 because his mother was not equally regarded 
 by him. He that hath corrupted a damsel 
 espoused to another man, in case he had her 
 consent, let both him and her be put to death, 
 for they are both equally guilty; the man, be- 
 cause he persuaded the woman willingly to 
 submit to a most impure action, and to prefer 
 it to lawful wedlock; the woman, because she 
 was persuaded to yield herself to be corrupted, 
 either for pleasure or for gain. However, 
 if a man light on a woman when she is alone, 
 and forces her, where nobody was present to 
 
 ♦ These tokens of virginity, as the Hebrew and Sep- 
 tuagint style them, Deut xxii. 13, 17, 20, seem to me 
 very different from what our later interpreters suppose. 
 They appear rather to have been such close linen gar- 
 rnents as were never put off virgins, after a certain age, 
 till they were married, but before witnesses, and which, 
 while they were entire, were certain evidences of such 
 virginity. See these, Antiq. b. ^'u. chap. viii. sect, 1 ; 
 2 Sara. xiii. 18 j Isa. vu 1. Josephus here determines 
 nothing what were these particular tokens of virginity 
 or of corruption : perhaps he thought he could not easily 
 describe them to the heathens, without saying what they 
 might have thought a breach of modesty; which seem- 
 ing bleach of modesty laws cannot always wholly avoid. 
 
 come to her assistance, let him only be put 
 to death. Let him that hath corrupted a 
 virgin not yet espoused, marry her; but if the 
 father of the damsel be not >villing that she 
 should be his wife, let him pay fifty shekels 
 as the price of her prostitution. He that de- 
 sires to be divorced from his wife for any causef 
 whatsoever (and many such causes happen 
 among men), let him in writing give assurance 
 that he will never use her as his wife any more; 
 for by this means she may be at liberty to 
 marry another husband, although before this 
 bill of divorce be given, she is not to be per- 
 mitted so to do: but if she be misused by him 
 also, or if, when he is dead, her first husband 
 would marry her again, it shall not be lawful 
 for her to return to him. If a woman's hus- 
 band die, and leave her %vithout children, let 
 his brother marry her; and let him call the 
 son that is born to him by his brother's name, 
 and educate him as the heir of his inheritance; 
 for this procedure will be for the benefit of 
 the public, because thereby families will not 
 fail, and the estate will continue among the 
 kindred; and this will be for the solace of 
 wives under their affliction, that they are to 
 be married to the next, relations of their for- 
 mer husbands; but if the brother will not 
 marry her, let the woman come before the se- 
 nate, and protest openly that this brother will 
 not admit her for his wife, but will injure 
 the memory of his deceased brother, while she 
 is willing to continue in the family, and to 
 bear him children; and when the senate have 
 inquired of him for what reason it is that he 
 is averse to this marriage, whether he gives a 
 bad or a good reason, the matter must come to 
 this issue, That the woman shall loose the san- 
 dals of the brother, and shall spit in his" face, 
 and say. He deserves this reproachful treat- 
 ment from her, as having injured the memory 
 of the deceased; — and then let him go away 
 out of the senate, and bear this reproach upon 
 him all his life long; and let her marry to whom 
 she pleases, of such as seek her in marriage. 
 But now, if any man take captive, either a vir- 
 gin, or one that hath been married, { and has a 
 mind to marry her, let him not be allowed to 
 bring her to bed to him, or to live with her 
 as his wife, before she hath her head shaven, 
 and hath put on her mourning habit, and 
 lamented her relations and friends that were 
 slain in the battle, that by this, means she may 
 give vent to her sorrow for them, and after 
 that may betake herself to feasting and matri- 
 mony; for it is good for him that takes a 
 woman, in order to have children by her, to be 
 complaisant to her inclinations, and not merely 
 to pursue his own pleasure, while he hath 
 
 + These words of Josephus are very like those of the 
 Pharisees to our Saviour upon this very subject. Matt 
 xix. 3, " Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for 
 every cause ?" 
 
 t Here it is supposed that this captive's husband, if 
 she were before a married woman, was dead before, or 
 rather was slain in this very battle; otherwise it would 
 have been adultery in him that married her. 
 
122 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 HOOK ir. 
 
 no regard to what is agreeuble to her; but 
 when thirty days are past, as. the time of 
 mourning, for so many are sufficient to pru- 
 dent persons for lamenting the dearest friends, 
 then let them proceed to the marriage; but 
 in case, when he hath satisfied his lust, he be 
 too proud to retain her for his wife, let him 
 not have it in his power to make her a slave, 
 but let her go away whither she pleasps, and 
 have that privilege of a free woman. 
 
 24. As to those young men that despise 
 their parents, and do not pay them honour, 
 but offer them affronts, either because they 
 are ashamed of them, or think themselves 
 wiser than they, — in the first place let their 
 parents admonish them in words (for they are 
 by nature of authority sufficient for becoming 
 their judges), and let them say thus to them: 
 — That they cohabited together, not for the 
 sake of pleasure, nor for the augmentation of 
 their riches, by joining both their stocks to- 
 gether, but that they might have children, 
 to take care of them in their old age, and 
 might by them have what they then should 
 want; — and say farther to him, " That when 
 thou wast born, we took thee up with gladness, 
 and gave God the greatest thanks for thee, 
 and brought thee up with great care, and 
 spared for nothing that appeared useful for 
 thy preservation, and for thy instruction in 
 what was most excellent ; and now, since it 
 is reasonable to forgive the sins of those that 
 are young, let it suffice thee to have given so 
 many indications of thy contempt of us; — 
 reform thyself, and act more wisely for the 
 time to come; considering that God is dis- 
 pleased with those that are insolent towards 
 their parents, because he is himself the Father 
 of the whole race of mankind, and seems to 
 bear part of that dishonour which fails upon 
 those that have the same name, when they do 
 not meet with due returns from their chil- 
 dren ; and on such the law inflicts inexorable 
 punishment; of which punishment mayst thou 
 never have the experience!" Now if the in- 
 solence of young men be thus cured, let them 
 escape the reproach which their former errors 
 deserved ; for by this means the lawgiver will 
 appear to be good, and parents happy, while 
 they never behold either a son or a daughter 
 brought to punishment; but if it happen that 
 these words and instructions, con veyed by them 
 in order to reclaim the man, appear to be use- 
 less, then the offender renders the laws impla- 
 cable enemies to the insolence he has offered 
 his parents ; let him therefore be brought 
 forth* by these very parents, out of the city, 
 with a multitude following him, and there let 
 bim be stoned ; and when he has continued 
 there for one whole day, that all the people 
 may see him, let him be buried in the night ; 
 and thus it itf that we bury all whom the laws 
 
 • See Herod the Great Jn»i»tin(? on the exprntion of 
 thit law, with r»latlon to two of bin own sonii. bdore the I 
 fudges at Berytut, Antiq. b. zvi. cb. xi. sent. 2. I 
 
 condemn to die, upon any account whatso- 
 ever. Let our enemies that fall in battle be 
 also buried, nor *let any one dead body lie 
 above the ground, or suffer a punishment be- 
 yond what justice requires. 
 
 25. Let no one lend to any one of the He- 
 brews upon usury, neither usury of what is 
 eaten or what is drunken; for it is not just to 
 make advantage of the misfortunes of one of 
 thy own countrymen : but when thou hast 
 been assistant to his necessities, think it thy 
 gain, if thou obtainest their gratitude to thee; 
 and withal that reward which will come to 
 thee from God, for thy humanity towards bim. 
 
 26. Those who have borrowed either silver 
 or any sort of fruits, whether dry or wet (I 
 mean this, when the Jewish affairs shall, by 
 the blessing of God, be to their own mind), let 
 the borrowers bring them again, and restore 
 them with pleasure to those who lent them; 
 laying them up, as it were, in their own trea- 
 suries, and justly expecting to receive them 
 thence, if they shall want them again ; but if 
 they be without shame, and do not restore it, let 
 not the lender go to the borrower's house, and 
 take a pledge himself, before judgment be 
 given concerning it ; but let him require the 
 pledge, and let the debtor bring it of himself, 
 without the least opposition to him that comes 
 upon him under the protection of the law ; 
 and if he that gave the pledge be rich, let the 
 creditor retain it till what he lent be paid him 
 again ; but if he be poor, let him that takes 
 It return it before the going down of the sun, 
 especially if the pledge be a garment, that the 
 debtor may have it for a covering in his sleep, 
 God himself naturally showing mercy to the 
 ooor. It is also not lawful to taJke a mill-stone, 
 nor any utensil thereto belonging, for a pledge, 
 tnat the debtors may not be deprived of instru- 
 ments to get their food withal, and lest they 
 oe undone by their necessity. 
 
 27. Let death be the punishment for steal- 
 ing a man ; but he that hath purloined gold 
 or silver, let him pay double. If any one kill 
 a man that is stealing something out of his 
 bouse, let him be esteemed guiltless, although 
 the man were only breaking in at the wall. Let 
 him that hath stolen cattle pay fourfold what 
 is lost, excepting the case of an ox, for which 
 let the thief pay fivefold. Let him that is so 
 poor that he cannot pay what mulct is laid 
 upon him, be his servant to whom he was ad- 
 judged to pay it. 
 
 28. If any one be sold to one of his own 
 nation, let him serve him six years, and on 
 the seventh let him go free. But it be have 
 a son by a woman-servant in his purchaser's 
 oouse, and if, on account of his good- will to 
 flis master, and his natural affection to his wife 
 and children, he will be his servant still, ket 
 .iim be set free only at the coming of the year 
 of jubilee, which is the fiftieth year, anu ict 
 uiin then take away with him his chiidten and 
 wife, and let them be free also. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 123 
 
 •29. If any one find gold or silver ou the , 
 road, let him inquire after biin that lost it, ; 
 and make proclamation of the place where he \ 
 found it, and then restore it to him again, as 
 not thinking it right to make his own proiit 
 by the loss of another. And the same rule 
 is to be observed in cattle found to have 
 wandered away into a lonely place. If the 
 owner be not presently discovered, let him 
 that is the finder keep it with himself and 
 ttppeal to God that he has not purloined what 
 belongs to another. 1 
 
 30. It is not lawful to pass by any beast 
 that is in distress, when in a storm it is fallen 
 down in the mire, but to endeavour to preserve 
 it, as having a sympathy with it in its pain. I 
 
 31. It is also a duty to show the roads to 
 those whodonotknow them, and not to esteem \ 
 it a matter for sport, when we hinder.others' | 
 advantages, by setting them in a wrong way. 
 
 32. In like nianner, let no one revile a 
 person blind or dumb. 
 
 33. If men strive together, and there be no 
 instrument of iron, let him that is smitten be 
 avenged immediately, by inflicting the same 
 punishment on him that sxnote him : but if 
 when he is carried home he lie sick many 
 days, and then die, let him that smote him 
 escape punishment; but if he that is smitten 
 escape death, and yet be at great expense for 
 his cure, the smiter shall pay for all that has 
 been expended durihg the time of his sickness, 
 and for all that he has paid the physician. He 
 that kicks a woman with child, so that the wo- 
 man miscarry, * let him pay a fine in*money, 
 as the judges shall determine, as having dimin- 
 ished the multitude by the destruction of what 
 was in her womh; and let money also be given 
 the woman's husband by him that kicked her; 
 but if she die of the stroke, let hira also be 
 put to death, the law judging it equitable that 
 life should go for life. 
 
 34. Let no one of the Israelites keep any 
 poison f that may cause death, or any other 
 harm; but if he be caught with it, let hira 
 be put to death, and suffer the very same mis- 
 chief that he would have brought upon them 
 for whom the poison was prepared. 
 
 35. He that raairaeth any one, let him un- 
 ilergo the like himself, and be deprived of the 
 same member of which he hath deprived the 
 other, unless he that is mainaed will accept of 
 
 » Philo and others appear to have understood this law 
 (E^id. xxi. 2t, 23) better than Josephus. who seems to 
 allow, that though the in£a.nt in the mothei''s wotnb, 
 even after the mothet were qqick, and so the infant had 
 a rational soul, were killed by the stroke upon the mo- 
 ther, yet if the mother escaped, the srtiender stiould only 
 be f.nod, and not put to death; while the law seems 
 rather to mean, that if the infant in that case he killed, 
 though tbe mother escape, the offender must be put to 
 death; and not only when the mother is killed, as Jo- 
 ■ephns iindrrstood it. It seems this was the exposition 
 ol the Pharisees in the days of Josephus. 
 
 + What we render a witch, according to out modem 
 notions of witchcraft, Kxod xxi.. IH, Chilo and Josephus 
 undi'rstood of a poisoner, or one who attempted, by secret 
 and unlawful drii);s or phjltra. tu take awaj the senses or 
 the iivcti uf io^n 
 
 money instead of it^^ for the law makes the 
 sufferer the judge of the value of what he 
 hath suffered, and permits him to estimate it, 
 unless he will be more severe. 
 
 36. Let him that is the owner of an ox 
 which pusheth with his horn, kill him; but if 
 be pushes and gores any one in the thrashing- 
 floor, let him be put to death by stoning, and 
 let him not be thought fit for food: but if 
 his owner be convicted as having known what 
 his nature was, and hath not kept him up, let 
 him also be put to death, as being the occa- 
 sion of the ox's having killed a man. But if 
 the ox ,have killed a man-servant, or a maid- 
 servant, let him be stoned; and let the owner 
 of the ox pay thirty shekels § to the master 
 of him that was slain: but if it be an ox 
 that is thus smitten and killed, let both the 
 oxen, that which smote the other and that 
 which was killed, be sold, and let the owners 
 of them divide their price between them. 
 
 37. Let those that dig a well or a pit, be 
 careful to lay planks over them, and so keep 
 them shut up, not in order to hinder anj per- 
 sons from drawing water, but that there may 
 je no danger of falling into them : but if any 
 one's beast fall into siich a well or pit thus 
 digged and not shut up, and perish, let the 
 owner pay its price to the o\\Tier of the beast. 
 Let there be a battlement round the tops of 
 your houses instead of a wall, that may prevent 
 any persons from rolling down and perishing. 
 
 38. Let hira that has received any thing in 
 trust for another, take care to keep ft as a sa- 
 cred and divine thing; and let no one invent 
 any contrivance, whereby to deprive him that 
 bath intrusted it with hira of the same, and 
 this whether he be a man or a woman ; no, 
 not although he or she were to gain an im- 
 mense sum of gold, and this where he cannot 
 be convicted of it by any body; for it is fit 
 that a man's own conscience, which knows 
 what he hath, should, in all cases, oblige hini 
 to do welL Let this conscience be his wit- 
 ness, and make hira always act so as may pro- 
 cure him commendation from others; but let 
 him chiefly have regard to God, from whom 
 no wicked man can lie concealed: but if he 
 in whom the trust was reposed, without any 
 deceit of his own, lose what he was intrusted 
 withal, let him come before the seven judges, 
 and swear bv God that nothing bath been lost 
 willingly, or with a wicked intention, and 
 that he oath not made use of any part thereof, 
 and so let him depart without blame ; but if 
 he hath made use of the least part of what 
 was committed to him, and it be lost, let him 
 oe condemned to repay all that he had re- 
 ceived. After the same manner as in these 
 
 t This permission of redeeming this penalty with mo- 
 ney is not in our copies, Exod. xxi. 24, 25; Lev. xxiv. 
 20; Deut xix. 21. 
 
 8 We may here note, that thirty shekels, the price our 
 Saviour was sold for by Judas to the Jews, Matt. xxvi. 
 16, and xxvii. 3, was the old value of a bought servant 
 or slave among that people. 
 
124 
 
 ANTIQUITIES of' THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOX ir. 
 
 trusts, it ia to be, if any one defraud those 
 that undergo bodily labour for him. And let 
 it be always remembered^ that we are not to 
 defraud a poor man of his wages ; as being 
 sensible that God has allotted these w^es to 
 him instead of land and other possessions; 
 nay, this payment is not at att to be delayed, 
 but to be made that very day, since God is 
 not willing to deprive the labourer of the im- 
 mediate use of what be hath laboured for. 
 
 39. You are not to punish children for the 
 faults of their parents, but on account of their 
 own virtue rather to vouchsafe them commise- 
 ration, because they were born of wicked pa- 
 rents, than hatred, because they were born of 
 bad ones : nor indeed ought we to impute the 
 sin of children to their fathers, while young 
 persons indulge themselves in many practices 
 different from what they have been instructed 
 in, and this by thdr proud refusal of such in- 
 struction. 
 
 40. Let those that have made themselves 
 eunuchs be bad in detestation ; and do you 
 avoid any conversation with them who have 
 deprived themselves of their manhood, and of 
 that fruit of generation which God has given 
 to men for the increase of their kind: fet such 
 be driven away, as if they had killed their 
 children, since they beforehand have lost what 
 should procure them ; for evident it is, that 
 while their soul is become effeminate, they 
 have withal transfused that eflferainacy to their 
 body also. In like manner do you treat all 
 that is of a monstrous nature when it is looked 
 on ; nor is it lawful to geld men or any other 
 animals.* 
 
 41. Let this be the constitution of your 
 political laws in time of peace, and God will 
 
 ^ be so merciful as to preserve this excellent set- 
 tlement free from disturbance : and may that 
 time never come which may innovate any 
 thing, and change it for the contrary. But 
 since it must needs happen that mankind fall 
 into troubles and dangers, either undesigned- 
 ly or intentionally, come let us ma^e a few 
 constitutions concerning them, that so being 
 apprized beforehand what ought to be done, 
 you may have salutary counsels ready when 
 you want them, and noay not then be obliged 
 to go to seek what is to be done, and so be 
 unprovided, and fall into dangerous circum- 
 stances. May you be a laborious people, and 
 exercise your souls in virtuous actions, and 
 thereby possess and inherit the land without 
 wars; while neither any foreigners make war 
 upon it, and so afflict you, nor any internal 
 sedition seize upon it, whereby you may do 
 things that are contraFy to your ftfthers, and 
 so lose the laws which they have established: 
 and may you continue in the observation of 
 
 • ThU law against castration, ereu of bnites, is said 
 to he so rigorous elsewhere, as to inflict death on him 
 that does it; which seems only a PharisaieaJ interpreta- 
 tion in the days of Josephus of that law, I^ev. xxi. 20. 
 ftnd xxil. 24; only we may hence observe, that the Jews 
 could then have no oxen which are gelt».but only balls 
 uad —wt, ia JMdea. 
 
 those laws which God hath approved of, and 
 hath delivered to you. Let all sort of war- 
 like operations, whether they befall you now 
 in your own time, or hereafter in the times o^ 
 your posterity, be done out of your own bor- 
 ders ; but when you are about to go to war, 
 send anibassages and heralds to those who are 
 your voluntary enemies, for it is a right thing 
 to make use of words to them before yoii 
 come to your weapons of war ; and assure 
 them thereby, that although you have a nu- 
 merous army, with horses and weapons, and^ 
 above th^se, a Grod merciful to you, and ready 
 to assist you, you do however desire them not 
 to compel you to fight against them, nor to 
 take from them what they have, whieh will 
 indeed be our gain, but what they will have 
 no reason to wish we should take to ourselves;, 
 and if they hearken to you, it will be proper 
 for you to keep peace with them; but if they 
 trust in their own strength as superior to 
 yours, and will not do you justice, lead your 
 army against them, making use of God as youF 
 supreme commander, but ordaining for a lieu- 
 tenant under him, one that is of the greatest 
 courage among you ; for these different com- 
 manders, besides their being an obstacle to 
 actions that are to be done on the sudden, are 
 a disadvantage to those that make use of them. 
 Lead an army pure, and of chosen men, com- 
 posed of all such as have extraordinary 
 strength of body and hardiness of soul; but 
 do you send away the timorous part, lest they 
 run away in the time of action, and so afford 
 an advantage to your enemies. Do you also- 
 give leave to those that have lately buHt thenv 
 houses, and have not yet lived in them a year's 
 time ; and to thoss; that have planted then* 
 vineyards, and have not yet been partakers off 
 their fruits, — to continue in their own coun- 
 try; as well as those also who have betrothed, 
 or lately married them wives, lest they have- 
 such an affection for these things that they bo- 
 too sparing of their lives, and, by reserving 
 themselves for these enjoy n>ents, they become 
 voluntary cowards, on account of their wives, 
 
 42. When you have pitched your camp,, 
 take care that you do nothing that is cruel ; 
 and when you are engaged in a siege, and 
 want timber for the making of warlike en- 
 gines, do not you render the land naked by 
 cutting down trees that bear fruit, but spare 
 them, as considering that they were made foir 
 the benefit of men; and that if they could 
 speak, they would have a just plea against you, 
 because, though they are not occasions of the 
 war, they are imj,ustly treated^ and suffer in 
 it; and would, if they were able, remove them- 
 selves into another Land. When you have 
 beaten youf eueuites in battle, slay those that 
 have fought against you; but preserve the 
 others alive, that they may pay you tribute^ 
 excepting the imtiou of the Canaanites; for in 
 to that people, you must entirely destroy them. 
 
 43. Take care, especially in your hattlM 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 125 
 
 that no woman use the habit of a man, nor 
 man the garment of a woman. 
 
 44. This was the form of political govern- 
 ment which was left "us by Moses. Moreover, 
 he had already delivered laws in writing,* in 
 tre fortieth year [after they came out of Egypt], 
 concerning which we will discourse in another 
 book. But now on the following days (for he 
 called them to assemble continually) he deli- 
 vered blessings to them, and curses upon those 
 that should not live according to the laws, but 
 should transgress the duties that were deter- 
 mined for them to observe. After this, he 
 read to them a poetic song, which was com- 
 posed in hexameter verse; and left it to them 
 in the holy book: it contained a prediction of 
 what was to come to pass afterward ; agreea- 
 bly whereto all things have happened all along, 
 and do still happen to us; and wherein he 
 has not at all deviated from the truth. Ac- 
 cordingly, he delivered these books to the 
 priestSjf with the ark ; into which he also put 
 the Ten Commandments, written on two ta- 
 bles. He delivered to them the tabernacle 
 also; and exhorted the people, that when they 
 had conquered the land, and were settled in 
 it, they should not forget tke injuries of the 
 Amalekites, but make war against them, and 
 inflict punishment upon them for what mis- 
 chief they did them when they were in the 
 wilderness; and 'that, when they had got pos- 
 session of the land of the Canaanites, and 
 when they had destroyed the whole multitude 
 of its inhabitants, as they ought to do, they 
 should erect an altar that should face the ris- 
 ing sun, not far from the city of Shechem, be- 
 tween the two mountains, that of Gerizzim, 
 situate on the right hand, and that called 
 Ebal, on the left; and thal^ the army should 
 be so divided, that six tribes should stand 
 upon each of the two mountains, and with 
 them the Levites and the priests. And that 
 first, those that were upon mount Gerizzim 
 shonld pray for the best blessings upon those 
 vvho were diligent about the worship of God, 
 and the observation of his laws, and who did 
 not reject what Moses had said to them ; while 
 the other wished them all manner of happi- 
 ness also; and when these last put up the like 
 prayers, the former praised them. After this, 
 curses were denounced upon those that should 
 transgress those laws, they answering one ano- 
 ther alternately, by way of confirmation of 
 what had been said. Moses also wrote their 
 blessings and their curses, that they might 
 learn them so thoroughly, that they might 
 never be forgotten by length of time. And 
 when he was read)* to die, he wrote these 
 blegsings and curses upon the. altar, on each 
 side of it; J where he says also the people 
 
 ♦ These laws seem to be those above mentioned, sect. 
 4, of this chapter, 
 
 + VVliat laws were now delivpred to the priests, see 
 the note <in Antiq. b- iii. chap. i. sect. 7. 
 
 } Ot tile txant place where this altar was to he built, 
 wfartlier nearer raouiu Gerizzitu or mjunt Ebul. accord- 
 
 stood, and then sacrificed and offered burnt- 
 offerings; thougj^ after that day they never 
 offered upon it any other sacrifice, for it was 
 not lawful so to do. These are the constitu- 
 tions of Moses; and the Hebrew nation still 
 live according to them. 
 
 45. On the next day, Moses called the peo- 
 ple together, with the women and children, ta- 
 a congregation, so as the very slaves were pre ^ 
 sent also, that they might engage themselvig 
 to the observation of these laws by oath; and 
 that, duly considering the meaning of God in 
 them, they might not, either for favour of 
 their kindred, or out of fear of any one, or 
 indeed for any motive whatsoever, think any 
 thing ought to be preferred to these laws, and 
 so might transgress them; that in case any one 
 of their own blood, or any city, should at- 
 tempt to confound or dissolve their constitu- 
 tion of government, they should take venge- 
 ance upon them, both all in general, and each 
 person in particular; and when they had con- 
 quered them, should overturn their city to the 
 very foundations, and, if possible, should not 
 leave the least footsteps of such madness: but 
 that if they were not able to take such venge- 
 ance, they should still demonstrate that what 
 was done was contrary to their wills. So the 
 multitude bound themselves by oath so to do. 
 
 46. Moses taught them also by what means 
 their sacrifices might be the most acceptable 
 to God; and how they should go forth to war, 
 making use of the stones (in the high-priest's 
 breast-plate) for their direction,§ as I have 
 before signified. Joshua also prophesied while 
 Moses was present. And when Moses had 
 recapitulated whatsoever he had done for the 
 preservation of the people, both in their wars 
 and in peace, and had composed them a body 
 of laws, and procured them an excellent form 
 of government, he foretold, as God had de- 
 clared to him, " That if they transgressed 
 that institution for the worship of God, they 
 should experience the following miseries: — 
 Their latid should be full of weapons of war 
 from their enemies, and their cities should be 
 overthrown, and their temples should be burnt; 
 that they should be sold for slaves, to such 
 men as would have no pity on them in their 
 atflictions; that they would then repent, when 
 that repentance would no way profit them un- 
 der their sufferings. " Yet," said he, " will that 
 God who founded your nation, restore your 
 cities to your citizens, with their temple also 
 and you shall lose these advantages, not once 
 only, but often." 
 
 ing to Josephus, see Essay on the Old Testament, p. 168 
 
 i Ur. Bernard well observes here, how unfortunate 
 this n. gleet of consulting tlie Urim was to Joshua him- 
 ■elf in the case of the Gibeonites; who put a trick upon 
 um and ensnared hiai. together with the rest of the 
 Jewish rulers, with a solemn oath to preserve them, con- 
 trary t" his commission to extirpate all the Canaanites, 
 root and branch; whir.l. oath he and tie other rulers 
 ntTer durst break. See Scripture Politics, p. 55, 5u, and 
 this snare they weru hroui;ht Into because they "did 
 not mk cixiiisel h' the mouth of the Lord " Josh, is, 14. 
 
126. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV, 
 
 47. Now when Moses had encouraged Jo- 
 shua to lead out the army against the Ca- 
 naanites, by telling him that God would 
 assist him in all his undertakings, and had 
 blessed the whole multitude, he said, " Since 
 1 am going to my forefathers, and God has 
 determined that this should be the day of my 
 departure to them, I return him thanks while 
 I am still alive and present with you, for that 
 providence he hath exercised over you, which 
 hath not only delivered us from the miseries 
 we lay under, but hath bestowed a state of 
 prosperity upon us; as also, that he hath 
 assisted me in the pains I took, and in all the 
 contrivances I had in my care about you, in 
 order to better your condition, and hath on all 
 occasions showed himself favourable to us; or 
 rather he it was who first conducted our 
 affairs, and brought them to a happy conclu- 
 sion, by making use of me as a vicarious 
 general under him, and as a minister in those 
 matters wherein he was willing to do you 
 good: on which account I think it proper to 
 bless that Divine Power which will take care 
 of you for the time to come, and this in order 
 to repay that debt which I owe him, and to 
 leave behind me a memorial that we are 
 obliged to worship and honour him, and to 
 keep those laws which are the most excellent 
 gift of all those he hath already bestowed 
 upon us, or which, if he continue favourable 
 to us, he will bestow upon us hereafter. Cer- 
 tainly a human legislator is a terrible enemy 
 when his laws are affronted, and are made to 
 no purpose. And may you never experience 
 that displeasure of God which will be the con- 
 sequence of the neglect of these his laws, whion 
 he, who is your Creator, hath given you!" 
 
 48. When Moses had spoken thus at the 
 end of his life, and had foretold what would 
 befall to every one of their tribes* afterward, 
 with the addition of a blessing to them, the 
 multitude fell into tears, insomuch that even 
 the women, by beating their breasts, made 
 manifest the deep concern they had when he 
 was about to die. The children also la- 
 mented still more, as not able to contain their 
 grief; and thereby declared, that even at 
 their age they were sensible of his virtue and 
 mighty deeds ; and truly there seemed to be 
 a strife betwixt the young and the old, who 
 should most grieve for him. The old grieved, 
 because they knew what a careful protector 
 they were to be deprived of, and so lamented 
 their future state ; but the young grieved, not 
 only fci that, but also because it so happened 
 that they were to be left by him before the\ 
 had well tasted of his virtue. Now one may 
 make a guess at the excess of this sorrow and 
 lamentation of the multitude, from what hap- 
 
 * Rincft .loiieplius assures us lirrc, as is most :i:ktiirally 
 to he suvpnsed, and as the SeptinRint civet 'ht? ti xt 
 (l>«iit. xxxiil. ()), tliat Moses bleosed every ik- ot tlie 
 Irihrsof Inrael, it is evident that >inu'on was ..>i oin tted 
 hi hit copy, as it iinhnppilv now i», both in >i Hebrew 
 and 8«niaritan cupiet. 
 
 pened to the legislator himself; for although 
 he was always persuaded that he ought not to 
 be cast down at the approach of death, since 
 the undergoing it was agreeable to the will of 
 God and the law of nature, yet what the peo- 
 ple did so overbore him, that he wept him- 
 self. Now as he went thence to the place 
 where he was to vanish out of their sight, 
 they all followed after him weeping; but 
 Moses beckoned with his hand to those that 
 were remote from him, and bade them stay 
 behind in quiet, while he exhorted those that 
 were near to him that they would not render 
 his departure so lamentable. Whereupon they 
 thought they ought to grant him that favour, 
 to let him depart, according as he himself de- 
 sired ; so they restrained themselves, though 
 weeping still towards one another. All those 
 who accompanied him were the senate, and 
 Eleazar the high-priest, and Joshua their com- 
 mander. Now as soon as they were come to 
 the mountain called -46a7-m (which is a very 
 high mountain, situate over against Jericho, 
 and one that affords, to such as are upon it, 
 a prospect of the greatest part of the excellent 
 land of Canaan), he dismissed the senate ; 
 and as he was going to embrace Eleazar and 
 Joshua, and was still discoursing with them, 
 a cloud stood over him on the sudden, and he 
 disappeared in a certain valley, although he 
 wrote in the holy books that he died, which 
 was done out of fear, lest they should venture 
 to say that, because of his extraorduiary vir- 
 tue, he went to God. 
 
 49. Now Moses lived in all one hundred 
 and twenty years; a third part of which time, 
 abating one month, he was the people's ruler; 
 and he died on the last month of the year, 
 which is called by the Macedonians Dystrus^ 
 but by us Adar, on the first day of the month. 
 He was one that exceeded all men that ever 
 were in understanding, and made the best use 
 of what that understanding suggested to him. 
 He had a very graceful way of speaking and 
 addressing himself to the multitude : and as 
 to his other qualifications, he had &uch a full 
 command of his passions, as if he hardly had 
 any such in his soul, nnd only knew them by 
 their names, as rather perceiving them in other 
 men than in himself. He was also such a 
 general of an army as is seldom seen, as well 
 as such a prophet as was never known, and 
 this to such a degree, that whatsoever he pro- 
 nounced, you would think you heard the 
 voice of God himself. So the people mourn- 
 ed for him thirty days: nor did ever any 
 grief so deeply affect the Hebrews as did this 
 upon the death of Moses; nor were those 
 that had experienced his conduct the Only 
 persons that desired him, but those also that 
 perused the laws he left behind him had a 
 strong desire after him, and by them ga- 
 thered the extraordinary virtue he was master 
 of. And this shall suffice for the declaration 
 of the maimer of the death of Moses. 
 
127 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVBNTT-SIX YSABg. 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF MOSES TO THE DEATH OF ELI. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 BOW JOSHUA, THE COMMANDER OP THE HE- 
 BREWS, MADE WAR WITH THE CANAANITKS, 
 AND OVERCAME THEM, AND DESTROYEL 
 THEM, AND DIVIDED THEIR LAND BY LOT 
 TO THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL. 
 
 § 1. When Moses was taken away froir. 
 among men, in the manner already described, 
 
 nd when all the solemnities belonging to the 
 mourning for him were finished, and the sor- 
 
 ow for him was over, Joshua commanded 
 the multitude to get themselves ready for ar 
 expedition. He also sent spies to Jericho, 
 to discover what forces they had, and what 
 were their intentions; but he put his camp in 
 order, as intending soon to pass over Jordan 
 at a proper season. And calling to him the 
 rulef s of the tribe of Rcubel, and the gover- 
 nors of the tribe of Gad, and [the half trit« 
 of] Manasseh, for half of this tribe had been 
 permitted to have their habitation in the coun. 
 try of the Amorites, which was the seventh 
 part of the land of Canaan,* he put them in 
 mind what they had promised Moses; and he 
 exhorted them that, for the sake of the care 
 that Moses had taken of them, who had never 
 been weary of taking pains for them, no not 
 when he was dying, and for the sake of the 
 public welfare, they would prepare themselves, 
 and readily perform what they had promised; 
 so he took fifty thousand of them who followed 
 
 * The Amorites were one of the seven nations of 
 Canaan Hence Relanii is willing to suppose that Jo- 
 ■ephus did not here mean that their land beyond Jordan 
 was a seventh part of the whole land of Canaan, but 
 meant tlie Amorites as a seventh nation. His reason is, 
 that Josephus, as well as our Bible, generally distinguish 
 the land beyond Jordan from the land of Canaan; nor 
 can it be denied, that in strictness they were different; 
 yet after two tribes and a half of the twelve tribes uame 
 to inherit it, it miEjht in a general way altogether be well 
 included under the land of Canaan, or Palestine, or Ju- 
 dea; of which we have a clear example here before us, 
 in Josephus, whose words evidently imply, that taking 
 the whole land of Canaan, or that inhabited by all the 
 twelve tnV>es together, and partini; it into seven parts, 
 the part beyond Jordan was in quantity of ground one 
 seventh part of the whole. And this well enouirh agrees 
 to Reland's own map of that country, although this 
 land beyond Jordan was so peculiarly truitful, and good 
 for pasturage, as the two tribes and a naif took notice 
 (Numb, xxxii I, 4, 16), that it maintained about a fifth 
 pai-t of the whole people. 
 
 him, and he marched from Abila to Jordan, 
 sixty furlongs. 
 
 2. Now when he had pitched his camp, the 
 spies came to him immediately, well acquaint- 
 ed with the whole state of the Canaanites; 
 for at first, before they were at all discovered, 
 they took a full view of the city of Jericho 
 without disturbance, and saw which parts of the 
 walls were strong, and which parts were other- 
 wise, and indeed insecure, and wliich of the 
 gates were so weak as might afford an entrance 
 to their army. Now those that met them took no 
 notice of them when they saw them, and sup- 
 posed they were only strangers, who used to 
 be very curious in observing every thing in 
 the city, and did not take them for enemies ; 
 but at even they retired to a certain inn that 
 was near to the wall, whither they went to 
 eat their supper; which supper when they 
 had done, and were considering how to get 
 away, information was given to th^king as 
 he was at supper, th^t there were some per- 
 sons come from the Hebrews' camp to view 
 the city as spies, and that they were in the inn 
 kept by Rahab, and were very solicitous that 
 they might not be discovered. So. he sent 
 immediately some to them, and commanded 
 to catch them, and bring them to him, that he 
 might examine them by torture, and learn 
 what their business was there. As soon as 
 Rahab understood that these messengers were 
 coming, she hid the spies under stalks of 
 flax, which were laid to dry on the top of her 
 house ; and said to the messengers that were 
 sent by the king, that certain unknown stran- 
 gers had supped with her a little before sun- 
 setting, and were gone away, who might easily 
 be taken, if they were any terror to the city, 
 I or likely to bring any danger to the king. So 
 I these messengers being thus deluded by the 
 woman,f and suspecting no imposition, went 
 j their ways, without so much as searching the 
 j inn ; but they immediately pursued them 
 
 + It plainly appears by the history of these spies, 
 and the inn-keeper Rahab's deception of the king of 
 Jericho's messengers, by telling them what was false, in 
 order to save the lives of the spies, and yet the great 
 roiinendation of her faith and good works in the New 
 ■3V<:f:itieni (HeS. si. 31; James ii. -ij). as well as by 
 inaiiv other paraliel examples, both in the Old Testa- 
 
128 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK T. 
 
 along those roads which they most probably 
 supposed them to have gone, and those parti- 
 cularly which led to the river, but could hear 
 no tidings of them; so they left off the pains 
 of any farther pursuit. But when the tumult 
 was over, Rahab bcought the men down, and 
 desired them as soon as they should have ob- 
 tained possession of the land of Canaan, when 
 it would be in their power to make her amends 
 for her preservation of them, to remember 
 what danger she had undergone for their sakes ; 
 for that if she had been caught concealing 
 them, she could not have escaped a terrible 
 destruction, she and all her family with her, 
 and so bid them go home; and desired them 
 to swear to her to preserve her and her fami- 
 ly when they should take the city and destroy 
 all its inhabitants, as they had decreed to do ; 
 for so far she said she had been assured by 
 those divine miracles of which she had been 
 informed. So these spies acknowledged that 
 they 'owed her thanks for wha? she had done 
 already, and withal swore to requite her kind- 
 ness, not only in words, but in deeds; but 
 they gave her this advice. That when she 
 should perceive that the city was about to be 
 taken, she should put her goods, and all her 
 family, by way of security, in her inn, and to 
 bang out scarlet threads before her doors [or 
 windows], that the commander of the He- 
 br6ws might know her house, and take care to 
 do her no harm; for, said they, we will in- 
 form him of this matter, because of the con- 
 cern thou hast had to preserve us; but if any 
 one of thy family fall in the battle, do not 
 thou tJtame us; and we beseech that God, by 
 whom we have sworn, hot then to be displeas- 
 ed with us, as though we had broken our 
 oaths. So these men, when they had made 
 this agreement, went away, letting them- 
 selves "down by a rope from the wall, and 
 escaped, and came and told their own peo- 
 ple whatsoever they had done in their jour- 
 ney to this city. Joshua also told Eleazar, 
 the high-priest, and the senate, what the 
 spies had sworn to Rahab ; who confirmed 
 what had been sworn. 
 
 3. Now while Joshua the commander was in 
 fear about their passing over Jordan, for the 
 river ran with a strong current and could ftot 
 be passed over with bridges, for there never 
 had been bridges laid over it hitherto ; and 
 
 ment and in Josephns, that the best men did not tlien 
 •criipie to deceive Oiose public eneminA who might justly 
 bedestroyedj as also mi.i,'ht deceire ill men in ordtr to 
 save life, and deliver themselves frosa the tyranny of 
 theirnnjust oppressors, and this by telling direct false- 
 hoods; J mean, ali this where no oath was demanded of 
 them, otherwise they never durst venture on such a pro- 
 cedure. Nor was Jos«phus himself of any other opinion 
 or practice, as I shall remark in the note oi> Ant. b.ix.ch. 
 It. 8. 3. And observe, that I still call th's woman Rahab, 
 an mn-fc««;>er, not a harlot,- the whole history, both in 
 oar copies, and especially in Josephus, implying no more. 
 It was indeed so frequent a thing, that women who were 
 inn-keepers were also harlots, or maintainers of harlots, 
 tbat the word commonly used for real harlots was usu- 
 ally given them. .>»ee Dr. Bernard's note here, and 
 iodflM zi 1| aad Antiq. b. t. «h. vii. mcL & 
 
 while he suspected, that if be should atteino't 
 to make a bridge, that their enemies would 
 not afford him time to perfect it, and for fer» 
 ry-boats they had none, — God promised so to 
 dispose of the river, that they might passs over 
 it, and that by taking away the main part of 
 its waters. So Joshua, after two days, caused 
 the army and the whole multitude to pass over 
 in the manner following: — The priests went 
 first of all, having the ark with them ; then 
 went the Levites bearing the tabernacle and the 
 vessels which belonged to the sacrifices ; after 
 which the entire multitude followed, accord- 
 ing to their tribes, having their children and 
 their wives in the midst of them, as being a- 
 fraid for them, lest they should be borne away 
 by the stream. But as soon as the priests had 
 entered the river first, it appeared fordable, 
 the depth of the water being restrained, and 
 the sand appearing at the bottom, because the 
 current was neither so strong nor so swift as 
 to carry it away by its force; so they all passed 
 over the river without fear, finding it to be in 
 the very same state as God had foretold fee 
 would put it in ; but the priests stood still in 
 the midst of the river till the multitude should 
 be passed over, and should get to the shore in 
 safety; and when all were gone over, the 
 priests came out also, and permitted the cur- 
 rent to run freely as it used to do before. 
 Accordingly the river, as soon as the Hebrews 
 were come out of it, arose again presently, and 
 came to its own proper magnitude as before. 
 
 4. So the Hebrews went on farther fifty ' 
 furlongs, and pitched their camp at the dis- 
 tance of ten furlongs from Jericho: but Jo- 
 shua built an altar of those stones which all 
 the heads of the tribes, at the command of the 
 prophet, had taken out of the deep, to be after- 
 wards a memorial of the divi^^ion of the stream 
 of this river, and upon it offered sacrifice to 
 God; and in that place celebrated the pass- 
 over, and had great plenty of all the thingii 
 which they wanted hitherto; for they reaped 
 the corn of the Canaanites, which was now 
 ripe, and took other things as prey; for thei 
 it was that their former food, which was man- 
 na, and of which they had eaten forty years 
 failed them. 
 
 5. Now while the Israelites did this and the 
 Canaanites did not attack them, but kept 
 themselves quiet within their own walls, Jo- 
 shua resolved to besiege them ; so on the first 
 day of the feast [of thepassover] the priests 
 carried the ark r.ound about, witn some part 
 of the armed men to be a guard to it. These 
 priests went forward blowing with their sev- 
 en trumpets ; and exhorted the army to be of 
 gpodcourage, and went round about the city 
 with the senate following them,nn(hvhenrne 
 priests had only blown with the tiutnpels.for 
 tliey did nothing more at all, they returned 
 to the camj); and when they hud done this 
 for six days, on the seventh Joshua gath- 
 ered the aimed men, aud all the people to- 
 
CHAP. 1. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 129 
 
 gether, and told them these good tidings. That 
 the city should now be taken, since God 
 would on that day give it them, by the falling 
 down of the walls, and this of their own 
 accord, and without their labour. However, 
 he charged them to kill every one they should 
 take, and not to abstain from the slaughter 
 of their enemies, either for weariness or for 
 pity, and not to fall on the spoil, and be there- 
 by diverted from pursuing their enemies as 
 they ran away; but lo destroy all the animals, 
 and to take nothing for their own peculiar ad- 
 vantage. He commanded them also to bring 
 together all the silver and gold, that it might 
 be set apart as first-fruits unto God out of this 
 glorious exploit, as having gotten them from 
 the city they first took; only that they should 
 save Rahab and her kindred alive, because of 
 the oath which the spies had sworn to her. 
 
 6. When he had said this, and had set his 
 army in order, he brought it against the city: 
 so they went round the city again, the ark 
 going before them, and the priests encouraging 
 the people to be zealous in the work; and 
 when they had gone round it seven times, and 
 ha<l stood still a little, the wall fell down, 
 while no instruments of war, nor any other 
 force, was applied to it by the Hebrews. ** 
 
 7. So they entered into Jericho, and slew 
 all the men that were therein, while they were 
 affrighted at the surprising overthrow of the 
 walls, and their courage was become useless, 
 and they were not able to defend themselves; 
 so they were slain, and their throats cut, some in 
 the ways, and others as caught in their houses, 
 
 • — nothing afforded them assistance, but they 
 all perished, even to the women and the chil- 
 dren; and the city was filled -with dead 
 bodies, and not one person escaped. They 
 Iso burnt the whole city, and the country 
 about it; but they saved alive Rahab, with 
 her family, who had fled to her inn; and 
 when she was brought to him, Joshua owned 
 to her that they owed her thanks for her pre- 
 servation of the spies: so he said he would 
 not appear to be behind her in his benefaction 
 to her; whereupon he gave her certaiii lands 
 immediately, and had her in great esteem ever 
 afterwards. 
 
 8. And if any part of the city escaped the 
 fire, he overthrew it from the foundation; and 
 he denounced a curse* against its inhabitants, 
 
 • Upon occasion of this devoting of Jericho to de- 
 struction, and the exemplary punishment of Achar, who 
 broke that cherem or analkema. and of the punishment 
 of tile future breaker ol it. Hiel (1 Kings xri. 31), as also 
 of the punibhinent of Saul, for breaking tlie li^e cherem 
 or anathema, asjainst the Amalekiles (l Sam. xv), we 
 mav observe what was the true meanin<; of tliat la\r 
 {I>eV. xxviL 29): " None devoted, which shall be devoted 
 of men, shall be redeemed; but shall .surely !>« put to 
 death;" i.e. whenever any of the Jews' public enemies 
 had hieeu, for their wickedness, solemnly devoted to 
 destruction, according t% the divine command, as were i 
 generally the seven wicked nations of Canaan, and I 
 thdse sinners the Amalekites (1 Sam. xv. 18), it was 
 atterly nnlawfni to permit those enemies to he redeemed ; I 
 but they wererto be all utlerl> destroyed. See also 
 ISutu. xxii '^3. I 
 
 if any should desire to rebuild it: how; upon 
 his laying the foundation of the walls, he 
 should be deprived of his eldest son; and up- 
 on finishing it, he should lose his youngest 
 son. But what happened hereupon, we shall 
 speak of hereafter. 
 
 9. Now there was an immense quantity of 
 silver and gold, and besides those of brass also 
 that was heaped together out of the city whei 
 it was taken, no one transgressing the decree, 
 nor purloining for their own peculiar advan- 
 tage; which spoils Joshua delivered to the 
 priests, to be laid up among their treasures. 
 And thus did Jericho perish. ' 
 
 10. But there was one Achar,^ the son [of 
 Charmi, the son]of Zebedias, of the tribe of 
 Judah, who, finding a royal garment woven 
 entirely of gold, and a piece of gold that 
 weighed two hundred shekels ;!{: arid thinking 
 it a very hard case, that what spoils he, by 
 running some hazard, had found, he must give 
 away, and offer it to God, who stood in no 
 need of it, while he that wanted it must go 
 without it, — made a deep ditch in his own 
 tent, and laid them up therein, as supposing 
 he should not only be concealed from his fel- 
 low-soldiers, but from God himself also. 
 
 11. Now the place where Joshua pitched 
 his camp was called Gilgal, which (lenotes 
 liberty;^ for since now they had passed ov^r 
 Jordan, they looked on themselves as freed 
 from the miseries which they had undergone 
 from the Egyptians, and in the wilderness. 
 
 12. Now, a few days after the calamity that 
 befell Jericho, Joshua sent three thousand 
 armed men to take Ai, a city situate above 
 Jericho; but, upon the sight of the people of 
 Ai, with them they were driven back, and lost 
 thirty-six of their men. When this was told 
 the Israelites, it made them very sad, and ex- 
 ceeding disconsolate, not so much because of 
 the relation the men that were destroyed bare 
 to them, though those that were destroyed 
 were all good men, and deserved their esteem, 
 as by the despair it occasioned; for while they 
 believed that they were already, in effect, in 
 possession of the land, and should bring back 
 the army out of the battles M'ithout loss, as 
 God had promised beforehand, they now saw 
 unexpectedly their enemies bold with success; 
 
 + That the name of this chief was not Achan, as in 
 the common copies bnt Achar, as here in Josephns, 
 and in the Apostuiii-.al Consiit. b. vii. chap. ii. and else, 
 wlit-re, is evident bv the allusion to that name in the 
 C'lrsc of Joshua. '• Wliy hast thou troubled us? — tlKs 
 Lii.l sha I tr-Hible^ i:iT-e;" where the Hebrew words 
 allude only to the name Achar, but not to Ackan. Ac- 
 cordins»ly, this Valley of Achar, or Acbor, was and is a 
 known place, a litile north of Gilgal, so cal?ed from the 
 days of Joshua till this day. See Josh, vii, 26; Isa. IxT. 
 10; Hos. ii. l.j; and L)r. Bernard's notes here. 
 
 i Here Dr. Bernard very justly observes, that a few 
 words are dropped out of Joseplins's copies, on account 
 of the repetition of the word shekels; and that it ought 
 to be read thus : — •' A piece of gold that weighed fifty 
 shekels, and one of silver that weighed two hundred 
 shekels," as in our other copie.s. Joshua vii. 21. 
 
 } I agree here with Dr Iiernard,and approve of Jo6*- 
 pbuA'ii interpretation of Uil^al fur libeity. See Jt>hh.T. 9 
 
130 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 so they put sackcloth over their garments, and 
 continued in tears and lamentation all the day, 
 without the least inquiry after food, but laid 
 what had happened greatly to heart. 
 
 13. When Joshua saw the army so much 
 afflicted, and possessed with forebodings of 
 evil as to their whole expedition, he used free- 
 dom with God, and said, " We are not come 
 thus far out of any rashness of our own, as 
 though we thought ourselves able to subdue 
 this land with our own weapons, but at the 
 instigation of Moses thy servant for this pur- 
 pose, because thou hast promised us, by many 
 signs, that thou wouldst give us this land for 
 a possession, and that thou wouldst make our 
 army always superior in war to our enemies, 
 and accordingly some success has already at- 
 tended upon us agreeably to thy promises; 
 but because we have now unexpectedly been 
 foiled, and have lost some men out of our 
 army, we are grieved at it, as fearing what 
 thou bast promised us, and what Moses fore- 
 told us, cannot be depended on by us ; and 
 our future expectation troubles us the more, 
 because we have met with such a disaster in 
 this our first attempt; but do thou, O Lord, 
 free us from these suspicions, for thou art 
 able to find a cure for these disorders, by giv- 
 ing us victory, which will both take away the 
 grief we are in at present, and prevent our 
 aistrust as to what is to come." 
 
 14. These intercessions Joshua put up to 
 God, as he lay prostrate on his face: where- 
 upon God answered him. That he should rise 
 up, and purify his host from the pollution 
 that had got into it; that " things conse- 
 crated to me have been impudently stolen from 
 me," and that '* this has been the occasion 
 why this defeat had happened to them;" and 
 that when they should search out and punish 
 the oflfender, he would ever take care they 
 should have the victory over their enemies. 
 This Joshua told the people: and calling for 
 Eleazar the high-priest and the men in au- 
 thority, he cast lots, tribe by tribe; and when 
 the lot showed that this wicked action was 
 done by one of the tribe of Judah, he then 
 again proposed the lot to the several families 
 thereto belonging; so the truth of this wicked 
 action was found to belong to the family 
 of Zachar ; and when the inquiry was made, 
 man by man, they took Achar, who, upon 
 God's reducing him to a terrible extremity, 
 could not deny the fact: so he confessed the 
 theft, and produced what he had taken in the 
 midst of them, whereupon he was immediately 
 put to death ; and attained no more than to 
 be buried in the night in a disgraceful man- 
 ner, and such as was suitable to a condemned 
 malefactor. 
 
 15. When Joshua had thus purified the 
 host, he led them against Ai : and having by 
 night laid an ambush round about the city, 
 he attacked the enemies as soon as it was 
 daj; but as they advanced boldly against the 
 
 Israelites, because of their former victory, he 
 made them believe he retired, and by tiiat 
 means drew them a great way from the city, 
 they still supposing that they were pursuing 
 their enemies, and despised them, as though 
 the case had been the same with that in the 
 former battle ; after which Joshua ordered ''lis 
 forces to turn about, and placed them against 
 their front; he then made the signals agreed 
 upon to those that lay in ambush, and so ex- 
 cited them to fight; so they ran suddenly into 
 the city, the inhabitants being upon the walls, 
 nay, others of them being in perplexity, and ' 
 coming to see those that were without the 
 gates. Accordingly, these men took the city, 
 and slew all that they met with; but Joshua 
 forced those that came against him to come to 
 a close fight, and discomfited them, and made 
 them run away; and when they were driven 
 towards the city, and thought it had not been 
 touched, as soon as they saw it was taken, and 
 perceived it was burnt, with their wives and 
 children, they wandered about in the fields in 
 a scattered condition, and were no way able 
 to defend themselves, because they had none 
 to support them. Now when this calamity was 
 come upon the men of Ai, there were a great 
 number of children, and women, and servants, 
 and an immense quantity of other furniture. 
 The Hebrews also took herds of cattle, and 
 a great deal of money, for this was a rich 
 country. So when Joshua came to Gilgal, 
 he divided all these spoils among the soldiers. 
 16. But the Gibeonites, who inhabited very 
 near to Jerusalem, when they saw what mise- 
 ries had happened to the inhabitants of Jeri« 
 cho, and to those of Ai, and suspected that 
 the like sore calamity would come as far as 
 themselves, they did not think fit to ask for 
 mercy of Joshua ; for they supposed they 
 should find little mercy from him, who made 
 war that he might entirely destroy the nation 
 of the Canaanites; but they invited the peo- 
 ple of Cephirah and Kiriathjearim, who were 
 their neighbours, to join in league with them; 
 and told them, that neither could they them- 
 selves avoid the danger they were all in, if 
 the Israelites should prevent them, and seize 
 upon them ; so when they had persuaded 
 them, they resolved to endeavour to escape 
 the forces of the Israelites. Accordingly, 
 upon their agreement to what they proposed, 
 they sent ambassadors to Joshua to make a 
 league of friendship with him, and those such 
 of the citizens as were best approved of, and 
 most capable of doing what was most advan* 
 tageous to the rtiultitude. Now these ambis- 
 sadors thought it dangerous to confess them- 
 selves to be Canaanites, but thought they 
 might, by this contT'v^nce, avoid the danger, 
 namely, by saying that they bare no relation 
 to the Canaanites at all? but dwelt at a very 
 great distance from them : and they said fur- 
 ther, that they came a long way, on account 
 of the reputation he had gained for his virtue: 
 
CHAP. T. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 131 
 
 and as a mark of the truth of what they said, 
 tliey showed him the habit they were in, for 
 that their clothes were new when they came 
 out, but were greatly worn by the length of 
 time they had been on their journey; for in- 
 deed they took torn garments, on purpose 
 that they might make him believe so. So 
 <hey stood in the midst of the people, and 
 said that they were sent by the people of 
 Gibeon, and of the circumjacent cities, which 
 were very remote from the land where they 
 ny\v were, to make such a league of friend- 
 ship with them, and this on such conditions 
 as were customary among their forefathers; 
 for when they understood that, by the favour 
 of God, and his gift to 'them, they were to 
 have the possession of the land of Canaan 
 bestowed upon them, they said that they were 
 very glad to hear it, and desired to be admitted 
 into the number of their citizens. Thus did 
 these ambassadors speak; and showing them 
 the marks of their long journey, they entreat- 
 ed the Hebrews to make a league of friend- 
 ship with them. Accordingly Joshua, be- 
 lieving what they said, that they were not of 
 the nation of the Canaanites, entered into 
 friendship with them ; and Eleazar the high- 
 priest, with the senate, sware to them that 
 they would esteem them their friends and as- 
 sociates, and would attempt nothing that 
 should be unfair against them, the multitude 
 also assenting to the oaths that were made to 
 them. So these men having obtained what 
 they desired, by deceiving the Israelites, went 
 home: but when Joshua led his army to the 
 country at the bottom of the mountains of 
 this part of Canaan, he understood that the 
 Gibeonites dwelt not far from Jerusalem, 
 and that they were of the stock of the Ca- 
 naanites; so he sent for their governors, and 
 reproached them with the cheat they had put 
 upon him; but they alleged, on their own 
 behalf, that they had no other way to save 
 themselves but that, and were therefore forced 
 to have recourse to it. So he called for Ele- 
 azar the high-priest, and for the senate, who 
 thought it right to make them public servants, 
 that they might not break the oath they had 
 made to them ; and they ordained them to be 
 so: — and this was the method by which these 
 men found safety and security under the 
 :alamity that was ready to overtake them. 
 
 17. But the king of Jerusalem took it to 
 heart that the Gibeonites had gone over to 
 Joshua; so he called upon the kings of the 
 n3.'ghbouring -nations to join together, and 
 niake war against them. Now when the Gib- 
 eo:jites saw these kings, which were four, be- 
 sides the king of Jerusalem, and perceived 
 that they had pitched their camp at a certain 
 fountain not far from their city, and were 
 getting ready for the siege of it, they called 
 upon Joshua to assist them ; for such was their 
 case, as to expect to be destroyed by these 
 Canaanites, but to suppose they shuiild be 
 
 saved by those that came for the destruc- 
 tion of the Canaanites, because of the league 
 of friendship that was between them. Ac- 
 cordingly, Joshua made haste, with his whole 
 army to assist them, and marching day and 
 night, in the morning he fell upon the ene- 
 mies as they were going up to the siege; and 
 when he had discomfited them he followc' 
 them, and pursued them down the descen 
 of the hills. The place is called Beth-horon 
 where he also understood that God assisted 
 him, which he declared by thunder and thun- 
 der-bolts, as also by the falling of hail larger 
 than usual. Moreover, it happened that the 
 day was lengthened,* that the night might 
 not come on too soon, and be an obstruction 
 to the zeal of the Hebrews in pursuing their 
 enemies; insomuch, that Joshua took the 
 kings, who were hidden in a certain cave at 
 Makkedah, and put them to death. Now, 
 that the day was lengthened at this time, and 
 was longer than ordinary, is expressed in the 
 books laid up in the temple."]" 
 
 18. These kings which made war with, and 
 were ready to fight the Gibeonites, being 
 thus overthrown, Joshua returned again to 
 the mountainous parts of Canaan; and when 
 he had made a great slaughter of the people 
 there, and took their prey, he came to the 
 camp at Gilgal. And now there went a gfreat 
 fame abroad among the neighbouring people, 
 of the courage of the Hebrews ; and those that 
 heard v.hat a number of men were destroyed, 
 were greatly aifrighted at it; so the kings that 
 lived about mount Libanus, who were Ca- 
 naanites, and those Canaanites that dwelt in 
 the plain country, with auxiliaries out of the 
 land of the Philistines, pitched their camp at 
 Beroth, a city of the Upper Galilee, not far 
 from Cadesh, which is itself also a place in 
 Galilee. Now the number of the whole ar- 
 my was three hundred thousand armed foot- 
 men, and ten thousand horsemen, and twenty 
 thousand chariots; so that the multitude of 
 the enemies affrighted both Joshua himself 
 and the Israelites; and they, instead of being 
 
 • Whether this lenjjthening of the day, hy the stand- 
 ing still of the sun and moon, were physical and real, hy 
 the miraculous stoppage of the diurnal motion of the 
 earth for abmit half a revolution, or whether only appa- 
 rent, bv aerial phosphori imitating the sun and moon as 
 stationary so K>ng, while clouds and the night hid the real 
 ones, and this parhelion or mock snn affording sufficient 
 light for Joshua's pursuit and complete victory (which 
 aerial phosphori in otlier shapes have been more than 
 ordinarily common of late years) cannot now he deter- 
 mined: philosophers and astronomers will naturally in- 
 cline to this latter hypothesis. In the mean time, the 
 fart itself was mentioned in the book of , lasher, now lost. 
 Josh. X. 13, and is confirmed by Isaiah (xxviii. 21), Ha- 
 bakkuk (iii 11), and by the son of Sirach (Ecclns. xlvi. 
 4). 1 n the I8th Psalm of Solomon, ver. ttlt. it is also said 
 of the luminaries, with relation, no doubt, to this and the 
 other miraculous standing still and going back, in the 
 days of Joshua and Hezekiah, "They have not wan- 
 dered, Irom the day that he created them; they have not 
 forsaken their way from ancient generations, unless it 
 were when <;od enjoined them fso to do] by the com- 
 mand of his servants," See Autlient. Rec parti-p.lv54 
 
 + OJ the books laid up in the temple, see the note on 
 Antiq b. iii. chap. 1, sect- 7. 
 
132 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK V 
 
 full of hopes of good success, were superfcti- 
 tiously timorous, with the great terror with 
 which they were stricken. Whereupon God 
 upbraided them with the fear they were in, 
 and asked them whether they desired a greater 
 help than he could afford them ; and pro- 
 mised them that they should overcome their 
 enemies; and withal charged them to make 
 their enemies' horses useless, and to burn their 
 chariots. So Joshua became full of courage 
 upon these promises of God, and went out 
 suddenly against the enemies; and after five 
 days' march he came upon them, and joined 
 battle with them, and there was a terrible fight, 
 and such a number were slain as could not 
 be believed by those that heard it. He also 
 went on in the pursuit a great way, and de- 
 stroyed the entire array of the enemies, few 
 only excepted, and all the kings fell in the 
 battle ; insomuch, that when there wanted 
 men to be killed, Joshua slew their horses, 
 and burnt their chariots, and passed all over 
 their country without opposition, no one dar- 
 ing to meet him in battle; but be still went 
 on,. taking their cities by siege, and again kill- 
 ing whatever he took. 
 
 19. The fifth year was now past, and there 
 was not one of the Canaanites remained any 
 longer, excepting some that had retired to 
 places of great strength. So Joshua removed 
 his camp to the mountainous country, and 
 placed the tabernacle in the city of Shiloh, for 
 that seemed a fit place for it, because of the 
 beauty of its situation, until such time as their 
 affairs would permit them to build a temple ; 
 and from thence he went to Shechem, together 
 with all the people,, and raised an altar where 
 Moses had beforehand directed ; then did he 
 divide the army, and placed one half of them 
 on mount Gerizzim, and the other half on 
 mount Ebal, on which mountain the altar 
 was;* he also placed there the tribe of Levi, 
 and the priests. And when they had sacri- 
 ficed, and denounced the [blessings and the] 
 ;urses, and had left them engraven upon the 
 altar, they returned to Shiloh. 
 
 20. And now Joshua was old, and saw that 
 the cities of the Canaanites were not easily to 
 be taken, not only because they were situate 
 in such strong places, but because of the 
 strength of the walls themselves, which being 
 built round about, the natural strength of the 
 places on which the cities stood, seemed ca- 
 paWe of repelling their enemies from besieg- 
 ing them, and of making those enemies des- 
 pair of taking them; for when the Canaan- 
 ites had learned that the Israelites came out 
 of Egypt in order to destroy them, they were 
 busy all that time in making their cities strong. 
 So he gathered the people together to a con- 
 gregation at Shiloh ; and when they, with 
 great zeal and haste, were come thither, he 
 observed to them what prosperous successes 
 
 • iH the nitnation of thU altar, see Encny op the Old 
 Ttstameiit, p I7U, 171. 
 
 they ha d already had, and what glorious things 
 had been done, and those such as were worthy 
 of that God who enabled them to do those 
 things, and worthy of the virtue of those laws 
 which they followed. He took notice also, 
 that thirty-one of those kings that ventured 
 to give them battle were overcome, and every 
 army, how great soever it were, that confided 
 in their own power, and fought with them, 
 was utterly destroyed; so that not so much 
 as any of their posterity remained; and as for 
 the cities, since some of them were taken, but 
 the others must be taken in length of time, 
 by long sieges, both on account of the strength 
 of their walls, and of the confidence the in- 
 habitants had in ttiem thereby, he thought it 
 reasonable that those tribes that came along 
 with them from beyond Jordan, and had par- 
 taken of the dangers they had undergone, be- 
 ing their own kindred, should now be dis- 
 missed and sent home, and should have thanks 
 for the pains they had taken together with 
 them. As also, he thought it reasonable th.it 
 they should send one man out of every tribe. 
 and he such as had the testimony of extraor- 
 dinary virtue, who should measure the land 
 faithfully, and without any fallacy or deceit 
 should inform them of its real magnitude. 
 
 21. Now Joshua, when he had thus spoken 
 to them, found that the multitude approved 
 of his proposal. So he sent men to measure 
 their country, and sent with them some geo- 
 metricians, who could not easily fail of know- 
 ing the truth, on account of their skill in that 
 art. He also gave them a charge to estimate 
 the measure of that part of the land that was 
 most fruitful, and what was not so good ; fof 
 such is the nature of the land of Canaan, that 
 one may see large plains, and such as are ex- 
 ceeding fit to produce fruit, which yet, i-f they 
 were compared to other parts of the country, 
 might be reckoned exceedingly fruitful; yet if 
 it be compared with the fields about Jericho, 
 and to those that belong to Jerusalem, will 
 appear to be of no account at all ; and al- . 
 though it so falls out that these people have 
 but a very little of this sort of land, and that 
 it is, for the main, mountainous also, yet does 
 it not come behind other parts, on account 
 of its exceeding goodness and beauty ; for 
 which reason Joshua thought the land for the 
 tribes should be divided by estimation of its 
 goodness, rather than the largeness of its mea- 
 sure, it often happening, that one acre of some 
 sort of land was equivalent to a thousand 
 other acres. Now the men that were sent, 
 which were in number ten, travelled all about, 
 and made an estimation of the land, and in 
 the seventh month came to him to the city of 
 Shiloh, where they had set up the tabernacle. 
 
 22. So Joshua took both'Eleazar and the 
 senate, and with them the heads of the tribes, 
 and distributed the land to the nine tribes, 
 and to the half tribe of .Mannsseh, appointing 
 the dimensions to be according to the large- 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTI^;iU^T^]s nv twk ./r:ws. 
 
 133 
 
 ness of each tribe. So when he had east lots, 
 Judah had assigned him by lot the upper part 
 of Judea, reaching as far as Jerusalem, and 
 its breadth extended to the Lake of Sodom. 
 Now in the lot of this tribe there were the 
 cities of Askelon and Gaza. The lot of Si- 
 meon, which was the second, included that 
 part of Idumea which bordered upon Egypt 
 and Arabia. As to the Benjamites, their lot 
 fell so, that its length reached from the river 
 Jordan to the sea; but in breadth it was 
 bounded by Jerusalem" and Bethel; and this 
 lot was the narrowest of all, by reason of the 
 goodness of the land; for it included Jericho 
 and the city of Jerusalem. The tribe of 
 Ephraim. had by lot the land that extended in 
 length from the river Jordan to Gezer; but 
 in breadth as far as from Bethel, till it ended 
 at the Great Plain. The half-tribe of Man- 
 asseh had the land from Jordan to the city 
 Dora; but its breadth was at Bethshan, which 
 is now called Scythop9lis ; and after these 
 was Issachar, which had its limits in length, 
 Mount Carmel and the river, but its limit in 
 breadth was Mount Tabor. The tribe of 
 Zebulon's lot included the land which lay as 
 far as the Lake of Genesareth, and that which 
 belonged to Carmel and the sea. The tribe 
 of Aser had that part which was called the 
 Valley, for such it was, and all that part which 
 lay over-against Sidon. The city Arce be- 
 j| longed to their share, which is also named 
 Actipus. The Naphthalites received the east- 
 ern parts, as far as the city of Damascus and 
 ■ the Upper Galilee, unto Mount Libanus, and 
 the Fountains of Jordan, which rise out of 
 that mountain ; that is, out of that part of it 
 whose limits belong to the neighbouring city 
 of Arce. The Danites' lot included all that 
 part of the valley which respects the sun-set- 
 ting, and were bounded by Azotus and Dora; 
 as also they had all Jamnia and Gath, from 
 Ekron to that mountain where the tribe of 
 Judah begins. 
 
 23. After this manner did Joshua divide 
 the six nations that bear the name of the Sons 
 of Canaan, with their land, to be possessed 
 by the nine tribes and a half; for Moses had 
 prevented him, and had already distributed 
 the land of the Amorites, which itself was so 
 called also from one of the sons of Canaan, 
 to the two tribes and a half, as we have shown 
 already. But the parts about Sidon, as also 
 those that belonged to the Arkites, and the 
 Amathites, and the Aradians, were not yet 
 regularly disposed of. 
 
 24. But now was Joshua hindered by his 
 age from executing what he intended to do 
 (as did those that succeeded him in the go- 
 vernment, take little care of what was for the 
 advantage of the public); so he gave it in 
 charge to every tribe to leave no remainder 
 of the race of the Canaanites in the land that 
 bad been divided to them by lot; that Moses 
 bad assured them beforehand, and they might 
 
 rest fully ^^ itistied about it, that their own se- 
 cdritv and tlieir observation of their ovvn laws 
 depended wholly upon it. Moreover, he en- 
 joined them to give thirty-eight cities to the 
 Levites, f .r they had already received ten in 
 the country of the Amorites; and three of 
 these he assigned to those that fled from the 
 man-slayers, who were to inhabit there ; for 
 he was very solicitous that nothing should be 
 neglected which Moses had ordained. These 
 cities were of the tribe of Judah, Hebron; of 
 that of Ephraim, Shechem ; and of that of 
 Naphthali, Cadesh, which is a place of the 
 Upper Galilee. He also distributed among 
 them the rest of the prey not yet distributed, 
 which was very great; whereby they had an 
 affluence of great riches, both all in general, 
 and every one in particular : and this of gold 
 and of vestments, and of other furniture, 
 besides a multitude of cattle, whose number 
 could not be told. 
 
 25. After this was over, he gathered the 
 army together to a congregation, and spake 
 thus to those tribes that had their settlement 
 in the land of the Amorites, beyond Jordan, 
 — for fifty thousand of them had armed them- 
 selves, and had gone to the war along with 
 them: — '* Since that God, who is the Father 
 and Lord of the Hebrew nation, has now 
 given us this land for a possession, and pro- 
 mised to preserve us in the enjoyment of 
 it as our ovvn for ever; and since you have 
 with alacrity offered yourselves to assist us 
 when we wanted that assistance on all occa- 
 sions, according to his command, it is but 
 just, now all our difficulties are over, that you 
 should be permitted to enjoy rest, and that we 
 should trespass on your alacrity to help us no 
 longer; that so, if we should again stand in 
 need of it, we may readily have it on any 
 future emergency, and not tire you out so 
 much now as may make you slower in assist- 
 ing us another time. We, therefore, return 
 you our thanks for the dangers you have un- 
 dergone with us, and we do it not at this time 
 only, but we shall always be thus disposed; 
 and be so good as to remember our friends, 
 and to preserve in mind what advantages we 
 have had from them; and how you have put 
 off the enjoyments of your own happiness for 
 our sakes, and have laboured for what we 
 have now, by the good- will of God, obtained, 
 and resolved not to enjoy your own prosperity 
 till you had afforded us that assistance. How- 
 ever, you have, by joii.ing your labour with 
 ours, gotten great plenty of riches, and will 
 carry home with you much prey, with gold 
 and silver, and, what is more than all these, 
 our good- will towards you, and a mind will, 
 ingly disposed to make a requital of your kind- 
 ness to Us, in what case soever you shall de- 
 sire it, for you have not omitted any thing 
 which Moses beforehand required of you, nor 
 have you despised him because he was dead 
 and gone from you, so that there is nothing 
 
134 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 to diminish that gratitude which we owe to 
 you. We therefore dismiss you joyful to your 
 own inheritances; and we entreat you to sup- 
 pose, that there is no limit to be set to the in- 
 timate relation that is between us; and that 
 you will not imagine, because this river is in- 
 terposed between us, that you are of a differ- 
 ent race from us, and not Hebrews; for we 
 are all the posterity of Abraham, both we that 
 inhabit here, and you that inhabit there; and 
 it is the same God that brought our forefathers 
 and yours into the world, whose worship and 
 form of government we are to take care of, 
 which he has ordained, and are most carefully 
 to observe; because, while you continue in 
 those laws, God will also show himself merci- 
 ful and assisting to you ; but if you iro>tate 
 the other nations, and forsake those laws, he 
 will reject your nation." When Joshua had 
 spoken thus, and saluted them all, both those 
 in authority one by one, and the whole multi- 
 tude in common, he himself staid where he 
 was; but the people conducted those tribes 
 on their journey, and that not without tears in 
 their eyes; and indeed they hardly knew how 
 to part one from the other. 
 
 26. Now when the tribe of Reubel, and that 
 of Gad, and as many of the Manassites as 
 followed them, were passed over the river, they 
 built an altar on the banks of Jordan, as a mon- 
 ument to posterity, and a sign of their relation 
 to those that should inhabit on the other side. 
 But when those on the other side heard that 
 those who had been dismissed had built an 
 altar, but did not hear with whatintention they 
 built it, but supposed it to be by way of inno- 
 vation, and for the introduction of strange gods, 
 they did not incline to disbelieve it; but think- 
 ing this defamatory re()ort, as if it were built 
 for divine worship, was credible, they appear- 
 ed in arms, as though they would avenge them- 
 selves on those that built the altar; and they 
 were about to pass over the river, and to pun- 
 ish them for their subversion of the laws of 
 their country; for they did not think it fit to 
 regard them on account of their kindred, or 
 the dignity of those that had given the occa- 
 sion, but to regard the will of God, and the 
 manner wherein be desired to be worshipped; 
 so these men put themselves in array for war. 
 But Joshua, and Eleazar the high-priest, and 
 the senate, restrained them; and persuaded 
 them first to make trial by words of their in- 
 tention, and afterwards, if they found that 
 their intention was evil, then only to proceed 
 to make war upon them. Accordingly, they 
 Hent as ambassadors to them Phineas the son of 
 Eleazar, and ten more* persons (hat were in 
 esteem among the Hebrews, to learn of them 
 what Aas in their mind when, upon passing 
 over the river, they had built an altar upon 
 its banks; and as soon as these tunbassadors 
 were passed over, and were come to them, Hud 
 • congregation was nssenibled, Pliiufas stood 
 up and suid, Th^t ihc offence iliey Ijud been 
 
 guilty of was of too heinous a nature to be 
 punished by words alone, or by them only tc 
 be amended for the future, yet that they did 
 not so look at the heinousness of their tra.^s- 
 gression as to have recourse to arms, and to 
 a battle for their punishment immediately; 
 but that, on account of their kindred, and i.he 
 probability there was that they might be re- 
 claimed, they took this method of sending an 
 ambassage to them: "That when we have 
 learned the true reasons by which you have 
 been moved to build this altar, we may nei- 
 ther seem to have been too rash in assaulting 
 you by our weapons of war, if it prove that 
 you made the altar for justifiable reasons, and 
 may then justly punish you if the accusation 
 prove true; for we can hardly suppose that 
 you, who have been acquainted with the will 
 of God, and have been hearers of those laws 
 which he himself hath given us, now you are 
 separated from us, and gone to that patrimony 
 of yours, which you, through the grace ot 
 God, and that providence which he exercises 
 over you, have obtained by lot, can forget him, 
 and can leave that ark and that altar which is 
 peculiar to us, and can introduce strange gods 
 and imitate the wicked practices of the Ca- 
 naanites. Now this will appear to have been 
 a small crime if you repent now, and proceed 
 no farther in your madness, but pay a due 
 reverence to, and keep in mind the laws of 
 your country; but if you persist in your sins, 
 we will not grudge our pains to preserve our 
 laws; but we will pass over Jordan and de- 
 fend them, and defend God also, and shall . 
 esteem of you as of men no way differing from 
 the Canaanites, but shall destroy you in the 
 like manner as we destroyed them ; for do not 
 you imagine that, because you are got over 
 the river, you are got out of the reach of 
 God's power; you are everywhere in places 
 that belong to him, and impossible it is to 
 overrun his power, and the punishment he 
 will bring on men thereby; but if you think 
 that your settlement here will be any obstruc- 
 tion to your conversion to what is good, no- 
 thing need hinder us from dividing the land 
 anew, and leaving this old land to be for the 
 feeding of sheep; but you will do well to 
 return to your duty, and to leave off these 
 new crimes; and we beseech you, by your 
 children and wives, not to force us to punish 
 you. Take therefore such measures in this 
 assembly, as supposing that your own safety, 
 and the safety of those that are dearest to you, 
 is therein concerned, and believe that it is 
 better for you to be conquered by words, than 
 to continue in your purpose, and to experience 
 deeds and war therefore.'* 
 
 27. When Phineas had discoursed thus, 
 tlie governors of the assembly, and the whole 
 multitude, began to make an apology for 
 themselves, concerning what they were ac- 
 cused of; and they said, That they neither 
 would depart from the relation they bare to 
 
CHAP. II, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 135 
 
 them, nor had they built the altar by way of 
 bnovation; that they owned one and the 
 aime common God with all the Hebrews, 
 and that brazen altar which was before the 
 tabernacle, on which they would offer their 
 sacrifices ; that as to the altar they had raised, 
 on account of which they were thus suspect- 
 ed, it was not built for worship, " but that it 
 mic:ht be a sign and a monument of our re- 
 lation to you for ever, and a necessary caution 
 *o us to act wisely, and to continue in the 
 laws of our. country, but not a handle for 
 transgressing them, as you suspect : and let 
 God be our authentic witness, that this was 
 the occasion of our building this altar; 
 ^^'hence we beg you will have a better opinion 
 of us, and do not impute such a thing to us 
 as would render any of the posterity of Abra- 
 ham well worthy of perdition, in case they 
 attempt to bring in new rites, and such as are 
 different from our usual practices." 
 
 28. When they had made this answer, and 
 Phineas had commended them for it, he came 
 to Joshua and explained before the people 
 what answer they had received. Now Joshua 
 was glad that he was under no necessity of 
 setting them in array or of leading them to 
 shed blood, and make war against men of 
 their own kindred; and accordingly he offered 
 sacrifices of thanksgiving to God for the 
 same. So Joshua after that dissolved this 
 great assembly of the people, and sent them 
 to their own inheritances, while he himself 
 lived in Shechem. But in the twentieth year 
 after this, when he was very old, he sent for 
 those of the greatest dignity in the several 
 cities, with those in authority, and the senate, 
 and as many of the common people as could 
 be present; and when they were come he put 
 them in mind of all the benefits God had 
 bestowed on them, which could not but be a 
 great many, since from alow estate they were 
 advanced to so great a degree of glory and 
 plenty ; and exhorted them to take notice of 
 the intentions of God, which had been so 
 gracious towards them; and told them that 
 the Deity would continue their friend by no- 
 thing else but their piety; and that it was 
 proper for him, now that he was about to de- 
 p irt out of this life, to leave such an admo- 
 nition to them ; and he desired that they would 
 keeo in memory this his exhortation to them. 
 
 29. So Joshua, when he had thus dis- 
 co jrsed to them, died, having lived a hun- 
 dred a')d ten years; forty of which he lived 
 w'tb Moses, in order to learn what might be 
 for h;s advantage afterwards. He also be- 
 '•Tre their commander after his death for 
 twenty-five years. He was a man that wanted 
 not wisdom nor eloquence to declare his in- 
 *^r*ion5 to the people, but very eminent on 
 hoth arrounts. He was of great courage and 
 mairnjinimity in action and in dangers, and 
 vf-v sagacious in procuring the peace of the 
 people, and of great virtue at. all proper sea- 
 
 sons. He was buried in the city of Timnah, 
 of the tribe of Ephraim.* About the same 
 time died Eleazar the high-priest, leaving the 
 high-priesthood to his son Phineas. His mo- 
 nument also, and sepulchre, are in the city of 
 Gabatha. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW, AFTER THE DEATH OF JOSHUA THEIR 
 COMMANDER, THE ISRAELITES TRANSGRESS- 
 ED THE LAWS OF THEIR COUNTRY, AND EX- 
 PERIENCED GREAT AFFLICTIONS; AND WHEN 
 
 . THERE WAS A SEDITION ARISEN, THE TRIBE 
 OF BENJAMIN WAS DESTROYED, EXCEPTING 
 ONLY SIX HUNDRED MEN. 
 
 § 1. After the death of Joshua and Eleazar, 
 Phineas prophesied,t that according to God's 
 will they should commit the government to 
 the tribe of Judah, and that this tribe should 
 destroy the race of the Canaanites; for then 
 the people were concerned to learn what was 
 the will of God. They also took to their as- 
 sistance the tribe of Simeon ; but upon this 
 condition, that when those that had been tribu- 
 tary to the tribe of Judah should be slain, they 
 should do the like for the tribe of Simeon. 
 
 2. But the affairs of the Canaanites were 
 at this time in a flourishing condition, and 
 they expected the Israelites with a great army 
 at the city Bezek, having put the government 
 into the hands of Adonibezek, which name 
 denotes the Lord of Bezek, for Adoni in the 
 Hebrew tongue signifies Lord, Now they 
 hoped to have been too hard for the Israel- 
 ites, because Joshua was dead ; but when the 
 Israelites had joined battle with them, I mean 
 tho two tribes before mentioned, they fought 
 gloriously, and slew above ten thousand of 
 them, and put the rest to flight; and in the 
 pursuit they took Adonibezek, who, when his 
 
 • Since not only Procopius and Suidas, but an earlier 
 anthor, Moses Chorenensis (p. 62, 53), and perhaps from 
 his original author Mariba Catina, one as old as Alex- 
 ander the Great, sets down the famous inscription at 
 Tangier concerning the old Canaanites driven out of 
 Palestine by Joshua, take it here in that author's own 
 words: "We are those exiles that were governors of 
 Canaanites, but have been driven away by Joshua 
 robber, and are come to inhabit here." See the note 
 thare. Nor is it unworthy of our notice what Most-s 
 Chorenensis adds (p. 33), and this upon a diligent ex- 
 amination, viz. that "one of those eminent men among 
 the Canaanites came at the same time into Armenia, 
 and founded the Genthunian Jamily or tribe; and that 
 this was confirmed by the manners of the same family 
 or tribe, as being like those of the Canaanites." 
 
 + By protihesyinp, when spoken of a high-priest, Jose- 
 phus, both here "and frequently elsewhere, means no more 
 than consulting God by Urim, which the reader is still to 
 bear in mind upon all occasions. And if St, John, who 
 was contemporary with Josephus, and of the same coun- 
 try, made use of this style, when he says that " Caiaphas 
 being high-priest that year, prophesied that Jesus should 
 die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that 
 also he should gather together in one the children of God 
 that were scattered abroad" (xi. 51, o-2|, he may possibly 
 mean, that this was revealed to the high-priest by an ex- 
 traordinary voice from between the cherubims, when he 
 had his breast-plate, or Urim and Thunimim, on before; 
 or in the most holy place of the temple, which was no 
 other t'i;in the oracle of Urim and Thummim. Of whicll 
 above, in the note on Antiq. b. iiL chap. viii. sect". 9. 
 
136 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK y. 
 
 fingers and toes were cut off by them, said, 
 •* Nay, indeed, I was not always to lie con- 
 cealed from God, as I find by what I now 
 endure, while I have not been ashamed to do 
 the same to seventy-two kings."* So they 
 carried him alive as far as Jerusalem ; and 
 when he was dead, they buried him in the 
 earth, and went on still in taking the cities : 
 and when they had taken the greatest part of 
 them, they besieged Jerusalem ; and when they 
 had taken tne lower city, which was not un- 
 der a considerable time, they slew all the inha- 
 bitants ; but the upper city was not to be taken 
 withbut great difficulty, through the strength 
 of its walls, and the nature of the place. 
 
 3. For which reason they removed their 
 camp to Hebron ; and when they had taken it, 
 they slew all the inhabitants. There were 
 till then left the race of giants, who had bo- 
 dies so large, and countenances so entirely 
 different from other men, that they were sur- 
 prismg to the sight, and terrible to the hear- 
 ing. The bones of these men are still shown 
 to this very day, unlike to any credible rela- 
 tions of other men. Now they gave this 
 city to the Levites as an extraordinary re- 
 ward, with the suburbs of two thousand 
 cities; but the land thereto belonging they 
 gave as a free gift to Caleb, according to the 
 injunctions of Moses. This Caleb was one of 
 the spies which Moses sent into the land of 
 Canaan. They also gave land for habitation 
 to the posterity of Jethro, the Midianite, who 
 was the father-in-law to Moses; for they had 
 left their own country, and followed them, and i 
 accompanied them in the wilderness. 
 
 4. Now the tribes of Judah and Simeon 
 took the cities which were in the mountainous 
 
 • This great number of seventy-tipo reguli, or small 
 kings, over whom Adonibezet had tyrannized, and for 
 which he was punished aocordiag to the lex talionis, as 
 well as the thirty-one kings of Caniiaii subdued by Jo- 
 shua, and named in one chapter (,'oih. cii), and thirty- 
 two kings, or royal auxiliaries to IWnhadad king of 
 Syria (1 Kings xx. 1; Antiq. b. viii. chap. viv. aecL 1), 
 intimate to us what was the ancient form of govern- 
 ment among several nations before the monarc".;ies be- 
 gan, viz, that every ciiy or large town, wit*i its K^isrlc- 
 bouring villages, was a distinct government by itself; 
 which is the more remarkable, because this was ce\- 
 tainly the form of ecclesiastical government that w»s 
 settled by the apostles, and preserved throui;hout the 
 Christian church in the first a?e8 of Christianity. Mr. 
 Addison is of opinion, that " it would certainly be for 
 the good of mankind to have all the mighty empires 
 and monarchies of the world cantoned out into petty 
 states and principalities, which, like so many large tami- 
 lies, might lie under the observation of their proper 
 llfovernors, so that the care of the prince might extend 
 Itself to every individual person under his protection; 
 though he despairs of such a scheme being brought 
 about, and thinks that if it were, it would quickly he de- 
 stroyed." Remarks on Italy, 4to, p. 151. Nor is it 
 unfit to be observed here, that the Armenian records, 
 though they give us the history of thirty-nine of their 
 ancientest heroes or governors after the Flood, before 
 the days of Sardanapalus, had no proper king till the 
 fortieth, Parasriis See Moses Chorenensis, p. 55. And 
 that Almighty. God does not approve of such absolute 
 and tyrannical monarchies, any one may learn that 
 ipads Deut. xvii. 14—20, and 1 Sam. viii. 1—22; al- 
 though, if such kings are set up as own him for their 
 supreme king, and aim to govern according to his laws, 
 be hath admitted of them, and protected thetn and their 
 •objects in all generations. ^ 
 
 part of Canaan, as also Askelon and Ashdod, 
 of those that lay near the sea ; but Gaza and 
 Ekron escaped them, for they, lying in a flat 
 country, and having a great number of cha- 
 riots, sorely galled those that attacked them: 
 so these tribes, when they were grown very 
 rich by this war, retired to their own cities, 
 and laid aside their weapons of war. 
 
 5. But the Benjamites, to whom belonged 
 Jerusalem, permitted its inhabitants to pay 
 tribute. So they all left off, the one to kill, 
 and the other to expose themselves to danger 
 and had time to cultivate the ground. Th« 
 rest of the tribes imitated that of Benjamin, 
 an(f did the same; and, contenting themselves 
 with the tributes that were paid them, per- 
 mitted the Canaanites to live in peace. 
 
 6. However, the tribe of Ephraim, when 
 they besieged Bethel, made no advance, nor 
 performed any thing worthy of the time they 
 spent, and of the pains they took about that 
 siege; yet did they persist in it, still sitting 
 down before the city, though they endured great 
 trouble thereby: but, after some time, they 
 caught one of the citizens that came to them 
 to get necessaries, and they gave him some 
 assurances, that if he would deliver up the 
 city to them, they would preserve him and his 
 kindred; so he sware that, upon those terms, 
 he would put the city into their hands. Ac- 
 cordingly, he that thus betrayed the city was 
 preserved with his family; and the Israelites 
 slew all the inhabitants, and retained the city 
 for themselves. 
 
 7. After this, the Israelites grew effeminate 
 as to fighting any more againSt their enemies, 
 but applied themselves to the cultivation of 
 the land, which producing them great plenty 
 and riches, they neglected the regular dispo- 
 sition of their settlement, and indulged them- 
 selves in luxury and pleasures; nor were they 
 any longer careful to hear the laws that be- 
 longed to their political government: where- 
 upon God was provoked to anger, and put 
 them in mind, first, how, contrary to his di- 
 rections, they had spared the Canaanites; and, 
 after that, how those Canaanites, as opportu- 
 nity served, used them very barbarously. But 
 thb Israelites, though they were in heaviness 
 at these admonitions from God, yet were they 
 still very unwilling to go to war; and since 
 they got large tributes from the Canaanites, 
 and were indippo?<ed for taking pains by their 
 luxury, they suffered their aristocracy to be 
 corrupted also, and dvi not ordain themselves a 
 senate, nor any other such magistrates as their 
 laws had formerly required, but they were 
 very much given to cultivating their fields, 
 in order to get wealth; which great indolence 
 of theirs brought a terrible rsdition upon 
 them, and they proceeded so far av: to fight one 
 against another, from the followinf occasion: 
 
 8. There was a Levite,* a mai» /»f vul- 
 
 • Josephus's early date of this history, [yfo^i tho 
 beginning of the Judges, or when there was no ^iuf ^ 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 137 
 
 gar family, that belonged to the tribe of Eph- 
 raim, and dwelt therein: this man married a 
 wife from Bethlehem, which is a place oelong- 
 iiig to the tribe of Judah. Now he was very 
 fond of his wife, and overcome with her beauty ; 
 but he was unhappy in this, that he did not 
 meet with the like return of afFection from 
 her, for she was averse to him, which did more 
 inflame his passion for her, so that they quar- 
 relled one with another perpetually; and at 
 last the woman was so disgusted at these quar- 
 rels, that she left her husband, and went to 
 her parents in the fourth month. The hus- 
 band being very uneasy at this her depart we, 
 and that out of his fondness for her, came to 
 his father and mother-in-law, and made up 
 their quarrels, and was reconciled to her, and 
 lived with them there four days, as being 
 kindly treated by her parents. On the fifth 
 day he resolved to go home, and went away 
 in the evening; for his wife's parents were 
 loth to part with their daughter, and delayed 
 the time till the day was gone. Now they 
 had one servant that followed them, and an 
 ass on which the woman rode; and when they 
 were near Jerusalem, having gone already 
 thirty furlongs, the servant advised them to 
 take up their lodgings somewhere, lest some 
 misfortune should befall them if they travelled 
 in the night, especially since they were not 
 far off enemies, that season often giving rea- 
 son for suspicion of dangers from even such 
 as are friends; but the husband was not pleas- 
 ed with this advice, nor was he willing to take 
 up his lodging among strangers, for the city 
 belonged to the Canaanites, but desired ra- 
 ther to g'o twenty furlongs farther, and so to 
 take their lodgings in some Israelite city. 
 Accordingly, he obtained his purpose, and 
 came to Gibeah, a city of the tribe of Ben- 
 jamin, when it was just dark; and while no 
 one that lived in the market-place invited him 
 to lodge with him, there came an old man 
 out of the field, one that was indeed of the 
 tribe of Ephraim, bat resided in Gibeah, and 
 met him, and asked him who he was, and for 
 what reason he came thither so late, and why 
 he was looking out for provisions for supper 
 when it was dark? To which he replied, that 
 he was a Levite, and was bringing his wife 
 from her parents, and was going home; but 
 he told him his habitation was in the tribe of 
 Ephraim ; so the old man, as well because of 
 their kindred as because they lived in the same 
 tribe, and also because they had thus acci- 
 dentally met together, took him in to lodge 
 with him. Now certain young men of the 
 inhabitants of Gibeah, having seen the woman 
 in the market-place, and admiring her beauty, 
 
 Israel (Judges xlx. 1), is strongly confirmed by the large 
 number of Benjamites, both in the days of Asa and .'e- 
 hoshaphat (2 Chron. xiv. 8; and xvi. 17), who yet were 
 here reduced to six hundred men; nor can those num- 
 bers be at all supposed genuine, if they were reduced so 
 late as the end of the Judges, where our other copies 
 plac« this reduction. 
 
 when they understood that she lodged wUli 
 the old man, came to the doors, as contemning 
 the weakness and fewness of the old mane 
 family; and when the old man desired them 
 to go away, and not to offer any violence oi 
 abuse there, they desired him to yield them 
 up the strange woiitian, and then he should 
 have no harm done to him: and when the old 
 man alleged that the Levite was of his kin- 
 dred, and that they would be guilty of horrid 
 wickedness if they suffered themselves to be 
 overcome by their pleasures, and so offend 
 against their laws, they despised his righteous 
 admonition, and laughed him to scorn. They 
 also threatened to kill him if he became an 
 obstacle to their inclinations; whereupon, 
 when he found himself in great distress, and 
 yet was not willing to overlook his guests, 
 and see them abused, he produced his own 
 daughter to them; and told them that it was 
 a smaller breach of the law to satisfy their 
 lust upon her, than to abuse his guests, sup- 
 posing that he himself should by this means 
 prevent any injury to be done to those guests. 
 When they no way abated of their earnestness 
 for the strange woman, but insisted absolutely 
 on their desires to have her, he entreated them 
 not to perpetrate any such act of injustice; 
 but they proceeded to take her away by force, 
 and indulging still more the violence of their 
 inclinations, they took the woman away to 
 their house, and when they had satisfied their 
 lust upon her the whole night, they let her go 
 about day-break. So she came to the place 
 where she had been entertained, under great 
 affliction at what had happened; and was very 
 sorrowful upon occasion of what she had suf- 
 fered, and durst not look her husband in the 
 face for shame, for she concluded that he 
 would never forgive her for what she had 
 done ; so she fell down, and gave up the ghost: 
 but her husband supposed that his wife was 
 only fast asleep, and, thinking nothing of a 
 more melancholy nature had happened, endea- 
 voured to raise her up, resolving to speak com- 
 fortably to her, since she did not voluntarily 
 expose herself to these men's lust, but was 
 forced away to their house ; but as soon as he 
 perceived she'was dead, he acted as prudently 
 as the greatness of his misfortunes would ad- 
 mit, and laid bis dead wife upon the beast, 
 and carried her home; and cutting her, limb 
 by limb, into twelve pieces, he sent them to 
 every tribe, and gave it in charge to those that 
 carried them, to inform the tribes of those 
 that were the causes of his wife's death, and 
 of the violence they had offered to her. 
 
 9. Upon this the people were greatly dis- 
 turbed at what they saw, and at what they 
 heard, as never having had the experience of 
 such a thing before; so they gathered theai- 
 selves to Shiloh. out of a prodigious and a 
 just anger, and assembhng in a great congre- 
 gation before the tabernacle, they inimediate- 
 ly rttsolved to tak€ arms, and to treat the in- 
 
138 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 habitants of Glbeah as enemies ; but the se- 
 nate restrained them from doing sq, and per- 
 suaded them, that they ought not so hastily 
 to make war upon people of the same nation 
 with them, before they discoursed them by 
 words concerning the accusation laid against 
 them ; it being part of their law, that they 
 should not bring an army against foreigners 
 themselves, when they appear to have been 
 injurious, without sending an ambassage first, 
 and trying thereby whether they will repent 
 or not : and accordingly they exhorted them 
 to do what they ought to do in obedience 
 to their laws, that is to send to the inha- 
 bitants of Gibeah, to know whether they 
 would deliver up the offenders to them, and, 
 if they deliver them up, to rest satisfied with 
 the punishment of those offenders; but if 
 they despised the message that was sent them, 
 to punish them, by taking up arms against 
 them. Accordingly they sent to the inhabi- 
 tants of Gibeah, and accused the young men 
 of the crimes committed in the affair of the 
 Levite's wife, and required of them those 
 that had done what was contrary to the law, 
 that they might be punished, as having justly 
 deserved to die for what they had done ; but 
 the inhabitants of Gibeah would not deliver 
 up the young men, and thought it too reproach- 
 ful to them, out of fear of war, to submit to 
 other men's demands upon them; vaunting 
 themselves to be no way inferior to any in war, 
 neither in number nor in courage. The rest 
 of their tribe were also making great prepa- 
 ration for war, for they were so insolently 
 mad as also to resolve to repel force by force. 
 10. When it was related to the Israelites 
 what the inhabitants of Gibeah had resolved 
 upon, they took their oath that no one of them 
 would give his daughter in marriage to a Ben- 
 jamite, but make war with greater fury against 
 them than we have learned our forefathers 
 made war iigainst the Canaanites; and sent 
 out presently an army of four hundred thou- 
 sand against them, while the Benjamites' army 
 was twenty-five thousand and six hundred ; 
 five hundred of whom were excellent at sling- 
 ing stones with their left bands, insomuch that 
 when the battle was joined at Gibeah the Ben- 
 jamites beat the Israelites, and of them there 
 fell two thousand men; and probably more 
 had been destroyed had not the night come on 
 and prevented it, and broken off the fight; so 
 the Benjamites returned to the city with joy, 
 and the Israelites returned to their camp in a 
 great fright at what had happened. On the 
 next day, when they fought again, the Ben- 
 jamites beat them; and eighteen thousand of 
 the Israelites were slain, and the rest deserted 
 their camp out of fear of a greater slaughter. 
 80 they came to Bethel,* a city that was near 
 
 • Jotrpbas v-nmi here Ic have made a imall mistake, 
 when he lix k the Hebrew word UttU-Et. which deiioten 
 Iht ueu$e itj Hod, or the tabrrvai-le, Jiidj;. XX. 18, for 
 Ifae ^rof-T iian.« uf a place, U'lhel, it no way uppeariug 
 
 their c^mp, and fasted on the next day ; and 
 besought God, by Phineas the high-priest, 
 that his wrath against them might cease, and 
 that he would be satisfied with these two- 
 defeats, and give them the victory and power 
 over their enemies. Accordingly, God pro- 
 mised them so to do, by the prophesying of 
 Phineas. 
 
 1 1. When therefore they had divided the 
 array into two parts, they laid the one half of 
 them in ambush about the city Gibeah, by 
 night, while the other half attacked the Ben- 
 jamites, who retiring upon the assault, the 
 Benjamites pursued them, while the Hebrews 
 retired by slow degrees, as very desirous to 
 draw them entirely from the city; and the 
 other followed them as they retired, till both ' 
 the old men and the young men that were 1 
 left in the city, as too weak to fight, came ' 
 running out together with them, as willing to 
 bring their enemies under. However, when 
 they were a great way from the city, the He- 
 brews ran away no longer, but turned back 
 to fight them, and lifted up the signal they 
 had agreed on to those that lay in ambush, 
 who rose up, and with a great noise fell upon 
 the enemy. Now, as soon as ever they per- 
 ceived themselves to be deceived, they knew 
 not what to do; and when they were driven 
 into a certain hollow place which was in a val- 
 ley, they were shot at by those that encom- 
 passed them, till they were all destroyed, ex- 
 cepting six hundred, which formed themselves 
 into a close body of men, and forced their 
 passage through the midst of their enemies, , 
 and fled to the neighbouring mountains, and, ! 
 seizing upon them, remained there; but the, 
 rest of them, being about twenty-five thou-j 
 sand, were slain. Then did the Israelites 
 burn Gibeah, and slew the women, and the 
 males that were under age; and did the same 
 also to the other cities of the Benjamites; — 
 and, indeed, they were enraged to that de- * 
 gree, that they sent twelve thousand men out 
 of the army, and gave them orders to destroy 
 Jabesh Gilead, because it did not join with 
 them in fighting against the Benjamites. Ac- 
 cordingly, those that were sent slew the men 
 of war, with their children and wives, except- 
 ing four hundred virgins. To such a degree { 
 had they proceeded in their anger, because 
 they not only had the suffering of the Le- 
 vite's wife to avenge, but the slaughter oi 
 their own soldiers. 
 
 12. However, they afterward were sorry 
 for the calamity they had brought upon the 
 Benjamites, and appointed a fast on that ac- 
 count, although they supposed those men had 
 suffered justly for their offence against the r' 
 laws; so they recalled by their ambassadors 
 those six hundred which had escaped. These* 
 had seated themselves on a certain rock called 
 
 that the tahemacle was ever at Bethel; only so far it it 
 true, that Shiloh, the plare of the tabernacle in th^ days 
 c.f tlie Judcc-D. wa* ni'» far (rom Uetbel. 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 139 
 
 Rimmon, whicTi was in the wilderness. So the 
 ambassadors lamented not only the disaster 
 that had befallen the Benjamites, but them- 
 .srlves also, by this destruction of their kin- 
 fired ; and persuaded them to take it patiently, 
 and to come and unite with them, and not, so 
 far as in them lay, to give their suffrage to the 
 utter destruction of the tribe of Benjamin ; and 
 said to them, " We give you leave to take the 
 whole land of Benjamin to yourselves, and as 
 much prey as you are able to carry away with 
 yju." So these men with sorrow confessed, 
 tha^^vhat had been done was according to the 
 decree of God, and had happened for their 
 own wickedness; and assented to those that 
 invited them, and came down to their own 
 tribe. The Israelites also gave them the four 
 hundred virgins of Jabesh Gilead for wives ; 
 but as to the remaining two hundred, they 
 deliberated about it how they might compass 
 wives enough for them, and that they might 
 have children by them; and whereas they had, 
 Defore the war began, taken an oath, that no 
 one would give his datighter to wife to a Ben- 
 jamite, some advised them to have no regard 
 to what they had sworn, because the oath had 
 not been taken advisedly and judiciously, but 
 in a passion, and thought that they should do 
 nothing against God, if they were able to save 
 a whole tribe which was in dan<:er of perish- 
 ing; and that perjury was then a sad and 
 dangerous thing, not when it is done out of 
 necessity, but when it is done with a wicked 
 intention. But when the senate were affright- 
 ed at the very name of perjury, a certain per- 
 son told them that he could show them a way 
 whereby they might procure the Benjamites 
 wives enough, and yet keep their oath. They 
 asked him what his proposal was. He said, 
 " That three times in a year, when we meet 
 in Shiloh, our wives and our daughters ac- 
 company us: let then the Benjamites be al- 
 lowed to steal away, and marry such women 
 as they can catch, while we will neither in- 
 cite them nor forbid them; and when their 
 p.irents take it ill, and desire us to inflict 
 punishment upon them, we will tell them, that 
 they were themselves the cause of what had 
 happened, by neglecting to guard their daugh- 
 ters, and that they ought not to be over- 
 angry at the Benjamites, since that anger was 
 permitted to rise too high already." So the 
 Israelites were persuaded to follow this ad- 
 vice, and decreed. That the Benjamites should 
 be allowed thus to steal themselves wives. 
 So when the festival was coming on, these 
 two hundred Benjamites lay in ambush be- 
 fore the city, by two and three together, and 
 waited for the coming of the virgins, in the 
 vineyards and other places where they could 
 lie concealed Accordingly the Virgins came 
 al^ng playing, and suspected nothing of what 
 was coming upon them, and walked after an 
 Mng'iarded manner, so those thnt lay scattered 
 iu the road, rose up, ai>d caught bold of 
 
 them : by this means these Benjamites got 
 them wives, and fell to agriculture, and took 
 good care to recover their former happy state. 
 And thus was this tribe of the Benjamites, 
 after they had been in danger of entirely pe- 
 rishing, saved in the manner fore-mentioned, 
 by the wisdom of the Israelites : and accord- 
 ingly it presently flourished, and soon in- 
 creased to be a multitude, and came to enjoy 
 all other degrees of happiness. And such was 
 the conclusion of this war. 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 HOW THE ISRAELITES AFTER THIS MISFOR- 
 TUNE GREW WICKED, AND SERVED THE 
 ASSYRIANS ; AND HOW GOD DELIVERED 
 THEM BY OTHXIEL, WHO RULED OVER 
 THEM FORTY YEARS. 
 
 § 1 . Now it happened that the tribe of Dan 
 suffered in like manner with the tribe of Ben- 
 jamin ; and it came to do so on the occasion 
 following: — When the Israelites had already 
 left off the exercise of their arms for war, and 
 were intent upon their husbandry, the Ca- 
 naanites despised them, and brought together 
 an army, not because they expected to suffer 
 by them, but because they had a mind to 
 have a sure prospect of treating the Hebrews 
 ill when they pleased, and might thereby for 
 the time to come dwell in their own cities the 
 more securely; they prepared therefore their 
 chariots, and gathered their soldiery together, 
 their cities also combined together, and drew 
 over to them Askelon and Ekron, which were 
 within the tribe of Judah, and many more of 
 those that lay in the plain. They also forced 
 the Danites to fly into the mountainous coun- 
 try, and left them not the least portion of the 
 plain country to set their foot on. Since then 
 these Danites were not able to fight them, 
 and had not land enough lo sustain them, 
 they sent five of their men into the midland 
 country to see for a land to which they might 
 remove their habitation. So these men went 
 as far as the neighbourhood of mount Liba- 
 nus, and the fountains of the Lesser Jordan, 
 at the great plain of Sidon, a day's journey 
 from the city ; and when they had taken a 
 view of the land, and found it to be good and 
 exceeding fruitful, they acquainted their tribe 
 with it, whereupon they made an expedition 
 with the army, and built there the city Dan, 
 of the same name \\ ith the son of Jacob, and 
 of the siKiie name with their own tribe. 
 
 2. The Israelites grew so indolent, and 
 unready of taking pains, that misfortunes 
 came heavier upon them, which also proceed- 
 ed in part from their contempt of the divine 
 worship ; for when they had once fallen off 
 from the regularity of their political govern- 
 ment, thev indniged themselves farther in liv- 
 ing according to their own pleasure, and ac- 
 cording to their own willi till they were fall 
 
140 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 of the evil doings that were common among 
 the Canaanites. God therefore was angry 
 wnth them, and they lost that their happy state 
 which they had obtained by innumerable la- 
 bours, by their luxury; for when Chushan, 
 king of the Assyrians, had made war against 
 tliem, they lost many of their soldiers in the 
 battle, and when they were besieged, they 
 were taken by force ; nay, there were some, 
 who, out of fear, voluntarily submitted to him, 
 and though the tribute laid upon them was 
 more than they could bear, yet did they pay 
 it, and underwent all sort of oppression for 
 eight years; after which time they were freed 
 from them in the following manner: — 
 
 3. There was one whose name was Othniel, 
 the son of Kenaz, of the tribd of Judah, an 
 active man and of great courage. He had 
 an admonition from God, not to overlook the 
 Israelites in such a distress as they were now 
 in, but to endeavour boldly to gain them their 
 liberty; so when he had procured some t« as- 
 sist him in this dangerous undertaking (and 
 few they were, who, either out of shame at 
 their present circumstances, or out of a desire 
 of changing them, could be prevailed on to 
 assist him), he first of all destroyed that gar- 
 rison which Chushan had set over them ; but 
 when it was perceived that he had not failed 
 in his first attempt, more of the people came 
 to his assistance; so they joined battle with 
 the Assyrians, and drove them entirely before 
 them, and compelled them to pass over Eu- 
 phrates. Hereupon Othniel, who had given 
 such proofs of his valour, received from the 
 multitude authority to judge the people: and 
 when he had ruled over them forty years, he 
 died. 
 
 CHAPTER IV, 
 
 HOW OUR PEOPLE SERVED THE MO ABITES EIGH- 
 TEEN YEARS, AND WERE THEN DELIVERED 
 FROM SLAVERY BY ONE EH UD, WHO RETAIN- 
 ED THE DOMINION EIGHTY YEARS. 
 
 ..§ 1. When Othniel was dead, the affairs of 
 the Israehtes fell again into disorder: and 
 while they neither paid to God the honour 
 due to him, nor were obedient to the laws, 
 their afflictions increased, till Eglon, king of 
 the Moabites, did so greatly despise them on 
 account of the disorders of their political go- 
 vernment, that he made war upon them, and 
 overcame them in several battles, and made 
 the most courageous to submit, and entirely 
 subdued their army, and ordered them to pay 
 hio) tribute. And when he had built him a 
 royal palac« at Jericho,* he omitted no me- 
 
 • It appears bf the sacred history {Judg. 1. 16; iii 
 13), that Kf^lun'g pavilion or palace was ut the city of 
 Palm-Trees. as the place wh«re Jericho had stood is 
 «all«d afte*- 't« destrooUal b| Josbiia, that is, at or Dear 
 
 thod whereby he might distress them; and in- 
 deed he reduced them to poverty for eighteen 
 years. But when God had once taken pity 
 of the Israelites, on account of their afflic- 
 tions, and was moved to compassion by their 
 supplications put up to him, he freed them 
 from the hard usage they had met with under 
 the Moabites. This liberty he procured for 
 them in the following manner: — 
 
 2. There was a young man of the trilte f?f 
 Benjamin, whose name was Ehud, the son ci' 
 Gera, a man of very great courage in boh! 
 undertakings, and of a very strong body, lit. 
 for hard labour, but best skilled in using his 
 left hand, in which was his whole strength ; 
 and he also dwelt at Jericho. Now this; 
 man became familiar with Eglon, and that by 
 means of presents, with whi,ch he obtained his 
 favour, and insinuated himself into his good 
 opinion; whereby he was also beloved of those 
 that were about the king. Now, when on a 
 time he was bringing presents to the king, 
 and had two servants Avith him, he put a dag- 
 ger on his right thigh secretly, and went in tc 
 him: it was then summer time, and the mid- 
 dle of the day, when the guards were not 
 strictly on their watch, both because of the 
 heat, and because they were gone to dinner. 
 So the young man, when he had offered his 
 presents to the king, who then resided in a 
 small parlour that stood conveniently to avoid 
 the heat, fell into discourse with him, for they 
 were now alone, the king having bid his ser- 
 vants that attended him to go their ways, be- 
 cause he had a mind to talk with Ehud. He was 
 now sitting on his throne ; and fear seized upon 
 Ehud lest he should miss his stroke, and not 
 give him a deadly wound ; so he raised him- 
 self up, and said he had a dream to impart to 
 him by the command of God; upon which 
 the king leaped out of his throne for joy of 
 the dream; so Ehud smote him to the heart, 
 and, leaving his dagger in his body, he went 
 out and shut the door after him. Now tho 
 king's servants were very still, as supposing 
 that the king had composed himself to sleep. 
 
 3. Hereupon Ehud informed the peopl* of 
 Jericho privately of what he had done, and 
 exhorted them to recover their liberty , who 
 heard him gladly, and went to their arms, and 
 sent messengers over the country, that should 
 sound trumpets of rams' horns; for it was our 
 custom to call the peo[)le together by them. 
 Now the attendants of Eglon were ignorant of 
 what misfortune had befallen him for a great 
 while ; but, towards the evening, fearing some 
 uncommon accident had happened, they en- 
 tered into his parlour, and when they found 
 him dead, they were in great disorder, and 
 
 the demolished city. Accorditijjly Josephus says it was 
 at Jericho, ornthrr in that fine country of palm-trees, 
 upon, or near to. the sume spot of ground on which Je- 
 richo had formerly «f(>«w), and on which it was rebuilt 
 hy Hiel, 1 Kingn xvi :3I. Opr other copies that avoid 
 its pro|)er name lericln). and call it the city of Palm- 
 Tr««a'Mil|r. speak hrre nit»i« aoauratcl* than Josoplm*. 
 
CHAP. \. 
 
 A^'TIQUIT^ES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 141 
 
 knew not what to do; and before the guards 
 could be -got together, the multitude of the 
 israelites came upon them, so that some of 
 them were slain immediately, ami some were 
 put to tight, and ran away toward the coun- 
 try of Moab, in order to save themselves. 
 Their number was above ten thousand. The, 
 Israelites seized upon the ford of Jordan, and' 
 pursued thena, and slew them, and many of 
 them they killed at the ford, nor did one of 
 them escape out of their hands ; and by this 
 weans it was that the Hebrews freed them- 
 selves from slavery, under the Moabites. 
 Ehud also was on this account dignified with 
 the government over all the multitude, and 
 died after he had held the government eighty 
 years.* He was a man worthy of commen- 
 dation, even besides what he deserved for the 
 forementioned act of his. After him Sham- 
 ^ar, the son of Anath, was elected for their 
 
 fTovernor, but died in 
 government. 
 
 the first year of his 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW THECANAANITES BROUGHr THE ISRAEL- 
 ITES UNDER SLAVERY FOR TWENTY YEARS; 
 AFTER WHICH THEY WERE DELIVERED BY 
 BARAK AND DEBORAH, WHO RULED OVER 
 TU£M FOR FORTY YEARS. 
 
 5 1. And now it was that the Israelites, tak- 
 ing no warning by their former misfortunes 
 to amend their manners, and neither worship- 
 ping God nor submitting to the laws, were 
 brought under slavery by Jabin the king of 
 the Canaanites, and that before they had a 
 short breathing time after the slavery under 
 the Moabites; for this Jabin came out of 
 Hazor, a city that was situate over the lake 
 Semechonitis, and had in pay three hundred 
 thousand foot-men, and ten thousand horse- 
 naen, with no fewer than three thousand cha- 
 riots. Sisera was the commander of all his 
 array, and was the principal person in the 
 king's favour. He so sorely beat the Israel- 
 ites when they fought with him, that he or- 
 dered them to pay tribute. 
 
 2, So they continued to undergo that hard- 
 ship for twenty years, as not good erough of 
 themselves to grow wise by their misfortunes. 
 God was willing also hereby the more to sub- 
 
 ♦ These eighty years for the government of Ehud 
 are necessary to Josephus's usual large numbers between 
 the exodus and the building of the temple, of five hun- 
 dred and ninety-two, or six hundred and twelve years, 
 but nt)t to tlie smallest number ef four hundred and 
 eighty years (I Kings vi. 1); which lesser number J o- 
 seplius seems sometimes to have followed. And since 
 in the bednning of the next chapter, it is said by Jo- 
 sephus, that there was hardly a breathinj time for the 
 Israelites before Jabin came and enslaved them, it is 
 highly probable ihat some of thr copies in his time had 
 bet »• only eight years instead of eighty; as had that of 
 rheophilusof Antioch, Ad Autolyc. 1 iil, aad thij mo«t 
 probably from bis oopy ot Josaphu*. 
 
 due their obstinacy and ingratitude tcwanls 
 himself: so when at length they were become 
 penitent, and were so wise as to learn that 
 their calamities arose from their contempt of 
 the laws, they besought Deborah, a certain 
 prophetess among them {which name in the 
 Hebrew tongue signifies a Bee), to pray toGod 
 to take pity on them, and not to overlook 
 them, now they were ruined by the Canaan- 
 ites. So God granted them deliverance, and 
 chose them a general, Barak, one that was of 
 the tribe of Naphtali. Now Barak, ia the 
 Hebrew tongue, signifies Lightning. 
 
 3. So Deborah sent for Barak, and bade 
 him choose out ten thousand young men to go 
 against the enemy, because God had said that 
 that number Was sufficient, and promised them 
 victory. But when Barak said that he would 
 not be the general unless she would also go 
 as a general with him, she had indignation at 
 what he said, and replied, " Thou, O Barak, 
 deliverest up meanly that authority which 
 God hath given thee into the hand of a wo- 
 man, and I do not reject it!" So they collected 
 ten thousand meJi, and pitched their camp at 
 Mount Tabor, where, at the king's command, 
 Sisera met them, and pitched his camp not 
 far from the enemy; whereupon the Israelites, 
 and Barak himself, were so affrighted at the 
 multitude of those enemies, that they were 
 resolved to march off, had not Deborah re- 
 tained them, and commanded thera to fight 
 the enemy that very day, for that they should 
 conquer them, and God woiJd be their assist- 
 ance. 
 
 4. So the battle began ; and when they 
 were come to a close fight^ there came down 
 from heaven a great storm, with a vast quan- 
 tity of rain and hail, and the wind blew the 
 rain in the face of the Canaanites, and so 
 darkened their eyes, that their arrows and 
 slings were of no advantage to them, nor 
 would the coldness of the air permit the sol- 
 diers to make use of their swords; while this 
 storm did not so much incommode the Is- 
 raelites, because it came in their backs. They 
 also took such courage, upon the apprehension 
 that God was assisting them, that they fell 
 upon the very midst of their enemies, and 
 slew a great number of them; so that some* 
 of them fell by the Israelites, some fell by 
 their own horses, which were put into disor- 
 der, and not a few were killed by their own 
 chariots. At last Sisera, as soon as he saw 
 himself beaten, fled away, and came to a wo- 
 man whose name was Jael, a Kenite, who re- 
 ceived him, when he desired to be concealed; i 
 and when he asked for somewhat to drink, 
 she gave him sour milk, of which he drank 
 so unmeasurably that he fell asleep; but 
 when he was asleep, Jael took an iron nail, 
 and with a hammer drove it through his tem- 
 ples into the floor ; and when Barak came a 
 littleafterward, she showed Sisera naile^ to the 
 ground t and thus was this rictery gained by 
 
.42 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK r. 
 
 a woman, as Deborali h&A foretold. Barak 
 also fought with Jabin at Haior ; and when 
 he met with him, he slew him: and when the 
 general was fallen, Barak overthrew the city 
 to the foundation, and was the commander 
 of the Israelites for forty years. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW THE MIDIANITES AND OTHER NATIONS 
 FOUGHT AGAINST THE ISRAELITES, AND 
 BEAT THEM, AND AFFLICTED THEIR COUN- 
 TRY FOR SEVEN YEARS. HOW THEY WERE 
 DELIVERED BY GIDEON, WHO RULED OVER 
 THE MULTITUDE FOR FORTY YEARS. 
 
 § 1. Now when Barak and Deborah were 
 dead, whose deaths happened about the same 
 time, afterwards the Alidianites called the 
 Amalekites and Arabians to their assistance, 
 and made war against the Israelites, and were 
 too hard for those that fought against them ; 
 and when they had burnt the fruits of the 
 earth, they carried off the prey. Now when 
 they had done this for three years, the multi- 
 tude of the Israelites retired to the mountains, 
 and forsook the plain country. They also 
 made themselves hollows under ground, and 
 caverns, and preserved therein whatsoever had 
 escaped their enemies; for the Midianites 
 made expeditions in harvest-time, but permit- 
 ted them to plough the land in winter, that 
 so, when the others had taken the pains, they 
 might have fruits for them to carry away. 
 Indeed, there ensued a famine and a scarcity 
 of food; upon which they betook themselves 
 to their supplications to God, and besought 
 him to save them. 
 
 2. Gideon also, the son of Joash, one of 
 the principal persons of the tribe of Manas- 
 seh, brought his sheaves of corn privately, 
 and thrashed them at the wine-press; for he 
 was too fearful of their enemies to thrash them 
 openly in the thrashing-floor. At this time 
 somewhat appeared to him in the shape of a 
 youi^ man, and told him that he was a happy 
 man, and beloved of God. To which he im- 
 mediately replied, " A mighty indication of 
 God's favour to me, that I am forced to use 
 this vrine-press instead of a thrashing-floor!" 
 But the appearance exhorted him to be of 
 good courage, and to make an attempt for the 
 recovery of their liberty. He answered, that 
 
 .fit was impossible for him to recover it, be- 
 cause the tribe to which he belonged was by 
 no means numerous; and because he was but 
 young himself, and too inconsiderable to think 
 of such great actions; but the other promised 
 him, that God would supply whut he was de- 
 fective in, and would afford the Israelites vic- 
 tory under his conduct. 
 
 3. Now, therefore, as Gideon was relating 
 \hi» to KiiD« young m«n, th«iy believed him. 
 
 and immediately there was an army of ten 
 thousand men got ready for fighting. But 
 God stood by Gideon i» his sleep, and told 
 him, that mankind were too fond of them- 
 selves, and were enemies to such as excelled 
 in virtue. Now that they might not pass 
 God over, but ascribe the victory to him, ai (i 
 might not fancy it obtained by their ohih 
 power, because they were a great army, and 
 able of then)selves to fight their enemies, but 
 might confess that it was owing to his assist- 
 ance, he advised him to bring his army about 
 noon, in the violence of the heat, to the river, 
 and to esteem those that bent down on their 
 knees and so drank, to be men of courage; 
 but for all those that drank tumultuously, 
 that he should esteem them to do it out off 
 fear, and as in dread of their enemies. And 
 when Gideon had done as God had suggest- 
 ed to him, there were found three hundred 
 men that took water with their hands tu- 
 multuously; so God bid him take theffee men, 
 and attack the enemy. Accordingly they 
 pitched their camp at the river Jordan, as 
 ready the next day to pass over it. 
 
 4. But Gideon was in great fear, for God 
 had told him beforehand that he should set 
 upon his enemies in the night-time; but God, 
 being willing to free him from his fear, bid 
 him take one of his soldiers, and go near to 
 the Midianites' tents, for that he should from 
 that very place have his courage raised, and 
 grow bold. So he obeyed, and went and 
 took his servant Phurah with him; and as he 
 came near to one of the tents, he discovered 
 t hat those that were in it were awake, and 
 ihat one of them was telling to his fellow-sol- 
 dier a dream of his own, and that so plainly, 
 that Gideon could hear him. The dream was 
 this: — He thought he saw a barley-cake, 
 such a one as could hardly be eaten by men, 
 it was so vile, rolling through the camp, and 
 overthrowing the royal tent, and the tents ol 
 all the soldiers. Now the other soklier ex- 
 plained this vision to mean the destruction of 
 the army ; and told him what his reason was 
 which made him so conjecture, viz. That the 
 seed called barley was all of it allowed to be 
 of the vilest sort of seed, and that the Israel- 
 ites were known to be the vilest of all the 
 people of Asia, agreeably to the seed of bar- 
 ley, and that what seemed to look big ajnong 
 the Israelites was this Gideon and the army 
 that was with him; "and since thou sayest 
 thou didst see the cake overturning our tents, 
 I am afraid lest God hath granted the vic- 
 tory over us to Gideon." 
 
 5. When Gideon had heard this dream, 
 good hope and courage came upon him ; and 
 he commanded his soldiers to arm themselves, 
 and told them of this vision of their enemies. 
 They also took courage at what was told 
 them, and were ready to perform what Se 
 should enjoin them; so Gideon divided bin 
 army into three {>artii, and brought it out 
 
CHAP. vir. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 143 
 
 Hbout the fourth watch of the night, each 
 j>art containing a hundred men : they all 
 bare empty pitchers and lighted lamps in 
 their hands, that their onset might not be 
 discovered by their enemies. They had also 
 each of them a ram's horn in his right hand, 
 which he used instead of a trumpet. The 
 e/»emy's camp took up a large space of 
 gromid, for it happened that they had a great 
 many camels; and as they were divided into 
 different nHtions, so they were all contained 
 in one circle. Now when the Hebrews did 
 as they were ordered beforehand, upon their 
 approach to their enemies, and, on the signal 
 given, sounded with their rams' horns, and 
 brake their pitchers, and set upon their ene- 
 mies with their lamps, and a great shout, and 
 cried, " Victory to Gideon, by God's assist- 
 ance," a disorder and a fright seized upon 
 the other men while they were half asleep, for 
 it was night-time, as God would have it ; so 
 that a few of them Were slain by their ene- 
 mies, but the greatest part by their own sol- 
 diers, on account of the diversity of their lan- 
 guage; and when they were once put into 
 disorder, they killed all that they met with, 
 as thinking them to be enemies also. Thus 
 there was a great slaughter made; and as the 
 report of Gideon's victory came to the Israel- 
 ites, they took their weapons and pursued 
 their enemies, and overtook them in a certain 
 valley encompassed with torrents, a place 
 wliich these could not get over; so they en- 
 coiiipassed them, and slew them all, with 
 tueir kings, Oreb and Zeeb; but the remain- 
 'v.\g captains led those soldiers that were left, 
 wiii(;h were about eighteen thousand, and 
 pitched their camp a great way off the Israel- 
 itp>. However, Gideon did not grudge his 
 pains, but pursued them with all his army, 
 atul joining battle with them, cut off the whole 
 enemies' army, and took the other leaders, 
 Zebah and Zalmuna, and made them captives. 
 Now there were slain in this battle of the 
 Midiauites, and of their auxiliaries the Ara- 
 bians, about a hundred and twenty thousand'; 
 and the Hebrews took a great prey, gold, and 
 silver, and garments, and camels, and asses; 
 and when Gideon was come to his own coun- 
 try of Ophrah, he slew the kings of the Mi- 
 dianites. 
 
 6. However, the tribe of Ephraira was so 
 .displeased at the good success of Gideon, that 
 they resolved to make war against him, ac- 
 ciising him because he did not tell theta of 
 bis expedition against their enemies; but Gi- 
 deon, as a man of temper, and that excelled 
 i;i every virtue, pleaded, that it was not the 
 result of his own authority or reasoning, that 
 M.ade him attack the enemy without them, 
 hji that it was the command of God, and 
 bell the victory belonged to them as well as 
 vhost' in the army; — and by this method of 
 cooling their passions, he brought more ad- 
 v^iiilage to the Hebrews, than by the success 
 
 he haa against these enemies, tor he thereby 
 delivered them from a sedition which was 
 arising among them; yet did this tribe after- 
 wards suffer the punishment of this their in- 
 jurious treatment of Gideon, of which we will 
 give an account in due time. 
 
 7. Hereupon Gideon would have laid down 
 the government, but was over-persuaded to 
 take it, which he enjoyed forty years, and dis- 
 tributed justice to them, as the people came 
 to him in their differences ; and vvhat he de- 
 termined was esteemed valid by all; and when 
 he died, he was buried in his own country of 
 Ophrah. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 THAT THE JUDGES WHO SUCCEEDED GIDEON 
 MADE WAR WITH THE ADJOINING NATIONS 
 FOR A LONG TIME. 
 
 § 1. Now Gideon had seventy sons that were 
 legitimate, for he had many wives, but he 
 had also one that was spurious, by his concu- 
 bine Drumah, whose name was Abimelech, 
 who, after his father's death, retired to She- 
 chem to his mother's relations, for they were 
 of that place ; and when he had got money of 
 such of them as were eminent for many in- 
 stances of injustice, he came with them to 
 his father's house, and slew all his brethren, 
 except Jotham, for he had the good fortune 
 to escape and be preserved ; but Abimelech 
 made the government tyrannical, and consti- 
 tuted himself a lord, to do what he pleased, 
 instead of obeying the laws ; and he acted 
 most rigidly against those that were the pa- 
 trons of justice. 
 
 2. Now when, on a certain time, there was 
 a public festival at Shechem, and all the mul- 
 titude was there gathered together, Jotham his 
 brother, whose escape we before related, went 
 up to Mount Gerizzim, which hangs over the 
 city Shechem, and cried out so as to be heard 
 by the multitude, who were attentive to him. 
 He desired they would consider what he was 
 going to say to them ; so when silence was 
 made, be said. That when the trees had a hu- 
 man voice, and there was an assembly of them 
 gathered together, they desired that the fig- 
 tree would rule over them ; but when that 
 tree refused so to do, because it was contented 
 to enjoy that honour which belonged pe- 
 culiarly to the fruit it bare, and not that 
 which should be derived to it from abroad, 
 the trees did not leave off their intentions to 
 have a ruler, so they thought proper to make 
 the offer of that honour to the vine; but when 
 the vine was chosen, it made use of the same 
 words which the fig-tree had used before, and 
 excused itself from accepting the governm -nt ; 
 and when the olive-tree had done the sune, 
 the brier, whom the trees had desired to Lake 
 
144 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 tt£ kingdom (it is a sort of wood good for 
 firlr.g), it promised to take the government, 
 and to be zealous in the exercise of it; but 
 that then they must sit dowTi under its sha- 
 dow, and if they should plot against it to de- 
 stroy it, the principle of fire that was in it 
 should destroy them. He told them, that 
 what he had said was no laughing matter ; for 
 that when they had experienced many bless- 
 h.gs from Gideon, they overlooked Abime- 
 lech, when he over-ruled all, and had joined 
 with him in slaying his brethren ; and that he 
 was no better than a fire himself. So when 
 . he had said this, he went away, and lived pri- 
 vately in the mountains for three years, out 
 of fear of Abimelech.^ 
 
 3. A little while after this festival, the She- 
 chemites, who had now repented themselves 
 of having slain the sons of Gideon, drove Abi- 
 melech away both from their city and their 
 tribe; whereupon he contrived how he might 
 distress their city. Now at the season of vin- 
 tage, the people were afraid to go out and 
 gather their fruits, for fear Abimelech should 
 do them some mischief. Now it happened 
 that there had come to them a man of autho- 
 rity, one Gaal, that sojourned with them, hav- 
 ing his armed men and his kinsmen with him; 
 so the Shechemites desired that he would allow 
 them a guard during their vintage; where- 
 upon he accepted of their desires, and so the 
 people went out, and Gaal with them at the 
 nead of his soldiery; so they gathered their 
 fruit with safety ; and when they were at 
 supper in several companies, they then ven- 
 tured to curse Abimelech openly; and the 
 magistrates laid ambushes in places about the 
 city, and caught many of Abimelech's follow- 
 ers, and destroyed them. 
 
 4. Now there was one Zebul, a magistrate 
 of the Shechemites, that had entertained Abi- 
 melech. He sent messengers, and informed 
 him how much Gaal had irritated the people 
 against him, and excited him to lay ambushes 
 before the city, for that he would persuade 
 Gaal to go out against him, which would leave 
 it in his power to be revenged on him ; and 
 when that was once done, he would bring him 
 to be reconciled to the city. So Abimelech 
 laid ambushes, and himself lay wath them. 
 Now Gaal abode in the suburbs, taking little 
 care of himself; and Zebul was with him. 
 Now as Gaal saw the armed men coming on, 
 he said to Zebul, That some armed men were 
 coming; but the other replied, They were only 
 shadows of huge stones: and when they were 
 come nearer, Gaal perceived what was the 
 reality, and Raid, They were not shadows but 
 men lying in ambush. Then said Zebul, 
 *' Didst not thou reproach Abimelech for cowar- 
 dice? why dost thou not then show how very 
 courageous thou art thyself, and go and fight 
 him?" So Gaal, being in disorder, joined 
 pattl9 with Abimelech, and some of bis nuiii 
 
 fell ; whereupon he fled into the city, and took 
 his men with him. But Zebul managed hia 
 matters so in the city, that he procured them 
 to expel Gaal out of the city, and this by ac- 
 cusing him of cowardice in this action with 
 the soldiers of Abimelech. But Abimelech, 
 when he had learned that the Shechemites 
 were again coming out to gather their grapes, 
 placed' ambushes before the city, and when 
 they were coming out, the third part of his 
 army took possession of the gates, to hinder 
 the citizens from returning in again, while the 
 rest pursued those that were scattered abroad, 
 and so there was slaughter everywhere; and 
 when he had overthrowTi the city to the very 
 foundations, fey? it was not able to bear a siege, 
 and had sown its ruins with salt, he proceeded 
 on with his army till all the Shechemites were 
 slain. As for those that were scattered about 
 the country, and so escaped the danger, they 
 were gathered together unto a certain strong 
 rock, and settled themselves upon it, and pre- 
 pared to build a wall about it: and when Abi- 
 melech knew their intentions he prevented 
 them, and came upon them with his forces, 
 and laid faggots of dry wood round the place, 
 he himself bringing some of them, and by his ex- 
 ample encouraging the soldiers to do the same. 
 And when the rock was encompassed round 
 about with these faggots, they set them on fire, 
 and threw in whatsoever by nature caught fire 
 the most easily: so a mighty flame was raised, 
 and nobody could fly away from the rock, but 
 every man perished, with their wives and 
 children, in all about fifteen hundred men, and 
 the rest were a great number also. And such 
 was the calamity which fell upon the Shechem- 
 ites; and men's grief on their account had 
 been greater than it was, had they not brought 
 so much mischief on a person who had so well 
 deserved of them, and had they not themselves 
 esteemed this as a punishment for the same. 
 
 5. Now Abimelech, when he had affright- 
 ed the Israelites with the miseries he had 
 brought upon the Shechemites, seemed open- 
 ly to affect greater authority than he now hjul, 
 and appeared to set no bounds to his violence, 
 uidess it were with the destruction of all. 
 Accordingly he marched to Thebes, and took 
 the city on the sudden; and there being a 
 great tower therein, whereunto tlie whole 
 nmltitude fled, he made preparations to besiege 
 it. Now as he was rushing with violence ^ 
 near the gates, a woman threw a piece of a 
 mill-stone upon his head, upon which Abi- 
 melech fell down, and desired his armour- 
 bearer to kill him, lest his death should be 
 thought to be the work of a woman; — who 
 did what he was bid to do. So he underwent 
 this death as a punishment for the wickedness 
 he had perpetrated against his brethren, and 
 his insolent biirbarity to the Shechemites. 
 Now the cjiiamity that happened to those She- 
 chemites WHS according to the prediction of 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 146 
 
 Jotham. However, the army that was with 
 Abimelech, upon his fall, was scattered 
 abroad, and went to their own homes. 
 
 6. Now it was that Jair the Gileadite,* of 
 the tribe of Manasseh, took the government. 
 He was a man happy in other respects also, 
 but particularly in his children who were of 
 a good character. They were thirty in num- 
 ber, and very skilful in riding on horses, and 
 were intrusted \vith the government of the 
 cities of Gilead. He kept the government 
 twenty-two years, and died an old man; and 
 he was buried in Camon, a city of Gilead. 
 
 7. And now all the affairs of the Hebrews 
 were managed uncertainly, and tended to dis- 
 order, and to the contempt of )pod and of the 
 laws. So the Ammonites and Philistines had 
 them in contempt, and laid waste the country 
 with a great army; and when they had taken 
 all Perea, they were so insolent as to attempt 
 to gain the possession of all the rest: but the 
 Hebrews, being now amended by the calami- 
 ties they had undergone, betook themselves 
 to supplications to God; and brought sacri- 
 fices to him, beseeching him not to be too 
 severe upon them, but to be moved by their 
 prayers to leave off his anger against them. 
 So God became more merciful to them, and 
 was ready to assist them. 
 
 8. When the Ammonites had made an ex- 
 pedition into the land of Gilead, the inhabi- 
 tants of the country met them at a certain 
 mountain, but wanted a commander. Now 
 there was one whose name was Jephtha, who, 
 both on account of his father's virtue, and on 
 account of that army which he maintained at 
 his own expenses, was a potent man: the Is- 
 raelites therefore sent to him, and entreated 
 him to come to their assistance, and promised 
 him the dominion over them all his life-time. 
 But he did not admit of their entreaty; and 
 accused them, that they did not come to his 
 assistance when he was unjustly treated, and 
 this in an open manner by his brethren; for 
 they cast him off, as not having the same mo- 
 ther with the rest, but born of a strange mo- 
 ther, that %vas introduced among them by his 
 father's fondness; and this they did out of a 
 contempt of his inability [to vindicate him- 
 self]. So he dwelt in the country of Gilead, 
 as it is called and received all that came to 
 him, let them come from what place soever, 
 and paid them wages. However, when they 
 pressed him to accept the dominion, and sware 
 they would grant him the government over 
 them all his life, he led them to the war. 
 
 9. And when Jephtha had taken immediate 
 care of their affairs, he placed his army at the 
 city Mispeth, and sent a message to the Am- 
 
 • Our present copies of Josephns all omit Tola amon^ 
 the judges, though the other copies have him next after 
 Abimelech. and allot twenty-three years to his adminis- 
 trdtion (Judges X. 1,2); yet do all Josephus's commen- 
 tators conclude, that in Josephus's sum of the years of the 
 judges, his twenty-three years are included ; hence we are 
 tOkOnfess thatfomewhat haa been here lost out of his copies. 
 
 monite [king], complaining of his unjust pos- 
 session of their land. But that king sent a 
 contrary message ; and complained of the ex- 
 odus of the Israelites out of Egypt, and desi- 
 red him to go out of the land of the Amorites, 
 and yield it up to him, as at first his pater- 
 nal inheritance. But Jephtha returned this 
 answer : That he did not justly complain of 
 his ancestors about the land of the Amorites, 
 and ought rather to thank them that they left 
 the land of the Ammonites to them, since 
 Moses could have taken it also; and that nei- 
 ther would he recede from that land of their 
 own, which God had obtained for them, and 
 they had now inhabited [above] three hun- 
 dred years, but would fight with them about it. 
 
 10. And when he had given them this an- 
 swer, he sent the ambassadors away. And 
 when he had prayed for victory, and had vowed 
 to perform sacred offices, and if he came 
 home in safety, to offer in sacrifice what living 
 creatiu-e soever should first meet himcf he 
 joined battle with the enemy, and gained a 
 great victory, and in his pursuit slew the ene- 
 mies all along as far as the dty Minnith. He 
 then passed over to the land of the Ammonites, 
 and overthrew many of their cities, and took 
 their prey, and freed his own people from that 
 slavery which they had undergone for eighteen 
 years. But as he came back, he feU into a 
 calamity no way correspondent to the great 
 actions he had done; for it was his daughter 
 that came to meet him ; she was also an only 
 child and a virgin : upon this Jephtha heavily 
 lamented the greatness of his atfiiction, and 
 blamed his daughter foe being so for\vard in 
 meeting him, for he had vowed to sacrifice her 
 to God. However, this action that \\'as to 
 befall her was not ungrateful to her, since she 
 should die upon occasion of her father's vic- 
 tory, and the liberty of her fellow-citizens : she 
 only desired her father to give her leave, for 
 two months, to bewail her youth \vith her fel- 
 low-citizens; and then she agreed, that at the 
 forementioned time he might do with her ac- 
 cording to his vow. Accordingly, when that 
 time was over, he sacrificed his daughter as a 
 burnt-offering, offering such an oblation as was 
 neither conformable to the law nor acceptable 
 to God, not weighing with himself what opi- 
 nion the hearers would have of such a practice. 
 
 11. Now the tribe of Ephraim fought 
 against him, because he did not take them 
 along with him in his expedition against the 
 Ammonites, but because he alone had the 
 prey, and the glory of what was done to him- 
 self. As to which he said, first, that they were 
 
 + Josephns justly condemns Jephtha, as do the Apos* 
 tolical Constitutions, b. vii. ch. xxxvii. for his rash vow, 
 whether it were for sacrificing his daughter, as Josephat 
 thought, or for dedicating her, who was his onl child, 
 tQ perpetual virginity, at the tabernacle or elsewhere, 
 which I rather suppose. If he had vowed her for a sa- 
 i:rifice. she oni;ht to have been redeemed. Lev. xxvii. 1 
 —8; but of the sense of ver. 28, 29, as relating n to 
 things vowed to God, but devoted to destruction, see the 
 note on Antiq. b. v. ch.L sect 8. 
 
146 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK V 
 
 not ignorant how his kindred had fought 
 against him, and that when they were invited, 
 they did not come to his assistance, whereas 
 they ought to have come quickly, even before 
 ■^ they were invited. And in the next place, that 
 they were going to act unjustly; for while 
 they had not courage enough, to fight their 
 enemies, they came hastily against their own 
 kindred: and he threatened them that, with 
 God's assistance, he would inflict a punish- 
 ment upon them, unless they would grow 
 wiser. But when he could not persuade them, 
 he fought with them with those forces which 
 he sent for out of Gilead, and he made a great 
 slaughter among them; and when they were 
 beaten, he pursued them, and seized on the 
 passages of Jordan by a part of his army which 
 he had sent before, and slew about forty-two 
 thousand of them. 
 
 12. So when Jephtha had ruled six years, 
 he died, and was buried in his own country, 
 Sebee, which is a place in the land of Gilead. 
 
 13. Now, when Jephtha was dead, Ibzan 
 took the government, being of the tribe of 
 Judah, and of the city of Bethlehem. He 
 had sixty children, thirty of them sons, and 
 the rest daughters; all whom he left alive 
 behin4 him, giving the daughters in marriage 
 to husbands, and taking wives for his sons. 
 He did nothing in the seven years of his ad- 
 
 ^ ministration that was worth recording, or de- 
 served a memorial. So he died an old man, 
 and was buried in his own country. 
 
 14. When Ibzan was dead after this man- 
 ner neither did Helon, who succeeded him | 
 in the government, and kept it ten years, do 
 any thing remarkable : he was of the tribe of 
 Zebulon. 
 
 15. Abdon also, the son of Hilel, of the 
 tribe of Ephraim, and born at the city Pyra- 
 thon, was ordained their supreme governor 
 after Helon. He is only recorded to have 
 been happy in his children ; for the public 
 affairs were then so peaceable, and in such 
 security, that neither did he perform any glo- 
 rious action. He had forty sons, and by them 
 left thirty grand-children; and he marched in 
 state with these seventy, who were all very 
 skilful in riding horses; and he left them all 
 alive after him. He died an old man, and 
 obtained a magnificent burial in Pyrathon. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONCERNING THE FORTITUDE OF SAMSON, 
 AND WHAT MISCHIEFS HE BROUGHT UPON 
 THE PHILISTINES. 
 
 § 1. After Abdon was dead, the Philistines 
 overcame the Israelites, and received tribute 
 of them for forty years; from which distress 
 they were delivered after this manner: — . 
 
 2. There was one Manoah, a person of 
 
 such great virtue, that he had few men his 
 
 ^ equals, and without dispute the principal per- 
 
 son of his country. He had a wife celebrated 
 for her beauty, and excelling her contem- 
 poraries. He had no children; and, being 
 uneasy at his want of posterity, he entreated 
 God to give them seed of their own bodies to 
 succeed them ; and with that intent he cs*.me 
 constantly into the suburbs,* together with 
 his wife ; which suburbs were in the Great 
 Plain. Now, he was fond of his wife to a 
 degree of madness, and on that account waa 
 unmeasurably jealous of her. Now, when hio 
 wife was once alone, an apparition was seen 
 by her: it was an angel of God, and resem- 
 bled a young man, beautiful and tall, and 
 brought her the good news, that she should 
 have a son, born by God's providence, that 
 should be a goodly child, of great strength ; 
 by whom, when he was grown up to man's 
 estate, the Philistines should be afflicted. He 
 exhorted her also not to poll his hair, and 
 that he should avoid all other kinds of drink 
 (for so had God commanded), and be entirely 
 contented with water. So the angel, when 
 he had delivered that message, went his way, 
 his coming having been by the will of God. 
 
 3. Now the wife informed her husband 
 when he came home of what the angel had 
 said, who showed so great an admiration ol 
 the beauty and tallness of the young man that 
 had appeared to her, that her husband was 
 astonished, and out of himself for jealousy, 
 and such suspicions as are excited by that 
 passion; but she was desirous of having her 
 husband's unreasonable sorrow taken a,w^y; 
 accordingly, she entreated God to send the 
 angel again, that he might be seen by her 
 husband. So the angel came again by the fa- 
 vour of God, while they were in the suburbs, 
 and appeared to her when she was alone with- 
 out her husband. She desired the angel to stay 
 so long till she might bring her husband; and 
 that request being granted, she goes to call 
 Manoah. When he saw the angel he was not 
 yet free from suspicion, and he desired him 
 to inform him of all that he had told his wife; 
 but when he said it was sufficient that she 
 alone knew what he had said, he then re- 
 quested of him to tell who he was, that when 
 the child was born they might return him 
 thanks, and give him a present. He replied 
 that he did not want any present, for that he 
 did not bring them the good news of the birth 
 of a son out of the want of any thing; and 
 when Manoah had entreated him to stay, and 
 partake of his hospitality, he did not give his 
 consent. However, he was persuaded, at the 
 earnest request of Manoah, to stay ao long as 
 while he brought him one mark of his hospi- 
 tality; — so he slew a kid of the goats, and bid 
 his wife boil it. When all was ready, the 
 angel enjoined him to set the loaves and the 
 
 * I can discover no reaion why Manoah and h!« wife 
 cHine !«o constiintly into lliese suburlxi to pray for rhil- 
 (ln-n. Ijtit hfcuiue there was a synagogue or place uf 
 i1fvi.t>n:i ill th' b*" siibiirbt. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 147 
 
 flesh, but without the vessels, upon the rock ; 
 which when they ha<i done, he touched the 
 flesh with the rod which he had in his hand, 
 which, upon the breaking out of a flame, was 
 consumed, together with the loaves ; and the 
 angel ascended openly, in their sight, up to 
 heaven, by means of the smoke, as by a ve 
 bids. Now JNianoah was afraid that some 
 "danger would com« to them from this sight 
 of God ; but his wife bade him be of good 
 courage, for that God appeared to them for 
 their benefit. 
 
 4. So the woman proved wth child, and 
 was careful to observe the injunctions that 
 were given her; and they called the child, 
 when he was born, Samson, which name sig- 
 nifies one that is strong. So the child grew 
 apace ; and it appeared evidently that he would 
 be a prophet,* both by the moderation of his 
 diet, and the permission of his hair to grow. 
 
 5. Now when he once came with, his pa- 
 rents to Timnath, a city of the Philistines, 
 when there was a great festival, he fell in love 
 with a maid of that country, and he desired 
 of his parents that they would procure him 
 the damsel for his wife: but they refused so 
 to do, because she was not of the stock of 
 Israel; yet because this marriage was of God, 
 who intended to convert it to the benefit of 
 the Hebrews, he over-persuaded them to pro- 
 cure her to be espoused to him; and as he 
 was continually coming to her parents, he met 
 a lion, and though he was naked, he received 
 his onset, and strangled him witb his hands, 
 and cast the wild beast into a woody piece of 
 ground on the inside of the road. 
 
 6. And when he was going another time 
 to the damsel, he lit upon a swarm of bees 
 making their combs in tiie breast of that lion; 
 and taking three honey-combs away, he gave 
 them, together with the rest of his presents, 
 to the damsel. Now the people of Timnath, 
 ■out of a dread of the young man's strength, 
 f ave him during the time of the wedding- 
 fejist (for he then feasted them all) thirty of 
 the most stout of their youth, in pretence to be 
 his companions, but in reality to be a guard 
 upon him, that he might not attempt to give 
 them any (^sturbance. Now as they were 
 drinking merrily and playing, Samson said, 
 as was usual at such times, " Come, if I pro- 
 pose you a riddle, and you can expound it in 
 these seven days' time, I will give you every 
 one a ?inen shirt and a garment, as the reward 
 of your wisdom." So they being very ambi- 
 tious to obtain the glory of wisdom, together 
 with the gains, desired him to propose his 
 riddle: he said, " That a devourer produced 
 gvveet food out of itself, though itself were 
 very disagreeable:" — and when they were not 
 
 • Here, by a prophft, Josephns seems only to 
 one that wa» born by a particular providence, lived after 
 the manner of a Nazarite devoted to God, and was to 
 have an extraordinary commission and 8treni(th from 
 God fur the jud<in(; and avrnt;in^ his people Israel, 
 Viihool ai>y jM-oper propl>eiie re (relatione it ali. 
 
 able, in three days' time, to find out the mean. 
 ing of the riddle, they desired the damsel to 
 discover it by the means of her husband, and 
 tell it them ; and they threatened to burn her 
 if she did not tell it them. So when the dam- 
 sel entreated Samson to tell it her, he at first 
 refused to do it; but when she lay hard at 
 him, and fell into tears, and made his refu- 
 sal to tell it a sign of his unkindness to her, 
 he informed her of his slaughter of a lion, 
 and how he foimd bees in his breast, and car- 
 ried away three honey combs, and brought 
 them to her. Thus he, suspecting nothing of 
 deceit, informed her of all, and she revealed 
 it to those that desired to know it. Then on 
 the seventh day, whereon they were to ex- 
 pound the riddle proposed to them, they met 
 together before sun-setting, and said, " No- 
 thing is more disagreeable than a lion to those 
 that light on it; and nothing is sweeter than 
 honey to those that make use of it." To 
 which Samson made this rejoinder: "No- 
 thing is more deceitful than a woman, for such 
 was the person that discovered my interpreta- 
 tion to you." Accordingly he gave them the 
 presents he had promised them, making such 
 Askelonites as met him upon the road his 
 prey, who were themselves Philistines also. 
 But he divorced this his wife; and the girl 
 despised his anger, and was married to his 
 companion, who made the former match be- 
 tween them. 
 
 7. At this injurious treatment Samson was 
 so provoked, that he resolved to pxmish aU 
 the Philistines, as well as her: so it being 
 then summer-time, and the friuts of the land 
 being almost ripe enough for reaping, he 
 caught three hundred foxes, and joining light- 
 ed torches to their tails, he sent them into the 
 fields of the Philistines, by which means the 
 fruits of the fields perished. Now when the 
 Philistines knew that this was Samson's doing, 
 and knew also for what cause he did it, they 
 sent their rulers to Timnath, and biu-nt his 
 former wife, and her relations, who had been 
 the occasion of their misfortimes. 
 
 8. Now when Samson had -slain many of 
 the Philistines in the plain country, he dwelt 
 at Etam, which is a strong rock of the tribe 
 of Judah; for the Philistines at that time 
 made an .expedition against that tribe: but 
 the people of Judah said that they did not act 
 justly with them, in inflicting ptinishments 
 upon them while they paid their tribute, and 
 this only on account of Samson's oflfences. 
 They answered, that in case they would not 
 be blamed themselves, they must deliver up 
 Samson, and put him into their power. So 
 they being desirous not to be blamed them- 
 selves, came to the rock with three thousand 
 armed men, and complained to Samson of the 
 bold insults he had made upon the Philistines, 
 who were men able to bring calamity upon 
 the whole nation of the Hebrews; and they 
 told him they were come to take him, and to 
 
148 
 
 ANrrQtnTiES (fp the jews. 
 
 BOOK ▼ 
 
 deliver Eim up to them, and put him into their 
 power ;. so they desired him to bear this will- 
 ingly. Accordingly, when he had received 
 assurance from them upon oath, that they 
 would do him no other harm than only to 
 deliver him into his enemies' hands^ he came 
 down from the rock, and put himself into the 
 power of hift coimtrymen. Then did they 
 bind him with two cords, and led him on, in 
 order to deliver him to the Philistines; and 
 when they came to a certain place, which is 
 now called the Jaw-bone^ on account of the 
 great action there performed by Samson, 
 though of old it had no particular name at 
 aD, the Philistines, who had pitched their camp 
 not far off, came to meet him wth joy and 
 shouting, as having done a great thing, and 
 gained what they desired; but Samson broke 
 his bonds asunder,^ and catching up the jaw- 
 bone of an ass that lay down at his feet, fell 
 upon his enemies, and smiting them with his 
 jaw-bone, slew a thousand of them, and put 
 the rest to flight and into great disorder. 
 
 9. Upon this slaughter Samson was too 
 proud of what he had performed, and said 
 that this did not come to pass by the assist- 
 ance of God, but that his success was to be 
 ascribed to his own courage; and vaunted 
 himself, that it was out of a dread of him that 
 some of his enemies fell, and the rest ran 
 away upon his use of the jaw-bone; but when 
 a great thirst came upon him, he considered 
 that human courage is nothing, and bare his 
 testimony that all is to be ascribed to God, 
 and besought him that he would not be angry 
 at any thing he had said, nor give him up into 
 the hands of his enemies, but afford him 
 help under his affliction, and deliver him from 
 the misfortune he was under. Accordingly, 
 God was moved with his entreaties, and raised 
 him up a plentiful fountain of sweet water at 
 a certain rock; whence it was that Samson 
 called the place the Jaw-bone* and so it is 
 called to this day. 
 
 10. After this fight Samson held the Phil- 
 istines in contempt, and came to Gaza, and 
 took up his lodgings in a certain inn. When 
 the rulers of Gaza were informed of his com- 
 ing thither, they seized upon the gates, and 
 placed men in ambush about them, that he 
 might not escape without being ' perceived ; 
 but Samson, who was acquainted with their 
 contrivances against him, arose about mid- 
 night, and ran by force upon the gates, with 
 their posts and beams, and the rest of their 
 wooden furniture, and carried them away on 
 his shoulders, and bare them to the mountain 
 that is over Hebron, and there laid them down. 
 
 11. However, he at length f transgressed 
 
 • ThU foantain^ called Lehi, or the jaw-bone. Is still 
 in being, as traTcIlers assure us, and was known by this 
 rery nane in the days of Josephus, and has bee» known 
 by the Mune name in all tbosa past ages. See Antiq. b. 
 rii. chap. xii. sect. 4 
 
 + See this justly obsenred in the Apostolical Consti- 
 tutions, b. vii. chap, xxxvii. that Samson's prayer was 
 heard, Wt that it was before this bis transgrassioo. 
 
 the laws of his country, and altered his own 
 regular way of living, and imitated the strange 
 customs of foreigners, which thing was the 
 beginning of his miseries ; for he fell in love 
 with a woman that was a harTot among the 
 PhiEstines: her name was Dehl'ah, and he 
 lived with her. So those that administered 
 the public affairs of the Philistines came to 
 her, and, with promises, induced her to get 
 out of Samson vvBat was the cause of that his 
 strength, by which he became uneonquerabli? 
 to his enemies. Accordingly, when they 
 were drinking, and had the like conversation 
 together,, she pretended to admire the actions 
 he had done, and contrived to get out of hii» 
 by subtilty, by what means he so much excell- 
 ed others in strength. Samson, in order to de- 
 lude Delilah, for he had not yet lost his senses, 
 replied, that if he were boimd wath seven 
 such green ^viths of a vine as might still be 
 wreathed, he should be weaker than any other 
 man. The woman said no more then, but 
 told this to the rulers of the Philistines, and 
 hid certain of the soldiers in ambush vvithira 
 the house; and when he was disordered ih 
 drink and asleep, she bound him as fast as 
 possible with the withs ; and then upon her 
 awakening him, she told him some of the peo- 
 ple were upon him; but he broke the withs> 
 and endeavoured to defend himself, as though 
 some of the people were upon him. Now 
 this woman, in the constant conversation Sam- 
 son had with her, pretended that she took it 
 very ill that he had such little confidence in 
 her affections to him, that he would not te3 
 her what she desired, as if she would not con- 
 ceal what she knew it was for his interest t® 
 have concealed. However, he deluded her 
 again, and told her, that if they bound him 
 with seven cords, he should lose his strength. 
 And when upon doing this, she gained no^ 
 thing, he told her tB« third time, that his haiu 
 shoidd be woven into a web; but when, upon 
 doing tliis, the truth was not yet discovered, 
 at length Samson, upon Delilah's prayer (fo? 
 he was doomed to fall into some affliction), 
 was desirous to please her, and told her that 
 God took care of him, and that he was born 
 by his providence, and that " thence it is that 
 I suffer my hair to grow, God having charged 
 me never to poll my head, and thence my 
 strength is according to the increase and con- 
 tinuance of my hsiir." When she had learned 
 thus much, and had deprived him of his 
 hair, she delivered him up to his enemies, 
 when he was not strong enough to defend 
 himself from their attempts upon him ; so 
 they put out his eyes, and bound him, and hard 
 him led about among them. 
 
 12. But in process of time Samson's hair 
 grew again. And there was a public festival 
 among the Philistines, when the rtilcrs an<J 
 those of themost eminent character were feast- 
 ing together (now the room whereiti they were 
 had its roof supported by two pillars); so thejf 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 149 
 
 Bent for Samson, and he was brought to their 
 feast, tLit they might insult him in their cups. 
 Hereupon he, thinking it one of the greatest 
 misfortunes, if he should not be able to re- 
 venge himself when he was thus insulted, 
 persuaded the bdfy that led him by the hand, 
 that he was weary and wanted to rest himself, 
 and desired he would bring him near the pil- 
 lars; and as soon as he came to them, he rush- 
 ed with force against them, and overthrevv the 
 house, by overthrowing its pillars, with three 
 thousand men in it, who were all slain, and 
 Samson with them. And such was the end 
 of this man, when he had ruled over the Is- 
 raelites twenty years. And indeed this man 
 deserves to be admired for his courage and 
 strength, and magnanimity at his death, and 
 that his wrath against his enemies went so far 
 as to die himself with them. But as for his 
 being ensnared by a woman, that is to be 
 ascribed to human nature, which is too weak 
 (o resist the temptations to that sin; but we 
 ought to bear him witness, that in all other 
 respects he was one of extraordinary virtue. 
 But his kindred took away his body, and 
 buried it in Sarasat, his own country, with 
 the rest of his family. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW UNDER ELl's GOVEaNMENT OF THE IS- 
 RAELITES, BOOZ MARRIED RUTH, FROM 
 WHOM CAME OBED, THE GRANDFATHER OF 
 DAVID. 
 
 § 1. Now after the death of Samson, Eli the 
 hij^h-priest was governor of the Israelites. 
 Under him, when the country was afflicted 
 with a famine, Elimelech of Bethlehem, 
 which is a city of the tribe of Judah, being 
 not able to support his family under so sore 
 a distress, took with him Naomi his wife, and 
 the children that were born to him by her, 
 Chilion and Mahlon, and removed his habi- 
 tation into the land of Mo^b ; and upon the 
 happy prosperity of his affairs there, he took 
 for his sons wives of the Moabites, Orpah for 
 Chilion, and Ruth for Mahlon, But in the 
 compass of ten years both Elimelech, and a 
 little while after him, the sons died; and 
 Naomi being very uneasy at these accidents, 
 and not being able to bear her lonesome con- 
 dition, now those that were dearest to her were 
 dead, on whose account it was that she had 
 gone away from her own country, she returned 
 to it again, for she had been informed it 
 was now in a flourishing condition. However, 
 her daughters-in-law were not able to think of 
 parting with her; and when they had a mind 
 to go out of the country with her, she v'ould 
 not dissuade them from it; but when they in 
 listed upon it, she wished them a more happy 
 nedlock than they had with her j^ons, and that 
 
 they might have prosperity in other respects 
 also; and seeing her own affairs were so low, 
 she exhorted them to stay where they were, and 
 not to thiflk of leaving their own country, and 
 partaking with her of that uncertainty under 
 which she must return. Accordingly Orpah 
 staid behind ; but she took Ruth along with 
 her, as not to be persuaded to stay behind her 
 but would take her fortune with her, whatsc ^. 
 ever it should prove. '^ 
 
 2. When Ruth was come with her mother- 
 in-law to Bethlehem, Booz,who was nearof kin 
 to Elimelech, entertained her; and when Na- 
 omi was so called by her fellow-citizens, ac- 
 cordingto her true name, she said, " You might 
 more truly call me Mara." Now Naomi signi- 
 fies in the Hebrew tongue happiness^ and Ma- 
 ra, sorrow. It was now reaping time; and Ruth, 
 by the leave of her mother-in-law, went out to 
 glean, that they might get a stock of corn for 
 their food. Now it happened that she came 
 into Booz's field; and after some time Booz 
 came thither, and when he saw the damsel he 
 inquired of his servant that was set over the 
 reapers, concerning the girl. The servant had 
 a little before inquired about all her circum- 
 stances, and told them to his master, who kind- 
 ly embraced her, both on account of her affec- 
 tion to her mother-in-law, and her remem- 
 brance of that son of hers to whom she had 
 been married, and wished that she might ex- 
 perience a prosperous condition; so he desired 
 her not to glean, but to reap what she was 
 able, and gave her leave to carry it home. He 
 also gave it in charge to that servant who was 
 over the reapers, not to hinder her when she 
 took it away, and bade him give her her din- 
 ner, and make her drink when he did the like 
 to the reapers. Now what corn Ruth received 
 of him, she kept for her mother-in-law, 
 and came to her in the evening, and brought 
 the ears of corn with her; and Naomi had 
 kept for her a part of such food as her neigh- 
 bours had plentifully bestowed upon her. 
 Ruth also told her mother-in-law what Booz 
 had said to her; and when the other had in- 
 formed her that he was near of kin to them, 
 and perhaps was so pious a man as to make 
 some provision for them, she went out again 
 on the days following, to gather the gleanings 
 with Booz's maid-servants. 
 
 3. It was not many days before Booz, after 
 the barley was winnowed, slept in his thrash- 
 ing-floor. When Naomi was informed of this 
 circumstance, she contrived it so that Ruth 
 should lie down by him, for she thought it 
 might be for their advantage that he should 
 discourse with the girl. Accordingly she sent 
 the damsel to sleep at his feet; who went as 
 she bade her, for she did not think it consist- 
 >int with her duty to contradict any command 
 of her mother-in-law. And at first she lay 
 concealed from Rooz, as he was fast asleej) ; 
 but when he awaked about midnight, and per- 
 ceived a vvoiD.in lying by him, he asked who 
 
150 
 
 ANTIQUITIES Of THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 she was; — and when she told him her name, 
 and desired that he whom she owned for her 
 lord would excuse her, he then said no more; 
 but in the morning, before the servants began 
 to set about their work, he awaked her, and 
 bid her take as much barley as she was able 
 to carry, and go to her mother-in-law before 
 any body there should see that she had lain 
 dowm by him, because it was but prudent to 
 avoid any reproach that might arise on that 
 account, especially when there had been no- 
 thing done that was ill. But as to the main 
 point she aimed at, the matter should rest 
 here, — " He that is nearer of kin than I am, 
 shall be asked whether he wants to take thee 
 to \vife : if he says he does, thou shalt follow 
 him; but if he refuse it, I will marry thee, 
 according to the law." 
 
 4. When she had informed her mother-in- 
 law of this, they were very glad of it, out of 
 the hope they had that Booz would make pro- 
 • vision for them. Now about noon Booz went 
 down into the city, and gathered the senate 
 together, and when he had sent for Ruth, he 
 called for her kinsman also; and when he 
 was come, he said, " Dost not thou retain the 
 inheritance of Elimelech and his sons?" H<» 
 confessed that he did retain it, and that he dio 
 as he was permitted to do by the laws, be- 
 cause he was their nearest kinsman. Then 
 said Booz, " Thou must not remember the 
 laws by halves, but do every thing accoiding 
 to them; for the wife of Mahlon is come 
 hither, whom thou must marry, according to 
 the law, in case thou wilt retain their fields." 
 So the man yielded up both the fields and the 
 wife to Booz, who was himself of kin to those 
 that were dead, as alleging that he had a wife 
 already, and children also; so Booz called 
 the senate to \vitness, and bid the woman to 
 loose his shoe and spit in his face, according 
 to the law; and when this was done Booz 
 married Ruth, and they had a son within a 
 year's time. Naomi was herself a nurse to 
 this child; and by the advice of the women, 
 called him Obed, as being to be brought up 
 in order to be subservient to her in her old 
 age, for GJjcd in the Hebrew dialect signifies 
 a seivant. Thfe son of Obed was Jesse, and 
 David \vas his son, who was king, and left 
 his dominions to his sons for one-and-twenty 
 generations. I was therefore obliged to re- 
 late this history of Ruth, because I had a 
 mind to demonstrate the power of God, who, 
 without difficulty, can raise those that are 
 of ordinary parentage to dignity and splen- 
 dour, to which he advanced David, though he 
 wtre bom of such mean parents. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CONCERNING THE BIRTH OF SAMUEL; AND 
 HOW HE FORETOLD THE CALAMITY THAT 
 
 BEFELL THE SONS OF ELL 
 
 § 1. And now upon the ill state of the af- 
 fairs of the Hebrews, they made war again 
 upon the Philistines. The occasion was this: 
 Eli, the high-priest, had two sons, Hophni 
 and Phineas. These sons of Eli were guilty 
 of injustice towards men, and of impiety to- 
 wards God, and abstained from no sort of 
 wickedness. Some of their gifts they carried 
 off, as belonging to the honourable employ- 
 ment they had; others of them they took 
 away by violence. They also were guilty of 
 impurity with the women that came to wor- 
 ship God [at the tabernacle], obhging some 
 to submit to their lust by force, and enticing 
 others by bribes; nay, the whole course 
 of their lives was no better than tyranny. 
 Their father therefore was angry at them 
 for such their wickedness, and expected that 
 God would suddenly inflict his punishments 
 upon them for what they had done. The 
 multitude took it heinously also: and as soon 
 as God had foretold what calamity would be- 
 fall Eli's sons, which he did both to Eli him- 
 self and to Samuel the prophet, who was yet 
 but a child, he operUy showed his sorrow for 
 his sons* .destruction. 
 
 2. I will first dispatch what I have to say 
 about the prophet Samuel, and after that wih 
 proceed to speak of the sons of Eli, and the 
 miseries they brought on the whole people of 
 the Hebrews. Elcanah, a Levite, one of a 
 middle condition among his fellow-citizens, 
 and one that dwelt at Ramathaim, a city of 
 the tribe of Ephraim, married two wives, 
 Hannah and Peninnah. He had children by 
 the latter; but he loved the other best, al- 
 though she was barren. Now Elcanah came 
 with his \vives to the city Shiloh to sacrifice, 
 for there it was that the tabernacle of God 
 was fixed, as we have formerly said. Now 
 when, after he had sacrificed, he distributed 
 at that festival portions of the flesh to liis 
 wives and children, and when Hannah saw 
 the other wife's children sitting round about 
 their mother, she fell into tears, and lamented 
 herself on account of her barrenness and lone- 
 somcness; and sufilering her grief to prevail 
 over her husband's consolations to her, she 
 went to the tiibernacle to beseech God to give 
 her seed, and to make her a mother; and to 
 vow to consecrate the first son she shoull bear 
 to the service of God, and this in .s\jch a way. 
 that his manner of living should not be like 
 that of ordinary men. And as she contimied 
 at her prayers a lonir time, Eli, the high-priest, 
 for he sat there before the tabernacle, bid her 
 go away, thinking she had been disordered 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 151 
 
 with wine; but when she said she had drank 
 water, but was in sorrow for want of children, , 
 and was beseeching God for them, he bid her ' 
 be of good cheer, and told her that God would 
 s^nd hft? children. 
 
 3. So she came to her husband full of 
 hope, and eat her meal with gladness. And 
 Mhen they had returned to their own country 
 she .'bind herself with child, and they had a 
 fion born to them, to whom they gave the 
 name of Samuel, which may be styled one that 
 was asked of God. They therefore came to 
 the tabernacle to offer sacrifice for the birth 
 of the child, and brought their tithes with 
 them; but the woman remembered the vow 
 she had made concerning her son, and deli- 
 vered him to Eli, dedicating him to God, that 
 he might become a prophet. Accordingly, his 
 hair was suffered to grow long, and his drink 
 was water. So Samuel dwelt and was brought 
 up in the temple. But Elcanah had other 
 sons by Hannah, and three daughters. 
 
 4. Now when Samuel was twelve years old, 
 he began to prophesy: and once when he was 
 asleep, God called to him by his name; and 
 he supposing he had been called by the high- 
 priest, came to him: but when the high-priest 
 said he did not call him, God did so thrice. 
 Eli was then so far illuminated, that he said 
 to hiia, " Indeed, Samuel, I was silent now 
 as well as before: it is God that calls thee; 
 do thou, therefore, signify it to him, and say I 
 am here ready." So when he heard God 
 speak again, he desired him to speak, and to 
 deliver what oracles he pleased to him, for he 
 would riot fail to perform any ministration 
 whatsoever he should make use of him in; — 
 to which God replied, " Since thou art here 
 ready, learn what miseries are coming upon 
 the Israelites, — such indeed as words cannot 
 declare, nor faith believe ; for the sons of Eli 
 shall die on one day, and the priesthood shall 
 be traasierred into the family of Eleazar; for 
 Eli hath loved his sons more than he hath 
 loved my worship, and to such a degree, as 
 is not for their advantage." Which message 
 Eli obliged the prophet by oath to tell him, 
 for otherwise he had no inclination to afflict 
 him by telling it. And now Eli had a far 
 more sure expectation of the perdition of his 
 sons; but the glory of Samuel increased 
 more and more, it being found by experience 
 that whatsoever he prophesied came to pass 
 accordingly.* 
 
 * AlthcKigh there h!«i been a few occasional prophets 
 fcefore, yet was this Sainin;! the first ot a constant 8uwe«- 
 sion of prophets in the Jewish nation, as is. implied in 
 St. Peter's words. Acts iii. i4: "Yea. and all ihe pro- 
 pheU, troin Saravtel, and those that follow after, as many 
 as Uve si>ol;eo, "kave likewise foretold of these days.'» 
 S-^ alfri Arts xiii. ?0. The others were rather 
 tsmes calked riglueous men. Matt. X. 41; xiii. 17. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 HEREIN IS DECLARED WHAT BEFELL THE SONS 
 OF ELI, THE ARK, AND THE PEOPLE; AND 
 HOW ELI HIMSELF DIED MISERABLY. 
 
 § 1. About this tiiue it was that the Philis- 
 tines made wstf against the Israelites, and 
 pitched their camp at the city Aphek. Now 
 when the Israelites had expected them a little 
 while, the very next day they joined battle, 
 and the Philistines were conquerors, and slew 
 above four thousand of the Hebrews, and 
 pursued the rest of the multitude to their 
 camp. 
 
 2. So the Hebrews being rfraid of the 
 worst, sent to the senate, and to the high- 
 priest, and desired that they would bring the 
 ark of God, that, by putting themselves in 
 array, when it was present with them, they 
 might be too hard for their enemies, as not 
 reflecting that he who had condemned them 
 to endure these calamities was greater than the 
 ark, and for whose sake it was that this ark 
 came to be honoured. So the ark can»e, and 
 the sons of the high-priest with it, having re- 
 ceived a charge from their father, that if they 
 pretend to survive the taking of the ark, 
 they should come no more into his presence ; 
 for Phineas officiated already as high-priest, 
 his father having resigned his office to him 
 by reason of his great age. So the Hebrews 
 were full of courage, as suppoang that, by 
 the coming of the ark, they should be too 
 hard for their enemies: their enemies also^ 
 were greatly concerned, and were afraid of 
 the ark's coming to the Israelites; however, 
 the upshot did not prove agreeable to the ex- 
 pectation of both sides, but when the battle 
 was joined, that victory which the Hebrews 
 expected was gained by the Philistines, and 
 that defeat the Philistines were afraid of, fell 
 to the lot of the Israelites, and thereby they 
 found that they had put their trust in the ark in 
 vain, for they were presently beaten as soon as 
 they came to a close fight with their enemies, 
 and lost about thirty thousand men, among 
 whom were the sons of the high-priest ; but 
 the ark was carried away by the enemies.- 
 
 3. AVhen the news of this defeat came to 
 Shiloh, with that of the captivity of the ark 
 (for a certain young man, a Benjamite, who 
 was in the action, came as a messenger thither), 
 the whole city was full of lamentations. And 
 Eli, the high-priest, who sat upon a high 
 throne at one of the gates, heard their mourn- 
 ful cries, and supposed that some strange 
 thing had befallen his family. So he sent for 
 the young man; and when he understood 
 what had happened in the battle, he was not 
 much uneasy as to his sons, or what was told 
 him withal about the army, as having before- 
 hand known by divine revelation that those 
 
153 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 things would happen, and having himself de- 
 clared them beforehand, — for what sad things 
 come unexpectedly they distress men the most; 
 but as soon as [he heard] the ark was carried 
 captive by their enemies, be was very much 
 grieved at it, because it fell oat quite differ- 
 ently from what he expected ; so he fell down 
 from his throne and died, having in all lived 
 ninety-eight years, and of them retained the 
 government forty. 
 
 4. On the same day his son Phineas's wife 
 died also, as not able to survive the misfor- 
 tune of her husband; for they told her of her 
 husband's death as she was in labour. How- 
 ever, she bare a son at seven months, who 
 lived, and to whom they gave the name of 
 
 Icabod, which name signifies disgrace, — and 
 this because the army received a disgrace at 
 this time. 
 
 5. Now Eli was the first of the family of 
 Ithamar, the other son of Aaron, that had the 
 government; for the family of Eleazar offi- 
 ciated as high- priest at first, the son still re- 
 ceiving that honour from the father which 
 Eleazar bequeathed to hrs son Phineas ; after 
 whom Abiezer his son took the honour, and 
 delivered it to his son, whose name was Buk- 
 ki, from whom his son Ozi received it; after 
 whom Eli, of whom we have been speaking, 
 had the priesthood, and so he and his posterity 
 until the time of Solomon's reign ; but then 
 the posterity of Eleazar reassumed it. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 eONTAININO THB INTERVAL OP THIRTY-TWO YEARS. 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF ELI TO THE DEATH OF SATTK 
 
 CHAPTER T. 
 
 THE DESTEUCTION THAT CAME UPON TKE 
 PHILISTINES, AND UPON THEIR LAND, BY 
 THE WRATH OF GOD, ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR 
 HAVING CARRIED THE ARK AWAY CAPTIVE ; 
 AND AFTER WHAT MANNER THEY SENT IT 
 BACK TO THE HEBREWS. 
 
 § 1. When the Philistines had taken the ark 
 of the Hebrews captive, as I said a little be- 
 fore, they carried it to the city of Ashdod, 
 and put it by their own god, who was called 
 Dagon,* as one of their spoils; but when 
 they went into his temple the next morning 
 to worship their god, they found hirif paying 
 the same worship to the ark, for he lay along, 
 as having &llen down from the basis whereon 
 he had stood: so they took him up and 
 set him on his basis again, and were much 
 troubled at what bad happened ; and as they 
 frequwitly came to Dagon and found him still 
 lying along, in a posture of adoration to the 
 ark, they were in very great distress and con- 
 fusion. At length God sent a very destruc- 
 tive disease upon the city and country of 
 Ashdod, for they died of the dysentery or 
 flux, a sore distemper, that brought death 
 ypon them very suddenly; for before the soul 
 
 * Oa«<m, a fkmoui maritime god or idol, it generally 
 
 E posed to have been like a man above the navel, and 
 a fltb beneath it. 
 
 could, as usual in easy deaths, be well loosed 
 from the body, they brought up their entrails, 
 and vomited up what they bad eaten, which 
 was entirely corrupted by the disease. And 
 as to the fruits of their country, a great mul- 
 titude of mice arose out of the earth and hurt 
 them, and spared neither the plants nor the 
 fruits. Now while the people of Ashdod 
 were under these misfortunes, and were net 
 able to support themselves under their cala- 
 mities, they perceived that they suffered thus 
 because of the ark, and that the victory they 
 had gotten, and their having taken the ark 
 captive, had not happened for their good ; they 
 therefore sent to the people of Askelon, and 
 desired that they would receive the ark among 
 them. This desire of the people of Ashdod 
 was not disagreeable to those of Askelon, so 
 they granted them that favour. But when they 
 had gotten the ark, they were in the same 
 miserable condition; for the ark carried along 
 with it the disasters that the people of AshdoJ 
 had suffered, to those who received it from 
 them. Those of Askelon also sent it a\v»y 
 from themselves to others; nor did it sta) 
 among those others neither; forsince they were 
 pursued by the same disasters, they still sent 
 it to the neighbouring cities; so that the ark 
 went round, after this mi)niier, lo the five 
 cities of the Philistines, as though it exacted 
 these disasters as a tribute to be paid it for 
 its coming among them. 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQITlTTr:."^ OF TffR JKWS. 
 
 153 
 
 2. When those that had experienced these 
 miseries were tired out with them, and when 
 those that heard of them were taught thereby 
 not to admit the ark among them, since they 
 paid so dear a tribute for it, at length they 
 sought for some contrivance and method how 
 they might get free from it: so the governors 
 of the five cities, Gath, and Ekron, and As- 
 kelon, as also of Gaza, and Ashdod, met to- 
 gether, and considered what was fit to be done ; 
 and at first they thought proper to send the 
 ark back to its own people, as allowing that 
 God had avenged its cause ; that the miseries 
 they had undergone came along with it, and 
 that these were sent on their cities upon its 
 account, and together with it. However, there 
 were those that said, they should not do so, 
 nor suffer themselves to be deluded, as ascri- 
 bing the cause of their miseries to it, because 
 it could not have such power and force up- 
 on them ; for, had God had such a regard to 
 it, it would not have been delivered into the 
 hands of men: so they exhorted them to be 
 quiet, and to take patiently what had befallen 
 them, and to suppose there was no other cause 
 of it but nature, which, at certain revolutions 
 of time, produces such mutations in the bodies 
 of men, in the earth, in plants, and in all 
 things that grow out of the earth. But the 
 counsel that prevailed over those already de- 
 scribed, was that of certain men, who were 
 believed to have distinguished themselves in 
 former times for their understanding and pru- 
 ilence, and who, in their present circumstan- 
 ces, seemed above all the rest to speak pro- 
 perly. These men said, it was net right either 
 to send the ark away, or to retain it, but to 
 dedicate five golden images, one for every 
 city, as a thank-offering to God, on account of 
 his having taken care of their preservation, 
 and having kept them alive when their lives 
 were likely to be taken away by such distem- 
 pers as they were not able to bear up against. 
 They also would have them make five golden 
 mice like to those that devoured and destroyed 
 their country,* to put them in a bag, and lay 
 them upon the ark; to make them a new cart 
 also for it, and to yoke milch kine to it;t but 
 to shut up their calves, and keep them from 
 them, lest, by following after them, they should 
 prove a hinderance to their dams, and that 
 
 • Spanheim informs us here, that upon the coins of Tc- 
 nedos, and those of other cities, a field-mouse is engraven, 
 together with Apollo SminUieus, or, Apollo, the driver 
 away of field-mict^ on account of his lieing supposed to 
 hiive freed certain trictit of eroiinrt from tho!«p mire; 
 which coins show how great a jnilgnient such mice have 
 sometimes been, and how the deliverance from them was 
 then esteemed the etfect of a divine power; which obser- 
 vations are highly suitable to this history. 
 
 + This derice of the Philistines, of having a yoke of 
 kine to draw this cart, into which they put the ark of the 
 Hebrews, is greatly illustrated by Sanchoniatho's ac- 
 count, under his ninth generation, that Agrouerus. or 
 Agiotes, the husbandman, had a much worshipped statue 
 and temple, carrir-d about by one or more yoke of oxen, 
 or kine, in Phcenicia, in the neighbourhood ol these Phi- 
 listines. See Cumberlan I's Sanchoniatho, pp. '27 and 
 347 i and Es^ay on the Old Testament, A pp. p. 172. 
 
 the dams might return the fa.ster out of a de- 
 sire of those calves ; then to drive these milch 
 kine that carried the ark, and leave it at a 
 place where three ways met, and to leave it 
 to the kine to go along which of those ways 
 they pleased ; that in case they went the way 
 to the Hebrews, and ascended to their coun- 
 try, they should suppose that the ark was the 
 cause of their misfortunes; but if they turned 
 into another road, they said, " We will pursue 
 after it, and conclude that it has no such force 
 in it." 
 
 3. So they determined that these men spake 
 well; and they immediately confirmed their 
 opinion by doing accordingly. And when 
 they had done as has been already described, 
 they brought the cart to a place where three 
 ways met, and left it there, and went their 
 ways ; but the kine went the right way, and 
 as if some persons had driven them, while the 
 rulers of the Philistines followed after them, 
 as desirous to know where they woidd stand 
 still, and to whom they would go. Now there 
 was a certain village of the tribe of Judah, 
 the name of which was Bethshemesh, and to 
 that village did the kine go ; and though there 
 was a great and good plain before them to 
 proceed in, they went no farther, but stopped 
 the cart there. This was a sight to those of 
 that village, and they were very glad; for it 
 being then summer-time, and all the inhabi- 
 tants being then in the fields gathering in 
 their fruits, they left off the labours of their 
 hands for joy, as soon as they saw the ark, 
 and ran to the cart, and taking the ark down, 
 and the vessel that had the images in it, and 
 the mice, they set them upon a certain rock 
 which was in the plain; and when they had 
 offered a splendid sacrifice to God, and feast- 
 ed, they offered the cart and the kine as a 
 burnt-offering: and when the lords of the 
 Philistines saw this, they returned back. 
 
 4. But now it was that t^e wrath of God 
 overtook them, and struck seventy persons J 
 of the village of Bethshemesh dead, who, not 
 being priests, and so not worthy to touch the 
 ark, had approached to it. Those of that vil- 
 lage wept for these that had thus suffered, 
 and made such a lamentation as was naturally 
 to be expected on so great a misfortune thiit 
 was sent from God; and everyone mourned 
 for his own relation. And since they acknow- 
 ledged themselves unworthy of the ark's abode 
 Math them, they sent to the public ?ena»e of 
 the Israelites, and informed them th«»*, th*' a'k 
 was restored by the Philistines ; which when 
 they knew, they brought it away to Kirjath- 
 jearim, a city in the neighbourhood of Beth- 
 
 t These seventy men, being not so much as Invites, 
 touched the ark in a rash or profane manner, and were 
 slain by th» hand of Gou lur such their rashness and 
 profaneness, according to the divine threatenings, Numb, 
 iv. l.j. 20; but how our other copies come to add such an 
 incredible number as fifty thousand in this one town ot 
 small city, I know not. See Dr. Wall's Critical Note* 
 ou 1 .Sam. vL 19. 
 
i54 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK TI. 
 
 sLemesh. In this city lived one Abinadab, 
 by birth a Levite, and who was greatly com- 
 mended for his righteous and religious course 
 of life ; so they brought the ark to his house, 
 as to a place fit for iGod himself to abide in, 
 since therein did inhabit a righteous man. His 
 sons also ministered to the divine service at the 
 ark, and were the principal curators of it for 
 twenty years ; for so many years it continued 
 in Kirjathjearim, having been but four months 
 with the Philistines. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE EXPEDITION OF THE PHILISTINES AGAINST 
 THE HEBREWS, AND THE HEBREWS* VICTORY 
 UNDER THE CONDUCT OF SAMUEL THE PRO- 
 PHET, WHO WAS THEIR GENERAL. 
 
 § 1. Now while the city of Kirjathjearim had 
 the ark with them, the whole body of the peo- 
 ple betook themselves all that time to offer 
 prayers and sacrifices to God, and appeared 
 greatly concerned and zealous about his wor- 
 ship. So Samuel the prophet, seeing how 
 ready they were to do their duty, thought this 
 H proper time to speak to them, vi'hile they 
 were in this good disposition, about the reco- 
 very of their liberty, and of the blessings that 
 accompanied the same. Accordingly he used 
 such words to them as he thought were most 
 likely to excite that inclination, and to per 
 suade them to attempt it: " O you Israelites,'' 
 said he, " to whom the Philistines are still 
 grievous enemies, but to whom God begins to 
 be gracious, it behoves you not only to be de- 
 sirous of liberty, but to take the proper me- 
 thods to obtain it. Nor are you to be con- 
 tented with an inclination to get clear of your 
 lords and masters, while you still do what will 
 procure your continuance under them. Be 
 righteous then, and cast wickedness out of 
 your souls, and by your worship supplicate 
 the Divine Majesty with all your hearts, and 
 persevere in the honour you pay to him; for 
 if you act thus, you will enjoy prosperity ; 
 you will be freed from your slavery, and will 
 get the victory over your enemies : which bless- 
 ings it is not possible you should attain, either 
 by weapons of war, or by the strength of your 
 bodies, or by the multitude of your assistants; 
 tor God has not promised to grant these bless- 
 ings by those means, but by being good and 
 righteous men; and if you will be such, I will 
 be security to you for the performance of 
 God's promises." When Samuel had said 
 thus, the multitude applauded his discourse, 
 and were pleased with his exhortation to them, 
 and gavt their consent to resign themselves up 
 to do what was pleasing to God. So Samuel 
 gathered them together to a certain city called 
 Mizpeh, which, in the Hebrew tongue, 9\gi\\- 
 fie* fk watch 'tower t there they drew water, and 
 
 poured it out to God, and fasted all day, and 
 betook themselves to their prayers. 
 
 2. This their assembly did not escape the 
 notice of the Philistines : so when they had 
 learned that so large a company had met to- 
 gether, they fell upon the Hebrews witii a 
 great army and mighty forces, as hoping to 
 assault them when they did not expect it, nor 
 were prepared for it. This thing affrighted 
 the Hebrews, and put them into disorder and 
 terror ; so they came running to Samuel, and 
 said that their souls were sunk by their fears, 
 and by the former defeat they had received, 
 and " that thence it was that we lay still, lest 
 we should excite the power of our enemies 
 against us. Now while thou hast brought us 
 hither to oflfer up our prayers and sacrifices, 
 and take oaths [to be obedient], our enemies 
 are making an expedition against us, M'hile 
 we are naked and unarmed; wherefore we 
 have no other hope of deliverance but that by 
 thy means, and by the assistance God shall af- 
 ford us upon thy prayers to him, we shall obtain 
 deliverance from the Philistines." Hereupon 
 Samuel bade them be of good cheer, and pro- 
 mised them that God would assist them; and 
 taking a sucking lamb, he sacrificed it for the 
 multitude, and besought God to hold his pro- 
 tecting hand over them when they should fight 
 with the Philistines, and not to overlook them, 
 nor suffer them to come under a second mis- 
 fortune. Accordingly God hearkened to his 
 prayers, and accepting their sacrifice with a 
 gracious intention, and such as was disposed 
 to assist them, he granted them victory and 
 power over their enemies. Now while tl e 
 altar had the sacrifice of God upon it, and had 
 not yet consumed it wholly oy its sacred fire, 
 the enemy's army marched out of their camp, 
 and was put in order of battle, and this in 
 hope that they should be conquerors, since the 
 Jews* were caught in distressed circumstan- 
 ces, as neither having their weapons with them, 
 nor being assembled there in order to fight. 
 But thing? so fell out, that they would hardly 
 have been credited though they had been fore- 
 told by any body; for, in the first place, God 
 disturbed their enemies with an earthquake, 
 and moved the ground under them to such a 
 degree, that he caused it to tremble, and made 
 them to shake, insomuch that by its trembling, 
 he made some unable to keep their feet, and 
 made them fall down, and, by opening its 
 chasms, he caused that others sbou'id be hur- 
 ried down into them; aftor whifh he caused 
 such a noise of thunder to come among them, 
 and made fiery lightning shine so terribly 
 round about them, that it was ready to burn 
 their faces; and he so suddenly shook tVicir 
 weapons out of their hands, that he mH''e 
 them fly and return home naked. So Samuel 
 
 ♦ This is the first pjare, so far as I rememher, it th^se 
 Antiquities, where .loscphns h«j(n8 to call nis nattun 
 Jews, he havine hitherto nsnally. if not constantly, ralict' 
 them either Hebrews or Israel t en. The second pltUHl 
 ■oun foliowi, sec also chao iii. Mrr.t. A. 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 155 
 
 M'ith the multitude pursued them to Bethcar, 
 a place so called ; and there he set up a stone 
 as a boundary of their victory and their ene- 
 mies* flight, and called it the Stone of Power, 
 as a signal of that power God had given thena 
 a^iinst their enemies. 
 
 3. So the Philistines, after this stroke, made 
 no mce expeditions against the Israelites, but 
 Li}- still out of fear, and out of remembrance 
 of what had befallen them : and what courage 
 the Philistines had formerly against the He- 
 brews, that, after this victory, was transferred 
 to the Hebrews. Samuel also made an expe- 
 dition against the Philistines, and slew many 
 of them, and entirely humbled their proud 
 hearts, and took from them that country, 
 which, when they were formerly conquerors 
 in battle, they had cut off from the Jews, 
 which ^vas the country that extended from the 
 borders of Gath to the city of Ekron : but the 
 remains of the Canaanites were at this time 
 in friendship with the Israelites. 
 
 CHAPTER TIL 
 
 HOW SAMUEL, WHEN HE WAS SO INFIRM WITH 
 OLD AGE THAT HE COULD NOT TAKE CARE 
 OF THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS, INTRUSTED THEM 
 TO HIS SONS; AND HOW, UPON THE EVIL 
 ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT BY 
 THEM, THE MULTITUDE WERE SO ANGRY, 
 THAT THEY REQUIRED TO HAVE A KING TO 
 GOVERN THEM, ALTHOUGH SAMUEL WAS 
 MUCH DISPLEASED THEREAT. 
 
 § 1. But Samuel the prophet, when he had 
 ordered the affairs of the people after a con- 
 venient manner, and had appointed a city for 
 every district of them, he commanded them to 
 come to such cities, to have the controversies 
 that they had one with another determined in 
 them, he himself going over those cities twice 
 in a year, and doing them justice; and by 
 hat means he kept them in very good order 
 for a long time. 
 
 2. But afterwards he found himself op- 
 pressed with old age, and not able to do what 
 he used to do, so he committed the govern, 
 ment and the care of the multitude to his sons, 
 — the elder of whom was called Joel, and the 
 name of the younger was Abiah. He also 
 enjoined them to reside and judge the people, 
 the one at the city of Bethel, and the other at 
 he?rsheba, and divided the people into dis- 
 tricts that should be under the jurisdiction of 
 each of them. Now these men afford us an 
 evident example and demonstration how some 
 children are not> of the hke dispositions with 
 their parents; but sometimes perhaps good 
 and moderate, though born of wicked parents; 
 miQ sometimes showing themselves to be wick- 
 ed, though born of good parents: for these 
 men turninjj aside from their father's good 
 
 courses, and taking a course that was contrary 
 to them, perverted justice for the filthy lucre 
 of gifts and bribes, and made their determi^ 
 nations not according to truth, but according 
 to bribery, and turned aside to luxury, and a 
 costly way of hving; so that as, in the first 
 place, they practised what was contrary to the 
 will of God, so did they, in the second place, 
 what was contrary to the will of the prophet 
 their father, who had taken a ^reat deal ot 
 care, and made a very careful provision that 
 the multitude should be righteous. 
 
 3. But the people, upon these injuries 
 offered to their former constitution and go- 
 vernment by the prophi-t's sens, were very un- 
 easy at their acttioiis, and came running to the 
 prophet who then lived at the city Ramah, 
 and informed him of the transgressions of his 
 sons; and said. That, as he was himself old 
 already, and too infirm by that age of his to 
 oversee their affairs in the manner he used to 
 do, so they begged of him, and entreated him, 
 to appoint some person to be king over them, 
 who might rule over the nation, and avenge 
 them of the Philistines, who ought to be punish- 
 ed for their former oppressions. These words 
 greatly afflicted Samuel, on account of his in- 
 nate love of justice, and his hatred to kingly 
 government, for he was very fond of an aris- 
 tocracy, as what made the men that used it of 
 a divine and happy disposition; nor could he 
 either think of eating or sleeping, out of his 
 concern and torment of mind at what they had 
 said, but all the night long did he continue 
 awake, and revolved these notions in his mind. 
 
 4. While he was thus disposed, God ap- 
 peared to him, and comforted him, saying. 
 That he ought not to be uneasy at what the 
 multitude desired, because it was not he, but 
 Himself whom they so insolently despised, and 
 would not have to be alone their king: that 
 they had been contriving these things from 
 the very day that they came out of Egj'pt; 
 that however in no long time they would sorely 
 repent of what they did, which repentance yet 
 could not undo what was thus done for futu- 
 rity: that they would be sufficiently rebuked 
 for their contempt, and the ungrateful con- 
 duct they have used towards me, and towards 
 thy prophetic office. " So I command thee 
 to ordain them such a one as I shall name be- 
 forehand to be their king, when thou hast first 
 described what mischiefs kingly government 
 will bring upon them, and openly testified 
 before them into what a great change of affairs 
 they are hasting." 
 
 5. When Samuel had heard this, he called 
 the Jews early in the morning, and confessed 
 to them that he was to ordain them a king; 
 but he said that he was first to describe to 
 them what would follow, what treatment they 
 would receive from their kings, and with how 
 many mischiefs they must struggle. " For 
 know ye," said he, "that, in the first place, 
 they will take your sons away from you, and 
 
156 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI, 
 
 tliey will command some of them to be dri- 
 vers of their chariots, and some to be their 
 horsemen, and the guards of their body, and 
 others of them to be runners before them, and 
 captains of thousands, and captains of hun- 
 dreds ; they will also make them their artifi- 
 cers, makers of armour, and of chariots, and of 
 instruments; they will make them their hus- 
 bandmen also and the curators of their own 
 fields, and the diggers of their own vineyards; 
 nor wiU there be any thing which they will 
 not do at their commands, as if they were 
 slaves bought with money. They wall also 
 appoint your daughters to be confectioners, 
 and cooks, and bakers ; and these will be ob- 
 liged to all sorts of work which women 
 slaves that are in fear of stripes and torments 
 submit to. They will, besides this, take 
 away your possessions, and bestow them upon 
 their eunuchs, and the guards of their bodies, 
 and wiU give the herds of your cattle to their 
 own servants : and to say briefly all at once, 
 you, and all that is yours, will be servants to 
 your king, and will become no way superior 
 to his slaves ; and when you suflfer thus, you 
 will thereby be put in mind of what I now 
 say ; and when you repent of what you have 
 done, you will beseech God to have mercy 
 upon you, and to grant you a quick deliver- 
 ance from your kings ; but he will not accept 
 your prayers, but will neglect you, and permit 
 you to suflfer the punishment your evil con- 
 duct has deserved." 
 
 6. But the multitude was still so foolish as 
 to be deaf to these predictions of what would 
 befall them ; and too peevish to suffer a de- 
 termination which they had injudiciously once 
 made, to be taken out of their mind; for they 
 could not be turned from their purpose, nor 
 did they regard the words of Samuel, but per- 
 emptorily insisted on their resolution, and de- 
 sired him to ordain them a king immediately, 
 and not to trouble himself with fears of what 
 would happen hereafter, for that it was ne- 
 cessary they should have with them one to 
 fight their battles, and to avenge them of their 
 enemies, and that it was no way absurd, when 
 their neighbours were under kingly govern- 
 ment, that they should have the same form of 
 government also. So when Samuel saw that 
 what he had said had not diverted them from 
 their purpose, but that they continued reso- 
 lute, he said, " Go you every one home for 
 the present; when it is fit I will send for 
 you, as soon as 1 shall have learned from 
 God who it is that he will give you for your 
 king." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE APPOINTMENT OF A KING OVER THE 
 ISRAELITES, WHOSE NAME WAS SAUL; AND 
 THIS BY THE COMMAND OF GOD. 
 
 § 1. There was one of the tribe of Benjamin, 
 a man of a good family, and of a virtuous 
 disposition: his name was Kish. He had a 
 son, a young man of a comely countenance, 
 and of a tall body, but his understanding and 
 his mind were preferable to what was visible 
 in him: they called him Saul. Now this 
 Kish had some fine she-asses that were wan- 
 dered out of the pasture wherein they fed, for 
 he was more delighted with these than with 
 any other cattle he had, so he sent out his 
 son, and one servant with him, to search for 
 the beasts; but when he had gone over his 
 own tribe in search after the asses, he went 
 to other tribes; and when he found them not 
 there neither, he determined to go his way 
 home, lest he should occasion any concern to 
 his father about himself; but when his ser- 
 vant that followed him told him as they were 
 near the city of Ramah, that there was a true 
 prophet in that city, and advised him to go to 
 him, for that by him they would know the 
 upshot of the affair of their asses, he replied, 
 That if they should go to him, they had no- 
 thing to give him as a reward for his pro- 
 phecy, for their subsistence-money was spent. 
 The servant answered, that he bad still the 
 fourth part of a shekel, and he would present 
 him with that; for they were mistaken out of 
 ignorance, as not knowing that the prophet 
 received no such reward.* So they went to 
 him; and when they were before the gates, 
 they lit upon certain maidens that were go- 
 ing to fetch water; and they asked them 
 which was the prophet's house. They showed 
 them which it was ; and bid them make haste 
 before he sat down to supper, for he had 
 invited many guests to a feast, and that he 
 used to sit down before those tliat were in- 
 vited. Now Samuel had then gathered many 
 together to feast with him on this . very ac- 
 •count; for while he every day prayed to God 
 to tell him beforehand whom he would make- 
 king, he had informed him of this man the 
 day before, for that he would send him a cer- 
 tain young man out of the tribe of Benjamin 
 about this hour of the day : and he sat on the 
 top of the house in expectation of that time's 
 being come. And when the time was com- 
 pleted, he came down and went to supper; 
 >o he met with Saul, and God discovered to 
 him that this was he who should rule over 
 them. Then Saul went up to Samuel and 
 
 • Of this great mistake of Saul anil iiis servant, as if 
 n true prophet o( God woiijii iicc* pi of u gift or prj-sj-iit 
 f. r foretellinK what was desirt d of him tee tlie note on 
 b. iv. cb. vi. sect 2 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF TUK JKWS. 
 
 137 
 
 saluted him, and desired him to inform hitn 
 which was the prophet's house; for he said 
 he was a stranger and did not know it. When 
 Samuel had told him that he himself was the 
 person, he led him in to supper, and assured 
 him that the asses were found which he had been 
 to seek, and that the greatest of good things 
 were assured to him: he replied, "I am too 
 inconsiderable to hope for any such thing, and 
 of a tribe too small to have kings made out of 
 it, and of a family smaller than several other 
 families; but thou tellest me this in jest, and 
 makest me an object of laughter, when thou 
 discoursest with me of greater matters than 
 what I stand in need of." However, the 
 prophet led him in to the feast, and made him 
 sit down, him and his servant that followed 
 him, above the other guests that were invited, 
 which were seventy in number;* and he gave 
 orders to the servants to set the royal portion 
 before Saul. And when the time of going to 
 bed was come, the rest rose up, and every one 
 of them went home ; but Saul staid \vith the 
 prophet, he and his servant, and slept with him. 
 2. Now as soon as it was day, Samuel raised 
 up Saul out of his bed, and conducted him 
 homeward ; and when he was out of the city, 
 he desired him to cause his servant to go be- 
 fore, but to stay behind himself, for that he 
 had somewhat to say to him, when nobody else 
 was present. Accordingly, Saul sent away 
 his servant that followed him; then did the 
 prophet take a vessel of oil, and poured it 
 upon the head of the young man, and kissed 
 him, and said, " Be thou a king, by the ordi- 
 nation of God, against the Philistines, and for 
 avenging the Hebrews for what they have 
 suffered by them; of this thou shalt have a 
 sign, which I would have thee take notice of: 
 — As soon as thou art departed hence, thou 
 wilt find three men upon the road, going to 
 worship God at Bethel; the first of whom 
 <hou wilt see carrying three loaves of bread, 
 the second carrying a kid of the goats, and tlie 
 third will follow them carrying a bottle of 
 wine. These three men will salute thee, and 
 speak kindly to thee, and will give thee two of 
 their loaves, which thou shalt accept of. And 
 thence thou shalt come to a place called Ra- 
 chel's Monument, where thou shak meet with 
 those that will tell thee thy asses are found ; 
 after this, when thou comest to Gabatha, thou 
 shalt overtake a company of prophets, and thou 
 shalt be seized with the divine spirit, t and 
 prophesy along with tnem, till every one that 
 
 • It seems to me not improbable that these sieventy 
 jfuest? of Samuel, as here, with himself at the heart of 
 them, were a Jewish «anhedrim, and that hereby Samuel 
 intimated to Saul that these seventy-one were to be his 
 constant counseMors, and that he was to act not like 
 a sole monarch, but with (he advice and direction of 
 these seventy-one members of the Jewish sanhedrim 
 iifion all occasions, which yet we never read that he 
 consulted afterward. 
 
 + An instance of this divine fury we have after this in 
 Saul, chap. v. sect 2, 3; 1 Sam. xi. 6.. See the like, 
 Judges iu. lU, tL 34, xi. 29, xiii. '2d, &ud xiv. 6. 
 
 sees thee shall be astonished, and wonder, and 
 say, Whence is it that the son of Kish has 
 arrived at this degree of happiness? And 
 when these signs have happened to thee, know 
 that God is with thee; then do thou salute thy 
 father and thy kindred. Thou shalt also come 
 when I send for thee to Gilgal, that we may 
 offer thank-offerings to God for these bless- 
 ings " When Samuel had said this, and fore- 
 told these things, he sent the young man away. 
 Now all things fell out to Saul according to 
 the prophecy of Samuel. 
 
 3. But as soon as Saul came into the house 
 of his kinsman Abner, whom indeed he loved 
 better than the rest of his relations, he was 
 asked by him concerning his journey, and what 
 accidents happened to him therein; and he. 
 concealed none of -the other things from him, 
 no, not his coming to Samuel the prophet, nor 
 how he told him the asses were found ; but he 
 said nothing to him about the kingdom, and 
 what belonged thereto, which bethought would 
 procure him envy, and when such things are 
 heard, they are not easily believed; nor did he 
 tliink it prudent to tell those things to him, 
 although he appeared very friendly to him, 
 and one whom he loved above the rest of his 
 relations, considering, I suppose, what human 
 nature really is, that no one is a firm friend, 
 neither among our intimates nor of our kin- 
 dred; nor do they preserve that kind disposi- 
 tion when God advances men to great pros- 
 perity, but they are still ill-natured and en- 
 vious at those that are in eminent stations. 
 
 4. Then Samuel called the people together 
 to the city oNIizpeh, and spake to them in the 
 words following, which he said he was to speak 
 by the command of God: — That when he had 
 granted them a state of liberty, and brought 
 their enemies into subjection, they were be- 
 come unmindful of his benefits, and rejected 
 God that he should not be their king, as not 
 considering that it would be most for their ad- 
 vantage to be presided over by the best of be- 
 ings, for God is the best of beings, and they 
 chose to have a man for their king, while kings 
 will use their subjects as beasts, according to 
 the violence of their own \\'ills and inclinations, 
 and other passions, as wholly carried away with 
 the lust of power, but ^^'ill not endeavour so to 
 preserve the race of mankind as his o\vn work- 
 manship and creation, which, for that very 
 reason, God would take care of. "But since 
 you have come to a fixed resolution, and this 
 injurious treatment of God has quite prevailed 
 over you, dispose yourselves by your tribes and 
 sceptres, and cast lots." 
 
 5. When the Hebrews had so done, the lot 
 fell upon the tribe of Benjamin; and when 
 the lot was cast for the families of this tribe, 
 that which was called Matri was taken; and 
 when the lot was cast for the single persons of 
 that family, Saul, the son of Kish, was taken 
 for their king. "When the young man knew 
 this, he prevented [their s«»nding for him]. 
 
158 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI 
 
 end immediately went away and hid himself. 
 I suppose that it was because he would not 
 have it thought that he willingly took the go- 
 vernment upon him; nay, he showed such a 
 degree of command over himself, and of mo- 
 desty, that while the greatest part are not 
 able to contain their joy, even in the gaining 
 of small advantages, but presently show them- 
 selves publicly to all men, this man did not 
 only show nothing of that nature, when he 
 was appointed to be the lord of so many and 
 so great tribes, but crept away and concealed 
 himself out of the sight of those he was to 
 reign over, and made them seek him, and that 
 with a good deal of trouble. So when the 
 people were at a loss, and solicitous, because 
 Saul disappeared, the prophet besought God 
 to show where the young man was, and to 
 produce him before them." So when they had 
 learned of God the place where Saul was 
 hidden, they sent men to bring him ; and 
 when he was come, they set him in the midst 
 of the multitude. Now he was taller than 
 any of them, and his stature was very ma- 
 jestic. 
 
 6. Then said the prophet, " God ^ves you 
 this man to be your king: see how he is 
 higher than any of the people, and worthy of 
 this dominion." So as soon as the people 
 had made acclamation, God save the King, the 
 prophet wrote down what would come to pass 
 in a book, and read it in the hearing of the 
 king, and laid up the book in the tabernacle 
 of God, to be a witness to future generations 
 of what he had foretold. So when Samuel 
 had finished this matter, he dismissed the mul- 
 titude, and came himself to the city Ramah, 
 for it was his own country. Saul also went 
 away to Gibeah, where he was born ; and 
 many good men there were who paid him the 
 respect that was due to him; but the greater 
 part were ill men, who despised him and de- 
 rided the others, who neither did bring him 
 presents, nor did they in affection, or even in 
 words, regard to please him. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SAUL*8 EXPEDITION AGAINST THE NATION OF 
 THE AMORITES, AND VICTORY OVER THEM, 
 AND THE SPOILS HE TOOK FROM THEM. 
 
 § 1. After one montli, the war which Saul 
 had with Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, 
 obtained him respect from all the people; for 
 this Nahash had done a great deal of mischief 
 to the Jews that lived beyond Jordan by the 
 expedition he had made against them with a 
 great and warlike army. lie also reduced 
 their cities into slavery, and that not only by 
 Kubduing them for the present, which he did 
 by force and violence, but by weakening them 
 by subtilty and cunning, that they might not 
 
 be able afterward to gtt clear of the slavery 
 they were under to him: for he put out the 
 right eyes* of those that either delivered 
 themselves to him upon terms, or were taken 
 by him in war; and this he did, that when 
 their left eyes were covered by their shields, 
 they might be wholly useless in war. Now 
 when the king of the Ammonites had served 
 those beyond Jordan in this manner, he led 
 his army against those that were called Gilead- 
 lies; and having pitched his camp at the rre 
 tropolis of his enemies, which was the city of 
 Jabesh, he sent ambassadors to them, com- 
 manding them either to deliver themselves up, 
 on condition to hav« their right eyes plucked 
 out, or to undergo a siege, and to have their 
 cities overthrown. He gave them their choice. 
 Whether they would cut off a small member 
 of their body, or universally perish. How- 
 ever, the Gileadites were so affrighted at these 
 offers, that they had not courage to say any 
 thing to either of them, neither that they 
 would deliver themselves up, nor that they 
 would fight him ; but they desired that he 
 would give them seven days respite, that they 
 might send ambassadors to their countrymen, 
 and entreat their assistance; and if they came 
 to assist them they would fight ; but if that 
 assistance were impossible to be obtained 
 from them, thc-y said they would deliver 
 themselves up to suffer whatever he pleased 
 to inflict upon them. 
 
 2. So Nahash, contemning the multitude of 
 the Gileadites and the answer they gave, al- 
 lowed them a respite, and gave them leave to 
 send to whomsoever they pleased for assist- 
 ance. So they immediately sent to the Is- 
 raelites, city by city, and informed them what 
 Nahash had threatened to do to them, and 
 what great distress they were in. Now the 
 people fell into tears and grief at the hearing 
 of what the ambassadors from Jabesh said ; 
 and the terror they were in permitted them to 
 do nothing more ; but when the messengers 
 were come to the city of king Saul, and de- 
 clared the dangers in which the inhabitants of 
 Jabesh were, the people were in the same af- 
 fliction as those in the other cities, for they la- 
 mented the calamity of those related to them; 
 and when Saul was returned from his hus- 
 bandry into the city, he found his fellow-citi- 
 zens weeping; and when, upon inquiry, be 
 had learned the cause of the confusion and 
 sadness they were in, he was seized with a 
 divine fury, and sent away the ambassadors 
 from the inh'abitdnts of Jabesh, and promised 
 them to come to their assistance on the tliird 
 day, and to beat their enemies before sun-ris- 
 ing, that the sun upon its rising might see 
 that they had already conquered, aud were 
 
 • Take here Theodoret'« note, cited by Dr. Hudsnn: 
 — " Hf that exposes his shieM to the enemy wi^. .lia 
 left hand, thereby hides Win li-ft eye, and Ixik" j* •'•e 
 enemy with hit riitlit eye; he Iherelore that phlCka v.i 
 that eyt mnkei loen tiaelcit in war.* 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEW&. 
 
 169 
 
 freed from the fears they were under; but he 
 bid some of them stay to conduct them the 
 right way to Jabesh. 
 
 3. So being desirous to turn the people to 
 this war against the Ammonites by fear of the 
 losses they should otherwise undergo, and 
 that they might the more suddenly be gathered 
 together, he cut the sinews of his oxen, and 
 threatened to do the same to all such as did 
 not come with their armour to Jordan the next 
 day, and follow him and Samuel the prophet 
 whithersoever they should lead them. So they 
 came together, out of fear of the losses they 
 were threatened with, at the appointed time; 
 and the multitude were numbered at the city 
 Bezek; and he found the number of those 
 that were gathered together, besides that of 
 the tribe of Judah, to be seven hundred thou- 
 sand, while those of that tribe were seventy 
 thousand. So he passed over Jordan and pro- 
 ceeded in marching all that night, thirty fur- 
 longs, and came to Jabesh before sun-rising. 
 So he divided the army into three companies ; 
 and fell upon their enemies on every side on 
 the sudden, and when they expected no such 
 thing; and joining battle with them, they slew 
 a great many of the Ammonites, as also their 
 king Nahash. This glorious action was done 
 by Saul, and was related with great commen- 
 dation of him to all the Hebrews: and ho 
 thence gained a wonderful reputation for his 
 valour ; for although there were some of them 
 that contemned him before, they now changed 
 their minds, and honoured him, and esteemed 
 him as the best of men : for he did not con- 
 tent himself with having saved the inhabitants 
 of Jabesh only, but he made an expedition 
 into the country of the Ammonites, and laid it 
 all waste, and took a large prey, and so re- 
 turned to his own country most gloriously ; 
 so the people were greatly pleased at these ex- 
 cellent performances of Saul, and rejoiced that 
 they had constituted him their king. They 
 also made a clamour against those that pre- 
 tended he would be of no advantage to their 
 affairs ; and they said, Where now are these 
 men? — let them be brought to punishment, 
 with all the like things that multitudes usually 
 say when they are elevated with prosperity 
 against those that lately had despised the au- 
 thors of it ; but Saul, although he took the 
 good- will and the affection of these men very 
 kindly, yet did he swear that he would not 
 seo any of his countrymen slain that day, 
 since it was absurd to mix this victory, which 
 God had given them, with the blood and 
 slaughter of those that were of the same lineage 
 ui^h themselves; and thai it was more agree- 
 abl.* to be men of a friendly disposition, and 
 so to betake themselves to feasting. 
 
 4. And when Samuel had told them that 
 he 0'>'ght to cojifirm the kingdom to Saul by 
 a seror.d ordination of him, they all came to- 
 gether to the city of Gilgal, for thither did 
 he ccramand them t;» come. So the prophet 
 
 anointed Saul with the holy oil in the sight of 
 the multitude, and declared him to be king 
 the second time ; and so the government of 
 the Hebrews was changed into a regal govern- 
 ment ; for in the days of Moses and his dis- 
 ciple Joshua, who was their general, th^ 
 continued under an aristocracy; but after the 
 death of Joshua, for eighteen years in all, the 
 multitude had no settled form of government, 
 but were in an anarchy; after which they re- 
 turned to their former government, they then 
 permitting themselves to be judged by him 
 who appeared to be the best warrior and most 
 courageous, whence it was that they called 
 this interval of their government the Judges. 
 
 5. Then did Samuel the prophet call ano- 
 ther assembly also, and said to them, " I so- 
 lemnly adjure you by God Almighty, who 
 brought those excellent brethren, I mean Mo- 
 ses and Aaron, into the world, and delivered 
 our fathers from the Egyptians, and from the 
 slavery they endured under them, that you 
 will not speak what you say to gratify me, 
 nor suppress any thing out of fear of me, nor 
 be overborne by any other passion, but say. 
 What have I ever done that was cruel or un- 
 just? or what have I done out of lucre or 
 covetousness, or to gratify others? Bear wit- 
 ness against me, if I have taken an ox or a 
 sheep, or any such thing, which yet when they 
 are taken to support men, it is esteemed blame- 
 less; or have I taken an ass for mine own use 
 of any one to his grief? — lay some one such 
 crime to my charge, now we are in your 
 king's presence." But they cried out, that 
 no such thing had been done by him, but 
 that he had presided over the nation after a 
 holy and righteous manner. 
 
 6. Hereupon Samuel, when such a testi- 
 mony had been given him by them all, said, 
 " Since you grant that you are not able to lay 
 any ill thing to my charge hitherto, come on 
 now, and do you hearken while I speak with 
 great freedom to you. You have been guilty 
 of great impiety against God, in asking you 
 a king. It behoves you to remember, that 
 our grandfather Jacob came down into Egypt, 
 by reason of a famine, with seventy souls only 
 of our family, and that their posterity multi- 
 plied there to many ten thousands, whom the 
 Egyptians brought into slavery and hard op- 
 pression; that God himself, upon the prayers 
 of our fathers, sent Moses and Aaron, who 
 were brethren, and gave them power to de- 
 liver the multitude out of their distress, and 
 this without a king. These brought us into 
 this very land which you now possess; and 
 when you enjoyed these advantages from God. 
 you betrayed his worship and religion ; nay, 
 moreover, when you were brought under the 
 hands of your enemies, he delivered you, first 
 by rendering you superior to the Assyrians 
 and their forces, he then made you to over- 
 come t^e Ammonites and the Moabites, and 
 last of all the Philistines ; and these things 
 
IdO 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 fiOdK Vl 
 
 have been achieved under the conduct of 
 Jephtha and Gideon. What madness there 
 fore possessed you to fly from God, and to 
 desire to be under a king' — yet have I or- 
 dained him for king whom he chose for you. 
 However, that I may make it plain to you 
 that God is angry and displeased at your 
 choice of kingly government, I will so dispose 
 him that he shall declare this very plainly to 
 you by strange signals; for what none of you 
 ever saw here before, I mean a winter storm 
 in the midst of harvest,* I will entreat of God, 
 and will make it visible to you." Now, as 
 soon as he had said this, God gave such great 
 signals by thunder and lightning, and the 
 descent of hail, as attested the truth of all 
 that the prophet had said, insomuch that they 
 were amazed and terrified, and confessed they 
 had sinned, and had fallen into that sin through 
 ignorance ; and besought the prophet, as one 
 that was a tender and gentle father to them, 
 to render God so merciful as to forgive this 
 their sin, which they had added to those other 
 offences whereby they had affronted him and 
 transgressed against him. So he promised 
 them that he would beseech God, and per- 
 suade him to forgive them these their sins. How- 
 ever, he advised them to be righteous, and to 
 be good, and ever to remember the miseries 
 that had befallen them on account of their 
 departure from virtue: as also to remember 
 the strange signs God had shown them, and 
 the body of laws that Moses had given them, 
 if they had any desire of being preserved and 
 made happy with their king: but he said, that 
 if they should grow careless of these things, 
 great judgments would come from God upon 
 them, and upon their king: and when Sam- 
 uel had thus prophesied to the Hebrews, he 
 dismissed them to their own homes, having 
 confirmed the kingdom to Saul the second 
 time. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW THE PHILISTINES MADE ANOTHER EX- 
 PEDITION AGAINST THE HEBREWS, AND 
 WERE BEATEN. 
 
 § 1. Now Saul chose out of the multitude 
 about three thousand men, and he took two 
 thousand of them to be the guards of his own 
 body, and abode in the city Bethel, but he 
 gave the rest of them to Jonathan his son, to 
 be the guards of his oody ; and sent him to 
 Gibeah, where he besieged and took a certain 
 garrison of the Philistines, not far from Gil- 
 gal; for the Philistines of Gibeah had beaten 
 the Jews, and taken their weapons away, and 
 bad put garrisons into the strongest places of 
 
 • Mr. Reland obaerres here, and proves elsewhere in 
 bi« note on Antiq. b. iii. ch. i. sect. 6, that aIthou«h 
 thunder and lightninfc with us usually happen in siim- 
 ■ler, jret in Palestine and Nyria they are chi«-fly confined 
 to winter. Josephus takes notice of the same thing 
 •pUn, War, b. iv. cb. ir. sent. 6. 
 
 the country, and had forbidden them to carry 
 any instrument of iron, or at all to make use 
 of any iron in any case whatsoever ; and on 
 account of this prohibition it was that the hus- 
 bandmen", if they had occasion to sharpen any 
 of their tools, whether it were the coulter or 
 the spade, or any instrument of husbandry, 
 they came to the Philistines to do it. Now 
 as soon as the Philistines heard of this slaugh- 
 ter of their garrison, they were in a rage about 
 it, and, looking on this contempt as a terrible 
 affront offered them, they made war against 
 the Jews, with three hundred thousand foot- 
 men, and thirty thousand chariots, and six 
 thousand horses; and they pitched their camp 
 at the city Michmash. When Saul, the king 
 of the Hebrews, was informed of Ihia, he went 
 down to the city Gilgal, and made proclama- 
 tion over all the country, that they should try 
 to regain their liberty; and called them to 
 the war against the Philistines, diminishing 
 their forces, and despising them as not very 
 considerable, and as not so great but they 
 might hazard a battle with them. But when 
 the people about Saul observed how numerous 
 the Philistines were, they were under a great 
 consternation; and some of them hid them- 
 selves in caves, and in dens under ground ; 
 but the greater part fled into the land beyond 
 Jordan, which belonged to Gad and Reuben. 
 2. But Saul sent to the prophet, and called 
 him to consult with him about the war and 
 the public affairs; so he commanded him to 
 stay there for him, and to prepare sacrifices, 
 for he would come to him within seven days, 
 that they might offer sacrifices on the seventh 
 day, and might then join battle with their 
 enemies. So he waited, f as the prophet sent 
 
 + Saul seems to have staid till near the time of the 
 evening sacrifice, on the seventh day, which Samuel the 
 prophet of God had appointed him, but not till the end 
 of that day, as he ouRht to have done; and Samuel ap- 
 pears, by delaying to come till the full time of the even- 
 ing sacrifice on that seventh day, to have tried him (w ho 
 seems to have been already for some time declining 
 from his strict and bounden subordination to (lod and 
 his prophet; to have taken life-guards for himself ami 
 his son, which was entirely a new thing in Israel, and 
 savoured of a distrust of God's providence; and to hare 
 affected more than he ought, that independent autho- 
 rity which the pagan kings took to themselves); Sa- 
 muel, I say, seems to have here tried Saul, whether lie 
 would stay till the priest came, who alone could law- 
 fully oHer the sacrifices, nor would boldly and profanely 
 usurp the priest's office, which he venturing upon, was 
 justly rejected for his profaneness. See Apost. Constit. 
 b ii. ch. xxvii. And, indeech, since Saul had accepted 
 kingly power, which naturally becomes ungovernable 
 and tyrannical, as God foretold, and the experience of 
 all ages has shown, the divine settlement by Moses had 
 soon been laid aside under the kings, had not God, by 
 keeping strictly to his laws, and severely executing the 
 threatenings therein contained, restrained Saul and other 
 kings in some degree of obedience to himself; nor was 
 even this severity sufficient to restrain most of the future 
 kings of Israel and Judah from the grossest idolatry and 
 impiety. Of the advantage of which strictness, in the ob- 
 serving divine laws, and inflicting their threatened penal- 
 ties, see Antiq. b. vi. ch. xii. sect. 7; and Against Apion, 
 b. ii. sect. 30, where Josephus speaks of that matter; 
 though it must be noted that it seems, at least in three 
 instances, that good men did not always immediately ap- 
 prove of such divine severity. There seems to be one 
 instance. 1 Sam. vi. I'J, VO; another, 1 5am. xt. 11; and 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 161 
 
 to him to do ; yet did not he, however, observe 
 the oommand that was given him, but when 
 be saw that the prophet tarried longer than he 
 expected, and that he was deserted by the sol- 
 diers, he took the sacrifices and offered them ; 
 and when he heard that Samuel was come, he 
 went out to meet him. But the prophet said 
 he had not done well in disobeying the injunc- 
 tions he had sent to him, and had not staid 
 till his coming, which being appointed accord- 
 ing to the will of God, he had prevented him 
 in offering up those prayers and those sacrifi- 
 ces that he should have made for the multi- 
 tude, and that he therefore had performed 
 divine offices in an ill manner, and had been 
 rash in performing them. Hereupon Saul 
 made an apology for himself, and said that he 
 had waited as many days as Samuel had ap- 
 pointed him ; that he had been so quick in . 
 offering his sacrifices, upon account of the ne- 
 cessity he was in, and because his soldiers were 
 departing from him, out of their fear of the 
 enemy's camp at Michmash, the report being 
 gone abroad that they were coming down up- 
 on him to Gilgal. To which Samuel replied, 
 " Nay, certainly, if thou hadst been a righ- 
 teous man,* and hadst not disobeyed me, nor 
 slighted the commands which God suggested 
 to me concerning the present state of affairs, 
 and hadst not acted more hastily than the pre- 
 sent circumstances required, thou wouldst have 
 been permitted to reign a long time, and thy 
 posterity after thee." So Samuel, being 
 grieved at what happened, returned home ; but 
 Saul came to the city Gibeah, ^vith his son 
 Jonathan, having only six hundred men \vith 
 him; and of these the greater part had no 
 weapons, because of the scarcity of iron in 
 that country, as well as of those that could 
 make such weapons: for as we showed a httle 
 before, the PhUistines had not sufiered them 
 to have such iron or such workmen. Now 
 the Philistines divided their army into three 
 companies, and took as many roads, and laid 
 waste the country of the Hebrews, while king 
 Saul and his son Jonathan saw what was done, 
 but were not able to defend the land, having 
 
 a third, 2 Sam. vi. 8, 9; Antiq. b. tu chap. vii. sect. 2; 
 though they all at last acquiesced in the divine conduct, 
 as tnowini< that God is wiser than men. 
 
 • By this answer of Samuel, and that from a divine 
 commission, which is fuller in I 8am. xiii. 14,- and by 
 that parallel note in the Apostolical Constitutions jnst 
 now quoted, concerning the i;reat wickedness of Saul in 
 venturing, even under a seeming necessity of aftairs, to 
 usurp the priest's oflQce. and offer sacrifice without the 
 priest, we are in some degree able to answer tliat ques- 
 ti«m which I have ever thought a very hard one, viz. 
 Whether, if there were a city or country of lay Chris- 
 tians without any clergyman, it were lawful for the laity 
 alone to baptize, to celebrate the eucharist. &c. or in- 
 deed whether they alone could ordain themselves either 
 bishops, priests, or deacons, for the due performance of 
 such sacerdotal administrations; or whether they ought 
 not rather, till tl»ey procure clersrymen to come among 
 them, to confine themselves within those bounds of 
 piety and Christianity which belong alone to the laity; 
 such particularly as are recommended in tiie first book 
 of the Apostolical Constitutions, which peculiarly con- 
 cern the laity, and are intimated n Clement's undoubted 
 epi*tl«, sect. 40. Tu which latter opinion I iacliue 
 
 no more than six hundred men vnth. them ; 
 but as he, and his son, and Ahiah the high- 
 priest, who was of the posterity of Eli the 
 high-priest, were sitting upon a pretty high 
 hill, and seeing the land laid waste, they wer 
 mightily disturbed at it. Now Saul's son 
 agreed ^ith his armour-bearer, that they would 
 go privately to the enemy's camp, and make 
 a tumult and a distiu-bance among them ; and 
 when the armour-bearer had readily promised 
 to follow him whithersoever he should lead 
 him, though he should be obliged to die in 
 the attempt, Jonathan made use of the young 
 man's assistance, and descended from the hill, 
 and went to their enemies. Now the enemy's 
 camp \vas upon a precipice which had three 
 tops, that ended in a small but sharp and long 
 extremity, while there was a rock that sur- 
 rounded them, like lines made to prevent the 
 attacks of an enemy. There it so happened, 
 that the out-guards of the camp were neglect- 
 ed, because of the security that here arose 
 from the situation of the place, and because 
 they thought it altogether impossible, not 
 only to ascend up to the camp on that quarter, 
 but so much as to come near it. As soon, 
 therefore, as they came to the camp, Jonathan 
 encouraged his armour-bearer, and said to 
 him, " Let us attack our enemies; and if, 
 when they see us, they bid us come up to 
 them, take that for a signal of victory ; but if 
 they say nothing, as not intending to inv-ite 
 us to come up, let us return back again." So 
 when they were approaching to the enemy's 
 camp, just after break of day, and the PhiUs- 
 tines saw them, they said one to another, 
 " The Hebrews come out of their dens and 
 caves;" and they said to Jonathan and to his 
 armour-bearer, " Come on, ascend up to us, 
 that we may inflict a just punishment upon 
 you, for your rash attempt upon us." So 
 Saul's son accepted of that invitation, as what 
 signified to him victory, and he immediately 
 came out of the place whence they were seen 
 by their enemies: so he changed his place, 
 and came to the rock which had none to guard 
 it, because of its owti strength; from thence 
 they crept up vdih great labour and difficulty, 
 and so far overcame by force the nature of 
 the place till they were able to fight wth their 
 enemies. So they fell upon them as they were 
 asleep, and slew about twenty of them, and 
 thereby filled them ^vith disorder and surprise, 
 insomuph that some of them threw away their 
 entire armour and fled ; but the greatest part, 
 not knowing one another, because they were 
 of different nations, suspected one another to 
 be enemies (for they did not imagine there 
 were only two of the Hebrews that came up), 
 and so they fought one against another ; and 
 some of them died in the battle, and some, as 
 they were flying away, were thrown do\vn 
 from the rock headlong. 
 
 ' 3. Now Saul's watchmen told the king that 
 the camp of the Philistines was in confusioav^ 
 L 
 

 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI 
 
 then he inquired whether any body was gone 
 away from the army; and when he heard that 
 his son, and with him his armour-bearer, were 
 absent, he bade the high-priest take the gar- 
 ments of his high-priesthood, and prophesy to 
 bim what success they should have; who said 
 that they should get the victory, and prevail 
 against their enemies. So he went out after 
 the Philistines, and set upon them as they 
 were slaying one another. Those also who 
 had fled to dens and caves, upon hearing that 
 Saul was gaining a victory, came running to 
 him. When, therefore, the number of the 
 Hebrews that came to Saul amounted to 
 about ten thousand, he pursued the enemy, 
 who were scattered all over the coimtry; but 
 then he fell into an action, which was a very 
 unhappy one, and liable to be very much 
 blamed; for, whether out of ignorance, or 
 whether out of joy for a victory gained so 
 strangely (for it frequently happens that per- 
 sons so fortunate are not then able to use their 
 eason consistently), as he was desirous to 
 avenge himself, and to exact a due punish- 
 ment of the Philistines, he denounced a curse* 
 upon the Hebrews: That if any one put a 
 stop to his slaughter of the enemy, and fell 
 on eating, and left off the slaughter or the 
 pursuit before the night came on, and obliged 
 them, so to do, he should be accursed, Now 
 after Said had denounced this curse, since they 
 were now in a wood belonging to the tribe of 
 Ephraim, which was thick and full of bees, 
 Saul's son, who dl not hear his father de- 
 nounce that curse, nor hear of the approbation 
 the multitude gave to it, broke off a piece of 
 a honey-comb, and ate part of it. But, in the 
 mean time, he was informed with what a curse 
 his father had forbidden them to taste any 
 thing before sun-setting: so he left off eating, 
 and said his father had not done well in this 
 prohibition, because, had they taken some food, 
 they had pursued the enemy with greater 
 vigour and alacrity, and had both taken and 
 slain many more of their enemies. 
 
 4. When, therefore, they had slain many 
 ten thousands of the Philistines, they fell 
 upon spoiling the camp of the Philistines, but 
 not till late in the evening. They also took 
 a great deal of prey and cattle, and killed 
 tliem, and ate them with their blood. This 
 was told to the king by the scribes, that the 
 multitude were sinning against God as they 
 sacrificed, and were eating before the blood 
 was well washed away, and the flesh was made 
 clean. Then did Saul give ordor that a great 
 
 • This rash vow or cnrse of Saul, which Joxephtis gays 
 was confirmed by the people, and yet not executed, I 
 •uppose principally because Jonathan did not know ot 
 It, 18 very remarkable; it bein^ of the essence of the 
 obH^ation of all laws, that they be sulFiciently known 
 and prumul(;ated, otherwise the conduct of Providencf, 
 aa to the sacredness of solemn oaths and vows, in God's 
 tftaticg to answer by Urim till this breach of Saul's 
 vow or curse was understood and set right, and God 
 pmpitiatrd by public prayer, i> here very remarkable, 
 •> iudMd it IS uvery where el«e in the Old TesU'uent 
 
 stone should be rolled into the midst of them, 
 and he made proclamation that they should kill 
 their sacrifices upon it, and not feed upon the 
 flesh with the blood, for that was not accepta- 
 ble to God. And when all the people did as the 
 king commanded them, Saul erected an altar 
 there, and offered burnt-offerings upon it to 
 God.f This was the first altar that Saul built. 
 5. So when Saul was desirous of leading 
 his men to the enemy's camp before it was 
 day, in order to plunder it, and when the sol- 
 diers were not unwilling to follow him, but 
 indeed showed great readiness to do as he 
 commanded them, the king called Ahitub the 
 high-priest, and enjoined him to know of God 
 whether he would grant them the favour and 
 permission to go against the enemy's camp, in 
 order to destroy those that were in it; and 
 when the priest said that God did not give 
 any answer, Saul replied, " And not without 
 some cause does God refuse to answer what 
 we inquire of him, while yet a little while ago 
 he declared to us all that we desired before- 
 hand, and even prevented us in his answer. 
 To be sure, there is some sin against him that 
 is concealed from us, which is the occasion ol 
 his silence. Now I swear by him himself, 
 that though he that hath committed this sis 
 should prove to be my own son Jonathan, I 
 will slay him, and by that means wll appease 
 the anger of God against us, and that in the 
 very same manner as if I were to punish a 
 stranger, and one not at all related to me, for 
 the same offence." So when the multitude 
 cried out to him so to do, he presently set aU 
 the rest on one side, and he a\ d his son stood 
 on the other side, and he sought to discover 
 the offender by lot. Now the lot appeared to 
 fall upon Jonathan himself. So when he was 
 asked by his father what sin he had been guilty 
 of, and what he was conscious of in the course 
 of his life that might be esteemed instances of 
 giult or profaneness, his answer was this: 
 " O father, I have done nothing more than 
 that yesterday, without knowing of the curse 
 and oath thou hadst denounced, while I was 
 in pursuit of the enemy, I tasted of a honey- 
 comb." But Saul sware that he would slay 
 him, and prefer the observation of his oath 
 before all the ties of birth and of nature; and 
 Jonathan was not dismayed at this threatening 
 of death, but, offering himself to it generously, 
 and undauntedly, he said, " Nor do I desire 
 you, father, to spare me: death will be to 
 me very acceptable, when it proceeds from thy 
 piety, and after a glorious victory ; for it is the 
 greatest consolation to me that I leave the 
 Hebrews victorious over the Philistines." — 
 Hereupon all the people were very sorry, and 
 
 + Here we have still more indications of Saul's afTec 
 tation of despotic power, and of his etitrenciiini; upon 
 the priesthood, and makint; and endeavouring to exe- 
 cute a rash vow or curse, without consultinfr Samuel w 
 the sanhedrim. In this view it is also that 1 look upon 
 this erection of a new altar by Saul, and his offering o 
 l)urnt-i)fiVrint!s himself upon it. and not as any proper in« 
 stance t f devotion or roligion, with other cuuaneutatora 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 163 
 
 greatly afflicted for Jonathan ; and they sware 
 tnat they would not overlook Jo>>ithan, and 
 aee him die, who was the author of their vic- 
 tory. By which means they snatched him out 
 of the danger he was in from his father's 
 curse, while they made their prayers to God 
 also for the young man, that he would remit 
 bis sin. 
 
 '(. So Saul, having slain about sixty thou- 
 sar d of the enemy, returned home to his own 
 city, and reigned happily: and he also fought 
 against the neighbouring nations, and subdued 
 the Ammonites, and Moabites, and Philistines, 
 and Edoraites, and Amalekites, as also the 
 king of Zobah. He had three male children, 
 Jonathan, and Isui, and Melchishua; with 
 Merab and Michal his daughters. He had 
 also Abncr, his uncle's son, for the captain of 
 his host : that uncle's name was Ner. Now 
 . Ner, and Kish the father of Saul, were bro- 
 thers. Saul had also a great many chariots an<j 
 horsemen, and against whomsoever he made 
 war he returned conqueror, and advanced the 
 affairs of the Hebrews to a great degree of 
 success and prosperity, and made them supe- 
 rior to other nations ; and he made such of 
 the young men as were remarkable for tall- 
 ness and comeliness the guards of his body. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 sadl's war with the amalekites, and 
 conquest of them. 
 
 § 1. Now Samuel came unto Saul, and said 
 to hire, that he was sent by God to put him in 
 mind that God had preferred him before all 
 others, and ordained him king; that he there- 
 fore ought to be obedient to him, and to sub- 
 mit to his authority, as considering, that 
 though he had the dominion over the other 
 tribes, yet that God had the dominion over 
 him, and over all things ; that accordingly 
 God said to him, that " because the Amalek- 
 ites did the Hebrews a great deal of mischief 
 while they were in the wilderness, and when, 
 upon their coming out of Egypt, they were 
 making their way to that country which is now 
 their own, I enjoin thee to punish the Ama- 
 lekites, by making war upon them ; and, 
 when thou hast subdued them, to leave none 
 of them alive, but to pursue them through 
 every age, and to slay them, beginning with 
 the women and the infants, and to require 
 this as a punishment to be inflicted upon them 
 for the mischief they did to our forefathers : 
 to spare nothing, neither asses nor other 
 beasts ; nor to reserve any of them for your 
 own advantage and possession, but to devote 
 them universally to God, and, in obedience 
 to the commands of Moses, to blot out the 
 name of Amalek entirely."* 
 
 • The reason of this severity is I'istii'Clly given 
 '1 Sank SV. I8)t '* Go, and uttrrjjr dootroy tiki sinnerx. 
 
 2. So Saul promised to do what he was 
 commanded ; and supposing that his obedience 
 to God would be shown, not only in making 
 war against the Amalekites, but more fully in 
 the readiness and quickness of his proceedings, 
 he made no delay, but immediately gathered 
 together all his forces; and when he bad num- 
 bered them in Gilgal, he found them to be 
 about four hundred thousand of the Israelites, 
 besides the tribe of Judah, for that tribe con- 
 tained by itself thirty thousand. Accordingly 
 Saul made an irruption into the country of the 
 Amalekites, and set many men in several 
 parties in ambush at the river, that so he might 
 j not only do them a mischief, by open fighting, 
 but might fall upon therti unexpectedly in the 
 ways, and might thereby compass them round 
 about, and kill them. And when he had joined 
 battle with the enemy, he beat them ; and pur- 
 suing them as they fled, he destroyed them all. 
 And when that undertaking had succeeded, ac- 
 cording as God had foretold, he set upon the 
 cities of the Amalekites ; he besieged them, and 
 took them by force, partly by warlike machines, 
 partly by mines dug under ground, and partly 
 by building walls on the outsides. Some they 
 starved out with famine, and some they gained 
 by other methods ; and after all, he betook 
 himself to slay the women and the children, and 
 thought he did not act therein either barbar- 
 ously or inhumanly; first, because they were 
 enemies whom he thus treated, and, in the next 
 place, because it was done by the command of 
 God, whom it was dangerous not to obey. He 
 also took Agag, the enemies' king, captive ; 
 — the beauty and tallness of whose body he 
 admired so much, that he thought him worthy 
 of preservation ; yet was not this done how- 
 ever according to the will of God, but by 
 giving way to human passions, and suflfering 
 himself to be moved with an unseasonable com- 
 miseration, in a point where it was not safe 
 for him to indulge it ; for God hated the nation 
 of the Amalekites to such a degree, that he 
 commanded Saul to have no pity on even those 
 infants which we by nature chiefly compassion- 
 ate; but Saul preserved their king and gover- 
 nor from the miseries which the Hebrews 
 brought on the people, as if he preferred the 
 fine appearance of the enemy to the memorv 
 of what God had sent him about. The mul- 
 titude were also guilty, together with Saul ; 
 for they spared the herds and the flocks, and 
 took them for a prey, when God had command- 
 ed they should not spare them. They also 
 carried off with them the rest of their wealth 
 and riches ; but if there were any thing that 
 was not worthy of regard, that they destroyed. 
 
 the Amalekites;" nor indeed do we ever meet with these 
 Amalekites but as very cruel and bloody people, and 
 particularly seeking to injure and utterly to destroy tha 
 nation of Israel. See Exod. xvii. 8—16; Num. xir. 4oj 
 Dent. XXT. 17—19; Judg. ri, 3, 6} 1 Sam. XT. 33; 
 Psal. Ixxxiii. 7; and, above all, the most barbarous of 
 all cniehies, t!iat ot Ilaman the Agagite, or one of the 
 IHJslerity of Agag, the old king of the Amalekites, Esth. 
 iii. 1-16. 
 
164 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 3. But when Saul had conquered all these 
 Amalekites that reached from Pelusium of 
 Egypt to the Red Sea, he laid waste all the rest 
 of the enemy's country: but for the nation of 
 the Shechemites, he did not touch them, 
 although they dwelt in the very middle of the 
 country of Midian ; for before the battle, Saul 
 had sent to them, and charged them to depart 
 thence, lest they should be partakers of the 
 miseries of the Amalekites; for he had a just 
 occasion for saving them, since they were of 
 the kindred of Raguel, Moses's father-in-law. 
 
 4. Hereupon Saul returned home with joy, 
 for the glorious things he had done, and for 
 the conquest of his enemies, as though he had 
 not neglected any thing which the prophet had 
 enjoined him to do when he was going to 
 make war with the Amalekites, and as though 
 he had exactly observed all that he ought to 
 have done. But God was grieved that the 
 king of the Amalekites was preserved alive, 
 and that the multitude had seized on the cattle 
 for a prey, because these things were done 
 without lus permission ; for he thought it an 
 intolerable thing that they should conquer and 
 overcome their enemies by that power which 
 he gave them, and then that he himself should 
 be so grossly despised and disobeyed by them, 
 that a mere man that was a king would not 
 bear it. He therefore told Samuel the prophet, 
 that he repented that he had made Saul king, 
 while he did nothing that he had commanded 
 him, but indulged his own inclinations. When 
 Samuel heard that, he was in confusion; and 
 began to beseech God all that night to be re- 
 conciled to Saxil, and not to be angry wdth 
 him ; but he did not grant that forgiveness to 
 Saul which the prophet asked for, as not 
 deeming it a fit thing to g^ant forgiveness of 
 [such] sins at his entreaties^ since injuries do 
 not otherwise grow so greal; as by the easy 
 tempers of those that are injured; for while 
 they hunt after the glory of being thought 
 gentle and good-natured, btfois they are 
 aware, they produce other sins. As soon 
 therefore as God had rejected the jnterression 
 of the prophet, and it plainly appeared he 
 would not change his mind, at break or i^ay 
 Samuel came to Saul at Gilgal. When tht ] 
 king saw him, he ran to him, and embraceu ' 
 him, and said, ** I return thanks to God, who 
 hath given me the victory, for I have performed 
 every thing that he hath commanded me." 
 To which Samuel replied, " How is it then that 
 I hear the bleeting of the sheep and the low- 
 ing of the greater cattle in the camp?" Saul 
 made answer, That the people had reserved 
 them for sacrifices; but that, as to the nation 
 of the Amalekites, it was entirely destroyed, 
 as he had received it in command to see done, 
 and that no one man was left ; but that he had 
 saved alive the king alone, and brought him to 
 him, concerning whom, he said, they would 
 •dvise together what should be done with him. 
 But the proph«t said, " God is not delighted 
 
 with sacrifices, but wth good and wiih righ- 
 teous men, who are such as follow his will and 
 his laws, and never think that any thing 
 is well done by them but when they do it as 
 God had commanded them: that he then 
 looks upon himself as afironted, not when any 
 one does not sacrifice, but when any one ap- 
 pears to be disobedient to him. But that 
 from those who do not obey him, nor pay him 
 that duty which is the alone true and accep- 
 table worship, he will not kindly accept their 
 oblations, be those they offer ever so many aii'l 
 so fat, and be the presents they make him ever 
 so ornamental, nay, though they were made of 
 gold and silver themselves, but he will reject 
 them, and esteem them instances of wicked- 
 ness, and not of piety. And that he is delighted 
 with those that still bear in mind this one 
 thing, and this only, how to do that, whatso- 
 ever it be, which God pronounces or commands 
 for them to do, and to choose rather to die than 
 t« transgress any of those commands ; nor does 
 he require so much as a sacrifice from them. 
 And when these do sacrifice, though it be a 
 mean oblation, he better accepts of it as the 
 honour of poverty, than such oblations as 
 come from the richest men that offer them to 
 him. Wherefore take notice, that thou art 
 under the wrath of God, for thou hast de- 
 spised and neglected what he commanded 
 thee. How dost thou then suppose that he 
 will respect a sacrifice out of such things as 
 he hath doomed to destruction? unless per- 
 haps thou dost imagine that it is almost all 
 one to offer it in sacrifice to God as to destroy 
 it. Do thou therefore expect that thy king- 
 dom will be taken from thee, and that autho- 
 rity which thou hast abused by such insolent 
 behaviour, as to negltct that God who be- 
 stowed it upon thee." Then did Saul con- 
 fess that he had acted unjustly, and did not 
 deny that he had sinned, because he had trans- 
 gressed the injunctions of the prophet; but 
 he said that it was out of a dread and fear of 
 the soldiers, that he did not prohibit and re- 
 strain them when they seized on the prey. 
 " But forgive me," said he, " and be merciful 
 *o me, for I will be cautious how I offend 
 for the time to come," He also entreated 
 the prophet to go back with him, that he 
 might offer nis thank-offerings to God; but 
 Samuel weni home, because he saw that God 
 would not be recontiled to him, 
 
 5, But then Saul was so desirous to re« 
 tain Samuel, that he took hold of his cloak, 
 and because the vehemence of Samuel's de- 
 parture made the motion to be violent, the 
 cloak was rent. Upon which the prophet 
 said, that after the same manner should the 
 kingdom be rent from him, and that a good 
 and a just man should take it; that God per- 
 severed in what he had decreed about him; 
 that to be nnitable and changeable in what is 
 determined, is agreeable to human passions 
 only, but i* not agreeable to the Divine Powor. 
 
CHAP. vm. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 165 
 
 Hereupon Saul said that he had been wcked; 
 but that what was done could not be un- 
 done: be therefore desired him to honour him 
 so far, that the multitude might see that he 
 would accompany him in worshipping God. 
 So Samuel granted him that favour, and went 
 M'ith him and worshipped God. Agag also, 
 the king of the Amalekites, was brought to 
 him; and when the king ^sked, How bitter 
 death was? Samuel said " As thou hast 
 tuade many of the Hebrew mothers to lament 
 and bewail the loss of their children, so shalt 
 thou, by thy death, cause thy mother to la- 
 ment thee also." Accordingly he gave order 
 to slay bira immediately at Gilgal, and then 
 went away to the city Ramab. 
 
 CHAPTER vm. 
 HOW, DPOK Saul's transgression of the 
 
 prophet's commands, SAMUEL ORDAINED 
 , ANOTHER PERSON TO BE KING PRIVATELY, 
 WHOSE NAME WAS DAVID, AS GOD COM- 
 MANDED HIM. 
 
 § 1. Now Saul, being sensible of the miser- 
 able condition he had brought himself into, 
 and that he had made God to be his enemy, 
 went up to his royal palace at Gibeah, 
 which name denotes a hill, and after that day 
 he came no more into the presence of the pro- 
 phet. And when Samuel mourned for him, 
 God bid him leave off his concern for him, 
 and to take the holy oil, and go to Bethlehem 
 to Jesse the son of Obed, and to anoint such 
 of his sons as he should show him for their 
 future king. But Samuel said, he was afraid 
 lest Saul, when he came to know of it, should 
 kill him, either by some private method or 
 even openly. But upon God's suggesting to 
 him a safe way of going thither, he came to 
 the forementioned city ; and when they all 
 saluted him, and asked what was the occasion 
 of his coming, he told them, he came to sacri- 
 fice to God. When, therefore, he had gotten 
 the sacrifice ready, he called Jesse and his 
 sons li partake of thgse sacrifices; and when 
 he sav/ his eldest son to be a tall and hand* 
 some man, he guessed by his comeliness that 
 he 'was the person who was to be their future 
 king. But he was mistaken in judging about 
 God's providence; for when Samuel inquired 
 of God whether he should anoint this youth, 
 whom he so admired, and esteemed worthy 
 of the kingdom, God said, " Men do not see 
 as God seeth. Thou indeed hast respect to 
 the fine appearance of this youth, and thence 
 esteeraest him worthy of the kingdom, while 
 I propose the kingdom as a reward, not of the 
 beauty of bodies, but of the virtue of souls, 
 and I inquire after one that is perfectly comely 
 in that respect ; I mean one who is beauti- 
 ful in piety, and righteousness, and fortitude. 
 
 [ and obedience ; for in them consiits the come> 
 iiness of the soul." When God had said tliis, 
 Samuel bade Jesse to show him all his sons. 
 So he made five others of his sons to come to 
 him ; of all of whom Eliab was the eldest, 
 Aminadab the second, Shammah the third, 
 Nathaniel the fourth, Rael the fifth, and 
 Asam the sixth. And when the prophet saw 
 that these were no way inferior to the eldest 
 in their countenances, he inquired of God 
 which of them it was whom he chose for their 
 king^ and when God said it was none of them, 
 he asked Jesse whether he had not some other 
 sons besides these; and when he said that he 
 had one more, named David, but that he was 
 a shepherd, and took care of the flocks, Sa- 
 muel bade them call him immediately, for 
 , that till he was come they could not possibly 
 sit down to the feast. Now, as soon as his 
 father had sent for David, and he was come, 
 he appeared to be of a yellow complexion, of 
 a sharp sight, and a comely person in other 
 respects also. This is he, said Samuel pri- 
 vately to himself, whom it pleases God to 
 make our king. So he sat down to the feast, 
 and placed the youth under him, and Jesse 
 also, with his other sons; after which he took 
 oil in the presence of David, and anointed 
 him, and whispered him in the ear, and ac- 
 quainted him that God chose him to be their 
 king; and exhorted him to be righteous, and 
 obedient to his commands, for that by this 
 means his kingdom would continue for a long 
 time, and that his house should be of great 
 splendour, and celebrated in the world ; that 
 be should overthrow the Philistines; and that 
 against what nations soever he should make 
 war, he should be the conqueror, and survive 
 the fight; and that while he lived he should 
 enjoy a glorious name, and leave such a name 
 to his posterity also. 
 
 2. So Samuel, when he had given him 
 these admonitions, went away. But the Di- 
 vine Power departed from Saul, and removed 
 to David, who, upon this removal of the Di- 
 vine Spirit to him, began to prophesy; but 
 as for Saul, some strange and demoniacal dis- 
 orders came upon him, and brought upon 
 him such sufl^ocations as were ready to choke 
 him ; for which the physicians could find no 
 other remedy but this, That if any person 
 could charm those passions by singing, and 
 playing upon the harp, they advised them to 
 inquire for such a one, and to observe when 
 these demons came upon him and disturbed 
 him, and to take care that such a person 
 might stand over him, and play upon the 
 harp, and recite hymns to him.* According- 
 ly Saul did not delay, but commanded them 
 to seek out such a man ; and when a certain 
 
 • Spanheim takes notice here that the Greeks had 
 such singers of hymns; and that usually children or 
 youths were picked out for that service; as also, that 
 those called singers to the harp, did the same that David 
 did here, ue. join their owa vocal and instrumantal mu< 
 
166 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK Tl 
 
 stander-by said that lie had seen in the city of 
 Bethlehem a son of Jesse, who was yet no 
 more than a child in age, but comely and 
 beautiful, and in other respects one that was 
 deserving of great regard, who was skilful in 
 playing on the harp, and in singing of hymns 
 [and an excellent soldier in war], he sent to 
 Jesse, and desired him to take David away 
 from the flocks, and send him to him, for he 
 had a mind to see him, as having heard an 
 advantageous character of his comeliness and 
 his valour. So Jesse sent his son, and gave 
 him presents to carry to Saul ; and when he 
 was come, Saul was pleased with him, and 
 made him his armour-bearer, and had him in 
 very great esteem; for he charmed his pas- 
 sion, and was the only physician against the 
 trouble he had from the demons, whensoever 
 it was that it came upon him, and this by re- 
 citing of hymns, and playing upon the harp, 
 and bringing Saul to his right mind again. 
 However, he sent to Jesse, the father of the 
 child, and desired him to permit David to 
 stay with him, for that he was delighted with 
 his sight and company, which stay, that he 
 might not contradict Saul, he granted. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW THE PHILISTINES MADE ANOTHER EXPE- 
 DITION AGAINST THE HEBREWS, UNDER THE 
 REIGN OF SAUL; AND HOW THEY WERE 
 OVERCOME BY DAVID's SLAYING GOLIATH 
 IN SINGLE COMBAT. 
 
 § 1. Now the Philistines gathered themselves 
 together again, no very long time afterward; 
 and having gotten together a great army, they 
 made war against the Israelites; and having 
 seized a place between Shochoh and Azekah, 
 they there pitched their camp. Saul also 
 drew out his army to oppose them; and by 
 pitching his own camp upon a certain hill, he 
 forced the Philistines to leave their former 
 camp, and to encamp themselves upon such 
 another hill, over-against that on which Saul's 
 army lay, so that a valley, which was between 
 the two hills on which they lay, divided their 
 camps asunder. Now there came down a 
 man out of the camp of the Philistines, whose 
 name was Gohath, of the city of Gath, a man 
 of vast bulk, for he was of four cubits and a 
 spHii in talbiess, and had about him weapons 
 suitable to the largeness of his body, for he 
 liiid a breast-plate on that weighed five thou- 
 sand shekels : he had also a helmet and greaves 
 of brass, as large as you would naturally sup- 
 pose might cover the limbs of so vast a body. 
 His spear was also such as was not carried hke 
 a light thing in his right hand, but he carried 
 it as lying on his shoulders. He had also a 
 lance of six hundred shekels; and many fol- 
 lowsi bim U) fury his annttur. Whorefbre 
 
 this Goliath stood between the two armies, as 
 they were in battle-array, and sent out aloud 
 voice, and said to Saul and the Hebrews, '* I 
 will free you from fighting and from dan- 
 gers; for what "necessity is there that your 
 army should fall and be afflicted? Give me 
 a man of you that will fight with me, and he 
 that conquers shall have the reward of the 
 conqueror, and determine the war; for these 
 shall serve those others to whom the conque- 
 ror shall belong; and certainly it is much 
 better and more prudent to gain what you 
 desire by the hazard of one man than of all," 
 When he had said this, he retired to his own 
 camp; but the next day ne came again, and 
 used the same words, and did not leave off 
 for forty days together, to challenge the ene- 
 my in the same words, till Saul and his army 
 were therewith terrified, while they put them- 
 selves in array as if they would fight, but did 
 not come to a close battle. 
 
 2. Now while this war between the He- 
 brews and the Philistines was going on, Saul 
 sent away David to his father Jesse, and con- 
 tented himself with those three sons of his 
 whom he had sent to his assistance, and to be 
 partners in the dangers of the war: and at 
 first David returned to feed his sheep and his 
 flocks; but after no long time he came to the 
 camp of the Hebrews, as sent by his father, 
 to carry provisions to his brethren, and to 
 know what they were doinjr; while Goliath 
 came again, and challenged them and le- 
 proached them, that they had no man of va- 
 lour among them that durst come down to 
 fight him; and as David was talking with his 
 brethren about the business for which his fa- 
 ther had sent him, he heard the Philistine 
 reproaching and abusing the army, and had 
 indignation at it, and said to his brethren, " I 
 am ready to fight a single combat with this 
 adversary." Whereupon Eliab, his eldest 
 brother, reproved him, and said that he spake 
 too rashly and improperly for one of his age, 
 and bid him go to his flocks, and to his fa- 
 ther. So he was abashed at his brother's 
 words, and went away, but still he spake to 
 some of the soldiers that he was willing to 
 fight with him that challenged them. And 
 ^v'nen they had informed Saul what was the 
 resolution of the young man, the king sent 
 for him to come to him: and when the king 
 asked what he had to say, he replied, " () 
 king, be not cast down, nor afraid, for I will 
 depress the insolence of this adversary, and 
 \vill go down and fight with him, and will 
 bring him under m.e, as tall and as great as 
 he is, till he shall be sufficiently laughed at, 
 and thy army shall get great glory when he 
 shall be slain by one that is not yet of man's 
 estate, neither fit for fighting, nor capable of 
 being intrusted with the marshalling an army, 
 or ordering a battle, but by one that looks like 
 a rliild, and is really no elder in age thaii 4 
 chUd.' 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OP THE JEWS, 
 
 167 
 
 3. Now Saul wondered at the boldness and 
 aliicrity of David, but durst not presume on 
 his ability, by reason of his age; but said, he 
 must on that account be too weak to fight 
 with one that was skilled in the art of war. 
 " I undertake this enterprise," said David, 
 " in dependence on God's being with me, for 
 I have had experience already of his assist- 
 ai;ce ; for I once pursued after and caught a 
 lion that assaulted my flocks, and took away 
 a lamb from them, and I snatched the lamb 
 out of the wild beast's mouth, and when he 
 leaped upon me with violence, I took him by 
 the tail, and dashed him against the ground. 
 In the same manner did I avenge myself on 
 a bear also; and let this adversary of ours be 
 esteemed like one of these wild beasts, since 
 he has a long while reproached our army and 
 blajjphemed our God, who yet will reduce him 
 under my power." 
 
 4, However, Saul prayed that the end 
 might be, by God's assistance, not disagree- 
 al)le to the alacrity and boldness of the child; 
 and said, " Go thy way to the fight," So he 
 put about him his breast-plate, and girded op 
 his sword, and fitted the helmet to his head, 
 and sent him away. But David was burdened 
 with his armour, for he had not been exer- 
 cised to it, nor had he learned to walk with 
 it ; so he said, " Let this armour be thine, O 
 kinij, who art able to bear it; but give me 
 le.ive to fight as thy servant, and as I myself 
 desire." Accordingly he laid by the armour, 
 and taking his staff with him, and putting five 
 s!(»nes out of the brook into a shepherd's bag, 
 and having a sling in his right hand, he went 
 to. vards Goliath. But the adversary seeing him 
 oiiif in such a manner, disdained him, and 
 ■ested upon him, as if he had not such wea- 
 p » IS with him as are usual when one man 
 fiifhts against another, but such as are used 
 ill driving away and avoiding of dogs; and 
 ■•aid, " Dost thou take me not for a man but 
 a tlog?" To which he replied, " No, not for 
 a dog, but for a creature worse than a dog." 
 This provoked Goliath to anger, who there- 
 upon cursed him by the name of God, and 
 threatened to give his flesh to the beasts of 
 the earth, and to the fowls of the air, to be 
 torn ill pieces by them. To whom David an- 
 swered, "Thou comest to me with a sword, 
 and with a spear, and with a breastplate; but 
 1 have God for my armour in coming against 
 thee, who will destroy thee and all thy army 
 by my hands; for I will this day cut off thy 
 head, and cast the other parts of thy body to 
 the dogs; and all men shall learn that God 
 i? the protector of the Ilebrexs, and that our 
 armour and our strength is in his providence; 
 
 ■and that without God's assistance, all other 
 warlike preparations and power are useless." 
 So the Philistine being retarded by the weight 
 of his Hrmour, when he attempted to meet 
 David in haste, came on but slowly, as de- 
 8()it>ing him, and depending upon it that hw 
 
 should slay him who was both unarmed and 
 a child also, without any trouble at all, 
 
 5. But the youth met bis antagonist, being 
 accompanied with an invisible assistant, who 
 was no other than God himself. And taking 
 one of the stones that he had out of the brook, 
 and had put into his shepherd's bag, and 
 fitting it to his sling, he slang it against the 
 Philistine, This stone fell upon, bis forehead, 
 and sank into his brain, insomuch that Go. 
 liath was stunned, and fell upon his face. 
 So David ran, and stood upon his adversary 
 as he lay down, and cut off his head with his 
 own sword ; for he had no sword himself. 
 And upon the fall of Goliath, the Philistines 
 were beaten, and fled; for when they saw 
 their champion prostrate on the ground, they 
 were afraid of the entire issue of their affairs, 
 and resolved not to stay any longer, but com- 
 mitted themselves to an ignominious and in- 
 decent flight, and thereby endeavoured to save 
 themselves from the dangers they were in. 
 But Saul and the entire army of the Hebrews 
 made a shout and rushed upon them, and 
 slew a great number of them, and pursued the 
 rest to the borders of Gath, and to the gates 
 of Ekron ; so that there were slain of the Phi- 
 listines thirty thousand, and twice as many 
 wounded. But Saul returned to their camp, 
 and pulled their fortifications to pieces, and 
 ournt it ; but David carried the head of Go- 
 liath into his own tent, but dedicated his 
 sword to God [at the tabernacle]. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SAUL ENVIES DAVID FOR HIS GLORIOUS SUC- 
 CESS, AND TAKES AN OCCASION OF ENTRAP- 
 PING HIM, FROM THE PROMISE HE MADE 
 HIM OF GIVING HIM HIS DAUGHTER IN 
 MARRIAGE; BUT THIS UPON CONDITION OF 
 HIS BRINGING HIM SIX HUNDRED HEADS 
 OF THE PHILISTINES, 
 
 § I, Now the women were an occasion of 
 Saul's envy and hatred to David ; for they 
 came to meet their victorious army with cym- 
 bals and drums, and all demonstrations of 
 joy, and sang thus ; the wives said, that " Saul 
 has slain his many thousands of the Philis- 
 tines :" tha virgins replied, that " David has 
 slain his ten thousands." Now, when the 
 king heard them singing thus, arM that he 
 had himself the smallest share in their com- 
 mendations, and the greater number, the ten 
 thousands, were ascribed to the young man : 
 and when he considered with himseif that 
 there was nothing more wanting to David, 
 after such a mighty applause, but the king- 
 dom, he began to De afraid and suspicious 
 of David. Accordingly he removed him 
 from the station he was in before, for he 
 Wis his armour-bearer, which, out of feftT, 
 
163 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK vr. 
 
 seemed to him much too near a station for 
 him; and so he made him captain over a thou- 
 sand, and bestowed on him a post better 
 indeed in itself, but, as he thought, more for 
 his own security ; for he had a mind to send 
 him against the enemy, and into battles, as 
 hoping he would be slain in such dangerous 
 conflicts. 
 
 2. But Da,vid had God going along with 
 him, whithersoever he went, and accordingly 
 he greatly prospered in his undertakings, and 
 it was visible that he had mighty success, in- 
 somuch that Saul's daughter, who was still a 
 virgin, fell in love with him; and her affec- 
 tion so far prevailed over her, that it could 
 not be concealed, and her father became ac- 
 quainted with it. Now Saul heard this gladly, 
 as intending to make use of it for a snare 
 against David, and he hoped that it would 
 prove the cause of destruction and of hazard 
 to him ; so he told those that informed him 
 of his daughter's affection, that he would will- 
 ingly give David the virgin in marriage, and 
 said, " I engage myself to marry my daughter 
 to him if he will bring me six hundred heads 
 of my enemies,* supposing that when a re- 
 ward so ample was proposed to him, and 
 when he should aim to get him great glory, 
 by undertaking a thing so dangerous and in- 
 credible, he would immediately set about it, 
 and so perish by the Phihstines; and my de- 
 signs about him will succeed finely to my 
 mind, for I shall be freed from him, and get 
 him slain, not by myself, but by another 
 man." So he gave order to his servants to 
 try how David would relish this proposal of 
 marrying the damsel. Accordingly, they 
 began to speak thus to him : That king Saul 
 loved him, as well as did all the people, 
 and that he was desirous of his affinity by the 
 marriage of this damsel. To which he gave 
 this answer: — " Seemeth it to you a fight 
 thing to be made the king's son-in-law? It 
 does not seem so to me, especially when I am 
 one of a family that is low, and without any 
 glory or honour." Now when Saul was in- 
 formed by his servants what answer David 
 had made, he said, — " Tell him, that I do not 
 want any money nor dowry from him, which 
 would be rather to set my daughter to sale 
 than to give her in marriage ; but I desire 
 oidy such a son-in-law as hath in him for- 
 titude, and all other kinds of virtue," of which 
 he saw David was possessed, and that his de- 
 sire was to receive of him, on account of his 
 marrying his daughter, neither gold nor silver, 
 nor that he should brmg such wealth out 
 
 • JoMphus says thrice in this chapter, and twice after- 
 wards, chap, xi. sect. 2, and b. vii. ch. i. sect. 4. i. e. five 
 times in all, that Saul required not a bare hundred ol 
 the foreskins of the Philistines, but six hundred of their 
 keads. The septuagint have li foreskins, but the Syria( 
 »Dd Arabiac JMX). Now that these were not /or»«A.in». 
 With our other copies, but A*y/f, with Josepiiun'H c..p» 
 •MiDS somewhat probablr, from I Sam. sxix. 1; wlir- 
 •tleoDiessay that ii wus will, tlir l„.aiU..l si.cr l'iiili«lii • 
 max David tuigUt reconcile bim(«elf to hi» nmsitf-r. ■.^^• 
 
 of his father's house, but only so Me revenge 
 on the Philistines, and indeed six hundred of 
 their heads, than which a more desirable or a 
 more glorious present could not be brought 
 him ; and that he had much rather obtain thi.s 
 than any of the accustomed dowries for his 
 daughter, viz. that she should be married to 
 a man of that character, and to one who had 
 a testimony as having conquered his enemies. 
 3. When these words of Saul were brought 
 to David, he was pleased with them, and sup- 
 posed that Saul was rejilly desirous of this 
 affinity with him; so that without bearing to 
 deliberate any longer, or casting about in his 
 mind whether what was proposed was pos- 
 sible, or was difficult or not, he and his com- 
 panions immediately set upon the enemy, and 
 went about doing what was proposed as the 
 condition of the marriage. Accordingly, be- 
 cause it was God who made all things easy 
 and possible to David, he slew many [of the 
 Philistines], and cut off the heads of six hun- 
 dred of them, and came to the king, and by 
 showing him these heads of the Philistines, 
 required that he might have his daughter in 
 marriage. Accordingly, Saul, having no way 
 of getting off his engagements, as thinking it 
 a base thing either to seem a liar when he 
 promised him this marriage, or to appear to 
 have acted treacherously by him, in putting 
 him upon what was in a manner impossible, 
 in order to have him slain, he gave him his 
 daughter in marriage : her name was Michal. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HOW DAVID, UPON SAUL's LAYING SNARES FOR 
 HIM, DID YET ESCAPE THE DANGERS HE 
 WAS IN, BY THE AFFECTION AND CARE OK 
 JONATHAN, AND THE CONTRIVANCES (F 
 HIS WIFE MICHAL; AND HOW HE CAME TO 
 SAMUEL THE PROPHET. 
 
 § 1. However, Saul was not disposed to per- 
 severe long in the state wherein he was; for 
 when he saw that David v;:.: in great esteem 
 both with God and with the multitude, he 
 was afraid; and being not able to conceal his 
 fear as concerning great things, his kingdom 
 and his life, to be deprived of either of which 
 was a very great calamity, he resolved to have 
 David slain; and commanded his son Jona- 
 than and his most faithful servant to kill him : 
 but Jonathan wondered at his father's change 
 with relation to David, that it should be made 
 to so great a degree, from showing him nc 
 small good- will, to contrive how to have hinc 
 killed. Now, because he loved the young 
 mail, and reverenced him for his virtue, he 
 informed him of the secret charge bis father 
 had given, and what his intentions were con- 
 ceriiiui,' him. However, he advised him to 
 take cure miki be absent the next day, for that 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 169 
 
 he would salute his father, and, if he met with 
 & favourable opportunity, he would discourse 
 with him about him, and learn the cause of 
 his disgust, and show how little ground there 
 was for it, and that for it he ought not to kill 
 a man that had done so many good things to 
 the multitude, and had been a benefactor to 
 himself, on account of which he ought in rea- 
 son to obtain pardon, had he been guilty of 
 the greatest crimes: and " I will then inform 
 thee of my father's resolution." Accordingly 
 David complied with such an advantageous 
 advice, and kept himself then out of the 
 king's sight. 
 
 2. On the next day Jonathan came to Saul, 
 as soon as he saw him in a cheerful and joy- 
 ful disposition, and began to introduce a dis- 
 course about David : " What unjust action, 
 O father, either little or great, hast thou 
 found so exceptionable in David, as to induce 
 thee to order us to slay a man who hath been 
 of great advantage to thy own preservation, 
 and of still greater to the punishment of the 
 Philistines? A man who hath delivered the 
 people of the Hebrews from reproach and de- 
 rision, which they underwent for forty days 
 together, when he alone had courage enough 
 to sustain the challenge of the adversary, and 
 after that brought as many heads of our ene- 
 nnies as he was appointed to bring, and had, 
 as a reward for the same, my sister in mar- 
 riage ; insomuch that his death would be very 
 sorrowful to us, not only on account of his 
 virtue, but on account of the nearness of our 
 relation; for thy daughter must be injured at 
 the same time that he is slain, and must be 
 obliged to experience widowhood before she ' 
 can come to enjoy any advantage from their 
 mutual conversation. Consider these things, 
 and change your miiid to a more merciful 
 temper, and do no mischief to a man who, in 
 the first place, hath done us the greatest 
 kindness of preserving thee; for when an 
 evil spirit and demons had seized upon thee, 
 he cast them out, and procured rest to thy 
 soul from their incursions : and, in the se- 
 cond place, hath avenged us of our enemies ; 
 for it is a base thing to forget such benefits." 
 So Saul was pacified with these words ; and 
 Rware to his son that he would do David no 
 harm ; for a righteous discourse proved too 
 hard for the king's anger and fear. So Jo- 
 nathan sent for David, and brought him good 
 news from his father, that he was to be pre- 
 served. He also brought him to his father ; 
 and David continued with the king as for- 
 merly. 
 
 3. About this time it was that, upon the 
 Philistines making a new expedition against 
 the Hebrews, Saul sent DaVid with an army 
 to fight with them ; and joining battle with 
 them he slew many of them, and after his vic- 
 tory he returned to the king. But his recep- 
 tion by Saul was not as he expected upon 
 such success, for be \gaa grieved at his pros- 
 
 perity, because he thought he would be more 
 dangerous to him by having acted so glorious- 
 ly: but when the demoniacal spirit came 
 upon him, and put him into disorder, and 
 disturbed him, he called for David into his 
 bed-chamber wherein he lay, and having a 
 spear in his hand, he ordered him to charm 
 him with playing on his harp, and with sing- 
 ing hymns ; which when David did at his 
 command, he with great force threw the spear 
 at him ; but David was aware of it before it 
 came, and avoided it, and fled to his own 
 house, and abode there all that day. 
 
 4. But at night the king sent officers, and 
 commanded that he should be watched till the 
 morning, lest he should get quite away, that 
 he might come into the judgoient-hall, and so 
 might be delivered up, and condemned and 
 slain. But when Michal, David's wife, the 
 king's daughter, understood what her father 
 designed, she came to her husband, as having 
 small hopes of his deliverance, and as greatly 
 concerned about her own life also, for she 
 could not bear to live in case she were deprived 
 of him ; and she said, — " Let not the sun 
 find thee here when it rises, for if it do, that 
 will be the last time it will see thee: fly away 
 then while the night may afford the opportuni- 
 ty, and may God lengthen it for thy sakel 
 for know this, that if my father find thee, thou 
 art a dead man." So she let him down by a 
 cord out of the windo'.v, and saved him: and 
 after she had done so, she fitted up a bed for 
 him as if he were sick, and put under the 
 bed-clothes a goat's liver;* and when her 
 father, as soon as it was day, sent to seize 
 David, she said to those that were there. That 
 he had not been well that night, and showed 
 them the bed covered, and made them believe, 
 by the leaping of the liver, which caused the 
 bed-clothes to move also, that David breathed 
 like one that was asthmatic. So when those 
 that were sent told Saul that David had not 
 been well in the night, he ordered him to be 
 brought in that condition, for he intended to 
 kill him. Now when they came, and un- 
 covered the bed, and found out the woman's 
 contrivance, they told it to the king; and 
 when her father complained of her that she 
 had saved his enemy, and had put a trick upon 
 himself, she invented this plausible defence 
 for herself, and said. That when he threatened 
 to kill her, she lent him her assistance for 
 his preservation, out of fear ; for which her 
 assistance she ought to be forgiven, because 
 it was not done of her own free choice, but 
 out of necessity: '* For," said she, " I do not 
 suppose that thou wast so zealous to kill thy 
 
 • Since the modern Jews have lost the si^if!cation 
 of the Hebrew word here used, cebir ; and since the 
 Ixxii. as well as Josephus, render it the liver of the eoat; 
 and since this rendering, and Josephus's account, are 
 here so much more clear and probable than those of 
 others, it is almost unaccountable that our commenta- 
 tors should so mucb as hesitate about its true interpre- 
 tation.' 
 
170 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK VI 
 
 enemy, as thou wast that I should be saved." 
 Accordingly, Saul forgave the damsel; hut 
 David, when he had escaped this danger, came 
 to the prophet Samuel to Ramah, and told 
 him what snares the king had laid for him, 
 and how he was very near to death by Saul's 
 throwing a spear at him, although he had 
 been no way guilty with relation to him, nor 
 had he been cowardly in his battles with his 
 enemies, but had succeeded well in them all, 
 by God's assistance; which thing was indeed 
 the cause of Saul's hatred to David. 
 
 5. When the prophet was made acquainted 
 with the unjust proceedings of the king, he 
 left the city Ramah, and took David -with him, 
 to a cert-ain place called Naioth, and there he 
 abode with him. But when it was told Saul 
 that David was with the prophet, he sent sol- 
 diers to him, and ordered them to take him, 
 and bring him to him; and when they came 
 to Samuel, and found there a congregation of 
 prophets, they became partakers of the Divine 
 Spirit, and began to prophesy; which when 
 Saul heard of, he sent others to David, who 
 prophesying in like manner as did the first, he 
 again sent others ; which third sort prophesy- 
 ing also, at last he was angry, and went thither 
 in great haste himself; and when he was 
 just by the place, Samuel, before he saw him, 
 made him prophesy also. And when Saul 
 came to him, he was disordered in mind,* and 
 under the vehement agitation of a spirit; and, 
 putting off his garments,! he fell dowTi, and 
 lay on the ground all that day and night, in 
 the presence of Samuel and David. 
 
 6. And David went thence, and came to 
 Jonathan, the son of Saul, and lamented to 
 him what snares were laid for him by his 
 father; and said, that though he had been 
 guilty of no evil, nor had offended against 
 him, yet he was very zealous to get him killed. 
 Hereupon Jonathan exhorted him not to give 
 credit to such his own stispicions, nor to the 
 calumnies of those that raised those reports, 
 if there were any that did so, but to depend 
 
 • These riolent and wild s^tations of Saul seem to 
 me to have been no other than demoniacal) and that 
 the game demon which used to seize him, since he was 
 forsaken of God, and which the divine hymns and 
 psalms which were sung to the harp by David used to 
 expel, was now in a judicial way brought upon him, not 
 only in order to disappoint his intentions against inno- 
 cent David, but to expose him to the laiighter and con- 
 tempt of all that saw him, or heard of those agitations; 
 such violent and wild agitations bfini; never observed in 
 true prophets when they were under the inspiration of 
 the Spirit of God. Our other copies, which say the 
 Spirit of God came upon him, seem not so rii;ht here as 
 Josephus's copy, which mentions nothing of God at ail 
 tior does Josephus seem to ascribe this impulse and 
 ecstacy of Saul to any other than to his old demoniacal 
 •pint, which on all accounts appears the most probal)le. 
 Nor does the former description of Saul's real inspiration 
 hy the Divine Spirit, 1 .Sara. x. 9— 12; Antiq. b. vi. 
 ebap. It. sect 2, which was l)efore he was become 
 wicked, well agree with the description before us. 
 
 + What is meant by SauPs lying down naked nil that 
 day, and all that night, I Sam xix- 24, and whether any 
 more than laying aside his royal apparel, or nijper gar- 
 ments, as Josephus seems to understand it, is by no means 
 eertaia. Sae tlie note oa Antii. b. viii. cit 14, secU i- 
 
 on him, and take courage; for that his fa. 
 ther had no such intentions, since he woultf 
 have acquainted him with that matter, and 
 have taken his advice, had it been so, as he 
 used to consult with him in common when be 
 acted in other affairs. But David sware to 
 him that so it was; and he desired him rather 
 to believe him, and to provide for his safety, 
 than to despise what he, with great sincerity^ 
 told him : that he would believe what he said, 
 when he should either see him killed himself, 
 or learn it upon inquiry from others: and that 
 the reason why his father did not tell him of 
 these things, was this, that he knew of the 
 friendship and affection that he bore towards 
 him. 
 
 7. Hereupon, when Jonathan found that 
 this intention of Saul was so well attested, he 
 asked him what he would have him do for 
 him? To which David replied, " I am sen- 
 sible that thou art willing to gratify me in 
 every thing, and procure me what I desire. 
 Now, to-morrow is the new moon, and I was 
 accustomed to sit down then with the king at 
 supper: now, if it seem good to thee, I will 
 go out of the city, and conceal myself pri- 
 vately there; and if Saul inquire why I am 
 absent, tell him that I am gone to my own city 
 Bethlehem, to keep a festival with my own 
 tribe; and add this also, that thou gavest me 
 leave so to do. And if he say, as is usually 
 said in the case of friends that are gone abroad, 
 It is well that he went, then assure thyself that 
 no latent mischief or enmity may be feared at 
 his hand ; but if he answer other \\ise, that will 
 be a sure sign that he hath some designs against 
 me. Accordingly thou shalt inform me of thy 
 father's inclinations; and that, out of pity to 
 my case and out of thy friendship for me, as 
 instances of which friendship thou hast vouch- 
 safed to accept of the assurances of my love 
 to thee, and to give the like assurances to me, 
 that is, those of a master to his servant; but 
 if thou discoverest any wickedness in me, do 
 thou prevent thy father, and kill me thyself." 
 
 8. But Jonathan heard these Isjst words 
 with indignation, and promised to do what he 
 desired of him, and to inform him if his fa- 
 ther's answer implied any thing of a melan- 
 choly nature, and any enmity against him. And 
 that he might the more firmly depend upon 
 him, he took him out into the open field, into 
 the pure air, and sware that he would neglect 
 nothing that might tend to the preservation of 
 David ; and he said, " 1 appeal to that God, 
 who, as thou seest, is diffused everywhere, and 
 knoweth this intention of mine, before I ex- 
 plain it in words, as the witness of this my 
 covenant with thee, that I will not leave off 
 to make frequeijt trials of the purpose of my 
 fither till I learn whether there be any lurking 
 distemper in the most secret parts of his soul; 
 and when I have learnt it, I will not conceal 
 it from tlice, l)ut will discover it to thee, 
 whether he be gently or peevi'»hly disposed; fof 
 
OH A p. XIT. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 171 
 
 this God himself knows, that I pray he may 
 always be with thee, for he is with thee now, 
 and will not forsake thee, and will make thee 
 superior to thine enemies, whether ray father 
 be one of them, or whether I myself be such. 
 Do thou only remember what we now do; 
 and if it fall out that I die, preserve my chil- 
 dren alive, and requite what kindness thou 
 hast now received, to them." When he had 
 thus sworn, he dismissed David, bidding him 
 po to a certain place of that plain wherein he 
 used to perform his exercises ; for that, as 
 soon as be knew the mind of his father, he 
 would come thither to him, with one servant 
 only; ** and if," says he, •' I shoot three darts 
 at the mark, and then bid my servant to carry 
 these three darts away, for they are before him, 
 — know thou that there is no mischief to be 
 feared from my father; but if thou hearest 
 aie say the contrary, expect the contrary from 
 the king. However, thou shalt gain security 
 by ray means, and shalt by no means suffer 
 any harm ; but see thou dost not forget what 
 I have desired of thee in the time of thy pros- 
 perity, and be serviceable to my children." 
 Now David, when he had received these as- 
 surances from Jonathan, went his way to the 
 place appointed. 
 
 9. But on the next day, which was the new 
 moon, the king, when he had purified himself, 
 as the custom was, came to supper; and when 
 there sat by him his son Jonathan on his right 
 hand, and A.bner, the captain of his host, on 
 the other hand, he sjyv David's seat was empty, 
 but said nothing, supposing that he bad not 
 purified himself since he had accompanied 
 with his wife, and so could not be present ; 
 but when he saw that he was not there the 
 second day of the month neither, he inquired 
 of his son Jonathan why the son of Jesse did 
 not come to the supper and the feast, neither 
 the day before nor that day. So Jonathan 
 said that he was gone, according to the agree- 
 ment between them, to his own city, where 
 his tribe kept a festival, and that by his per- 
 mission : that he also invited him to come to 
 their sacrifice; " and," says Jonathan, " if thou 
 wilt give me leave, I will go thither, for thou 
 knowest the good-will that I bear him;" and 
 then it was that Jonathan understood his fa- 
 ther's hatred to David, and plainly saw his 
 entire disposition ; for Saul could not restrain 
 his anger, but reproached Jonathan, and called 
 him the son of a runagate, and an enemy ; 
 and said he was a partner with David, and his 
 assistant, and that by his behaviour he showed 
 he had no regard to himself, or to his mother, 
 and would not be persuaded of this, — that' 
 while David is alive, their kingdom was not 
 secure to them ; yet did he bid him send for 
 him, that he might be punished: and when 
 Jonathan said in answer, " What hath he 
 done that thou wilt punish him?" Saul no 
 longer contented himself to express his anger 
 ia bare words, but snatched up his spear, and 
 
 leaped upon him, and was desirous to kill b'lin. 
 He did not indeed do what he intended, be- 
 cause he was hindered by his friends ; but i: 
 appeared plainly to his son that he bated Da- 
 vid, and greatly desired to dispatch him, inso- 
 much that he had almost slain his son with hi^ 
 own hands on his account. 
 
 10. And then it was that the king's son 
 rose hastily from supper; and being unable to 
 admit any thing into his mouth for grief, ht 
 wept all night, both because he had himself 
 been near destruction, and because the death 
 of David was determined ; but as soon as it 
 was day, he went out into the plain that was 
 before the city, as going to perform his exer- 
 cises, but in reality to inform his friend what 
 disposition his father was in towards him, as 
 he had agreed with him to do; and when Jona- 
 than had done what had been thus agreed, he 
 dismissed his servant that followed him, to re- 
 turn to the city; but he himself went into the 
 desert, and came into his presence, and com- 
 muned with him. So David appeared and fell 
 at Jonathan's feet, and bowed down to him, and 
 called him the preserver of his soul; but he 
 lifted him up from the earth, and they mutu- 
 ally embraced one another, and made a long 
 greeting, and that not without tears. They 
 also lamented their age, and that familiarity 
 which envy would deprive them of, and that 
 separation which must now be expected, which 
 seemed to them no better than death itself 
 So recollecting themselves at length from their 
 lamentation, and exhorting one another to be 
 mindful of the oaths they had sworn to each 
 other, they parted asunder. 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 HOW DAVID FLED TO AHIMELECH, AND AFTER- 
 WARDS TO THE KINGS OF THE PHILISTINES, 
 AND OF THE MOABITES ; AND HOW SAUL 
 SLEW AHIMELECH AND HIS FAMILY. 
 
 § 1. But David fled from the king, and that 
 death he was in danger of by him, and came 
 to the city Nob, to Ahimelech the priest, 
 who, when he saw him coming all alone, anc 
 neither a friend nor a servant with him, ht 
 wondered at it, and desired to learn of bin: 
 the cause why there was nobody with him. 
 To which David answered. That the king 
 had commanded him to do a certain thing 
 that was to be kept secret, to which, if he had 
 a mind to know so much, he had no occasion 
 for any one to accompany him ; *' however, 
 I have ordered my servants to meet me at 
 such and such a place." So he desired him to 
 let him have somewhat to eat ; and that in 
 case he would supply him, he would act the 
 part of a friend, and be assisting to the busi- 
 ness he was now about: and when he had 
 obtained what he desired, he also asked him 
 
172 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JE\\'S, 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 whether he had any weapons with him, either 
 sword or spear. Now there was at Nob a 
 servant of Saul, by birth a Syrian, whose name 
 was Doeg, one that kept the king's mules. 
 The high-priest said that he had no such 
 weapons; but, he added, "Here is the sword 
 of Goliath, which, when thou hadst slain the 
 Philistine, thou didst dedicate to God." 
 
 2. When David had received the sword, 
 he fled out of the country of the Hebrews 
 into that of the Philistines, over which Achish 
 reigned; and when the king's servants knew 
 him, and he was made kno\vn to the king 
 himself, the servants informing him that he 
 was that David who had killed many ten 
 thousands of the Philistines, David was afraid 
 lest the king should put him to death, and 
 that he should experience that danger from 
 him which he had escaped from Saul; so he 
 pretended to be distracted and mad, so that 
 his spittle ran out of his mouth ; and he did 
 other the like actions before the king of Gath, 
 which might make him believe that they pro- 
 ceeded from such a distemper. Accordingly,, 
 the king was very angry at his servants that 
 they had brought him a madman, and he gave 
 orders that they should eject David imme- 
 diately [out of the city]. 
 
 3. So when David had escaped in this 
 manner out of Gath, he came to the tribe of 
 Judah, and abode in a cave by the city of 
 Adullam. Then it was that he sent to his 
 brethren, and informed them where he was, 
 who then came to him with all their kindred, 
 and as many others as were either in want or 
 in fear of king Saul, came and made a body 
 together, and told him they were ready to 
 obey his orders; they were in all about four 
 hundred. Whereupon he took courage, rtdw 
 such a force and assistance was come to him ; 
 so he removed thence, and came to the king 
 of the Moabites, and desired him to entertain 
 his parents in his country while the issue of 
 his affairs were in such an imcertain condition. 
 The king granted him this favour, and paid 
 great resj^ect to David's parents all the time 
 they were with him. 
 
 4. As for himself, upon the prophet's com- 
 manding hijQ to leave the desert, and to go 
 into the portion of the tribe of Judah, and 
 abide there, he complied therswivh ; and com- 
 ing to the city Hareth, which was in that 
 tribe, he remained there. Now >S'hen Saul 
 heard that David had been seen with a ajulti- 
 tude about him, he fell into no small distur- 
 bance and trouble ; but as he knew that David 
 was a bold and courageous man, he suspected 
 that somewhat extraoi dinary would appear 
 from him, and that openly also, which would 
 make him weep and put him into distress; 
 so he called together to him his friends, and 
 his commanders, and the tribe from which he 
 was himself derived, to the hill where his pa- 
 lace was; and sitting upon a place called 
 Aronra, his courtiers that wer« ia di(piitaes, 
 
 and the gimnls of his body, being with hiiB, 
 he spake thus to them: — "You that are me' 
 of my own tribe, I conclude that you remem- 
 ber the benefits that I have bestowed upon 
 you, and that I have ma<le some of you 
 o\vners of land, and made yo\ commanders, 
 and bestowed posts of honour upon you, and 
 set some of you over the common people, and 
 others over the soldieKs; I ask you, therefoie. 
 Whether you expect greater and more dona- 
 tions from the son of Jesse ? for I know that 
 you are all inclinable to him (even my own 
 son Jonathan himself is of that opinion, and 
 persuades yoa to be ©f the same); for I am 
 not unacquainted with the oaths and the cove- 
 nants that are between him and David, and 
 that Jonathan is a counsellor, and an assistant 
 to those that conspire against me, and none ot 
 you are concerned about these things, but you 
 keep silence and watch, to see what will be 
 the upshot of these things." When the king 
 had made this speech, not one of the rest of 
 those that were present made any answer; 
 but Doeg the Syrian, who fed his mules, said, 
 that he saw David when he came to the city 
 Nob to Ahimelech the high-priest, and that 
 he learned future events by his prophesying; 
 that he received food from him, and the 
 sword of Goliath, and was conducted by him 
 vwth security to such as he desired to go to. 
 
 5. Saul, therefore, sent for the high-priest, 
 and for all his kindred, and said to them, 
 "What terrible or ungrateful thing hast thou 
 suffered from me, that fhou hast received the 
 son of Jesse, and hast bestowed on him both 
 food and weapons, when he was contriving 
 to get the kingdom! — and farther, Why didst 
 thou deliver oracles to him concerning futu- 
 rities? for thou couldst not be unacquainted 
 that he was 6ed away from me, and that he 
 hated my family." But the high-priest did 
 nat betake himself to deny what he had done, 
 but confessed bokily that he had supplied hina 
 with these things, not to gratify David, but 
 Saul himself: and he said, " I did not know 
 that he was thy adversary, but a servant of 
 thine, who was very faithful to thee, and a 
 captain over a thousand of thy soldiers, and, 
 what is more than these, thy son-in-law and 
 kinsman. Men do not choose to confer such 
 favours on their adversaries, but on those who 
 are esteemed to bear the highest good- will 
 and respect to them. Nor is this the first 
 time that I prophesied for him, but I have 
 done it often, and at other times, as well as 
 now. And when he told me that he was 
 sent by thee in great haste to do somewhat, ii 
 I had furnished L'm with nothing that he de* 
 sired, I should have thought that it was rather 
 in contradiction to thee thai: to him; where- 
 fore do not thou i*nte»tain nn;- il' opinion of 
 me, nor do thou have a suspicior^ o' what I 
 then thought an act of humanity, iVor what 
 is now told thee of David's atlonipts aji,"**iiist 
 thee, for 1 did then to him as to tby iru*>*^ 
 
CHAP. xir. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 173 
 
 and son-in-law, and captain of a thousand, 
 and not as to thine adversary." 
 
 6. When the high-priest had spoken thus, 
 he did not persuade Saul, his fear was so 
 prevalent, that he could not give credit to an 
 apology that was very just. So he commanded 
 his armed men that stood about him to kill 
 him, and all his kindred ; but as they durst 
 not touch the high-priest, but were more 
 afraid of disobeying God than the king, he 
 ordered Doeg the Syrian to kill them. Ac- 
 cordingly, he took to his assistance such 
 wicked men as were like himself, and slew 
 Ahimelech and all his family, who were in all 
 three hundred and eighty-five. Saul also 
 sent to Nob,* the city of the priests, and slew 
 all that were there, without sparing either 
 women or children, or any other age, and 
 b'lrnt it ; only there was one son of Ahime- 
 lech, whose name wasAbiathar, who escaped. 
 However, these things came to pass as God 
 had foretold to Eli the high-priest, when he 
 said that his posterity should be destroyed, on 
 account of the transgression of his two sons. 
 
 7. t Now this king Saul, by perpetrating 
 so barbarous a crime, and murdering the 
 whole family of the high-priestly dignity, by 
 having no pity of the infants, nor reverence 
 for the aged, and by overthrowing the city 
 which God had chosen for the property, and 
 for the support of the priests and prophets 
 which were there, and had ordained as the 
 only city allotted for the education of such 
 men, gives all to understand and consider the 
 disposition of men, that while they are private 
 persons, and in a low condition, because it 
 is not in their power to indulge nature, nor 
 to venture upon what they wish for, they are 
 equitable and moderate, and pursue nothing 
 but what is just, and bend their whole minds 
 and laboui's that way : then it is that they 
 have this belief about God, that he is present to 
 
 • This city Nob was not a city allotted to th-* priests, 
 nor had the prophets, that we know of, any particular 
 cities allotted them. It seems the tabernacle was now 
 at Nob. and probably a school of the propiiets was here 
 also. It was full two days' journey on foot from Jeru- 
 salem, I Sam. xxi. 5. The number of priests here slain 
 in Josephns. is three hundred and eighty-five, and but 
 eighty-five in our Hebrew copies; yet are they three 
 hundred and five in the septuagint. 1 prefer Josephus's 
 number, the Hebrew having, I suppose, only dropped 
 the hundreds, the other the tens. This city Nob seems 
 to have been the chief, or perhaps the only seat of the 
 family of Ithamar, which here perished, according to 
 God's former terrible threatenings to Eli, 1 Sam. iu 27 
 —36; iii. U — 18. See chap. xiv. sect 9, hereafter. 
 
 + This section contains an admirable reflection of Jo- 
 sephus concerning the general wickedness of men in great 
 authority, and the danger they are in of rejecting that re- 
 gard to justice and humanity, to Divine Providence and 
 the fear of God, which they either really had, or pre- 
 tended to have, while they wtre in a lower condition. 
 ft can never be too often perused by kings and great men. 
 nor hy those who expect to obtain such elevated dignities 
 stnong mankind. See the like reflections o!' oTir .lose- 
 phus, .Antiq. b. vii ch. i. sect. 5, at tbe en3 ; and b. viii. 
 ch. X. sect 2, at the beginning. They are to the ike 
 pnrport with one branch of \gur's prayev: • One Vmm 
 hove f required of tbee, deny it me not orf.tre f die. Give 
 nie not riclies, lest I l>e full, and deny thee, and say, 
 mbo ia the Lord ?» Prov. xxx. 7, 8, 9. 
 
 I all the actions of their lives, and that he does 
 not only see the actions that are done, but 
 clearly knows those their thoughts also, 
 whence those actions do arise: but when once 
 they are advanced into power and authority, 
 then they put off all such notions, and, as if 
 they were no others than actors upon a 
 theatre, their disguised parts and manners 
 and take up boldness, insolence, and a con "^^ 
 tempt of both human and divine laws, and 
 this at a time when they especially stand in 
 need of piety and righteousness, because they 
 are then most of all exposed to envy, and all 
 they think and all they say are in the view of 
 all men ; then it is that they become so inso- 
 lent in their actions, as though God saw them 
 no longer, or were afraid of them because of 
 their power : and whatsoever it is that they 
 either are afraid of by the rumours they hear, 
 or they hate by inclination, or they love with- 
 out reason, these seem to them to be authen- 
 tic, and firm, and true, and pleasing both to 
 men and to God ; but as to what will come 
 hereafter, they have not the least regard to it. 
 They raise those to honour indeed who have 
 been at a great deal of pains for them, and 
 after that honour they envy them ; and when 
 they have brought them into high dignity, 
 they do not only deprive them of what they 
 had obtained, but also on that very account 
 of their lives also, and that on wicked accu- 
 sations, and such as on account of their ex- 
 travagant nature are incredible. They also 
 punish men for their actions, not such as de- 
 serve condemnation, but from calumnies and 
 accusations without examination ; and this 
 extends not only to such as deserve to be pun- 
 islwd, but to as many as they are able to 
 kill. This reflection is openly confirmed to 
 us from the example of Saul, the son of 
 Kish, who was the first king who reigned af- 
 ter our aristocracy and government under the 
 judges were over; and that by his slaughter 
 of three hundred priests and prophets, on oc- 
 casion of his suspicion about Ahimelech, and 
 by the additional wickedness of the overthrow 
 of their city, and this as if he were endeavour- 
 ing in some sort to render the temple [taber- 
 nacle] destitute both of priests and prophets; 
 which endeavour he showed by slaying so 
 many of them, and not suffering the very city 
 belonging to them to remain, that no others 
 might succeed thenj. 
 
 8. But Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, 
 who alone could be saved out of the family 
 of priests slain by Saul, fled to David, and 
 informed him of the calamity that had befallen 
 their family, and of the slaughter of his fa- 
 ther : who hereupon said. He was not un- 
 ipprized of what would follow with relation 
 to tliein when he saw Doeg there ; for he 
 had then a suspicion that the high-priest 
 would be falsely accused by him to the king; 
 and he blamed himself as having been the 
 cause of this misfortune. But he dssired him 
 
174 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI, 
 
 to stay tliere, and abide with him, as in a 
 place where he might be better concealed than 
 anywhere a.80. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 now DA.VID, WHEN HE HAD TWICE THE OP- 
 POKTUNITY OF KILLING SAUL, DID NOT KILL 
 HIM. ALSO, CONCERNING THE DEATH OF 
 SAMUEL AND NABAL. 
 
 § 1. About this time it was that David heard 
 how the Philistines had made an inroad into 
 the country of Keilah, and robbed it; so he 
 offered himself to fight against them, if God, 
 when he should be consulted by the prophet, 
 would grant him the victory. And when the 
 prophet said that God gave a signal of victory, 
 he made a sudden onset upon the Philistines 
 with his companions, and he shed a great deal 
 of their blood, and carried off their prey, and 
 staid with the inhabitants of Keilah till they had 
 securely gathered in their corn and their fruits. 
 However, it was told Saul the king that David 
 was with the men of Keilah ; for what had 
 been done, and the great success that had 
 attended him, were not confined among the 
 people where the things were done, but the 
 fame of it went all abroad, and came to the 
 hearing of others, and both the fact as it stood 
 and the author of the fact, were carried to the 
 king's ears. Then was Saul glad when he 
 heard David was in Keilah: and he said, "God 
 hath now put him into my hands, since he hath 
 obliged him to come into a city that hath walls, 
 and gates, and bars;" so he commanded all 
 the people to set upon Keilah suddenly, and, 
 when they had besieged and taken it, to kill 
 D<ivid. But when David perceived this, and 
 learned of God that if he staid there the men 
 of Keilah would deliver him up to Saul, he 
 took his four hundred men and retired into a 
 desert that was over against a city called En-, 
 gedi. So that when the king heard he was 
 fled away from the men of Keilah, he left oil 
 bis expedition against him. 
 
 2. Then David removed thence, and came 
 to a certain place called the New Place, be- 
 longing to Ziph; where Jonathan, the son of 
 Saul, came to him, and saluted him, and ex- 
 horted him to be of good courage, and to hope 
 well as to his condition hereafter, and not to 
 despond at his present circumstances, for that 
 he should be king, and have all the forces of 
 the Hebrews uncler him: he told him that 
 such happiness uses to come with great labour 
 and pains: they also took oaths, that they 
 would, all their lives long, continue in good- 
 will and fideli<:y one to another; and he called 
 God to witn«^«s as to what execrations he had 
 made upon himself if he should transgress his 
 covenant, and should change to a contrary be- 
 haviour. So Jon.'than left him there, having 
 rendeie'1 his caret and fears somewhat lighter. 
 
 and returned home. Now the men of Ziph, 
 to gratify Saul, informed him that David abode 
 with them, and [assured him] that if he would 
 come to them, they would deliver him up, for 
 that if the king would seize on the straits of 
 Ziph, David would not escape to any other 
 people. So the king commended them, and 
 confessed that he had reason to thank them, 
 because they had given him information of 
 his enemy; and he promised them, that it 
 should not be long ere he would requite their 
 kindness. He also sent men to seek for David, 
 and to search the wilderness wherein he was; 
 and he promised that he himself would follow 
 them. Accordingly they went before the king, 
 to hunt for and to catch David, and used en- 
 deavours not only to show their good-will to 
 Saul, by informing him where his enemy was, 
 but to evidence the same more plainly by de- 
 livering him up into his power. But these 
 men failed of those their unjust and wicked 
 desires, who, while they underwent no hazard 
 by not discovering such an ambition of reveal- 
 ing this to Saul, yet did they falsely accuse 
 and promise to deliver up a man beloved of 
 God, and one that was unjustly sought after 
 to be put to death, and one that might other- 
 wise have lain concealed, and this out of flat- 
 tery, and expectation of gain from the king; 
 for when David was apprised of the malignant 
 intentions of the men of Ziph, and the approach 
 of Saul, he left the Straits of that country, and 
 fled to the great rock that was in the wilder- 
 ness of Maon. 
 
 3. Hereupon Saul made haste to pursue 
 him thither; for, as he was marching, he 
 learned that David was gone away from the 
 Straits of Ziph, and Saul removed to the other 
 side of the rock. But the report that the 
 Philistines had again made an incursion into 
 the country of the Hebrews, called Saul ano- 
 ther way from the pursuit of David, when 
 he was ready to be caught; for he returned 
 back again to oppose those Philistines, who 
 were naturally their ene;nies, as judging it 
 more necessary to avenge himself of them 
 than to take a great deal of pains to catch an 
 enemy of his own, and to overlook the ravage 
 that was made in the land. 
 
 4. And by this means David unexpectedly 
 escaped out of the danger he was in, and came 
 to the Straits of Engedi ; and when Saul had 
 driven the Philistines out of the land, there 
 came some messengers, who told him that 
 David abode within the bounds of Engedi; 
 so he took three thousand chosen men that 
 were armed, and made haste to him; and 
 when he was not far from those places, he 
 saw a deep and hollow cave by the way-side; 
 it was open to a great length and breadth, and 
 there it wa^ that David with his four hundred 
 men were concealed. When therefore he bad 
 occasion to ease nature, he entered into it by 
 himself alone; and being seen by one of D(u 
 vUVa coiiij anions, wul be that saw him saying 
 
CHAP. Xltl, 
 
 ANTIOUfTIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 175 
 
 to hira tbat he had now, by God's providence, 
 an opportunity of avenging himself of his ad- 
 versary; and advising him to cut off his head, 
 and so deliver himself out of that tedious wan- 
 dering condition, and the distress he was in, 
 he rose up and only cut off the skirt of that 
 g-arment which Saul had on ; but he soon re- 
 pented of what he had done; and said it was 
 not right to kill hira that was his master, and 
 one whom God had thought worthy of the 
 kingdom : "for that although he were wickedly 
 disposed towards us, yet does it not behove 
 me to be so disposed towards him." But when 
 Saul had left the cave, David came near and 
 cried out aloud, and desired Saul to hear him ; 
 whereupon the king turned his face back, and 
 David, according to custom, fell down on his 
 face before the king, and bowed to him; and 
 said, '* O king, thou oughtest not to hearken 
 to wicked men, nor to such as forge calum- 
 nies, nor to gratify them so far as to believe 
 what they say, nor to entertain suspicions of 
 such as are your best friends, but to judge of 
 the dispositions of all men by their actions ; 
 for calumny deludes men, but men's own ac- 
 tions are a clear demonstration of their kind- 
 ness. Words indeed, in their own nature, 
 may be either true or false, but men's actions 
 expose their intentions nakedly to our view. 
 By these, therefore, it will be well for thee to 
 believe me, as to my regard to thee and to thy 
 house, and not to believe those that frame such 
 accusations against me as never came into my 
 mind,, nor are possible to be executed, and do 
 this farther by pursuing after my life, and 
 iiHve no concern either day or night, but how 
 to compass my life and to murder me, which 
 thing I think thou dost unjustly4)rosecute ; 
 for howcomes it about that thou hast embraced 
 this false opinion about me, as if I had a 
 desire to kill thee? — or how canst thou escape 
 the crime of impiety towards God, when thou 
 wi.shest thou couldst kill, and deemest thine 
 adversary a man who had it in his power this 
 day to avenge himself, and to punish thee, 
 but would not do it? — nor make use of such 
 an opportunity, which, if it had fallen out to 
 thee against me, thou hadst not let it slip, for 
 rt'hen I cut off the skirt of thy garment, I 
 could have done the same to thy head." So 
 he showed hira the piece of his garment, and 
 thereby made him agree to what he said 
 to be true ; and added, " I, for certain, have 
 abstained from taking a just revenge upon 
 thee, yet art thou not ashamed to prosecute 
 me with unjust hatred.* May God do jus- 
 tise and determine about each of our disposi- 
 tions!" — But Saul was amazed at the strange 
 delivery he had received ; and, being greatly 
 affected with the moderation and the disposi- 
 
 • The phrase in David's speech to Saul, as set down 
 in Josephus, that he had ahstaine 1 from just revengfe, 
 puts me in mind of the tike vvonU in the Apo>itolicul 
 Constitutions, b. vii. rh. ii. " That revenge is not evil, 
 bat that patie ipore honourah.'e." 
 
 tion of the young man, he groaned; and when 
 David had done the same, the king answereu 
 that he had the justest occasion to groar., 
 *' for thou hast been the author of good to 
 me, as I have been the author of calamity to 
 thee ; and thou hast demonstrated this day, 
 that thou possessest the righteousness of the 
 ancients, who determined that men ought to 
 save their enemies, though they caught them 
 in a desert place. I am now persuaded that 
 God reserves the kingdom for thee, and that 
 thou wilt obtain the dominion over all the 
 Hebrews. Give me then assurances upon 
 oath, That thou wilt not root out my family, 
 nor, out of remembrance of what evil I have 
 done thee, destroy my posterity, but save and 
 preserve my house." So David sware as he 
 desired, and sent back Saul to his own king- 
 dom ; but he, and those that were with him, 
 went up the Straits of Mastheroth. 
 
 5. About this time Samuel the prophet 
 died. He was a man whom the Hebrews ho- 
 noured in an extraordinary degree ; for that 
 lamentation which the people made for him, 
 and this during a long time, manifested his 
 virtue, and the affection which the people bore 
 for him; as also did the solemnity and concern 
 that appeared about his funeral, and about the 
 complete observation of all his funeral rites. 
 They buried him in his own city of Ramah ; 
 and wept for him a very great number of days, 
 not looking on it as a sorrow for the death of 
 another man, but as that in which they were 
 every one themselves concerned. He was a 
 righteous man, and gentle in his nature ; and 
 on that account he was very dear to God. 
 Now he governed and presided over the peo- 
 ple alone, after the death of Eli the high- 
 priest, twelve years, and eighteen years toge- 
 ther with Saul the king. And thus we have 
 finished the history of Samuel. 
 
 6. There was a man that was a Ziphite, of 
 the city of Maon, who was rich, and had a 
 vast number of cattle ; for he fed a flock of 
 three thousand sheep, and another flock of a 
 thousand goats. Now David had charged his 
 associates to keep these flocks without hurt 
 and without damage, and to do them no mis- 
 chief, neither out of covetousness, nor because 
 they were in want, nor because they were in 
 the wilderness, and so could not easily be dis- 
 covered, but to esteem freedom from injustice 
 above all other motives, and to look upon the 
 touching of what belonged to another man as 
 a horrible crime, and contrary to the will of 
 God. These were the instructions he gave, 
 thinking that the favours he granted this man 
 were granted to a good man, and one that de- 
 served to have such care taken of his affairs. 
 This man was Nabal, for that was his name 
 — a harsh man, and of a vfery wicked life; 
 being like a cynic in the course of his behn- 
 viour, but still had obtained for his wife a w.>. 
 man of a good character, wise and handson; 
 To this Nabal, therefore, David sent tea iiicJ 
 
i7(5 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 cf his attendants at the time when he sheared 
 nis sheep, and by them saluted him ; and also 
 wished he might do what he now did for many 
 years to come, but desired him to malce him a 
 present of what he was able to give him, since 
 he had, to be sure, learned from his shepherds 
 that we had done them no injury, but had been 
 their guardians a long time together, while we 
 continued in the wilderness; and he assured 
 him he should never repent of giving any 
 thing to David. When the messengers had 
 carried this naessage to Nabal, he accosted 
 them after an inhuman and rough manner; 
 for he asked them who David was? and when 
 he heard that he was the son of Jesse, he said, 
 " Now is the time that fugitives grow inso- 
 lent, and make a figure, and leave their mas- 
 ters." When they told David this, he was 
 wroth, and commanded four hundred armed 
 men to follow him, and left two hundred to 
 take care of the stuff (for he had already six 
 hundred*), and went against Nabal: he also 
 swore that he would that night utterly destroy 
 the whole house and possessions of Nabal; 
 for that he was grieved, not only that he had 
 proved ungrateM to them, without making 
 any return for the humanity they had shown 
 him, but that he had also reproached them, 
 and used ill language to them, when he bad 
 received no cause of disgust from them. 
 
 7. Hereupon one of those that kept the 
 flocks of Nabal, said to his mistress, Nabal's 
 wife, that when David sent to her husband he 
 had received no civil answer at all frora hirai, 
 but that her husband had moreover added very 
 reproachful language, while yet David bad 
 taken extraordinary care to keep his flocks 
 from harm, and that what had passed would 
 prove very pernicious to his master. When 
 the servant had said this, Abigail, for that was 
 his wife's name, saddled her asses, and loaded 
 them with all sorts of presents ; and, without 
 telling her husband any thing of what she was 
 about (for he was not sensible on account of 
 his drunkenness), she went to David. She 
 was then met by David as she was descending 
 a hill, who was coming against Nabal with 
 four hundred men. When the woman saw 
 David, she leaped dovwi froca her ass, and fell 
 on her face, and bowed down to the ground ; 
 and entreated him not to bear in mind the 
 words of Nabal, since he knew that he re- 
 sembled his name. Now Nabal, in the He- 
 brew tongue, signifies folly. So she made her 
 apology, that she did not see the messengers 
 whom he sent. " Forgive me therefore," 
 said she, " and thank God, who hath hindered 
 
 * The namber of men that came first to David, are 
 distinctly in Josephus and in our cominon copies, but 
 four hundred. Whm he was at Keilah still Iwit four 
 bondred l>oth in Josephus and in the Ixxiif hiit six 
 hundred, in our Hebrew copies (1 San>. xxiii. 13; .'ee 
 XXX. 9. 10). Now the six hundred there incntioncfl are 
 bere estimated by .Visephus to hare been so many, only 
 by an au{(mentation o( two hundred afterward, which I 
 •tfppow n the Xivm •ulutioa of this seeming disagreement 
 
 thee from shedding human blood; for so long- 
 as thou keepest thyself innocent, he vnll avenga 
 thee of ^vicked men,f for what miseries await 
 Nabal, they will fall upon the heads of thine 
 enemies. Be thou gracious to me, and think 
 me so far worthy as to accept of these presents 
 from me ; and, out of regard to me, remit that 
 wrath and that anger which thou hast against 
 my husband and his house, for mildness and 
 humanity become thee, especially as thou art 
 to be our king." Accordingly David accepted 
 her presents, and sadd, " Nay, but, O woman, 
 it was no other than God's mercy which 
 brought thee to us to-day ; for, otherwise, thou 
 hadst never seen another day, I having sworn 
 to destroy Nabal's house this very night, % and 
 to leave alive not one of you who belonged to 
 a man that was wicked and ungrateful to me 
 and my companions; but now hast thou pre- 
 vented me, and seasonably molified my an- 
 ger, as being thyself under the care of God's 
 providence : but as for Nabal, although for thy 
 sake he now escape punishment, he will not 
 always avoid justice ; for his evil conduct, on 
 some other occasion, will be his ruin." 
 
 8. When David had said this, he dismissed 
 the woman. But when she came home and 
 found her husband feasting wath a great com- 
 pany, and oppressed with wine, she said no- 
 thing to him then about what had happened; 
 but on the next day, when he was sober, she 
 told him all the particulars, and made his 
 whole body to appear like that of a dead .man 
 by her words, and by that grief which arose 
 from them; so Nabal survived ten days, and 
 no more, and then died. And when David 
 heard of his death, he said that God had justly 
 avenged him of this man, for that Nabal had 
 died by his own wickedness, and had suffered 
 punishment on his account, while he had kept 
 his own hands clean. At which time he un- 
 derstood that the wicked are prosecuted by 
 God; that he does not overlook any man, 
 but bestows on the good what is suitable to 
 them, and inflicts a deserved punishment on 
 the wicked. So he sent to Nabal's wife, and 
 invited her to come t© him, to live with him,, 
 and to be his wife. Whereupon she replied 
 to those that came, that she was not worthy 
 
 + In this and the two next sections, we may perceive 
 how Josephus, nay, how Abigail herself. WduM under- 
 stand the "not aven^rinc; ourselves, but heaping coaU 
 of fire on the head of the injurious" (l*ri)V. xxv. 'Z'i; 
 Rom. xii. a<l)j tiot as we commonly do now, of mrltinij 
 them into kindness, but of leavinf; them to the jiiHjf 
 ment of God, "Mo whom vengeance belonireth " (l)eut 
 xxxii. 3>; P.H. xciv. I; Heb. x 30), and who will take 
 vengeance on the wicked. And sin«:e all GiJ'sjudKmenta 
 are just, and all fit to he executed, and ail at length for 
 the Rood of the persons punished, 1 incline to think that 
 to be the mtranin^of this phra»e of '^heaping coals of 
 fire on their heads." 
 
 % Wi may note here, that how sncred soever an oatij 
 was esteeme<l aBvoni? the people ot (iiv) in old times, 
 they did not think it 'ihliRatory where ihe action wa» 
 plainly unlawful. \ o\ so we see it was in this rasw of 
 David, who, alth(ini;h lie h.nd sworn to dcntioy Nabal and 
 his family, yet <Iims he hrre, nn<l 1 •<:ini. xxv. 3*2-34, 
 bless <;od for pi. vf-ntiiiu his krepine hi.s oath, and from 
 sbeddinK of bloiNi. ui \w had swurti to do. 
 
CHAP. XIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 177 
 
 to touch his feet; however, she came, with 
 all her servants, and became bis wife, having 
 received that honour on account of her wise 
 and righteous course of life. She also ob- 
 tained the same honour partly on account of 
 her beauty. Now David had a wife before, 
 whom he married from the city Abesar ; for 
 as to Michal, the daughter of king Saul, who 
 had been David's wife, her father had given 
 her in marriage to Phalti, the son of Laish, 
 who was of the city of Gallim. 
 
 9. After this came certain of the Ziphites, 
 and told Saul that David was come again into 
 their country, and, if he would afford them 
 his assistance, they could catch him. So he 
 came to them with three thousand armed 
 men ; and upon the approach of night, he 
 pitched his camp at a certain place called Ha* 
 chilah. But when David heard that Saul was 
 coming against him, he sent spies, and bid 
 them let him know to what place of the coun- 
 try Saul was already come ; and when they 
 told him that he was at Hachilab, he concealed 
 his going away from his companions, and 
 came to Saul's camp, having taken with him 
 Abishai, his sister Zeruiah's son, and Ahime- 
 lech the Hittite. Now Saul was asleep, and 
 the armed men, with Abner their commander, 
 lay round about him in a circle. Hereupon 
 David entered into the king's tent; but he 
 did neither kill Saul, though he knew where 
 he lay, by the spear that was stuck down by 
 him} nor did he give leave to Abishai, who 
 would have killed him, and was earnestly 
 bent upon it so to do ; for he said it was a 
 horrid crime to kill one that was ordained 
 king by God, although he was a wicked man ; 
 for that he who gave him the dominion would 
 in time inflict punishment upon him. So he 
 restrained his eage/ness : but that it might 
 appear to have been in his power to have 
 killed him when he refrained from it, he 
 took his spear, and the cruse of water which 
 stood by Saul as he lay asleep, without being 
 perceived by any in the camp, who were all 
 asleep, and went securely away, having per- 
 formed every thing among the king's atten- 
 dants that the opportunity afforded, and his 
 boldness encouraged him to do. So when 
 he had passed over a brook, and was gotten 
 up to the top of a hill, whence he might be 
 sufficiently heard, he cried aloud to Saul's 
 soldiers, and to Abner their commander, and 
 awaked them out of their sleep, and called 
 both to liim and to the people. Hereupon 
 the commander heard him, and asked who it 
 was that called him. To whom David re- 
 plied, — " It is I, the son of Jesse, whom you 
 make a vagabond. But what is the matter? 
 Dost thou, that art a man of so great dignity, 
 and of the first rank in the king's court, take 
 so little care of thy master's body? and is 
 sleep of more consequence to thee than his 
 preservation and thy care of him ? This ne- 
 gligence of yours deserves death, and punish- 
 
 ment to be inflicted on you, who never per- 
 ceived when, a little while ago, some of us 
 entered into your camp, nay, as far as to the 
 king himself, and to all the rest of you. If 
 thou look for the king's spear and his cruse 
 of water, thou wilt learn what a mighty mis- 
 fortune was ready to overtake you in your very 
 camp without your knowing it." Now when 
 Saul knew David's voice, and understand th;t 
 when he had him in his power while he was 
 asleep, and his guards took no care of him, 
 yet did not he kill him, but spared him, when 
 he might justly have cut him off, he said that 
 he owed him thanks for bis preservation; and 
 exhorted him to be of good courage, and not 
 be afraid of suffering any mischief from him 
 any more, and to return to his own home, for 
 he was now persuaded that he did not love 
 himself so well as he was loved by him : that 
 he had driven away him that could guard 
 him, and had given many demonstrations of 
 his good- will to him: that he had forced him 
 to live so long in a state* of banishment, and 
 in great fears of his life, destitute of his friends 
 and his kindred, while still he was often saved 
 by him, and frequently received his life again 
 when it was evidently in danger of perishing. 
 \ So David bade them send for the spear and 
 the cruse of water, and take them back; add- 
 ing this withal, That God would be the judge 
 of both their dispositions, and of the actions 
 that flowed from the same, " who knows that 
 when it was this day in my power to have 
 killed thee, I abstained from it." 
 
 10. Thus Saul having escaped the hands 
 of David twice, he went his way to his royal 
 palace, and his own city: but David was 
 afraid, that if he staid there be should be 
 caught by Saul; so he thought it better to 
 go up into the land of the Philistines and 
 abide there. Accordingly he came with the 
 six hundred men that were with him to Ach- 
 ish, the king of Gath, which was one of their 
 five cities. Now the king received both him 
 and his men, and gave them a place to inhabit 
 in. He had with him also his two wives, 
 Ahinoara and Abigail; and he dwelt in Gath. 
 But when Saul heard this, be took no fiirther 
 care about sending to him, or going after him, 
 because he had been twice in a manner caught 
 by him, while he was himself endeavouring to 
 catch him. However, David had no mind to 
 continue in the city of Gath, but desired the 
 king, that since he had received him with 
 such hiinrrinity, that he would grant him ano- 
 ther fivour, and bestow upon him some place 
 of that country for his habitation, for he was 
 ashamed, by living in the city, to be grievous 
 and burdensome to him. So Achish gave 
 him a certain village called Ziklag; which 
 place David and his sons were fond of when 
 be was king, and reckoned it to be their pe- 
 culiar ifiheritance. But about those matters 
 we shall give the reader farther information 
 elsewhere. Now the time that David d<velt 
 M 
 
178 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 in Z:klag, in the land of the Philistines, was 
 fc '.ir months and twenty days. And now he 
 privately attacked those Geshurites and Ama- 
 lekites that were neighbours to the Philistines, 
 and laid waste their country, and took much 
 prey of their beasts and camels, and then re- 
 turned home; but David abstained from the 
 men, as fearing they should discover him to 
 king Achish; yet did he send part of the 
 prey to him as a free gift. And when the 
 king inquired whom they had attacked when 
 they brought away the prey, he said, those 
 that lay to the south of the Jews, and inha- 
 bited in the plain; whereby he persuaded 
 Achish to approve of what he had done, for 
 he hoped that David had fought against his 
 own nation, and that now he should have 
 him for his servant all his life long, and that 
 he would stay in -fcis country. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HOW SAUL, UPON GOD's NOT ANSWERING HIM 
 CONCERNING THE FIGHT WITH THE PHILIS- 
 TINES, DESIRED A NECROMANTIC WOMAN TO 
 RAISE UP THE SOUL OF SAMUEL TO HIM; 
 AND HOW HE DIED, WITH HIS SONS, UPON 
 THE OVERTHROW OF THE HEBREWS IN 
 BATTLE. 
 
 § 1. About the same time the Philistines re- 
 solved to make war against the Israelites, and 
 sent to all their confederates that they would 
 go along with them to the war to Reggan, 
 [near the city Shunem], whence they might 
 gather themselves together and suddenly at- 
 tack the Hebrews. Then did Achish, the king 
 of Gath, desire David to assist them with his 
 armed men against the Hebrews. This he 
 readily promised ; and said that the time was 
 now come wherein he might requite him for 
 his kindness and hospitality ; so the king pro- 
 mised to make him the keeper of his body after 
 the victory, supposing that the battle wth the 
 enemy succeeded to their mind; which pro- 
 raise of honour and confidence he made on 
 purpose to increase his zeal for his service. 
 
 2. Now Saul, the king of the Hebrews, had 
 cast out of the country the fortime-tellers, and 
 the necromancers, and all such as exercised 
 the like arts, excepting the prophets; but 
 when he heard that the Philistines were al- 
 ready come, and had pitched their camp near 
 the city Shunem, situate in the plain, he made 
 haste to oppose them with his forces; and 
 when he was come to a certain mountain called 
 Gilboa, he pitched his camp over-against the 
 enemy; but when he saw the enemy's army 
 he was greatly troubled, because it appeared 
 to him to be numerous, and superior to his 
 own; and he inquired of God by the prophets 
 concerning the battle, that he might know be- 
 forehand what would be the event of it; and 
 
 when God did not answer him, Saul vma un- 
 der a still greater dread, and his courage fell, 
 foreseeing, as was but reasonable to suppose, 
 that mischief would befall him, now God was 
 not there to assist him ; yet did he bid his ser- 
 vants to inquire out for him some woman that 
 was a necromancer, and called up the souls 
 of the dead, that so he might know whether 
 his affairs would succeed to his mind ; for this 
 sort of necromantic women that bring up the 
 souls of the dead, do by them foretell future 
 events to such as desire them. And one of 
 his servants told him that there was such a 
 woman in the city Endor, but was kno^vn to 
 nobody in the camp ; hereupon Saul put of? 
 his royal apparel, and took two of those his 
 servants with him, whom he knew to be most 
 faithful to him, and came to Endor to the 
 woman, and entreated her to act the part of a 
 fortune-teller, and to bring up such a soul to 
 him as he should name to her. But when 
 the woman opposed his motion, and said, She 
 did not despise the king, who had banished 
 this sort of fortune-tellers, and that he did not 
 do well himself, when she had done him no 
 harm, to endeavour to lay a snare for her, and 
 to discover that she exercised a forbidden art, 
 in order to procure her to be punished, — he 
 sware that nobody should know what she did: 
 and that he would not tell any one else what 
 she foretold, but that she should incur no 
 danger. As soon as he had induced her by 
 this oath to fear no harm, he bade her bring 
 up to him the soul of Samuel. She not know- 
 ing who Samuel was, called him out of Hades. 
 When he appeared, and the woman saw one 
 that was venerable, and of a divine form, 
 she was in disorder, and, being astonished 
 at the sight, she said, — "Art not thou king 
 Saul?" for Samuel had informed her who 
 he was. When he had owned that to be 
 true, and had asked her whence her disorder 
 arose, she said, that she saw a certain person 
 ascend, who in his form was like to a god. 
 And when he bid her tell him what he re- 
 sembled, in what habit he appeared, and of 
 what age he was, she told him he was an old 
 man already, and of a glorious personage, and 
 had on a sacerdotal mantle. So the king dis. 
 covered by these signs that he was Samuel ; 
 and he fell down upon the ground and saluted 
 and worshipped him. And when the soul of 
 Samuel asked him why he had disturbed him, 
 and caused him to be brought up, he lamented 
 the necessity he was under; for he said, that 
 his enemies pressed heavily upon him; that 
 he was in distress M'hat to do in his present 
 circumstances ; that he was forsaken of God, 
 and could obtain no prediction of what was 
 coming, neither by prophets nor by dreams; 
 and that " these were the reasons why I have 
 recourse to thee, who always tookest care of 
 me." But* Sanmel, seeing that the end ol 
 
 • ThU history of Snnl'* consultation, not with a witch, 
 aa we render the Hebrew wo:d here, but with a necro 
 
CH\P. XIV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 l-iP 
 
 Saul's life was come, said, — " It is in vain for 
 thee to desire to learn of me any thing farther, 
 when God hath forsaken thee: however, hear 
 what I say, that David is to be king, and to 
 finish this war with good success ; and thou 
 art to lose thy dominion and thy life,* because 
 thou didst not obey God in the war with the 
 Araalekites, and hast not kept his command- 
 ments, as I foretold thee while I was alive. 
 Know, therefore, that the people shall be made 
 subject to their enemies, and that thou, >\'ith 
 thy sons, shall fall, in the battle to-morrow, 
 and thou shalt then be with me [in Hades]." 
 
 3. When Saul heard this, he ccniM not 
 speak for grief, and fell down on the riuor, 
 whether it were from the sorrow that arose 
 upon what Samuel had said, or from his emp- 
 tiness, for he had taken -no food the foregoing 
 day nor night, he easily fell quit€ down : 
 and when with dilficulty he had recovered 
 himself, the woman would force him to eat, 
 begging this of him as a favour on account of 
 her concern in that dangerous instance of for- 
 tune-telling, which it was not lawful for her to 
 have done, because of the fear she was under of 
 the king, while she knew not who he ^^'as, yet 
 did she undertake it, and go through with it ; 
 on which account she entreated him to admit 
 that a table and food might be set before him, 
 that he might recover his strength, and so get 
 safe to his own camp. And when he" opposed 
 her motion, and entirely rejected it, by rea- 
 son of his anxiety, she forced him, and at last 
 persuaded him to it. Now she had one calf 
 that she was very fond of, and one that she 
 took a great deal of care of, and fed it herself, 
 for she was a woman that got her living by 
 the labour of her own hands, and had no other 
 possession but that one calf; this she killed, 
 and made ready its flesh, and set it before his 
 servants and himself. So Said came to the 
 camp while it was yet night. 
 
 4. Now it is but just to recommend the ge- 
 nerosity of this woman,* because when the 
 king had forbidden her to use that art whence 
 her circumstances were bettered and improved, 
 and when she had never seen the king before, 
 she still did not remember to his disadvantage 
 that lie had condemned her sort of learning, 
 and did not refuse him as a stranger, and one 
 
 mancer, as the whole history shows, is easily understood, 
 especially if we consult the Recognitions ot Clement, b. 
 i. chap. V. at lar^e. and more briefly, and nearer the 
 days of Samnel, Ecclus. xivi. 20. " Samuel prophesied 
 after his death, and showed the king his end. and lift up 
 his voice from the earth in prophecy.'.' to blot out "the 
 wickedness of the people." Nor does the exactness of 
 the accomplishment of this prediction, the very next day, 
 permit us to .suppose any imposition upon Saul in the pre- 
 sent history, for as to all modern hypotheses against the 
 natural sense of such ancient and authentic histories. I 
 take them to be of very small value or consideration. 
 
 ♦ These grtat commendations of this necromantic 
 woman of Rndor. and of Saul's martial courage, when 
 yet he knew he should die in the battle, are somewhat 
 unusual digressions in Josephus. They seem to me ex- 
 tracted from some speeches or declamations of his com- 
 posed formerly, in the way of oratory, that lay by him. 
 Bod which he thought (it to instrt upon this occasion 
 ■Ste before on Antiq. b. i. ch. ri wet H. 
 
 that she had had no acquaintance with; but 
 she had compassion upon him, and comforted 
 him, and exhorted him to do what he was 
 greatly averse to, and offered him the only 
 creature she had, as a poor woman, and that 
 earnestly, and with great humanity, while she 
 had no requital made her for her kindness, 
 nor hunted after any future favour from him, 
 for she knew he was to die; whereas men aie 
 naturally either ambitious to please those that 
 bestow benefits upon them, or are very ready 
 to serve those from whom they may receive 
 some advantage. It would be well therefore 
 to imitate the example of this woman, and to 
 do kindnesses to all such as are in want; and 
 to think thai notuing is better, nor more be- 
 coming mankind, than such a general benefi- 
 cence, nor what will sooner render God fa- 
 vourable, and ready to bestow good things 
 upon us. And so far may suffice to have 
 spoken concerning this woman. But I shall 
 speak farther upon another subject, which 
 \vill aiiord me an opportunity of discoursing 
 on what is for the advantage of cities, and 
 people, and nations, and suited to the taste of 
 good men, and will encourage them all in the- 
 prosecution of virtue, and is capable of show- 
 ing them the method of acquiring glory, and 
 an everlasting fame; and of imprinting in 
 the kings of nations, and the rulers of cities, 
 great inclination and diligence of doing well ; 
 as also of encouraging them to undergo dan- 
 gers, and to die for their countries, and of in- 
 structing them how to despise all the most 
 terrible adversities; and I have a fair occa- 
 sion offered me to enter on such a discourse 
 by Saul the king of the Hebrews; for al- 
 though he knew what was coming upon him, 
 and that he was to die immediately by the 
 prediction of the prophet, he did not resolve 
 to fly from death, nor so far to indtilge the 
 love of life as to betray his own people to the 
 enemy, or to bring a disgrace on his royal 
 dignity; but, exposing himself, as well as all 
 his family and children to dangers, he thought 
 it a brave thing to fall together with them, as 
 he was fighting for his subjects, and that it 
 was better his sons should die thus, showing 
 their courage, than to leave them to their un- 
 certain conduct afterward, while, instead of 
 succession and posterity, they gained com- 
 mendation and a lasting name. Such a one 
 alone seems to me to be a just, a courageous, 
 and a prudent man; and when any one has 
 arrived at these dispositions, or shall hereaf- 
 ter arrive at them, he is the man that ought 
 to be by all honoured with the testimony of a 
 virtuous or courageous man; for as to those that 
 go out to war with hopes of success, and that 
 they shall return safe, supposing they shoul4 
 have performed some glorious action, I think 
 those do not do well who call those valian 
 men, as so many historians, and other writer."! 
 who treat of them are wont to do, although I 
 confess those do justly deserve some iK>ii.nBe^ 
 
180 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK TI 
 
 dation also; but those only may be styled 
 courageous and bold in great undertakings, 
 and despisers of adversities, who imitate Saul; 
 forasforthose who do not know what the event 
 of war will be as to themselves, and though 
 they do not faint in it, but deliver themselves 
 up to uncertain futurity, and are tossed this 
 way and that way, this is not so very eminent 
 an instance of a generous mind, although 
 they happen to perform many great exploits : 
 but v;hen men's minds expect no good event, 
 but they know beforehand they must die and 
 that they must undergo that death in the 
 battle also, after this, neither to be affrighted 
 nor to be astonished at the terrible fate that is 
 coming, but to go directly upon it when they 
 know it beforehand, — this it is that I esteem 
 the character of a man truly courageous. Ac- 
 cordingly this Saul did, and thereby demon- 
 strated, that all men who desire fame after 
 they are dead, are so to act as they may ob- 
 tain the same : this especially concerns kings, 
 who ought not to think it enough in their 
 high stations that they are not wicked in the 
 government of their subjects, but to be no more 
 than moderately good to them. I could say 
 more than this about Saul and his courage, 
 the subject affording matter sufficient; but 
 that I may not appear to run out improperly 
 in his commendation, I return again to that 
 history from which I made this digression. 
 
 5. Now when the Philistines, as*I said be- 
 fore, had pitched their camp, and had taken 
 an account of their forces, according to their 
 nations, and kingdoms, and governments, 
 king Achish came last of all with his own 
 army ; after whom came David with his six 
 hutjdred armed men. And when the com- 
 mandtrs of the Philistines saw him, they asked 
 the king whence these Hebrews came, and at 
 whose fnvitation. He answered, That it was 
 David, who was fled away from his master 
 Saul, and that he had entertained him when 
 he came to him, and that now he was willing to 
 make him this requital for his favours, and to 
 avenge himself upon Saul, and so was becoitc 
 his confederate. The commanders complained 
 of this, that he had taken hiai for a confe- 
 derate who was an enemy ; and gave him 
 counsel to send him away, lest he should un- 
 awares do his friends a great deal of mischief 
 by entertaining him, for that he afforded him 
 an opportunity of being reconciled to his 
 master, by doing a mischief to our army. 
 They thereupon desired him, out of a prudent 
 foresight of this, to send him away with his 
 six hundred armed men, to the place he had 
 given him for his habitation ; for that this was 
 that David whom the virgins celebrated in 
 ^heir hymns, as having destroyed many ten 
 thousands of the Philistines. When the king 
 of Gath heard this, he thought tht-y spake 
 well ; so he called David, and said to him, 
 ** As for myself, I can bear witness that thou 
 bast shown great diligence and kindness about 
 
 me, and on that account it was that I took 
 thee for my confederate ; however, what 1 
 have done does not please the commanders of 
 the Philistines; go therefore within a day's 
 time to the place I have given thee, without 
 suspecting any harm, and there keep my 
 country, lest any of our enemies should make 
 an incursion upon it, which will be one part 
 of that assistance which I expect from thee." 
 So David came to Ziklag, as the king of Gath 
 bade him ; but it happened that while he was 
 gone to the assistance of the Philistines, the 
 Amalekites had made an incursion, and taken 
 Ziklag before, and had burnt it ; and when 
 they had taken a great deal of other prey out 
 of that place, and out of the other parts of the 
 Philistines' country, they departed. 
 
 6. Now when David found that Ziklag 
 was laid waste, and that it was all spoiled, 
 and that as well his own wive who were t\\ o, 
 as the wives of his companions, with their 
 children, were made captives, he presently 
 rent his clothes, weeping and lamenting, to- 
 gether with his friends ; and indeed be was 
 so cast down with these misfortunes, that at 
 length tears themselves failed him. He was 
 also in danger of being stoned to death by his 
 companions, who were greatly afflicted at *he 
 captivity of their wives and children, for they 
 laid the blame upon him of what had happened ; 
 but when he had recovered himself out oi 
 his grief, and had raised up his mind to 
 God, he desired the high-priest Abiathar to 
 put on his sacerdotal garments, and to en- 
 quire of God, and to prophecy to him. Whe- 
 ther God would grant, that if he pursued aftei 
 the Amalekites, he should overtake them, and 
 save their wives and their children, and avenge 
 himself on the enemies? — and when the hi^h- 
 priest hade him to pursue after them, he 
 marched apace, -^vith his four hundred men, af. 
 ter the enemy ; aiid when he was come to a cer 
 tain brook called ]3esor, and had lighted upon 
 one that was wandering about, an Egyptian 
 by birth, who was almost dead with want and 
 famine ("for he had continued wandering about 
 without food in the wilderness three days), he 
 first of all gave him sustenance, both meat 
 and drink, and thereby refreshed him. Ke 
 then asked him to whom he belonged, and 
 whence he came. Whereupon the man told 
 him he was an Egyptian by birth, and was 
 left behind by his master, because he was so 
 sick and weak that he could not follow him. 
 He also informed him that he was one of tliose 
 who had burnt and plundered, not only o'her 
 parts of Judea, but Ziklag itself also. So 
 David made use of him as a guide to find 
 out the Amalekites ; and when he had over- 
 taken them, as they lay scattered about on 
 the groimd, some at dirmer, some disordered, 
 and entirely drunk with wine, and. in the frui- 
 tion of their spoils and their prey, he fell upon 
 them on the sudden, and made a great slaugh- 
 ter among them, for they A'cre naked, and 
 
CHAP. XIV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 181 
 
 expected no such thing, but had betaken them- 
 selves to drinking and feasting, and so they 
 w,ere all easily destroyed. Now some of them 
 that were overtaken as they lay at the tal)le, 
 were slain in that posture; and their blood 
 brought up with it their meat and their drink. 
 They slew others of them as they were drink- 
 ing to one 'another in their cups; and sonie 
 of them when their full bellies had made them 
 fall asleep; and for so many as had time to 
 put on their armour, they slew them with the 
 sword, with no less ease than they did thos^ 
 that were naked; and for the partisans of 
 David, they continued also the slaughter from 
 the first hour of the day to the evening, so 
 that there were not above four hundred of the 
 Amalekites left; and they only escaped by 
 getting upon their dromedaries and camels. 
 Accordingly David recovered not only all the 
 other spoils which the enemy had carried 
 away, but his wives also, and the wives of his 
 companions; but when they were come to the 
 place where they had left the two hundred 
 men, which were not able to follow them, but 
 were left to take care of the stuff, the four 
 hundred men did not think fit to divide among 
 them any other parts of what they had got- 
 ten, or of the prey, since they did not accom- 
 pany them, but pretended to be feeble, and 
 did not follow them in the pursuit of the ene- 
 my, but said they should be contented to have 
 safely recovered their wives; yet David did 
 pronounce that this opinion of theirs was evil 
 and unjust, and that when God had granted 
 them such a favour, that they had avenged 
 themselves on their enemies, and had recovered 
 all that belonged to themselves, they should 
 make an equal distribution of what they had 
 gotten to all, because the rest had tarried be- 
 hind to guard their stuff; and from that time 
 this law obtained among them that those who 
 guarded the stuff should receive an equal 
 share vvith those that had fought in the battle. 
 Now when David was come to Ziklag, he 
 sent portions of the spoils to all that had been 
 familiar with him, and to his friends in the 
 tribe of Judah; and thus ended the affairs of 
 the plundering of Ziklag, and of the slaughter 
 of the Amalekites. 
 
 7. Now upon the Philistines joining battle, 
 there followed a sharp engagement, and the 
 Philistines became the conquerors, and slew 
 a great number of their enemies ; but Saul 
 the king of Israel, and his sons, fought cou- 
 rageously, and with the utmost alacrity, as 
 kno\ving that their entire glory lay in nothing 
 else but dying honourably, and exposing 
 themselves to the utmost danger from the 
 enemy (for they had nothing else to hope for) ; 
 so they brought upon themselves the whole 
 power of the enemy, till they were encompassed 
 roujjd and slain, but not before they had kill- 
 ed many of the Philistine?. Now the sons of 
 Saul were Jonathan, and Abinadab, and MhI- 
 chisua; and when these were slain, the mul- 
 
 titude of the Hebrews were put to fiight, and 
 all was disorder, and confusion, and slaugh- 
 ter, upon the Philistines pressing in upon 
 them. But Saul himself fled, having a strong 
 body of soldiers about him : and upon the 
 Philistines sending after him those that threw 
 javelins and shot arrows, he lost all his com- 
 pany except a few. As for himself he fought 
 with great bravery; and when he had received 
 so many wounds that he was not able to bear 
 up, nor to oppose any longer, and yet wag 
 not able to kill himself, he bid his armour- 
 bearer to draw his sword and run him through, 
 before the enemy should take him alive. But 
 his armour-bearer not daring to kill his mas- 
 ter, he drew his own sword, and placing him- 
 self over against its point, he threw himself 
 upon it; and when he could neither run it 
 through him, nor, by leaning against it, make 
 j the sword pass through him, he turned him 
 round, and asked a certain young man that 
 stood by who he was; and when he under- 
 stood that he was an Amalekite, he desired 
 him to force the sword through him, because 
 he was not able to do it with his own hands, 
 and thereby to procure him such a death as 
 he desired. This the young man did accord- 
 ingly; and he took the golden bracelet that 
 was on Saul's arm, and his royal crown that 
 was on his head, and ran away. And when 
 Saul's armour-bearer saw that he was slain, 
 he killed himself; nor did any of the king's 
 guards escape, but they all fell upon the moun- 
 tain called Gilboa. But when those Hebrews 
 that dwelt in the valley beyond Jordan, and 
 those who had their cities in the plain, heard 
 that Saul and his sons were fallen, and that 
 the multitude about them were destroyed, 
 they left their own cities, and fled to s"ch as 
 were the best fortified and fenced; and the 
 Philistines finding those cities deserted, came 
 and dwelt in them. 
 
 8. On the next day, when the Philistines 
 came to strip their enemies that were slain, 
 they got the bodies of Saul and of his sons 
 and stripped them, and cut off their heads. 
 And they sent messengers all about their 
 country, to acquaint them that their enemies 
 were fallen ; and they dedicated their armour 
 in the temple of Astarte, but hung their bo- 
 dies on crosses at the walls of the city Beth- 
 shan, which is now called Scythopolis. But 
 when the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead heard 
 that they had dismembered the dead bodies 
 of Saul and of his sons, they deemed it so 
 horrid a thing to overlook this barbarity, and 
 to suffer them to be without funeral rites, that 
 the most courageous and hardy among them 
 (and indeed that city had in it men that were 
 very stout both in body and mind) journeyed 
 all night, and came to Bethshan, and ap- 
 proached to the enemy's wall, and taking 
 down the bodies of Saul and of his sons, they 
 carried them to Jabesh, while the enemy were 
 not able enouj^h. nor bold enough, to hinder 
 
IS2 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII 
 
 them, because of their great courage; so the 
 peopie of Jabesh wept all in general, and 
 buried their bodies in the best place of their 
 coui.try, which was called Aroura; and they 
 observed a public mourning for them seven 
 days, with their wives and children, beating 
 their breasts, and lamenting the king and his 
 go/.s. Without tasting either meat or drink* 
 [till the evening]. 
 
 y. To this his sad end' did Saul come, ac- 
 
 cording to the prophecy of Samuel, because he 
 disobeyed the commands of God about the 
 Amalekites, and on the account of his destroy- 
 ing the family of Ahimelech, the high-priDst, 
 with Ahimelech himself, and the city of the 
 high-priests. Now Saul, when he had reigned 
 eighteen years while Samuel was alive, and 
 after his death two [and twenty], ended hi« 
 life in this manner. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 CONTAINING THE INTLRVAL OF FORTY TEARS. 
 
 FKOM THE DEATH OF SAUL TO THE DEATH OF DAVID. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW DAVID REIGNED OVER ONE TRIBK AT HE- 
 BRON, WHILE THE SON OF SAUL REIGNED 
 OVER THE REST OF THE MULTITUDE; AND 
 HOW, IN THE CIVIL WAR WHICH THEN 
 AROSE, ASAHEL AND ABNER WERE SLAIN. 
 
 § 1. This fight proved to be on the same day 
 whereon David was come back to Ziklag, 
 after he had overcome the Amalekites. Now 
 when he had been already two days at Zik- 
 lag, there came to him the man who slew 
 Saul, which was the thiid day after the fight. 
 He had escaped out of the battle which the 
 Israelites had with the Philistines, and had 
 his clothes rent, and ashes upon his head. 
 And when he made his obeisance to David, 
 he inquired of him whence he came. He 
 replied, from the battle of the Israelites : and 
 he informed him that the end of it was unfor- 
 tunate, many ten thousands of the Israelites 
 having been cut off, and Saul, together with 
 
 • This way of speakinf^ in Josephus. of " fastin? 
 tevrn days without meat ur drink." is almost like that 
 of St. I'aiil, Acts xxvii. 33: "This day is the four- 
 teenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting. 
 Laving taken nuthingi" and as the nature ot the thine, 
 and the impossibility of strictly fasting so long, require 
 lis here to understand both Jusephus and the sacred au- 
 thor of this history, 1 Sam. x\x. I:), from whence he 
 look it, of only fasting till the evening; so mu.M we 
 understand St. Paul, either that this was really the 
 fourteenth day of their tempestuous weather in the 
 Adriatic Sea, as ver. 27, and ttiat un this tourteenth 
 day alone they had continued la!>lih);. and had taken 
 DcthinK before the eveninjj. The mention of their long 
 Ahstiiience. ver il. inclines me to believe the fortner 
 explication to be the truth, and that the rase was then 
 for a fortnight what it was here lor h week, that they 
 kept all IhoHC dayn entirely as fasts til the ev>nini;. hut 
 p</] loneer. -ee Judges xx. •<<■! \xi.-2. I Som. xiv. i4; 
 S Samuel L 1*/; Anti(}.b. vii chap. vti. sixl. L 
 
 his son, slain. He also said that he could 
 well give him this information, because he 
 was present at the victory gained over the 
 Hebrews, and was with the king when he 
 fled. Nor did he deny that he had himself 
 slain the king, when he was ready to be taken 
 by the enemy, and he himself exhorted him 
 to do it, because, when he was fallen on his 
 sword, his great wounds had made him so 
 weak that he was not able to kill himself. He 
 also produced 'demonstrations that the king 
 was slain, which were the golden bracelets 
 that had been on the king's arms, and his 
 crown* which he had taken away from Saul's 
 dead body, and had brought them to him. So 
 David having no longer room to call in ques- 
 tion the truth of what he said, but seeing most 
 evident marks that Saul was dead, he rent his 
 garments, and continued all that day, with his 
 companions, in weeping and lamentation. This 
 grief was augmented by the consideration of 
 Jonathan, the son of Saul, who had been his 
 most faithful friend, and the occasion of his 
 own deliverance. He also demonstrated him- 
 self to have such great virtue, and such great 
 kindness for Saul, as not only to take his death 
 to heart, though he had been frequently in 
 danger of losing his life by his means, but to 
 punish him that slew hiu): for when David 
 had said to him, that he was become his own 
 accuser, as the very man who had slain the 
 king, and when he understood that he was tl;e 
 son of an Amalekite, he conimanded him to 
 be slain. He also committed to writing some 
 lamentjitions and funeral commendations oi 
 Saul and Jonathan, which have continued to 
 my own age. 
 
 2. Now when David had paid tbesn ho- 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 183 
 
 nours to the king, he left off his mourning, 
 and inquired of God, by the prophet, which 
 of the cities of the tribe of Judah he would 
 bestow upon him to dwell in; who answered 
 tliat he bestowed upon him Hebron. So he 
 left Ziklag and came to Hebron, and took 
 with him his \vives, who were in number two, 
 and his armed men ; whereupon all the people 
 of the forementioned tribe came to him, and 
 ordained him their king. But when he heard 
 that the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead had bu- 
 ried Saul and his sons [honourably], he sent 
 to them and commended them, and took what 
 they had done kindly, and promised to make 
 them amends for their care of those that were 
 dead ; and at the same time he informed them 
 that the tribe of Judah had chosen him for 
 their king. 
 
 3. But as soon as Abner, the son of Ner, 
 who was general of Saul's army, and a very 
 active man, and good-natured, knew that the 
 king and Jonathan, and his two other sons, 
 were fallen in the battle, he made haste into 
 the camp; and, taking away ^vith him the re- 
 maining son of Saul, whose name was Isb- , 
 bosheth, he passed over to the land beyond 
 Jordan, and ordained him the king of the 
 whole multitude, excepting the tribe of Ju- 
 dah ; and made his royal seat in a place called 
 in our language Mahanaim, but in the lan- 
 guage of the Grecians, The Camps; from 
 whence Abner made haste with a select body 
 of soldiers, to fight with such of the tribe of 
 Judah as were disposed to it, for he was angry 
 that this tribe had set up David for their king; 
 but Joab, whose father was Suri, and his mo- 
 ther Zeruiah, David's sister, who was general 
 of David's army, met him, according to Da- 
 vid's appointment. He had with him his bre- 
 thren, Abishai and Asahel, as also all David's 
 armed men. Now when he met Abner at a cer- 
 tain fountain, in the city of Gibeon, he prepar- 
 ed to fight; and when Abner said to him that 
 he had a mind to know which of them had the 
 more valiant soldiers, it was agreed between 
 them that twelve soldiers of each side should 
 fight together. So those that were chosen out 
 by both the generals for this fight, came be- 
 tween the two armies, and throwing their 
 liiiiees one against the other, they drew their 
 swords, and catching one another by the head, 
 they held one another fast, and ran each other's 
 swords into their sides and groins, until they 
 all, as it were by mutual agreement, perished 
 together. When these were fallen down dead, 
 the rest of the'army came to a sore battle, and 
 Abner's men were beaten; and when they 
 were beaten, Joab did not leave off pursuing 
 thojn, but he pressed upon them, and excited 
 the soldiers to follow them close, and not to 
 ^row weary of killing them. His brethren 
 also pursued them with great alacrity, especi- 
 ally the younger Asahel, who was the most 
 eminent of them. He was very famous for 
 nis swiftness of foot, for be could not only be j 
 
 too hard for men, but is reported to have over- 
 run a horse, when they had a race together. 
 This Asahel ran violently after Abner, and 
 would not turn in the least out of the straight 
 way, either to the one side or to the other. 
 Hereupon Abner turned back, and attempted 
 artfully to avoid his violence. Sometimes he 
 bade lum leave off the pursuit, and take the 
 armour of one of his soldiers; and sometime? 
 when he could not persuade him so to to, le 
 exhorted him to restrain himself, and not to 
 pursue him any longer, lest he should force 
 him to kill him, and he should then not be 
 able to look his brother in the face; but when 
 Asahel would not admit of any persuasions, 
 but still continued to pursue him, Abner smote 
 him with his spear, as he held it in his flight, 
 and that by a back-stroke, and gave him a 
 deadly wound, so that he died immediately, 
 but those that were with him pursuing Abner, 
 when they came to the place where Asahel lay, 
 they stood round about the dead body, and 
 left off the pursuit of the enenr.y. ^iDwever, 
 both Joab* himself, and his brother Abishai, 
 ran past the dead corpse, and making their 
 anger at the death of Asahel an occasion of 
 greater zeal against Abner, they went on with 
 incredible haste and alacrity, and pursued 
 Abner to a certain place called Ammah : it 
 was about sun-set. Then did Joab as'^ei'^ a 
 certain hill, as he stood at that place, havi^.g 
 the tribe of Benjamin Avith him, whence he 
 took a view of them, and of Abner also. 
 Hereupon Abner cried aloud, and said that it 
 was not fit that they should irritate men of the 
 same nation to fight so bitterly one against 
 another; that as for Asahel his brother, he was 
 himself in the wrong, when he would not be 
 advised by him not to pursue him any farther, 
 which was the occasion of his wounding and 
 death. So Joab consented to what he sfiid, 
 and accepted these words as an excuse [about 
 Asahel], and called the soldiers back with the 
 sound of the trumpet, as a signal for their 
 retreat, and thereby put a stop to any farther 
 pursuit. After which Joab pitched his camp 
 there that night; but Abner marched all that 
 night, and passed over the river Jordan, and 
 came to Ishbosheth, Saul's son, to Mahanaim. 
 On the next day Joab counted the dead men, 
 and took care of all their funerals. Now there 
 were slain of Abner's soldiers about three 
 hundred and sixty; but of those of David 
 nineteen, and Asahel, whose body Joab and 
 Abishai carried to Bethlehem ; and when they 
 had buried him in the sepulchre of their fa- 
 thers, they came to David to Hebron. From 
 this time, therefore, there began an intestine 
 war, which lasted a great while, in which the 
 followers of David grew stronger in the dan- 
 gers they underwent; and the servants and sub- 
 
 • It onjjht lo be lirre noted, that Joab, Abishai, and 
 Asahil. were all three David's nephews, the sons of hig 
 .sister Zejirah. as 1 Chron. ii. 16; and that Amasawas 
 al.-o his nejihew by his other sister Abigail, ver. 17. 
 
184 
 
 AKTIQUITIES OF THE J^WS. 
 
 BOOK vn 
 
 jects of Saul's son did almost every day be- 
 come weaker. 
 
 4. About this time David was become the 
 father of six sons, bom of as many mothers. 
 The eldest was by Ahinoam, and he was called 
 Ammon; the second was Daniel, by his wife 
 Abigail; the name of the third was Absa- 
 lom, by Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, 
 king of Geshur; the fourth he named Ado- 
 iiijah, by his wife Haggith; the fifth was 
 Shephatiah, by Abitail; the sixth he called 
 Ithream, by Eglah. Now while this intes- 
 tine war went on, and the subjects of the two 
 kings came frequently to action and to fight- 
 ing, it was Abner, the general of the host of 
 Saul's son, who, by his prudence, and the 
 great interest he had among the multitude, 
 made them all continue \vith Ishbosheth ; and 
 indeed it was a considerable time that they 
 continued of his party; b\it afterwards Abner 
 was blamed, and an accusation was laid agmnst 
 him, that he went in unto Saul's concubine: 
 her name was Rispah, the daughter of Aiah. 
 So when he was complained of by Ishbosheth, 
 he was very uneasy and angry at it, because he 
 had not justice done him by Ishbosheth, to 
 whom he had shown the greatest kindness ; 
 whereupon be threatened to transfer the king- 
 dom to David, and demonstrate that he did 
 not rule over the people beyond Jordan by 
 his own abilities and wisdom, but by his war- 
 Uke conduct and fidelity in leading his army. 
 So he sent ambassadors to Hebron to David, 
 and desired that he would give him security 
 upon oath that he would esteem him his com- 
 panion and his friend, upon condition that he 
 should persuade the people to leave Saul's 
 Bon, and choose him king of the whole coun- 
 try; and when David had made that league 
 with Abner, for he was pleased with his mes- 
 sage to him, he desired that he would give 
 this as the first mark of performance of the 
 present league, that he might have his wife 
 Michal restored to him, as her whom he had 
 purchased with great hazards, and with those 
 six hundred heads of the Philistines which he 
 had brought to Saul her father. So Abner 
 took Michal from Phaltiel, who was then her 
 husband, and sent her to David, Ishbosheth 
 himself affording him his assistance; for David 
 had written to him that of right he ought 
 to have this his wife restored to him. Abner 
 also called together the elders of the multi- 
 tude, the commanders and captains of thou- 
 sands, and spake thus to them: That he had 
 formerly dissuaded them from their own re- 
 solution, when they were ready to forsake 
 Ishbosheth, and to join themselves to David ; 
 that, however, he now gave them leave so to 
 do, if they had a mind to it, for they knew 
 that God had appointed David to be king of 
 all the Hebrews, by Samuel the prophet; and 
 nad foretold that he should punish the Phi- 
 Vatines, and overcome them, and bring them 
 uurler. Now when the elders and rulers heard 
 
 this, and understood that Abner was come 
 over to those sentiments about the public af- 
 fairs which they were of before, they changed 
 their measures, and came in to David. When 
 these men had agreed to Abner 's proposal, he 
 called together the tribe of Benjamin, for all 
 of that tribe were the guards of Ishbosheth 's 
 body, and he spake to them to the same pur- 
 pose ; and when he saw that they did not in 
 the least oppose what he said, but resigned 
 themselves up to his opinion, he took about 
 twenty of his friends and came to David, in 
 order to receive himself security upon oath 
 from him; for we may justly esteem those 
 things to be firmer which every one of us do 
 by ourselves, than those which we do by an- 
 other. He also gave him an account of what 
 he had said to the rulers, and to the whole 
 tribe of Benjamin ; and when David had re- 
 ceived him in a courteous manner, and had 
 treated him with great hospitality for many 
 days, Abner, when he was dismissed, desired 
 him to permit him to bring the multitude 
 with him, that he might deliver up the govern- 
 ment to him when David himself was present, 
 and a spectator of what was done. 
 
 5. When David had sent Abner away, Joab, 
 the general of his army, came immediately 
 to Hebron; and when he had understood 
 that Abner had been with David, and had 
 parted with him a little before under leagues 
 and agreements that the government should 
 be delivered up to David, he feared lest David 
 should place Abner, who had assisted him to 
 gain the kingdom, in the first rank of dignity, 
 especially since he was a shrcM'd man in 
 other respects, in understanding affairs, and 
 in managing them artfully, as proper seasons 
 should require, and that he should himself be 
 put lower, and deprived of the command of 
 the army; so he took a knavish and a wicked 
 course. In the first place, he endeavoured to 
 calumniate Abner to the king, exhorting him 
 to have a care of him, and not to give atten- 
 tion to what he had engaged to do for him, 
 because all he did tended to confirm the go- 
 vernment to Saul's son: that he came to him 
 deceitfully, and with guile, and was gone 
 away in hopes of gaining his purpose by this 
 management; but when he could not thus 
 persuade David, nor saw him at all exaspe- 
 rated, he betook himself to a project bolder 
 than the former: — he determined to kill Ab- 
 ner ; and, in order thereto, he sent some mes- 
 sengers after him, to whom he gave in charge, 
 that when they should overtake him, they 
 should recall him in David's name, and tell 
 him that he had somewhat to say to him about 
 his affairs, which he had not remembered to 
 speak of when he was with him. Now when 
 Abner heard what the messengers said (for 
 they overtook him in a certain place called 
 Besira, which was distant from Hebron twenty 
 furlongs), he suspected none of the mischief 
 which was befalUng him, and came back. 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 185 
 
 Hereupon Joab met him in the gate, and re- 
 ceived him in the kindest manner, as if he 
 were Abner's most benevolent acquaintance 
 and friend; for such as undertake the vilest 
 actions, in order to prevent the suspicion of 
 any private mischief intended, do frequently 
 make the greatest pretences to what really 
 ^ood men sincerely do. So he took him aside 
 from his own followers, as if he would speak 
 with him in private, and brought him into a 
 void place of the gate, having himself nobody 
 with him but his brother Abishai; then he 
 drew his sword, and smote him in the groin; 
 upon which Abner died by this treachery of 
 Joab, which, as he said himself, was in the 
 way of punishment for his brother Asahel, 
 whom Abner smote and slew as he was pur- 
 suing after him in the battle of Hebron, but 
 as the truth was, out of his fear of losing his 
 command of the army, and his dignity with 
 the king, and lest he should be deprived of 
 those advantages, and Abner should obtain 
 the first rank in David's court. By these ex- 
 amples any one may learn how many and how 
 great instances of wickedness men will ven- 
 ture upon for the sake of getting money and 
 authority, and that they may not fail of either 
 of them; for as when they are desirous of 
 obtaining the same, they acquire them by ten 
 thousand evil practices; so when they are 
 atraid of losing them, they get them confirm- 
 ed to them by practices much worse than the 
 former, as if [no] other calamity so terrible 
 could befall them as the failure of acqiuring 
 so exalted an authority; and when they have 
 acquired it, and by long custom found the 
 sweetness of it, the losing it again: and since 
 this last would be the heaviest of all afflictions, 
 they all of them contrive and venture upon 
 the most difficult actions, out of the fear of 
 losing the same. But let it suffice, that I 
 have made these short reflections upon that 
 subject. 
 
 6. When David heard that Abner was slain, 
 it grieved his soul: and he called ail men to 
 witness, with stretching out his hands to God, 
 and crying out that he was not a partaker in 
 the murder of Abner, and that his death was 
 not procured by his command or approbation. 
 He also wished the heaviest curses might light 
 upon him that slew him, and upon his whole 
 house; and he devoted those that had assisted 
 him in this murder to the same penalties on 
 its account ; for he took care not to appear to 
 have had any hand in this murder, contrary 
 to the assurances he had given, and the oaths 
 he had taken to Abner. However, he com- 
 manded all the people to weep and lament 
 this man, and to honour his dead body with 
 the usual solemnities; that is, by rending their 
 garments, and putting on sackcloth, and that 
 tliis should be the habit in which they should 
 go before the bier; after which he followed 
 it himself, ^vith the elders and those that were 
 rulers, lamenting Abner, and by his tears de- 
 
 I monstrating his good-will to^vards him, while 
 he was alive, and his sorrow for him now he 
 was dead, and that he was not taken off with 
 his consent. So he buried him at Hebron in 
 a magnificent manner, and indited funeral 
 elegies for him ; he also stood first over the 
 monument weeping, and caused others to do 
 the same; nay, so deeply did the death of 
 Abner disorder him, that his companions could 
 Ly no means force him to take any food, for 
 he affirmed with an oath that he would taste 
 nothing till the sun was set. This procedure 
 gained him the good-\vill of the multitude; 
 for such as had an affection for Abner were 
 mightily satisfied with the respect he paid him 
 when he was dead, and the observation of that 
 faith he had plighted to him, which was shown 
 in his vouchsafing him ail the usual ceremo- 
 nies, as if he had been his kinsman and his 
 friend, and not suffering him to be neglected 
 and injured with a dishonourable burial, as if 
 he had been his enemy; insomuch that the 
 entire nation rejoiced at the king's "gentleness 
 and mildness of disposition, every one being 
 ready to suppose that the king would have 
 taken the same care of them in the like cir- 
 cumstances, which they saw he showed in the 
 burial of the dead body of Abner. And in- 
 deed David principally intended to gain a good 
 reputation, and therefore he took care to do 
 what was proper in this case, whence none 
 had any suspicion that he was the author of 
 Abner's death. He also said this to the mul- 
 titude, That he was greatly troubled at the 
 death of so good a man; and that the af- 
 fairs of the Hebrews had suffered great detri- 
 ment by being deprived of him, who was of 
 so great abilities to preserve them by his ex- 
 cellent advice, and by the strength of his hands 
 in war. But he added, that "God, who 
 hath a regard to all men's actions, Nvill not 
 suffer this man [Joab] to go off unrevenged ; 
 but know ye, that I am not able to do any 
 thing to these sons of Zeruiah, Joab, and Abi- 
 shai, who have more power than I have; but 
 God will requite their insolent attempts upon 
 their o^vn heads." And this was the fatal 
 conclusion of the life of Abner. 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 THAT UPON THE SLAUGHTER OF ISHBOSHETU, 
 BY THE TREACHERY OF HIS FRIENDS, DA- 
 VID RECEIVED THE WHOLE KINGDOM. 
 
 § 1. When Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, had 
 heard of the death of Abner, he took it to 
 heart to be deprived of a man that was of Ids 
 kindred, and had indeed given him the king- 
 dom, but was greatly afflicted, and Abner's 
 death very much troubled him; nor did ho 
 
186 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 himself outlive any long time, but was treach- 
 erously set upon by the sons of Rimmon 
 (Baanah and Rechab were their names), and 
 was slain by them ; for <-hese being of a family 
 of the Benjamites, and of the first rank among 
 them, thought that if they should slay Ish- 
 bosheth, they should obtain large presents from 
 David, and be made commanders by him, or, 
 however, should have some other trust com- 
 mitted to them. So when they once found 
 him alone, and asleep at noon, in an upper 
 room, when none of his guards were there, and 
 when the woman that kept the door was not 
 watching, but was fallen asleep also, partly on 
 account of the labour she had undergone, and 
 partly on account of the heat of the day, these 
 men went into the room in which Ishbosheth, 
 Saul's son, lay asleep, and slew him; they 
 also cut off his head, and took their journey 
 all that night, and the next day, as supposing 
 themselves flying away from those they had 
 injured, to one that would accept of this action 
 as a favour, and would afford them security. 
 So they came to Hebron and showed David 
 the head of Ishbosheth, and presented them- 
 selves to him as his well-wishers, and such as 
 had killed one that was his enemy and anta- 
 gonist. Yet David did not relish what they 
 had done as they expected, but said to them, 
 ** You vile wretches, you shall immediately 
 receive the punishment you deserve. Did 
 not you know what vengeance I executed on 
 him that murdered Saul, and brought me his 
 crown of gold, and this while he who made 
 this slaughter did it as a favour to him, that 
 he might not be caught by his enemies? Or 
 do you imagine that I am altered in my dis- 
 position, and suppose that I am not the same 
 man I then was, but am pleased with njen that 
 are wicked doers, and esteem your vile ac- 
 tions, when you are become murderers of your 
 master, as grateful to me, when you have slain 
 a righteous man upon his bed, who never did 
 evil to any body, and treated you with great 
 good-will and respect? Wherefore you shall 
 suffer the punishment due on his account, and 
 the vengeance I ought to inflict upon you for 
 kilUng Ishbosheth, and for supposing that 1 
 should take his death kindly at your hands; 
 for you could not lay a greater blot on my 
 honour than by making such a supposal." 
 When David had said this, he tormented them 
 with all sorts of torments, and then put them 
 to death ; and he bestowed all accustomed rites 
 on the burial of the head of Ishbosheth, and 
 laid it in the grave of Abner. 
 
 2. When these things were brought to this 
 conclusion, all the principal men of the He- 
 brew people came to David to Hebron, with 
 the heads of thousands, and other rulers, and 
 delivered themselves up to him, putting him 
 in mind of the good-will they had borne to 
 him in Saul's lifetime, and the respect they 
 then had not ceased to pay him when he whs 
 taptain of a thousand, as alvo that he way cho- 
 
 sen of God by Samuel the prophet, he and hig 
 sons:* and declaring besides, how God had 
 given him power to save the land of the He- 
 brews, and overcome the Philistines. Where- 
 upon he received kindly this their alacrity on his 
 account; and exhorted them to continue in it, 
 for that they should have no reason to repent 
 of being thus disposed to him. So when he 
 had feasted them, and treated them kindly, he 
 sent them out to bring all the people to him ; 
 upon which there came to him about six thou- 
 sand and eight hundred armed men of the tribe 
 of Judah, who bare shields and spears for their 
 weapons, for these had [till now] continued 
 with Saul's son, when the rest of the tribe ol 
 Judah had ordained David for their king. 
 There came also seven thousand and one hun- 
 dred out of the tribe of Simeon. Out of the 
 tribe of Levi came four thousand and seven 
 hundred, having Jehoiada for their leader. 
 After these came Zadok the high-priest, with 
 twenty-two captains of his kindred. Out ot 
 the tribe of Benjamin the armed men were 
 four thousand ; but the rest of the tribe con- 
 tinued, still expecting that some one of the 
 house of Saul should reign over them. Those 
 of the tribe of Ephraim were twenty thousand 
 and eight hundred; and these mighVy men of 
 valour, and eminent for their strength. Out 
 of the Half-tribe of Manasseh came eighteen 
 thousand of the most potent men. Out of the 
 tribe of Issacbar came two hundred, who fore- 
 knew what was to come hereafter,! but of 
 armed men twenty thousand. Of the tribe oi 
 Zebulon fifty thousand chosen men. This 
 was the only tribe that came universally in to 
 David; and all these had the same weapons 
 witn the tribe of Gad. Out of the tribe of 
 Naphthali the eminent men and rulers were 
 one thousand, whose weapons were shields 
 and spears ; and the tribe itself followed after, 
 being (in a maimer) immmerable [thirty-seven 
 thousand]. Out of the tribe of Dan there 
 were of chosen men twenty-seven thousand 
 and six hundred. Out of the tribe of Asher 
 were forty thousand. Out of the two tribes 
 that were beyond Jordan, and the rest of the 
 tribe of Manasseh, such as used shields, and 
 spears, and head-pieces, and swords, were an 
 hundred and twenty thousand. The rest of 
 the tribes also made use of swords. This 
 nmltitude came together to Hebron to David, 
 with a great quantity of corn and Mine, and 
 
 • This may be a true observation of Josepbus. that 
 Samuel, by coniiiiand fioni (iod, entailed the crown on 
 David and bi!> posterity; for no farther did that entail 
 ever reach, — Solomon himself having never had any 
 promise made him that his posterity should always have 
 the rii^ltt to it. 
 
 + These words of Josephns, concerning the tribe ot 
 Issachnr, "who foreknew what was to come hereafter," 
 are best paraphrased hy the parallel text (I Chron. xii. 
 3*J): " V\ ho had undcrstanditi< of the times, to know 
 what Israel ouftht to do;" that is. Who had so much 
 knowlndue in astronomy as to make calendars for the 
 Israelites, that Ihey mi^ht keep their festivals, and plough 
 and HOW, and Kutber in their harvests and vintage ia due 
 •< ason. 
 
Crucifixion of Christ. — Page 187. 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 18? 
 
 all other sorts of food, and established David 
 in his kingdom with one consent ; and when 
 the people had rejoiced for three days in 
 Hebron, David and all the people removed 
 and came to Jerusalem. 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 HOW DAVID LAID SEIGE TO JERUSALEM; AND 
 WHEN HE HAD TAKEN THE CITY, HE CAST 
 THE CANAANITES OUT OF IT, AND BROUGHT 
 IN THE JEWS TO INHABIT THEREIN. 
 
 § 1. Now the Jebusites, who were the inha- 
 bitants of Jerusalem, and were by extraction 
 Canaanites, shut their gates, and placed the 
 blind, and the lame, and all their maimed per- 
 sons, upon the wall, in way of derision of the 
 king; and said that the very lame themselves 
 would hinder his entrance into it. This they 
 did out of contempt of his power, and as de- 
 pending on the strength of their walls. Da- 
 vid was hereby enraged, and began the siege 
 of Jerusalem, and employed his utmost dili- 
 gence and alacrity therein, as intending, by 
 the taking of this place, to demonstrate his 
 power, and to inticnidate all others that might 
 be of the like [evil] disposition towards him: 
 so he took the lovver city by forcf , but the ci- 
 tadel held out still;* whence it was that the 
 king, knowing that the pruposul of dignities 
 and rewards would encourage the soldiers to 
 greater actions, promised that he who should 
 first go over the ditches that were bejieath the 
 citadel, and should ascend to the citadel itself 
 and take it, should have the command of the 
 entire people conferred upon him. So they 
 all were ambitious to ascend, and thought no 
 pains too great in order to ascend thither, out 
 of their desire of the chief command. How- 
 ever, Joab, the son of Zeruiah, prevented the 
 rest; and as soon as he was got up to the ci- 
 tadel, cried out to the king, and claimed the 
 chief command. 
 
 • vVhat our other copies say of Mount Sion, as alone 
 prcperly called tlie City of David {-2 Sam. v. 6— 9), and 
 o( this its siege and conquest now by l)avi(l, Josephns 
 applies to tlie whole city Jerusalem, thousjh including 
 the citadel also ; by what authority we do not now know 
 —perhaps, after David had united them toijefher, or 
 joined the citadel to the lower city, a» sect 2, Joseptius 
 fcsteemed them as one city. However, this notion seems 
 to be confirmed by what the same Jivsephus says con- j 
 cernin^ David's, and many other kings of .ludah's, se- 
 pulchres, which, as the authors of the books of Kings and 
 Chronicles say, were in the city of David, so does Jose- 
 phus still say they were in Jerusalem. The sepulchre 
 of David seems to have been also a known place in the 
 several days of Ilyrcanus, of Herod, and of St. Peter 
 — Antiq. b. xiii. cli. viii. sect. 4 ; b xvi. ch vii. sect. I ; 
 Acts ii. 2 •. Now ho such royal sepulchres have been 
 found about Mount Sion, but are found close by the 
 north wall of Jerusalem, which 1 suspect, therefore, to 
 be these very sepulchres. See the note on chap. xv. sect 
 8. In th«! mean time, Josephus's explication of the 
 iHine, and the blind, and the maimed, as set to keep thi» 
 citv or citadel, seems to be the truth, and uives the best 
 light to that history in our Bible. Mr. Ottius truly ob- 
 »erves ( ap. H.ivercami). p xUio), that Jjsephus never 
 m»'ntioiis Mount Sion by that name, us takinu it for an 
 apieMut vr. as I «uppiii«e. nn'l not fur a prop* r name; 
 he .si'll either »t>les it Ihf Ctlatiel. or Tiif Ufffrr City i 
 
 2. When David had cast the Jebusites 
 out of the citadel, be also rebuilt Jerusalerc, 
 and named it The City of David, and abode 
 there all the time of his reign : but for the 
 time that he reigned over the tribe of Judah 
 only in Hebron, it was seven years and six 
 months. Now when he had chosen Jerusa- 
 lem to be his royal city, his affairs did more 
 and more prosper, by the Providence of God, 
 who took care that they should improve and 
 be augmented. Hiram also, the king of the 
 Tyrians, sent ambassadors to him, and made 
 a league of mutual friendship and assistance 
 with him. He also sent him presents, cedar- 
 trees, and mechanics, and men skilful in build- 
 ing and architecture, that they might build 
 him a- royal palace at Jerusalem. Now Da- 
 vid made buildings round about the lower 
 city: he also joined the citadel to it, and 
 made it one body; and when he had encom- 
 passed all with walls, he appoinfpd Joab. to 
 take care of them. It was David, therefore, 
 who first cast the Jebusites out of Jerusalem, 
 and called it by his own name, The City oj 
 David; for under our forefather Abraham it 
 was called (Salem or^ Solyma;|" but after 
 that time, some say that Homer mentions it 
 by that name of Solyma, [for he named the 
 temple Solyma, according to the Hebrew lan- 
 guage, which denotes security.^ Now the 
 whole time from the warfare under Joshua 
 our general against the Canaanites, and from 
 that war in which he overcame them, and 
 distributed the 'land amon^ ^e Hebrews (nor 
 could the Israelites ever cast the Canaanites 
 out of Jerusalem until this time, when David 
 took it by sieire), this whole time ^as five 
 hundred and fifteen years. 
 
 3, I shall now make mention of Araunah, 
 who was a wealthy man among the Jebusites, 
 but was not slain by David in the siege of Je- 
 •*usalem, because of the good-will he bore to 
 the Hebrews, and a particular benignity and 
 affection which he had to the king himself; 
 which I shall take a more seasonable opportu- 
 nity to speak of a little aftervvards. Now 
 David married other wives over and above 
 those which he had before: he had also Con- 
 
 nor do I see any reason for Mr. Ottius's evil suspicions 
 about this procedure of Josephus 
 
 + Some copies of Josephus have here Solyma, or Sa- 
 lem ; and others Hierosolyma, or Jerusalem. The lat- 
 ter best agree to what Josephus says elsewhere (of the 
 War, b. vi. c. x.), that this city was called Solyma or Sa- 
 lem, before the days of Melchisedec ; but was by hita 
 called Hierosoly ma, or Jeru.ialem. i rather suppose it to 
 have been so called alter Abraham bad received that ora- 
 cle Jehovah Jireii ; " the Lord will see, or provide" (Gen. 
 xxii. 14). Tlie latter word Jireh, with a liUle alteration, 
 prefixed to the old name Salem, Peace, will bo Jerusa- 
 lem ; and since that expression, *' God will see," or ra- 
 ther, ''God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt- 
 offlring" (ver. 8, 14), is there said to have been prover- 
 bial till the days of Moses, this seems to me the most 
 probable derivation of that name, which will then de- 
 note, "That God would provide peace by that I.amb of 
 Gitd which was to take away the sins of the world.'* 
 However, that which is put into brackets, oan hardlv b« 
 suppose-l t!ie genuiue words of Josephus, as Dr. Hsdsoii 
 well jl«<'ge». 
 
188 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK vrr. 
 
 cubines. The sons whom he had were in 
 number eleven, whose names were Amnon, 
 Emnos, Eban, Nathan, ^olomon, Jeban, Elien, 
 Phalna, Ennaphen, Jenae, Eliphale; antl a 
 daughter, Tamar. Nine of these were born 
 of legitimate wives, but the two last-named 
 of concubines; arul Tamar had the same mo- 
 ther with Absalom. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THAT WHEN DAVID HAD CONQUKUED THK 
 PHILISTINES, WHO MADE WAR AGAINST 
 HIM AT JERUSALEM, HE REMOVED THE AUK 
 TO JERUSALEM, AND HAD A MIND.. TO 
 BUILD A TEMPLE. 
 
 § 1. When the Philistines understood that 
 David was made king of the Hebrews, they 
 made war against him at Jerusalem; and 
 when they had seized upon that valley which 
 is called The Vulhif of the Giants, and is a 
 place not far from the city, they pitched their 
 camp therein: but the king of the Jews, who 
 never permitted himself to do any thing with- 
 out prophecy,* and the command of God, and 
 without depending on him as a security for 
 the time to come, bade the high-priest to fore- 
 tell to him what was the will of God, and 
 what would be the event of this battle. And 
 when he foretold that he should gain the vic- 
 tory and the dominion, he led out his army 
 against the Philistines; and when the battle 
 was joined, he came himself behind, and fell 
 upon . the enemy *bn the sudden, and slew 
 some of them, and put the rest to flight. And 
 let no one suppose that it was a small army 
 of the Philistines that came against the He- 
 brews, as guessing so from the suddeimess of 
 their defeat, and from their having performed" 
 no great action, or that was worth recording, 
 from the slowness of their march and want of 
 com age; but let him know that all Syria and 
 Phoenicia, with many other nations besides 
 titem, and those warUke nations also, came 
 to their assistance, and had a share in this 
 war: — which thing was the only cause why, 
 when they had been so often conquered, and 
 had lost so many ten thousands of their men, 
 they still came upon the Hebrews with greater 
 arinies ; nay, indeed, when they had so often 
 failed of their purpose in these battles, they 
 came upon David with un army three time's 
 
 ♦ It deserves here to be remarked, that Satil very 
 rarely, ai»d David very frequently, consulted God by 
 Urim; and that David aimed always to depend not on 
 his own prudvnce or ahilitii'S, but on the (fivine direc- 
 tion, contrary to Saul's practice. 8ce sect 2, and the 
 nottt on Antiq. b. lil. chap. viil. sect 9 ; and wIk'U Saul's 
 daughter (but David's wife) Michal laughed at David's 
 danciwjf bi'fore the ark, 2 Sam. vi. 16, &c.\ and here, 
 sect. 1, 2, 8, it is probable she did so, because her fa- 
 tlier Saul did not use to i»ay such a regard to the ark, 
 to the Urifn there inquired by, or t> God's worship be- 
 fora it: and >)ccauseffhe thou;;ht itboDoath the dignity 
 of a kinir to b« •« r«tligioiw. 
 
 as numerous as before, and pitched their 
 camp on the same spot of ground as before. 
 The king of Israel therefore inquired of God 
 again concerning the event of the battle ; and 
 the high-priest prophesied to him, that he 
 should keep his army in the groves, called the 
 Groves iif Weeping, which were not far from 
 the enemy's camp, and that he should not 
 move, nor begin to fight, till the trees of the 
 grove should be in motion without the wind's 
 blowing; but as soon as these trees moved, 
 and the time foretold to him by God wus 
 come, he should, without delay, go out to 
 gcdn what was an already prepared and evi- 
 dent victory; for the several ranks of the 
 enemy's army did not sustain him, but re- 
 treated at the first onset, whom he closely 
 followed, and slew them as he went along, 
 and pursued them to the city of Gaza (which 
 is the limit of their country): after this he 
 spoiled their camp, in which he found great 
 riches; and he destroyed their gods. 
 
 2. When this had proved the event of the 
 battle, David thought it proper, upon a consid- 
 tation with the elders and rulers, and captains 
 of thousands, to send for those that were in 
 the flower of their age out of all his country- 
 men, and out of the whole land, and withal 
 for the priests and the Levites, in order to 
 their going to Kirjathjearim, to bring up the 
 ark of God out of that city, and to carry it to 
 Jerusalem, and there to keep it, and offer be- 
 fore it those sacrifices and those other honours 
 with which God used to be well pleased; for 
 had they done thus in the reign of Saul, they 
 had not undergone any great misfortunes at 
 all. So when the whole body of the people 
 were come together, as they had resolved to 
 do, the king came to the ark, which the priests* 
 brought out of the house of Aminadab, am* 
 laid it upon a new curt, and permitted their 
 brethren and their children to draw it, toge- 
 ther \vith the oxen. Before it went the king, 
 and the whole multitude of the people witl 
 him, singing hynnis to GcxI, and making use 
 of all sorts of songs usual among them, witk 
 variety of the sounds of musical instruments, 
 and with dancing and singing of psalms, a> 
 also with the sounds of trumpets and of cym- 
 bals, and so brought the ark to Jerusalem, 
 liut as they were come to the threshing-flooi 
 of Chidon, a place so called, Uzzah was slain 
 by the anger of God ; for as the oxen shook 
 the ark, he stretched out his hand, and would 
 needs rake hold of it. Now because he was 
 not a priest,* and yet touched the ark, God 
 
 • JoRephus fwems to he partly in the rifi;ht, whrn h* 
 obHerves here ttial Uezali was no priest (though perhapa 
 he miKht lie a I.evite). unil was thereloie strucli dead for 
 touching the art^, contrary ti» the law, and for which pro- 
 fane rAt«liiies.s Heath was the penalty by that law. Numb. 
 iv 15, 20. Sri- ttie Iiks hefore, Antiq.h. vi. ch. i. tect. 4. 
 It i» not inipr. habie lli.tt the putting this ark in a cart, 
 when it <)Ui:ht to hiive heen carried by the priests or Le- 
 vites, as it was pieseutiy here in Josephus so curried 
 from ObetlfdiiHi's hoii«f \« David's, uiiijlit be also an oo» 
 casion of the nu-er ot ' -xl .m thai bruaah o^ hit iaw 
 Sm Numb, iv Iti 1 Chroii. xv Ui 
 
CHAP. rv. 
 
 ANTrQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 189 
 
 strack him dead. Hereupon both the king 
 «nd the people were displeased at the death 
 of Uzzah ; and the place where he died is still 
 called the Breach of Uzzah unto this day. So 
 David was afraid; and supposing that if he 
 received the ark to himself into the city, he 
 might suffer in the like manner as Uzzah had 
 siitTered, who, upon his hare putting out his 
 hand to the ark, died in the manner already 
 mentioned, he did not receive it to himself 
 into the city, but he took it aside unto a cer- 
 tain place belonging to a righteous man, 
 whose name was Obededom, who was by his 
 fhmily a Levite, and deposited the ark with 
 him ; and it remained there three entire 
 months. This augmented the house of Obed- 
 edom, and conferred many blessings upon it; 
 and when the king had heard what had befal- 
 len Obededom, how he was become of a poor 
 man in a low estate, exceedingly happy, and 
 the object of envy to all those that saw or in- 
 quired after his house, he took courage, and 
 hoping that he should meet with no misfor- 
 tune thereby, he transferred the ark to his 
 own house, the priests carrying it, while seven 
 companies of singers, who were set in that 
 order by the king, went before it, and while 
 he himself played upon the harp, and joined 
 in the music, insomuch that when his wife 
 
 4. Now when the king saw that his affairs 
 grew better almost every day, by the will ot 
 God, he thought he should offend him, if, 
 while he himself continued in houses made of 
 cedar, such as were of a great height, and had 
 the most curious works of architecture in 
 them, he shonld overlook the ark w'hile it waa 
 laid in a tabernacle, and was desirous to build 
 a temple i/s. God, as Moses had predicted such 
 a temple should be built.* And when he 
 had discoursed with Nathan the prophet about 
 these vhings, and had been encouraged by 
 him to do whatsoever he had a mind to do, 
 as having God with him and his helper in all 
 filings, he was thereupon the more ready to 
 set about that building. But God appeared 
 to Nathan that very night, and commanded 
 him to say to David,f that he took his pur- 
 pose and his desires kindly, since nobody had 
 before now taken it into their head to build 
 him a temple, although upon his having feuch 
 a notion he would iiot permit him to build him 
 that temple, because he had made many wars, 
 and was defiled with the slaughter of his ene- 
 mies; that, however, after his death, in his old 
 age, and when he had lived a long life, there 
 should be a temple built by a son of his, who 
 should take the kingdom after him, and 
 should be called Solomon, whom he promised 
 
 Michal, the daughter of Saul, who was our to provide for, as a father provides for his 
 first king, saw him so doing, she laughed at ' 
 
 him ; but when they had brought in the ark, 
 they placed it under the tabernacle which 
 David had pitched for it, and he offered cost- 
 ly sacrifices and peace-offerings, and treated 
 the whole multitude, and dealt both to the 
 women, and the men, and the infants, a loaf 
 of bread and a cake, and another cake baked 
 in a pan, with a portion of the sacrifice. So 
 when he had thus feasted the people, he sent 
 them away, and he himself returned to his 
 own house. 
 
 3. But when Michal his wife, the daughter 
 of Saul, came and stood by him, she wished 
 him all other happiness; and entreated that 
 whatsoever he should farther desire, to the ut- 
 most possibility, might be given him by God, 
 and that he might be favourable to him ; yet 
 did she blame him, that so great a king as he 
 was should dance after an unseemly manner, 
 and in his dancing uncover himself among the 
 servants and the hand-maidens; but he re- 
 plied, that he was not ashamed to do what 
 was acceptable to God, who had preferred 
 him before her father, and before all others; 
 that he would play frequently, and dance, 
 without any regard to what the hand-maidens 
 and she herself thought of it. So this Michal 
 Had no children ; however, when she was 
 afterwards married to him to whom Saul her 
 father had given her (for at this time David 
 had taken her away from him, and had her 
 biai»elf), she bare five children. But con- 
 cerning those matters I shall discourse in a 
 proper place. 
 
 son by preserving the kingdom for his son's 
 posterity, and delivering it to them; but that 
 he would still punish him if he sinned, witli 
 diseases and barrenness of land. When Da- 
 vid understood this from the prophet, and 
 was overjoyful at this knowledge of the sure 
 continuance of the dominion to his posterity, 
 and that his house should be splendid, and 
 very famous, he came to the ark, and fell 
 down on his face, and began to adore God, 
 and to return thanks to him for all his bene- 
 fits, as well for those that he had already be- 
 stowed upon him in raising him from a low 
 state, and from the employment of a shep- 
 herd, to so great dignity of dominion and 
 glory, as for those also which he had pro- 
 mised to his posterity ; and, besides, for 
 that providence which he had exercised over 
 the Hebrews, in procuring them the liberty 
 
 • Josephus here informs ks, that, according to hit 
 under»tandin(j of the sense of his copy o( the Penta- 
 teuch, Moses had himself foretold the building of the 
 temple, which yet is nowhere, that I know of, in our 
 present copies. And that this is not a mistake set down 
 l)y him unwarily, appears by what he observed before, 
 on Antiq. b. iv. ch. viii. sect. 46, how Moses foretold, 
 that upon the Jews' future disobedience, their temple 
 should be burnt and rebuilt, and that not once only, but 
 several times afterward. See also Josephus's mention 
 of God's former commands to build such a temple pre- 
 sently (ch. xiv. sect. 2), contrary to our other copies, or 
 at least to our translation of the Hebrew, "i Sam. vii. 6^ 
 7 ; 1 Chron. xvii. 5, 6- 
 
 + Josephus seems, in this place, with our modem in- 
 terpreters, to confound the two distinct predictions 
 which God made to David and to Nathan, concerning 
 the building him a temple by one of David's, posterity : 
 the one belongeth to Solomon, the other to the Messiah; 
 the distinction between which is ef tit* greatest eABse- 
 fMMe to tke ChjMltaB r lif iea. 
 
 i 
 
100 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VIl, 
 
 they enjoyed. And when he had said thus, 
 and had sung a hymn of praise to God, he 
 went his way. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW DAVID BROUGHT UNDER THE PHILIS- 
 TINES, AND THE MOABITES, AND THE KINGS 
 OF SOPHENE, AND OF DAMASCUS, AND OP 
 T'HE SYRIANS, AS ALSO THE IDUMEANS, IN 
 WAR; AND HOW HE MADE A LEAGUE WITH 
 THE KING OF HAMATH; AND WAS MIND- 
 FUL OF THE FRIENDSHIP THAT JONATHAN, 
 THE SON OF SAUL, HAD BORNE TO HIM. 
 
 § 1. A LITTLE while after this, he considered 
 that he ought to make war against the Philis- 
 tines, and not to see any idleness or laziness 
 permitted in his management, that so it might 
 prove, as God had foretold to him, that, when 
 he had overthrown his enemies, he should 
 leave his posterity to reign in peace afterward: 
 so he called together his army again, and when 
 he had charged them to be ready and prepar- 
 ed for war, and when he thought that all things 
 in his army were jn a good state, he removed 
 from Jerusalem, ana came against the Philis- 
 tines ; and when he had overcome them in bat- 
 tle, and had cut off a great part of their coun- 
 try, and adjoined it to the country of the He- 
 i brews, he transferred the war to the Moabites ; 
 and wken he had overcome two parts of their 
 army in battle, he took the remaining part cap- 
 tive, and imposed tribute upon them, to be 
 paid annually. He then made war against 
 Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of So- 
 phene; and when he had joined battle with 
 him at the river Euphrates, he destroyed 
 twenty thousand of his footmen, and about 
 seven thousand of his horsemen; he also 
 took a thousand of his chariots, and destroyed 
 the greatest part of them, and ordered that 
 no more than one hundred should be kept.* 
 
 2. Now when Hadad,t king of Damascus 
 and of Syria, heard that David fought against 
 Hadadezer, who was his friend, he came to 
 his assistance with a powerful army, in hopes 
 to rescue him; and when he had joined battle 
 with David at the river Euphrates, he foiled 
 
 • DaTid's reservinj; only one hnndred chariots for 
 himself, out of one thousand he had taken from Hada- 
 dezer. was most probably done in compliance with tiw 
 law t f Moses, which forbade a king of Israel " to mul- 
 tiply horses to himself," Deut. xvii. 16; one of the 
 principal uses of Horses in J udea at that time being for 
 drawing their chariots. See Josh. xii. 6j and Antiq. b. 
 V. chap. i. sect. 18. 
 
 + It deserves here to be remarked, that this Hadad, 
 being a very great king, was conquered by David, whose 
 posterity yet for several generations were called Uenha- 
 dad, or the son of Hadad. till the days of Ilazael. whose 
 son Adar or Ader is also in our Hebrew copy (2 Kings, 
 xiii. 24), written Benhadad,- hut in Josephus, Adad or 
 Adar. And strange it is, that the son of Hazael, said to 
 be such in the same text, and in Josephus (Antiq. b ix. 
 chap. Tiii. «*et. 7) shmild still be called the son of Ha- 
 dad. Tould therefore here correct our Hebrew copy 
 tem ^MMluulb wbi*k M«nt to have tbc tnif rwtdiBg. 
 
 of his purpose, and lost in the battle a great 
 number of his soldiers; for there were slain 
 of the army of Hadad twenty thousand, and 
 all the rest fled. Nicolaus [of Damascus] aha 
 makes mention of this king in the fourth booli 
 of his histories; where he speaks thus: " A 
 great while after these things had happened, 
 there was one of that country whose nam« 
 was Hadad, who was become very potent: he 
 reigned over Damascus and the other parts 
 of Syria, excepting Phoenicia. He made war 
 against David, the king of Judea, and tried 
 his fortune in many battles, and particularly 
 in the last battle at Euphrates, wherein he wa>' 
 beaten. He seemed to have been the most 
 excellent of all their kings in strength and 
 manhood." Nay, besides this, he says of his 
 posterity, that " they succeeded one another 
 in his kingdom, and in his name;" where he 
 thus speaks: "When Hadad was dead, hit* 
 posterity reigned for ten generations, each of 
 his successors receiving from his father thai 
 his dominion, and this his name; as did the 
 Ptolemies in Egypt. But the third was the 
 most powerful of them all, and was willing to 
 avenge the defeat his forefather had received: 
 so he made an expedition against the Jews, 
 and laid waste the city which is now called 
 Samaria." Nor did he err from the truth; for 
 this is that Hadad who made the expedition 
 against Samaria, in the reign of Ahab, king 
 of Israel; concerning whom we shall speak 
 in due place hereafter. 
 
 3. Now when David had made an expedi- 
 tion against Damascus and the other parts of 
 Syria, and had brought it all into subjection, 
 and had placed garrisons in the country, and 
 appointed that they should pay tribute, he re- 
 turned home. He also dedicated to God at 
 Jerusalem the golden quivers, the entire ar- 
 mour which the guards of Hadad used to 
 wear; which Shibhak, the king of Egypt, 
 took away when he fought with David's 
 grandson, Rehoboam, Avith a great deal of 
 other wealth which he carried out of Jerusa- 
 lem. However, these things will come to be 
 explained in their proper places hereafter. 
 Now as for the king of the Hebrews, he was 
 assisted by God, who gave him great success 
 in his wars; and he made an expedition agains* 
 the best cities of Hadadezer, Betah and Ma- 
 chon ; so Vie took them by force, and laid them 
 waste. Therein was found a very great quan- 
 tity of gold and silver, besides that sort of 
 brass which is said to be more valuable than 
 gold ; of which brass Solomon made that large 
 vessel which was called The [Brazen'] Sea,HU(i 
 those most curious lavers, when he built the 
 temple for God. 
 
 4. But when the king of Hamath was in- 
 ^formed of the ill success of Hadadezer, and 
 
 had heard of the ruin of his army, he was 
 iifiaitl on his own account, and resolved to 
 rj.sike a lea;^uo of friendship and fidelity wi 
 J David, before he should come against him; ao 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 in 
 
 he sent to bim his son Joram, and professed 
 that he owed him thanks for fighting against 
 Hadadezer, who was his enemy, and made a 
 league with him of mutual assistance and 
 friendship. He also sent him presents, ves- 
 sels of ancient workmanship, both of gold, of 
 silver, and of brass. So when David had 
 made this league of mutual assistance with 
 Toi (for that was the name of the king of 
 Hamath), and had received the presents he 
 sent him, he dismissed his son with that re- 
 spect which was due on both sides; but then 
 David brought those presents that were sent 
 by him, as also the rest of the gold and silver 
 which he had taken of the cities whom he had 
 conquered, and dedicated them to God. Nor 
 did God give victory and success to him only 
 when he went to the battle himself, and led 
 his own army, but he gave victory to Abishai, 
 the brother of Joab, general of his forces, 
 over the Idumeans,* and by him to David, 
 when he sent him with an army into Idumea; 
 for Abishai destroyed eighteen thousand of 
 them in the battle; whereupon the king [of 
 Israel] placed garrisons through all Idumea, 
 and received the tribute of the country, and 
 of every head among them. Now David was 
 in his nature just, and made his determination 
 with regard to truth. He had for the general 
 of his whole army Joab; and he made Je- 
 hoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, recorder: he 
 also' appointed Zadok, of the family of Phi- 
 neas, to be high-priest, together with Abiathar, 
 for he was his friend: he also made Seisan the 
 scribe ; and committed the command over the 
 guards of his body to Benaiah, the son of Je- 
 hoiada. His elder sons were near his body, 
 and had the care of it also. 
 
 5. He also called to mind the covenants 
 and the oaths he had made with Jonathan, 
 the son-of Saul, and the friendship and affec- 
 tion Jonathan had for him; for besides all the 
 rest of his excellent qualities wth which he 
 was endowed, he was also exceeding mindful 
 ot such as had at other times bestowed bene- 
 fits iipon him. He therefore gave order that 
 inquiry should be made, whether any of Jo- 
 nathan's lineage were fiving, to whom he 
 might make return of that familiar acquam- 
 taiice which Jonathan had had with him, and 
 for which he was still debtor. And when one 
 of Saul's freed men was brought to him, who 
 was acquainted with those of his family that 
 were still living, he asked him whether he 
 could tell him of any one belonging to Jona- 
 than that was now alive, and capable of a re- 
 quital of the benefits which he had received 
 
 • By this ^reat victory over the Idumeans or Edom- 
 it^s, the posterity of Bsau, and by the consequent tri- 
 bute paid by that nation tothe Jews, were the prophecies 
 dflivireil to Heliecca before Jacob and Esau were born, 
 and hy old Isaac before his death, that the elder. Esau 
 (or the Edomites), shouM serve the younger, Jacob (or 
 th** Israelites); and Jacob (or the Israelites) should be 
 Eiau's (or the Edomites') lord, remarkably fulfilled. See 
 Antiq. b. viii. chap. vii. si'ct 6. Gen. \xv. 23; and the 
 notes on Antiq. b. i. chap, xviii. s«»ct 0. fi. 
 
 from Jonathan. And when he said that a son 
 of his was remaining, whose name was Me- 
 phibosheth, but that he was lame of his feet ; 
 for that when his nurse heard that the father 
 and grandfather of the child were fallen in 
 the battle, she snatched him up, and fleet away, 
 and let him fall from her shoulders, and his 
 feet were lamed. So when he had learned 
 where, and by whom he was brought up, he 
 sent messengers to Machir, to the city of Lo- 
 debar, for with him was the son of Jonathan 
 brought up, and sent for him to come to him. 
 So when Mephibosheth came to the king, he 
 fell on his face and worshipped him; but Da- 
 vid encouraged him, and bade him be v;^ good 
 cheer, and expect better times. So he gave 
 him his father's house, and all the estate which 
 his grandfather Saul was in possession of, and 
 bade him come and diet with him at his own 
 table, and never to be absent one day from 
 that table. And when the youth had wor- 
 shipped him, on account of his words and 
 gifts given to him, he called for Ziba, and told 
 him that he had given the youth his father's 
 house, and all Saul's estate. He also ordered 
 that Ziba should cultivate his land, and take 
 care of it, and bring him the profits of all to 
 Jerusalem. Accordingly David brought him 
 to his table every day; and bestowed upon the 
 youth, Ziba and his sons, who were in num- 
 ber fifteen, and his servants, who were in num- 
 ber twenty. When the king had made these 
 appointments, and Ziba had worshipped him, 
 and promised. to do all that he had bidden 
 him, he went his way; so that this son of 
 Jonathan dwelt at Jerusalem, and dieted at the 
 king's table, and had the same care that a son 
 could claim taken of him. He also had him- 
 self a son, whom he named Micha. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 now THE WAR WAS WAGED AGAINST THE 
 AMMONITES, AND HAPriLY CONCLUDED. 
 
 § 1. These were the honours that such as 
 were left of Saul's and Jonathan's lineage re- 
 ceived from David. About this time died 
 Nahash, the king of the Ammonities, who was 
 a friend of David's; and when his son had suc- 
 ceeded his father in the kingdom, David sent 
 ambassadors to him to comfort him ; and ex- 
 horted him to take his father's death patiently, 
 and to expect that he would continue the same 
 kindness to himself which he had shown to his 
 father. But the princes of the Amn-onites 
 took this message in evil part, and not as 
 David's kind dispositions, gave reason to take 
 it; and they excited the king to resent it; 
 and said that David had sent men to spy out 
 the country, and what strength it had, under 
 the pretence of humanity and kindness. Thej 
 farther advised liini to have a care, and not to 
 
192 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK vn» 
 
 give heed to David's words, lest he should be 
 deluded by him, and so fall into an inconsol- 
 able calamity. Accordingly Nahash's [son], 
 the king of the Ammonites, thought these 
 princes spake what was more probable than 
 the truth would admit, and so abused the am- 
 bassadors after a very harsh manner; for he 
 shaved the one half of their beards, and cut off 
 one half of their garments, and sent his an- 
 swer not in words but in deeds. When the 
 king of Israel saw this, he had indignation at 
 it, and showed openly that he would not over- 
 look this injurious and contumelious treat- 
 ment, but would make war with the Ammon- 
 ites, and would avenge this wicked treatment 
 of his ambassadors on their king. So that the 
 king's intimate friends and commanders, un- 
 derstanding that they had violated their league, 
 and were liable to be punished for the same, 
 made preparations for war; they also sent a 
 tho sand talents to the Syrian king of Meso- 
 potamia, and endeavoured to prevail with him 
 to assist them for that pay, and Shobach. Now 
 these kings had twenty thousand footmen. 
 They also hired the king of the country called 
 Maacah, and a fourth king, by name Ishtob ; 
 which last had twelve thousand armed men. 
 
 2. But David was under no consternation 
 at this confederacy, nor at the forces of the 
 Ammonites; and, putting his trust in God, 
 because he was going to war in a just cause, 
 on account of the injurious treatment he had 
 met with, he immediately sent Joab, the cap- 
 tain of his host, against them, and gave him 
 the flower of his army, who pitched his camp 
 by Rabbath, the metropolis of the Ammonites; 
 whereupon the enemy came out, and set them- 
 selves in array, not all of them together, but 
 in two bodies; for the auxiliaries were set in 
 array in the plain by themselves, but the army 
 of the Ammonites at the gates over against the 
 Hebrews. When Joab saw this he opposed 
 one stratagem against another, and chose out 
 the most hardy part of his men, and set them 
 in opposition to the king of Syria, and the 
 kings that were with him, and gave the other 
 part to his brother Abishai, and bid him set 
 them in opposition to the Ammonities ; and 
 said to him. That in case he should see that 
 the Syrians distressed him and were too hard 
 for him, he should order his troops to turn 
 about and assist him : and he said. That he 
 himself would do the same to him, if he saw 
 him in the like distress from the Ammonites. 
 So he sent his brother before, and encouraged 
 him to do every thing courageously and with 
 alacrity, which would teach them to be afraid 
 of disgrace, and to fight manfully; and so he 
 dismissed him to fight with the Ammonites, 
 while he fell upon the Syrians. And though 
 they made a strong opposition for a while, 
 Joab slew many of them, but compelled (he 
 re<t to betake themselves to flight ; which, 
 when tlw Ainmonites saw, and were withal 
 afraid of Abi'bai and his army, they staid no 
 
 longer, but imitated their auxiliaries, and fled 
 to the city. So Joab, when he had thus over- 
 come the enemy, returned with great joy to 
 Jerusalem to the king. 
 
 3. This defeat did not still induce the Am- 
 monites to be quiet, nor to own those that 
 were superior to them to be so, and be still, 
 but they sent to Chalaman, the king of the 
 Syrians, beyond Euphrates, and hired him for 
 an auxiliary. He had Shobach for the captain 
 of his host, with eighty thousand footmen, 
 and ten thousand horsemen. Now when the 
 king of the Hebrews understood that the Am- 
 monites had again gathered so great an army 
 together, he determined to make war with 
 them no longer by his generals, but he passed 
 over the river Jordan himself with all his army ; 
 and when he met them he joined battle with 
 them and overcame them, and slew forty 
 thousand of their footmen, and seven thou- 
 sand of their horsemen. He also wounded 
 Shobach, the general of Chalaman's forces, 
 who died of that stroke; but the people of 
 Mesopotamia, upon such a conclusion of the 
 battle, delivered themselves up to David, and 
 sent him presents, who at winter-time return- 
 ed to Jerusalem. But at the beginning of the 
 spring he sent Joab, the captain of his host, to 
 fight against the Ammonites, who overran all 
 their country, and laid it waste, and shut them 
 up in their metropolis Rabbah, and besieged 
 them therein. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW DAVID FELL IN LOVE WITH BATHSHEBA, 
 AND SLEW HER HDSBAND UKIAH, FOR 
 WHICH HE IS REPROVED BY NATHAN. 
 
 § 1. But David fell now into a very griev- 
 ous sin, though he were otherwise naturally 
 a righteous and a religious man, and one that 
 firmly observed the laws of our fathers ; for 
 when late in an evening he took a view round 
 him frpm the roof of his royal palace, where 
 he used to walk at that hour, he saw a woman 
 washing herself in her own house: she was 
 one of extraordinary beauty, and therein sur- 
 passed all other women; her name was B;irb. 
 sheba. So he was overcome by that woman's 
 beauty, and was not able to restrain his desires, 
 but sent for her and lay with her. Hereupon 
 she conceived with child, and sent to the king 
 that he should contrive some way for conceal- 
 ing her sin (for, according to the laws of their 
 fathers, she who had been guilty of adultery 
 ought to be put to death). So the king sent 
 for Joab's armour-bearer from the siege, who 
 was the woman's husband; and ^is name was 
 Uriah : and when he was come, the kiuif in- 
 quired of him about the army, and about the 
 siege; and when he had made answer, tlittt 
 ail their aifairs went according to their wishes. 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 193 
 
 the king took some portions of meat from 
 his supper, and gave thera to him, and hade 
 him go home to his wife, and take his rest 
 with her. Uriah did not do so, but slept 
 near the king \nth the rest of his armour- 
 bearers. When the king u'as informed of 
 this, he asked him why he did not go home 
 to his house, and to his wife, after so long an 
 absence; which is the natural custom of all 
 men, when they come from a long journey. 
 He replied, that it was not right, while his 
 fellow-soldiers, and the general of the army, 
 slept upon the ground, in the camp, and in 
 an enemy's country, that he should go and 
 take his rest, and solace himself with his wife. 
 So when he had thus replied, the king order- 
 e<l him to stay there that night, that he might 
 dismiss him the next day to the general. So 
 the king innted Uriah to supper, and after 
 a cunning and dexterous manner plied him 
 with drink at supper till he was thereby 
 disordered; yet did he nevertheless sleep at 
 the king's giites, without any incUnation to go 
 to his unfe. Upon this the king was very 
 angry at him; and wrote to Joab, and com- 
 manded him to punish Uriah, for he told him 
 that he bad offended him; and he suggested 
 to him the manner in which he would hare 
 him punished, that it might not be discovered 
 that he was himself the author of this his pun- 
 ishment; for he charged him to set him 
 over-against that part of the enemy's army 
 where the attack would be most hazardous, 
 and where he might be deserted, and be in the 
 greatest jeopardy; for he bade him order his 
 fellow-soldiers to retire out of the fight. 
 When he had ^vritt^n thus to him, and sealed 
 the letter \vith his own seal, he gave it to 
 Uriah to carry to Joab. When Joab had re- 
 ceived it, and upon reading it understood the 
 king's purpose, he set Uriah in that place 
 where he knew the enemy would be most 
 troublesome to them; and gave him for his 
 partners some of the best soldiers in the army ; 
 and said that he would also come to their assist- 
 ance with the whole army, that if possible they 
 might break down some part of the wall, and 
 enter the city. And he desired him to be 
 glad of the opportunity of exposing himself 
 to such great pains, and not to be displeased 
 at it, since he was a valiant soldier, and had a 
 great reputation for his valour, both with the 
 king and with his countrymen. And when 
 Uriah undertook the work he was set upon 
 \vith alacrity, he gave private orders to those 
 who were to be his companions, that when 
 they saw the enemy make a sally, they should 
 leave him. When, therefore, the Hebrews 
 made an attack upon the city, the Ammonites 
 were afraid that the enemy might prevent 
 them, and get up into the city, and this at the 
 very place. whither Uriah was ordered; so they 
 exposed their best soldiers to be in the fore- 
 front, and opened their gates suddenly, and 
 tell upon the enemy with great vehemence, and 
 
 ran violently upon them. When those that were 
 with Uriah saw this,t hey all retreated back ward, 
 as Joab hud directed them beforehand; but 
 Uriah, as ashamed to run away and leave his 
 post, sustained the enemy, and receiving the 
 violence of their onset, he slew many of them; 
 but being ericompassed round, and caught in 
 the midst of them, he was slain, and some 
 other of his companions were slain with him. 
 
 2. When this was done, Joab sent messen- 
 gers to the king, and ordered them to tell him 
 that he did what he could to take the city soon ; 
 but that a« they made an assault on the wall, 
 they had been forced to retire with great loss; 
 and bade them, if they saw the king was 
 angry at it, to add this, that Uriah was slain 
 also. When the king had heard this of the 
 messengers, he took it heinously, and said 
 that they did wrong when they assaulted the 
 wall, whereas they ought, by undermining 
 and other stratagems of war, to endeavour 
 the taking of the city, especially when they 
 had before their eyes the example of Abime- 
 lech, the son of Gideon, who would needs 
 take the tower in Thebes by force, and was 
 killed by a large stone thrown at him by an 
 old woman; and, although he was a man of 
 great prowess, he died ignominiously by the 
 dangerous manner of his assault. That they 
 should remember this accident, and not come 
 near the enemy's wall, for that the best me- 
 thod of making war with success was to call 
 to mind the accidents of former wars, and 
 what good or bad success had attended them 
 in the like dangerous cases, that so they might 
 imitate the one, and avoid the other. But 
 when the king was in this disposition, the 
 messenger told him that Uriah was slain also; 
 whereupon he was pacified. So he bade the 
 messenger go back to Joab, and tell him that 
 this misfortune is no other than what is com- 
 mon among mankind; and that such is the 
 nature, and such the accidents of war, inso- 
 much that sometimes the enemy will have 
 success therein, and sometimes others; but 
 that he ordered him to go on still in his care 
 about the siege, that no ill accident might be- 
 fall him in it hereafter: that they should 
 raise bulwarks and use machines in besieging 
 the city; and when they have gotten it, to 
 overturn its very foundations, and to destroy 
 all those that are in it. Accordingly the mes- 
 senger carried the king's message with which 
 he was charged, and made haste to Joab. 
 But Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, when she 
 was informed of the death of her husband, 
 mourned for his death many days; and when 
 her mourning was over, and the tears which 
 she shed for Uriah were dried up, the king 
 took her to wife presently; and a son was 
 born to him by her. 
 
 3. With this marriage God \yas not well 
 
 pleased, but was thereupon angry at David; 
 
 and he appeared to Nathan the prophet in 
 
 his sleep, and complained of the king. Now 
 
 N 
 
194 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII 
 
 Nathan was a fidr and prudent man; and con- 
 sidering that kings, when they fall into a pas- 
 sion, are guided more by that passion than 
 they are by justice, he resolved to conceal the 
 threatenings that proceeded from God, and 
 made a good-natured discourse to him, and 
 this after the manner followang: — He desired 
 that the king would give him his opinion in 
 the following case: — " There were," said he, 
 " two men inhabiting the same city, the one 
 of them was rich and [the other poor]. The 
 rich man had a great many flocks of cattle, 
 of sheep, and of kine ; but the poor man had 
 but one ewe-lamb. This he brought up \nih 
 his children, and let her eat her food with 
 them; and he had the same natural affection 
 for her which any one might have for a daugh- 
 ter. Now upon the coming of a stranger to 
 the rich man, he would not vouchsafe to kill 
 any of his own flocks, and thence feast his 
 friend ; but he sent for the poor man's lamb, 
 and took her away from him, and made her 
 ready for food, and thenf^e feasted the stran- 
 ger." This discourse troubled the king ex- 
 ceedingly ; and he denounced to Nathan, that 
 " this man was a wicked man, who could 
 dare to do such a thing ; and that it was but 
 just that he should restore the lamb fourfold, 
 and be punished with death for it also." 
 Upon this, Nathan immediately said, that he 
 was himself the man who ought to suffer 
 those punishments, and that by his own sen- 
 tence; and that it was he who had perpe- 
 trated this great and horrid crime. He also 
 revealed to him, and laid before him, the 
 anger of God against him, who had made him 
 king over the army of the Hebrews, and lord 
 of all the nations, and those many and great 
 nations round about him ; who had formerly 
 delivered him out of the hands of Saul, and 
 had given him such wives as he had justly and 
 legally married ; and now this God was des- 
 pised by him, and affronted by his impiety, 
 when he had married, and now had another 
 man's wife; and by exposing her husband to 
 the enemy, had really slain him; that God 
 would inflict punishments upon him on ac- 
 count of those instances of wickedness; that 
 his own wives should be forced by one of his 
 sons; and that he should be treacherously 
 supplanted by the same son; and that al- 
 though he had perpetrated his wickedness 
 secretly, yet should that punishment which 
 he was to undergo be inflicted publicly upon 
 him; "that, moreover," said he, "the child 
 who was born to thee of her, shall soon die." 
 When the king was troubled at these mes- 
 satres, and sufficiently confounded, and said, 
 with tears and sorrow, that he had sinned (for 
 lie was without controversy a pious man, and 
 guilty of no sin at all in his whole life, ex- 
 ceptinc those in the matter of Uriah), God 
 bod com passion on him, and was reconciled 
 to him, ana promised that he would preserve 
 to him both hii life and his kingdom ; for he 
 
 said, that seeing he repented of the things he 
 had done, he was no longer displeased with 
 him. So Nathan, when he had delivered tliis 
 prophecy to the king, returned home. 
 
 4. However, God sent a dangerous dis- 
 temper upon the child that was born to David 
 of the wife of Uriah ; at M^hich the king was 
 troubled, and did not take any food for seven 
 days, although his servants almost forced 
 him to take it ; but he clothed himself in a 
 black garment, and fell down, and lay upon 
 the ground in sackcloth, entreating God for 
 the recovery of the child, for he vehemently 
 loved the child's mother; but when, on the 
 seventh day, the child was dead, the king's 
 servants durst not tell him of it, as supposing 
 that when he knew it, he would still less ad- 
 mit of food and other care of himself, by rea- 
 son of his grief at the death of his son, since 
 when the child was only sick, he so greatly 
 afflicted himself, and grieved for him; but 
 when the king perceived that his servants 
 were in disorder, and seemed to be affected as 
 those are who are very desirous to conceal 
 something, he understood that the child was 
 dead ; and when he had called one of his ser- 
 vants to him, and discovered that so it was, 
 he arose up and washed himself, and took a 
 white garment, and came into the tabernacle 
 of God. He also commanded them to set 
 supper before him, and thereby greatly sur- 
 prised his kindred and servants, while he did 
 nothing of this when the child was sick, but 
 did it all when he was dead. Whereupon, hav- 
 ing first begged leave to ask him a question, 
 they besought him to tell them the rea?on of 
 this his conduct; he then called them unskil- 
 ful people, and instructed them how he had 
 hopes of the recovery of the child while it was 
 alive, and accordingly did all that was proper 
 for him to do, as thinking by such means to 
 render God propitious to him; but that when 
 the child was dead, there was no longer anj 
 occasion for grief, which was then to no pur- 
 pose. When he had said this, they com. 
 mended the king's vrisdom and understanding. 
 He then went in unto Bathshcba his wife, 
 and she conceived and bare a gon; and by 
 the command of Nathan the prophet, called 
 his name Solomon. 
 
 5. But Joab sorely distressed the Ammon- 
 ites in the siege, by cutting off their waters, 
 and depriving them of other means of sub- 
 sistence, till they were in the greatest want of 
 meat and drink, for they depended only on 
 one small well of water, and this they duist 
 not drink of too freely, lest Ihe fountain 
 should entirely fail them. So he wrote to the 
 king, and informed him thereof; and per- 
 suaded him to come himself to take the city, 
 that he might have the honour of the victory. 
 Upon this letter of Joab's, thf; king accepf^d 
 of his good-will and fidelity, and took with 
 him his army, aiid came to tlie destruction of 
 Kabbah ; and when he had taken it b.y force. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JE^s. 
 
 195 
 
 hepraveittoliis soldiers to plunder it; but 
 he himseit took the king of the Ammonites* 
 crown, the weight of which was a talent of 
 gold;* and it had in its middle a precious 
 stone called a sardonyx; which crown David 
 ever after wore on his owii head. He also 
 found many other vessels if the city /and those 
 both splendid and of great price; but as for 
 the men, he tormented them,t and then de- 
 stroyed them: and when he had taken the 
 «ther cities of the Ammonites by force, he 
 treated them after the same manner. 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 «0W ABSALOM MURDERED AMNON, WHO HAD 
 FORCED HIS OWN SISTER; AND HOW HE WAS 
 BANISHED, AND AFTERWARDS RECALLED BY 
 DAVID. 
 
 § 1. When the king was returned to Jerusa- 
 lem, a sad misfortune befell his house, on the 
 occasion following: He had a daughter, who 
 was yet a virgin, and very handsome, inso- 
 much that she surpassed aU the most beauti- 
 ful women; her name was Taraar; she had 
 the same mother with Absalom. Now Am- 
 non, David's eldest son, fell in love with her, 
 and being not able to obtain his desires, on ac- 
 count of her Wrginity, aad the custody she 
 was under, was so much out of order, nay, 
 his grief so eat up his body, that he grew lean, 
 and his colour was changed. Now there was 
 one Jonadab, a kinsman and friend of his, 
 who discovered this his passion, for he was an 
 extraordinary wise man, and of great sagacity 
 of mind. When, therefore, he saw that every 
 morning Amnon was not in body as he ought 
 to be, he came to him, and desired him to tell 
 him what was the cause of it: however, be 
 said that he guessed that it arose from the pas- 
 sion of love. Amnon confessed his passion, 
 that he was in love with a sister of his, who 
 had the same father with himself. So Jona- 
 dab suggested to him by what method and 
 
 • That a talent of gold was aboat seven pounds weight. 
 «ee the description of the temples, chap. xiii. Nor 
 could Josephus well estimate it higher, since be here 
 says that David wore it on his head perpetually. 
 
 + Whether Jose{>lius saw the words or our copies, 2 
 Sara. xii. 31, and 1 Chron. xx. 3, that David put the in- 
 habitants, or at least the garrison of Rabbah, and of the 
 otlier Ammonite cities whicn he besieged and took, under, 
 «r cut ttiena with saws, and under, or with harrows of 
 
 .Jron, and undt|r, or with axes of iron, and made them 
 pass through the brick kiln, is not here directly ex- 
 pressed. If he saw them, as it is most probable he did, 
 be certainly expounded them of tormenting these Am- 
 monites to death, who were none of those seven nations 
 of Canaan, whose wickedness had rendered them inca- 
 pable of mercy ; otherwise 1 shoull be inclinable to think 
 that the meaning, at least as the words are in Samuel, 
 night only be this: That they were made the lowest 
 t'aves, to work in sawing timber or stone, in harrowing 
 the Selds, in hewing timber, ia making and burning 
 bricks, and the like hard services, but without taking 
 away their lives. We never elsewhere, that I remem- 
 
 , her, meet with such methods of cruelty in putting men to 
 death in all the Bible, or in any other ancient history 
 whatsoever: nor do the words in Samuel seem Mittirally 
 * to nicT to lor such *lii»g 
 
 contrivance he might obtain his desires; fot 
 he persuaded him to pretend sickness, a.nri 
 bade him, when his father should come to him, 
 to beg of him that his sister might come and 
 minister to him; for, if that were done, be 
 should be b^ter, and should quickly recover 
 from his distemper. So Amnon lay down ot 
 his bed, and pretended to be sick, as Jonadab 
 had suggested. When his father came, ami 
 inquired how he did, he begged of him to send 
 his sister to him. Accordingly, he presently 
 ordered her to be brought to him ; and whcr 
 she was come, Amnon bade her make cakes 
 for him, and fry them in a pan, and do it au 
 with her own hands, because he should take 
 them better from her hand [than from any 
 one's else]. So she kneaded the flour in the 
 sight of her brother, and made him cakes, and 
 baked them in slj^slxi, and brought them to 
 him ; but at that time he would not taste them, 
 but gave order to his servants to send all that 
 were there out of his chamber, because he bad 
 a mind to repose himself, free from tumult 
 and disturbance. As soon as what he had 
 commanded was done, he desired his sister to 
 bring his supper to him into the inner parlour; 
 which, when the damsel had done, he took 
 hold of her, and endeavoured to persuade her 
 to lie with him. Whereupon the damsel cried 
 out, and said, " Nay, brother, do not force 
 me, nor be so wicked as to transgress the laws, 
 and bring upon thyself the utmost confusion. 
 Curb this thy xmrighteous and impure lust, 
 from which our house will get nothing but 
 reproach and disgrace." She also advised him 
 to speak to his father about this afiair; for 
 he would permit him [to marry herj. This 
 she said, as desirous to avoid her brother's vio- 
 lent passion at present. But he would not 
 yield to her; but, inflamed with love, and 
 blinded with the vehemency of his passion, he 
 forced his sister: but as soon as Amnon had 
 satisfied his lust, he hated her inunediately, 
 and giving her reproachful words, bade her 
 rise up and be gone. And when she said 
 that this was a more injurious treatment than 
 the former, if, now he had forced her, he would 
 not let her stay with him till the evening, biit 
 bid her go away in the day-time, and while it 
 was light, that she might meet with people 
 that would be witness of her shame, — he coin- 
 manded his servant to turn her out of his 
 house. Whereupon she was sorely grieved 
 at the injury and violence that had been oifer- 
 ed to her, and rent her loose coat (for the vir- 
 gins of old time wore such loose coats tied at 
 the hands, and let do\vn to the ankles, that 
 the inner coats might not be seen), and 
 sprinkled ashes on her head; and went up 
 the middle of the city, crying out and lament- 
 ing for the violence that had been offered her. 
 Now Absalom, her brother, happened to meet 
 her, and asked her what sad thing had be- 
 fallen her, that she was in that plight; and 
 when she had told him what injury had been 
 
196 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Bt)OK vn 
 
 offered her, lie comforted her, and desired her 
 to be quiet, and take all patiently, and not to 
 esteem her being corrupted by her biother as 
 an injury. So she yielded to his advice, and 
 left off her crying out, and discovering the 
 force offered her to the multitude: and she 
 continued a& a widow with her brother Absa- 
 lom a long time. 
 
 2 When David his father knew this, he 
 was grieved at the actions of Amnon ; but 
 because he had an extraordinary affection for 
 him, for he was his eldest son, he was com- 
 pelled not to afflict him; but Absalom watch- 
 ed for a fit opportunity of revenging this crime 
 upon him, for he thoroughly hated him. Now 
 the second year after this wicked affair about 
 his sister was over, and Absalom was about to 
 go to shear his own sheep at Baalhazor, whicn 
 is a city in the portion of Ephraim, he be- 
 sought his father, as well as his brethren, to 
 come and feast with him; but when David 
 excused himself, as not being willing to be 
 burdensome to him, Absalom desired he would 
 however send his brethren; whom he did send 
 accordingly. Then Absalom charged his own 
 servants, that when they should see Amnon 
 disordered and drowsy with wine, and he 
 should give them a signal, they should fear 
 nobody, but kill him. 
 
 3. When they had done as they were com- 
 manded, the rest of his brethren were aston- 
 ished and disturbed, and were afraid for them- 
 selves, so they immediately got on horseback, 
 and rode away to their father; but somebody 
 there was who prevented them, and told their 
 father they were all slain by Absalom; where- 
 upon he was overcome with sorrow, as for so 
 many of his sons that were destroyed at once, 
 and that by their brother also; and by this con- 
 sideration that it was their brother that ap- 
 peared to have slain them, he aggravated hit 
 sorrow for them. So he neither inquired what 
 was the cause of this slaughter, nor staid to hear 
 anything else, which yet it was but reasonable 
 to have done, when so very great, and by that 
 greatness so incredible a misfortune was relat- 
 ed to him, he rent his clothes, and threw him- 
 self upon the ground, and there lay lamenting 
 the loss of all his sons, both those who, as he 
 was informed, were slain, and of him who slew 
 them. But Jonadab, the son of his brother 
 Sbemeah, entreated him not to indulge his 
 Borrow 80 far, for as to the rest of his sons he 
 did not believe that they were slain, for he 
 found no cause for such a suspicion ; but he 
 «aid it might deserve inquiry as to Amnon, 
 for it was not unlikely that Absalom might 
 venture to kill him on account of the injury 
 he had offered to Tamar. In the mean time, 
 a great noise of horses, and a tumult of some 
 people that were coming, turned their attention 
 to them ; they were the king's sons, who were 
 lied sway from the feast. So their father met 
 them as they were in their grief, and he him- 
 self grieved with them; but it was more than 
 
 he expected to see those his sons again, whom 
 he had a little before heard to have perished'. 
 However, there were tears on both sides; they 
 lamenting their brother who was killed, ai;d 
 the king lamenting his son who was killed 
 also; but Absalom fled to Geshur, to his 
 grandfath'er by his mother's side, who was king 
 of that country, and he remained with him' 
 three whole years. 
 
 4. Now David bad a design to send to Ab- 
 salom, not that he should come to be punished, 
 but that he might be with him, for the effect* 
 of his anger were abated by length of time. 
 It was Joab, the captain of his host, that chief- 
 ly persuaded him so to do; for he suborned 
 an ordinary woman, that was stricken in age^ 
 to go to the king in mourning apparel, who 
 
 said thus to him That two of her sons, in a 
 
 coarse way, had some diflerence between them, 
 and that in the progress of that difference they 
 came to an open quarrel, and that one was 
 smitten by the other, and was dead ; and she 
 desired him to interpose in this case, and to 
 do her the favour to save this her son from her 
 kindred, who were very zealous to have him. 
 that had slain his brother put to death, that so 
 she might nc^. be farther deprived of the hopes 
 she had of being taken care of in her old age 
 by him; and that if he would hinder thi» 
 slaughter of her son by those that wished for 
 it, he would do her a great favour, because 
 the kindred would not be restrained from their 
 purpose by any thing else than by the fear of 
 him ; — and when the king had given his con- 
 sent to what the woman had begged of him, 
 she made this reply to him; — *' I owe thee 
 thanks for thy benignity to me in pitying my 
 old age, and preventing the loss of my only 
 remaining child ; but in order to assure me of" 
 this thy kindness, be first reconciled to thine 
 own son, and cease to be angry with him ; for 
 how shall I persuade myself that thou hast 
 really bestowed this favour upon me, while 
 thou thyself continuest after the like manner 
 in thy wrath to thine own son? for it is a fool- 
 ish thing to add wilfully another to thy dead 
 son, while the death of the other was brought 
 about without thy consent;" — and now the 
 k'.ng perceived that this pretended story was a 
 subornation derived from Joab, and was of 
 his contrivance; and when, upon inquiry of 
 the old woman, he understood it to be so in* 
 reality, he called for Joab, and told him he 
 had obtained what he requested According tO' 
 his own mind; and he bid him bring Absalom 
 back, for he was not now displeased, but had 
 already ceased to be angry with him. So Joab 
 bowed himself down to the king, and took his 
 words kindly, and went immediately to Ge- 
 shur, and took Absalom with him, and came 
 to Jerusalem. 
 
 5. However, the king sent a message to his 
 son beforehand, as he was coming, and com- 
 manded him to retire to his own house, fof 
 he was not yet in such a dispositioa as i» . 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 197 
 
 think fit at present to see him. Accordingly, 
 upon the father's command, he avoided com- 
 ing into his presence, and contented him- 
 self with the respects paid him by his own 
 family only. Now his beauty was not im- 
 paired, either by the grief he had been 
 under, or by the want of such care as was 
 proper to be taken of a king's son, for he 
 still surpassed and excelled all men in the 
 tallness of his body, and was more eminent 
 [in a fine appearance] than those that dieted 
 the most luxuriously ; and, indeed, such was 
 the thickness of the hair of his head, that it 
 was %vith difficulty he was polled every eighth 
 day; and his hair weighed two hundred she- 
 kels,* which are five pounds. However, he 
 dwelt in Jerusalem two years, and became 
 the father of three sons, and one daughter ; 
 which daughter was of very great beauty, 
 and which Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, 
 took to wife afterward, and had by her a son 
 named Abijah ; but Absalom sent to Joab, 
 and desired him to pacify his father entirely 
 towards him; and to beseech him to give him 
 leave to come to him to see him, and speak 
 with him ; but when Joab neglected so to do, he 
 sent some of his own servants, and set fire to 
 the field adjoining to him; which, when Joab 
 understood, he came to Absalom, and accused 
 him of what he had done; and asked him the 
 reason why he did so? To which Absalom 
 replied, that " I have found out this strata- 
 gem that might bring thee to us, while thou 
 hast taken no care to perform the injunction 
 I laid upon thee, which was this, to reconcile 
 my father to me; and I really beg it of thee, 
 now thou art here, to pacify my father as to 
 me, since I esteem my coming hither to be 
 more grievous than my banishment, while my 
 father's wrath against me continues." Here- 
 by Joab was persuaded, and pitied the distress 
 that Absalom was in, and became an interces- 
 sor with the king for him ; and when he had 
 discoursed with his father, he soon brought 
 hira to that amicable disposition towards Ab- 
 salom, that he presently sent for him to come 
 to him ; and when he had cast himself down 
 upon the ground, and had begged for the 
 forgiveness of his offences, the king raised 
 him up, and promised him to forget what he 
 had formerly done. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CON'CERNING THE INSURRECTION OF ABSALOM 
 
 AGAINST DAVID; AND CONCERNING AHI- 
 
 THOPHKL AND HUSHAI; AND CONCERNING 
 
 ' ZIBA AND SHIMEI; AND HOW AHITHOPHEL 
 
 HANGED HIMSELF. 
 
 § 1. Now Absalom, upon this his success with 
 the king, procured to himself a great many 
 
 • Of this weight of Absalom'5 hair, how in twenty or 
 thirty years it miebt well amount to two hundred shekels, I 
 
 horses, and many chariots, and that in a little 
 time also. He had moreover fifty armour- 
 bearers that were about him, and he came 
 early every day to the king's pdace, and 
 spake what was agreeable to such as came 'or 
 .justice and lost their causes, as if that hap- 
 pened for want of good counsellors about the 
 king, or perhaps because the judges mistook 
 in that unjust sentence they gave; whereby 
 he gained the good- will of them all. He 
 told them, that had he but such authority 
 committed to him, he would distribute justice 
 to them in a most equitable manner. When 
 he had made himself so pc^jujar among the 
 multitude, he thought he had thready the 
 good- will of the people secured to him; but 
 when four years f had passed since his fa- 
 ther's reconciliation to him, he came to him, 
 and besought him to give him leave to go to 
 Hebron, and pay a sacrifice to God, because 
 he vowed it to him when he fled out of the 
 country. So when Da\nd had granted his 
 recjuest, he went thither, and great multitudes 
 came running together to him, for he had 
 sent to a great number so to do. 
 
 2. Among them came Ahithophel the Gi- 
 lonite, a counsellor of David's, and two hun- 
 dred men out of Jerusalem itself, who knew 
 not his intentions, but were sent for as to a 
 sacrifice. So he was appointed king by all 
 of them, which he obtained by that stratagem. 
 As soon as this news was brought to David, 
 and he was informed of what he did not ex- 
 pect from his son, he was aflrighted at this his 
 impious and bold undertaking, and wondered 
 that he was so far from remembering how his 
 oflence had been so lately forgiven him, that 
 he undertook much worse and more wicked 
 enterprises; first, to deprive him of that 
 kingdom which was given him of God ; and, 
 secondly, to take away his own father's life. 
 He therefore resolved to fly to the parts be- 
 yond Jordan ; so he called his most intimate 
 friends together, and communicated to them 
 all that he had heard of his son's madness. 
 He committed himself to God, to judge be- 
 tween them about all their actions ; and left 
 the care of his royal palace to his ten concu- 
 bines, and went away from Jerusalem, being 
 willingly accompanied by the rest of the mul- 
 or to somewhat above six pounds aroirdupois, see the 
 Literal Accomplishment of Prophecies, page 77, 78. 
 But a late very judicious author thinks that the IxxlL 
 meant not its weight, but its value was twenty shekels. 
 Dr. Wall's Critical Notes on the Old Testament, upon 
 2 Samuel xiv. 26. It does not appear what was Jose- 
 phus's opinion: he sets the text down honestly as he 
 found it in his copies, only he thought, that "at the 
 end of days," when Absalom polled or weighed his hair, 
 was once a week. 
 
 t This is one of the best corrections that Josephus's 
 copy affords us of a text that, in our ordinary copies, is 
 grossly corrupted. They say that this rebellion of Ab- 
 salom was forty years after what went before (of his re- 
 conciliation to his father), whereas the series of the 
 history shows it could not be more than four years after 
 it, as here in Josephus, whose number is directly con- 
 firmed by that copy of the Septuagint version whence 
 the Armenian translation was made, which gives us 
 the small number of four years. 
 
198 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII, 
 
 titude, who went hastily away with him, and 
 particularly by those six hundred armed men, 
 who had been with him from his first flight in 
 the days of Saul. But he persuaded Abia- 
 thar and Zadok, the high-priests, who had de- 
 termined to go away with him, as also all the 
 Levites, who were with the ark, to stay be- 
 hind, as hoping that God would deliver him 
 without its removal; but he charged them to 
 let him know privately how all things went 
 on; and he had their sons, Ahimaaz the son 
 of Zadok, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar, 
 for faithful ministers in all things; but Ittai 
 the Gittite went out with him whether David 
 would let him or not, for he would have per- 
 suaded him to stay, and on that account he 
 appeared the more friendly to him; but as he 
 was ascending the mount of Olives barefoot- 
 ed, and all his company were in tears, it was 
 told him that Ahithophel was with Absalom, 
 and was of his side. This hearing augment- 
 ed his grief; and he besought God earnestly 
 to alienate the mind of Absalom from Ahitho- 
 phel, for he was afraid that he should persuade 
 him to follow his pernicious counsel, for he 
 was a prudent man, and very sharp in seeing 
 what was advantageous. 'When David was 
 gotten upon the top of the mountain, he took 
 a view of the city; and prayed to God with 
 abundance of tears, as having already lost his 
 kingdom: and here it was that a faithful 
 friend of his, whose name was Hushai, met 
 him. When David saw him with his clothes 
 rent, and having ashes aU over his head, and 
 in lamentation for the great change of affairs, 
 he comforted him, and exhorted him to leave 
 off grieving; nay, at length he besought him 
 to go back to Absalom, and appear as one of 
 his party, and to fish out the secretest coun- 
 sels of his mind, and to contradict the coun- 
 sels of Ahithophel, for that he could not do 
 him so much good by being with him as 
 he might by being with Absalom. So he 
 was prevailed on by David, and left him, and 
 came to Jerusalem, whither Absalom himself 
 came also a little while afterward. 
 
 3. When David was gone a little farther, 
 there met him Ziba, the servant of Mephi- 
 bosheth (whom he had sent to take care of 
 the possessions which had been given him, as 
 
 he son of Jonathan, the son of Saul), with a 
 ouple of asses, loaden with provisions, and 
 desired him to take as much of them as he 
 a/ id his followers stood in need of. And 
 when the king asked him where he had left 
 Mephibosheth, he said he had left him in 
 Jerusalem, expecting to be chosen king in the 
 present confusions, in remembrance of the 
 benefits Saul had conferred upon them. At 
 thig the king had great indignation, and gjive 
 to Ziba all that he had formerly bestowed on I 
 Mephibosheth, for he determined that it was 
 ff)uch fitter that he should have them than the 
 Other; at which Ziba greatly rejoiced. 
 
 4. When David was at Bahuriiu, a place 
 
 so called, there came out a kinsman of Saul's 
 whose name was Shimei, and threw stones at 
 him, and gave him reproachful words; and 
 as his friends stood about the king and pro- 
 tected him, he persevered still more in his re- 
 proaches, and called him a bloody man, and 
 the author of all sorts of mischief. He bade 
 him also go out of the land as an impure and 
 accursed wretch; and he thanked God for 
 depriving him of his kingdom, and causing 
 him to be punished for what injuries he had 
 done to his master [Saul], and this by the 
 means of his own son. Now when they were 
 all provoked against him, and angry at him, 
 and particularly Abishai, who had a mind to 
 kill Shimei, David restrained his anger. " Let 
 us not," said he, " bring upon ourselves an- 
 other fresh misfortime to those we have already, 
 for truly I have not the least regard nor con- 
 cern for this dog that raves at me : I submit 
 myself to God, by whose permission this man 
 treats me in such a wild manner ; nor is it 
 any wonder that I am obliged to undergo these 
 abuses from him, while I experience the like 
 from an impious son of my own; but perhaps 
 God will have some commiseration upon us; 
 if it be his >vill we shall overcome them." So 
 he went on his way without troubling himself 
 with Shimei, who ran along the other side of 
 the mountain, and threw out his abusive lan- 
 guage plentifully. But when David was come 
 to Jordan, he allowed those that were with 
 him to refresh themselves; for they were 
 weary. 
 
 5. But when Absalom, and Ahithophel his 
 counsellor, were come to Jerusalem, with all 
 the people, David's friend, Hushai, came to 
 them ; and when he had worshipped Absalom, 
 he withal wished that his kingdom might last 
 a long time, and continue for all ages. But 
 when Absalom said to him, " How comes 
 this, that he who was so intimate a friend of 
 my father's, and appeared faithful to him in all 
 things, is not with him now, but hath left him, 
 and IS come over to me?" Hushai 's answer 
 was very pertinent and prudent; for he said> 
 " We ought to follow God and the multitude 
 of the people ; while these, therefore, my lord, 
 and master, are with thee, it is fit that I should 
 follow them, for thou hast received the king- 
 dom from God. I will, therefore, if thou be- 
 lievest me to be thy friend, show the same 
 fidehty and kindness to thee, which thou 
 knowest I have shown to thy father: nor is 
 there any reason to be in the least dissatisfied 
 with the present state of affairs, for the king- 
 dom is not transferred into another, but re- 
 mains still in the same family, by the son's 
 receiving it after his father." This speech 
 persuaded Absalom, who before suspected 
 Hushai. And now he called Ahithophel, 
 iind consulted with him what he ought to do; 
 he persuaded him to go in unto his father's 
 confuljines ; for he said, that *' hiy this ac- 
 ti<;n »he people wo'ild beli**.ve that thy differ- 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 199 
 
 ence with thy father is irreconcileable, and 
 will thence fight with great alacrity against 
 thy father, for hitherto they are afraid of ta- 
 king up open ennaity against him, out of an 
 expectation that you wll be reconciled again." 
 Accordingly Absalom was prevailed on by 
 this advice, and commanded his servants to 
 pitch him a tent upon the top of the royal 
 palace, in the sight of the multitude; and he 
 went in and lay with his father's concubines. 
 Now this came to pass according to the pre- 
 diction of Nathan, when he prophesied and 
 signified to him that his son would rise up in 
 rebellion against him. 
 
 6. And when Absalom had done what he 
 was advised to by Ahithophel, he desired his 
 advice, in the second place, about the war, 
 against his father. Now Ahithophel only ask- 
 ed him to let him have ten thousand chosen 
 men, and he promised he would slay his fa- 
 ther, and bring the soldiers back again in 
 safety ; ♦nd he said, that then the kingdom 
 would be firm to him when David was dead 
 £but not otherwise]. Absalom was pleased 
 with this advice, and called for Hushai, Da- 
 vid's friend (for so did he style him), and in- 
 formed him of the opinion of Ahithophel: he 
 asked, farther, what was his opinion concern- 
 ing that matter. Now he was sensible that 
 if Ahithophel's counsel were followed, David 
 would be in danger of being seized on, and 
 slain ; so he attempted to introduce a contrary 
 opinion, and said, " Thou art not unacquaint- 
 ed, O king, with the valour of thy father, and 
 of those that are now with him; that he hath 
 made many wars, and hath "always come off 
 with victory, though probably he now abides 
 in the camp, for he is very skilful in strata- 
 gems, and in foreseeing the deceitful tricks of 
 his enemies; yet will be leave his own soldiers 
 in the evening, and will either hide himself in 
 some valley, or will place an anr.bush at some 
 rock ; so that, when our army joins battle 
 with him, his soldiers will retire for a little 
 while, but will come upon us again, as en- 
 couraged by the king's being near them ; and 
 in the meantime your father will show him- 
 self suddenly in the time of the battle, and 
 will infuse courage into his own people when 
 they are in danger, but bring consternation to 
 thine. Consider, therefore, my advice, and 
 reason upon it, and if thou canst not but ac- 
 knowledge it to be the best, reject the opinion 
 of Ahithophel. Send to the entire country of 
 the Hebrews, and order them to come and 
 fight with thy father ; and do thou thyself 
 take the army, and be thine own general in 
 this war, and do not trust its management to 
 another ; then expect to conquer him with 
 ease, when thou overtakest him openly with 
 bis few part.izans, but hast thyself many tea 
 thousands, who will be desirous to demon- 
 strate to thee their diligence and alacrity. And 
 if thy father shall shut himself up in some 
 dty, and bear a siege, we will overthrow that 
 
 city with machines of war, and by iindenni- 
 ning it." When Hushai had said this, he ob- 
 tained his point against Ahithophel, for his 
 opinion was preferred by Absalom before the 
 other's: however, it was no other than God* 
 who made the counsel of Hushai appear best 
 to the mind of Absalom. 
 
 7. So Hushai made haste to the high-priests 
 Zadok and Abiathar, and told them the opi- 
 nion of Ahithophel, and his own, and that tbfe 
 resolution was taken to follow this latter ad- 
 vice. He therefore bade them send to David, 
 and tell him of it, and to inform him of the 
 counsels that had been taken; and to desire 
 him farther to pass quickly over Jordan, le.st 
 his son should change his mind, and make 
 haste to pursue him, and so prevent him, and 
 seize upon him before he be in safety. Now 
 the high-priests had their sons concealed in a 
 proper place out of the city, that they might 
 carry news to David of what was transacted. 
 Accordingly, they sent a maid-servant, wboni 
 they could trust, to them, to carry the news 
 of Absalom's counsels, and ordered them to 
 signify the same to David with all speed. So 
 they made no excuse nor delay, but, taking- 
 along with them their fathers' injunctions, 
 j became pious and faithful ministers ; and 
 {judging that quickness and suddenness was 
 the best mark of faithful service, they made 
 haste to meet with David. But certain horse- 
 men saw them when they were two furlongs 
 from the city, and informed Absalom of iem, 
 who immediately sent some to take them ; but 
 when the sons of the high-priests perceived this, 
 they went out of the road, and betook them, 
 selves to a certain village (that village was 
 called Bahurim): there they desired a certain 
 woman to hide them, and afibrd them secu- 
 rity. Accordingly she let the young men 
 down by a rope into a well, and laid fleeces 
 of wool over them; and when those that pur- 
 sued them came to her, and asked her whether 
 she saw them, she did not deny that she had 
 seen them, for that they staid ^vith her some 
 time, but she said they then went their ways ; 
 and she foretold, that, however, if they would 
 follow them directly, they would catch them ; 
 
 » This reflection of Josephns's, that God brouifht to 
 Bonsht the dangerous counsel of Ahithophel, and di- 
 rectly infatuated wicked Absalom to reject it (whi«»a in- 
 fatuation is what the Scripture styles the judicial harden- 
 ing the hearts, and blinding the eyes of men, who, by 
 their former voluntary wickedness, have justly deserved 
 to be destroyed, and are thereby brought ti' destruction), 
 is a very just one. a_nd in him not unfrequent Nor does 
 Josephus ever puzzle himself, or perplex his readers, 
 with subtle hypotheses as to the manner of such judicial 
 infatuations by God, while the justice of them is gene- 
 rally so obvious. That peculiar manner of the divine 
 operations, or permissions, or the means God maJies use 
 of in such cases, is often impenetrable by us. "Secret 
 things belong to the Lord our God; but those things 
 that are revealed belong to us, and to our children for 
 ever, that we may do all the words of this law," Deut. 
 xxix. 29. Nor have all the subtilties of the moderns, w 
 far as I see, given any considerable light in this, and 
 many other the, like points of difficulty relating either U 
 divine or human operations. — *See the notes on Aatiq. 
 b. T. ch. L tert. 2; ai»<t Aatiq. b. ix. eh. ir. Mct '± 
 
SM 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK Til 
 
 but when, after a long pursuit, they could not 
 catch them, they came back again; and when 
 the woman saw those men were returned, and 
 that there was no longer any fear of the young 
 men's being caught by them, she drew them 
 up by the rope, and bade them go on their 
 journey. Accordingly they used great dili- 
 gence in the prosecution of that journey, and 
 came to David and informed him accurately 
 ef all the counsels of Absalom. So he com- 
 manded those that were with him to pass over 
 Jordan while it was night, and not to delay at 
 all on that account. 
 
 8. But Ahithophel, on rejection of his ad- 
 vice, got upon his ass and rode away to his 
 own country, Gilon; and, calling his family 
 together, he told them distinctly what advice 
 he had given Absalom; and since he had not 
 been persuaded by it, he eaid he would evi- 
 dently perish, and this in no long time, and 
 that David would overcome him, and return 
 to his kingdom again ; so be said it was better 
 that he should take his own life away with 
 freedom and magnanimity, than expose him- 
 self to be punished by David, in opposition 
 to whom he had acted entirely for Absalom. 
 When he bad discoursed thus to them, he 
 went iato the inmost room of his house, and 
 hanged himself; and thus was the death of 
 Ahitl'ophrf, who was self-condemned; and 
 when his relations had taken him down from 
 the halter they took care of his funeral. Now, 
 as for David, he passed over Jordan, as we 
 have said already, and came to Mahanaim, a 
 very fine and very strong city; and all the 
 chief men of the country received him with 
 great pleasure, both out of the shame they 
 had that he should be forced to flee away 
 [from Jerusalem], and out of the respect they 
 bare him while he was in his former prospe- 
 rity. These were Barzillai the Gileadite, and 
 Siphar the ruler among the Ammonites, and 
 Machir the principal man of Gilead; and 
 these furnished him with plentiful, provisions 
 for himself and his followers, insomuch that 
 they wanted no beds nor blankets for them, 
 nor loaves of bread, nor wine; nay, they 
 brought them a great many cattle for slaugh- 
 ter, and atforded them what furniture they 
 wanted for their refreshment when they were 
 weary, and for food, with plenty of other ne- 
 cessaries. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW WHEN ABSALOM WAS BEATEN, HE WAS 
 CAUGHT IN A TREE BY HIS HAIR, AND WAS 
 SLAIN. 
 
 § 1. And this was the state of David and his 
 followers: but Absalom got together a vast 
 Army of the Hebrews tO oppose his father, and 
 passed therewith o'ver the river Jordan, and 
 
 sat down not far off Mahanaim, in the countrj 
 of Gilead. He appointed Amasa to be cap- 
 tain of all his host, instead of Joab his kins- 
 man: his father was Ithra, and his mother 
 Abigail: now she and Zeruiah, the mother of 
 Joab, were David's sisters; but when David 
 had numbered his followers, and found them 
 to be about four thousand, he resolved not to 
 tarry till Absalom attacked him, but set over 
 his men captains of thousands, and captains of 
 hundreds, and divided his army into three 
 parts; the one part he committed to Joab, the 
 next to Abishai, Joab's brother, and the third 
 to Ittai, David's companion and friend, but 
 one that came from the city Gath; and when 
 he was desirous of lighting himself among 
 them, his friends would not let him: and this 
 refusal of theirs was founded upon very wse 
 reasons: — "For," said they, **iJF we be con- 
 quered when he is with us, we have lost all 
 good hopes of recovering ourselves; but if we 
 should be beaten in one part of our army, 
 the other parts may retire to him, and may 
 thereby prepare a greater force, while the ene- 
 my will naturally suppose that he hath another 
 army with him." So David was pleased with 
 this their advice, and resolved himself to tarry 
 at Mahanaim ; and as he sent his friends and 
 commanders to the battle, he desired them to 
 show all possible alacrity and fidelity, and to 
 bear in mind what advantages they had received 
 from him, which, though they had not been 
 very great, yet had they not been quite incon- 
 siderable; and he begged of them to spare the 
 young man Absalom, lest some mischief should 
 befall himself, if,he should be killed; and thus 
 did he send out his army to the battle, and 
 wished them victory therein. 
 
 2. Then did Joab put his army in battle 
 array over-against the enemy in the Great 
 Plain, where he had a wood behind him. Ab- 
 salom also brought his army into the field to op- 
 pose him. Upon the joining of the battle, both 
 sides showed great actions with their hands 
 and their boldness; the one side exposing 
 themselves to the greatest hazards, and using 
 their utmost alacrity, that David might recover 
 his kingdom ; and the other being no way de- 
 ficient, either in doing or suffering, that Ab- 
 salom might not be deprived of that kingdom, 
 and be brought to punishment by his father, 
 for his impudent attempt against him. Those 
 also that were the most numerous were solici- 
 tous that they might not be conquered by those 
 few that were with Joab,and with the other com- 
 manders, because that would be the greatest 
 disgrace to them; while David's soldiers 
 strove greatly to overcome so many ten thou- 
 sands as the enemy had with them. Now 
 David's men were conquerors, as superior in 
 strength and skill in war ; so they fo'ilowed the 
 others as they fled away through the forests 
 and valleys; some they took prisoners and 
 many they slew, and more in th«« flight than 
 in the battle, for iiw.re fell about twenty thou* 
 
CHAP. X, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF TriE JEWS, 
 
 201 
 
 sand that day. But all David's men ran vio- 
 lently upon Absalom, for he was easily known 
 by his beauty and tallness. He was himself 
 also afraid lest his enemies should seize on him, 
 so he got upon the king's mule and fled; but 
 as he was carried with violence, and noise, and 
 a great motion, as being himself light, he en- 
 tangled his hair greatly in the large boughs of 
 a knotty tree that spread a great way, and 
 there he hung, after a surprising manner; and 
 as for the beast it went on farther, and that 
 swiftly, as if his master had been still upon 
 his back; but he hanging in the air upon the 
 boughs, was taken by his enemies. Now when, 
 one of David's soldiers saw this, he informed 
 Joab of it ; and when the general said. That if 
 he had shot at and killed Absalom, he would 
 have given him fifty shekels, he replied, — *' I 
 would not have killed my master's son if 
 thou wouldst have given me a thousand 
 shekels; especially when he desired that the 
 young man might be spared, in the hearing 
 of us all." But Joab bade him show him 
 where it was that he saw Absalom hang; 
 whereupon he shot him to the heart, and slew 
 him, and Joab's armour-bearers stood round 
 the tree, and pulled down his dead body, and 
 cast it into a great chasm that was out of 
 sight, and laid a heap of stones upon him, till 
 the cavity was filled up, and had both the 
 appearance and the bigness of a grave. Then 
 Joab sounded a retreat, and recalled his own 
 soldiers from pursuing the enemy's army, in 
 order to spare their countrymen. 
 
 3. Now Absalom had erected for himself 
 a marble pillar in the king's dale, two fur- 
 longs distant from Jerusalem, which he named 
 Absalom's Hand, saying, that if his children 
 were killed, his name would remain by that 
 pillar; for he had three sons and one daugh- 
 ter, named Tamar, as we said before, who, 
 when she was married to David's grandson, 
 Rehoboam, bare a son, Abijah by name, who 
 succeeded his father in the kingdom; but of 
 these we shall speak in a part of our history 
 which \vill be more proper. After the death 
 of Absalom, they returned every one to *heir 
 own homes respectively. 
 
 4. But now Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok the 
 high-priest, went to Joab, and desired he would 
 permit him to go and tell David of this vic- 
 tory, and to bring him the good news that 
 God had afforded his assistance and his pro- 
 vidence to him. However, he did not grant 
 his retjuest, but said to him, " Wilt thou, 
 who hast always been the messenger of good 
 news, now go and acquaint the king that his 
 son is dead?" So he desired him to desist. 
 He then called Cushi, and committed the 
 business to him, that he should tell the king 
 what he had seen. But when Ahimaaz again 
 desired him to let him go as a messenger, and 
 assured him that he would only relate what 
 concerned the viotory, but not concerning the 
 death of Absalom, lie gave him leave to go to 
 
 David. Now he took a nearer road than the 
 former did, for nobody knew it but himself, 
 and he came before Cushi. Now as David 
 was sitting between the gates,* and waiting 
 to see when somebody would come to him 
 from the battle, and tell him how it went, one 
 of the watchmen saw Ahimaaz running, and 
 before he could discern who he was, he told 
 David that he saw somebody coming to him, 
 who said, he was a good messenger. A little 
 while after, he informed him, that another 
 messenger followed him; whereupon the king 
 said that he also was a good messenger: but 
 when the watchman saw Ahimaaz, and that 
 he was already very near, he gave the king 
 notice, that it was the son of Zadok the 
 high-priest, who came running. So David 
 was very glad, and said he was a messenger 
 of good tidings, and brought him some such 
 news from the battle as he desired to hear. 
 
 5. While the king was saying thus, Ahi- 
 maaz appeared, and worshipped the king. 
 And when the king inquired of him about 
 the battle, he said he brought him the good 
 news of victory and dominion. And when 
 he inquired what he had to say concerning' 
 his son, he said that he came aw^y on the 
 sudden as soon as the enemy was defeated, 
 but that he heard a great noise of those that 
 pursued Absalom, and that he could iearn no 
 more, because of the haste he made when 
 Joab sent him to inform him of the victory. 
 But when Cushi was come, and had worship- 
 ped him, and informed him of the victory ,.he 
 asked him about his son, who replied, " May 
 the like misfortune befall thine enemies as 
 hath befallen Absalom." That word did not 
 permit either himself or his soldiers to rejoice 
 at the victory, though it was a very great one; 
 but David went up to the highest part of the 
 city,t and wept for his son, and beat his 
 breast, tearing [tne hair of] his head, torment- 
 ing himself all manner of ways, and crying 
 out, " Oh, my son ! I wish that I had died 
 myself, and ended my days with thee!" for 
 he was of a tender natural affection, and had 
 extraordinary compassion for this son in par- 
 ticular. But when the army and Joab heard 
 that the king mourned for his son, they were 
 ashamed to enter the city in the habit of con- 
 querors, but they all came in as cast down, 
 
 • The reader need not be surprised at this account of 
 David's throne, both here and 2 Sam. xviii. 24, that it 
 was between two gates, or portals; gates being in cities, 
 as well as at the temple, large open places, with a portal 
 at the entrance, and another at the exit, between which 
 jiidiciHl cansfs were heard, and public consultations ta- 
 ken, as is well known from several places of Scripture, 
 2 Chron. xxxi. 2; Psal. ix. 14j cxxvii. 3; Prov, i. 21; 
 Tiii 3, 34; xxxi. 2:}; and often elsewhere. 
 
 + Since David was now in Mahanaim, and in the 
 open place of that city-gate, which seems still to have 
 been built the highest of any part of the wal.; and since 
 our other copies say he went up to the chamber over the 
 gate (2 Sam. xviiL 33), I think we ought to correct our 
 present reading in Josephus, and for city should read 
 gate. i.e. instead of the hiuhest part of the ci/y should say 
 the highest part of the gate. Accordingly we find David 
 presently, in Josephus. as well as in our other copies, 
 2 Sam. xix. 6, sitting a^ before, in theyoie of the city. 
 
202 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 and in tears, as if they had been beaten. 
 Now while the king covered himself, and 
 grievously lamented his son, Joab went in to 
 him, and said, " O my lord the king, thou 
 art not aware that thou layest a blot on thy- 
 self by what thou now doest; for thou now 
 seemest to hate those that love thee, and un- 
 dergo dangers for thee; nay to hate thyself 
 and thy family, and to love those that are thy 
 bitter enemies, and to desire the company of 
 those that are no more, and who have been 
 justly slain; for had Absalom gotten the vic- 
 tory, and firmly settled himself in the kingdom, 
 there had been none of us left alive, but all of 
 us, beginning with thyself and thy children, 
 had miserably perished, while our enemies 
 had not wept for us, but rejoiced over us, 
 and punished even those that pitied us in our 
 misfortunes; and thou art not ashamed to do 
 this in the case of one that has been thy bit- 
 ter enemy, who, while he was thine own son, 
 hath proved so wicked to thee. Leave off, 
 therefore, thy unreasonable grief, and come 
 abroad and be seen by thy soldiers, and return 
 them thanks for the alacrity they showed in 
 the fight; for I myself will this day per- 
 suade the people to leave thee, and to give 
 the kingdom to another, if thou continuest 
 to do thus; and then I shall make thee to 
 grieve bitterly and in earnest." Upon Joab's 
 speaking thus to him, he made the king leave 
 off his sorrow, and brought him to the consi- 
 deration of his affairs. So David changed 
 hi^ habit, and exposed himself in a manner 
 fit to be seen by the multitude, and sat in the 
 gates; whereupon all the people heard of it, 
 and ran together to him, and saluted him. 
 And this was the present state of David's 
 affiiirs. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HOW DAVID, WHEN HE HAD RECOVERED HIS 
 KINGDOM, WAS RECONCILED TO SHIMEI, AND 
 TO ZIBA ; AND SHOWED A GREAT AFFEC- 
 TION TO BARZILLAI: AND HOW, UPON THE 
 BI8E OF A SEDITION, HE MADE AMASA CAP- 
 TAIN OF HIS HOST, IN ORDER TO PURSUE 
 8HEBA; WHICH AMASA WAS SLAIN BY JOAB. 
 
 § 1. Now those Hebrews that had been with 
 Absalom, and had retired out of the battle, 
 when tbey were all returned home, sent mes- 
 bengers to every city to put them in mind of 
 what benefits David had bestowed upon them, 
 and of that liberty which he had procured 
 them, by delivering them from many and great 
 wars. But they complained, that whereas 
 they had ejected liim out of his kingdom, and 
 committed it to another governor, whidi 
 Other governor, whom they had set up, wu> 
 already dead; they did not now beseech Davn 
 
 to leave off his anger at them, and to become 
 friends with them, and, as he used to do, to 
 resume the care of their affairs, and take the 
 kingdom again. This was often told to Da- 
 vid. And, this notwithstanding, David sent 
 to Zadok and Abiathar the high- priests, that 
 they should speak to the rulers of the tribe ot 
 Judah after the manner following: That it 
 would be a reproach upon them to permit the 
 other tribes to choose David for their king, 
 before their tribe, and this, said he, while you 
 are akin to him, and of the same common 
 blood. He commanded them also to say the 
 same to Amasa the captain of- their forces. 
 That whereas he was his sister's son, he had 
 not persuaded the multitude to restore the 
 kingdom of David: that he might expect from 
 him not only a reconciliation, for that was al- 
 ready granted, but that supreme command of 
 the army also which Absalom had bestowed 
 upon him. Accordingly the high-priests, 
 when they had discoursed with the rulers of 
 the tribe, and said what the king had ordered 
 them, persuaded Amasa to undertake the care 
 of his affairs. So he persuaded that tribe to 
 send immediately ambassadors to him, to be- , 
 seech him to return to his own kingdom. The 
 same did all the Israelites, at the like persua- 
 sion of Amasa. 
 
 2. When the ambassadors came to him, he 
 came to Jerusalem ; and the tribe of Judah 
 was the first that came to meet the king at the 
 river Jordan; and Shimei, the son of Gera, 
 came with a thousand men, which he brought 
 with him out of the tribe of Benjamin ; and 
 Ziba, the freedman of Saul, with his sons, 
 fifteen in number, and with his twenty ser- 
 vants. All these, as well as the tribe of Ju- 
 dah, laid a bridge [of boats] over the river, 
 that the king, and those that were with him, 
 might with ease pass over it. Now as soon 
 as he was come to Jordan, the tribe of Judah 
 saluted him. Shimei also came upon the 
 bridge, took hold of his feet, and prayed bini 
 to forgive him what he had offended, and not 
 to be too bitter against him, nor to think fit 
 to make him the first example of severity un- 
 der his new authority; but to consider that 
 he had repented of his failure of duty, and 
 had taken care to come first of all to hini. 
 While he was thus entreating the king, and 
 moving him to compassion, Abishai, Joab's 
 brother, said. And shall not this man die for 
 this, that he hath cursed that king whom God 
 hath appointed to reign over us? But Da- 
 vid turned himself to him, and said, " Will 
 you never leave off, ye sons of Zeruiah? Do 
 not you, I pray, raise new troubles and sedi- 
 tions among us, now the former are over; for 
 I would not have you ignorant, that I this dny 
 begin my reign, and tl)erefore swear to remit to 
 all offenders their punishments, and not to 
 animadvert on any one that has sinned. Be 
 thou, therefore," said he, " O Shirnei, of good 
 courage, and do not at all fear being put to 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 203 
 
 death." So he worshipped him, and went on 
 before him. 
 
 3. Mephibosheth also, Saul's grandson, 
 met David, clothed in a sordid garment, and 
 having his hair thick and neglected; for after 
 David was fled away, he was in such grief 
 that he had not polled his head, nor had he 
 washed his clothes, as dooming himself to un- 
 dergo such hardships upon occasion of the 
 change of the king's affairs. Now he had 
 been unjustly calumniated to the king by 
 Ziba, his steward. When he had saluted the 
 king, and worshipped him, the king began to 
 ask him why he did not go out of Jerusalem 
 with him, and accompany him during bis 
 flight? He replied, that this piece of injus- 
 tice was owing to Ziba ; because, when he 
 was ordered to get things ready for his going 
 out with him, he took no care of it, but re- 
 garded him no more than if he had been a 
 slave; "and, indeed, had I had my feet sound 
 and strong, I had not deserted thee, for I 
 could then have made use of them in my 
 flight; but this is not all the injury that Ziba 
 has done me, as to my duty to thee, my lord 
 and master, but he hath calumniated me be- 
 sides, and told lies about me of his own in- 
 vention; but I know thy mind will not ad- 
 mit of such calumnies, but is righteously dis- 
 posed, and a lover of truth, which it is also 
 the will of God should prevail. For when 
 thou wast in the greatest danger of suffering 
 by my grandfather, and when, on that ac- 
 count, our whole family might justly have 
 been destroyed, thou wast moderate and mer- 
 ciful, and didst then especially forget all those 
 injuries, when, if thou hadst remembered 
 them, thou hadst the power of punishing us 
 for them; but thou hast judged me to be thy 
 friend, and hast set me every day at thine 
 own table; nor have I wanted any thing 
 which one of thine own kinsmen, of great- 
 est esteem with thee, could have expected." 
 When he had said this, David resolved nei- 
 ther to punish Mephibosheth, nor to con- 
 demn Ziba, as having belied his master; but 
 said to him, that as he had [before] granted 
 all his estate to Ziba, because he did not come 
 along with him, so he [now] promised to for- 
 give him, and ordered that the one half of his 
 estate should be restored to him.* Where- 
 upon Mephibosheth said, " Nay, let Ziba take 
 all; it suffices me that thou hast recovered 
 thy kingdom." 
 
 4. But David desired Barzillai the Gilead- 
 
 • By David's disposal of half Mephiboshetb's estate to 
 Ziba, one would imagine that be was a sood deal dissa- 
 tis6ed. ai.d doubtful whether Mephiboshetb's story were 
 entirely true or not: nor does David now invite him to 
 diet with him. as he did before, but only *brcives him. 
 If be had been at all euihy. Nor is this odd way of 
 mourning that Mephibosheth made use of here, and it 
 S^am. xix. 24. wholly free from suspicion of hypocrisy. 
 If Z<ba neglected or refused to brine Mephibosheth an 
 ass of his own, on which he might ride to David, it is 
 hard to suppose that so great a man as he was should 
 rot be able to procure some other beast for the same 
 l^urpose. 
 
 ite, that great and good man, and one that 
 had made a plentiful prp vision for him at 
 Mahanaim, and had conducted him as far as 
 Jordan, to accompany him to Jerusalem, for 
 he promised to treat him in his old age with 
 all manner of respect — to take care of him, 
 and provide for him. But Barzillai was so 
 desirous to live at home, that he entreated 
 him to excuse him from attendance on him; 
 and said, that his age was too great to enjoy 
 the pleasures [of a court], since he was four- 
 score years old, and was therefore making 
 provision for his death and burial ; so he de- 
 sired him to gratify Lim in this request, and 
 dismiss him; for he had no relish of his meat 
 or his drink, by reason of his age ; and that 
 his ears were too much shut up to hear the 
 sound of pipes, or the melody of other musi- 
 cal instruments, such as all those that live 
 with kings delight in. When he entreated 
 for this so earnestly, the king said, *' 1 dis- 
 miss thee; but thou shalt grant me thy son 
 Chimham, and upon him I will bestow all 
 sorts of good things." So Barzillai left his 
 son with him, and worshipped the king, and 
 wished him a prosperous conclusion of all his 
 affairs according to his own mind, and then 
 returned home: but David came to Gilgal, 
 having about him half the people [of Israelj 
 and the [whole] tribe of Judah. 
 
 5. Now the principal men of the country 
 came to Gilgal to him with a great multitude, 
 and complained of the tribe of Judah, that 
 they had come to him in a private manner, 
 whereas they ought all conjointly, and with 
 one and the same intention, to have given 
 him the meeting. But the rulers of the tribe 
 of Judah desired them not to be displeased if 
 they had been prevented by them: for, said 
 they, " We are David's kinsmen, and on that 
 account we the rather took care of him, and 
 loved him, and so came first to him;" yet 
 had they not, by their early coming, received 
 any gifts from him, which might give them 
 who came last any uneasiness. When the 
 rulers of the tribe of Judah had said this, the 
 rulers of the other tribe were not quiet, but 
 said farther, ** O brethren, we cannot but 
 wonder at you when you call the king your 
 kinsman alone, whereas he that hath received 
 from God the power over all of us in com- 
 mon, ought to be esteemed a kinsman to us 
 all; for which reason the whole people have 
 eleven parts in him, and you but one part if 
 we are also elder than you; wherefore you 
 have not done justly in coming to the king ir 
 this private and concealed manner." 
 
 6. While these rulers were thus disputing 
 
 + 1 clearly prefer Josephns's reading here, when it sup- 
 poses eleven tribes including Benjamin, to be on theoue 
 side, and the tribe of Judah alone on the other, sine? 
 Benjamin, in general, had been still founder of the house 
 of Saul, and less firm to David hiiberto. than any of lh« 
 rest, and so cannot be supposed to be joined with Judah 
 at this time, to make it double, especially when the foU 
 lowing rebellion was headed bv % Benjamite. See sect 
 6- and 3 Sam. XX. 2,^ 
 
204 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK Vll. 
 
 one with another, a certain wicked man, who 
 took a pleasure in seditious practices (his 
 name was Sheba,' the son of Bichri, of the 
 tribe of Benjamin), stood up in the midst of 
 the multitude, and cried aloud, and spake thus 
 to them: — ** We have no part in David, nor 
 inheritance in the son of Jesse." And when 
 he had used those words, he blew with a 
 trumpet, and declared war against the king; 
 and they all left David, and followed him ; 
 the tribe of Judah alone staid with him, and 
 settled him at his royal palace at Jerusalem. 
 But as for his concubines, with whom Absa- 
 lom his son had accompanied, truly he re- 
 moved them to another house; and ordered 
 those that had the care of them to make a 
 plentiful provision for them; but he came 
 not near them any more. He also appointed 
 Amasa for the captain of his forces, and gave 
 him the same high office which Joab before had ; 
 and he commanded him to gather together, 
 out of the tribe of Judah, as great an army as 
 he could, and come to him within three days, 
 that he might deliver to him his entire army, 
 and might send him to fight against [Sheba] 
 the son of Bichri. Now while Amasa was gone 
 out, and made some delay in gathering the 
 army together, and so was not yet returned, 
 on the third day the king said to Joab, — 
 "It is not fit we should make any delay in 
 this afiair of Sheba, lest he get a numerous 
 army about him, and be the occasion of great- 
 er mischief and hurt our affairs more than 
 did Absalom himself; do not thou therefore 
 wait any longer, but take such forces as thou 
 hast at hand, and that [old] body of six hun- 
 dred men and thy brother Abishai with thee, 
 and pursue after our enemy, and endeavour 
 to fight him wheresoever thou canst overtake 
 him. Make haste to prevent him, lest he 
 seize upon some fenced cities, and cause us 
 great labour and pains before we take him." 
 
 7. So Joab resolved to make no delay, but 
 taking with him his brother, and those six 
 hundred men, and giving orders that the rest 
 of the army which was at Jerusalem should 
 follow him, he marched with great speed 
 against Sheba; and when he was come to 
 Gibeon, which is a village forty furlongs dis- 
 tant from Jerusalem, Amasa brought a great 
 army with him, and met Joab. Now Joab 
 was girded with a sword, and his breast-plate 
 on ; and when Amasa came near him to sa- 
 lute him, he took particular care that his 
 sword should fall out, as it were, of its own 
 accord; so he took it up from the ground, 
 and while he approached Amasa, who was 
 then near him, as though he would kiss him, 
 he took hold of Amasa's beard with his other 
 hand, and he smote him in his belly when he 
 did not foresee it, and slew him. This im- 
 pious and altogether profane action, Joab did 
 to a good young man and his kinsman, and one 
 that had done him no injury, and this out 
 of jealousy ihat he woiii.l uhtiiin the chief 
 
 command of the army, and be in equal dig- 
 nity with himself about the king; and for 
 the same cause it was that he killed Abner; 
 but as to that former wicked action, the death 
 of his brother Asahel, which he seemed to 
 revenge, afforded him a decent pretence, and 
 made that crime a pardonable one; but in 
 this muider of Amasa there was no such 
 covering for it. Now when Joab had killed 
 this general, he pursued after Sheba, having 
 left a man with the dead body, who was or- 
 dered to proclaim aloud to the army that Ama- 
 sa was justly slain, and deservedly punished. 
 "But," said he, "if you be for the king, fol- 
 low Joab his general, and Abishai, Joab's bro- 
 ther;" but because the body lay on the road, 
 and all the multitude came running to it, and, 
 as is usual with the multitude, stood wonder- 
 ing a great while at it, he that guarded it 
 removed it thence, and carried it to a certain 
 place that was very remote from the road, 
 and there laid it, and covered it with his gar- 
 ment. When this was done, all the people 
 followed Joab. Now as he pursued Sheba 
 through all the country of Israel, one told 
 him that he was in a strong city called Abel- 
 beth-maachah. Hereupon Joab went thither, 
 and set about it with his army, and cast up a 
 bank round it, and ordered his soldiers to 
 undermine the walls, and to overthrow them ; 
 and since the people in the city did not admit 
 him, he was greatly displeased at them. 
 
 8. Now there was a woman of small ac- 
 count, and yet both wise and intelligent, who 
 seeing her native city lying at the last extre- 
 mity, ascended upon the wall, and, by means 
 of the armed men, called for Joab; and when 
 he came to her, she began to say, " That God 
 ordained kings and generals of armies, that 
 they might cut off the enemies of the He- 
 brews, and introduce a universal peace among 
 them; but thou art endeavouring to over- 
 throw and depopulate a metropolis of the 
 Israelites, which hath been guilty of no of- 
 fence." But he replied, " God continue to 
 be merciful unto me: I am disposed to avoid 
 killing any one of the people, much less would 
 I destroy such a city as this; and if they will 
 deliver me up Sheba. the son of Bichri, who 
 hath rebelled against the king, I will leave off 
 the siege, and withdraw the army from the 
 place." Now as soon as the woman heard 
 what Joab said, she desired him to intermit 
 the siege for a little while, for that he should 
 have the head of his enemy thrown out to 
 him presently. So she went down to the ci- 
 tizens and said to them, " Will you be so 
 wicked as to perish miserably, with your chil- 
 dren and wives, for the sake of a vile fellow, 
 and one whom nobody knows who he is? 
 And will you have him for your king instead 
 of David, who hath been so great a benefactor 
 to you, and oppose your city alone to such a 
 mighty and strong army?" So she prevailed 
 with them, and thev cut off the head of She- 
 
CHAP. XII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF TMK JEWS. 
 
 205 
 
 ba, and threw it into Joab's army. When 
 this was done, the king's general sounded a 
 retreat, and raised the siege. And when be 
 was come to Jerusalem, he was again appoint- 
 ed to be general of all the people. The king 
 also constituted Benaiah captain of the guards, 
 and of the six hundred men. He also set 
 Adoram over the tribute, and Sabathes and 
 Achilaus over the records. He made Sheva 
 the scribe; and appointed Zadok and Abia- 
 thar the high- priests. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HOW THE HEBREWS WERE DELIVERED FROM 
 A FAMINE WHEN THE OIBEONITES HAD 
 CAUSED PUNISHMENT TO BE INFLICTED FOR 
 THOSE OF THEM THAT HAD BEEN SLAIN: 
 AS ALSO, WHAT GREAT ACTIONS WERE PER- 
 FORMED AGAINST THE PHILISTINES BY DA- 
 VID, AND THE MEN OF VALOUR ABOUT HIM. 
 
 § 1. After this, when the country was great- 
 ly afflicted with a famine, David besought 
 God to have mercy on the people, and to dis- 
 cover to him what was the cause of it, and 
 how a remedy might be found for that dis- 
 temper. And when the prophets answered, 
 that God would have the Gibeonites avenged, 
 whom Saul the king was so wicked as to be- 
 tray to slaughter, and had not observed the 
 oath which Joshua the general and the senate 
 had sworn to them. If, therefore, said God, 
 the king would permit such vengeance to be 
 taken for those that were slain as the Gibeon- 
 ites should desire, he promised that he would 
 be reconciled to them, and free the multitude 
 from their miseries. As soon therefore as the 
 king understood that this it was which God 
 sought, he sent for the Gibeonites, and asked 
 them what it was they would have; — and 
 when th«y desired to have seven sons of Saul 
 delivereQ to them to be punished, he delivered 
 them up, but spared Mephibosheth the son of 
 Jonathan. So when the Gibeonites had re- 
 ceived the men, they punished them as thej 
 pleased; upon which God began to send rain, 
 and to recover the earth to bring forth its fruits 
 as usual, and to free it from the foregoing 
 drought; so that the country of the Hebrews 
 flourished again. A little afterward the king 
 made war against the Philistines: and when 
 he had joined battle with them, and p^^t 
 them to flight, he was left alone, as he was in 
 pursuit of them : and when he was quite tired 
 down, he was seen by one of the enemy, 
 his name was Achmon, the son of Araph ; he 
 was one of the sons of the giants. He had a 
 spear, the handle of which weighed three hun- 
 dred shekels, and a breast-plate of chain- work, 
 and a sword. He turned back, and ran vio- 
 lently to slay [David] their enemy's king, for 
 he was quite tired out with labour: but Abi- 
 
 sh:!i. Jonh's brother, appeared on the sudden, 
 and protected the king with his shield, as he 
 lay down, and slew the enemy. Now the 
 multitude were very uneasy at these dangers 
 of the king, and that he was very near to be 
 slain: and the rulers made him swear that he 
 would no more go out with them to battle, 
 lest he should come to some great misfortune 
 by his courage and boldness, and thereby de- 
 prive the people of the benefits they now en- 
 joyed by his means, and of those that they 
 might hereafter enjoy by his living along time 
 among them. 
 
 2. When the king heard that the Philis- 
 tines were gathered together at the city Ga- 
 zara, he sent an army against them, when Sib- 
 bechai the Hittite, one of David's most cou- 
 rageous men, behaved himself so as to deserve 
 great commendation, for he slew many of those 
 that bragged they were the posterity of the 
 giants, and vaunted themselves highly on 
 that account, and thereby was the occasion of 
 victory to the Hebrews. After which defeat, 
 the Philistines made war again; and when 
 David had sent an arnoy against them, Nephan 
 his kinsman fought in a single combat with 
 the Stoutest of all the Philistines, and slew 
 him, and put the rest to flight. Many of them 
 also were slain in the fight. Now a little 
 while after this, the Philistmes pitched their 
 camp at a city which lay not far off the bounds 
 of the country of the Hebrews. They had a 
 man who was six cubits tall, and had on each 
 of his feet and hands one more toe and fin- 
 ger than men naturally have. Now the per- 
 son who was sent against them by David out 
 of his army was Jonathan, the son of Shimea, 
 who fought this man in a single combat, and 
 slew hira; and as he was the person who gave 
 the turn to the battle, he gained the greatest 
 reputation for courage therein. This man 
 also vaunted himself to be of the sons of the 
 giants. But after this fight, the Philistines 
 made war no more against the Israelites. 
 
 3. And now David being freed from wars 
 and dangers, and enjoying for the future a 
 profound peace,' composed songs and hymns 
 
 • This section is a very remarkable one, and shows 
 that, 'n the opinion of Josephus, Uavid composed the 
 Book of Psalms, not at several times before, as their 
 present inscriptions frequently imply, hut generally at 
 the latter end of his life, or after his wars were over. 
 Nor does Josephus. nor the authors of the known books 
 of the Old and New Testament, nor the Apostolical 
 Constitutions, seem to have ascribed any of them to any 
 other author than to David himself. See Essay on the 
 f)ld Testament, pa^es 174, 175. Of these metres of the 
 Psalms, see the note on Antiq. b ii. ch. xvi. sect ^ 
 However, we must observe here, that as Josephus says, 
 Antiq. b. ii. ch. xvi. st-ct. 4, that the song at the Red 
 Sea. Exod. xv. 1 — 21, was composed by Moses in the 
 hexameter tune or metre; as also, Antiq. b. iv. chap, 
 viii. sect. 44, that the song of Moses. Deut. xxxii. 1 — 
 43. was an hexameter poem ; so does he say that the 
 Psalins of David were of various kinds of metre, and 
 particularly, that they contained trimeters and penta- 
 meters, Antiq. b. ii. ch xii. sect. 3; all which implies, 
 that he thought these Hebrew poems might be best de- 
 scribed to the Greeks and Romans under those names 
 and characters of Hexameters, Trimeters, and Penta- 
 meters. Now it appears that the iostrumcpta of masu> 
 
206 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 to God, 'of several sorts of metre; some 
 of those which he made were trimeters and 
 some were pentameters. He also made instru- 
 ments of music, and taught the Levites to 
 sing hymns to God, both on that called the 
 Sabbath-Day, and on other festivals. Now 
 the construction of the instruments was thus: 
 The viol was an instrument of ten strings, 
 it was played upon with a bow; the psaltery 
 had tVvelve musical notes, and was played 
 upon by the fingers; the cymbals were broad 
 and large instruments, and were made of 
 brass. And so much shall suffice to be spoken 
 by us about these instruments, that the rea- 
 ders may not be wholly unacquainted with 
 their nature. 
 
 4. Now all the men that were about David, 
 were men of courage. Those that were 
 most illustrious and famous of them for their 
 actions were thirty-eight; of five of whom I 
 will only relate the performances,, for these 
 will suffice to make manifest the virtues of 
 the others also; for these were powerful 
 enough to subdue countries, and conquer 
 great nations. First, therefore, was Jessai, 
 the son of Achimaas, who frequently leaped 
 upon the troops of the enemy, and did 
 not leave off fighting till he overthrew nine 
 hundred of them. After him was Eleazar, 
 the son of Dodo, who was with the king at 
 Arasam. This man, when once the Israelites 
 were under a consternation at the multitude 
 of the Philistines, and were running away, 
 stood alone, and fell upon the enemy, and 
 slew many of them, till his sword clung to 
 his hand by the blood he had shed, and till 
 the Israelites, seeing the Philistines retire by 
 his means, came down from the mountains 
 and pursued them, and at that time won a 
 surprising and a famous victory, while Eleazar 
 slew the men, and the multitude followed 
 and spoiled their dead bodies. The third was 
 Sheba, the son of Ilus. Now this man, 
 when, in the wars against the Philistines, they 
 
 that were orifnnally used, by the command of king David 
 and Solomon, and were carried to Babylon at the 
 captivity of the two tribes, were brought back after that 
 captivity; as also, that the singers and musicians, who 
 out-lived that captivity, came back with those instru- 
 ments, Ezra ii. 41; viL 24; Neh. vii. 44; Antiq. b. xi. 
 ch. iii. sect. 8; and ch. iv sect. 2; and that this music 
 and these instruments at the temple, could not but be 
 well known to Josephus, a priest belonging to that tem- 
 ple; who accordingly gives us a short description of 
 three of the tustruments, Antiq. b. vii. ch. xii. sect 3; 
 and gives us a distinct arcnunt, that such psalms and 
 hymns were sung in his dajs at that temple, Antiq. b, 
 XX. ch ix. sect. 6; so that Jo!(ephus*r« authority is beyond 
 exception in these matters. Nor can any hypothesis of 
 the moderns that does not agree with .losephus's cha- 
 racters, be Justly supposed the true metre of the ancient 
 Hebrews; nor indeed is there, 1 think, any other origi- | 
 nal authority now extant, hereto relating, to be opposed i 
 to these testimonies hefoie us. I'hat the ancient music \ 
 of the Hebrews was very complete alxo, and had in it 
 great variety of tunes, is evtdfnt by tlie ninnher of their 
 musical instruments, and by the textimony o\ another 
 roost authentic witness, Jesus, the son of Sirach, Fcdus, 
 I. 18, who says that, at the temple, in his d.iys, ••The 
 ■ii rs sang praises wMh their voice; with great variety 
 Pi suundi was there made sweet luelody. " ' 
 
 pitched their camp at a place called Lebi, 
 and when the Hebrews were again afraid 
 of their army, and did not stay, he stood still 
 alone, as an army and a body of men; and 
 some of them he overthrew, and some who 
 were not able to abide his strength and force, 
 he pursued. These are the works of the 
 hands, and of fighting, which these three per- 
 formed. Now at the time when the king 
 was once at Jerusalem, and the army of the 
 Philistines came upon him to fight»him, Da- 
 vid went up to the top of the citadel, as we 
 have already said, to enquire of God concern- 
 ing the battle, while the enemy's camp lay in 
 the valley that extends to the city Bethlehem, 
 which is twenty furlongs distant from Jeru- 
 salem. Now David said to his companions, 
 — " We have excellent water in my own city, 
 especially that which is in the pit near the 
 gate," wondering if any one would bring him 
 some of it to drink; but he said that he would 
 rather have it than a great deal of money. 
 When these three men heard what he said, they 
 ran away immediately, and burst through the 
 midst of their enemy's camp, and came toBeth- 
 lehem; and when they had drawn the water, 
 they returned again through the enemy's camp 
 to the king, insomuch that the Philistines were 
 so surprised at their boldness and alacrity, that 
 they were quiet, and did nothing against them, 
 as if they despfsed their small number. But 
 when the water was brought to the king, he 
 would not drink it, saying, that it was brought 
 by the danger and the blood of men, and that 
 it was not proper on that account to drink it. 
 But he poured it out to God, and gave him 
 thanks for the salvation of the men. Next to 
 these was Abishai, Joab's brother; for he in 
 one day slew six hundred. The fifth of these 
 was Benaiah, by lineage a priest; for being 
 challenged by [two] eminent men in the coun- 
 try of Moab, he overcame them by his valour. 
 Moreover, there was a man, by nation an 
 Egyptian, who was of a vast bulk, and chal- 
 lenged him, yet did he, when he was unarmed, 
 kill him with his own spear, which he threw 
 at him, for he caught him by force, and took 
 away his weapons while he was alive and fight- 
 ing, and slew him with his own weapons. 
 One may also add this to the forementioned 
 actions of the same man, either as the princi- 
 pal of them in alacrity, or as resembling the 
 rest. When God sent a snow, there was a 
 lion who slipped a:id fell into a certain pit, 
 and because the pit's mouth was narrow, it^ 
 was evident he would perish, being enclosed 
 with the snow; so when he saw no way tc 
 get out and save himself, he roared. When 
 Benaiah heard the wild beast, he went to- 
 wards him, and coming at the noise he made, 
 he went down into the mouth of the pit, and 
 smote him, as he struggled, with a stake thiit 
 lay there, and immediately slew him. The 
 other thirty-three were like these. in valour 
 also. 
 
ciiAP. xm. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 207 
 
 CHAPTER xm. 
 
 THAT WHEN DAVID HAD NUMBERED THE 
 PEOFLE, THEY WERE PUNISHED; AND HOW 
 THE DIVINE COMPASSION RESTRAINED 
 THAT PUNISHMENT. 
 
 § I. Now king David was desirous to know 
 how imrny ten thousands there were of the 
 people, but forgot the commands of Moses,* 
 who toll! them beforehand, that if the multi- 
 tude were numbered, they should pay half a 
 shekel to God for every head. Accordingly, 
 the king commanded Joab, the captain of his 
 host, to go and number the whole multitude ; 
 but when he said there was no necessity for 
 such a numeration, he was not persuaded [to 
 countermand it], but he enjoined him to make 
 no delay, but to go about the numbering of 
 the Hebrews immediately. So Joab took with 
 him the heads of the tribes, and the scribes, 
 and went over the coimtry of the Israelites, 
 and took notice how numerous the multitude 
 were, and returned to Jerusalem to the king, 
 after nine months and twenty days ; and he 
 gave in to the king the number of the people, 
 without the tribe of Benjamin, for he had not 
 yet numbered that tribe, no more than the 
 tribe of Levi, for the king repented of his hav- 
 ing sinned against God. Now the number 
 of the rest of the Israelites was nine hundred 
 thousand men, who were able to bear arms 
 and go to war; but the tribe of Judah, by 
 itself, was four hundred thousand men. 
 
 2. Now when the prophets had signified to 
 
 « The words of God by Moses (Exod. xxx. 12), suffi- 
 ciently justify the reason here given by Josephus tor the 
 threat pla^e mentioned in this chapter: — "When thou 
 takest the sura of the children of Israel, after their num- 
 ber, then shall they give every man a ransom for his 
 soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them, that 
 there be no gla?ue amongst them when thou numberest 
 them." Nor indeed could David's or the Sanhedrim's 
 neglect at executing this law at this numeration, excuse 
 tb? people, who ought still to have brought their beunden 
 oblation of half a shekel a- piece with them, when they 
 came to be numbered. The great reason why nations 
 are so constantly punished by and with their wicked 
 kings and governors is this, that they almost con- 
 stant!;- comply with them in their neglect of, or disobe- 
 dience to, the divine laws, and suffer those divine laws 
 to go into disuse or contempt, in order to please tliose 
 wicked kings and governors; and that they submit to 
 several wicked political laws and commands of those 
 kings and governors, instead of the righteous laws of 
 God, which all mankind ought ever to obey, let their 
 kings and governors say what they please to the con- 
 trary ; this preference of human before divine laws seem- 
 ing to me the principal character of idolatrous or anti- 
 christian nations. Accordingly, Josephus well observes 
 (Antiq. b iv. ch viii. sect 17), that it was the duty of 
 the people of Israel to take care that their kings, when 
 they should have them, did not exceed their proper 
 limits of power, and prove ungovernable by the laws of 
 God. which would certainly be a most pernicious thing 
 to their divine settlement. iVordo I think that negli- 
 gence peculiar to the Jews: those nations which are 
 calif d Chnstiaus are sometimes inieed very solicitous 
 to r> strain their Wings and governors from breaking the 
 h'tnan laws of their several kingdoms, hut without the 
 like care for restraining them from breaking the laws 
 of a,>]. '• Wh'*ther it be right in tlie sight of God. to 
 hearken unto ni*n more th m to i^od. judge ye." Acts T. 
 19; •* We ought to obey Gal ruber than men," v. '£i. 
 
 David that God was angry at Mm, he began 
 to entreat him, and to desire he would be 
 merci%l to him, and forgive him his sin. 
 But God sent Nathan the prophet to him, to 
 propose to him the election of three things, 
 that he might choose which he liked best: 
 Whether he would have a famine come upon 
 the country for seven years, or would have a 
 war, and be subdued three months by his 
 enemies? or, whether God should send a pes- 
 tilence and a distemper upon the Hebrews for 
 three days? But as he was fallen to a fatal 
 choice of great miseries, he was in trouble, 
 and sorely confounded; and when the pro- 
 phet had said that he must of necessity make 
 his choice, and had ordered him to answer 
 quickly, that he might declare what he had 
 chosen to God, the king reasoned with him- 
 self, that in case he should ask for famine, he 
 would appear to do it for others, and without 
 danger to himself, since he had a great deal 
 of com hoarded up, but to the harm of others ; 
 that in case he should choose to be overcome 
 [by his enemies] for three months, he would 
 appear to have chosen war, because he had va- 
 liant men about hiAi, and strong holds, and that 
 therefore he feared nothing therefrom: so he 
 chose that affliction which is common to kings 
 and to their subjects, and in which the fear was 
 equal on all sides; and said this beforehand, 
 that it was much better to fall into the hands 
 of God than into those of his enemies. 
 
 3. When the prophet had heard this, he de- 
 clared it to God ; who thereupon sent a pes- 
 tilence and a mortality upon the Hebrews; 
 nor did they die after one and the same man- 
 ner, nor so that it was easy to know what the 
 distemper was. Now, the miserable disease 
 was one in deed, but it carried them off by ten 
 thousand causes and occasions, which those 
 that were afflicted could not understand; for 
 one die'd upon the neck of another, and the 
 terrible malady seized them before they were 
 aware, and brought them to their end suddenly, 
 some giving up the ghost immediately with 
 very great pains and bitter grief; and some 
 were worn away by their distempers, and had 
 nothing remaining to be buried, but as soon 
 as ever they fell, were entirely macerated; 
 some were choked, and greatly lamented their 
 case, as being also stricken >v'ith a sudden 
 darkness; some there were who, as they were 
 burying a relation, fell down dead,t without 
 finishing the rites of the funeral. Now there 
 perished of this disease, which began with the 
 morning, and lasted till the hour of dinner, 
 seventy thousand. Nay, the aagel stretched 
 out his hand over Jerusalem, as sending this 
 terrible judgment upon it; but David had 
 put on sackcloth, and lay upon the ground, en- 
 
 + Whence Josephus took these his distinct and me- 
 lancholy acci»int» of the particular symptoms, and most 
 mis-frable methods of dying, in this terrible pestilence, 
 we canuot now tell, our other copies aflbrding us n» 
 such accouBta. 
 
208 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 trratingr God, and begging that the distemper 
 might now cease, and that he would be satis- 
 fied with those that had already perished; and 
 when the king looked up into the air, and saw 
 the angel carried along thereby into Jerusalem,, 
 wth his sword drawn, he said to God, that he 
 might justly be punished, who was their shep- 
 herd ; but that the sheep ought to be preserved, 
 as not having sinned at all; and he implored 
 God that he would send his wrath upon him, 
 and upon all his family, but spare the people. 
 4. When God heard his supplication, he 
 caused the pestilence to cease ; and sent Gad 
 the prophet to him, and commanded him to 
 go up immediately to the thrashing-floor of 
 Araunah the Jebusite, and build an altar there 
 to God, and offer sacrifices. When David 
 heard that, he did not neglect his duty, but 
 made haste to the place appointed him. Now 
 Araunah was thrashing wheat; and when he 
 saw the king and all his servants coming to 
 him, he ran before, and came to him, and 
 worshipped him: he was by his lineage a Jebu- 
 site, but a particular friend of David's; and for 
 that cause it was that, when he overthrew the 
 . city, he did him no harm, as we informed the 
 reader a little before. Now Araunah inquired, 
 wherefore is my lord come to his servant? 
 He answered, to buy of him the thrashing- 
 floor, that he might therein build an altar to 
 God, and offer a sacrifice. He rephed, that 
 he freely gave him both the thrashing-floor, 
 and the ploughs and the oxen for a burnt- 
 offering; and he besought God graciously to 
 accept his sacrifice. But the king made an- 
 swer, that he took his generosity and magnani- 
 mity kindly, and accepted his good- will; but 
 he desired him to take the price of them all, 
 for that it v/as not just to offer a sacrifice that 
 cost nothing. And when Araunah said he 
 would do as he pleased, he bought the thrash- 
 ing-floor of him for fifty shekels; and when 
 he had built an altar, he performed divine 
 service, and brought a burnt-offering, and 
 offered peace-offerings also. With these God 
 was pacified, and became gracious to them 
 again. Now it happened that Abraham * came 
 and offered his son Isaac for a burnt-offering 
 at that very place; and when the youth was 
 ready to have his throat cut, a ram appeared 
 on a sudden, standing by the altar, which 
 Abraham sacrificed in the stead of his son, as 
 we have before related. Now when king 
 David saw that God had heard his prayer, and 
 had graciously accepted of his sacrifice, he re- 
 solved to call that entire place The Altar of all 
 the People, and to build a temple to God there ; 
 which words he uttered very appositely to 
 what was to be done afterward; for God sent 
 • What Josephus adds here is very remarkable, that 
 this mount Moriah was cot only the very place where 
 Abraham offered up Isaac long a^o, but that God had 
 foretold to David by a proohet, that here his son should 
 build him a temple; which is not directly in any of our 
 other copies, though very agreeable to what is in them, 
 particularly in 1 Chron. xxi. 26, 28; and xxii. Ij to 
 Which planes I refer the rr^er. I 
 
 the prophet to him, and told him that there 
 should his son biuld him an altar, — that son 
 who was to take the kingdom after him. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THAT DAVID MADE GREAT PREPARATIONS FOR 
 THE .HOUSE OF GOD; AND THAT UPON 
 ADONIJAH's ATTEMPT TO GAIN THE KING- 
 DOM, HE APPOINTED SOLOMON TO REIGN. 
 
 § 1. After the delivery of this prophecy, the 
 king commanded the strangers to be numbered, 
 and they were found to be one hundred and 
 eighty thousand; of these he appointed four- 
 score thousand to be hewers of stone, and the 
 rest of the multitude to carry the stones, and of 
 them he set over the workmen three thousand 
 and five hundred. He also prepared a great 
 quantity of iron and brass for the work, with 
 many (and those exceeding large) cedar-trees, 
 the Tyrians and Sidonians sending them to 
 him, for he had sent to them for a supply of 
 those trees; and he told his friends that these 
 things were now prepared, that he might leave 
 materials ready for the biulding of the temple 
 to his son, who was to reign after him, and 
 that he might not have them to seek then, when 
 he was very young, and, by reason of his age, 
 unskilful in such matters, but might have them 
 lying by him, and so might the more readily 
 complete the work. 
 
 2. So David called his son Solomon, and 
 charged him, when he had received the king- 
 dom, to build a temple to God; and said, " I 
 was wilfing to build God a temple myself, but 
 he prohibited me, because I was polluted with 
 blood and wars; but he hath foretold that 
 Solomon, my youngest son, should build him 
 a temple, and should be called by that name ; 
 over whom he hath promised to take the like 
 care as a father takes over bis son; and that he 
 would make the country of the Hebrews happy 
 under him, and that not only in other respects, 
 but by giving it peace, and freedom from wars, 
 and from internal seditions, which are the 
 greatest of all blessings. Since, therefore," 
 says he, "thou wast ordained king by God 
 himself before thou wast born, endeavour to 
 render thyself worthy of* this his providence, 
 as in other instances, so particularly in being 
 religious, and righteous, and courageous. 
 Keep thou also his commands, and his laws, 
 which he hath given us by Moses, and do not 
 permit others to break them. Be zealous also 
 to deuicate to God a temple, which he hath 
 chosen to be built under thy reign; nor be 
 thou affrighted by the vastness of the work, 
 nor set about it timorously, for I will make all 
 things ready before I die: and take notice, 
 that there are already ten thousand talents of 
 gold, and a hundred thousand talents of silver,! 
 
 + Of the quantity of cold and silver expanded in the 
 budding of »«olomon's temple, and whence it arose, SM 
 the description of the temple, chap. xiiL 
 
CHAP. XIV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS 
 
 209 
 
 collected together. I have also laid together 
 brass and iron without number, and an im- 
 mense quantity of timber, and of stones. More- 
 over, thou hast many ten thousand stone- 
 cutters, and carpenters; and if thou shalt want 
 any thing farther, do thou add somewhat of 
 thine own. Wherefore, if thou performest this 
 work, thou wilt be acceptable to God, and have 
 him for thy patron." David also farther exhort- 
 ed the rulers of the people to assist his son in 
 this building, and to attend to the divine ser- 
 vice, when they should be free from all their 
 misfortunes, for that they by this means should 
 enioy, instead of them, peace and a happy 
 se'itlement; with which blessings God rewards 
 such men as are religious and righteous. He 
 also gave orders, that when the temple should 
 be once built, they should put the ark therein, 
 with the holy vessels; and he assured them, 
 that they ought to have had a temple long ago, 
 if their fathers had not been negligent of 
 God's commands, who had given it in charge, 
 that when they had got the possession of this 
 land they should build him a temple. Thus 
 did David discourse to the governors, and to 
 his son. 
 
 3. David was now in years, and his body, 
 by length of time, was become cold and be- 
 numbed, insomuch that he could g«t no heat 
 by covering himself with many clothes; and 
 when the physicians came together, they agreed 
 to this advice, that a beautiful virgin, chosen 
 out of the whole country, should sleep by the 
 king's side, and that this damsel would com- 
 municate heat to him, and be a remedy against 
 his numbness. Now there was found in the 
 city one woman, of a superior beauty to all 
 other women (her name was Abishag), who, 
 sleeping \vith the king, did no more than com- 
 municate warmth to him, for he was so old 
 that he could not know her as a husband 
 knows his wife; but of this woman we shall 
 speak more presently. 
 
 4. Now the fourth son of David was a 
 beautiful young man, and tall, born to him of 
 Haggith his wife. He was named Adonijah, 
 and was in his disposition like to Absalom; 
 and exalted himself as hoping to be king, 
 and told his friends that he ought to take the 
 government upon him. He also prepared 
 many chariots, and horses, and fifty men to 
 run before him. When his father saw this, 
 he did not reprove him, nor restrain him from 
 his purpose, nor did he go so far as to ask 
 wherefore he did so. Now Adonijah had for 
 his assistants Joab, the captain of the army, 
 and Abiathar the high-priest; and the only 
 persons that opposed him were Zadok the high- 
 priest, and the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah, 
 who was captain of the guards, and Shimei, 
 David's friend, wth all the other most mighty 
 men. Now Adonijah had prepared a supper 
 out of the city, near the fountain that was in 
 the king's paradise, and had invited all'his 
 brethren except Solomon, and bad taken with 
 
 him Joab, the captain of the army, Bnd Abia* 
 thar, and the rulers of the tribe of Judah; 
 but had not invited to this feast either Zadok 
 the high-priest, or Nathan the prophet, or 
 Benaiah the captain of the guards, nor any of 
 those of the contrary party. This matter was 
 told by Nathan the prophet to Bathsheba, So- 
 lomon's mother, that Adonijah was king, and 
 that David knew nothing of it; and he advised 
 her to save herself and her son Solomon, 
 and to go by herself to Da^nd, and say to 
 him, that he had indeed sworn that Solomon 
 should reign after him : but that, in the mean 
 time. Adoniiah had already taken the king- 
 dom. He said that he, the prophet himself, 
 would come after her, and when she bpd 
 spofeen thus to the king, would confirm what 
 she had said. Accordingly- Bathsheba agreed 
 witn Nathan, and went in to the king, and 
 worsnipped him; and when she had desired 
 leave to speak with him, she told him all things 
 in the manner that Nathan had suggested to 
 her; and related what a supper Adonijah had 
 made, and who they were whom he had invi- 
 ted; Abiathar the high-priest, and Joab the 
 general, and David's sons, excepting Solo- 
 mon and his intimate friends. She also said, 
 that all the people had their eyes upon him, 
 to know whom he would choose for their king. 
 She desired him also to consider, how, after 
 his departure, Adonijah, if he were king, 
 would slay her and her son Solomon. 
 
 5. Now, as Bathsheba was speaking, the 
 keeper of the king's chambers told hun that 
 Nathan desired to see him; and when the 
 king had commanded that he should be ad- 
 mitted, he came in, and asked him whether 
 he had ordained Adonijah to be king, and de- 
 livered the government to him, or not; for 
 that he had made a splendid supper and invi- 
 ted all his sons, except Solomon; as a.so that 
 he had inv'ited Joab, the captain of his host 
 [and Abiathar the high-priest], who are feast- 
 ing with applauses, and many joyful sounds 
 of instruments, and wish that his kingdom 
 may last for ever; but he hath not inWted 
 me, nor Zadok the high-priest, nor Benaiah 
 the captain of the guards; and it is but fit 
 that all should know whether this be done by 
 thy approbation or not. When Nathan had 
 said thus, the king commanded that they 
 should call Bathsheba to him, for she had gone 
 out of the room when the prophet came; and 
 when Bathsheba was come, David said, " I 
 swear by Almighty God, that thy son Solo- 
 mon shall certainly be king, as I formerly 
 swore, and that he shall sit upon my throne, 
 and thatthis very day also." So Bathsheba wor- 
 shipped him, and wished him a long life; and 
 the king sent for Zadok the high-priest, and 
 Benaiah the captain of the guards; and when 
 they were come, he ordered them to take with 
 them Nathan the prophet, and all the armed 
 men about the palace, and to set his son Solo- 
 mon upon the king's mule and to carry hira 
 () 
 
210 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 out of the city to the fountain called Gihon, 
 and to anoint him there with the holy oil, and 
 to make him king. This he charged Zadok 
 the high.-priest, and Nathan the prophet, to 
 do ; and commanded them to follow Solomon 
 through the midst of the city, and to sound 
 the trumpets, and to wish aloud that Solomon 
 the king may sit upon the royal throne for 
 ever, that so all the people may know that he 
 is ordained king by his father. He also gave 
 Solomon a charge concerning his government, 
 to rule the whole nation of the Hebrews, and 
 particularly the tribe of Judah, religiously and 
 righteously. And when Benaiah had prayed 
 to God to be favourable to Solomon, — with- 
 out any delay, they set Solomon upon the 
 mule, and brought him out of the city to the 
 fountain, and anointed him with oil, and 
 brought him into the city again, with accla- 
 mations and wishes that his kingdom might 
 continue a long time ; and when they had in- 
 troduced him into the king's house, they set 
 him upon the throne ; — whereupon all the 
 people betook themselves to make merry, and 
 to celebrate a festival, dancing and delighting 
 themselves with musical pipes, till both the 
 earth and the air echoed with the multitude 
 of the instruments of music. 
 
 6. Now when Adonijah and his guests per- 
 ceived this noise, they were in disorder ; and 
 Joab the captain of the host said he was not 
 pleased with these echoes, and the sound of 
 these trumpets. And when supper was set 
 before them, nobody tasted of it, but they were 
 all very thoughtful what could be the matter. 
 Then Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the high- 
 priest, came running to tbemj and when 
 Adonijah saw the young man gladly, and said 
 to him that he was a good messenger, he de- 
 clared to them tUe whole matter about Solo- 
 men, and the determination of king David ; 
 hereupon both Adonijah and all his guests rose 
 hastily from the feast and every one fled to 
 their own homes. Adonijah also, as afraid 
 of the king for what he had done, became a 
 supplicant to God, and took hold of the horns 
 of the altar, which were prominent. It was 
 also told Solomon that he had so done ; and 
 that he desired to receive assurances from him 
 that he would not remember the injury he had 
 done, and not inflict any severe punishment 
 for it. Solomon answered very mildly and 
 prudently, that he forgave him this his of- 
 fence, but said withal, that if he were found 
 out in any attempt for new innovations, that 
 he would be the author of his own punish- 
 ment. So he sent to him, and raised him up 
 from the place of his supplication. And when 
 he was come to the king, and had worshipped 
 him, the king bid him go away to his own 
 house, and have no suspicion of any harm ; 
 and desired him to show himself a worthy 
 man, as what would tend to his own advan- 
 tage. 
 
 7. But David being desirouh of ordaining 
 
 his son king of all the people, called together 
 their rulers to Jerusalem, with the priests and 
 the Levites ; and having first numbered the 
 Levites, he found them to be thirty-eight thou- 
 sand, from thirty years old to fifty ; out of 
 which he appointed twenty-three thousand to 
 take care of the building of the temple, and 
 out of the same six thousand to be judges of 
 the people and scribes ; four thousand for 
 porters to the house of God, and as many for 
 singers, to sing to the instruments which Da- 
 vid had prepared, as we have said already. 
 He divided them also into courses; and when 
 he had separated the priests from them, he 
 found of these priests twenty-four courses, 
 sixteen of the house of Eleazar, and eight of 
 that of Ithamar ; and he ordained that one 
 course should minister to God eight days, 
 from Sabbath to Sabbath. And thus were 
 the courses distributed by lot, in the presence 
 of David, and Zadok and Abiathar the high- 
 priests, and of all the rulers; and that course 
 which came up first was written down as the 
 first, and accordingly the second, and so on to 
 the twenty-fourth ; and this partition hath 
 remained to this day. He also made twenty- 
 four parts of the tribe of Levi ; and when they 
 cast lots they came up in the same manner for 
 their coursts of eight days; he also honoured 
 the posterity of Moses, and made them the 
 keepers of the treasures of God, and of the 
 donations which the kinp^s dedicated; he also 
 ordained that all the tribe of Levi, as well as 
 the priests, should serve God night and day, 
 as Moses had enjoined them. 
 
 8. After this he parted the entire army into 
 twelve parts, with their leaders [and captains 
 of hundreds], and commanders. Now every 
 part had twenty-four thousand, which were 
 ordered to wait on Solomon, by thirty days 
 at a time, from the first day to the last, with 
 the captains of thousands and captains of hun- 
 dreds ; he also i^et rulers over every part, such 
 as he knew to be good and righteous men; he 
 set others also to take charge of the treasures, 
 and of the villages, and of the fields, and of 
 the beasts, whose names I do not think it ne- 
 cessary to mention. When David had or- 
 dered all these oflices after the manner before 
 mentioned, he called the rulers of the Hebrews, 
 and their heads of tribes, and the officers over 
 the several divisions, and those that were ap- 
 pointed over every work and every possession; 
 and standing upon a high pulpit, he said to 
 the multitude as follows: — "My brethren 
 and my people, I would have you know that 
 I intended to build a house for God, and pre- 
 pared a large quantity of gold, and a hundred 
 thousarul talents of silver; but God prohibited 
 tne by the prophet Nathan, because of the wars 
 I had on your account, and because my right 
 hand was polluted with the slaughter of our 
 enemies; but he commanded that my son, 
 who was to succeed me in the kingdom, should 
 build a temple for him Now therefore, since 
 
CHAP. XV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 211 
 
 you know that of the twelve sons whom Jacob 
 
 our forefather had, Judah was appointed to be 
 
 kmg, and that I was preferred before my six 
 
 brethren, and received the government from 
 
 God, and that none of them were uneasy at it, 
 
 so do 1 also desire that my sons be not seditious 
 
 one against another, now Solomon has received 
 
 the kingdom, but to bear him cheerfully for 
 
 their lord, as knowing that God hath chosen 
 
 him ; for it is not a grievous thing to obey 
 
 even a foreigner as a ruler if it be God's will, 
 
 but it is tit to rejoice when a brother hath ob- 
 
 taine'i that dignity, since the rest partake of it 
 
 with him. And I pray that the promises of 
 
 God may be fulfilled; and that this happiness 
 
 which he hath promised to bestow upon king 
 
 Solomon, over all the country, may continue 
 
 therein for all time to come. And these 
 
 promises, O son, will be firm, and come to a 
 
 happy end, if thou showest thyself to be a re- 
 ligious and a righteous man, and an observer 
 
 of the laws of thy country; but if not, expect 
 
 adversity upon thy disobedience to them." 
 9. Now when the king had said this, he 
 
 left off; but gave the de>cription and pattern 
 
 of the building of the temple in the sight of 
 
 them all, to Solomon; of tho foundations and 
 
 of the chambers, inferior and superior; how 
 
 many there were to be, and how li||ge in height 
 
 and in breadth ; as also he deivrinined the 
 
 weight of the golden and silver vessels ; more- 
 over, he earnestly excited them with his words, 
 
 to use the utmost alacrity about the work: he 
 
 exhorted the rulers also, and particularly the 
 
 tribe of Levi, to assist him, both i>ecause of his 
 
 youth, and because God had chosen him to 
 
 take care of the building of the temple, and of 
 
 the government of the kingdom. He also de- 
 clared to them that the work would be e^y, 
 
 and not very laborious to them, because he 
 iiad prepared lor it many talents of gold, anu 
 more of silver, with timber, and a great man} 
 carpenteis and stone-cutters, and a large quan- 
 tity of emeralds, and all sorts of precious 
 stones: — and he said, that even now he would 
 give of the proper goods of his own dominion 
 two hundred talents, and three hundred other after, must go; from which way it is no longer 
 talents of pure gold, for the most holy place; possible to return, and to know any thing that 
 and for the chariot of God, the cherubim, which is done in this world. On which account 1 
 
 and the priests, and of all the rest; and he be- 
 gan to bless God wth a loud voice, calling him 
 the Father and Parent of the universe, and the 
 Author of human and divine things, ^vith 
 which he had adorned Solomon, the patron and 
 guardian of the Hebrew nation, and of its hap- 
 piness, and of that kingdom which he hath 
 given his son. Besides this, he prayed for 
 happiness to all the people ; and to Solomon 
 his son, a sound and a righteous mind, and 
 confirmed in all sorts of virtue; and then he 
 commanded the multitude to bless God. Upon 
 which they all fell down upon the ground and 
 worshipped him. They also gave thanks to 
 David, on account of all the blessings which 
 they had received ever since he had taken the 
 kingdom. On the next day he presented sa- 
 crifices to God, a thousand bullocks, and as 
 many lambs, which they offered for burnt- 
 offerings. They also offered peace-offerings; 
 and slew many ten thousand sacrifices; and 
 the king feasted all day, together with all the 
 people ; and they anointed Solomon a second 
 time ^vith the oil, and appointed him to be 
 king; and Zadok to be the high-priest of the 
 whole multitude. And when they had brought 
 Solomon to the royahpalace, and had set him 
 upon his father's throne, they were obedient 
 to him from that day. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 WHAT CHARGE DAVID GAVE TO HIS SON SOLO- 
 MON AT THE APPROACH OF HIS DEATH; 
 AND HOW MANY THINGS HE LEFT HIM FOR 
 THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 § 1. A LITTLE afterward, David also fell into 
 a distemper, by reason of his age; and per- 
 ceiving that he was near to death, he called 
 his son Solomon, and discoursed to him thus: 
 — " I am now, O my son, going to my grave, 
 and to my fathers, which is the common way 
 which all men that now are, or shall be here- 
 
 are to stand over and cover the ark. Now, 
 when David bad done speaking, there ap- 
 peared great alacrity among the rulers, and the 
 priests, and the Levites, who now contributed 
 and made great and splendid promises for a 
 future contribution; for they undertook to 
 bring of gold five thousand talents, and ten 
 thousand drachms, and of silver ten thousand 
 talents, and many ten thousand talents of iron : 
 and if any one had a precious stone he brought 
 It, and bequeathed it to be put among the trea- 
 sures; of which Jachiel, one of the posterity 
 of Moses, had the care. 
 
 10. Upon this occasion all the people re- 
 joiced, as in particular did David, when he 
 $aw the zeal and forward ambition of the rulers. 
 
 exhort thee, while I am still alive, though al- 
 ready very near to death, in the same manner 
 as 1 have formerly said in my advice to thee, 
 to be righteous towards thy subjects, and re- 
 ligious towards God, that hath given thee thy 
 kingdom ; to observe his commands, and lis 
 laws, which he hath sent us by Moses; and 
 neither do thou, out of favour nor flattery, al- 
 low any lust or other passion to weigh with 
 thee to disregard them • for if thou transgress- 
 est his laws, thou wilt lose the favour of God, 
 and thou wilt turn away his providence from 
 thee in all things; but if thou behave thyself so 
 as it behoves thee, and as I exhort thee, thou 
 wilt preserve our kingdom to our family, and 
 no other house will bear rule over the He- 
 
212 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK VIL 
 
 brews, but we ourselveg for all ages. Be thou 
 also mindful of the transgressions of Joab,* the 
 captain of the host, who hath slain two ge- 
 nerals out of envy, and those righteous and 
 good men, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa 
 the son of Jether; whose death do thou avenge 
 as shall seem good to thee, since Joab hath 
 been too hard for me, and more potent than 
 myself, and so hath escaped punishment hither- 
 to. I aho commit to thee the son of Barzil- 
 lai, the Gileadite, whom, in order to gratify 
 me, thou shalt have in great honour, and take 
 great care of; for we have not done good to 
 him first, but we only repay that debt which 
 we owe to his father, for what he did to me in 
 my flight. There is also Shimei, the son of 
 Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin, who, after he 
 had cast many reproaches upon me, when, in 
 my flight, I was going to Mahanaim, met me 
 at Jordan, and received assurances that he 
 should then suffer nothing. Do thou now 
 seek out for some just occasion, and punish 
 him." 
 
 2. When David had given these admoni- 
 tions to his son about public affairs, and about 
 his friends, and about those whom he knew 
 to deserve punishment, he died, having lived 
 seventy years, and reigned seven years and 
 SIX months in Hebron, over the tribe of Ju- 
 dah, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem, over 
 
 « David is here greatly blamed by some for recom- 
 mending Joab and Shimei to be punished by Solomon, if 
 he could find a proper occasion, after he had borne with 
 the first a long while, and seemed to have pardoned the 
 other entirely, which Solomon executed accordingly: yet 
 I cannot discern any fault either in David or Solomon in 
 these cases. Joab's murder of Abner and Amasa were 
 very barbarous, and could not properly be forgiven either 
 by David or Solomon; for a dispensing power in kings 
 for the crime of wilful murder is warranted by no law of 
 God, nay, is directly against it every where; nor is it, for 
 certain, in the power of men to grant such a prerogative 
 to any of their kings, though Joab was so nearly related 
 to David, and so potent in the army under a warlike ad- 
 ministration, that David durst not himself put him to 
 death, 2 Sam. iii. 39, and xix. 7. Shimei's cursing the 
 Lord's anointed, and this without any just cause, was the 
 hishest act of treason against God and his anointed king, 
 and justly deserved death: and though David could for- 
 give treason against himself, yet had he done no more in 
 th<! case of Shimei than promised him that he would not 
 then, on the day of his return and re-inauguration, or 
 npon that occasion, himself put him to death, 2 Sam. xix. 
 22; and he swore to him no farther, ver. 23, as the words 
 are in Josephus, than that be would not then put bin to 
 4eath, which be j^erformed: nor was Solomon under aay 
 vbli^tioa to apare lueh a traitor. 
 
 all the country. This man was of an excellent 
 character, and was endowed with all the vir- 
 tues that were desirable in a king, and in one 
 that had the preservation of so many tribes 
 committed to him ; for he was a man of va- 
 lour in a very extraordinary degree, and went 
 readily and first of all into dangers, when he 
 was to fight for his subjects, as exciting the 
 soldiers to action by his own labours, and light- 
 ing for them, and not by commanding them 
 in a despotic way. He was also of very great 
 abilities in understanding and apprehension of 
 present and future circumstances, when he 
 was to manage any affairs. He was prudent 
 and moderate, and kind to such as were under 
 any calamities ; he was righteous and humane, 
 which are good qualities peculiarly fit for 
 kings ; nor was he guilty of any offence in 
 the exercise of so great an authority, but in 
 the business of the wife of Uriah. He also 
 left behind him greater wealth than any otlier 
 king, either of the Hebrews or of other na- 
 tions, ever did. 
 
 3. He was buried by his son Solomon, in 
 Jerusalem, with great magnificence, and with 
 all the other funeral pomp which kings use 
 to be buried with; moreover, he had great 
 and immense wealth buried with him, the vast- 
 ness of whiclpmay be easily conjectured at by 
 what I shall now say; for a thousand and 
 three hundred years afterwards, Hvrcanus the 
 high-priest, when he was besieged by Anti- 
 ochus, that was called the Pious, the son of 
 Demetrius, and waii lesirous of giving him 
 money to get him to raise the siege, and draw 
 off his army ; and having no other method of 
 compassing the money, opened one room of 
 David's sepulchre, and took out tliree thou- 
 sand talents, and gave part of that sura to 
 Antiochus, and by this means caused the siege 
 to be raised, as we have informed the reader 
 elsewhere. Nay, after him, and that many 
 years, Herod the king opened another room, 
 and took away a great deal of money, and 
 1 yet neither of them came at the coffins of the 
 i kmes themselves, for their bodies were buried 
 I ivUicr the earth so artfully, that they did not 
 I appear even to those that enterftd into tb»T 
 i monuments: — but so much shall suffi#« us to 
 I have said concerning these matters. 
 
213 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 CGSTAJSnXQ THE nrTBRVAL OF ONE HUin)RED AST) SDCTT-TnBEB TEAftS. 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF DAVH) TO THE DEATH OF AHAB. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW SOLOMON, WHEN HE HAD RECEIVED THE 
 KINGDOM, TOOK OFF HIS ENEMIES. 
 
 § 1. We have already treated of David and 
 bis virtue, and of the benefits he was the au- 
 thor of to his countrymen ; of his %vars also 
 and battles, which he managed with success, 
 and then died an old man, in the foregoing 
 hook. And when Solomon his s»n, who was 
 but a youth in age, had taken the kingdom, 
 and whom David had declared, while he was 
 alive, the lord of that people, according to 
 God's will; when he sat upon the throne, the 
 whole body of the pe6ple made joyful accla- 
 mations to him, as is usual at the beginning 
 of a reign; and mshed that all his aflfairs 
 might come to a blessed conclusion; and that 
 he might arrive at a great age, and at the 
 most happy state of affairs possible. 
 
 2 But Adonijah, who, whfle his father 
 was living, attempted to gain possession of 
 the government came to the king's mother 
 Bathsheba, and saluted her with great civi- 
 lity; and when she asked him, whether he came 
 to her as desiring her assistance in any thing 
 or not; and bade him tell her if that were the 
 case, for that she would cheerfully afford it 
 him; he began to say, that she knew herself 
 that the kingdom was his, both on account of 
 his elder age, and of the disposition of the 
 multitude; and that yet it was transferred to 
 Solomon her son, according to the will of God. 
 He also said that he was contented to be a 
 servant under him, and was pleased with the 
 present settlement; but he desired her to be 
 a means of obtaining a favour from his bro- 
 ther to him, and to persuade him to bestow 
 on him in marriage Abishag, who had indeed 
 slept by his father, but, because his father was 
 too old, he did not lie with her, and she was 
 still a virgin. So Bathsheba promised him 
 to afford him her assistance very earnestly, 
 and to bring this marriage about, because the 
 king would be willing to gratify him in such 
 a thing, and because she would press it to him 
 
 very earnestly. Accordingly, he went away, 
 in hopes of succeeding in tnis niatcn. So So- 
 lomon's mother went presently to her son, to 
 speak to him about wnat she had promised, 
 upon Adonijah's supplication to her. And 
 when her son came forward tc meet her, and 
 embraced her, and wh^n he had brcughfc her 
 into the house where his royal throne was set, 
 he sat thereon, and bid them set another throne 
 on the right hand for his mother. When 
 Bathsheba ^vas set do\vn, she said, "O my son, 
 grant me one request that I make of thee, and 
 do not any thing to me that is disagreeable 
 or ungrateful, which thou ^^alt do if thou de- 
 niest me." And when Solomon bid her to 
 lay her commands upon him, because it was 
 agreeable to his duty to grant her every thing 
 she should ask, and complained that she did 
 not begin her discourse with a firm expectation 
 of obtaining what she desired, but had some 
 suspicion of a denial, — she entreated him to 
 grant, that his brother Adonijah might marry 
 Abishag. 
 
 3. But the king was greatly offended at 
 these words, and sent away his mother, and 
 said that Adonijah aimed at great things; and 
 that he wondered that she did not desire him 
 to yield up the kingdom to him, as to his elder 
 brother, since she desired that he might marry 
 Abishag; and that he had potent friends, Joab 
 the captain of the host, and Abiathar the priest. 
 So he called for Benaiah, the captain of the 
 guards, and ordered him to slay his brother 
 Adoitijah; he also called for Abiathar, the 
 priest, and said to him, " I will not put thee 
 to death, because of those other hardships 
 which thou hast endured with my father, and 
 because of the ark which thou hast borne along 
 with him ; but I inflict the following punish- 
 ment upon thee, because thou wast among 
 Adonijah's followers, and wast of his party. Do 
 not thou continue here, nor come any more into 
 my sight, but go to thine own town, and live 
 on thy own fields, and there abide all thy life ; 
 for thou hast offended so greatly, that it is not 
 just that thou shouldest retain thy dignity any 
 longer." For the foremention«d cause, there- 
 
S14 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 fore, it was that the house of Ithamar was de- 
 prived of the sacerdotal dignity, as God had 
 foretold to Eli the grandfather of Abiathar. 
 So it was transferred to the family of Phineas, 
 to Zadok. Now those that were of the family 
 of Phineas, but lived privately during the time 
 that the high-priesthood was transferred to the 
 house of Ithamar (of which family Eli was the 
 first that received it), were these that follow: 
 Bukki, the son of Abishua the high-priest; 
 bis son was Joatham ; Joatham's son was Me- 
 raioth ; Meraioth's son was Arophaeus ; Aro- 
 phaeus's son was Ahitub; and Ahitub's son 
 was Zadok, who was first made high-priest in 
 the reign of David. 
 
 4. Now when Joab the captain of the host 
 heard of the slaughter of Adonijah, he was 
 greatly afraid, for be was a greater friend to 
 him than to Solomon; and suspecting, not 
 without* reason, that he was in danger, on ac- 
 count of his favour to Adonijah, he fled to the 
 altar, and supposed he might procure safety 
 thereby to himself, because of the king's piety 
 towards God. But when some told the king 
 what Joab's supposal was, he sent Benaiah, 
 and commanded hinj to raise him up from the 
 altar, and bring to the judgment-seat, in or- 
 der to make his defence. However, Joab 
 said he would not leave the altar, but would 
 die there rather than in another place. And 
 when Benaiah had reported his answer to the 
 king, Solomon commanded him to cut off his 
 head there,* and let him take that as a punish- 
 ment for those two captains of the host whom 
 he had wickedly slain, and to bury his body, 
 that his sins might never leave his family, but 
 that himself and his father, by Joab's death, 
 might be guiltless; and when Benaiah had 
 done what he was commanded to do, he was 
 himself appointed to be captain of the whole 
 army. The king also made Zadok to be alone 
 the high-priest, in the room of Abiathar, whom 
 h^ had removed. 
 
 5. But as to Shimei, Solomon commanded 
 that he should build him a house, and stay at 
 Jerusalem, and attend upon him, and should 
 not have authority to go over the brook Cedron ; 
 and that if he disobeyed that command, death 
 should be his punishment. He also threatened 
 him so terribly, that he compelled him to take 
 an oath that he would obey. Accordingly 
 Shimei said that he had reason to thank So- 
 lomon for giving him such an injunction; and 
 bddeJ an oath, that he would do as he bade 
 him; and leaving his own country, he made 
 his abode in Jerusalem ; but three years after- 
 wards, when he heard that two of his servants 
 were run away from him, and were in Gath, 
 he went for his servants in haste; and when 
 he wms come back with them, the king per- 
 
 • This execntion npon Joab, as a murderer, by slay- 
 init him, eren when hn had taken sanctuary at God's 
 altar, is perf«:tly agreeable to the law of Moses, which 
 enjoinn, that, " if a man com* presumptuously upon his 
 neighbour to slay him ♦^ith tnile. thou shalt take him 
 titn,thtb»dim.* Exod. xxi. 14. 
 
 ceived it, and was much displeased that he had 
 contemned his commands, and what was more, 
 bad no regard to the oaths be had sworn to 
 God; so be called him, and said to him, 
 *' Didst not thou swear never to leave me, nor 
 to go out of this city to another? Thou shalt 
 not therefore escape punishment for thy per- 
 jury; but I will punish thee, thou wicked 
 wretch, both for this crime, and for those 
 wherewith thou didst abuse mv father when he 
 was in his flight, that thou mayest know that 
 wicked men gain nothing at last although they 
 be not punished immediately upon their unjust 
 practices ; but that in all the time wnerein they 
 think themselves secure, because they have yet 
 suffered nothing, their punishment increases, 
 and is heavier upon them, and that to a greater 
 degree than if they had been punished immedi- 
 ately upon the commission of their crimes." So 
 Benaiah, on the king's command, slew ShimeL 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CONCERNING THE WIFE OT SOLOMON; CON- 
 CERNING HIS WISDOM AND RICHES; AND 
 CONCERNING WHAT HE OBTAINED OF HIRAM 
 FOR THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 § 1. Solomon having already settled himself 
 firmly in his kingdom, and having brought 
 his enemies to punishment, he married the 
 daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and 
 built the walls of Jerusalem much larger and 
 stronger than those that had been before,* and 
 thenceforward he managed public affairs very 
 peaceably : nor was his youth any hinderance 
 in the exercise of justice, or in the observation 
 of the laws, or in the remembrance of what 
 charges his father had given him at his death ; 
 but he discharged every duty with great ac- 
 curacy, that might have been expected from 
 such as are aged, andof the greatest prudence. 
 He now resolved to go to Hebron, and sacri- 
 fice to God upon the brazen altar that was 
 built by Moses. Accordingly he offered there 
 burnt offerings, in number a thousand ; and 
 when he had done this, he thought he had 
 paid great honour to God ; for, as he was 
 asleep that very night, God appeared to him, 
 and commanded him to ask of him some gifts 
 which he was ready to give him as a reward 
 for his piety. So Solomon asked of God 
 what was most excellent, and of the greatest 
 worth in itself, what God would bestow with 
 the greatest joy, and what it was most profit- 
 able for man to receive ; for he did not desire 
 to have bestowed upon him either gold or 
 silver, or any other riches, as a man and a 
 
 • This building of the walls of Jerusalem, soon aftel 
 David's death, ilhistr.ite* the conclusion of the .5l!,f 
 psalm, where Oavid prays. "Build thou the walls ot 
 Jerusalem j" — Ihfv beitu;, it set-ms. unfinished or im- 
 p«Tfect at that fimf. See oh a p. vL stHJt. 1| and ch. viL 
 keot. 7{ »lso 1 Kings ix. 1&, 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 215 
 
 youth might naturally have done, for these 
 are the things that generally are esteemed by 
 most men, as alone of the greatest worth, and 
 the best gifts of God; but, said he, "Give 
 me, O Lord, a sound mind and a good under- 
 standing, whereby I may speak and judge the 
 people according to truth and righteousness." 
 With these petitions God was well pleased; 
 and promised to give him all those things that 
 he had not mentioned in his option, riches, 
 glory, victory over his enemies; and, in the 
 first place, understanding and wisdom, and 
 this in such a degree, as no other mortal man, 
 neither kings nor ordinary persons, ever had. 
 He also promised to preserve the kingdom to 
 his posterity for a very long time, if he con- 
 tinued righteous and obedient to him, and 
 imitated his father in those things wherein 
 he excelled. When Solomon heard this from 
 God, he presently leaped out of his bed; and 
 when he had worshipped him, he returned to 
 Jerusalem ; and after he had offered great sa- 
 crifices before the tabernacle, he feasted all his 
 own family. 
 
 2. In these days a hard cause came before i 
 him in judgment, which it was very difficult 
 to find any end of; and I think it necessary 
 to explain the fact about which the contest 
 was, that such as light upon my writings may 
 know what a difficult cause Solomon was to de- 
 termine; and those that are concerned in such 
 matters may take this sagacity of the king for 
 a pattern, that they may the more easily give 
 sentence about such questions. There were 
 two women, who were harlots in the course of 
 their lives, that came to him, of whom she 
 that seemed to be injured began to speak first, 
 and said, " O king, I and this other woman 
 dwell together in one room. Now it came to 
 pass that we both bore a son at the same hour 
 of the same day; and on the third day this wo- 
 man overlaid her son, and killed it, and then 
 took my son out of my bosom, and removed 
 him to herself; and as I was asleep she laid 
 her dead son in my arms. Now, when in the 
 n\orning I was desirous to give the breast to 
 the child, I did not find my own, but saw the 
 woman's dead child lying by me; for I con- 
 sidered it exactly, and found it so to be. 
 Hence it was that I demanded my son, and 
 when I could not obtain him, I have recourse, 
 my lord, to thy assistance; for since we were 
 alone, and there was nobody there that could 
 convict her, she cares for nothing, but perse- 
 veres in the stout denial of the fact." When 
 tliis woman had told this her story, the king 
 asked the other woman what she*had to say in 
 c«>ntra(Uction to that story. But when she 
 dejiied that she had drone what was charged 
 upon her, and said that it was. her child 
 that was Uving, and that it was her antago- 
 m>t's child that was dead, and when no one 
 coidd devise what judgment could be given, 
 a/ii! the whole court were blin(] in their un- 
 derstanding, and fe'ouM not tell how ti) find 
 
 out this riddle, the king alone invented the 
 following way how to discover it : He bade 
 them bring in both the dead child and the 
 living child; and sent one of his guards, and 
 commanded him to fetch a sword, and draw 
 it, and to cut both the children into two pieces, 
 that each of the women might have half the 
 living and half the dead child. Hereupon all 
 the people privately laughed at the king, as 
 no more than a youth. But in the mean 
 time, she that was the real mother of the liv- 
 ing child cried out, that he should not do so, 
 but deliver that child to the other woman as 
 her own, for she would be satisfied with the 
 life of the child, and with the sight of it, al- 
 though it were esteemed the other's child; 
 but the other woman was ready to see the 
 child divided, and was desirous, moreover, 
 that the first woman should be tormented. 
 When the king understood that both their 
 words proceeded from the truth of their pas- 
 sions, he adjudged the child to her that cried 
 out to save it, for that she was the real mother 
 of it ; and he condemned the other as a wick- 
 ed woman, who had not only killed her o\vn 
 child, but was endeavouring to see her friend's 
 child destroyed also. Now the multitude 
 looked on this determination as a great sign 
 and demonstration of the king's sagacity and 
 wisdom ; and, after that day, attended to him 
 as to one that had a divdne mind. 
 
 3. Now the captains of his armies, and 
 officers appointed over the whole country, 
 were these: — Over the lot of Ephraim was 
 Ures; over the toparchy of Bethleheni was 
 Dioclerus; Abinadab, who married Solomon's 
 daughter, had the region of Dora and the 
 sea-coast under him; the Great Plain was 
 under Benaiah, the son of Achilus; he also 
 governed all the country as far as Jordan; 
 Gabaris ruled over Gilead and Gaulantis, 
 and had under him the sixty great and fenced 
 cities [of Og]; Achinadab managed the af- 
 fairs of all Gahlee, as far as Sidon, and had 
 himself also married a daughter of Solomon's, 
 whose name was Basima; Banacates had the 
 sea-coast about Arce; as had Shaphot Mount 
 Tabor, and Carmel, and [the lower] Galilee 
 as far as the river Jordan; one man was ap- 
 pointed over all this country; Shimei was in- 
 trusted with the lot of Benjamin; and Ga- 
 bares had the country beyond Jordan, over 
 whom there was again one governor appoint- 
 ed. Now the people of the Hebrews, and 
 particularly the tribe of Judah, received a 
 wonderful increase when they betook them- 
 selves to husbandry and the cultivation of 
 their grounds; for as they enjoyed peace, and 
 were not distracted wth wars and troubles, 
 and having besides an abundant fruition of 
 the most desirable liberty, every one was busy 
 in augmenting the product of their own lands, 
 and making them worth more than they had 
 formerly been. 
 
 4. The king had also other rulers, w^Q 
 
216 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VDI. 
 
 were orer the land of Syria and the Philis- 
 tines, which reached from the river Euphrates 
 to Egypt, and these collected his tributes of 
 the nations. Now these contributed to the 
 king's table, and to his supper every day,* 
 thirty cori of fine flour, and sixty of meal; 
 as also ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of 
 the pastures, and a hundred fat lambs; all 
 these were besides what were taken by hunt- 
 ing harts and buffaloes, and birds and fishes, 
 which were brought to the king by foreigners 
 day by day. Solomon had also so great a num- 
 ber of chariots, that the stalls of his horses 
 for those chariots were forty thousand; and 
 besides these, he had twelve thousand horse- 
 men, the one half of whom waited upon the 
 king in Jerusalem, and the rest were dis- 
 persed abroad, and dwelt in the royal vil- 
 lages; but^the same officer who provided for 
 the king's expenses, supplied also the fodder 
 for the horses, and still carried it to the place 
 where the king abode at that time. 
 
 5. Now the sagacity and wisdom which 
 God had bestowed upon Solomon was so 
 great, that he exceeded the ancients, inso- 
 much that he was no way inferior to the 
 Egyptians, who are said to have been beyond 
 all men in understanding; nay, indeed, it is 
 evident that their sagacity was very much in- 
 ferior to that of the king's. He also excelled 
 and distinguished himself in wisdom above 
 those who were most eminent among the He- 
 brews at that time for shrewdness: those I 
 mean were Ethan, and Heman, and Chalcol, 
 and Darda, the sons of Mahol. He also 
 composed books of odes and songs, a thou- 
 sand and five; of parables and similitudes, 
 three thousand; for he spake a parable upon 
 every sort of tree, from the hyssop to the 
 cedar; and in like manner also about beasts, 
 about all sorts of living creatures, whether 
 upon the earth, or in the seas, or in the air; 
 for he was not unacquainted with any of their 
 natures, nor omitted inquiries about them, 
 but described them all like a philosopher, 
 and demonstrated his exquisite knowledge of 
 their several properties. God also enabled 
 
 • It may not be amiss to compare the daily furniture 
 of king Solomon'8 table, here set down, and 1 Kings iv. 
 22, 23, wita 'he like daily furniture of jNehemiah (be 
 eovernor's table, af«er the Jews were come back from 
 Babylon: and to remember withal, that Nehemiah was 
 now building the walls of Jerusalem, and maintained, 
 more than H8r?l. pbove 1-50 considerable men every 
 day; and that, because the nation was then very poor, 
 at his own charges also, without laying any burden upon 
 the people at all. " Now that which was prepared 
 for me daily was an ox, and six choice sheep; also fowls 
 were prepared for me; and once in ten (Fays, store ot 
 all sorts of wine; and yet for all this I required not tiie 
 bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy 
 apon this people." Neh. v. 18. See the whole context, 
 ▼er 14 — 19. Nor did the governor's usual allowance 
 of40 shekels of silver a day,ver. 15, amount to £5 a day, 
 nor to £1800 a year. Nor does it indeed ap|)ear, that, 
 under the Judges, or under Namuel the prophet, there 
 Wai any such pub'ic allowance to those governors at all: 
 thoae grrat charges upon the public for maintaining 
 •oarta, came In wiili kiiii{«. — as God foretold they 
 would, lS<Mo Via il-iri. 
 
 him to learn that skill which expells demons,f 
 which is a science useful and sanative to 
 men. He composed such incantations also 
 by which distempers are alleviated. And he 
 left behind him the manner of using exor- 
 cisms, by which they drive away demons, so 
 that they never return, and this method of 
 cure is of great force unto this day; for I 
 have seen a certain man of my own country, 
 whose name was Eleazar, releasing people 
 that were demoniacal in the presence of Ves- 
 pasian, and his sons, and his captains, and the 
 whole multitude of his soldiers. The man- 
 ner of the cure was this: — He put a ring 
 that had a root of one of those sorts men- 
 tioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the de- 
 monaic, after whch he drew out the demon 
 through his nostrils; and when the man fell 
 dovm immediately, he abjured him to return 
 into him no more, making still mention of 
 Solomon, and reciting the incantations which 
 he composed. And when Eleazar would per- 
 suade and demonstrate to the spectators that 
 he had such a power, he set a little way off a 
 cup or bason full of water, and commanded 
 the demon, as he went out of the man, to 
 overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators 
 know that he had left the man ; and when 
 this was done, the skill and wisdom of Solo- 
 mon was shown very manifestly: for which 
 reason it is that all men may know the vast- 
 ness of Solomon's abilities, and how he was 
 beloved of God, and that the extraordinary 
 virtues of every kind with which this king 
 was endowed, may not be unknown to any 
 people under the sun; for this reason, I say, 
 it is that we have proceeded to speak so largely 
 of these matters. 
 
 6. Moreover Hiram, king; of Tyre, when 
 he had heard that Solomon succeeded to his 
 father's kingdom, was very glad of It, for be 
 was a friend of David's. So he sent ambas- 
 sadors to him, and saluted aim, aad congratu- 
 lated him on the present happy state of ais 
 affairs. Upon which Solomon sent aim an 
 epistle, the contents oi wmch aere lolluw ; — 
 
 SOLOMON TO KING HIRAM. 
 
 *' J Know thou that my father would have 
 
 + Some pretended frigmen*? •'f *Vr-^ ?-7~''f of con- 
 juration of Solomon are &t>ll tSLV^nt .A ;> Aoi»o.u8's Cud. 
 I'seudepigr. Vef. Test, page 1064, though I entirely 
 differ from Jcsephus in this his supposul, that such 
 book% and arts of Solomon were nsxU of that Wisdoui 
 which was impaitea lo nun »; ^anw in his younger 
 days; they mu.st rather have belonged to such prolane 
 ^but curious arts as we find mentioned. Acts xix. l:)— 20, 
 and had b<'en derived from the idolatry and .nuperslition 
 of his heathen wives and concubines in his old aue, 
 when he had forsaken (ioti, and (io<l had forsaken h;m, 
 and given him up to demoniacal delusions. Nor does 
 Josephus's strange account of the root Baara (of the 
 War, b. viii. ch. vi. sect. 3^ seem to be other than that 
 of its magicitl use in such conjurations. As for Uie 
 following history, it confirms what Christ says (Matt 
 xii. 27), "If I by Beelaebub cast out deoions, by whom 
 do your sons cast them oufr"' 
 
 t 'F'hesf epiJ'tles of Solomon and Hiram are those lo 
 I Kinns V. :<— 9. and. as enlarKrd. in 2 Chron. ii. .3 — Id) 
 bi.t hviv ){ivrn us by Josephu* in his own words. 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 217 
 
 built a temple to God, but was hindered by 
 wars, and continual expeditions: for he did 
 not leave oflf to overthrow his enemies till he 
 made them all subject to tribute. But I give 
 thanks to God for the peace I at present en- 
 joy, and on that account I am at leisure, and 
 design to build a house to God, for God fore- 
 told to my father that such a house should be 
 built by me; wherefore I desire thee to send 
 some of thy subjects with mine to Mount 
 Lebanon, to cut down timber; for the Sido- 
 nians are more skilful than our people in cut- 
 ting of wood. As for wages to the hewers 
 of wood, I will pay whatsoever price thou 
 shalt determine." 
 
 7. >yhen Hiram had read this epistle, he 
 was pleased with it, and WTote back this an- 
 swer to Solomon: — 
 
 HIEAM TO KING SOLOMON. 
 
 " It is fit to bless God, that he hath commit- 
 ted thy father's government to thee, who art 
 a wise man, and endowed with all virtues. 
 As for myself, I rejoice at the condition thou 
 art in, and will be subservient to thee in all 
 that thou sendest to me about; for when by 
 my subjects I have cut down many and large 
 trees of cedar and cypress wood, I will send 
 them to sea, and will order my subjects to 
 make floats of them, and to sail to what place 
 soever of thy country thou shalt desire, and 
 leave them there, after which thy subjects 
 may carry them to Jerusalem : but do tbou 
 take care to procure us corn for this timber, 
 which we stand in need of, because we inha- 
 bit in an island."* 
 
 * What Josephas here pats into his copy of Hiram's 
 epistle to Solomon, and repeats afterwards (ch. v. sect. 3), 
 that Tyre was now an island, is not in any of the three 
 other copies, viz. that of the KinEjs, Chronicles, or Kuse- 
 bius; nor is it any otfaer, I suppose, than his own con- 
 jectural paraphrase; for when I, many years ago, inquired 
 into this matter, I found the state of this famous city, and 
 of the island whereupon it stood, to have been very dif- 
 ferent at different times. The result of my inquiries in 
 this matter, with the addition of some later improve- 
 ments, stands thus:— That the best testimonies hereto 
 relating, imply, that Palretyrus, or Oldest Tyre, was no 
 other than that most ancient smaller fort or city Tyre, si- 
 tuated on the continent, and mentioned in Josh. xix. 29, 
 out of which the Canaianite or Phoenician inhabitants 
 were driven into a larije island, that lay not far off in the 
 sea, by Joshua: that this island was then joined to the 
 continent, at the present remains of Palattyrus, by a neck 
 of land, over auiainst Solomon's cisterns, still so called; 
 and the city's fresh water, probably, was carried along in 
 pipes by that neck of land; and that this island was 
 therefore, in strictness, no other than a peninsula, having 
 villages in its Jields (Ezek. xxvL 6), and a wall about it 
 (Amos L 10) ; and the city was not of so great reputation 
 as Sidon for some ages; that it was attacked both by sea 
 and land by Salmanasser,as Josephus informs us (Antiq. 
 b. ix. ch. xiv. sect 2), and afterwards came to be the me-* 
 tropolis of Phoenicia; and was afterwards taken and de- 
 stroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, according to the numerous 
 scripture prophecies thereto relating, Isa.xxiii; Jer.xxv. 
 22; xxvii 3; xlvii. 4; Ezek. xxvi. xxvii. xxviii. That 
 seventy years after that destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, 
 this city was in some measure revived and rebuilt (Isa, 
 xriii. 17, 18), but that, as the prophet Ezekiel had fore- 
 told (xxvi. :J, 4, 5, 14; xxvii. 3t), the sea arose higher 
 than before, till at last it overflowed, not only the neck 
 of land, but the main island or peninsula itself, and de- 
 stroyed that old and famous city for ever: that, however, 
 tiirrb still remained an adjoining smaller 'sland, once 
 
 8. The copies of these epistles remain at 
 this day, and are preserved not only in our 
 books, but among the Tyrians also; inso- 
 much that if any one would know the cer- 
 tainty about them, he may desire of the keep- 
 ers of the public records of Tyre to show 
 him them, and he will find what is there set 
 down to agree with what we have said. I 
 have said so much out of a desire that my 
 readers may know that we speak nothing but 
 the truth, and do not compose a history out 
 of some plausible relations, which deceive 
 men and please them at the same time, nor 
 attempt to av oid examination, nor desire men 
 to believe us immediately; nor are we at 
 liberty to depart from speaking truth, which 
 is the proper commendation of a historian, 
 and yet to be blameless. But we insist upon 
 no admission of what we say, imless we be 
 able to manifest its truth by demonstration 
 and the strongest vouchers. 
 
 9. Now king Solomon, as soon as this 
 epistle of the king of Tyre was brought him, 
 commended the readiness and good-will he 
 declared therein, and repaid him in what he 
 desired, and sent him yearly twenty thousand 
 cori of wheat, and as many baths of oD : now 
 the bath is able to contain seventy-two sexta- 
 ries. He also sent him the same measare of 
 wine. So the friendship between Hiram and 
 Solomon hereby increased more and more; 
 and they swore to continue it for ever. And 
 the king appointed a tribute to be laid on all 
 the people, of thirty thousand labourers, whose 
 work he rendered easy to them, by prudently 
 dividing it among them; for he made ten 
 thousand cut timber in mount Lebanon for 
 one month, and then to come home; and to 
 rest two months, until the time when the 
 other twenty thousand had finished their task 
 at the appointed time; and so afterward it 
 came to pass, that the first ten thousand re- 
 turned to their work every fourth month: 
 and it was Adoram who was over this tribute. 
 There were also of the strangers who were 
 left by David, who were to carry the stones 
 and other materials, seventy thousand; and 
 of those that cut the stones, eighty thousand. 
 Of these three thousand and three hundred 
 were rulers over the rest. He also enjoined 
 them to cut out large stones for the founda- 
 tions of the temple, and that they should fit 
 them and unite them together in the moun- 
 tain, and so bring them to the city. This 
 
 connected to Old Tyre itself by Hiram, which was after- 
 wards inhabited; to which Alexander the Great, with 
 incredible pains, raised a new bank or causeway: and 
 that it plainly appears from Maundrell, a most authentic 
 eye-witness, that the old, lari;e, and famous city, on the 
 original large island, is now laid so generally under \n- 
 fer that scarce more than forty acres of it, or rather of 
 that adjoining small island, remain at this day: so that, 
 perhaps, not above a hundredth part of the first island 
 and city is now above water. This was foretold in the 
 same prophecies of Ezekiel; and, according to them, aa 
 IMr. Mauadrell distinctly observes, these poor remains of 
 Old Tyre are now "become like the top of a rock; a 
 place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the seA." 
 
218 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VIII 
 
 was done, not only by our own country 
 workmen, but by those workmen whom Hiram 
 sent also. 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 OF THE BUILDING Or THE TEMPLE. 
 
 § 1. Solomon began to build the temple in 
 the fourth year of his reign, on the second 
 month, which the Macedonians call Artemi- 
 sius, and the Hebrews Jur; five hundred and 
 ninety-two years after the exodus out of 
 Egypt, but one thousand and twenty years 
 from Abraham's coming out of Mesopotamia 
 into Canaan; and after the Deluge one thou- 
 sand four hundred and forty years; and from 
 Adam, the first man who was created, until 
 Solomon built the temple, there had passed 
 in all three thousand one hundred and two 
 years. Now that year on which the temple 
 began to be built, was already the eleventh 
 year of the reign of Hiram; but from the 
 building of Tyre to the building of the temple, 
 there had passed two hundred and forty years. 
 2. Now, therefore, the king laid the foun- 
 dations of the temple very deep in • the 
 ground,* and the materials were strong stones, 
 and such as would resist the force of time: 
 these were to unite themselves with the earth, 
 and become a basis and a sure foundation for 
 that superstructure which was to be erected 
 over it: they were to be so strong, in order 
 to sustain with ease those vast superstructures, 
 and precious ornaments, whose own weight 
 was to be not less than the weight of those 
 other high and heavy buildings which the 
 king designed to be very ornamental and 
 magnificent. They erected its entire body, 
 quite up to the roof, of white stone: its 
 height was sixty cubits, and its length was 
 the same, and its breadth twenty. There 
 was another building erected over it, equal 
 to it in its measures; so that the entire alti- 
 tude of the temple was a hundred and twenty 
 cubits. Its front was to the east. As to the 
 porch, they built it before the temple: its 
 length was twenty cubits, and it was so order- 
 ed that it might agree with the breadth of 
 the house; and it had twelve cubits in lati- 
 tude, and its height was raised as high as a 
 hundred and twenty cubits. He also built 
 round about the temple thirty small rooms. 
 
 and the same in length, but in height twenty. 
 Above these were other rooms, and others 
 above them, equal, both in their measures 
 and number; so that these reached to a height 
 equal to the lower part of the house ; for the 
 upper part had no buildings about it. The 
 roof that was over the house was of cedar; 
 and truly every one of these rooms had a roof 
 of their own, that was not connected with the 
 other rooms; but for the other parts, there 
 was a covered roof common to them all, and 
 built with very long beams, that passed 
 through the rest, and through the whole 
 building, that so the middle walls, beiiig 
 strengthened by the same beams of timber, 
 might be thereby made firmer; but as for 
 that part of the roof that was under the beams, 
 it was made of the same materials, and was 
 all made smooth, and had ornaments proper 
 for roofs, and plates of gold nailed upon 
 them; and as he enclosed the walls with 
 boards of cedar, so he fixed on them plates 
 of gold, which had sculptures upon them ; so 
 that the whole temple shined, and dazzled the 
 eyes of such as entered, by the splendour of 
 the gold that was on every side of them. 
 Now the whole structure of the temple was 
 made, with great skill, of polished stones, 
 and those laid together so very harmoniously 
 and smoothly, that there appeared to the spec- 
 tators no sign of any hammer, or other in- 
 strument of architecture, but as if, without 
 any use of them, the entire materials had na- 
 turally united themselves together, that the 
 agreement of one part with another seemed 
 rather to have been natural, than to have 
 arisen from the force of tools upon them. 
 The king also had a fine contrivance for an 
 ascent to the upper room over the temple, 
 and that was by steps in the thickness of its 
 wall; for it had no large door on the east 
 end, as the lower house had, but the entrances 
 were by the sides, through very small doors. 
 He also overlaid the temple, both within and 
 without, with boards of cedar, that were kept 
 close together by thick chains, so that this 
 contrivance was in the nature of a support 
 and a strength to the building. 
 
 3. Now when the king had divided the tem- 
 ple into two parts, he made the inner house of 
 twenty cubits [every way], to be the most se- 
 cret chamber, but he appointed that of forty 
 cubits to be the sanctuary; and when he had 
 cut a door-place out of the wall, he put therein 
 doors of cedar, and overlaid them with a great 
 which might include the whole temple, by ^deal of gold, that had sculptures upon it. He 
 their closeness one to another, and by theii also had veils of blue, and purple, and scarlet, 
 number, and outward position round it. He, and the brightest and softest of linen, with the 
 also made passages through them, that they most curious flowers wrought upon them, 
 might come into one through another. Every which were to be drawn before those doors, 
 one of these rooms had five cubits in breadth,! lie also dedicated for the most secret place, 
 
 • Of the temple of Solomon here described by Jose-, been by Joscphns's desoiiption, no less than twenty 
 phaa, in this and the followinj: sections of this chapter, '^ubiis high u pifce, otherwise there must have been a 
 •ee loy description of the temples belonging to this lar^e interval between one and the other that was over 
 work, ch. xiii. itj and this with double floors, the one of six cubits dis. 
 
 f These small rooms, or side chambers, seem to have| t^nce from the floor beneath it, as 1 Kings vL & 
 
CHAP, III. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 219 
 
 whose breadth was twenty cubits, and the 
 Jengtfa the same, two cherubims of solid gold ; 
 the height of each of them was five cubits:* 
 they h^ each of them two wings stretched 
 out as far as five cubits; wherefore Solomon 
 set them up not far from each other, that with 
 one wing they might touch the southern wall 
 of the secret place, and with another the north- 
 ern; their other wings, which joined to each 
 other, were a covering to the ark, which was 
 set between them: but nobody can tell, or 
 even conjecture, what was the shape of these 
 cherubims. He also laid the floor of the 
 temple with plates of goW; and he added 
 doors to the gate of the temple agreeable to 
 the measure of the height of the wall, but in 
 breadth twenty cubits, and on them he glued 
 gold plates; and, to say all in one word, he 
 left no part of the temple, neither internal nor 
 ^ external, but what was covered with gold. He 
 also had curtains drawn over these doors, in 
 like manner as they were drawn over the inner 
 doors of the most holy place; but the porch 
 of the temple had nothing of that sort. 
 
 4. Now Solomon sent for an artificer out 
 of Tyre, whose name was Hiram : he was by 
 birth of the tribe of Naphtali, on the mother's 
 side (for she vtras of that tribe) ; but his father 
 was Ur, of the stock of the Israelites. This 
 man was skilful in all sorts of work; but his 
 chief skill lay in working in gold, in silver, 
 and brass ; by whom were made all the me- 
 chanical works about the temple, according to 
 the will of Solomon, Moreover, this Hiram 
 made two [hollow] pillars, whose outsides were 
 of brass; and the thickness of the brass was 
 four fingers' breadth, and the height of the 
 pillars was eighteen cubits,f and their circum- 
 ference twelve cubits; but there was cast \vith 
 each of their chapiters lily- work, that stood 
 upon the pillar, and it was elevated five cubits, 
 round about which there was net- work inter- 
 woven with small palms, made of brass, and 
 covered with lily- work. To this also were hung 
 two hundred pomegranates in two rows. The 
 one of these pillars he set at the entrance of 
 the porch on the right hand, and called it Ja- 
 chin; and the other at the left hand, and 
 called it Booz. 
 
 5. Solomon also cast a brazen sea, the 
 (Igure of which was that of an hemisphere. 
 This brazen vessel was called a sea for its 
 largeness, for the laver was ten feet in diame- 
 ter, and cast of the thickness of a palm: its 
 middle part rested on a short pillar, that had 
 
 |te ten spirals round it, and that pillar was ten 
 
 ^ • Josephus says here that the cherubims were of 
 
 solid gold, and only five cubits bij(h; while our Hebrew 
 copies 'I Kings vL 2:3. 28) say they were of the olive- 
 tree; and the Ixxii. of the cypress-tree, and only over- 
 laid with gold ; and both a^ree they were ten cubits high. 
 I suppose the number here is falsely transcribed, and 
 that Josephus wrote ten cubits also. 
 
 + As for these two famous pillars, Jachin and Booz, 
 their height could be no more than 18 cubits, as here, 
 and I Kins* vii. 15; 2 Kings xxr. 17; Jer. iii. 21; those 
 i6 cubits in 2 Chron. iii. 15, being contrary to all the 
 taie» vf aivbitecture in the world. 
 
 cubits in diameter. There stood round about 
 t twelve oxen that looked to the four winds 
 of heaven, three to each wind, having their 
 hinder parts depressed, that so the hemisphe- 
 rical vessel might rest upon them, which itself 
 was also depressed round about inwardly. 
 Now this sea contained three thousand baths. 
 6. He also made ten brazen bases for so 
 many quadrangular lavers: the length of every 
 one of these bases was five cubits, and the 
 breadth four cubits, and the height six cubits 
 This vessel was partly turned, and was thus 
 contrived: There were four small quadran- 
 gular pillars, that stood one at each corner; 
 these had the sides of the base fitted to them 
 on each quarter; they were parted into three 
 parts ; every interval had a border fitted to 
 support [the laver] ; upon which was engraven, 
 in one place a lion, and in another place a 
 bull, and an eagle. The small pillars had the 
 same animals engraven that were engraven on 
 the sides. Tl|p whole work was elevated, and 
 stood upon four wheels, which were also cast, 
 which had also naves and felloes, and were a 
 foot and a half in diameter. Any one who 
 saw the spokes of the wheels, how exactly 
 they were turned, and united to the sides of 
 the bases, and \vith what harmony they agreed 
 to the felloes, would wonder at them. How- 
 ever, their structure was this: Certain shoul- 
 ders of hands stretched out held the corners 
 above, upon which rested a short spiral pillar, 
 that lay under the hollow part of the laver, 
 resting upon the fore part of the eagle and 
 the lion, which were adapted to them, inso- 
 much that those who viewed them would 
 think they were of one piece : between these 
 were engravings of palm trees. This was 
 the construction of the ten bases : he also 
 made ten large round brass vessels, which 
 were the lavers themselves, each of which con- 
 tained forty baths ;i for it had its height four 
 cubits, and its edges were as much distant 
 from each other: he also placed these lavers 
 lipon the ten bases that were caUed Mecho- 
 noth : and he set five of the lavers on the left 
 side of the temple,§ which was that side to- 
 wards the north wind, and as many on the 
 
 t The round or cylindrical lavers of four cubits in 
 diameter, and four in height, both in oar copies, 
 I Kings vii. 38, 39, and here in Josephus, mnst have 
 contained a great deal more than these forty baths, 
 which are always assigned them. Where the error lies 
 is hard to say: perhaps Josephus honestly followed his 
 copies here, though they had been corrupted, and he 
 was not able to restore the true reading. In the mean 
 time, the forty baths are probably the true quantity 
 contained in each laver, since they went upon wheels, and 
 were to be drawn by the Levites about the courts of the 
 priests, for the washings they were designed for; and 
 had they held much more, the? would have been too 
 heavy to have been so drawn. 
 
 i Here Josephus gives as a key to his own language, 
 of right and left hand in the tabernacle and temple; 
 that by the right hand he means what is against our 
 left, when we suppose ourselves going up from the east 
 ^atts of the courts towards the tabernacle or temple 
 themselves, and so vice versa; whence it follows, that 
 the pillar Jachin, on the right hand of the temple, was 
 on the south, against our left hand; and Booz on the 
 north, against our right band. 
 
220 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF TIJE JFVfS. 
 
 BOOR vrii. 
 
 right side, towards the south, but looking to- 
 wards the east; the same [eastern] way he also 
 set thQ sea. Now, he appointed the sea to be 
 for washing the hands and the feet of the 
 priests when they entered into the temple and 
 were to ascend the altar; but the la vers to 
 cleanse the entrails of the beasts that were to 
 be burnt-offerings, -wath their feet also. 
 
 7. He also made a brazen altar, whose 
 length was twenty cubits, and its breadth the 
 same, and its height ten, for the burnt-offer- 
 ings: he also made aU its vessels of brass; 
 the pots, and the shovels, and the basons, and 
 besides these, the snuffers and the tongs, and 
 all its other vessels he made of brass, and such 
 brass as was in splendoiu: and beauty like gold. 
 The king also dedicated a great number of 
 tables, but one that was large and made of 
 gold, upon which they set the loaves of God; 
 and he made ten thousand more that resem- 
 bled them, but were done after another man- 
 ner, upon which lay the vials and the cups; 
 those of gold were twenty thousand, thos6 of 
 silver were forty thousand. He also made 
 ten thousand candlesticks, according to the 
 command of Moses, one of which he dedica- 
 ted for the temple, that it might bum in the 
 day-time, according to the law ; and one table 
 with loaves upon it, on the north side of the 
 temple, over against the candlestick; for this 
 he set en the south side, but the golden altar 
 stood between them. All these vessels were 
 contained in that part of the holy house, which 
 was forty cubits long, and were before the 
 vail of that most secret place wherein the ark 
 was to be set. 
 
 8. The king also made pouring vessels, in 
 number eighty thousand, and a hundred thou- 
 sand golden vials, and tudce as many silver 
 vials: of golden dishes, in order therein to of- 
 fer kneaded fine flour at the altar, there were 
 eighty thousand, and twice as many of silver. 
 Of large basons also, wherein they mixed fine 
 flour with oil, sixty thousand of gold, and 
 twice as many of silver. Of the measures 
 like those which Moses called the Hin, and 
 the Assaron (a tenth deal), there were twenty 
 thousand of gold, and twice as many of silver. 
 The golden censers, in which they carried the 
 incense to the altar, were twenty thousand : 
 the other censers, in which they carried fire 
 from the great altar to the little altar, within 
 the temple, were fifty thousand. The sacer- 
 dotal garments which belong to the high- 
 priest, with the long robes, and the oracle, 
 and the precious stones, were a thousand; but 
 the crown upon which Moses wrote [the name 
 of God],* was only one, and hath remained 
 to this very day. He also made ten thousand 
 sacerdotal garments of fine linen, with purple 
 girdles, for every priest; and two hundred 
 
 ♦ Of the golden plate on the high-priest't forehead 
 thatwa* in t>eing in the days of Josephus, and a century 
 or two at *a»t later, tec the note on Anti'q b. iii. ch. tIi, 
 sad 0. 
 
 thousand trumpets, according to the command 
 of Moses; also two hundred thousand gar- 
 ments of fine linen for the singers that were 
 Levites; and he made musical instruments, 
 and such as were invented for singing of 
 hymns, called Nahlce and Cimjrce [ppalteries 
 and harps], which were made of electrum [the 
 finest brass], forty thousand. 
 
 9. Solomon made all these things for the 
 honour of God, with great variety and mag- 
 nificence, sparing no cost, but using all pos- 
 sible liberality in adorning the temple; and 
 these things he dedicated to the treasures of 
 God. He also placed a partition round about 
 the temple, which, in our tongue, we call 
 Gison, but it is called Thrigcos by the Greekb, 
 and he raised it up to the height of three cu- 
 bits; and it was for the exclusion of the multi- 
 tude from coming into the temple, and show- 
 ing that it was a place that was free and open 
 only for the priests. He also built beyond 
 this court a temple, the figure of which was 
 that of a quadrangle, and erected for it great 
 and broad cloisters; this was entered into by 
 very high gates, each of which had its front 
 exposed to one of the [four] winds, and were 
 shut by golden doors. Into this temple all 
 the people entered that were distinguished 
 from the rest by being pure, and observant of 
 the laws; but he made that temple which was 
 beyond this a wonderful one indeed, and such 
 as exceeds all description in words ; nay, if I 
 may so say, is hardly believed upon sight; for 
 when he had filled up great valleys with earth, 
 which, on account of their immense depth, 
 could not be looked on when you bended 
 dowTi to see them, without pain, and had ele- 
 vated the ground four hundred cubits, he 
 made it to be on a level with the top of the 
 mountain on which the temple was built, and 
 by this means the outmost temple, which was 
 exposed to the air, was even with the temple 
 itself, t He encompassed this also with a 
 biiilding of a double row of cloisters, which 
 stood on high upon pillars of native stone, 
 while the roofs were of cedar, and were polish- 
 ed in a manner proper for such high roofs; bul 
 he made all the doors of this temple of silver. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW SOLOMON REMOVED THE ARK INTO THB 
 TEMPLE; HOW HE MADE SUPPLICATION TO 
 GOD, AND OFFERED PUBLIC SACRIFICES TO 
 HIM. 
 
 § 1. When king Solomon had finished these 
 works, these large and beautiful buildings, 
 
 + When Josephus here says that the floor of the out- 
 most temple or court of the Gentiles was with vast 
 labour raised to be even, or of equal height, with th* 
 floor of the inner, or court of the priests, he must moaa 
 this in a gross estimation only; for he and all othew 
 agree tliat tb« inatr tempU, or cvurt of tha pri«»ts, wa» 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 221 
 
 and had laid up his donations in the temple, 
 and all this in the interval of seven years,* 
 and had given a demonstration of his riches 
 and alacrity therein; insomuch, that any one 
 who saw it would have thought it must have 
 been an immense time ere it could have been 
 finished, and [would be surprised] that so 
 much should be finished in so short a time; 
 — short, I mean, if compared with the great- 
 ness of the work: he also wrote to the rulers 
 and elders of the Hebrews, and ordered all the 
 people to gather themselves together to Jeru- 
 salem, both to see the temple which he had 
 built, and to remove the ark of God into it; 
 and when this invitation of the whole body of 
 the people to come to Jerusalem was every 
 where carried abroad, it was the seventh month 
 Vefore they came together; which month is, 
 by our countrymen, called Tliisri; but by the 
 Macedonians, Hyperberetceus. The Feast of 
 Tabernacles happened to fall at the same time, 
 which was kept by the Hebrews as a most holy 
 and most eminent feast. So they carried the 
 ark and the tabernacle which Moses had pitch- 
 ed, and all the vessels that were for ministra- 
 tion to the sacrifices of God, and removed them 
 to the temple. t The king himself, and ^1 the 
 people and the Levites, went before, renaering 
 the ground moist with sacrifices, and drink- 
 offerings, and the blood of a great number of 
 oblations, and burning an immense quantity 
 of incense; and this till the very air itself 
 every where round about was so full of these 
 odours, that it met, in a most agreeable man- 
 ner, persons at a great distance, and was an 
 indication of God's presence, and, as men's 
 opinion was, of his habitation with them in 
 this newly-built and consecrated place, for they 
 did not grow weary, either of singing hymns, 
 or of dancing, until they came to the temple; 
 and in this manner did they carry the ark: 
 but when they should transfer it into the most 
 secret places, the rest of the multitude went 
 away, and only those priests that carried it set 
 it between the two cherubims, which embra- 
 cing it with their wings (for so they were 
 framed by the artificer), they covered it, as un- 
 der a tent or a cupola. Now the ark contained 
 
 a few cubits more elevated than the midille court, the 
 court of Israel, and that much more was the court of the 
 priests elevated several cubits above the outmost court, 
 since the court of Israel was lower than the one, and 
 hi-her than the other. 
 
 • The Septua?int say, that " they prepared timber and 
 stones to build the temple for three years," I Kins^s v. 18; 
 and although neither our present Hebrew copy, nor Jo- 
 eephus, directly name that number of years, yet do they 
 both say the building itself did not begin till Solomon's 
 fourth year; and both sptak of the preparation of mate- 
 rials beforehand, 1 Kings v. 18; Antiq. b.viii. ch. 5, sect. 
 1. There is no reason, therefore, to alter the Septuagint's 
 number; but we are to suppose three years to have been 
 the just time of the preparation, as I have done in my 
 computation of the expense in building the temple. 
 
 + This solemn removal of the ark from mount Sion 
 to mount Moriah, at the distance of almost three quar- 
 ters of a mile, cunfutes that notion of the modern Jews, 
 and followed by many Christians also, as it those two 
 Wf re, after a sort, one and the same mountain: for which 
 there is, I think, very little foundation. 
 
 nothing else but those two tables of stone that 
 preserved the ten commandments, which God 
 spake to Moses in mount Sinai, and which 
 were engraved upon them; but they set the 
 candlestick, and the table, and the golden altar 
 in the temple, before the most secret place, in 
 the very same places wherein they stood till 
 that time in the tabernacle. So they offered 
 up the daily sacrifices; but for the brazen 
 altar, Solomon set it before the temple, over 
 against the door, that when the door was open- 
 ed, it might be exposed to right, and the 
 sacred solemnities, and the richness of the 
 sacrifices, migbt be thence seen ; and all the 
 rest of the vessels they gathered together, and 
 put them within the temple. 
 
 2. Now, as soon as the priests had put all 
 things in ordei* about the ark, and were gone 
 out, there came down a thick cloud, and stood 
 there; and spread itself after a gentle man- 
 ner, into the temple: such a cloud it was a!s 
 was diffused and temperate, — not such a 
 rough one as we see full of rain in the win- 
 ter season. This cloud so darkened the place, 
 that one priest could not discern another; 
 but it afforded to the minds of all a visible 
 image and glorious appearance of God's hav- 
 ing descended into this temple, and of his 
 having gladly pitched his tabernacle therein. 
 So these men were intent upon this thought; 
 but Solomon rose up (for he was sitting be- 
 fore), and used such words to God as he 
 thought agreeable to the divine nature to re- 
 ceive, and fit for him to give; — for he said, 
 " Thou hast an eternal house, O Lord, and 
 such a one as thou hast created for thyself 
 out of thine own works; — we know it to be 
 the heaven, and the air, and the earth, and 
 the sea, which thou pervadest, nor art thou 
 contained within their limits. I have indeed 
 built this temple to thee, and thy name, that 
 from thence, when we sacrifice, and perform 
 sacred operations, we may send our prayers 
 up into the air, and may constantly believe 
 that thou art present, and art not remote from 
 what is thine own; for neither when thou 
 seest all things, and hearest all things, nor now, 
 when it pleases thee to dwell here, dost thou 
 leave off the care of all men, but rather thou 
 art very near to them all, but especially thou 
 art present to those that address themselves 
 to thee, whether by night or by day." When 
 he had thus solemnly addressed himself to 
 God, he converted his discourse to the mul- 
 titude, and strongly represented the power 
 and' providence of God to them; — how he 
 had shown all things that were come to pass 
 to David his father, as many of those thing? 
 had already come to pass, and the rest would 
 certainly come to pass hereafter; and how 
 he had given him his name, and told to David 
 what he should be called before be was bomj 
 and foretold, that when he should be king af- 
 ter his father's death, he should build him a 
 temple, which since they saw accomplished. 
 
222 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VIII, 
 
 eccording to his prediction; he required them 
 to bless God, and by believing him, from the 
 sight of what they had seen accomplished, ne- 
 ver to despair of any thing that he had pro- 
 njised for the future, in order to their happi- 
 ness, or suspect that it would not come to pass 
 3. When the king had thus discoursed to 
 the multitude, he looked again towards the 
 temple, and lifting up his right hand to the 
 multitude, he said, " It is not possible by what 
 men can do to return sufficient thanks to God 
 for his benefits bestowed upon them, for the 
 Deity stands in need of nothing, and is above 
 any such requital; but so far as we have been 
 made superior, O Lord, to other animals by 
 thee, it becomes us to bless thy Majesty, and 
 it is necessary for us to return thee thanks 
 for what thou hast bestowed upon our house, 
 and on the Hebrew people; for with what 
 other instrument can we better appease thee, 
 when thou art angry at us, or more properly 
 preserve thy favour, than with our voice; 
 which, as we have it from the air, §o do we 
 know that by that air it ascends upwards [to- 
 wards thee]. I therefore ought myself to 
 return thee thanks thereby, in the first place, 
 concerning my father, whom thou hast raised 
 from obscurity unto so great joy; and, in 
 the next place, concerning myself, since thou 
 hast performed all that thou hast promised 
 unto this very day; and I beseech thee, for 
 the time to come, to afford us whatsoever 
 thou, O God, hast power to bestow on such 
 as thou dost esteem; and to augment our 
 house for all ages, as thou hast promised to 
 David my father to do, both in his lifetime 
 and at his death, that our kingdom shall con- 
 tinue, and that his posterity should successive- 
 ly receive it to ten thousand generations. Do 
 not thou therefore fail to give us these bless- 
 ings, and to bestow on my children that vir- 
 tue in which thou delightestl and besides all 
 this, I humbly beseech thee, that thou wilt 
 let some portion of thy Spirit come down and 
 inhabit in this temple, that thou mayest ap- 
 pear to be with us upon earth. As to thy- 
 self, the entire heavens, and the immensity 
 of the things that are therein, are but a small 
 habitation for thee, much more is this poor 
 temple so ; but 1 entreat thee to keep it as thine 
 )wn house, from being destroyed by our ene- 
 mies for ever, and to take care of it as thine 
 own possession; but if this people be found 
 to have sinned, and be thereupon afflicted 
 by thee with any plague, because of their 
 sin, as with dearth, or pestilence, or any other 
 affliction which thou usest to inflict on those 
 that transgress any of thy holy laws, and if 
 they fly all of them to this temple, beseech- 
 ing thee, and begging of thee to deliver them, 
 then do thou hear their prayers, as being 
 within thine house, and have mercy u[)on 
 them, and deliver them from their afflictions 1 
 nay, moreover, this help is what 1 implore of 
 thee, not for the Hebrewb only, when they 
 
 are in distress, but when any shall come 
 hither from any ends of the world whatso- 
 ever, and shall return from their sins and im- 
 plore thy pardon, do thou then pardon them, 
 and hear their prayer! for hereby all shall 
 leani that thou thyself wast pleased with the 
 building of this house for thee ; and that we 
 are not ourselves of an unsociable nature, nor 
 behave ourselves like enemies to such as are 
 not of our own people, but are wiUing that 
 thy assistance should be communicated by 
 thee to all men in common, and that they 
 may have the enjoyment of thy benefits be- 
 stowed upon them." 
 
 4. When Solomon had said this, and had 
 cast himself upon the ground, and worshipped 
 a long time, he rose up and brought sacri- 
 fices to the altar; and when he had filled it 
 with unblemished victims, he most evidently 
 discovered that God had with pleasure ac- 
 cepted of all that he had sacrificed to him, for 
 there came a fire running out of the air, and 
 rushed wdth violence upon the altar, in the 
 sight of all, and caught hold of and consumed 
 the sacrifices. Now, when this divine appear- 
 ance was seen, the people supposed it to be a 
 demqjistration of God's abode in the temple, 
 and were pleased with it, and fell down upon 
 the ground, and worshipped. Upon which 
 the king began to bless God, and exhorted 
 the multitude to do the same, as now having 
 sufficient indications of God's favourable dis- 
 position to them ; and to pray that they might 
 always have the like indications from him, 
 and that he would preserve in them a mind 
 pure from all wickedness, in righteousness 
 and rehgious worship, and that they might 
 continue in the observation of those precepts 
 which God had given them by Moses, because 
 by that means the Hebrew nation would be 
 happy, and indeed the most blessed of all na- 
 tions among all mankind. He exhorted them 
 also to be mindful, that by what methods they 
 had attained their present good things, by the 
 same they must preserve them sure to them- 
 selves, and make them greater, and more than 
 they were at present; for that it was not suf- 
 ficient for them to suppose they had received 
 them on account of their piety and righteous- 
 ness, but that they had no other way of pre- 
 serving them for the time to come; for that 
 it is not so great a thing for men to acquire 
 somewhat which they want, as to preserve 
 what they have acquired, and to be guilty of 
 no sin, whereby it may be hurt. 
 
 5. So when the king had spoken thus to 
 the multitude, he dissolved the cong'-egation, 
 but not till he had completed his oblations, 
 both for himself and for the Hebrews, inso- 
 much that he sacrificed twenty and two thou- 
 sand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thou- 
 sand sheep; for then it was that the temple 
 did first of all taste of the victims; arui all the 
 Hebrews, with their wives and children, feast- 
 ed therein: ^lay, besides this, the kin^ tbtn 
 
CHAP. V, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 observed splendidly and magniScently the 
 feast which is called the Feast of Tabernacles, 
 before the temple, for twice seven days, and 
 he then feasted together with all the people. 
 6. When all these solemnities were abun- 
 dantly satisfied, and nothing was omitted that 
 concerned the divine worship, the king dis- 
 missed them; and every one went to their 
 own homes, giving thanks to the king for the 
 care be had taken of them, and the works he 
 had done for them; and praying to God to 
 preserve Solomon to be their king for a long 
 time. They also took their journey home 
 with rejoicing, and making merry, and sing- 
 ing hymns to God: and indeed the pleasure 
 they enjoyed, took away the sense of the pains 
 they all underwent in their journey home. 
 So when they had brought the ark into the 
 temple, and had seen its greatness, and how 
 fine it was, and had been partakers of the 
 many sacrifices that had been offered, and of 
 the festivals that had been solemnized, they 
 every one returned to their o%vn cities. But 
 e dream that appeared to the king in his sleep, 
 informed him, that God had heard his pray- 
 ers; and that he would not only preserve the 
 temple, but would always abide in it; that is, 
 in case his posterity and the whole multitude 
 would be righteous. And for himself, it said, 
 that if he continued according to the admo- 
 nitions of his father, he would advance him 
 to an immense degree of dignity and happi- 
 ness, and that then his posterity should be 
 kings of that country, of the tribe of Judah, 
 for ever; but that still, if he should be found 
 a betrayer of the ordinances of the law, and 
 forget them, and turn away to the worship of 
 strange gods, he would cut him ofi* by the 
 roots, and would neither sufi*er any remainder 
 of his family to continue, nor would overlook 
 the people of Israel, or preserve them any 
 lougei fjom afflictions, but would utterly de- 
 stroy theitt with ten thousand wars and mis- 
 fortunes; would cast them out of the land 
 which he had given their fathers, and make 
 them sojourners in strange lands; and deliver 
 that temple which was now built, to be burnt 
 and spoiled by their enemies; and that city 
 to be utterly overthrown by the hands of their 
 enemies; and make their miseries deserve to 
 be a proverb, and such as should very hardly 
 be credited for their stupendous magnitude, 
 till their neighbours, when they should hear 
 of them, should wonder at their calamities, 
 and very earnestly inquire for the occasion, 
 why the Hebrews, who had been so far ad- 
 vanced by God to such glory and wealth, 
 shoubi be then so hated by him? And that 
 the answer that should be made by the re- 
 mainder of the people should be, by confess- 
 ing their sins, and their transgression of the 
 laws of their country. Accordingly, we htve 
 it transmitted to us in writing, that thus did 
 God speak to Solomon in his sleep. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW SOLOMON BUILT HIMSELF A EOYAL PA- 
 LACE, VERY COSTLY AND SPLENDID; AND 
 HOW HE SOLVED THE RIDDLES WHICF 
 WERE SENT HIM BY HIRAM. 
 
 § 1. After the building of the temple, 
 which, as we haVe before said, was finished 
 in seven years, the king laid the foundation 
 of his palace, which he did not finish under 
 thirteen years; for he was not equally zealous 
 in the biulding of this palace as he had been 
 about the temple; for as to that, though it 
 was a great work, and required wonderful 
 and surprising application, yet God, for whom 
 it was made, so far co-operated therewith, 
 that it was finished in the foreraentioned 
 number of years; but the palace, which was 
 a building much inferior in dignity to the 
 temple, both on account that its materials had 
 not been so long beforehand gotten ready, 
 nor had been so zealously prepared, and on 
 account that this was only a habitation for 
 kings, and not for God, it was longer in 
 finishing. However, this building was raised 
 so magnificently, as suited the happy state of 
 the Hebrews, and of the king thereof: but 
 it is necessary that I describe tlie entire struc- 
 ture and disposition of the parts, that so those 
 tbat light upon this book may thereby make 
 a conjecture, and, as it were, have a prospect 
 of its magnitude. 
 
 2. This house was a large and curious 
 building, and was supported by many pillars, 
 which Solomon built to contain a multitude 
 for hearing causes, and taking cognizance of 
 suits. It was sufficiently capacious to con- 
 tiiin a great body of men, who would come 
 together to have their causes determined. It 
 was a hundred cubits long, and fifty broad, 
 and thirty high, supported by quadrangular 
 pillars, which were all of cedar ; but its roof 
 was according to the Carinthian order,* \vith 
 folding doors, and their adjoining pillars of 
 equal magiutude, each fluted with three cavi- 
 
 • This mention of the Corinthian ornaments of archi- 
 tecture in Solomon's palace by Josephns, seems to bo 
 here set down by way of prolepsis; for although it ap- 
 pears to me tliat the Grecian and Roman most ancient 
 orders of architecture were taken from Solomon's temple, 
 as from their original patterns, yet it is not so clear that 
 the last and most ornamental order of the Corinthian 
 was so ancient, although what the same Josepbus says 
 (Of the War, b. v. ch. v. sect. 3). that one of the gates of 
 Herod's temple was built according to the rules ef this 
 Coriiithian order, is no way improbable, that order beinsj, 
 without dispute, much older than the reis;n oi Herod, 
 However, upon some trial, I confess I have not hitherto 
 been able fully to understand the structure of this palace 
 of Solomon, either as described in our Bibles, or even 
 with the additional help of this description here by Jose- 
 pbus: only the reader may easily observe with me, that 
 the measures of this first buildinif in Josepbus, 100 cubits 
 Ions, and 50 cubits broad, are the very same with the 
 area of the court of the tabernacle of Moses, and jua* 
 half an Egyptian tununu, or acre 
 
224 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OP THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VIII 
 
 ties: which buildfnff was at once firm and 
 very ornamental. There was also another 
 house so ordered, that its entire breadth was 
 placed in the middle; it was- quadrangular, 
 and its breadth was thirty cubits, having a 
 ^emple over against it, raised upon massy pil- 
 lars; in which temple there was a large and 
 very glorious room, wherein the king sat in 
 iudgment. To this was joined another house, 
 that was built for his queen. There were 
 Dther sm^er edifices for diet, and for sleep, 
 after public matters were over; and these 
 were all floored with boards of cedar. Some 
 of these Solomon built with stones of ten 
 cubits, and wainscoted the walls with other 
 stones that were sawed, and were of great 
 value, such as are dug out of the earth for 
 the ornaments of temples, and to make fine 
 prospects in royal palaces, and which make 
 the mines whence they are dug famous. 
 Now the contexture of the curious workman- 
 ship of these stones was in three rows, but 
 the fourth row would make one admire its 
 sculptures, whereby were represented trees, 
 and si] sorts of plants, with the shades that 
 arose from their branches, and leaves that 
 hung down from them. Those trees and 
 plants covered the stone that was beneath 
 them, and their leaves were wrought so pro- 
 digious thin and subtile, that you would 
 think they were in motion; but the other 
 part, up to the roof, was plastered over, and, 
 as it were, embroidered with colours and pic- 
 tures, lie, moreover, built other edifices 
 for pleasure ; as also very long cloisters, and 
 those situate in an agreeable place of the pa- 
 lace; and among them a most glorious di- 
 ning-room, for feastings and compotations, and 
 fuU of gold, and such other furniture as so 
 fine a rown ought to have for the conveniency 
 of the guests, and where all the vessels were 
 made of gold. Now it is very hard to reck- 
 on up the magnitude and the variety of the 
 royal apartments; how many rooms there 
 were of the largest sort, how many of a big- 
 ness inferior to those, and how many that 
 were subterraneous and invisible; the curi- 
 osity of those that enjoyed the fresh air ; and 
 the groves for the most delightful prospect, 
 for the avoiding the heat, and covering of 
 their bodies. And to say all in brief, Solo- 
 mon made the whole building entirely of 
 white stone, and cedar-wood, and gold, and 
 silver. He also adorned the roofs and walls 
 with stones set in gold, and beautified them 
 thereby in the same manner as he had beau- 
 tified the temple of God with the like stones. 
 He also made himself a throne of prodigious 
 bigness, of ivory, constructed as a seat of jus- 
 tice, and having six steps to it; on every one 
 of which stood, on each end of the step, two 
 liorift, two other lions standing above also; 
 but at the sitting place of the throne, hands 
 came out, and received the king; and when 
 he sat backward, he rented on half a bullock. 
 
 that looked towards his back; but still all 
 was fastened together with gold. 
 
 3. When Solomon had completed all this 
 in twenty years' time, because Hiram king ol 
 Tyre had contributed a great deal of gold, 
 and more silver to these buildings, as also 
 cedar- wood and pine- wood, he also rewarded 
 Hiram with rich presents; corn he sent him 
 also year by year, and wine and oil, which 
 were the principal things that he stood in 
 need of, because he inhabited an island, as 
 we have already said. And besides these, 
 he granted him certain cities of Galilee, twen- 
 ty in number, that lay not far from Tyre;, 
 which, when Hiram went to, and viewed, and 
 did not like the gift, he sent word to Solo- 
 mon that he did not want such cities as they 
 were; and after that time those cities were 
 called the land of Cabul^ which name, if it 
 be interpreted according to the language of 
 the Phoenicians, denotes what does not please. 
 Moreover, the king of Tyre sent sophisms 
 and enigmatical sayings to Solomon, and de- 
 sired he would solve them, and free then* 
 from the ambiguity that was in them. Now 
 of so sagacious an understanding was Solo- 
 mon, that none of these problems were too 
 hard for him ; but he conquered them all by 
 his reasonings, and discovered their hidden 
 meaning, and brought it to light. Menan- 
 der also, one who translated the Tyrian ar- 
 chives out of the dialect of the Phoenicians 
 into the Greek language, makes mention of 
 these two kings, where he says thus: — " When 
 Abibalus was dead, his son Hiram recrived 
 the kingdom from him, who, when he had 
 lived fifty-three years, reigned thirty-four. 
 He raised a bank in the large place, and de- 
 dicated the golden pillar which is in Jupiter's 
 temple. He also went and cut down mate- 
 rials of timber out of the mountain called Li- 
 banus, for the roof of temples; and when lie 
 had pulled down the ancient temples, he 
 both built the temple of Hercules and that of 
 Astarte; and he first set up the temple of 
 Hercules in the month Peritius; he also made 
 an expedition against the Euchii [or Titii], 
 who did not pay their tribute; and when he 
 had subdued them to himself he returned. 
 Under this king there was Abdemon, a very 
 youth in age, who always conquered the dif- 
 ficult problems which Solomon, king of Je- 
 rusalem, commanded him to explain." Dius 
 also makes mention of him, where he says 
 thus: — "When Abibalus was dead, his son 
 Hiram reigned. He raised the eastern parts 
 of the city higher, and made the city itself 
 larger. He also joined the temple of Jupi- 
 ter, which before stood by itself, to the city, 
 by raising a bank in the middle betAveen them; 
 and he adorned it with donations of gold. 
 Moreover, he went uj) to Mount Libnnus 
 and cut down materials of wood for the build 
 ing of the teinplei." He says also, that 
 " SolouiOii, who vvuii then kiiig of Jerusalem* 
 
Palmyra, (Tadmor in the Desert.)— Page 225. 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIKS OF THE JCWS. 
 
 225 
 
 ■ent riddles to Hiram, and desired to receive 
 the like from him ; but that he who could 
 not solve them should pay money to them 
 that did solve them ; and that Hiram ac- 
 cepted the conditions; and when he was not 
 able to solve the riddles [proposed by So- 
 lomon], he paid a great deal of money for 
 his fine ; but that he afterwards did solve the 
 proposed riddles by means of Abdemon, a 
 man of Tyre; and that Hiram proposed 
 other riddles, which, when Solomon could 
 not solve, he paid back a great deal of 
 money to Hiram." This it is which Dius 
 wrote. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BOW SOLOMON FORTIFIED THE CITY OF JERU- 
 SALEM, AND BUILT GREAT CITIES ; AND 
 HOW HE BROUGHT SOME OF THE CANAAN- 
 ITES INTO SUBJECTION, AND ENTERTAf^ED 
 THE QUEEN OF EGYPT AND OF ETHIOPIA. 
 
 § 1. Now when the king saw that the walls of 
 Jerusalem stood in need of being better se- 
 cured, and made stronger (for he thought the 
 walls that encompassed Jerusalem ought to 
 correspond to the dignity of the city) he both 
 repaired them and made them higher, with 
 great towers upon them ; he also built cities 
 which might be counted among the strongest, 
 Hazor and Megiddo, and the third Gezer, 
 which had indeed belonged to the Philistines; 
 but Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had made 
 an expedition against it, and besieged it, and 
 taken it by for€e; and when he had slain all 
 its inhabitants, he utterly overthrew it, and 
 gave it as a present to his daughter, who had 
 been married to Solomon: for which reason 
 the king rebuilt it, as a city that was natu- 
 rally strong, and might be useful in wars, and 
 the mutations of affairs that sometimes hap- 
 pen. Moreover, he built two other cities not 
 far from it; Beth-horon was the name of one 
 of them, and Balaath of the other. He 
 also built other cities that lay conveniently 
 for these, in order to the enjoyment of plea- 
 sures and delicacies in them, such as were 
 naturally of a good temperature of the air, 
 and agreeable for fruits ripe in their proper 
 seasons, and well watered with springs. Nay, 
 Solomon went as far as the desert above Sy- 
 ria, and possessed liimself of it, and built 
 tiiere a very great city, which was distant two 
 days' journey from the Upper Syria, and one 
 day's journey from Euphrates, and six long 
 days' journey from Babylon the Great. Now 
 the reason why this city lay so remote from 
 the parts of Syria that are inhabited, is this : 
 That below there is no water to be had, and 
 that it is in that place orily that there are 
 springs and jiits of water. "When he bad 
 therefore built tl«!s "ity, *nd encompassed it 
 
 with very strong walls, he gave it the name 
 of Tadmor; and that is the name it is still 
 called by at this day among the Syrians; but 
 the Greeks name it Palmyra. 
 
 2. Now Solomon the king was at this time 
 engaged in building these cities. But if any 
 inquire why all the kings of Egypt from 
 Menes, who built Memphis, and was man^ 
 years earlier than our forefather Abraham 
 until Solomon, where the interval was more 
 than one thousand three hundred years, were 
 called Pharaohs, and took it from one Pha- 
 raoh that lived after the kings of that inter- 
 val, I think it necessary to inform them of it, 
 and this in order to cure their ignorance, and 
 to make the occasion of that name manifest. 
 Pharaoh, in the Egyptian tongue, signifies a 
 king* but I suppose they made use of other 
 names from their childhood; but when they 
 were made kings, they changed them into the 
 name which, in their own tongue, denoted 
 their authority ; for thus it was also that the 
 kings of Alexandria, who were called formerly 
 by other names when they took the king- 
 dom, were named Ptolemies, from their first 
 king. The Roman emperors also were, from 
 their nativity, called by other names, but are 
 styled Caesars, their empire and their dignity 
 imposing that name upon them, and not suffer- 
 ing them to continue in those names which their 
 fathers gave them. I suppose also that Herodo- 
 tus of Halicarnassus, when he said there were 
 three hundred and thirty kings of Egypt after 
 Menes, who built Memphis, did therefore not 
 tell us their names, because they were in com- 
 mon called Pharaohs ; for when after their death 
 there was a queen reigned, he calls her by her 
 name Nicaule, as thereby declaring, that while 
 the kings were of the male line, and so ad- 
 mitted of the same name, while a woman did 
 not admit the same, he did therefore set down 
 that her name, which she could not naturally 
 have. As for myself, I have discovered from 
 our own books that after Pharaoh, the father- 
 in-law of Solomon, no other king of Egypt 
 did any longer use that name ; and that it was 
 after that time when the forenamed queen of 
 Egypt and Ethiopia came to Solomon, con- 
 cerning whom we shall inform the reader pre- 
 sently ; but I have now made mention of 
 these things, that I may prove that our bookis 
 
 • This signification of the name Pharaoh appears to 
 be true. But what Josephns adds presently, that no 
 kinsi of Egypt was called I'liaraoh after Solomon's falher- 
 in-law. do»-s hardly agree to our copies, which have 
 !on>; afterwards the names of Pharaoh Nechoh and 
 Pharaoh M-phrah (2 Kings xxiii. 29; Jer. xliv. 30); 
 bcsiiies the frequent mention of that name in the pro- 
 phets HowS^er, Josephus himself, in his own speech 
 to the Jews («)f the War, b. v. chap. ix. sect. 4), speaks of 
 Nechao, who was also called Pharaoh, as the name of 
 that king of Egypt with whom Abraham was concern- 
 ed; of which, name Nechao yet we have elsewhere no 
 mention till the days of Josiah, but only of Pharaoh. 
 And inde«-d it must be confessed that here, and sect. 5, 
 we have more mistakes made by Josephus. and those 
 relating to the kings of >• gypt, and to the queen of 
 Kuypt and Ethiopia, whom he supposes to have cocie 
 to see Solomon, than almuf;t an; where el&e in all bU 
 Antiquities. 
 
226 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VIII, 
 
 and those of the Egyptians agree together in 
 many things. 
 
 3. But king Solomon subdued to himself 
 the remnant of the Canaanites that had not 
 before submitted to him; — those I mean that 
 dwelt in mount* Lebanon, and as far as the 
 city Hamath; and ordered them to pay tri- 
 bute. He also chose out of them every year 
 Sich as were to serve him in the meanest 
 offices, and to do his domestic works, and to 
 follow husbandry; for none of the Hebrews 
 were servants [in such low employments]; 
 nor was it reasonable that, when God Lad 
 brought so many nations under their power, 
 they should depress their own people to such 
 mean offices of life, rather than those nations; 
 but all the Israelites were concerned in war- 
 like affairs, and were in armour, and were set 
 over the chariots and the horses rather than 
 leading the life of slaves. He appointed also 
 five hundred and fifty rulers over those Ca- 
 naanites who were reduced to such domestic 
 slavery, who received the entire care of them 
 from the king, and instructed them in those 
 labours and operations wherein he wanted 
 their assistance. 
 
 4. Moreover, the king built many ships in 
 the Egyptian Bay of the Red Sea, in a cer- 
 tain place called Ezion-geber: it is now called 
 Berenice, and is not far from the city Eloth. 
 This country belonged formerly to the Jews, 
 and became useful for shipping, from the do- 
 nations of Hiram, king of Tyre ; for he sent a 
 sufficient number of men thither for pilots, 
 and such as were skilful in navigation; to 
 whom Solomon gave this command: That 
 they should go along with his own stewards 
 to the land that was of old called Ophir, but 
 now the Aurea Chersonesus, which belongs 
 to India, to fetch him gold. And when they 
 had gathered four hundred talents together, 
 they returned to the king again. 
 
 5. There was then a woman, queen of 
 Egypt and Ethiopia ;* she was inquisitive into 
 philosophy, and one that on other accounts 
 also was to be admired. When this queen 
 heard of the virtue and prudence of Solo- 
 mon, she had a great mind to see him ; and 
 the reports that went every day abroad in- 
 duced her to come to him, she being desirous 
 to be satisfied by her own experience, and not 
 by a bare hearing (for reports thus heard are 
 likely enough to comply with a false opinion, 
 while they wholly depend on the credit of the 
 relaters); so she resolved to come to him, and 
 that especially, in order to have a trial of his 
 
 • That this queen of Sh#»ba wan a qiie*n of Sabtea in 
 South Arabia, and not of Exypt. and Ethiopia, as Jose- 
 phus here assorts, is, 1 suppose, now generally aereed; 
 and since Sabaea is well known to be a country near the 
 •ea in the south nf Arabia Kelix. which lay south from 
 Judra also; and since our Saviour calls this queen 
 " the queen of the south," and nays, " she came from 
 the ntmunt parts of the earth " (Matt xii. 42,- I.uke xi. 
 31), which descriptions atn'ee better to this Arabia than 
 (O Eirvpt and Ethiopia, there is little occasion for 
 doubtini; in this matter. 
 
 wisdom, while she proposed questions of very 
 great difficulty, and entreated that he would 
 solve their hidden meaning. Accordingly 
 she came to Jerusalem with great splendour 
 and rich furniture; for she brought with her 
 camels laden with gold, with several sorts of 
 sweet spices, and with precious stones. Now, 
 upon the king's kind reception of her, he both 
 showed a great desire to please her, and easily 
 comprehending in his mind the meaning of 
 the curious questions she propounded to him, 
 he resolved them sooner than any body could 
 have expected. So she was amazed at the 
 wisdom of Solomon, and discovered that it 
 was more excellent upon trial than what she 
 had heard by report beforehand; and espe- 
 cially she was surprised at the fineness and 
 largeness of his royal palace, and not less so at 
 the good order of the apartments, for she ob- 
 served that the king had therein shown great 
 wisdom; but she was beyond measure asto- 
 nished at the house which was called the Po- 
 rest \f Lebanon^ as also at the magnificence of 
 his daily table, and the circumstances of its 
 preparation and ministration, with the apparel 
 of his servants that waited, and the skilful 
 and decent management of their attendance: 
 nor was she less afiected with those daily 
 sacrifices which were offered to God, and the 
 careful management which the priests and 
 Levites used about them. When she saw 
 this done every day, she was in the greatest 
 admiration imaginable, insomuch that she was 
 not able to contain the surprise she was in, 
 but openly confessed how wonderfully she 
 was affected; for she proceeded to discourse 
 with the king, and thereby owned that she 
 was overcome with admiration ' at the things 
 before related ; and said, " All things, in- 
 deed, O king, that came to our knowledge 
 by report, cqme with uncertainty as to our 
 belief of them; but as to those good things 
 that to thee appertain, both such as thou thy- 
 self possessest, I mean wisdom and prudence, 
 and the happiness thou hast from thy king- 
 dom, certainly the same that came to us waa 
 no falsity; it was not only a true report, but 
 it related thy happiness after a much lowe. 
 manner than I now see it to be before my 
 eyes. For as for the report, it only attempted 
 to persuade our hearing, but did not so 
 make known the dignity of the things them- 
 selves as does the sight of them, and being 
 present among them. I, indeed, who did 
 not believe what was reported, by reason of 
 tlie multitude and graiuleur of the things I 
 inquired about, do see them to be much more 
 numerous than they were reported to be. 
 Accordingly, I esteem the Hebrew people, 
 as well as thy servants and friends, to be 
 happy, who enjoy thy presence, and hear th; 
 wisdom every day continually. One would 
 therefore bless God, who hath so loved this 
 coiiutry, and those that inhabit therein, as to 
 make thee king over them." 
 
iiiiiiifc 
 
 IIP" 
 ''''''III liiP'ii 
 
^7»'.'. ■ 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 227 
 
 6. Now when the queen had thus demon- 
 strated in words how deeply the king had 
 affected her, her disposition was known by 
 certain presents, for she gave him twenty- 
 talents of gold, and an immense quantity 
 of spices and precious stones. (They say 
 also that we possess the root of that bal- 
 sam which our country still bears by this 
 woman's gift).* Solomon also repaid her 
 with many good things, and principally by 
 bestowing upon her what she chose of her 
 own inclination, for there was nothing that 
 she desired which he denied her; and as 
 he was very generuus and liberal in his 
 own temper, so did he show the greatness 
 of his soul in bestowing on her M'hat she 
 herself desired of him. So M'hen this 
 queen of Ethopia had obtained what we 
 already given an account of, and had again 
 communicated to the king what she brought 
 M'ith her, she returned to her own kingdom. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW SOLOMON GREW RICH, AXDFELLDESPE- 
 KATELY IN LOVE WITH WOMEN, AND HOW 
 GOD, BEING INCENSED AT IT, RAISED UP 
 ADER AND JEROBOAM AGAINST HIM. CON- 
 CERNING THE DEATH OF SOLOMON. 
 
 § 1. About the same time there were 
 brought to the king from the Aurea Cher- 
 sonesus, a country so called, precious stones 
 and pine-trees, and these trees he made use 
 of for supporting the temple and the palace, 
 as also for the materials of musical instru- 
 ments, the harps, and the psalteries, that 
 the Levites might make use of them in 
 their hymns to God. The wood which was 
 brought to him at this time was larger and 
 finer than any that had ever been brought 
 before; but let no one imagine that these 
 pine-trees were like those which are now so 
 named, and which take that theirdenomina- 
 tion from the merchants, who so call them, 
 that they may procure them to be admired 
 
 • Some blame Josephns for supposinjr that the balsam - 
 tree minht be first hrou;;ht out ot Arahin, or Eiiypt, or 
 Etbiopia, into Jiidea, by tbis queen of Slieba since seve- 
 ral have said.lbat of olil no country bore this precious 
 oalsani but J udea ; yet it is not only false that this balsam 
 was peculiar to Judea, but boih ^ gypt and Arabia, and 
 particularly Sabiea.tiad it; which la.stw as tbat very cun- 
 try wht ncc J osephus. if understood not ot Ethiopia but of 
 Arabia, intimates thia queen mi^bt bring it first into Jii- 
 jea. Nor are we to suppose that the queen of Sabafa 
 3ou!d w^U omit such a present, as this balsam-tree woulil 
 oe esteemed by S lomon, in case it were then almost i»e- 
 ciiliar to nerown ountry: nor is the mention of balm or 
 ba sam, as carried by merchants, and sent as a presejit 
 out of Judea by Jacob, to the guvernor ot Eg^ypt ((ien. 
 xxxvii. 2-x and xliii 11). to be alleged to tne contrary, 
 since what we there reniet fta/m or Aa/sflm denotes nther 
 that turpentine which we now call Turpfntmr of CJiiokt 
 Ct/prus, thejuiceof iheturpentine-tree.thaii this (irerifiis 
 balsam. I his last is also the same word that wi- eUe- 
 where render, by ibe same iiiis*ake Bul.ii nt iiiit-H": i' 
 should be rend ■^r»:d the 7 Hrpeulnitof (Jiiemi. J^-r y\>\. t2. 
 
 jy those that purchase them; for those we 
 .speak of were to the sight like the wood of 
 the fig-tree, but were whiter and more 
 i shining. Now we have said thus much, 
 1 that nobody may be ignorant of the differ- 
 ence between these sorts of wood, nor unac- 
 quainted with the nature of the genuine 
 pine-tree; and we thought it both a season- 
 able and humane thing when we mentionet* 
 it, and the uses the king made of it, to ex 
 plain this difference so far as we have done 
 
 2. Now the weight of gold that was 
 brought him was six hundred and sixty- 
 six talents, not including in that sum what 
 was brought by the merchants, nor what 
 the toparchd aixl kings of Arabia gave him 
 in presents. He also cast two himdred 
 targets of gold, each of ther/lPweighing six 
 hundred shekels: he also made three hun- 
 dred shields, every one weighing three 
 pounds of gold, and he had them carried 
 and put into that house which was called 
 The Forest of Lebanon. He also made 
 cups of gold, and of [precious] stones, for 
 the entertainment of his guests, and had 
 them adorned in the most artificial manner; 
 and he contrived that all his other fiu"niture 
 of vessels should be of gold, for there was 
 iiothing then to be sold or bought for silver; 
 for the king had many ships which lay upon 
 the Sea of Tarsus, these he commanded to 
 carry out all sorts of merchandise into the 
 remotest nations, by the sale of which silver 
 and gold were brought to the king, and a 
 great quantity of ivory, and Ethiopians, 
 and apes; and they finished their voyage, 
 going and returning, in three years' time. 
 
 3. Accordingly there went a great fame all 
 around the neighbouring countries, which 
 proclaimed the virtue and wisdom of Solo- 
 mon, insomuch that all the kings every- 
 whtire were desirous to see him, as not giving 
 credit to what was reported, on account of 
 
 j its being almost incredible: they also de- 
 monstrated the regard they had for him 
 by the presents they made 'him; for they 
 sent him vessels of gold and silver, and 
 purple garments, and many sorts of spices, 
 and horses, and chariots, and as many mules 
 for his carriages as they could find proper 
 to please the king's eyes, by their strength 
 and beauty. This addition that he made 
 to those chariots and horses which he had 
 before from those that were sent him aug- 
 mented the number of his chariots by above 
 four hundred, for he had a thousand before, 
 and augmented the number of his horses 
 by two thousand, for he had twenty thou- 
 sand before. These horses also were so 
 much exercised, in order to their making a 
 fine appearance, and running swiftly, that 
 no others could, upon the comparison, appear 
 either finer or swifter; but they were at once 
 the most beautiful of all others, and their 
 swiftness was incomparable. Their riders 
 also were a further ornament to them,being, 
 in the first place, young men in the most 
 delightful flower of their age, and being emi- 
 
228 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VIII 
 
 nent for their largeness, and far taller than 
 other men. They had also very long heads of 
 hair hanging down, and were clothed in gar- 
 ments of Tyrian purple. They had also dust 
 of gold every day sprinkled on their hair, so 
 that their heads sparkled with the reflection 
 of the sun-beams from the gold. The king 
 himself rode upon a chariot in the midst of 
 these men, who were still in armour, and had 
 their bows fitted to them. He had on a white 
 garment, and used to take his progress out of 
 the city in the morning. There was a certain 
 place, about fifty furlongs distant from Jeru- 
 salem, which is called Etham, very pleasant 
 it is in fine gardens, and abounding in rivu- 
 lets of water ;* thither did he use to go out in 
 the morning, fitting on high [in his chariot]. 
 
 4. Now Solomon had a divine sagacity in 
 all things, and was very diligent and studious 
 to have things done after an elegant manner; 
 so he did not neglect the care of the ways, 
 but he laid a causeway of black stone along 
 the roads that led to Jerusalem, which was the 
 royal city, both to render them easy for tra- 
 vellers, and to manifest the grandeur of his 
 riches and government. He also parted his 
 chariots, and set them in a regular order, that 
 a certain number of them should be in every 
 city, still keeping a few about him; and those 
 citijjs he called the cities of his chariots; and 
 the king made silver as plentiful in Jerusa- 
 lem as the stones in the street; and so multi- 
 plied cedar-trees in the plains of Judea, which 
 did not grow there before, that they were like 
 to the multitude of common sycamore-trees. 
 He also ordained the Egyptian merchants 
 that brought him their merchandise, to sell 
 him a chariot, with a pair of horses, for six 
 hundred drachmae of silver, and he sent them 
 to the kings of Syria, and to those kings that 
 were beyond Euphrates. 
 
 5. But although Solomon was become the 
 most glorious of kings, and the best beloved 
 by God, and had exceeded in wisdom and 
 riches those that had been rulers of the He- 
 brews before him, yet did not he persevere in 
 this happy state till he died. Nay, he for- 
 sook the observation of the laws of his father, 
 and came to an end no way suitable to our 
 foregoing history of him. He grew mad in 
 his love of women, and laid no restraint on 
 himself in his lusts ; nor was he satisfied with 
 the women of his country alone, but he mar- 
 
 ♦ WheAer these fine gardens and rivnfets of Etham, 
 about six miles from Jenisalem, whither Solomon rode so 
 often in state, be not those alluded to, Ixcles. ii. 5, 6; 
 where he says, " He made him gardens and orchards, and 
 planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits,- he made him 
 pools of water, to water the wood that bringeth forth 
 trees;" and to the finest part whereof beseems to allude, 
 when, in the Canticles, he compares his spouse to a " gar- 
 den enclosed,*' to a "spring shut up," to a "fountain 
 sealed," ch. Iv. li (part of which fountains are still extant, 
 as Mr. IMaundiell informs us, pp 87, 88), cannot now he 
 certainly determined, but may very probably be conjec- 
 ture*], li'jt, whether this Etham has any relation to those 
 Hv<*rQofCih:im, which Providence once drie<l up in a mi- 
 raculous maucier, P$. Ixxir. l-'i, in the Sepluatfint, 1 can- 
 BOtMy. 
 
 ried many wives out of foreign nations: Si- 
 donians, and Tyrians, and Ammonites, and 
 Edomites; and he transgressed the laws of 
 Moses, which forbade Jews to marry any but 
 those that were of their own people. He 
 also began to worship their gods, which he 
 did in order to the gratification of his wives, 
 and out of his affection for them. This very 
 thing our legislator suspected, and so admo- 
 nished us beforehand, that we should not 
 marry women of other countries, lest we 
 should be entangled with foreign customs, 
 and apostatize from our own; lest we should 
 leave off to honour our own God, and should 
 worship their gods. But Solomon was fallen 
 headlong into unreasonable pleasures, and 
 regarded not those admonitions; for when 
 he had married seven hundred wives,t the 
 daughters of princes, and of eminent persons, 
 and three hundred concubines, and these be- 
 sides the king of Egypt's daughter, he soon 
 was governed by them, till he came to imitate 
 their practices. He was forced to give them 
 this demonstration of his kindness and affec- 
 tion to them, to live according to the laws of 
 their countries. And as he grew into years, 
 and his reason became weaker by length of 
 time, it was not sufficient to recall to his 
 mind the institutions of his own country ; so 
 he still more and more contemned his own 
 God, and continued to regard the gods that 
 his marriages had introduced: nay, before 
 this happened, he sinned, and fell into an 
 error about the observation of the laws, when 
 he made the images of brazen oxen that sup- 
 ported the brazen sea, J and the images of 
 lions about his own throne; for these he 
 made, although it was not agreeable to piety 
 so to do; and this he did, notwithstanding 
 that he had his father as a most excellent and 
 domestic pattern of virtue, and knew what a 
 glorious character he had left behind him, 
 because of his piety towards God; nor did 
 he imitate David, although God had twice ap- 
 peared to him in his sleep, and exhorted him 
 to imitate his father: so he died ingloriously. 
 There came therefore a prophet to him, who 
 was sent by God, and told him that his wicked 
 
 + These 700 wives, or the daughters of great men, and 
 the 300 concubines, the daughters of the ignol)le, make 
 1000 in all; and are. I suppose, those very 1000 women 
 intimated elsewhere by Solomon himself, when he speaks 
 of his not having found one [good] woman among tiiat 
 very number, Eccles. vii. "28. 
 
 t Josephus is here certainly too severe upon Solomon, 
 who, in making the cherubims and these twelve bnizen 
 oxen, seems to have done no more than imitate the pat- 
 terns left him by David ; which were all given l)avi(l by 
 divine inspiration. See my description of the temples, 
 ch. X. ; and although God gave no direction for the lioni 
 that adorned his throne, yet does not Solomon s^em 
 therein to have broken any law of Moses; for although 
 the Pharisees and latter Uabhins have extended the se- 
 cond commandment, to forbid the very makiiiy of any 
 tmage,though without any intention to have it worshipped, 
 yet do not I suppose that Solomon so understood it, nor 
 that it ought to be so understood. The making any other 
 altar for worship but that at the tabernacle, was equally 
 forbidden by Moses, Ant. b. iv. ch. viii. s. 5; yet did not 
 the two tribes and a half utfend when they made an altar 
 for a memorial only. Josh. xxiL{ Ant. b.v.ch.i. s.2(i.'i7. 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF TliE JEU'S, 
 
 229 
 
 actions were not concealed from God; and 
 threatened him that he should not long re- 
 ioice in what he had done: that indeed the 
 kingdom should not be taken from him while 
 be was alive, because God had promised to 
 his father David that he would make him his 
 successor, but that he would take care that 
 this should befall his son when he was dead ; 
 not that he would withdraw all the people 
 from him, but that he would give ten tribes 
 to a servant of his, and leave only two tribes 
 to David's grandson for his sake, because he 
 loved God, and for the sake of the city of 
 Jerusalem, wherein he should have a temple. 
 6. When Solomon heard this he was grieved, 
 and greatly .confounded, upon this change of 
 almost all that happiness which had made 
 him to be admired, into so bad a state ; nor 
 had there much time passed after the prophet 
 had foretold what was coming, before' God 
 raised up an enemy against him, whose name 
 was Ader, who took the following occasion 
 of his enmity to him: — He was a child of the 
 stock of the Edomites, and of the blood royal; 
 and when Joab, the captain of David's host, 
 laid waste the land of Edom, and destroyed 
 all that were men gro\vn, and able to bear 
 arms, for six months' time, this Hadad fled 
 away, and came to Pharaoh, the king of 
 Egypt, who received him kindly, and assigned 
 him a house to dwell in, and a country to 
 supply him with food; and when he was grown 
 up, he loved him exceedingly, insomuch that 
 he gave him his wife's sister, whose name was 
 Tahpenes, to \vife, by whom he had a son, 
 who was brought up with the king's children. 
 When Hadad heard in Egypt that both David 
 and Joab were dead, he came to Pharaoh, and 
 desired that he would permit him to go to his 
 own country: upon which the king asked 
 what it was that he wanted, and what hardship 
 he had met with, that he was so desirous to- 
 leave him; and when he was often trouble- 
 some to him, and entreated him to dismiss 
 him, he did not then do it. But at the time 
 when Solomon's aflfairs began to grow worse, 
 on account of his forementioned transgres- 
 sions,* and God's anger against him for the 
 same, Hadad, by Pharaoh's permission, came 
 to Edom ; and when he was not able to make 
 the people forsake Solomon, for it was kept 
 under by many garrisons, and an innovation 
 was not to be made with safety, he removed 
 thence, and came into Syria; there he lighted 
 upon one Rezon, who had run away from Ha- 
 dadezer, king of Zobah, his master, and was 
 become a robber in that country, and joined 
 friendship with him, who had already a band 
 
 • Since th"e beginning of Solomon's evil life and ad- 
 
 \ varsity was the time when Hadad or Ader, who was born 
 
 ■: at least 20 or 30 years before Solomon came to the crown, 
 
 ;. in the days of David, began to give him disturbance, 
 
 this implies that Solomon's evil life began early, and 
 
 am continued very long, which the multitude of his wives 
 
 Ut and concubines does imply also: I suppose when be was 
 
 BP act fifty years of age. 
 
 of robbers about him. So he went up, and 
 seized upon that part of Syria, and was made 
 king thereof. He also made inciu-sions into 
 the land of Israel, and did it no small mis- 
 chief, and spoiled it, and thsit in the life-time 
 of Solomon. And this was the calamity which 
 the Hebrews suffered by Hadad. 
 
 7. There was also one of Solomon's own 
 nation that made an attempt against him, 
 Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had an ex- 
 pectation of rising, from a prophecy that had 
 been made to him long before. He was left 
 a child by his father, and brought up by his 
 mother ; and when Solomon saw that he was 
 of an active and bold disposition, he made him 
 the curator of the walls which he built round 
 about Jerusalem; and he took such care of 
 those works, that the king approved of his 
 behaviour, and gave him, as a reward for the 
 same, the charge of the tribe of Joseph. And 
 when about that time Jeroboam was once 
 going out of Jerusalem, a prophet of the city 
 Shilo, whose name was Ahijah, met him, and 
 saluted him; and when he had taken him a 
 little aside, to a place out of the way, where 
 there was not one other person present, he 
 rent the garment he had on into twelve pieces, 
 and bid Jeroboam take ten of them ; and told 
 Lira beforehand, that "this is the will of 
 God: he Avill part the dominion of Solomon, 
 and give one tribe, Avith that which is next it, 
 to his son, because of the promise made to 
 David for his succession, and will give ten 
 tribes to thee, because Solomon hath sinned 
 against him, and delivered uphimself to women, 
 and to their gods. Seeing therefore thou 
 knowest the cause for which God hath changed 
 his mind, and is alienated from Solomon, be 
 thou righteous and keep the laws, because he 
 hath pro^sed to thee the greatest of all re- 
 wards for thy piety, and the honour thou 
 shalt pay to God, namely, to be as greatly 
 exalted as thou knowest David to have been." 
 
 8. So Jeroboam was elevated by these 
 words of the prophet; and being a young 
 man,f of a warm temper, and ambitious of 
 greatness, he could not be quiet; and when 
 he had so great a charge in the government, 
 and called to mind what had been revealed to 
 him by Ahijah, he endeavoured to persuade 
 the people to forsake Solomon, to make a dis- 
 turbance, and to bring the government over 
 to himself; but when Solomon understood 
 his intention and treachery, he sought to catch 
 him and kill him; but Jeroboam was informed 
 of it beforehand, and fled to Shishak, the king 
 of Egypt, and there abode till the death of 
 
 + This youth of Jeroboam, when Solomon built the 
 walls of Jerusalem, not very long after he had finished 
 his twenty years building of the temple and his own 
 palace, or not very long after the twenty-fourth of his 
 reign (1 Kings ix. 24; 2 Chron. viii. 11), and his youth 
 here still mentioned, when Solomon's wickedness was 
 become intolerable, fully confirm ray former observation, 
 that such his wickedness began early, and continticd Terj 
 long. See Eccles. xlviL 14. 
 
230 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK VIII, 
 
 Solomon; by whicli means he gained these 
 two advantages, — to suffer no harm from So- 
 lomon, and to be preserved for the kingdom. 
 So Solomon died when he was already an old 
 man, having reigned eighty years, and lived 
 ninety-four. He was buried in Jerusalem, 
 having been superior to all other kings in 
 happiness, and riches, and wisdom, excepting 
 that when he was growing into years he was 
 deluded by women, and transgressed the law; 
 concerning which transgressions, and the 
 miseries which befell the Hebrews thereby, I 
 think proper to discourse at another oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HOW, UPON THE DEATH OF SOLOMON, THE 
 PEOPLE FORSOOK HIS SON REHOBOAM, AND 
 ORDAINED JEROBOAM KING OVER THE TEN 
 TRIBES. 
 
 § I. Now when Solomon was dead, and his 
 son Rehoboam (who was born of an Ammon- 
 ite wife, whose name was Naamah) had suc- 
 ceeded him in the kingdom, the rulers of the 
 multitude sent immediately into Egypt, and 
 called back Jeroboam; and when he was 
 come to them, to the city Shechem, Reho- 
 boam came to it also, for he had resolved 
 to declare himself king to the Israelites, while 
 they were there gathered together. So the 
 rulers of the people, as well as Jeroboam, 
 came to him, and besought him, and said that 
 he ought to relax, and to be gentler than his 
 father, in the servitude he had imposed on 
 them, because they had borne a heavj yoke, 
 and that then they should be better affected 
 to him, and be well contented to serve him 
 under his moderate government, and should do 
 it more out of love than fear; but Rehoboam 
 told them they should come to him again in 
 three days' time, when he would give an answer 
 to their request. This delay gave occasion to a 
 present suspicion, since he had not given them 
 a favourable answer to their mind immediately, 
 for they thought that he should have given 
 them a humane answer offhand, especially 
 since he was but young. However, they 
 thought that this consultation about it, and 
 that he did not presently give them a denial, 
 afforded them some good hope of success. 
 
 2. Rehoboam now called his father's friends, 
 and advised with them what sort of answer 
 he ought to give to the multitude: upon 
 which they gave him the advice which became 
 friends, and those that knew the temper of 
 such a multitude. Th^y advised hiui to speak 
 in a way more popular than suited the grandeur 
 of a king, because he would thereby oblige 
 them to submit to him with good-will, it be- 
 ing mo«>t agreeable to sulyecta that their kings 
 should be almost upon thtt level with them; 
 
 — but Rehoboam rejected this so good, and 
 hi general so profitable advice (it was such at 
 least, at that time when he was to be made 
 king), God himself, I suppose, causing what 
 was most advantageous to be condemned by 
 him. So he called for the young men who 
 were brought up with him, and told them 
 what adnce the elders had given him, and 
 bade them speak what they thought he ought 
 to do. They advised him to give the follow- 
 ing answer to the people (for neither their 
 youth nor God himself suffered them to dis- 
 cern what was best): — That his little finger 
 should be thicker than his father's loins ; and 
 if they had met with hard usage from his fii- 
 ther, they should experience much rougher 
 treatment from him; and if his father had 
 chastised them with whips, they must expect 
 that he would do it with scorpions.* The 
 king was pleased with this advice, and thought 
 it agreeable to the dignity of his government 
 to give them such an answer. Accordingly, 
 when the multitude was come together to hear 
 his answer on the third day, all the people 
 were in great expectation, and very intent to 
 hear what the king would say to them, and 
 supposed they should hear somewhat of a kind 
 nature; but he passed by his friends, and an- 
 swered as the young men had given him 
 counsel. Now this was done according to 
 the will of God, that what Ahijah had fore- 
 told might come to pass. 
 
 3. By these words the people were struck, 
 as it were, by an iron hammer, and were so 
 grieved at the words, as if they had already 
 felt the effects of them ; and they had great 
 indignation at the king; and all cried out 
 aloud, and said, " We will have no longer any 
 relation to David or his posterity after this 
 day;" and they said farther, " We only leave 
 to Rehoboam the temple which his father 
 built;" and they threatened to forsake him. 
 Nay, they were so bitter, and retained their 
 wrath so long, that when he sent Adoram, 
 who was over the tribute, that he might pacify 
 them, and render them milder, and persuade 
 them to forgive him, if he had said any 
 thing that was rash or grievous to them in his 
 youth, they would not hear it, but threw 
 stones at him and killed him. When Rehoboam 
 saw this, he thought himself aimed at by those 
 stones with which they had killed his servant, 
 and feared lest he should undergo the last of 
 punishments in earnest; so he got imniedi- 
 mely into his chariot, and fled to Jerusalem, 
 where the tribe of Judah and that of Benja- 
 min ordained him king; but the rest of the 
 multitude forsook the sons of David from thai 
 day, and appointed Jeroboam to be the ruler 
 of their public affairs. Upon this Rehoboam, 
 
 • That by scorjriont is not hen* meant that small ani- 
 mal so called, which wa* nevir used in corrections; but 
 either a shrub with sharp prink Irs, like the stings of 
 scorpions, such as our fuizt-bush. or else some terrible 
 siTt of whip of the like nature. See f ludson'i and Span- 
 bciru's notes lierg. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 231 
 
 Solomon's son, assembled a great congrega- 
 tion of those two tribes that submitted to him, 
 and was ready to take a hundred and eighty 
 thousand chosen men out of the army, to 
 make an expedition against Jeroboam and his 
 people, that he might force them by war to 
 be his servants; but he was forbidden of God 
 by the prophet [Shemaiah] to go to war; for 
 that it was not just that brethren of the same 
 country should fight one against another. 
 He also said that this defection of the multi- 
 tude was according to the purpose of God. 
 So he did not proceed in this expedition: — 
 and now I will relate first the actions of Je- 
 roboam the king of Israel, after which we 
 will relate what are therewith connected, the 
 actions of Rehoboam, the king of the two 
 tribes; by this means we shall preserve the 
 good order of the history entire. 
 
 4. When therefore Jeroboam had built a 
 palace in the city Shechem, he dwelt there. 
 He also built him another at Penuel, a city 
 so called; and now the Feast of Tabernacles 
 was approaching in a little time, Jeroboam 
 considered if he should permit the multitude 
 to go to worship God at Jerusalem, and there 
 to celebrate the festival, they would probably 
 repent of what they had done, and be enticed 
 by the temple, and by the worship of God 
 there performed, and would leave him, and 
 return to their first king; and if so he should 
 run the risk of losing his own life: so he in- 
 vented this contrivance: He made two golden 
 heifers^nd built two little temples for them, 
 the one in the city Bethel, and the other in 
 Dan, which last was at the fountains of the 
 Lesser Jordan,* and he put the heifers into 
 both the little temples, in the forementioned 
 cities. And when he had called those ten 
 tribes together, over whom he ruled, he made 
 a speech to the people in these words: " I 
 suppose, my countrymen, that you know this, 
 that every place hath God in it; nor is there 
 any one determinate place in which he is, but 
 he every where hears and sees those that wor- 
 ship him; on which account I do not think 
 it right for you to go so long a journey to 
 Jerusalem, which is an enemy's city, to wor- 
 ship him. It was a man that built the temple : 
 I have also made two golden heifers, dedi- 
 cated to the same God; and one of them I 
 have consecrated in the city Bethel, and the 
 other in Dan, to the end that those of you 
 that dwell nearest those cities may go to them, 
 and worship God there: and I will ordain for 
 
 • Whether these " fountains of the lesser Jordan" were 
 near a place called Dan, aud the fountains of the Greater 
 near a place called Jor, before their conjunction; or whe- 
 t'ler there was only one fountain, arisinc; at the lake 
 Phiala, at f.rst 8inkiii<; nnder ground, and then arising 
 near the mountain Paneum. and thence runnins; through 
 the lake Semochonitis to tlie •"»«*a of (ialilee, and so lar 
 called the Lesser Jordan, is hatdly certain, even in Jose- 
 phiis himself, thout^h thr latter account be the most pro- 
 bable. However, the northern idolatrous calf, set up by 
 Jeroboam, was where little Jonian tell into Great Jordan, 
 f ar a place called D.tphna;. aii JoNepiius elsewhere in- 
 ■*ui« us (< )f I he Wan, b. i V. c L 8. I). See the note there. 
 
 you, certain priests and Lerites from among 
 yourselves, that you may have no want of the 
 tribe of Levi, or of the sons of Aaron; but 
 let him that is desirous among you of being a 
 priest, bring to God a bullock and a ram, 
 which they say Aaron the first priest brought 
 also." When Jeroboam had said this, he de- 
 luded the people., and made them to revolt 
 from the worship of their forefathers, and to 
 transgress their laws. This was the beginning 
 of miseries to the Hebrews, and the cause 
 why they were overcome in war by foreigners, 
 and so fell into captivity. But we shall relate 
 those things in their proper places hereafter. 
 5. When the feast [of Tabernacles] was 
 just approaching, Jeroboam was desirous to 
 celebrate it himself in Bethel, as did the two 
 tribes celebrate it in Jerusalem. Accordingly 
 he built an altar before the heifer, and under- 
 took to be high-priest himself. So he went 
 up to the altar, with his own priests about him ; 
 but when he was going to offer the sacrifices, 
 and the burnt-ofierings in the sight of all the 
 people, a prophet, whose name was Jadon, was 
 sent by God, and came to him from Jerusa- 
 lem, who stood in the midst of the multitude, 
 and in the hearing of the king, and directing 
 t iiis discourse to the altar, said thus: — " God 
 foretells that there shall be a certain man of 
 the family of David, Josiah by name, who 
 shall slay upon thee those false priests that 
 shall Uve at that time, and upon thee shall 
 burn the bones of those deceivers of the peo- 
 ple, those impostors and wicked wretches. 
 However, that this people may believe that 
 these things shall so come to pass, I foretell 
 a sign to them that shall also come to pass: 
 This altar shall be broken \o pieces immedi- 
 ately, and all the fat of the sacrifices that is 
 upon it, shall be poured upon the ground.*' 
 When the prophet had said this, Jeroboam 
 fell into a passion, and stretched out his hand, 
 and bid them lay hold of him: but the hand 
 which he stretched out was enfeebled, and he 
 was not able to pull it in again to him, for it 
 was become withered, and hung down as if 
 it were a dead hand. The altar also was 
 broken to pieces, and all that was upon it was 
 poured out, as the prophet had foretold should 
 come to pass. So the king understood that 
 he was a man of veracity, and had a divine 
 foreknowledge; and entreated hitn to pray 
 to God that he would restore his right hand. 
 Accordingly the prophet did pray to God to 
 grant him that request. So the king having 
 his hand recovered to its natural state, rejoiced 
 at it, and invited the prophet to sup with 
 him ; but Jadon said, that he could not en- 
 dure to come into his house, nor to taste of 
 bread or water in this city, for that was a 
 thing God had forbidden him to do; as aiso 
 to go back by the same way which he came; 
 but he said he was to return by another way. 
 So the king wondered at the abstinence of the 
 man ; but was himself in fear, as suspecting 
 
232 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK vni 
 
 a diange of his affairs for the worse, from 
 what had been said to him. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW JADON THE PROPHET WAS PERSUADED BY 
 ANOTHER LYING PROPHET, AND RETURNED 
 [to bethel], AND WAS AFTERWARDS SLAIN 
 BY A LION. AS ALSO WHAT WORDS THE 
 WICKED PROPHET MADE USE OF TO PER- 
 SUADE THE KING, AND THEREBY ALIEN- 
 ATED HIS MIND FROM GOD. 
 
 § ]. Now there was a certain wicked man in 
 that city who was a false prophet, whom Je- 
 roboam had in great esteem, but was deceived 
 by him and his flattering words. This man 
 was bedrid by reason of the infirmities of 
 old age; however, he was informed by his 
 ^fps concerning the prophet that was come 
 from Jerusalem, and concerning the signs 
 done by him; and how, when Jeroboam's 
 right hand had been enfeebled, at the pro- 
 phet's prayer, he had it revived again. Where- 
 upon he was afraid that this stranger and 
 prophet should be in better esteem with the 
 king than himself, and obtain greater honour 
 from him; and he gave order to his sons to 
 saddle his ass presently, and make all ready 
 that he might go out. Accordingly they 
 made haste to do what they were commanded, 
 and he got upon the ass and followed af- 
 ter the prophet; and when he had overtaken 
 him, as he was resting himself under a very 
 large oak-tree that was thick and shady, he 
 at first saluted^ him, but presently he com- 
 plained of him, because he had not come in- 
 to his house, and partaken of his hospitality. 
 And when the other said, that God had for- 
 bidden him to taste of any one's provision in 
 that city, he replied, that " for certain God 
 bad not forbidden that I should set food be- 
 fore thee, for I am a prophet as thou art, 
 and worship God in the same manner that 
 thou dost; and I am now come as sent by 
 him, in order to bring thee into my house, 
 and make thee my guest." Now Jadon gave 
 credit to this lying prophet, and returned 
 back with him. But when they were at din- 
 ner, and merry together, God appeared to 
 Jadon, and said, that he should suffer pun- 
 ishment for transgressing his commands, — 
 and he told him what that punishment should 
 be for he said that he should meet with a 
 lion as he was going on his way, by which 
 lion he should be torn in pieces, and be de- 
 prived of burial in the sepulchres of his fa- 
 thers; — which things came to pass, as I sup- 
 pose, according to the will of God, that so 
 Jeroboam might not give heed to the words 
 of Jadon, as of one that had been convicted 
 of lying. However, as Jadon was again go- 
 ing to Jerusalem, a lion assaulted him, and 
 pulled him off the beast he rode on, and slew 
 
 him; yet did he not at all hurt the ass, but sat 
 by him, and kept him, as also the prophet's 
 body. This continued till some travellers 
 that saw it came and told it in the city to the 
 false prophet, who sent his sons and brought 
 the body into the city, and made a funeral for 
 him at great expense. He also charged his 
 sons to bury himself with him ; and said, that 
 all which he had foretold against that city, 
 and the altar, and priests, and false prophets, 
 would prove true ; and that if he were buried 
 with him, he should receive no injurious 
 treatment after his death, the bones not being 
 then to be distinguished asunder. But now 
 when he had performed those funeral rites to 
 the prophet, and had given that charge to his 
 sons, as he was a wicked and impious man, 
 he goes to Jeroboam, and says to him, " And 
 wherefore is it now that thou art disturbed at 
 the words of this silly fellow?" And when 
 the king had related to him what had hap- 
 pened about the altar, and about his own 
 hand, and gave him the names of divine man, 
 and an excellent prophet, he endeavoured by a 
 wicked trick, to weaken that his opinion; and 
 by using plausible words concerning what 
 had happened, he aimed to injure the truth 
 that was in them; for he attempted to per- 
 suade him that his hand was enfeebled by 
 the labour it had undergone in supporting 
 the sacrifices, and that upon its resting a 
 while it returned to its former nature again; 
 and that as to the altar, it was but new, and 
 had borne abundance of sacrifices, s^ those 
 large ones too, and was accordingly broken 
 to pieces, and fallen down by the weight of 
 what had been laid upon it. He also inform- 
 ed him of the death of him that had foretold 
 those things, and how he perished; [whence 
 he concluded that] he had not any thing in 
 him of a prophet, nor spake any thing like 
 one. When he had thus spoken, he persuaded 
 the king, and entirely alienated his mind 
 from God, and from doing works that were 
 righteous and holy, and encouraged him to 
 go on in his impious practices;* and accord- 
 ingly, he was to that degree injurious to 
 God, and so great a transgressor, that he 
 sought for nothing else every day but how 
 he might be guilty of some new instances of 
 wickedness, and such as should be more de- 
 testable than what he had been so insolent as 
 
 • How much a larRcrand better copy Joscphus had in 
 this remarkable iiistory of the true prophet of Judea, arid 
 his concern with Jeroboam, and with the false prophet 
 of Bethel, than our other copies have, is evident at first 
 sight. The prophet's very nam«, Jadon, or, as the Con- 
 stitutions call him, Adonais, is wanting in our other 
 copies; and it is there, with no little absurdity, said 
 that God revealed Jadon the true prophet's death, not to 
 himself, as here, but to the false prophet Whether the 
 particular account of the arRuments, made use of, after 
 all, by the false prophet against his own belief, and his 
 own conscience, in order to persuade Jeroboam to per- 
 severe in his idolatry and wickedness, than which 
 more plausible could not be invented, was intimated 
 in Josephus's copy, or in some other ancient book, can- 
 not now be determined; our other copies say not one 
 word of iU 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 233 
 
 to do before. And so much shall at present 
 suffice to have said concerning Jeroboam. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CONCERNING REHOBOAM, AND HOW GOD IN- 
 FLICTED PUNISHMENT UPON HIM FOR HIS 
 IMPIETY, BY SHISHAK [KING OF EGYPt]. 
 
 § 1. Now Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, 
 wno, as we said before, was king of the two 
 tribes, buUt strong and large cities, Beth- 
 lehem, and Etam, and Tekoa, and Bethzur, 
 and Shoco, and AduUam, and Ipan, and Ma- 
 resha, and Ziph, and Adoriam, and Lachish, 
 and Azekah, and Zorah, and Aijalon, and 
 Hebron; these he built first of all in the 
 tribe of Jiidah. He also built other large 
 cities in the tribe of Benjamin, and walled 
 tneiu about, and put garrisons in them all, 
 and captains, and a great deal of corn, and 
 wine, and oil ; and he furnished every one of 
 them plentifully with other provisions that 
 were necessary for sustenance: moreover, he 
 put therein shields and spears for many ten 
 thousand men. The priests also that were 
 in all Israel, and the Levites, and if there 
 were any of the multitude that were good 
 and righteous men, they gathered themselves 
 together to him, having left their own cities, 
 that they might worship God in Jerusalem; 
 for they were not wilhng to be forced to wor- 
 ship the heifers which Jeroboam had made; 
 and they augmented the kingdom of Reho- 
 boam for three years. And after he had 
 married a woman of his own kindred, and 
 had by her three children born to him, he 
 married also another of his own kindred, who 
 was daughter of Absalom by Tamar, whose 
 name was Maachah ; and by her -he had a 
 son, whom he named Abijah. He had more- 
 over many other children by other Mives, but 
 he loved Maachah above them all. Now he 
 had eighteen legitimate wives, and thirty con- 
 cubines, and he had born to him twenty-eight 
 sons and threescore daughters; but he ap- 
 pointed Abijah, whom he had by Maachah, 
 to be his successor in the kingdom, and in- 
 trusted him already \vith the treasures and the 
 strongest cities. 
 
 2. Now I cannot but think that the great- 
 ness of a kingdom, and its change into pro- 
 sperity, often become the occasion of mischief 
 and of transgression to men; for when Reho- 
 boam saw that his kingdom was so much in- 
 creased, he went out of the right way, unto 
 unrighteous and irreligious practices, and he 
 despised the worship of God, till the people 
 themselves imitated his wcked actions; for 
 60 it usually happens, that the manners of 
 subjects are corrupted at the same time with 
 those or iheir governors; which subjects then 
 lay aside their own sober way of living, as 
 
 a reproof of their governors' ^temperate 
 courses, and follow their wickedness as if it 
 were virtue; for it is not possible to show 
 that men approve of the actions of their kings, 
 unless they do the same actions with them. 
 Agreeable whereto it now happened to the 
 subjects of Rehoboam; for when he was 
 grown impious, and a transgressor himgelf, 
 they endeavoured not to offend him by re- 
 solving still to be righteous; but God sent 
 Shishak, king of Egypt, to punish them for 
 their unjust behaviour towards him; concern- 
 ing whom Herodotus was mistaken, and ap- 
 plied his actions to Sesostris; for this Shi- 
 shak,* in the fifth year of the reign of Reho- 
 boam, made an expedition [into Judea] with 
 many ten thousand men; for he had one 
 thousand two hundred chariots in number 
 that followed him, and threescore thousand 
 horsemen, and four hundred thousand foot- 
 men. These he brought with him, and tl^ 
 were the greatest part of them Libyans and 
 Ethiopians. Now, therefore, when he fell 
 upon the country of the Hebrews, he took 
 the strongest cities of Rehoboam's kingdom 
 without fighting; and when he had put gar- 
 risons in them, he came last of all to Jerusa« 
 lem. 
 
 3. Now when Rehoboam, and the multi*. 
 tude with him, were shut up in Jerusalem by 
 the means of the army of Shishak, and when 
 they besought God to give them victory and 
 deliverance, they could not persuade God to 
 be on their side; but Shemaiah the prophet 
 told them, that God threatened to forsake 
 them, as they had forsaken his worship. 
 When they heard this, they were immediately 
 in a consternation of mind, and seeing no way 
 of deliverance, they all earnestly set them- 
 selves to confess that God might justly over- 
 look them, since they had been guilty of im- 
 piety tow^s him, and had let his laws lie 
 in confusion. So when God saw them in 
 that disposition, and that they acknowledged 
 their sins, he told the prophet that he M'ould 
 not destroy them, but that he would, how- 
 ever, make them servants to the Egyptians, 
 that they ma); learn whether they will suffer 
 less by serving men or God. So when Shi- 
 shak had taken the city without fighting, be- 
 cause Rehoboam was afraid, and received 
 him into it, yet did not Shishak stand to the 
 covenants he had made, but he spoiled the 
 temple, and emptied the treasures of God and 
 those of the king, and carried off innumerable 
 ten thousands of gold and silver, and left no- 
 thing at all behind him. He also took away 
 the bucklers of gold, and the shields, which 
 Solomon the king had made; nay, he did 
 not leave the golden quivers which David 
 
 • That this Shishak was not the same person with ths 
 famous Sesostrig, as some have very lately, in contradic 
 tion to all antiquity, supposed, and that our Josephus did 
 not take him to be the same, a& they pretend, but that 
 Sesostris was many centuries earlier than Shishak, le** 
 Aafhent, Records, Part ii. pa^ 10-24. 
 
234 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF TflE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK vm. 
 
 had taken from the king of Zobah, and had 
 dedicated to God: and when he had thus 
 done, he returned to his own kingdom. Now 
 Herodotus of Halicarnassus mentions this ex- 
 pedition, having only mistaken the king's 
 name; and [in saying that] he made war upon 
 many other nations also, and brought Syria 
 of Palestine into subjection, and took the 
 men that were therein prisoners without fight- 
 ing. Now it is manifest that he intended to 
 declare that our nation was subdued by him ; 
 for he saith, that he left behind him pillars in 
 the land of those that delivered themselves up 
 to him without fighting, and engraved upon 
 them the secret parts of women. Now our 
 king Rehoboam delivered up our city with- 
 out fighting. He says withal,* that the 
 Ethiopians learned to circumcise their privy 
 parts from the Egyptians; with this addition, 
 t^t the Phoenicians and Syrians that live in 
 P'Mfestine confess that they learned it of the 
 Egyptians; yet it is evident that no other of 
 the Syrians that live in Palestine, besides us 
 alone, are circumcised. But as to such mat- 
 ters, let every one speak what is agreeable to 
 his own opinion. 
 
 4. When Shishak was gone away, king Re- 
 hoboam made bucklers and shields of brass, 
 instead of those of gold, and delivered the 
 same number of them to the keepers of the 
 king's palace: so, instead of warlike expedi- 
 tions, and that glory which results from those 
 public actions, he reigned in great quietness, 
 though not without fear, as being always an 
 enemy to Jeroboam; and he died when he had 
 lived fifty-seven years and reigned seventeen. 
 He was in his disposition a proud and a fool- 
 ish man, and lost [part of his] dominions by 
 not hearkening to his father's friends. He 
 was buried in Jerusalem, in the sepulchres of 
 the kings; and his son Abijah succeeded him 
 in the kingdom, and this in the Eighteenth 
 year of Jeroboam's reign over the ten- tribes; 
 ^nd this was the conclusion of these affairs. 
 It must be now our business to relate the af- 
 fairs of Jeroboam, and how he ended his life; 
 for he ceased not, nor rested to be injurious 
 to God, but every day raised up altars upon 
 • Herodotus, as here quoted by JosepHus, and as this 
 passajje still stands in his present copies, b. ji.chap. civ. 
 adirms that '*the Phoenicians and Syrians in F'alestine 
 [which last are generally supposed to denote the Jews] 
 owned their receivincf circumcision from the F>Kyptians;" 
 whereas it Is abundantly evident that the Jews received 
 their circumcision from the patriarch Abraham, Gen. xvii. 
 9—14, John vii. 22, 23, as I conclude the Rtcyptian 
 priests did also. It is not therefore very unlikely, that 
 Herodotus, because the Jews had lived Ion? in Kffypt. 
 and came out of it circumcised, did thereupon tiiink 
 they had learned that circumcision in Kgypt, and 
 bad it not before Manetho, the famous Eifypti:in chro- 
 nolof^er and historian, who knew the history of his own 
 country much better than Herodotus, complains fre- 
 quently of his mistakes about their affairs; as does Jose- 
 fhus more than once in this chapter. Nor, indeed, does 
 lermlotus seem at all acquainted with the affairs of the 
 Jews; for as be never names tht-m, so little or nothinif 
 of what he says al>out thein, their country, or maritime 
 I .lies, two of which he alone mentions, Cadytis and 
 Jfiiysna, proves true; nor, indetvl, do there appear to 
 kftva •ver bscn any iimH cities on th«ir ocast. 
 
 high mountains, and went on making priegte 
 out of the multitude. 
 
 CHAPTER Xr. 
 
 CONCERNING THE DEATH OP A SON OF XERO> 
 BOAM. HOW JEROBOAM WAS BEATEN BY 
 ABIJAH, WHO DIED A LITTLE AFTERWARDS, 
 AND WAS SUCCEEDED IN HIS KINGDOM BY 
 ASA. AND ALSO HOW, AFTER THE DEATH 
 OF JEROBOAM, BAASHA DESTROYED HIS SON 
 NADAB, AND ALL THE HOUSE OF JEROBOAM. 
 
 § 1. However, God was in no long time 
 ready to return Jeroboam's wicked actions, 
 and the punishment they deserved, upon his 
 own head, and upon the heads of all his house: 
 and whereas a son of his lay sick at that time 
 who was called Abijah, he enjoined his wife 
 to lay aside her robes, and to take the gar- 
 ments belonging to a private person, and to 
 go to Abijah the prophet, for that he was a 
 ■■ wonderful man in foretelling futurities, it 
 
 • having been he who told me that I should be 
 . king. He also enjoined her, when she came 
 ! to him, to inquire concerning the child, as if she 
 
 • were a stranger, whether he should escape this 
 distemper. So she did as her husband bade 
 
 ! her, and changed her habit, and came to the 
 ^city Shiloh, for there did Ahijah live: and as 
 she was going into his house, his eyes being 
 then dim with age, God appeared to him, and 
 informed him of two things; that the wife oi 
 Jeroboam was come to him, and what answer 
 he should make to her inquiry. Accordingly, 
 as the woman was coming into the house like 
 a private person and a stranger, he cried out, 
 "Come in, O thou wife of Jeroboam! Wh) 
 concealest thou thyself? Thou art not con- 
 cealed from God, who hath appeared to me, 
 and informed me that thou wast coming, and 
 hath given me in command what I shall say 
 to thee." So he said that she should go away 
 to her husband, and speak to him thus: — 
 " Since I made thee a great man when thou 
 wast little, or rather wast nothing, and rent 
 the kingdom from the house of David, and 
 gave it to thee, and thott hast been unmindful 
 of these benefits, hast left off my worship, 
 hast made thee molten gods, and honoured 
 them, I will in like manner cast thee down 
 a^'ain, and destroy all thy house, and make 
 them food for the dogs and the fowls ; for a 
 certain king is rising up, by appointment, over 
 all this people, who shall leave none of the 
 family of Jeroboam remaining. The multi- 
 tude also shall themselves partake of the same 
 punishment, and shall be cast out of this good 
 land, and shall be scattered into the Oiaces be- 
 yond Euphrates, because they have followed 
 the wicked practices of their king, and have 
 worshipped the gods that he marie, and for- 
 saken my sacnfioes. Hut do thou. O woman. 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS# 
 
 fi35 
 
 make hnste back to thy husband, and tell him 
 this message; but thou shalt then find thy 
 son dead, for as thou enterest the city he shall 
 depart this life; yet shall he be buried with 
 tfie lamentation of all the multitude, and ho- 
 noured with a general mourning, for he is 
 the only person of goodness of Jeroboam's 
 fam'l" " When the prophet had foretold these 
 p vents, the woman went hastily away wth a 
 disordered mind, and greatly grieved at the 
 death of the forenamed child: so she was in 
 lamentation as she went along the road, and 
 mourned for the death of her son, that was 
 just at hand. She was indeed in a miserable 
 condition, at the unavoidable misery of his 
 death, and went apace, but in circumstances 
 very unfortunate, because of her son; for the 
 greater haste she made, she would the sooner 
 see her son dead, yet was she forced to make 
 such haste, on account of her husband. Ac- 
 cordingly, when she was come back, she found 
 that the child had given up the ghost, as the 
 prophet had said ; and she related all the cir- 
 cumstances to the king. 
 
 2. Yet did not Jeroboam lay any of these 
 things to heart, but he brought together a very 
 numerous army, and made a warlike expedi- 
 tion against Abijah, the son of Rehoboam, 
 who had succeeded his father in the kingdom 
 of the two tribes; for he despised him because 
 of his age. But when he heard of the ex- 
 pedition of Jeroboam, he was not affrighted 
 at it, but proved of a courageous temper of 
 mind, superior both to his youth and to the 
 hopes of his enemy ; so he chose him an army 
 out of the two tribes, and met Jeroboam at a 
 place called Moun't Zemaraim, and pitched 
 his camp near the other, and prepared every 
 thing necessary for the tight. His army con- 
 sisted of four hundred thousand, but the army 
 of Jeroboam was double to it. Now, as the 
 armies stood in array, ready for action and 
 dangers, and were just going to fight, Abijah 
 stood upon an elevated place, and, beckoning 
 with his hand, he desired the multitude and 
 Jeroboam himself to hear first with silence 
 what he had to say. And when silence was 
 made, he began to speak, and told them, — 
 " God had consented that David and his pos- 
 terity should be their rulers for all time to 
 come, and this you yourselves are not unac- 
 quainted with; but I cannot but wonder how 
 you should forsake my father, and join your- 
 selves to his servant Jeroboam, and are now 
 here with him to fight against those who, by 
 God's own determination, are to reign, and to 
 deprive them of that dominion which they 
 nave still retained; for as to the greater part 
 of it, Jeroboam is unjustly in possession of it. 
 However I do not suppose he will enjoy it 
 any longer; but when he hath suffered that 
 punisnment which God thinks due to him for 
 wnat is past, he will leave off the transgressions 
 he bath been guilty of, and the injuries he hath 
 ollered to him. and which he hath still con- 
 
 tinued to offer, and hath persuaded you to do 
 the same; yet when you were not any farther 
 unjustly treated by my father, than that he did 
 not speak to you so as to please you, and this 
 only in compliance with the advice of Avicked 
 men, you in anger forsook him, as you pre- 
 tended, but, in reality, you withdrew your- 
 selves from God, and from his laws, although 
 it had been right for you to have forgive'i a 
 man that was young in age, and not used to 
 govern people, not only some disagreeable 
 words, but if his youth and his unskilfulness 
 in affairs had led him into some unfortunate 
 actions, and that for the sake of his father So- 
 lomon, and the benefits you received from 
 him; for men ought to excuse the sins of pos- 
 terity on account of the benefactions of pa- 
 rents: but you considered nothing of all this 
 then, neither do you consider it now, but come 
 with so great an army against us. And what 
 is it you depend upon for Anctory? Is it upon 
 these golden heifers, and the altars that you 
 have on high places, which are demonstrations 
 of your impiety, and not of religious worship? 
 Or is it the exceeding multitude of your army 
 which gives you such good hopes? Yet cer- 
 tainly there is no strength at all in an army of 
 many ten thousands, when the war is unjust; 
 for we ought to place our surest hope of suc- 
 cess against our enemies in righteousness alone, 
 and in piety towards God; which hope we 
 justly have, since we have kept the laws from 
 the beginning, and have worshipped our own 
 God, who was not made by hands out of cor- 
 ruptible matter; nor was he formed by a 
 wicked king, in order to deceive the multitude ; 
 but who is his own workmanship,* and the 
 beginning and end of all things. I thereforv? 
 give you counsel even now to repent, and to 
 take better advice, and to leave off the prose- 
 cution of the war ; to call to mind the laws of 
 your country,, and to reflect what it hath been 
 that hath advanced you to so happy a state as 
 you are now in." 
 
 3. This was the speech which Abijah made 
 to the multitude. But, while he was still 
 speaking, Jeroboam sent some of his sol- 
 diers privately to encompass Abijah round 
 about, on certain parts of the camp that were 
 not taken notice of; and when he was thu3 
 within the compass of the enemy, his army 
 was affrighted, and their courage failed them. 
 But Abijah encouraged them, and exhorted 
 them to place their hopes on God, for that he 
 was not encompassed by the enemy. So they 
 all at once implored the divine assistance, 
 while the priests sounded with the trumpet, 
 and they made a shout, and fell upon their 
 enemies, and God brake the courage, and cast 
 down the force of their enemies, and made 
 Abijah's army superior to them, for God 
 
 • This is a strange expression in Josephns, that God 
 is his own workmanship, or that he made himself, con« 
 trary to common sense and to catholic Christianityi per- 
 haps he only means that he was not made by oua, 'cut 
 was nnoriginat«d. 
 
236 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 vouchsafed to grant them a wonderful and 
 very fiEimous victory: and such a slaughter 
 was now made of Jeroboam's army* as is 
 never recorded to have happened in any other 
 war, whether it were of the Greeks or of the 
 Barbarians, for they overthrew [and slew] fiv.e 
 hundred thousand of thtir enemies, and they 
 took their strongest cities by force, and spoiled 
 them; and besides those, they did the same 
 to Bethel and her towns, and Jeshanah and 
 her towns. And after this defeat, Jeroboam 
 never recovered himself during the life of 
 Abijah, who yet did not long survive, for he 
 reigned about three years, and was buried in 
 Jerusalem in the sepulchres of his forefathers. 
 He left behind him twenty-two sons and six- 
 teen daughters, and he had also those children 
 by fourteen wives; and Asa his son succeeded 
 in the kingdom; and the young man's mother 
 was Michaiah. Under his reign the country 
 of the Israelites enjoyed peace for ten years. 
 4. And so far concerning Abijah, the son 
 of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, as his his- 
 tory hath come down to us; but Jeroboam, 
 the king of the ten tribes, died when he had 
 governed them two and twenty years; whose 
 son Nadab succeeded him, in the second year 
 of the reign of Asa. Now Jeroboam's son 
 governed two years; and resembled his father 
 in impiety and wickedness. In these two 
 years he made an expedition agamst Gibbe- 
 thon, a city of the Philistines, and continued 
 the siege in order to take it; but he was con- 
 spired against while he was there, by a friend 
 of his, whose name was Baasha, the son of 
 Abijah, and was slain; which Baasha took the 
 kingdom after the other's death, and destroy- 
 ed the whole house of Jeroboam. It also 
 came to pass, according as God had foretold, 
 that some of Jeroboam's kindred that died in 
 the city were torn to pieces and devoured by 
 dogs; and that others of them that died in 
 the fields, were torn and devoured by the 
 fowls. So the house of Jeroboam suffered 
 the just punishment of his impiety and of his 
 wicked actions. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HOW ZERAH, KING OF THE ETHIOPIANS, WAS 
 BEATEN BY ASA; AND HOW ASA, UPON 
 BAASHA's making war AGAINST HIM, IN- 
 VITED THE KING OF THE DAMASCENS TO 
 ASSIST HIM; AND HOW, ON THE DESTRUC- 
 TION OF THE HOUSE OF BAASHA, ZIMRI GOT 
 THE KINGDOM, AS DID HIS SON AHAB AFTER 
 HIM. 
 
 § 1. Now Asa, the king of Jerusalem, was 
 of an excellent character, and had a regard 
 
 ♦ B/ tUJt terrible and perfectly nn parallelled sloufthter 
 of fiOO.OOO men of the newly idolatrous and rebellious 
 t»B Mb«ii, God's high diipleniuie and indignation 
 
 to God, and neither iid no- designed any 
 thing but what had relation to the observation 
 of the laws. He made a reformation of hia 
 kingdom, and cut off whatsoever was wicked 
 therein, and purified it from every impurity. 
 Now he had an army of chosen men, that 
 were armed with targets and spears: out of 
 the tribe of Judah three hundred thousand; 
 and out of the tribe of Benjamin, that bore 
 shields and drew bows, two hundred and fifty 
 thousand; but when he had already reigned 
 ten years, Zerah, king of Ethiopia,f made an 
 expedition against him, with a great army of 
 nine hundred thousand footmen, and one 
 hundred thousand horsemen, and three hun- 
 dred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah, 
 a city that belonged to the tribe of Judah. 
 Now when Zerah had passed so far with his 
 own army, Asa met him, and put his army in 
 array over-against him, in a valley called 
 Zephathah, not far from the city; and when 
 he saw the multitude of the Ethiopians, he 
 cried out, and besought God to give him the 
 victory, and that he might kill many ten thou- 
 sands of the enemy: "For," said he, "I 
 depend on nothing else but that assistance 
 which I expect from thee, which is able to 
 make the fewer superior to the more nume- 
 rous, and the weaker to the stronger; and 
 thence it is alone that I venture to meet Ze- 
 rah and fight him." 
 
 2. While Asa was saying this, God gave 
 him a signal of victory, and joining battle 
 cheerfully on account of what God had fore- 
 told about it, he slew a great many of the 
 Ethiopians; and when he had put them to 
 flight, he pursued them to the country of 
 Gerar; and when they left oif killing their 
 enemies, they betook themselves to spoiling 
 them (for the city Gerar was already taken), 
 and to spoiling their camp, so that they car- 
 ried off much gold, and much silver, and a 
 great deal of [other] prey, and camels, and 
 great cattle, and flocks of sheep. Accord- 
 ingly, when Asa and his army had obtained 
 such a victory, and such wealth from God, 
 they returned to Jerusalem. Now, as they 
 were coming, a prophet, whose name was 
 Azariah, met them on the road, and bade 
 them stop their journey a little, and began to 
 say to them thus: — That the reason why they 
 had obtained this victory from God was this, 
 that they had showed themselves righteous and 
 religious men, and had done every thing ac- 
 cording to the will of God; that therefore, he 
 said, if they persevered therein, God would 
 
 against that idolatry and rebellion fully appeared; the 
 remainder were thereby seriously caiitioned not to per- 
 sist in them, and a kind of balance or equilibrium was 
 made between the ten and the two tribes for the time to 
 come; while otherwise the perpetually idolatrous and 
 rebellious ten tribes would naturally have been too 
 powerful for the two tribes, which were pretty frequently 
 free both from huch idolatry and rebellion; nor is there 
 any reason to doubt of the truth of the prodigious num. 
 ber slain upon so siRiinl an occasion. 
 
 + The reader it to rvmember, that Cuth is not Ethio> 
 pia, but Arabia. Kee Uuuhait, b. iv. ffi), IL 
 
CHAP. XII, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 237 
 
 grant that they should always avercome their 
 enemies, and live happily; but that if they 
 ieft off his worship, all things shall fall out 
 on the contrary; and a time should come,* 
 wherein no true prophet shall be left in your 
 whole multitude, nor a priest who shall deli- 
 ver you a true answer from the oracle; but 
 your cities shall be overthrown, and your na- 
 tion scattered over the whole earth, and live 
 the life of strangers and wanderers. So he 
 advised them, while they had tinie, to be good, 
 and not to deprive themselves of the favour 
 of God, When the king and the people heard 
 this, they rejoiced; and all in common, and 
 every one in particular, took great care to 
 behave themselves righteously. The king 
 also sent some to take care that those iu, the 
 country should observe the laws also. 
 
 3. And this was the state of Asa, king of 
 the two tribes. I now return to Baasha, 
 the king of the multitude of the Israelites 
 who slew Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, and 
 retained the government. He dwelt in the 
 city Tirzah, having made that his habitation, 
 and reigned twenty-four years. He became 
 more wicked and impious than Jeroboam or 
 his son. He did a great deal of mischief to 
 the multitude, and was injurious to God, who 
 sent the prophet Jehu, and told him before- 
 hand, that his whole family should be de- 
 stroyed, and that he would bring the same 
 miseries on his house which had brought that 
 of Jeroboam to ruin; because when he had 
 been made king by him, he had not requited 
 his kindness, by governing the multitude 
 righteously and religiously; which things, in 
 the first place, tended to their own happi- 
 ness; and, in the next place, were pleasing to 
 God: that he had imitated this very wicked 
 king Jeroboam ; and although that man's 
 soul had perished, yet did he express to the 
 life his \vickedness; and he said that he 
 should therefore justly experience the like 
 calamity with him, since he had been guilty 
 of the like wickedness. But Baasha, though 
 he heard beforehand what miseries would be- 
 fall him and his whole family for their inso- 
 lent behaviour, yet did not he leave off his I 
 wicked practices for the time to come, nor! 
 did he care to appear to be other- than worse i 
 and worse till he died ; nor did he then re- ' 
 pent of his past actions, nor endeavour to ob- 
 tain pardon of God for them, but did as those 
 do who have rewards proposed to them, when 
 they have once in earnest set about their work, 
 they do not leave off their labours ; for thus 
 did Baasha, when the prophet foretold to him 
 what would come to pass, grow worse, as if 
 what were threatened, the perdition of his fa- 
 mily, and the destruction of his house (which 
 are really among the greatest of e^ils), were 
 
 • Here is a rery great error in our Hebrew copy in 
 
 this place (i Chron. vi. 3 — 6), as appljin.^ what follows 
 to times p:ist, and not to times future; wb«nce that text 
 u quite ui«appli«d by Sir Isaac Newtoa. 
 
 good things ; and, as if he were a combatant 
 for wickedness, he every day took more and 
 more pains for it ; and at last he took his 
 army, and assaulted a certain considerable 
 city called Ramah, which was forty furlongs 
 distant from Jerusalem; and when he had 
 taken it, he fortified it, having determined 
 beforehand to leave a garrison in it, tnat they 
 might thence make excursions, and do mis- 
 chief to the kingdom of Asa. 
 
 4. Whereupon Asa was afraid of the at- 
 tempts the enemy might make upon him ; 
 and considering with himself what mischiefs 
 this army that was left in Ramah might do 
 to the country over which he reigned, he sent 
 ambassadors to the king of the Damascens, 
 with gold and silver, desiring his assistance, 
 and putting him in mind that we have had a 
 friendship together from the times of our 
 forefathers. So he gladly received that sum 
 of money, and made a league with him, and 
 broke the friendship he had with Baasha, and 
 sent the commanders of his own forces unto 
 the cities that were under Baasha's dominion, 
 and ordered them to do them mischief. So 
 they went and burnt some of them, and spoiled 
 others ; Ijon, and Dan, and Abelmain, f 
 and many others. Now when the king of 
 Israel heard this, he left off building and 
 fortifying Ramah, and returned presently to 
 assist his own people under the distresses they 
 were in; but Asa made use of the materials 
 that were prepared for building ' that city, for 
 building in the same place two strong cities, 
 the one of which was called Geba, and the 
 other Mzpah ; so that after this, Baasha had « 
 no leisure to make expeditions against Asa, 
 for he was prevented by death, and was bu- 
 ried in the city Tirzah; and Elah, his son, 
 took the kingdom, who, when he had reigned 
 two years, died, being treacherously slain by 
 Zimri, the captain of half his army; for when 
 he was at Arza, his steward's house, he per- 
 suaded some of the horsemen that were un- 
 der him to assault Elah, and by that means 
 he slew him when he was ^vithout his armed 
 men, and his captains, for they were all busied 
 
 in the siege of Gibbethon, a city of the Phi- 
 listines. 
 
 5. When Zimri, the captain of the army, 
 had killed Elah, he took the kingdom him- 
 self, and, according to Jehu's prophecy, slew 
 all the house of Baasha; for it cam^to pass 
 that Baasha's house utterly perisheo, on ac- 
 
 + Tkis Abelmain, or, in Josephas's copy, Abellane, 
 that belonged to the land of Israel, and bordered on the 
 country of Damascus, is supposed, both by Hudson and 
 Spanheim, to be the same with Abel, or Abila, whence 
 carae Abilene. This may be that city so denominated 
 from Abel the righteous, there buried; concerning the 
 shedding of whose blood within the compass of the land 
 of Israel, I understand our SaTiour's words, about the 
 fatal war and overthrow of Judea by Titus and his Ro- 
 man army, "That upon you may come all the righteous 
 blood shed upon the land, from the blood of righteous 
 Abel to the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom 
 ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say 
 unto you, all these things shall come upoa tkis g«Qera« 
 UoH." M»tt sxiii. 34 3^ J'Uks s. M. 
 
238 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS,^ 
 
 count of his impiety, in the same manner as 
 we have already described the destruction of 
 the house of Jeroboam ; but the army that 
 was besieging Gibbethon, when they heard, 
 what had befallen the king, and that \\hen 
 Zimri bad killed him he had gained the king- 
 dom, they made Omri their general king, 
 who drew oflf his army from Gibbethon, and 
 came to Tirzah, where the royal palace was, 
 and assaulted the city, and took it by force. 
 But when Zimri saw that the city had none 
 to defend it, he fled into the inmost part of 
 the palace, and set it on fire, and burnt him- 
 self with it, when he had reigned only seven 
 days. Upon which the people of Israel were 
 presently divided, and part of them would 
 have Tibni to be king, and part Omri ; but 
 when those that were for Omri's ruling had 
 beaten Tibni, Omri reigned over all the mul- 
 titude. Now it was in the thirtieth year of 
 the reign of Asa that Omri reigned for twelve 
 years ; six of these years he reigned in the 
 city of Tirzah, and the rest in the city called 
 Semareon, but named by the Greeks Sama- 
 ria ; but he himself called it Semareon, from 
 Semer, who sold him the mountain whereon 
 he built it. Now Omri was no way different 
 from those kings that reigned before him, 
 but that he grew worse than they, for they 
 all sought how they might turn the people 
 away from God, by their daily wicked prac- 
 tices; and on that account it was that God 
 niade one of them to be slain by another, and 
 that no one person of their families should 
 •remain. This Omri also died at Samaiia, 
 and Ahab his son succeeded him. 
 
 6. Now by these events we may learn what 
 concern God hath for the affairs of mankind, 
 and how he loves good men, and hates the 
 wicked, and destroys them root and branch; 
 for many of these kings of Israel, they and 
 their families, were miserably destroyed, and 
 taken away one by another, in a short time, 
 for their transgression and wickedness ; but 
 Asa, who was king of Jerusalem, aijd of the 
 two tribes, attained, by God's blessing, a long 
 and a blessed old age, for his piety and righ- 
 teousness, and died happily, when he had 
 reigned forty and one years; and when he 
 was dead, his son Jehoshaphat succeeded him 
 in the government. He was born of Asa's 
 wife Azi^h. And all men allowed that he 
 followed the works of David his forefather, 
 and this both in courage and piety; but we 
 ure not obliged now to speak any more of the 
 aifaird of this king. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HOW AHAB, WHEN HE HAD TAKEN JEZEBEL TO 
 WIFE, BECAME MORE WICKED THAN AI>L. THS 
 KINGS THAT HAD BEEN BEFORE HIM. OF THE 
 ACTIONS OF THE PROPHET ELWAU ; AND WHAl 
 BEFEL NABOTH. 
 
 § 1. Now Ahab, the king of Israel, dwelt ir» 
 Samaria, and held the government for twenty- 
 two years; and made no alteration in the 
 conduct of the kings that were his predeces- 
 sors, but only in such things as were of bis 
 owninvention for the worse, and in his most 
 gross wickedness. He imitated them in their 
 wicked courses, and in their injurious beha- 
 viour towards God; and more especially he 
 imitated the trangression of /eroboam; for 
 he worshipped the heifers that he had made; 
 and he contrived other absurd objects of w or- 
 ship besides those heifers; he also took to 
 wife the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the 
 Tyrians and Sidonians, whose name was Jeze- 
 bel, of whom he learned to worship her own 
 gods. This woman was active and bold, and 
 fell into so great a degree of impurity and 
 wickedness, that she built a temple to the god 
 of the Tyrians, which they called Belus, and 
 planted a grove of all sorts of trees ; she also 
 appointed priests and false prophets to this 
 god. The king also himself had many such 
 about him; and so exceeded in madness and 
 wickedness all [the kings] that went before 
 him. 
 
 2. There was now a prophet of God Al- 
 mighty, of Thesbon, a country in Gilead, that 
 came to Ahab, and said to him that God 
 foretold he would not send rain nor dew in 
 those years upon the country but when he 
 should appear. And when he had confirmed 
 this by an oath, he departed into the southern 
 parts, and made his abode by a brook, out o) 
 which he had water to drink; for as for his food, 
 ravens brought it to him every day; but when 
 that river was dried up for want of rain, he came 
 to Zarephath, a city not far from Sidon and 
 Tyre, for it lay between them, and this at the 
 command of God, for [God told him] that he 
 should there find a woman, who was a widow, 
 that should give him sustenance: so when he 
 was not far off the city, he saw a woman that 
 laboured with her own hands, gathering of 
 sticks; SQ God informed him that this was 
 the woman who was to give him sustenance ; 
 so he came and saluted her, and desired her 
 to bring him some water to drink; but as she 
 was going so to do, he called to her, and 
 would have her to bring him a loaf of bread 
 also; whereupon she affirmed upon oath, 
 that she had at home nothing more than one 
 handful of meal and a little oil, i^nd that she 
 was going to gut her some sticks, that she 
 anight knead it. and m&k») bread for hi^rself 
 
CHAP. XIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 239 
 
 and her son ; after which, she said, they must 
 perish, and be consumed by the famine, for 
 they bad nothing for themselves any longer. 
 Hereupon he said, "Go on with good cou- 
 rage, and hope for better things; and first 
 of all make me a little cake, and bring it to 
 Uie, for 1 toreiel to thee that this vessel of meal 
 and this cruise of oil shall not fail until God 
 send rain." When the prophet had said this, she 
 came to him, and made him the before-named 
 cake: of which she had part for herself, and 
 gave the rest to her son, and to the prophetalso ; 
 nor did any thing of this fail until the drought 
 ceased. Now Menander mentions this drought 
 in his account of the act of Ethbaal, king 
 of the Tyrians; where he says thus: — "Un- 
 der him, there was a want of rain from the 
 month Hyperberetaeus till the month Hyper- 
 beretaeus of the year following; but when he 
 made sup[)lications, there came great thun- 
 ders. This Ethbaal built the city Botrys, in 
 Phoenicia, and the city Auza, in Libya." By 
 these words he designed the want of rain that 
 was in the days of Ahab; for at that time it 
 was that Ethbaal also reigned over the Ty- 
 rians, as Menander informs' us. 
 
 3. Now this woman, of whom we spake 
 before, that sustained the prophet, when her 
 son was fallen into a distemper till he gave 
 up the ghost, and appeared to be dead, came 
 to the prophet weeping, and beating her 
 breasts with her hands, and sending out such 
 expressions as her passions dictated to her, 
 and complained to him that he had come to 
 her to reproach her for her sins, and that on 
 this account it was that her son was dead. 
 But he bid her be of good cheer, and deliver 
 her son to him, for that he would deliver him 
 a>rain to her alive. So when she had delivered 
 I)er son up to him, he carried him into an up- 
 per room, where he himself lodged, and laid 
 him down upon the bed, and cried unto God, 
 ami said, that God had not done well in re- 
 warding the woman who had entertained him 
 and sustained him, by taking away her son; 
 and he prayed that he would send again the 
 soul of the child into him, and bring him to 
 life again. Accordingly God took pity on the 
 mother, and was willing to gratify the pro- 
 phet, that he might not seem to have come 
 to lio her a mischief; and the child, beyond all 
 expectation, came to life again. So the mo- 
 ther returned the prophet thanks, and said 
 she was then clearly satisfied that God did 
 coji verse with him. 
 
 4. After a little while Elijah came to king 
 Ahab, according to God's will, to inform him 
 that rain was coming.* Now the famine 
 
 ♦ Josephus, in hi« present copies, says. That a little 
 while after the recovery of the widow's son of Sarepta, 
 God sent niin upon the earth: whereas, in our other 
 copies, it is after many days, 1 Kintrs xviii. I. Several 
 
 jf^:trs are also intimated there, and in Jo'ephus (sect. 2). 
 
 ^« liel. inking to this drou-tht and famine; nay, we have 
 m^ express mention of thp tl.ird vi-ar. which. I suppose, 
 w 1.S rickoned from the r.-covery of thr widow's son and | 
 the CAxinn of this dron^ht in iNiH-ni«ia (wkitsh. as V!«.- | 
 
 had seized upon the whole country, and there 
 was a great want of what was necessary for 
 sustenance, insomuch that it was not only 
 men that wanted it, but the earth itself also, 
 which did not produce enough for the horses 
 and the other beasts, of what was useful for 
 them to feed on, by reason of the drought. 
 So the king called for Obadiah, who was 
 steward over his cattle, and said to him, that 
 he would have him go to the fountains of 
 water, and to the brooks, that if any herbs 
 could be found for them, they might mow it 
 down, and reserve it for the beasts. And 
 when he had sent persons all over the habi- 
 table earth, f to discover the prophet Elijah, 
 and they could not find him, he bade Obadiah 
 accompany him: so it was resolved they 
 should make a progress, and divide the ways 
 between them; and Obadiah took one road, 
 and the king another. Now it happened, that 
 the same time when queen Jezebel slew the 
 prophets, this Obadiah had hidden a hun- 
 dred prophets, and had fed them with no- 
 thing but bread and water. But when Oba- 
 diah was alone, and absent from the king, 
 the prophet Elijah met him ; and Obadiah 
 asked him who he was; and when he had 
 learned it from him, he worshipped him. 
 Elijah then bid hira go to the king, and teU 
 him that I am here ready to wait on him. 
 But Obadiah replied, " What evil have I 
 done to thee, that thou sendest me to one 
 who seeketh to kill thee, and hath sought over 
 all the earth for thee? Or was he so igno- 
 rant as not to know that the king had left no 
 place untouched unto which he had not sent 
 persons to bring him back, in order, if they 
 could take him, to have him put to death;" 
 For he told him he was afraid lest God should 
 appear to him again, and he should go away 
 into another place; and that when the king 
 should send him for Elijah, and he should 
 miss of him, and not be able to find him any- 
 where upon earth, he should be put to death. 
 He desired him therefore to take care of his 
 preservation; and told him how diligently he 
 had provided for those of his own profession, 
 and had saved a hundred prophets, when 
 Jezebel slew the rest of them, and bad kept 
 them concealed, and that they had been sus- 
 tained by him. But Elijah bade him fear 
 nothing, but go to the king; and he assured 
 him upon oath that he would certainly show 
 himself to Ahab that very day. 
 
 5. So when Obadiah had informed the king 
 that Elijah was there, Ahab met him, and 
 asked him in anger, if he were the man that 
 nander informs us here, lasted one whole year); and 
 both our Saviour and St. James affirm, that this drought 
 lasted three years and six months, as their copies of the 
 Old Testament then informed them, Luke iv. 25: James 
 V. 17. 
 
 + Josephus here seems to mean, that this drought 
 affected all the habitable earth, and presently all the 
 earth, as onr Saviour says it was upon all the earth, 
 Luke iv. 2% They who restrain these expressions to 
 the la.iU of Judea alone, go with«»ut snfficient authori^ 
 »»r ifrx»m pies. 
 
840 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK VIII 
 
 afflicted the people of the Hebrews, and was 
 tlie occasion of the drought they lay under? 
 But Elijah, without any dattery, said that he 
 was himself the man; he and his house, which 
 brought such afflictions upon them ; and that 
 by introducing strange gods into their country, 
 and worshipping them, and by leaving their 
 own, who was the oidy true God, and having 
 no manner of regard to him. However, he 
 bade him go his way, and gather together all 
 the people to him, to mount Carmel, with his 
 own prophets, and those of his wife, telling 
 him how many there were of them, as also the 
 prophets of the groves, about four hundred 
 in number. And as all the men whom Ahab 
 sent for ran away to the forenamed mountain, 
 the prophet Elijah stood in the midst of them, 
 and said, "How long will you live thus in un- 
 certainty of mind and opinion?" He also ex- 
 horted them, that in case they esteemed their 
 own country God to be the true and only God, 
 they would follow him and his commandments ; 
 but in case they esteemed him to be nothing, 
 but had an opinion of the strange gods, and 
 that ^ey ought to worship them, his counsel 
 was, that they should follow them. And 
 when the multitude made no answer to what 
 he said, Elijah desired, that, for a trial of the 
 power of the strange gods and of their own 
 God, he, who was his only prophet, while they 
 had four hundred, might take a heifer and kill 
 it as a sacrifice, and lay it upon pieces of wood, 
 and not kindle any fire, and that they should do 
 the same things, and call upon their own gods 
 to set the wood on fire, for if that were done, 
 they would thence learn the nature of the true 
 God. This proposal pleased the people. So 
 Elijah bade the prophets to choose out a heifer 
 first, and kill if, and to call on their gods; 
 but when there appeared no effect of the prayer 
 or invocation of the prophets upon their sa- 
 crifice, Elijah derided them, and bade them 
 call upon their gods with a loud voice, for they 
 might either be on a journey or asleep; and 
 when these prophets had done so from morn- 
 ing till noon, and cut themselves with swords 
 and lances,* according to the customs of their 
 country, and he was abdut to offer his sacri- 
 fice, he bid [the prophets] go away; but bade 
 [the people] come near and observe what he 
 did, lest he should privately hide fire among 
 the pieces of wood. So, upon the approach 
 of the multitude, he took twelve stones, one 
 for each tribe of the people of the Hebrews, 
 and built an altar with them, and dug a very 
 ieep trench; and when he had laid the pieces 
 of wood upon the altar, and upon them had 
 laid the pieces of the sacrifices, he ordered 
 them to till four barrels with the water of the 
 fou^itain, and to pour it upon the altar, till it 
 ran over it, and till the trench was filled with 
 
 • Mr. Spanheim taken notice here, that In the ^«orsh{p 
 bf Miihra (the frtid of the Prr^iun.^' the pri»-Bts cut them- 
 •rives 111 the Mine mano<T a» rfi'l thcue priesrt in tb*ir 
 iovucntiou vl Baail (Uie j{iMi <•! Uir i'lKriiiiiiiiiNi. 
 
 the water poured into it. When he had don^ 
 this, he began to pray to God, and to invocate 
 him to make manifest his power to a people 
 that had already been in an error a long time; 
 upon which words a fire came on a sudden 
 from heaven, in th^' sight of the multitude, 
 and fell upon the altar, and consumed the 
 sacrifice, till the very water was set on fire, 
 and the place was become dry. 
 
 6. Now when the Israelites saw this, they 
 fell down upon the ground, and worshipped 
 one God, and called him The great and the 
 only true God; but they called the others 
 mere names, frained by the evil and vvnld 
 opinions of men. So they caught their pro- 
 phets, and, at the command of Elijah, slew 
 them. Elijah also said to the king, that he 
 should go to dinner without any farther con- 
 cern; for that in a little time he would see 
 God send them rain. Accordingly, Ahab 
 went his way; but Elijah went up to the 
 highest top of Mount Carmel, and sat down 
 upon the ground, and leaned his head upon 
 his knees, and bade his servant go up to a 
 certain elevated place, and look towards the 
 sea, and when he should see a cloud rising 
 anywhere, he should give him notice of it, for 
 till that time the air had been clear. When 
 the servant had gone up, and had said many 
 times that he saw nothing, at the seventh 
 time of his going up, he said that he saw a 
 small black thing in the sky, not larger than 
 a man's foot. When Elijah heard that, he 
 sent to Ahab, and desired him to go away to 
 the city before the rain came down. So he 
 came to the city Jezreel; and in a little time 
 the air was all obscured, and covered with 
 clouds, and a vehement storm of wind came 
 upon the earth, and with it a great deal oi 
 rain; and the prophet was under a divine 
 fury, and ran along with the king's chariot 
 unto Jezreel, a city of Izarf [Isachar]. 
 
 7. When Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, under- 
 stood what signs Elijah had wrought, and how 
 he had slain her prophets, she was angry, and 
 sent messengers to him, and by them threa- 
 tened to kill him, as he had destroyed her pro- 
 phets. At this Elijah was affrighted, and Hed 
 to the city called Beersheba, which is situate at 
 the utmost limits of the country belonging to 
 the tribe of Judah, towards the land of Edom; 
 and there he left his servant, and went away 
 into the desert. He prayed also that he 
 might die, for that he was no better than his 
 fathers, nor need he be very desirous to live, 
 when they were dead ; and he lay and slept 
 under a certain tree; and when somebody 
 awakened him, and he was risen up, he found 
 food set by him and water; so when he had 
 eaten, and recovered his strength by that his 
 
 • For Ixar we may here read (with Hudson and Coc- 
 ceiiid) Isnchar. \. e of the tribe of Isachar, for to tliat 
 tribe did Jezie.-I heionK; and presently, at tne heiM|. 
 iii IK oi »<ct 8. .iH also ch. xv. sect. 4, we may r^H,! JW 
 tiur v.\U\ uHf M-» really, am) the Scripture. Jtzrtrii 
 tor t».At WH« he CUV meant iR the history f'^^^^^K 
 
CHAP. XIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 1541 
 
 food, he came to that mountain which is 
 cJIed Sinai, where it is related that Moses 
 received his laws from God; and finding 
 there a certain hollow cave, he entered into 
 it, and continued to make his abode in it. 
 But when a certain voice came to him, but 
 from whence he knew not, and asked him, 
 why he was come thither, and had left the 
 city? he said, that because he had slain the 
 prophets of the foreign gods, and had per- 
 suaded the people that he alone whom they 
 had worshipped from the beginning was God, 
 he was sought for by the king's wife to be 
 punished for so doing. And when he had 
 heard another voice, telling him that he 
 should come out the next day into the open 
 air, and should thereby know what he was to 
 do, he came out of the cave the next day 
 accordingly, when he both heard an earth- 
 quake, and saw the bright splendour of a fire; 
 and after a silence made, a divine voice ex- 
 horted him not to be disturbed with the cir- 
 cumstances he was in, for that none of his 
 enemies should have power over hira. The 
 voice also commanded him to return home, 
 and to ordain Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to be 
 king over their own multitude; and Hazael, 
 of Damascus, to be over the Syrians; and 
 Elisha, of the city Abel, to be a prophet in 
 his stead: and that of the impious multitude, 
 some should be slain by Hazael, and others 
 by Jehu. So Elijah, upon hearing this charge, 
 returned into the land of the Hebrews. And 
 when he found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, 
 ploughing, and certain others with him, driving 
 twelve yoke of oxen, be came to him, and 
 cast his own garment upon him; upon which 
 Elisha began to prophesy presently, and leav- 
 ing his oxen, he followed Elijah. And when 
 he desired leave to salute his parents, Elijah 
 gave him leave so to do: and when he had 
 taken his leave of them, he followed hira, 
 and became the disciple and the servant of 
 Elijah all the days of his life. And thus 
 have I dispatched the affairs in which this 
 prophet was concerned. 
 
 8. Now there was one Naboth, of the city 
 Izar [Jezreel], who had a field adjoining to 
 that of the king: the king would have per- 
 suaded him to sell him that his field, which 
 lay so near to his own lands, at what price he 
 pleased, that he might join them together, and 
 make them one farfn; and if he would not 
 accept of money for it, he gave him leave to 
 choose any of his other fields in its stead. 
 But Naboth said he would not do so, but 
 would keep the possession of that land of his 
 own, which he had by inheritance from his 
 father. Upon this the king was grieved, as 
 if he had received an injury, when he could 
 not get another man's possession, and he 
 would neither wash himself, nor take any 
 iocd: and when Jezebel asked him what it 
 wa>-< that troubled him, and why he would 
 neither wash himself, nor eat either dinner 
 
 or supper, he related to her the perverseness 
 of Naboth ; and how when he had made use 
 of gentle words to him, and such as were be- 
 neath th€ royal authority, he had been affront- 
 ed, and had not obtained what he desired. 
 However, she persuaded him not to be cast 
 down at this accident, but to leave off his 
 grief, and return to the usual care of his body, 
 for that she would take care to have Naboth 
 punished: and she immediately sent letters 
 to the rulers of the Israelites [Jezreelites] in 
 Ahab's name, and commanded them to fast, 
 and to assemble a congregation, and to set Na- 
 both at the head of them, because he was of 
 an illustrious family, and to have three bold 
 men ready to bear witness that he had blas- 
 phemed God and the king, and then to 
 stone him, and slay him in that manner. 
 Accordingly, when Naboth had been thus tes- 
 tified against, as the queen had written to 
 them, that he had blasphemed against God 
 and Ahab the king, she desired him to take 
 possession of Naboth's vineyard on free cost. 
 So Ahab was glad at what had been done, 
 and rose up immediately from the bed wherein 
 he lay, to go to see Naboth's vineyard; but 
 God had great indignation at it, and sent 
 Elijah the prophet to the field of Naboth, to 
 speak to Ahab, and to say to hira, that he 
 had slain the true owner of that field unjustly. 
 And as soon as he came to him, and the king 
 had said that he- might do with him what he 
 pleased (for he thought it a reproach to him 
 to be thus caught in his sin), Elijah said, that 
 in that very place in which the dead body of 
 Naboth was eaten by dogs, both his own blood 
 and that of his wife should be shed; and that 
 all his family should perish, because he had 
 been so insolently wicked, and had slain a citi- 
 zen unjustly and contrary to the laws of his 
 country. Hereupon Ahab began to be sorry 
 for the things he had done, and to repent of 
 them; and he put on sackcloth, and went 
 barefoot,* and would not touch any food: he 
 also confessed his sins, and endeavoured thus 
 to appease God. But God said to the pro- 
 phet, that while Ahab was living he would 
 put off the punishment of his family, because 
 he repented of those insolent crimes he had 
 been guilty of, but that still he \yould fulfil 
 his threatening under Ahab's son. Which 
 message the prophet delivered to the king. 
 
 ♦ "The Jews weep to this day (says Jerome, here 
 cited by Reland) and roll themselves upon sackcloth, in 
 ashes, barefoot, upon such occasions." To which 8pan- 
 heim adds, " that after the same manner Bemice, when 
 her life A^as in danf^cr, stood at the tribunal of Florus 
 barefoot" (Of the War, b. ii. chap, li, sect. I.}— See the 
 like of David, 2 Sam. xv. 30. Antiq. b. tu. chap. ix. 
 sect. 2. 
 
242 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK vin. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HOW HADAD, KING OF DAMASCUS AND OF 
 SYRIA, MADE TWO EXPEDITIONS AGAINST 
 AHAB, AND WAS BEATEN. 
 
 § 1. When tbe affairs of Ahab were thus, at 
 that very time the son of Hadad [JJenhadad], 
 who was king of the Syrians and of Damascus, 
 got together an army out of all his country, 
 and procured thirty-two kings beyond Eu- 
 phrates, to be his auxiliaries: so he made an 
 expedition against Ahab; but because Ahab's 
 army was not like that of Bcnhadad, he did 
 not set it in array to fight him, but having shut 
 up every thing that was in the country, in the 
 strongest cities he had, he abode in Samaria 
 himself, fx)r the walls about it were very strong, 
 and it appeared to be not easily to be taken 
 in other respects also. So the king of Syria 
 took his army with him, and came to Samaria, 
 and placed his army round about the city, and 
 besieged it. He also sent a herald to Ahab, 
 and desired he would admit the ambassadors 
 he would send him, by whom he would let 
 him know his pleasure. So upon the king of 
 Israel's permission for him to send, those am- 
 bassadors came, and by their king's command 
 spake thus: — That Ahab's riches, and his 
 children, and his wives, were Benhadad's, and 
 if he would make an agreement, and give him 
 leave to take as much of what he had as he 
 pleased, he would withdraw his army, and 
 leave off the siege. Upon this Ahab bade the 
 ambassadors to go back, and tell their king 
 that both he himself, and all that he hath, 
 were his possessions. And when these am- 
 bassadors had told this to Benhadad, be sent 
 to him again, and desired, since he confessed 
 that all he had was his, that he would admit 
 those servants of his which he should send the 
 next day; and he commanded him to deliver 
 to those whom he should send, whatsoever, 
 upon their searching his palace and the houses 
 of his friends and kindred, they should find to 
 be excellent in its kind ; but that what did not 
 please them they should leave to him. At 
 this second embassage of the king of Syria, 
 Ahab was surprised, and gathered together 
 the multitude to a congregation, and told 
 them, that for himself lie was ready, for their 
 safety and peace, to give up his own wives and 
 children to the enemy, and to yield to him all 
 his own possessions, for that was what the Sy- 
 rian king required at his first embassage; but 
 that now he desires to send his servants to search 
 all their bouses, and in them to leave nothing 
 that is excellent in its kind, seeking an occa- 
 sion of fighting against him, " as knowing that 
 I would not spare what is mine own for your 
 sakes, but taking a handle from the disagree- 
 able terms he offers concerning you to bring 
 a war upon us; however, I will do what you 
 
 shall resolve is fit to be done." But the mul- 
 titude advised him to hearken to none of his 
 proposals, but to despise him, and be in readi- 
 ness to fight him. Accordingly, when he Lad 
 given the ambassadors this answer to be le- 
 ported — that, he still continued in the mind to 
 comply with what terms he at first desired, for 
 the safety of the citizens; but as for his se- 
 cond desires, he cannot submit to them, — he 
 dismissed them. 
 
 2. Now when Benhadad heard this, he had 
 indignation, and sent ambassadors to Ahab 
 the third time, and threatened that his army 
 would raise a bank higher than those walls, 
 in confidence of whose strength be despised 
 him, and that by only each man of his army 
 taking a handful of earth ; hereby making a 
 show of the great number of his army, and 
 aiming to affright him. Ahab answered, that 
 he ought not to vaunt himself when he had 
 only put on his armour, but when he should 
 have conquered his enemies in the battle. So 
 the ambassadors came back, and found the 
 king at sujiper with his thirty-two kings, and 
 informed him of Ahab's answer; who then 
 immediately gave orders for proceeding thus: 
 — To make lines round the city, and raise a 
 bulwark, and to prosecute the siege all man- 
 ner of ways. Now, as this was doing, Ahab 
 was in a great agony and all his people with 
 him ; but he took courage, and was freed from 
 his fears, upon a certain prophet coming to 
 him, and saying to him, that God had pro- 
 mised to subdue so many ten thousands of 
 his enemies under him ; and when he inquired 
 by whose means the victory was to be ob- 
 tained, he said, " By the sons of the princes; 
 but under thy conduct as their leader, by rea- 
 son of their unskilfulness [in war]." Upon 
 which he called for the sons of the princes, 
 and found them to be two hundred and thirty- 
 two persons. So when he was informed that 
 the king of Syria had betaken himself to feast- 
 ing and repose, he opened the gates, and sent 
 out the princes' sons. Now when the senti- 
 nels told Benhadad of it, he sent some to meet 
 them, and commanded them that if these men 
 were come out for fighting, they should bind 
 them, and bring them to him; and that if 
 they came out peaceably they should do the 
 same. Now Ahab had another army ready 
 within the walls, but the sons of the princes 
 fell upon the out-guard, and slew many of 
 them, and pursued the rest of them to the 
 camp; and when the king of Israel saw that 
 these had the upper hand, he sent out all the 
 rest of his army, vhich, falling suddenly 
 upon the Syrians, beat them, for they did not 
 think they would have come out; on which 
 accoimt it was that they assaulted them when 
 they were naked * and drunk, insomuch that 
 
 • Mr. Reland notes here very truly, that the word 
 naked does not nlwnys niRtilfy mtirrly naked ; but aome. 
 times without men's usual armour, without thfir usua^ 
 robes or urp^r carmentsj as when Vir^il bids the bus. 
 bauilman plough uaked, ami sow naked; whro Joh«. 
 
CHAP. XIV, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 243 
 
 they left all their armour behind them when 
 they lied out of the camp, and the king him- 
 self escaped with difficulty, by flying away on 
 horseback. But Ahab went a great way in 
 pursuit of the Syrians; and when he had 
 spoiled their camp, which contained a great 
 deal of wealth, and moreover a large quantity 
 of gold and silver, he took Benhadad's cha- 
 riots and horses, and returned to the city: but 
 as the prophet told him he ought to have his 
 army ready, because the Syrian king would 
 make another expedition against him the next 
 year, Ahab >vas busy in making provision for 
 it accordingly. 
 
 3. Now, Benhadad, when he had saved him- 
 self, and as much of his army as he could, out 
 of the battle, he consulted wth his friends how 
 he might make another expedition against the 
 Israelites. Now those friends advised him not 
 to fight with them on the hills, because their 
 God was potent in such places, and thence it 
 had come to pass that they, had very lately 
 been beaten; but they said, that if they joined 
 battle with them in the plain they should 
 beat them. They also gave him this farther 
 advice, to send home those kings whom he 
 had brought as his auxiliaries, but to retain 
 their army, and to set captains over it instead 
 of the lungs, and to raise an army out of 
 their country, and let them be in the place of 
 the former who perished in the battle, toge- 
 ther \vith horses and chariots. So he judged 
 their counsel to be good, and acted according 
 to it in the management of the army. 
 
 4. At the beginning of the spring, Benha- 
 dad took his army wth him, and led it against 
 the Hebrews; and when he was come to a 
 certain city which was called Aphek, he 
 pitched his camp in the Great Plain. Ahab 
 also went to meet him with his army, and 
 pitched his camp over against him, although 
 flis army was a very small one, if it were com- 
 pared with the enemy's; but the prophet came 
 again to him, and told him, that God would 
 give him the victory, that he might demon- 
 strate his own power to be not only on the 
 mountains, but on the plains also; which it 
 seems was cont^-ary to the opinion of the 
 Syrians. So they lay quiet in their camp 
 
 phus says (Antiq-b. iT.ch-iu.sect.2), that God had given 
 the Jews the security of armour when they were naked j 
 and when be bere'sayg, that Ahab fell oa the Syrians 
 when they were both nak«d and drunk; when (Antiq. b. 
 xi. ch. y. sect. 8) he says, that Nehemiah commanded 
 those Jews that were building the walls of Jerusalem to 
 take care to have th^ir armour on upon occasion, that the 
 enemy miijht not fall upon them naked. I may add, that 
 the case seems to be the same in the Scripture, when it 
 «ays that Saul lay down naked among the prophets (1 
 Sam. x'tx. 24) ; when it says that Isaiah walked naked 
 and barefoot (Isa. xx. 2, 3) ; and when it also says that 
 Peter, before he girt his fishefs coat to him, was naked, 
 John ixi. 7 What is said of David also gives light to 
 tnis, who was reproached by Michal for •* dancing before 
 the ark, and uncovering himself in the eyes of his hand- 
 maids, as one of the vain fellows shamefully uncovereth 
 himself" (2 Sam.vi 14, 20) ; yet it is there expressly said 
 (v. 14), th«t''Oavid was girded with alinenephod,"t.e.he 
 tad laid aside his robes of state, and put on the sacerdotal, 
 f.«vttieMl,or saciudgamienta, proper for such a solemnity. 
 
 seven days; but on the last of those days, 
 when the enemies came out of their camp, 
 and put themselves in array in order to fight, 
 Ahab also brought out his own army; and 
 when the battle \va3 joined, and they fought 
 valiantly, he put the enemy to flight, and 
 pursued them, and pressed upon them, and 
 slew them; nay, they were destroyed by their 
 own chariots," and by one another; nor could 
 any more than a few of them escape to their 
 own city Aphek, who were also killed by the 
 walls falling upon them, being in number 
 twenty-seven thousand.* Now there were 
 slain in this battle a hundred thousand more ; 
 but Benhadad, the Idng of the Syrians, fled 
 away,- ^vith certain others of his most faithful 
 servants, and hid himself in a cellar under 
 ground; and when these told him that the 
 kings of Israel were humane and merciful 
 men, and that they might make use of the 
 usual manner of supplication, and obtain de- 
 liverance from Ahab, in case he would give 
 them leave to go to him : he gave them leave 
 accordingly. So they came to Ahab, clothed 
 in sackcloth, u-ith ropes about their heads 
 (for this \vns the ancient manner of supplica- 
 tion among the Syrians),! and said, that Ben- 
 hadad desired he would save him; and that 
 he would ever be a servant to him for that 
 favour. Ahab replied he was glad that he 
 was alive, and not hurt in the battle; and he 
 further promised him the same honour and 
 kindness that a man would show to his bro- 
 ther. So they received assurances upon oath 
 from him, that when he came to him he should 
 receive no harm from him, and then went and 
 brought him out of the cellar wherein he was 
 hid, and brought him to Ahab as he sat in 
 his chariot. So Benhadad worshipped him; 
 and Ahab gave him his hand, and made him 
 come up to him mto his chariot, and kissed 
 him, and bid him be of good cheer, and not 
 to expect that any mischief should 'he done to 
 him. So Benhadad returned him thanks, 
 and professed that he would remember his 
 kindness to him all the days of his life; and 
 promised he would restore those cities of the 
 Israelites which the former kings had taken 
 from them, and grant that he should have 
 leave to come to Damascus, as his forefathers 
 had to come to Samaria. So they confirmed 
 
 • Josephns's nnmber,two myriads and seven thousand, 
 agrees here with that in our other copies, as those that 
 were slain by the falling down of the walls of Aphek ; but 
 I suspected at first that this number in Josephus's present 
 copies could not be his original number, because he calls 
 them "oligoi," a /<w, which could hardly be said of so 
 many as twenty-seven thousand, aud because of the im- 
 probability ofthefallof a particular wall killing so many; 
 y^^hen I consider Josephus's next words, how the rest 
 which were slain in the battle were " ten other myriads," 
 that twenty-seven thousand were but a few in compari- 
 son of a hundred thousand ; and that it was not "a wall," 
 as in our English version, but " the wall," or " the entire 
 walls" of the city that fell down, as in all the originals. 
 
 + This manner of supplication for men's lives among 
 the Syrians, with ropes or halters about their heads or 
 necks, is, I suppose, no strange thing in later ages, even 
 in our own countir. 
 
244 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWSv 
 
 BOOK Trin 
 
 tlieir covenant by oaths ; and A hub made 
 him many presents, and sent him back to liis 
 owTi kingdom. And this was the conclusion 
 of the war that Benhadad made against Ahab 
 and the Israelites. 
 
 5. But a certain prophet, whose name was 
 Micaiah,* came to one of the Israelites, and 
 bade him smite him on the head, for by so do- 
 ing he would please God; but when he would 
 not do so, he foretold to him, that since he 
 disobeyed the commands of God, he should 
 meet with a lion, and be destroyed by him. 
 When this sad accident had befallen the man, 
 the prophet came again to another, and gave 
 him the same injunction; so he smote him, 
 and wounded his skull: upon which he 
 bound up his head, and came to the king, 
 and told him that he had been a soldier of 
 his, and had the custody of one of the prison- 
 ers committed to him by an officer, and that 
 the prisoner being run away, he was in dan- 
 ger of losing his own life by the means of 
 that officer, who had threatened him, that if 
 the prisoner escaped he would kill him ; and 
 when Ahab had said that he would justly die, 
 he took off the binding that was about his head, 
 and was known by the king to be Micaiah 
 the prophet, who made use of this artifice as 
 a prelude to the following words; for he 
 said that God would punish him who had 
 suffered Benhadad, a blasphemer against him, 
 to escape punishment; and that he would so 
 bring it about, that he should die by the 
 other's means,f and his people by the other's 
 army. Upon which Ahab was very angry 
 at the prophet, and gave commandment that 
 he should be put in prison, and there kept ; 
 but, for himself, he was in confusion at the 
 words of Micaiah, and returned to his own 
 bouse. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CONCERNING JEHOSHAPHAT, THE KINO OF 
 JERUSALEM; AND HOW AHAB MADE AN 
 EXPEDITION AGAINST THE SYRIANS, AND 
 WAS ASSISTED THEREIN BY JEHOSHAPHAT, 
 BUT WAS HIMSELF OVERCOME IN BATTLE,. 
 AND PEfilSHED THEREIN. 
 
 § 1. And these were the circumstances in 
 which Ahab was. But I now return to Je- 
 
 • It is here remarkable that in Josephus's copy, this 
 prophet, whose severe denunciation of a disobedient 
 person's slaughter by a lion had lately come to pass, was 
 no other than IVIicaiah, the son of Ltnlah, who, %» he 
 now denotinced God's judgment on disobedient Ahab, 
 ■eems directly to have been that very prophet whom the 
 same Ahab, in 1 Kings xxii. 8, 18, complains of "as 
 one whom he hated, because he did not prr)phocy good 
 concernini; him, but evil;" and who, in that chapter, 
 opeiily repeats his denunciations against him ; all which 
 came to pass accordingly; nor is there any reason to 
 doubt but this and the former were the very same pro- 
 phet 
 
 + What is most remarkable in this history, and in 
 muoj butories on other occasions in the Old Testament, 
 
 hoshaphat, the king of Jerusalem, who, when 
 he had augmented his kingdom, and had sot 
 garrisons in the cities of the countries belong- 
 ing to his subjects, and had put such garri- 
 sons no less into thase cities which were- 
 taken out of the tribe of Ephraim, by his 
 grandfather Abijah, when Jeroboam reigned 
 over the ten tribes [than he did into the 
 other]. But then he had God favourable 
 and assisting to him, as being both righteous- 
 and religious, and seeking to do somewhat 
 every day that should be agreeable and ac- 
 ceptable to God. The kings also that were 
 round about him honoured him with the pre- 
 sents they made him, till the riches that he had 
 acquired were immensely great, and the glory 
 he had gained was of a most exalted nature, 
 
 2. Now, in the third year of his reign, he 
 called together the rulers of the country, and 
 the priests, and commanded them to go round 
 the land, and teach all the people that were 
 under him, city by city, the laws of Moses,, 
 and to keep them, and to be diligent in the 
 worship of God. With this the whole m at- 
 titude was so pleased, that they were not sa 
 eagerly set upon or aifected with any thing 
 so much as tke observation of the laws. The 
 neighbouring nations also continued to love 
 Jehoshaphat, and to be at peace with him. 
 The Philistines paid their appointed tribute^ 
 and the Arabians supplied him every year 
 with three hundred and sixty lambs, and as- 
 many kids of the goats. He also fortified 
 the great cities, which were many in number,, 
 and of great consequence. He prepared also 
 a mighty army of soldiers and weapons against 
 their enemies. Now the army of men that 
 wore their armour, was three hundred thou- 
 sand of the tribe of Judah, of whom Adnah 
 was the chief; but John was chief of twa 
 hundred thousand. The same man was chief 
 of the tribe of Benjamin, and had two hun- 
 dred thousand archers under him. There was- 
 another chief, whose name was Jehozabad^ 
 who had a hundred and fourscore thousand 
 armed men. This multitude was distributed 
 to be ready for the king's service, besides- 
 those whom he sent to the best fortified cities. 
 3. Jehoshaphat took tor his son Jehorain. 
 to wife, the daughter of Ahab,, the king of 
 the ten tribes, whose name was Athaliah. 
 And when, after some time, he went to Sa- 
 maria, Ahab received him courteously, and 
 treated the army that followed him in a splen- 
 did manner, with great plenty of corn and 
 wine, and of slain beasts; and desired that 
 he woiUd join with him in his war against 
 the king of Syria, that he might recover from 
 
 is this, that, during th* Jewish tbeeciMy, God acted en. 
 tirely as the Supreme King of Israel, and the S*iprer3» 
 General of their armins; and always expected that the 
 Israelites should be in such absolute sulnectiun to tiim, 
 their Supreme and Heavenly King, and General of »ni"l* 
 armies, as subjects and soldiers are to their earthly king» 
 and generals, and that uitually without knuwLug tUii piu.* 
 tiaul«r reasons of ttu>ir iuj^nctions. 
 
CHAP. XV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 245 
 
 im the city of Bamoth, in Gileadj for though 
 it had belonged to his Ikther, yet had the 
 king of Syria's father taken it away from 
 him ; and upon Jehoshaphat's promise to af- 
 ford him his assistance (for indeed his army 
 \ms not inferior to the other), and his sending 
 for his army from Jerusalem to Samaria, the 
 two kings went out of the city, and each of 
 them saton his own throne, and each gave their 
 orders to their several armies. Now Jeho- 
 shaphat bade them call some of the prophets, 
 if there were any there, and inquire of them 
 concerning this expedition against the king 
 of Syria, whether they would give them coun- 
 sel to make that expedition at this time, for 
 there was peace at that time between Ahab 
 and the king of Syria, which had lasted three 
 years, from the time he had taken him captive 
 till that day. 
 
 4. So Ahab called his own prophets, being 
 in number about four hundred, and bade 
 them inquire of God whether he would grant 
 him the victory, if he made an expedition 
 against Henhadad, and enable him to over- 
 throw that city, for whose sake it was that he 
 was going to war. Now these prophets gave 
 their counsel for making this expedition; and 
 said, that he would beat the king of Syria, 
 and, as formerly, would reduce him under 
 his power. But Jehoshaphat, understanding 
 by their words that they were false prophets, 
 asked Ahab whether there were not some other 
 prophet, and be belonging to the true God, 
 that we may have surer information concern- 
 ing futurities. Hereupon Ahab said, there 
 was indeed such a one, but that he hated 
 him, as having prophesied evil to him, and 
 having foretold that he should be overcome 
 and slain by the king of Syria, and that for 
 this cause he had him now in prison, and that 
 his name was Micaiah, the son of Imlah. — 
 But upon Jehoshaphat's desire that he might 
 be produced, Ahab sent a eunuch, who brought 
 Micaiah to him. Now the eunuch had in- 
 formed him by the way, that all the other 
 prophets had foretold that the king should 
 gain the victory ; but he said, that it was 
 not lawful for him to lie against God ; but 
 that he must speak what he should say to 
 him about the king, whatsoever it were — 
 When he came to Ahab, and he had adjured 
 him upon oath to speak the truth to him, he 
 said that God had shown to him the Israelites 
 running away, and pursued by the Syrians, 
 and dispersed upon the mountains by them, 
 as flocks of sheep are dispersed when their 
 shepherd is slain. He said farther, that God 
 signified to him that those Israelites should 
 return in peace to their own home, and that 
 he only should fall in the battle. When Mi- 
 caiah had thus spoken, Ahab 5aid to Jehosha- 
 phat, — " I told thee, a little while ago, the 
 disposition of the man with regard to me, and 
 that he uses to prophesy evil to me." Upon 
 I i .^hich Micaiah replied, that he ought to hear 
 
 all, whatsoever it be, that God foretells ; and 
 that in particular, they were false prophets 
 that encouraged him to make this war in 
 hope of victory, whereas he must fight; and 
 be killed. Whereupon the king was in sus- 
 pense with himself; but Zedekiah, one of 
 those false prophets, came near, and exhorted 
 him not to hearken to Micaiah, for he did no 
 at all speak truth ; as a demonstration tr 
 which, he instanced in what Elijah had said, 
 who was a better prophet in foretelling futu- 
 rities than Micaiah ;* for he foretold that the 
 dogs should lick his blood in the city of Jez- 
 reel, in the field of Naboth, as they licked the 
 blood of Naboth, who by his means was there 
 stoned to death by the multitude; that there- 
 fore it was plain that this Micaiah was a liar, 
 as contradicting a greater prophet than him- 
 self, and saying that he should be slain at 
 three days' journey distance: "and [said he] 
 you shall soon know whether he be a true 
 prophet, and hath the power of the Divine 
 Spirit; for I will smite him, and let him 
 then hurt my hand, as Jadon caused the hand 
 of Jeroboam the king to wither when he 
 would have caught him ; for 1 suppose thou 
 hast certainly heard of that accident." So 
 when, upon his smiting Micaiah, no harm 
 happened to him, Ahab took courage, and 
 readily led his army eigainst the king of Sy- 
 ria; for, as I suppose, fate was too hard for 
 him, and made him believe that the false 
 prophets spake truer than the true one, that 
 it might take an occasion of bringing him to 
 his end. However, Zedekiah made horns of 
 iron, and said to Ahab, that God made those 
 horns signals, that by them he should over- 
 throw all Syria. But Micaiah replied, that 
 Zedekiah, in a few days, should go from one 
 secret chamber to another, to hide himself, 
 that he might escape the punishment of his 
 lying. Then did the king give orders that 
 they should take Micaiah away, and guard 
 him to Amon, the governor of the city, and 
 to give him nothing but bread and water. 
 
 5. Then did Ahab, and Jehoshaphat the 
 king of Jerusalem, take their forces, and 
 marched to Ramoth, 'a city of Gilead ; and 
 when the king of Syria heard of this expedi- 
 tion, he brought out his army to oppose them, 
 and pitched his camp not far from Ramoth. 
 Now Ahab and Jehoshaphat had agreed that 
 Ahab should lay aside his royal robes, but 
 that the king of Jerusalem should put on his 
 [Ahab's] proper habit, and stand before the 
 army, in order to disprove, by this artifice, 
 
 • These reasoning of Zedekiah the false prophet, in 
 order to persuade Ahab not to believe Micaiah the true 
 prophet, are plausible; but being omitted in our other 
 copies, we rannot now tell whence Josephus had them; 
 whether from his own temple copy, from some other 
 original author, or from certain ancient notes. That 
 some such j-lausible objection was now raised against 
 •Micaiah is very likely, otherwise Jehoshaphat, whoa3ed 
 to disbelieve all such false prophets, could never have 
 been induced to accompany Ahab in these desper&te oip- 
 I cam stances. 
 
246 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 what Micaiah had foretold.* But Ahab's 
 fate found him out without his robes; for 
 Benhadad, the king of Assjrria, had charged 
 his anry, by means of their commanders, to 
 kill nobody else but only the king of Israel. 
 So when the Sjrians, upon their joining bat- 
 tle with the IsraeUtes, saw Jehoshaphat stand 
 before the army, and conjectured that he was 
 Ahab, they fell violently upon him, and en- 
 compassed him round ; but when they were 
 near, and knew that it was not he, they all 
 icturned back; and while the fight lasted 
 trom the morning light till late in the even- 
 ing, and the Syrians were conquerors, they 
 killed nobody, as their king had commanded 
 \hem ; and when they sought to kill Ahab 
 alone, but could not find him, there was a 
 young nobleman belonging to king Benhadad, 
 whose name was Naaman; he drew his bow 
 against the enemy, and wounded the king 
 through his breastplate, in his lungs. Upon 
 this Ahab resolved not to make his mischance 
 known to bis army, lest they should run 
 away; but he bid the driver of his chariot 
 to turn it back, and carry him out of the 
 battle, because he was sorely and mortally 
 wounded. However, he sat in his chariot 
 and endured the pain till sun-set, and then 
 he fainted away and died. 
 
 6. And now the Syrian army, upon the 
 coming on of the night, retired to their camp; 
 and when the herald belonging to the camp 
 
 • This reading of Josephus, that Jehoshaphat put on 
 not his own but Ahab's robes, in order to appear to be 
 Ahab, while Ahab was without any robes at all, and 
 hoped thereby to escape his own evil fate, and disprove 
 Micaiah's prophecy against him, is exceeding probable. 
 It gives great light also to this whole history, and shows, 
 that aUhoiinh Ahab hoped Jehoshaphat would be mis- 
 tiken for him, and run the only risk of being slain in the 
 battle, yet was he entirely disappointed; while still the 
 escape of the good man Jehosiiaphat, and the slaughter 
 of the bad man Ahab, demonstrated the gr»at iistiuctioa 
 that DiriDA Proviaence made oetwixt them. 
 
 gave notice that Abab was dead, they returned 
 home; and they took the dead body of Ahab 
 to Samaria, and buried it there ; but when 
 they had washed his chariot in the fountain 
 of Jezreel, which was bloody with the dead 
 body of the king, they acknowledged that the 
 prophecy of Elijah was true, for the dogs 
 licked his blood, and the harlots continued 
 afterwards to wash themselves in that foun- 
 tain ; but still he died at Ramoth, as Micaiah 
 had foretold. And as what things were fore- 
 told should happen to Ahab by the two pro- 
 phets came to pass, we ought thence to have 
 high notions of God, and every where to ho- 
 nour and worship him, and never to suppose 
 that what is pleasant and agreeable is worthy 
 of belief before what is true; and to esteem 
 nothing more advantageous than the gift of 
 propbecy,f and that foreknowledge of future 
 events which is derived from it, since God 
 shews men thereby what we ought to avoid. 
 We may also guess, from what happened to 
 tnis king, and have reason to consider the 
 power of fate, that there is no way of avoid- 
 ing it, even when we know it. It creeps 
 upon human souls, and flatters them with 
 pleasing hopes, till it leads them about to the 
 place where it will be too hard for them. 
 Accordingly Ahab appears to have been de- 
 ceived thereby, till he disbelieved those that 
 foretold his defeat; but by giving credit to 
 such as foretold what was grateful to him, was 
 slain; and his son Ahaziah succeeded him. 
 
 + We have here a very wise reflection of Jo?ephiij 
 about Divine Providence, and what is derived from it, 
 prophecy, and the inevitable certainty of its acnornplish- 
 ment; and that when wicked men think they take pro- 
 per methods to elude what is denounced against tliem, 
 and to escape the divine judgments thereby threatened 
 them, without repentance, they are ever by Providence 
 infatuated to bring about their own d?^5lruction, and 
 thereby withal to demonstrate tflt perfect veradty of 
 that God whose predictions they in vain endeavour to 
 elttde. 
 
347 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 COSTAimSa the INTBRVAL of one hundred and FIBTT-SEraN TEABS. 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF AHAB TO THE CAPTIVITY OF TH3 TEN 
 
 TRIBES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. (judges, who would be obliged to give righ- 
 
 I teous sentences concerning sucb causes; and 
 tONCERNiNG JEHOSHAPHAT AGAIN; HOW HE tlus with the greater care, because it is pro- 
 CONSTITUTED JUDGES, AND, BY god's AS- per that the sentences which are given in that 
 sisTANCE, OVERCAME HIS ENEMIES. r city wherein the temple of God is, and where- 
 
 in the king dwells, be given with great care 
 § 1. "VThen Jeboshaphat the king was come I and the utmost justice. Now he set over 
 to Jerusalem, from the assistance he had ar- I them Amariah the priest, and Zebediah, [both] 
 forded Ahab, the king of Israel, when he I of the tribe of Judah : and after this manner 
 fought with Benhadad, King oi Syria, the pro- I it was that the king ordered these affairs, 
 phet Jehu met him, and accused him for as- j 2. Aoout the same time the Moabites and 
 sistiug Ahab, a man both impious and wicked; | Ammonites made an expedition against Jeho- 
 and said to him, that God was displeased | shaphat, and took with them a great body of 
 with hira for so doing, but that he delivered | Arabians, and pitched their camp at Engedi, 
 him from the enemy, notwithstanding he had i a city that is situate at the lake Asphaltitis, 
 
 sinned, because of his own proper disposition, 
 which was good. Where upoij the king be- 
 took himself to thanksgivings and sacrifices 
 to God; after which he presently went over 
 all that cointry which he ruled round about, 
 and tau4rh»; the people, as well the laws v/hich 
 God; gave them by Moses, as that religious 
 worship th;it was due to him. He also con- 
 stituted judges in every one of the cities of 
 his kingdom; and charged them to have re- 
 gard to nothing so much in judging the mul- 
 titude as to do justice, and not to be moved by 
 bribes, nor by the dignity of men eminent for 
 either their riches or their high birth, but to 
 distribute justice equally to all, as knowing 
 that God is conscious of every secret action 
 of theirs. When he had himself instructed 
 them thus, and gone over every city of the 
 two tribes, he returned to Jerusalem. He 
 there also constituted judges out of the priests 
 and the Levites, and principal persons of the 
 multitude, and admonished them to pass all 
 their sentences with care and justice.* And 
 that if any of the people of lus country had 
 differences of great consequence, they should 
 send them out of the other cities to these 
 
 * These judges, constituted by Jeboshaphat, were a 
 kind of JerusaJem Sianhedrim, out of the priests, the 
 Invites, and the principal of the people, both here and 
 2 Ciironicles, xix. 8; ranch like the old Christian judi- 
 'v>.-':res of the bishop, tlis presbyters, the deacons, and 
 the people. 
 
 and distant three hundred furlongs from Je- 
 rusalem. In that place grows the best kind 
 of palm-trees, and the opobalsamum.f Now 
 Jehoshaphat heard that the enemies had passed 
 over the lake, and had made an irruption 
 into that country which belonged to his king- 
 dom, at w'aica news he was aff-'ghted, and 
 called the people of Jerusalem to a congiega- 
 tion in the temple, and standing over-against 
 the temple itself, he called upon God to afford 
 him power and strength, so as to inflict pun- 
 ishment on those that made this expedition 
 against them (for that those who built this his 
 temple had prayed that he would protect that 
 city, and take vengeance on those that were 
 so bold as to come against it); for they are 
 come to take from us that land which thou 
 hast given us for a possession. When he had 
 prayed thus, he fell into tears; and the whole 
 multitude, together with their wives and chil- 
 dren, made their supplications also: upon 
 which a certain .prophet, Jahaziel by name, 
 came into the midst of the assembly, and cried 
 out, and spake both to the multitude and to 
 the king, that God heard their prayers, and 
 promised to fight against their enemies. He 
 also gave order that the king should draw his 
 forces out the next day, for that he should 
 find them beliween Jerusalem and the ascent 
 
 ■f Concerning this precious balsam, SM the note on 
 Antiq. b. viii. ch. vL sect 6. 
 
248 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK 11 
 
 of Engedi, at a place called llie Eminence, 
 and that he should not fight against them, but 
 only stand still, and see how God would fight 
 against them. When the prophet had said 
 this, both the king and the multitude fell 
 on their faces, and gave thanks to God, and 
 worshipped him: and the Levites continued 
 singing hynms to -God with their instruments 
 of music. 
 
 » 3. As soon as it was day, and the king was 
 come into that wilderness which is under the 
 city of Tekoa, he said to the multitude, "that 
 they ought to give credit to what the prophet 
 had said, and not to set themselves in array 
 for fighting; but to set the priests with their 
 trumpets, and the Levites vdth the singers of 
 hymns, to give thanks to God, as having 
 already delivered our country from our ene- 
 mies." This opinion of the king pleased [the 
 people], and they did what he advised them 
 to do. So God caused a terror and a com- 
 motion to arise among the Ammonites, who 
 thought one another to be enemies, and slew 
 one another, insomuch that not one man out 
 of so great an army escaped; and when Je- 
 hoshaphat looked upon that valley wherein 
 their enemies had been encamped, and saw it 
 full of dead men, he rejoiced at so surprising 
 an event as was this assistance of God, while 
 he himself by his own power, and without 
 their labour, had given them the victory. He 
 also gave his army leave to take the prey of 
 the enemy's camp, and to spoil their dead 
 bodies; and indeed so they did for three days 
 together, tiU they were weary, so great was 
 the number of the slain; and on the fourth 
 day, all the people were gathered together, 
 unto a certain hollow place or valley, and 
 blessed God for his power and assistance; 
 from which the place had this name ^ven it, 
 the Valley of [BeTachah^ or} Blessing. 
 
 4. And when the king had brought his 
 army back to Jerusalem, he betook himself to 
 celebrate festivals, and oflfer sacrifices, and 
 this for many days ; and indeed, after this de- 
 struction of their enemies, and when it came 
 to the ears of the foreign nations, they were 
 all greatly affrighted, as supposing that God 
 would openly fight for him hereafter. So 
 Jehoshaphat from that time lived in great 
 glory and splendour, on account of his righ- 
 teousness and his piety towards God. He 
 was also in friendship with Ahab's son, who 
 was king of Israel ; and he joined with him 
 in the building of ships that were to sail to 
 Pontus and the traffic cities of Thrace;* 
 
 • What are here Pontns and Thrace, as the places 
 whither Jehoshaphat's fleet sailed, are in our other copies 
 Ophir and Tarshish, and the place whence it sailed 
 U in them Eziongeher, which lay on the Red Sea, 
 whence it was impossihle for any ships to sail to Pontus 
 or 'I'brace; so that Josephus's copy difleied Ironi our 
 other copies, as is fartlier plain from his own words, 
 whicij render what we read, that " the ships were broken 
 »t E»ionKeber, from their unwieldy grt^tness." IJul so 
 flai we may conclude, that Josephus thought one (Jphir 
 to b«i aomewhere ia the Meditarraaean, aad not in the 
 
 but he failed of his gains, for the ships wei« 
 destroyed by being so great [and unwieldy] ; 
 on which account he was no longer concerned 
 
 about shipping Atid this is the history of 
 
 Jehoshaphat, the king of Jerusalem. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CONCERNING AHA.ZIAH, THE KING OF ISRAEL; 
 AND AGAIN CONCERNING THE PROPHET 
 ELIJAH. 
 
 § 1. And now Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, 
 reigned over Israel, and made his abode in 
 Samaria. He was a wcked man, and in all 
 respects like to both his parents, and to Jero- 
 boam, who first of all transgressed, and began 
 to deceive the people. In the second year of 
 his reign, the king of Moab fell off from his 
 obedience, and left off paying those tributes 
 which he before paid to his father Ahab. Now 
 it happened that Ahaziah, as he was coming 
 down from the top of his house, fell down 
 from it, and in his sickness sent to the Fly, 
 which was the god of Ekron, for that was this 
 god's name, to inquire about his recovery :f 
 but the God of the Hebrews appeared to Eli- 
 jah the prophet, and commanded him to go 
 and meet the messengers that were sent, and 
 to ask them, whether the people of Israel had 
 not a God of their own, that the king sent to 
 a foreign god to inquire about his recovery? 
 and to bid them return and tell the king thai 
 he would not escape this disease. And when 
 Elijah had performed what God had com- 
 manded him, Jind the messengers had heard 
 what he said, they returned to the king im- 
 mediately; and when the king wondered how 
 they could return so soon, and asked them the 
 reason of it, they said that a certain man met 
 them, and forbade them to go on any farther; 
 but to return and tell thee, from the command 
 of the God of Israel, that tliis disease will have 
 a bad end. And when the king bade them 
 describe the man that said this to them, they 
 replied, that he was a hairy man^ and was girt 
 about with a girdle of leather. So the king 
 understood by this, that the man who was de- 
 scribed by the messengers was EHjah ; where- 
 upon he sent a captain to him, with fifty 
 soldiers, and commanded them to bring Elijah 
 to him ; and when the captain that was sent 
 found Elijah sitting upon the top of a hill, he 
 commanded him to come down, and to come 
 to the king, for so had he enjoined ; but that 
 in case he refused, he would carry him by 
 
 South Sea, though perhaps there micht be another 
 Ophir in tliat S( nth ^tu also, and tiiut ll. rts uiiglit then 
 sail both from I'hoen cia and from the Util St-u, to fetch 
 the gold of Ophir. 
 
 + ''rhis God of Flies seems to have been so iwlMi, ia 
 was the like god among the (Jreeks, fr«)m his s'ij>p<>s-d 
 power over flies, in driving tlu-m away (roui the Ltei '<t 
 their sacrifices, which otherwise would have beeu veij 
 troublesom* t* them. 
 
CHAP. HI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 249 
 
 fcrce. Elijah said to hira, " That you may 
 have a trial whether I be a true prophet, I will 
 pray that fire may fall from heaven, and de- 
 stroy both the soldiers and yourself."* So he 
 prayed, and a whirlwind of fire fell [from 
 heaven], and destroyed the captain and those 
 that were with him. And when the king was 
 informed of the destruction of these men, he 
 was very angry, and sent another captain \vith 
 the like number of armed men that were sent 
 before. And when this captain also threatened 
 the prophet, that unless he came down of his 
 own accord, he would take him and carry him 
 away; upon his prayer against him, the fire 
 [from heaven] slew this captain as well as the 
 other. And when, upon inquiry, the king was 
 informed of what had happened to him, he sent 
 out a third captain. But when this captain, 
 who was a \vise man, and of a mild disposition, 
 came to the place where Elijah happened to be, 
 and spake civilly to him, and said, that he knew 
 that it was without his own consent, and only in 
 submission to the king's command that he came 
 to hira ; and that those that came before did not 
 come willingly, but on the same account, — he 
 therefore desired him to have pity on those 
 armed men that were with him; and that he 
 would come down and follow him to the king. 
 So Elijah accepted of his discreet words and 
 courteous behaviour, and came down and 
 followed him. And when he came to the king, 
 he prophesied to him, and told him, that God 
 said, — " Since thou hast despised him as not 
 being God, and so unable to foretell the truth 
 about thy distemper, but hast sent to the god 
 of Ekron to inquire of him what will be the 
 end of this thy distemper, know this, that thou 
 shalt die." 
 
 2. Accordingly the king in a very little 
 time died, as Elijah had foretold; but Je- 
 boram his brother succeeded him in the king- 
 dom, for he died without children: but for 
 this Jehoram, he was like his father Ahab in 
 wickedness, and reigned twelve years, indulg- 
 ing himself in aU sorts of wickedness and im- 
 
 » It is commonly esteemed a very cruel action of Eli- 
 Ijab, when he called for fire from heaven, and consumed 
 no fewer than two captains and a hundred soldiers, and 
 this for no other crime.than obeying the orders of their 
 king, in attempting to seize him ; and it is owned by our 
 Saviour, that it was an instance of greater severity than 
 the spirit of the New Testament allows, Luke ix.*54. But 
 then we must consider, that it is not unlikely that these 
 captains and soldiers believed that they were sent to fetch 
 the prophet, that he might be put to death for foretelling 
 the death of the king, and this while they knew him to be 
 the prophet of the true Gotl, the Supreme King of Israel 
 (for they were still undei the theocracy), whicti was no 
 less than impiety, rebellion, and treason, in the highest 
 degree: nor would the command of a subaltern or inferior 
 captain, contradicting the command»of the general, when 
 the captain and the soldiers both knew it to br> so, as I 
 suppose, justify or excuse such gross rebellion and diso- 
 bedience in soldiers at this day. Accordingly, when Saul 
 commanded his guards to slay Aliimelech and the priests 
 at Nob. they knew it to be an unlawful command, and 
 would not obey it 1 Sam. xxii. 17. From which cases, 
 both officers and soldiers may learn that the commands 
 of their le.^ders or kiniis cannot justify or excuse them 
 in doing what is wicked in the sight ot (iod. or in fight- 
 ing in an unjust cause, when they know it so to be. 
 
 piety towards God, for, leaving off bis worship, 
 he worshipped foreign gods; but in other re- 
 spects he was an active man. Now at thia 
 time it was that Elijah disappeared from among 
 men, and no one knows of his death to this 
 very day; but he left behind him his disciple 
 Elisha, as we have formerly declared. And 
 indeed, as to Elijah, and as to Enoch, who 
 was before the Deluge, it is written in thf 
 sacred books that they disappeared; but so 
 that nobody knew that they died. 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 HOW JORAM AND JEHOSHAPHAT MADE AN 
 EXPEDITION AGAINST THE MOABITES; AS 
 ALSO CONCERNING THE WONDERS OF ELI- 
 SHA; AND THE DEATH OF JEHOSHAPHAT. 
 
 § 1. When Joram had taken upon him the 
 kingdom, he determined to make an expedi- 
 tion against the king of Moab, whose name 
 was Mesha; for, as we told you before, he 
 was departed from his obedience to his bro- 
 ther [Ahaziah], while he paid to his father 
 Ahab two hundred thousand sheep, with tHeir 
 fleeces of wool. When therefore he had ga- 
 thered his own army together, he sent also to 
 Jehoshaphat, and entreated him, that since he 
 had from the beginning been a friend to his 
 father, he would assist him in the war that he 
 was entering into against the Moabites, who 
 had departed from their obedience, who not 
 only himself promised to assist him, but would 
 also oblige the king of Edom, who was under 
 his authority, to make the same expedition 
 also. When Joram had received these as- 
 surances of assistance from Jehoshaphat, he 
 took his army with him, and came to Jeru- 
 salem; and when he had been sumptuously 
 entertained by the king of Jerusalem, it was 
 resolved upon by them to take their march 
 against their enemies through the wilderness 
 of Edom: and when they had taken a com- 
 pass of seven days' journey, they were in dis« 
 tress for want of water for the cattle and for 
 the army, from the mistake of their roads by 
 the guides that conducted them, insomuch 
 that they were all in an agony, especially Jo- 
 ram; and cried to God, by reason of their 
 sorrow, and [desired to know] what N^ncked- 
 ness had been committed by them that induced 
 him to deliver three kings together, with- 
 out fighting, unto the king of Moab. But Je- 
 hoshaphat, who was a righteous man, encou- 
 raged him, and bade him send to the camp 
 and know whether any prophet of God was 
 come along with them, that we might by him 
 learn from God what we should do. And 
 when one of the servants of Joram said that 
 he had seen there Elisha, the son of Sbaphat. 
 the disciple of Elijah, the three kings went to 
 nim at the entreaty of Jehoshaphat; anu 
 
260 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 when they were come at the prophet's tent, 
 which tent was pitched out of the camp, they 
 asked him, what would become of the army? 
 and Joram was particularly very pressing with 
 him about it. And when he replied to him, 
 that he should not trouble him, but go to his 
 fiither's and his mother's prophets, for they [to 
 be sure] were true prophets, — he still desired 
 ira to prophesy, and to save them. So he 
 wore by God that he would not answer him, 
 unless it were on account of Jehoshaphat, 
 who was a holy and righteous man : and 
 when, at his desire, they brought him a man 
 that could play on the psaltery, the divine 
 spirit came upon him as the music played, 
 and he commanded them to dig many trenches 
 in the valley; for, said he, "though there 
 appear neither cloud, nor wind, nor storm of 
 rain, ye shall see this river full of water, till 
 the army and the cattle be saved for you by 
 drinking of it; nor will this be all the favour 
 that you shall receive from God, but you shall 
 Iso overcome your enemies, and take the best 
 and strongest cities of the Moabites, and you 
 shall cut down their fruit-trees,* and lay waste 
 their country, and stop up their fountains and 
 rivers." 
 
 2. When the prophet had said this, the 
 next day, before the sun-rising, a great tor- 
 rent ran strongly ; for God had caused it to 
 rain very plentifully at the distance of three 
 days' jouiney into Edom, so that the army 
 and the cattle found water to drink in abun- 
 dance. But when the Moabites heard that 
 the three kings were coming upon them, and 
 made their approach through the wilderness, 
 the king of Moab gathered his army together 
 presently, and commanded them to pitch their 
 camp upon the mountains, that when the ene- 
 my should attempt to enter their country, 
 they might not be concealed from them. 
 But when, at the rising of the sun, they saw 
 the water in the torrent, for it was not far 
 from the land of Moab, and that it was of 
 the colour of blood, for at such a time the 
 water especially looks red, by the shining of 
 the sun upon it, they formed a false notion of 
 the state of their enemies, as if they had slain 
 one another for thirst; and that the river ran 
 with their blood. However, supposing that 
 this was the case, they desired their king 
 would send them out to spoil their enemies ; 
 whereupon tljey all went in haste, as to an 
 advantage already gained, and came to the 
 enemy's camp, as supposing them destroyed 
 already; but their hope deceived them, for 
 
 • This practice of cutting down, or plucking up by 
 the roots, the fruit-trees, was lorbidden, even in ordi- 
 nary wars, by the law of Moses, Ueut. xx. 19. 20; and 
 only allowed by God in this particular case, when the 
 Moabites were to be punished and cut off in an extra- 
 ordinary manner for their wickedness. See Jer. xlviii. 
 11,12, 13, and many the like prophecies against them. 
 Nothing could therefore justify this practice but a parti- 
 cular commission from <iod by his prophet, as In the 
 present case, which was ever a sulhcient warrant for 
 creaking any such ritual or ceremonial law whatsoever. 
 
 as their enemies stood round about them, 
 some of them were cut to pieces, and others 
 of them were dispersed, and fled to their own 
 country; and when the kings fell into the 
 land of Moab, they overthrew the cities that 
 were in it, and spoiled their fields, and marred 
 them, filling them vrith stones out of the 
 brooks, and cut down the best of their trees, 
 and stopped up their fountains of water, and 
 overthrew their walls to their foundations; 
 but the king of Moab, when he was pursued, 
 endured a siege, and seeing his city in dan- 
 ger of being overthrown by force, made a 
 sally, and went out with seven himdred men, 
 in order to break through the enemy's camp 
 with his horsemen, on that side where the 
 watch seemed to be kept most negligently; 
 and when, upon trial, he could not get away, — 
 for he lighted upon a place that was carefully 
 watched, — he returned into the city, and did 
 a thing that showed despair, and the utmost 
 distress; for he took his eldest son, who was 
 to reign after him, and lifting him up upon 
 the wall, that he might be visible to all the 
 enemies, he offered him as a whole burnt- 
 offering to God, whom, when the kings saw, 
 they commiserated the distress that was the 
 occasion of it, and were so affected, in way of 
 humanity and pity, that they raised the seige, 
 and every one returned to his own house. 
 So Jehoshaphat came to Jerusalem, and con- 
 tinued in peace there, and outlived this ex- 
 pedition but a little time, and then died, 
 having lived in all sixty years, and of them 
 reigned twenty-five. He was buried in a 
 magnificent manner in Jen;salem, for he had 
 imitated the actions of Dhvid. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 JEHORAM SUCCEEDS JEHOSHAPHAT; HOW JO- 
 RAM, HIS NAMESAKE, KING OF ISRAEL, 
 FOUGHT WITH THE SYRIANS; AND WHAl 
 WONDERS WERE DONE BY THE PROPHET 
 ELISHA. 
 
 § 1. Jehoshaphat had a good number of 
 children; but he appointed his eldest son, Je- 
 horam, to be his successor, who had the same 
 name with his mother's brother, that was 
 king of Israel, and the son of Ahab. Now 
 when the king of Israel was come out of the 
 land of Moab to Samaria, he had \vith him 
 Elisha the prophet, whose acts I have a mind 
 to go over partJtularly, for they were illus- 
 trious, and worthy to be related, as we have 
 them set down in the sacred books. 
 
 2. For they say that the widow of Oba- 
 diah,t Ahab's steward, came to him, and said, 
 
 + That this woman who cried to Klisha, and who, in 
 our Bible, is st>led " the wile of oi.«- of the sons of the 
 prophet"'* S Kings iv. 1, was n, oi(.er ttmu lb« widow 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 251 
 
 that he was not igpnorant how her husband had 
 preserved the prophets that were to be slain 
 by Jezebel, the wife of Ahab; for she said that 
 he hid a hundred of them, and had borrowed 
 money for their maintenance, and that, after 
 her husband's death, she and her children were 
 carried away to be made slaves by the credi- 
 tors; and she desired of him to have mercy 
 upon her on account of what her husband did, 
 and afford her some assistance. And when he j 
 asked her what she had in the house, she said, I 
 " Nothing but a very small quantity of oil in j 
 a cruise." So the prophet bid her go away, . 
 and borrow a great many empty vessels of her 
 neighbours, and when she had shut her chara- i 
 ber-door, to pour the oil into them all; for 
 that God would fill them full. And when the | 
 woman had done what she was commanded to 
 do, and bade her children bring every one of 
 the vessels, and all were filled, and not one 
 left empty, she came to the prophet, and told 
 him that they were all full ; upon which he 
 advised her to go away, and sell the oil, and 
 pay the creditors what was owing to them, 
 for that there would be some surplus of the 
 price of the oil, which she might make use of 
 for the maintenance of her children ; — and thus 
 did Elisha discharge the woman's debts, and 
 free her from the vexation of her creditors. 
 
 3. Elisha also sent a hasty message to Jo- 
 ram,* and exhorted him to take care of that 
 
 of Obadiah, the good steward of Ahab, is confirmed by 
 the Chaldee paraphrast, and by the Rabbins and others. 
 Nor is that unhkelv which Josephus lieie adds, that those 
 debts were contracted by her husband lor the support of 
 those ''hundred o; tae Lord's propjats, wh' m he main- 
 tained by fifty in a cave,*" n th? days of Ahab and Jeee- 
 bel. 1 Kings xviii. 4- vhich circumstance rendered it 
 highly fit that the propnet Eiisna snould provide her a 
 remedy, and enable her to redeem herself and her sons 
 from the fear of that slavery which insolvent debtors were ! 
 liable to by the law of Wases, Leviticus xxv. 39; Matt, 
 xviii. 25; which he did accordingly, with God's help, at 
 the expense of a miracle. 
 
 • Ur. Hudson, w:*h Vity eocd reason, suspects, that 
 there is no small aerect in our prt-sent copiesof Josephus, 
 just befi»re the beginning of this section ; and chiefly, as 
 to Vm distin.* account which he had given us reason to 
 expect in the first section, and to which he seems to I 
 refer (en. viiL sect. 6;, concerning the glorious miracles I 
 which klisha wrought, which indeed in our Bibles are not | 
 a few 12 Kings iv. to ix.) ; but of which we have several 
 od'tted in Josephus's present copies. One of tho«e his- 
 tories omitted at present, was evidently in his Bible, I 
 mean that of the curing of Naaman's leprosy (2 Kings 
 v.); for he plainly alludes to it (b. iii. chap. xi. sect 4), 
 where he observes, that "there were lepers in many na- 
 tions who yet have been in honour, and not only free from 
 reproach and avoidance, but who have been great cap- 
 tains of armies, and been intrusted v/ith high offices in 
 the commonwealth, and have had the privilege of enter- 
 ing into holy places and temples." But what makes me 
 most to regret the want of that history in our present 
 copies of Josephus is this, that we have here, as it is com- 
 monly understood, one of the greatest difficulties in all 
 the Bible, that in 2 Kings v. 18, 19. where Naaman. after 
 he had been miraculously cured by a prophet of the true 
 God, and had thereupon promised (ver. 17) that '• he 
 would henceforth oflier neither burnt-oflerings nor sacri- 
 fices unto other gods, but unto the Lord, adds, in 'his 
 thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when my m.-wter 
 goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he 
 lea: eth on my hands, and I bow down myself in the I 
 nouse of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in thih | 
 thing; and Elisha said. Go in peace." This looks like a 
 prophtJfs permission lor bein? partaker in idolatry itself, j 
 oat of compliance with an idolatrous court. | 
 
 place, for that therein were some Syrians lying 
 in ambush to kill him. So the king did as the % 
 prophet exhorted him, and avoided his going 
 a-hunting; and when Benhadad missed of 
 the success of his lying in ambush, he was 
 wroth with his own servants, as if they had 
 betrayed his ambushment to Joram; and he 
 sent for them, and said they were the betrayer 
 of his secret counsels; and he threatened tha 
 he would put them to death, since such their 
 practice was evident, because be had intrusted 
 this secret to none but them, and yet it was 
 made known to his enemy: and when one that 
 was present said, that he should not mistake 
 himself, nor susj)ect that they had discovered 
 to his enemy his senviing men to kill him, but 
 that he ought to know that it was Elisha the 
 prophet who discovered all to him, and laid 
 open all his counsels. So he gave order that 
 they should send some to learn in what city 
 Elisha dwelt. Accordingly, those that were 
 sent brought word that he was in Dothan; 
 wherefore Benhadad sent to that city a great 
 army, with horses and chariots, to take Elisha; 
 so they encompassed the city round about by 
 night, and kept him therein confined ; "but 
 when the prophet's servant in the morning 
 perceived this, and that his enemies sought to 
 take Elisha, he came running, and crying out 
 after a disordered manner to him, and told him 
 of it; bu* he encouraged him, and bade him 
 not be afraid, and to despise the enemy, and 
 trust in the assistance of God, and was himself 
 without fear; and he besought God to make 
 manifest to his Servant his power and presence, 
 so far as was possible, in order to the inspiring 
 him with hope and courage. Accordingly, 
 God heard the prayer of the prophet, and made 
 the servant see a multitude of chariots and 
 horses encompassing Elisha, till he laid aside 
 his fear, and his courage revived at the sight 
 of what he supposed was come to their assist- 
 ance. After this, Elisha did farther entreat 
 God that he would dim the eyes of their ene- 
 mies, and cast a mist before them, whereby 
 they might not discern him. When this was 
 done, he went into the midst of his enemies, 
 and asked them who it was that they came to 
 seek; and when they replied, " The prophet 
 Elisha," he promised he would deliver him to 
 them, if they would follow him to the city 
 where he was. So these men were so darkened 
 by God in their sight and in their mind, that 
 they followed him very diligently; and when 
 Elisha had brought them to Samaria, he or- 
 dered Joram the king to shut the gates, and to 
 place his own army round about them: and 
 prayed to God to clear the eyes of these their 
 enemies, and take the mist from before them. 
 Accordingly, when they were freed from the 
 obscurity they had been in, they saw them- 
 selves in the midst of their enemies; and as 
 the Syrians were strangely amazed and dis- 
 tressed, as was but reasonable, at an action so 
 divine and surprising ; and as king Joram 
 
262 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 — BOOK IX. 
 
 asked the prophet if he would give him leave 
 to shoot at them, Elisha forbade him so to 
 do;' and said, that "it is just to kill those 
 that are taken in battle; but that these men 
 had done the country no harm, but, without 
 knowing it, were come thither by the Divine 
 Power." — So that his counsel was to treat 
 them in an hospitable manner at his table, and 
 *.hen send them away without hurting them.* 
 Wherefore Joram obeyed the proT!)het; and 
 when he had feasted the Syrians in a splendid 
 and magnificent manner, he let them go to 
 Benhadad, their king. 
 
 4. Now when these men were come back, 
 and had showed Benhadad how strange an 
 accident had befallen them, and what an ap- 
 pearance and power they had experienced of 
 the God of Israel, he wondered at it, as also 
 at that prophet with whom God was so evi- 
 dently present: so he determined to make no 
 more secret attempts upon the king of Israel, 
 out of fear of Elisha, but resolveil to make 
 open war with them, as supposing he could 
 be too hard for his enemies by the multitude 
 of his army and power. So he made an ex- 
 pedition with a great army against Joram, 
 who, not thinking himself a match for him, 
 shut himself up in Samaria, and depended on 
 the strength of its walls; but Benhadad sup- 
 posed he should take the city, if not by his 
 engines of war, yet that he should* overcome 
 the Samaritans by famine, and the want of 
 necessaries, and brought his army upon them, 
 and besieged the city; and the plenty of ne- 
 cessaries was brought so low with Joram, that 
 from the extremity of want, an ass's head was 
 sold in Samaria for fourscore pieces of silver; 
 and the Hebrews bought a sextary of. dove's 
 dung, instead of salt, for five pieces of silver. 
 Now Joram was in fear lest somebody should 
 betray the city to the enemy, by reason of the 
 famine, and went every day round the walls 
 and the guards, to see whether any such were 
 concealed among them; and by being thus 
 seen, and taking such care, he deprived them 
 of the opportunity of contriving any such 
 thing; and if they had a mind to do it, he by 
 this means prevented them; but upon a cer- 
 tain woman's crying.out, " Have pity on me, 
 my Lord," while he thought that she was 
 about to ask for somewhat to eat, he impre- 
 cated God's curse upon her, and said, he had 
 neither thrashing-floor nor wine-press, whence 
 he might give her any thing at her petition. 
 Upon which she said, she did not desire his 
 aid in any such thing, nor trouble him about 
 food, but desired that he would do her justice 
 as to another woman ; and when he bade her 
 
 • Upon occasion of this stratagem of Elisha, in Jo- 
 seplius. we take notice, that althoui;h JoMephus was one 
 ol the greatest lovers of truth in the world, yet, in a just 
 war, he seems to have had no manner of scruple upon 
 hina, by all such stratagems possible, to deceive public 
 fnemies. See this Josephus's account of Jeremiah's 
 imposition on the great men of the Jews in somewhsit a 
 tike caM, Antiq. b. x. ch. vii. sect. G: 2 Sam. xvi. 16, &r.. 
 
 say on, and let him know what she desired, 
 she said, she bad made an agreement with the 
 other women, who was her neighbour and her 
 friend, that because the famine and the want 
 was intolerable, they should kill their children, 
 each of them having a son of their own, " and 
 we will live upon them ourselves for two days, 
 — the one day upon one son, and the other 
 day upon the other; and," said she, " I have 
 killed my son the first day, and we lived upon 
 my son yesterday; but this other woman will 
 not do the same thing, but hath broken her 
 agreement, and hath hid her son." This story 
 mightily grieved Joram when he heard it; so 
 he rent his garment, and cried out with a loud 
 voice, and conceived great wrath against Eli- 
 sha the prophet, and set himself eagerly to 
 have him slain, because he did not pray to 
 God to provide them some exit and way. of 
 escape out of the miseries with which they 
 were surrounded; and sent one away imme- 
 diately to cut off his head, who made haste 
 to kill the prophet; but Elisha was not unac- 
 quainted with the wrath of the king against 
 him; for as he satin his house by himself, 
 with none but his disciples about him, he told 
 them that Joram, f who was the son of a mur- 
 derer, had sent one to take away his head; 
 " but," said he, ** when he that is commanded 
 to do this comes, take care that you do not 
 let him come in, but press the door against 
 him, and hold him fast there, for the king 
 himself will follow him, and come to me, 
 having altered his mind." Accordingly, they 
 did as they were bidden, when he that was 
 sent by the king to kill Elisha came; but Jo- 
 ram repented of his wrath against the pro- 
 phet; and for fear he that was commanded to 
 kill him should have done it before he came, 
 he made haste to hinder his slaughter, and to 
 save the prophet: and when he came to him, 
 he accused him that he did not pray to God 
 for their deliverance from the miseries they 
 now lay under, but saw them so sadly destroy, 
 ed by them. Hereupon Elisha promised, 
 that the very next day, at the very same nour 
 in which the king came to him, they should 
 have great plenty of food, and that two seahs 
 of barley should be sold in the market for a 
 shekel, and a seah of fine flour should be sold 
 for a shekel. This prediction made Joram, 
 and those that were present, very joyful, for 
 they did not scruple believing what the pro- 
 phet said, on account of the experience they 
 had of the truth of his former predictions ; 
 and the expectation of plenty made the want 
 they were in that day, with the uneasiness 
 
 + This son of a murderer was Joram, the son of A hob; 
 whom Ahab slew, or permitted his wife Jezel)el to slay, 
 the Lord's prophets, and Nabotli (I Kings xviii. 4; xxi. 
 ly); and he is here called by this name, I siippofe. be- 
 cause he had now also himself sent an officer to murder 
 him J yet is Josephus's account of Joram's coming him- 
 self at last, as repenting of his intended cruelty, murh 
 more pri)hahle than that in our copies 2 Kings vi. ^3^ 
 which rather iaiplics the contrary. 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTlQLITinf? OF THE JEWS. 
 
 253 
 
 that accompanied it, appear a light thing to 
 them; but the captain of the third band, who 
 was a friend of the king, and on whose hand 
 the king leaned, said, " Thou talkest of in- 
 credible things, O prophet 1 for as it is im- 
 possible for God to pour down torrents of 
 barley, of- &ie flour, out of heaven, so is it im- 
 possible that what thou sayest should come to 
 pass." To which the prophet made this re- 
 ply: " Thou shalt see these things come to 
 
 pass, but thou shalt hot be in the least a par- 
 taker of them." 
 
 5. Now what Elisba had thus foretold 
 came to pass in the manner following: — 
 There was a law at Samaria,* that those that 
 bad the leprosy, and whose bodies were not 
 cleansed from it, should abide without the 
 city. And there were four men that on this 
 account abode before the gates, while nobody 
 gave them any food, by reason of the extremity 
 of the famine; and as they were prohibited 
 from entering into the city by the law, and 
 they considered that if they were permitted 
 to enter, they would miserably perish by the 
 famine; as also, that if they staid where they 
 were, they should suffer in the same manner, 
 — they resolved to deliver themselves up to 
 the enemy, that in case they should spare 
 them, they should live ; but if they should be 
 killed, that would be an easy death. So when 
 they had confirmed this their resolution, they 
 came by night to the enemy's cam.p. Now 
 God had begun to affright and disturb the 
 Syrians, and to bring the noise of chariots 
 and armour to their ears, as though an army 
 were coming upon them, and had made them 
 suspect that it was coming nearer and nearer 
 to them. In short, they were in such a dread 
 of this army, that they left their tents, and 
 ran together to Benhadad, and said, that Jo- 
 ram, the king of Israel, had hired for auxilia- 
 ries both the king of Egypt and the king of 
 the Islands, and led them against them; for 
 they heard the noise of them as they were 
 coming; and Benhadad believed what they 
 said (for there came the same noise to his ears 
 as well as it did to theirs) ; so they fell into a 
 mighty disorder and tumult, and left th^r 
 .horses and beasts in their camp, with immense 
 riches also, and betook themselves to flight. 
 And those lepers who had departed from Sa- 
 maria, and were gone to the camp of the Sy- 
 rians, of whom we made mention a little be- 
 fore, when tht-y were in the camp, saw nothing 
 but great quietness and silence; accordingly 
 they entered into it, and went hastily into one 
 of their tents; and when they saw nobody 
 there, they eat and drank, and carried gar- 
 ments, and a great quantity of gold, and hid 
 it out of the camp; after which they went 
 into another tent, and carried off what was in 
 it, as they did at the former, and this did they 
 
 • This law of the Jews for the exclusion of lepers out 
 of the camp in the wilderness, and out of cities in Judfca, 
 tt a known one, Lev. xiii. 46; Numb. t. 1—4. 
 
 for several times, without the least interrup- 
 tion from any body; so they gathered thereby 
 that the enemies were departed; whereupon 
 they reproached themselves that they did not 
 inform Joram and the citizens of it. So they 
 came to the walls of Samaria, and called 
 aloud to the watchmen, and told them in what 
 state the enCTnies were, as did these tell the 
 king's guards, by whose means Joram came 
 to know of it; who then sent for his friends, 
 and the captains of his host, and said to them, 
 that he suspected that this departure of the 
 king of Syria was by way of ambush and 
 treachery; "and that out of despair of ruin- 
 ing you by famine, when you imagine them 
 to be fled away, you may come out of the 
 city to spoil their camp, and he may then fall 
 upon you on a sudden, and may both kill 
 you, and take the city without fighting; — 
 whence it is that I exhort you to guard the 
 city carefully, and by no means to go out of 
 it, or proudly to despise your enemies, as 
 though they were really gone away." And 
 when a certain person said, that he did very 
 well and ^visely to admit such a suspicion, but 
 that he still advised him to send a couple of 
 horsemen to search all the country as far as 
 Jordan, that " if they were seized by an am- 
 bush of the enemy, they might be a security 
 to your army, that they may not go out as if 
 they suspected nothing, nor undergo the like 
 misfortune; and," said he, "those horsemen 
 may be numbered among those tb^t have died 
 by the famine, supposing they b^ caught and 
 destroyed by the enemy." So Ine king was 
 pleased with this opinion, and sent such as 
 might search out the truth, who performed 
 their journey over a road that was without 
 any enemies; but found it full of provisions, 
 and of weapons, that they had therefore 
 thrown away, and left behind them, in order 
 to their being fight and expeditious in their 
 flight. When the king heard "this, he sent 
 out the multitude to take the spoils of the 
 camp; which gains of theirs were not of 
 things of small value; but they took a great 
 quantity of gold, and a great quantity of sil- 
 ver, and flocks of all kinds of cattle. They 
 also possessed themselves of [so many] ten 
 thousand measures of wheat and barley, as 
 they never in the least dreamed of; and were 
 not only freed from their former miseries, but^ 
 had such plenty that two seahs of barley 
 were bought for a shekel, and a seah of tine 
 flour for a shekel, according to the prophecy 
 of Elisha. Now a seah is equal to aix Italian 
 modius and a half. The captain of the third 
 band was the only man that received no be- 
 nefit by this plenty; for as he was appointed 
 by the king to oversee the gate, that he might 
 prevent the too great crowd of the multitude, 
 and they might not endanger one ani>ther to 
 perish, by treading on one another in the press, 
 he suffered himself in that very way, and died 
 in that very manner, as Efisha had foretold 
 
254 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 this his death, when he alone of them all dis- 
 believed what he said concerning that plenty 
 of provisions which they should soon have. 
 
 6. Hereupon, when Benhadad, the king of 
 Syria, had escaped to Damascus, and under- 
 stood that it was God himself that cast all his 
 army into this fear and disorder, and that it 
 did not arise from the invasion of enemies, he 
 was mightily cast down at his "having God so 
 greatly for his enemy, and fell into a distem- 
 per. Now it happened that Elisha the pro- 
 phet, at that time, was gone out of his own 
 country to Damascus, of which Benhadad 
 was informed ; he sent Hazael, the most 
 faithful of all his servants, to meet him, and 
 to carry him presents; and bade him inquire 
 of him about his distemper, and whether he 
 should escape the danger that it threatened. 
 So Hazael came to Elisha with forty camels, 
 that carried the best and most precious fruits 
 that the country of Damascus afforded, as 
 well as those which the king's palace sup- 
 plied. He saluted him kindly, and said, 
 that he was sent to him by king Benhadad, 
 and brought presents with him, in order to 
 inquire concerning his distemper, whether he 
 should recover from it or not. Whereupon 
 the prophet bade him tell the king no melan- 
 choly news; but still he said he would die. 
 So the king's servant was troubled to hear it; 
 and Elisha wept also, and his tears ran down 
 plenteously at his foresight of what miseries 
 his people would undergo after the death of 
 Benhadad; and when Hazael asked him what 
 was the occasion of this confusion he was 
 in, he said, that he wept out of commisera- 
 tion for the multitude of the Israelites, and 
 what terrible miseries they, will suffer by 
 thee; " for thou wilt slay the strongest of 
 them, and wilt burn their strongest cities, and 
 wilt destroy their children, and dash them 
 against the stones, and wilt rip up their wo- 
 men with child." And when Hazael said, 
 •' How can it be that I should have power 
 enough to do such things?" the prophet re- 
 plied, that God had informed him that he 
 should be king of Syria. So when Hazael 
 was come to Benhadad, he told him good 
 news concerning his distemper;* but on the 
 next day he spread a wet cloth, in the nature 
 of a net, over him, and strangled him, and 
 took his dominion. He was an active man, 
 and had the good- will of the Syrians, and of 
 the people of Damascus, to a great degree; 
 by whom both Benhadad himself, and Ha- 
 zael, who ruled after him, are honoured to 
 • Since Elijuh did not live to anoint Hazael kins; of 
 Syria hioiself, as he was empowered to do (I Kinjjs xix. 
 13), it was most probably now done, in his name, by 
 his servant and successor Flish.i; nor does it seem to 
 me otherwise, but that Ber.Sadad immediiitely recovered 
 "jf his disease, as the prophet foretold ; and that Hazael, 
 upon his beint; anointed to succeed him, thout^h he 
 oufcht to have staid till he died by the course of nature, 
 or some other way of divine punishment, as did David 
 for many years in the like case, was loo impatient, and 
 the very next day smothered or strangled him, in order 
 to come directly to tbe succewion. 
 
 this day as gods, by reason of their benefac- 
 tions, and their building them temples by 
 which they adorned the city of the Damas- 
 cens. They also every day do with greet 
 pomp, pay their worship to these kings,f and 
 value themselves upon their antiquity; nor 
 do they know that these kings are much later 
 than they imagine, and that they are not yet 
 eleven hundred years old. Now when Jo- 
 ram, the king of Israel, heard that Benhadad 
 was dead, he recovered out of the terror and 
 dread he had been in on his account, and was 
 very glad to live in peace. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONCERNING THE WICKEDNESS OF JEHORAM, 
 KING OF JERUSALEM; HIS DEFEAT, AND 
 DEATH. 
 
 § 1. Now Jehoram, the king of Jerusalem, 
 for we have said before that he had the same 
 name with the king of Israel, as soon as he 
 had taken the government upon him, betook 
 himself to the slaughter of his brethren and 
 his father's friends, who were governors under 
 him, and thence made a beginning, and a 
 demonstration of his wickedness; nor was he 
 at all better than those kings of Israel who at 
 first transgressed against the laws of their 
 country, and of the Hebrews, and against 
 God's worship : and it was Athalia, the 
 daughter of Ahab, whom he had married, 
 who taught him to be a bad man in other 
 respects, and also to worship foreign gods. 
 Now God would not quite root out this fa- 
 mily, because of the promise he had made to 
 David. However, Jehoram did not leave off 
 the introduction of new sorts of customs to 
 the propagation of impiety, and to the ruin 
 of the customs of his own country. And 
 when the Edomites about that time had re- 
 volted from him, and slain their former king, 
 who was in subjection to his father, and had 
 set up one of their own choosing, Jehoram 
 fell upon the land of Edom, with the horse- 
 men that were about him, and the chariots, 
 by night, and destroyed those that lay near 
 to his own kingdom ; but did not proceed 
 farther. However, this expedition did him 
 
 + What M. Le Clerc pretends here, that it is more 
 probable that Hazael and his son were worshipped by 
 the Syrians and people of Damascus till the days of .?o- 
 sephus, than Benhadad and Hazael, because under llen- 
 hadad they had greatly suffered, and because it is almost 
 incredible, that both a king and that kinij's murderer 
 should be worshipped by the same Syrians, is of Mule 
 force against those records, out of which Josephus drew 
 this history, especially when it is likely that they thought 
 klenhadad died of the distemper he laboured under, and 
 not by Hazael's treachery. Besides, the reason that 
 Josephus gives for this adoration, that these two kings 
 had been great benefactors to the inhabitants of Damas- 
 cus, and had built them temples, is loo remote from the 
 political suspicions of I^ Clerc; nor ought such weak 
 suspicions to be deemed of any force" against authcntiK 
 testimonies of antiquity. 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 255 
 
 no service, for they all revolted from him, 
 with those that dwelt in the country of Lib- 
 nah. He was indeed so mad as to compel 
 the people to go up to the high places of the 
 mountains, and worship foreign gods. 
 
 2. As he was doing this, and had entirely 
 cast his own country laws out of his mind, 
 there was brought him an epistle from Eli- 
 jah the prophet,* which declared, that God 
 would execute great judgments upon him, 
 because he had not imitated his own fathers, 
 but had followed the wicked courses of the 
 kings of Israel; and had compelled the tribe 
 of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem to 
 leave the holy worship of their own God, and 
 to worship idols, as Ahab had compelled the 
 Israelites to do, and because he had slain his 
 brethren, and the men that were good and 
 righteous. And the prophet gave him notice 
 in this epistle what punishment he should 
 undergo for these crimes, namely, the destruc- 
 tion of his people, \vith the corruption of the 
 king's own \vives and children; and that he 
 should himself die of a distemper in his bow- 
 els, with long torments, those his bowels fall- 
 ing out by the violence of the inward rotten- 
 ness of the parts, insomuch that, though he 
 see his own misery, he shall not be able at 
 all to help himself, but shall die in that man- 
 ner. This it was which Elijah denounced to 
 him in that epistle. 
 
 3. It was not long after this that an army 
 of those Arabians that lived near to Ethiopia, 
 and of the Philistines, fell upon the kingdom 
 of Jehoram, and spoiled the country and the 
 king's house; moreover, they slew his sons 
 and his wives; one only of his sons was left 
 him, who escaped the enemy; his name was 
 Ahaziah; after which calamity, he himself 
 fell into that disease which was foretold by 
 the prophet, and lasted a great while (for God 
 inflicted this punishment upon him in his 
 beUy, out of his \vrath against him), and so he 
 died miserably, and saw his own bowels fall 
 out. The people also abused his dead body; 
 I suppose it was because they thought that 
 such his death came upon him by the wrath 
 of God, and that therefore he was not worthy 
 to partake of such a funeral as became kings. 
 Accordingly, they neither buried him in the 
 sepulchres of his fathers, nor vouchsafed him 
 any honours, but buried him like a private man, 
 and this when he had lived forty years, and 
 reigned eight; and the people of Jerusalem 
 delivered the government to his son Ahaziah. 
 
 • This epistle, in some copies of Josephas, is said to 
 corae to Joram from Elijah, with this addition, "for he 
 was yet upon earth;" which could not be true of Elijah, 
 who, as all a^ree, was gone from the earth above four 
 years befjre, and could only be true of Elisha; nor per- 
 haps is there any more mystery here, than that the name 
 of Elijaii has very anciently crept into the text instead of 
 E'isha, by the copiers, there being nothiQ); in any copy 
 » that epistle peculiar to Elijah. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW JEHU WAS ANOINTED KING, AND SLEW 
 BOTH JORAM AND AHAZIAH; A3 ALSO 
 WHAT HE DID FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF 
 THE WICKED. 
 
 § 1. Now tjoram, the king of Israel, after the 
 death of Benhadad, hoped that he might now 
 take Ramoth, a city of Gilead, from the Sy- 
 rians. Accordingly, he made an expedition 
 against it, with a great army; but as he was be- 
 sieging it, an arrow was shot at him by one of 
 the Syrians, but the wound was not mortal; so 
 he returned to have his wound healed in Jez- 
 reel, but left his whole army in Ramoth, — 
 and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, for their general; 
 for he had already taken the city by force; 
 and he proposed, after he was healed, to make 
 war with, the Syrians; but Elisha the prophet 
 sent one of his disciples to Ramoth, and gave 
 him holy oil to anoint Jehu, and to tell Lim 
 that God had chosen him to be their king. 
 He also sent him to say other things to him, 
 and bade him to take his journey as if he fled, 
 that when he came away he might escape the 
 knowledge of all men. So when he was 
 come to the city, he found Jehu sitting in the 
 midst of the captains of the army, as Elisha 
 had foretold he should find him. So he came 
 up to him, and said that he desired to speak 
 with him about certain matters; and when 
 he was arisen, and had followed him into an 
 inward chamber, the young man took the oil, 
 and poured it on his head, and said that God 
 ordained him to be king, in order to his de- 
 stroying the house of Ahab, and that he might 
 revenge the blood of the prophets that were 
 unjustly slain by Jezebel, that so their house 
 might utterly perish, as those of Jeroboam 
 the son of Nebat and of Baasha had perished 
 for their wickedness, and no seed might re- 
 main of Ahab's family. So when he had 
 said this, he went away hastily out of the 
 chamber, and endeavoured not to be seen by 
 any of the army. 
 
 2. But Jehu came out, and went to the 
 place where he before sat with the captains; 
 and when they asked him, and desijjed him 
 to tell them wherefore it was that this young 
 man canie to him, and added withal that 
 he was mad, he replied, — " You guess right; 
 for the words he spake were the words of 
 a madman:" — and when they were eager 
 about the matter, and desired he would tell 
 them, he answered, that God had said he had 
 chosen him to be king over the multitude. 
 When he had said this, every one of them put 
 off his garment,! and strewed it under him, 
 and blew with trumpets, and gave notice that 
 
 + Spanheim here notes, that this puttings off men's 
 garments, and strewing them under a king, was an 
 eastern custom, which he bad elsewhere explained. 
 
256 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 Jehu was king. So when he had gotten the 
 army together, he was preparing to set out 
 immediately against Joram, at the city of 
 Jezreel, in which city, as we said before, he 
 was heahng of the wound which he had re- 
 ceived in the siege of Ramoth. It happened 
 also that Ahaziah, king of Jerusalem, was now 
 come to Joram, for he was his sister's son, as 
 we have said already, to see how he did after 
 his wound, and this upon account of their kin- 
 dred: but as Jehu was desirous to fall upon 
 Joram and those with him on the sudden, he 
 desired that none of the soldiers might run 
 away, and tell to Joram what had happened ; for 
 that this would be an evident demonstration 
 of their kindness to him, and would show that 
 their real inclinations were to make him king. 
 3. So they were pleased with what he 
 did, and guarded the roads, lest somebody 
 should privately tell the thing to those that 
 were at Jezreel. Now Jehu took bis choice 
 horsemen, and sat upon his chariot, and 
 went on for Jezreel; and when he was come 
 near, the watchman whom Joram had set 
 there to spy out such as came to the city, 
 saw Jehu marching on, and told Joram that 
 he saw a troop of horsemen marching on. 
 Upon which he immediately gave orders, that 
 one of his horsemen should be sent out to 
 meet them, and to know who it was that was 
 coming. So when the horseman came up to 
 Jehu, he asked him in what condition the army 
 was, for that the king wanted to knovv^ it; but 
 Jehu bade him not at all to meddle with such 
 matters, but to foUow him. When the watch- 
 man saw this, he told Joram that the horse- 
 man had mingled himself among the com- 
 pany, and came along with them. And when 
 the king had sent a^ second messenger, Jehu 
 commanded him to do as the former did ; and 
 as soon as the watchman told this also to Jo- 
 ram, he at last got upon his chariot himself, 
 together with Ahaziah, the king of Jerusa- 
 lem; for, as we said before, he was there to 
 see how Joram did, after he had been wound- 
 ed, as being his relation. So he went out to 
 meet Jehu, who marched slowly,* and in good 
 order; and when Joram met him in the field 
 of Naboth, he asked him if all things were 
 well in the camp; but Jehu reproached him 
 bitterly, and ventured to call his mother a 
 witch and a harlot. Upon this the king fear- 
 ing what he intended, and suspecting he had 
 no good meaning, turned his chariot about as 
 soon as he could, and said to Ahaziah, " We 
 are fought against by deceit and treachery." 
 
 * Our copies say that this "driving of the chariots 
 was liiie the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi; for 
 he driveth furiously," 2 Kings ix, 20; whereas Jose- 
 phu&'s copy, as he understood it, was this, that, ou the 
 contrary, Jehu marched slowly and in good order. Nor 
 can it be denied, that since there was an interval enough 
 for king Joram to send out two horsemen, one alter 
 another, to Jehu, and at length to go out with king 
 Ahaziah to meet him, and all this after he was come 
 within sight of the watchman, and before he was come 
 to Jexrcvl, the probability is greatly on the side of Jose- 
 phui'* copy or iaterpr^tation. 
 
 But Jehu drew his bow, and smote him, the 
 arrow going through his heart: so Joram fell 
 down immediately on his knee, and gave up 
 the ghost. Jehu also gave or(i»rs to Bidkar, 
 the captain of the third part of his arniy, to 
 cast the dead body of Joram into the field of 
 Naboth, putting him in mind of the prophecy 
 which Elijah prophesied to Ahab his father, 
 when he had slain Naboth, that both he and 
 his family should perish in that place; for 
 that as they sat behind Ahab's chariot, they 
 heard the prophet say so, and that it was now 
 come to pass according to his prophecy. Upon 
 the fall of Joram, Ahaziah was afraid of his 
 own life, and turned his chariot into another 
 road, supposing he should not be seen by 
 Jehu; but he followed after him, and over- 
 took him at a certain acclivity, and drew his 
 bow, and wounded him ; so he left his chariot., 
 and got upon his horse, and fled from Jehu 
 to Megiddo; and though he was under care, 
 in \a little time he died of that wound, and 
 was carried to Jerusalem, and buried there, 
 after he had reigned one year, and had proved 
 a wicked man, and worse than his father. 
 
 4. Now when Jehu was come to Jezreel, 
 Jezebel adorned herself and stood upon a 
 tower, and said, he was a fine servant that 
 had killed his master I And when he looked 
 up to her, he asked who she was, and com- 
 manded her to come down to him. At last 
 he ordered the eunuchs to throw her down 
 from the tower; and being thrown down, 
 she besprinkled the wall with her blood, and 
 was trodden upon by the horses, and so died. 
 When this was done, Jehu came to the pa- 
 lace with his friends, and took some refresh- 
 ment after his journey, both with other things, 
 and by eating a meal. He also bade his ser- 
 vants to take up Jezebel and bury her, be- 
 cause of the nobility of her blood, for she was 
 descended from kings; but those that were 
 appointed to bury her found nothing else re- 
 maining but the extreme parts of her body, 
 for all the rest were eaten by dogs. When 
 Jehu heard this, he admired the prophecy of 
 Elijah, for he foretold that she should perish 
 in this manner at Jezreel. 
 
 5. Now Ahab had seventy sons brought up 
 in Samaria. So Jehu sent two epistles, the 
 one to them that brought up the children, the 
 other to the rulers of Samaria, which said, that 
 they should set up the most valiant of Ahab's 
 sons for king, for that they had abundance of 
 chariots, and horses, and armour, and a great 
 army, and fenced cities, and that by so doing 
 they might avenge the murder of Ahab. This 
 he wrote to try the intentions of those of Sa- 
 maria. Now when the rulers, and those that 
 had brought up the children, had read the 
 letter, they were afraid; and considering that 
 they were not at all able to oppose him, who 
 had already subdued two very great kings, 
 they returned him this answer: — That they 
 owned him tor their lord, and would do whaU 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 257 
 
 soever he bade them. So he wrote back to 
 them such a reply as enjoined them to obey 
 what he gave order for, and to cut off the 
 heads of Ahab's sons, and send them to him. 
 Accordingly the rulers sent for those that 
 brought up the sons of Ahab, and command- 
 ed them to slay them, to cut off their heads, 
 and send them to Jehu. So they did what- 
 soever they were commanded, without orait- 
 tifig any thing at all, and put them up in 
 wicker baskets, and sent them to Jezreel. 
 And when Jehu, as he was at supper with his 
 friends, was informed that the heads of Ahab's 
 sons were brought, he ordered them to make 
 two heaps of them, one before each of the 
 gates; and in the morning he went out to take 
 a view of them, and when he saw them, he 
 began to say to the people that were present, 
 that he did himself make an expedition against 
 his master [Joram], and slew him; but that 
 it was not he that slew all these: and he de- 
 ♦ sired them to take notice, that as to Ahab's 
 family, all things had come to pass according' 
 to God's prophecy, and his house was perished, 
 according as Elijah had foretold. And when 
 he had farther destroyed all the kindred of 
 Ahab that were found in Jezreel, he went to 
 Samaria; and as he was upon the road, he 
 met the relations of Ahaziah, king of Jeru- 
 salem, and asked them whither they were 
 going? they replied, that they came to salute 
 Joram, and their own king Ahaziah, for they 
 knew not that he had slain them both. So 
 Jehu gave orders that they should catch these 
 and kill them, being in number forty-two 
 persons. 
 
 6. After these, there met him a good and 
 a righteous man, whose name was Jehonadab, 
 and who had been his friend of old. He sa- 
 luted Jehu, and began to commend him, be- 
 cause he bad done every thing according to 
 the will of God, in extirpating the house of 
 Ahab. So Jehu desired him to come up into 
 his chariot, and make his entry with him into 
 Samaria, and told him that he would not 
 spare one \Nacked man, but would punish the 
 false prophets and false priests, and those that 
 deceived the multitude, and persuaded them 
 to leave the worship of God Almighty, and 
 to worship foreign gods ; and that it was a 
 most excellent and a most pleasing sight to a 
 good and a righteous man to see the wicked 
 punished. So Jehonadab was persuaded by 
 these arguments, and came up into Jehu's 
 chariot, and came to Samaria. And Jehu 
 sought out for all Ahab's kindred, and slew 
 them. And being desirous that none of the 
 false prophets, nor the priests of Ahab's god, 
 might escape punishment, he caught them de- 
 ceitfully by this wile : for he gathered all the 
 people together, and said, that he would wor- 
 ship twice as many gods as Ahab worshipped, 
 and desired that his priests, and prophets, and 
 servants, might be present, because he would 
 offer cost);; and great sacrifices to Ahab's god; 
 
 and that if any of his priests were wanting, 
 they should be punished with death. Now 
 Ahab's god was called Baal; and when he 
 had appointed a day on which he would offer 
 these sacrifices, he sent messengers through 
 .all the country of the Israelites, that they 
 might bring the priests of Baal to him. So 
 Jehu commanded to give all the priests vest- 
 ments; and when they had received them, he 
 went into the house [of Baal"j, with his friend 
 Jehonadab, and gave orders to make search 
 whether there were not any foreigner or stran- 
 ger among them, for he would ^ave no one of 
 a different religion to mix among their sacred 
 offices. And when they said that there was 
 no stranger there, and they were beginning 
 their sacrifices, he set four-score men without, 
 they being such of his soldiers as he knew 
 to be most faithful to him, and bade them 
 slay the prophets, and now vindicate the 
 laws of their country, which had been a long 
 time in disesteera. He also threatened, that 
 if any one of them escaped, their own lives 
 should go for them. So they slew them all 
 with the sword; and burnt the house of Baal, 
 and by that means purged Samaria of foreign 
 customs [idolatrous worship]. Now this Baal 
 was the god of the Tyrians ; and Ahab, in 
 order to gratify his father-in-law, Ethbaal, 
 who was the king of Tyre and Sidon, built a 
 temple for him in Samaria, and appointed 
 him prophets, and worshipped him with all 
 sorts of worship, although, when this god was 
 demolished, Jehu permitted the Israelites to 
 worship the golden heifers. However, be- 
 cause he had done thus, and taken care to 
 punish the wicked, God foretold by his pro- 
 phet, that his sons should reign over Israel 
 for four generations; and in this condition 
 was Jehu at this time. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW ATHALIAH REIGNED OVER JERUSALEM 
 FOR FIVE [six] YEARS, WHEN JEHOIADA 
 THE HIGH-PRIEST SLEW HER, AND MADE 
 JEHOASH, THE SON OF AHAZIAH, KING. 
 
 § 1. Now when Athaliah, the daughter of 
 Ahab, heard of the death of her brother Jo- 
 ram, and of her son Ahaziah, and of the royal 
 family, she endeavoured that none of the house 
 of David might be left alive, but that the 
 whole family might be exterminated, that no 
 king might arise out of it afterward; and, as 
 she though v, she had actually done it; but 
 one of Ahaziah 's sons was preserved, who 
 escaped death after the manner foLowing: — 
 Ahaziah had a sister by the same father, 
 whose name was Jehosheba, and she was mar- 
 ried to the high-priest Jehoiada. She went 
 into the king's palace, and found Jehoash, for 
 B 
 
258 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 that was the little child's name, who was not 
 above a year old, among those that were slain, 
 but concealed with his nurse ; so she took him 
 with her into a secret bed-chamber, and shut 
 Lim up there; and she and her husband Je- 
 hoiada brought him up privately in the temple 
 six years, during which time Athaliah reigned 
 over Jerusalem and the two tribes. 
 
 2. Now, on the seventh year, Jehoiada 
 communicated the matter to certain of the 
 captains of hundreds, five in number, and 
 persuaded them to be assisting to what at- 
 tempts he was making against Athaliah, and 
 to join with him in asserting the kingdom to 
 the child. He also received such oaths from 
 them, as are proper to secure those that assist 
 one another from the fear of discovery; and 
 he was then of good hope that they should 
 depose Athaliah. Now those men vvhom Je- 
 hoiada the priest had taken to be his partners, 
 went into all the country, and gathered toge- 
 ther the priests and the Levites, and the heads 
 of the tribes out of it, and came and brought 
 them to Jerusalem, to the high-priest. So 
 he demanded the security of an oath of them, 
 to keep private whatsoever he should discover 
 to them, which required both their silence and 
 their assistance. So when they had taken the 
 oath, and had thereby made it safe for him to 
 speak, he produced the child that he had 
 brought up, of the family of David, and said 
 to them, " This is your king, of that house 
 which you know God hath foretold should 
 reign over you for all time to come : I exhort 
 you, therefore, that one third part of you guard 
 him in the temple, and that a fourth part 
 keep watch at all the gates of the temple, and 
 that the next part of you keep guard at the 
 gate which opens and leads to the king's pa- 
 lace, and let the rest of the multitude be un- 
 armed in the ter^ple, and let no armed person 
 go into the temple, but the priest only." He 
 also gave them this order besides, " That a 
 part of the priests and the Levites should be 
 about the king himself, and be a guard to him, 
 with their drawn swords, and to kill that man 
 immediately, whoever he be, that should be 
 go bold as to enter armed into the temple; 
 and bade them be afraid of nobody, but per- 
 severe in guarding the king." So these men 
 obeyed what the high-priest advised them to, 
 and declared the reality of their resolution by 
 their actions. Jehoiada also opened that ar- 
 moury which David had made in the temple, 
 and distributed to the captains of hundreds, 
 as also to the priests and Levites, all the 
 spears and quivers, and what kind of weapons 
 soever it contained, and set them armed in a 
 circle round about the temple so as to touch 
 one another's hands, and by that means ex- 
 cluding those from entering that ought not to 
 enter. So they brought the child into the 
 midbt of them and put on him the royal 
 crown, and Jehoiada anointed him with the 
 Oil, and oiade bim king; and the multitude 
 
 rejoiced, and made a noise, and cried, " God 
 save the kingl " 
 
 3. When Athaliah unexpectedly heard the 
 tumult and the acclamations, she was greatly 
 disturbed in her mind, and suddenly isp.uei 
 out of the royal palace with her own army: 
 and when she was come to the temple, the 
 priests received her, but as for those that stood 
 round about the temple, as they were ordered 
 by the high-priest to do, they hindered the 
 armed men that followed her from going in. 
 But when Athaliah saw the child standing 
 upon a pillar, with the royal crown upon bis 
 head, she rent her clothes, and cried out vehe- 
 mently, and commanded [her guards] to kill 
 him that had laid snares for her, and en- 
 deavoured to deprive her of the government: 
 but Jehoiada called for the captains of hun- 
 dreds, and commanded them to bring Athaliah 
 to the valley of Cedron, and slay her there, 
 for he would not have the temple defiled with 
 ^he punishments of this pernicious woman; 
 and he gave order, that if any one came near 
 to help her, he should be slain also; wherefore 
 those that had the charge of her slaughter took 
 hold of her, and led her to the gate of the 
 king's mules, and slew her there. 
 
 4. Now as soon as what concerned Athaliah 
 was, by this stratagem, after this manner, dis- 
 patched, Jehoiada called together the people 
 and the armed men into the temple, and made 
 them take an oath that they vvould be obedient 
 to the king, and take care of his safety, and 
 of the safety of his government; after which 
 he obliged the king to give security [upon 
 oath] that he would worship God, and not 
 transgress the laws of Moses. They then ran 
 to the house of Baal, which Athaliah and heir 
 husband Jehoram had built to the dishonour ot 
 the God of their fathers, and to the honour 
 of Ahab, and demolished it, and slew Mattan, 
 that had his priesthood. But Jehoiada in- 
 trusted the care and custody of the temple to 
 the priests and Levites, according to the ap- 
 pointment of king David, and enjoined them 
 to bring their regular burnt-offerings twice 
 a day, and to offer incense according to the law. 
 He also ordained some of the Levites, with 
 the porters, to be a guard to the temple, that 
 no one that was defiled might come there. 
 
 5. And when Jehoiada had cet these things 
 in order, he, with the captains of hundreds, 
 and the rulers, and all t'le people, took 
 Jehoash out of the temple into the king's 
 palace, and when he had set him upon the 
 king's throne, the people shouted for jcy, and 
 betook themselves to feasting, and kept a fes- 
 tival for many days; but the city was quiet 
 upon the death of Athaliah. Now Jehoash 
 was seven years old when he took the kingdom ; 
 his mother's name was Zibiah, of the city 
 Beer8h<*'»a. And all the time that Jehoiada 
 lived, Jelioash was careful that the laws should 
 be kept, and very zealous in the worship of 
 God; and when he was of age, he married 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 259 
 
 tuo wives, who were given to him by the 
 high-priest, by whom were born to him both 
 sons ttr.d daughters. And thus much shall 
 suffice to have related concerning king Jeho- 
 adi, Low he escaped the treachery of Athaliah, 
 and Low he received the kingdom. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HAZAEL MAKES AN EXPEDITION AGAINST THE 
 PEOPLE OF ISRAEL AND THE INHABITANTS 
 OF JERUSALEM. JEHU DIES, AND JEHOA- 
 HAZ SUCCEEDS IN THE GOVERNMENT. JE- 
 HOASH, THE KING OF JERUSALEM, AT FIRST 
 I^CAREFUL ABOUT THE WORSHIP OF GOD, 
 BUT AFTERWARDS BECOMES IMPIOUS, AND 
 COMMANDS ZECHARIAH TO BE STONED. 
 WHEN JEHOASH [KING OF JUDAH] WAS 
 DEAD, AMAZIAH SUCCEEDS HIM IN THE 
 KINGDOM. 
 
 § 1. Now Hazael, king of Syria, fought 
 against the Israelites and their king Jehu, 
 and spoiled the eastern parts of the country 
 beyond Jordan, which belonged to the Reu- 
 benites and Gadites, and to [the half tribe of] 
 Manassites; as also Gilead and Bashan, burn- 
 ing and spoiling, and offering violence to all 
 that he laid his hands on, and this without 
 impeachment from Jehu, who made no haste 
 to defend the country when it was under this 
 distress: nay, he was become a contemner of 
 religion, and a despiser of holiness, and of 
 the laws, and died when he had reigned over 
 the Israelites twenty-seven years. He was 
 buried in Samaria, and left Jehoahaz his son 
 his successor in the government. 
 
 2. Now Jehoash, King of Jerusalem, had 
 an inclination to repair the temple of God; 
 so he called Jehoiada, and bade him send the 
 Levites and priests through all the country, to 
 require half a shekel of silver for every head, 
 towards the rebuilding and repairing of the 
 temple, which was brought to decay by Jeho- 
 ram, and Athaliah and her sons. But the 
 high-priest did not do this, as concluding that 
 no one would willingly pay that money; but 
 iu the twenty-third year of Jehoash's reign, 
 when the king sent for him and the Levites, 
 and complained that they had not obeyed 
 what he enjoined them, and still commanded 
 them to take t^re of the rebuilding the tem- 
 ple, he used this stratagem for collecting the 
 money, with which the multitude was pleased, 
 fie made a wooden chest, and closed it up 
 fast on all sides, but opened one hole in it'; 
 he then set it in the temple, beside the altar, 
 and desired every one to cast into it, through 
 toe hole, what he pleased, for the repair of 
 trie temple. This contrivance was aci ptAble 
 to the people; and they strove one with an- 
 otner, and brought in jouitly large quantities 
 •r silver and gold: and wnen the scribe and 
 
 the prest that were over the treasuries had 
 emptied the chest, and counted the money iu 
 the king's presence, they then set it in its for- 
 mer place, and thus did they every day. But 
 when the multitude appeared to have cast in 
 as much as was wanted, the high-priest Je- 
 hoiada, and king Joash, sent to hire masons 
 and carpenters, and to buy large pieces of 
 timber, and of the most curious sort; and 
 when they had repaired the temple, they made 
 use of the remaimng gold and silver, which 
 was not a Little, for bowls, and basons, and 
 cups, and other vessels, and they went on to 
 make the altar every day fat with sacrifices of 
 great value. And these things were taken 
 suitable care of as long as Jehoiada lived. 
 
 3. But as soon as he was dead (which was 
 when he had lived one hundred and thirty 
 years, having been a righteous, and in every 
 respect a very good man, and was buried in 
 the kings' sepulchres at Jerusalem, because 
 he had recovered the kingdom to the family 
 of David), king Jehoash betrayed his [want 
 of] care about God. The principal men of 
 the people were corrupted also together with 
 him, and offended against their duty, and 
 what their constitution determined to be most 
 for their good. Hereupon God was displeased 
 with the change that was made on the 
 king, and on the rest of the people, and sent 
 prophets to testify to them what their actions 
 were, and to bring them to leave off their 
 wickedness: but they had gotten such a strong 
 affection, and so violent an inclination to it, 
 that neither could the examples of those that 
 had offered affronts to the laws, and had been 
 so severely punished, they and their entire 
 families; nor could the fear of what the pro- 
 phets now foretold bring them to repentance, 
 and turn them back from their course of 
 transgression to their former duty. But the 
 king commanded that Zechariah, the son of 
 the high-priest Jehoiada, should be stoned to 
 death in the temple, and forgot the kindnesses 
 he had received from his father; for when 
 God had appointed him to prophesy, he stood 
 in the midst of the multitude, ana gave this 
 counsel to them and to the king: That they 
 should act righteously; and foretold to them, 
 that if they would not hearken to his admo- 
 nitions, they should suffer a heavy punish- 
 ment: but as Zechariah was ready to die, he 
 appealed to God as a witness of what he suf- 
 fered for the good counsel he had given them, 
 and how he perished, after a most severe and 
 violent manner, for the good deeds his father 
 had done to Jehoash. 
 
 4. However, it was not long before the king 
 suffered punishment for his transgressions; 
 for when Hazael, king of Syria, made an 
 irruption into his country, and when he .had 
 overthrown Gath, and spoiled it, he made an 
 expedition against Jerusalem; upon which 
 Jehoash was afraid, and emptied all the trea- 
 sures of God, and of the kiiigs [before bimllf 
 
260 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IX 
 
 and took down the gifts that had been dedi- 
 cated [in the temple], and sent them to the 
 king of Syria, and procured so much by them, 
 that he was not besieged, nor his kingdom 
 quite endajigered; but Hazael was induced, 
 by the greatness of the sum of money, not 
 to bring his army against Jerusalem; yet Je- 
 boash fell into a severe distemper, and was 
 set upon by his friends, in order to revenge 
 the death of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada. 
 These laid snares for the king, and slew him. 
 He was indeed buried in Jerusalem, but not 
 in the royal sepulchres of his forefathers, be- 
 cause of his impiety. He lived forty-seven 
 years; and Amaziah his son succeeded him 
 in the kingdom. 
 
 5. In the one and twentieth year of the 
 reign of Jehoash, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, 
 took the government of the Israelites in Sa- 
 raaria, and held it seventeen years. He did 
 not [properly] imitate his father, but was 
 guilty of as wicked practices as those that 
 first had God in contempt. But the king of 
 Syria brought him low, and, by expeditions 
 against him, did so greatly reduce his forces, 
 that there remained no more of so great an 
 army than ten thousand armed men, and 
 fifty horsemen. He also took away from 
 him his great cities, and many of them also, 
 and destroyed his army. And these were the 
 things that the people of Israel suffered, ac- 
 cording to the prophecy of Elisha, when he 
 foretold that Hazael should kill his master, 
 and reign over the Syrians and Damascens. 
 But when Jehoahaz was under such unavoid- 
 able miseries^ he had recourse to prayer and 
 supplication to God, and besought him to 
 deliver Ixim out of the hands of Hazael, and 
 not overlook him, and give him up into his 
 bands. Accordingly, God accepted of his 
 repentance instead of virtue; and, being de- 
 sirous "Tather to admonish those that might 
 repent, and not to determine that they should 
 be utterly destroyed, he granted him deliver- 
 ance from war and dangers. So the country 
 having obtained peace, returned again to its 
 former condition, and flourished as before. 
 
 6. Now after the death of Jehoahaz, his 
 son Joash took the kingdom, in the thirty- 
 Rt-vcnth year of Jehoash, the king of the tribe 
 of Judab. This Joash then took the king- 
 dom of Israel in Samaria, for he had the same 
 name wath the king of Jerusalem, and he 
 retained the kingdom sixteen years. He was 
 a good ttian,* and in his disposition was not 
 
 • This character of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, that 
 *' be was a eood man, and in his disposition not at all 
 like to bis uther," fecems a direct contradiction to oui 
 ordinary copies, which say (2 Kin^s xiii. II), that "he 
 did evil in the sight ol the I.ord ; and that he departed 
 not from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of iS'ebat, 
 who mad« Israel to sin: he walked therein." Which 
 copies are here the true&t, it is hardly possible to deter- 
 piiiie. If Josephus's be true, this Joash is the single 
 instance of a good king over the ten tribes; if the other 
 be true, we have nrt one such example. The account 
 that ioUows, in all copies, uf Elisha the prophet's con- 
 Mn for bim, as** ki* conaern for Elisha, greatly favours 
 
 at all like his father. Now at this time it 
 was that when Elisha the prophet, who was 
 already very old, and was now fallen into a 
 disease, the king of Israel came to visit hiru , 
 and when he found him very near death, he 
 began to weep in his sight, and lament, to 
 call him his father, and his weapons, because 
 it was by his means that he never made use 
 of his weapons against his enemies, but that 
 he overcame his own adversaries by his pro- 
 phecies, without fighting; and that he was 
 now departing this life, and leaving him to 
 the Syrians, that were already armed, and to 
 other enemies of his that were under their 
 power; so he said it was not safe for him to 
 live any longer, but that it would be well for 
 him to hasten to his end, and depart out of 
 this life with him. As the king was thus 
 bemoaning himself, Elisha comforted him, 
 and bade the king bend a bow that was 
 brought him; and when the king had fitted 
 the bow for shooting, Elisha took hold of his 
 hands and bade him shoot; and when he had 
 shot three arrows, and then left off, Elisha 
 said, " If thou hadst shot more arrows, thou 
 hadst cut the kingdom of Syria up by the 
 roots; but since thou hast been satisfied with 
 shooting three times oidy, thou shalt fight 
 and beat the Syrians no more times than three, 
 that thou mayest recover that country which 
 they cut off from thy kingdom in the reign of 
 thy father." So when the king had heard that, 
 he departed; and a little while after the pro- 
 phet died. He was a man celebrated for 
 righteousness, and in eminent favour with 
 God. He also performed wonderful and 
 surprising works by prophecy, and such as 
 were gloriously preserved in memory by the 
 Hebrews. He also obtained a magnificent 
 funeral, such a one indeed as it was fit a per- 
 son so beloved of Go4f should have. It also 
 happened, that at that time certain robbers 
 cast a man, whom they had slain, into Elisha's 
 grave, and upon his dead body coming close 
 to Elisha's body, it revived again. And thus 
 far have we enlarged about the actions of 
 Elisha the prophet ; both such as he did while 
 he was alive, and how he had a divine power 
 after his death also. 
 
 7. Now upon the death of Hazael, the 
 king of Syria, that kingdom came to Adad, 
 his son, Math whom Joash, king of Israel, made 
 war; and when he had beaten him in three 
 battles, he took from him all that country, 
 and all those cities and villages which his 
 
 Josephus's copies, and suppose this king to have been 
 then a good man, and no idolater, with whom God's 
 prophets used not to be so familiar. Upon the whole, 
 since it appears, even by Josephus's own account, that 
 Amaziah, the eood king of Judah, while be was a good 
 king, was forbidden to make use of the 100,000 auxilia- 
 ries he had hired of this Joash, the king of Israel^lis if Ike 
 and they were then iditlafers ('2 Cbron. xxv. (i — 9), it is 
 most likely that these diUeieiit characters of Joash suited 
 the diirerent parts of his leign, and that, according to our 
 common copiKK, be was at lirst a wicked king, and after- 
 wards was reclaimed, and became a good one, according 
 to Ju8cpbu» 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 261 
 
 fethof Hazael had taken from the kingdom of 
 Israel, which came to pass, however, accord- 
 ing to the prophecy of Elisha, But when 
 Joash happened to die, he was buried in Sa- 
 maria; and the government devolved on his 
 eon Jeroboam. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW AMAZIAH MADE AN EXPEDITION AGAINST 
 THE EDOMITES AND AMALEKITES, AND CON- 
 QUERED THEM; BUT WHEN HE AFTERWARDS 
 MADE WAR AGAINSTJOASH, HE WAS BEATEN, 
 AND NOT LONG AFTER WAS SLAIN; AND UZ- 
 2IAH SUCCEEDED IN THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 § 1. Now in the second year of the reign of 
 Joash over Israel, Amaziah reigned over the 
 tribe of Judah in Jerusalem. His mother's 
 name was Jehoaddan, who was born at Jeru- 
 salem. He was exceeding careful of doing 
 what was right, and this when he was very 
 youHg; but when he came to the manage- 
 ment of aflfairs, and to the government, he 
 resolved that he ought first of all to avenge 
 his father Jehoash, and to punish those his 
 friends that had laid violent hands upon him; 
 so he seized upon them all, and put them to 
 death; yet did he execute no severity on their 
 children, but acted therein according to the 
 laws of Moses, who did not think it just to 
 punish children for the sins of their fathers. 
 After this he chose him an army out of the 
 tribe of Judah and Benjamin of such as were 
 in the flower of their age, and about twenty 
 years old; and when he had collected about 
 three hundred thousand of them together, he 
 set captains of hundreds over them. He also 
 sent to the king of Israel, and hired a hun- 
 dred thousand of his soldiers for a hundred 
 talents of silver, for he had resolved to make 
 an expedition against the nations of the Ama- 
 lekites, and Edomites, and Gebalit€s: but as 
 he was preparing for his expedition, and ready 
 to go out lo the war, a prophet gave him 
 counsel to dismiss the army of the Israelites, 
 because they were bad men, and because God 
 foretold that he should be beaten if he made 
 use of them as auxiliaries; but that he should 
 overcome his enemies, though he had but a few 
 soldiers, when it so pleased God. And when 
 the king grudged at his having already paid the 
 hire of the Israelites, the prophet exhorted him 
 to do what God would have him, because he 
 should thereby obtain much wealth from God. 
 So he dismissed them, and said, that he still- 
 freely gave them their pay, and went himself 
 with his own army, and made war with the 
 nations before mentioned; and when he had 
 beaten them in battle, he slew of them ten 
 thousand, and took as many prisoners alive, 
 whom he brought to the great rock which is 
 in Arabia, and threw them down from it 
 hwd^ong. He also brought away a great 
 
 deal of prey and vast riches from those na- 
 tions; but while Amaziah was engaged in 
 this expedition, those Israelites whom he had 
 hired and then dismissed, were very uneasy 
 at it, and taking their dismission for an af- 
 front (as supposing that this would not have 
 been done to them but out of contempt), they 
 fell upon his kingdom, and proceeded to spoil 
 the country as far as Beth-horon, and took 
 much cattle, and slew three thousand men, 
 
 2. Now upon the victory which Amaziah 
 had gotten, and the great acts he had done, 
 he was puffed up, and began to overlook 
 God, who had given him the victory, and 
 proceeded to worship the gods he had brought 
 out of the country of the Amalekites. So a 
 prophet came to him, and said, that he won- 
 dered how he could esteem these to be gods, 
 who had been of no advantage to their own 
 people who paid them honours, nor had de- 
 livered them from his hands, but had over- 
 looked the destruction of many of them, and 
 had suffered themselves to be carried captive, 
 for that they had been carried to Jerusalem in 
 the same manner as any one might have taken 
 some of the enemy alive, and led them thither. 
 This reproof provoked the king to anger, and 
 he commanded the prophet to hold his peace, 
 and threatened to punish him if he meddled 
 with his conduct. So he replied, that he 
 should indeed hold his peace; but foretold 
 withal, that God would not overlook his at- 
 tempts for innovation ; but Amaziah was not 
 able to contain himself under that prosperity 
 which God had given him, although he had 
 affronted God thereupon ; but in a vein of 
 insolence he wrote to Joash, the king of Is- 
 rael, and commanded that he and aU his 
 people should be obedient to him, as they had 
 formerly been obedient to his progenitors, 
 David and Solomon; and he let him know, 
 that if he would not be so wise as to do what 
 he commanded him, he must fight for his do- 
 minion. To which message Joash returned 
 this answer in writing: — "King Joash to 
 king Amaziah. There was a vastly tall cy- 
 press-tree in mount Lebanon, as also a this- 
 tle ; this thistle sent to the cypress-tree to 
 give the cypress-tree's daughter in marriage 
 to the thistle's son; but as the thistle was 
 saying this, there came a wild beast, and 
 trode down the thistle; and this may be a 
 lesson to thee, not to be so ambitious, and to 
 have a care, lest upon thy good success in the 
 fight against the Amalekites, thou growest so 
 proud, as to bring dangers upon thyself, and 
 upon thy kingdom." 
 
 3. When Amaziah had read this letter, he 
 was more eager upon this expedition; which, 
 I suppose, was by the impulse of God, that 
 he might be punished for his offence against 
 him. But as soon as he led out his army 
 against Joash, and they were going to join 
 battle with him, there came such a fear and 
 consternation upon the army of Amaaiab, as 
 
262 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 Gotl, when lie is displeased, sends upon men, 
 aiid disconafited them, even before they came 
 to a close fight. Now it happened, that as 
 they were scattered about by the terror that 
 was upon them, Amaziah was left alone, and 
 was taken prisoner by the enemy: where- 
 upon Joash threatened to kill him, unless he 
 would persuade the people of Jerusalem to 
 open their gates to him, and receive him and 
 his army into the city. Accordingly Ama- 
 ziah was so distressed, and in such fear of 
 his life, that he made his enemy to be received 
 into the city. So Joash overthrew a part 
 of the wall, of the length of four hundred 
 cubits, and drove his chariot through the 
 breach into Jerusalem, and led Amaziah cap- 
 tive along with him; by which means he be- 
 came master of Jerusalem, and took away the 
 treasures of God, and carried off all the gold 
 and silver that was in the king's palace, and 
 then freed the king from captivity, and 
 returned to Samaria. Now these things 
 happened to the people of Jerusalem in the 
 fourteenth year of the reign of Amaziah, who 
 after this had a conspiracy made against him 
 by his friends, and fled to the city Lachish, and 
 was there slain by the conspirators, who sent 
 men thither to kill him. So they took up 
 his dead body, and carried it to Jerusalem, 
 and made a royal funeral for him. This was 
 the end of the life of Amaziah, because of his 
 innovations in religion, and his contempt of 
 God, when he had lived fifty-four years, and 
 bad reigned twenty-nine. He was succeeded 
 by his son, whose name was Uzziah. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CONCERNING JEROBOAM, KING OF ISRAEL, AND 
 JONAH, THE prophet; AND HOW, AFTER 
 THE DEATH OF JEROBOAM, HIS SON ZECHA- 
 RIAH TOOK THE GOVERNMENT. HOW UZ- 
 ZIAH, KING OF JERUSALEM, SUBDUED THE 
 NATIONS THAT WERE ROUND ABOUT HIM; 
 AND WHAT BJSFEL HIM WHEN HE ATTEMPT- 
 ED TO OFFER INCENSE TO GOD. 
 
 § 1. In the fifteenth year of the reign of 
 Amaziah, Jeroboam the son of Joash reigned 
 over Israel in Samaria forty years. This king 
 was guilty of contumely against God,* and 
 became very wicked in worshipping of idols, 
 and in many undertakings that were absurd 
 
 * What I have abore not«^ concerning Jehoash, 
 srcuiHtome to have been true also concerninK his son 
 Jtruhoam II, viz. that although he began wickedly, as 
 J uM-phus agrees with our other copies, and as he adds. 
 *' wa^ the cause of a vast number of misfortunes to the 
 Ifraelites" in those his first years (the particulars of 
 which are unhappily wanting both in Josephus and in 
 all our copies) ; so does it seem to me that he was after- 
 wards reclaimed, and berime a good king, and so was 
 enconraged by the prophet Jonah, and had great sue- 
 ce«ses afterwards, when "God had saved the Israelites 
 by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash," 2 Kings 
 xiv. ^j which encouragement by Jonah, and great suc- 
 cesws, are tqtially ohMrvable in Joiiepbus, and in the 
 
 and foreign. He was also the cause of ten 
 thousand misfortunes to the people of Israel. 
 Now one Jonah, a prophet, foretold to him 
 that he should make war with the Syrians, 
 and conquer their army, and enlarge tbu 
 bounds of his kingdom on the northern parts, 
 to the city Haniath, and on the southern, to 
 the lake Asphaltitis; for the bounds of the 
 Canaanites originally were these, as Joshua 
 their general had determined them. So Jero- 
 boam made an expedition against the Syrians, 
 and over^ran all their country, as Jonah had 
 foretold. 
 
 2. Now I cannot but think it necessary 
 for me, who have promised to gire an ac- 
 curate account of our affairs, to describe the 
 actions of this prophet, so far as I have found 
 them written down in the Hebrew books. 
 Jonah had been commanded by God to go to 
 the kingdom of Nineveh ; and, when he was 
 there, to publish it in that city, how it should 
 lose the dominion it had over the nations. 
 But he went not, out of fear; nay, he ran 
 away from God to the city of Joppa, and 
 finding a ship there, he went into it, and sailed 
 to Tarsus, to Ci^cia;t and upon the rise 
 of a most terrible storm, which was so great 
 that the ship was in danger of sinking, the 
 mariners, the master, and the pilot himself, 
 made prayers and vows, in case they escaped 
 the sea. But Jonah lay still and covered [in 
 the ship], without imitating any thing that the 
 others did; but as the Avaves grew greater, 
 and the sea became more violent by the winds, 
 they suspected, as is usual in such cases, that 
 some one of the persons that sailed with them 
 was the occasion of this storm, and agreed 
 to discover by lot which of them it was. 
 When they had cast lots, % the lot fell upor> 
 the prophet; and when they asked him whence 
 he can^e, and what he had done? he replied, 
 that he was an Hebrew by nation, and a pro- 
 phet of Almighty God; and he persuaded 
 them to cast him into the sea, if they would 
 
 + When Jonah 13 said in our Bibles to have gone to 
 Tarshish (Jonah 1.3), Josephus understood it, that he 
 Went to 1 arsus in Cilicra, or to the Mediterranean Sea, 
 upon which Tarsus lay; so tha he does not appear t« 
 have r< ad the text, { Kings -^.^iL 48, as our copies do, 
 that ships of Tarshish cou" fie at Ezion Greber, upon 
 the Hed Sea,- but as to Josephus's assertion, that Jonah's 
 fish was carried by the strength of the current, upon 
 a storm, as far as the I'.uxine Sea. it is no way impossi. 
 b)e; and since the storm might have driven the ship, 
 while Jonah was in it, near to that Euxine Sea, an<i 
 since in three more days, while he was in the fish's 
 belly, that current might bring him to the Assyrian 
 coast, and since withal that coast could bring him nearer 
 to Nineveh than could any coast of the Mediterranean, it 
 is by no means an improbable determination in Josephus. 
 
 ♦ This ancient piece of religion, of supposing there 
 was great sin where there was great misery, and of cast- 
 ing lots to discover great sinners, not only among the 
 Israelites, but among ihese heathen mariners, seems a 
 remarkable remain of the ancient tradition which pre- 
 vailed of old over all mankind, that I'roTidenrc used 
 to interpose visibly in all human affairs, and never to 
 bring, or at least not long to fniutiuuc, notor.ous judg- 
 ments but for notorious sins, which tic must a'lo'fnt 
 book of Job shows to luive been the state of manlind 
 for about the fi>i-nirr tlircc ihoiisand years of (U« wwrid* 
 till the days ot lub ud^i iMur^s. ^ 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 263 
 
 escape the danger they were in, for that he 
 was the occasion of the storm which was; upon 
 them. Now at the first they durst not do 
 so, as esteeming it a wicked thing to cast a 
 man, who was a stranger, and who had com- 
 mitted his life to them, into such manifest 
 perdition; but at last, when their misfortunes 
 overbore them, and the ship was just going 
 to be drowned, and when they were animated 
 to do it by the prophet himself, and by the 
 fear concerning their own safety, they cast him 
 into the sea; upon which the sea became calm. 
 It is also related that Jonah was swallowed 
 dowTi by a whale, and that when he had been 
 there three days, and as many nights, he yms 
 vomited out upon the Euxine Sea, and this 
 alive, and \\nthout any hurt upon his body; 
 and there, on his prayer to God, he obtained 
 pardon for his sins, and went to the city Ni- 
 neveh, where he stood so as to be heard; and 
 preached, that in a very little time they should 
 lose the dominion of Asia; and when he had 
 published this, he returned. Now I have 
 given this account about him, as I found it 
 written [in our books]. 
 
 3. When Jeroboam tb^ king had passed 
 his life in great happiness, and had ruled forty 
 years, he died, and was buried in Samaria, 
 and his son Zechariah took the kingdom. 
 After the same manner did Uzziah, the son of 
 Amaziah, begin to reign over the two tribes 
 in Jerusalem, in the fourteenth year of the 
 reign of Jeroboam. He was born of Jeco- 
 liah, his mother, who was a citizen of Jeru- 
 wdem. He was a good man, and by nature 
 ri^'hteous and magnanimous, and very labo- 
 rious in taking care of the affairs of his king- 
 dom. He made an expedition also against 
 tlie Philistines, and overcame them in battle, 
 ami took the cities of Gath and Jabneh, and 
 brake down their walls; after which, expedi- 
 tiou, he assaulted those Arabs that adjoined 
 to Egypt. He also built a city upon the Red 
 Sea, and put a garrison into it. He after this 
 overthrew the Ammonites, and appointed that 
 they should pay tribute. He also overcame 
 all the countries as far as the bounds of Egypt, 
 and then began tc^ake care of Jerusalem it- 
 self for the rest of hi* life; for he rebuilt and 
 ri'p-.iired aU those part's of the wall which had 
 either fallen down by length of time, or by 
 the carelessness of the kings his predecessors, 
 as well as all that part which had been thrown 
 flown by the king of Israel, when he took his 
 tWther Amaziah prisoner, and entered with him 
 liito the city. Moreover, he built a great many 
 ♦^owers, of one hundred and fifty cubits high, 
 and built walled tou-ns in desert places, and 
 put g5irriso;\s into them, and dug many chan- 
 nels for conveyance of water. He had also 
 n)aiiv beasts for labour, and an immense num- 
 ber of cattle; for his country was fit for pas- 
 tiiiUjii. lie was also given to husbandry, and 
 ttwik vHCf. to cultivate the ground, and planted 
 t with all iiort8 of pWuits, and sowed it with 
 
 all sorts of seeds. He had aiso about him 
 an army composed of chosen men, in numl^er 
 three hundred and seventy thousand, who 
 were governed by general officers and cap- 
 tains of thousands, who were men of valour 
 and of unconquerable strength, in number two 
 thousand. He also divided his whole army 
 into bands, and armed them, giving every one 
 a sword, with brazen bucklers and breast- 
 plates, with bows and slings; and besides 
 these, he made for them many engines of 
 war for besieging of cities, such as cast stones 
 and darts, with grapplers, and otheV instru- 
 ments of that sort. 
 
 4. While Uzziah was in this state, and 
 making preparations [for futurity], he was 
 corrupted in his mind by pride, and became 
 insolent, and this on account of that abun- 
 dance which he had of things that Avill soon 
 perish, and despised that power which is of eter- 
 nal duration (which consisted in piety towards 
 God, and in the observation of his kws) ; so 
 he fell by occasion of the good success of his 
 affairs, and was carried headlong into those 
 sins of his father, which the splendour of 
 that prosperity he enjoyed, and the glorious 
 actions he had done, led him into, while he 
 was not able to govern himself well about 
 them. Accordingly, when a remarkable day 
 was come, and a general festival was to be 
 celebrated, he put on the holy garment, and 
 went into the temple to offer incense to God 
 upon the golden altar, which he was prohi- 
 bited to do by Azariah the high-priest, who 
 had fourscore priests Nvith him, and who told 
 him that it was not lawful for him to offer 
 sacrifice, and that "none besides the poste- 
 rity of Aaron were permitted so to do." 
 And when they cried out, that he must go 
 out of the temple, and not transgress against 
 God, he was wroth at them, and threatened 
 to kill them, unless they would hold their 
 peace. In the mean time, a great earthqtiake 
 shook the ground,* and a rent was made in 
 the temple, and the bright rays of the sim 
 shone through it, and fell upon the king's 
 face, insomuch that the leprosy seized upon 
 him immediately; and before the city, at a 
 place called Eroge, half the mountain broke 
 off Orom the rest on the west, and rolled itself 
 four furlongs, and stood stDl at the east moun- 
 tain, tiU the roads, as well as the king's gar- 
 dens, were spoiled by the obstruction. Now, 
 as soon as the priests saw that the king's face 
 was infected with the leprosy, they told him 
 of the calamity he was under, and commanded 
 
 • This accoant of an earthquake at Jenisalem, at the 
 very same lime when Uzziah usurped the priest's office, 
 and went into the sanctuary to burn incense, and of the 
 consequences of the earthquake, is entirely wantin^Jn 
 onr other copies, though it be exceeding like to a pro- 
 phecy of Jeremiah, now in Zech. xiv. 4, 5; in which 
 prophecy mention is made of " fleein)? from that earth- 
 quake, as they fled from this earthquake in the days of 
 Lzziali, king of Judah;" so that there seems to have 
 i>»->-ii s.niip considerab'e resemblance between these iu*- 
 tuncal and pruplietiral eartU(|uake», 
 
264 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IX i 
 
 that he should go out of the city as a pol- 
 luted person. Hereupon he was so con- 
 founded at the sad distemper, and sensible 
 that he was not at liberty to contradict, that 
 he did as he was commanded, and underwent 
 this miserable and terrible punishment for an 
 intention beyond what befitted a man to have, 
 and for that impiety against God which was 
 implied therein. So he abode out of the city 
 for some time, and lived a private life, while 
 his son Jotham took the government; after 
 which he died with grief and anxiety at what 
 had happened to him, when he had lived 
 sixty -eight years, and reigned of them fifty- 
 two; and was buried by himself in his own 
 gardens. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HOW ZECHARIAH, SHALLUM, MENAHEM, PE- 
 KAHIAH, AND PEKAH, TOOK THE GOVERN- 
 MENT OVER THE ISRAELITES; AND HOW 
 PUL AND TIGLATH-PILESER MADE AN EX- 
 PEDITION AGAINST THE ISRAELITES. HOW 
 JOTHAM, THE SON OF UZZIAH, REIGNED 
 OVER THE TRIBE OF JUDAH; AND WHAT 
 THINGS NAHUM PROPHESIED AGAINST THE 
 ASSYRIANS. 
 
 § 1. Now when Zechariah, the son of Jero- 
 boam, had reigned six months over Israel, he 
 was slain by the treachery of a certain friend 
 of his, whose name was Shallum, the son of 
 Jabesh, who took the kingdom afterward, but 
 kept it no longer than thirty days;, for Mena- 
 hera, the general of his army, who was at that 
 time in the city Tirzah, and heard of what 
 had befallen Zechariah, removed thereupon 
 with all his forces to Samaria, and, joining 
 battle with Shallum, slew him; and when he 
 had made himself king, he went thence, and 
 came to the city Tiphsah ; but the citizens 
 that were in it shut their gates, and barred 
 them against the king, and would not admit 
 him; but, in order to be avenged on them, 
 he burnt the country round about it, and took 
 the city by force upon a siege ; and being 
 very much displeased at what the iidiabitants 
 of Tiphsah had done, he slew them all, ar.d 
 spared not so much as the infants, without 
 omitting the utmost instances of cruelty and 
 barbarity; for he used such severity upon 
 his own countrymen, as would not be par- 
 donable with regard to strangers who had 
 been conquered by him. And after this 
 manner it was that this Menahem continued 
 to reign with cruelty and barbarity for ten 
 years: but when Pul, king of Assyria, had 
 ityide an expedition against him, he did not 
 think meet to fight or engage in battle with the 
 Assyrians, but he persuaded him to accept of 
 a thousand talents of silver, and to go away, 
 and so put an end to the war. This sum the 
 multitude cull«*cted foi* Menubcin, by exact- 
 
 ing fifty drachmae as poll-money for every 
 head;* after which he died, and was buried 
 in Samaria, and left his son Pekahiah his suc- 
 cessor in the kingdom, who followed the bar- 
 barity of his father, and so ruled but two years 
 only, after which he was slain with his frienda 
 at a feast, by the treachery of one Pekah, the 
 general of his horse, and the son of Remaliah, 
 who had laid snares for him. Now this Pe- 
 kah held the government twenty years, and 
 proved a wicked man and a transgressor. 
 Bpt the king of Assyria, whose name was 
 Tiglath-Pileser, when he had made an expe- 
 dition against the Israelites, and had overrun 
 all the land of Gilead, and the region beyond 
 Jordan, and the adjoining country, which is 
 called Galilee, and Kadesh, and Hazor, he 
 made the inhabitants prisoners, and trans- 
 planted them into his own kingdom. And so 
 much shall suffice to have related here con- 
 cerning the king of Assyria. 
 
 2. Now Jotham, the son of Uzziah, reigned 
 over the tribe of Judah in Jerusalem, being a 
 citizen thereof by his mother, whose name was 
 Jerusha. This king was not defective in any 
 virtue, but was religious towards God, and 
 righteous towards men, and careful of the good 
 of the city (for what part soever wanted to be 
 repaired or adorned, he magnificently repaired 
 and adorned them). He also took care of 
 the foundations of the cloisters in the temple, 
 and repaired the walls that were fallen down, 
 and built very great towers, and such as were 
 almost impregnable ; and if any thing else in 
 his kingdom had been neglected, he took great 
 care of it. He also made an expedition 
 against the Ammonites, and overcame them in 
 battle, and ordered them to pay tribute, a hun- 
 dred talents, and ten thousand cori of wheat, 
 and as many of barley, every year, and so aug- 
 mented his kingdom that his enemies could not 
 despise it; and his own people lived happily. 
 
 3. Now there was at that time a prophet, 
 whose name was Nahum, who spake after this 
 manner concerning the overthrow of the As- 
 syrians and of Nineveh: — " Nineveh shall be 
 a pool of water in motion ;f so shall all her 
 
 • Dr. Wall, in his Critical Notes on 2 Kings xv 2rt, 
 observes, "that when this Menahem is said to have 
 exacted the money of Israel of all the mighty men of 
 wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give Piil, 
 the king of Assyria, a thousand talents, this is tie (irst 
 public money raised by any [Israelite] king by a tax on 
 the people; that they used befoie to raise it out of tlie 
 treasures of the bouse of the Lord, or of their own hou^f; 
 that it was a poll-money on the rich men [and tht-ni 
 only], to raise i,'353,(K)0, or, as others count a talent, 
 £400,000, at the rate of £6 or £7 per head; and that God 
 commanded, by Ezekiel (ch. xlv. 8, and xlvi. 18), that 
 no such thing should be done [at the Jews' restoration]; 
 but the king should have land of bis own." 
 
 + This passage is tiiken out of the prophet Nnhum, 
 ch. iL 8 — 13, and is the principal, or rather the only one 
 that is given us almost verbatim, but a little abridged, 
 in ali Josephus's known writings: by which quotation 
 we learn what he himself always assorts viz. that he 
 made use of the Hebrew original, [and not of the (iie<-k 
 version]; as also we learn, that his Hebrew copy con- 
 .siderahiy differed from ours. Set* all tbeye texts parti- 
 rularly ii<-l down, and compared together in the KM*y on 
 (lie old 1'itMi.imvnt, pa|{e K7.- 
 
CHAP. XII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 2(55 
 
 people be troubled, and tossed, and go away 
 by flight, while they say one to another, Stand 
 istand still, seize their gold and silver, for there 
 shall be no one to >vish them well, for they 
 will rather save their lives than their money ; 
 for a terrible contention shall possess them 
 one with another, and lamentation, and loosing 
 ot the members, and their countenances shall 
 be perfectly black with fear. And there will 
 be the den of the lions, and the mother of the 
 young lions! God says to thee, Nineveh, 
 that they shall deface thee, and the lion shall 
 no longer go out from thee to give laws to 
 the world." And indeed this prophet pro- 
 phesied many other things besides these con- 
 cerning Nineveh, which I do not think ne- 
 cessary to repeat, and I here omit them, that 
 I may not appear troublesome to my readers; 
 all which things happened about Nineveh a 
 hundred and fifteen years afterward: — so this 
 may suffice to have spoken of these matters. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HOW, UPON THE DEATH OF JOTHAM, AHAZ 
 REIGNED IN HIS STEAD; AGAINST WHOM 
 EEZIN, KING OF SYRIA, AND PEKAH, KING 
 OF ISRAEL, MADE WAR; AND HOW TIG- 
 LATH-PILESER, KING OF ASSYRIA, CAME TO 
 THE ASSISTANCE OF AHAZ, AND LAID SYRIA 
 WASTE, AND REMOVING THE DAMASCENS 
 INTO MEDIA, PLACED OTHER NATIONS IN 
 THEIR ROOM. 
 
 § 1. Now Jothan died when ne had lived 
 forty-one years, and of them reigned sixteen, 
 and was buried in the sepulchres of the kings ; 
 and the kingdom came to his son Ahaz, who 
 proved most impious towards God, and a 
 transgressor of the laws of his country. He 
 imitated the kings of Israel, and reared altars 
 in Jerusalem, and offered sacrifices upon them 
 to idols ; to which also he offered his own son 
 as a burnt-offering, according to the practices 
 of the Canaanites. His other actions were 
 also of the same sort. Now as he was going 
 on in this mad course, Rezin, the king of Sy- 
 ria and Damascus, and Pekah, the king of 
 Israel, who were now at amity one with an- 
 other, made war with him ; and when they had 
 driven him into Jerusalem, they besieged that 
 city a long while, making but a small pro- 
 gress, on account of the strength of its walls; 
 and when the king of Syria had taken the city 
 Elath, upon the Red Sea, and had slain 
 the inhabitants, he peopled it with Syrians; 
 and when he had slain those in the [other] 
 garrisons, and the Jews in their neighbour- 
 hood, and had driven away much prey, he re- 
 turned with his army back to Damascus. Now 
 when the king of Jerusalem knew that the 
 6\Tians were returned home, he, supposing 
 
 himself a match for the king of Israel, drew 
 out his army against him, and joining battle 
 with him was beaten; and this happened be- 
 cause God was angry with him, on account 
 of his many and great enormities. Accord- 
 ingly, there were slain by the Israelites one 
 hundred and twenty thousand of his men that 
 day, whose general, Amaziah by name, slew 
 Zechariah the king's son in his conflict with 
 Ahaz, as well as the governor of the kingdom, 
 whose name was Azricam. He also carried 
 Elkanah, the general of the troops of the tribe 
 of Judah, into captivity. They also carried 
 the women and children of the tribe of Ben- 
 jamin captives; and when they had gotten 
 a great deal of prey, they returned to Sa- 
 maria. 
 
 2. Now there was one Obed, who was a 
 prophet at that time in Samaria; he met the 
 army before the city walls, and with a loud 
 voice told them that they had gotten the vic- 
 tory not by their own strength, but by reason 
 of the anger God had against king Ahaz. 
 And he complained that they were not satis- 
 fied with the good success they had had against 
 him, but were so bold as to make captives 
 out of their kinsmen the tribes of Judah and 
 Benjamin. He also gave them counsel to 
 let them go home without doing them any 
 harm, for that if they did not obey God herein, 
 they should be punished. So the people of 
 Israel came together to the assembly, and 
 considered of these matters, when a man 
 whose name was Berechiah, and who was one 
 of chief reputation in the government, stood 
 up, and three others with him, and said, — 
 " "NVe will not suffer the citizens? to bnng these 
 prisoners into the city, lest we be all destroyed 
 by God: we have sms enough of our own 
 that we have comiaittea against him, as the 
 prophets assure us; nor ougnt we inerefore 
 to introduce the practice of new crimes." 
 When the soldiers heard that, they permitted 
 them to do what they thought best. So the 
 forenamed men took the captives and let them 
 go, and took care of them, and gave them 
 provisions, and sent them to their own coun- 
 try, without doing them any harm. How- 
 ever, these four went along wth them, and 
 conducted them as far as Jericho, which is 
 not far from Jerusalem, and returned to Sa- 
 maria. 
 
 3. Hereupon king Ahaz, having been so 
 thoroughly beaten by the Israelites, sent to 
 Tiglath-Pileser, king of the Assyrians, and 
 sued for assistance from him in his war 
 against the Israehtes, and Syrians, and Da- 
 mascens, with a promise to send him much 
 money; he sent him also great presents at the 
 same time. Now this king, upon the recep- 
 tion of those ambassadors, came to assist 
 Ahaz, and made war upon the Syrians, and 
 laid their country waste, and took Damascus 
 by force, and slew Rezin their king, and 
 transpalnted the people of Damascus into the 
 
266 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IX 
 
 Upper Media, and brought a colony of As- 
 syrians, and planted them m Damascus. He 
 also afflicted the land of Israel, and took 
 tnany captives out of it. While Be was do- 
 ing thus with the Syrians, king Ahaz took all 
 the gold that was in the king's treasures, and 
 the silver, and what was in the temple of 
 God, and what precious gifts were there, and 
 he carried them with him, and came to Da- 
 mascus, and gave it to the king of Assyria, 
 according to his agreement. So he confessed 
 that he owed him thanks for all that he had 
 done for him, and returned to Jerusalem. Now 
 this king was so sottish and thoughtless of 
 what was for his own good, that he would 
 not leave off worshipping the Syrian gods 
 when he was beaten by them, but he went on 
 in worshipping them, as though they would 
 procure him the victory; and when he was 
 beaten again he began to honour the gods of 
 the Assyrians; and he seemed more desirous 
 to honour any other gods than his own pater- 
 nal and true God, whose anger was the cause 
 of his defeat: nay, he proceeded to such a 
 degree of despite and contempt [of God's 
 worship], that he shut up the temple entirely, 
 and forbade them to bring in the appointed 
 sacrifices, and took away the gifts that had 
 been given to it. And M'hen he had offered 
 these indignities to God, he died, having 
 lived thirty-six years, and out of them reigned 
 sixteen; and he left his son Hezekiah for his 
 successor. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HOW PEKAH DIED BY THE TREACHERY OF HO- 
 SHEA, WHO WAS A LITTLE AFTER SUBDUED 
 BY SHALMANESER; AND HOW HEZEKIAH 
 REIGNED INSTEAD OF AHAZ; AND WHAT 
 ACTIONS OF PIETY AND JUSTICE HE DID. 
 
 § 1. About the same time Pekah the king of 
 Israel died, by the treachery of a friend of 
 his, whose name was Hoshea, who retained 
 the kingdom nine years' time; but was a 
 wicked man,' and a despiser of the divine 
 worship: and Shalmaneser, the king of As- 
 syria, made an expedition against him, and 
 overcame him (which must have been because 
 he had hot God favourable nor assistant to 
 him), and brought him to submission, and or- 
 dered him to pay an appointed tribute. Now 
 in the fourth year of the reign of Hoshea, 
 Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, began to reign in 
 Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Abi- 
 jah, a citizen of Jerusalem. ILs nature was 
 good, and righteous, and religious; for when 
 he came to the kingdom, he thought that no- 
 thing was prior, or more necesssiry, or more 
 advantiigeous, to himself and to his subjects, 
 than to worship God. Accordingly, he ciUed 
 the people tugctber, and the priestg. and the 
 
 Levites, and made a speech to them, anf 
 said, — "You are not ignorant how, by tij 
 sins of my father, who transgressed tbu*; 9;i. 
 cred honour which was due to God, you bavt 
 had experience of many and great miseries 
 while you were corrupted in your mind bj 
 him, and were induced to worship those whicl 
 he supposed to be gods: I exhort you, th3re 
 fore, who have learned by sad experience hov» 
 dangerous a thing impiety is, to put that im- 
 mediately out of your memory, and to purify 
 yourselves from your former pollutions, and to 
 open the temple to these priests and Levite 
 who are here convened, and to cleanse it witi 
 the accustomed sacrifices, and to recover all 
 to the ancient honour which our fathers paid 
 to it; for by this means we may render Go^ 
 favourable, and he will remit the anger ha 
 hath had to us." 
 
 2. When the king had said this, the priests 
 opeiied the temple; and when they had set 
 in order the vessels of God, and cast out what 
 was impure, they laid the accustomed sacri- 
 fices upon the altar. The king also sent to 
 the country that was under him, and called 
 the people to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast 
 of unleavened bread, for it had been intermitted 
 a long time, on accoimt of the wickedness of 
 the forementioned kings. He also sent to the 
 Israelites, and exhorted them to leave off their 
 present way of living, and to return to their 
 ancient practices, and to worship God, for 
 that he gave them leave to come to Jerusalem, 
 and to celebrate, ail in one body, the feast of 
 unleavened bread; and this he said was by 
 way of invitation only, and to be done of their 
 own good- will, and for their own advantage, 
 and not out of obedience to him, because it 
 would make them happy. But the Israelites, 
 upon the coming of the ambassadors, and 
 upon their laying before them what they had 
 in charge from their own king, were so far 
 from complying therewith, that they laughed 
 the ambassadors to scorn, and mocked them 
 as fools: as also they affronted the prophets 
 who gave them the same exhortations, and 
 foretold what they would suffer if they did 
 not return to the worship of God, insomuch 
 that at length they caught them, and slew 
 them; nor did this degree of transgressing 
 suffice them, but they had more wicked con- 
 trivances than what have been described : not 
 did they leave off, before God, as a punish- 
 ment for their impiety, brought them under 
 their enemies: — but of that more hereafter. 
 However, many there were of the tribe of 
 Manasseh, and of Zebulon, and of Issachar, 
 who were obedient to what the prophets ex- 
 horted them to do, and returned to the wor- 
 ship of God. Now all these came runniiijr 
 to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah, that they inifeht 
 worship God [there]. 
 
 3. When these men were come, king Heze- 
 kiah went up into the temple, with the lulei^ 
 and all the peopk, and offered fur Uiiiii>eif 
 
CHAP. XIV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 267 
 
 sevc.T bulls, and as many rams, with seven 
 Iambs, and as many kids of the goats. The 
 king also himself, and the rulers, laid their 
 hands on the heads of the sacrifices, and 
 permitted the priests to complete the sacred 
 oflicei about them. So they both slew the 
 sacriuces and burnt the burnt-offerings while 
 the Levites stood round about them, wth 
 their musical instruments, and sang hymns to 
 God, and played on their psalteries, as they 
 were instructed by David to do, and this while 
 the rest of the priests returned the music, and 
 ounded the trumpets which they had in their 
 \nds : and when this was done, the king 
 and the multitude threw themselves down 
 upon their faces, and worshipped God. He 
 also sacriliced seventy bulls, one hundred 
 rams, and two hundred lambs. He also 
 granted the multitude sacrifices to feast upon, 
 six hundred oxen, and three thousand other 
 cattle; and the priests performed all things 
 according to the law. Now the king was so 
 pleased here^vltn, tnat be feasted with the peo- 
 le, and returned thanks to God ; but as the 
 east of unleavened bread was now come, when 
 they had offered ttiat sacririce which is called 
 the Passover, tney atter that ofiered other sa- 
 crifices for seven days. When the king had 
 bestowed on the multitude, besides what they 
 sanctified of themselves, two thousand bulls, 
 and seven tnousand other cattle, the same 
 thing was done by the rulers; for they gave 
 them a thousand bulls, and a thousand and 
 forty other cattie. Nor had this festival been 
 so well observed from the days of king Solo- 
 mon, as it was now fi^t observed wth great 
 splendour and magnificence; and when the 
 festival was ended, they went out into the 
 country, and purged it; and cleansed the city 
 of all the pollution of the idols. The king 
 also gave order that the daily sacrifices should 
 be offered, at his own charges, and according 
 to the law; and appointed that the tithes and 
 the first-fruits should be given by the mul- 
 titude to the priests and Levites, that they 
 might constantly attend upon divine service, 
 and never be taken off from the worship of 
 God. Accordingly, the multitude brought 
 together all sorts of their fruits to the priests 
 and the Levitts. The king also made garners 
 and receptacles for these fruits, and distributed 
 them to every one of the priests and Levites, 
 and to their children and wives; and thus did 
 they return to their old form of divine wor- 
 ship. Now when the king had settled these 
 matters after the manner already described, 
 he made war upon the Philistines, and beat 
 them, and possessed himself of all the enemy's 
 cities, from Gaza to Gath; but Ihe king of 
 Assyria sent to him, and threatened to over- 
 turn all his dominions, unless he would pay 
 him tbe tribute which his father paid him 
 fo-mi;r!y; but king Hezekiah was not con- 
 cerned at his threatenings, but depended on 
 let piety towards God^ and upon Isaiah the 
 
 prophet, by whom he inquired, and accurately 
 knew, all future events: — and thus much shati 
 suffice for the present concerning thi* kmg 
 Hezekiah. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HOW SHALMANESER TOOK SAMARIA BY FORCH»' 
 AND HOW HE TRANSPLANTED THE TEN 
 TRIBES INTO MEDIA, AND BROUGHT THE 
 NATION OF THE CUTHEANS INTO THEIR 
 COUNTRY [in THEIR ROOm]. 
 
 § 1. When Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, 
 had it told him, that [Hoshea] the king of 
 Israel had sent privately to So, the king of 
 Egypt, desiring his assistance against him, he 
 was very angry, and made an expedition 
 against Samaria, in the seventh year of the 
 reign of Hoshea; but when he was not ad- 
 mitted [into the city] by the king,* he be- 
 sieged Samaria three years, and took it by 
 force in the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, 
 and in the seventh year of Hezekiah, king 
 of Jerusalem, and quite demolished the govern- 
 ment of the Israelites, and transplanted all 
 the people into Media and Persia, among 
 whom he took king Hoshea alive; and when 
 he had removed these people out of this their 
 land, he transplanted other nations out of 
 Cuthah, a place so called (for there is [still] 
 a river of that name in Persia), into Samaria, 
 and into the country of the Israelites. So 
 the ten tribes of the Israelites were removed 
 out of Judea, nine hundred and forty-seven 
 years after their forefathers were coine out of 
 the land of Egypt, and possessed themselves 
 of this country, but eight hundred years after 
 Joshua had been their leader, and, as I have 
 already observed, two hundred and forty years, 
 seven months, and seven days, after they had 
 revolted from Rehoboam, the grandson of 
 David, and had given the kingdom to Jero- 
 boam. And such a conclusion overtook the 
 Israelites, when they had transgressed the 
 laws, and would not hearken to the prophets, 
 who foretold that this calamity would come 
 upon them, if they would not leave off their 
 evil doings. What gave birth to these evil 
 doings, was that sedition which they raised 
 against Rehoboam, the grandson of David, 
 when they set up Jeroboam, his servant, to be 
 their king, who, by sinning against God, and 
 bringing them to imitate his bad example, 
 
 • This siege of Samaria, tlioiiffh not given a parti- 
 cular account of, either in our Hebrew or Greek Bitiles, 
 or in Josephus, was so very lon^, no less than three years, 
 that it was no way improbable but that parents, and 
 particularly mothers, might therein be- reduced to eat 
 their own children, as the law of Moses had threatened 
 upon their disobedience (Ixjvit. xxvi. 29; OeuL xxviii. 
 5:3 — 57) ; and was accomplished in the other shorter sieges 
 of both the capital cities, Jerusalem and Samaria; tha 
 former mentioned Jer. xix. 9; Antiq, b. ix. chap. iVt 
 sect 4{ and the latter, 2 Kings vL " 
 
258 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IX, 
 
 made Cfod to be tlieir enemy, while Jeroboam 
 underwent that punishment which he justly 
 deserved. 
 
 2. And now the king of Assyria invaded 
 all Syria and Phoenicia in a hostile manner. 
 The name of this king is also set down in the 
 archives of Tyre, for he made an expedition 
 against Tyre in the reign of Eluleus; and 
 Menander attests to it, who, when he wrote 
 his Chronology, and translated the archives of 
 Tyre into the Greek language, gives us the 
 following history: — "One whose name was 
 Eluleus, reigned thirty-six years: this king, 
 upon the revolt of the Citteans, sailed to 
 them, and reduced them again to a submis- 
 sion. Against these did the king of Assyria 
 send an arniy, and in a hostile manner over- 
 ^ run all Phoenicia, but soon made peace with 
 them all, and returned back; but Sidon, and 
 Ace, and Palaetyrus, revolted; and many 
 other cities there were which delivered them- 
 selves up to the king of Assyria. Accord- 
 ingly, when the Tyrians would not submit to 
 him, the king returned, and fell upon them 
 again, while the Phoenicians had furnished 
 him with threescore ships, and eight hundred 
 men to row them ; and when the Tyrians had 
 come upon them in twelve ships, and the ene- 
 my's ships were dispersed, they took five 
 hundred men prisoners; and the reputation 
 of all the citizens of Tyre was thereby in- 
 creased; but the king of Assyria returned, 
 and placed guards at their rivers and aque- 
 ducts, who should hinder the Tyrians from 
 drawing water. This continued for five years ; 
 and still the Tyrians bore the siege, and drank 
 of the water they had out of the wells they 
 dug." Anrt tnis is what is written m the 
 Tyrian archives conceriung Snalmaneser, the 
 kmg of Assyria. 
 
 3. But now the Cutheans, who removed 
 into Samaria (for that is the name they have 
 been called by to this time, because they were 
 brought out of the country called Cuthah, 
 which is a country of Persia, and there is a 
 river of the same name in it), each of them, 
 according to their nations, which were in 
 number five, brought their own gods into Sa- 
 maria, and by worshipping them, as was the 
 custom of their own countries, they provoked 
 Almighty God to be angry and displeased 
 at them, for a plague seized upon them, bj 
 which they were destroyed ; and when they 
 found no cure for their miseries, they learned 
 by the oracle that they ought to worship Al- 
 mighty God, as the method for their deUver- 
 ance. So they sent ambassadors to the king 
 of Assyria, and desired him to send them 
 some of those priests of the Israelites whom 
 he had taken captive. And when he there- 
 upon sent them, and the people were by them 
 taught the laws, and the holy worship of God, 
 they worshipped him in a respectful manner, 
 and the plague ceased immediately; and in- 
 deed they continue to make use of the very 
 same customs to this very time, and are called 
 in the Hebrew tongue Cutheans; but in the 
 Greek Samaritans. And when they see the 
 Jews in prosperity, they pretend that they 
 are changed, and allied to them, and call 
 them kinsmen, as though they were derived 
 from Joseph, and had by that means an ori- 
 ginal alliance vdth them: but when they see 
 them falUng into a low condition, they saj 
 they are no way related to them, and that the 
 Jews have no right to expect any kindness of 
 marks of kindred from them, but they declare 
 that they are sojourners, that come from olhcx 
 countries. Put of I'ne&e w e shiHl iiave a nccne 
 seasonable opportunity to discourse hereafter. 
 
289 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 CONTAININO THB INTERVAL OP ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-TWO TKABS AND A EALTl 
 
 FROM THE CAPTIVITY OF THE TEN TRIBES TO THE FIRST OF 
 
 CYRUS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW SENNACHERIB MADE AN EXPEDITION 
 AGAINST HEZEKIAH; WHAT THREATENINGS 
 RABSHAKEH MADE TO HEZEKIAH WHEN 
 SENNACHERIB WAS GONE AGAINST THE 
 EGYPTIANS ; HOW ISAIAH THE PROPHET 
 ENCOURAGED HIM; HOW SENNACHERIB, 
 HAVING FAILED OF SUCCESS IN EGYPT, RE- 
 TURNED THENCE TO JERUSALEM; AND 
 HOW, UPON HIS FINDING HIS ARMY DE- 
 STROYED, HE RETURNED HOME; AND WHAT 
 BEFELL HIM A LITTLE AFTERWARD. 
 
 § 1. It was now the fourteenth year of the 
 government of Hezekiah, king of the two 
 tribes, when the king of Assyria, whose name 
 was Sennacherib, made an expedition against 
 him with a great army, and took all the cities 
 of the tnbes of Judah and Benjamin by force; 
 and when he was ready to bring his army 
 against Jerusalem, Hezekiah sent ambassa- 
 dors to him beforehand, and promised to sub- 
 mit, and pay what tribute he should appoint. 
 Hereupon Sennacherib, , when he heard of 
 what offers the ambassadors made, resolved 
 not to proceed in the war, but to accept of 
 the proposals that were made him: and if he 
 might receive three hundred talents of silver, 
 and thirty talents of gold, he promised that 
 he would depart in a friendly manner; and 
 he gave security upon oath to the ambassa- 
 dors that he would then do him no harm, but 
 go av/ay as he came. So Hezekiah submit- 
 ted, and emptied his treasures, and sent the 
 money, as supposing he should be freed from 
 his enemy, and from any farther distress 
 about his kingdom. Accordingly, the As- 
 syrian king took it, and yet had no regard 
 to what he had promised; but while he him- 
 self went to the war against the Egyptians 
 and Ethiopians, he left his general Rabshakeh, 
 and two other of his principal commanders, 
 with great forces, to destroy Jerusalem. The 
 names ot the two other commanders were 
 'l ui tan and Kabsaris. 
 
 2. Now as soon as they were come before 
 the walls, they pitched their camp, and sent 
 messengers to Hezekiah, and desired that 
 they might speak wth him; but he did not 
 himself come out to them for fear, but he 
 sent three of his most intimate friends; the 
 name of the one was Eliakim, who was over 
 the kingdom, and Shebna, and Joah the re- 
 corder. So these men came out, and stood 
 over against the commanders of the Assyrian 
 army; afld when Rabshakeh saw them, he 
 bade them go and speak to Hezekiah in the 
 manner folio mng: — That Sennacherib, the 
 great king,* desires to know of him, on whom 
 it is that he relies and depends, in flying from 
 his lord, and will not hear him, nor admit 
 his army into the city? Is it on account of 
 the Egyptians, and in hopes that his army 
 would be beaten by them? Whereupon he 
 lets him know, that if this be what he expects, 
 he is a foolish man, and like one who leans 
 on a broken reed ; while such a one will not 
 only fall do\\-n, but will have his hand pierced 
 and hurt by it. That he ought to know he 
 makes this expedition against him by the will 
 of God, who hath granted this favour to him, 
 that he shall overthrow the kingdom of Israel, 
 and that in the very same manner he shall 
 destroy those that are his subjects also. When 
 Rabshakeh had made this speech in the He- 
 brew tongue, for he was skilful in that lan- 
 guage, Eliakim was afraid lest the multitude 
 that heard him should be disturbed; so he 
 desired him to speak in the Syrian tongue. 
 But the general understanding what he meant, 
 and perceiving the fear that he was in, he 
 made his answer ^^•ith a greater and a louder 
 voice, but in the Hebrew tongue; and said, 
 that " since they all heard what were the 
 king's commands, they would cotisult their 
 own advantage in delivering up themselves 
 to us; for it is plain that both you and your 
 
 • This title of ttreat Kins;, both ir our Bibles (2 Kings 
 xviii. 19; Isa. sxxvi 4). and here in Josephiis, is the 
 very same that Herodotus gives tliis Seoiiactieribi as 
 i Spanheim takes notice on this place. 
 
270 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 king dissuaded the people from submitting by 
 rain hopes, and so induce them to resist ; but 
 If you be courageous, and think to drive our 
 forces away, I am ready to deliver to you two 
 ■^lousand of these horses that are with me for 
 your use, if you can set as many horsemen 
 on their backs, and show your strength; but 
 what you have not, you cannot produce. 
 Why, therefore, do you delay to deliver up 
 Yourselves to a superior force, who can take 
 you without your consent? although it will 
 be safer for you to deliver yourselves up vo- 
 luntarily, while a forcible capture, when you 
 are beaten, must appear more dangerous, and 
 will bring farther calamities upon you." 
 
 3. When the people, as well as the ambas- 
 sadors, heard what the Assyrian commander 
 said, they related it to Hezekiah, who there- 
 upon put off liis royal apparel, and clothed 
 himself wth sackcloth, and took the habit of 
 a mourner, and, after the manner of his coun- 
 try, he fell upon his face, and besought God, 
 and entreated him to assist them, now they 
 had no other hope of relief. He also sent 
 some of his friends, and some of the priests, 
 to the prophet Isaiah, and desired that he 
 would pray to God, and offer sacrifices for 
 their common deliverance, and so put up 
 supplications to him, that he would have in- 
 dignation at the expectations of their enemies, 
 and have mercy upon his people, ^d when 
 the prophet had done accordingly, an oracle 
 came from God to him, and encouraged the 
 king and his friends that were about him; 
 and foretold, that their enemies should be 
 beaten without fighting, and should go away 
 in an ignominious manner, and not with that 
 insolence which they now show, for that God 
 would take care that they should be de- 
 stroyed. He also foretold that Sennacherib, 
 the king of Assyria, should fail of his purpose 
 against Egypt, and that when he came home, 
 he should perish by the sword. 
 
 4. About the same time* also the king of 
 Assyria wrote an epistle to Hezekiah, in 
 which he said he was a foolish man in sup- 
 posing that he should escape from being his 
 servant, since he had already brought under 
 many and great nations; and he threatened, 
 that, when he took him, he would utterly 
 destroy him, unless he now opened the gates, 
 and willingly received his army into Jerusa- 
 lem. When he had read this epistle, he de- 
 spised it; on account of the trust that he had 
 in God ; but he rolled up the epistle, and laid 
 it up within the temple; and as he made bis 
 farther prayers to God for the city, and for 
 the preservation of all the people, the pro- 
 ohet Isaiah said, that God had heard his 
 prayer, and that he should not at this time 
 be besieged by the king of Assyria;' that, 
 
 • What Jos4-phii8 iays here, how Isaiah the prophet 
 Murred Hvzekiah, that *'at this time he shuuld not be 
 h**i*K«d l)y the king of As^tyria; that for the future he 
 mifrht \ir fu-rwrf of not hcinu at all djgtiirbt-d by liim; 
 tod that r afterward 1 the people niii{ht go on peaceably, 
 
 for the future, he might be secure of nojt 
 being at all disturbed by him; and that the 
 people might go on peaceably, and without 
 fear, with their husbandry and other affairs; 
 but after a little while, the king of Assyria, 
 when he had failed of his treacherous designs 
 against the Egyptians, returned* home with- 
 out success on the following occasion: — He 
 spent a long time in the siege of Pelusium i 
 and when the banks that he had raised over 
 against the walls were of a great height, and 
 when he was ready to make an immediate as- 
 sault upon them, but heard that Tirhaka, king 
 of the Ethiopians, was coming, and bringing 
 great forces to aid the Egyptians, and was 
 resolved to march through the desert, and so 
 to fall directly upon the Assyrians, this king 
 Sennacherib was disturbed at the news; and, 
 as I said before, left Pelusiiun, and returned 
 back without success. Now concerning this 
 Sennacherib, Herodotus also says, in the se- 
 cond book of his histories, how "this king 
 came against the Egyptian king, who was the 
 priest of Vulcan; and that as he was besieg- 
 ing Pelusium, he broke up the siege on the 
 following occasion: — This Egyptian priest 
 prayed to God, and God heard his prayer, 
 and sent a judgment upon the Arabian king." 
 But in this Herodotus was mistaken M'hen 
 he called this king not king of the Assyrians, 
 but of the Arabians; for he saith, that "a 
 multitude of mice gnawed to pieces in one 
 night both the bows and the rest of the ar- 
 mour of the Assyrians; and that it was on 
 that account that the king, when he had no 
 bows left, drew off his army from Pelusium." 
 And Herodotus does indeed give us this his- 
 tory; nay, and Berosus, who wrote of the 
 affairs of Chaldea, makes mention of this king 
 Sennacherib, and that he ruled over the Assy- 
 rians, and that he made an expedition against 
 all Asia and Egypt; and says thus:f 
 
 5. "Now. when Sennacherib was return- 
 ing from his Egyptian war to Jerusalem, he 
 found his army under Rabshakeh his general 
 in danger [by a plague], for God had sent a "^ 
 pestilential distemper upon his army; and on 
 the very first night of the siege, a hundred 
 fourscore and five thousand, with their cap- 
 tains and generals, were destroyed. So the 
 king was in a great dread, and in a terrible 
 agony at this calamity; and being in great 
 
 and without fear, with their husbandry, and other affairs," 
 is more distinct in our other copies, both of the kin^isand 
 of Isaiah, and deserves very great consideration. Tha 
 words are these: — ^This shall be a sign unto thee: Ya 
 shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the se- 
 cond year that which springeth of the same; and in the 
 third year sow ye, and reap, and plant Tineyards, and eat 
 the fruit thereof" (2 Kings xix. -20; Isa. xxxvii. 30); 
 which seem to me plainly to design a iSabbatic year, a 
 year of jubilee next after it, and the succeeding n»u:*l la- 
 bours and fruits of them on the third and following years. 
 + 'I'hat this terrible calamity of the slaughter oi the 
 18.j,(XX) Assyrians is here delivered in the words of He- 
 rosus the Chaldean; and that it was certainly and fre- 
 quently foietold by the Jewish prophets; and that it wut 
 certainly and undeniably accMUplisbed, see AutbcnU 
 Kec. Fart, ii page 866. 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 271 
 
 fear for his whole army, he fled \vith the rest 
 ^ of his furcesKo his own kingdom, and to his 
 city Nineveh; and when he had abode there 
 a little while, he was treacherously assaulted, 
 and died by the hands of his elder sons,* 
 Afirammelech and Seraser, and was slain in 
 jis own temple, which was called Araske. 
 Now these sons of his were driven away, on 
 account of the murder of their father, by the 
 citizens, and went into Armenia, while As- 
 s^rachoddas took the kingdom of Sennache- 
 rib." And this proved to be the conclusion 
 of this Assyrian expedition against the peo- 
 ple of Jerusalem. 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 EOW HEZEKIAH WAS SICK, AND BEADY TO 
 DIE, AND HOW GOD BESTOWED UPON HIM 
 FIFTEEN^ YEARS LONGER LIFE [AND SE- 
 CURED THAT promise], BY THE GOING 
 BACK OF THE SHADOW TEN DEGREES. 
 
 § I. Now Hezekiah being thus delivered, af- 
 ter a surprising manner, from the dread he 
 was in, offered thank-offerings to God, %vith 
 all his people; because nothing else had de- 
 stroyed some of their enemies, and made the 
 rest so fearful of undergoing the same fate, 
 that they departed from Jerusalem, but that 
 divine assistance: yet, whUe he was very zea- 
 lous and diligent about the worship of God, 
 did he soon afterwards fall into a severe dis- 
 temper,! insomuch, that the physicians de- 
 spaired of him, and expected no good issue 
 of his sickness, as neither did his friends: and 
 besides the distemper itself, there was a very 
 melancholy circumstance that disordered the 
 king, which was the consideration that he was 
 ohihiless, and was going to die, and leave his 
 touse and his government without a successor 
 of his own body: so he was troubled at the 
 thoughts of this his condition, and lamented 
 himself, and entreated of Goa that he would 
 prolong his life for a little while till he had 
 some diildren, and not suffer him to depart 
 this life before he was become a father. Here- 
 upon God had mercy upon him, and accepted 
 of his supplication, because the trouble he was 
 
 « We are here to -take notice, that these two sons of 
 E«nnacherib that ran away into Armenia, became the 
 heads of two famous families there, the Arzerunii and the 
 Genunii; of which see the particular histories in Moses 
 Cborenensis, p. 60. 
 
 + Jo!«ephD8, and all our copies, place the sickness of 
 Hezekiah alter tlie destruction of Sennacherib's army, be- 
 canse It appears to have been after his first assault, as he 
 was going into Arabia and Egypt, where he pushed his 
 conquests as far as they would go, and in order to dispatch 
 his story altogether; yet does no copy but this of Josephns 
 say it was after that destruction, but only that it happened 
 in those d;»yR. or about that time of Hezekiah's life. Nor 
 will the fiUeen years* prolongation of his life after his sick- 
 ness, allow that sickness to hare been later than the for- 
 mer part of the fifteenth year of his reign, since chronology 
 do.-* not allow him in all above twenty-nine years and' a 
 few months: wheri-as 'he first assault of Sennacherib was 
 in the fourteenfli yar of Hezekinh; but the destruction 
 «f a»eanach6rih*> army waa not till his eigbteentb year. I 
 
 under at his supposed death was not because 
 he was soon to leave the advantages he en- 
 joyed in the kingdom; nor did he on that ac- 
 count pray that he might have a longer life 
 afforded him, but in order to have sons, that 
 might receive the government after him. And 
 God sent Isaiah the prophet, and commanded 
 him to inform Hezekiah, that within thre<s 
 days' time he should get clear of his distem 
 per, and should survive it fifteen years, aid 
 that he should have children also. Now uj)- 
 on the prophet's saying this, as God had com- 
 manded him, he could hardly believe it, both 
 on account of the distemper he was under, 
 which was very sore, and by reason of the 
 surprising nature of what was told him; so 
 he desired that Isaiah would give him souk 
 sign or wonder, that he might believe him in 
 what he had said, and be sensible that he caiue 
 from God: for things that are beyond expec- 
 tation, and greater than our hopes, are made 
 credible by actions of the like nature. And 
 when Isaiah had asked him what sign he de- 
 sired to be exhibited, he desired that he would 
 make the shadow of the sun, which he had 
 already made to go down ten steps [or de- 
 grees] in his house, to return again to the 
 same place,J and to make it as it was before. 
 And when the prophet prayed to God to ex- 
 hibit this sign to the king, he saw what be 
 desired to see, and was freed from his distem- 
 per, and went up to the temple, where he wor- 
 shipped God and made vows to him. 
 
 2. At this time it was that the dominion of 
 the Assyrians was overthrown by the Medes;j; 
 but of these things I shall treat elsewhere. 
 But the king of Babylon, whose name was 
 Baladan, sent ambassadors to Hezekiah with 
 presents, and desired he would be his ally and 
 his friend. So he received the ambassadors 
 
 t As to this regress of the shadow, either upon a sun- 
 dial, or the steps of the royal palace built by A baz. whether 
 it were physically done by the real miraculous revolution 
 of the earth in its diurnal motion backwards from east to 
 west for a while, and its relurn again to its old natural 
 revolution from west to east; or whether it were not ap- 
 parent only, and performed by an aerial phosphorus, 
 which imitated the sun's motion backwards, while a 
 cloud hid the real sun, cannot now be determined. Phi- 
 losophers and astronomers will naturally incline to the 
 latter hypothesis. However, it must be noted, that Jose- 
 phns seems to have understood it otherwise than we ge- 
 nerally do; that the shadow was accelerated as much at 
 first forward as it was made to go backward afterwards, 
 and so the day was neitner longer nor shorter than usual; 
 which, it must be confessed, agrees best of all to astro- 
 nomy, whose eclipses, older than that time, were oh- 
 served at the same times of the day^s if this miracle had 
 never happened. After all, this wonderful signal was 
 not, it seems, peculiar to Judea, but either seen, or at 
 least heard of, at Babylon also, as appears by 2 Chron. 
 XJfxii. 31; where we learn that the Babylonian ambas- 
 sadors were sent to Hezekiah, among other things, to 
 inquire of the wonder that was done in the land. 
 
 } This expression of Josephus, that tl>e Medes, upon 
 this destruction of the Assyrian army, " overthrew " the 
 Assyrian empire, seems to be too strong; for although 
 they immediately cast off the Assyrian yoke, and set up 
 Deiuces, a king of their own, yet it waa some time be- 
 for» the Medes and Babylonians overthrew Nineveh ; 
 and some generations before the Medes and Persiau*, 
 nnder Cyaxares and Cyrus, overthrew the AssyristU ot 
 Babylonian empire, and took Babyloi). 
 
272 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK X» 
 
 gladly, and made them a feast, and showed 
 them his treasures, and his armoury, and the 
 other wealth he was possessed of, in precious 
 stones, and in gold, and gave them presents 
 to be carried to Baladan, and sent them back 
 to him. Upon whicn the prophet Isaiah came 
 to him, and inquirea of him whence those 
 ambassadors came: to which he replied, that 
 they came from Babylon, from the king; and 
 that he had showed them all he had, that by 
 the sight of his riches and forces he might 
 thereby guess at [the plenty he was in], and 
 be able to inform the king of it. But the 
 prophet rejoined, and said, — "Know thou, 
 that, after a little while, these riches of thine 
 shall be carried away to Babylon, and thy 
 posterity shall be made eunuchs there, and 
 lose their manhood, and be servants to the 
 king of Babylon; for that God foretold such 
 things would come to pass." Upon which 
 words Hezekiah was troubled, and said, that 
 he was himself unwilling that his nation 
 should fell into such calamities; yet, since it 
 is not possible to alter what God had deter- 
 mined, he prayed that there might be peace 
 while he lived. Berosus also makes mention 
 of this Baladan, king of Babylon. Now as 
 to this prophet [Isaiah], he was, by the con- 
 fession of all, a divine and wonderful man in 
 speaking truth; and out of the assurance that 
 he had never written what was false, he wrote 
 down all his prophecies, and left them behind 
 him in books, that their accomplishment might 
 be judged of from the events by posterity. 
 Nor did this prophet do so alone; but the 
 others, which were twelve in number, did the 
 same. And whatsoever is done among us, 
 whether it be good, or whether it be bad, 
 comes to pass according to their prophecies; 
 but of every one of these we shall speak here- 
 after. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HOW MANASSEH REIGNED AFTER HEZEKIAH; 
 AND HOW, WHEN HE WAS IN CAPTIVITY, HE 
 RETURNED TO GOD, AND WAS RESTORED TO 
 HIS KINGDOM, AND LEFT IT TO [HIS SON] 
 AMON. 
 
 § 1. When king Hezekiah had survived the 
 interval of time already mentioned, and had 
 dwelt all that time in peace, he died, having 
 completed fifty-four years of his life, and 
 reigned twenty-nine. But when his son Ma- 
 nasseh, whose mother's name was Hephzibah, 
 of Jerusalem, had taken the kingdom, he de- 
 parted from the conduct of his father, and 
 fell into a course of life quite contrary there- 
 to, and showed himself in his manners most 
 wicked in all respects, and omitted no sort of 
 impiety, but imitated those transgressions of 
 the Israelites, by the commission of which 
 
 against God, they had been destroyed; for he 
 was so hardy as to defile the temple of God, ♦ 
 and the city, and the whole country; for, bj 
 setting out from a contempt of God, he bar- 
 barously slew all the righteous men that were 
 among the Hebrews; nor would he spare the 
 prophets, for he every day slew some of them, 
 till Jerusalem was overflown with blood. So 
 God was angry at these proceedings, and sent 
 prophets to the king, and to the multitude, by 
 whom he threatened tb.e very same calamities 
 to them which their brethren the Israeutes, 
 upon the like afironts ofiered to God, were 
 now under. But these men would not be- 
 lieve their words, by which belief they might 
 have reaped the advantage of escaping all 
 those miseries ; yet did they in earnest learn 
 that what the prophets had told them was 
 true. 
 
 2. And when they persevered in the same 
 course of life, God raised up war against them 
 from the king of Babylon and Chaldea, who 
 sent an army against Judea, and laid waste the mm 
 country; and caught king Manasseh by trea- ^ 
 chery, and ordered him to be brought to him, 
 and had him under his power to inflict what 
 punishment he pleased upon him. But then ^ 
 it was that Manasseh perceived what a mise- .,« 
 rable condition he was in, and esteeming him- ^M 
 self the cause of all, he besought God to ren- 9 
 der his enemy humane and merciful to him. ^ 
 
 Accordingly, God heard his prayer, and 
 granted him what he prayed for. So Manasseh 
 was released by the king of Babylon, and 
 escaped the danger he was in; and when he 
 was come to Jerusalem, he endeavoured, if it 
 were possible, to cast out of his memory those 
 his former sins against God, of which he now 
 repented, and to apply himself to a very reli- 
 gious life. He sanctified the temple, and 
 purged the city, and for the remainder of his 
 days he was intent on nothing but to return 
 his thanks to God for his dehverance, and to 
 preserve him propitious to him all his fife 
 long. He also instructed the multitude to do 
 the same, as having very nearly experienced ,^ 
 what a calamity he was fallen into by a con- ™ 
 
 trary conduct. He also rebuilt the altar, and 
 ofiered the legal sacrifices, as Moses com- 
 manded; and when he had re-established 
 what concerned the divine worship, as it ought 
 to be, he took care of the security of Jerusa- 
 lem: he did not only repair the old walls 
 with great diligence, but added another wall 
 to the former. He also built very lofty towers, 
 and the garrisoned places before the city he 
 strengthened not only in other respects, but 
 with provisions of all sorts that they wanted; 
 and indeed, when he had changed his former 
 course, he so led his life for the time to come, 
 that from the time of his return to piety to- 
 wards God, he \v}is deemed a happy man, and 
 a pattern for imitjxtion. When therefore he 
 had lived sixty-sevon years, he departed this* 
 life, having reigned niiy-live years, and wtM 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 273 
 
 biuied in his own garden; and the kingdom 
 came to his son Amon, whose mother's name 
 was Meshulemeth, of the city of Jotbath. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EOW AMCN REIGNED INSTEAD OF MANASSEH; 
 AND AFTER AMON, REIGNED JOSIAH; HE 
 WAS BOTH RIGHTEOUS AND RELIGIOUS. 
 AS ALSO CONCERNING HULDAH THE PRO- 
 PHETESS. 
 
 § I. This Amon imitated those works of his 
 father which he insolently did when he was 
 young: so he had a conspiracy made against 
 him by his own servants, and was slain in his 
 ovm house, when he had lived twenty-four 
 years, and of them had reigned two; but the 
 multitude punished those that slew Amon, 
 and buried him \vith his father, and gave the 
 kingdom to his son Josiah, who was eight 
 years old. His mother was of the city of 
 Boscath, and her name was Jedidah. He 
 was of a most excellent disposition, and 
 naturally virtuous, and followed the actions 
 of king David, as a pattern and a rule to him 
 in the whole conduct of his life; and when 
 he was twelve years old he gave demonstra- 
 tions of his religious and righteous behaviour; 
 for he brought the people to a sober way of 
 living, and exhorted them to leave off the opi- 
 nion they had of their idols, because they were 
 not gods, but to worship their own God; and 
 by reflecting on the actions of his progenitors, 
 he prudently corrected what they did wrong, 
 like a very elderly man, and like one abun- 
 dantly able to understand what was fit to be 
 done ; and what he found they had well done, 
 he observed all the country over, and imitated 
 the same ; and thus he acted in following the 
 wisdom and sagacity of his own nature, and 
 in compliance with the ad\ace and instruction 
 of the elders; for by following the laws it 
 was that he succeeded so well in the order of 
 his government, and in piety with regard to 
 the divine worship; and this happened be- 
 cause the transgressions of the former kings 
 were seen no more, but quite vanished away ; 
 for the king went about the city, and the 
 whole country, and cut do^vn the groves, 
 which were devoted to strange gods, and over- 
 threw their altars ; and if there were any gifts 
 dedicated to them by his forefathers, he made 
 them ignominious, and plucked them down; 
 and by this means he brought the people back 
 from their opinion about them to the worship 
 of God. He also offered his accustomed sa- 
 crifices and burnt-offerings upon the altar. 
 Moreover, he ordained certain judges and 
 overseers, that they might order the matters 
 to them severally belonging, and have regard 
 to justice above all things, and distribute it 
 with the same concern they woidd have about 
 
 their own soul. He also sent over all the 
 country, and desired such as pleased to bring 
 gold and silver for the repairs of the temple, 
 according to every one's inclinations and abi- 
 lities; and when the money was brought in, 
 he made one Maaseiah the governor of the 
 city, and Shaphan the scribe, and Joah the re- 
 corder, and Eliakim the high-priest, curator 
 of the temple, and of the charges contributed 
 thereto; who made no delay, nor put the work 
 ofi* at all, but prepared architects, and what- 
 soever was proper for those repairs, and set 
 closely about the work. So the temple was 
 repaired by this means, and became a public 
 demonstration of the king's piety. 
 
 2. But when he was now in the eighteenth 
 year of his reign, he sent to Eliakim the high- 
 priest, and gave order, that out of what 
 money w^ overplus, he should cast'cups, and 
 dishes, and vials, for ministration [in the tem- 
 ple]; and besides, that they should bring all 
 the gold or silver which was among the trea- 
 sures, and expend that also in making cups 
 and the like vessels; but as the high-priest 
 was bringing out the gold, he lighted upon the 
 holy books of Moses that were laid up in the 
 temple ; and when he had brought them out, 
 he gave them to Shaphan the scribe, who, 
 when he had read them, came to the kmg, 
 and informed, him that all was finished which 
 he had ordered to be done. He also read 
 over the books to him, who, when he had 
 heard them read, rent his garment, and called 
 for Eliakim the high-priest, and for [Shaphan] 
 the scribe, and for certain [other] of his mo>=t 
 particular friends, and sent them to Huldah 
 the prophetess, the wife of Shallum (which 
 Shallum was a man of dignity, and of an 
 eminent family), and bade them go to her and 
 say that [he desired] she would appease God, 
 and endeavour to render him propitious to 
 them, for that there was cause to fear lest, 
 upon the transgression of the laws of Mo.^es 
 by their forefathers, they should be in perD 
 of going into captivity, and of being cast out 
 of their own country; lest they should be in 
 want of all things, and so end their days mi- 
 serably. When the prophetess had heard this 
 from the messengers that were sent to her by 
 the king, she bade them go back to the king, 
 and say, that God had already given sentence 
 against them, to destroy the people, and cast 
 them out of their country, and deprive them 
 of all the happiness they enjoyed; which sen- 
 tence none could set aside by any prayers of 
 theirs, since it was passed on account of theii 
 transgressions of the laws, and of their not 
 having repented in so long a time, while the 
 prophets had exhorted them to amend, and 
 had foretold the punishments that would ensue 
 on their impious practices; which threatening 
 God would certainly execute upon them, that 
 they might be persuaded that he is God, and 
 had not deceived them in any respect as to 
 what he had denounced by his prophets; that 
 S 
 
274 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 yet, because JosiaL was a righteous man, he 
 would at present delay those calamities, but 
 that, after his death, he would, send on the 
 multitude what miseries he had determined 
 for them. 
 
 3. So these messengers, upon this prophecy 
 of the" woman, came and told it to the king; 
 whereupon he sent to the people everywhere, 
 and ordered that the priests and the Levites 
 should come together to Jerusalem ; and 
 commanded that those of every age should be 
 present also; and when they were gathered 
 together, he first read to them the holy books; 
 after which he stood upon a pulpit, in the 
 midst of the multitude, and obliged them to 
 make a covenant, with an oath, that they 
 would worship God, and keep the laws of 
 Moses. Accordingly, they gave their assent 
 wllingly, and undertook to do what the king 
 had recommended to them. So they imme- 
 diately offered sacrifices, and that after an ac- 
 ceptable manner, and besought God to be 
 gracious and merciful to them. He also en- 
 joined the high-priest, that if there remained 
 in the temple any vessel that was dedicated 
 to idols, or to foreign gods, they should cast 
 it out; so when a great number of such ves- 
 sels were got together, he burnt them, and 
 scattered their ashes abroad, and slew the 
 priests of the idols that were not of the family 
 of Aaron. 
 
 4. And when he had done thus in Jerusa- 
 lem, he came into the country, and utterly 
 destroyed what buildings had been made 
 therein by king Jeroboam, in honour of 
 strange gods; and he burnt the bones of the 
 false prophets upon that altar which Jero- 
 boam first built ; and as the prophet, [Jadon], 
 who came to Jeroboam, when he was oflfering 
 sacrifice, and when all the people heard him, 
 foretold what would come to pass, viz. that 
 a certain man of the house of David, Josiah 
 by name, should do what is here mentioned. 
 And it happened that those predictions took 
 effect after three hundred and sixty one years. 
 
 5. After these things, Josiah went also to 
 such other Israelites as had escaped captivity 
 and slavery under the Assyrians, and per- 
 suaded them to desist from their impious 
 practices, and to leave ofi" the honours they 
 paid to strange gods, but to worship rightly 
 their own Almighty God, and adhere to him. 
 He also searched the houses, and the villages, 
 and the cities, out of a suspicion that some- 
 body might have one idol or other in private; 
 nay, indeed, he' took away the chariots [of 
 the Sun] that were set up in his royal pa- 
 lace,* which his predecessors had framed, 
 
 * It b bard to reconcile the account in the second 
 book of Kings (ch. xxiii. 11) with this account in Jose- 
 phus, and to translate this pa.tsai^e truly in Josephus, 
 whoae copies are supposed to be here imperfect. How- 
 ever, the Kenerai sense of both seems to be this: — That 
 there were certain chariots, witl) ilieir horses, dedicated 
 to the idol o( the Sun, or to Mol ch. which idol mi^ht 
 ic Oftrried about in processino. and worshipped by the 
 
 and what thing soever there was besides 
 which they worshipped as a god. 'And wbfin 
 he had thus purged all the country, he called 
 the people to Jerusalem, and there celebrwted 
 the feast of unleavened bread, and that called 
 the Passover. He also gave the people for 
 paschal sacrifices, young kids of the goats, 
 and lambs, thirty thousand, and three thou- 
 sand oxen for burnt-offerings. The princi- 
 pal of the priests also gave to the pries-ts 
 against the passover two thousand and six 
 hundred lambs; the principal of the Levites 
 also gave to the Levites five thousand lambs, 
 and five hundred oxen, by which means there 
 was great plenty of sacrifices; and they of- 
 fered these sacrifices according to the laws of 
 Moses, while every priest explained the mat- 
 ter, and ministered to the multitude. And 
 indeed there had been no other festival thus 
 celebrated by the Hebrews from the times of 
 Samuel the prophet; and the plenty of sacri- 
 fices now was the occasion that all things 
 were performed according to the laws, and 
 according to the custom of their forefathers. 
 So when Josiah had after this lived in peace, 
 nay, in riches and reputation also, amouii: all 
 men, he ended his life in the manner followiiti;. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW JOSIAH FOUGHT WITH NECO [KIVQ OP 
 EGYPT], AND WAS WOUNDKD AND DIED IV 
 A LITTLE TIME AFTERWARDS: A.S ALSO 
 HOW NECO CARRIED JEIIOAHAZ, WHO HAD 
 BEEN MADE KING, INTO EGYPT. AND DE- 
 LIVERED THE KINGDOM TO JEHOIAKIM : 
 AND [lastly]., CONCERNING JERK MIA H 
 AND EZEKIEL. 
 
 § 1. Now Neco, king of Egypt, raised an 
 army, and marched to the river Euphrates, 
 in order to fight with the Medes and Baby- 
 lonians, who had overthrown tue dominion of 
 the Assyrians,! for he bad a desire to reign 
 over Asia. Now when he was come to the 
 city Mendes, which belonged to the kingdom 
 of Josiah, he brought an army to hinder him 
 from passing through his own country, in his 
 expedition against the Medes. Now Neco 
 sent a herald to Josiah, and told him, that he 
 had not made this expedition against him, 
 but was making haste to Euphrates; and de- 
 sired that he would not provoke him to fight 
 against him, because he obstructed his march 
 
 people; which chariots were now " taken away," as .lo- 
 sephus says, or, as the booi; of Kings says, " burnt with 
 fire, by Josiah." . 
 
 + 1 his is a remarkable passage of chronoloRy in Jose- 
 phus, that about the latter end of the reign of Jowab, 
 the Medes and Babylonians overthrew the empire of 
 the Assyrians; or, in the words of Tohirs continuntcr, 
 that "helore Tobias died, he heard of the desrnirtion 
 of Nineveh, which was taken by ^ebuchodononor th«» 
 Babylonian, and Assnerus the Rlede " Tob. xiv. l«\ See 
 Dean Prideauv** Connexion, at tb«> )oar 012. 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 275 
 
 to the place whither he had resolved to go. 
 Bat Josiah did not admit of this advice of 
 Keco, but put himself into a posture to hin- 
 der him from his intended march. I sup- 
 pose it was fate that pushed him on to this 
 conduct, that it might take an occasion against 
 him ; for as he was setting his army in array,* 
 and rode about in his chariot, from one wing 
 of his army to another, one of the Egyptians 
 shot an arrow at him, and put an end to his 
 eagerness for fighting; for, being sorely 
 wounded, he commanded a retreat to be 
 sounded for his army, and returned to Jeru- 
 salem, and died of that wound; and was 
 magnificently buried in the sepulchre of his 
 fathers, when he had lived thirty-nine years, 
 and of them had reigned thirty-one. But all 
 the people mourned greatly for him, lament- 
 ing and grieving on his account many days; 
 and Jeremiah the prophet composed an elegy 
 to lament him,t which is extant till this time 
 also. Moreover, this prophet denounced be- 
 forehand the sad calamities that were coming 
 upon the city. He also left behind him in 
 writing, a description of that destruction of 
 our nation which has lately happened in our 
 days, and the taking of Babylon; nor was he 
 the only prophet who delivered such predic- 
 tions beforehand to the multitude; but so 
 did Ezekiel also, who was the first person 
 that wrote, and lelt behind him in writing 
 two books concerning these events. Now 
 these two oropnets were priests by birth, but 
 or tnem Jeremiah dwelt in Jerusalem, from 
 tne toirteentn year of the reign of Josiah, un- 
 til tne city and temple Mere utterly destroyed. 
 However, as to what befell this prophet, we 
 will relate it in its proper place. 
 
 2. Upon the deatn of Josiah, which we 
 have already mentioned, his son, Jehoahaz 
 by name, took the kingdom, being about 
 twenty-tnrpe years old. He reigned in Je- 
 rusalem; and his mother was Hamutal, of 
 the city Linnah. He was an impious man, 
 and impure in his course of life; but as the 
 kit)g of Egypt returned from the battle, he sent 
 for Jehoahaz to come to him to the city called 
 Hamath.t which belongs to Syria; and when 
 he was come, he put him in bonds, and de- 
 livered the kingdom to a brother of his by 
 the father's side, whose name was Eliakim, 
 and changed his name to Jehoiakim, and laid 
 
 « This battle is justly esteemed the very same that 
 Bertxlotus (bonk ii. sect 1.56) mentions, when l>e say?, 
 tbat "Nccao joined baUle with the Syrians [or Jews] 
 at Magdoium [Megiddo] and beat them," as Dr. Hud- 
 son here observes. 
 
 + Whether Josephns, from 2 Chron. xxxv. 2-5, here 
 means the book of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, still, 
 extant, which chiefly belongs to the destruction of Je-I 
 rusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, or to any other like 
 melancholy poem now lost, but extant in the days of 
 Josephus. belonging peculiarly to Josiah, cannot now be . 
 detemiiued. | 
 
 t This ancient city Hamath, which is joined with Ar-. 
 
 Kd. or Aradus, and with Damascus (2 Kings xviii. :W;! 
 I, xxxvi. 19; Jer. xlix. 2:3). cities of Syria and I'hceni | 
 Citt, »ea.i the borders of Jndea. was also itself evidt-nil 
 
 aear the same borders though long ago utterly destroy 
 
 lOfniiy} 
 stroyn!. 1 
 
 a tribute upon the land of a hundred talents 
 of silver, and a talent of gold ; and this sum 
 of money Jehoiakim paid by way of tribute ; 
 but Neco carried away Jehoahaz into Egypt, 
 where he died, when he had reigned three 
 months and ten days. Now Jehoiakim's 
 mother was called Zebudah, of the city Ru- 
 mah. He was of a wicked disposition, and 
 ready to do mischief: nor was he either reli 
 gious towards God, or good-natured toward 
 men. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW NEBUCHADNEZZAR, WHEN HE HAD 
 CONQUERED THE KING OF EGYPT, MADE AN 
 EXPEDITION AGAINST THE JEWS, AND 
 SLEW JEHOIAKIM, AND MADE JEHOIACHIN, 
 HIS SON, KING. 
 
 § 1. Now in the fourth year of the reign of 
 Jehoiakim, one whose name was Nebuchad- 
 nezzar took the government over the Babylo- 
 nians, who at the same time went up with a 
 great army to the city Carchemish, which was 
 at Euphrates, upon a resolution he had taken 
 to fight with Neco, king of Egypt, under 
 whom all Syria then was. And when Neco 
 understood the intention of the king of Baby- 
 lon, and that this expedition was made against 
 him, he did not despise his attempt, but made 
 haste with a great band of men to Euphra- 
 tes to defend himself from Nebuchadnezzar; 
 and when they had joined battle, he was 
 beaten, and lost many ten thousands [of his 
 I soldiers] in the battle. So the king of Bii- 
 bylon pa-ssed over Euphrates, and took all 
 ' Syria, as far as Pelusium, excepting Judea. 
 But when Nebuchadnezzar had already reign- 
 ed four years, which was the eighth of Jehoi- 
 akim's goverment over the Hebrews, the king 
 of Babylon made an expedition with mighty 
 forces against the Jews, and required tribute 
 of Jehoiakim, and threatened, on his refusal, 
 to make war against him. He was affrighted 
 at his threatening, and bought his peace with 
 money, and brought the tribute he was 
 ordered to bring for three years. 
 
 2. But on the third year, upon hearing 
 that the king of the Babylonians made an ex- 
 pedition against the Egyptians, he did not pay 
 his tribute ; yet was he disappointed of his 
 hope, for the Egyptians durst not fight at this 
 time. And indeed the prophet Jeremiah fore- 
 told every day how vainly they relied oil their 
 hopes from Egypt, and how the city would be 
 overthrown by the king of Babylon, and Je- 
 hoiakim the king would be subdued by him. 
 But what he thus spake proved to be of no 
 advantage to them, because there were none 
 that should escape; for both the multitude, 
 and the rulers, when they heard him, bad no 
 concern about what they heard ; . but being 
 
276 
 
 A^Tla1[IITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 displeased at wliat was said, as if the prophet 
 were a diviner against the king, they accused 
 Jeremiah; and bringing him before the court, 
 they required that a sentence and a punish- 
 ment might be given against him. Now all 
 the rest gave their votes for his condemnation, 
 but the elders refused, who prudently sent 
 away the prophet from the court [of the pri- 
 son], and persuaded the rest to do Jeremiah 
 no harm ; for they said that he was not the 
 cnly person who foretold what would come 
 to the city, but that Micah signified the same 
 before him, as well as many others, none of 
 whom suffered any thing of the kings that 
 then reigned, but were honoured as the pro- 
 phets of God. So they mollified the multi- 
 tude with these words, and delivered Jeremiah 
 from the punishment to which he was con- 
 demned. Now when this prophet had written 
 all his prophecies, and the people were fast- 
 ing, and assembled at the temple, on the ninth 
 month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim, he read 
 the book he had composed of his predictions 
 of what was to befall the city, and the temple, 
 and the multitude; and when the rulers heard 
 of it, they took the book from him, and bade 
 bim and Baruch the scribe to go their ways, 
 lest they should be discovered by one or other; 
 but they carried the book, and gave it to the 
 king; so he gave order in the presence of his 
 friends, that his scribe should take it and read 
 it. When the king heard what it contained, 
 he was angry, and tore it, and cast it into the 
 fire, where it was consumed. He also com- 
 manded that they should seek for Jeremiah 
 and Baruch the scribe, and bring them to him, 
 that they might be punished. However, they 
 escaped his anger. 
 
 3. Now, a little time afterwards, the king 
 of Babylon made an expedition against Je- 
 hoiakim, whom he received [into the city], 
 and this out of fear of the foregoing predic- 
 tions of this prophet, as supposing that he 
 should suffer nothing that was terrible, be- 
 cause he neither shut the gates, nor fought 
 jigainst him; yet when he was come into the 
 dty, he did not observe the covenants he had 
 made ; but he slew such as were in the flower 
 of their age, and such as were of the greatest 
 dignity, together with their king Jehoiakim, 
 whom he commanded to be thrown before the 
 walls, without any burial; and made his son 
 Jehoiachin king of the country and of the 
 city: he also took the principal persons in 
 dignity for captives, three thousand in num- 
 ber, and led them away to Babylon; among 
 whom was the prophet Ezekiel, who was then 
 but young. And this was the end of king 
 Jehoiakim, when he had lived thirty-six years, 
 and of them reigned eleven. But Jehoiachin 
 Bucceeded him in the kingdom, whose mo- 
 ther's name was Nehushta; she was a citizen 
 of Jerusalem. He reigned three months and 
 ten days. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THAT THE KING OP BABYLON REPENTED OF 
 MAKING JEHOIACHIN KING, AND TOOK HIM 
 AWAY TO BABYLON, AND DELIVERED THE 
 KINGDOM TO ZEDEKIAH. THIS KING WOULD 
 NOT BELIEVE WHAT WAS PREDICTED US 
 JEREMIAH AND EZEKIEL, BUT JOINED HtM- 
 SELF TO THE EGYPTIANS; WHO, WHEN 
 THEY CAME INTO JUDEA, WERE VANQUISH- 
 ED BY THE KING OF BABYLON; AS ALSO 
 WHAT BEFELL JEREMIAH. 
 
 § 1. But a terror seized on the king of Ba- 
 bylon, who had given the kingdom to Jehoia- 
 chin, and that immediately ; he was afraid 
 that he should bear him a grudge, because of 
 his killing his father, and thereupon should 
 make the country revolt from him ; where- 
 fore he sent an army, and besieged Jehoiachin 
 in Jerusalem; but because he was of a gentle 
 and just disposition, he did not desire to see 
 the city endangered on his account, but he 
 took his mother and kindred, and delivered 
 them to the commanders sent by the king 
 of Babylon, and accepted of their oaths, that 
 neither should they suffer any barm, nor the 
 city; which agreement they did not observe 
 for a single year, for the king of Babylon did 
 not keep it, but gave orders to his generals 
 to take all that were in the city captives, both 
 the youth and the handicraftsmen, and bring 
 them bound to him: their number was ten 
 thousand eight hundred and thirty-two; as 
 also Jehoiachin, and his mother and friends j 
 and when these were brought to him, he kept 
 them in custody, and appointed Jehoiachin'p 
 imcle, Zedekiah, to be king: and made him 
 take an oath, that he would certainly keep tht 
 kingdom for him, and make no innovation, 
 nor have any league of friendship with th« 
 Egyptians. 
 
 2. Now Zedekiah was twenty and one year^ 
 old when he took the government; and had 
 the same mother with his brother Jehoiakim, 
 but was a despiser of justice and of his duty; 
 for truly those of the same age with him were 
 wicked about him, and the whole multitude 
 did what unjust and insolent things they 
 pleased; for which reason the prophet Jere- 
 miah came often to him, and protested to him, 
 and insisted, that he must leave off his im- 
 pieties and transgressions, and take care of 
 what was right, and neither give ear to the 
 rulers (among whom were wicked men) nor 
 give credit to their false prophets who deluded 
 them, as if the king of Babylon would make 
 no more war against him, and as if the Egyp- 
 tians would make war against him, and conquer 
 hJm, since what they said was not true; and the 
 events would not prove such [as they expect- 
 ed]. Now as to Zedekiah himself, while by 
 heard the prophet speak, he believed him. and 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF Till: JEWS. 
 
 277 
 
 agreed to every thing as true, and supposed 
 it was for bis advantage; but then his friends 
 perverted him, and dissuaded him from what 
 the prophet advised, and obliged him to do 
 what they pleased. Ezekiel also foretold in 
 Babylon what calamities were coming upon 
 the people, which when he heard, he sent ac- 
 counts of them unto Jerusalem; but Zede- 
 kiah dirt not believe their prophecies, for the 
 reason following: — It happened that the two 
 prophets agreed with one another in what they 
 said as in all other things, that the city should 
 b*» taken, and Zedekiah himself should be taken 
 captive; but Ezekiel disagreed with him, and 
 said, that Zedekiah should not see Babylon; 
 while Jeremiah said to him, that the king of 
 Babylon should carry him away thither in 
 bonds; and because they did not both say 
 the same thing as to this circumstance, he 
 disbelieved what they both appeared to agree 
 in, and condemned them as not speaking 
 truth therein, although all the things foretold 
 him did come to pass according to their pro- 
 phecies, as we shall show upon a litter oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 3. Now when Zedekiah had preserved the 
 league of mutual assistance he had made with 
 the Babylonians for eight years, he brake it, 
 and revolted to the Egyptians, in hopes, by 
 their assistance, of overcoming the Babylo- 
 nians. When the king of Babylon knew 
 this, he made war against him: he laid his 
 country waste, and took his fortified towns, 
 and came to the city Jerusalem itself to be- 
 siege it; but when the king of Egypt heard 
 what circumstances Zedekiah his ally was 
 in, he took a great army with him, and came 
 into Judea, as if he would raise the siege; 
 upon which the king of Babylon departed 
 from Jerusalem, and met the Egyptians, and 
 joined battle with them and beat them ; 
 and when he had put them to flight, he 
 pursued them, and drove them out of all 
 Syria. Now as soon as the king of Baby- 
 lon was departed from Jerusalem, the false 
 prophets deceived Zedekiah, and said that 
 the king of Babylon would not any more 
 make war against him or his people, nor re- 
 move them out of their own country into 
 Babylon; and that those then in captivity 
 would return, with all those vessels of the 
 temple, of which the king of Babylon had 
 despoiled that temple. But Jeremiah came 
 among them, and prophesied what contra- 
 dicted those predictions, and what proved to 
 be true, that they did ill, and deluded the 
 king; tljat the Egyptians would be of no ad- 
 vantage to them, but that the king of Baby- 
 lon would renew the war against Jerusalem, 
 and besiege it again, and would destroy the 
 people by famine, and carry away those that 
 remained into captivity, and would take away 
 what they had as spoils, and would carry 
 off those riches that were in the temple; nay, 
 that, fcesides this, he would burn it, and ut- 
 
 terly overthrow the city, and that they should 
 serve him and his posterity seventy years; 
 and then the Persians and the Medes should 
 put an end to their servitude, and overthrow 
 the Babylonians; "and that we shall be dis- 
 missed, and return to this land, and rebuild 
 the temple, and restore Jerusalem."* — When 
 Jeremiah said this, the greater part believed 
 him ; but the rulers, and those that were 
 wicked, despised him, as one disordered in 
 his senses. Now he had resolved to go else- 
 where, to his own country, which was called 
 Anathoth, and was twenty fui>longs distant 
 from Jerusalem ; and as he was going, one of 
 the rulers met him, and seized upon him, and 
 accused him falsely, as though he were going 
 as a deserter to the Babylonians; but Jere- 
 miah said that he accused him falsely, and 
 added, that he was only going to his own 
 country; but the other would not believe him, 
 but seized upon him, and led him away to 
 the rulers, and laid an accusation against 
 him, under whom he endured all sorts of 
 torments and tortures, and was reserved to 
 be punished; and this was the condition he 
 was in for some time, while he suffered what 
 I have already described unjustly. 
 
 4. Now, in the ninth year of the reign ot 
 Zedekiah, on the tenth day of the tenth month, 
 the king of Babylon made a second expedition 
 against Jerusalem, and lay before it eighteen 
 months, and besieged it with the utmost ap- 
 plication. There came upon them also two 
 of the greatest calamities, at the same time 
 that Jerusalem was besieged, a famine and a 
 pestilential distemper, and made great havoc 
 of them: and though the prophet Jeremiah 
 was in prison, he did not rest, but cried out, 
 and proclaimed aloud, and exhorted the mul- 
 titude to open their gates, and admit the 
 king of Babylon, for that, if they did so, they 
 should-be preserved, and their whole families; 
 but if they did not so, they should be de- 
 stroyed ; and he foretold, that if any one staid 
 in the city, he should certainly perish by one 
 of these ways, — either be consumed by the 
 famine, or slain by the enemy's sword ; but 
 that if he would fly to the enemy he should 
 escape death: yet did not these rulers who 
 heard believe him, even when they were in 
 the midst of their sore calamities; but they 
 came to the king, and, in their anger, informed 
 him what Jeremiah said, and accused him, 
 and complained of the prophet as of a madman, 
 and one that disheartened their minds, and, 
 by the denunciation of miseries, weakened 
 the alacrity of the multitude, who were other- 
 wise ready to expose themselves to dangers 
 for him, and for their country, while he, in a 
 
 • Josephus says here, that Jeremiah prophesied not 
 only of the return of the Jews from the Babylonian cap- 
 tivity, and this under the Persians and Medes. as in our 
 other copies: but of their rebuilding the temple, and 
 eren the city Jerusalem, which does not appear in our 
 copies under his name. See the note on Antiq. b. U. 
 cU. 1, sect 3. 
 
278 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 \VR} of threatening, warned thenn to fly to the 
 enemy, and told them that the city should 
 certainly he taken, and be utterly destroyed. 
 
 5. But for the king himself, he was not at 
 all irritated against Jeremiah, such was his 
 gentle and righteous disposition; yet, that he 
 might not be engaged in a quarrel with those 
 rulers at such a time, by oppoifing what they 
 intended, he let them do with the prophet 
 whatsoever they would : whereupon, when 
 the king had granted them such a permission, 
 they presently came into the prison and took 
 him, and let. him down with a cord into a pit 
 full of mire, that he might be suffocated, and 
 die of himself. So he stood up to the neck 
 in the mire, which was all about him, and so. 
 continued: but there was one of the king's 
 servants, who was in esteem with him, an 
 Ethiopian by descent, who told the king what 
 a state the prophet was in, and said, that his 
 friends and his rulers had done evil in put- 
 ting the prophet into the mire, and by that 
 means tontriving against him that he should 
 suffer a death more bitter than that by his 
 bonds only. "When the king heard this, he 
 repented of his having delivered up the pro- 
 phet to the rulers, and bade the Ethiopian 
 take thirty men of the king's guards, and 
 cords with them, and whatsoever else they 
 understood to be necessary for the prophet's 
 preservation, and to draw him up imme- 
 diately. So the Ethiopian took the men that 
 he was ordered to take, and drew up the pro- 
 phet out of the mire, and left Eim at liberty 
 in the prison. 
 
 6. But when the king had sent to call him 
 privately, and inquired what he could say to 
 him from God, which might be suitable to his 
 present circumstances, and desired him to in- 
 form him of it, Jeremiah replied, that he 
 had somewhat to say; but he said withal, he 
 should not be believed, nor, if he admonished 
 them, should be hearkened to; " for," said he, 
 " thy friends have determined to destroy me, 
 as though I had been guilty of some wicked- 
 ness: and where are now those men who de- 
 ceived us, and said that the king of Babylon 
 would not come and fight against us any 
 
 'more? but I am afraid now to speak the 
 truth, lest thou shouldest condemn me to 
 die." And when the king had assured him 
 upon oath that he would neither himself put 
 him to death, nor deliver him up to the rulers, 
 he became bold upon that assurance that was 
 given him, and gave him this advice; — That 
 he should deliver the city up to the Baby- 
 lonians; and be said, that it was God who 
 prophesied this by him, that [he must do so] 
 if he would be preserved and escape out of 
 the danger he was i:., and that then neither 
 should the city fall to ihe ground, nor should 
 the temple be burned; but that [if he dis- 
 ODeyed], he would be the cause of these mi- 
 •enes coming upon the citizens, and of the 
 Ciilamity that would btfall Lis whole house. 
 
 When the king heard this, he said, that he 
 would willingly do w bat he persuaded him to, 
 and what he declared would be to his advan- 
 tage, but that he was afraid of those of his 
 own country that had fallen away to the Ba- 
 bylonians, lest he should be accused by them 
 to the king of Babylon, and be punished. 
 Hut the prophet encouraged him, and said he 
 had no cause to fear such punishment, for 
 that he should not have the experience of any 
 misfortune, if he would deliver all" up to the 
 Babylonians; neither himself, jior his children, 
 nor his wives, and that the temple should 
 then continue unhurt. So when Jeremiah had 
 said this, the king let him go, and charged 
 him to betray what they had resolved on to 
 none of the citizens, nor to tell any of these 
 matters to any of the rulers, if they should 
 have learned that he had been sent for, and 
 should inquire of him what it was that he was 
 sent for, and what he had said to him ; but to 
 pretend to them that he besought him that he 
 might not be kept in bonds and in prison. 
 And indeed he said so to them, for they came 
 to the prophet, and asked him what advice it 
 was that he came to give the king relating to 
 them: and thus I have finished what con- 
 cerns this matter. 
 
 CHAPTER VITI. 
 
 HOW THE KING OF BABYLON TOOK JKRUSALKM 
 AND BUKNT THE TEMPLE, AND REMOVED 
 THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM AND ZKDE- 
 KIAH TO BABYLON. AS AL.SO, WHO IHEY 
 WERE THAT HAD SUCCEEDED IN THE HIGH- 
 PRIESTHOOD UNDER THE KINGS. 
 
 § 1. Now the king of Babylon was very intent 
 and earnest upon the siege of Jerusjtlem; and 
 he erected towers upon great banks of earth, 
 and from them repelled those that stood upon 
 the walls: he also made a great number of 
 such banks round about the whole city, 
 the height of which was equal to those walls. 
 However, those that were within bore the 
 siege with courage and alacrity, for they were 
 not discouraged, either by the famine or by 
 the pestilential distemper, but were of cheer- 
 ful minds in the prosecution of the war, al- 
 though those miseries within oppressed them 
 also; and they did *not suffer themselves to 
 be terrified, either by the contrivances of the 
 enemy, or by their engines of war, but con- 
 trived still different engines to oppose all the 
 other withal, till indeed there seemed to be 
 an entire struggle between the Babylonians 
 and the people of Jerusalem, who had the 
 greater sagacity and pkill; the former party 
 supposing they should be thereby too hard 
 for the other, for the destruction of the city; 
 the latter placing their hopes of deliverance 
 in nothing else but in persevering in such in- 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 279 
 
 ventions, in opposition to the other, as might 
 demonstrate the enemy's engines were use- 
 less to them; and this siege they endured 
 lor eighteen months, until they were destroyed 
 by the famine, and by the darts which the 
 enemy threw at them from the towers. 
 
 2. Now the city was taken on the ninth 
 day of the fourth month, in the eleventh year 
 of the reign of Zedekiah. They were in- 
 deed only generals of the king of Babylon, 
 to whom Nebuchadnezzar committed the care 
 of the siege, for he abode himself in the city 
 of Riblah. The names of these generals who 
 ravaged and subdued Jerusalem, if any one 
 desired to know them, were these : Nergal 
 Sharezer, Samgar Nebo, Rabsaris, Sarse- 
 chim, and Rabmag; and when the city was 
 taken about midnight, and the enemy's gene- 
 rals were entered into the temple, and when 
 Zedekiah was sensible of it, he took his 
 wives and his children, and his captains and 
 friends, and with them fled out of the city, 
 through the fortified ditch, and through the 
 desert ; and when certain of the deserters had 
 informed the Babylonians of this, at break of 
 day they made haste to pursue after Zede- 
 kiah, and overtook him not far from Jericho, 
 and encompassed him about. But for those 
 friends and captains of Zedekiah who had 
 fled out of the city wilu him, when they saw 
 their enemies near them, they left him, and 
 dispersed themselves, some one way and some 
 another, and every one resolved to save him- 
 seli"; so the enemy took Zedekiah alive, when 
 he was deserted by all but a few, with his chil- 
 dren and his wives, and brought him to the 
 king. "When he was come, Nebuthadnezzar 
 began to call him a wicked wretch, and a 
 covenant-breaker, and one that had forgotten 
 his former words, when he promised to keep 
 the country for hiui. He also reproached him 
 for his ingratitude, that when he had received 
 the kingdom from him, who had taken it from 
 Jehoiachin, and given it him, he had made 
 use of the power he gave him against him 
 that gave it: " but," said he, " God is great, 
 who hateth that conduct of thine, and hath 
 brought thee under us." And when he had 
 used these words to Zedekiah, he commanded 
 h\< sons and his friends to be slain, while Ze- 
 dekiah and the rest of the captains looked on; 
 after which he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, 
 aad bound him, and carried him to Babylon. 
 And these things happened to him,* as Jere- 
 miah and E/ekiel had foretold to him, that 
 he should be caught, and brought before the 
 king of Babylon, and should speak to him 
 face to face, and should see his eyes with his 
 
 • This observation of Josephus about the seeming 
 disagreement of Jeremiah (ch. xxxii 4, and xxxiv. 3; 
 au'i Exek. xii. 13), t>iit real ar:reement at last, conctrn- 
 ing the ftfe of Zt-dekiah. is very triie and very remark- 
 able. See ch. vii sect 2. Nor is it at all unliKely that 
 tile counie'.s and filse prophets miijht make nse ot this 
 feemia^ i-oiitnidiction to dissuade Zedekiah from l>eliev- 
 in/ either of those prophets, as Josepuus here intimates 
 U« ivis dis.'«uailed thereby. 
 
 own eyes; and thus far did Jeremiah pro« 
 phesy. But he was also made blind, and 
 brought to Babylon, but did not see it, ac- 
 cording to the prediction of EzekieL 
 
 3. We have said thus much, because it was 
 sufficient to show the nature of God to such 
 as are ignorant of it, that it is various, and 
 acts many diiFerent \vays, and that all events 
 happen after a regular manner, in their pro- 
 per season, and that it foretells what must 
 come to pass. It is also sufficient to show 
 the ignorance and incredulity of men, whereby 
 they are not permitted to foresee any thing 
 that is future, and are, without any guard, 
 exposed to calamities, so that it is impossible 
 for them to avoid the experience of those ca- 
 lamities. 
 
 4. And after this manner have the kings of 
 David's race ended their lives, being in num- 
 ber twenty-one, until the last king, who all 
 together reigned five hundred and fourteen 
 years, and six months, and ten days: of whom 
 Saul, who was their first king, retained the 
 government twenty years, though he was not 
 of the same tribe with the rest. 
 
 5. And now it was that the king of Ba- 
 bylon sent Nebuzaradan, the general of his 
 army, to Jerusalem, to pillage the temple; 
 who had it also in command to burn it and 
 the royal palace, and to lay the city even with 
 the ground, and to transplant the people into 
 Babylon. Accordingly he came to Jerusalem, 
 in the eleventh year of king Zedekiah, and 
 pillaged the temple, and carried out the ves- 
 sels of God, both gold and silver, and parti- 
 cularly that large laver which Solomon dedi- 
 cated, as also the pillars of brass, and their 
 chapiters, with the golden tables and the can- 
 dlesticks: and when he had carried these off, 
 he set fire to the temple in the fifth month, 
 the first day of the month, in the eleventh 
 year of the reign of Zedekiah, and in the 
 eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar; he also 
 biu-nt the palace, and overthrew the city. Now 
 the temple was burnt four hundred and seventy 
 years, six months, and ten days, after it was 
 built. It was then one thousand and sixty- 
 two years, six months, and ten days, from the 
 departure out of Egypt; and from the De- 
 luge to the destruction of the temple, the 
 whole interval was one thousand nine hundred 
 and fifty-seven years, six months, and ten 
 days; but from the generation of Adam, 
 until this befell the temple, there were three 
 thousand five hundred and thirteen years, six 
 months, and ten days: so great was the num- 
 ber of years hereto belonging; and what ac- 
 tions were done during these years, we have 
 particularly related. But the general of the 
 JJabylonian king now overthrew the dty to 
 the very toujuiiitions, and removed all the 
 people, and tt>ok tor prisoners the higb-prip>»t 
 Seraiah, and Zephaniah the priest that was 
 next to him, and the rulers that guarded the 
 tern, tie., who were tlree in number» and tne 
 
280 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 eunuch who was over the armed men, and 
 seven friends of Zedekiah, and his scribe, and 
 sixty other rulers; all whom, together with 
 the vessels they had pillaged, he carried to the 
 king of Babylon to Riblah, a city of Syria. 
 So the king commanded the heads of the 
 high-priest and of the rulers to be cut off 
 there ; but he himself led all the captives and 
 Zedekiah to Babylon. He also led Josedek 
 the high-priest away bound. He was the son 
 of Seraiah the high-priest, whom the king of 
 Babylon had slain in Riblah, a city of Syria, 
 as we just now related. 
 
 6. And now, because we have enumerated 
 the succession of the kings, and who they 
 were, and how long they reigned, I think it- 
 necessary to set down the names of the high- 
 priests, and who they were.that succeeded one 
 another in the high-priesthood under the kings. 
 The first high-priest then at the temple which 
 Solomon built was Zadok; after him his son 
 Achimas received that dignity; after Achimas 
 was Azarias; his son was Joram, and Joram's 
 son was Isus: after him was Axioramus; his 
 son was Phideas, and Phideas's son was Su- 
 deas, and Sudeas's son was Juelus, and Jue- 
 lus's son was Jotham, and Jotham's son was 
 Urias, and Urias's son was Nerias, and Ne- 
 rias's son was Odeas, and his son was Sallu- 
 mus, and Sallumus's son was Elcias, and his 
 son [was Azarias, and his son] was Sareas,* 
 and his son was Josedec, who was carried 
 captive to Babylon. All these received the 
 high-priesthood by succession, the sons from 
 their father. 
 
 7. When the king was come to Babylon, 
 he kept Zedekiah in prison until he died, and 
 buried him magnificently, and dedicated the 
 vessels he had pillaged out of the temple of 
 Jerusalem to his own gods, and planted the 
 people in the country of Babylon, but freed 
 the high-priest from his bonds. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW NEBUZARADAN SET GEDALIAH OVER 
 THE JEWS THAT WERE LEFT IN JUDEA, 
 WHICH GEDALIAH WAS, A LITTLE AFTER- 
 WARD, SLAIN BY ISHMAEL; AND HOW JO- 
 HANAN, . AFTER ISHMAEL WAS DRIVEN 
 AWAY, WENT DOWN INTO -EGYPT WITH THE 
 PEOPLE; WHICH PEOPLE NEBUCHADNEZ- 
 ZAR, WHEN HE MADE AN EXPEDITION 
 AGAINST THE EGYPTIANS, TOOK CAPTIVE, 
 AND BROUGHT THEM AWAY TO BABYLON. 
 
 § 1. Now the general of the army, Nebuza- 
 radan, when he had carried the people of the 
 
 • I have here inserted in brackets this high-priest 
 Azarias, though he be omitted in all JosephusS copies. 
 out of the Jewish chronicle, Seder Olam, of how little 
 tuthority soever I generally esteem such late Kabbiniciil 
 afstoruiu, bncause we know from Josephus himself, that I 
 
 Jews into captivity, left the poor, and those 
 that had deserted, in the country ; and made 
 one, whose name was Gedaliah, the son of 
 Ahikam, a person of a noble family, their 
 governor; which Gedaliah was of a gentle 
 and righteous disposition. He also com- 
 manded them that they shoiild cultivate the 
 ground, and pay an appointed tribute to the 
 king. He also took Jeremiah the prophet 
 out of prison, and would have persuaded him 
 to go along with him to Babylon, for that he 
 had been enjoined by the king to supply him 
 with whatsoever he wanted; and if he did 
 not like to do so, he desired him to inform 
 him where he resolved to dwell, that he might 
 signify the same to the king. But the pro- 
 phet bad no mind to follow him, nor to dwell 
 anywhere else, but would gladly live in the 
 ruins of his country, and in the miserable re- 
 mains of it. When the general understood 
 what his purpose was, he enjoined GedaUah, 
 whom he left behind, to take all possible cure 
 of him, and to supply him with whatsoever 
 he wanted; so when he had given him rich 
 presents, he dismissed him. Accordingly, 
 Jeremiah abode in a city of that country, 
 which was called Mispah; and desired of 
 Nebuzaradan that he would set at liberty his 
 disciple Baruch,f the son of Neriah, one of a 
 very eminent family, and exceeding skilful in 
 the language of his country. 
 
 2. When Nebuzaradan had done thus, he 
 made haste to Babylon; but as to those that 
 lied away during the siege of Jerusalem, and 
 had been scattered over the country, when 
 they heard that the Babylonians were gone 
 away, and had left a remnant in the land ot 
 Jerusalem, and those such as were to culti- 
 vate the same, they came together from all 
 parts to Gedaliah to Mispah. Now the rulers 
 that were over them were Johanan, the son oi 
 Kareah, and Jezamah, and Seraiah, and others 
 beside them. Now there was of the royal 
 family, one Ishmael, a wicked man, and very 
 crafty, who, during the siege of Jerusalem, 
 fled to Baalis, king of the Ammonites, and 
 abode with him during that time; aiul Geda- 
 liah persuaded them, now they were there, 
 to stay vnth him, and to have no fear of the 
 Babylonians, for that if they would cultivate 
 the country, they should suffer no harm. 
 This he assured them of by oath; and said 
 that they should have him for their patron, 
 and that if any disturbance should arise, they 
 should find him ready to defend them. He 
 also advised them to dwell in any city, as 
 every one of them pleased; and that they 
 would send men along with his own servants. 
 
 the number of the high-priests belonging to this interv* 
 was eighteen (Antiq. b. xx. ch. x), whereas his copies 
 have here but seventeen. 
 
 f Ot this character of Bariich, the son of Neriah, an<i 
 the genuineness of his book, that stands now in our 
 Apocrypha, and that it is reully a canonical book, unrf 
 an Appendix to Jeremiah, see Autbent. Rec. pttH , 
 puge 1 — 11. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 281 
 
 and rebuild their houses upon the old foun- 
 dations, and dwell there; and he admonished 
 them beforehand, that they should make pre- 
 paration, while the season lasted, of corn, and 
 wine, and oil, that they might have whereon 
 to feed during the >vinter. When he had 
 thus discoursed to them, he dismissed them, 
 that every one might dwell in what part of 
 the country he pleased. 
 
 3, Now when this report was spread abroad 
 as far as the nations that bordered on Judea, 
 that Gedaliah kindly entertained those that 
 came to him, after they had fled away, upon 
 this [only] condition, that they should pay 
 tribute to the king of Babylon, they also 
 came readily to Gedaliah, and inhabited the 
 country. And when Johanan, and the rulers 
 that were Nvith him, observed the country, and 
 the humanity of Gedaliah, they were exceed- 
 ingly in love with him, and told him that 
 Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, had sent 
 Ishmael to kill him by treachery, and secret- 
 ly, that he might have the dominion over the 
 Israelites, as being of the royal family; and 
 they said, that he might deliver himself from 
 this treacherous design, if he would give them 
 leave to slay Ishmael, and nobody should 
 know it, for they told him they were afraid 
 that when he was killed by the other, the 
 entire ruin of the remaining strength of the 
 Israelites would ensue. But he professed 
 that he did not believe what they said, when 
 they told him of such a treacherous design, 
 in a man that had been well treated by him ; 
 because it was not probable that one who, 
 under such a want of all things, had failed 
 of nothing that was necessary for him, should 
 be found so wicked and ungrateful towards 
 his benefactor, that when it would be an in- 
 stance of wickedness in him not to save him, 
 had he been treacherously assaulted by others, 
 to endeavour, and that earnestly, to kill him 
 with his own hand: that, however, if he 
 ought to suppose this information to be true, 
 it was better for himself to be slain by the 
 other, than destroy a man who fled to him 
 for refuge, and entrusted his o^vn safety to 
 him, and committed himself to his disposal. 
 
 4. So Johanan, and the rulers that were 
 with him, not being able to persuade Gedaliah, 
 went away: but after the interval of thirty 
 days was over, Ishmael came again to Geda- 
 liah, to the city INIispah, and ten men with him : 
 and when he had feasted Ishmael, and those 
 that were with him, in a splendid manner at 
 his table, and had given them presents, he 
 became disordered in drink, while he endea- 
 voured to be very merry with them: and when 
 Ishmael saw him in that case, and that he was 
 drowned in his cups to the degree of insensi- 
 bility, and fallen asleep, he rose up on a sud- 
 den, with his ten friends, and slew Gedaliah 
 and those that were with him at the feast; and 
 when he had slain them, he went out by night, 
 ind slew aU the Jews that were in the city. 
 
 and those soldiers also which were left therein 
 by the Babylonij»ns ; but the next day four- 
 score men came out of the country with pre- 
 sents to Gedaliah, none of them knowing what 
 had befallen him; when Ishmael saw them, 
 he invited them in to Gedaliah, and when they 
 were come in, he shut up the court, and slew 
 them, and cast their dead bodies down into a 
 certain deep pit, that they mi^ht not be seen ; 
 but of these fourscore men Ishmael spared 
 those that entreated him not to kill them, till 
 they had delivered up to him what riches they 
 had concealed in the fields, consisting of their 
 furniture, and garments, and corn : but he 
 took captive the people that were in l^lispah, 
 with their wives and children; among whom 
 were the daughters of king Zedekiah, whom 
 Nebuzaradan, the general of the army of 
 Babylon, had left with Gedaliah; and when 
 he had done this, he came to the king of the . 
 Ammonites. 
 
 5. But when Johanan and the rulers with 
 him heard of what was done at Mispah by 
 Ishmael, and of the death of Gedaliah, they 
 had indignation at it, and every one of them 
 took his o\vn armed men, and came suddenly 
 to fight with Ishmael, and overtook him at 
 the fountain in Hebron : and when those that 
 were carried away captives by Ishmael, saw 
 Johanan and the rulers, they were very glad*, 
 and looked upon them as coming to their as- 
 sistance; so they left him that had carried 
 them captives, and came over to Johanan: 
 then Ishmael, ^vith eight men, fled to the king 
 of the Ammonites ; but Johanan took those 
 whom he had rescued out of the hands of Ish- 
 mael, and the eunuchs, and their wives and 
 children, and came to a certain place called 
 Mandara, and there they abode that day ; for 
 they had determined to remove from thence 
 and go into Egypt, out of fear, lest the Baby- 
 lonians should slay them, in case they con- 
 tinued in the country, and that out of anger 
 at the slaughter of Gedaliah, who had been by 
 them set over it for governor. 
 
 6. Now while they were under this delibe- 
 ration, Johanan, the son of Kareah, and the 
 rulers that were with him, came to Jeremiah 
 the prophet, and desired that he would pray 
 to God, that because they were at an utter 
 loss about what they ought to do, he would 
 discover it to them, and they sware that they 
 would do whatsoever Jeremiah should say to 
 them : and when the prophet said that he would 
 be their intercessor with God, it came to pass, 
 that after ten days God appeared to him, and 
 said, that he should inform Johanan and the 
 other rulers and all the people, that he would 
 be wth them while they continued in that 
 country, and take care of them, and keep 
 them from being hurt by the Babylonians, of # 
 whom they were afraid; but that he would 
 desert them if they went into Egypt ; and, 
 out of his wrath against them, would inflict 
 the same punishments upon them which the> 
 
 I 
 
282 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK X, 
 
 Knew their brethren had already endured. ] 
 So when the prophet had informed Jobanan 
 and the people that God had foretold these 
 things, he was not believed, when he said that 
 God commanded them to continue in that 
 country; but they imagined that he said so 
 to gratify Baruch, his own disciple, and be- 
 lied God, and that he persuaded them to stay 
 there, that they might be destroyed by the 
 Babylonians. Accordingly, both the peopie 
 and Johanan disobeyed the counsel of God, 
 which he gave them by the prophet, and re- 
 moved into Egypt, and carried Jeremiah and 
 Baruch along with them. 
 
 7. And when they were there, God signi- 
 fied to the prophet that the king of Babylon 
 was about making an expedition against the 
 Egyptians, and commanded him to foretell 
 to the people that Egypt should be taken, 
 and the king of Babylon should slay some of 
 them, and should take others captives, and 
 bring them to Babylon; which things came 
 to pass accordingly; for on the fifth year 
 after the destruction of Jerusalem, which was 
 the twenty-third of the reign of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, he made an expedition against Cele- 
 feyria; and when he had possessed himself of 
 it, he made war against the Ammonites and 
 Moabites; and when he had brought all 
 those nations under subjection, he fell upon 
 Egypt, in order to overthrow it; and he slew 
 the king that then reigned,* and set up ano- 
 ther: and he took those Jews that were there 
 captives, and led them away to Babylon; 
 and such was the end of the nation of the 
 Hebrews, as it hath been delivered down to 
 us, it having twice gone beyond Euphrates; 
 for the people of the ten tribes were carried 
 out of Samaria by the Assyrians in the days of 
 king Hoshea; after which the people of the two 
 tribes that remained after Jerusalem was taken 
 [were carried away] by Nebuchadnezzar, the 
 king of Babylon and Chaldea. Now as to 
 Shalmanezer, he removed the Israelites out of 
 their country, ^d placed therein the nation 
 of the Cutheans, who had formerly belonged 
 to the inner parts of Persia and Media, but 
 were then called Samaritans^ by taking the 
 name of the country to which they were re- 
 moved ; but the king of Babylon, who brought 
 out the two tribes.f placed, no other nation 
 ill their country, by which means all Judea 
 and Jerusalem, and the temple, continued to 
 
 • Herodotus says, this king of Egypt (Pharoah Mophra, 
 or Apries) was slain by the Etcypti.tns, as Jeremiah fore- 
 told his slaughter by his enemies (Jer. xliv. 29, 30); and 
 that as a siijn of the destruction of ligypt by Nebuchad- 
 nezzar. Josepbus says, this kin^ was slain by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar himself. 
 
 T We see here that Judea was left in a manner deso- 
 lati after the captivity of the two tril)c», and wa.s not re- 
 peopled with forergn colonies, perhaps as an indication 
 
 **>f Providence, that the Jews were to rt-people it withuul 
 opposition themselves. 1 also esteem the latter and pre- 
 sent desolate condition of the same country, without 
 being repeopled by foreiKn colonies, to be a like indica- 
 
 .lion, that the same Jews are herrulter to repeople it 
 •gala tbeoiMlveii. »i their so lon(;-eXK<^cted resluruliun. 
 
 be a desert for seventy years; but the enure 
 interval of time which passed from the cauu- 
 vity of the Israelites, to the carrying a way of 
 the two tribes, proved to be a hundred and 
 thirty years six months, and ten days. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CONCERNING DANIEL, AND WHAT BEFELL HIM 
 AT BABYLON. 
 
 § 1. But now Nebuchadnezzar, king of Ba- 
 bylon, took some of the most noble of the 
 Jews that were children, and the kinsmen of 
 Zedekiah their king, such as were remarkable 
 for the beauty of their bodies and the comeli- 
 ness of their countenances, and delivered them 
 into the hands of tutors, and to the improve- 
 ment to be made by them. He also made 
 some of them to be eunuchs; which course 
 he took also with those of other nations whom 
 he had taken in the flower of their age, and 
 afforded them their diet from his own table, 
 and had them instructed in the institutes of 
 the country, and taught the learning of the 
 Chaldeans; and they had now exercised them- 
 selves sufficiently in that wisdom which he 
 had ordered they should apply themselves to. 
 Now among these there were four of the family 
 of Zedekiah, of most excellent dispositions; 
 the one of whom was called Daniel, another 
 was called Ananias, another Misael, and the 
 fourth Azarias: and the king of Babylon 
 changed their names, and commanded that 
 they shoidd make use of other names. * Daniel 
 he called Baltasar; Ananias, Shadrach; Mi- 
 sael, Meshach; and Azarias, Abednego. 
 These the king had in esteem, and continued 
 to love, because of the very excellent temper 
 they were of, and because of their appUcation 
 to learning, and the progress they had made 
 in wisdom. 
 
 2. Now Daniel and his kinsman had re- 
 solved to use a severe diet, and to abstain from 
 those kinds of food which came from the king's 
 table, and entirely to forbear to eat of all liv- 
 ing creatures: so he came to Ashpenaz, who 
 was that eunuch to whom the care of them 
 was committed,* and desired him to take and 
 spend what was brought for them from the 
 king; but to give them pulse and dates for 
 their food, and any thing else, besides the 
 flesh of hving creatures, that he pleased, for 
 that their inclinations were to that sort oi 
 food, and that they despised the other. He 
 replied, that he was ready to serve them in 
 what they desired, but he suspectud that they 
 
 t That Daniel wjis made one of these euniicl.a of 
 which Isaiah prophesied (I-sa. xxxix. 7), and the three 
 children his companions also, seems to me plain, both 
 here in Josepbus and in our copies of Daniel (Dan. i. \i, 
 6, 7, II, 18)j altliough. It must he gran ted, that 3om» 
 manied persons, that had children, were somttinics f a\ltt^ 
 eunuch!^, in a gerir-ral arreptatiun tnr rourtiers. on ao 
 count that so many ol the auo'»nt courtiers wertt naJ 
 eunUv-liB. See. Geu. 
 
CHAP. X, 
 
 . ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 283 
 
 M'ouM be discovered by the king, from their| 
 mruirre bodies, and the alteration of their 
 t'O'JM^enances; because it could not be avoided 
 n !* tlipir bodies and colours must be changed 
 with their diet, especially while they would 
 be clearly discovered by the finer appearance 
 of the other children, who would fare better, 
 and thus they should bring him into danger, 
 a;id occasion him to he punished: yet did 
 (Ih'v persuade Arioch, who was thus fearful 
 to give them what food they desired for ten 
 days, by way of trial; and in case the habit 
 of their bodlss were not aUered, to go on in 
 the same way, as expecting that tbey should 
 not be hurt thereby afterwards; but if he 
 saw them look meagre, and worse than the 
 rest, he should reduce them to their former 
 diet. Now when it appeared that they were 
 so far from becoming worse by the use of this 
 food^ that they grew plumper and fuller in 
 body than the rest, insomuch, that he thought 
 those who fed on what cam^ from the kuig's 
 table seemed less plump and full, while those 
 that were with Daniel looked as if they had 
 lived in plenty, and in all sorts of luxury, 
 Arioch, from that time, securely took himself 
 what the king sent every day from his supper, 
 according to custom, to the children, but gave 
 them the fore-mentioned diet, while they had 
 their souls in some measure more pure, and 
 less burdened, mul so titter for learning, and 
 had their bodies in better tune for hard labour ; 
 for they neither had the foruier oppressed 
 and heavy \nth variety of meats, nor werp 
 the other* effeminate on the same account; so 
 they readily understood all the learning that 
 was among the Hebrews, and among the 
 Chaldeans, as especially did Daniel, who, be- 
 ing already sufficiently skilled in wisdom, was 
 very busy about the interpretation ot dreams: 
 and God manifested himself to him. 
 
 3. Now two years after the destruction of 
 Egypt» king Nebuchadnezzar saw a wonderful 
 dream, the accomplishment of which God 
 showed him in his sleep ; but when he arose 
 out of his bed, he forgot the accomplishment: 
 so he sent for the Chaldeans and magicians, 
 and the prophets, and told them that he hatl 
 seen a dream, and informed them tha*. he had 
 forgotten the accomplishment of what he had 
 seen, and he enjoined them to tell him both 
 what the dream was, and what was its signi- 
 fication; and they said that this was a thing 
 impossible to be discovered by men; but they 
 promised him, that if he would explain to them 
 what dream he had seen, they would tell him 
 its signification. Hereupon he threatened to 
 put them to death, unless they told him his 
 dream: and he gave command to have them 
 all pat to death, since they confessed they 
 cottid not do what they were commanded to 
 do No\v when Daniel heard that the king 
 ha^ feiven a command that all the wise men 
 shoiilcj hf put to death, and that among them 
 himself and bis three kinsmen were in danger. 
 
 he went to Arioch, who was captain of the 
 king's guards, and desired to know of him 
 what was the reiison why the king had given 
 command that all the \vise men, and Chal- 
 deans, and magicians, should be slain. So 
 when he had learned that the king had had a 
 dream, and had forgotten it, and that when 
 they were enjoined to inform the king of it, 
 they had said they could not do it, and had 
 thereby provoked him to anger, he desired of 
 Arioch that he would go in to the king, and 
 desire respite for the magicians for one night, 
 and to put off their slaughter so long, for that 
 he hoped within that time to obtain, by prayer 
 to God, the knowledge of the dream. Ac- 
 cordingly, Arioch informed the king of what 
 Daniel desired: so the king bade them delay 
 the slaughter of the magicians till he knew 
 what Daniel's promise would come to; but 
 the young man retired to his own house, with 
 his kinsmen, and besought God that whole 
 night to discover the dream, and thereby de- 
 liver the magicians and Chaldeans, with whom 
 they were themselves to perish, from the king's 
 anger, by enabling him to declare his vision, 
 and to make manifest what the king had seen 
 the night before in his sleep, but had forgotten 
 it. Accordingly, God, out of pity to those that 
 were in danger, and out of regard to the wis- 
 dom of Daniel, made known to him the dream 
 and its interpretation, that so the king might 
 understand by him its signification also. 
 When Daniel had obtained this knowledge 
 from God, he arose very joyful, and told it his 
 brethren, and made them glad, and to hope 
 well that they should now preserve their lives, 
 of which they despaired before, and had their 
 minds full of nothing but the thoughts of 
 dying. So when he had with them returned 
 thanks to God, vj^ho had commiserated their 
 youth, when it was day he came to Anoch, and 
 dtsired him to bring him to the king, because 
 he would discover to him that dream which 
 he had seen the night before. 
 
 4. When Daniel was come in to the king, 
 he excused himself first, that he did not pre- 
 tend to be wiser than the other Chaldeans and 
 magicians, when, upon their entire inability 
 to discover his dream, he was undertaking to 
 inform him of it; for this was not by his o.ni 
 skill, or on account of his having better cul- 
 tivated his understanding than the rest; but 
 he said, " God hath Lad pity upon us, when 
 we were in danger of death, and when I 
 prayed for the life of myself, and of those of 
 ray own nation, hath made manifest to me 
 both the dream and the interpretation there- 
 of; for I was not less concerned for thy glory 
 than for the sorrow that we were by thee con- 
 demned to die, while thou didst so unjustly 
 command men, both good and excellent in 
 themselves, to be put to death, when thou 
 enjoinedst them to do what was entirely above 
 the reach of human wisdom, and requiredst 
 of thea what was only th« woik of God. 
 
SS4 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 Wherefore, as thou in thy sleep wast solici- 
 tous concerning those that should succeed thee 
 in the government of the whole world, God 
 was desirous to show thee all those that should 
 reign alter thee, and to that end exhibited to 
 thee the following dream: — Thou seemedst 
 to see a great image standing before thee, the 
 head of which proved to be of gold, the 
 shoulders and arms of silver, and the belly 
 and the thighs of brass, but the legs and the 
 feet of iron; after which thou sawest a stone 
 broken off from a mountain, which fell upon 
 the image and threw it down, and brake it to 
 pieces, and did not permit any part of it to 
 remain whole; but the gold, the silver, the 
 brass, and the iron, became smaller than meal, 
 which, upon the blast of a violent wind, was 
 by force carried away, and scattered abroad ; 
 but the stone did increase to such a degree, 
 that the whole earth beneath it seemed to be 
 filled therewith. This is the dream which thou 
 sawest, and its interpretation is as follows: — 
 The head of gold denotes thee, and the kings 
 of Babylon that have been before thee; but 
 the two hands and arms signify this, that your 
 government shall be dissolved by two kings; 
 but another king that shall come from the 
 west, armed with brass, shall destroy that go- 
 vernment; and another government, that shall 
 be like unto iron, shall put an end to the 
 power of the former, and shall have dominion 
 over all the earth, on account of the nature of 
 iron, which is stronger than that of gold, of 
 silver, and of brass." Daniel did also de- 
 clare the meaning of the stone to the king;* 
 but I do not thnig proper to relate it, since I 
 have only undertaken to describe things past 
 or things present, but not things that are fu- 
 ture; yet if any one be so very desirous of 
 knowing truth, as not to w^e such points of 
 curiosity, an^ cannot curb his inclination for 
 understanding the uncertainties of futurity, 
 and whether they will happen or not, let him be 
 diUgent in reading the book of Daniel, which 
 he will find among the sacred writings. 
 
 5. When Nebuchadnezzar heard this, and 
 recollected his dream, he was astonished at 
 the nature of Daniel, and fell upon his face, 
 and saluted Daniel in the manner that men 
 worship God, and gave command that he 
 should be sacrificed to as a god. And this 
 was not all, for he also imposed the name of 
 his own god upon him [Baltasar], and made 
 him and his kinsmen rulers of his whole king- 
 dom; which kinsmen of his happened to fall 
 into great danger by the envy and malice [of 
 
 * or the most remarkable passage in Josephiis con- 
 cerning the " stone cut out of the mountain, and destroy- 
 ing the image," which he would not explain, but intimated 
 to be a prophecy of futurity, and probably not safe for 
 him to explain, as belonging to the destruction ot the 
 Koman empire by Jesus Christ, the true Messiah of the 
 Jews, take the words of Havercamp (ch. x. sect. 4): 
 ♦♦ Nor is this to be wondered at, that he would not now 
 meddle with things future, for he had no mind to provoke 
 the Humans, by speaking of the destruction of tiiat city 
 wkioh tbcy called the Eternal City." 
 
 their enemies]; for they offended the king 
 upon the occasion following: — He made an 
 image of gold, the height of which was sixty 
 cubits, and its breadth six cubits, and set it in 
 the great plain of Babylon; and when be was 
 going to dedicate the image, he invited the 
 principal men out of all the earth that were 
 under his dominions, and comnmnded them, 
 in the first place, that when they should hear^ 
 the sound of the trumpet, they should then 
 fall down and worship the image; and he 
 threatened, that those who did not do so should 
 be cast into a fiery furnace. When, therefore, 
 all the rest, upon the hearing of the sound of 
 the trumpet, worshipped the image, they re- 
 late that Daniel's kinsmen did not do it, be- 
 cause they would not transgress the laws of 
 their country: so these men were convicted, 
 and cast immediately into the fire, but were 
 saved by Divine Providence, and after a sur- 
 prising manner escaped death ; for the fire did 
 not touch them : and 1 suppose that it touched 
 them not, as if it reasoned with itself, that 
 they were cast into it without any fault of 
 theirs, and that, therefore, it was too weak to 
 burn the young men -when they were in it. 
 This was done by the power of God, who 
 made their bodies so far superior to the tire, 
 that it could not consume them. This it was 
 which recommended them to the king as 
 righteous men, and men beloved of God ; 
 on which account they continued in great 
 esteem with him. 
 
 6. A little after this the king saw in his 
 sleep again another vision; how hfe should 
 fall from his dominion, and feed among the 
 wild beasts; and that, when he had lived in 
 this manner in the desert for seven years, f he 
 should recover his dominion again. When 
 he had seen this dream, he called the magi- 
 cians together again, and inquired of them 
 about it, and desired them to tell him what it 
 
 + Since Josephus here explains the seven prophctio 
 times which were to pass over Nebuchadnezzar (Dan, 
 iv. 16) to be seven years, we thence learn how he most 
 probably must have understood those other parallel 
 phrases, of "a time, times, and a half" (Antiq. b. vii. 
 ch. xxv), of so many prophetic years also, though he 
 withal lets us know, by his hint at the interpretation of 
 the seventy weeks, as belonging to the fourth monarchy, 
 and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the 
 days of Josephus (ch. ii. sect 7), that he did not think 
 those years to he bare )ears, but rather days for years; 
 by which reckoning, and by which alone, could seventy^ 
 weeks, or lour hundred and ninety days, reach to the 
 age of Josephus. But as to the truth of those seven 
 years' bani:>hment of Nebuchadnezzar from men, and 
 his living so long among the beasts, the very small re- 
 mains we have anywhere else of this Nebuchadnezzar, 
 prevent our expectation of any other full account of it 
 So far we know by Ptolemy's canon, a contemporary 
 record, as well as by Josephus presently, that he reigned 
 in all forty-three jears, that is, eight years after wo meet 
 with any account ot his actions; one of the last of which 
 was the thirteen years' siege of Tyre (Antiq, U xi ch. 
 xi); where yet the old I.atin has but three yea" and tea 
 months: yet weie his actions belore so remarkable, 
 both in sacred and profane authors, that such a vacuity 
 of eight years at the least, &t the latter end of his reign, 
 must be allowed to ai,ree very well with Daniel's ac- 
 counts, that alter a se\en years' bi-utal lite, Ite migli/ 
 return to his rrason, and to the exercise of his ruy«l 
 autborkty, lor one whole year at Itast bvfore hu death.' 
 
CflAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 285 
 
 *ignified ; but when none of them couM find 
 out the meaning of the dream, nor discover 
 4t to the king, Daniel was the o."ly person 
 that explained it; and as he foretold, so it 
 came to pass; for after he had continued in 
 the wilderness the forementioned interval of 
 time, while no one durst attempt to seize his 
 kingdom during those seven years, he prayed 
 to God that he might recover his kingdom, 
 and he returned to it. But let no one blame 
 me for writing down every thing of this na- 
 ture, as I find it in our ancient books; for as 
 to that matter, I have plainly assured those 
 that think me defective in any such point, or 
 •complain of my management, and have told 
 them in the beginning of this history, that I 
 intended to do no more than translate the 
 Hebrew books into the Greek language, and 
 promised them to explain those facts, without 
 adding any thing to them of my own, or tak- 
 ing any thing away from them. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CONCERNING NEBUCHADNEZZAR AND HIS SUC- 
 CESSORS, AND HOW THEIR GOVERNMENT WAS 
 DISSOLVED BY THE PERSIANS; AND WHAT 
 THINGS BEFELL DANIEL IN MEDIA; AND 
 WHAT PROPHECIES HE DELIVERED THERE. 
 
 § 1. Now when king Nebuchadnezzar had 
 reigned forty-three years,* he ended his life. 
 He was an active man, and more fortunate 
 than the kings that were before him. Now 
 Berosus makes mention of his actions in the 
 third book of his Chaldaic History, where he 
 says thus: — "When his father Nebuchodo- 
 nosor [Nabopollassar] heard that the gover- 
 nor whom he had set over Egypt, and the 
 places about Celesyria and Phoenicia, had re- 
 volted from him, while he was not himself 
 able any longer to undergo the hardships [of 
 war], he committed to hi^son Nebuchadnez- 
 zar, who was still but a youth, some parts of 
 his army, and sent them against him. So 
 when Nebuchadnezzar had given battle,* and 
 fought with the rebel, he beat him, and re- 
 duced the country from under his subjection, 
 and made it a branch of his own kingdom; 
 but about that time it happened that his fa- 
 ther Nebuchodonosor [Nabopollassar] fell ill, 
 and ended his life in the city of Babylon, 
 when he had reigned twenty-one years ; f and 
 
 * These forty-three years for the duration of the reign 
 of Nebuchadnezzar are, as I have just now observed, the 
 very same number in Ptolemy's canon. Moses Chore- 
 nensis does also confirm this captivity of the Jews under 
 Nebuchadnezzar; and adds, what is very remarkable, 
 that one of those Jews that were carried by him into 
 captivity, got away into A^nenia, and raised the great 
 family of the Bagratidge there. 
 
 + These twenty-one years here ascribed to one Na- 
 boiilassir, in the first book against Apion, or to Nabo- 
 pollassar, the father of the great Nebuchadnezzar, are 
 also the very same with those given him in Ptolemy's 
 canon- And note here, that what l>r. Prideaux >ays, 
 
 when he was made sensible, as W was in a 
 
 little time, that his father, Nebuchodonosor 
 [Nabopollassar], was dead, and having set- 
 tled the affairs of Egypt, and the other coun- 
 tries, as also those that concerned the captive 
 Jews, and Phcenicians, and Syrians, and those 
 of the Egyptian nations, and having com- 
 mitted the conveyance of them to Babylon to 
 certain of his friends, together with the gross 
 of his array, and the rest of their ammunition 
 and provisions, he went himself hastily, ac- 
 companied with a few others, over the desert, 
 and came to Babylon. So he took upon him 
 the management of public affairs, and of the 
 kingdom which had been kept for him by 
 one that was the principal of the Chaldeans, 
 and he received the entire dominions of his 
 father, and appointed, that when the captives 
 came, they should be placed as colonies, in 
 the most proper places of Babylonia; but 
 then he adorned the temple of Belus, and the 
 rest of the temples, in a magnificent manner, 
 with the spoils he had taken in the war. He 
 also added another city to that which was 
 there of old, and rebuilt it, that such as would 
 besiege it hereafter might no more turn the 
 course of the river, and thereby attack the 
 city itself: he therefore bidlt three walls 
 round about the inner city, and three others 
 about that which was the outer, and this he 
 did with burnt brick. And after he had, 
 after a becoming manner, walled the city, 
 and adorned its gates gloriously, he built 
 another palace before his father's palace, but 
 so that they joined to it; to describe the vast 
 height and immense riches of which, it would 
 perhaps be too much for me to attempt; yet, 
 as large and lofty as they were, they were 
 completed in fifteen days.f He also erected 
 elevated places for walking, of stone, and 
 made it resemble mountains, and biult it so 
 that it might be planted wth all sorts of trees. 
 He also erected what was called a pensile pa- 
 radise, becausefhis Mdfe was desirous to have 
 things like her o\vn country, she having been 
 bred up in the palaces of Media." Megas- 
 thenes also, in his fourth book of his Accounts 
 of India, makes mention of these things, and 
 thereby endeavours to show that this king 
 [Nebuchadnezzar] exceeded Herculus in for- 
 titude, and in the greatness of his actions; 
 
 in the year 612, that Nebuchadnezzar must bave been 
 a common name of other kings of Babylon, besides the 
 great Nebuchadnezzar himself, is a groundless mistake 
 of some modern chronologer* only, and destitute of all 
 proper original authority. 
 
 t These fifteen days for finishing such vast buildings 
 at Babylon, in Josephus's copy of Berosus, would seem 
 too absurd to be supposed to be the true number, were 
 it not for the same testimony extant also in the first book 
 against Apion (sect. 19), with the same number. It 
 thence indeed appears, that Josephus's copy of Berosus 
 bad this small number; but that it is the true number J 
 still doubt. J osephus assures us^that the walls of so much 
 a smaller city as Jerusalem were two years and four 
 months in building by Nehemiah, who yet hastened the 
 work all that he could, Antjq. b.xi.c.v. sect. 8. I should 
 think one hundred and fifteen days, or a year and fifteca ^ 
 days, muab more prepertiooable to so great a work> '■'-' 
 
286 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 for he aaith, that he conquered a great part 
 of Libya and Iberia. Diodes also, in the 
 second book of his Accounts of Persia, men- 
 tions this king; as does Pbilostratus, in his 
 Accounts both of India and Phoenicia, say, 
 that this king besieged Tyre thirteen years, 
 while at the same time Etbbaal reigned at 
 Tyre. These are all the histories that I have 
 met with concerning this king. 
 
 2. But now, after the death of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, Evil-Merodach his son succeeded in 
 the kingdom, who immediately set Jeconiah 
 at liberty, and esteemed him amongst his 
 most intimate friends. He also gave him 
 many presents, and made him honourable 
 above the rest of the kings that were in Ba- 
 bylon; for his father had not kept his faith 
 with Jeconiah, when he voluntarily delivered 
 up himself to him, vnth. his wives and chil- 
 dren, and his whole kindred, for the sake of 
 his country, that it might not be taken by 
 siege, and utterly destroyed, as we said be- 
 fore. When Evil-Merodach wag dead, after 
 a reign of eighteen years, Neglissar his son 
 took the government, and retained it forty 
 years, and then ended his life; and after him 
 the succession in the kingdom came to his 
 son Labosordacus, who continued in it in all 
 but nine months; and when he was dead, it 
 came to Baltasar,* who by the Babylonians 
 was called Naboandelus: against him did 
 Cyrus, the king of Persia, and Darius, the 
 king of Media, make war; and when he was 
 besieged in Babylon, there happened a won- 
 derful and prodigious vision. He was sat 
 down at supper in a large room, and there 
 yvere a great many vessels of silver, such as 
 were made for royal entertainments, and he 
 had \vith him his concubines and his friends; 
 whereupon he came to a resolution, and 
 commanded that those vessels of God which 
 Nebuchadnezzar had plundered out of Jeru- 
 salem, and had not made use of, but had put 
 them into his own temple, shoidd be brought 
 out of that temple. He also grew so haughty 
 as to proceed to use them in the midst of his 
 cups, drinking out of them, and blaspheming 
 
 • It is here remarkable that Josephus, without the 
 knowledge of Ptolemy's canon, should call the same 
 kin^ whom he himsell here (Bar. i. II, and Dan. v. 1, 
 2. 9, 12, 22, :i9, 30) styles Beltazar or.Belshazjiar, from 
 Ihr Babylonian god Bel, Neboandelus also; and ia 
 the first book against Apion (sect. 19. vol. iii), from the 
 same citation out of Berosus, Nabonned6n, from the 
 liitbv Ionian nod Nabo, or Nebo. Thi« last is not re- 
 i.intf- from the original pronunciation itself in PtoLMny>8 
 ca'.on, Nabonadius; for both the place of this king in 
 thai canou, as the last of the Assyrian or Babylonian 
 kings, and the number of years of his reign, seventeen, 
 tlie same in both demonstrate that it is one and the 
 sume king that is meant by tliem all. It is also worth 
 noting, that Josephus knew that Darius, the partner of 
 Cyrus, was the son of Antyages, and was called by ano- 
 ther name among the Greeks, though it does not appear 
 he knew what that name was, as having never seen the 
 bett history of this period, which is Xenophon'si but 
 tJien what Josephus's present copies say presently (sect 
 4j. that it was only within no long time after the hand- 
 writing on the wall that Uallasar was slain, does not so 
 well agree with our copies of Daniel, which say it was 
 tbm HuiM Bicbt, Da«. v. SO. 
 
 against- God. In the mean timp, he saw a 
 hand proceed out of the wall, and writing 
 upon the wall certain syllables; at. -which 
 sight, being disturbed, he cai'iea toe mnin- 
 cians and Chaldeans together, and ail itiat 
 sort of men that are among these narniinans, 
 and were able to interpret signs and dreams, 
 that they might explain the writing to him, 
 But when the magicians said they couid dis- 
 cover nothing, nor did understand it, the 
 king was in great disorder of mind, and un- 
 der great trouble, at this surprising accident,; 
 so he caused it to be proclaimed through aii 
 the country, and promised, that to him who 
 could explain the writing, and give the signi- 
 fication couched therein, he wouid give him a 
 golden chain for his neck, and leave to wear 
 a purple garment, as did the kings of Chal- 
 dea, and would bestow on him the third part 
 of his own dominions. When this proclama- 
 tion was made, the magicians ran together 
 more earnestly, and were very ambitious to 
 find out the importance of the writing; but 
 still hesitated about it as much as laefore. 
 Now when the king's grandmother saw hiiu 
 cast down at this accident,f she began to en- 
 courage him, aud to say, that there was a 
 certain captive who came firom Judea, a Jew 
 by birth, but brought away thence by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar when he had destrgyed Jerusa- 
 lem, whose name was Daniel, a wise man, 
 and one of great sagacity in finding out what 
 was impossible for others ;o discover, and 
 what was known to God aione; who brought 
 to light and answered such questions to Ne- 
 buchadne-'-zar as no one else was able to an- 
 swer when they were consulted. She tliere- 
 fore desired that he wotdd send for hiui, and 
 inquire of him concerning the writing, dnc^ 
 to condemn the unskiii'ulness of those that 
 could not find their meaning, and this, al- 
 though what God signified tiiereby should be 
 of a melancholy nature. 
 
 3. When Baltasar heard this, he called for 
 Daniel : and when he had. discoursed to him 
 what he had learned concerning him and his 
 wisdom, and how a divine spirit was with him, 
 and 1>hat he alone was fully capable of finding 
 out what others wotUd never have thought of, 
 he desired him to declare to him what this 
 writing meant: that if he did so, he would 
 give him leave to wear purple, and to put a 
 chain of gold about his neck, and would be- 
 stow on him the third part of his dominion, 
 as an honorary reward for his wisdom, thai, 
 thereby he might become illustrious to those 
 who saw him, and who inquired upon what 
 occasion he obtained such honours. But 
 Daniel desired that he would keep his gills 
 
 + This grandmother, or "^lothcr of Baltasar, th* 
 queen-dowager of Babylon {M she is distinguia'ied 
 from his queen (Dan. v. 10, 23), seems to have been 
 tlie famouH Mtocris, who fortified Babylon agairtst the 
 >led<-8 and Persians, and in all probuhilUy gove.'ned uiv* 
 (ier Hallnxur, who seems to be a weak and eiTemlnnte 
 piince. 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 287 
 
 to himself; for what is the effect of wisdom 
 and of divniie revelation admits of no gifts, 
 ana bestow:* its advantages on petitioners 
 irfcfiy D'lt that still he would explain the 
 writme to him; which denoted that he should 
 soon (UP, and this because he had not learnt 
 to nonour God, and not to admit things 
 anove human nature, by what punishments his 
 proj^enitor had undergone for the injuries he 
 had otfered to God ; and because he had 
 quite forgotten how Nebuchadnezzar was re- 
 moved to f-ed among wild beasts for his im- 
 pieties, and did not^ecover his former life 
 among men and his kingdom, but upon God's 
 mercy to him, after many supplications and 
 prayers; who did thereupon praise God all 
 the days of his hfe, as one of almighty power, 
 and who takes care of mankind. [He also 
 put him in mind] how he had greatly blas- 
 phemed against God, and had made use of 
 bis vessels amongst his concubines: that there- 
 fore God saw this, and was angry wth him, 
 and declared by this writing beforehand what 
 a sad conclusion of his life he should come to. 
 And be explained the writing thus: — " Ma- 
 NEH. This, if it be expounded in the Greek 
 language, may signify a Number, because 
 God hath numbered so long a time for thy 
 life, and for thy government, and that there 
 r.'inains but a small portion. — Thekel. This 
 signities a Weighty and means that God hath 
 weighed thy kingdom in a balance, and finds 
 it going down already. — Phares. This also, 
 m the Greek tongue, denotes a fragment; 
 God will therefore break thy kingdom in 
 pieces, and divide it among the Medes and 
 Persians." 
 
 4. When Daniel had told the king that 
 the writing upon the wall signified these 
 events, Baltasar was in great sorrow and afflic- 
 tion, as was to bo expected, when the inter- 
 pretation was so heavy upon him. However, 
 be did not refuse what he had promised Da- 
 niel, although he were became a foreteller of 
 misfortunes to him, but* bestowed it all upon 
 him: as reasoning- thus, that what he was to 
 reward was peculiar to himself, and to fate, 
 and did not belong to the prophet, but that 
 it was the part of a good and a just man to 
 give what he had promised, although the 
 events were of a melancholy nature. Accord- 
 i.igly, the king determined so to do. Now, 
 after a little while, both himself and the city 
 were taken by Cyrus, the king of Persia, who 
 fought against him; for it was Baltasar, un- 
 der whom Babylon was taken, when he had 
 reigned seventeen years. And this is the end 
 o^ the posterity of king Nebuchadnezzar, as 
 history informs us; but when Babylon was 
 tnken by Darius, and when he, with his Irins- 
 iruui Cyrus, had put an end to the dominion 
 t>i the Babylonians, he was sixty-two years 
 «)'(!. He was the son of Astyages, and had 
 aiiOtl-.er name among the Greeks. Moreover, 
 oe to k Daniel the prophet, and carried him 
 
 with him into Media, and h^lftotjifecl him very 
 greatly, and kept him with him; for he waa 
 one of the three presidents whom he set over 
 his three hundered and sixty provinces; for 
 into so many did Darius part them. 
 
 5. However, while Daniel was in so great 
 dignity, and in so great favour wth Darius, and 
 was alone entrusted with every thing by him, 
 as having somewhat divine in him, he was en- 
 Vied by the rest: for those that see others in 
 greater honour than themselves wth kings, 
 envy them: and when those that were grieved 
 at the great favour Daniel was in with Darius, 
 sought for an occasion against him, he afforded 
 them no occasion at all, for he was above 
 all the temptations of money, and despised 
 bribery, and esteemed it a very base thing to 
 take any thing by way of reward, even when 
 it might be justly given him, he afforded those 
 that envied him not the least handle for an 
 accusation. So when they could find nothing 
 for which they might calumniate him to the 
 king, nothing that was shameful or reproach- 
 ful, and thereby deprive him of the honour 
 he was in with him, they sought for some 
 other method whereby they might destroy 
 him. When therefore they saw that Daniel 
 prayed to God three times a day, they thought 
 they had gotten an occasion by which they 
 might ruin him; so they came to Darius, and 
 told him, that " the princes and governors 
 had thought proper to allow the multitude a 
 relaxation for thirty days, that no one might 
 offer a petition or prayer either to himself, or 
 to the gods, but that he who shall transgress 
 this decree shall be cast into a den of lions, 
 and there perish." 
 
 6. Whereupon the king, not being acquaint- 
 ed with their ^vicked design, nor suspecting that 
 it was a contrivance of theirs against Daniel, 
 said he was pleased with this decree of theirs, 
 and he promised to confirm what they desired ; 
 he also published an edict to promulgate to 
 the people that decree which the princes had 
 made. Accordingly, all the rest took care 
 not to transgress those injunctions, and rested 
 in quiet; but Daniel had no regard to them, 
 but, as he was wont, he stood and prayed to 
 God in the sight of them all: but the princes 
 having met with the occasion they so earnestly 
 sought to find against Daniel, came presently 
 to the king, and accused him, that Daniel 
 was the only person that transgressed the de- 
 cree, while not one of the rest durst pray to 
 their gods. This discovery they made, not 
 because of his impiety, but because they had 
 watched him, and observed him out of envy; 
 for supposing that Darius did thus out of a 
 greater kindness to him than they expected, 
 and that he was ready to grant him a pardon 
 for this contempt of lus injunctions, and envy- 
 ing this very pardon to Daniel, they did not 
 become more favourable to him, but desired he 
 might be cast into the den of hons, according 
 to the law. So Darius, hoping that Go4 
 
288 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 would deliver him, and that he would under- 
 go nothing that was terrible by the wild beasts, 
 bade him bear this accident cheerfully; and 
 when he was cast into the den, he put his seal 
 to the stone that lay upon the mouth of the den, 
 and went his way; but he passed all the night 
 ivdthout food and without sleep, being in great 
 distress for Daniel; but when it was day, he 
 got up, and came to the den, and. found the 
 seal entire, which he had left the stone sealed' 
 withal; he also opened the seal, and cried out, 
 and called to Daniel, and asked him if he 
 were alive; and as soon as he heard the king's 
 voice, and said that he had suffered no harm, 
 the king gave order that he should be drawn 
 up out of the den. Now when his enemies 
 saw that Daniel had suffered nothing which 
 was terrible, they would not own that he was 
 preserved by God, and by his providence; but 
 they said, that the lions had been tilled full with 
 food, and on that account it was, as they sup- 
 posed, that the lions would not touch Daniel, 
 nor come to him; and this they alleged to 
 the king; but the king, out of an abhorrence 
 of their wickedness, gave order that they 
 should throw in a great deal of flesh to the 
 lions; and when they had filled themselves, 
 he gave farther order that Daniel's enemies 
 should be cast into the den, that he might 
 learn whether the lions, now they were full, 
 would touch them or not; and it appeared 
 plain to Darius, after the princes had been 
 cast to the wild beasts, that it was God who 
 preserved Daniel,* for the lions spared none 
 of them, but tore them all to pieces, as if they 
 had been very hungry, and wanted food. I 
 suppose, therefore, it was not their hunger, 
 which had been a little before satisfied with 
 abundance of flesh, but the wickedness of these 
 men, that provoked them [to destroy the 
 princes] ; for if it so please God, that wicked- 
 ness might, by even those irrational creatures, 
 be esteemed a plain foundation for their pun- 
 ishment. 
 
 7. When, therefore, those that had intended 
 thus to destroy Daniel by treachery were 
 themselves destroyed, king Darius sent [let- 
 ters] over all the country, and praised that 
 God whom Daniel worshipped, and said that 
 he was the only true God, and had all power. 
 He had also Daniel in very great esteem, and 
 made him the principal of his friends. Now 
 when Daniel was become so illustrious and 
 famous, on account of the opinion men had 
 that he was beloved of God, he built a tower 
 at Ecbatana, in Media: it was a most elegant 
 building, and wonderfully made; and it is 
 
 • It is no way improbable that Daniel's enemies miKht 
 suf^cest this reafun to the kiri^ why the lions did not 
 me<*dle with him, and that tliey might siispeci the king's 
 kinaness to Daniel had procured these lions to be so filltd 
 oeforehand, and that thence it wan that he encoiirauvd 
 Daniel to submit to this experiment, in hopt-s of coming 
 off safe; and that tliis was the true rea.soti of makine 
 •o terrihie an experiment upon those his enemies, and 
 all their families (D .n vi. 5i4), though our oth;?r copies 
 40 oot iiirectl J Uike ooti<» of i%. 
 
 still remaining, and preserved to this day, 
 and to such as see it, it, appears to have been 
 lately built, and to have been no older than 
 that very day when any one looks upon it, it 
 is so fresh,f flourishing, and beautiful, and no 
 way grown old in so long time; for buildings 
 suffer the same as men do; they grow old as 
 well as they, and by immbers of years their 
 strength is dissolved, and their beauty wi- 
 thered. Now they bury the kings of Media, of 
 Persia, and Parthia, in this tower, to this day; 
 and he who was intrusted with the care of it, 
 was a Jewish priest; which thing is also ob- 
 served to this day. Bm. it is fit to give an 
 account of what this man did, which is most 
 admirable to hear; for he was so nappy as to 
 have strange revelations made to him, and 
 those as to one of the greatest of the prophets, 
 insomuch, that while he was alive he had the 
 esteem and applause both of the kings and 
 of the multitude; and now he is dead, he re- 
 tains a remembrance that will never fail, for 
 the several books that he wrote and left be- 
 hind him are still read by us till this time; 
 and from them we believe that Daniel con- 
 versed with God; for he did not only prophecy 
 of future events as did the other prophets, 
 but he also determined the time of their ac- 
 complishment; and while the prophets used to 
 foretell misfortunes, and on that account were 
 disagreeable both to the kings and to the mul- 
 titude, Daniel was to them a prophet of good 
 things, and this to such a degree, that, by the 
 agreeable nature of his predictions, he pro- 
 cured the good- will of all men; and by the 
 accomplishment of them, he procured the be- 
 lief of their truth, and the opinion of [a sort 
 (of] divinity for himself, among the nmlti- 
 i tude. He also wrote and left behind him what 
 I made manifest the accuracy and undeniable 
 \ veracity of his predictions; for he saith, that 
 when he was in Susa, the metropolis of Per- 
 sia, and went out into the field with his com- 
 panions, there was, on the sudden, a motion, 
 and concussion of the- earth, and that he wag 
 left alone by himself, his friends flying away 
 from him, and that he was disturbed, anti fill 
 on his face, and on his two hands, and that a 
 certain person touched him, and, at the same 
 time, bade him rise, and see what would befall 
 his countrymen after many generations, lie 
 also related, that when he stood up, he was 
 shown a great ram, with many horns growing 
 out of his head, and that the last was higher 
 than the rest • that after this he looked to the 
 west, and saw a he-goat carried through the 
 
 + What Josrpbiis here says, that the stones of the 
 sepulchres of the kings of Persia at this tower, or those 
 perhaps of the same sort that are now commonly called 
 the Kuim of Persrpolis, continued so entire and uimU 
 tered in his days, as if they were lately put there, "I 
 (says l< eland) here can show to be true, as to thow stones 
 (It the Persian kings' mausoimm, which Corn. Bruinus 
 brake off ond gave me." He ascribed this to the liora- 
 tieM •>< the sttines, which scarcely yields to iron tools, 
 and proves frequently too hard for cutting by the cliiitel, 
 liul oftenliines breaks it to pieces. 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 289 
 
 air from that quarter; that he rushed upon 
 the ram with violence, and smote him twice 
 with his horns, and overthrew him to the 
 ground, and trampled upon him : that after- 
 wards he saw a very great horn growing out 
 of the head of the he-goat; and that when it 
 was broken off, four horns grew up that were 
 exposed to each of the four winds, and he 
 wrote, that out of them arose another lesser 
 horn, which, as he said, waxed great; and 
 that God showed to him, that it should fight 
 against his nation, and take their city by force, 
 and bring the temple-worship to confusion, 
 and forbid the sacrifices to be offered for one 
 thousand two hundred and ninety-six days. 
 Daniel wrote that he saw these visions in the 
 plain of Susa; and he hath informed us that 
 God interpreted the appearance of this vision 
 after the following manner : — "He said that the 
 ram signified the kingdoms of the Medes and 
 Persians, and the horns those kings that were 
 to reign in them; and that the last horn sig- 
 nified the last king, and that he should ex- 
 ceed all the kings in riches and glory; that 
 the he-goat signified that one should come and 
 reign from the Greeks, who should twice fight 
 wth the Persian, and overcome him in bat- 
 tle, and should receive his entire dominion; 
 that by the great horn which sprang out of 
 the forehead of the he-goat was meant the 
 first king; and that the springing up of four 
 horns upon its falling off, and the conversion 
 of every one of them to the four quarters of 
 the earth, signified the successors that should 
 arise after the death of the first king, and the 
 partition of the kingdom among them, and 
 that they should be neither his children nor 
 of his kindred that should reign over the ha- 
 bitable earth for many years; and that from 
 among them there should arise a certain king 
 that should overcome our nation and their 
 laws, and should take away our political go- 
 vernment, and should ipoU the temple, and 
 
 forbid the sacrifices to be offered for three 
 years' time." And indeed it so came to pass, 
 that <4ir nation suffered these things under 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Daniel's 
 vision, and what he wrote many years before 
 they came to pass. In the very same manner 
 Daniel also wrote concerning the Roman go- 
 vernment, and that our country should be 
 made desolate by them. All these things did 
 this man leave in writing, as God had showed 
 them to him, insomuch, that such as read his 
 prophecies, and see how they have been ful- 
 filled, would wonder at the honour where- 
 \vith God honoured Daniel; and may thence 
 discover how the Epicureans are in an error, 
 who cast p-ovidence out of human life, and 
 do not beheve that God takes care of the 
 affairs of the world, nor that the universe is 
 governed and continued in being by that 
 blessed and immortal nature, but say that the 
 world IS carried along of its own accord, 
 without a ruler and a curator; which, were 
 it destitute of a guide to conduct, as they 
 imagine, it would be like ships without pilots, 
 which we see drowned by the winds, or like 
 chariots without drivers, which are overturn- 
 ed; so would the world be dashed to pieces 
 by its 'being carried without a Providence, and 
 so perish, and come to nought. So that, by 
 the fore-mentioned predictions of Daniel, those 
 men seem to me very much to err from the 
 truth, who determine that God exercises no 
 providence over human affairs; for if that 
 were the case, that the world went on by me- 
 chanical necessity, we should not see that all 
 things would come to pass according to his 
 prophecy. Now, as to myself, I have so de- 
 scribed these matters as I have found them 
 and read them ; but if any one is inclined to 
 another opinion about them, let him enjoy his 
 different sentiments without any Uamc from 
 
290 
 
 BOOK XI. 
 
 CONTAINING THE INTERVAL 07 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTT-THREB TEARS P I TK MONTHS. 
 
 FROM THE FIRST OF CYRUS TO THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER 
 
 THE GREAT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW CTEUS, KING OF THE PERSIANS, DELI- 
 VERED THE JEWS OUT OF BABYLON, AND SUF- 
 FERED THEM TO RETURN TO THEIR OWN 
 COUNTRY, AND TO BUILD THEIR TEMPLE; 
 FOR WHICH WORK HE GAVE THEM MONEY. 
 
 § 1. In the first year of the reign of Cyrus,* 
 which was the seventieth from the day that our 
 people were removed out of their own land 
 into Babylon, God commiserated the capti- 
 vity and calamity of these poor people, accord- 
 ing as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah 
 the prophet, before the destruction of the 
 city, that after they had served Nebuchadnez- 
 zar and his posterity, and after they had un- 
 dergone that servitude seventy years, he would 
 restore them again to the land of their fathers, 
 and they should build their temple, and enjoy 
 their ancient prosperity; and these things God 
 did afford them; for he stirred up the mind of, 
 Cyrus, and made him write this throughout 
 all Asia: — " Thus saith Cyrus the king: — 
 Since God Almighty hath appointed me to be 
 king of the habitable earth, I beUeve that he 
 is that God which the nation of the Israelites 
 worship ; for indeed he foretold my name by 
 the prophets, and that I should build him a 
 house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea." 
 2. This was known to Cyrus by his read- 
 ing the book which Isaiah left behind him of 
 his prophecies ; for this prophet said that God 
 had spoken thus to him in a secret vision: — 
 V My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have ap- 
 pointed to be king over many and great na- 
 tions, send back my people to their own land, 
 and build my temple." This was foretold by 
 Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the 
 temple was demolished. Accordingly, when 
 Cyrus read this, and admired the divine 
 
 • This Cyrna is called God's Shepherd by Xenophon, 
 as well as by Isaiah (isa. xlir 2H;; ts also' it is said of 
 him by the same prophet, that "I will make a man 
 more precious than fine i^old,erKn a man than tho golden 
 wedfeof Opbir" (Isa. xiii. Vi), which character make.-t 
 Xenophon's meet oxoell^nt hlsti-y uT ».iu. vji j cr«lil)lr. 
 
 power, an earnest desire and ambition seized 
 upon him to fulfil what was so written; so he 
 called for the most eminent Jews that were in 
 Babylon, and said to them, that he gave them 
 leave to go back to their own country, and to 
 rebuild their city Jerusalem,! and the temple 
 of God, for that he would be their assistant, 
 and that he would write to the rulers and go- 
 vernors that were in the neighbourhood of 
 their country of Judea, that they should con- 
 tribute to them gold and silver for the building 
 of the temple, and, besides that, beasts for 
 their sacrifices. 
 
 3. When Cyrus had said this to the Is- 
 raelites, the rulers of the two tribes of Judah 
 and Benjamin, with the Levites and priests, 
 went in haste to Jerusalem, yet did many of 
 them stay at Babyl«n, as not willing to leave 
 their possessions; and when they were come 
 thither, all the king's friends assisted them, 
 and brought in, for the building of the tem- 
 ple, some gold, and some silver, and some a 
 great many cattle and horses. So they per- 
 formed their vows to God, and offered the 
 sacrifices that had been accustomed of old 
 time; I mean this upon the rebiiilding of 
 their city, and the revival of the ancient prac- 
 tices relating to their worship. Cyrus also 
 sent back to them the vessels of God which 
 king Nebuchadnezzar had pillaged out of the 
 temple, and carried to Babylon. So he com- 
 mitted these things to Mithridates, the trea- 
 surer, to be sent away, with an order to give 
 them to Sanabassar, that he might keep them 
 
 + This leave to build Jerusalem (sect. 2, 3), and this 
 epistle of Cyrus to Sisinnes and Sathrabuzanes, to the 
 same purpose, are most unfortunately omitted in all our 
 copies, but this best and completest copy of .losephusj 
 atid by such omission the famous prophecy of Isaiah 
 (Isa. xliv.'iS). where we are informed that <iod said of 
 or to Cyrus, "He is my shepherd, and shall perform all 
 my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, thou shall be 
 built; and to the temple, thy foundation shall be laid," 
 cou.d not hitherto be demonstrated from the sacnd 
 history to have been completely fulfilled, I mean as t» 
 that part of it which concerned his jjiving leave or c.iu- 
 misMicm for rebuilding the city Jerusalem as distinct 
 from the templf. »b.' rclniilding of which is alone pcr- 
 .iii'tpd at dirwted <u t^ie decree of Cy^l^ in nit OUI 
 ropu •. 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES CF THE JEWS. 
 
 291 
 
 till the temple was built; and when it was 
 finished, he might deliver them to the priests 
 and rulers of the multitude, in order to their 
 being restored to the temple. Cyrus also 
 sent an epistle to the governors that were in 
 Syria, the contents whereof here follow: — 
 
 "KING CYRUS TO SISINNES AND SATHRABUZA- 
 ^ _ NES, SENDETH GREETING." 
 
 "I nave given leave to as many of the 
 Jew? that dwell in my country as please to 
 return to their own country, and to rebuild 
 their city, and to build the temple of God at 
 Jerusalem, on the same place where it was 
 before. I have also sent my treasurer, Mith- 
 ridates, and Zorobabel, the governor of the 
 Jews, that they may lay the foundations of 
 the temple, and may build it sixty cubits high, 
 and of the same latitude, making three edi- 
 fices of polished stones, and one of the wood 
 of the country, and the same order extends to 
 the altar whereon they offer sacrifices to God. 
 I require also, that the expenses for these 
 things may be given out of my revenues. 
 Moreover, I have also sent the vessels which 
 king Nebuchadnezzar pillaged out of the 
 temple, and have given them to Mithridates 
 the treasurer, and to Zorobabel the governor 
 of the Jews, that they may have them carried 
 to Jerusalem, and may restore them to the 
 temple of God. Now their number is as fol- 
 lows:* — Fifty chargers of gold and five hun- 
 dred of silver; forty Thericlean cups of gold, 
 and five hundred of silver; fifty basons of gold, 
 and five hundred of silver; thirty vessels for 
 pouring [the drink-offerings], ^nd three hun- 
 dred of silver, thirty vials of gold, and two 
 thousand four hundred of silver; with a thou- 
 sand other large vessels. I permit them to 
 have the same honour which they were used 
 to have from their forefathers, as also for their 
 small cattle, and for wine and oil, two hun- 
 dred and five thousand and five hundred 
 drachmae; and for wheat-flour, twenty thou- 
 sand and five hundred artabae: and I give 
 order that these expenses shall be given them 
 out of the tributes due from Samaria. The 
 priests shall also offer these sacrifices accord- 
 ing to the laws of Moses in Jerusalem ; and 
 v/hen they offer them they shall pray to God 
 for the preservation of the king and of his fa- 
 mily, that the kingdom of Persia may conti- 
 nue. But my will is, that those who disobey 
 these injunctions, and make them void, shall 
 be hung upon a cross, and their substance 
 brought into the king's treasury." And such 
 was the import of this epistle. Now the 
 number of those that came out of captivity to 
 Jerusalem, were forty-two thousand four hun- 
 dred and sixty-two. 
 
 ♦ Of the true number of go Wen and silver vessels here 
 •nd elsewhere belonging to the temple of Solomon, see 
 ttM descriiHioQ of the temple, chap- riii. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 HOW, UPON THE DEATH OF CYRUS, THE JEWS 
 WERE HINDERED IN BUILDING OF THF 
 TEMPLE BY THE CUTHEANS, AND THF 
 NEIGHBOURING GOVERNORS ; AND HOW 
 CAMBYSES ENTIRELY FORBADE THE JEWS 
 TO DO ANY SDCH THING. 
 
 § 1. "When the foundations of the temple 
 were laying, and when the Jews were very 
 zealous about building it, the neighbouring 
 nations, and especially the Cutheans, whom 
 Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, had brought 
 out of Persia and Media, and had planted in 
 Samaria, when he carried the people of Israel 
 captive, besought the governors, and those 
 that had the care of such affairs, that thev 
 would interrupt the Jews, both in the rebuihl- 
 ing of their city, and in the building of their 
 temple. Now as these men were corrupted 
 by them with money, they sold the Cutheans 
 their interest for rendering this building a 
 slow and a careless woik, for Cyrus, who was 
 busy about other wars, knew nothing of all 
 this; and it so happened, that when he had 
 led his army against the Massagetae, he ended 
 his life.f But when Cambyses, the son of 
 Cyrus, had taken the kingdom, the governors 
 in Syria, and Phoenicia, and in the countries 
 of Ammon, and Moab, and Samaria, wrote 
 an epistle to Cambyses; whose contents were 
 as follow: — " To our Lord Cambyses. We 
 thy servants, Rathumus the historiographer, 
 and Semellius the scribe, and the rest that are 
 thy judges in Syria and Phoenicia, send greet- 
 ing: It is fit, O king, that thou shouldest 
 know that those Jews who were carried to 
 Babylon, are come into our country, and are 
 building that rebellious and wicked city, and 
 its market-places, and setting up its walls, 
 and raising up the temple: know, therefore, 
 that when these things are finished, they will 
 not be willing to pay tribute, nor will they 
 submit to thy commands, but will resist kings, 
 and will choose rather to rule over others, 
 than be ruled over themselves. We there- 
 fore thought it proper to write to thee, O 
 
 + Josephus here follows Herodotus and those that 
 related how Cyrus made war with the Scythiaes and 
 MassaRete?, near the Caspian Sea, and perished in it, 
 while Xenophon's account, which appears never to have 
 been seen by Josephus, that Cyrus died in peace in his 
 own coiintry of Persia, is attested to by the writers of 
 the affairs of Alexander the Great, when they asree 
 that he found Cyrus's sepulchre at Pasargadse, near Per- 
 sepolis. This account of Xenophon is also confirmed 
 by the circumstances of Cambyses, upon his succession 
 to Cyrus, who, instead of a war to avenge bis father's 
 death upon the Scythians and Massagetes, and to pre- 
 vent those nations frora overmnning his northern pro- 
 vinces, which would have been the natural consequence 
 of bis father's ill success and death there, went immedi- 
 ately to an Ee^ptian war, long ago begun by Cyrus 
 according to Xenophon, page 644, and conquered that 
 kingdom; nor is there, that I ever heard of, the least 
 mention in the reign of Cambyses of any war against the 
 Scythians and Massagetet that be was ever engaged in« 
 to all bis life. 
 
292 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS^. 
 
 BOOK XI 
 
 king, while the works about the temple are 
 going on so fast, and not to overlook this 
 matter, that thcu mayest search into the books 
 of thy fathers; for thou wilt find in them that 
 the Jews have been rebels, and enemies to 
 kings, as hath their city been also, which, for 
 that reason, hath been till now laid waste. 
 We thought proper also to inform thee of this 
 matter, because thou mayest otherwise per- 
 haps be ignorant of it, that if this city be 
 once inhabited, and be entirely encompassed 
 with walls, thou wilt be excluded from the 
 passage to Celesyria and Phoenicia." 
 
 2. When Cambyses had read the epistle, 
 being naturally wicked, he was irritated at 
 what they told him; and wrote back to them 
 as follows : " Cambyses, the king, to Rathu- 
 mus the historiographer, to Beeltethmus, to 
 Semelhus the scribe, and the rest that are in 
 commission, and dwelling in Samaria and 
 Phcenicia, after this manner: I have read the 
 epistle that was sent from you; and I gave 
 order that the books of my forefathers should 
 be searched into ; and it is there found, that 
 this city hath always been an enemy to kings, 
 and its inhabitants have raised seditions and 
 wars. We also are sensible that their kings 
 have been powerful and tyrannical, and have 
 exacted tribute of CeVesyria and Phoenicia : 
 wherefore I give order that the Jews shall 
 not be permitted to build that city, lest such 
 mischief as they Ufied to bring upon kings be 
 greatly augmented/' When this epistle was 
 read, Rathumus, and Semellius the scribe, 
 and their associafes, got suddenly on horse- 
 back, and ma:de haste to Jerusalem ; they also 
 brought a great company with them, and 
 forbade the Jews to build the city and the 
 temple. Accordingly, these works were hin- 
 dered from going on till the second year of 
 the reign c/f Darius, for nine years more; for 
 Cambyses reigned six years, and within that 
 time overthrew Egypt, and when he was come 
 back, he died at Damascus. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HOW, AFTER THE DEATH OF CAMBYSES, AND 
 THE SLAUGHTER OF THE MAGI, BUT UNDER 
 THE REIGN OF DARIUS, ZOROBABEL WAS 
 SUPERIOR TO THE REST IN THE SOLUTION 
 OF PROBLEMS, AND THEREBY OBTAINED 
 THIS FAVOUR OF THE KING, THAT THE 
 TEMPLE SHOULD BE BUILT. 
 
 § 1. After the slaughter of the magi, who, 
 upon the death of Cambyses, attained the 
 government of the Persians for a year, those 
 families who were called the seven families of 
 the Persians, appointed Darius, the son of 
 Hystaspes, to be their king. Now he, while 
 he was a private man, had made a vow to God, 
 thai if he came to be king, be would send all 
 
 the ve^;sel.s of God that were in Babylon t€r 
 the temple at Jerusalem. Now it so fell out, 
 that about this time Zorobabel, who had been- 
 made governor of the Jews that had been in 
 captivity, came to Darius, from Jerusalem ; for 
 there had been an old friendship between him 
 and the king. He was also, with two others, 
 thought worthy to be guard of the king's 
 body; and obtained that honour which he 
 hoped for. 
 
 2. Now, in the first year of the king's reign,. 
 Darius feasted those that were about him, and 
 those born in his house, with the rulers of the 
 Medes, and princes of the Persians, and the 
 toparchs of India and Ethiopia, and the gene- 
 rals of the armies of his hundred and twenty- 
 seven provinces; but when they had eaten and 
 drunken to satiety and abundantly, they every 
 one departed to go to bed at their own houses, 
 and Darius the king went to bed ; but after 
 he had rested a little part of the night, he 
 awaked, and not being able to sleep any more,, 
 he fell into conversation with the three guards 
 of his body, and promised that to him who 
 should make an oration about points that he 
 should inquire of, such as should be most 
 agreeable to truth, and to the dictates of ws- 
 dom, he would grant it as a reward of his vic- 
 tory, to put on a purple garment, and to drink 
 in cups of gold, and to sleep upon gold, and 
 to have a chariot with bridles of gold, and a 
 head-tire of fine linen, and a chain of gold 
 about his neck, and to sit next to himself, on 
 account of his wisdom: — "And," says he, 
 "he shall be called my cousin." Now when 
 he had promised to give them these gifts, he 
 asked the first of thera, " Whether wine was 
 not the strongest?" — the second, " Whether 
 kings were not such?" — .and the third, " Whe- 
 ther women were not such ? or whether truth 
 was not the strongest of all?" When he had 
 proposed that they should make their inquiries 
 about these problems, he went to rest ; bu^ 
 in the morning he sent for his great men, his 
 princes, and toparchs of Persia and Media, 
 and set himself down in the place where h« 
 used to give audience, and bid each of thtf 
 guards of his body to declare what they thought 
 proper concerning the proposed questions, ii> 
 the hearing of them all. 
 
 3. Accordingly, the first of them began to 
 speak of the strength of wine; and demon- 
 strated it thus: " When," said he, "I am to 
 give my opinion of wine, O you men, 1 lind 
 that it exceeds every thing, by the following 
 indications: it deceives the mind of those 
 that drink it, and reduces that of the king to 
 the same state with that oi' the orphan, and 
 he who stands in need of a tutor ; and erects 
 that of the slave to the bohlne.^s of liini that 
 
 is free; and that ol tli 
 
 s ]ik« 
 
 that of the rirli man, for it changes and le 
 news the souls of iii« n when it gets into them- 
 and it quenches the sorrow of those that ar« 
 undet- calbPiities, and makes men forget tbi 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 293 
 
 de^ts tliey owe to others, and makes them 
 ihink themselves to be of all men the richest; 
 it makes them talk of no small things, but of 
 talents, and such other things as become 
 wealthy men only; nay more, it makes them 
 insensible of their commanders and of their 
 kings, and takes away the remembrance of 
 t,heir friends and companions, for it arms men 
 even against those that are dearest to them, 
 and makes them appear the greatest strangers 
 to them ; and when they are become sober, and 
 they have slept out their wine in the night, they 
 arise without kno\ving any thing they have 
 done in their cups. I take these for signs of 
 power, and by them discover that wine is the 
 strongest and most insuperable of all things." 
 4. As soon as the first had given the fore- 
 mentioned demonstrations of the strength of 
 wine, he left off; and the next to him began 
 to speak about the strength of a king, and 
 demonstrated that it was the strongest of all, 
 and more powerful than any thing else that 
 appears to have any force or wisdom. He 
 began his demonstration after the following 
 manner, and said, " They are men who go- 
 fern all things : they force the earth and the 
 «ea to become profitable to them in what they 
 desire, and over these men do kings rule, and 
 svej them they have authority. Now those 
 who rule over that animal which is of all the 
 ■strongest and most powerful, must needs de- 
 jierve to be esteemed insuperable in power 
 and force. For example, when these kings 
 oommand their subjects to make wars, and 
 undergo dangers, they are hearkened to ; and 
 when they send them against their enemies, 
 their power is so great that they are obeyed. 
 They command men to level mountains, and 
 to pull down walls and towers ; nay, when 
 they are commanded to be killed and to kill, 
 they submit to it, that they may not appear to 
 transgress the king's commands ; and when 
 they have conquered, they bring what they 
 have gained in the war to the king. Those 
 also who are not soldiers, but cultivate the 
 gjound, and plough it, after they have en- 
 dured the labour, and all the inconveniences 
 of such works of husbandry, when they have 
 reaped and gathered in their fruits, they bring 
 tributes to the king; and whatsoever it is 
 which the king says or commands, it is done 
 of necessity, and that without any delay, while 
 he in the meantime is satiated with all sorts 
 of food and pleasures, and sleeps in quiet. 
 He is guarded by such as watch, and such as 
 are, as it were, fixed down to the place through 
 fear ; for no one dares leave him, even when 
 he is asleep, nor does any one go away and 
 take care of his own affairs, but he esteems 
 this one thing the only work of necessity, to j 
 guard the king; and, accordingly, to this he 
 wholly addicts himself. How then can it be 
 otherwise, but that it must appear that the 
 king exceeds all in strength, while so great a 
 oiultitude obey» his injunctions?" 
 
 5. Now when this man had held his peace, 
 the third of them, who was Zorobabel, began 
 to instruct them about women, and about 
 truth, who said thus: " Wine is strong, as is 
 the king also, whom all men obey, but women 
 are superior to them in power; for it was 
 a woman that brought the king into the 
 world; and for those that plant the vines and 
 make the wine, they are women who bear 
 them, and bring them up ; nor indeed is there 
 any thing which we do not receive from 
 them; for these women weave garments for 
 us, and our household affairs are by their 
 means taken care of, and preserved in safety; 
 nor can we live separate from women; and 
 when we have gotten a great deal of gold, 
 and silver, and any other thing that is of 
 great value, and deserving regard, and see a 
 beautiful woman, we leave all these things^ 
 and with open mouth fix our eyes upon he^ 
 countenance, and are willing to forsake what 
 we have, that we may enjoy her beauty, and 
 procure it to ourselves. We also leave fa- 
 ther, and mother, and the earth that nourishes 
 us, and frequently forget our dearest friends, 
 for the sake of women ; nay, we are so hardy 
 as to lay down our lives for them ; but what 
 wdll chiefly make you take notice of the 
 strength of women is this that follows: Do 
 not we take pains, and endure a great deal of 
 trouble, and that both by land and sea, and 
 when we have procured somewhat as the fruit 
 of our labours, do not we bring them to the 
 women, as to our mistresses, and bestow them 
 upon them? Nay, I once saw the king, who 
 is lord of so many people, smitten on the face 
 by Apame, the daughter of Rabsases Thema- 
 sius, his concubine, and his diadem taken from 
 him, and put upon her own head, while he 
 bore it patiently; and when she smiled he 
 smiled, and when she was angry he was sad, 
 and, according to the change of her passions, 
 he flattered his wife, and drew her to recon- 
 ciliation by the great humiliation of himself 
 to her, if at any time he saw her displeased 
 at him." 
 
 6. And when the princes and rulers looked 
 one upon another, he began to speak about 
 truth; and he said, "I have already demon- 
 strated how powerful women are; but both 
 these women themselves, and the king him- 
 self, are weaker than truth; for although the 
 earth be large, and the heaven high, and the 
 course of the sun s\Wft, yet are all these moved 
 according to the will of God, who is true and 
 righteous, for which cause we also ought to 
 esteem truth to be the strongest of all things, 
 and that which is unrighteous is of no force 
 against it. Moreover, all things else that 
 have any strength are mortal, and short-lived, 
 but truth is a thing that is immortal and eter- 
 nal. It affords us not indeed such a beauty 
 as will wither away by time, nor such riches 
 as may be taken away by fortune, but righte- 
 ous rules and laws. It distinguish^? them 
 
294 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XI. 
 
 from injustice, and puts what is ur-righteous 
 to rebuke."* 
 
 7. So when Zorobabel had left off his dis- 
 course about truth, and the multitude had 
 cried out aloud that he had spoken the most 
 wisely, and that it was truth alone that had 
 immutable strength, and such as never would 
 wax old, the king commanded that he should 
 ask for somewhat over and above what he had 
 promised, for that he would give it him be- 
 cause of his wisdom, and that prudence where- 
 in he exceeded the rest; " and thou shalt sit 
 \vith me," said the king, "and shalt be called 
 my cousin." When he had said this, Zoroba- 
 bel put him in mind of the vow he had made 
 in case he should ever have the kingdom. 
 Now this vow was "to rebuild Jerusalem, and 
 to build therein the temple of God, as also to 
 restore the vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had 
 pillaged, and carried to Babylon. And this," 
 said he, " is that request which thou now per- 
 mittest me to make, on account that I have 
 been judged to be wise and understanding." 
 
 8. So the king was pleased wdth what he 
 had said, and arose and kissed him ; and wrote 
 to the toparchs, and governors, and enjoined 
 them to conduct Zorobabel and those that 
 were going with him to build the temple. 
 He also sent letters to those rulers that were 
 in Syria and Phoenicia to cut down and carry 
 cedar-trees from Lebanon to Jerusalem, and 
 to assist him in building the city. He also 
 wrote to them, that all the captives who should 
 go to Judea should be free ; and he prohibited 
 his deputies and governors to lay any king's 
 taxes upon the Jews: he also permitted that 
 they should have all the land which they 
 could possess themselves of without tributes. 
 He also enjoined the Idumeans and Samari- 
 tans, and the inhabitants of Celesyria, to re- 
 store those villages which they had taken from 
 the Jews; and that, besides all this, fifty 
 talents should be given them for the building 
 
 • The reader is to note, that although the speeches or 
 papers of these three of the king^'s guard are much the 
 same, in our third book of Esdras, chap iii. and iv. as 
 they are here in Josephus, yet that th^i introduction of 
 them is entirely different, while in our Ksdras the whole 
 is related as the contrivance of the three of the king's 
 guards themselves; and even the mighty rewards are 
 •poked of as proposed by themselves, and the speeches 
 are related to have been delivered by themselves to the 
 king in writing, while all is contrary in Josephus. I 
 need not say whose account is the most probable, the 
 matters speak for themselves j and there can be no 
 doubt but Jonephus's history is here to be very much 
 preferred before the other. Nor indeed does it seem to 
 me at ail unlikely that the whole was a contrivance of 
 king Darius's own. in order to hed«cently and inoffen- 
 «iv(-l) put in mind by Zorobabel of tullilling his old 
 vow for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, and 
 the restoration of the worship of the "'One true God" 
 there. Nor does the fuU meaning of Zorobabel, wtien 
 he cries out (3 Esd. iv. 40); ♦» Blessed be the God of 
 truth j" and here, " God is true and righteous," or even 
 of all the people (3 Isd. iv. 41), -'Great is truth, and 
 mitthty above all things," seem to uie much diflerent 
 from this, '•There is but o.;e true Go<l, the God of 
 Israel." To which doctrine, such as Cyrus, and Darius, 
 ttc. the Jews* great patrons, st.-eni pot tu have been very 
 fcverv, though the entire idolatry of tl»eir kingdoms 
 mudt Ibeu generblly cuucenl it. 
 
 of the temple. He also permitted them to 
 offer their appointed sacrifices, and that what- 
 soever the high-priest and the priests wanted, 
 and those sacred garments wherein they used 
 to worship God, should be made at his own 
 charges; and that the nmsical instruments 
 which the Levites used in singing hyn)ns to 
 God should be given them. Moreover, ho 
 charged them, that portions of land should be 
 given to those that guarded the city and the 
 temple, as also a determinate sum of money 
 every year for their maintenance : and withal 
 he sent the vessels. And all that Cyrus in- 
 tended to do before him, relating to the re- 
 storation of Jerusalem, Darius also ordained 
 should be done accordingly. 
 
 9. Now when Zorobabel had obtained these 
 grants from the king, he went out of the pa- 
 lace, and looking up to heaven, he began to 
 return thanks to God for the wisdom he had 
 given him, and the victory he had gained 
 thereby, even in the presence of Darius him- 
 self; for, said he, " I had not been thought 
 worthy of these advantages, O Lord, unless 
 thou hadst been favourable to me." When, 
 therefore, he had returned these thanks to 
 God for the present circumstances he was in,* 
 and had prayed to him to afford him the like 
 favour for the time to come, he came to Ba- 
 bylon, and brought the good news to his coun- 
 trymen of what grants he had procured for 
 them from the king; who, when they heard 
 the same, gave thanks also to God that he re- 
 stored the land of their forefathers to them 
 again. So they betook themselves to drinking 
 and eating, and for seven days they continued 
 feasting, and kept a festival, for the rebuild- 
 ing and restoration of their country : after 
 this they chose themselves rulers, who should 
 go up to Jerusalem, out of the tribes of their 
 forefathers, with their wives, and children, 
 and cattle, who travelled to Jerusalem with 
 joy and pleasure, under the conduct of tho^e 
 whom Darius sent along with them, and 
 making a noise with songs, and pipes, and 
 cymbals. The rest of the Jewish multituile 
 also besides accompanied them with rejoicing. 
 
 10. And thus did these men go, a certain 
 and determinate number out of every family, 
 though I do not think it proper to recite 
 particularly the names of those families, that 
 I may not take off the minds of my readers 
 from the connexion of the historical facts, 
 and make it hard for them to follow the 
 coherence of my narration; but the sum of 
 those that went up, above the age of twelve 
 years, of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, 
 was four hundred and sixty-two myriads and 
 eight thousand ;t the Invites were seventy. 
 
 + This strange reading in Josephus's present copies, 
 of four millions instead of forty thousand, is one of the 
 grossest errors that is in them, und ought to be corrected 
 from Ezra ii. 61, I Esd. v. -JO, and Neh. vii. &\ who 
 all agree the general sum was but about torty-two thoo. 
 sand three hundred and sixty. It is also very plain, tlml 
 Josephus thought, thai when Esdras afterwards hniugbt 
 
CHAP. IV, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 295 
 
 four; the number of the women and children 
 mixed together was forty thousand seven hun- 
 dred and forty-two; and besides these there 
 were singers of the Levites one hundred and 
 twenty-eight, and porters one hundred and 
 ten, and of the sacred ministers three hun- 
 dred and ninety-two; there were also others 
 besides these who said they were Israelites, 
 but were not able to show their genealogies, 
 six hundred and sixty-two: some there were 
 also who were expelled out of the number 
 and honour of the priests, as having married 
 wives whose genealogies they could not pro- 
 duce, nor were they found in the genealogies 
 of the Levites and priests; they were about 
 five hundred and twenty-five: the multitude 
 also of servants who followed those that 
 went up to Jerusalem, seven thousand three 
 hundred and thirty-seven; the singing men 
 and singing women were two hundred and 
 forty -five; the camels were four hundred and 
 thirty-five; the beasts used to the yoke were 
 five thousand five hundred and twenty-five; 
 and the governors of all this multitude thus 
 numbered were Zorobabel, the son of Sala- 
 thiel, of the posterity of David, and of the 
 tribe of Judah ; and Jeshua, the son of Jose- 
 dek the high-priest; and besides these there 
 were Mordecai and Serebeus, who were dis- 
 tinguished from the multitude, and were 
 rulers, who also contributed a hundred 
 pounds of gold and five thousand of silver. 
 By this means, therefore, the priests and the 
 Levites, and a certain part of the entire peo- 
 ple of the Jews that were in Babylon, came 
 and dwelt in Jerusalem; but the rest of the 
 multitude returned every one to their own 
 countries. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW THE TEMPLE WAS BUILT, WHILE THE 
 CUTHEANS ENDEAVOURED IN VAIN TO OB- 
 STRUCT THE WORK. 
 
 § 1. Now in the seventh month after they 
 were departed out of Babylon, both Jeshua 
 th£ high-priest, and Zorobabel the governor, 
 sent messengers every way round about, and 
 gathered those that were in the country to- 
 gether to Jerusalem universally, who came 
 very gladly thither. He then built the altar 
 on the same place it had formerly been built, 
 
 up another company out of Babylon and Persia, in the 
 days of Xerxes, they were also, as well as these, out of 
 the two tribes, and out of them only, and were in all no 
 more than « a. seed " and " a remnant," while an " im- 
 mense number" of the ten tribes never returned, but, as 
 he believed, continued then beyond Euplirates, ch. v. 
 sect. 2, 3. Of which multitude, the Jews beyond Eu- 
 phrates, he speaks frequently elsewhere, though, by the 
 way, he never takes them to be idolaters, but looks on 
 them still as observers of the laws of Moses. The "cer- 
 tain part" of the people that now came up from Baby- 
 lon, at the end of this chapter, imply the same smaller 
 number of Jews »hat now crame up; and wiil no way 
 4kgree with the four raiUious. 
 
 that they might offer the appointed sacrifices 
 upon it to God, according to the la ws of Mo- 
 ses. But while they did this, they did not 
 please the neighbouring nations, who all of 
 them bare an ill-will to them. They also 
 celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles at that 
 time, as the legislator had ordained concern 
 ing it; and after that they offered sacrifices 
 and what were called the daily sacrifices, an 
 the oblations proper for the Sabbaths, and 
 for all the holy festivals. Those also that 
 had made vows performed them, and offered 
 their sacrifices from the first day of the 
 seventh month. They also began to build 
 the temple, and g^ve a g^eat deal of money 
 to the masons and to the carpenters, and 
 what was necessary for the maintenance of 
 the workmen. The Sidonians also were very 
 willing and ready to bring the cedar-trees 
 from Libanus, to bind them together, and to 
 make a united float of them, and to bring 
 them to the port of Joppa, for that was what 
 Cyrus had commanded at first, and what was 
 now done at the command of Darius. 
 
 2. In the second year of their coming to 
 Jerusalem, as the Jews were there, in the se- 
 cond month, the building of the temple went 
 on apace; and when they had laid its foun- 
 dations, on the first day of the second month 
 of that second year, they set, as overseers of 
 the work, such Levites as were full twenty 
 years old ; and Jeshua and his sons and bre- 
 thren, and Codmiel, the brother of Judas, the 
 son of Aminadab, with his sons; and tlje 
 temple, by the great diligence of those that 
 had the care of it, was firushed sooner thai^ 
 any one would have expected. And when 
 the temple was finished, the priests, adorned 
 with their accustomed garments, stood with 
 their trumpets, while the Levites, and the sons 
 of Asaph, stood and sung hymns to God, 
 according as David first of all appointed theni 
 to bless God. Now the priests and Levites, 
 and the elder part of the families, recollecting 
 with themselves how much greater and more 
 sumptuous the old temple had been, seeing 
 that now made how mtich inferior it was, on 
 account of their poverty, to that which had 
 been built of old, considered with themselves 
 how much their happy state was sunk below 
 what it had been of old, as well as their tem- 
 ple. Hereupon they were disconsolate, and 
 not able to contain their grief, and proceeded 
 so far as to lament and shed tears on those 
 accounts; but the people in general were 
 contented with their present condition; and 
 because they were allowed to build them a 
 temple, they desired no more, and neither re- 
 garded nor remembered, nor indeed at all 
 tormented themselves with the comparison of 
 that and the former temple, as if this were 
 below their expectations. But the wailing of 
 the old men, and of the priests, on account of 
 the deficiency of this temple, in their opinion, 
 if compared with that which had been do- 
 
296 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK AI. 
 
 molished, overcame the sounds of the trum- 
 pets and the rejoicing of the people. 
 
 3. But when the Samaritans, who were still 
 enemies to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, 
 heard the sound of the trumpets, they came 
 running together, and desired to know what 
 was the occasion of this tumult; and when 
 they perceived that it was from the Jews who 
 had been carried captive to Babylon, and were 
 labuilding their temple, they came to Zoro- 
 babel, and to Jeshua, and to the heads of the 
 families, and desired that they would give 
 them leave to build the temple with them, and 
 to be partners with them in building it; 
 for they said, " We worship their God, and 
 especially pray to him, and are desirous of 
 their religious settlement, and this ever since 
 Shalmanezer, the king of Assyria, transplanted 
 us out of Cuthah and Media to this place." 
 When they said thus, Zorobabel, and Jeshua 
 the high-priest, and the heads of the families 
 of the Israelites, replied to them, that it was 
 impossible for them to permit them to be their 
 partners, whilst they [only] had been appointed 
 to build that temple at first by Cyrus, and 
 now by Darius, although it was indeed lawful 
 for them to come and worship there if they 
 pleased, and that they could allow them no- 
 thing, but that in common with them, which 
 was common to them with all other men, to 
 come to their temple and worship God there. 
 
 4. When the Cutheans heard this, for the 
 Samaritans have that appellation, they had 
 i»dignation at it, and persuaded the nations of 
 Syria to desire of the governors, in the same 
 
 ^manner as they had done formerly in the days 
 of Cyrus, and again in the days of Cambyses 
 afterwards, to put a stop to the building of 
 the temple, and to endeavour to delay and pro- 
 tract the Jews in their zeal about it. Now at 
 this time Sisinnes, the governor of Syria and 
 Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, with certain 
 others, came up to Jerusalem, and asked the 
 rulers of the Jews, by whose grant it was th^^t 
 they built the temple in this manner, since it 
 was more like to a citadel than a temple? and 
 for what reason it was that they built cloisters 
 and walls, and those strong ones too, about 
 the city? To which Zorobabel and Jeshua 
 the high-priest replied, that they were the ser- 
 vants of God Almighty: that this temple was 
 built for him by a king of theirs that lived 
 in great prosperity, and one that exceeded all 
 men in virtue; and that it continued a long 
 time, but that, because of their fathers' im- 
 piety towards God, Nebuchadnezzar, king of 
 the Babylonians and of the Chaldeans, took 
 their city by force, and destroyed it, and pil- 
 laged the temple, ^nd burnt it down, and 
 transplanted the people whom he had made 
 captives, and removed them to Babylon; that 
 Cyrus, who, after him, was king of Babylo- 
 nia and Persia, wrote to them to build the 
 temple, and committed the gifts and vessels, 
 •ad what8o«ver Nebuchadnezzar had carried 
 
 out of it, to Zorobabel, and Mithridates the 
 treasurer ; and gave order to have them car- 
 ried to Jerusalem, and to have them restored 
 to their own temple when it was built ; for 
 he had sent to them to have it done speedily, 
 and commanded Sanabassar to go up to Je- 
 rusalem, and to take care of the building of 
 the temple; who, upon receiving that epistle 
 from Cyrus, came and immediately laid its 
 foundations: — "and although it hath been 
 in building from that time to this, it hath not 
 yet been finished, by reason of the malignity 
 of our enemies. If therefore you have a 
 mind, and think it proper, write this account 
 to Darius, that when he hath consulted the 
 records of the kings, he may find that we 
 have told you nothing that is false about this 
 matter." 
 
 5. When Zorobabel and the high- priest 
 had made this answer, Sisinnes, and those 
 that were with him, did not resolve to hinder 
 the building, until they had informed king 
 Darius of all this. So they ic*-mediately 
 wrote to him about these affairs; but as the 
 Jews were now under terror, and afraid lest 
 the king should change his resolutions as to 
 the building of Jerusalem and of the temple, 
 there were two prophets at that time amongst 
 them, Haggai and Zechariah, who encou- 
 raged them, and bade them be of good cheer, 
 and to suspect no discouragement from the 
 Persians, for that God foretold this to them. 
 So, in dependence on those prophets, they 
 applied themselves earnestly to building, and 
 did not intermit one day. 
 
 6. Now Darius, when the Samaritans had 
 written to him, and in their epistle had ac- 
 cused the Jews how they fortified the city, an4 
 built the temple more like to a citadel than a 
 temple; and said, that their doings were not 
 expedient for the king's affairs; and besides, 
 they showed the epistle of Cambyses, where- 
 in he forbade them to build the temple: anS 
 when Darius thereby understood that the re- 
 storation of Jerusalem was not expedient for 
 his afiairs, and when he had read the epistle 
 that was brought him from Sisinnes and those 
 that were with him, he gave order that what 
 concerned these matters should be sought /or 
 among the royal records. — Whereupon a book 
 was found at Ecbatana, in the tower that was 
 in Media, wherein was wiitten as follows: — 
 " Cyrus the king, in the first year of his reign, 
 commanded that the temple should be built 
 in Jerusalem; and the altar in height three- 
 score cubits, and its breadth of the same, with 
 three edifices of polished stone, and one edi. 
 fice of stone of their own country; and he or- 
 dained that the expenses of it should be paid 
 out of the king's revenue. Ih- a]«o com- 
 manded that the vessels which N^^biuhadnez- 
 zar had pillaged [out of the temple], and had 
 carried to Babylon, should be restored to the 
 people of Jerusalen); hiu! ti.i.t the care oi 
 these thing! should bc.oii^j \o Sanabassar, iita 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 297 
 
 governor and president of Syria and Phoeni- 
 cia, and to his associates, that they may not 
 meddle^ith that place, but may permit the 
 servant^f God, the Jews and their rulers, to 
 build the temple. He also ordained that they 
 should assist them in the work; and that they 
 should pay to the Jews, out of the tribute of 
 the country where they were governors, on 
 account of the sacrifices, bulls, and rams, and 
 lambs, and kids of the goats, and fine flour, 
 and oil, and wine, and all other things that 
 the priests should suggest to them; and that 
 they should pray for the preservation of the 
 king, and of the Persians: and that for such 
 as transgressed any of these orders thus sent 
 to them, he commanded that they should be 
 caught, and hung upon a cross, and their sub- 
 stance confiscated to the king's use. He also 
 prayed to God against them, that if any one 
 attempted to hinder the building of the tem- 
 ple, God would strike him dead, and thereby 
 restrain his wickedness." 
 
 7. Wuen Darius had found this book 
 among the records of Cyrus, he wrote an an- 
 swer to Sisinnes and his associates, whose con- 
 tents were these: — " King Darius to Sisinnes 
 the governor, and to Sathrabuzanes, sendeth 
 greeting. Having found a copy of this epistle 
 among the records of Cyrus, I have sent it 
 to you; and I will that all things be done as 
 therein written. — Farewell." So when Si- 
 sinnes, and those that were with him, un- 
 derstood the intention of the king, they re- 
 solved to follow his directions entirely for the 
 time to come. So they forwarded the sacred 
 works, and assisted the elders of the Jews, and 
 the princes of the sanhedrim; and the struc- 
 ture of the temple was with great diligence 
 brought to a conclusion, by the prophecies of 
 Haggai and Zechariah, according to God's 
 commands, and by the injunctions of Cyrus 
 and Darius the kings. Now the temple was 
 built in seven years' time: and in the ninth 
 year of the reign of Darius, on the twenty- 
 third day of the twelfth month, which is by us | 
 called Adar, but by the Macedonians Di/strus, 
 the priests and the Levites,and the other multi- 
 tude of the Israelites, offered sacrifices, as the 
 renovation of their former prosperity after their 
 captivity, and because they had now the tem- 
 ple rebuilt, a hundred bulls, two hundred 
 rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve kids of 
 the goats, according to the number of their 
 tribes (for so many are the tribes of the Israel- 
 ites); and this last for the sins of every tribe. 
 The priests also, and the Levites, set the por- 
 ters at every gate according to the laws of 
 Moses. The Jews also built the cloisters of 
 the inner temple that were round about the 
 temple itself. 
 
 8. And as the feast of unleavened bread 
 was at hand, in the first month, which, accord- 
 ing to the Macedonians, is called Xanthicus, 
 but a<'cordi"g to us JVisati, all the people ran 
 together out of the villages to the city, and 
 
 celebrated the festival, having purified them- 
 selves, with their wives and children, accord- 
 ing to the law of their country; and they of- 
 fered the sacrifice which \tas called the Pass» 
 over, on the fourteenth day of the same month, 
 and feasted seven days, and spared for no cost, 
 but offered whole burnt-offerings to God, and 
 performed sacrifices of thanksgiving, because 
 God had led them again to the land of their 
 fathers, and to the laws thereto belonging, and 
 had rendered the mind of the king of Persia 
 favourable to them. So these men offered 
 the largest sacrifices on these accounts, and 
 used great magnificence in the worship of 
 God, and dwelt in Jerusalem, and made use 
 of a form o^ government that was aristocrati- 
 cal, but mixed wth an oligarchy, for the high- 
 priests were at the head of their afikirs, until 
 the posterity of the Asamoneans set up kingly 
 government; for before their captivity, and 
 the dissolution of their polity, they at first 
 had kingly government from Saul and David 
 for five hundred and thirty-two years, six 
 months, and ten days: but before those kings, 
 such rulers governed them as were called 
 Judges and Monarch s. Under this form of 
 government, they continued for more thau 
 five hundred years, after the death of Moses, 
 
 and of Joshua their commander And this is 
 
 the account I had to give of the Jews who 
 had been carried into captivity, but were de- 
 livered from it in the times of Cyrus and Da- 
 rius. 
 
 9. * But the Samaritans, being evil and en- 
 \'iously disposed to the Jews, wrought them 
 many mischiefs, by rehance on their riches, 
 and by their pretence that they were allied to 
 the Persians, on account that thence they 
 came; and whatsoever it was that they were 
 enjoined to pay the Jews by the king's order 
 out of their tributes for the sacrifices, they 
 would not pay it. They had also the gover- 
 nors favourable to them, and assisting them 
 for that purpose; nor did they spare to hurt 
 them, either by themselves or by others, as 
 far as they were able. So the Jews deter- 
 mined to send an embassage to king Darius 
 in favour of the people of Jerusalem, and in 
 order to accuse the Samaritans. The ambas- 
 sadors were Zorobabel, and four others of the 
 rulers; and as soon as the king knew from 
 the ambassadors the accusations and com- 
 plaints they brought against the Samaritans, 
 he gave them an epistle to be carried to the 
 governors and council of Samaria; the con- 
 tents of which epistle were these: "King 
 Darius to Tanganas and Sambabas, the go- 
 vernors of the Samaritans; to Sadraces and 
 Bobelo, and the rest of their fellow-servants 
 that are in Samaria: Zorobabel, Ananias, 
 and Mordecai, the ambassadors of the Jews, 
 complain of you, that you obstruct them in 
 the building of the temple, and do not supply 
 
 » . The history contained in this section is entirely 
 wantmg in all our copies, both of Ezra and F.edrav ^ 
 
298 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XI. 
 
 them with the expenses which I commanded 
 you to do for the offering of their sacrifices. 
 My wll therefore is this: That upon the 
 reading of this epistle, you supply them with 
 whatsoever they want for their sacritices, and 
 that out of the royal treasury, of the tri- 
 butes of Samaria, as the priest shall desire, 
 that they may not leave off their offering daily 
 sacrifices, nor praying to God for me and the 
 Persians:" — and these were the contents of 
 that epistle. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW XERXES, THE SON OF DARIUS, WAS 
 WELL-DISPOSED TO THE JEWS; AS ALSO 
 CONCERNING ESDRAS AND NEHEMIAH. 
 
 § 1. Upon the death of Darius, Xerxes his 
 son took the kingdom; who, as he inherited 
 his father's kingdom, so did he inherit his 
 piety towards God, and honour of him ; for 
 he did all things suitably to his father rela- 
 ting to divine worship, and he was exceeding 
 friendly to the Jews. Now about this time a 
 son of Jeshua, whose name was Joacim, was 
 the high-priest. Moreover, there was now in 
 Babylon a righteous man, and one that en- 
 joyed a great reputation among the multitude; 
 he was the principal priest of the people, and 
 his name was Esdras. He was very skilful 
 in the laws of Moses, and was well acquainted 
 with king Xerxes. He had determined to 
 go up to Jerusalem, and to take with him 
 some of those Jews that were in Babylon ; and 
 he desired that the king would give him an 
 epistle to the governors of Syria, by which 
 they might know who he was. Accordingly, 
 the king wrote the following epistle to those 
 governors: — " Xerxes, king of kings, to Es- 
 dras the priest, and reader of the divine law, 
 greeting. I think it agreeable to that love 
 which I bear to mankind, to permit those of 
 the Jewish nation who are so disposed, as well 
 as those of the priests and Levites that are in 
 our kingdom, to go together to Jerusalem. 
 Accordingly, I have given command for that 
 purpose; and let every one that hath a mind 
 go, according as it hath seemed good to me, 
 and to my seven counsellors, and this in or- 
 der to their review of the affairs of Judea, to 
 see whether they be agreeable to the law of 
 God. Let them also take with them those 
 presents which I and my friends have vowed, 
 with all that silver and gold which is found in 
 the country of the Babylonians, as dedicated to 
 God, and let all this be carried to Jerusalem, 
 to God for sacrifices. Let it also be lawful 
 for thee and thy brethren to make as many 
 vessels of silver and gold as thou pleasest. 
 Thou shalt also dedicate those holy vessels 
 which have been given thee, and as many 
 more as thou hast a mind to make, and shalt. 
 
 take the expenses out of the king's treasury. 
 I have moreover written to the treasurers of 
 Syria and Phoenicia, that they take care of 
 those affairs that Esdras the priest, a^ reader 
 of the laws of God, is sent about; and that 
 God may not be at all angry with me, or with 
 my children, I grant all that is necessary for 
 sacrifices to God, according to the law, as far 
 as a hundred cori of wheat; and I enjoin you 
 not to lay any treacherous im position, or any 
 tributes upon their priests or Levites, or sa- 
 cred singers, or porters, or sacred servants, 
 or scribes of the temple ; and do thou, O Es- 
 dras, appoint judges according to the wisdom 
 [given thee] of God, and those such as under- 
 stand the law, that they may judge in all 3yria 
 and Phoenicia; and do thou instruct those 
 also which are ignorant of it, that if any on^ 
 of thy countrymen transgress the law of God, 
 or that of the king, he may be punished, as 
 not transgressing it out of ignorance, but as 
 one that knows it indeed, but boldly despises 
 and contemns it; and such may be punished 
 by death, or by paying fines. FareweD." 
 
 2. When Esdras had received this epistle, 
 he was very joyful, and began to worship 
 God, and confessed that he had been the cau>e 
 of the king's great favour to him, and that 
 for the same reason he gave all the thanks to 
 God. So he read the epistle at Babylon to 
 those Jews that were there; but he kept the 
 epistle itself, and sent a copy of it to all those 
 of his own nation that were in Media; and 
 when these Jews had understood what piety 
 the king had towards God, and what kindness 
 he had for Esdras, they were all greatly pleas- 
 ed; nay, many of them took their effects with 
 them, and came to Babylon, as very desirous 
 of going down to Jerusalem; but then the 
 entire body of the people of Israel remained 
 in that country; wherefore there are but two 
 tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the 
 Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Eu- 
 phrates till now, and are an immense multi- 
 tude, and not to be estimated by numbers. 
 Now there came a great number of priests, 
 and Levites, and porters, and sacred singers, 
 and sacred servants, to Esdras. So he ga- 
 thered those that were in the captivity toge- 
 ther beyond Euphrates, and staid there 'three 
 days, and ordained a fast for them, that they 
 might make their prayers to God for their 
 preservation, that they might suffer no mis- 
 fortunes by the way, either from their enemies, 
 or from any other ill accident; for Esdras 
 had said beforehand, that he had told the 
 king how God would preserve them, and so 
 he had not thought fit to request that he would 
 send horsemen to conduct them. So when 
 they had finished their prayers, they removed 
 from Euphrates, on the twelfth day of the 
 first month of the seventh year of the reign 
 of Xerxes, and they came to Jerusalem on 
 the fifth month of the same year. Now Es- 
 dras presented the sacred money to the treor 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 299 
 
 surers, who were of the family of the priests, 
 of silver six hundred and fifty talents, ves- 
 sels of silver one hundred talents, vessels of 
 gold twenty talents, vessels of brass, that 
 was more precious than gold,* twelve talents 
 by weight ; for these presents had been made 
 by the king and his counsellors, and by all 
 the Israelites that staid at Babylon. So when 
 Esdras had delivered these things to the 
 priests, he gave to God, as the appointed sa- 
 crifices of whole burnt- offering, twelve bulls 
 on account of the common preservation of the 
 people, ninety rams, seventy-two lambs, and 
 twelve kids cf the goats, for the remission of 
 sins. He also delivered the king's epistle 
 to the king's officers, and to the governors of 
 Cclesyria and Phoenicia; and as they were un- 
 der the necessity of doing what was enjoined 
 by him, they honoured ou^ nation, and were 
 assistant to them in all their necessities. 
 
 3. Now these things were truly done un- 
 der the conduct of Esdras; and he succeeded 
 in them, because God esteemed him worthy 
 of the success of his conduct, on account of 
 bis goodness and righteousness. But some 
 time afterward there came some persons to 
 him, and brought an accusation against cer- 
 tain of the multitude, and of the priests and 
 Levites, who had transgressed their settlement, 
 and dissolved the laws of their country, by 
 marrying strange wives, and had brought the 
 family of the priests into confusion. These 
 persons desired him to support the laws, lest 
 God should take up a general anger against 
 them all, and reduce them to a calamitous 
 condition again. Hereupon he rent his gar- 
 ment immediately, out of grief, and pulled off 
 the hair of his head and beard, and cast him- 
 self upon the ground, because this crime had 
 reached the principal men among the people; 
 and considering that if he should enjoin them 
 to cast out their ^vives, and th*» children they 
 had by them, he should not be Hearkened to, 
 he continued lying upon the ground. How- 
 ever, all the better sort came running to him, 
 who also themselves wept, and partook of the 
 grief he was under for what had been done. 
 So Esdras rose up from the ground, and 
 stretched out his hands towards Heaven, and 
 said that he was ashamed to look towards it, 
 because of the sins which the people had com- 
 mitted while they had cast out of their memo- 
 ries what their fathers had undergone on ac- 
 count of their wickedness; and he besought 
 God, who had saved a seed and a remnant out 
 of the calamity and captivity they had been in, 
 and had restored them again to Jerusalem, 
 and to their own land, and had obliged the 
 king of Persia to have compassion on them, 
 ihat he would also forgive them their fins 
 they had now committed, which, though they 
 
 • Dr. Hudson takes notice here, that this kind of 
 brass or copper, or rather mixture of gold and brass or 
 copper, was called aunehalciim, apd that this was of 
 old esteemed the most precious of alt metals. i 
 
 deserved death, yet, was it agreeable to the 
 mercy of God, to remit even to these the piin- 
 ishment due to them 
 
 4. After Esdras had said this, he left off 
 praying; and when all those that came to him 
 with their wives and children were under la- 
 mentation, one, whose name was Jechonias, 
 a principal man iif Jerusalem, came to him, 
 and said, that they had sinned in marrying 
 strange wives; and he persuaded him to ad- 
 jure them all to cast those wiveS out, and the 
 children born of them; and that those should 
 be punished who would not obey the law. So 
 Esdras hearkened to this advice, and made 
 the heads of the priests, and of the Levites, 
 and of the Israelites, swear that they would 
 put away those mves and children, according 
 to the advice of Jechonias; and when he had 
 received their oaths, he went in haste out of 
 the temple into the chamber of Johanan, the 
 son of Eliasib, and as he had hitherto tasted 
 nothing at all for grief, so he abode there that 
 day; and when proclamation was made, that 
 all those of the captivity should gather them- 
 selves together to Jerusalem, and those that 
 did not meet there in two or three days should 
 be banished from the multitude, and that their 
 substance should be appropriated to the uses 
 of" the temple, according to the sentence of 
 the elders, those that were of the tribes of Ju- 
 dah and Benjamin came together in three 
 days, viz. on the twentieth day of the ninth 
 month, which, according to the Hebrews, is 
 called Tebeth, and according to the Macedo- 
 nians, Apelleius. Now, as they were sitting 
 in the upper room of the temple, where the 
 elders also w^ere present, but were uneasy be- 
 cause of the cold, Esdras stood up and ac- 
 cused them, and told them that they had sin- 
 ned in marrying \vives that were not of their 
 own nation; but that now they would do a 
 thing both pleasing to God and advantageous 
 to themselves, if they would put those wives 
 away. Accordingly, they all cried out that 
 they would do so. That, however, the mul- 
 titude was great, and that the season of the 
 year was winter, and that this work would re- 
 quire more than one or two days. " Let 
 their rulers, therefore [said they], and those 
 that have married strange wives, come hither 
 at a proper time, while the elders of every 
 place, that are in common, to estimate the 
 number of those that have thus married, are 
 to be there also." Accordingly, this was re- 
 solved on by them; and they began the in- 
 quiry after those that had married strange 
 wives on the first day of the tenth month, and 
 continued the inquiry to the first day of the 
 next month, and found a great many of the 
 posterity of Jeshua the high-priest, and of the 
 priests and Levites, and Israelites, who had a 
 greater regard to the observation of the law 
 than to their natural affection,! and immedi- 
 
 + This procedure of Esdras, and of the best part of the 
 Jewish nation, alter their return from the Babjiooisb 
 
300 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XI. 
 
 ately cast out their wives, and the children 
 which were born of them; and in order to 
 appease God, they offered sacrifices, and slew 
 'rams, as oblations to him; but it does not 
 seem to me to be necessary to set down the 
 names of these men. So when Esdras had 
 reformed this sin about the marriages of the 
 fore-mentioned persons, h% reduced that prac- 
 tice to purity, so that it continued in that 
 state for the time to come. 
 
 5. Now when they kept the feast of ta- 
 bernacles in the seventh month,* and almost 
 all the people were come together to it, they 
 went up to the open part of the temple, to 
 the gate which looked eastward, and desired 
 of Esdras that the laws of Moses might be 
 read to them. Accordingly, he stood in the 
 midst of the multitude and read them; and 
 this he did from morning to noon. Now, by 
 hearing the laws read to them, they were in- 
 structed to bo righteous men for the present 
 and for the future; but as for their past of- 
 fences, they were displeased at themselves, and 
 proceeded to shed tears on their accoimt, as 
 considering with themselves, that if they had 
 kept the law, they had endured none of these 
 miseries which they had experienced; but 
 when Esdras saw them in that disposition, he 
 bade them go home and not weep, for that it 
 was a festival, and that they ought not to 
 weep thereon, for that it was not lawful so to 
 do.f He exhorted them rather to proceed 
 immediately to feasting, and to do what was 
 suitable to a feast, and what was agreeable to 
 a day of joy; but to let their repentance and 
 sorrow for their former sins be a security and 
 a guard to them, that they fell no, more intQ 
 the like offences. So upon Esdras' exhorta- 
 tion they began to feast: and when they had so 
 done for eight days, in their tabernacles, they 
 departed to their owh homes, singing hymns 
 to God, and returning thanks to Esdras for 
 his reformation of what corruptions had been 
 introduced into their settlement. So it came 
 to pass, that after he had obtained this repu- 
 tation among the people, he died an old man, 
 and was buried in a magnificent manner at 
 Jerusalem. About the same time it hap- 
 
 oaptivity, of reducing the Jewish marriages, once for all, 
 to the strictness of the law of Moses, without any regard 
 to the greatness of those who had broken it, and with- 
 out ret;ard to that natural affection or compassion for 
 their heathen wives, and their children by them, which 
 made it so hard for Esdras to correct it, deserves greatly 
 to be observed and imitated in all attempts for reforma- 
 tion among Christians, the contrary conduct having ever 
 been the bane of true religion, both among Jews and 
 Christians, while political views, or human passions, or 
 prudential motives, arc suffered to take place instead of 
 the divine laws, and so the blessing of God is forfeited, 
 and the church still suffered to continue corrupt from 
 one generation to another. See eh. viii. sect. 2. 
 
 * This Jewish least of tabernacles was imitated in 
 •everal heathen solemnities, as Spauheini here observes 
 and proves He also farther ol:>serves presently, what 
 great regard many heathens had to the monuments of 
 tiieir lorefttthopi, as Nehemiah had here, sect. 6. 
 
 + This rulp of Esdras, not to fast on a festival day, in 
 quoted in the Apostolical Coustitutioaa (b. v.), as obtaiii- 
 iog among Christians also. 
 
 pened also that Joacim, the high-priest, died; 
 and his son Eliasib succeeded in the high- 
 priesthood. 
 
 6. Now there was one of those Jews who 
 had been carried captive, who was cup-bearer 
 to king Xerxes; his name was Nehemiah. 
 As this man was walking before Susa, the 
 metropolis of the Persians, he heard some 
 strangers that were entering the city, after a 
 long journey, speaking to one another in the 
 Hebrew tongue; so he went to them and 
 asked from whence they came; and when their 
 answer was, that they came from Judea, he 
 began to inquire of them again in what state 
 the multitude was, and in what condition Je- 
 rusalem was: and when they replied that they 
 were in a bad state, J for that their walls were 
 thrown down to the ground, and that the 
 neighbouring natfcns did a great deal of mis- 
 chief to the Jews, while in the day-time they 
 overran the country, and pillaged it, and in 
 the night did them mischief, inoomuch that 
 not a few were led away captive out of the 
 country, and out of Jerusalem itself, and that 
 the roads were in the day-time found full of 
 dead men. Hereupon Nehemiah shed tears, 
 out of commiseration of the calamities of his 
 countrymen; and, looking up to heaven, he 
 said, " How long, O Lord, wilt thou overlook 
 our nation, while it suffers so great miseries, 
 and while we are made the prey and the spoil 
 of all men?" And while he staid at the gate, 
 and lamented thus, one told him that the king 
 was going to sit down to supper; so he made 
 haste, and went as- he was, without washing 
 himself, to minister to the king in his office of 
 cup-bearer r but as the king was very plea- 
 sant after supper, and more cheerful than 
 usual, he cast his eyes on Nehemiah, and see- 
 ing him look sad, he asked him why he was 
 sad. Whereupon he prayed to God to give 
 him favour, and afford him the power of per- 
 suading by his words; and said, " How can 
 I, O king, appear otherwise than thus, » .d 
 not be in trouble, while I hear that the walls 
 of Jerusalem, the city where are the sepul. 
 chres of my fathers, are thrown down to the 
 ground, and that its gates are consumed by 
 fire? But 'do thou grant me the favour to 
 go and build its wall, and to finish the build- 
 ing of the temple." Accordingly, the king 
 gave him a signal, that' he freely granted him 
 what he asked ; and told him that he should 
 carry an epistle to the governors, that they 
 might pay him due honour, and afford hiu. 
 whatsoever assistance he wanted, and as ho 
 pleased. " Leave off thy sorrow then," said 
 the king, "and be cheerful in the performance 
 of thy office hereafter." So Nehemiah wor- 
 
 t This miserable condition of the Jews, and their 
 capital, must have been after the death of Esdra!<, their 
 former governor, and before Neln-miah came with his 
 commission to build the walls of Jerusalem ; nor is that 
 at all disagreeable to thtse liistories in Josephus. since 
 Esdras came on the Aeventh, and iN* bemiah not till iIm 
 twenty-lifth of Xerxen, at the interval of eighteea yean. 
 
HAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 301 
 
 shipped Go(\, and gave the king thanks for his 
 {promise, and cleared up his sad and cloudy 
 countenance, by the pleasure he had from the 
 king's promises. Accordingly, the king called 
 for him the next day, and gave hira an 
 epistle to be carried to Adeus, the governor 
 of Syria, and Phoenicia, and Samaria; where- 
 in he sent to him to pay due honour to Ne- 
 henyah, and to supply him wth what he 
 wanted for his building. 
 
 7. Now when he was come to Babylon, 
 and had taken with him many of his country- 
 men, who voluntarily followed him, he came 
 to Jerusalem in the twenty and fifth year of 
 the reign of Xerxes; (mA when he had shown 
 the epistles to God,* he gave them to Adeus, 
 and to the other governors. He also called 
 together all the people to Jerusalem, and stood 
 in the midst of the temple, and made the fol- 
 lowing speech to them: — "You know, O 
 Jews, that God hath kept our fathers, Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, and Jacob, i.i mind continually; 
 and for the sake of their righteousness hath 
 not left off the care of you. Indeed, he hath 
 assisted me in gaining this authority of the 
 king to raise up our wall, and finish what is 
 wanting of the temple. I desire you, there- 
 fore, who well know the ill-will our neigh- 
 bouring nations bear to us, and that when 
 once they are made sensible that we are in ear- 
 nest about building, they will come upon us, 
 and contrive many ways of obstructing our 
 works, that you will, in the first place, put 
 your trust in God, as in him that wall assist 
 us against their hatred, and to intermit build- 
 ing neither night nor day, but to use all dili- 
 gence, and to hasten on the work, now we 
 have this especial opportunity for it." When 
 he had said this, he gave order that the rulers 
 should measure the wall, and part the work 
 of it among the people, according to their vil- 
 lages and cities, as every one's ability should 
 require. And when he had added this pro- 
 mise, that he himself, with his servants, would 
 assist them, he dissolved the assembly. So 
 the Jews prepared for the work: that is the 
 name they are called by from the day that 
 they came up from Babylon, which is taken 
 from the tribe of Judah, which came first to 
 these places, and thence both they and the 
 country gained that appellation. 
 
 8. But now when the Ammonites, and Moab- 
 ites, and Samaritans, and all that inhabited Ce- 
 lesyria, heard that the building went on apace, 
 they took it heinously, and proceeded to lay 
 snares for them, and to hinder their inten- 
 tions. They also slew many of the Jews, and 
 sought how they might destroy Neheraiah 
 
 * This showinj? kin? Xerxes' epistles to God, or lay- 
 ing them open before God in the temple, is very like the 
 laying open the epistles of Sennacherib before him also 
 hy llezekiah (•2Kingsxix. 14; Isa. xxxvii. 14); although 
 this last was for a memorial, to put him in mind of the 
 enemies, in order to move the divine compassion, and 
 thf present as a token of gratitude for mercies already 
 received, aa Havercamp well observes on tiiis place. 
 
 himself, by hiring some of the foreigners to 
 kill him. They also put the Jews in fear, 
 and disturbed them, and spread abroad ru- 
 mours, as if many nations were ready to make 
 an expedition against them, by which means 
 they were harassed, and had almost left off 
 the building. But none of these things could 
 deter Nehemiah from being diligent about 
 the work; he only set a number of men about 
 him as a guard to his body, and so unwea- 
 riedly persevered therein, and was insensible 
 of any trouble, out of his desire to perfect 
 this work. And thus did he attentively, and 
 with great forecast, take care of his own safe- 
 ty; not that he feared death, but of this per- 
 suasion, that if he were dead, the walls, for 
 his citizens, would never be raised. He also 
 gave orders that the builders should keep their 
 ranks, and have their armour on while they 
 were building. Accordingly, the mason had 
 his sword on, as well as he that brought. the 
 materials for building. He also appointed that 
 their shields should lie very near them; and 
 he placed trumpeters at every five hundred 
 feet, and charged them, that if their enemies 
 appeared, they should give notice of it to the 
 people, that they might fight in their armour, 
 and their enemies might not fall upon them 
 naked. He also went about the compass of 
 the city by night, being never discouraged, 
 neither about the work itself, nor about his 
 own diet and sleep, for he made no use of 
 those things for his pleasure, but out of ne- 
 cessity. And this trouble he underwent for 
 two years and four months;f for in so long 
 a time was the wall built, in the twenty- 
 eighth year of the reign of Xerxes, in the 
 ninth month. Now when the walls were 
 finished, Nehemiah and the multitude offered 
 sacrifices to God for the building of thenJ^ 
 and they continued in feasting eight days. 
 However, when the nations which dwelt in 
 Syria heard that the building of the wall was 
 finished, they had indignation at it; but when 
 Nehemiah saw that the city was thin of peo- 
 ple, he exhorted the priests and the Levites, 
 that they would leave the country, and remove 
 themselves to the city, and there continue; 
 and he built them houses at his own expenses; 
 and he commanded that part of the people 
 who were employed in cultivating the land, 
 to bring the tithes of their fruits to Jerusa- 
 
 + It may not be very improper to remark here, with 
 what an unuaual accuracy Josephus determines the<e 
 years of Xerxes, in which the walls of Jerusalem were 
 built, viz. that Nehemiah came with this commission in 
 the 2oth of Xerxes; that the walls were two years and 
 four months in building; and that they were finished on 
 the SSth of Xerxes, sect. 7, 8. It may also be remarked 
 farther, that Josephus hardly ever mentions more than 
 one infallible astronomical character, I mean an eclipse of 
 the moon, and this a little before the death of Herod the 
 Great, Ant b. xvii ch. vi. s. 4. Now on these two chro- 
 nological characters in great measure depend some of the 
 most important points belonging to Christianity, viz. the 
 explication of Daniel's seventy weeks, and the duration 
 of our Saviour's ministry, and the time of his deatii, in 
 correspondence to these seventy weeks. See the Sup- 
 plement to the Lit Accomp. of Proph. p. 72. 
 
302 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XT. 
 
 lem, that the priests and Levites having 
 whereof they might live perpetually, might 
 not leave the divine worship; who willingly 
 hearkened to the constitutions of Nehemiah, 
 by which means the city Jerusalem came to 
 be fuller of people than it was before. So 
 when Nehemiah had done many other excel- 
 lent things, and things worthy of commenda- 
 tion, in a glorious manner, he came to a great 
 age, and then died. He was a man of a 
 good and a righteous disposition, and very 
 ambitious to make his own nation happy ; 
 and he hath left the walls of Jerusalem as an 
 eternal monument for himself. Now this 
 was done in the days of Xerxes. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONCERNING ESTHER, AND MORDECAI, AND 
 HAMAN; AND HOW, IN THE REIGN OF AR- 
 TAXERXES, THE WHOLE NATION OF THE 
 JEWS WAS IN DANGER OF PERISHING. 
 
 § 1. After the death of Xerxes, the king- 
 dom came to be transferred to his son Cyrus ^ 
 whom the Greeks called Artaxerxes . When 
 this man had obtained the government over 
 the Persians, the whole nation of the Jews,* 
 with their wives and children, were in danger 
 of perishing; the occasion whereof we shall 
 declare in a little time; for it is proper, in 
 the first place, to explain somewhat relating 
 to this king, and how he came to marry a 
 Jewish wife, Avho was herself of the royal 
 family also, and who is related to have saved 
 our nation; for when Artaxerxes had taken 
 the kingdom, and had set governors over the 
 hundred twenty and seven provinces, from 
 Bidia even unto Ethiopia, in the third year 
 
 • Since some sceptical persons are willing to disca.rd 
 this book of Esther as no true history (and even our 
 learned and judicious Dr. Wall, in his late posthumous 
 Critical Notes upon all the other Hebrew books of the 
 Old Testament, gives us none upon the Canticles, or 
 npon Esther, and seems thereby to give up this book, 
 es well as he Rives np the Canticles, as indefensible), I 
 shall venture to say, that almost all !he objections aRainst 
 this book of Lsther are gone at once, if, as we certainly 
 ought to do, and as Dean Prideaux has justly done, we 
 place this history under Artaxerxes Longimanus, as do 
 both the Septuagint interpreters and Josephus. The 
 learned Dr. I>ee, in his posthumous Dissertation on the 
 Second Book of Esdras, page 25, also says, that " the 
 truth of this history is demonstrated by the feast of 
 "urim, kept up from that time to this very day: and 
 this surprising providential revolution in favour of a 
 captive people, thereby constantly commemorated, 
 standcth even upon a firmer basis than that there ever 
 ■was suci) a roan as king Alexander [the Great] in the 
 world, of whose reign there is no such abiding monu- 
 ment at this day to be fon.id anywhere. Nor will they, 
 I dare say, who quarrel at this or any other of the sacred 
 histories, find it a very easy matter to reconcile the dif- 
 ferent accounts which wer«i given by historians of the 
 affairs of this king, or to confirm any one fact of his 
 whatever with the same evidence which is here given 
 for the principal fact in the sarrpd book, or even so 
 much as to prove the existence of such a person, of 
 whom so greit things are related, but npon granting 
 (his book of Ksther, or sixth of F.wlras (us it is placed 
 In some of the most ancient copies of the Vulgate) to lie 
 • iuu«t true ao'l certain histo^v." -Vc 
 
 I of his reign, he made a costly feast for his 
 friends, and for the nations of Persia, and for 
 their governors, such a one as was proper for 
 a king to make, when he had a mind to make 
 a public demonstration of his riches, and this 
 for a hundred and fourscore days; after 
 which he made a feast for other nations, and 
 for their umbassadors, at Shushan, for seven 
 days. Now this feast was ordered afte^ The" 
 manner following: — He caused a tent to be 
 pitched, which was supported by pillars of 
 gold and silver, with curtains of linen and 
 purple spread over them, that it might afford 
 room for many ten thousands to sit down. 
 The cups with which the waiters ministereJ 
 were of gold, and adorned with precious 
 stones, for pleasure and for sight. He also 
 gave order to the servants, that they should 
 not force them to drink, by bringing them 
 wine continually, as is the practice of the 
 Persians, but to permit every one of the 
 guests to enjoy himself according to his own 
 inclination. Moreover, he sent messengers 
 through the country, and gave order that 
 they should have a remission of their labours, 
 and should keep a festival many days, on ac- 
 count of his kingdom. In like manner did 
 Vashti the queen gather her guests together, 
 and made them a feast in the palace. Now 
 the king was desirous to show her, who ex- 
 ceeded all other women in beauty, to those 
 that feasted with him, and he sent some to 
 command her to come to his feast. But 
 ^e,^ out of regard to the laws of the Persians, 
 which forbid the wives to be seen by st lun- 
 gers, did not go to the king;f and though he 
 oftentimes sent the eunuchs to her, she did 
 nevertheless stay away, and refused to conic, 
 till the king was so much irritated, that he 
 brake up the entertainment, and rose up, and 
 called for those seven who had the interpre- 
 tation of the laws committed to them, and 
 accused his wife, and said, that he had been 
 affronted by her, because that when she was 
 frequently called by him to his feast, she did 
 not obey him once. He therefore gave order 
 that they should inform him what could be 
 done by the law against her. So one of 
 them, whose name was Memucan, said that 
 this affront was offered not to him alone, but 
 to all the Persians, who were in danger of 
 leading their lives very ill with their wives, i( 
 
 + If the Chaldee paraphrast he in the right, that Ar- 
 taxerxes intended to show Vashti to his guests naked, it 
 is no wonder at ail that she would not submit to .nuch 
 an indignity; but still if it were not so gross as that, yet 
 it might, in the king's cups, be done in a way so inde- 
 cent, as the Persian laws would not then bear, no more 
 than the common laws of modesty. And that the king 
 had some such design, seems not improbable, for other- 
 wis% the principal of these royal guests could be no 
 strangers to the queen, nor unapprised of her beauty, 
 so far as decency a<li:iitted. However, since Prov'i- 
 dence was now pavine the way for the introduction ol 
 a .lewess into the kiuc's alirctions, in order to briiig 
 about one of the most woiuleifnl deliverances which the 
 .(ewisb or any nation ever had, we need not he farther 
 ■"tlicitous abicit the m>iti»e»by « hich the king was in* 
 |duc«<l to divorce Vo-thti, and marry Esther. 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 303 
 
 they must be tliu9 despised by them; for that 
 none of their wives would have any reve- 
 rence for their husbands, if they had " such 
 an example of arrogance in the queen to- 
 wards thee, who rulest over all." Accord- 
 ingly, he exhorted him to punish her, who 
 had been guilty of so great an affront to him, 
 after a severe manner; and when he had so 
 done, to publish to the nations what had been 
 decreed about the queen. So the resolution 
 was to put Vashti away, and to give her dig- 
 nity to another woman. 
 
 2. But the king having been fond of her, 
 he did not well bear a separation, and yet by 
 the law he could not admit of a reconciliation, 
 so he was under trouble, as not having it in 
 liis power to do what he desired to do: but 
 when his friends saw him so uneasy, they ad- 
 vised him to cast the memory of his wife, and 
 his love for her, out of his mind, but to send 
 abroad over all the habitable earth, and to 
 search out for comely virgins, and to lake her 
 whom he should best like for his wife, because 
 his passion for his former wife would be 
 quenched by the introduction of another, and 
 the kindness he had for Vashti would be with- 
 drawn from her, and be placed on her that was 
 with him. Accordingly, he was persuaded to 
 follow this advice, and gave order to certain 
 persons to choose out of the virgins that were 
 in his kingdom, those that were esteemed the 
 most comely. So when a great number of 
 these virgins were gathered together, there 
 was found a damsel in Babylon, whose parents 
 were both dead, and she was brought up with 
 her uncle Mordecai, for that was her uncle's 
 name. This uncle was of the tribe of Ben- 
 jamin, and was one of the principal persons 
 among the Jews. Now it proved that this 
 damsel, whose name was Esther, was the 
 most beautiful of all the rest, and that the 
 grace of her countenance drew the eyes of the 
 spectators principally upon her:, so she was 
 committed to one of the eunuchs to take the 
 care of her ; and she was very exactly provided 
 with sweet odours, in great plenty, and with 
 costly ointments, such as her body required 
 to be anointed withal; and this was used for 
 six months by the virgins, who were in num- 
 ber four hundred; and when the eunuch 
 thought the virgins had been sufficiently puri- 
 fied, in the fore-mentioned time, and were now 
 fit to go to the king's bed, he sent one to be 
 with the king every day. So when he had 
 accompanied with her, he sent her back to the 
 eunuch; and when Esther had come to him, 
 he was pleased with her, and fell in love with 
 the damsel, and married her, and made her 
 his lawful \vife, and kept a wedding-feast for 
 her on tlie twelfth month of the seventh year 
 of his reign, which was called Adar. He also 
 sent angari, as they are called, or messengers, 
 unto every nation, and gave orders that they 
 sbould keep a feast for his marriage, while he 
 hinself treated the Persians and the Medes, 
 
 and the principal men of the nations, for a 
 whole month, on account of this his marriage. 
 Accordingly, Esther came to his royal palace, 
 and he set a diadem on her head; and thus 
 was Esther married, \\dthout making known/ 
 to the king what nation she was derived from./ 
 Her uncle also removed from Babylon ta 
 Shushan, and dwelt there, being every day 
 about the palace, and inquiring how the 
 damsel did, for he loved her as though she 
 had been his own daughter. 
 
 3. Now the king had made a law,* that 
 none of his own people should approach him 
 unless they were called, when he sat upon his 
 throne; and men, with axes in their hands, 
 stood round about his throne, in order to pun- 
 ish such as approached to him without being 
 called. However, the king sat with a golden 
 sceptre in his hand, which he held out when 
 he had a mind to save any one of those that 
 approached to him without being called ; and 
 he who touched it was free from danger. 
 But of this matter we have discoursed suffi- 
 ciently. 
 
 4. Some time after this [two eunuchs], 
 Bigthan and Teresh, plotted against the king; 
 and Barnabazus, the servant of one of the 
 eunuchs, being by birth a Jew, was acquaint- 
 ed with their conspiracy, and discovered it to 
 the queen's imcle ; and Mordecai, by means of 
 Esther, made the conspirators known to the 
 king. This troubled the king; but he disco- 
 vered the truth, and hanged the eunuchs upon 
 a cross, while at that time he gave no re- 
 ward to Mordecai, who had been the occasion 
 of his preservation. He only bade the scribes 
 to set down his name in the records, and bade 
 him stay in the palace, as an intimate friend 
 of the king. 
 
 5. Now there was one Haman, the son of 
 Amedatha, by birth an Amalekite, that used 
 to go in to the king; and the foreigners and 
 Persians worshipped him, as Artaxerxes had 
 commanded that such honour should be paid 
 to him ; but Mordecai was so wise, and so ob- 
 servant of his own country's laws, that he 
 would not worship the manif When Hamau 
 observed this, he inquired whence he came; 
 and when he understood that he was a Jew, 
 he had indignation at him, and said within 
 
 • Herodotus says that this law [against any one's com- 
 ing uncalled to the kings of Persia when they were sit- 
 ting on their thrones] was tirst enacted by Deioces [i e. 
 by him who first withdrew the iMedes from the dominion 
 of the Assyrians, and hi nsflf first reiijned over thera J 
 Thus also, says Spanheira, stooa guards, with their axes, 
 about the throne of lenus. or Tenudus. that the oSeDder 
 might by them be punished immediately. 
 
 + Whether this adoration required of .Mordecai to Ha- 
 man were by him deemed too like the adoration due 
 only to God, as Josephus seems here to think, as %vell as 
 the Septuagint interpreters also, by their translation of 
 Esth. xiii. 12, 13, 14, or whether he thought he ou((ht 
 to pay no sort of adoration to an Amalekite, which na- 
 tion liad been such great sinners as to have been uni- 
 versally devoted to destruction by God himself (Exod. 
 xvii. 14, 15, lo; 1 Sam. xv. 18), or whether both causet 
 concurred, cannot now, 1 doubt, be certainly deter 
 oiiued. 
 
304 
 
 ANTIQIHTIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XT 
 
 himself, that whereas the Persians, who were 
 free men, worshipped him, this man, who was 
 no better than a slave, does not vouchsafe to 
 do so. And when be desired to punish 
 Mordecai, he thought it too small a thing to 
 request of the king that he alone might be 
 punished ; he rathej- determined to abolish the 
 whole nation, for he was naturally an enemy 
 to the Jews, because the nation of the Amale- 
 kites, of which he was, had been destroyed 
 by them. Accordingly, he came to the king, 
 and accused them, saying, " There is a certain 
 wicked nation, and it is dispersed over all the 
 habitable earth that was under his dominion; 
 a nation separate from others, unsociable, nei- 
 ther admitting the same sort of divine wor- 
 ship that others do, nor using laws like to the 
 laws of others, at enmity with thy people, and 
 with all men, both in their manners and prac- 
 tices. Now, if thou wilt be a benefactor to 
 thy subjects, thou wilt give order to destroy 
 them utterly, and not leave the least remains 
 of them, nor preserve any of them, either for 
 slaves or for captives." But that the king 
 might not be damnified by the loss of the tri- 
 butes which the Jews paid him, Haman pro- 
 mised to give him out of his own estate forty 
 thousand talents whensoever he pleased; and 
 he said he would pay this money very wil- 
 lingly that the kingdom might be freed from 
 such a misfortune. 
 
 6. When Haman had made this petition, 
 the king both forgave him the money, and 
 granted him the men, to do what he would 
 with them. So Haman, having gained what 
 he desired, sent out immediately a decree, as 
 from the king, to all nations, the contents 
 whereof were these: — " Artaxerxes, the great 
 king, to the rulers of the hundred and twenty- 
 seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia, sends 
 this writing. Whereas I have governed many 
 nations, and obtained the dominions of all the 
 habitable earth, according to my desire, and 
 have not been obliged to do any thing that is 
 insolent or cruel to my subjects by such my 
 power, but have showed myself mild and 
 gentle, by taking care of their peace and good 
 order, and have sought how they might enjoy 
 those blessings for all time to come; and 
 whereas I have been kindly informed by Ha- 
 man, who, on account of his prudence and 
 justice, is the first in my esteem, and in dig- 
 nity, and only second to myself, for his fidelity 
 and constant good-will to me, that there is an 
 ill-natured nation interuilxed with all man- 
 kind, that is averse to our laws, and not sub- 
 ject to kings, and of a different conduct of 
 life from others, that hateth monarchy, and of 
 a disposition that is pernicious to our effuirs; 
 I give order that these men, of whom Ha- 
 man, our second father, hath informed us, be 
 destroyed, with their wives and children, and 
 that none of them be spared, and that none 
 prefer pity to them before obedience to this 
 decree; and thia I will to be executed on the 
 
 fourteenth day of the twelfth month of thia 
 present year, that so when all that have en- 
 mity to us are destroyed, and this in one day, 
 we may be allowed to lead the rest of our 
 lives in peace hereafter." Now when this 
 decree was brought to the cities, and to the 
 country, all were ready for the destruction 
 awd entire abolishment of the Jews, against 
 the day before-mentioned ; ai.d they were 
 very hasty about it at Shushan, in particular. 
 Accordingly, the king and Haman spent their 
 time in feasting together with good cheer and 
 wine ; but the city was in disorder. 
 
 7. Now when Mordecai was informed of 
 what was done, he rent his clothes, and put 
 on sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes upon his 
 head, and went about the city, crying out, 
 that " a nation that had been injurious to no 
 man, was to be destroyed." And he went on 
 saying thus as far as to the king's palace, and 
 there he stood, for it was not lawful for him 
 to go into it in that habit. The same thing 
 was done by all the Jews that were in the 
 several cities wherein this decree was pub- 
 lished, with lamentation and mourning, en 
 account of the calamities denounced against 
 them. But as soon as certain persons had 
 told the queen that Mordecai stood before the 
 court in a mourning habit, she was disturbed 
 at this report, and sent out such as should 
 change his garments; but when he could not 
 be induced to put off his sackcloth, because 
 the sad occasion that forced him to put it on 
 was not yet ceased, she called the eunuch 
 Acratheus, for he was then present, and sent 
 him to Mordecai, in order to know of him 
 what sad accident had befallen him, for which 
 he was in mourning, and would not put ofl 
 the habit he had put on, at her desire. Then 
 did Mordecai inform the eunuch of the occa- 
 sion of his mourning, and of the decree v/hich 
 was sent by the king into all the country, and 
 of the promise of money whereby Haman 
 bought the destruction of their nation. He 
 also gave him a copy of what was proclaimed 
 at Shushan, to be carried to Esther; and he 
 charged her to petition the king about this 
 matter, and not to think it a dishonourable 
 thing in her to put on a humble habit, for 
 the safety of her nation, wherein she might 
 deprecate the ruin of the Jews, who were in 
 danger of it; for that Haman, whose dignity 
 was only inferior to that of the king, hiui 
 accused the Jews, and had irritated the king 
 against them. When she was informed of this, 
 she sent to Mordecai again, and told him that 
 she was not called by the king, and that he who 
 goes in to him without being called, is to be 
 slain, unless when he is willing to save any 
 one, he holds out his golden sceptre to him ; 
 but that to whomsoever he docs so.although he 
 go in without being called, that person is so far 
 from being slain, that he obtains pardon, and 
 is entirely preserved. Now when the eunucb 
 Curried ^his message from Esther to Mordt' 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 305 
 
 cai, he bade him also tell her that she must 
 not only provide for her own preservation, 
 but for the common preservation of her na- 
 tion, for that if she now neglected this oppor- 
 tunity, there would certainly arise help to 
 them from God some other way; but she and 
 her father's house would be destroyed by those 
 whom she now despised. But Estl^r sent 
 the very same eunuch back to Mordecai [to 
 desire him], to go to Shushan, and to gather 
 the Jews that were there together to a con- 
 gregation, and to fast, and abstain from all 
 sorts of food, on her account, and [to let him 
 know thatj she with her maidens would do 
 the same; and then she promised that she 
 would go to the king, though it were against 
 the law, and that if she must die for it, she 
 would not refuse it, 
 
 8. Accordingly, Mordecai did as Esther 
 had enjoined him, and made the people fast; 
 and he besought God, together with them, 
 not to overlook his nation, particularly at this 
 time, when it was going to be destroyed; but 
 that, as he had often before provided for them, 
 ^nd forgiven when they had sinned, so he 
 would now deliver them from that destruc- 
 tion which was denounced against them; for 
 although it was not all the nation that had of- 
 fended, yet must they so inglorlously be slain, 
 and that he was himself the occasion of the 
 wrath of Haman, " Because," said he, " I did 
 not worship him, nor could I endure to pay 
 ihat honour to him which I used to pay to 
 thee, O Lord; for upon that his anger hath 
 he contrived this present mischief against 
 those that have not transgressed thy laws." 
 The same supplications did the multitude put 
 up; and entreated that God would provide 
 for their deliverance, and free the Israelites 
 that were in all the earth from this calamity 
 which was now coming upon them, for they 
 had it before their eyes, and expected its com- 
 ing. Accordingly, Esther made supplication 
 to God after the manner of her country, by 
 casting herself down upon the earth, and put- 
 ting on her mourning garments, and bidding 
 farewell to meat and drink, and all delicacies, 
 for three days' time ; and she entreated God 
 to have mercy upon her, and make her words 
 appear persuasive to the king, and render her 
 countenance more beautiful than it was be- 
 fore, that both by her words and beauty she 
 might succeed, for the averting of the king's 
 anger, in case he were at all irritated against 
 her, and for the consolation of those of her 
 own country, now they were in the utmost 
 danger of perishing: as also that he would 
 excite a hatred in the king against the ene- 
 mies of the Jews, and those that had contrived 
 iheir future destruction, if they proved to be 
 contemned by him. 
 
 0. When Esther had used this supplication 
 for three days, she put off those garments, 
 and clianged her habit, and adorned herself as 
 b«:cuine a queen, and took two of her hand- 
 
 maids with her, the one of which supported 
 her, as she gently leaned upon her, and the , 
 other followed after, and lifted up her large 
 train (which swept along the ground) with 
 the extremities of her fingers: and thus she 
 came to the king, having a blushing redness 
 in her countenance, with a pleasant agreeable- 
 ness in her behaviour, yet did she go in to him 
 with fear; and as soon as she was come over- 
 against him, as he was sitting on his throne, 
 in his royal apparel, which was a garment in- 
 terwoven with gold and precious stones, which 
 made him seem to her more terrible, especi- 
 ally when he looked at her somewhat severely, 
 and with a countenance on fire with anger, 
 her joints failed her immediately, out of the 
 dread she was in, and she fell down sideways 
 in a swoon: but the king changed his mind, 
 which happened, as I suppose, by the will of 
 God, and was concerned for his wife, lest her 
 fear should bring some very evil thing upon 
 her, and he leaped from his throne, and. took 
 her in his arms, and recovered her, by em- 
 bracing her, and speaking comfortably to her, 
 and exhorting her to be of good cheer, and not 
 to suspect any thing that was sad on account 
 of her coming to him without being called, 
 because that law was made for subjects, but 
 that she who was a queen, as well as b ; a 
 king, might be entirely secure : and as hb said 
 this, he put the sceptre into her hand, and 
 laid his rod upon her neck, on account of the 
 law; and so freed her from her fear. And 
 after she had recovered herself by these en- 
 couragements, she said, " My Lord, it is not 
 easy for me, on the sudden, to say what hath 
 happened, for so soon as I saw thee to be 
 great, and comely, and terrible, my spirit de- 
 parted from me, and I had no soul left in 
 me." And while it was with difficulty, and in 
 a low voice, that she could say thus much, 
 the king was in great agony and disorder, and 
 encouraged Esther to be of good cheer, and 
 to expect better fortune, since he was ready, 
 if occasion should require it, to grant to her 
 the half of his kingdom. Accordingly, Es- 
 ther desired that he and his friend Haman 
 would come to her to a banquet, for she said 
 she had prepared a supper for him. He con- 
 sented to it; and when they were there, as 
 they were drinking, he bade Esther to let him 
 know what she had desired; for that she 
 should not be disappointed, though she should 
 desire the half of his kingdom. But she put 
 off the discovery of her petition till the next 
 day, if he would come again, together >vith 
 Haman, to her banquet. 
 
 10. Now wnen the king had promised so to 
 do, Haman went away very glad, because he 
 alone had the honour of supping with the king 
 at Esther's banquet, and because no one else 
 partook of the same honour with kings but 
 himself; yet when he saw Mordecai in the 
 court, he was very much displeased, for he 
 paid him no manner of respect when he saw 
 U 
 
306 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XI 
 
 lira. So he went home and called for his 
 urife Zeresh, and his friends, and when they 
 urere come, he showed them what honour he 
 -njoyed, not only from the king, but from the 
 •queen also, for as he alone had that day sup- 
 ned with her, together with the king, so was he 
 Uso invited again for the next day; "yet," 
 faid he, " am I not pleased to see Mordecai 
 ithe Jew in the court." Hereupon his wife 
 2eresh advised him to give order that a gal- 
 lows should be made fifty cubits high, and 
 that in the morning he should ask it of the 
 ting that Mordecai might be hanged thereon. 
 So he commended her advice, and gave order 
 *:o his servants to prepare the gallows, and to 
 place it in the court, for the punishment of 
 Mordecai thereon, which was accordingly pre- 
 pared. But God laughed to scorn the wicked 
 expectations of Haman; and as he knew what 
 the event would be, he was delighted at it, for 
 that night he took away the king's sleep : and 
 as the king was not ^villing to lose the time of 
 his lying awake, but to spend it in something 
 that might be of advantage to his kingdom, 
 he commanded the scribe to bring him the 
 chronicles of the former kings, and the re- 
 cords of his own actions; and when he had 
 brought them, and was reading them, one was 
 found to have received a country on account 
 of his excellent management on a certain oc- 
 casion, and the name of the country was set 
 down; another was found to have had a pre- 
 sent made him on account of his fidelity : then 
 the scribe came to Bigthan and Teresh, the 
 eunuchs that had made a conspiracy against 
 the king, which Mordecai had discovered; and 
 when the scribe said no more but that, and 
 was going on to another history, the king 
 stopped him, and inquired, " whether it was 
 not added that Mordecai had a reward given 
 him?" and when he said there was no such 
 addition, he bade him leave off; and he in- 
 quired of those that were appointed for thr^J 
 purpose, what hour of the night it was ; anil 
 when he was informed that it was already day, 
 he gave order that, if they found any one of 
 his friends already come, and standing before 
 the court, they should tell him. Now it hap- 
 pened that Haman was found there, for he 
 was come sooner than ordinary, to petition 
 the king to have Mordecai put to death: and 
 when the servants said, that Haman was be- 
 fore the court, he bade them call him in ; and 
 when he was come in, he said, " Because I 
 know that thou art my only fast friend, I de- 
 sire thee to give me advice how I may honour 
 one that I greatly love, and that after a man- 
 ner suitable to my magrjificence." Now Ha- 
 man reasoned with himself, that what opinion 
 he should give it would be for himself, since 
 it was he alone who was beloved by the king; 
 »o he gave that advice which he thought of all 
 others the best; for he said, " If thou wouldst 
 truly honour u man whom thou saycht thou 
 dost love, give order that he may ride on 
 
 horseback, with the same garment which thou 
 wearest, and with ^ gold chain about his 
 neck, and let one of thy intimate friends go 
 before him, and proclaim through the whole 
 city, that whosoever the king honoureth ob- 
 taineth this mark of his honour." This was 
 the advice which Haman gave, out of a sup- 
 posal that such reward would come to himself. 
 Hereupon the king was pleased with the ad- 
 vice, and said, " Go thou, therefore, for thou 
 hast the horse, the garment, and the chain, 
 ask for Mordecai the Jew, and give him those 
 things, and go before his horse and proclaim 
 accordingly; " for thou art," said he, " my in- 
 timate friend, and hast given me good advice; 
 be thou then the minister of what thou hast 
 advised me to. This shall be his reward from 
 us, for preserving my life." When he heard 
 this order, which was entirely unexpected, he 
 was confounded in his mind, and knew not 
 what to do. However, he went out and led 
 the horse, and took the purple garment, and 
 the golden chain for the neck, and finding 
 Mordecai before the court, clothed in sack- 
 cloth, he bade him put that garment off, and 
 put the purple garment on: but Mordecai 
 not knowing the truth of the matter, but 
 thinking that it was done in mockery, said, 
 " O thou wretch, the vilest of all mankind^ 
 dost thou thus laugh at our calamities?" But 
 when he was satisfied that the king bestowed 
 this honour upon him, for the deliverance he 
 had procured him when he convicted the eu- 
 nuchs who had conspired against him, he put 
 on that purple garment which the king .al- 
 ways wore, and put the chain about his neck, 
 and got on horseback, and went round the 
 city, while Haman went before, and proclaim- 
 ed, " This shall be the reward which the kin^ 
 will bestow on every one whom he loves, and 
 esteems worthy of honour." And when they 
 had gone round the city, Mordecai went in to 
 the king; but Haman went home, out ol 
 shame, and informed his wife and friends ol 
 what had happened, and this with tears: who 
 said, that he would never be able to be re- 
 venged of Mordecai, for that God was with 
 him. 
 
 11. Now while these men were thus talk- 
 ing one to another, Esther's eunuchs hastened 
 Haman away to come to supper; but one 
 of the eunuchs named Sabuchadas, saw the 
 gallows that was fixed in Haman's house, and 
 inquired of one of his servants for what pur- 
 pose they had prepared it. So he knew that 
 it was for the queen's uncle, because Haman 
 was about to petition the king that he might 
 be punished ; but at present he held his peace. 
 Now when the king, with Haman, were at 
 the banquet, he desired the queen to tell him 
 what gift she desired to obtain, and assured 
 her that the should have whatsoever she had 
 a mi 11(1 to. She then lamented the danger 
 her people were in; and said, that "she and 
 her natit n were given up to be destroyed, and 
 
ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 307 
 
 that she, on that account, made this her peti- 
 tion : that she would not have troubled him 
 if he had only given order that they should 
 be sold into bitter servitude, for such a mis- 
 fortune would not have been intolerable ; but 
 she desired that they might be delivered from 
 ^uch destruction." And when the king in- 
 quired of her who was the author of this mi- 
 sery to them, she then openly accused Haman, 
 and convicted him, that he had been the wick- 
 ed instrument of this, and had formed this plot 
 against them. When the king was hereupon 
 in disorder, and was gone hastily out of the 
 banquet into the gardens, Hainan began to 
 intercede with Esther, and to beseech her to 
 forgive him, as to what he had offended, for 
 he perceived that he was in a very bad case. 
 And as he had fallen upon the queen's bed, 
 and was making supplications to her, the 
 king came in, and being still more provoked 
 at what he saw, " O thou wretch," said he, 
 "thou vilest of mankind, dost thou aim to 
 force my wife?" And when Haman was 
 astonished at this, and not able to speak one 
 word more, Sabuchadas the eunuch came in, 
 and accused Haman, and said, " He found a 
 gallows at his house, prepared for Mordecai; 
 for that the servant told him so much, upon 
 his inquiry, when he was sent to him to call 
 him to supper:" he said farther, that the gal- 
 lows was fifty cubits high: which, when the 
 king heard, he determined that Haman should 
 be punished after no other manner than that 
 which had been devised by him against Mor- 
 decai; so he gave order immediately that he 
 should be hung upon the gallows, and be 
 put to death after that m.anner. And from 
 hence I cannot forbear to admire God, and 
 to learn hence his wisdom and his justice, not 
 only in punishing the wickedness of Haman, 
 but in so disposing it, that he should undergo 
 the very same punishment which h5 had con- 
 tr:vea for another; as also, because thereby 
 ne teaches others this lesson, that what mis- 
 cb'efs any one prepares against another, he, 
 without knowing of it, first contrives it against 
 hnnseif. 
 
 12. Wherefore Haman. who had immode- 
 ratejy abused the honour he had from the 
 kmg, v/as destroyed after this manner; and 
 the king granted his estate to the queen. He 
 aiso called for ]Mordecai (for Esther had in- 
 formed him that she was akin to him), and 
 gave that ring to ^Mordecai which he had be- 
 fore given to Haman. The queen also gave 
 Raman's estate to Mordecai; and prayed the 
 king to deliver the nation of the Jews from 
 the fear of death, and showed him what had 
 been written over all the country by Haman 
 the son of Ammedatha; for that if her coun- 
 try were destroyed, and her countrymen were 
 to perish, she could not bear to live herself 
 any longer. So the king promised her that 
 be would not do any thing that should be dis- 
 agreeable to hi;r, nor contradict what she de- 
 
 sired; but he bade her Avrite what she pleased 
 about the Jews, in the king's name, and seal 
 it with his seal, and send it to all his king- 
 dom, for that those who read epistles whose 
 authority is secured by having the king's seal 
 to them, would na'way contradict what was 
 written therein. So he commanded the king's 
 scribes to be sent for, and to write to the na- 
 tions, on the Jews' behalf, and to his heute 
 nants and governors, that were over his hun 
 dred and twenty-seven provinces, from India 
 to Ethiopia, Now the contents of this epistle 
 were these: — " The great king Artaxerxes to 
 our rulers, and those that are our faithful 
 subjects, sendeth greeting.* M any men ther e 
 are who, on account of the greatness of the be- 
 nefits bestowed on them, and because of the ho- 
 nour which they have obtained from the won- 
 derful kind treatment of those that bestowed it, 
 are not only injurious to their inferiors, but do 
 not scruple to do evil to those that have been 
 their benefactors, as if they would take away 
 gratitude from among men, and by their inso- 
 lent abuse of such benefits as they never ex- 
 pected, they turn the abundance they have 
 against those that are the authors of it, and 
 suppose that they shall lie concealed from 
 God in that case, and avoid that vengeance 
 which comes from him. Some of these men, 
 when they have had the management of 
 affairs committed to them by their friends, 
 and bearing private malice of their own 
 against some others, by deceiving those that 
 have the power, persuade them to be angry at 
 such as have done them no harm, till they are 
 in danger of perishing, and this by laying ac- 
 cusations and calumnies: nor is this state of 
 things to be discovered by ancient examples, 
 or such as we have learned by report only, 
 but by some examples of such impudent at- 
 tempts under our own eyes, so that it is not 
 fit to attend any longer to calumnies and ac- 
 c .sations, nor to the persuasion of others, but 
 to determine what any one knows of himself 
 to have been really done, and to punish what 
 justly deserves it, and to grant favours to such 
 as are innocent. This hath been the case oi 
 Haman, the son of Ammedatha, by birth an 
 Amalekite, and alien from the blood of the 
 Persians, who, when he was hospitably enter 
 tained by. us, and partook of that kindness 
 which we bear to all men to so great a de- 
 gree, as to be called ' my father,' and to be all 
 along worshipped, and to have honour paid 
 him by all in the second rank after the royal 
 
 » The trne reason why king Artaxerxes did not here 
 properly revoke his former barbarous decree for the uni 
 versal slaughter of the Jew*, but only empowered and en? 
 couraged the Jews to fight for their lives, and to kill their , 
 enemies, if they attempted their destruction, seems to i 
 have been that old law of the Medes and Persians, not yet \ 
 laid aside, that whatever decree was signed both by tb». i 
 king and his lords, could not be changed, but remained i 
 iitrilterahle. Dan. vi. 7, S. 9, 12, 15, 17; Esth, i. 19; and | 
 viii 8. And Haman, having engrossed the royal favour, I 
 might perhaps have himself signed this decrtrs for tb« I 
 Jews' slaughter instead of the ancient lords, and so migfat 1 
 have renderad it by thoir rules irrevocable. 
 
 \/ 
 
308 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XI. 
 
 honour due to ourselves, he could not bear 
 his good fortune, nor govern the magnitude 
 of his prosperity with sound reason; nay, he 
 made a conspiracy against me and ray life, 
 who gave him his authority, by endeavouring 
 to take away Mordecai, my benefactor, and 
 my saviour, and by basely and treacherously 
 requiring to have Esther, the partner of my 
 life, and of my dominion, brought to destruc- 
 tion; for he contrived by this means to de- 
 prive n.e of my faithful friends, and transfer 
 the government to others:* — but since I per- 
 ceived that these Jews, that were by this 
 pernicious fellow devoted to destruction, were 
 not wicked men, but conducted their lives 
 after the best manner, and were men dedicated 
 to the worship of that God who hath preserved 
 the kiitgdom to me and to my ancestors, I 
 do not only free them from the punishment 
 which the former epistle, which was sent by 
 Haman, ordered to be inflicted on them, — to 
 which if you refuse obedience you shall do 
 well; but I will that they have all honour 
 paid them. Accordingly, I have hanged up 
 the man that contrived such things against 
 them, with his family, before the gates of 
 Shushan; that punishment being sent upon 
 him by God, who seeth all things. And I 
 give you in charge, that you publicly propose 
 a copy of this epistle through all my king- 
 dom, that the Jews may be permitted peace- 
 ably to use their own laws, and that you 
 assist them, that at the same season whereto 
 their miserable estate did belong, they may 
 defend themselves the very same day from 
 unjust violence, the thirteenth day of the 
 twelfth month, which is Adar, — for God hath 
 made that day a day of salvation, instead of a 
 day of destruction to them ; and may it be a 
 good day to those that wish us well, and a 
 memorial of the punishment of the conspira- 
 tors against us: and I will that you take 
 notice, that every city, and every nation, that 
 shall disobey any thing that is contained in 
 this epistle, shall be destroyed by fire and 
 sword. However, let this epistle be published 
 through all the country that is under our 
 obedience, and let all the Jews, by all means, 
 be ready against the day before mentioned, 
 that they may avenge themselves upon their 
 enemies." 
 
 13. Accordingly, the horsemen who carried 
 
 • These words give an intimation as if Artaxerxes 
 suspected a deeper design in Hainan than openly ap- 
 peared, viz. that knowing the Jews would be faithful to 
 him, and that he could never transfer the crown to his 
 own family, who was an Agaijite (Esth. iii. 1, 10), or of 
 the posterity of Agag, the old king of the Amalekites 
 (1 Sara. XV. 8, 32, 33), while they were alive, and spread 
 over all his dominions, he therefore endeavoured to de- 
 stroy them. Nor is it to me improbable that those so 
 Tenty-five thousand eisjht hundred of the Jews' enemies 
 which were BO<m destroyed by the Jews, on the permis- 
 sion of the king, which must be on some great occasion, 
 were Atnalekites, their old and hereditary enemies 
 JKxod. xvii. 14, 15); and that thereby wan fulfilled Ba- 
 laam's prophecy i " Amaiek was the first of the nations; 
 but his latter end shall be, that be perish for ever." 
 Numb. xxIt. sa 
 
 the epistles, proceeded on the ways which 
 they were to go with speed ; but as for Mor- 
 decai, as soon as he had assumed the royal 
 garment, and the crown of gold, and had put 
 the chain about his neck, he went forth in a 
 public procession; and when the Jews who 
 were at Shushan saw him in so great honour 
 with the king, they thought his good fortune 
 was common to themselves also; and joy and 
 a beam of salvation encompassed the Je\A'S, 
 both those that were in the cities and those 
 that were in the countries, upon the publica- 
 tion of the king's letters, insomuch that many 
 of other nations circumcised their foreskin 
 for fear of the Jews, that they niight procure 
 safety to themselves thereby; for on the thir- 
 teenth day of the twelfth month, which, ac- 
 cording to the Hebrew, is called Adar, but, 
 according to the Macedonians, Dystrns, those 
 that carried the king's epistle gave them no- 
 tice, that the same day wherein their danger 
 was to have been, on that very day should 
 they destroy their enemies. But now the 
 rulers of the provinces, and the tyrants, and 
 the kings, and the scribes, had the Jews in 
 esteem; for the fear they were in of Mordecai 
 forced them to act with discretion. Now 
 when the royal decree was come to all the 
 country that was subject to the king, it fell 
 out that the Jews at Shushan slew five hun- 
 dred of their enemies: and when the king 
 had told Esther the number of those that were 
 slain in that city, but did not well know what 
 had been done in the provinces, he asked her 
 whether she would have any thing farther 
 done against them, for that it should be done 
 accordingly: upon which she desired that the 
 Jews might be permitted to treat their re- 
 maining enemies in the same manner the next 
 day; as also, that they might hang the ten 
 sons of Haman upon the fallows. So the 
 king permitted the Jews so to do, as desirous 
 not to contradict Esther. So they gathered 
 themselves together again on the fourteenth 
 day of the month Dystrus, and slew about 
 three hundred of their enemies, but touched 
 nothing of what riches they had. Now there 
 were slain by the Jews that were in the coun- 
 try, and in the other cities, seventy-five thou- 
 sand of their enemies, and these were slain on 
 the thirteenth day of the month, and the next 
 day they kept as a festival. In like manner 
 the Jews that were in Shushan gathered 
 themselves together, and feasted on the four- 
 teenth day, and that which followed it; 
 whence it is, that even now all the Jews 
 that are in the habitable earth keep these 
 days festivals, and send portions to one ano- 
 ther. Mordecai also wrote to the Jews that 
 lived in the kingdom of Artaxerxes to ob- 
 serve these days, and to celebrate them as fes- 
 tivals, and to deliver them down to posterity, 
 that this festiviil might continue for all time 
 to come, and that it might never be buried in 
 oblivion; for xiuctt they were about to bo 
 
CHAP. VIII. ^ 
 
 ANTIQUllTES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 309 
 
 destroyed on these days by Haman, they \nt)uld 
 do a right thing, upon escaping the danger in 
 them, and on them inflicting punishment on 
 their enemies, to observe those days, and give 
 thanks to God on them: for which cause the 
 Jews still keep the fore-mentioned days, and 
 call them days of Phurim [or Purim].* And 
 Mordecai became a great and illustrious per- 
 son with the king, and assisted him in the 
 government of the people. He also lived 
 with the queen; so that the affairs of the 
 Jews were, by their means, better than they 
 could ever have hoped for. And this was 
 the state of the Jews under the reign of Ar- 
 taxerxes,f 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW JOHK SLEW HIS BROTHER JESUS IN THE 
 TEMPLE; AND HOW BAGOSESOFFERED MANY 
 INJURIES TO THE JEWS; AND WHAT SAN- 
 BALLAT DID. 
 
 § 1. When Eliashib the high-priest was dead, 
 his son Judas succeeded in the high-priest- 
 Luuu: and when he was dead, his son John 
 took that dignity; on whose account it was 
 also that Bagoses, the general of another Ar- 
 taxerxes' array,J polluted the temple, and 
 imposed tributes on the Jews, that out of the 
 public stock, before they offered the^daily sa^ 
 
 • Take here part of Reland's note on this disputed pas- 
 sage: "In Josephus's copies these Hebrew words, 'days 
 of Pnrira,' or ' Lots,' as in the Greek copies of Esther, ch. 
 ix. 'Jn, ?8--;12, is read 'days of phurim,' or 'days of pro- 
 tection;' but ought to be read 'days of purim,' as in the 
 Hebrew; than which emendation," says he, "nothing is 
 more certain." And had we any assurance that Jose- 
 phus'8 copy mentioned the " casting of lots," as our other 
 copies do, Esth. iii. 7, I should fully agree with Reland; 
 but, as it now stands, it seems to me by no means certain. 
 
 + As to this whole book of Esther in the present He- 
 brew copy, it is so very imperfect, in a case where the 
 providence of God was so very remarkable, and the Sep- 
 tuagint and Josephus have so much of religion, that it has 
 not so much as the name of God once in it ; and it is hard 
 to say who made that epitome which the Masorites have 
 given us for the genuine book itself; no religious Jews 
 could well be the authors of it, whose education obliged 
 them to have a constant regard to God, and whatsoever 
 related to his worship; nor do we know that there ever 
 was so imperfect a copy of it in tlie world till after the 
 days of Barchocab, in the second century. 
 
 i Concerning this other Artaxerxes, called Mnemon, 
 and the Persian affliction and captivity of the Jews un- 
 der him, occasioned by the murder of the high-priest's 
 brother in the holy house itself, see Authentic Uec at 
 large, page 49. And if any wonder why Josephus wholly 
 omits the rest of the kings of Persia after Artaxerxes 
 Mnemon, till he came to their last king Darius, who 
 was conquered by Alexander the Great, I shall give them 
 Vossius's and Dr. Hudson's answer, though in my own 
 words, viz. that Josephus did not do ill in omitting those 
 kings of Persia with whom the Jews had no concern, 
 because be was giving the history of the Jews, and not 
 of the Persians [which is i sufficient reason also why he 
 omits the history and the book of Job, as not particu- 
 larly relating to that nation]. He justly, therefore, re- 
 turns to the Jewish affairs after the death of Longima- 
 nus, without any mention of Darius II. be/ore Artaxer- 
 xes Mnemon, or of Ochus or Arogus, as the Canon of 
 Ptolemy names them, a/'^er him. Nor had be probably 
 mentioned this other Artaxerxes, unless Bagoses, one of 
 the governors and commanders under him, had occa- 
 •ioned the pollution of the Jewish temple, and bad 
 greatly distressed the Jews upon that pollMtioo. I 
 
 orifices, they should pay for every lamb fifty 
 shekels. Now Jesus was the brother of John, 
 and was a friend of Bagoses, who had pro- 
 mised to pro<;ure him the high-priesthood. 
 In confidence of whose support, Jesus quar- 
 relled with John in the temple, and so pro- 
 voked his brother, that in his anger his bro- 
 ther slew him. Now it was a horrible thing 
 for John, when he was high-priest, to perpe- 
 trate so great a crime, and so much the more 
 horrible, that there never was so cruel and 
 impious a thing done, neither by the Greeks 
 nor Barbarians. However, God did not ne- 
 glect its punishment; but the people were on 
 that very account enslaved, and the temple 
 was polluted by the Persians. Now when 
 Bagoses, the general of Artaxerxes' army, 
 knew that John, the high-priest of the Jews, 
 had slain his own brother Jesus in the tem- 
 ple, he came upon the Jews immediately, and 
 began in anger to say to them, " Have you 
 had the impudence to perpetrate a murder in 
 your temple?" And as he was aiming to go 
 into the temple, they forbade him so to do; 
 but he said to them,." Am not I purer than 
 he that was slain in the temple?" Ajiti 
 when he had said these words, he went into 
 the temple. Accordingly, Bagoses made use 
 of this pretence, and punished the Jews seven 
 years for the murder of Jesus. 
 
 2. Now when John had departed this life, 
 his son Jaddua succeeded in the high-priest- 
 hood. He had a brother, whose name was 
 Manasseh. Now there was one Sanballat, 
 who was sent by Darius, the last king [of. 
 Persia], into Samaria. He was a Cuthean by 
 birth; of which stock were the Samaritans 
 also. This man knew that the city Jerusalem 
 was a famous city, and that their kings had 
 given a great deal of trouble to the Assyrians, 
 and the people of Celesyria; so that he wil- 
 lingly gave his daughter, whose name was 
 Nicaso, in marriage to Manasseh, as thinking 
 this alliance by marriage would be a pledge 
 and security that the nation of the Jews 
 should continue their good-will to hira. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 concerning sanballat and manasseh, 
 and the temple which they built on 
 mount gerizzim; as also how alex- 
 ander made his entry into the city 
 jerusalem; and what benefits he be- 
 stowed on the jews. 
 
 § 1. About this time it was that Philip, l- ig 
 of Macedon, was treacherously assaults; -uJ 
 slain at Egae by Pausanias, the son of Ce- 
 rastes, who was derived from the family of 
 Orestae, and his son Alexander succeeded him 
 in the kingdom; who, passing over the Hel- 
 lespont, overcame the generals of Darius's 
 army in a battl« fought at Granieuin, S« be 
 
310 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 OK. XI. 
 
 marched over Lydia, and subdued Ionia, and 
 overran Caria, and fell upon the places of 
 Puinpbylia, as has been related elsevyhere. 
 
 2. But the elders of Jerusalem being very 
 UTieasy that the brother of Jaddua the high- 
 priest, though married to a foreigner, should 
 be a partner with him in the high-priesthood, 
 quarrelled with him ; for they esteemed this 
 man's marriage a step to sueh as should be 
 desirous of transgressing about the marriage 
 of fitrange] wives, and that this would be 
 the beginning of a mutual society with fo- 
 reigners, although the offence of some about 
 marriages, and their having married wives that 
 were not of their own country, had been an 
 occasion of their former captivity, and of the 
 miseries they then underwent; so they com- 
 manded Manasseh to divorce his wife, or not 
 to approach the altar, the high-priest himself 
 joining with the people in their indignation 
 against his brother, and driving him away 
 fiom the altar. Whereupon Manasseh came 
 to his father-in-law, Sanballat, and told him, 
 that although he loved his daughter Nicaso, 
 yet was he not willing to be deprived of his 
 sacerdotal dignity on her account, which was 
 the principal dignity in their nation, and 
 always continued in the same family. And 
 then Sanballat promised him not only to pre- 
 serve to him the honour of his priesthood, 
 but to procure for him the power and dignity 
 of a high-priest, and would make him governor 
 of all the places he himself now ruled, if he 
 would keep his daughter for his wife. He 
 also told him farther, that he would build him 
 a temple like that at Jerusalem, upon Mount 
 Gerizzim, which is the highestof all the moun- 
 tains that are in Samaria; and he promised 
 that he would do this with the approbation of 
 Darius the king. Manasseh was elevated 
 with these promises, and staid with Sanballat, 
 upon a supposal that he should gain a high- 
 priesthood, as bestowed on him by Darius, for 
 it happened Sanballat was then in years. But 
 there was now a great disturbance among the 
 people of Jerusalein, because many of those 
 priests and Levites" were entangled in such 
 matches; for they all revolted to Manasseh, 
 and Sanballat afforded them money, and di- 
 vided among them land for tillage, and habi- 
 tations also; and all this in order every way 
 to gratify his son-in-law. 
 
 3 About this time it was that Darius heard 
 how Alexander had passed over the Helles- 
 pont, and had beaten his lieutenants in the 
 battle at Granicum,and was proceedingfarther; 
 whereupon he gathered together an army 
 of horse and foot, and determined that he 
 would meet the Macedonians before they 
 should assault and conquer all Asia. So he 
 pasyed over the river Euphrates and came over 
 Taurus, the Cilician mountain; and at Issns 
 of Cilicia he waited for the enemy, as ready 
 there to give him battle. Upon which Sun- 
 ballat WM glad thai Darius was come down; 
 
 and told Manasseh that he vr t,ld suddenly 
 perform his^promises to him, an this as soon 
 as ever Darius should come back, after he had 
 beaten his enemies; for not he only, but all 
 those that were in Asia also, were perbua<ieri 
 that the Macedonians would not so much aa 
 come to a battle with the Persians, on ccount 
 of their multitude; but the event p oved 
 otherwise than they expected, for the king 
 joined battle with the Macedonians, and waa 
 beaten, and lost a great deal of his army. His 
 mother also, and his wife and children, were 
 taken captives, and he fied into Persia. So 
 Alexander came into Syria, and took Damas- 
 cus; and when he had obtained Sidon, he 
 besieged Tyre, when he sent an epistle to the 
 Jewish high-priest, to seiMi him some auxili- 
 aries, and to supply his army vvith provisions; 
 and that what presents he formerly sent tO" 
 Darius, he would now send to him, and choose 
 the friendship of the Macedonians, and that 
 he should never repent of so doing; but the 
 high-priest answered the messengers, that he 
 had given his oath to Darius not to bear arm» 
 against him ; and he said that he would not 
 transgress this while Darius was in the land 
 of the living. Upon hearing this answer, 
 Alexander was very angry; and though he 
 determined not to leave Tyre, which was just 
 ready to be taken, yet, as soon as he had takea 
 it, he threatened that he would make an ex- 
 pedition against the Jewish high-priest, aud 
 through him teach all men to whom they must 
 keep their oaths. So when be had, with a 
 good deal of pains during the siege, takeni. 
 Tyre, and had settled its affairs, he came to 
 the city of Gaza, and besieged both the city 
 and him that was governor of the garrison, 
 whose name was Babemeses. 
 
 4. But Sanballat thought he had now got- 
 ten a proper opportunity to make his attempt, 
 so he renounced Darius, and taking vvith him 
 seven thousand of bis own subj.ects, he came 
 to Alexander; aud finding him beginning the 
 siege of Tyre, he said to him, that he deh vered 
 up to him these men, who came out of places 
 under his dominion, and did gladly accept of 
 him for their lord instead of Darius. So 
 when Alexander had received him kindly, 
 Sanballat thereupon took courage, and spake 
 to him about his present affair. He told him, 
 that he had a son-in-law, Manasseh, who was . 
 brother to the high-priest Jaddua; and that 
 there were many others of his own nation now 
 with him, that were desirous to have a tem- 
 ple in the places subject to him; that it would 
 be for the king's advaiitage to have the 
 strength of the Jews divided into two parts, 
 lest, when the nation is of one mind, and 
 united upon any attempt for innovation, it 
 prove troublesome to kings, as it had fornierly 
 proved to the kings of Assyria. Whereupor 
 Alexander gave Sanballat leave so to do 
 «who used the utmost diligence, and built th« 
 temple, and made Munatk>eb the priest, and 
 
k 
 
J 
 
rHAP. VIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 311 
 
 ieemed it a great reward that his daughter's 
 children should have that dignity; but when 
 the seven mouths of the siege of Tyre were 
 over, and the two months of the siege of Gaza, 
 Sanballat died. Now Alexander, when he 
 had taken Gaza, made haste to go up to Je- 
 rusalem; and Jaddua the high-priest, \yhen 
 he heard that, was in an agony, and under 
 terror, as not kno%ving how he should meet 
 the Macedonians, since the king was displeased 
 at his foregoing disobedience. He therefore 
 ordained that the people should make sup- 
 plications, and should join with him in of- 
 fering sacrifices to God, whom he besought to 
 protect that nation, and to deliver them from 
 the perils that were coming upon them; 
 whereupon God warned him in a dream, 
 which came upon him after he had offered sa- 
 crifice, that he should take courage, and adorn 
 the city, and open the gates; that the rest 
 should appear in white garments, but that he 
 and the priests should meet the king in the 
 habits proper to their order, without the dread of 
 any ill consequences, which the providence of 
 God would prevent. Upon which, when he 
 rose from his sleep, he greatly rejoiced; and 
 declared to all the warning he had received 
 from God. According to which dream he 
 acted entirely, and so waited for the coming 
 of the king. 
 
 5. And when he understood that he was 
 not Tar from the city, he went out in proces- 
 sion, with the priests and the multitude of the 
 citiaens. The procession was venerable, and 
 the manner of it different from that of other 
 nations. It reached to a place called Sapha; 
 which name, translated into Greek, signifies 
 a prospect, for you have thence a prospect both 
 of Jerusalem and of the temple; and when 
 the Pha.'nicians and the Chaldeans that fol- 
 lowed him, thought they should have liberty 
 to plunder the city, and torment the high-^ 
 priest to death, which the king's displeasure 
 fairly promised them, the very reverse of it 
 happened; for Alexander, when he saw the 
 multitude at a distance, in white garments, 
 while the priests stood clothed with fine linen, 
 and the high-priest in purple and scarlet cloth- 
 ing, with his mitre on his head, having the 
 golden plate whereon the name of God was 
 engraved, he approached by himself, and adored 
 that name, and first saluted the high-priest. 
 The Jews also did altogether, with one voice, 
 talute Alexander, and encompass him about; 
 whereupon the kings of Syria and the rest 
 were surprised et what Alexander had done, 
 and supposed him disordered in his mind. 
 However, Parmenio alone went up to him, 
 and asked him how it came to pass that, when 
 all others adored him, he should adore the 
 high- priest of the Jews? To whom he re- 
 plied, " I did not adore him, but that God 
 who hath honoured him with his high-priest- 
 hood; fur I saw this very person in a dream, 
 ill tiii:> very habit, when I wa» ai Dius hx Ma- 
 
 cedonia, who, when I was considering with 
 myself how I might obtain the dominion of 
 Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but 
 boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that 
 he would conduct my army, and would give 
 me the dominion over the Persians; whence 
 it is, that having seen no other in that habit, 
 and now seeing this person in it, and remem- 
 bering that Vision, and the exhortation which 
 I had in my dream, I believe that I bring 
 this army under the divine conduct, and shall 
 therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the 
 power of the Persians, and that all things 
 will succeed according to what is in my own 
 mind." And when he had said this to Par- 
 menio, and had given the high-priest his right 
 hand, the priests ran along by him, and he 
 came into the city; and when he went up in- 
 to the temple, he offered sacrifice to God, ac- 
 cording to the high-priest's direction, and 
 magruficently treated both the high-priest and 
 the priests. And when the book of Daniel 
 was showed him,* wherein Daniel declared 
 that one of the Greeks should destroy the 
 empire of the Persians, he supposed that him- 
 self was the person intended; and as he was 
 then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the 
 present, but the next day he called them to 
 him, and bade them ask what favours they 
 pleased of him; whereupon the high-priest 
 desired that they might enjoy the laws of their 
 forefathers, and might pay no tribute on the 
 seventh year. He granted all they desired; 
 a«d when they entreated him that he would 
 permit the Jews in Babylon and Media to 
 enjoy their own laws also, he willingly pro- 
 mised to do hereafter what they desired: and 
 when he said to the multitude, that if any of 
 them would enlist themselves in his army on 
 this condition, that they should continue un- 
 der the laws of their forefathers, and Uve ac- 
 cording to them, he was willing to take them 
 with him, many were ready to accompany him 
 in his wars. 
 
 6. So when Alexander had thus settled 
 matters at Jerusalem, he led his army into the 
 neighbouring cities; and when all the inhabi- 
 tants, to whom he came, received him with 
 great kindness, the Samaritans, who had then 
 Shechem for their metropolis (a city situate at 
 Mount Gerizzim, and inhabited by apostates 
 of the Jewish nation), seeing that Alexander 
 had so greatly honoured the Jews, determined 
 to profess themselves Jews; for such is the 
 disposition of the Samaritans, as we have al- 
 ready elsewhere declared, that when the Jews 
 are in adversity they deny that they are of kin 
 to them, and then they confess the truth; but 
 when they perceive that some good fortune 
 hath befallen them, they immediately pretend 
 to have communion with them, saying, that 
 
 • The placed showed Alexander might be Dan. vii. 6; 
 viii. 3—8. iO il. 5i2; xi. 3: some or ail of them very 
 plain rrrdictioiis of Alexander't conquests ami surces- 
 tors. 
 
312 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 they belong to them, and derive their genea- 
 logy from the posterity of Joseph, Ephraim, 
 and Manasseh. Accordingly, they made their 
 address to the king with splendour, and 
 showed great alacrity in meeting him at a little 
 distance from Jerusalem; and when Alexan- 
 der had commended them, the Shechemites 
 approached to him, taking with them the 
 troops that Sanballat had sent him, and they 
 desired that he would come to their city, and 
 do honour to their temple also; to whom he 
 promised, that when he returned he would 
 come to them; and when they petitioned that 
 he would remit the tribute of the seventh year 
 to them, because they did not now sow there- 
 on, he asked who they were that made such a 
 petition ; and when they said that they were 
 Hebrews, but had the name of Sidonians, 
 living at Shechem, he asked them again whe- 
 ther they were Jews; and when they said they 
 were not Jews, " It was to the Jews," said 
 he, "that 1 granted that privilege; however. 
 
 when I return, and am thoroughly informed 
 by you of this matter, I will do what 1 shall 
 think proper." And in this manner he took 
 leave of the Shechemites; but ordered that 
 the troops of Sanballat should follow him 
 into Egypt, because there he designed to give 
 them lands, which he did a bttle after in The- 
 bais, when he ordered them to guard that 
 country. 
 
 7. Now when Alexander was dead, the 
 government was parted among his successors; 
 but the temple upon Mount Gerizzim re- 
 mained; and if any one were accused by those 
 of Jerusalem of having eaten things common,* 
 or of having broken the Sabbath, or of any 
 other crime of the like nature, he fled away 
 to the Shechemites, and said that he was ac- 
 cused unjustly. About this time it was that 
 Jaddua the high-priest died, and Onias his 
 son took the high-priesthood. This was the 
 state of the affairs of the people of Jerusalem 
 at this time 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF A HUNDRED AND SEVENTY TEARS. 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT TO THE DEATH 
 OF JUDAS MACCABEUS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 How PTOLEMY, THE SON OF LAGUS, TOOK 
 JERUSALEM AND JUDEA BY DECEIT AND 
 TREACHERY, AND CARRIED MANY OF THE 
 JEWS THENCE,. AND PLANTED THEM IN 
 EGYPT. 
 
 § 1. Now when Alexander, king of Mace- 
 don, had put an end to the dominion of the 
 Persians, and had settled the affairs of Judea 
 after the fore -mentioned manner, he ended 
 his life; and as his government fell among 
 many, Antigonus obtained Asia; Seleucus, 
 Babylon ; and of the other nations which 
 were there, Lysimachus governed the Helles- 
 pont, and Cassander possessed Macedonia; 
 as did Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, seize upon 
 Egypt: and while these princes ambitiously 
 strove one against another, every one for his 
 own principality, it came to pass that there 
 were continual wars, and those lasting wars 
 too; and the cities were sufferers, and lost a 
 great many of their inhabitant? in these time? 
 of diftress. insomuch that al*. Syriti, by the 
 
 means of Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, under- 
 went the reverse of that denomination of Sa- 
 viour, which he then had. He also seized 
 upon Jerusalem, and for that end made use 
 of deceit and treachery; for as he came into 
 the city on a Sabbath-day, as if he would 
 offer sacrifice, he, without any trouble, gained 
 the city, while the Jews did not oppose him, 
 for they did not suspect him to be their ene- 
 my ; and he gained it thus, because they 
 were free from suspicion of him, and because 
 on that day they were at rest and quietness; 
 and when he had gained it, he reigned over 
 it in a cruel manner. Nay, Agatharchides 
 of Cnidus, who wrote the acts- of Alexander's 
 successors, reproaches us with superstition, as 
 if we, by it, had lost our liberty; where he says 
 thus: "There is a nation called the nation 
 of the Jews, who inhabit a city strong and 
 great, named Jerusalem. These men took 
 no care, but let it come into the hands of 
 
 • Here Josephus us«» the word Koiuophagia, "cat- 
 injf things coiiimou," for "caMns things uhcUuii;" us 
 dofs uur N«^w TeMtaincut, in Act* X. 14, 16, UHi and 
 xi. H, 9: Koii» xiv H 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 313 
 
 Ptolemy, as not willing to take arms, and 
 thereby they submitted to be under a hard 
 master, by reason of their unseasonable super- 
 stition." This is what Agatharchides relates 
 of our nation. But when Ptolemy had taken 
 a great many captives, both from the moun- 
 tuinous parts of Judea, and from the places 
 about Jerusalem and Samaria, and the places 
 near Mount Gerizzim, he led them all into 
 Egypt,* and settled them there. And as he 
 knew that the people of Jerusalem vvere most 
 faithful in the observation of oaths and co- 
 venants;! and this from the answer they 
 made to Alexander, when he sent an embas- 
 sage to them, after he had beaten Darius in 
 battle; so he distributed many of them into 
 garrisons, and at Alexandria gave them equal 
 privileges of citizens with the Macedonians 
 themselves; and required of them to take 
 their oaths that they would keep their fidelity 
 to the posterity of those who committed these 
 places to their care. ( Nay, there were not a 
 few other Jews who, of their own accord, 
 went into Egypt, as invited by the goodness 
 of the soil, and by the liberality of Ptolemy. 
 However, there were disorders among their 
 posterity, with relation to the Samaritans, on 
 account of their resolution to preserve that 
 conduct of life which was delivered to them 
 by their forefathers, and they thereupon con- 
 tended one with another, while those of Jeru- 
 salem said that their temple was holy, and 
 resolved to send their sacrifices thither; but 
 the Samaritans were resolved that they should 
 be sent to Mount Gerizzim. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW PTOLEMY PHIL ADELPHUS PROCURED THE 
 LAWS OF THE JEWS TO BE TRANSLATED 
 INTO THE GREEK TONGUE; AND SET MANY 
 CAPTIVES FREE; AND DEDICATED MANY 
 GIFTS TO GOD. 
 
 § 1. When Alexander had reigned twelve 
 years, and after him Ptolemy Soter forty 
 years, Philadelphus then took the kingdom 
 
 • The great number of these Jews and Samaritans that 
 were formerly carried into Egypt by Alexander, and now 
 by Ptolemy, the son of La^us. appear afterwards, in the 
 vast multitude who, as we shall «ee presently, were soon 
 ransomed by Philadelphus, and by him made free, before 
 he sent for the seventy-two interpreters: in the many gar- 
 risons, and other soldiers of that nation in Egypt: in the 
 famous settlement of Jews, and the number of their syna- 
 gogues at Alexandria long afterward: and in the vehe- 
 ment contention between the .lews and Samaritans under 
 Philometer, about the place appointed for public worship 
 in tiie law of Moses, whether at the Jewish temple of Je- 
 rusalem, or at the Samaritan temple at Gerizzim: of all 
 which our author treats hereafter. As to the Samaritans 
 carried into Egypt under the same princes, Scaliger sup- 
 poses that those who have a great synagogue at Cairo, as 
 also those whom the Arabic geographer speaks of, as 
 having seized on an island in the Red Sea. are remains 
 of them At this very day, as the notes here inform us 
 
 + or the sacredness of oaths among the Jews in the 
 Old Testament, see Scripture Politics, p. 54— t>d. 
 
 of Egypt, and held it forty years within one. 
 He procured the law to be interpreted,! and 
 set free those that were come from Jerusa- 
 lem into Egypt, and were in slavery there, 
 who were a hundred and trtenty thousand. 
 The occasion was this: — Demetrius Phale- 
 rius, who was library-keeper to the king, was 
 now endeavouring, if it were possible, to ga- 
 ther together all the books that were in the 
 habitable earth, and buying whatsoever was. 
 anywhere valuable, or agreeable to the king's 
 inclination (who was very earnestly set upon 
 collecting of books); to which inclination of 
 his, Demetrius was zealously subservient. 
 And when once Ptolemy asked him how 
 many ten thousands of books he had collect- 
 ed, he replied, that he had already about 
 twenty times ten thousand; but that, in a 
 little time, he should have fifty times ten 
 thousand. But he said, he had been informed 
 that there were many books of laws among 
 the Jews worthy of inquiring after, and wor- 
 thy of the king's library, but which, being 
 WTitten in characters and in a dialect of their 
 own, will cause no small pains in getting 
 them translated into the Greek tongue: that 
 the character in which they are written seems 
 to be like to that which is the proper cha- 
 racter of the Syrians, and that its sound, when 
 pronounced, is like to theirs also; and that 
 this sound appears to be peculiar to them- 
 selves. "Wherefore he said, that nothing hin- 
 dered why they might not get those books to 
 be translated also ; for while nothing is want- 
 ing that is necessary for that purpose, we may 
 have their books also in this library. So the 
 king thought that Demetrius was very zea- 
 lous to procure him abundance of books, and 
 that he suggested what was exceeding proper 
 for him to do; and therefore he wrote to the 
 Jewish high-priest that he should act accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 2. Now there was one Aristeus, who was 
 among the king's most intimate friends, and, 
 on account of his modesty, very acceptable to 
 him. This Aristeus resolved frequently, and 
 that before now, to petition the king that he 
 would set all the captive Jews in his kingdom 
 free; and he thought this to be a convenient 
 opportunity for the makirp that petition. So 
 he discoursed, in the first place, with the cap- 
 tains of the king's guards, Sosibius of Taren- 
 tum, and Andreas, and persuaded them to 
 assist hitn in what he was going to intercede 
 with the king for. Accordingly, Aristeus 
 embraced the same opinion with those that 
 have been before mentioned, and went to the 
 king andjnade the following speech to him: 
 
 t Of the translation of the other parts of the Old Tes- 
 tament by seventy Egyptian Jews, in the reigns of 
 Ptolemy, the son of I>agus. and Philadelphus; as also, 
 of the translation of the Pentateuch by seventy-two Je- 
 rusalem Jews, in the seventh year of Philadelphus, at 
 Alexandria, as given us an account of by Aristeus; and 
 thence by Philo and Josephus, with a vindication of 
 A ristcns's history, — see the A ppendix to the Lit Accomp. 
 of ProDh. at large, p. 1 17 ~lb% 
 
314 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIL 
 
 "It is not fit for us, O king, to overlook 
 things hastily, or to deceive ourselves, but to 
 lay the truth open: for since we have deter- 
 mined not only to get the laws of the Jews 
 transcribed, but interpreted also, for thy satis- 
 faction, by what means can we do this, while 
 so many of the Jews are now slaves in thy 
 kingdom? Do thou then what will be agree- 
 able to thy magnanimity, and to thy good- 
 nature: free them from the miserable condition 
 they are in, because that God, who sup- 
 porteth thy kingdom, was the author of their 
 laws, as I have learned by particular inquiry; 
 for both these people and we also worship the 
 same God, the framer of all things. We 
 call him, and that truly, by the name of Z*iy» 
 [or life, or Jupiter], because he breathes 
 life into all men. Wherefore, do thou restore 
 these men to their own country; and this do 
 to the honour of God, because these men pay 
 a ipeculiarly excellent worship to him. And 
 know this farther, that though I be not of kin 
 to them by birth, nor one of the same country 
 with them, yet do I desire these favours to be 
 done them, since all men are the workmanship 
 of God ; and I am sensible that he is well 
 pleased with those that do good. I do there- 
 fore put up this petition to thee, to do good 
 to them." 
 
 3. When Aristeus was saying thus, the king 
 looked upon him with a cheerful and joyful 
 countenance, and said, " How many ten thou- 
 sands dost thou suppose there are of such as 
 want to be made free ?" To which Andreas 
 replied, as he stood by, and said, " A few more 
 than ten times ten thousand." The king made 
 answer, " And is this a small gift that thou 
 askest, Aristeus?" But Sosibius, and the 
 rest that stood by, said, that he ought to offer 
 such a thank-offering as was worthy of his 
 greatness of soul, to that God who had 
 given him his kingdom. With this answer 
 be was much pleased; and gave order, that 
 when they paid the soldiers their wages, they 
 should lay down [a hundred and] twenty 
 drachma; for every one of the slaves.* And 
 he promised to publish a magnilicent decree, 
 alioul what they requested, which should 
 contirm what Aristeus had proposed, and espe- 
 dally what.God willed should be done; where- 
 by, he said, he would not only set those free 
 
 • Although thjt number, one hundred and twenty 
 drachin>e (ol Alexamliiu, or sixty J.-wi'.h shekels] be 
 iwrr Ihrt-e timet repeated, an<l Uiat in all Josephus's 
 copies, (.r.-rk. and Latin, yet, since all the copies o» Aris- 
 leua, whence Josephiis took his relation, have this sum 
 sevrial tunrs, and still as no more than twenty drach. 
 luffi, or ten Jewish shrkels; and since the turn of the 
 tahnts, to be 8«"l down prrsently, which is little above 
 four hundred and sikty fur sumewhat moj^ than one 
 bundrt-d ttuMuanii slaves, and is nruily the same in Jose- 
 |>hus and Arislius, doei better agree to twenty than to 
 one hundred and twenty drachmiPt and since the value 
 ol a *\ii.\v of old was, at the uimosl, hut thirty shekels, 
 9r sixty drarhmsE, M-e Kxt.3. xxi 3i, while in the present 
 ciicumstan< es III these Jewish slaves, and those so very 
 niimeroua, riiil!i(lii,,hus would rattier redeem them at 
 ft cbraot-r than at a dea^rer rale, — there is jjreat reason to 
 prefer here Aristcut's cujites belure Josepbus's. 
 
 who had been led away captive by his father 
 and his army, but those who were in his king- 
 dom before, and those also, if any such there 
 were, who had been brought away since. And 
 whpn they said that their redentption-money 
 would amount to above four hundred talents, 
 he granted it. A copy of which decree I 
 have determined to preserve, that the magna- 
 nimity of this king may be made known, its 
 contents were as follows: " Let all those who 
 were soldiers under our father, and who, 
 when they overran Syria and Phoenit-ia, and 
 laid waste Judea, took the Jews captives, and 
 made them slaves, and brought them into our 
 cities, and into this country, and then sold 
 them; as also all those that were in my king- 
 dom before them, and if there be any that 
 have lately been brought thither, be made 
 free by those that possess them; and let them 
 accept of [a hundred and] twenty drachmae 
 for every slave. And let the soldiers receive 
 this redemption-money with their pay, but the 
 rest out of the king's treasury: for I suppose 
 that they were made captives without our fa- 
 ther's consent, and against equity; and that 
 their country was harassed by the insolence 
 of the soldiers, and that, by removing them 
 into Egypt, the soldiers have made a great 
 protit by them. Out of regard, therefore, to 
 justice, and out of pity to those that have 
 been tyrannized over, contrary to equity, I 
 enjoin those that have such Jews in their ser- 
 vice to set them at liberty, upon the receipt 
 of the before-mentioned sum; and that no 
 one use any deceit about them, but obey what 
 is here commanded. And I will, that they 
 give in their names within three days after 
 the publication of this edict, to such as are 
 appointed to execute the same, and to produce 
 the slaves before them also, for I think it will 
 be for the advantage of my affairs: and let 
 every one that will, inform against those that 
 do not obey this decree ; and 1 will, that their 
 estates be confiscated into the king's treasury.' 
 When this decree was read to the king, it at 
 first contained the rest that is here inserted, 
 and only omitted those Jews that had formerly 
 been brought, and those brought afterwards, 
 which had not been distinctly mentioned; so 
 he added these clauses out of his humanity, 
 and with great generosity. He also gave 
 order that the payment, which was likely to 
 be done in a hurry, should be divided among 
 the king's ministers, and among the officers of 
 his treasury. When this was over, what the 
 king had decreed was quickly brought to a 
 conclusion; and this in no more than seveu 
 days' time, the number of the talents paid for 
 the captives being above four hundred and 
 sixty, and this, because their masters required 
 the [hundred and] twenty drachmae for the 
 children also, the king having, in eftect, com- 
 manded that these should be paid tor, whei? 
 he said, in his decree, that they should receive 
 the fore-mentioned sum for every slave. 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 315 
 
 4. Now when this had been done after so 
 magnificent a manner, according to the king's 
 inclinations, he gave order to Demetrius to 
 ^ive him in writing his sentiments concerning 
 the transcribing of the Jewish books; for no 
 part of the administration is done rashly by 
 these kings, but all things are managed with 
 great circumspection. On which account I 
 have subjoined a copy of these epistles, ana 
 set down the multitude of the vessels sent as 
 gifts [to Jerusalem], and the construction of 
 every one, that the exactness of the artificers' 
 workmanship, as it appeared to those that saw 
 them, and which workmen made every vessel, 
 may be made manifest, and this on account of 
 the excelle/icy of the vessels themselves. Now 
 the copy of the epistle was to this purpose: — 
 ** Demetrius to the great king. When thou, 
 
 king, gavest me a charge concerning the 
 collection of books that were wanting to fill 
 your Ubrary, and concerning the care that 
 
 *ought to be taken about such as are imperfect, 
 
 1 have used the utmost diligence about those 
 matters. And I let you know, that we want 
 the books of the Jewish legislation, with some 
 others; for they are written in the Hebrew 
 characters, and being in the language of that 
 nation, are to us unknown. It hath also 
 happened to them, that they have been tran- 
 scribed more carelessly than they should have 
 been, because they have not had hitherto royal 
 care taken about them. Now it is necessary 
 that thou shouldst have accurate copies of 
 them. And indeed this legislation is full of 
 hidden wisdom, and entirely blameless, as 
 being the legislation of God: for which cause 
 it is, as Hecateus of Abdera says, that the 
 poets and historians make no mention of it, 
 nor of those men who lead their lives accord- 
 ing to it, since it is a holy law, and ought not 
 to be published by profane mouths. If then 
 it please thee, O king, Ihou raayest write to 
 the high-priest of the Jews, to send six of the 
 elders out of every tribe, and those such as 
 are most skilful of the laws, that by their 
 means we may learn the clear and agreeing 
 sense of these books, and may obtain an ac- 
 curate interpretation of their contents, and so 
 may have such a collection of these as may be 
 suitable to thy desire." 
 
 5. When this epistle was sent to the king, 
 he commanded that an epistle should be drawn 
 up for Eleazar, the Jewish high-priest, con- 
 cerning these matters; and that they should 
 inform him of the release of the Jews that had 
 been in slavery among them. He also sent 
 fifty talents of gold for the making of large 
 basons, and vials, and cups, and an immense 
 quantity of precious stones. He also gave 
 order to those who had the custody of the 
 chests that contained those stones, to give the 
 artificers leave to choose out what sortsof them 
 they pleased. He withal appointed, that a 
 hundred talents in money should be sent to 
 the temple for sacrifices, and for other uses. 
 
 Now I will give a description of these vessels, 
 and the manner of their construction, but not 
 till after I have set down a copy of the epistle 
 which was written to Eleazar the high-priest, 
 who had obtained that dignity on the occasion 
 following: — When Onias the high-priest was 
 dead, his son Simon became his successor. 
 He was called Simon the Just,* because of 
 both his piety towards God, and his kind dis- 
 position to those of his own nation. When 
 he was dead, and had left a young son, who 
 was called Onias, Simon's brother Eleazar, of 
 whom we are speaking, took the high-priest- 
 hood; and he it was to whom Ptolemy wrote', 
 and that in the manner following: — " King 
 Ptolemy to Eleazar the high-priest, sendeth 
 greeting. There are many Jews who now 
 dwell in my kingdom, whom the Persians, 
 when they were in power, carried captives. 
 These were honoured by my father; some of 
 whom he^laced in the army, and gave them 
 greater pay than ordinary; to others of them, 
 when they came with him into Egypt, he com- 
 mitted his garrisons, and the guarding of 
 them, that they might be a terror to the 
 Egyptians; and when I had taken the govern- 
 ment, I treated all mrn with humanity, and 
 especially those that are thy fellow-citizens, 
 of whom I have set free above a hundred 
 thousand that were slaves, and paid the price 
 of their redemption to their masters out of 
 my own revenues; and those that are of a fit 
 age, 1 have admitted into the number of my 
 soldiers; and for such as are capable of be- 
 ing faithful to me, and proper for my cot-rt, 
 I have put them in such a post, as thinking 
 this [kindness done to them] to be a very 
 great and an acceptable gift, which I devote 
 to God for his providence over me, and as I 
 am desirous to do what will be grateful to 
 these, and to all the other Jews in the habit- 
 able earth, I have determined to procure an 
 interpretation of your law, and to have it 
 translated out of Hebrew into Greek, and 
 to be deposited in my library. Thou wilt 
 therefore do well to choose out and send to 
 me men of a good character, who are siow 
 elders in age, and six in number out of every 
 tribe. These, by their age, must be skilful in 
 the laws, and of abilities to make an accurate 
 interpretation of them; and when this shall 
 be finished, I shall think that 1 have done a 
 work glorious to myself; and I have sent to 
 thee Andreas, the captain of my guard, and 
 Aristeus, men whom I have in very great 
 esteem ; by whom I have sent those first-fruits 
 which I have dedicated to the temple, and to 
 the sacrifices, and to other uses, to the value 
 of a hundred talents; and if thou wilt send to 
 us, to let us know what thou wouldest have far 
 ther, thou wilt do a thing acceptable to me." 
 
 • We have a very great encomium of this Simon the 
 Just, the son of Onias I. in the fiftieth chapter of the Kc 
 clesiasticus, through the wholechapter. ISor is it impro 
 per to consult that chapter itself upon this occasion. 
 
316 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 6. When this epistle of the kii)g was 
 brought to Eleazar, he wrote an answer to 
 it with all the respect possible: — "Eleazar 
 the high -priest to king Ptolemy, sendeth 
 greeting. If thou and thy queen Arsinoe,* 
 and thy children, be well, we are entirely sa- 
 tisfied. When we received thy epistle, we 
 greatly rejoiced at thy intentions ; and when 
 the multitude were gathered together, we read 
 it to them, and thereby made them sensible of 
 the piety thou hast towards God. We also 
 showed them the twenty vials of gold, and 
 thirty of silver, and the five large basons, and 
 the teble for the shew-bread; as also the hun- 
 dred talents for the sacrifices, and for the 
 making what shall be needful at the temple: 
 which things Andreas and Aristeus, those 
 most honoured friends of thine, have brought 
 us; and truly they are persons of an excel- 
 lent character, and of great learning, and 
 worthy of thy virtue. Know then that we 
 will gratify thee in what is for thy advantage, 
 though we do what we used not to do before; 
 for we ought to make a return for the numer- 
 ous acts of kindness which thou hast done to 
 our countrymen. Wejmmediately, therefore, 
 offered sacrifices for thee and thy sister, with 
 thy children and friends; and the multitude 
 made prayers, that thy affairs may be to thy 
 mind; and that thy kingdom may be pre- 
 served in peace, and that the translation of our 
 law may come to the conclusion thou desirest, 
 and be for thy advantage. We have also 
 chosen six elders out of every tribe, whom 
 we have sent, and the law \vith them. It will 
 be thy part, out of thy piety and justice, to 
 send back the law when it hath been trans- 
 lated; and to return those to us that bring it 
 in safety. — Fare well. ' ' 
 
 7. This was the reply which the high-priest 
 made; but it does not seem to me to be neces- 
 sary to set down the names of the seventy [two] 
 elders who were sent by Eleazar, and carried 
 the law, which yet were subjoined at the end 
 of the epistle. However, I thought it not 
 improper to give an account of those very 
 valuable and artificially - contrived vessels 
 which the king sent to God, that all may see 
 how great a regard the king had for God; for 
 the king allowed a vast deal of expenses for 
 th^se vessels, and came often to the workmen, 
 and viewed their works, and suffered nothing 
 of carelessness or negligence to be any da- 
 mage to their operations; and I will relate 
 how rich they were as well as I am able, 
 although, perhaps, the nature of this history 
 may not require such a description ; but I 
 imagine I shall^thereby recommend the ele- 
 
 • When we have here and presently mention .made 
 •f Philadelphus's queen and sister Arsinoe, we are to 
 remember, with Spanheim, that Arsinoe was both his . 
 •ister and his wife, according to the old custom of Persia, 
 and of E(?ypt at this very time; nay, of the Assyrians 
 long afterwards. See Antiq b. xx. ch. ii. sect. I. 
 WiMnoe we have, upon the coins of Philadelphus, this 
 known invription:— '^The divine Brother and SUter." 
 
 gant taste and magnanimity of this king to 
 those that read this history. 
 
 8. And first I will describe what belong* 
 to the table. It was indeed in the king'* 
 inind to make this table vastly large in its 
 dimensions; but then he gave orders that 
 they should learri what was the magnitude oi 
 the table which was already at Jerusalem, and 
 how large it was, and whether there were a 
 possibility of making one larger than it; and 
 when he was intormed how large that was 
 which was already there, and that nothing 
 hindered but a larger might be made, he 
 said that he was willing to have one made 
 that should be five times as large as the pre- 
 sent table; but his fear was that it might be 
 then useless in their sacred ministrations by 
 its too great largeness; for he desired that the 
 gifts he presented them should not only be 
 there for show, but should be useful also in 
 their sacred- ministrations. According to which 
 reasoning, that 'the former table wa« made of 
 so moderate a size for use, and not for want 
 of gold, he resolved that he would not exceed 
 the former table in largeness, but would make 
 it exceed it in the variety and elegance of its 
 materials; and as he was sagacious in o'oserv-* 
 ing the nature of all things, and in having a 
 just notion of what was new and surprising, 
 and where there were no sculptures, he would 
 invent such as were proper by his own skill, 
 and would show them to the workmen, he 
 commanded that such sculptures should now 
 be made; and that those which were deline- 
 ated should be most accurately formed, by a 
 constant regard to their delineation. 
 
 9. When therefore the workmen had un- 
 dertaken to make the table, they framed it in. 
 length two cubits [and a half}, in breadth one 
 cubit, and in height one cubit and a half; and 
 the entire structure of the work was of gold. 
 They withal made a crown of a hand-breadth 
 round it, with wave-work wreathed about it, 
 and with an engraving which imitated a cord, 
 and was admirably turned on its three parts; 
 for as they were of a triangular figure, every 
 angle had the same disposition of its sculp- 
 tures, that when you turned them about, the 
 very same form of them was turned about 
 without any variation. Now that part of the 
 crown-work that was enclosed under the table 
 had its sculptures very beautiful; but that part 
 which went round on the outside was more 
 elaborately adorned with most beautiful orna- 
 ments, because it was exposed to sight, and to 
 the view of the spectators; for which reason 
 it was that both those sides which were extant 
 above the rest were acute, and none of the 
 angles, which we before tol(l.you were three, 
 appeared less than another when the table was 
 turned about. Now into fhe cord-work thus, 
 turned were precious stones inserted, in rows 
 parallel one to the other, enclosed in golden 
 buttons, which had ouches in them; but th» 
 parts which were on the side of the cro>A^ 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 317 
 
 and were exposed to the sight, were adorned 
 with a row of oval figures obliquely placed, 
 of the most excellent sort of precious stones, 
 which imitated rods laid close, and encom- 
 passed the table round about; but under these 
 oval figures thus engraven, the workmen had 
 put a crown all round it, where the nature of 
 all sorts of fruit was represented, insomuch 
 that the bunches of grapes hung up; and 
 when they had made the stones to represent 
 all the kinds of fruit before mentioned, and 
 that each in its proper colour, they made them 
 fast with gold round the whole table. The 
 like disposition of the oval figures, and of the 
 engraved rods, was framed under the crown, 
 that the table might on each side show the 
 same appearance of variety and elegance of 
 its ornaments, so that neither the position of 
 the wave-work nor of the crown might be dif- 
 ferent, although the table were turned on the 
 other side, but that the prospect of the same 
 artificial contrivances might be extended as 
 far as the feet; for there was made a plate of 
 gold four fingers broad, through the entire 
 breadth of the table, into which they inserted 
 the feet, and then fastened them to the table 
 bji buttons and button-holes, at the place 
 where the crown was situate, that so on what 
 side soever of the table one should stand, it 
 might exhibit the very same view of the ex- 
 quisite workmanship, and of the vast expenses 
 bestowed upon it; but upon the table itself 
 they engraved a meander, inserting into it 
 very valuable stones in the middle like stars, 
 of various colours; the carbuncle and the 
 emerald, each of which sent out agreeable rays 
 of light to the spectators; with such stones of 
 other sorts also as were most curious and best 
 esteemed, as being most precious in their kind. 
 Hard by this meander a texture of net- work 
 ran round it, the middle of which appeared 
 like a rhombus, into which were inserted rock- 
 crystal and amber, which, by the great resem- 
 blance of the appearance they made, gave 
 wonderful delight to those that saw them. 
 The chapiters of the feet imitated the first 
 budding of lilies, while their leaves were bent 
 and laid under the table, but so that the chives 
 Were seen standing upright within them. Their 
 bases were made of a carbuncle; and the place 
 at the bottom, which rested on that carbuncle, 
 was one palm deep, and eight fingers in breadth. 
 Now they had engraven upon it, with a very 
 fine tool, and with a great deal of pains, a 
 branch of ivy, and tendrils of the vine, send- 
 ing forth clusters of grapes, that you would 
 guess they were nowise different from real 
 tendrils; for they were so very thin, and so 
 very far extended at their extremities, that 
 they were moved with the wind, and made 
 one believe that they were the product of na- 
 ture, and not the representation of art. They 
 also made the entire workmanship of the table 
 appear to be thrisfold, while the joints of the 
 several parts were so united together as to be 
 
 invisible, and the places where they joined 
 could not be distinguished. Now the thick- 
 ness of the table was not less than half a cu- 
 bit. So that this gift, by the king's great ge- 
 nerosity, by the great value of the materials, 
 and the variety of its exquisite structure, and 
 the artificer's skill in imitating nature with 
 graving tools, was at length brought to per 
 fection, while the king was very desirou?^ 
 that though in largeness it were not to be dil- 
 ferent from that which was already dedicated 
 to God, yet that in exquisite workmanship, 
 and the novelty of the contrivances, and in 
 the splendour of its construction, it should far 
 exceed it, and be more illustrious than that 
 was. 
 
 10. Now of the cisterns of gold there were 
 two, whose sculpture was of scale-work, from 
 its basis to its belt-like circle, with various 
 sorts of stones inchased in the spiral circles. 
 Next to which there was upon it a meander 
 of a cubit in height: it was composed of 
 stones of all sorts of colours ; and next to this 
 was the rod-work engraven ; and next to that 
 was a rhombus in a texture of net-work, 
 drawn out to the brim of the bason, while small 
 shields, made of stones, beautiful in their 
 kind, and of four fingers' depth, filled up the 
 middle parts. About the top of the bason 
 were wreathed the leaves of lilies, and of the 
 convolvulus, and the tendrils of vines in a cir- 
 cular manner; and this was the construction 
 of the two cisterns of gold, each containing 
 two firkins: — but those which were of silver 
 were much more bright and splendid than 
 looking-glasses; and you might in them see 
 images that fell upon them more plainly than 
 in the other. The king also ordered thirty 
 vials; those of which the parts that were of 
 gold, and filled up with precious stones, were 
 shadowed over with the leaves of ivy and vines, 
 artificially engraven ; and these were the ves- 
 sels that were, after an extraordinary manner, 
 brought to this perfection, partly by the skill 
 of the workmen, who were admirable in such 
 tine work, but much more by the diligence 
 and generosity of the king, who not only sup- 
 plied the artificers abundantly, and with great 
 generosity, with what they wanted, but he 
 forbade public audiences for the time, and 
 came and stood by the workmen, and saw the 
 whole operation; and this was the cause why 
 the workmen were so accurate in their per- 
 formance, because they had regard to the 
 king, and to his great concern about the ves- 
 sels, and so the more indefatigably kept close 
 to the work. 
 
 1 1 . And these were what gifts were sent 
 by Ptolemy to Jerusalem, aiid dedicated to 
 God there. But when Eleazar the high- 
 priest had devoted them to God, and had paid 
 due respect to those that brought them, and 
 had given them presents to be carried to the 
 king, he dismissed them. And when they 
 were come to Alexandria and Ptolemy heard 
 
318 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XIL 
 
 ttat they were come, and that the seventy 
 elders were come also, he presently sent for 
 Andreas and Aristeus, his ambassadors, who 
 came to him, and delivered him the epistle 
 which they brought him from the high-priest, 
 and made answer to all the questions he put 
 to them by word of mouth. He then made 
 haste to meet the elders that came from Je- 
 rusalem for the interpretation of the laws; 
 and he gave command, that every body who 
 came on other occasions should be sent away, 
 Jv'hich was a thing surprising, and what he 
 Jid not use to do; for those that were drawn 
 thither upon such occasions used to come to 
 him on the fifth day, but ambassadors at the 
 month's end. But when he had sent those 
 away, he waited for these that were sent by 
 Eleazar; but as the old men came in with the 
 presents, which the high-priest had given them 
 to bring to the king, and with the membranes, 
 upon which they had their laws written in 
 golden letters,* he put questions to them 
 concerning those books; and when they had 
 taken off the covers wherein they were wrapt 
 up, they showed him the membranes. So the 
 king stood admiring the thinness of those 
 membranes, and the exactness of the junc- 
 tures, which could not be perceived (so ex- 
 actly were they connected one with another); 
 and this he did for a considerable time. He 
 then said that he returned them thanks for 
 coming to him, and still greater thanks to 
 him that sent them; and, above all, to that 
 God whose laws they appeared to be. Then 
 did the eiders, and those that were present 
 with them, cry out with one voice, and wished 
 all happiness to the king. Upon which he 
 fell into tears by the violence of the pleasure 
 he had, it being natural to men to afford the 
 same indications in great joy that they do un- 
 der sorrow. And when he had bidden them 
 deliver the books to those that were appointed 
 to receive them, he saluted the men, and said 
 that it was but just to discourse, in the first 
 place, of the errand they were sent about, and 
 then to address himself to themselves. He 
 promised, however, that he would make this 
 day on which the came to him remarkable 
 and eminent every^ year through the whole 
 course of his life; "for their coming to him, 
 and the victory which he gained over Antigo- 
 nus by sea, proved to be on the very same 
 day. He also gave orders that they should 
 sup with him ; and gave it in charge that 
 toey should have excellent lodgings provided 
 for them in the upper part of the city. 
 
 12. Now he that was appointed to take care 
 of the reception of strangers, Nicanor by 
 name, adled for Dorotheus, whose duty it 
 was to make provision for them, and bade 
 him prepare for every one of them what 
 
 • The TalraudisU say, that it is not lawful to write 
 tlkr law in letters of gold, cintiaiy to this certain and 
 Tery ancient examrle. 8ee Hudson's and Keland's 
 ltu*et here. 
 
 should be requisite for their diet and way of 
 living; which thing was ordered by the king 
 after this manner: he took care that those that 
 belonged to every city, which did not use the 
 same way of living, that all things should be 
 prepared for them according to the custom of 
 those that came to him, that, being feasted 
 according to the usual method of their own 
 way of living, they might be the better pleased, 
 and might not be uneasy at any thing done 
 to them from which they were naturally averse. 
 And this was now done in the case of these 
 men by Dorotheus, who was put into this office 
 because of his great skill in such matters 
 belonging to common life: for he took care 
 of all such matters as concerned the reception 
 of strangers, and appointed them double seats 
 for them to sit on, according as the king had 
 commanded him to do; for he had commanded 
 that half of their seats should be set at his 
 right hand, and the other half behind his table, 
 and took care that no respect should be omit- 
 ted that could be shown them. And when 
 they were thus set down, he bid Dorotheus to 
 minister to all those that were come to him 
 I from Judea, after the manner they used to be 
 ministered to: for which cause he sent away 
 their sacred heralds, and those that slew tho 
 sacrifices, and the rest that used to say grace: 
 but called to one of those that were come to him, 
 whose name was Eleazar, who was a priest, 
 and desired him to say grace :f who then 
 stood in the midst of them, and prayed, that 
 all prosperity might attend the king, and those 
 that were his subjects. Upon which an ac- 
 clamation was made by the whole company, 
 with joy and a great noise; and when that 
 was over, they fell to eating their supper, and 
 to the enjoyment of what was set before them. 
 And at a little interval afterward, when the 
 king thought a sufficient time had been inter- 
 posed, he began to talk philosophically to 
 them, and he asked every one of them a phi- 
 losophical question,! and such a one as might 
 give light in those inquiries; and when they 
 had explained all the problems that had been 
 proposed by the king about every point, he 
 was well pleased with their answers. Tliis 
 took up the twelve days in which- they werg 
 treated; and he that pleases may learn the 
 particular questions in that book of Aristeus, 
 which be wrote on this very occasion. 
 
 13. And while not the king only, but the 
 
 + This is the most ancient example I have met with 
 of a grace, or short prayer, or thanl^sijivinK, before 
 meat; which, as it is u.ssd to be said hy a heallien priest, 
 was now said by Eleazar, a Jewish priest, who was one 
 of those seventy-two interpreters. 1 he next example I 
 have met with is that of the Essenes (Of the War, b. ii. 
 ch. viii. sect. 6), both before and after itj those of oui 
 Saviour before it (Mark viii. G; Jolin vi. II, 23; and 
 St. Paul, Acts xxvii. 35); and a form of such a i;race uj 
 prayer for Cliristians, at the end of the tifth book of the 
 Apostolical Constitutions, which seems to have been 
 intended for both times, both before and after meat. 
 
 t I hey were rather political questions and answen^ 
 tending to the good and religiuus government of man* 
 kind. 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 philosopher Menedemus also, admired them, 
 and said, that all things were governed by 
 Providence, and that it was probable that 
 thence it was that such force or beauty was 
 discovered in these men's words, — they then 
 left off asking any more questions. But the 
 king said that he had gained very great ad- 
 vantages by their coming, for that he had re- 
 ceived thi& protit from them, that he had learned 
 how he ought to rule his subjects. And 
 he gave order that they should have every one 
 three talents given them; and that those that 
 were to conduct them to their lodging should 
 <lo it. Accordingly, when three days were 
 over, Demetrius took them, and went over the 
 causeway seven furlongs long: it was a bank 
 iii the sea to an island. And when they had 
 gone over the bridge, he proceeded to the 
 northern parts, and showed them where they 
 should meet, which was in a house that was 
 built near the shore, and was a quiet place, 
 and tit for their discoursing together about 
 their work. When he had brought them 
 thither, he entreated them (now they had all 
 things about them which they wanted for 
 the interpretation of their law), that they 
 would suffer nothing to interrupt them in 
 their work. Accordingly, they made an ac- 
 curate interpretation, with great zeal and great 
 pains; and this they continued to do till the 
 ninth hour of the day; after which time they 
 relaxed and took care of their body, while 
 their food was provided for them in great 
 plenty: besides, Dorotheus, at the king's 
 command, brought them a great deal of what 
 was provided for the king himselC But in 
 the morning they came to the court, and sa- 
 luted Ptolemy, and then went away to their 
 former place, where, when they had washed 
 their hands,* and purified themseU-es, they 
 betook themselves to the interpretation of the 
 laws. Now when the law was transcribed, 
 and the labour of interpretation was over, 
 which came to its conclusion in seventy-two 
 days, Demetrius gathered all the Jews toge- 
 ther to the place where the laws were trans- 
 lated, and where the interpreters were, and 
 read them over. The multitude did also ap- 
 prove of those elders that were the interpre- 
 ters of the law. They withal commended 
 Demetrius for his proposal, as the inventor of 
 what was greatly for their happiness j and they 
 desired that he would give leave to their ru*- 
 lers also to read the law. Moreover they all, 
 fcoth the priests and the ancientest of the el- 
 ders, and the principal men of their common- 
 wealth, made it their request, that since the in- 
 terpretation was happUy finislied, it oiight 
 
 • This piirifiration of the interpreters, by washing in 
 4he sea, before iley prayed to God every Kiorninp;, and 
 before they set ohout translating, may be compared with 
 tUe like practice of Peter the Apostle, in the hecugoitions 
 jf dement, b. i^. ch. iii. and b. v ch. rxxvi; and with 
 the places of tht- Proseuchse, or of prayer, which were 
 8onietiin»s buiH i ear the sea or rivers also Of which 
 caatte-, ^^ A nt h. xir. ch. x.%.2ii uud AcU xvi.13, 16. 
 
 continue in the state it now was, and miglit 
 not be altered. And when thej all com- 
 mended that determination of theirs, they 
 enjoined, that if any one observed either any 
 thing superduous, or any thing omitted, that 
 he would take a view of it again, and have it 
 laid before them, and corrected; which was a 
 wise action of theirs, that when the thing wa 
 judged to have been well done, it might cum 
 tiuue for ever. 
 
 14. So the king rejoiced when he saw that 
 his design of this nature was brought to per- 
 fection, to so great advantage: and he was 
 chiedy delighted with hearing the laws read , 
 to him; and was astonished at the deep mean- 
 ing and wisdom of the legislator. And he 
 began to discourse with Demetrius, *' How 
 it came to pass that, when this legislation was 
 so wondertiil, no one, either of the poets or 
 of the historians had made mention of it." 
 Demetrius made answer, " that no one durst be 
 so bold as to touch upon the description of 
 these laws, because they were divine and ve- 
 nerable, and because some that had attempted 
 it were afflicted by God." — He also told him, 
 that " Theopomp'is was desirous of writing 
 somewhat about them, but was thereupon dis- 
 turbed in his mind for above thirty days' 
 time; and upon some intermission of his dis- 
 temper, he appeased God [by prayer], as sus- 
 pecting that his madness proceeded from that 
 cause." Nay, indeed, he further saw in a 
 dream, that his distemper befell him while he 
 indulged too great a curiosity about divine 
 matters, and was desirous of publishing them 
 among common men; but when he left off 
 that attempt, he recovered his understanding 
 again. Moreover, he informed him of Theo- 
 dectes, the tragic poet, concerning whom it 
 was reported, that when in a certain dramatic 
 representation, he was desirous to make men- 
 tion of things that were contained in the sa- 
 cred books, he was afflicted with a darkness 
 in his eyes; and that upon his being con- 
 scious of the occasion of his distemper, and 
 appeasing God [by prayer], he was freed from 
 that affliction. 
 
 15. And when the kiii;>Jiad received these 
 books from Demetrius, iTi we have said al- 
 ready, he adored them^; aiid gave order, that 
 great care should be taken of them, that they 
 might remain uncorrupted. He also desired 
 that the interpreters would come often to him 
 out of Judea, and that both on account of the 
 respects that he would pay them, and on ac- 
 count of the presents he would make them; 
 for he said, it was now but just to send them 
 away, although if, of their own accord, they 
 would come to him hereafter, they should ob- 
 tain all that their own wisdom might justly 
 require, and what his generosity was able to 
 give them. So he sent them away, and gave to 
 every one of them three garments of the best 
 sort, and two talents of gold, and a cup of 
 the value of one talent, and the furniture of 
 
320 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 the room wherein they were feasted. And 
 these were the things he presented to them. 
 But by them he sent to Eleazar the high-priest 
 ten beds, with feet of silver, and the furniture 
 to them belonging, and a cup of the value 
 of thirty talents; and besides these, ten gar- 
 ments, and purple, and a very beautiful crown, 
 and a hundred pieces of the finest woven 
 linen; as also vials and dishes, and vessels for 
 pouring, and two golden cisterns, to be dedi- 
 cated to God. He also desired him, by an 
 epistle, that he would give these interpreters 
 leave, if any of them were desirous, of com- 
 ing to him ; because he highly valued a con- 
 versation with men of such learning, and 
 should be very willing to lay out his wealth 
 upon such men. — And this was what came to 
 the Jews, and was much to their glory and 
 honour, from Ptolemy Philadelphus. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HOW THE KINGS OF ASIA HONOURED THE NA- 
 TION or THE JEWS, AND MADE THEM CITI 
 ZENS OF THOSE CITIES WHICH THEY BUILT. 
 
 § 1. The Jews also obtained honours from 
 the kings of Asia when they became their 
 auxiliaries; for Seleucus Nicator made them 
 citizens in those cities which he built in 
 Asia, and in the Lower Syria, and in the 
 metropolis itself, Antioch; and gave them 
 privileges equal to those of the Macedonians 
 and Greeks, who were the inhabitants, inso- 
 much that these privileges continue to this 
 very day: an argument for which you have 
 in this: that whereas the Jews do make use 
 of oil prepared by foreigners,* they receive a 
 certain sum of money from the proper offi- 
 cers belonging to their exercises, as the value 
 of that oil; which money, when the people of 
 Antioch would have deprived them of, in the 
 last war, Mudanus, who was then president 
 of Syria, preserved it to them. And when 
 the people of Alexandria and of Antioch did 
 after that, at the time that Vespasian and 
 Titus his son governed the habitable earth, 
 pray that these privileges of citizens might be 
 taken away, they did not obtain their request. 
 In which behaviour any one may discern the 
 equity and generosity of the Romans,f espe- 
 
 • The use of oil was much greater, and the donatives 
 of it much more valuable, in Judea, and the neighbour- 
 ing countries, than it is amongst us. It was also, in the 
 days of Josephus, thought unlawful for Jews to make 
 use of any oil that was prepared by hfatliens, perhaps 
 on account of some superstitions intermixed with its 
 preparation by those heathens. When, therefore, the 
 Heathens were to make them a donative of oil, they 
 paid them money instead of it See, Of the War, b. ii. 
 ch. xxi. sect. 2; the Life of Josephus, sect 13; and 
 Hudsonls note on the place before us. 
 
 ■f This, and the like great and just characters of the 
 Justice, and equity, and generosity, of the old Romans, 
 both to the Jews and other conquered nations, alfords 
 us a very good reason why Almighty God, upon the re- 
 
 t«tion of the Jews for their wickedness, chose them for 
 is people, and first established Christianity in that em- 
 pir«. Of which matt«r, see Josephus here, sect i; as 
 •Im Aatiq. b. xW. ch. x. 23, «}( I*, xvi. ch. ii, »«ct 4. 
 
 cially of Vespasian and Titus, who, although 
 they had been at a great deal of pains in the 
 war against the Jews, and were exasperated 
 against them, because they did not deliver up 
 their weapons to them, but continued the war 
 to the very last, yet did not they take away 
 any of their fore-mentioned privileges belong- 
 ing to them as citizens, but restrained their 
 anger, and overcame the prayers of the Alex 
 andrians and Antiochians, who were a very 
 powerful people, insomuch that they did not 
 yield to them, neither out of their favour 
 to these people, nor out of their old grudge 
 at those whose wicked opposition they had 
 subdued in the war; nor would they alter 
 any of the ancient favours granted to the 
 Jews, but said, that those who had borne 
 arms against them, and fought them, had 
 suffered punishment already, and that it was 
 not just to deprive those that had not offended 
 of the privileges they enjoyed. 
 
 2. We also know that Marcus Agrippa was 
 of the like disposition towards the Jews: for 
 when the people of Ionia were very angry &b 
 them, and besought Agrippa, that they, and 
 they only, might have those privileges of citi- 
 zens which Antiochus, the grandson of Se- 
 leucus (who by the Greeks was called The 
 God), had bestowed on them; and desired 
 that, if the Jews were to be joint-partakers 
 with them, they might be obliged to worship 
 the gods they themselves worshipped: but 
 when these matters were brought to trial, the 
 Jews prevailed, and obtained leave to make 
 use of their own customs, and this under the 
 patronage of Nicolaus of Damascus ; for 
 Agrippa gave sentence, that he could not in- 
 novate. And if any one hath a mind to know 
 this matter accurately, let him peruse the 
 hundred and twenty-third and hundred and 
 twenty -fourth books of the history of this 
 Nicolaus. Now, as to this determination of. 
 Agrippa, it is not so much to be admired; 
 for at that time our nation had not made war 
 against the Romans. But one may well be 
 astonished at the generosity of Vespasifin and 
 Titus, that after so great wars and contests 
 which they had from us, they should use 
 such moderation. But I will now return to 
 that part of my history whence 1 made the 
 present digression. 
 
 3. Now it happened that in the reign of 
 Antiochus the Great, who ruled over all Asia, 
 that the Jews, as well as the inhabitants o. 
 Celesyria, suffered greatly, and their land was 
 sorely harassed; for while he was at war with 
 Ptolemy Philopater, and with his son, who 
 was called Epiphanes, it fell out that these 
 nations were equally sufferers, both when he 
 was beaten, and when he beat the others: so 
 that they were very like to a ship in a storm, 
 which is tossed by the waves on hoth sides: 
 and just thus were they in their situation in 
 the middle between Antiochus's [)rosperity and 
 its chantje to adver&ity. lint at length, wh«» 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 321 
 
 Antiochus had beaten Ptolemy, he seized upon 
 Judea: and when Philopater was dead, his 
 son sent out a great army under Scopas, the 
 general of his forces, against the inhabitants 
 of Celesyria, who took many of their cities, 
 and in particular our nation; which, when he 
 fell upon them, went over to him. Yet was 
 it not long afterward when Antiochus over- 
 came Scopas, in a battle fought at the foun- 
 tains of Jordan, and destroyed a great part of 
 his army. 13ut afterward, when Antiochus 
 subdued those cities of Celesyria which Scop;is 
 had gotten into his possession, and Samaria 
 with them, the Jews, of their own accor»l, 
 went over to him, and received him into the 
 city [Jerusalem], and gave plentiful provision 
 to all his army, and to his elephants, and 
 readily assisted him when he besieged the gar- 
 rison which was in the citadel of Jerusalem. 
 Wherefore Antiochus thought it but just to 
 requite the Jews' diligence and zeal in his ser- 
 vice: so he wrote to the generals of his armies, 
 and to his friends, and gave testimony to the 
 good behaviour of the Jews towards him, and 
 informed them what rewards he had resolved 
 to bestow on them for that their behaviour. 
 I will set down presently the epistles them- 
 selves which he wrote to the generals concern- 
 ing them, but will tirst produce the testimony 
 of Polybius of Meg.alopolis; for thus does he 
 speak, in the sixteenth book of his history: 
 — " Now Scopas, the general of Ptolemy's 
 army, went in haste to the superior parts of 
 the country, and in the winter-time overthrew 
 the nation of the Jews." He also saith, in 
 the same book, that " when Scopas was con- 
 quered by Antiochus, Antiochus received Ba- 
 tanea and Samaria, and Abila and Gadara; 
 and that, a while afterwards, there came in to 
 him those Jews that inhabited near that tem- 
 ple which was called Jerusalem; concerning 
 which, although I have more to say, and par- 
 ticularly concerning the presence of God about 
 that temple, yet do I put off that history till an- 
 other opportunity." This it is which Polybius 
 relates; but we will return to the series of 
 the history, when we have first produced the 
 epistles of king Antiochus. 
 
 " KING ANTIOCHUS TO PTOLEMY, SENDETH 
 GREETING. 
 
 " Since the Jews, upon our first entrance 
 on their country, demonstrated their friend- 
 ship towards us; and when we came to their 
 city [Jerusalem], received us in a splendid 
 manner, and came tojneet us with their se- 
 nate, and gave abundance of provisions to our 
 soldiers, and to the elephants, and joined with 
 us in ejecting the garrison of the Egyptians 
 that were in the citadel, we have thougnt fit 
 to reward them, and to retrieve the condition 
 of their city, which hath been greatly depo. 
 pulated by such accidents as have befallen its 
 inhabitants, and to bring those that have been 
 
 scattered abroad back to the dty; and, in the 
 first place, we have determined, on account of 
 their piety towards God, to bestow on them, 
 as a pension, for their sacrifices of animals 
 that are fit for sacrifice, for wine and oil, and 
 frankincense, the value of twenty thousand 
 pieces of silver, and [six] sacred artabrae of fine 
 tiour, wth one thousand four hundred and 
 sixty medimni of wheat, and three hundred 
 and seventy-five medimni of salt; and these 
 payments I would have fully paid them, as I 
 have sent orders to you. I would also have 
 the work about the temple finished, and the 
 cloisters, and if there be any thing else that 
 ought to be rebuilt; and for the materials of 
 wood, let it be brought them out of Judea 
 itself, and out of the other countries, and out 
 of Libanus, tax-free; and the same I would 
 have observed as to those other materials 
 which will be necessary, in order to refider 
 the temple more glorious; and let all of that 
 nation live according to the laws of their own 
 country; and let the senate and the priests, 
 and the scribes of the temple, and the sacred 
 singers, be discharged from poll-money and 
 the crown-tax, and other taxes also; and that 
 the city may the sooner recover its inhabitants, 
 I grant a discharge from taxes for three years 
 to its present inhabitants, and to such as shall 
 come to it, until the month Hyperberetus. 
 "VVe also discharge them for the future from 
 a third part of their taxes, that the losses they 
 have sustained may be repaired; and all those 
 citizens that have been carried away, and are 
 become slaves, we grant them and their chil- 
 dren their freedom; and give order that their 
 substance be restored to them." 
 
 4. And these were the contents of this 
 epistle. He also published a decree, through 
 all his kingdom, in honour of the temple, 
 which contained what follows: — " It shall be 
 lawful for no foreigner to come within the 
 limits of the temple round about; which 
 thing is forbidden also to the Jews, unless 
 to those who, according to their own custom, 
 have purified themselves. Nor let any flesh 
 of horses, or of mules, or of asses, be brought 
 into the city, whether they be wild or tame; 
 nor that of leopards, or foxes, or hares ; and, in 
 general, that of any animal which is forbidden 
 for the Jews to eat. Nor let their skins be 
 brought into it; nor let any such animal be 
 bred up in the aty. Let them only be per- 
 mitted to use the sacrifices derived from their 
 forefathers, with which they have been obliged 
 to make acceptable atonements to God. And 
 he that transgresseth any of these orders, 
 let him pay to the priests three thousand 
 drachrase of silver." Moreover, this Antio- 
 chus bare testimony to our piety and fidelity, 
 in an epistle of his, written when he was in- 
 formed of a sedition in Phrygia and Lydia, 
 at which time he was in the superior provinces, 
 whertin he commanded Zeuxis, the general 
 of his forces, and his most intimate friend, to 
 
 'P 
 
322 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 send some of our nation out of Babylon into 
 Pnrygia. The epistle was this: — 
 
 " KING ANTIOCHUS TO ZEUXIS, HIS FATHER, 
 SENDETH GREETING. 
 
 ** If you are in health, it is well. I also 
 am in health. Having been informed that 
 a sedition is arisen in Lydia and Phrygia, 1 
 thought that matter required great care; and 
 upon advising with my friends what was fit to 
 be done, it hath been thought proper to re- 
 move two thousand families of Jews, with 
 their effects, out of Mesopotamia and Baby- 
 lon, unto the castles and places that lie most 
 convenient; for lam persuaded that they will 
 be well-disposed guardians of our possessions, 
 because of their piety towards God, and be- 
 cause I know that my predecessors have borne 
 witness to them that they are faithful, and 
 with alacrity do what they are desired to do. 
 I will, therefore, though it be a laborious 
 work, that thou remove these Jews; under a 
 promise, that they shall be permitted to use 
 their own laws: and when thou shalt have 
 brought them to the places fore-mentioned, 
 thou shalt give every one of their families a 
 place for building their houses, and a portion 
 of land for their husbandry, and for the plan- 
 tation of their vines; and thou shalt discharge 
 them from paying taxes of the fruits of the 
 earth for ten years; and let them have a pro- 
 per quantity of wheat for the maintenance of 
 their servants, until they receive bread-corn 
 out of the earth; also let a sufficient share be 
 given to such as minister to them in the ne- 
 cessaries of life, that, by enjoying the effects 
 of our humanity, thsy may show themselves 
 the more willing and ready about our affairs. 
 Take care likewise of that nation, as far as 
 thou art able, that they may not have any dis- 
 turbance given them by any one." {Now these 
 testimonials, which I have produced, are suf- 
 ficient to declare the friendshio that Antiochus 
 the Great bare to the Jews. / 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW ANTIOCHUS MADE A LEAGUE WITH PTO- 
 LEMY; AND HOW ONIA8 PROVOKED PTOLEMY 
 EUERGETE8 TO ANGER; AND HOW JOSEPH 
 BROUGHT ALL THINGS RIGHT AGAIN, AND 
 ENTERED INTO FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM; 
 AND WHAT OTHER THINGS WERE DONE BY 
 JOSEPH, AND HIS SON HYRCANU8. 
 
 § 1. After this Antiochus made a friend- 
 ship and a league with Ptolemy, and gave 
 him his daughter Cleopatra to wife, and 
 yielced 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 farmed 
 tbf: taxes of their several countries, and col- 
 lecting 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, cut- 
 ting off parts of their land, and carrying off 
 slaves. This happened when Onias was 
 high -priest; for after Eleazar'fe 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 
 kings, 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 threat- 
 ened, that if he did not receive them, he 
 would seize upon their land, and send sol- 
 diers to live upon it. When the Jews heard 
 this message of the king, they were con- 
 founded ; but so sordidly covetous was Onias, 
 that nothing of this 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 hig/i- 
 priest, who informed him of the coniing of 
 the ambassador ; for he was then sojourning 
 at a village named Phicol,* where he was borju. 
 Hereupon he came to the city [Jerusalem], and 
 reproved Onias for not taking care of the pre- 
 servation of his countrymen, but bringing the 
 nation into dangers, by not paying this money. 
 For which preservation of them, he told hiu) 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 da- 
 mages, 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 au- 
 thority, and that he was ready, if the thing 
 were practicable, to lay down his high-priest- 
 hood; 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 ndt 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 mul- 
 titude together to a congregation, and ex- 
 horted them not to be disturbed i-or affrighted, 
 because of his uncle Onias's carelessness, but 
 
 • The name of this place, Phicol, is the very same 
 witli that of the chief captain of Ahimelech's host, ia 
 the (lays of Abraham (<ien. xxi. -^i), and mi^ht possibly 
 be tlie phice of that I'hicol'n nativity or abode; for it 
 sctnis to have been in the touth part of Palestine, at 
 that was. 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 323 
 
 deeired them to be at rest, and not terrify 
 themselves with fear about it; for he pro- 
 iiii>ed them that he would be their ambassa- 
 dor to the king, and persuade him that they 
 had done him no wrong; and when the mul- 
 titude heard this, they returned thanks to Jo- 
 seph. So he went down from the temple, 
 and treated Ptolemy's ambassador in an hos- 
 pitable 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 tha* he would soon 
 follow him; for he was now more mlling 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 bis deport- 
 ment. 
 
 3. When Ptolemy's ambassador was come 
 into Egypt, he told the king of the thought- 
 less 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,^s 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 
 an(' 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 prin- 
 cipal 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, he 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 Je- 
 rusalem, 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 ma- 
 nagement 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 humour 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 of- 
 fended 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 dig- 
 nity in their several countries were to bid for 
 them, the sum of the taxes together, of Cele- 
 syria and Phoenicia, and Judea, with Samaria 
 [as they were bidden for], came to eight thou- 
 sand 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; buf for those who did not 
 pay, he would send the king home their whole 
 substance; for this privilege was sold toge- 
 ther 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 pay- 
 ment of the money, he answered very plea- 
 santly, " I will give such security, and those 
 of persons good and responsible, and which 
 you shall have no reason to distrust:" and 
 when he bade him name them, who they were, 
 he replied, " I give thee no other persons, O 
 king, for ray 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 with- 
 out 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 Alex- 
 andria five hundred talents, he made haste 
 back into Syria. And when he was at Askelon. 
 and demanded the taxes of the people of Askc« 
 Ion, 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 toge- 
 ther, 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 hav- 
 ing before them a sad example in the men of 
 Askelon that were slain, they opened their 
 gates, and willingly admitted Joseph, and paid 
 
324 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK xn. 
 
 their taxes. And when the inhabitants of Scy- 
 thopolis 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 rnade 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 assist- 
 ance 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 twen- 
 ty-two years; and was become the father of 
 seven sons by one wift; he had also another 
 sori, whose name was Hyrcanus, by his bro- 
 ther Solymius's daughter, whom he married 
 on the following occasion. He once came 
 to Alexandria with his brother, who had along 
 v/ith 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 ac- 
 tress that was of great beauty, and came into 
 the room where they feasted, he told his bro- 
 ther of it, and entreated him, because a Jew 
 is forbidden by their law to come near to a 
 foreigner, to conceal his offence, 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 ex- 
 ceedingly; and said to his brother, that he 
 ^oved 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 J. But 
 his brother bade 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 see him 
 come to [public] disgrace. So Joseph com- 
 mended 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 cou- 
 nt"eou8 and wise, and was greatly envied by 
 his brethren, as being of a genius much above 
 them, and such a one as they uiiKht well envy, 
 Jobepb 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 ol 
 their sloth, and unwillingness to take pains, 
 returned to him foolish and unlearned. Af- 
 ter 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 yei 
 kept back privately the yokes of the oxen that 
 coupled them together. When Hyrcanus 
 came to the place, and found he had no yoke? 
 with him, he contemned 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 elder than his own; for 
 he slew ten yoke of the oxen, and distributed 
 their flesh among the labourers, 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 conj^ back, his 
 father was mightily pleased with his sagacity, 
 and commended the sharpness of his under- 
 standing, 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 birth-day, and went away in haste 
 with great retinues to Alexandria, he was him- 
 self 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 ad- 
 vised 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 drachmae would be sufficient, he 
 was pleased with his son's prudence. Alter 
 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 often talents would be enough 
 for presents to be made to tlie king, and com- 
 nionding his son, ai giving him good advice, 
 wrote to Arion his steward, that uianagrd all 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 325 
 
 his money matters at Alexandria; wliicli mo- 
 ney was not less tl)an 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 Ariori to 
 pay them. So when the son had asked his 
 father for a letter to this steward, and had re- 
 ceived 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 Alexandria, 
 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 ta- 
 lents. At which the steward was angry, and 
 rebuked him, as one that intended to live ex- 
 travagantly; and he let him know how his fa- 
 ther had gathered together his estate by pains- 
 taking and resisting his inclinations, and 
 wished him to imitate the examfjie of his f?,- 
 thcr: he assured him withal, that he would 
 give him but ten talents, and that for a pre- 
 sent to the king also. The son was irritated 
 at this, aiid 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 Hyr- 
 canus, 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 ^ 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 him.self 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 bad punished the slave for disobeying 
 his commands, for that it mattered not whe- 
 ther a master was little or great: so that un- 
 less we punish such as these, thou thyself 
 mayest also expect to be despised by thy sub- 
 jects." Upon hearing this his answer, he fell 
 a-laughing, and wondered at the great soul 
 of the child. 
 
 9. When Arion was apprised 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 hi:n in an obliging 
 iiianner, out of the respect they bare to his 
 father. So he came to the merchants privately, 
 ajid bought a hundred boys, that had learning, 
 and were in the flower of tiieir agcb, each at 
 
 a talent a- piece; as also he bought a hundred 
 maidens, each at the same price as the other. 
 And when he was invited to feast with the 
 Inng among the principal men of 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 ac- 
 cordiji^ to their dignity. Now when all those 
 that sat with him had laid the bones of the 
 several parts in a heap before Hyrcanus (for 
 they had themselves taken away the flesh be- 
 longing to them), till the table where he sat was 
 filled full with them,Trypho, who wasthe king.'s 
 jester, and was appointed for jokes and laugh- 
 ter 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 Hyr- 
 canus? by this similitude thou mayest con- 
 jecture 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 right- 
 fully, 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 bones, as I, who am also a man, have now 
 done." Upon which the king admired at his 
 answer, which was so wisely made; and bade 
 them all make an acclamation, as a mark of 
 their appi'obation 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 
 birth-day; and when some said that they 
 would give twelve talents, and that others of 
 greater dignity would every one give accord- 
 ing to the quantity of their riches, he pretend- 
 ed 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 tvyenty talents; but Hyrcanus gave 
 to every one of the hundred boys and hundred 
 maidens that he had bought a talent a-piece, 
 for them to carry, and introduced them, the 
 boys to the king, and the maidens to Cleo- 
 patra: every body wondering at the unexpect- 
 ed 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 th-em ; for to these it was that Hyrca- 
 nus's brethren had written to destroy him. 
 
326 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 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 hiui. 
 So when the king had paid him very great re- 
 spects, 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 favours from 
 the king, and was returning home with great 
 honour, they went out to meet him, and to 
 (festroy 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 tight 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 oblig- 
 ing 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] Hyrca- 
 nus's father, Joseph, died. He was a good 
 man, and of great n)agnanimity ; and brought 
 the Jews out of a state of poverty and mean- 
 ness, to oi.e that was more splendid. He 
 retained the farm of the taxes of Syria, and 
 Phoenicia, and Samaria, twenty -two yfars. 
 His uncle also, Onias, died [about this tiKie], 
 and left the high-priesthood to his son Snnon. 
 And when he was dead, Onias his son suc- 
 ceeded him in that dignity. To him it was 
 that Areus, king of the Lacedemonians, sent 
 an emba>-sage, with an epistle; the copy 
 whereof here follows: — 
 
 " AREUS, KING OF THE LACEDEMONIANS, TO 
 ONIAS, SENDETH GllEETING. 
 
 " We have fnet with a certain writing, 
 whereoy we have discovered that both the 
 Jews and the Lacedemonians are of one stock, 
 and are derived from the kindred of Abra- 
 ham.* It is but just, therefore, that you, 
 who are our brethren, should send to us about 
 
 • Whence it comes that these Lacedemonians declare 
 themselves here to be of kin to tlie Jews, as deriveil 
 from ttie same ancestor. Abraham. I cannot tell, unless, 
 as Grotitis supposes, they were derived from the IJores. 
 that came of the I'elas^'* 'I'hese are, by Heroduttis, 
 called Barbarians; and perhaps were derived from tiie 
 hyrianii and Arabians, the posterity of Abraham by 
 Keiurah. See Antiq. b xi"^. ch. x. sect 22; and Ol the 
 Mar. b. i. ch. xxvL sect I; and (irot. on 1 Mac. xii. 7 
 We may farther observe, from the llecoj;nitions of Cle- 
 ment, that Klieser, of Damascus, the servant of Atiru- 
 ham. Gen. xv. '2, and xxiv. was of old by some taken 
 for bi.t son. So that if the Lacedemonians wer^ spruni; 
 Cium him, they might think themhelves to be ol llic 
 poMeiily of Abraham, as well as the Jews, ^vhu wen 
 
 any of your concerns as you please. ^Ve will 
 also do the same thing, and esteem your con- 
 cerns as our own, and will look upon our 
 concerns as in common with yours. Demo- 
 toies, 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 dra- 
 gon 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 Jo- 
 seph, 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 
 n)ore, 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 magni- 
 tude 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 iji 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 de- 
 lightful and ornamental in the court. But 
 still he n)ade 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 man- 
 ner was a good one; it was for his own pre- 
 servation, 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 Ju- 
 dea, beyond Jordan, not far from the country 
 of Heshbon. And he ruled over those parti 
 for seven years, even all the time that Seleu- 
 cus was king of Syria. But when he was 
 dead, his brother Antiochus, who was called 
 Epiphanes, took the kijigdom. Ptolen)y also, 
 the king of Egypt, died, who was besides 
 called Epiphanes. He left two sons, and 
 both young in age; the elder of whom was 
 called Philometer, and the younger Physcon. 
 As for Hyrcanus, when he saw that Antiochus 
 
 sprung from Isaac. And perhaps thus Eliezer of Damas- 
 cus IS that very Damascus whom Tr.igus Pompeius, as 
 abrid({ed by Justin, makes the founder of the Jewish 
 nation itself, though be afterwards blunders, and makes 
 Azelu.H, Adores, Abraham, and Israel, kings of Judea, 
 and BuccesHors to this Damascus. It may not be iinpro. 
 per to observe farther, that JVloyes Chorenensis, in his 
 liistory of the Armenians, informs us, that the nation 
 III the Parthians was also derived from Abraham, by 
 Kt'tiiruh, and her chlldrea. 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 327 
 
 had a great army, and feared lest he should 
 be caught by him, and brought to punishment 
 for \vhat he had done to the Arabians, he 
 ended his life, and slew himself with his own 
 hand; while Antiochus seized upon all his 
 substance. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW, UPON THE QUARRELS OF THE JEWS ONE 
 AGAINSTANOTHERABOUT THE HIGH-PRIEST- 
 HOOD, ANTIOCHUS MADE AN EXPEDITION 
 AGAINST JERUSALEM, TOOK THE CITY, AND 
 PILLAGED THE TEMPLE, AND DISTRESSED 
 THE JEWS* AS ALSO, HOW MANY OF THE 
 JEWS FORSOOK THE LAWS OF THEIR COUN- 
 TRY; AND HOW THE SAMARITANS FOLLOW- 
 ED THE CUSTOMS OF THE GREEKS, AND 
 NAMED THEIR TEMPLE AT MOUNT GERIZ- 
 ZIM, THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER HELLENIUS. 
 
 § 1. About this time, upon the death of 
 Onias the high -priest, they gave the high- 
 priesthood to Jesus his brother; for that son 
 which Onias left [or Onias IV.] was yet but 
 an infant: and, in its proper place, we will 
 inform the reader of all the circumstances that 
 befell this child. But this Jesus, who was the 
 brother of Onias, was deprived of the high- 
 priesthood by the king, who was angry with 
 him, and gave it to his younger brother, whose 
 name also was Onias; for Simon had these 
 three sons, to each of whom the priesthood 
 came, as we have already informed the rea- 
 der.* This Jesus changed his name to Ja- 
 son; but Onias was called Menelaus. Now, 
 as the former high-priest, Jesus, raised a se- 
 dition against Menelaus, who was ordained 
 after him, the multitude were divided between 
 them both. And the sons of Tobias took the 
 part of Menelaus, but the greater part of the 
 people assisted Jason : and by that means 
 Menelaus and the sons of Tobias were dis- 
 tressed, and retired to Antiochus, and informed 
 him, that they were desirous to leave the 
 la\vs of their country, and the Jewish way of 
 living according to them, and to follow the 
 king's laws, and the Grecian way of living: 
 
 • We have hitherto had but a few of those many 
 citations where Josephns says that he had elsewhere for- 
 merly treated of many things of which yet his present 
 booivs have not a syllable. Onr commentators have 
 hitherto bee > able to give no tolerable account of these 
 citations, which are far too numerous, and that usually 
 in all his copies, both fireek and I^tin. to be supposed 
 later interpolations; which is almost all that has been 
 hitherto said upon th s occasion. What I have to say 
 farther is this, that we have but very few of these re- 
 ferences before, and very many in and after the history 
 of Antiochus lipiphanes; and that Josephus's first book, 
 the Hebrew or Chaldee. as well as the Greek History of 
 the Jewish War, ionji since lost, began with that very 
 history, so that the references are most probably made 
 to that edition of the seven books Of the War. See 
 Beveral other examples, besides those, in the two sec- 
 tions hfiore us, in Antiq. b. xiii. ch. ii. sect. 1, 4; and 
 cb. iv sect. G, 8; ch v. sert. 6. 1 1 ; ch. viii. sect 4; and 
 •»h iui. sect i, o, ai)d Auiiq. 0. xviii. c|i. ii. sect. 3. 
 
 wherefore they desired his permission to build 
 them a Gymnasium at Jerusalem.! And 
 when he had given them leave, they also hid 
 the circumcision of their genitals, tliat even 
 when they were naked they might appear to 
 be Greeks. Accordingly, they left off all the 
 customs that belonged to their own country, 
 and imitated the practices of the other nations. 
 
 2. Now Antiochus, upon the agreeable 
 situation of the affairs of his kingdom, re- 
 solved to make an expedition against Egypt, 
 both because he had a desire to gain it, and 
 because he contemned the son of Ptolemy, as 
 now weak, and not yet of abilities to manage 
 affairs of such consequence; so he came with 
 great forces to Pelusium, and circumvented 
 Ptolemy Philometor by treachery, and seized 
 upon Egypt. He then came to the places 
 about Memphis; and when he had taken 
 them, he made haste to Alexandria, in hopes 
 of taking it by siege, and of subduing Ptole- 
 my, who reigned there. But he was driven 
 not only from Alexandria, but out of aU 
 Egypt, by the declaration of the Romans, 
 who charged him to let that country alone. 
 Accordingly, as I have elsewhere formerly 
 declared, I will now give a particular account 
 of what concerns this king, — how he subdued 
 Judea and the temple; for in my former work 
 I mentioned those things very briefly, and 
 have therefore now thought it necessary to 
 go over that history again, and that with great 
 accuracy. 
 
 3. King Antiochus returning out of Egypt, f 
 for feuf of the Romans, made an xpedition 
 against the city Jerusalem; and when he was 
 there, in the hundred and forty-third year of 
 the kingdom of the Seleucidue, he took the 
 
 ' city without fighting, those of his own party 
 opening the gates to him. And when he had 
 gotten possession of Jerusalem, he slew many 
 of the opposite party; and when he had plun- 
 dered it of a great deal of money, he returned 
 to Antioch. 
 
 4. Now, it came to p^s, after two years, 
 in the hundred and forty -fifth year, on the 
 twenty-fifth day of that month which is by us 
 called Chasleu, and by the Macedonian.* Ap- 
 peleus, in the hundred and fifty-third Olym- 
 piad, that the king came up to Jerusalem, 
 and, pretending peace, he got possession of 
 
 + This word, "Gymnasium," properly denotes a 
 place where the exercises were performed naked ; which, 
 because it would naturally distinguish circumcised Jews 
 from uncircumcised Gentiles, thfse .lewish apostates 
 endeavoured to appear uncircumcised, by n.eans of a 
 chirurgical operation, hinted at by St Paul. I Cor. vii. 
 IH. and described by Celsus, b. vii. ch. xxv. as Dr. Hud- 
 son here informs us. 
 
 t Hereabout Josephus begins to follow the first boo 
 of the Maccabees, a most excellent and most authentic 
 history; and, accordingly, it is here with great fidelity 
 and exactness abridged by him: between wlu.se present 
 copies thrre seem to be fewer variations than in any other 
 sacred Hebrew book of the Old Testament whatever 
 (t(ir till.* hook also was originally written in Hebrew^ 
 A' if h is very natural, because it was written so muct 
 .leaier to the time of Jo»ephus than the re!>t were. 
 
828 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 the city by treachery: at which time he spared 
 not so much as those that admitted him 
 into it, on account of the riches that lay in 
 -the temple; but, led by his covetous inclina- 
 tion (for he saw there was in it a great deal 
 of gold, and many ornaments that had been 
 dedicated to it of very great value), and in 
 order to plunder its wealth, he ventured to 
 break the league he had made. So he left 
 the temple bare, and took away the golden 
 candlesticks, and the golden altar [of incense], 
 and tal)le [of shew-bread], and the altar [of 
 burnt- offering]; and did not abstain from 
 even the veils, which were made of fine line*n 
 and scarlet.* He also emptied it of its secret 
 treasures, and left nothing at all remaining; 
 and by this means cast the Jews into great 
 lamentation, for he forbade them to offer 
 those daily sacnfices which they used to offer 
 to God, according to the law. And when, 
 he had pillaged the whole city, some of the 
 inhabitants he slew, and some he carried cap- 
 tive, together with their wives and children, 
 so that the multitude of those captives that 
 were taken alive amounted to about ten thou- 
 sand. He also burnt down the finest build- 
 ings; and when he had overthrown the city 
 vvalls, he built a citadel in the lower part of 
 the city,* for the place was high, and over- 
 looked the temple, on which account he for- 
 tified it with high walls and towers, and put 
 into it a garrison of Macedonians. How- 
 ever, in that citadel dwelt the impious and 
 wicked part of the [Jewish] multitude, from 
 whom it proved that the citizens suffered 
 many and sore calamities. And when the 
 king had built an idol altar upon God's altar, 
 he slew swine upon it, and so offered a sacri- 
 fice neither according to the law, nor the 
 Jewish religious worship in that country. He 
 also compelled them to forsake the worship 
 which they paid their own God, and to adore 
 those whom he took to be gods; and made 
 them build temples, and raise idol altars, in 
 every city and village, and offer swine upon 
 them every day. He also commanded them 
 not to circumcise their sons, and threatened 
 to punish any that should be found to have 
 transgressed his injunction. He also ap- 
 pointed overseers, who should compel them 
 to do what he commanded. And indeed 
 many Jews there were who complied with the 
 king's commands, either voluntarily, or out 
 of fear of the penalty that was denounced: 
 but the best men, and those of the noblest 
 
 • This citadel, of which we have such frequent men- 
 tion in the iolluwing history, both in tlie Maccabees and 
 Josephus, seems to have been a castle built on a hill, 
 lower than .Mount Zion, though upon its skirts, and 
 hixher than Mount Moriah, but between them both; 
 which hill the enemies oi the Jews now got possession 
 •f ard built on it this citadel, and (ortified it, till a 
 j!Ood while afterwards the Jews regained it. demolished 
 it, and levelled the hill itself with the common nround. 
 that their enemies mi,;ht no more recover it, and mii;lit 
 tbence overlook the temple itself, and do them such 
 mischief as they had long undergom from it. Antiq. 
 h. xiiL cb Ti. sect 6. 
 
 souls, did not regard him, but did pay a 
 greater respect to the customs of their coun- 
 try than concern as to the punishment which he 
 threatened to the disobedient ; on which 
 account they every day underwent great 
 miseries and bitter torments; for they were 
 whipped with rods, and their bodies were torn 
 to pieces, and were crucified while they were 
 still alive and breathed: they also strangled 
 those women and their sons whom they had 
 circumcised, as the king had appouited, hang- 
 ing their sons about their necks as they were 
 upon the crosses. And if there were any 
 sacred book of the law found, it was des- 
 troyed; and those with whom they were 
 found, miserably perished also. 
 
 5. When the Samaritans saw the Jews un- 
 der these sufferings, they no longer confessed 
 that they were of their kindred, nor that the 
 temple on Mount Gerizzim belooged to Al 
 migity God. This was according to theii 
 nature, as we have already shown. And the;y 
 now said that they were a colony of Medesi 
 and Persians: and indeed they were a colony 
 of theirs. So they sent ambassadors to An- 
 tiochus, and an epistle, whose contents are 
 these: — "To king Antiochus the god, Epi- 
 phanes, a memorial from the Sidonians, who 
 live at Shechem. Our forefathers, upon cer- 
 tain frequent plagues, and as following a cer- 
 tain ancient superstition, had a custom ol 
 observing that day which by the Jews is called 
 the Sabbath.f And when they had erected a 
 temple at the mountain called Gerizzim, 
 though without a name, they offered upon it 
 the proper sacrifices. Now, upon the just 
 treatment of these wicked Jews, those that 
 manage their affairs, supposing that we were 
 of kin to them, and practised as they do, make 
 us liable to the same accusations, although 
 we are originally Sidonians, as is evident 
 from the public records. "VVe therefore be- 
 seech thee, our benefactor and saviour, to 
 give order to Apollonius, the governor of this 
 part of the country, and to Nicanor, the pro- 
 curator of thy affairs, to give us no disturb- 
 ance, nor to lay to our charge what the Jews 
 are accused for, since we are aliens from 
 their nation, and from their customs; but let 
 our temple, which at present hath no name 
 at all, be named the Temple of Jupiter Hel- 
 lenius. If this were once done, we should 
 be no longer disturbed, but should be more 
 intent on our own occupation with quietness, 
 and so bring in a greater revenue to thee." 
 When the Samaritans had petitioned for this, 
 the king sent them ack the following an- 
 swer in an epistle: — " King Antiochus to 
 Nicanor. The Sidoniinis, who live at She- 
 chcm, have sent me the memorial inclosed 
 
 + This allegation of the S^amaritans is remarkable, 
 that though they were not Jews, yet did they, from an- 
 cient times, onserve the Sabbath-day, and, as ttiey else- 
 where pretend, the Sabbatic Year also. Autiq. b. XL 
 ch. viii. te^U 6^ 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 329 
 
 When, therefore, we were advising with our 
 friends about it, the messengers sent by them 
 represented to us that they are no way con- 
 cerned with accusations which belong to the 
 Jews, but choose to live after the customs of 
 the Greeks. Accordingly, we declare them 
 free from such accusations, and order that, 
 agreeable to their petition, their temple be 
 named the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius." 
 He also sent the like epistle to ApoUonius, 
 the governor of that part of the country, in the 
 forty-sixth year, and the eighteenth day of the 
 month Hecatombeon. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW, UPON ANTIOCHUS'S PROHIBITION TO 
 TEiE JEWS TO MAKE USE OF THE LAWS OF 
 THEIR COUNTRY, MATTATHIAS, THE SON 
 OF ASAMONEUS, ALONE DESPISED THE KING, 
 AND OVERCAME THE GENERALS OF ANTI- 
 OCHUS'S ARMY: AS ALSO CONCERNING THE 
 DEATH OF MATTATHIAS, AND THE SUCCES- 
 SION OF JUDAS. 
 
 § 1. Now at this time there was one whose 
 name was Mattathias, who dwelt at ISIodin, 
 the son of John, the son of Simeon, the son of 
 Asamoneus, a priest of the order of Joarib, 
 and a citizen of Jerusalem. He had five 
 sons; John, who was called Gaddis, and Si- 
 mon, who was called Matthes, and Judas, 
 who was called Maccabeus,* and Eleazar, 
 who was called Auran, and Jonathan, who 
 was called Apphus. Now this Mattathias 
 lamented to his children the sad state of their 
 affairs, and the ravage made in the city, and 
 the plundering of the temple, and the cala- 
 mities the multitude were under; and he told 
 (|hem that it was better for them to die for 
 the laws of their country, than to live so in- 
 gloriously as they then did. 
 
 2. But when those that were appointed by 
 the king were come to Modin, that they might 
 compel the Jews to do what they were com- 
 manded, and to enjoin those that were there 
 to offer sacrifice, as the king had commanded, 
 they desired that Mattathias, a person of the 
 greatest character among them, both on other 
 accounts, and particularly on account of such 
 a numerous and so deserving a family of chil- 
 dren, would begin the sacrifice, because his 
 fellow-citizens would follow his example, and 
 Dccause such a procedure would make him 
 
 • That this appellation of Maccabee was not Orst of 
 all Riven to Judas Maccaheus, nor was derived from any 
 initial letttrs of the Hebrew words on his banner, " Mi 
 Kamoka Be Elim, Jehovah :"' (" Who is like unto thee 
 among the t;ods, O Jehovah."') £xod. xv. II. as the 
 modern Rabbins vainly pretend, see Authent. Rec. part i. 
 p- 206, iOH. Only we may note, by the way, that the 
 original name of these Maccabees, and their posterity, 
 was Asamoneans; which was derived from Asamont-us. 
 the <;reat-griindfatber of Mattathias, aa Josepbus here 
 iafonnt ufc. 
 
 honoured by the king. But Mattathias said 
 that he would not do it; and that if all the 
 other cations would obey the commands of 
 Antiochus, either out of fear, or to please 
 him, yet would not he nor his sons leave the 
 religious worship of their country: but as 
 soon as he had ended his speech, there came 
 one of the Jews into the midst of them, and 
 sacrificed as Antiochus had commanded. At 
 which Mattathias had great indignation, and 
 ran upon him violently with his sons, who had 
 swords with them, and slew both the man 
 himself that sacrificed, and Apelles the king's 
 general, who compelled them to sacrifice, with 
 a few of his soldiers. He also overthrew the 
 idol altar, and cried out, 'ilf," said he, "any 
 one be zealous for the laws of his country, 
 and for the worship of God, let him follow 
 me;" and when he had said this, he made 
 haste into the desert with his sons, and left 
 all his substance in the village. Many others 
 did the same also, and fled with their children 
 and wives into the desert, and dwelt in caves; 
 but when the king's generals heard this, they 
 took all the forces they then had in the cita- 
 del at Jerusalem, and pursued the Jews into 
 the desert; and when they had overtaken 
 them, they in the first place endeavoured to 
 persuade them to repent, and to choose what 
 was most for their advantage, and not put 
 them to the necessity of using them according 
 to the law of war; but when they would not 
 comply with their persuasions, but continued 
 to be of a different mind, they fought against 
 them on the Sabbath-day, and they burnt them 
 as they were in the caves, without resistance, 
 and without so much as stopping up the en- 
 trances of the caves. And they avoided to 
 defend themselves on that day, because they 
 were not \villing to break in upon the honour 
 they owed the Sabbath, even in such dis- 
 tresses; for our law requires that we rest upon 
 that day. There were about a thousand, with 
 their \vives and children, who were smothered 
 and died in these caves: but many of those 
 that escaped joined themselves to Mattathias, 
 and appointed him to be their ruler, who 
 taught them to fight even on the Sabbath-day; 
 and told them that unless they would do so, 
 they would become their own enemies, by ob- 
 serving the law [so rigorously], while their 
 adversaries would still assault them on this 
 day, and they would not then defend them- 
 selves; and that nothing could then hinder 
 but they must all perish without fighting. 
 This speech persuaded them ; and this rule 
 continues among us to this day, that if there 
 be a necessity, we may fight on Sabbath-days. 
 So Mattathias got a great army about him, 
 and overthrew their idol altars, and slew those 
 that broke the laws, even all that he could 
 get under his power; for many of them were 
 dispersed among the nations round about them 
 /or fear of him. He also commanded that 
 those boys who were not yet circumcised 
 
330 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XJl, 
 
 should be circumcised now; and he drove 
 those away that were appointed to hinder such 
 their circumcision. 
 
 3. But when he had ruled one year, and 
 was fallen into a distemper, he called for his 
 sons, and set them round about him, and 
 said, " O my sons, I am going the way of all 
 the earth; and I recommend to you my re- 
 solution, and beseech you not to be negligent 
 in keeping it, but to be mindful of the de- 
 sires of him who begat you, and brought you 
 up, and to preserve the customs of your 
 country, and to recover your ancient form of 
 government, which is in danger of being over- 
 turned, and not to be carried away with those 
 that, either by their own inclination, or out of 
 necessity, betray it, but to become such sons 
 as are worthy of me; to be above all force 
 and necessity, and so to dispose your souls, 
 as to be ready, when it shall be necessary, to 
 die for your laws; as sensible of this, by 
 just reasoning, that if God see that you are 
 so disposed, he will not Bverlook you, but 
 will have a great value for your virtue, and 
 will restore to you again what you have lost, 
 and will return to you that freedom in which 
 you shall live quietly, and enjoy your own 
 customs. Your bodies are mortal, and sub- 
 ject to fate; but they receive a sort of immor- 
 tality, by the remembrance of what actions 
 they have done; and I would have you so in 
 love with this immortality, that you may 
 pursue aft^r glory, and that, when you have 
 undergone the greatest difficulties, you may 
 not scruple, for such things, to lose your lives. 
 I exhort you especially to agree one with an- 
 other; and in what excellency any one of 
 you exceeds another, to yield to him so far, 
 and by that means to reap the advantage of 
 every one's own virtues. Do you then es- 
 teem Simon as your father, because he is a 
 man of extraordinary prudence, and be go- 
 verned by him in what counsels he gives you. 
 Take Maccabeus for the general of your army, 
 because of his courage and strength, for he 
 will avenge your nation, and will bring ven- 
 geance on your enemies. Admit among you 
 the righteous and religious, aiid augment I ''eir 
 power." 
 
 4. When Mattathias had thus discourse»l>to 
 his sons, and had prayed to God to be their 
 assistant, and to recover to the people their 
 former constitution, he died a little afterward, 
 and was buried at Modin ; all the people mak- 
 ing great lamentation for him. Whereupon 
 bis son Judas took upon him the administra- 
 tion of public affairs, in the hundred and 
 forty-sixth year; and thus, by the ready as- 
 sistance of bis brethren, and of others, Judas 
 cast their enemies out of the country, and put 
 those of their own country to death who had 
 transgi-essed its laws, and purified the land of 
 ftli the pollutions that were in it. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW JUDAS OVERTHREW THE FORCES O? 
 APOLLONIUS AND SERON, AND KILLED THB 
 GENERALS OF THEIR ARMIES THEMSELVES; 
 AND HOW WHEN, A LITTLE WHILE AFTER- 
 WARD, LYSIAS AND GORGIAS WERE.BEATEN, 
 HE WENT UP TO JERUSALEM, AND PURI- 
 FIED THE TEMPLE. 
 
 § 1. When Apollonius, the general of the 
 Samaritan forces, heard this, he took his army, 
 and made haste to go against Judas, who 
 met him, and joined battle with him, and beat 
 hirh, and slew many of his men, and among 
 them Apollonius himself, their general, whose 
 sword, being that which he happened then to 
 wear, he seized upon and kept for himself; but 
 he wounded more than he sievv, and took a 
 great deal of prey from the enemy's camp, and 
 went his way; but when Seron, who was 
 general of the army of Celesyria, heard that 
 many had joined themselves to Judas, and 
 that he had about him an army sufficient for 
 fighting and for making war, he determined 
 to make an expedition against nnn, as think- 
 ing it became him to endeavour to punish 
 those that transgressed the king's injunctions. 
 He then got together an army, as large as he 
 was able, and joined to it the runagate and 
 wicked Jews, and came against Judas. He 
 then came as far as Bethoron, a village of Ju- 
 dea, and there pitched his camp; upon wnich 
 Judas met him, and when he intended to give 
 him battle, he saw that his soldiers were buck- 
 ward to fight, because their number was small, 
 and because they wanted food, for they were 
 fasting, he encouraged them, and said to them, 
 that victory and conquest of enemies are not 
 derived from the multitude in armies, but in 
 the exercise of piety towards God; and that 
 they had the plainest instances in their forefa- 
 thers, who, by their righteousness, and exert- 
 ing themselves on behalf of their own laws, 
 and their own children, had frequently con- 
 quered many ten thousands, — for innocence 
 is the strongest army. By this speech he in- 
 duced his men to contemn the multitude of 
 the enemy, and to fall upon Seron; and upon 
 joining battle with him, he beat the Syrians; 
 and when their general fell among the rest, 
 they all ran away with speed, as thinking 
 that to be their best way of escaping. So 
 he pursued them unto the plain, and slew 
 about eight hundred of the enemy; but the 
 rest escaped to the region which lay near to 
 tlie sea. 
 
 2. When king Antiochus heard of theofr 
 things, he was very angry at what had hap- 
 pened ; so he got together all his own anny, 
 \vith many mercenaries, whom he had hired 
 from the islands, and took them with him, and 
 pre, ared to break into Judea about the 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF mK .IKWS, 
 
 331 
 
 beginning of the spring; but when, upon his 
 mustering his soldiers, he perceived that his 
 treasures were deficient, and there was a want 
 of money in them, for all the taxes were not 
 paid, by reason of the seditions there had been 
 ainung the nations, he having *been so mag- 
 nanimous and so liberal, that what he had was 
 not suificient for him, he therefore resolved 
 first to go into Persia, and collect the taxes 
 of that country. Herejipon he left one whose 
 name was Lysias, who was in great repute 
 with him, governor of the kingdom, as far as 
 the bounds of Egypt, and of the Lower Asia, 
 and reaching from ^e river Euphrates, and 
 committed to him a certain part of his forces, 
 end of his elephants, and charged him to bring 
 up his son Antiochus with all possible care, 
 until he came back; and that he should con- 
 quer Judea, and take its inhabitants for slaves, 
 and utterly destroy Jerusalem, and abolish the 
 whole nation ; and when king Antiochus had 
 given these things in charge to Lysias, he 
 went into Persia; and in the hundred and 
 forty-seventh year, he passed over Euphrates, 
 and went to the superior provinces. 
 
 3. Upon this Lysias chose Ptolemy, the 
 son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor, and Gorgias, 
 very potent men among the king's friends, and 
 delivered to them forty thousand foot-soldiers 
 and seven thousand horsemen, and sent them 
 against Judea, who came as far as the city 
 Emmaus, and pitched their camp in the plain 
 country. There came also to them auxiliaries 
 out of Syria, and the country round about,- 
 as also many of the runagate Jews; and be- 
 sides these came some merchants to buy those 
 that should be carried captives (having bonds 
 with them to bind those that should be made 
 prisoners), with that silver and gold which they 
 were to pay for their price; and when Judas 
 saw their camp, and how numerous their ene- 
 mies were, he persuaded his own soldiers to 
 be of good courage; and exhorted them to| 
 place their hopes of victory in God, and to'j 
 make supplication to him, according to the 
 custom of their country, clothed in sackcloth; 
 and to show what was their usual habit of 
 supplication in the greatest dangers, and there- 
 by to prevail with God to grant you the victory 
 over your enemies. So he set them in their 
 ancient order of battle used by their forefathers, 
 under their captains of thousands, and other 
 officers, and dismissed such as were newly 
 married, as well as those that had newly gained 
 possessions, that they might not fight in a 
 cowardly manner, out of an inordinate love of 
 life, in order to enjoy those blessings. When 
 he had thus disposed his soldiers, he en- 
 couraged them to fight by the following 
 ipeecn, which he made to them: — "O my 
 fellow-soldiers, no other time remains more 
 opportune than the present for courage and 
 <x)ntempt of dangers; for if you now fight man- 
 rully. you may recover your liberty, which, as 
 it is a thiiig of itself agreeable t«» all men, so it 
 
 proves to be to us much more desirable, hy 
 its affording us the liberty of worshipping 
 God. Since, therefore, you are in such cir- 
 cumstances at present, you must either recover 
 that liberty, and so regain a happy and blessed 
 way of living, which is that according to our 
 laws, and the customs of our country, or to 
 submit to the most opprobrious sufferings ; 
 nor will any seed of your nation remain if you 
 be beat in this battle. Fight therefore man- 
 fully; and suppose that you must die, though 
 you do not fight; but believe, that besides 
 such glorious rewards as those of the liberty 
 of your country, of your laws, of your religion, 
 you shall then obtain everlasting glory. Pre- 
 pare yourselves, therefore, and put yourselves 
 into such an agreeable posture, that you may 
 be ready to fight with the enemy as soon as it 
 is day to-morrow morning." 
 
 4. And this was the speech which Judas 
 made to encourage them. But when the ene- 
 my sent Gorgias, with five thousand foot and 
 one thousand horse, that he might fall upon 
 Judas by night, and had for that purpose cer- 
 tain of the runagate Jews as guides, the son 
 of Mattathias perceived it, and resolved to fall 
 upon those enemies that were in their camp, 
 now their forces were divided. When they 
 had therefore supped in good time, and had 
 left many fires in their camp, he marched all 
 night to those enemies that were at Emmaus; 
 so that when Gorgias found no enemy in their 
 camp, but suspected that they were retired 
 and had hidden themselves^ among the moun- 
 tains, he resolved to go and seek them where- 
 soever they were. But, about break of day, 
 Judas appeared to those enemies that were at 
 Emipaus, with only three thousand men, and 
 those ill armed, by reason of their poverty; 
 and when he saw the enemy very well and 
 skilfully fortified in their camp, he encouraged 
 ihe Jews, and told them, that they ought to 
 .fight, though it were with their naked bodies, 
 for that God had sometimes of old given 
 such men strength, and that against such as 
 wei'e more in number, and were armed also, 
 out of regard to their great courage. So he 
 cogimanded the trumpeters to sound for the 
 V ule: and by thus falling upon the enemy 
 w^'-'n they did not expect it, and thereby 
 astonishing and disturbing their minds, he slew 
 many of those that resisted him, and went on 
 pursuing the rest as far as Gadara, and the 
 plains of Idumea, and Ashdod, and Jamnia: 
 and of these tiiere fell about three thousand. 
 Yet did Judas exhort his soldiers not to be 
 too desirous of the spoils, for that still they 
 must have a contest and battle with Gorgias, 
 and the forces that were \vith him : but that 
 when they had once overcome them, then they 
 might securely plunder the camp, because 
 they were the only enemies remaining, and 
 they expected no others. And just an ho 
 was speaking to his soldiers, Gorgias's men 
 looked down into that army which they left in 
 
332 
 
 ANTIQUrriES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XII 
 
 their camp, and saw that it was overthio\\ai, 
 and the camp burnt; for the smoke ihat 
 arose from it showed them, even when they 
 were a great way off, what had happened. 
 When, therefore, those that were with Gor- 
 gias understood that things were in this pos- 
 ture, and perceived that those that were with 
 Judas were ready to fight them, they also 
 were affrighted, and put to flight; but then 
 Judas, as though he had already beaten Gor- 
 gias's soldiers without fighting, returned, and 
 seized on the spoils. He took a great quan- 
 tity of gold and silver, and purple, and blue, 
 and then returned home with joy, and singing 
 hymns to God for their good success; for this 
 victory greatly contributed to the recovery of 
 their liberty. 
 
 5. Hereupon Lysias was confounded at the 
 defeat of the army which he had sent, and the 
 next year he got together sixty thousand cho- 
 sen men. He also took five thousand horse- 
 men, and fell upon Judea; and he went up 
 to the hill country of Bethsur, a village of 
 Judea, and pitched his camp there, where 
 Judas met him with ten thousand men; and 
 when he saw the great number of his enemies, 
 he prayed to God that he would assist him, 
 and joined battle with the first of the enemy 
 that appeared, and beat them, and slew about 
 five thousand of them, and thereby became 
 terrible to the rest of them. Nay, indeed, 
 Lysia% observing the great spirit of the Jews, 
 how they were prepared to die rather than 
 lose their liberty, and being afraid of their 
 desperate way of*fighting, as if it were real 
 strength, he took the rest of the army back 
 with him, and returned to Antioch, where he 
 listed foreigners into the service, and prepared 
 to fall upon Judea with a greater iarmy. 
 
 6. When, therefore, the generals of Antio- 
 chus's armies had been beaten so often, Judas 
 assembled the people together, and told them, 
 that after these many victories which God 
 had given them, they ought to go up to Jeru- 
 salem, and purify the temple, and offer the 
 appointed sacrifices. But as soon as he, with 
 the whole multitude, was come to Jerusalem, 
 and found the temple deserted, and its gates 
 burnt down, and plants growing in the temple 
 of their own accord, on account of its deser- 
 tion, he and those that were with him began 
 to lament, and were quite confounded at the 
 sight of the temple; so he chose out. some 
 of his soldiers, and gave them order to fight 
 against those guards that were in the citadel, 
 until he should have purified the temple. 
 When, therefore, he had carefully purged it, 
 and had brought in new vessels, the candle- 
 stick, the table [of shew-bread], and the altar 
 [of incense], which were made of gold, he 
 hung up the veils at the gates, and added 
 doors to them. He also took down the altar 
 [of burnt-ofTering], and built a new one of 
 gtones tnat he gathered together, and not of 
 tuch a$ were hewn with iron tool*. So on 
 
 the five and twentieth day of the month Cas- 
 leu, which the Macedonians called Apelleus, 
 they lighted the lamps that were on the can- 
 dlestick, and offered incense upon the altar 
 [of incense], and laid the loaves upon thtf 
 table [of shew-bread], and offered burnt-offei* 
 ings upon the new altar [of burnt-olferlugj 
 Now it so fell out, that these things were don 
 on the very same day on which their divin 
 worship had fallen off, and was reduced to 
 profane and common use, after three years 
 time; for so it was, that the temple was mad 
 desolate by Antiochus, and so continued fo 
 three years. This desolation happened to th 
 temple in the hundred forty and fifth year 
 on the twenty-fifth day of the month Apel- 
 leus, and on the hundred and fifty - thir 
 olympiad : but it was dedicated anew, on the 
 same day, the twenty-fifth of the month Apel- 
 leus, in the hundred and forty -eighth year, 
 and on the hundred and fifty-fourth olympiad. 
 And this desolution came to pass according 
 to the prophecy of Daniel, which was given 
 four hundred and eight years before; for he 
 declared that the Macedonians would dissolve 
 that worship [for some time]. 
 
 7. Now Judas celebrated the festival of 
 the restoration of the sacrifices of the temple 
 for eight days; and omitted no sort of plea- 
 sures thereon: but he feasted them upoi» very 
 rich and splendid sacrifices; and he honoured 
 God, and delighted them, by hymns and 
 psalms. Nay, they were so very glad at the 
 revival of their customs, when after a long 
 time of intermission, they unexpectedly had 
 regained the freedom of their worship, that 
 they made it a law for their posterity, that 
 they should keep a festival, on account of the 
 restoration of their temple worship, for eight 
 days. And from that time to this we cele- 
 brate this festival, and call it Lights. I 
 suppose the reason was, because this liberty 
 beyond our hopes appeared to us; and that 
 thence was the name given to that festival. 
 Judas also rebuilt the walls round about the 
 city, and reared towers of great height against 
 the incursions of enemies, and set guards 
 therein. He also fortified the city Bethsura, 
 that it might serve as a citadel against any 
 distresses that might come from our enemies. 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 HOW JUDAS SUBDUED THE NATIONS ROUND 
 /BOUT; AND HOW SIMON BEAT THE PEO- 
 PLE OF TYKE AND PTOLEMAIS; AND HOW 
 JUDAS OVEUTHREW TIMOTHEUS, AND 
 FORCED HIM TO FLY AWAY, AND DID MANY* 
 OTHER THINGS AFTER JOSEPH AND AZA- 
 BIAS HAD BEEN BEATEN. 
 
 .4 1. When these things were over, the nations 
 round about lh« Je^vs wer« very unc^sy 
 
CHAP. vni. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS* 
 
 333 
 
 at the revival of -their power, and rose up 
 together, and destroyed many of them, as 
 gaining advantage over them by laying snares 
 for them, and making* secret conspiracies 
 against them. Judas made perpetual expedi- 
 tions against these men, and endeavoured to 
 restrain them from those incursions, and to 
 prevent the mischiefs they did to the Jews. 
 So he feH upon the Idu'means, tlie posterity 
 of Esau, at Acrabattene, and slew a great 
 many of them, and took their spoils. He also 
 shut up the sons of Bean, that laid wait for 
 the Jews; and he sat down about them, and 
 besieged them, and burnt their towers, and 
 destroyed the men [that were in them]. After 
 this he went thence in haste against the 
 Ammonites, who had a great and a numerous 
 army, of which Tiraotheus was the com- 
 mander. And when he had subdued them, he 
 seized on the city Jazer, and took their wives 
 and their children captives, and burnt the 
 city, and then returned into Judea. But 
 when the neighbouring nations understood 
 that he was returned, they got together in 
 great numbers in the land of Gilead, and 
 came against those Jews that were at their 
 borders, who then fled to the garrison of Da- 
 thema; and sent to Judas, to inform him that 
 Timotheus was endeavouring to take the 
 place whither they were fled. And as these 
 epistles were reading, there came other mes- 
 sengers out of Galilee, who informed him that 
 the inhabitants of Ptolemais, and of Tyre and 
 Sidon, and strangers of Gidilee, Were gotten 
 together. . •/ 
 
 2. Accordingly Judas, upon considering 
 what was fit to be done with relation to the 
 necessity both these cases required, gave order 
 that Simon his brother should take three 
 thousand chosen men, and go to the assistance 
 of the Jews in Galilee, while he and another 
 of his brothers, Jonathan, made haste into the 
 land of Gilead with eight thousand soldiers. 
 And he left Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and 
 Azarias, to be over the rest of the forces; and 
 charged them to keep Judea very carefully, 
 md to fight no battles with any persons 
 whomsoever until his return. Accordingly, 
 Simon went into Galilee, and fought the ene- 
 my, and put them to flight, and pursued them 
 to the very gates of Ptolemais, and slew about 
 three thousand of them, and took the spoils of 
 those that were slain, and those Jews whom 
 they had made captives, with their baggage, 
 and then returned home. 
 
 3. Now as for Judas Maccabeus, and his 
 brother Jonathan, they passed over the river 
 Jordan ; and when they had gone three days 
 journey, they lighted upon the Nabateans, who 
 came to meet them peaceably, and who told 
 them how the affairs of those in the land of 
 Gilead stood, and how many of them were 
 in distress, and driven into garrisons, and into 
 the cities of Galilee; and exhorted him to 
 make ba«te to ^o agninst the foreigneri, and 
 
 to endeavour to save his owti countrymen out 
 of their handa. To this exhortation Judas 
 hearkened, and returned into the wilderness; 
 and in the first place fell upon the inhabitants 
 of Bosor, and took the city, and beat the in- 
 habitants, and destroj'ed all the males, and all 
 that were able to fight, and burnt the city. 
 Nor did he stop even when night came on, 
 but he journeyed in it to the garrison where 
 the Jews happened to be then shut up, and 
 where Timotheus lay round the place with 
 his army: and Judas came upon the city in 
 the morning; and when he found that the 
 enemy were making an assault upon the 
 walls, and that some of them brought ladders, 
 on which they might get upon those walls, 
 and that others brought engines [to batter 
 them], he bid the trumpeter to sound his 
 trumpet, and he encouraged his soldiers cheer- 
 fully to undergo dangers for the sake of their 
 brethren and kindred; he also parted his army 
 into three bodies, and fell upon the backs 
 of their enemies. But when Timotheus's 
 men perceived that it was Maccabeus that was 
 upon them, of both whose courage and good 
 success in war they had formerly had suf- 
 ficient experience, they were put to flight; 
 but Judas followed them with his army, and 
 slew about eight thousand of them. He then 
 turned aside to a city of the foreigners called 
 Malle, and took it, and slew all the males, 
 and burnt the city itself. He then removed 
 from thence, and overthrew Casphom and 
 Bosor, and many other cities of the land of 
 GHead. 
 
 4. But not long after this, Timotheus pre- 
 pared a great army, and took many others as 
 auxiliaries; and induced some of the Arabians, 
 by the promise of rewards, to go with hira 
 in this expedition, and came \A'ith his army 
 beyond the brook, over against the city 
 Raphon: and he encouraged his soldiers, if 
 it came to a battle with the Jews, to fight 
 courageously, and to hinder their passing over 
 the brook; for he said to them beforehand, 
 that, " if they come over it, we shall be beat- 
 en." And when Judas heard that Timotheus 
 prepared himself to fight, he took all his o^vn 
 army, and went in haste against Timotheus 
 his enemy; and when he had passed over the 
 brook, he fell upon his enemies, and some of 
 them met him, whom he slew, and others 
 of them he so terrified, that he compelled 
 them to throw down their arms and fly; and 
 some of them escaped, but some of them fled 
 to what was called the Temple of Carnaim, * 
 and hoped thereby to preserve themselves^ 
 but Judas took the city, and slew them, and 
 burnt the temple, and so used several ways of 
 destroying his enemies. 
 
 5. When he had done this, he gathered the 
 Jews together, with their children, and >vives, 
 and the substance that belonged to them, and 
 was going to bring them back into Judea. 
 But as soon .> k.u wnty t'«w« to a eartain oXy^ 
 
334 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK Xfl. 
 
 tlie name of which was Ephron, that lay up- 
 on the road (and as it was not possible for 
 him to go any other way, so he was not will- 
 ing to go back again), he then sent t-o the in- 
 habitants, and desired that they would open 
 their gates, and permit them to go on their 
 way through the city; for they had stopped 
 up the gates with stones, and cut off their pas- 
 sasje through it. And when the inhabitants 
 of Ephron would not agree to this proposal, 
 he encouraged those that were with him, and 
 encompassed the city round, and besieged it, 
 and, lying round it, by day and night, took 
 the city, and slew every male in it, and burnt 
 it all down, and so obtained a way through 
 it ; and the multitude of those that were slain 
 was so great, that they went over the dead 
 bodies. So they came over Jordan, and ar- 
 rived at the gjreat plain, over against which is 
 situate the city Bethshan, which is called by 
 the Greeks Scythopolis.* And going away 
 hastily from thence, they came into Judea, 
 singing psalms and hymns as they went, and 
 indulging such tokens of mirth as are usual 
 in triumphs upon victory. They also offered 
 thank-offerings, both for their good success, 
 and for the preservation of their army, for 
 not one of the Jews was slain in these bat- 
 tles.t 
 
 6. But as to Joseph, the son of Zacharias, 
 and Azarias, whom Judas left generals [of the 
 rest of his forces] at the same time when Si- 
 mon was in Galilee, fighting against the peo- 
 ple of Ptolemais, and Judas himself, and his 
 brother Jonathan, were in the land of Gilead, 
 did these men also affect the glory of being 
 courageous generals in war, in order whereto 
 they took the army that was under their com- 
 mand, and came to Jamnia. There Gorgias, 
 the general of the forces of Jamnia, met 
 them ; and upon joining battle with him, they 
 lo two thousand of their army,J and fled 
 av\ay, and were pursued to the very borders 
 of Judea. And this misfortune befel them 
 by their disobedience to what injunctions Ju- 
 das had given them, not to fight with any one 
 before his return. For besides the rest of 
 Judas's sagacious counsels, one may well 
 wonder at this concerning the misfortune that 
 
 • The reason why Bethshan was called Scythopolis is 
 well known from Herodotus, b. i. page 105, and Syncel- 
 lus, p. 214, that the Scythians, when they over-ran Asia, 
 lu the days of Josiah, seized on this city, and kept it as 
 lonsi us they continued in Asia; from which time it re. 
 taiu»ii the name of iicythopolis, or the City of the Scy- 
 thiai>a. 
 
 + This most proyidential preservation of all the reli- 
 Kir<u» JeWd in this expedition, which was according to 
 the will of God, is observablt ofien among God's people, 
 till- Jews; and somewhat very like it in the changes of 
 the four monarchies, which were also providential. See 
 Prideaux at the years 331. :I33, and 334. 
 
 } Here is another great instance of providence. that 
 when, even at the very time that 8imon, and Judas, and 
 Jonathan, were so miraculously preserved and blessed, in 
 the just defence of their laws and religion, these other ge- 
 nen>.lii of the Jews, who went tu (ighi for honour in a 
 vaitiKlorious way. and without any Ci)mn)i«8ion from God, 
 or the fumily he had ruitted up lo deliver them, were ml- 
 MJubijF di«appuipUd a«4 (l«ii»ated. i$*i« 1 Mac. v. bt, ij'i. 
 
 befel the forces commanded by Joseph and 
 Azarias, which he understood would happen 
 if they broke any of the injunctions he had 
 given them. But Judas and his brethren did 
 not leave off fighting with the Idumeans, but 
 pressed upon them on allsides^and took from 
 them the city of Hebron, and demohshed alf^ 
 its fortifications, and set all its towers on fire, 
 and burnt the country of the foreigners, and 
 the city Marissa, They came also to Ash- 
 dod, and took it, and laid it waste, and took 
 away a great deal of the spoils and prey that 
 were in it, and returned to Judea. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CONCERNING THE DEATH OF ANTIOCHUS EP5- 
 PHANES;HOWANT10CHUSEUPATORFOUGH'y 
 AGAINST JUDAS, AND BESIEGED HIM IN THB 
 TEMPLE, AND AFTERWARDS MADE PEACE 
 WITH HIM, AND DEPARTED. OF ALCIMU* 
 AND ONIAS. 
 
 § 1. About this time it was that king An- 
 tiochus, as he was going over the upper coun- 
 tries, heard that there was a very rich city in 
 Persia, called Elymais; and therein a very 
 rich temple of Diana, and that it was full of 
 all sorts of donations dedicated to it; as aLo 
 weapons and breast-plates, vi'hich, upon in- 
 quiry, he found had been left there by Alex- 
 ander, the son of. Philip, king of Macedonia^ 
 and being incited by these motives, he went 
 in haste to Elymais, and assaulted it, and be- 
 sieged it. But as those that were in it were 
 not terrified at his assault, nor at his siege, 
 but opposed him very courageously, he waa 
 beaten off his hopes; for they drove him away 
 from the city, and went out and pursued af- 
 ter him, insomuch that he fled away as fax a» 
 Babylon, and lost a great many of his army ; 
 and when he was grieving for this disappoint- 
 ment, some persons told him of the defeat of 
 his commanders whom he had left behind hiiu 
 to fight against Judea, and what strength the 
 Jews had already gotten. When this concern 
 about these affairs was added to the former, 
 he was confounded, and, by the anxiety he 
 was in, fell into a distemper, which, as it last- 
 ed a great while, and as his pains increased 
 upon him, so he at length perceived he should 
 die in a little time; so he called his friends 
 to him, and told them that his distemper was 
 severe upon him, and confessed withal, that 
 this calamity was sent upon him for the mi- 
 series he had brought upon the Jewish nation, 
 while he plundered their temple and contemned 
 their God; and when he had said this, he 
 gave up the ghost. Whence one may wonder ut 
 Polybius of Megalopolis, who, though other- 
 wise a good man, yet saitb that " AntiochU'^ 
 (lied, because he had a pypose to plunder the 
 j temple of Diana in Ferbia " for the purj>osiiii4, 
 
mi 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 335 
 
 to do a thing,* but not actually doing it, 
 is not worthy of punishment. But if Poly- 
 bius could think that Aiitiochus thus lost his 
 life on that account, it is much more probable 
 that this king died on account of his sacrilegi- 
 ous plundering of the temple at Jerusalem. 
 But we will not contend about this matter 
 with those who may think that the cause as- 
 signed by this Polybius of Megalopolis is 
 nearer the truth than that assigned by us. 
 
 2. However, Antiochus, before he died, 
 called for Philip, who was one of his compa- 
 nions, and made him the guardian of his kiiig- 
 doui; and gave him his diadem, and his gar- 
 ment, and his ring, and charged him to carry 
 them, and deliver them to his son Antiochus; 
 and desired him to take care of his education, 
 and to preserve the kingdom for him.f This 
 Antiochus died in the hundred forty and ninth 
 year: but it was Lysias that declared his 
 death to the multitude, and appointed his son 
 Antiochus to be king (of whom at present he 
 had the care), and called him Eupator. 
 
 3. At this time it was that the garrison 
 in the citadel at Jerusalem, with the Jewish 
 runagates, did a great deal of harm to the 
 Jews: for the soldiers that were in that gar- 
 rison rushed out upon the sudden, and de- 
 stroyed such as were going up to the temple 
 in order to offer their sacrifices, for this cita- 
 del adjoined to and overlooked the temple. 
 When these misfortunes had often happened 
 to them, Judas resolved to destroy that garri- 
 son; whereupon he got all the people toge- 
 ther, and vigorously besieged those that were 
 in the citadel. This was in the hundred and 
 fiftieth year of the dominion of the Seleucidae. 
 So he made engines of war, and erected 
 bulwarks, and very zealously pressed on to 
 trike the citadel. But there were not a few 
 >f the runagates who were in the place, that 
 went out by night into the country, and got 
 together some other wicked-men like them- 
 selves, and went to Antiochus the king, and 
 desired of him that he would not suffer them 
 to be neglected, under the great hardships that 
 lay upon them from those of their own nation ; 
 and this because their sufferings were occasion- 
 ed ou his father's account, while they left the 
 religious worship of their fathers, and preferred 
 timt which he had commanded them to fol- 
 low: that there was danger lest the citadel, 
 and those appointed to garrison it by the king, 
 
 * "^ince St, Paul, a Pharisee, confesses that he had not 
 known concupiscence, or desires, to be jiinful, had nol 
 the teiUh commandment said, " Thou shalt not covet." 
 R'jin.vii 7; the case seems to haye been much the same 
 with our Jos»"phus. who was of the same sect, that he 
 had not a deep sense of the greatness of any sins that 
 proceeded no farther than the intention. fJowever. 
 eince Jo.-*ephus speaks properly of the punishment of 
 death, which is not inflicte<l by any law, either of God' 
 or man, for the bare intention, his words need not he 
 strained to mean, that sins intended, but not executed, 
 were no sins at all. 
 
 + No wonder that .losephns here de.scribes Antiochus 
 Kupator ai young, and wanting tuition, when he ca ne 
 t'l the crown, since Appian informs us (Syriac. p. 177) 
 that be was then but oint- years old. 
 
 should be taken by Judas and those that'were 
 v\atb him, unless he would send them suc- 
 cours. When Antiochus, who was but a child, 
 heard this, be was angry, and sent for his cap- 
 tains and his friends, and gave order that they 
 should get an army of mercenaries together, 
 with such men also of his own kingdom as 
 were of an age fit for war. Accordingly, an 
 army was collected of about a hundred thou- 
 sand footmen, and twenty thousand horsemen, 
 and* thirty-two elephants. 
 
 4. So the king took this army, and marched 
 hastily out of Antioch, with Lysias, who had 
 the command of the whole, and came to 
 Idumea, and thence went up to the city Beth- 
 sura, a city that was strong, and not to be 
 taken without great difficulty. He set about 
 this city, and besieged it; and while the in- 
 habitants of Bethsura courageously opposed 
 him, and sallied out upon him, and burnt his 
 engines of war, a great deal of time was spent 
 in the siege; but when Judas heard of the 
 king's coming, he raised the siege of the cita- 
 del, and met the king, and pitched his camp 
 in certain straits, at a place called Bethzacha- 
 riah, at the distance of seventy furlongs from 
 the enemy; but the king soon drew his forces 
 from Bethsura, and brought them to those 
 straits; and as soon as it was day, he put his 
 men in battle-array, and made his elephants 
 follow one another through the narrow passes, 
 because they could not be set sideways by 
 
 i one another. Now round about every ele- 
 I phant there were a thousand footmen and five 
 hundred horsemen. The elephants also had 
 high towers [upon their backs], and archers 
 [in them] ; and he also made the rest of his 
 army to go up the mountains, aiui put his 
 friends before the rest; and gave orders for 
 the army to shout aloud, and so he attacked 
 the enemy. He also exposed to sight their 
 golden and brazen shields, so that a glorious 
 splendour was sent from them ; and when 
 they shouted, the mountains echoed again. 
 When Judas saw this, he was not terrified, 
 but received the enemy with great courage, 
 and slew about six hundred of the first ranks. 
 But when bis brother Eleazar, whom they 
 called Auran, saw the tallest of all the ele- 
 phants armed with royal breast- plates, and 
 supposed that the king was upon him, he 
 attacked him with great quickness and bra- 
 very. He also slew many of those that were 
 about the elephant, and scattered the rest, 
 and then went under the belly of the ele- 
 phant, and smote him, and slew him; so the 
 elephant fell upon Eleazar, and by his weight 
 crushed him to death. And thus did this 
 man come to his end, when he had first cou- 
 rageously destroyed many of his enemies. 
 
 5. But Judas, seeing the strength of the 
 enemy, retired to Jerusalem, and prepared to 
 endure a siege. As for Antiochus, hn sent 
 part of his army to Bethsura, to besiege it, 
 and with the rest of his army he came agaiott 
 
336 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 Jerusalem; but the inhabitants of Bethsura 
 were terrified at his strength; and seeing 
 that their provisions grew scarce, they deli- 
 vered themselves up on the security of oaths 
 that they should suffer no hard treatment 
 from the king. And when Antiochus had 
 thus taken the city, he did them no other 
 harm than sending them out naked. He also 
 placed a gapfison of his own in the city: but 
 as for the temple of Jerusalem, he lay at its 
 siege a long time, while they within bravely 
 defended it; for what engines soever the king 
 set against them, they set other engines again 
 •to 0[)pose them. But then their provisions 
 failed them ; what fruits of the ground they had 
 laid up were spent, and the land being not 
 ploughed that year, continued unsowed, be- 
 cause it was the seventh year, on which, by 
 our laws, we are obliged to let it lie unculti- 
 vated. And withal, so many of the besieged 
 ran away for want of necessaries, that but a 
 few only were left in the temple. 
 
 6. And these happened to be Ihe circum- 
 stances of such as were besieged in the tem- 
 ple. But then, because Lysias, the general 
 of the army, and Antiochus, the king, were 
 informed that Philip was corrjjng upon them 
 out of Persia, and was endeavouring to get 
 the management of public affairs to himself, 
 they came into these sentiments, to leave the 
 siege, and to make haste to go against Phi- 
 lip; yet did they resolve not to let this be 
 known to the soldiers or the officers; but the 
 king commanded Lysias to speak openly to 
 the soldiers and the officers, without saying a 
 word about the business of Philip; and to 
 intimate to them that the siege would be very 
 ^ong; that the place was very strong; that 
 they were already in want of provisions; 
 that many affairs of the kingdom wanted re- 
 gulation; and that it was much better to 
 make a league with the besieged, and to be- 
 come friends to their whole nation, by per- 
 mitting them to observe the laws of their fa- 
 thers, while they broke out into this war only 
 because they were deprived of them, and so to 
 depart home. When Lysias had discoursed 
 thus with them, both the army and the officers 
 were pleased with this resolution. 
 
 7. Accordingly the king sent to Judas, and 
 to those that were besieged with him, and 
 promised to give them peace, and to permit 
 them to make use of and live according to 
 the laws of their fathers; and they gladly re- 
 ceived his proposals; and when they had 
 giiined security upon oath for their perform- 
 ance, they went out of the temple: but when 
 Antiochus came into it, and saw how strong 
 the place was, he broke his oaths, and ordered 
 his army that was there to pluck down the 
 walls to the ground; and when he had so 
 done, he returned to Antioch. He also car- 
 ried with him Onias the high-priest, who was 
 also called Menelaus; for Lysias aci vised the 
 kin^ to slay Men«lauii, if he would have the 
 
 Jews be quiet, and cause him no farther disturb- 
 ance, for that this man was the origin of aU 
 the mischief the Jews had done them, by per- 
 suading his father to compel the Jews to leave 
 the religion of their fathers; so the king sent 
 Menelaus to Berea, a city of Syria, and there 
 had hicn put to death, when he had been 
 high-priest ten years. He had been a wicked 
 and an impious man; and, in order to get 
 the government to himself, had compelled his 
 nation to transgress their own laws. After 
 the death of Menelaus, Alcimus, who was 
 also called Jacimus, was made hi^h-priest. 
 But when king Antiochus found that Philip 
 had already possessed himself of the govern- 
 ment, he made war against him, and subdued 
 him, and took him, and slew him. I^ow, as 
 to Onias, the son of the high-priest, who, as 
 we before informed you, was left a child 
 when his father died, when he saw that the 
 king had slain his uncle Menelaus, and givi-fi 
 the high-priesthood to Alcimus, who was not 
 of the high-priest stock, but was induced by 
 Lysias to translate that dignity from his fa- 
 mily to another house, he tied to Ptolemy, 
 king of Egypt; and when he found he was 
 in great esteem with him, and with his wife 
 Cleopatra, he desired and obtained a place in 
 the JS'omus of Heliopolis, wherein he built a 
 temple hke to that at Jerusalem; of which, 
 therefore, we shall hereafter give an account, 
 in a place more proper for it. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 now BACCHIDES, THE GENERAL OF DEMETRI- 
 US'S ARMY, MADE AN EXPEDITION AGAINST 
 JUDEA, AND RETURNED WITHOUT SUC- 
 CESS; AND HOW NICANOR WAS SENT A 
 LITTLE AFTERWARD AGAINST JUDAS, AND 
 PKRISIIED, TOGETHER WITH HIS ARMY; AS 
 ALSO CONCERNING THE DEATH OF ALCI- 
 MUS, AND THE SUCCESSION OF JUDAS. 
 
 § 1. About the same time Demetrius, the 
 son of Seleucus, tied away from Rome, and 
 took Tripoli, a city of Syria, and set the dia- 
 dem on his own head. He also gathered cer- 
 tain mercenary soldiers together, and entered 
 into his kingdom, and was joyfully received 
 by all, who delivered themselves up to him; 
 and when they had taken Antiochus, the 
 king, and Lysias, they brought them to him 
 alive; both whom were immediately put to 
 death by the command of Demetrius, wiieu 
 Antiochus had reigned two years, as we have 
 already elsewhere related; but there were 
 now many of the wicked Jewish runagates 
 that came together to him, and with them 
 Alcimus the high-priest, who accused the 
 whole nation, and particularly Judas and hiii 
 brethren; and said that they had slain all his 
 fri»;i>di>; auJ that tVio<'>' in his kingdom that 
 
CHAP. X, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 337 
 
 were of his party, and waited for his return, 
 were by them put to death; that these men 
 had ejected them out of their own country, 
 and caused them to be sojourners in a foreign 
 land; and they desired that he would send 
 some oue of his own friends, and know from 
 him what mischief Judas's party had done. 
 
 2. At this Demetrius was very angry, and 
 sent Bacchides, a friend of Antiochus Epi- 
 phanes,* a good man, and one that had been 
 intrusted with all Mesopotamia, and gave him 
 an army, and committed Alcimus the high- 
 priest to his care ; and gave him charge to 
 slay Judas, and those that were with him. 
 So Bacchides made haste, and went out of 
 Antioch with his army ; and when he was 
 come into Judea, he sent to Judas and his 
 brethren, to discourse with him about a league 
 of'friendship and peace, for he had a mind to 
 take him by treachery; but Judas did not 
 give credit to him, for he saw that he came 
 with so great an army as men do not bring 
 when they come to make peace, but to make 
 war. However, some of the people acqui- 
 esced in what Bacchides caused to be pro- 
 claimed ; and supposing they should undergo 
 no considerable harm from Alcimus, who was 
 their countryman, they went over to them ; 
 and when they had received oaths from both 
 of them, that neither they themselves nor 
 those of the same sentiments should come to 
 any harm, they intrusted themselves with 
 them ; but Bacchides troubled not himself 
 about the oaths he had taken, but slew three- 
 score of them ; although, by not keeping his 
 faith with those that first went over, he de- 
 terred all the rest, who had intentions to go 
 over to him, from doing it; but as he was 
 gone out to Jerusalem, and was at the village 
 called Bethzetho, he sent out and caught 
 many of the deserters, and some of the peo- 
 ple also, and slew them all; and enjoined all 
 that lived in the country to submit to Alci- 
 mus. So he left him there, with some part 
 of the army, that he might have wherewith to 
 keep the country in obedience, and returned 
 to Antioch to king Demetrius. 
 
 3. But Alcimus was desirous to have the 
 dominion more firmly assured to him ; and 
 understanding that if he could bring it about 
 that the multitude should be his friends, he 
 should govern with greater security, he spake 
 kind words to them all, and discoursed to each 
 of them after an agreeable and pleasant man- 
 ner : by which means he quickly had a great 
 body of men and an army about him, although 
 the greater part of them were of the vvick^o, 
 and the deserters. With these, whom he used 
 as his servants and soldiers, he went all over 
 
 • It is no way pr.bable that Jos^phus would call Bac- 
 chiil<;s, that bittiT and blocxly enemy ol the Jews, as our 
 nrt!>ent copit-s have it. a man go d, or kind, and gentle 
 what the authur of the first book of Maccabees, whom 
 Josephus here follows, instead of that character, says of 
 him, is, that he was a ercat man in the kingdom, and 
 faithfnl to his king; which was very probably Josephus's 
 ueAnias aim. 
 
 the country, and slew all that he could find 
 of Judas's party; but when Judas saw that 
 Alcimus was already become great, and had 
 destroyed many of the good and holy men of 
 the country, he als<> went all over the country 
 and destroyed those that were of the other 
 party; but when Alcimus saw that he was 
 not able to oppose Judas, nor was equal to 
 him in strength, he resolved to apply himself 
 to king Demetrius for his assistance ; so he 
 came to Antioch, and irritated him against 
 Judas, and accused him, alleging that he had 
 undergone a great many miseries by this 
 means, and that he would do more mischie. ^ 
 unless he were prevented, and brought to pu- 
 nishment, which must be done by sending a 
 powerful force against him. 
 
 4. So Demetrius, being already of opinion 
 that it would be a thing pernicious to his own 
 affairs to overlook Judas, now he was becom- 
 ing so great, sent against him Nicanor, the 
 most kind and most faithful of all his friends; 
 for he it was who fled away with him from 
 the city of Rome. He also gave him as many 
 forces as he thought sufficient for him to con- 
 quer Judas withal, and bade him not to spare 
 the nation at all. When Nicanor was come 
 to Jerusalem, he did not resolve to fight Judas 
 immediately, but judged it better to get him 
 into his power by treachery ; so he sent him 
 a message of peace, and said there was no 
 manner of necessity for them to fight and 
 hazard themselves; and that he would give 
 him his oath that he would do him no harm, 
 for that he only came with some friends, in 
 order to let him know what king Demetrius's 
 intentions were, and what opinion he had oi 
 their nation. When Nicanor had delivered 
 this message, Judas and his brethren complied 
 with him, and suspecting no deceit, they gave 
 him assurances of friendship, and received 
 Nicanor and his army ; but while he was sa- 
 luting Judas, and they were talking together, 
 he gave a certain signal to his own soldiers, 
 upon which they were to seize upon Judas; 
 but he perceived the treachery, and ran back 
 to his own soldiers, and fled away with them. 
 So upon this discovery of his purpose, and of 
 the snares laid for Judas, Nicanor determined 
 to make open war with him, and gathered his 
 army together, and prepared for fighting him; 
 and upon joining battle with him at a certain 
 village called Capharsalama, he beat Judas,f 
 and forced him to fly to that citadel which 
 was at Jerusalem. 
 
 6 And when Nicanor came down from the 
 citadel into the temple, some of the priests 
 and elders met him, and saluted him ; and 
 
 ■f Josephus's copies must have been corrupted when 
 they here give victory to Nicanor, contrary to the words 
 following, which imply, that he who was beaten fled into 
 the citadel, which for certain beloneed to the city of Da- 
 vid or to mount Zion, and was in the possession of Nica- 
 nor's garrison, and not of Judas's; as also it is contrary 
 to the express words of Josephus's orisjinal author, I 
 Maccab. vii. ;}2, who says that Nicanor lost about S^CiOO 
 meu, and fled to the city of David. 
 
338 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIL 
 
 showed him the gacrifices which thev gaid 
 they offered to God for the kiiig: upon whi(rh 
 he blasphemed, and threatened them, that un- 
 less the people would deliver up Judas to him, 
 upon his return he would pull down their tem- 
 ple. And when he had thus threatened them, 
 he departed from Jerusalem: but the priests 
 fell into tears out of grief at what he had said, 
 and besought God to deliver them from their 
 enemies. But now Kicanor, when he was 
 gone out of Jerusalem, and was at a certain 
 village called Bethoron, he there pitched his 
 camp, — another army out of Syria having 
 joined him. And Judas pitched his camp at 
 Adasa, another village, which was thirty fur- 
 longs distant from Bethoron, iiaving no more 
 than one thousand soldiers. And when he 
 had encouraged them not to he dismayed at 
 the multitude of their enemies, nor to regard 
 how many they were against whom they were 
 going to fight, but to consider who they 
 themselves were, and for what great rewards 
 they hazarded themselves, and to attack the 
 enemy courageously, he led them out to fight, 
 and joining battle with Nicanor, which proved 
 to be a severe one, he overcame the enemy, 
 and slew many of them; and at last Nicanor 
 himself, as he was fighting gloriously, fell: — 
 upon whose fall the army did not stay; but 
 when ihey had lost their general, they were 
 put to flight, and threw down their arn)s. 
 Judas also pursued them and slew them; and 
 gave notice by the sound of his trumpets to 
 the neighbouring villages that he had con- 
 quered the enemy; which when the inhabi- 
 tants heard, they put on their armour hastily, 
 and met their enemies in the face as they were 
 running away, and slew them, insomuch that 
 not one of them escaped out of this battle ; 
 who were in number nine thousand. This 
 victory happened to fall on the thirteenth day 
 of that month which by the Jews is called 
 Adar, and by the Macedonians Dystrus: and 
 the Jews therein celebrate this victory every 
 year, and esteem it as a festival day. After 
 which the Jewish nation were, for a while, 
 free from wars, and enjoyed peace; but after- 
 ward they returned into their former state of 
 wars and hazards. 
 
 6. But now as the high-priest Alcimus was 
 resolving tr» pull down the wall of the sanc- 
 tuary, which had been there of old time, and 
 had been built by the holy prophets,* he was 
 smitten suddeidy by God, and fell down. 
 This stroke made him fall down speechless 
 upon the ground; and undergoing torments 
 for many days, he at length died, when he 
 had been high-priest four years. And when 
 
 * This account of the miserable death of Alcimus or 
 Jariniiis, the wicked hiuh-priest (the first that was nut 
 of the family of the hiKh-priests, and made by a vile 
 heathen, l.ynias), before the death of Jndus, and ot Ju- 
 das*s succession to him as hiiih-priest, both here and at 
 the couduition of this book, directly contradicts 1 Mac. 
 IX. £1--^, which places his death after the death of Ju- 
 das, and Mjt not a syllabte of the higb-priestbood of 
 Judiu. 
 
 he was dead, the people hestowed the high", 
 priesthood on Judas; who hearing of the povver 
 of the Roman8,t and that they had conquered 
 in war Galatia, and Iberia, and Carthage, and 
 Lybia; and that, besides these, they had sub- 
 dued Greece, and their kings, Perseus, and 
 Philip, and Antiochus the Great also, he 
 resolved to enter into a league of friend- 
 ship with them. He therefore sent to Rome 
 some of his friends, Eupolemus the son ot 
 John, and Jason the son of Eleazar, and by 
 them desired the Romans that they would as- 
 sist them, and be their friends, and would 
 write to Demetrius that he would not fight 
 against the Jews. So the senate received the 
 ambassadors that came from Judas to Rome, 
 and discoursed with them about the errand on 
 which they came, and then granted them a 
 league of assistance. They also made aMe- 
 cree concerning it, and sent a copy of it into 
 Judea. It was also laid up in the capitol, 
 and engraven in brass. The decree itself was 
 this: — " The decree of the senate concerning 
 a league of assistance and friendship with the 
 nation of the Jews. It shall not be lawful 
 for any that are subject to the Romans to 
 make war with the nation of the Jews, nor to 
 assist those that do so, either by sending them 
 corn, or ships, or money. And if any attack 
 be made upon the Jews, the Romans shall 
 assist them, as far as they are able; and again, 
 if any attack be made upon the Romans, the 
 Jews shall assist them. And if the Jews have 
 a mind to add to, or to take away any thing 
 from, this league of assistance, that shall be 
 done with the common consent of the Ro- 
 mans. And whatsoever addition shall thus 
 be made, it shall be of force." This decree 
 was written by Eupolemus the son of John, 
 and by Jason the son of Eleazar,J when 
 Judas was high-priest of the nation, and Si- 
 mon his brother was general of the army. 
 And this was the first league that the Ro- 
 mans made with the Jews, and was manage(? 
 after this manner. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THAT BACCIIIDES WAS AGAIN SE«T OUT 
 AGAINST JUDAS; AND HOW JUDAS FULL aS 
 HE WAS COURAGEOUSEY FIGHTING. 
 
 § 1. But when Demetrius was informed of 
 the death of Nicanor, and of the destruction 
 
 + How well the Roman histories acree to this account 
 of the conqtieMs and powerful condition of the Flomans 
 atthiM time.— see ihe notes in Havenamp'sedition.- only, 
 that the number of the sen'-tors of Home was th-n just / 
 3-.^lt, is, I think, only known from 1 Maccab. viii. i5. 
 
 t This subscription is wanlinir, I Maccab. viii. 17, 
 29. and must he the words of Jos^'phns, who, by mis- 
 luke, thonjtht, as we have just now «ern, that Judas .vas 
 at th s time htifh-priest. and accordingly then reckoned 
 his brother Jonathan to be the jreneral of the army, 
 which yet he seems not to harn been till alter tUe death 
 of J udas. 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 of the army that was with him, he sent Bac- 
 cbi(fes again with an army into Judea, who 
 marched out of Antioch, and came into Judea, 
 and pitched his camp at Arbela, a city of Ga- 
 lilee; and having besieged and taken those 
 chat were in caves (for many of the people 
 fled into such places), he removed, and made 
 all the haste he could to Jerusalem, And 
 when he had learned that Judas had pitched 
 his camp at a certain village whose name was 
 Uethzetbo. he led his array against him: they ( 
 were twenty thousand footmen, and two thou- 
 «and horsemen. Now Judas had no more sol- 
 diers than one thousand.* When these saw 
 the multitude of Bacchides's men, they were 
 afraid, and left their camp, and fled all away, 
 excepting eight hundred. Now when Judas 
 was deserted by his own soldiers, and the 
 enemy pressed upon him, and ^ave him no 
 lime to gather his anny together, he was dis- 
 posed to fight with Baccbides's army, though! 
 he had but eight hundred men with him; soi 
 he exhorted these men to undergo the danger 
 courageously, and encouraged them to attack 
 the enemy. And when they said they were 
 not a body sufficient to fight so great an army, 
 and advised that they should retire now and 
 
 ■ *ave themselves, and that when be had ga- 
 thered his own men together, then he should 
 fall upon the enemy afterwards, his answer 
 
 \was this: — 'vLet not the sun ever see such a 
 thing, that I should show my back to the 
 ienemy; and although this be the time that 
 will bring me to my end, and I must die in 
 this battle, I will rather stand to it courage- 
 
 , ously, and bear whatsoever comes upon me, 
 
 I than by now running away, bring reproach 
 upon my former great actions, or tarnish their 
 f;lory." This was the speech he made to those 
 that remained with him, and whereby he en- 
 couraged them to attack the enemy. 
 
 2. But Bacehides drew his army out of 
 their camp, and put them in array for the bat- 
 tle. He set the horsemen on both the wings, 
 aud the li?ht soldiers and the archers he 
 
 * That this copy of Josephus, as he wrote it, had here 
 Bot 1 two but a.lHJO, with 1 Mac ix. 5, is very plain; be- 
 cause thotigh ibe main part ran away at first, even in 
 Josephus, as well Ut; in 1 Mac. ix, 6, yet, as there, so 
 tiere. ^Ni are said to have remained with Judas; which 
 «'ouId b« absurd,lf the wJioie namber bad been no more 
 tkaa 1,000. 
 
 339 
 
 placed before the whole army, but was him- 
 self on the right wing. And when he had 
 thus put his army in order of battle, and was 
 going to join battle with the enemy, he com- 
 manded the trumpeter to give a signal of bat- 
 tle, and the army to make a shout, and to fall 
 on the enemy. And when Judas had done the 
 same, he joined battle with them: and as both 
 sides fought valiantly, and the battle continued 
 till sun-set, Judas saw that Bacehides and the 
 strongest part of the army was in the right 
 wing, and thereupon took the most counge- 
 ous men with him, and ran upon that part of 
 the army, and fell upon those that were, there 
 and broke their ranks, and drove them into 
 the middle, and forced them to run away, and 
 pursued them as far as to a mountain called 
 Aza; but when those of the left wing saw 
 that the right wing was put to flight, they 
 encompassed Judas, and pursued him, and 
 came behind him, and took him into the mid- 
 dle of their army; so not being able to fly, but 
 encompassed round about with enemies, he 
 stood still, and he and those that were with 
 him fought; and when he had slain a great 
 many of those that came against him, he at last 
 was himself wounded, and fell, and gave up the 
 ghost, and died in a way like to his former fa- 
 mous actions. When Judas was dead, those 
 that were with him had no one that they could 
 regard [as their commander]; but when they 
 saw themselves deprived of such a general, 
 they fled. But Simon and Jonathan, Judas's 
 brethren, received his dead body, by a treaty, 
 from the enemy, and carried it to the village 
 Modin, where their father had been buried, 
 and there buried him; while the multitude 
 lamented hina many days, and performed the 
 usual solemn rites of a funeral to him. And 
 this was the end that Judas came to. He had 
 been a man of valour and a great warrior, and 
 mindful of all the commands of his father 
 Mattathias; and had undergone all difficul- 
 ties, both in doing and suffering, for the liber- 
 ty of his countrymen. And when his cha- 
 racter was so excellent [while he was alive], 
 he left behind him a glorious reputation and 
 memorial, by gaining freedom for his nation, 
 and delivering them from slavery under the 
 Macedonians. And when he had retained the 
 high-priesthood three years, ha died. 
 
840 
 
 . BOOK XIII. 
 
 COMTAININO THE INTERVAL OF EIOHTT-fwO TEAR8L 
 
 FBOM THE DEATH OF JUDAS MACCABEUS TO QUEEN ALEXAH 
 DRA'S DEATH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW JONATHAN TOOK THE GOVERNMENT 
 AFTER HIS BROTHER JUDAS; AND HOW 
 HE, TOGETHER WITH HIS BROTHER SIMON, 
 WAGED WAR AGAINST BACCHIDES. 
 
 § 1. By what means the nation of the Jews 
 recovered their freedom when they had been 
 brought into slavery by the Macedonians, and 
 what struggles, and how many great battles, 
 Judas, the general of their army, ran through 
 till he was slain as he was fighting for them, 
 hath been related in the foregoing book : but 
 after he was dead, all the wicked and those 
 that transgressed the laws of their forefathers, 
 sprang up again in Judea, and grew upon 
 them, and distressed them on every side. A 
 famine also assisted their vvickedness, and af- 
 flicted the country, till not a few, who by reason 
 of their want of necessaries, and because they 
 were not able to bear up against the miseries 
 that both the famine and their Enemies brought 
 upon them, deserted their country, and went 
 to the Macedonians. And now Bacchides 
 gathered those Jews together who had apos- 
 tatized from the accustomed way of living 
 of their forefathers, and chose to live like 
 their neighbours, and committed the care of the 
 country to them ; who also caught the friends 
 of Judas, and those of his party, aqd deli- 
 vered them up to Bacchides, who, when he 
 bad, in the first place, tortured and tor- 
 mented them at his pleasure, he, by that 
 means, at length killed them. And when 
 this calamity of the Jews was become so 
 great, as they had never had experience of 
 the like since their return out of Babylon, 
 those that remained of the companions of 
 Judas, seeing that the nation was about to be 
 destroyed after a miserable manner, came to 
 bis brother Jonathan, and desired him that he 
 would imitate his brother, and that care 
 which he took of his countrymen, for whose 
 liberty in general he died also; and that he 
 would not permit the nation to be without a 
 fovtroor, Mpedally in those destructivs cir> 
 
 cumstances wherein it new was. And when 
 Jonathan said that he was ready to die for 
 them, and was indeed esteemed no way in- 
 ferior to his brother, he was appointed to be 
 the general of the Jewish army. 
 
 2. When Bacchides heard this, and wa» 
 afraid that Jonathan might be very trouble- 
 some to the king and the Macedonians, as 
 Judas had been before him, he sought how he 
 might slay him by treachery: but this inten- 
 tion of his was not unknown to Jonathan, nor 
 his brother Simon; but when these two were 
 apprised of it, they took all their companions,^ 
 and presently fled into that wilderness which 
 was nearest to the city ; and when they were 
 come to a lake called Asphar, they abode 
 there. But when Bacchides was sensible 
 that they were in a low state, and were in that 
 place, he hasted to fall upon them with all 
 his forces, and pitching his camp beyond Jor- 
 dan, he recruited his army; but when Jona- 
 than knew that Bacchides was coming upon- 
 him, he sent his brother John, who was also 
 called Gaddis, to the Nabatean Arabs, that 
 he might lodge his baggage with them until 
 the battle with Bacchides should be over, for 
 they were the Jews' friends. And the sons 
 of Ambri laid an ambush for John, from the 
 city Medaba, and seized upon him, and upon 
 those that were with him, and plundered alt 
 that they had with them : they also slew John, 
 and all his companions. However, they were 
 sufficiently punished for what they now did 
 by John's brethren, as we shall relate pre- 
 sently. 
 
 3. But when Bacchides knew that Jona- 
 than had pitched his camp among tiie lakes 
 of Jordan, he observed when their Sabbath- 
 day came, and then assaulted him, as supposing 
 that he would not fight because of the law 
 [for resting oa that day]: but he exhortefl 
 his compaufens [to fight];. and told them, 
 that their lives were at stake, sirce they were 
 encompassed by the river, and Vy their ene- 
 mies, and had no way to escape, for that their 
 enemies pressed upon them before, and the 
 river was Uebiud them. So, alter he bad 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 341 
 
 prayed to God to give them the victory, he 
 joined battle with the enemy, of whom he 
 overthrew many: and as he saw Baccbides 
 coming up boldly to him, he stretched out his 
 right hand to smite him; but the other fore- 
 seeing and avoiding the stroke, Jonathan with 
 his companions leaped into the river, and 
 swam over it, »n6 by that means escaped be- 
 yond Jordan, vvbile the enemy did not pass 
 over that river; but Bacchides returned pre- 
 sently to the citadel at Jerusalem, having lost 
 about two thousand of his army. He also 
 fortified many cities of Judea, whose walls 
 had been demolished ; Jericho, and Emmaus, 
 end Bethoron, and Bethel, and Timna, and 
 Pharatho, and Tecoa, and Gazara, and built 
 towers in every one of these cities, and en- 
 compassed them with strong walls, that were 
 very large also, and put garrisons into them, 
 that they might issue out of them, and do 
 mischief to the Jews. He also fortified the 
 citadel at Jerusalem more than all the rest. 
 Moreover, he took the sons of the principal 
 Jew^as pledges, and shut them up in the 
 oitadel, and in that manner guarded it. 
 
 4. About the same time, one came to Jo- 
 nathan, and to his brother Simon, and told 
 them that the sons of Ambri were celebrating 
 a marriage, and bringing the bride from the 
 city Gabatha, who was the daughter of one of 
 the illustrious men among the Arabians, and 
 that the damsel was to be conducted with 
 pomp and splendour, and much riches; so 
 Jonathan and Simon thinking this appeared 
 to be the fittest time for them to avenge the 
 death of their brother, and that they had forces 
 sulhcieut for receivnig saiistaction from them 
 for his death, tliey made haste to Aledaba, and 
 lay in wait among the mountains for the com- 
 ing of their enemies; and as soon as they saw 
 them conducting the virgin and the bride- 
 groom, and such a great company of their 
 fiien'is with them as was to be expected at this 
 wedding, they sallied out of their ambush and 
 slew them ali, and took their ornaments, and 
 all the prey that then followed them, and so 
 returned and received this satisfaction for 
 their brother John from the sons of Ambri; 
 for as well these sons themselves as their 
 friends, and wives, and children, that followed 
 them, perished, being in number about four 
 hundred. i 
 
 5. However, Simon and Jonathan returned 
 to the lakes of the river, and abode there; but 
 Bacchides, when he had secured all Judea 
 with his garrisons, returned to the king; and 
 teen it was that the affairs of Judea were quiet 
 for two years; but when the deserters and the 
 Wicked saw that Jonathan and tho«*e that were 
 witli him lived in the country very quietly, by 
 leabon cf the peace, they sent to king Deme- 
 trius, and excited bun to send Bacchides to 
 eeize upon Jonathan, which they said was tO: 
 be done without any trouble, and in one! 
 n%hi & tirne; and that it ibey fell upon them 
 
 before they were aware, they might slay them 
 all. So the king sent Bacchides, who. when 
 he was come into Judea, wrote to all bis 
 friends, both Jews and auxiliaries, that they 
 should seize upon Jonathan and bring him to 
 him; and when, upon all their endeavours, 
 they were not able to seize upon Jonathan, 
 for he was sensible of the snares they laid for 
 him, and very carefully guarded against them, 
 Bacchides was angry at these deserters, as- 
 having imposed upon him, and upon the king, 
 and slew fifty of their leaders; whereupon 
 Jonathan with his brother, and those- that 
 were with him, retired to Bethagla, a village 
 that lay in the wilderness, out of his fear of 
 Bacchides. He also built towers in it, and 
 encompassed it with walls, and took care that 
 it should be safely guarded. Upon the hear- 
 ing of which Bacchides led his own army 
 along with him, and besides took his Jewish 
 auxiliaries, and came against Jonathan, and 
 made an assault upon his fortifications, and 
 besieged him many days, but Jonathan did 
 not abate of his courage at the zeal Bacchides 
 used in the siege, but courageously opposed 
 him; and while he left his brother Simon in 
 the city to fight with Bacchides, he went pri- 
 vately out himself into the country, and got 
 a great body of men together of his own party, 
 and fell upon Bacchides's camp in the night- 
 time, and destroyed a great many of them. 
 His brother Simon knew. also of this his fall- 
 ing upon them, because he perceived that the 
 enemies were slain by him, so he sallied out 
 upon them, and burnt the engines which the 
 Alacedonians used, and made a great slaugh- 
 ter of them ; and when Bacchides saw himself 
 encompassed with enemies, and some of them 
 before, and some behind him, he fell into de- 
 spair and trouble of mind, as confounded at 
 the unexpected ill success of this siege. 
 However, be vented his displeasure at these 
 misfortunes upon those deserters who sent 
 for him from the king, as having deluded 
 hinu So he had a mind to put an end to 
 this siege after a decent manner, if it were 
 t)Ossible for him so to do, and then to return 
 home. 
 
 6. When Jonathan understood these his 
 intentions, he sent ambassadors to him about 
 a league of friendship and mutual assistance, 
 and that they might restore those they had 
 taken captive on both sides. So Bacchides 
 thought this a pretty decent way of retiring 
 home, and made a league of friendship with 
 Jonathan, when they sware that they would 
 not any more make war against one another. 
 Accordingly, he restored the captives, and 
 fook his own men with him, and returned to 
 the king at Antioch; and after this his de- 
 r)arture, he never came into Judea aga'n. 
 Then did Jonathan take the opportunity of 
 this quiet state of things, and went and lived 
 in the city Alichmash; and there governed 
 the roi'ltitude. and punished the wicked and 
 
342 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 pooK xin. 
 
 ungodly,*, and by that means purged the na- 
 tion of them. * 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW ALEXANDER [BALa], IN HIS WAR WITH 
 DEMETRIUS, GRANTED JONATHAN MANY 
 ADVANTAGES, AND APPOINTED HIM TO BE 
 HIGH-PRIEST, AND PERSUADED HIM TO AS- 
 SIST HIM, ALTHOUGH DEMETRIUS PRO- 
 MISED HIM GREATER ADVANTAGES ON THE 
 OTHER SIDE. CONCERNING THE DEATH OF 
 DEMETKIUS. 
 
 § 1. Now in the hundred and sixtieth year, 
 it fell out that Alexander, the son of Antio- 
 hus Epiphanes,* came up into Sjria, and 
 took Ptolemais, the soldiers having betrayed 
 i to him, for they were at enmity with De- 
 roetriiis, on account of his insolence and dif- 
 ticulty of access: for he shut himself up in a 
 palace of his that had four towers, which he 
 had built himself not far from Antioch, and 
 af^mitted no body. He was withal slothful 
 ar d negligent about the public affairs, where- 
 by the hatred of bis subjects was the more 
 kindled against him, as we have elsewhere 
 already related. When, therefore, Demetrius 
 heard that Alexander was in Ptolemais, he 
 Look his whole army and led it against 
 him; he also sent ambassadors to Jonathan, 
 about a league of mutual assistance and 
 friendship, for he resolved to be beforehand 
 with Alexander, lest the 6ther should treat 
 with him first, and gain assistance from 
 bim: and this he did out of the fear he 
 bad lest Jonathan should remember how 
 ill Demetrius had formerly treated him, and 
 should join with him in this war against him. 
 He therefore gave orders that Jonathan should 
 be allowed to raise an army, and should get 
 «rmour made, and should receive back those 
 hostages of the Jewish nation whom Bacchi- 
 des had shut up in the citadel of Jerusalem. 
 When this good fortune had befallen Jona- 
 than, by the concession of Demetrius, he 
 catne to Jerusalem, and read the king's letter 
 in the audience of the people, and of those 
 that kept the citadel. When these were read, 
 these wicked men and deserters, who were in 
 the citadel, were greatly afraid, upon the 
 king's permission to Jonathan to raise an 
 army, and to receive back the hostages: so 
 
 • f his Alexander Rala, who certainly pretended to 
 ke thennn of Antiochus F-riphanes, and was owned fur 
 iucU by I he Jews and Romans, and many others, and 
 •ft IS by several historians deemed to be a countttiteit, 
 and ol no family at all, is, however, by Josephiw, be- 
 iieied to have been the real son of that Antior.hns, and 
 o> him always spoken of accordioKly ; and truly, since 
 »he ori hI contemporary and authentic author of the 
 f;r»t Km, . of Macciibees (x. 1) calls bim by his father'.s 
 Dame, i piphanes, and says he was the son of Antioclius. ' 
 I suppose the other writers, who are all much later, are , 
 lot to be followed against such evidence, though per- 1 
 t aps I pipbanes micht have him by a woman of no family 
 I he king of Kaypt a so, rhilometor. soon „ave him bis 
 ds'uirliter in marriaue, whirh he would hardly have done. 
 Kid Le brlievrd him to he a counterfeit, and of to very 
 neaQ birtl* as th# later historians pretend. 
 
 he delivered every one of them to his own 
 parents; and thus did Jonathan make his 
 abode at Jerusalem, renewing the city to a 
 better «tate, and reforming the buildings as 
 he pleased; for he gave orders that the walls 
 of the city should be rebuilt with square 
 stones, that it might be more secure from 
 their enemies; and when those that kept the 
 garrisons that were in Judea saw this, they all 
 left them, and fled to Antioch, exce[)tiTig 
 those that were in the ci*^^v Bethsura, and 
 those that were in the citadel of Jerusalem, 
 for the greater part of these was of the wicked 
 Jews and deserters, and on that account these 
 did not deliver up their garrisons. 
 
 2. When Alexander knew what promises 
 Demetrius had made Jonathan, and withal 
 knew his courage, and what great things he 
 had done when he fought the Macedonians, 
 and besides what hardships he had undrrgoue 
 by the means of Demetrius, and of B^tcchi- 
 des, the general of Demetrius's army, b^ told 
 his friends that he could not at present find 
 any one else that might afford bim better as- 
 sistance than Jonathan, who was both t^ura- 
 geous against his enemies, and had a pa» ticu- 
 lar hatred against Demetrius, as having both 
 suffered many hard things from him, and 
 acted many hard things against him. If, 
 therefore, they were of opinion that they 
 should make him their friend against Deme- 
 trius, it was more for their advantage to in- 
 vite him to assist them now than at another 
 time. It being therefore determined by him 
 and his friends to send to Jonathan, he wrote 
 to him this epistle: — *' King Alexander tG 
 his brother Jonathan, sendeth greeting. We 
 have long ago heard of thy courage and thy 
 fidelity, and for that reason have sent to tbee, 
 to make with thee a league of friendship and 
 mutual assistance. We therefore do ordain 
 thee this day the high-priest of the Jews, and 
 that thou beest called my friend. I have also 
 sent thee, as presents, a purple robe and a 
 golden crown, and desire that, now thou art 
 by us honoured, thou wilt in like manner re- 
 spect us also." 
 
 3. When Jonathan had received this letter, 
 he put on the pontifical robe at the time e\ 
 the feast of tabernacles,t four years after thn 
 death of his brother Judas, for at that tiin» 
 no high-priest had been made. So he raise* 
 great forces, and had abundance of armoui 
 got ready. This greatly grieved Demetriui 
 when he heard of it, and made him blame 
 himself for his slowness, that be had not pre- 
 
 + Since Jonathan plainly did not put on the pontifical 
 robes till seven or cijfht veara after the death of his bro. 
 ther Judas or not till the Feast of 'rabernacles, in the 
 It.Oot the Seleucida; (1 Maixab. X. 21), I'etitus's einen. 
 dation seems here to deserve consideration, who, instead 
 of "after four years since the death of his brother Ju- 
 das," would have us read, " and therefore att< r eik(ht 
 years since the death of liis brother Judut." This would 
 tolerably well afjree with the date of the Maccahees, and 
 with Jo.«ephus'8 own exact chronology at the end ol the 
 tweniieih hook of these Antiquities, which the present 
 text cannot be made to do. 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 343 
 
 vented Alexander, and got the good-will of 
 Joiiatbaii, but had given him time so to do. 
 However, he also himself wrote a letter to 
 Jonathan, at>d to the people, the contents 
 whereof are these: — "King Demetrius to Jo- 
 nathan, and. to the nation of the Jews, sendeth 
 greeting. Since you have preserved your 
 friendship for us, and when you have been 
 tempted by our enemies, you have not joined 
 yourselves to them; I Imth commend you for 
 this your fidelity, and exhort you to continue 
 in the same disposition; for which you shall 
 be repaid, and receive rewards from us: for 
 I will free you from the greatest part of the 
 tributes and taxes which you formerly paid 
 to the kings my predecessors, and to myself; 
 and I do now set you free from those tributes 
 which you have ever paid; and besides, I 
 forgive you the tax upon salt, and the value 
 of the crowns which you used to otTer to me:* 
 end instead of the third part of the fruits [of 
 the field], and the half of the fruits of the 
 trees, I relinquish my part of them from this 
 day: a'-.d as to the poll-money, which ought 
 to be given me for every head of the inhabi- 1 
 tants of Judea, and of the three topnrchies ' 
 that adjoin to Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, 
 and Perea, that I relinquish to you for this 
 time, and for all time to come. I will also, 
 that the city of Jerusalem be holy and invio- 
 lable, and free from the tithe, and from the 
 taxes unto its utmost bounds: and I so far 
 recede from my title to the citadel, as to per- 
 mit Jonathan your bigh-priest to possess it, 
 that he may place such a garrison in it as he 
 approves of for fidelity and good-will to him- 
 self, that they may keep it for us. I also 
 make free all those Jews who have been made 
 captives and slaves in my kingdom. I also 
 give order that the beasts of the Jews be not 
 pressed for our service : and let their Sab- 
 baths, and all their festivals, and three days 
 before each of them, be free from any impo- 
 sition. In the same manner, I set free the 
 Jews *hat are inhabitants in my kingdom, 
 and c^der that no injury be done them. I 
 also g've leave to such of them as are willing 
 to list themselves in my army, that they may 
 do it and those as far as thirty thousand; 
 which Jewish soldiers, wheresoever they go, 
 ehall have the same pay that my own army 
 hutii; and some of them I will place in my 
 garriw>ns, and some as guards about mine 
 own body, and as rulers over those that are 
 in mv court. I give them leave also to use 
 the )<iws of their forefathers, and to observe 
 then»; and I will that they have power over 
 the three topaichies that are added to Judea; 
 and it shall be in the pov/er of the high-priest 
 to take care that no one Jew shall have any 
 
 * Take Grotiiis's note here: "The Jews," says tte, 
 *' wsrr wont to present crowns to the kings f of Syria] i 
 afterwards that goM which was paid instead of those 
 crown;*, or which was expended in making them, vras 
 called the Crown-gold and Crowu-tax." On 1 Uacca.b. 
 
 other temple for worship but only that at Je- 
 rusalem. I bequeath also, out ot my own 
 revenues, yearly, for the expenses about the 
 sacrifices, one hundred and fifty thousand 
 [drachmae]; and what money is to spare, I 
 will that it shall be your own. I also release 
 to you those ten thousand drachmae which the 
 kings received from the temple, because they 
 appertain to the priests that minister in that 
 temple. And whosoever shall fly to the tem- 
 ple at Jerusalem, or to the places thereto be- 
 longing, or who owe the king money, or are 
 there on any other account, let them be set 
 free, and let their goods be in safety. I also 
 give you leave to repair and rebuild your 
 temple, and that all be done at my expenses. 
 I also allow you to build the walls of your 
 city, and to erect high towers, and that they 
 be erected at my charge. And if there be any 
 fortified town that would be convenient for 
 the Jewish country to have very strong, let it 
 be so built at my expenses." 
 
 4. This was what Demetrius promised and 
 granted to the Jews, by this letter. But king 
 Alexander raised a great army of mercenary 
 soldiers, and of those that deserted to him out 
 of Syria, and made an expedition against De- 
 metrius. And when it was come to a battle, 
 the left wing of Demetrius put those who op- 
 posed them to flight, and pursued them a 
 great way, and slew many of them, and spoil- 
 ed their camp; but the right wing, where 
 Demetrius happened to be, was beaten; and 
 as for all the rest, they ran away. But De- 
 metrius fought courageously, and slew a great 
 many of the enemy; but as he was in pursuit 
 of the rest, his horse carried him into a deep 
 bog, where it was hard to get out, and there 
 it happened, that upon his horse's falling 
 down, he could not escape being killed; for 
 wben his enemies saw what had befallen him, 
 they returned back, and encompassed Deme- 
 trius round, and they all threw their darts at 
 him; but he, being now on foot, fought brave- 
 ly. But at length he received so many wounds, 
 that he was not able to bear up any longer, 
 but fell. And this is the end that Demetriui 
 came to when he had reigned eleven years,f 
 as we have elsewhere related. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE FRIENDSHIP THAT WAS BETWEEN ONIAS 
 AND PTOLEMY PHILOMETOR; AND HOV7 
 ONIAS BUILT A TEMPLE IN EGYPT LIKE TO 
 THAT AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 . i'j 
 
 § 1. But then the son of Onias the high- 
 priest, who was of the same name with his 
 
 + Since the rest of the historians now extant give ihig 
 Demetrius 13 years, and Josephiis only II years. Denn 
 Pridcaiix does not amiss in ascribing to him the rofaMi 
 numbur 12. 
 
344 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 
 father, and who fled to king Ptolemy, who 
 was called Philometor, lived now at Alexan- 
 dria, as we have said already. When this 
 Onias saw that Judea was oppressed by the 
 Macedonians and their kings, out of a desire 
 to purchase to himself a memorial and eter- 
 nal fame, he resolved to send to king Ptolemy 
 and queen Cleopatra, to ask leave of them 
 that he might build a temple in Egypt like to 
 that at Jerusalem, and might ordain Levites 
 and priests out of their own stock. The chief 
 reason why he was desirous so to do, was, that 
 he relied upon the prophet Isaiah, who lived 
 above six hundred years before, and foretold 
 that there certainly was to be a temple built 
 to Almighty God in Egypt by a man that was 
 a Jew. Onias was elevated with this predic- 
 tion, and wrote the following epistle to Pto- 
 lemy and Cleopatra: — "Having done many 
 and great things for you in the aflairs of the 
 war, by the assistance of God, and that in 
 Celesyria and Phoenicia, I came at length with 
 the Jews to Leontopolis, and to other places 
 of your nation, where I found that the great- 
 est part of your people had temples in an im- 
 proper manner, and that on this account they 
 bare ill will one against another, which hap- 
 pens to the Egyptians by reason of the mul- 
 titude of their temples, and the difference of 
 opinions about divine worship. Now I found 
 a very fit place in a castle that hath its name 
 from the country Diana; this place is full of 
 materials of several sorts, and replenished with 
 sacred animals: I desire, therefore, that you 
 will grant me leave to purge this holy place, 
 which belongs to no master, and is fallen down, 
 and to build there a temple to Almighty God, 
 after the pattern of that in Jerusalem, and of 
 the same dimensions, that may be for the be- 
 nefit of thyself and thy wife and children, that 
 those Jews who dwell in Egypt may have a 
 place whither they may come and meet toge- 
 ther in mutual harmony one with another, and 
 be subservient to thy advantages; for the pro- 
 phet Isuiah foretold that 'there should be an 
 altar in Egypt to the Lord God;'* and many 
 other such things did he prophecy relating to 
 that place.** 
 
 * It seems to me, contrary te-tbe opinion of Josephus, 
 and of the moderns, both Jews and Christians, that this 
 prophecy of Isaiah, xix. 19, &c. •* In that day there shall 
 \an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt," 
 
 I ^"rectly foretold the building of this temple of Unias 
 in ^H,l<, l*d was a sufficient warrant to the Jews for 
 building it, and for worshipping the true God, the Gud 
 of Israel, therein. See A*Jtv»t. Rec. ii. p. 7.^ That 
 God seems to have soon better k,»3w^d of the sacrifices 
 and prayers here offered him than J|r"^ at Jerusalem ,- 
 ^ee the note on ch. x. sect. 7. And tru». Ve marks of 
 Jewish corruption or interpolation in this .. ' X in order 
 to discourage their people from approving of th.. Worship 
 of God here, are very strong, and highly deserve ox, con- 
 sideration and correction. The foregoing verse in Isi>..i.h 
 ruris thus in our common copies:— "In that day shall 
 five cities in the land of Kgypt speak the language of Ca- 
 naan" [the* Hebrew languacej shall f*f full of Jews, 
 vhose sacred books were in Hebrew J, "an.l swear to the 
 l.ord of Hosts. One [or the first] shall be called ' the 
 Citjr of Destruction,'" Isa. xx. lb. A strange name, 
 •* City of Dcstnictlon." «ipr)n so joyful an o«-casion ; and 
 • naiDt Deter hiiard of in tlie land of Lffjpt. "^i perhaps 
 
 2. And this was what Onias wrote to king 
 Ptolemy. Now any one may observe his piety, 
 and that of his sister and wife Cleopatra, by 
 that epistle which they wrote in answer to 
 it; for they laid the blame and the trans- 
 gression of the law upon the head of Onias. 
 And this was their reply: — "King Ptolemy 
 and queen Cleopatra to Onias, send greeting. 
 We have read thy petition, wherein thou de- 
 sirest leave to be given to thee to purge that 
 temple which is fallen down at Leontopolis, 
 in the Nomus of Heliopolis, and which is 
 named from the country Bubastis; on which 
 account we cannot but wonder that it should 
 be pleasing to God to have a temple erected 
 in a place so unclean, and so full of sacred 
 animals. But since thou sayest that Isaiah 
 the prophet foretold this long ago, we give 
 thee leave to do it, if it may be done accord- 
 ing to your law, and so that we may not ap- 
 pear to have at all offended God herein." 
 
 3. So Onias took the place, and built a tem- 
 ple and an altar to God, like indeed to that ir» 
 Jerusalem, but smaller and poorer. I do not 
 think it proper for me now to describe its di- 
 mensions, or its vessels, which have been al- 
 ready described in my seventh book of the Wars 
 of the Jews. However, Onias found other 
 Jews like to himself, together with priests and 
 Levites, that there performed divine service. 
 But we have said enough about this temple. 
 
 4. Now it came to pass that the Alexan- 
 drian Jews, and those Samaritans who paid 
 their worship to the temple that was built in 
 the days of Alexander at Mount Gerizzim, 
 did now make a sedition one against another, 
 and disputed about their temples before Pto- 
 lemy himself, the Jews saying that, according 
 to the law of Moses, the temple was to be 
 built at Jerusalem ; and the Samaritans say- 
 ing that it was to be built at Gerizzim. They 
 desired therefore the king to sit with his 
 friends and hear the debates about these mat- 
 ters, and punish those with death who wer© 
 baffled. Now Sabbeus and Theodosius ma- 
 naged the argument for the Samaritans, and 
 
 in any other nation. The old reading was evidently 1h« 
 City of the Sun, or Heliopolis; and Onkelos. in efli'Ct, 
 and Symmachus, with the Arabic version, entirely con- 
 fess that to he the true reading. The Septuagint also, 
 although they have the text disguised in the v-ommon 
 copies, and call it Asedek, the City of Righteousness; 
 yet in two or three other copies, the Hebrew word itself 
 for the Sun, Achares, or Thares, is preserved. And sine© 
 Onias insists, with the king and queen, that Isaiah's pro- 
 pliecy contained many other predictions relating to this 
 place, besides the words recited, it is highly probable 
 that these were especially meant by him; and that one 
 main reason why he applied this prediction to liim!«»'It, 
 and to his prefectnre of Heliopolis, which Dean Prideaux 
 well proves was in that part of Egypt, and why hechose 
 to build in that prefecture of Heliopolis, though other- 
 wise an improper place, was this: 'I hat the same autho- 
 rity that he had for building this t«nip!c in Egypt, the 
 very same he had for huildrng it in his own pred i ture of 
 Heliopolis akte; wnich he desired to do, i/mi) which he 
 did accordingly. Uetui I'rideaux has muth ailo to avoid 
 seeing this corruption of the Hebrew, but it being in 
 support of his own opinion about this temple, he durst 
 not st-e it: ami iinlnd he leasonf Inn- in the most inju. 
 diciout niaiJiier puk.niiile. ^«e biut -M tL« year lISl 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 345 
 
 Andronicus, the son of Messalamus, for the 
 people of Jerusalem ; and they took an oath 
 by God and the king, to make their demon- 
 strations according to the law; and they de- 
 sired of Ptolemy, that whomsoever he should 
 find that transgressed what they had sworn to, 
 he would put him to death. Accordingly, 
 the king took several of his friends into 
 the council, and sat down, in order to hear 
 what the pleaders said. Now the Jews that 
 were at Alexandria were in great concern for 
 these men, whose lot it was to contend for 
 the temple at Jerusalem: for they took it 
 very ill that any should take away the repu- 
 tation of that temple, which was so ancient 
 and so celebrated all over the habitable earth. 
 Now when Sabbeus and Theodosius had given 
 leave to Andronichus to speak first, he began 
 to demonstrate out of the law, and out of the 
 successions of the high-priests, how they every 
 one in succession from his father had received 
 that dignity, and ruled over the temple; and 
 how all the kings of Asia had honoured that 
 temple with their donations, and with the 
 most splendid gifts dedicated thereto: but as 
 for that at Gerizzim, he made no account of 
 it, and regarded it as if it had never had a 
 being. By this speech, and other arguments, 
 Andronicus persuaded the king to determine 
 that the temple at Jerusalem was built ac- 
 cording to the laws of Moses,* and to put 
 Sabbeus and Theodosius to death. And these 
 were the events that befell the Jews at Alex- 
 andria in the days of Ptolemy Philometor. 
 
 CHAPTER IV.^ 
 
 HOW ALEXANDER HONOURED JONATHAN AF- 
 TER AN EXTRAORDINARY MANNER; AND 
 HOW DEMETRIUS, THE SON OF DEMETRIUS, 
 OVERCAME ALEXANDER, AND MADE A 
 LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP WITH JONATHAN. 
 
 § 1. Demetrius being thus slain in battle, as 
 we have above related, Alexander took the 
 kingdom of Syria; and wrote to Ptolemy 
 Philometor, and desired his daughter in mar- 
 
 • A very unfair disputation this." while the Jewish 
 disputant, knowing that he could not properly prove 
 out of the Pentateuch, that 'the place which the Lord 
 their Ood sliall choose to place his name there,' so often 
 referred to in the hook of Deuteronomy, was Jerusalem 
 any more than Gerizzim. that being not determined 
 till the day* of David (Antiq. b. vii. ch xiii. sect, 4j, 
 proves onl>. what the Samaritans did not deny, that 
 tlie temple at Jerusalem was much more ancienf, and 
 much more celebrated and hououred. than thai at (Je- 
 rizz'm; which was nothing to the prestnt purpose, the 
 whole evidence, by the very oaihs of both parties, be- 
 ing, we gee, obliged to be confined to the law of Moses, 
 or to the I'entateuch alone. However, worldly policy 
 and interest, and the multitude prevailing, the court 
 gave sentence, as usual, on the stronger side, and poor 
 Sabbeus and Theotlosius, the Samaritan disputants, 
 mere martyred, and this, so far as appears, without any 
 direct hearing at all: which is like the usual practice ol 
 such political courts about matters of religion. Our 
 copies say that the body of the Jews were in .1 ijreat con- 
 cern about those men (in the plural) who were to dis- j 
 pute for their temple at Jerusalem; whereas it seems I 
 
 riage; and said it was but just that he should 
 be joined in affinity to one that had now re- 
 ceived the principality of his forefathers, and 
 had been promoted to it by God's providence, 
 and had conquered Demetrius, and that was 
 on other accounts not unworthy of being re- 
 lated to him. Ptolemy received this propo- 
 sal of marriage gladly; pnd wrote him a? 
 answer, saluting him on accotint of his hav-. 
 ing received the principality of bis forefathers; 
 and promising him that he would give him 
 his daughter in marriage; and assured him 
 that he was coming to meet him in Ptolemais, 
 and desired that he would there meet him, for 
 that he would accompany her from Egypt so 
 far, and would there marry his child to him. 
 When Ptolemy had written thus, he came sud- 
 denly to Ptolemais, and brought his daughter 
 Cleopatra along with him; and as he found 
 Alexander there before him, as he desired him 
 to come, he gave him his child in marriage, 
 and for her portion gave her as much silver 
 and gold as became such a king to give. 
 
 2. When the wedding was over, Alexander 
 wrote to Jonathan the high-priest, and <!esired 
 him to come to Ptolemais. So when he came 
 to these kings, and had inade them magnificent 
 presents, he was honoured by them both, Alex- 
 ander compelled him also to put off his own 
 garment, and to take a purple garment, and 
 made him sit with him on his throne; and 
 commanded his captains that they should go 
 with him into the middle of the city, and pro- 
 claim, that it was not peynitted to any one to 
 speak against him, or to give him any distur- 
 bance. And when the captains had thus done 
 those that were prepared to accuse Jonathan, 
 and who bore him ill-will, when they saw the 
 honour that was done him by proclamation, 
 and that by the king's order, ran away, and 
 were afraid lest some mi>chief should befall 
 them. Nay, king Alexander was so very 
 kind to Jonathan, that he set him down as 
 the principal of his friends. 
 
 3. IJut then, upon the hundred and sixty- 
 fifth year, Demetrius, the son of Demetrius, 
 came from Crete with a great number of mer- 
 cenary soldiers, which Lasthenes, the Cretan, 
 brought him and sailed to Cilicia. This thi^g 
 cast Alexander into great concern and disorder 
 when he heard it; so he made haste im- 
 mediately out of Phoenicia and came to An- 
 tioch, that he might put matters in a safe pos- 
 ture there before Demetrius should come. 
 He also left Apollonius Dausf governor ol 
 
 here they bad but one disputant, Andronicus by name; 
 perhaps more were prepared to speak on the Jews' side: 
 but the first having answered to his name, and over- 
 come the Samaritans, there was no necessity for any 
 other defender of the Jerusalem temple. 
 
 + Of the several Apullunii about these aees, see Dean 
 I'rideaux at ihe year 148. This Apollonius Dans was, 
 by his account, the son of that Apollonius who had been 
 made governor of Celesyria and Pnuenicia by Selencas 
 I'hilopater, ai.J was himself a confidant of his son De- 
 metrius the father, and restored to Ins father's govern- 
 ment U\ hi u. btit afterwards revolted from him to Alex- 
 atidtT, but nut to Demetrius tbe 'ofi, as be supposes. 
 
846 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 
 Celesyria, who, coming to Jamnia with a great 
 army, sent to Jonathan, the high-priest, and 
 told him that it was not right that he alone 
 should live at rest, and with authority, and 
 not he suhject to the king; that this thing 
 had made him a reproach among all men, 
 that he had not yet made him subject to 
 the king. "Do not thou therefore deceive 
 thyself, and sit still among the mountains, and 
 pretend to have forces with thee; but if thou 
 liast any dependence on thy strength, come 
 down into the plain, and let our armies be 
 compared together, and the event of the battle 
 will demonstrate which of us is the most cou- 
 rageous. However, take notice, that the most 
 valiant men of every city are in my army, and 
 that these are the very men who have always 
 beaten thy progenitors ; hut let us have the 
 battle in such a place of the country where we 
 may fight with weapons, and not with stones, 
 and where there may be no place whither 
 those that are beaten may fly." 
 
 4. With this Jonathan was irritated; and 
 choosing himself out ten thousand of his sol- 
 diers, he went out of Jerusalem in haste, with 
 his brother Simon, and came to Joppa, and 
 pitched his camp on the outside of the city, 
 because the people of Joppa had shut their 
 gates against him, for they had a garrison in 
 the city, put there by Apollonius. But when 
 Jonathan was preparing to besiege them, they 
 were afraid he would take them by force, and 
 so they opened the gates to him. But Apol- 
 lonius, when he he^d that Joppa was taken 
 by Jonathan, took three thousand horsemen, 
 and eight thousand footmen, and came to Ash- 
 dod; and removing thence, he made his jour- 
 ney silently and slowly, and going up to Jop- 
 pa, he made as if he was retiring from the 
 place, and so drew Jonathan into the plain, as 
 valuing himself highly upon his horsemen, 
 and having his hopes of victory principally in 
 them. However, Jonathan sallied out, and 
 pursued Apollonius to Ashdod; but as soon 
 as Apollonius perceived that his enemy was 
 in the plain, he came back and gave him bat- 
 tle. But Apollonius had laid a thousand 
 horsemen in ambush in a valley, that they 
 might be seen by their enemies as behind 
 them ; which when Jonathan perceived, he 
 was under no consternation, but, ordering his 
 army to stand in a square battle array, he 
 gave them a charge to fall on the enemy on 
 both sides, and set them to face those that 
 attacked them both before and behind; and 
 Nvhile the fight lasted till the evening, he gave 
 pa't of his forces to his brother Simon, and 
 ordered him to attack the enemies ; but for 
 himself, he charged those that were with him 
 to cover themselves with their armour, and 
 receive the darts of the horsemen, who did as 
 they were commanded; so that the enemy's 
 borgcmen, while they threw their darts till 
 Uiey had no more left, did them no liarin, for 
 the darts that were thrown did nut enter into 
 
 their bodies, being thrown upon the shields 
 that were united and conjoined together, the 
 closeness of which easily overcame the force 
 of the darts, and they flew about without any 
 effect. But when the enemy grew remiss in 
 throwing their darts from morning till Itrte at 
 night, Simon perceived their weariness, and 
 fell upon the body of men before him; and 
 because his soldiers showed great alacrity, he 
 put the enemy to flight: and when the horse- 
 men saw that the footmen ran away, neither 
 did they stay themselves; but the) being very 
 weary, by the duration of the fight till the 
 evening, and their hope from the footmen be- 
 ing quite gone, they basely ran away, and in 
 great confusion also, till they were separated 
 one from another, and scattered over all the 
 plain. Upon which Jonathan pursued them 
 as far as Ashdod, and slew a great many of 
 them, and compelled the rest, in despair of 
 escaping, to fly to the temple of Dagon, which 
 was at Ashdod; but Jonathan took tha city 
 on the first onset, and burnt it, and the vil- 
 lages about it; nor did he abstain from the 
 temple of Dagon itself, but burnt it also, and 
 destroyed those that had fled to it. Now the 
 entire multitude of the enemies that fell in 
 the battle, and were consumed in the temple, 
 were eight thousand. When Jonathan there- 
 fore had overcome so great an army, he re- 
 moved from Ashdod, and came to Askelon: 
 and when he had pitched his camp without the 
 city, the people of Askelon came out and met 
 him, bringing him hospitable presents, and 
 honouring him; so he accepted of their kind 
 intentions, and returned thence to Jerusalem 
 with a great deal of prey, which he brought 
 thence when he conquered his enemies. But 
 when Alexander heard that Apollonius, the 
 general of his army, was beaten, he pretended 
 to be glad of it, because he had fought with 
 Jonathan his friend and ally against his direc- 
 tions. Accordingly, he sent to Jonathan, and 
 gave testimony to his worth; and gave him 
 honorary rewards, as a golden button,* which 
 it is the custom to give the king's kinsmnr., 
 and allowed him Ekron and its toparchy lor 
 his own inheritance. 
 
 5. About this time it was that king Ptole- 
 my, who was called Philometor, led an army, 
 part by sea and part by land, and came to 
 Syria, to the assistance of Alexander, who 
 was his son-in-law; and accordingly all the 
 cities received him willingly, as Alexander 
 had commanded them to do, and conducted 
 him as far as Ashdod ; where they all made 
 loud complaints about the temple of Dagon, 
 which was burnt, and accused Jonathan of 
 having laid it waste and destroyed the coun- 
 try adjoining with fire, and shiin a great num- 
 ber of them. Ptolemy heard these accusations 
 
 * Dr. Hndron hrn^ observes, that the PliORnicianR and 
 Romans used to reward such :m liad deserved well of 
 tlicrii, l>y prescDting to tlietn a gulden button. See ch. v. 
 wcU 4. 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OP THE JEWS. 
 
 347 
 
 but said nothing. Jonathan also went to 
 meet Ptolemy as far as Joppa, and ohtained 
 from him hospitable presents, and those glori- 
 ous in their kinds, with all the murks of hon- 
 our; and when he had conducted him as far 
 as the river called Eleutherus, he returned 
 again to Jerusalem. 
 
 6. But as Ptolemy was at Ptolemais, he 
 was very near to a most unexpected destruc- 
 tion; for a treacherous design was laid for 
 his life by Alexander, by the means of Am- 
 monias, who was his friend : and as the 
 treachery was very plain, Ptolemy wrote to 
 Alexander, and required of him that he should 
 bring Ammonius to condign punishment, in- 
 iorming him what snares had been laid for 
 him by Ammonius, and desired that he might 
 be accordingly punished for it; but Avhen Alex- 
 ander <lid not L-omply with his demands, he 
 perceived that it was he himself who laid the 
 design, and was very angry at him. Alexan- 
 der had also formerly been on very ill terms 
 with the people of Antioch, for they had suf- 
 fered very much by his means; yet did Am- 
 monius at length undergo the punishment his 
 insolent crimes had deserved, for he was kil- 
 led in an opprobrious maimer, like a wo- 
 man, while he endeavoured to conceal him- 
 self in a feminine habit, as we have elsewhere 
 related. 
 
 7. Hereupon Ptolemy blamed himself for 
 having given his daughter in marriage to 
 Alexander, and for the league he had made 
 wth hi(n to assist him against Demetrius; so 
 he dissolved his relation to hun, and took his 
 daughter away from him, and immediately 
 sent to Demetrius, and offered to make a 
 league of mutual assistance and friendship 
 with him, and agreed with him to give him 
 his daughter in marriage, and to restore him 
 to the principality of his fathers. Demetrius 
 was well pleased with this embassage, and ac- 
 cepted of his assistance, and of the marriage 
 of his daughter; but Ptolemy had still one 
 more hard task to do, and that was to persuade 
 the people of Antioch to receive Demetrius, 
 because they were greatly displeased at him, 
 on account of the injuries his father Demetrius' 
 had done them; yet did he bring this about; 
 for as the people of Antioch hated Alexander 
 on Ammonius's account, as we have shown 
 already, they were easily prevailed with to 
 cast him out of Antioch; who, thus expelled 
 out of Antioch, came into Cilicia. Ptolemy 
 came then to Antioch, arid was made king by 
 its inhabitants, and by the army: so that he 
 was forced to put on two diadems, the one 
 of Asin, the other of Egypt; but being na- 
 tiirnl'v H poofi atifl a riehte(»us man, and not 
 desirous of what belonged to others, and be- 
 sides these dispositions, being also a wise man 
 m reasoning about futurities, he determined 
 to avoid the envy of the Romans; so he called' 
 the people of Antioch together to an assembl\ , 
 and persuaded them to receive Demetrius, 
 
 and assured tbem that he would not be mind« 
 ful of what they did to his father in case he 
 should be now obliged by them; and he un- 
 dertook that he would himself be a good 
 monitor and governor to him; and promised 
 that he would not permit him to attempt any 
 bad actions; but that, for his own part, he was 
 contented with the kingdom of Egypt. By 
 which discourse he persuaded the people o 
 Antioch to receive Demetrius. 
 
 8. But now Alexander made haste, with a 
 numerous and great army, and came out of 
 Cilicia into Syria, and burnt the country be- 
 longing to Antioch, and pillaged it; where- 
 upon Ptolemy, and his son-in-law Deme'rius, 
 brought their army against him (for he had 
 already given him his daughter in marriage), 
 and beat Alexander, and put him to Hight; 
 and accordingly he fled into Arabia. Now, 
 it happened in the time of the battle that Pto- 
 lemy's horse, upon hearing the noise of an ele- 
 phant, cast him off 'his back, and threw him 
 on the ground; upon the sight of which ac- 
 cident his enemies fell upon him, and gave 
 him many wounds upon his head, and brought 
 him into danger of death, for when his guards 
 caught him up, he was so very ill that for 
 four days' time he was not able either to un- 
 derstand or to §peak. However, Zabdiel, a 
 prince among the Arabians, cut off Alexan- 
 der's head and sent it to Ptolemy, who, re- 
 covering of his wounds, and returning to his 
 understanding on the fifth day, heard at once 
 a most agreeable hearing, and saw a niost 
 agreeable sight, which were the death and the 
 head of Alexander; yet a little after this his 
 joy for the death of Alexander, with which he 
 was so greatly satisfied, he also departed this 
 life. Now Alexander, who was called Balas, 
 reigned over Asia five years, as we have else- 
 where related. 
 
 ,9. But when Demetrius, who was styled 
 Nicator,* had taken the kingdom, he was so 
 wicked as to treat Ptolemy's soldiers very 
 hardly, neither remembering the league of 
 mutual assistance that was between them, nor 
 that he was his son-ir>-lavv and kinsman, by 
 Cleopatra's marriage to him; so the soldiers 
 fled from his wicked treatment to Alexan- 
 dria; but Demetrius kept his elei»hants. 
 But Jonathan the high-priest levied an army 
 out of all Judea, and attacked the citadel at 
 Jerusalem, and besieged it. It vvas held 'oy 
 a garrison of Macedonians, and by some of 
 those men who had deserted the customs of 
 their forefathers. These men at first despised 
 the attempts of Jonathan for taking the place, 
 as depending on its strength ; but some of 
 those wicked men went out by night, and 
 came to Demetrius, and informed him that 
 the citadel was beseiged; who was irritated 
 
 • This name, Demetrius Nicator. or Oemetrins the 
 conqueror, is so written on his coins still extant, aa 
 Miifison anil Spanheim inform us; the hitter of whom 
 i;ives ns here the entire inscription, " King Detuetrttu 
 tlie Ood, Philadelphus, Nicator." 
 
348 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XIII, 
 
 ^ith what be heard, and took his army, and 
 came from Antioch against Jonathan. And 
 when he was at Antioch, he wrote to him, 
 and commanded him to come to him quickly 
 to Ptolemais; upon which Jonathan did not 
 intermit the siege of the citadel, but took 
 with him the elders of the people, and the 
 priests, and carried with him gold, and silver, 
 and garments, and a great number of presents 
 of friendship, and came to Demetrius, and 
 presented him with them, and thereby paci- 
 fied the king's anger. So he was honoured 
 by him, and received from him the confirma- 
 tion of bis high-priesthood, as he had possess- 
 ed it by the grants of the kings his predeces- 
 sors. And when the Jewish deserters accused 
 him, Demetrius was so far from giving credit 
 to them, that when he petitioned him that he 
 would demand no more than three hundred 
 talents for the tribute of all Judea, and the 
 three toparchies of Samaria, and Perea, and 
 Galilee, he complied with the proposal, and 
 gave him a letter confirming those grants; 
 the contents of which were as follows: — 
 "King Demetrius to Jonathan his brother, 
 and to the nation of the Jews, sendeth greet- 
 ing. We have sent you a copy of that epistle 
 which we have written to Lasthenes our kins- 
 nxan, that you may know its contents — 
 ' King Demetrius to Lasthenes our father, 
 sendeth greeting. I have determined to re- 
 turn thanks and to shoiv favour to the na- 
 tion of the Jews, who hath observed the rules 
 of justice in our concerns. Accordingly, I 
 remit to them the three prefectures, Apheri- 
 ma, and Lydda, and Ramatha, which have 
 been added to Judea out of Samaria, with 
 their appurtenances: as also what the kings 
 my predecessors received from those that of- 
 fered sacrilices in Jerusalem, and what are 
 due from the fruits of the earth, and of the 
 trees, and what else belongs to us ; with the 
 salt-i)its, and the crowns that used to be pre- 
 sented to us. Nor shall they be compelled 
 to pay any of those taxes from this time to all 
 futurity. Take care, therefore, that a copy 
 of this epistle be taken and given to Jonathan, 
 and be set up in an eminent place of their holy 
 temple.*" And these were the contents of 
 this writing. And now when Demetrius saw 
 that there was peace everywhere, and that 
 there was no danger nor fear of war, he dis- 
 banded the greatest part of his army, and di- 
 minished their pay, and even retained in pay 
 no others thttn such foreigners as came up with 
 him from Crete, and from the other islands. 
 However, this procured him ill-will and ha- 
 tred from the soldiers, on whom he bestowed 
 nothing from this time, while the kings be- 
 fore him used to pay them in time of peace, 
 as they did before, that they might have their 
 good- will, and that they might be very ready to 
 undergo the dilKculties of war, if any occasion 
 should require it. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW TRYPHO, AFTER HE HAD BEATEN DEME^ 
 TRIUS, DELIVEUEDTHE KINGDOM TO ANTIO^ 
 CHUS.THESON OFALEXANDER, ANDGAINED 
 JONATHAN FOR HIS ASSISTANT; AND CON- 
 CERNING THE ACTIONS AND EMBASSIES OP 
 JONATHAN. 
 
 § 1. Now there was a certain commander of 
 Alexander's forces, an Apamian by birth, 
 whose name was Diodotus, and was also call- 
 ed Trypho, took notice of the ill-will the sol- 
 diers bare to Demetrius, and went to Mal- 
 chus the Arabian, who brought up Antiochus, 
 the son of Alexander, and tohl him what ill- 
 will the army bare Demetrius, and persuaded 
 him to give him Antiochus, because he would 
 make him king, and recover to him the king- 
 dom of his father. Malchus at first opposed 
 him in this attempt, because he could not be- 
 lieve him; but when Trypho lay hard at him 
 for a long time, he over-persuaded him to 
 comply with Trypho's intentions and entrea- 
 ties. And this was the state Trypho was 
 now in. 
 
 2. But Jonathan the high-priest, being de- 
 sirous to get clear of those that were in the 
 citadel of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish de- 
 serters and wicked men, as well as those in 
 all the garrisons in the country, sent presents 
 and ambassadors to Demetrius, and entreated 
 him to take away his soldiers out of the 
 strong holds of Judea. Demetrius made an- 
 swer, that after the war, which he was now 
 deeply engaged in, was over he would not 
 only grant him that, but greater things than 
 that also; and he desired lie would send him 
 some assistance; and informed him that his 
 army had deserted him. So Jonathan chose 
 out three thousand of his soldiers, and sent 
 them to Demetrius. 
 
 3. Now the people of Antioch hated De- 
 metrius, both on account of what mischief he 
 had himself done them, and because they 
 were his enemies also on account of hiis fathe. 
 Demetrius who had greatly abused them ; so 
 they watched some opportunity which they 
 might lay hold on to fall upon him. And 
 when they were informed of the assistance that 
 was coming to Demetrius from Jonathan, 
 and considered at the same time that he would 
 raise a numerous army, unless they prevented 
 him and seized upon him, they took their 
 weapons immediately and encompassed his 
 palace in the way of a siege, and seizing upon 
 all the ways of getting out, they sought to 
 subdue their king. And when he saw that 
 the people of Antioch were become his bitter 
 enemies, and that they were thus in arms, he 
 took the mercenary soldiers which he had 
 with him, and those Jews who were sent by 
 Jonathan, and assaulted the Antiochiaiis; but 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES Of 1 HE JEWS. 
 
 349 
 
 be was overpowered by tbem, for they were 
 many ten thousands, and was beaten. But 
 \\hen the Jews saw that the Antiochians were 
 superior, they went up to the top of the pa- 
 lace, and shot at them from thence ; and be- 
 cause they were so remote from them by their 
 height, that they suffered nothing on their 
 side, but did great execution on the others, 
 as fighting from such an elevation, they drove 
 them out of the adjoining houses, and imme- 
 diately set them on fire, whereupon the flame 
 spread itself over the whole city, and burnt 
 it all down. This happened by reason of the 
 closeness of the houses, and because they 
 were generally built of wood: so the Antio- 
 chians, when they were not able to help them- 
 selves, nor to stop the fire, were put to flight. 
 And as the Je\* leaped from the top of oue 
 house to the top of another, and pursued them 
 after that maimer, it thence happened that the 
 pursuit was very surprising. But when the 
 king saw that the Antiochians were very busy 
 in saving their children and their wives, and 
 so did not fight any longer, he fell upon them 
 in the narrow passages, and fought them, and 
 slew a great number of them, till at last they 
 were forced to throw down their arms, and to 
 deliver themselves up to Demetrius. So he 
 forgave them this their insolent behaviour, 
 a>ul put an eiul to the sedition : and when he 
 had given rewards to the Jews out of the 
 rich spoils he had gotten, and had returned 
 them thanks, as the cause of his victory, he 
 sent them away to Jerusalem to Jonathan, 
 with an ample testimony of the assistance 
 they had afforded him. Yet did he prove an 
 ill man to Jonathan afterward, and broke the 
 promises he had made : and he threatened 
 that he would make war upon him, unless he 
 would pay all that tribute which the Jewish 
 nation owed to the first kings [of Syria]. — 
 And this he had done, if Trypho had not hin- 
 dered him, and diverted his preparationsagainst 
 Jonathan to a concern for his own preserva- 
 tion; for he now returned out of Arabia into 
 Syria, with the child Antiochus, for he was 
 yet in age but a youth, and put the diadem 
 on his head; and as the whole forces that had 
 left Demetrius, because they had no pay, came 
 to his assistance, he made war upon Deme- 
 trius, and joining battle with him, overcame 
 him in the fight, and took from hira both his 
 elephants and the city of Antioch. 
 
 4. Demetrius, upon this defeat, retired in- 
 to Cilicia; but the child Antiochus sent am- 
 bassadors and an epistle to Jonathan, and 
 made him his friend and confederate, and con- 
 firmed to him the high-priesthood, and yielded 
 up to him the four prefectures which had been 
 added to Judea. Moreover, he sent him 
 vessels and cups of gold, and a purple gar- 
 ment, and gave him leave to use them. He 
 also presented him with a golden button, and 
 styled bim one of his principal friends; and 
 appointed his brother Simon to be the general 
 
 over the forces, from the Ladder of Tyre un- 
 to Egypt. So Jonathan was so pleased with 
 those grants made him by Antiochus, that he 
 sent ambassadors to him and to Trypho, and 
 professed himself to be their friend and con- 
 federate, and said he would join with him in 
 a war against Demetrius, informing him that 
 he had made no proper returns for the kind- 
 nesses he had done him; for that when be had 
 received many marks of kindness from him, 
 when he stood in great need of them, he, for 
 such good turns, had rerjuited him with far- 
 ther injuries. 
 
 5. So Antiochus gave Jonathan leave to 
 raise himself a numerous army out of Syria 
 and Phoenicia, and to make war against De- 
 metrius's generals; whereupon he went in 
 haste to the several cities, which received him 
 splendidly indeed, but put no forces into bis 
 hands. And when he was come from thence 
 to Askelon, the inhabitants of Askelon came 
 and brought him presents, and met him in a 
 splendid nianncr. He exhorted them, and 
 every one of the cities of Celesyria, to forsake 
 Demetrius, and to join with Antiochus, and 
 in assisting him, to endeavour to punish De- 
 metrius for what offences he had been guilty 
 of against themselves; and told them there 
 were many reasons for that their procedure, 
 if they had a mind so to do. And when he 
 had persuaded those cities to promise their 
 assistance to Antiochus, he came to Gaza, in 
 order to induce them also to be friends to 
 Antiochus; but he found the inhabitants of 
 Gaza much more alienated from him than he 
 expected, for they had shut their gates against 
 him; and although they bad deserted Deme- 
 trius, they had not resolved to join themselves 
 to Antiochus. This provoked Jonathan to 
 besiege them, and to harass their country; 
 for as he set a part of his army round about 
 Gaza itself, so with the rest he overran their 
 land, and spoiled it, and burned what was in 
 it. When the inhabitants of Gaza saw th« m- 
 selves in this state of affliction, and that no 
 assistance came to them from Demetrius, that 
 what distressed them was at hand, but what 
 should profit them was still at a great distance, 
 and it was uncertain whether it would come 
 at all or not, they thought it would be pru- 
 dent conduct to leave off any longer continu- 
 ance with him, and to cultivate friendship 
 with the other; so they sent to Jonathan, and 
 professed they would be his friends, and afford 
 him assistance; for such is the temper of men, 
 that before they have had the trial of great 
 afflictions, they do not understand what is 
 for their advantnge; but when they find them- 
 selves under such afflictions, they then change 
 their minds, and what it had been better for 
 them to have done before they had been bt 
 all damaged, they choose to do, but not till 
 after they have suffered such damages. How- 
 ever, he made a league of friendship v.ith 
 tbem, and took from them hostages for their 
 
350 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XTIL 
 
 performance of it, and sent these hostages to 
 Jerusalem, while he went himself over all the 
 country, as far as Damascus. 
 
 6. But when he heard that the generals of 
 Demetrius's forces were come to the city Ca- 
 desh, wiih a numerous army (the place lies 
 between the land of the Tyrians and Galilee), 
 for they supposed they should hereby draw 
 him out of Syri'*, in order to preserve Gali- 
 lee, and that he would not overlook the Ga- 
 lileans, who were his own people, when war 
 was made upon them.- he went to meet them, 
 having left Simon in Judea, who raised as 
 great an army as he was able out of the coun- 
 try, and then sat down before Bethsura, and 
 besieged it, that being the strongest place in 
 all Judea; and a garrison of Demetrius's kept 
 it, as we have already related. But as Simon 
 was raising banks, and bringing his engines of 
 war against Bethsura, and was very earnest 
 about the siege of it, the garrison was afraid 
 lest the place should be taken .of Simon by 
 force, and they put to the sword ; so they sent 
 to Simon, and desired the security of his oath, 
 that they should come to no harm from him, 
 and that tbey would leave the place, and go 
 away to Demetrius. Accordingly, he gave 
 them his oath, and ejected them out of the 
 city, and he put therein a garrison of his own. 
 
 7. But Jonathan removed out of Galilee, 
 and from the waters which are called Gen- 
 nesar, for there he was before encamped, and 
 came into the plain that is called Asor, with- 
 out knowing that the enemy was there. When 
 therefore Demetrius's men knew a day before- 
 hand that Jonathan was coming against them, 
 they laid an ambush in the mountain, who 
 were to assault him on the sudden, while 
 they themselves met him with an army in the 
 plidn; which army, when Jonathan saw ready 
 to engage him, he also got ready his own sol- 
 diers for the battle as well as he was able. 
 But those that were laid in ambush by Deme- 
 trius's generals being behind them, the Jews 
 were afraid lest they should be caught in the 
 midst between two bodies, and perish ; so 
 they ran away in haste, and indeed all the 
 rest left Jonathan, but a few, that were in 
 number about fifty, who staid with him, and 
 with them Mattathias, the son of Absalom, 
 and Judas, the son of Chapseus, who were 
 .commanders of the whole army. These 
 marched boldly, and like men desperate, 
 against tl e enemy, and so pushed them, that 
 by their courage tbey daunted them, and with 
 their weapons in their hands, they put them 
 to flight. And when those soldiers of Jona- 
 than that had retired, saw the enemy giving 
 way, they got together after their flight, and 
 pursued them with gi eat violence ; and this 
 did they as far as Cadesh, where the camp of 
 the enemy lay. 
 
 8. Jonathan having thus gotten a glorious 
 victory, and Klain two thousan m the enemy, 
 retur/'ed to Jerusalem, So when he saw that 
 
 all his affairs prospered according to his mind, 
 by the providence of God, he sent ambassa- 
 dors to the Romans, being desirous of renew- 
 ing that friendship which their nation had with 
 them formerly. He enjoined the same ambas- 
 sadors, that, as they came back, they should 
 go to the Spartans and put then, in mind of 
 their friendship and kindred. So when the am- 
 bassadors came to Rome, they went in to their 
 senate, and said what they were commanded by 
 Jonathan their high-priest to say, how he had 
 sent them to confirm their friendship. The 
 senate then confirmed what had been formerly 
 decreed concerning their friendship with the 
 Jews, and gave them letters to carry to all the 
 kings of Asia and Europe, and to the gover- 
 nors of the cities, that theyjpight safely con- 
 duct them to their own country. According- 
 ly, as they returned, they came to Sparta, and 
 delivered the epistle which they had received 
 of Jonathan to them; a copy of which here 
 follows: — "Jonathan the high-priest of the 
 Jewish nation, and the senate, and body of 
 the people of the Jews, to the ephori and se- 
 nate, and body of the people of the Lacedo- 
 jnonians, send greeting. If you be well, and 
 both your public and private affairs be agree- 
 able to your mind, it is according to our 
 wishes. We are well also. When in former 
 times an epistle was brought to Onias, who 
 was then our high-priest, from Areus, who at 
 that time was your king, by Demoteles, con- 
 cerning the kindred that was between us and 
 yon, a copy of which is here subjoined, we 
 both joyfully received the epistle, and were 
 well pleased with Demoteles and Areus, al- 
 though we did not need such a demonstration, 
 because we were well satisfied about it from 
 the sacred writings,* yet did not we think fit 
 first to begin the claim of this relation to you, 
 lest we should seem too early in taking to our- 
 selves the glory which is now given us by you. 
 It is a long time since this relation of ours to 
 you hath been renewed ; and when we, upon 
 holy and festival days, offer sacrifices to God, 
 we pray to him for your preservation and vic- 
 tory. As to ourselves, although we have had 
 many wars, that have compassed us around, by 
 reason of the covetousness of our neighbours, 
 yet did not we determine to be troublesome 
 either to you or to others that were related to 
 us; but since we have now overcome our ene- 
 mies, and have occasion to send Numenius, the 
 son of Antioch us, and A ntipater, the son of Ja- 
 son, who are both honourable men belonging 
 to our senate, to the Romans, we gave them 
 this epistle to you also, that they might re- 
 new that friendship which is between us 
 
 • This clause is othrrwise rendered in the flr.it book of 
 Maccabees, xli. 9: " For that we have the holy books of 
 Scriptures in our hands to comfort us " The Hebrew 
 oripfinal beinjf lost, we cannot certainly judge which was 
 the truest version, only the coherence favours Jos«>phii>. 
 Hut if this were the .lews' meaninz, that they were sati»> 
 fifd out of their llible thai the Jews and Lacedemonian 
 were of kin. that part of their Hihie ii now lo(t( for MV 
 Hnd no luch assertion in our present copies. 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 351 
 
 You will therefore do well yourselves to write 
 to us, and send us an account of what you 
 stand in need of from us, since we are in all 
 things disposed to act acconling to your de- 
 sires. So the Lacedemonians received the 
 ambassadors kindly, and made a decree for 
 friendship and mutual assistance, and sent it 
 to them. 
 
 9. At this time there were three sects among 
 the Jews, who had different opinions concern- 
 ing human actions; the one was called the 
 sect of the Pharisees, another the sect of the 
 Sadducees, and the other the sect of the Es- 
 sens. Now for the Pharisees,* they say that 
 some actions, but not all, are the work of fate, 
 and some of them are in our own power, and 
 that they are liable to fate, but are not caused 
 by fate. But the sect of the Essens affirm, 
 that fate governs all things, and that nothing 
 befalls men but what is according to its deter- 
 mination. And for the Sadducees, they take 
 away fate, and say there is no such thing, and 
 that the events of human affairs are not at its 
 disposal; but they suppose that all our actions 
 are in our own power, so tljat we are ourselves 
 Ihe causes of what is good, and receive what 
 is evil from our own folly. However, I have 
 given a more exact account of these opinions 
 in the second book of the Jewish War. 
 
 10. But now the generals of Demetrius, 
 being willing to recover the defeat they had 
 had, gathered a greater army together than 
 tbey had before, and came against Jonathan; 
 but as soon as he was informed of their com- 
 ing, he went suddenly to meet them, to the 
 country of Ilamath, for he resolved to give 
 them no opportunity of coming into Judea; 
 so he pitched his camp at fifty furlongs' dis- 
 tance from the enemy, and sent out spies to 
 take a view of their camp, and after what 
 manner they were encamped. W^hen his 
 spies had given him full information, and had 
 seized upon some of them by night, who told 
 him the enemy would soon attack him, he 
 thus apprized beforehand, provided for his 
 
 » Those that S'ippose Josephus to contradict himself 
 in his three several accounts of th« notions of the Phari- 
 sees, this here, and that earlier one, which is the largest. 
 Of the ^\ar. b. ii. eh. i. sect, 14; and that later, Antiq.b. 
 xviii.ch.i. sect. 3; as if he sometimes said they introduced 
 an absolute f itality.and denied all freedom of human ac- 
 tions, is almost wholly groundless; he ever, as the very 
 learned Cass.iubon here truly observes, asserting thit tho 
 Pharisf es Wf re between the Esst-ns and Sadducees, and 
 did so far ascribe all to fate or Divine Providence as was 
 consisft-nt with the freedom of human actions. However, 
 their p' rplexed way of talking about fate or Providence, 
 as ovei-ruling all things, made it commonly thought they 
 were willing to excuse their sins by ascribing them to 
 fate, as in the Apostolical Constitutions, b. vL ch. vi. — 
 Perhaps, under the same general name some difference 
 of opinions in this point might be propagated, as is very 
 common in all parties, especially in points of metaphysi- 
 cal suhtilty. However, our Josephus. who in his heart 
 was a great admirer of the piety of the Essens, was yet in 
 practice a Pharisee, as he himself informs us, in his own 
 Life, sect. 2. And his account of this doctrine of the Pha- 
 ri!««*s, is for certain agreeable to his own opinion, who 
 b 'th allowed the freedom of human actions, and yet 
 stiongly believed the powerful interposition of Divine 
 Providence, -"^ee concerning this matter a retparkable 
 sUuse, Antiq. b xviii.ch. xL sect. " 
 
 ' security, and placed watchmen beyond hia 
 camp, and kept all his forces armed all night; 
 and he gave them a charge to be of good cou- 
 rage, and to have their minds prepared to fight 
 in the night-time, if they should be obliged 
 so to do, lest their enemy's designs should 
 seem concealed from them. But when Deme- 
 trius's commanders were informed that Jona- 
 than knew what they intended, their counsels 
 were disordered, and it alarmed them to find 
 that the enemy had discovered those their in- 
 tentions ; nor did they expect to overcome 
 them any other way, now they ha(i failed in 
 the snares they had laid for them; for should 
 they hazard an open battle, they did not think 
 they should be a match for Jonathan's army, 
 so they resolved to fly: and having lighted 
 many fires, that when the enemy saw tliem 
 they might suppose they were there still, they 
 retired. But when Jonathan came to give 
 them battle in the morning in their camp, and 
 found it deserted, and understood they were 
 fled, he pursued them; yet he could not over- 
 take them, for they had already passed over 
 the river Eleutherus, and were out of danger. 
 So when Jonathan was returned thence, be 
 went into Arabia, and fought against the Na- 
 bateans, and drove away a great deal of their 
 prey, and took [many] captives, and came to 
 Damascus, and there sold off what he had 
 taken. About the same time it was that Si- 
 mon his brother went over all Judea and Pa- 
 lestine, as far as Askelon, and fortified the 
 strong holds: and when he had made them 
 very strong, both in the edifices erected, and 
 in the garrisons placed in them, he came to 
 Joppa; and when he had taken it, he brought 
 a great garrison into it, for he heard that the 
 people of Joppa were disposed to deliver up 
 the city to Demetrius's generals. 
 
 U. When Simon and Jonathan had finish- 
 ed these affairs, they returned to Jerusalem, 
 where Jonathan gathered all the people toge- 
 ther, and took counsel to restore the walls of 
 Jerusalem, and to rebuild the wall that en- 
 compassed the temple, which had been thrown 
 down, and to make the places adjoining 
 stronger, by very high towers; and besides 
 that, to build another wall in the midst of 
 the city, in order to exclude the market-place 
 from the garrison, which was in the citadel, 
 and by that means to hinder them from any 
 plenty of provisions; and moreover, to make 
 the fortresses that were in the country much 
 stronger, and more defensible than they were 
 before. And when these things were approv 
 ed of by the multitude, as rightly proposed, 
 Jonathan himself took care of the building 
 
 { that belonged to the city, and sent Simon 
 
 ' away to make the fortressesinthe country more 
 secure than formerly. But Demetrius passed 
 over [Euphrates], and came into Mesopota- 
 mia, as desirous to retain that country still, as 
 well as Babylon; and when he should have 
 
 . obtained the dominion of the upper provinces. 
 
352 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XIIT 
 
 to lay a foundation for recovering his entire 
 kingdom; for these Greeks and Macedonians, 
 who dwelt there, frequently sent ambassadors 
 to him, and promised that if he would come to 
 them, they would deliver themselves up to 
 him, and assist him in fighting against Ar- 
 saces,* the king of the Parthians. So he was 
 elevated with these hopes, and came hastily to 
 them, as having resolved that, if he had once 
 overthrown the Parthians, and gotten an ar- 
 my of his own, he would make war against 
 Trypho, and eject him out of Syria; and the 
 people of that country received him with great 
 alacrity. So he raised forces, with which he 
 fought against Arsaces, and lost all his army ; 
 and was himself taken alive, as we have else- 
 where related. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW JONATHAN WAS SLAIN BY TREACHERY;, 
 AND HOW THEREUPON THE JEWS MADE 
 SIMON THEIR GENERAL AND HIGH-PRIEST; 
 WHAT COURAGEOUS ACTIONS HE ALSO PER- 
 FORMED, ESPECIALLY AGAINST TRYPHO. 
 
 § 1. Now when Trypho knew what had be- 
 fallen Demetrius, he was no longer firm to 
 Antiochus, but contrived by subtilty to kill 
 him, and then take possession of his kingdom ; 
 but the fear that he was in of Jonathan was 
 an obstacle to this his design, for Jonathan 
 was a friend to Antiochus, for which cause he 
 resolved first to take Jonathan out of the 
 way, and then to set about his desigu relating 
 to Antiochus; but he, judging it best to take 
 him off by deceit and treachery, came from 
 Antiocb to Bethshan, which by the Greeks is 
 called Scythopolis, at which place Jonathan 
 met him with forty thousand chosen men, for 
 he thought that he came to fight him; but 
 when he perceived that Jonathan was ready 
 to fight, he attempted to gain bun by presents 
 and kind treatment, arul gave order to his 
 captains to obey him, and by these means was 
 desirous to give assurance of his good- will, 
 and to take away all suspicions out of his 
 mind, that so he might make him careless 
 and inconsiderate, and might take him when 
 he was unguarded. He also advised him to 
 dismiss his army, because there was no occa- 
 sion for bringing it with him, when there was 
 no war, but all was in peace. However, he 
 desired him to retain a few about him, and 
 go with him to Ptolemais, for that he would 
 deliver the city up to him, ai:d would bring 
 
 • The kinif, who was of the famnus race of Arsaces, is 
 both here and 1 Mac, xiv. 2. cnlled by the family-name 
 ArsaceSi but Appian says hi:i proper name was I'hraates. 
 He is here aIho called by Josephiio the kinj; of tlic Par- 
 thians. a« the Creeks used to call them i but by the elder 
 author of the First Marcabees. the king of the Persians 
 •nd Medes. acrordipp to tht- laiu'iiape of the eastern na- 
 tion*. See Autbent. Reo. part iL p. Ul'A. 
 
 all the fortresses that were in the country un^ 
 der his dominion; and he told him that he 
 came with those very designs. 
 
 2. Yet did not Jonathan suspect any thing 
 at all by this his management, but believed 
 that Trypho gave this advice out of kindness, 
 and with a sincere design. Accordingly, he 
 dismissed his army, and retained no more i'han 
 three thousand of them with him, and left 
 two thousand in Galilee; and he him?elf, 
 with one thousand, came with Trypho to Pto- 
 lemais: but when the people of Ptolemais 
 had shut their gates, as it had been com- 
 manded by Trypho to do, he took Jonathan 
 alive, and slew all that were with him. He 
 also sent soldiers against those two thousand 
 that were left in Galilee, in order to destroy 
 them: but those men having heard the report 
 of what had happened to Jonathan, they pre- 
 vented the execution, and before those that 
 were sent by Trypho came, they covered them- 
 selves with their armour, and went away out 
 of the country. Now when those that were 
 sent against them saw that they were ready 
 to fight for their lives, they gave them no dis- 
 turbance, but returned back to Trypho. 
 
 3. But when the people of Jerusalem heard 
 that Jonathan was taken, and that the soldiers 
 who were with him were destroyed, they de- 
 plored his sad fate ; and there was earnest in- 
 quiry made about him by every body, and a 
 great and just fear fell upon them, and made 
 them sad, lest now they were deprived of the 
 courage and conduct of Jonathan, the nations 
 about them should bear them ill-will; and as 
 they were before quiet on account of Jonathan, 
 they should now rise up against them, and by 
 making war with them, should force them into 
 the utmost dangers. And indeed what they 
 suspected really befell them; for when those 
 nations heard of the death of Jonathan, thejr 
 began to make war with the Jews as now des- 
 titute of a governor; Trypho himself got an 
 army together, and had an intention to go up 
 to Judea, and make war against its inhabi- 
 tants. But when Simon saw that the people 
 of Jerusalem were terrified at the circum- 
 stances they were in, he desired to make 8 
 speech to them, and thereby to render them 
 more resolute in opposing Trypho when he 
 should come against them. He then called 
 the people together into the temple, and thence 
 began thus to encourage them: — "O my 
 countrymen, you are not ignorant that our 
 father, myself, and my brethren, have ventured 
 to hazard our lives, and that willingly, for the 
 recovery of your liberty; since I have there- 
 fore such plenty of examples before me, and 
 we of our family have determined with our- 
 selves to die for our laws and our divine wor- 
 ship, there shall no terror be so great tis to 
 banish this resolution from our souls, nor to 
 introduce in its place a love of life antl« con- 
 tempt of glory. Do you theiefore follow roe 
 with alacrity whithersoever I shall lead y \ 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 353 
 
 AS not destitute of such a captain as is willing 
 to suffer, and to do the greatest things for you ; 
 for neither am I better than my brethren that 
 I should be sparing of my own life, nor so far 
 worse than they as to avoid and refuse what 
 they thought the most honourable of all things, 
 — I mean, to undergo death for your laws, 
 and for that worship of God which is peculiar 
 to you; I will therefore give such proper de- 
 monstrations as will show that I am their own 
 brother; and I am so bold as to expect that I 
 shall avenge their blood upon our enemies, and 
 deliver you all, with your wives and children, 
 from the injuries they intend against you, and, 
 with God's assistance, to preserve your tem- 
 ple from destruction by them; for I see that 
 these nations have you in contempt, as being 
 without a governor, aijd that they thence are 
 encouraged to make war against you." 
 
 4. By this speech of Simon, he inspired th° 
 multitude^s-with courage; and as they had be- 
 fore been dispirited through fear, they were 
 now raised to a good hope of better things, 
 insomuch that the whole multitude of the peo- 
 ple cried out all at once, that Simon should be 
 leader; and that instead of Judas and Jona- 
 than his brethren, he should have the govern- 
 ment over them: and they promised that they 
 would readily obey him in whatsoever he 
 should command them. So he got together 
 immediately all his own soldiers that were fit 
 for war, and made haste in rebuilding the walls 
 of the city, and strengthening them by very 
 high and strong towers, and sent a friend of 
 his, one Jonathan, the son of Absalom, to 
 Joppa, and gave him order to eject the inhabi- 
 tants out of the city, for he was afraid lest they 
 should deliver up the city to Trypho; but he 
 himself staid to secure Jerusalem. 
 
 5. But Trypho removed from Ptolemais 
 with a great army, and came into Judea, and 
 brought Jonathan with him in bonds. Simon 
 ttlso met him with his army at the city Adida, 
 
 .which is upon a hill, and beneath it lie the 
 plains of Judea. And when Trypho knew 
 that Simon was by the Jews made their gover- 
 nor, he sent to him, and would have imposed 
 upon him by deceit and treachery, and de 
 sired, if he would have his brother Jonathan 
 released, that he would send him an hundred 
 talents of silver, and two of Jonathan's sons 
 as hostages, that when he shall be released, 
 he may not make Judea revolt from the king; 
 for that at present he was kept in bonds on 
 account of the money he had borrowed of the 
 king, and now owed it to him. But Simon 
 was aware of the craft of Trypho; and al- 
 though he knew that if he gave him the mo- 
 ney he should lose it, and that Trypho would 
 not set his brother free, and withal should 
 deliver the sons of Jonathan to the enemy, 
 yet because he was afraid that he should have 
 a calumny raised against him among the mul- 
 titude as the cause of his brother's death, if 
 he neitli-jr gave the money nor stnt Jona- 
 
 than's sons, he gathered his army together, 
 and told them what offers Trypho had made 
 and added this, that the offers were ensnaring 
 and treacherous, and yet that it was more eli- 
 gible to send the money and Jonathan's sons, 
 than to be liable to the imputation of not 
 complying with Trypho's offers, and thereby 
 refusing to save his brother. Accordingly, 
 Simon sent the sons of Jonathan and the 
 money; but when Trypho had received them 
 he did not keep his promise, nor set Jonathan 
 free, but took his army, and went about all 
 the country, and resolved to go afterward to 
 Jerusalem, by the way of Idumea, while Si- 
 mon went over-against him with his army, 
 and all along pitched his camp over-against 
 his. 
 
 6. But when those that were in the citadel 
 had sent to Trypho, and besought him to make 
 haste and come to them, and to send them 
 provisions, he prepared his cavalry as though 
 he would be at Jerusalem that very night; 
 but so great a quantity of snow fell in the 
 night, that it covered the roads, and made 
 them so deep that there was no passing, espe- 
 cially for the cavalry. This hindered him 
 from coming to Jerusalem; whereupon Try- 
 pho removed thence, and came into Celesyria, 
 and falling vehemently upon the land of Gi- 
 lead, he slew Jonathan there; and when he 
 had given order for his burial, he returned 
 himself to Antioch. However, Simon sent 
 some to the city Basca to bring away his bro- 
 ther's bones, and buried them- in their own 
 city Modin; and all the people made great 
 lamentation over him. Simon also erected a 
 very large monument for his father and his 
 brethren of white and polished stone, and 
 raised it a great height, and so as to be seen a 
 long way off, and made cloisters about it, and 
 set up pillars, which were of one stone a- piece 
 a work it was wonderful- to see. Moreover 
 he built seven pyramids also for his parents 
 and brethren, one for each of them, which 
 were made very surprising, both for their large 
 ness and beauty, and which have been preserved 
 to this day; and we know that it was Simon 
 who bestowed so much zeal about the burial 
 of Jonathan, and the building of these monu- 
 ments for his relations. Now Jonathan died 
 when he had been high- priest four years,* 
 and had been also the governor of his nation. 
 And these were the circumstances that con- 
 cerned his death. 
 
 • There is some error in the copies here, when no more 
 than four years are ascribed to the high-priesthood of Jo^ 
 nathan. We know by Josephus's last Jewish chronolojr^ 
 Antiq. b. xx. ch. x that there was an interval of seven 
 years between the death of Alcimiis, or Jacimus. the last 
 hi^h-pricst, and the real high-priesthood of Jonathan, to 
 whom yet those seven years seem here to l)e ascribed, as 
 a part of them were to Judas before, Aiitiq. b. xii. ch. x. 
 sect. 6. Now since, besides these scvrn years interreg- 
 num in the pontificate, we are told. Antiq. b. xx. ch. x. 
 that Jonathan's real high-prieslhood lasted seven years 
 in.>.-f. these two seven years will make up fourteen year*| 
 wliicti. 1 siipnose. was Jo«epIiu»'s own number in tbii 
 place, idstetd of the tour in our present copies. 
 
354 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 
 7. But Simon, who was made high- priest 
 by the multitude, on the very first year of his 
 hurh-priesthood, set bis people free from their 
 slavery under the Macedonians, and permit- 
 tetl them to pay tribute to thftn no longer; 
 which liberty and freedom from tribute they 
 obtained, after a hundred and seventy years* 
 of the kingdom of the Assyrians, which was 
 aft^r Seleucus, who was called Nicator, got 
 the dominion over Syria. Now the affection 
 of the multitude towards Simon was so great, 
 that in their contracts one with another, and 
 in their public records, they wrote, "in the 
 first year of Simon the benefactor and eth- 
 narch of the Jews;" for under him they were 
 very happy, and overcame the enemies that 
 were round about them ; for Simon over- 
 threw the city Gazara, and Joppa, and Jam- 
 nia. He also took the citadel of Jerusalem 
 by siege, and cast it down to the ground, that 
 it might not be any more a place of refuge to 
 their enemies when they took it, to do them 
 a mischief, as it had been till now. And 
 when he had done this, he thought it their 
 best way, and most for their advantage, to 
 level the very mountain itself upon which the 
 citadel happened to stand, that so the temple 
 might be higher than it. And, indeed, when 
 he had called the multitude to an assembly, 
 be persuaded them to have it so demolished, 
 and this by putting them in mind what mise- 
 ries they had suffered by its garrison and 
 the Jewish deserters; and what miseries they 
 might hereafter suffer in case any foreigner 
 should obtain the kingdom, and put a garrison 
 into that citadel. This speech induced the 
 multitude to a compliance, b'^cause he exhorted 
 them to do nothing but uaat was for. their 
 own good: so they all set themselves to the 
 work, and levelled the mountain, and in that 
 work spent both day and night without inter- 
 mission, which cost them three whole years 
 before it was removed, and brought to an en- 
 tire level with the plain of the rest of the 
 city. After which the temple was the highest 
 of all the buildings, now the citadel, as well 
 as the mountain whereon it stood, were de- 
 molished. And these actions were thus per- 
 formed under Simon. 
 
 * These one hiindre*! and seventy yenrs of the Assv'* 
 rians mean no more, as Jospplins fxplaitvs liim self here, 
 than from the sera of S«;le«cii8, which, as it is Itnown to 
 h;iTc beuan on ihelMilh year before tl\e Christian ajra, 
 from its »prinK in the first book of Maccabees, and from 
 Jtsantnmn in the second book of Maccal)ees, so did it 
 not begin at Bahvlon till the next sprini;. on the3IIth 
 /ear. See I'rid. at tlie year 312. And it is truly observed 
 by Dr. Hudson on this place, that the Syrians and As. 
 ■yrians are sometimes confounded in ancient authors, 
 according to the words of Justin, the epitomizer of Tro- 
 Rus ForapeiuB, who says, mat " the Assyrians were after- 
 wards called Syrians" U. I ch. xi. See of the War, b. 
 T. ch. ix. sect. 4. where the Philistines themselves, at the 
 rery south limit of Syria in its utmost extent, are called 
 Anyrians by Josephus, aa Spanheim obaerv«a 
 
 ' CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW SIMON CONFEDERATED HIMSELF WITH 
 ANTIOCHUS PIUS, AND MADE WAU AGAINST 
 TRYPHO, AND, A LITTLE AFTERWAHDS, 
 AGAINST CENDEBEUS, THE GENERAL OF AN- 
 TIOCHUS'S ARMY; AS ALSO HOW SIMON WAS 
 MURDERED BY HIS SON-IN-LAW, PTOLEMY, 
 AND THAT BY TREACHERY. 
 
 § 1. f Now a little while after Demetrius 
 had been carried into captivity, Trypho his 
 governor destroyed Antiochus,^ the son of 
 Alexander, who was also called 77ie God,^ 
 and this when he had reigned four years, 
 though he gave it out that he died under the 
 hands of the surgeons. He then sent his 
 friends, and those that were most intimate 
 with him, to the soldiers, and promised that 
 he would give them a great deal of^^oney il 
 they would make him king. He intimated 
 to them that Demetrius was made a captive 
 by the Parthians; and that Demetrius's bro- 
 ther Antiochus, if he came to be king, would 
 do them a great deal of mischief, in way ot 
 revenge for revolting from his brother. So 
 the soldiers, in expectation of the wealth they 
 
 + It must here be diligently noted, that Josephns'i 
 copy of the first book of Maccabees, which he has sa 
 carefully followed, and faithfully abride;ed, as far as tha 
 fiftieth verse of the thirteenth chapter, seems there to 
 have ended. What few things there are afterwards com- 
 mon to both, mii<tit probably be learned by him from 
 some other more imperfect records. However, we must 
 exactly observe here, what the remaininu part «,f that 
 biok of the Maccabees informs us of, and what Jose- 
 phus would never have omitted had his copy con'ained 
 so much,- that this Simon the Great, the Macrabce, 
 made a league with Antiochus Soter, the son of Deme- 
 trius Soier, and brottier ol the other Demetrius, who 
 was now a captive in I'arthia; that upon his coming lo 
 the crown about the 140ih year before the Chri>tian 
 ajia, he granted great privileges to the Jewish nation 
 and to Simon their high-priest ;ind ethnarch: which 
 privileges Simon seems to have taken of his own accord 
 about three years before. In particular, he gave him 
 leave to coin money for his country with his own stai.ip: 
 and as concerning Jeiusalem and the sanctuary, that they 
 .should be free, or, as the vulgar Latin hath it, " holy and 
 fiee" (I Maccab. xv. 6, 7,) which 1 take to be the true 
 reading, as being the very words of his father's cnnces- 
 sion ofTered to Jonathan several years before: ch. x 31; 
 and Aiitiq. b. xiii. ch. ii sect. 3. Now what makes this 
 date and these grants greatly remarkalile. is the state of 
 the remaining genuine shekels of the Jews with Samari- 
 tan characters, which seem to have been (most of them 
 at least) coined in the first four years of this Simon, the 
 Asamonean, and having upon them these words on one 
 side, "Jerusalem the Holy;" and on the reverse, "In the 
 Year of Fieedom," I. or "2, or 3, or 4; which shekels, 
 therefore, are original monuments of these times, and 
 undeniable marks of the trtith of the history in these 
 chapters, though it be in great measure omitted by Jose- 
 phus. See Kssay on the <Md Test. p. 167. I.-JK The 
 reason why I rather suppose that his copy of the Marra- 
 bees wanted these chapters, than that his own copies are 
 here imperlect is this: That all their contents are not 
 here omitted, though much the greater part be. 
 
 % How Trypho killed this Antiochtis. the epitome of 
 I.ivy informs us, chapter &». viz. that he corrut)ted his 
 physicians or surgeons, who. falsely pretending to the 
 people that he was perishing with the stone, as they cut 
 him for it, killed him; which exactly agrees with J ©se- 
 ll That thl« Antiochus, the son of Alexander Balii-S 
 was called "the G<m1." is evident from his coins, whicfl 
 I Spanheim assures ns bear this inscription: ** King AlV 
 tiocbut the God; Epiphaues I'.ie Virtorioui." 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 355 
 
 should get by bestowing the kingdom upon 
 Trypho, made bim their ruler. However, 
 when Trypho had gained the management of 
 affairs, he demonstrated bis disposition to be 
 wicked; for while he was a private person, 
 he cultivated a familiarity with the multitude, 
 and pretended to great moderation, and so 
 drew them on artfully to whatsoever he pleas- 
 ed; but when he had once taken the king- 
 dom, he laid aside any farther dissimulation, 
 and was the true Trypho; which behaviour 
 made his enemies superior to him ; for the 
 soldiers hated bim, and revolted from him to 
 Cleopatra, the wife of Demetrius, who was 
 then shut up in Seleucia with her children ; 
 but as Antiochus, the brother of Demetrius 
 who was called Soter, was not admitted by 
 any of the cities, on account of Trypho, Cleo- 
 patra sent to him, and invited him to marry 
 her, and to take the kingdom. The reasons 
 why she made this invitation were these: 
 That her friends persuaded her to it, and that 
 she was afraid for herself, in case some of 
 the people of Seleucia should deliver up the 
 city to Trypho. 
 
 2. As Antiochus was now come to Seleu- 
 cia, and his forces increased every day, he 
 marched to fight Trypho; and having beaten 
 him in the battle, he ejected him out of the 
 Upper Syria into Phoenicia, and pursued him 
 thither, and besieged him in Dora, which was 
 a fortress hard to be taken, whither he had 
 fled. He also sent ambassadors to Simon the 
 Jewish high-priest, about a league of friend- 
 ship and mutual assistance; who readily ac- 
 cepted of the invitation, and sent to Antio- 
 chus great sums of money and provisions for 
 those that besieged Dora, and thereby sup- 
 plied them very plentifully, so that for a little 
 while he vvas looked upon as one of his most 
 intimate friends; but still Trypho fled from 
 Dora to Apamia, where he was taken during 
 the siege, and put to death, when be had 
 reigned three years. 
 
 3. However, Antiochus forgot the kind 
 assistance that Simon had afforded him in 
 his necessity, by reason of his covetous and 
 wicked disposition, and committed an army of 
 soldiers to his friend Cendebeus, and sent him 
 at 0!»ce to ravage Judea, and to seize Simon. 
 When Simon heard of Antiochus's breaking 
 his league with him, although he were now 
 in years, yet, provoked with the unjust treat- 
 ment he had met with from Antiochus, and 
 taking a resolution brisker than his age could 
 well bear, he went like a young man to act 
 ig general of his army. He also sent his sons 
 before among the most hardy of his soldiers, 
 and he himself marched on with his army 
 another way, and laid many of his men in 
 ambushes in the narrow valleys between the 
 mountains; nor did he fail of success in 
 any one of his attempts, but was too hard 
 for ms enemies in every one of them. So 
 he led the rest of his life in peace, ami did 
 
 also himself make a league with the Ro- 
 mans. 
 
 4. Now he was ruler of the Jews in all 
 eight years; but at a feast came to his end. 
 It was caused by the treachery of his son-in- 
 law Ptolemy, who caught also his wife, and 
 two of his sons, and kept them in bonds. Ho 
 also sent some to kill John the third son, 
 whose name was Hyrcanus: but the young 
 man perceiving them coming, he avoided the 
 danger he was in from them,* and made haste 
 into the city [Jerusalem], as relying on the 
 good-will of the multitude, because of the 
 benefits they had received from his father, and 
 because of the hatred the same multitude bare 
 to Ptolemy; so that when Ptolemy was en- 
 deavouring to enter the city by another gate, 
 they drove him away, as having already ad- 
 mitted Hyrcanus. 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 HYRCANUS RECEIVES THE HIGH-PRIESTHOOD, 
 AND EJECTS PTOLWMY OUT OF THE COUN- 
 TRY. ANTIOCHUS MAKES WAR AGAINST 
 HYRCANUS, AND AFTERWARDS MAKES A 
 LEAGUE WITH HIM. 
 
 5 1. So Ptolemy retired to one of the for- 
 tresses that was above Jericho, which was called 
 Dagon. Hut Hyrcanus having taken the 
 high-priesthood that had been his father's be- 
 fore, and in the first place propitiated God by 
 sacrifices, he then made an expedition against 
 Ptolemy; and when he made his attacks 
 upon the place^n other points he was too 
 hard for him, btft was rendered weaker than 
 he, by the commiseration he had for his mo- 
 ther and his brethren, and by that only; for 
 I tolemy brought them upon the vvall, and 
 tormented them in the sight of all, and threa- 
 tened that he would throw them down head- 
 long, unless Hyrcanus would leave off the 
 siepe; and as he thought that, so far as he 
 relaxed to the siege and taking of the place, 
 so much favour did he show to those that were 
 dearest to him by preventing their misery, his 
 zeal about it was cooled. However, his mo- 
 ther spread out her hands, and begged of him 
 that he would not grow remiss on her account, 
 but indulge his indignation so much the more, 
 and that he would do his utmost to take the 
 place quickly, in order to get their enemy un- 
 der his power, and then to avenge upon him 
 
 * Here Josephus begins to follow and to abridge tlj* 
 next sacred Hebrew book, styled in the end of thf first 
 book of Maccabees, "The Chronicle of John [Hyrca- 
 nus's] High-priesthood ;" but in some of the Greek copies, 
 •• the fourth book of Maccabees." A Gieek version of 
 this chronicle was extant not very long ago, in the dayi 
 ofSantes Pagniniisand SixtusSenensis.at Lyons, though 
 it se^-ms to have been there burnt, and to be utterly lost. 
 See Sixtus ^enensi.-^'s account of it, of its many Hebra« 
 isms, end its .igrpement with Josephus's abri<Jgm«at, in. 
 the Authtnt Rec. partL pp. 206—208. 
 
85d 
 
 Al^TIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIII, 
 
 what he had doT\e to those that were dearest 
 to himself; for that death would be to her 
 sweet, though with torment, if that enemy 
 of theirs might but be brought to punishment 
 for his wicked dealings to them. Now when 
 his mother said so, be resolved to take the for- 
 tress immediately ; but when he saw her beaten, 
 and torn to pieces, his courage failed him, and 
 he could not but sympathize with what his 
 mother suffered, and was thereby overcome; 
 and as the siege was drawn out into length 
 by this means, that year on which the Jews 
 use to rest, came on ; for the Jews observe this 
 rest every seventh year, as they do every se- 
 venth day; so that Ptolemy being for this 
 cause released from the war," he slew the 
 brethren of Hyrcanus and his mother: and 
 when he had so done, he fled to Zeno, who 
 was called Cotylas, w ho was then the tyrant 
 of the city Philadelphia. 
 
 2. But Antiochus, being very uneasy at the 
 miseries that Simon had brought upon him, 
 he invaded Judea in the fourth year of his 
 reign, and the first year of the principality of 
 Hyrcanus, in the hundred and sixty-second 
 Olympiad.! And wheir he had burnt the 
 country, he shut up Hyrcanus in the city, 
 which he encompassed round with seven 
 encampments; but did nothing at the first, 
 because of the strength of the walls, and be- 
 cause of the valour of the besieged, although 
 they were once in want of water, which yet 
 they were delivered from by a large shower 
 of rain, which fell at the setting of the Pleia- 
 des. J However, about the north part of the 
 wall, where it happened the city was upon a 
 level with the outward ground, the king raised 
 a hundred towers of three stories high, and 
 placed bodies of soldiers upon them ', and as 
 he made his attacks every day, he cut a double 
 ditch, deep and broad, and confined the inha- 
 
 ♦ Hence we learn, that in the days of this excel- 
 lent high-pricBt, John Hyrcanus, the ohservation of the 
 Sahbalic Year, as Josephus supposed, required a rest 
 from war, as did that of the weekly Sabbath from work; 
 I mean this, unless in the case of necessity, when the 
 Jews were attacked by their enemies, in which case, in- 
 deed, and in which alone, they then allowed defensive 
 fighting to be lawful even on the Sabbath-day, as we see 
 in several places of Josephus, Antiq. b. xii. ch. vi. sect. 
 2; b. xiiL ch. i. sect 3; Of the War, b. i. ch. vii. sect, 
 3. But then it must be noted, that this rest from war 
 no way appears in the first book of Maccabees (ch. xvi.), 
 but the direct contrary; though indeed the Jews, in the 
 days of Antiochus hpiphanes, did not venture upon 
 fighting on the Sabbath-day, even in the defence of their 
 own lives, till the Asamoneans or Maccabees decreed so 
 to do, 1 Mac. ii. 32—41 ; Antiq b. xii. ch. vi. sect. 2. 
 
 + Jos«-phu8'8 copies, both Greek and I.atin, have here 
 a pross mistake, when they say that this first year of 
 John Hyrcanus, which we have just now seen to have 
 been a Sabbatic Year, was in the IG2d Olympiad, where- 
 as it was for certain the second year of the Iblst See 
 the like before, b. xii. ch. vii. sect. 6. 
 
 t This heliacal settinj; of the IMfiades, or seven stars, 
 was. in the days of Hyrcanus and Josephus, early in the 
 spring, about February, the time of the latter rain in 
 Judea: and this, so far as I remember, is the only as- 
 tronomical character of time, besides one eclipse of the 
 moon in the reipcu of Herod, that we meet with in all 
 Josephus: the Jews beint{ little accustomed to astrono- 
 mical obRervations. any farther than for the use of their 
 kalendar; and utterly forbidden those astrological uses 
 vhich the hiAlheus C0mmonly made Af th«m. 
 
 bitants within it ns within a wall ; but the 
 besieged contrived to make frequent sallies 
 out; and if the enemy were not any where 
 upon their guard, they fell upon them, an 
 did them a great deal of mischief; and if they 
 perceived them, they then retired into the city 
 v\ith ease. But because Hyrcanus disoeiiied 
 the inconvenience of so great a lumiber of 
 men in the city, while the provisions w ere the 
 sooner spent by them, and yet, as is natural to 
 suppose, those great numbers did nothing, he 
 separated the useless part, and excluded thera 
 out of the city, and retained that part only 
 who were in the flower of their age, and fit 
 for war. However, Antiochus would not let 
 those that were excluded go away; who, there- 
 fore, w^andering about between the walls, and 
 consuming away by famine, died miserably; 
 but when the feast of tabernacles was at hand, 
 those that were within commiserated their 
 condition, and received them in again. And 
 vshen Hyrcanus sent to Antiochus, and de- 
 sired there might be a truce -for seven days, 
 because of the festival, he gave way to his 
 piety towards God, and made that truce ac- 
 cordingly; and besides that, he sent in a 
 magnificent sacrifice, bulls with their horns 
 gilded, I with all sorts of sweet spices, and 
 with cups of gold and silver. So those that 
 were at the gates received the sacrifices from 
 those that brought them and led them to the 
 temple, Antiochus the meanwhile feasting his 
 army, which was a quite diflferent conduct from 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, who, when he had taken 
 the city, offered swine upon the altar, and 
 sprinkled the temple with the broth of their 
 flesh, in order to violate the laws of the Jews, 
 and the religion they derived from their fore- 
 fathers; for which reason our nation made war 
 with him, and would never be reconciled to 
 him; but for this Antiochus, all men called 
 him Antiochus the Pious, for the great zeal 
 he had about religion. 
 
 3. Accordingly, Hyrcanus took this mode- 
 ration of his kindly; and when he imderstood 
 how religious he was towards the Deity, he 
 sent an embassage to him, and desired that he 
 would restore the settlements they received 
 from their forefathers. So he rejected the 
 counsel of those that would have him utterly 
 destroy the nation § by reason of their way 
 of living, which was to others unsociable, a^id 
 did not regard what they said. But being 
 persuaded that all they did was out of a reli- 
 gious mind, he answered the ambassadors, 
 that if the besieged would deliver up their 
 arms, and pay tribute for Joppa, and the 
 other cities which bordered upon Judea, and 
 
 II Dr. Hudson tells us here, that this custom of gildings 
 the horns of those oxen ihut were to be sacrificed, is a 
 known thing both in thf ports and orators. 
 
 { This account in Jo.sephus. that the present Antio> 
 chus was persuaded, thnngh in vain, not to make (%ic« 
 with thr Jrws. hut to nit them off utterly, is fully con- 
 firmed by Diodorus .Sic.ulus, in Fbotius't evtrnctf out 
 of bis 34th U«Mik. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 367 
 
 admit a garnson of his, on these terms he 
 would make war against them no longer. 
 But the Jews, although they were cwitent 
 with the other conditions, did not agree to 
 admit the garrison, because they could not 
 associate with other people, nor converse with 
 them; yet were they willing, instead of the 
 admission of the garrison, to give him hos- 
 tages, and five hundred talents of silver; of 
 which they paid down three hundred, and 
 sent the hostJiges immediately, which king 
 Antiochus accepted. One of those hostages 
 was Hyrcanus's brother. But still he broke 
 ^own the fortifications that ericompassed the 
 city. And upon these conditions Antiochus 
 broke up the siege, and departed. 
 
 4. But Hyrcanus opened the sepulchre of 
 David, who excelled all other kings in riches, 
 and took out of it three thousand talents. He 
 was also the first of the Jews that, relying on 
 this wealth, maintained foreign troops. There 
 was also a league of friendship and mutual 
 assistance made between them ; upon which 
 Hyrcanus admitted him into the city, and 
 furnished him with whatsoever his army want- 
 ed in great plenty, and with great generosity, 
 and marched along with him when he made 
 an expedition against the Parthians, of which 
 Nicolaus of Damascus is a witness for us; 
 who in his history writes thus: — "When 
 Antiochus had erected a trophy at the river 
 Lycus, upon his conqjiest of Indates, the ge- 
 neral of the Parthians, he staid there two days. 
 It was at the desire of Hyrcanus the Jew, be- 
 cause it was such a festival derived to them 
 from their forefathers, whereon the law of the 
 Jevvs did not allow them to travel." And 
 truly he did not speak falsely in saying so ; 
 for that festival which we call Pentecost, did 
 then fall out to be the next day to the Sab- 
 bath : nor is it lawful for us to journey, either 
 on the Sabbath-day, or on a festival day.* 
 But when Antiochus joined battle with Ar- 
 saces, the king of Parthia, he lost a great part 
 of his army, and was himself slain; and his 
 brother Demetrius succeeded in the kingdom 
 of Syria, by the permission of Arsaces, who 
 freed him from his captivity at the same time 
 that Antiochus attacked Parthia, as we have 
 formerly related elsewhere. 
 
 • The Jews were not to march or journey on the Sab- 
 bath, or on such a great festival as was equivalent to the 
 Sabbath, any farther than a Sabbath-day's journey, or 
 two thousand cubits. See the note on Antiq. b. xx. ch. 
 Tiii.sect.6. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW, AFTER THE DEATH OF ANTIOCHUS, HYE- 
 CANUS MADE AN EXPEDITION AGAINST SY- 
 RIA, AND MADE A LEAGUE WITH THE RO- 
 MANS. CONCERNING THE DEATH OF KING 
 DEMETRIUS AND ALEXANDER. 
 
 § 1. B'JT when Hyrcanus beard of the death 
 o( Aritiuchus, he presently made an expedi- 
 tion against the cities of Syria, hoping to find 
 them destitute of fighting men, and of such as 
 were able to defend them. However, it was 
 not till the sixth month that he took Medaba, 
 and that not without the greatest distress of his 
 army. After this he took Sannega, and the neigh- 
 bouring places; and, besides these, Shechem and 
 Gerizzim, and the nation of the Cutheans, who 
 dwelt at the temple which resembled that tem- 
 ple which was at Jerusalem, and which Alexan- 
 der permitted Sanballat, the general of his army, 
 to build for the sake of Manasseh, who was son- 
 in-lavr to Jadua the high-priest, as we have 
 formerly related; which temple was now de- 
 serted two hundred years after it was built. 
 Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities 
 of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans; 
 and permitted them to stay in that country, 
 if they would circumcise their genitals, and 
 make use of the laws of the Jews; and they 
 were so desirous of living in the country of 
 their forefathers, that they submitted to the 
 use of circumcision,! and the rest of the 
 Jewish ways of living; at which time there- 
 fore this befel them, that they were hereafter 
 no other than Jews. 
 
 2. But Hyrcanus the high-priest was de- 
 sirous to renew the league of friendship they 
 
 + This account of the Idumeans admitting circumci- 
 sion, and the entire Jewish law, from this time, or from 
 the days, of Hyrcanus, is confirmed by their entire Jiistory 
 afterwards. See Antiq. b. xir. ch, viii. sect. 1; b. xv, 
 ch. vii. sect. 9. Of the War, b. ii. ch. iii. sect. 1; b. iv.ch. 
 iv. sect. 5. This, in the opinion of Josephus, made them 
 proselytes of justice, or entire Jews, as here and else- 
 where, Antiq. b. xiv. ch. viii sect. 1. However, Antigo- 
 nus, the enemy of Herod, though Herod were derived 
 from such a proselyte of justice for several generations, 
 will allow him to be no more than a half Jew, b. xv. ch. 
 XV. sect. 2. But still, take out of Dean Prideaux, at the 
 year 129, the words of Ammonius, a grammarian, which 
 fully confirm this account of the Idumeans, in Josephus; 
 "The Jews," says he, "are such by nature, and from 
 the beginning, whilst the Idumeans were not Jews from 
 thebeginninir, but Phoenicians and Syrians; but being 
 afterwards subdued by the Jews and compelled to be cir- 
 cumcised, and to unite into one nation, and be subject to 
 the same laws, they were called Jews." Uio also says, 
 as the Dean there quotes him, from book xxxvi p. 37, 
 " That country is also called Judea, and the people Jews ; 
 and this name is given also to as many others as embrace 
 their religion, though of other nations.** But then upon 
 what foundation so good a governor as Hyrcanus to«k 
 upon him to compel those Idumeans cither to become 
 Jewi or to leave the country, deserves great considera- 
 tion. I suppose it was because they had lonj^ ago been 
 driven out of the land of Edom, and had seized on and 
 possessed the tribe of Simeon, and all the southern part 
 of the tribe of Judah, which was the peculiar inheritance 
 of the worshippers of the true God without idolatry, 
 as the reader may learn from Reland, Palestine, part L 
 
 fi. 154. .305, and from Prideaux, at the yaart 140 aod 
 66. 
 
368 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIII 
 
 hsd with the Boxnans: accordingly he sent 
 au fnibassage to them; and when the senate 
 hrtU received their epistle, they made a league 
 ,;f *'riendship with them, after the manner fol- 
 W»*ing: — "Fanms, the son of Marcus, the 
 prastor. gathered the senate together on the 
 iMifhth day before the Ides of February, in the 
 -eitHte-bouse, when Lucius Manilas, the son 
 t Lucius, of the Mentine tribe, and Caius 
 ^elnpro^lius, the son of Caius, of the Falernian 
 ibe, were present. The occasion was, that 
 lie amba&sadors sent by the people of the 
 Jews,* Simon, the son of Dositheus, and 
 Apollonius, the son of Alexander, and Dio- 
 clorus, the son of Jason, who were good and 
 vii ; uous men, had somewhat to propose about 
 l^Ht league of friendship atid mutual assistance 
 which subsisted between them and the Ro- 
 mans, and about other public aifairs, who de- 
 sired that Joppa, and the havens, and Gazara, 
 and the springs [of Jordan], and the several 
 other cities and countries of theirs, which 
 Antiochus had taken from them in the war, 
 contrary to the decree of the senate, might be 
 restored to them; and that it might not be 
 lawful for the king's troops to pass through 
 their country, and the countries of those that 
 ■ire subject to them: and that what attempts 
 Antiochus had made during that war with- 
 out the decree of the senate,, might be made 
 void: and that they would send ambassadors, 
 who should take care that restitution be made 
 tliem of what Antiochus had taken from them, 
 ajid that they should make an estimate of the 
 ct>untry that had been laid waste in the war : 
 and that they would grant them letters of 
 protection to the kings and free people, in 
 order to their quiet return home. It was 
 therefore decreed as to these points, to renew 
 their league of friendship and mutual assist- 
 ance with these good men, and who were sent 
 by a good and a friendly people." — But as to 
 the letters desired, their answer was, that the 
 senate would consult about that m'atter when 
 their own affairs would give them leave, and 
 that they would endeavour for the time to 
 roine, that no like injury should be done 
 ibem: and that their praetor, Fanius, should 
 .?ive them money out of the public treasury 
 *') bear their expenses home. And thus did 
 •'Hiiius dismiss the Jewish ambassadors, and 
 ve them money out of the public treasury; 
 . (I Kave the decree of the senate to those that 
 »>ie to conduct them, and to take care that 
 lipy should return home in safety. 
 
 :3. And thus stood the affairs of Hyrcanus 
 •ne high-priest. But as for king Demetrius, 
 vlio had a mind to make war against Hyrca- 
 IU8, there was no opportunity nor room for 
 it, while both the Syrians and the soldiers 
 jare ill-will to him, because he was an ill 
 •nan. But when they had sent ambassadors 
 
 • In thin ifcrrt of the Roman •enate, It nrrmn that 
 lOeie aibbassadors were tent from the •' people of th» 
 J«w<, " M w«l] aa ffMB th«ir prince or bigh-prie»t Johu. 
 
 to Ptolemy, who was called Physcon, that he 
 would send them one of the family of Seleu- 
 cus, in order to take the kingdom, and he 
 sent them Alexander, who was called Zebina, 
 with an army, and there had been a battle 
 between them, Demetrius was beaten in the 
 fight, and tied to Cleopatra his wite. t<t Pt». 
 lemais; but his wife would not receive bun. 
 He went thence to Tyre, and was there 
 caught; and when he had suffererl much irora 
 his enemies before his death, he whs sh»iii by 
 them. So Alexander took the kingdDm, and 
 made a league with Hyrcrinr.s. Yet, when 
 he afterward fought with Antiwchus the son 
 of Demetrius, who vvms called (Jr_\pus, he was 
 alto beaten in the fight, and slaiiu 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW, UPON THE QUARREL BETWEEN ANTIO-* 
 CHUS GRYPUS AND ANTIOCHUS CYZICENUS, 
 ABOUT THE KINGDOM, HYRCANUSTOOK SA- 
 MARIA, AND UTTERLY DEMOLISHED IT; ANP 
 HOW HYRCANUS JOINED HIMSELF TO THE 
 SECT OF THE SADDUCEES, AND LEFT THAI 
 OF THE PHARISEES. 
 
 § 1. When Antiochus had taken the kingdonu, 
 he was afraid to make war against Judea, be- 
 cause he heard that his brother by the same 
 mother, who was called Antiochus, was raising 
 an army against him out of Cyzicum; so he 
 staid in his own land, and resolved to prepare 
 himself for the attack he expected from his 
 brother who was called Cyzicenus, because he 
 had been brought up in that city. He was 
 the son of Antiochus that was called Soter, 
 who died in Parthia. He was the brother of 
 Demetrius, the fi-ther of Grypus; for it had 
 so happened, that one and the same Cleopatra 
 was married to two who were brethren, as we 
 have related elsewhere. But Antiochus Cy- 
 zicenus coining into Syria, continued many 
 years at war with his brother. Now Hyr- 
 canus lived all this while in peace; for after 
 the death of Antiochus, he revolted from the 
 Macedonians, f nor did he any longer pay them 
 the least regard, either as their subject or their 
 friend, but his affairs were in a very improv- 
 ing and flourishing condition in the times ot 
 Alexander Zebina, and especially under these 
 brethren, for the war which they had with one 
 another gave Hyrcanus the opportunity ot 
 erjoying himself in Judea quietly, insomuch 
 that he got an immense quantity of money. 
 However, when Antiochus Cyzicenus distress 
 sed his land, he then openly showed what he 
 meant. And when he saw that Antiochus 
 
 + Dean Prideaux takes notice at the year 130, that 
 Justin, in an agreement with Josephus, 8;i\», '*'lh« 
 power of the Jews was now thrown so ereat, that aftef 
 this Antiochus. they would not bear any Mac>-<|(,i)iitn 
 kinrf ovf-r tlif-m; and that thev «et up a vov..r! mcQ g. 
 llu-ir own, and infeatad Syn» w*th (jreat waib.** 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 359 
 
 ^^■as destitute of Egyptian auxiliaries, and that 
 both be and his brother were in an ill condi- 
 tion in the struggles they had one with an- 
 other, he despised them both. 
 
 2. So he made an expedition against Sa- 
 maria, which was a very strong city; of whose 
 present name Sebaste, and its rebuilding by 
 Herod, we shall speak at a proper time ; but 
 he made his attack against it, and besieged it 
 with a great deal of pains; for he was greatly 
 displeased with the Samaritans for the in- 
 juries they had done to the people of Marissa, 
 a colony of the Jews, and confederate with 
 them, and this in compliance to the kings of 
 Syria. When he had therefore drawn a ditch, 
 and built a double wall round the city, which 
 was fourscore furlongs long, he set his sons 
 Antigonus and Aristobulus over the siege; 
 which brought the Samaritans to that great 
 distress by famine, that they were forced to 
 eat what used not to be eaten, and to call for 
 Antiochus Cyzicenus to help them, who came 
 readily to their assistance, but was beaten by 
 Aristobulus; and vi'hen he was pursued as 
 far as Scythopolis by the two brethren, he 
 got away: so they returned to Samaria, and 
 shut them again within the wall, till they were 
 forced to send for the same Antiochus a se- 
 cond time to help them, who procured about 
 six thousand men from Ptolemy Lathyrus, 
 which were sent them without his mother's 
 consent, who had then in a manner turned 
 him out of his government. With these 
 Ei:yptians Antiochus did at first overrun and 
 ravage the country of Hyrcanus after the 
 manner of a robber, for he durst not meet 
 hiiu in the face to fight with him, as not hav- 
 ing an army sufficient for that purpose, but 
 only from this supposal, that by thus harass- 
 ing his land he should force Hyrcanus to 
 rflise the siege of Samaria; but because he 
 fell into snares, and lost many of his soldiers 
 therein, he went away to Tripoli, and com- 
 mitted the prosecution of the war against the 
 Jews to Callimander and Epicrates. 
 
 3. Hut as to Callimander, he attacked the 
 enemy too rashly, and was put to flight, and 
 destroyed immediately; and as to Epicrates, 
 he was such a lover of money, that he openly 
 betra\«(l Scythopolis, and other places near it, 
 to the Jews; but was not able to make them 
 raise the siege cf Samaria. And when Hyr- 
 caiujs had taken the city, which was not doi'» 
 till after a year's siege, he was not contented 
 with doiji^ that only, but he demolished it 
 entirely, and brought rivulets to it to drown 
 it, for he dug such hollows as might let the 
 waters run under it; nay, he took away the 
 very marks that there had ever been such a 
 citv there. Now a very surprising thing is 
 relaied of this high-priest Hyrcanus, how God 
 cauie to di|^'ourse with hini: foe they say 
 that on the very same day on wliich his sons 
 tou^'fit with Antiochus Cyzicenus, be was 
 alnne iu the temple, as high-priest, offering 
 
 intense, and heard a voice, that his sons had 
 just then overcome Antiochus. And this he 
 openly declared before all the multitude on 
 his coming out of the temple; and it accord- 
 ingly proved true; and in this posture were 
 the affairs of Hyrcanus. 
 
 4. Now it happened at this time, that not 
 only those Jews who were at Jerusalem and 
 in Judea were in prosperity, but also tho«e of 
 them that were at Alexandria, atid in Egypt, 
 and Cyprus, for Cleopatra the queen was at 
 variance with her son Ptolemy, v\ ho was called 
 
 -.athyrus. and appointed for her generals, 
 Chelcias and Ananias, the sons of that Ouiaa 
 who built the temple in the pi efecture of Heli- 
 opolis. like that at Jerusalem, as we have else- 
 where related. Cleopatra intrusted these men 
 with her army, and did nothing without their 
 advice, as Strabo of Cappadocia attests, when 
 he saith thus: — " Now the greater part, both 
 those that came to Cyprus with us, and those 
 that were sent afterward thither, revolted to 
 Ptolemy immediately; only those that were 
 called Onias's party, being Jews, continued 
 faithful, because their countrymen Chelcias 
 and Ananias were in chief favour with the 
 queen." These are the words of Strabo. 
 
 5. However, this prosperous state of affairs 
 moved the Jews to envy Hyrcanus; but they 
 that were the worst disposed to him were the 
 Pharisees,* who areoiieofthesectsoftbe Jews, 
 as we have informed you already. These have 
 so great a power over the multitude, that when 
 they say any thing against the king or against 
 the high-priest, they are presently believed. 
 Now Hyrcanus was a disciple of theirs, and 
 greatly beloved by them. And when he once 
 invited them to a feast, and entertained them 
 very kindly, when he saw them in a good hu- 
 mour, he began to say to them, that they knew 
 he was desirous to be a righteous man, and to 
 do all things whereby he might please God, 
 which was the profession of the Pharisees also. 
 However, he desired, that if they observed him 
 offending in any point, and going out of the 
 right way, they would call him back and cor- 
 rect him. On which occasion they attested to 
 his being entirely virtuous; with which com- 
 mendation he was well pleased; but still there 
 was one of his guests there, whose name was 
 
 • The original of the Saddncees, as a considerable 
 party anions the Jews, being contained in tliis and the 
 two following sections. Take l)ean I'rideaux's note n^on 
 this their first public appearance, which I suppose ti> be 
 iriie:—" Hyrcanus," says he, '-went ove^to the pjirty 
 of the Saddnrees, that is, by embracing their dudnne 
 against the traditions of the elders i.d< ed to the wi Men 
 law. and made of equal authority with it, hut ncii their 
 doctrine asainst the resurrection and a future state; for 
 this cannot be supposed of so good and righteous a n an 
 as Jiihn Hyrcanus is said to he. It is most probable, 
 that at this tune the Sadducees had «< ne no far tier in 
 the doctrines of that sect than to di ny all tlieii un- 
 written traditions, which the l*haristt> were so ft.nd of; 
 tor Jttsephus mentions no other diHeit^nce at this tinio 
 Ih-lween them; neitlier doth he say tliai Hyrcanus went 
 over to the Sadducees in any other (articular than in 
 the aboli^h^nl; of all th< tmditionarv coi sUtulioits of the 
 I'harisees, which our Saviour condemicd as well af 
 they." [At the year Kb..'' 
 
360 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 
 Eleazar,* a man of an ill temper, and delight- 
 ing in seditious practices. This man said, 
 "Since thou desirest to knowthe truth, iftbou 
 wilt be righteous in earnest, lay down the 
 high-priesthood, and content thyself with the 
 civil government of the people." And when 
 he desired to know for what cause he ought 
 to lay down the high-priesthood, the other re- 
 plied, " We have heard it from old men, that 
 thy mother bad been a captive under the 
 reign of Antiochus Epiphaiies." This story 
 was false, and Hyroanus was provoked against 
 him; and all the Pharisees had a very great 
 indignation against him. 
 
 6. Now there was one Jonathan, a very great 
 friei dof Hyrcanus. but of the sect of the Sad- 
 ducees, whose notions are quite contrary to 
 those of the Pharisees. He told Hyrcanus that 
 Eleazar had cast such a reproach upon him, ac- 
 cording to the common sentiments of all the 
 Pharisees, and that this would be made mani- 
 fest if he would but ask them the question, 
 "What punishment they thought this man de- 
 served? for that he might depend upon it, 
 that the reproach was not laid on him with 
 their approbation, if they were for punishing 
 him as his crime deserved. So the Pharisees 
 made answer, that he deserved stripes and 
 bonds; but that it did not seem right to pun- 
 ish reproaches with death; and indeed the 
 Pharisees, even upon other occasions, are not 
 apt to be severe in punishments. At this 
 gentle sentence, Hyrcanus was very angry, 
 and thought that this man reproached him 
 by their approbation. It was this Jonathan 
 who chiefly irritated him, arid influenced him 
 so far, that he made him leave the party of 
 the Pharisees, and abolish the decrees they 
 had imposed on the people, and punish those 
 that observed them. From this source arose 
 that hatred which he and his sons met with 
 from the multitude; but of these matters we 
 shall speak hereafter. What I would now 
 explain is this, that the Pharisees have de- 
 livered to the people a great many observances 
 by succession from their fathers which are 
 not written in the law of Moses; and for 
 that reason it is that the Sadducees reject 
 them, and say that we are to esteem those ob- 
 servances to be obligatory which are in the 
 written word, but are not to observe what are 
 derived from the tradition of our forefathers; 
 and concerning these things it is that great 
 disputes and differences have arisen among 
 them, while the Sadducees are able to per- 
 suade none but the rich, and have not the 
 populace obsequious to them, but the Phari- 
 Bees have the multitude of their side: but 
 about these two sects, and that of the Es- 
 Bens, I have treated accurately in the second 
 book of Jewish ajEfairs. 
 
 • ThiK blander, that arose from a Pharisee, hat been 
 prentrTfd by their smcessois the Rabbins to these later 
 a^esi for Dr, Hudson assures us that David Gantz, in 
 Ins Chronology. S Vr |>. '56, in Vor>tii)8 s Vf-rftion, re- 
 fetes that H\r<-Hnii!i> nl(>th^r wa- taker cuptive in 
 ||)p«D| Rlodipili ^er ( hitp. xiii stct f. 
 
 7. But when Hyrcanus had put an end to 
 this sedition, he after that lived happily, and 
 administered the government in the best man. 
 ner for thirty-one years, and then died,f leav 
 ing behind him five sons. He was esteemed 
 by God worthy of the three privileges, — the 
 government of his nation, the dignity of the 
 high-priesthood, and prophecy; for God was 
 with him, and enabled him to know futuri- 
 ties; and to foretel this in particular, that, as 
 to his two eldest sons, he foretold that they 
 would not long continue in the government 
 of public affairs; whose unhappy catastrophe 
 will be worth our description, that we may 
 thence learn how very much they were infe- 
 rior to their father's happiness. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 HOW ARISTOBULUS, WHEN HE HAD TAKEN 
 THE GOVERNMENT, FIRST OF ALL PUT A 
 DIADEM ON HIS HEAD, AND WAS MOST BAR- 
 BAROUSLY CRUEL TO HIS MOTHER AND HI3 
 BRETHREN; AND HOW, AFTERHE HADSLAIN 
 ANTIGONUS, HE HIMSELF DIED. 
 
 § 1. Now when their father Hyrcanus was 
 dead, the eldest son Aristobulus, intending to 
 change the government into a kingdom, for 
 so he resolved to do, first of all put a diadem 
 on his head, four hundred and eighty one 
 years and three months after the people had 
 been delivered from the Babylonish slavery, 
 aiKl were returned to their own country again 
 This Aristobulus loved his next brother An- 
 tigonus, and treated him as his equal; but the 
 others he held in bonds. He also cast hi* 
 mother into prison, because she disputed tba 
 government with him ; for Hyrcanus had left 
 her to be mistress of all. He also proceedeid 
 
 + Here ends the hii;h-priesthood. and the life of tbii 
 excellent person John Hyrcanus; and together with him 
 the holy theocracy, or divine government of the Jewish 
 nation, and its concomitant oracle by Urim. Now fol- 
 lows the profane and tyrannical Jt-wish monarchy, first, 
 of the Asamoneans or Maccabees, and then of Herod lli« 
 Great, the Idumean. till the coming of the Messiah, ^ee 
 the note on Antiq. b. iii. ch. viii. sect. 9. Hear !Strabo'> 
 testimony on this occasion, b. xvi page 761, 7b'2: — 
 " Those," says he, '' l-liat succeeded Moses, continued for 
 si me time in earnest, both in right* ous actions and in 
 piety; but after a while, there wereothers that took nptm 
 them the hinh-priesthood ; at first suptrstitious and after- 
 wards tyrannical persons. Such a prophet was Mosei 
 and those that succeeded him, beginning in a way not to 
 be blamed, but changing for the worse. And wh«n it 
 openly appeared that the government was become ty lanni- 
 r.al, Alexander was the first that set up himself fora kin^ 
 instead of a priest; and his sons were Hyrcanus and 
 Aristobulus." All in agreement with Josephus, except, 
 ing this, that Straho omits the first king Aristt.bulus. who 
 reigninif but a single yt-ar. seems hardly to have cone to 
 his knowledge Nor indeed dues Aristobulus the son ot 
 Alexandtrr, pretend that the r<ame of king was tukei. be- 
 for«- his lather Alexander took it himself, Antio. b. xiv. 
 ch iil sect. 2. .""te also cimp. xii sect. I, which favour 
 
 Strabo also. And indeed, if we may judge from the very 
 diflierent characters of the Egyptian Jews under high- 
 priests, and of the Palestine Jews under Wngs, in the two 
 next centuries, we nmy well suppose, thut the divini 
 Sherhinah was removed into Fgypt, ar.d that thk woi- 
 !ihippers it ilif irmpe of <>nias we^e better otcn tbwD 
 thoM- lit the temi'le at Jerusalria 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 361 
 
 to that degree of barbarity, as to kill her in 
 prison with hunger; nay, he was alienated 
 from his brother Antigonus by calumnies, and 
 added him to the rest whom he slew; yet he 
 seemed to have an affection for him, and made 
 him above the rest a partner with him in the 
 kingdom. Those calumnies he at first did 
 not give credit to, partly because he loved 
 him, and so did not-give heed to what was 
 said against him, and partly because he 
 thought the reproaches were derived from the 
 envy of the relaters. But when Antigonus 
 was once returned from the army, and that 
 feast was then at hand when they make taber- 
 nacles to [the honour of] God, it happened 
 that Aristobulus was fallen sick, and that An- 
 tigonus went up most splendidly adorned, and 
 with his soldiers about him in their armour to 
 the temple to celebrate the feast, and to put 
 up many prayers for the recovery of his bro- 
 ther, when some wicked persons who had a 
 great mind to raise a difference between the 
 brethren, made use of this opportunity of the j 
 pompous appearance of Antigonus and of the 
 great actions which he had done, and went 
 to the king, and spitefully aggravated the 
 pompous show of his at the feast, and pre- 
 tended that all these circumstances were not 
 like those of a private person; that these ac- 
 tions were indications of an affectation of 
 royal authority; and that his coming with a 
 strong body of men must be with an intention 
 to kill him; and that his way of reasoning 
 was this: That it was a silly thing in him, 
 while it was in his power to reign himself, to 
 look upon it as a great favour that he was ho- 
 noured with a lower dignity by his brother. 
 
 2. Aristobulus yielded to these imputa- 
 tions, but took care both that his brother 
 should not suspect him, and that he himself 
 might not run the hazard of his own safety; 
 so he ordered his guards to lie in a certain 
 place that was under ground, and dark (he 
 nimself then lying sick in the tower which 
 was called Antonia) ; and he commanded 
 them, that in case Antigonus came in to him 
 unarmed, they should not touch any body, 
 but if armed, they should kill him; yet did 
 he send to 'Antigonus, and desired that he 
 would come unarmed: but the queen, and 
 those that joined with her in the plot against 
 Antigonus, persuaded the messenger to tell 
 him the direct contrary: how his brother had 
 beard that he had made himself a fine suit of 
 armour for war, and desired him to come to 
 him in that armour, that he might see how 
 fine it was. So Antigonus, suspecting np 
 treachery, but dependmg on the good-will of 
 his brother came to Aristobulus armed, as he 
 Used to be, with his entire armour, in order 
 to show it to him; but when he was come 
 lo a place which was called Strato's Tower, 
 where the passage happened to be exceeding 
 dark, the guards slew him; which death de- 
 munstrates that nothing is stronger than envy 
 
 and calumny, and that nothing does more 
 certainly divide the good- will and natural 
 affections of men than those pasijions. But 
 here one may take occasion to wonder at one 
 Judas, who was of the sect of the Essenes, 
 and who never missed the truth in his predic- 
 tions; for this man, when he saw Antigonus 
 passing by the temple, cried to his companions 
 and friends, who abode with him as his scho- 
 lars, in order to learn the art of foretelling 
 things to come,* " That it was good for him 
 to die now, since he had spoken falsely about 
 Antigonus, who is still alive, and I see him 
 passing by, although he had foretold that he 
 should die at the place called Strato's Tower 
 that very day, while yet the place is six hun- 
 dred furlongs off where he had foretold he 
 should be slain ; and still this day is a great 
 part of it already past, so that he was in dan- 
 ger of proving a false prophet." As he was 
 saying this, and that in a melancholy mood, 
 the news came that Antigonus was slain in a 
 place under ground, which itself was called 
 also Strato's Tower, or of the same name 
 with that Cesarea which is seated at the sea. 
 This event put the prophet into a great dis- 
 order. 
 
 3. But Aristobulus repented immediately 
 of this slaughter of his brother; on which ac- 
 count his disease increased upon him, and he 
 was disturbed in his mind, upon the guilt of 
 such wickedness, insomuch that his entrails 
 were corrupted by his intolerable pain, and he 
 vomited blood: at which time one of the ser- 
 vants that attended upon him, and was carry- 
 ing his blood away, did, by divine providence, 
 as I cannot but suppose, slipped down, and shed 
 part of his blood at the very place where there 
 were spots of Antigonus's blood there slain, 
 still remaining; and when there was a cry 
 made by the spectators, as if the servatit had 
 on purpose shed the blood on that place, 
 Aristobulus heard it, and inquired what the 
 matter was; and as they did not answer him, 
 he was the more earnest to know what it was, 
 it being natural to men to suspect thfit what 
 is thus conceale<l is very bad : so upon his 
 threatening and forcing them by terrors to 
 speak, they at length told him the truth; 
 whereupon he shed many tears in that disorder 
 of mirid which arose from his consciousness 
 of what he had done, and gave a deep groan 
 and said, " I am not therefore, I perceive, to 
 be concealed from God, in the impious and 
 horrid crimes I have been guilty of; but a 
 sudden punishment is coming upon me for the 
 shedding the blood of my relations. And now, 
 O thou most impudent body of mine, bow 
 
 • Hence we learn that the Essenes pretended to have 
 rules whereby men might foretel things to come, and 
 that this Judas the Kssene. tauirht those rules to his 
 schitlars; but whether their pretences were of an astro* 
 lov'ical or maeical nature, which yet in such relit;iuus 
 Jews, who were utterly forbidden such arts, is no way 
 probable, or to any Bath Col. spoken of by the later 
 llahbins, or otiierwi'se, 1 caanot tell. See of the War, Ik 
 11. cb. Till, sect 12, 
 
362 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 
 long wilt thou retain a soul that ought to die, 
 in order to appeuise the ghosts of my brother 
 and my mother? Why dost thou not give it 
 all up at' once? And why do 1 deliver up 
 my blood, drop by drop, to those whom 1 hiive 
 so \vicke<lly murdered?" Irt saving which 
 last words he died, having reigned a year. 
 He was culled a lover of the Greeiaiis; and 
 had conferred many benefits on his own coun- 
 try, and made war against Iturea, and added 
 a great part of it to Judea, and compelled the 
 inhabitants, if they would continue in that 
 country, to be circumcised, and to live accord- 
 ing to the Jewish laws. He was naturally a 
 man of candour, and of great modesty, as 
 Strabo bears witness in the name of Tim- 
 agenes: who says thus: — " This man was a 
 person of candour, and very serviceable to the 
 Jews, for he added a country to them, and ob- 
 tained a part of the nation of the Itureans for 
 then), and bound them to them by the bond 
 of the circumcision of their genitals." 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HOW ALEXANDER, WHEN HE HAD TAKEN 
 THE GOVERNMENT, MADE AN EXPEDITION 
 AGAINST PTOLEMAIS, AND THEN RAISED 
 THE SIEGE, OUT OF FEAR OF PTOLEMY 
 LATHYRUS; AND HOW PTOLEMY MADE WAR 
 AGAINST HIM, BECAUSE HE HAD SENT TO 
 CLEOPATRA TO PERSUADE HER TO MAKE 
 WAR AGAINST PTOLEMY, AND YET PRE- 
 TENDED TO BE IN FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM, 
 WHEN HE WENT TO BEAT THE JEWS IN 
 BATTLE. 
 
 § 1. When Aristobulus was dead, his wife 
 Salome, who, by the Greeks, was called Alex- 
 andra, let his brethren out of prison (for Aris- 
 tobulus had kept them in bonds, as we have 
 said already), and made Alexander Janneus 
 king, who was the superior in age and in 
 moderation. This child happened to be hated 
 by his father as soon as he was born, and 
 could never be permitted to come into his 
 father's sight till he died. The occasion of 
 which hatred is thus reported : when Hyr- 
 canus chiefly loved the two eldest of his sons, 
 Antigonus and Aristobulus, God appeared to 
 him in his sleep, of whom he inquired which of 
 his sons should be his successor. Upon God's 
 representing to him the countenance of Alex- 
 ander, be was grieved that he was to be the 
 heir of all his goods, and suffered him to be 
 brought up in ^Galilee.* However, God did 
 not deceive Hyrcanus, for after the death of 
 
 • The reanon why flyrcanus Buffered not this son of 
 biswhom tie did not lore to come into Judea, but onlcrod 
 him to be brouxht up in (ralilee, issUKcestwl by Dr. Hud- 
 son, that (jalilef was not esteemed so happy and well 
 cultivated a country as Judea, Matt. xxvi. 73; John vii. 
 flO| Acl» it 7, althooKh another obTious reason occurs 
 lUso, that he was farther out of his sight in Galilee titan 
 k* w«ul4 bavr been in Jndea. 
 
 Aristobulus, he certainly took the kitigdom > 
 and one of his brethren uho afferted the king, 
 dom he slew; and the other, who chose to 
 live a private and quiet life, he hud in esti-em. 
 
 2. When Alexander Jannetis had settled 
 the government in the inain:er th.it he judged 
 best, he made an expedition against Puile- 
 inais; and having overcome the men in battle, 
 he shut them up in the city, and sat romid 
 about it, and besieged it; for of the inaritiine 
 cities there remained only Ptoleinais ami Gaza 
 to be conquered, besides Strato's Tovxer ai.d 
 Dora, which were held by the tyrant Zoilus. 
 Now while Antiochus Philometor, and An- 
 tiochus who was called Cvzicemis, were ma- 
 king war against one another, and destroying 
 one another's armies, the people of Ptolemais 
 could have no assistance from them ; but when 
 they were distressed with this siege, Zoilus, 
 who possessed Strato's Tower and Dora, and 
 maintained a legion of soldiers, and, on occa- 
 sion of the contest between the kings, affected 
 tyranny himself, came and brought some small 
 assistance to the people of Ptolemais; nor in- 
 deed had the kings such a friendship for them 
 as that they should hope for any advantage 
 from them. Both those kings were in the 
 case of wrestlers, who finding themselves de- 
 ficient in strength, and yet being ashamed to 
 yield, put off the fight by laziness, atid by ly- 
 ing still as long as they can. The only hope 
 they had remaining was from the kings of 
 Egypt, and from Ptolemy Lathyrus, who now 
 held Cyprus, and who came to Cyprus when 
 he was driven from the government of Egypt 
 by Cleopatra his mother: so the people vi 
 Ptolemais sent to this Ptolemy Lathyrus ami 
 desired him to come as a confederate, to de- 
 liver them, now they were in such danger 
 out of the hands of Alexander. And as thf 
 ambassadors give him hopes, that if he wcuk 
 pass over into Syria, be would have the peo- 
 ple of Gaza on the side of those o{ Pvolcmais: 
 as they also said that Zoilus, and b'sidei; these 
 the Sidonians and many others would assisi 
 them, so he was elevated at this, and got hii 
 fleet ready as soon as possible. 
 
 3. But in this interval Demenetus, on« 
 that was of abilities to persuade men to do aj 
 he would have them, and a leader of the po- 
 pulace, made those of Ptolemais change their 
 opinions; and said to them, that it was better 
 to run the hazard of being subject to the Jews 
 than to admit of evident slavery by delivering 
 themselves up to a master; and besides that, 
 to have not only a war at present, but to ex- 
 pect a much greater war from Egvpt: for 
 that Cleopatra would not overlook an army 
 raised by Ptolemy for himself out of the 
 neighbourhood, but would come agaijist them 
 with a great army of her own, and this be- 
 cause she was labouring to eject her son out 
 of Cyprus also: that as for Ptolemy, if he 
 fail of his h(>pes, he can still retire to Cyprus 
 but that tlay will be left in the greatest dao 
 
CHAP. xir. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 363 
 
 ger possible. Now Ptolemy, although he had 
 heard of the change that was made in the 
 people of Ptolemais, yet did he still go on 
 with his voyage, and came to the country 
 called Sycamine, and there set his army on 
 shore. This army of his, in the whole horse 
 and foot together, were about thirty thousand, 
 with which he marched near to Ptolemais, 
 and there pitched his camp: but when the 
 people of Ptolemais neither received his am- 
 bassadors, nor would hear what they had to 
 eay, he was under a very great concern. 
 
 4. But when Zoihis and the people of Ga- 
 za came to him, and desired his assistance, 
 because their country was laid waste by the 
 Jews, and by Alexander, — Alexander raised 
 the siege, for fear of Ptolemy; and when he 
 bad drawn off his army into bis own country, 
 he used a stratagem afterwards, by privately 
 inviting Cleopatra to come against Ptolemy, 
 but publicly pretending to desire a league of 
 friendship and mutual assistance with him; 
 and promising to give him four hundred ta- 
 lents of silver, he desired that, by way of re- 
 quital, he would take off Zoiliis the tyrant, 
 and give his country to the Jews. And ihen 
 indeed Ptolemy, with pleasure, made such a 
 league of frictidship with Alexander, and sub- 
 dued Zoilus: but when he afterwards heard 
 that he h^d privily sent to Cleopatra his mo- 
 tlier, he broke the league with him, which 
 yet he had confirmed with an oath, and fell 
 upon him. and besieged Ptolemais, because it 
 would not receive him. However, leaving 
 his g^inerals, vnth some part of his forces, to 
 go on with the siege, he went himself imme- 
 diately with the rest to lay Judea waste : 
 and when Alexander understood this to be 
 Ptolemy's intention, he also got together about 
 fifty thousand soldiers out of his own country; 
 
 <4y, as some writers have said eighty thou- 
 sand.' He then took his army, and went to 
 meet Ptolemy; hut Ptolemy fell upon Aso- 
 ohis, a cit \ of Galilee. an<i took U by force on 
 the Sabbath day, and there he took about ten 
 thousand slaves, and a great deal of other 
 prey. 
 
 5. He then tried to take Sepphoris, which 
 was H city not far from that which was de- 
 stroyed, hut lost many of his men; yet did he 
 then t:o to fight with Alexander. Alexander 
 met him at the river Jordan, near a certain 
 place called Saplxith [not far from the river 
 Jordan], and pitchid his camp near to the 
 enemy. He had however eight thousand 
 in the first rank, which he styled Hecatonto- 
 machi, having shields of brass. — Those in the 
 
 • From tti«s'- and other oecas'onal expressions, drop- 
 ped by Jiisephus. we may learn that whrre the sacred 
 biMtkfi of the Jevrs were defirient. ho had Eereral other 
 tiistonea then extant (but now most of them lust) which 
 hf iHithrtilly folliiwed iu bis own history; nor indeed 
 bave we any nther records of those times relatine to Ju- 
 dfa.ths.tcan bf compared to these accounts of Josephus; 
 tdoiitm. wnen we ilo meet w;th autlientic fracments oif 
 ft-A'ti •jopoAl record*, tbej 4ln)o8t always confirm his 
 
 first rank of Ptolemy's soldiers also had shipuU 
 covered with brass; but Ptolemy's soldiers vi 
 other respects, were inferior to those ot Aick- 
 ander, and therefore were more fearUil of 
 running hazards ; but Philostephanus, tMe 
 camp-master, put great courage into tht^m. 
 and ordered them to pass the river wnu'ii 
 was between their camps; nor did Alexander 
 think fit to hinder their passage over it : lor 
 he thought, that if the enemy had once gottviu 
 the river on their back, that he should the 
 easier take them prisoners, when they tiould 
 not flee out of the battle : in the beginning 
 of which, the acts on both sides, with their 
 hands, and with their alacrity, were alike, and 
 a great slaughter was made by both the ar- 
 mies; but Alexander was superior, till Phi- 
 lostephanus opportunely brought up the auxi- 
 liaries, to help those that were giving wav ; 
 but as there were no auxiliaries to afford help 
 to that part of the Jews that gave way, it felt 
 out that they fled, and those near them did 
 not assist them, but fled along with them. 
 However, Ptolemy's soldiers acted quite other- 
 wise ; for they followed the Jews, and killed 
 them, till at length those that slew them pur- 
 sued after them when they had made them ail 
 run away, anu slew them so long, that theii 
 weapons of iron were blunted, and their hand- 
 quite tired with the slaughter; for the report 
 was, that thirty thousand men wert- then slam. 
 Timagenes says, they were fifty thousand.— 
 As for the rest, they were part of them taker 
 captives; and the other part ran away to theii 
 own country. 
 
 6« After this victory, Ptolemy overran all 
 the country ; and when night came on, he 
 abode in certain villages of Judea, which v.-heu 
 he found full of women and children, he com- 
 manded his soldiers to strangle them, and to 
 cut them in pieces, and then to cast tbem in- 
 to boiling caldrons, and then to devour theii 
 limbs as sacrifices. This commandmetit was 
 given, that such as fled from the battle, and 
 came to them, might suppose their enemies- 
 were cannibals, and eat men's flexh, and might 
 on that account be stiU more terrified at tbem 
 upon such asijiht. And both Strabo and Ni- 
 eholaus [of Damascus] affirm that they iL«*»d 
 these people atter this manner, as I have al- 
 ready related. Ptolemy also tookPtolemias 
 by force, as we have declared elsewhere 
 
364 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HOW ALEXANDER, UPON THE LEAGUE OF MU- 
 TUAL DEFENCE WHICH CLEOPATRA HAD 
 AGREED WITH HIM, MADE AN EXPEDITION 
 AGAINST CELESYRIA, AND UTTERLY OVER- 
 THREW THE CITY OF GAZA; AND HOW HE 
 SLEW MANY TEN THOUSANDS OF JEWS 
 THAT HAD REBELLED AGAINST HIM; ALSO 
 CONCERNING ANTIOCHUS GRYPUS, SELEU- 
 CUS, ANTIOCHUS CYZICENUS, AND ANTIO- 
 CHUS PIUS, AND OTHERS. 
 
 § 1 . "When Cleopatra saw that her son was 
 grown great, and laid Judea waste without^ 
 disturbance, and had gotten the city of Gaza 
 under his power, she resolved no longer to 
 overlook what he did, when he was almost at 
 her gates; and she concluded that, now he 
 was so much stronger than before, he would 
 be very desirous of the dominion over the 
 Egyptians; but she immediately marched 
 against him, with a fleet at sea and an army 
 of foot on land, and made Chelcias and Ana- 
 nias, the Jews, generals of her whole army, 
 while she sent the greatest part of her riches, 
 her grandchildren, and her testament, to the 
 people of Cos.* Cleopatra also ordered her 
 son Alexander to sail with a great fleet to 
 Phcenicia: and when that country had re- 
 volted, she came to Ptolemais: and because 
 the people of Ptolemais did not receive her, 
 she besieged the city; but Ptolemy went out 
 of Syria, and made haste unto Egypt, sup- 
 posing that he should find it destitute of an 
 army, and soon take it, though he failed of 
 his hopes. At this time Chelcias, one of 
 Cleopatra's generals, happened to die in Cele- 
 eyria, as he was in pursuit of Ptolemy. 
 
 2. When Cleopatra heard of her son's at- 
 tempt, and that his Egyptian expedition did 
 not succeed according to his expectations, she 
 sent thither part of her army, and drove him 
 out of that country J so when he was returned 
 out of Egypt again, he abode during the 
 winter at Gaza, in which time Cleopatra took 
 the garrison that was in Ptolemais by siege, 
 as well as the city; and when Alexander came 
 to her, he gave her presents, and such marks 
 of respect as were but proper, since, under 
 the miseries he endured by Ptolemy, he had 
 no other refuge but her. Now there were 
 some of her friends who persuaded her to 
 seize Alexander, and to overrun and take 
 possession of the country, and not to sit still 
 and see such a multitude of brave Jews sub- 
 ject to one man; but Ananias's counsel was 
 
 • This city, or island, Cos. is not that remote island 
 In the £^ean Sea, famous for the birih of tM great 
 Hippocrates, but a city or island of the same name ad- 
 joining to Efjypt, mentioned both by Stephanus and 
 Ptolemy, as Dr. Hudm.n informs us. Of which Cos. and 
 the treasures there laid up by Clwopatra and the Jews, 
 K« AntiM. b.jJT. eb. tIL sect. 3. 
 
 contrary to theirs, who said that she would do 
 an unjust action if she deprived a man that 
 was her ally of that authority which belonged 
 to him, and this a man who is related to us; 
 " for (said he) I would not have thee igno- 
 rant of this, that what injustice thou dost to 
 him will make all us that are Jews to be thy 
 enemies." This desire of Ananias, Cleopatra 
 complied with; and did no injury to Alexan- 
 der, but made a league of mutual assistance 
 with him at Scythopolis, a city of Celesyria. 
 
 3. So when Alexander was delivered from 
 the fear he was in of Ptolemy, he presently 
 made an expedition against Celesyria. He 
 also took Gadara, after a siege of ten months. 
 He took also Amathus, a very strong fortress 
 belonging to the inhabitants above Jordan, 
 where Theodorus, the son of Zeno, had his 
 chief treasure, and what he esteemed most 
 precious. This Zeno fell unexpectedly upon 
 the Jews, and slew ten thousand of them, and 
 seized upon Alexander's baggage; yet did not 
 this misfortune terrify Alexander; but he 
 made an expedition upon the maritime parts 
 of the country, Raphia and Anthedon (the 
 name of which king Herod afterwards changed 
 ito Agrippias), and took even that by force. 
 But when Alexander saw that Ptolemy was 
 retired from Gaza to Cjprus, and his mother 
 Cleopatra was returned to Egypt, he grew 
 angry at the people of Gaza, because they had 
 invited Ptolemy to assist them, and besieged 
 their city, and ravaged their country. But 
 as Apollodotus, the general of the army of 
 Gaza, fell upon the camp of the Jews by 
 night, with two thousand foreign, and ten 
 thousand of his own forces, while the night 
 lasted, those of Gaza prevailed, because the 
 enemy was made to believe that it was Pto- 
 lemy who attacked them ; but when day was 
 come on, and that mistake was corrected, and 
 the Jews knew the truth of the matter, they 
 came back again and fell upon those of Gaza, 
 and slew of them about a thousand. But 
 as those of Gaza stoutly resisted them, and 
 would not yield for either their want of any 
 thing, nor for the great multitude that were 
 slain (for they would rather sufitr any hard- 
 ship whatever, than come under the power of 
 their enemies), Aretas, king of the Arabians, 
 a person then very illL.strious, encouraged 
 them to go on with alacrity, and promised 
 them that he would come to their assistance; 
 but it happened that, before he came Apollo- 
 dotus was slain: for his brother 1/ysimachiis, 
 envying him for the great reputation be had 
 gained among the citizens, slew him, and got 
 the army together; aii'd delivered up the city 
 to Alexander; who, when he came in at first, 
 lay quiet, but afterwards set his army upon 
 the inhabitants of Gaza, and gave them leave 
 to punish them; so some went one way, and 
 some went another, and slew the inhabitants 
 of Gaza; yet were not they of cowardly hearts, 
 but opposed thostt that cume to slay thew, aa^ 
 
CHAP. XIV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 365 
 
 Blew as many of the Jews; and some of them, 
 when they saw themselves deserted, burnt 
 their own houses, that the enemy might get 
 none of their spoils: nay, some of them, with 
 their own hands, slevv their children and their 
 wives, having no other way but this of avoid- 
 ing slavery for them; but the senators, who 
 were in all five hundred, fled to Apollo's 
 temple (for this attack happened to be made 
 as they were sitting), whom Alexander slew; 
 and when he had utterly overthrown their 
 city, he returned to Jerusalem, having spent 
 a year in that siege. 
 
 4. About this very time, Antiochus, who 
 was called Grypus, died.* His death was 
 caused by Heracleon's treachery, when he 
 bad lived forty-five years, and had reigned 
 tvvonty-nine.f His son Seleucus succeeded 
 him in the kingdom, and made vvar with An- 
 tiocbits, his father's brother, who was called 
 Antiochus Cyzicenus, and beat him, and took 
 him prisoner, and slew him; but after a while 
 Antiochusf the son of Cyzicenus, who was call- 
 ed Pius, came to Aradus, and put the diadem 
 on his own head, and made war with Seleucus, 
 and beat him, and drove him out of all Syria. 
 But when he fled out of Syria, he came to 
 Mopsuestia again, and levied money upon 
 them; but the people of Mopsuestia had in- 
 dignation at what he did, and burnt down his 
 palace, and slew him, together with his friends. 
 But when Antiochus, the son of Cyzicenus, 
 was king of Syria, Antiochus,]] the brother of 
 Seleucus, made war upon him, and was over- 
 come, and destroyed, he and his army. After 
 him, his brother Philip put on the diadem, 
 and reigned over some part of Syria; but Pto- 
 lemy Lathyrus sent for his fourth brother De- 
 metrius, who was called Eucerus, from Cnidus, 
 and made him king of Damascus. Both these 
 brothers did Antiochus vehemently oppose, 
 but presently died; for when he was come as 
 an auxiliary to Laodice, queen of the Gilead- 
 ites,§ when she was making vvar against the 
 Parthians, and he was fighting courageously, 
 he fell, while Demetrius and Philip governed 
 Syria, as hath been elsewhere related. 
 
 • This account of the death of Antiochus Grypns is 
 confirmed by Appian, Syriac. p. 132, here cited by 8pan- 
 beiin. 
 
 + Porphyry says that this Antiochus Grypus reigned 
 but twenty-six years, as Dr. Hudson observes. 
 
 t The copies of Josephiis, both Greek and Latin, hare 
 here so grossly false a reading, Antiochus and Antoninus, 
 or Antonius Pius, for Antiochus Pius, that ihe editorsare 
 forced to correct the text from ihe other historians; who 
 all agree that this king's name was nothing more than 
 Antiochus Pius. 
 
 li Ihfse two brothers, Antiochus and Philippus, are 
 called twins by Porphyry; the fourth brother was kin? of 
 Damascus. Both which are the observations of t^pan- 
 heira. 
 
 { This Laodicea was a city of Gilead beyond Jordan. 
 However, Porphyry says that this Antiochus Pius did not 
 die in this battle; but, running away, was drowned in 
 the river Orontes. Appian says, that he was deprived 
 of the kingdom of Syria by Tigntnes: but Porphyry 
 makes this Laodice queen of the Calamans; all whifn 
 Is noted by Spanheim. In such confusion of the later 
 hirtorians, we have no reason to prefer any of them before 
 JotJCDhus, who had more ori^iuai ones before him. 
 
 5. As to Alexander, his own people were 
 seditious against him; for at a festival which 
 was then celebrated, when he stood upon the 
 altar, and was going to sacrifice, the nation 
 rose upon him and pelted with citrons [which 
 they then had in their hando, because] the law 
 of the Jews required, that at the feast of ta- 
 bernacles every one should have branches of 
 the palm-tree and citroti-tree; which thing 
 we have elsewhere related. They also reviled 
 him, as derived from a captive,^ and so un- 
 worthy of his dignity and of sacrificing. At 
 this he was in a rage, and slew of them about 
 six thousand. He also built a partition- wall 
 of wood round the altar and the temple, as 
 far as that partition within which it was only 
 lawful for the priests to enter; and by this 
 means he obstructed the multitude from com- 
 ing at him. He also maintained foreigners of 
 Pisidiae and Cilicia; for as to the Syrians, he 
 was at war with them, and so made no use of 
 them. He also overcame the Arabians, such 
 as the Moabites and Gileadites,and made them 
 bring tribute. Moreover, he demolished 
 Amathus, while Theodorus** durst not fight 
 with him; but as he had joined battle with 
 Obedas, king of the Arabians, and fell into an 
 ambush in the places that were rugged and 
 difficult to be travelled over, he was thrown 
 down into a deep valley, by the multitude of 
 the camels at Gadara, a village of Gilead, and 
 hardly escaped with his life. From thence 
 he fled to Jerusalem, where, besides his other 
 ill success, the nation insulted him, and he 
 fought against them for six years, and slew no 
 fewer than fifty thousand of them; and when 
 he desired that they would desist from their 
 ill-will to him, they hated him so much the 
 more, on account of what had already hap- 
 pened; and when he had asked them what 
 be ought to do, they all cried out, that he 
 ought to kill himself. They also sent to 
 Demetrius Eucerus, and desired him to make 
 a league of mutual defence with them. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HOW DEMETRIUS EUCERUS OVERCAME ALEX- 
 ANDER, AND YET, IN A LITTLE TIME, RE- 
 TIRED OUT OF THE COUNTRY FOR FEAR OF 
 THE JEWS; AS ALSO HOW ALEXANDER 
 SLEW MANY OF THE JEWS, AND THEREBY 
 GOT CLEAR OF HIS TROUBLES. CONCERN- 
 ING THE DEATH OF DEMETRIUS. 
 
 § 1. So Demetrius came with an army, and 
 took those that invited him, and pitched his 
 camp near the city Shechem; upon which 
 
 SI This reproach upon Alexander, that he was sprung 
 from a captive, seem* only the re( etition of the old Pha- 
 risiiical calumny upon his father, ( hap x. sect. 6. 
 
 •• This Theodorus was the son of Zeno, and was in 
 possession of Amathus, as we lei<m from sect. 3, fore- 
 going. 
 
366 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 
 Alexandet*, with bis six thousand two hun- 
 dred mercenaries, and about twenty thousand 
 Jews, who were of his party, went against 
 Demetrius, who had three thousand horsemen, 
 and forty thousand footmen. Now there 
 were |rreat endeavours used on both sides, — 
 Demetrius trying to bring oif the mercenaries 
 tiiat were with Alexander, because they were 
 Greeks; and Alexander trying to bring off the 
 Jews that were with Demetrius. However, 
 when neither of them could persuade them so 
 to do, they came to a battle, and Demetrius 
 was the conqueror; in which all Alexander's 
 mercenaries were killed, when they had given 
 demonstration of their fidelity and courage. 
 A great number of Demetrius's soldiers were 
 flain also. 
 
 2. Now as Alexander fled to the moun- 
 ta-.ns, six thousand of the Jews hereupon 
 came together [from Demetrius] to him out 
 of pity at the change of his fortune ; upon 
 which Demetrius was afraid, and retired out 
 of the country; after which the Jews fought 
 against Alexander, and being beaten, were 
 slain in great numbers in the several battles 
 which they had; and when he had shut up the 
 most powerful of them in the city Bethome. 
 he besieged them therein; and when he had 
 taken the city, and gotten the men into his 
 power, he brought them to Jerusalem, and did 
 one of the most barbarous actions in the world 
 to them; for as he was feasting with his concu- 
 bines, in the sight of all the city, he ordered 
 about eight hundred of them to be crucified; 
 and while they were living, he ordered the 
 throats of their children and wives to be cut 
 before .their eyes. This was indeed by way 
 of revenge for the injuries they had done him; 
 which punishment yet was of an inhuman na- 
 ture, though we suppose that he had been ever 
 so much distressed, as indeed he had been, by 
 his wars with them, for he had by their means 
 come to the last degree of hazard, both of his 
 life and of his kingdom, while they weie not 
 satisfied by themselves only to fight against 
 him, but introduced foreifruers also for the 
 same purpose; nay, at length they reduced 
 bim to that degree of necessity, that he was 
 forced to deliver back to the king of Arabia 
 the land of Moab and Gilead, which he had 
 subdued, and the places that were in them, 
 that they might not join with them in the 
 war against bim, as they had done ten thou- 
 sand other things that tended to affront and 
 reproach him. However, this barbarity seems 
 to have been without any necessity, on whicli 
 account he bare the name of aThracian amonj 
 the Jews;* u hereupon the soldiers that had 
 fought against him, being about eight thou- 
 rand in number, ran away by night, and con- 
 tinued fugitives all the time that Alexander 
 
 • Thi» name Tbracida, which the Jew* pave Alexan- 
 dH*. miiit by the coliercnce. dt-imte ax bn'barnus as a 
 Thrtutan, or Min.ewhat like ilj hut what it properly sig- 
 Utiles i» not knpwu. 
 
 lived ; who being now freed from any further 
 disturbance from them, reigned the restof iii& 
 time in the utmost tranqiiilbty. 
 
 3. But when Demetrius was departed out 
 of Judea, he went to Berea, and besieged his 
 brother Philip, having with him ten thousand 
 footmen, and a thousand horsemen. How- 
 ever, Strato, the tyrant of Berea, the confe- 
 derate of Philip, called in Zizon the ruler of 
 the Arabian tribes, and Mithridates Sinax, the 
 ruler of the Parthians, who coming with a 
 great number of forces, and besieging Deme- 
 trius in his encampment, into which they had 
 driven him with their arrows, they compelled 
 those that were with him, by thirst, to deliver 
 up themselves. So they took a great many 
 spoils out of that country, and Demetrius him- 
 self, whom they sent to Mithridates, who was 
 then king of Parthia; but as to those whom 
 they took captives of the people of Antiorh, 
 they restored them to the Antiochians without 
 any reward. Now Mithridates, the king of Par- 
 thia, had Demetrius in great honour, till Deme- 
 trius ended his life by sickness. So Philip, 
 presently after the fight was over, came to 
 Antioch, and took it, and reigned over Syria. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HOWANTIOCHUS,WHOWASCALLEDDI0NYSIU8, 
 AND AFTER HIM ARETAS, MADE EXPEDI- 
 TIONS INTO JUDEA; AS ALSO HOW ALEX- 
 ANDER TOOK MANY CITIES, AND THEN RE- 
 TURNED TO JERUSALEM, AND, AFTER A 
 SICKNESS OF THREE YEARS, DIED; AND 
 WHAT COUNSEL HE GAVE TO ALEXANDRA. 
 
 § 1. After this, Antiochus, who was called 
 Dionysius,t and was Philip's brother, aspired 
 to the dominion, and came to Damas^cus, and 
 got the power into his hands, and there he 
 reigned; but as he was ma\iiig war against 
 the Arabians, his brother Philip heard of it, 
 and came to Damascus, vvhere Milesius, who 
 had been left governor of the citadel, and the 
 Damascenes themselves delivered up the city 
 to him; yet because Philip was become un- 
 grateful to him, and had bestowed upon him 
 nothing of that in hopes whereof he bad re- 
 ceived him into the city, but had a mind to 
 have it believed that it was rather delivered 
 up out of fear than by the kindness of Mile- 
 sius, and because he had not rewarded him as 
 he ought to have done, he became suspected 
 by him, and so be was obliged fo leave Da- 
 mascus again ; for Milesius caught him march- 
 ing out of the Hippodrome, and shut him 
 n[) in it, and kept Damascus for Antiochus 
 [Eucerus], who, bearing how Philip's af- 
 fairs stood, came back out of Arabia. He 
 
 + Spanheim fakes notice that this Antiochus Diony- 
 dins ft he brother of Philip and of Demetrinn F.ncerus, 
 and i)f two others] was the fitih son of Antiochus Ory« 
 fus ; .ind that he is styled on the coins "Antiochus, Epi- 
 phanea, Uionysius »» 
 
CHAP. XV, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 367 
 
 aUo came immediately, and made an expedi- 
 tion atraii'^t Judcii, wiib t-ight thousand 
 arined toot - men. and ei^'ht huridred boi-se- 
 nieii. So Alexander, out of fear of his 
 coining, dug a deep ditcb lieginning at Cha- 
 barzaba, whifh is n«w called Aiitipatris, to 
 the Sea of .f 0[)pa, on wfeirh part only hi*: auny 
 could be broujrht against biai. He also raised 
 u wall, and erected wooden towers, and inter- 
 mediate redoubts, for one hundred and fifty 
 furlongs in length, and there expected the 
 coining of Antiochus; but he soon burnt 
 them all, and made his army pass by that way 
 into Arabia, The AraWan king [Aretas] at 
 first retreated, but afterward afipeared on the 
 sudfien with ten thousand horsemen. Antio- 
 chus gave them the meeting, and fought des- 
 perately; aiid indeed v\ben he had gotten the 
 victory, aird wat» bringing some auxiliaries to 
 that part of his army that was in distress, he 
 was slain. When Antiochus was fallen, his 
 army fled to the pillage Cana, where the great- 
 est part of them perished by famine. 
 
 2. After him * Aretas reigned over Celesy- 
 ria, being ciilled to the goveniment by those 
 that held Damascus, by reason of the hatred 
 they bare to Ptolemy Menneus. He also 
 made thence an expedition against Judea, and 
 beat Alexander in battle, near a place called 
 Adida; yet did he, upon certain conditions 
 agreed on between them, retire out of Judea. 
 
 3. But Alexander marched again to the city 
 Dios, and took it, and then made an expe- 
 dition against Essa, where was the best part of 
 Zeno's treasures, and there he encompassed the 
 place with three walls; and when he had taken 
 the city by fighting, he marched to Golan and 
 Seleucia; and when he bad taken these cities, 
 he, besides them, took that valley which is 
 called The Valley of Antiochus^ as also the 
 fortress of Gamala. He also accused Deme- 
 trius, who was governor of those places, of 
 many crimes, anfl turned him out; and after he 
 had speivt three years in this war, he returned 
 to his own country; when the Jews joyfully 
 received him upon this his good success. 
 
 4. Now at this time the Jews were in pos- 
 session of the following cities that had be- 
 longed to the Syrians, and Idunieans, and 
 Phoenicians: At the sea-side, Strato's Tower, 
 ApoUonia, Joppa, Jamnia, Ashdod, Gaza, 
 Anthedon, Raphia, and Rhinocolura; in the 
 middle of the country, near to Iduraea, Adora, 
 and Marissa; near the country of Samaria, 
 Mount Carmel, and Mount Tabor, Scytho- 
 polis, and Gadara; of the country of the 
 Gaulonites, Seleucia, and Gabala; in the 
 country of Moab, Hesbbon, and Medaba, 
 Lemba, and Oronas, Gelitbon, Zara, the 
 valley of the Cilices, and Pella; which last 
 
 • This Aretas was the first king of the Arabians who 
 took Damascus, and reigned there; which name became 
 afterwards common to such Arabian kinus, both at Pe- 
 tra and at Damascus, as we learn froili Josephus in 
 B'aii) places; and truiu St, Paul, -Z Cor. l^i- 32. S^e Ibe 
 •ote on Aatiq. b. xri, (:h. ix. se«» 4. 
 
 they utterly destroyed, becaupe its inbabitanis 
 v\ould not bear to change their relignms lites 
 for those peculiar to the Jews.f The Jews 
 also possessed others of the principal ciiie^i of 
 Syria, which had been destroyed. 
 
 5. After this, king Alexander, although 
 he fell into a distemper by hard dniiking. 
 and had a quartan ague which held him tbii-e 
 years, yet would not leave off going out wul 
 his army, till he was quite spent with the la- 
 bours be had undergone, and died in tbt 
 bounds of Ragaba, a fortress beyond Jordan. 
 But when his queen saw that he was read,, to 
 die, and had no longer any hopes of survivinj. , 
 she came to him weeping and lamenting, ai.ii 
 bewailed hernjlf and her sons on the de-sidatt- 
 condition they should be left in; and saiil i« 
 him, " To whom dost thou thus leu ve me ai <i 
 my children, who are destitute of all otl;.r 
 supports, and this when thou knowesl bt \* 
 much ill-will thy nation bears thee?" But 
 he gave her the following advice: — That sl.« 
 need but follow what he would suggest to ht\ 
 in order to retain the kingdom securely, v\i;i 
 her children: that she should conceal I. 
 death from the soldiers till she should bav 
 taken tJiat place; after this, she should go i. 
 triumph, as upon a victory, to Jerusalein, ai.< 
 put some of her authority into the hands < I 
 the Pharisees; for that they would conaneiui hi i 
 for the honour she had done them, and vvonl'. 
 reconcile the nation to her; for be told he. 
 they bad great authority among the Jews, boi i 
 to do hurt to such as they hated, and to hruy 
 ad vantages to those to whom they were frieiu.l 
 disposed; for that they are then believei. 
 best of all by the multitude when they spe.ik 
 any severe thing against others, though it l>e 
 only out of envy at them. And he said, that 
 it was by their means that he bad incurred the 
 displeasure of the nation, whom indeed be had. 
 injured. 'Do thou therefore,' said be, * wh' -i, 
 thou art come to Jerusalem, send for ^he 
 leading men among them, and show ther j, ,„i 
 body, and with great appearance of sit' cerity, 
 give them leave to use it as they tb' .nisei es 
 please, w betber they will dishonou* . ^jj^ ^^>■^,\ . 
 body by refusing it burial, as bav' ' ggyereh 
 suffered by my means, or whe ^^^^ j„ their 
 anger they will offer any othe^ --^y ^o that 
 body. Promise them also, f ^^^ ^^^^^ ^.^j^ ,io 
 nothing without them in '^^ ^^^j^s of the 
 
 kingdom. If thou dost > ^^^'^^y this to them, 
 or" of a more glorious 
 
 I shall have the hono' 
 
 + We may here and el' , .-^ ,u„, what- 
 
 evtr countries or cities *where take ^^^'^^'^^^fJ^ilZ 
 
 any of the neighbour the Asamoneans coi.querea 
 or cities they gained .ng nations, or whatever cu 
 to them before, th' . from them that had n 
 pelled the ir.habi' y. alter the days ot t^ ^^^.^^^ 
 
 to receive the I' .ants to leave thei' •" '.,e'lo»i«»4 
 
 else banished .w of Mose* .neU^T'^ j»os. et.nw 
 
 pnncJohn '»^^- ^-^o o.^r ^'^'y^"'' »"«» '•«»''*'^ 
 
 noted on r' 
 promised 
 right thf 
 
 Hyr« 
 
 of jUStlCf , •": 
 
 rhat excelleiA 
 
 „ .- «"iu8, did TfT. /*"'*'• 
 
 iand. and thU , .7«''y. »hr oiean».a» i ■ -' 
 
 "° ^*^e "«ju.t pcr^^ji^^. ' ,dn,nes or cues t! 
 
 ■ iOt at all know. » 
 
 2 for religioB. 
 
568 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 
 funeral from them than thou couldst have 
 made for me: and when it is in their power 
 to abuse my dead body, they will do it no 
 injury at all, and thou wilt rule in safety.'* 
 So when he had given his wife this advice, 
 he died, — after he had reigned twenty-seven 
 years, and lived fifty years, within on«. 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 HOW ALEXANDRA, BY GAINING TME GOOD- 
 WILL OF THE PHARISEES, RETAIP'ED THE 
 KINGDOM NINE YEARS, AND THEN, HAVING 
 DONE MANY GLORIOUS ACTIONS, DIED. 
 
 § 1. So Alexandra, when she had tftken the 
 lorfcress, acted as her husband had suggested 
 to her, and spake to the Pharisees, and put 
 all things into their power, both as to the dead 
 body and as to the affairs of the kingdom, and 
 thereby pacified their anger against Alexan- 
 der, and made them bear good- will and friend- 
 ship to him: who then came among ihe mul- 
 titude, and made speeches to them, and laid 
 before them the actions of Alexander, a/id 
 told them that they bad lost a righteous king; 
 and by the commendation they gave him, they 
 brought them to grieve, and to be in heaviness 
 for him, so that he bad a funeral more splen- 
 did than had any of the kings before him. 
 Alexander left behind him two sons, Hyrca- 
 nus and Aristobulus, but committed the king- 
 dom to Alexandra. Now, as to these two 
 sons, Hyrcanus was indeed unable to manage 
 public afikirs, and delighted rather in a quiet 
 life; but the younger, Aristobulus, was an 
 active and a bold man ; and for this woman 
 
 • It seems, by this dying advice of Alexander Jan- 
 uens to his wile, that he had himself pursued the mea- 
 •ores of his fether Hyrcanus. and taken part with the 
 Sadducees, who kept close to the written law against the 
 Pharisees, who had introduced their own traditions, ch. 
 xvi. sect. 2; and that he now saw a political necessity 
 of subniitting to the Pharisees, and their traditions here- 
 after, if his widow and family minded to retain their mo- 
 uarchical government or tyranny over the Jewish nation: 
 which sect yet, thus supported, were at last in a great 
 measure the ruin of the religion, goverament, and nation 
 of the Jews, and brought them into so wicked a state, 
 that the vengeance of God came upon them to their utter 
 excision. J , -,. thus did Caiaphas politically advise the 
 Jewish saDtfi:.Vim, John xi. oO. "that it was expedient 
 for them that one man should die for the people, and that 
 the whole nation perish not:" and this in consequence of 
 their own political supposal, ver. 48, that, -'If they let 
 Jesus alone." with his miracles, " all men would believe 
 on him J and the Romans would come and take away both 
 their place and nation." Which political crucifixion of 
 Jesus of Nazareth brought down the vengeance of God 
 DP' n them, and occasioned those very Romans, of whom 
 t seemed so much afraid, that to prevent it they put 
 nil to death, actually to "come and take away both their 
 
 rlact and nation," within thirty-eight years afterwards, 
 heartily wish the politicians of Christendom would 
 ronsider those and the like examples, and no lunger sa. 
 eri8ce all virtue and religion to their pernicious schemes 
 of government, to the bringing down the judgments o( 
 God upon themselves, and the several nations intrusted 
 to their care. But this is a digression: I wish it were an 
 unseasonable one also. Josephus hims«-lf several time.'* 
 mukes such digressions; and I here venture to follow him. 
 See one of then at Ibc codcIimiod of the very nt- xt cbap- 
 
 herself, Alexandra, she was loved by the mul- 
 titude, because she seemed displeased at the 
 offences her husband had been guilty of. 
 
 2. So she made Hyrcanus high-priest be- 
 cause he was the elder, but much more be- 
 cause he cared not to meddle with politics, 
 and permitted the Pharisees to do every thing; 
 to whom also she ordered the multitude to be 
 obedient. She also restored again those prac- 
 tices wliich the Pharisees had introduced, ac- 
 cording to the traditions of their forefathers, 
 and which her fathpr-in-law, Hyrcanus, had 
 abrogated. So she had indeed the name of 
 the Regent; but the Pharisees had the au- 
 thority; for it was they who restored such as 
 had been banished, and set such as were pri- 
 soners at liberty, and to say all at once, they 
 differed in nothing from lords. However, the 
 queen also took care of the affairs of the king- 
 dom, and got together a great body of merce- 
 nary soldiers, and increased her own army to 
 such a degree, that she became terrible to the 
 neighbouring tyrants, and took hostages ct 
 them: and the country was entirely at peace, 
 excepting the Pharisees; for they disturbed 
 the queen, and desired that she would kill 
 those who persuaded Alexander to slay the 
 eight hundred men ; after which they cut the 
 throat of one of them, Diogenes: and after 
 him they did the same to several, one after an- 
 other, till the men that weie the most potent 
 came into the palace, and Aristobulus with 
 them, for he seemed to be displeased at what 
 was done; and it appeared openly that, if he 
 had an opportunity, he would not permit his 
 mother to go on so. These put the queen in 
 mind what great dangers they had gone 
 through, and great things they bad done, 
 whereby they had demonstrated the firm- 
 ness of their fidelity to their master, inso- 
 much that they had received the greatest 
 marks of favour from him; and they beeged 
 of her, that she would not utterly blast their 
 hopes, as it now happened, that when they 
 had escaped the hazards that arose from their 
 [open] enemies, they were to be cut off at 
 home, by their [private] enemies, like brute 
 beasts, without any help whatsoever. They 
 said also, that if their adversaries would be 
 satisfied with those that had been slain already, 
 they would take what had been done patiently, 
 on account of their natural love to their go- 
 vernors; but if they must expect the same for 
 the future also, they implored of her a dis- 
 mission from her service; for they could' not 
 bear to think of attempting any method for 
 their deliverance without her, but would rather 
 die willingly before the palace-gate, in case 
 she would not forgive them. And that It was 
 a great shame, both for themselves and for the 
 queen, that when they were neglected by her, 
 they should come under the lash of her hus- 
 band's enemies; for that Aretas. the Arabian 
 king, and the moiiarrhs, would give any re- 
 ward, if they could get .such men m foreign 
 
CHAP. XVI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 369 
 
 auxiliaries, to whom their very names, before 
 their voices be heard, may perhaps be terrible; 
 but if they could not obtain this their second 
 request, and if she had determined to prefer 
 the Pharisees before them, they still insisted 
 that she would place them every one in her 
 fortresses; for if some fatal demon hath a 
 constant spite against Alexander's bouse, they 
 would be willing to bear their part, and to live 
 in apitvate station there. 
 
 3. As these men said thus, and called upon 
 Alexander's ghost for conmiiseration of those 
 already slain, and those in danger of it, all 
 the by-standers brake out into tears ; but 
 Arisfcobulus chiefly made manifest what were 
 his sentiments, and used many reproachful 
 expressions to his mother [saying], *' Nay, 
 indeed, the case is this, that they have been 
 themselves the authors of their own calamities, 
 who have permitted a woman who, against 
 reason, was mad with ambition, to reign over 
 them,- when there were sons in the flower of 
 their age fitter for it." So Alexandra not 
 knowing what to do with any decency, com- 
 mitted the fortresses to them, all but Hyrca- 
 nia and Alexandrium, and Macherus, where 
 her principal treasures were. After a little 
 while also, she sent her son Aristobulus with 
 an army to Damascus against Ptolemy, who 
 was called Menneus, who was such a bad 
 neighbour to the city; but he did nothing 
 considerable there, and so returned home. 
 
 4. About this time new'* was brought that 
 Tigranes, the king of Armenia, had made an 
 irruption into Syria with five hundred thou- 
 sand soldiers,* and was coming against Judea. 
 This news, as may well be supposed, terrified 
 the queen and the nation. Accordingly they 
 sent him many and very valuable presents, as 
 also ambassadors, and that as he was besieging 
 Ptolemais ; for Selene the queen, the same 
 that was also called Cleopatra, ruled then 
 over Syria, who had persuaded the inhabitants 
 to exclude Tigranes. "So the Jewish ambas- 
 sadors interceded with him, and entreated him 
 that he would determine nothing that was se- 
 vere about their queen or nation. He com- 
 mended them for the respects they paid him 
 at so great a distance: and «ave them good 
 hopes of his favour. But as soon as Ptole- 
 mais was taken, news came to Tigranes, that 
 LucuUus, in his pursuit of Mithridates, could 
 not light upon him, who was fled into Iberia, 
 but was laying waste Armenia and besieging 
 its cities. Now, when Tigranes knew this, 
 he returned home. 
 
 5. After this, when the queen was fallen 1 
 into a dangerous distemper, Aristobulus re- 
 
 • The number of five hundred tliousand, or even three 
 bnndred thousand, as one fireek copy, with the I atia 
 cipies. have it, Jor Tiijranes'.s army, that came out of 
 Armenia into .Syria and Judea, seems much too large. — 
 We have had already several such extravaffint num- 
 hers in Jo^ephus's present copies, which are not to be 
 at > ' asf-riDi-ii , -i,.i. . ^ i .^[y, | incline to Dr. 
 HutUou' t- i-..a„u.^.. here, *hiili supposes Uiem but 
 forty UiousauJ. 
 
 solved to attempt the seizing of the govern- 
 ment; so he stole away secretly by night, 
 with only one of his servants, and went to 
 the fortresses, wherein his friends, that were 
 such from the days of his father, were sett led; 
 for as he had been a great while displeased at 
 his mother's conduct, so he was now much 
 more afraid, lest, upon her death, their whole 
 family should be under the power of the Pha 
 risees ; for he saw the inability of his brother, 
 who was to succeed in the government : nor 
 was any one conscious of what he was doing 
 but only his wife, whom he left at Jerusalem 
 with their children. He first of all came to 
 Agaba, where was Galestes, one of the pot#nt 
 men before mentioned, and was received by 
 him. When it was day the queen perceived 
 that Aristobulus was fled; and for some tii^e 
 she supposed that his departure was not in 
 order to make any innovation ; but when 
 messengers came one after another with the 
 news that he had secured the first place, the 
 second place, and all the places, for as soon 
 as one had begun, they all submitted to bis 
 disposal, then it was that the queen and the 
 nation were in the greatest disorder, for they 
 were aware that it would not be long ere 
 Aristobulus would be able to settle himself 
 firmly in the government. What they were 
 principally afraid of was this, that he would 
 inflict punishment upon them for the mad 
 treatment his house had had from them; so 
 they resolved to take his wife and children 
 into custody, and keep them in the fortress 
 that was over the temple.f Now there was 
 a mighty conflux of people that came to 
 Aristobulus from all parts, insomuch that he 
 had a kind of royal attendants about him; 
 for in a little more than fifteen days, he got 
 twenty-two strong places, which gave him 
 the opportunity of raising an army from Li- 
 ban us and Trachonitis, and the monarchs; 
 for men are easily led by the greater number, 
 and easily submit to them. And besides this, 
 that by affording him their assistance when 
 he could not expect it, they, as. well as he, 
 should have the advantages that would come 
 by his being king, because they had been the 
 occasion of his gaining the kingdi Now 
 the elders of the Jews, and Hyrcanus with 
 them, went in unto the queen, and desired 
 that she would give them her sentiments about 
 the present posture of affairs, for that Aristo- 
 bulus was in effect lord of almost all the 
 kingdom, by possessing of so mfmy strongw. . 
 holds, and that it was absurd tor them to takjB^-' 
 any counsel by themselves, how ill soever she 
 were, whilst she was alive, and that the dan- 
 ger would be upon them in no long time 
 
 But she bade them do what they thought 
 
 + This fortress, castle, citadel, or tower, whither the 
 wife and children of Aristobulus were now sent, and 
 which overlooked the temp e, could be no other than 
 what Hyrcanus I. built (Autiq. b. wis. ch It. «ect i) 
 and Herod the Great rebuilt, and called the** Tower ol 
 Autuuia." Antiq. h. xv. ch IL lecL Ow 
 
 2 A 
 
370 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIV. 
 
 proper to be dono tbat tbey bad many circum- 
 Btaiices in tbeir favour still reiimining; a na- 
 tion in good heart, an army, and money in their 
 several treasuries; for tbat she had small coii- 
 cernabout public affairs now, when the strength 
 of her body already failed her. 
 
 6. Now a little while after she bad said 
 this to them, she died, when she had reigned 
 n ,ie years, and had in all lived seventy-three. 
 A* woman she was vvho showed no signs of the 
 weakness of her sex, for she was sagacious to 
 the greatest degree in her ambition of govern- 
 mg, and demonstrated by her doings at once, 
 that her nriind was fit for action, and that 
 sometimes men themselves show the little 
 understanding they have by the frequent mis- 
 takes they make in point of government; for 
 she always preferred the present to futurity, 
 and preferred the power of an imperious do- 
 minion above all things, and in comparison of 
 
 tbat, bad no regard to wbat was good or wbat 
 was right. However, she brought the affairs 
 of her house to such an unfortunate condition, 
 that she was the occasion of the taking away 
 that authority from it, and tbat in no long time 
 afterward, which she had obtained by a vast 
 number of hazards and misfortunes, and this 
 out of a desire of what does not belong to a 
 woman, and all by a compliance in her senti- 
 ments with those that bare ill-will to their 
 family, and by leaving the administration des- 
 titute of a proper s^ipport of great men; and 
 indeed, her management during her adminis- 
 tration, while she was alive, was such as tilled 
 the palace after her death with calamities and 
 disturbance. However, although this had 
 been her way of governing, she preserved the 
 nation in peace: — and this is the conclusion 
 of the affairs of Alexandra. 
 
 BOOK XIV. 
 
 CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF THIRTY-TWO YEARt. 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF QUEEN ALEXANDRA TO THE DEATH OF 
 
 ANTIGONUS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 'THE WAR BETWEEN ARISTOBULUS AND HYR- 
 CANIS ABOUT THE KINGDOM; AND HOW 
 THEY MADE AN AGREEMENT THAT ARIS- 
 TOBULUS SHOULD BE KING, AND HYRCANUS 
 LIVE A PRIVATE LIFE: AS ALSO HOW HYR- 
 CANUS, A LITTLE AFTERWARDS, WAS PER- 
 SUADED BY ANTIPATER TO FLY TO ARETAS. 
 
 § 1.. We have related the affairs of queen 
 Alexandra, and ber death in the foregoing 
 book, and will now speak of what followed, 
 and was connected with those histories; de- 
 claring, before we proceed, that we have no- 
 thing so much at heart as this, tbat we may 
 imit no facts either through ignorance or la- 
 ziness;* for we are upon the history and ex- 
 plication of such things as the greatest part 
 are unacquainted withal, because of their dis- 
 tance from our times; and we aim to do it 
 
 • Rpland takes notice here, very Jtiiit1>, how Jose- 
 pliiu'^ declaration, that it was his (treat Concern not only 
 lo write •♦ an agreeahle. an accurate." and •' a true" his- 
 tory, but also distinctly! ♦■ not to omit any thiiigr" fof 
 eontequenne]. either throngh **iirn<>rance or laziness." 
 iai^lies that he could nul^runsistrntiy with that resulti- 
 linn, omit the meotiun of [so famous a person asl 
 ••JesoaChrijit* • 
 
 vvitb a proper beauty of style, so far as that Ig 
 derived from proper words harmonically dis- 
 posed, and from such ornaments of speech also 
 as may contribute to the pleasure of our read- 
 ers, that they may entertain the knowledge of 
 what we write with some agreeable satisfac- 
 tion and pleasure. But the principal scope 
 that authors ought to aim at, above all the 
 rest, is to speak accurately, and to speak truly, 
 for the satisfaction of those that are other- 
 wise unacquainted vvitb such transactions, and 
 obliged to believe what these writers inform 
 them of. 
 
 2. Hyrcanus tben began bis bigb-pnest- 
 hood on the third year of the hundred and 
 seventy-seventh olympiad, when Quintus Hor- 
 tensius and Quintus Metellus, who was called 
 Metellus of Crete, were consuls at Rome; 
 when presently Aristobulus began to make 
 war against him, and as it came to a battle with 
 Hyrcanus at Jericho, many of his soldiers de- 
 serted him and went over to his brother: upon 
 which Hyrcanus fled into the citadel, where 
 Aristobulus's wife and children were imprin 
 soned by his mother, as we have said already, 
 and attacked and overcame those his adver. 
 Miries tbat bad fled thither, and lay within the 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 37t 
 
 walls of the temple. So when he had sent a 
 messajje to his brother about agreeing the mat- 
 ters l)etvveeii thenj, he laid aside his enmity to 
 him on these conditions, that Aristobulus 
 should be king, that he should live without 
 intermeddling with public affairs, and quietly 
 enjoy the estate he had acquired. When they 
 had atrreed upon these terms in the temple, 
 and had contirmed the agreement with oaths, 
 and the giving one another their right hands, 
 and embracing one another in the sight of the 
 whole multitude, they 3eparted; the one, 
 Aristobulus, to the palace, and Hyrcanus, as 
 a private man, to the t'ornier house of Aristo- 
 bulus. 
 
 3. But there was a certain friend of Hyr- 
 canus, an Idumean, called Antipater, who 
 was very rich, and in his nature an active and 
 a seditious man; who was at enmity with 
 Aristobulus, and had differences with him on 
 account of his good- will to Hyrcanus. It is 
 true, that Nicolaus of Damascus says, that 
 Antipater was of the stock of the |)rincipal 
 Jews who came out of Babylon into Judea; 
 but that asi^ertion of his was to gratify Herod, 
 who was his son, and v\ho, by certain revolu- 
 tions of fortune, came afterwards to be king 
 of the Jews, whose history we shall give you 
 in its proper place hereafter. However, this 
 Antipnter was at first cnlled Antipas,* and 
 that was his father's name also; of whom 
 they relate this: That king Alexander and 
 his wife made him general of all Idumea, and 
 that he made a league of friendship with those 
 Arabians, and Gazites, and Ascalonites, that 
 were of his own party, and had, by many and 
 large presents, made them his fast friends ; 
 but now this' younger Antipater was suspicious 
 of the power of Aristobulus, and was afraid 
 of some mischief he might do him, because of 
 bis hatred to him; so be stirred up the most 
 powerful of the Jews, and talked against him 
 to them privately; and said, that it was un- 
 just to overlook the conduct of Aristobulus, 
 who had gotten the government unrighteously, 
 and ejected his brother out of it, who was 
 the elder, and ought to retain what belonged 
 to him by pr<^rogative of his birth; and the 
 same speeches he perpetually made to Hyrca- 
 nus; and told '^im that his own life would 
 he in danger unl'^ss he guarded himself, and 
 got quit of Arist'-^bulus; for he said that the 
 friends of Aristobul.'s omitted no opportunity 
 of advising him to kMl him, as being then, 
 and not before, sure to retain his principality. 
 Hyrcanus gave no credit to these words of 
 his, as being of a gentle disposition, and one 
 that did not easily admit of calumnies against 
 other men. This temper of his not disposing 
 him to meddle with public affairs, and want 
 
 • That the famons Antipater'sor Antipas's father was 
 also Antipater iir Antipas (which two may justly be es- 
 te«-iiied one and the Kame name; the former with a 
 Greek or Gentile, the latter with a Hebrew or Jewish 
 termination). Joxphus here assures us, thoi:gh Euc"- 
 bius icdeed says it was Herod. 
 
 of spirit, occasioned him to appear to specta* 
 tors to be degenerate and unmanly; while 
 Aristobulus was of a contrary temper, an 
 active man, and one of a great and generous 
 soul, 
 
 4. Since therefore Antipater saw that Hyr 
 caiius did not attend to what he said, be nevei 
 ceased, day by day, to charge feigned crime 
 upon Aristobulus, and to^ calumniate hinj be 
 fore him, as if he had a mind to kill him 
 and so. by urging him perpetually, he advised 
 him, and persuaded him to fly to Aretas, the 
 king of Arabia; and promised, that if ho 
 would comply with his advice, he would also 
 himself assist him [and go with him]. When 
 Hyrcanus heard this, he said that it was for his 
 advantage to fly away to Aretas. Now Arabia 
 is a country that borders upon Judea. How- 
 ever, Hyrcanus sent Antipater first to the king 
 of Aral)ia, in order to receive assurances from 
 him, that when he should come in the manner 
 of a supplicant to him, he would not deliver 
 him up to his enemies. ^So Antipater having 
 received such assurances, returned to H\rca- 
 nus to Jerusalem. A while afterward he took 
 H\rcanus, and stole out of the city by night, 
 and went a great journey, ami came and 
 brough* him to the city called Petra, where 
 the palace of Aretas was; and as he was a 
 very familiar friend of that king, he persuaded 
 him to bring back Hyrcanus into Judea; 
 and this persuasion he continued every day 
 without any intermission. He also proposed 
 to make him presents on that account. At 
 length he prevailed with Aretas in his suit. 
 Moreover. Hyrcanus promised him, that when 
 he had been brought thither, and had received 
 his kingdom, he would restore that couHtry, 
 and those twelve cities which his father Alex- 
 ander had taken from the Arabians; which 
 were these, Medaba, Naballo, Libyas, Thara- 
 basa, Agala, Athone, Zoar, Orone, Marissa, 
 Rudda, Lussa, and Oruba. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW ARETAS AND HYRCANUS MADE AN EX- 
 PEPITIGN AGAINST ARISTOBULUS, AND BE- \ 
 SIEGED JERUSALEM; AND HOW SCAURUS, \ 
 THE ROMAN GENERAL, RAISED THE glEGE. 
 CONCERNING THE DEATH OF ONIAS, 
 
 § 1. After these promises had been given 
 to Aretas, he made an expedition against Aris- 
 tobulus, with an army of fifty thon.sand horse 
 and foot, and beat him in the battle. And 
 when after that victory many went ovt-r to 
 H\rcanus as deserters, Aristobulus was left 
 desolate, and fled to Jerusalem; upon which 
 
 j the king of Arabia took all his arniv and made 
 an assault upon the temple, and be.sieged Aris- 
 tobulus therein, the people still supporting 
 
 I Hyrcanus, and assisting him in the siege, while 
 
372 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THK JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIT. 
 
 none but the priests continued with Aristobu- 
 lus. So Aretas united the forces of the Ara- 
 bians and of the Jews together, and pressed 
 en the siege vigorously. As this happened at 
 the iime when the feast of unleavened bread 
 was celebrated, which we call the Passover, 
 the principal men among the Jews left the 
 country, and fled into Egypt. Now there 
 was one, whose name was Onias, a righteous 
 man he was, and l)eloved of God, who, in a 
 certain drought, had prayed to God to put an 
 end to the intense heat, and whose prayers 
 God had heard, and had sent them rain. This 
 man had hid himself, because be saw that this 
 sedition would last a great while. However, 
 they brought him to the Jewish camp, and de- 
 sired, that as by his pravers he had once put 
 an end to the drought, so he would in like 
 manner make imprecations on Aristobulus and 
 those of his faction. And when, upon his 
 refusal, and the excuses that he made, he was 
 still by the multitude compelled to speak, he 
 stood up in the mid&t of them, and said, " O 
 God, the King of the whole world 1 since 
 those that stand now with me are thy people, 
 and those that are besieged are also thy priests, 
 I beseech thee, that thou wilt neither hearken 
 to the prayers of those against these, nor bring 
 to effect what these pray against those." 
 M'hereupon such wicked Jews as stood about 
 him, as soon as he had made this prayer, 
 stoned him to death. 
 
 2. But God punished them immediately 
 for this their barbarity, and took vengeance of 
 them for the murder of Onias, in the manner 
 following: — "While the priests and Aristobu- 
 lus were besieged, it happened that the feast 
 called the Passover was come, at which it is 
 our custom to offer a great number of sacri- 
 fices to God; but those that were with Aris- 
 'tobulus wanted sacrifices, and desired that 
 their countrymen without would furnish them 
 with such sacrifices, and assured them they 
 should have as much money for them as 
 they should desire; and when they required 
 them to pay a thousand drachmae for each 
 bead of cattle, Aristobulus and the priests 
 M-illingly undertook to pay for them accord- 
 injily; and those within let down the money 
 over the walls, and gave it them. But when 
 the others had received it, they did not deliver 
 the sacrifices, but arrived at that height of 
 wickedness as to break the assurances they had 
 given, and to be guilty of impiety towards 
 God, by not furnishing those that wanted them 
 with sacrifices. And when the priests found 
 they bad been cheated, and that the agree- 
 ments they had made were violated, they pray- 
 ed to God that he would avenge them on their 
 countrymen. Nor did he delay that their 
 punishment, but sent a strong and vehement 
 storm of wind, that destroyed the fruits of 
 the whole country, till a modus of wheat was 
 then bought for eleven dracbuiEB. 
 1 a. In the meantime Pcrnpey sent Scaurus 
 
 into Syria, while he was himself in Armenia, 
 and making war with Tigranes; but when 
 Scaurus was come to Damascus, and found 
 that Lollius and Metellus had newly taken 
 the city, he came himself hastily into Judea. 
 And when he was come thither, ambassadors 
 came to him, both from Aristobulus and Hyr- 
 canus, and both desired he would assist them; 
 and when both of them promised to give him 
 money, Aristobulus four hundred talents, and 
 Hyrcanus no less, he accepted of Aristobu- 
 lus's promise, for he was rich, and had a great 
 soul, and desired to obtain nothing but what 
 was moderate; whereas the other was poor 
 and tenacious, and made incredible promises 
 in hope of greater advantages; for it was not 
 the same thing to take a city that was exceed- 
 ing strong and powerful, as it was to eject 
 out of the country some fugitives, with a great 
 number of Nabateans, who were no very war- 
 like people. He therefore made an agree- 
 ment with Aristobulus, for the reason before 
 mentioned, and took his money, and raised 
 the siege, and ordered Aretas to depart, oi 
 else he should be declared an enemy to the 
 Romans. So Scaurus returned to Damascus 
 again; and Aristobulus, with a great army, 
 made war with Aretas and Hyrcanus, and 
 fought them at a place called Papyron, anC 
 beat them in the battle, and slew about six 
 thousand of the enemy, with whom fell Pha- 
 lion also, the brother of Antipater. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HOW ARISTOBULUS AND HYRCANUS CAME TO 
 POMPEY, IN ORDER TO ARGUE WHO OUGHT 
 TO HAVE THE KINGDOM; AND HOW, UPON 
 THE FLIGHT OF ARISTOBULUS TO THE 
 FORTRESS ALEXANDRIUM, POMPEY LED HIS 
 ARMY AGAINST HIM, AND ORDERED HIM TO 
 DELIVER UP THE FORTRESSES WHEREOF HE 
 WAS POSSESSED. 
 
 § 1. A LITTLE afterward Pompey came to 
 Damascus, and marched over Celesyria; at 
 which time there came ambassadors to him 
 from all Syria, and Egypt, and out of Judea 
 also, for Ari>tobulus had sent him a great 
 present, which was a golden vine,* of the 
 value of five hundred talents. Now Strabo 
 of Cappadocia mentions this present in these 
 
 ♦ This ♦' golden vine." or " garden." »ren by Straho 
 at Rome, has its insMiptioo here as if it were the giU of 
 Alexander, the father of Aristobulus. and not ot Aris- 
 tobulus himself, to whom yet Josephus ascribes it; and 
 in order to prove the truth of that part of his history, 
 introduces this testimony of Straho; so that the ordi- 
 nary copies seem to be here either erroneous or detec- 
 tive, and the original reading seems to have been either 
 Aristobulus, inKtend of Ah xandei, with one Greek copy, 
 or else ''Aristobulus the son of Alexander," with the 
 I atin copies: which list seems to nie the most pro- 
 bable; for as to Archbishop Usher's conjectures, that 
 Alexander made it. and dedicated it to God in the tem> 
 pie, and that thenrc Aristobulus took it. and s«!nt it to 
 I'umpry, tkcy are both very iiuproSable, ami no way 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 373 
 
 words: — *' There came also an embassage out 
 of Egypt, and a crown of the value of four 
 thousand pieces of gold; and out of Judea 
 there came another, whether you call it a vine 
 or a garden; they called the thing Terpole, 
 the Delight. However, we ourselves saw 
 that present reposited at Rome, in theS;eraple 
 of Jupiter Capitolinus, with this inscription: 
 ' The Gift of Alexander, the King of the 
 Jews,' It was valued at live hundred talents; 
 and the report is, that Aristobulus, the gover- 
 nor of the Jews, sent it." 
 
 2. In a little time afterward came ambassa- 
 dors again to him, Antipater from Hyrcarms, 
 and Nicodemus from Aristobulus; which last 
 also accused such as had taken bribes; first 
 Gabinius, and then Scaurus, — the one three 
 hundred talents, and the other four hundred; 
 by which procedure he made these two his 
 enemies, besides those he had before ;\and 
 when Pompey had ordered those that^ nad 
 controversies one with another to come to him 
 in the beginning of the spring, he brought his 
 army out of their winter quarters, and marched 
 into the country of Damascus; and as he went 
 aloi«f be demolished the citadel that was at 
 Apamea, which Antiochus Cyzicenus had 
 built, and took cognizance of the country of 
 Ptolemy Menneus, a wicked man, and not 
 less so than Oionysius of Tripoli, who had 
 been beheaded, who was also his relation by 
 marriage; yet did he buy off the punishment 
 of his crimes~ToF~a~Thmi5HTnt~"tatcntif, with 
 which money Potnpey paid the soWiers their 
 wages. He also eonquered the place called 
 Lysias, of which Silas a Jew was tyrant; 
 and when he had passed over the cities of 
 Heliopolis and Chalcis, and got over the 
 mountain which is on the limit of Celesyria, 
 he came from Pella to Damascus ; and there 
 it was that he heard the causes of the Jews, 
 and of their governors Hyrcanus and Aristo- 
 bulus, who were at difference one with an- 
 \ijOther, as also of the nation against them both, 
 which did not desire to be under kingly go- 
 vernment, because the form of government 
 they received from their forefathers was that 
 of subjection to the priests of that God whom 
 they worshipped; and [they complained] that 
 though these two were the posterity of 
 priests, yet did they seek to change the go- 
 vernment of their nation to another form, in 
 order to enslave them. Hyrcaims complained, 
 that although he were the elder brother, he 
 was deprived of the prerogative of his birth 
 by Aristobulus, and that he had but a small 
 part of the country under him, Aristobulus 
 having taken away the rest from him by force. 
 He also accused him, that the incursions 
 which had been made into their neighbours* 
 
 B^reeable to Josephus, who would hardly have avoided 
 the recording both these unconiinon points of history, 
 bad he known any thing of them: nor would either the 
 J» wish nation, or even Pompey himself, then have re- 
 luUcd tuch a flagrant iostauce of sacriiega 
 
 countries, and the piracies that had been at 
 sea, were owing to him ; and that the nation 
 would not have revolted, unless Aristobulus 
 had been a man given to violence and disor- 
 d.'r; and there were no fewer than a thousand 
 Jews, 'of the best esteem among them, who 
 confirmed this accusation ; which confirma- 
 tion was procured by Antipater; but Aristo- 
 bulus alleged against him, that it was Hyr- 
 canus's own temper which was inactive, and 
 on that account contemptible, which caused 
 him to be deprived of the government; and 
 that for himself he was necessitated to take it 
 upon him, for fear lest it should be transfer- 
 red to others; and that as to his title [of 
 king], it was no other than what his father 
 had taken [before him]. He also called for 
 witnesses of what he said, some persons who 
 were both young and insolent; whose purple 
 garments, fine heads of hair, and other orna- 
 ments, were detested [by the court], and 
 which they appeared in, not as though they 
 were to plead their cause in a court of justice, 
 but as if they were marching in a pompbus 
 procession. 
 
 3. When Pompey had heard the causes of 
 these two, and had condemned Aristobulus 
 for his violent procedure, he tken spake civilly 
 to them, and sent them away; and told them, 
 that when he came again into their country he 
 would settle all their affairs, after he had first 
 taken a view of the affairs of the Nabateans. 
 In the mean time he ordered them to be 
 quiet; and treated Aristobulus civilly, lest he 
 should make the nation revolt, and hinder his 
 return; which yet Aristobulus did; for with- 
 out expecting any farther determination, which 
 Pompey had promised them, he went to the 
 city Delius, and thence marched into Judea, 
 
 4. At this behaviour Pompey was angry ; 
 and taking with him that army which he was 
 leading against the Nabateans, and the auxili- 
 aries that came from Damascus, and the other 
 parts of Syria, with the other Roman legions 
 which he had with him, he made an expedition 
 against Aristobulus; but as he passed by Pella 
 and Scythopolis,^he came to Coreae, which is 
 the first entrance into Judea when one passes 
 over the midland countries, where he came to a 
 most beautiful fortressthatwas built on the top 
 of a mountain called Alexandrium, whither 
 Aristobulus had fled; and thence Pompey sent 
 his commands to him, that he should come to 
 him. Accordingly, at the'persuasiuns of many 
 that he would not make war with the Romans, 
 he came down; and when he had disputed with 
 his brother about the right to the government, 
 he went up again to the citadel, as Pompey gave 
 him leave to do; and this he did two or three 
 times, as flattering himself with the hopes of 
 having the kingdom granted him; so that he 
 still pretended he would obey Pompey in what- 
 soever he commanded, although at the same 
 time he retired to his fortress, that he might not 
 depress himself too low, an<i that he might b* 
 
374 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIV. 
 
 prepared for a war, in case it should prove as 
 he (eared, that Poinpey would tran>t'er the 
 government to H\rcaniis: hut when Ponipe} 
 enjoined Aristohulus to deliver up the tor- 
 tresses he held, and to send an injunction to 
 their governors under his own hand for that 
 purpose, for they had heen forhidden to de- 
 liver them up upon any other commands, he 
 suhinitted indeed to do so; hut still he retired 
 in displeasure to Jerusalem, and made pre- 
 paration for war. A little after this, certain 
 persons came out of Pontus, and informed 
 Pompey, as he was on the way, and conduct- 
 ing his army against Aristohulus, that Mith- 
 ri dates was dead, and was slain by his son 
 Pharnaces. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 how pompey, when the citizens of jeru- 
 salem shut their gates against him, 
 besieged the city, and took it by 
 fokce; as also what other things he 
 did in judea. 
 
 § 1. Now when Pompey had pitched his 
 camp at Jericho (where the palm-tree grows,* 
 and that balsam which is. an ointment of all 
 the most precious, which upon any incision 
 made in the wood with a sharp stone, distils 
 out thence like a juice), he marched in the 
 morning to Jerusalem. ^Hereupon Aristo- 
 bulur reftnted of what be was doing, and 
 came to Pompey, and [promised to] give him 
 money, ayd received him into Jerusalem, and 
 desired that he would leave otf the war, and 
 do what he pleased peaceably. So Ptunpey, 
 upon his entreaty, forgave him, and sent Ga- 
 binius, and soldiers with him, t« receive the 
 money and the city; yet was no part of this 
 performed; but Gabinius came back, being 
 both excluded out of the city, and receiving 
 none of the money promised, because Aristo- 
 buliis's soldiers would not permit the agree- 
 njents to be executed. At this Pompey was 
 very angry, and put Aristohulus into prison, 
 and cdwe himself to the citv, which was 
 strong on every side, excepting the north, 
 whi b was not so well fortified, for there was 
 a br< a and deep ditch, that encompassed the 
 cit),t and included within it the temple, 
 
 • ' hf^f exprex* testimonieB of Jowphus here, and 
 Anti<i. Ii \iii. cli. vi «fc' C, and b. xv. ch. iv. sfct. i, 
 thai tlif iiiiK balxuni i:ar<1fi:s. and ihe b«f8t palni-treps. 
 wrr,,\i lrH)-tin hisdnyK. n> ar JiTichi>un<l i-.n^adtii. about 
 the n«>ril pait «)f tin- IVad >r.. (w hf r^-ahont also Alt-x- 
 aiid»-r 111*- Crreat xaw thr balxani drop), nhnw the mistake 
 of iliitxr iliat liiidcrKiaiid l'iis«>l)lii!< aid Jtfinni, ax it one 
 ol thtixr f!ardfni> were a< the irnnth part of thai sesi. at 
 Z'lar or Segor. whereas they nmst either nienn anotl-er 
 Zoar or Segor, which was between .lerl<hii imd I- lujiddi. 
 aireeah > to Josephiis. *hicb >«'t the\ do not BP|>eiir to 
 do; »^r else the) directly contradict Jo>(epl>nn. ans: were 
 thert in f;<>'i>tly mistaken: I mean Ihl^ nllle^)- ihat hal- 
 xani. and the best |ialin-trreB. iriew miK'l' \^t^»^ »ocili 
 waid in Judea in the dti>>> ol I n<» l>ins iiiul .li i \>. t\ni 
 ttiey dill in <he daysof.loM ihos 
 
 ♦ I he part ciilar di nili aid lireji.lih 'f «l i- diti !•. 
 fhiciiue ilie •tone* for the wall abt)Ui tlie teoipii- were 
 
 which was itself encompassed about with a 
 very strong stone wall. 
 
 2. Now there was a sedition of the men 
 that were within the city, who did not agree 
 v\hat was to be done in their present circum- 
 stances, while some thought it best to deliver 
 up the city to Pompey; but Aristobulus's 
 party exhorted them to shut the gates, be- 
 cause he was kept in prison. Now these 
 prevented the others, and seized upon the 
 temple, and cut off the bridge which reached 
 from it to the city, and prepared themselves 
 to abide a siege; but the others admitted/ 
 Pompey 's army in, and delivered up both the 
 city and the king's palace to him. So Pom- 
 pey sent his lieutenant Piso with an army, 
 and placed garrisons bo'th in the city and in 
 the palace, to secure them, and fortified the 
 houses that joined to the temple, and all 
 those which were more distant and without it. 
 And in the first place, he offered terms of ac- 
 commodation to those that were within; but 
 when they would not comply with what was, 
 desired, he encompassed all the places thereV^^, 
 about with a wall, wherein Hyrcanus did 
 gladly assist him on all occasions; but Pom- 
 pey pitched his camp within [the wall], on 
 the north part of the temple, where it was 
 most practicable; but even on that side there 
 were great towers, and a ditch had been dug, 
 and a deep valley begirt it round about, for 
 on the parts towards the city were precipices, 
 and the bridge on which Pompey had iitjtten 
 in was broken down. However, a bank was 
 raised, day by day, with a great deal of la- 
 bour., while the Romans cut down materials 
 for it from the pUices round about; and when 
 this bank was sufliciently raised, and the ditch 
 filled up, though but poorly, by reason ot its 
 immense depth, he brought his mechanical 
 engines and battering-rams from Tyre, and 
 placing them on the bai:k, he battered the. 
 temple with the stones that were throvvri 
 against it; and had it not been our practice, 
 from the days of our forefathers, to rest on 
 the seventh day, this bank could never have 
 been perfected, by reason of the opposition 
 the Jews would have made; for though our 
 law gives us leave then _lo defend ourselves 
 against those that begin to fight with us and 
 assault us, yet does it not permit us to meddle 
 with our enemies while they do any thing <lse. 
 3. Which thing when the Romans undt r- 
 stood, on those days which we call SabSaths, 
 they threw nothing at the Jews, nor came to 
 any pitched battle with them, but raised up 
 their earthen banks, and brought their engine* 
 into such forwardness, that they might do 
 
i 
 
 60 
 
 6 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 376 
 
 execution the next days; and any one may 
 hence learn how very great piety we exercise 
 towards God, and the observance of bis laws, 
 siace the priests were not at all hindered from 
 their sacred ministrations, by their fear du- 
 ring this siege, but did still twice each day. in 
 the morning and about the ninth hour, offer 
 their sacrifices on the altar; nor did they 
 omit those sacrifices, if any melancholy acci- 
 dent happened, by the stones that were thrown 
 among them; for although the city was taken 
 on the third month, on the day of the fast,* 
 upon the hundred and seventy-nintli olympiad, 
 when Caius Antonius and Marcus TuU^us 
 Cicero <tere consuls, and the enemy then fell 
 upon them, and cut the throats of those that 
 were in the temple, yet could not those that of- 
 fered the sacrifices be compelled to run away,j 
 neither^by the fear they were in of their owrr 
 lives, nor by the number that were already 
 slain, as thinking it better to suffer whatever 
 came upon them, at their very altars, than to 
 omit any thing that their laws required of 
 them; and that this is not a mere brag, or an 
 encomium to manifest a degree of our piety 
 that was false, but is the real truth, I appeal 
 to those that have written of the acts of Pom- 
 pey; and, among them, to Strabo and Nico- 
 laus [ot Damascus]; and besides these, to 
 Titus Li\ius, the writer of the Roman His- 
 tory, who will bear witness of this thing.f 
 
 4. But when the battering-engine was 
 brought near, the greatest of the towers was 
 shaken by it, and fell down, and broke down 
 a part of the fonifications, so the enemy poured 
 in apace; and Cornelius Faustus, the son of 
 Sylla, with his soldiers, first of all ascended 
 the wall, and next to him Furius the centu- 
 rion, with those that followed, on the other 
 part; while Fabius, who was also a centurion, 
 as'-ended it in the middle, with a great body 
 of men after him; but now all was full of 
 slaughter; some of the Jews being slain by 
 the Romans, and some by one another; nay, 
 some there were who threw themselves down 
 the precipices, or put fire to their houses and 
 burnt them, as not able to bear the miseries 
 they Were under. Of the Jews there fell 
 twelve thousand; but of the Romans very 
 few. Absalom, who was at once both unclt^ 
 and father-in-law to Aristobulus, was taken 
 
 • That is on the twenty-third of Sivan. the annual fast 
 for tlie defection and idolatr\ of Jt- roboarn, " who made 
 Israel to mo:" cr possibly some other fast niighi fall into 
 that montti, before and in the days of Josephus 
 
 + It deserves here to be rv>ied. tliat this Pharisaical su- 
 Derstitious notion, that offensive fis;htins was unlawful to 
 Jews, even under the utmost necessity, on the Sabbath- 
 dii\,— of whicli we hear nothing before the times of the 
 RIacrahees.— was the proper occasion of Jerusalem's be- 
 ing taken by I'ompev, by Sossius. and by 'I itus, as ap- 
 pears irom the pla(;es already quoted intheni-te on Antiq 
 b. xiii.rli viii t.ect I; which scrupulous »uperstition. as 
 to th observation o! such a riRomus rest upon the L-^ah- 
 bath-<lay. iiur ^av^our always nj-posed, when the Phari- 
 
 captive; and no small enormities were com. 
 iiTrtted about the temple Itself, which, in for- 
 mer at;es, had been inaccessible, and seen by 
 none; for Pompey went into it, and not a 
 few of those that were with biui al?o, and saw 
 all that which it was unlawful for an^ otjrer 
 men to see, but only for the I'i^b-priestsA 
 There were in that temple the jjohien table, '■ 
 the holy candlestick, and the pouring vessels, 
 and a great quantity of spices; and besides 
 these there were among the treasures tu o t hou-. j 
 sand talents of sacred mone) ; \e* did rum-'j 
 pey touch nothing of all this.J on acc«)unt of / 
 his regard to religion; and in this point also/ 
 he acted in a manner that was worth) of hiy 
 virtue. The next day he gave ortierto those 
 that had the charge of the temple to cleanse 
 it, and to bring what offerings the law reipiired 
 to God; and restored the high-priesthood to 
 Hyrranus, both because he bad been u^tful to 
 him in other respects, and locause he hindered 
 the Jews in the country from giving Aristo- 
 bulus any assistance in his war against him. 
 He also cut off those that had been the au- 
 thors of that war; and bestowed proper re- 
 wards on Faustus, and those others that 
 mounted the wall with such alacrity; and he 
 made Jerusalem tributary to the Romans; and 
 took away those cities of Celesyria which the 
 inhabitants of Judea had suliriued, and put 
 them under the government of the Roman pre- 
 sident, and confined the whole nation, which 
 had elevated itself so high before, within its 
 own bounds. Moreover, he rebuilt Gadara, 
 which had been demolished a'Tittle before,"]! 
 to gratify Demetrius of Gadara, who was his 
 freed-man, and restored the rest of the cities, 
 Hippos, and Scythopolis, and Pella, and Dios, 
 and Samaria, as also Marissa, and Ashdod, 
 and Jamnia, and Arethusa, to their own inha- 
 bitants: these were in the inland parts. Be- 
 sides those that had been demolished, and also 
 of the maritime cities, Gaza, and Joppa, and 
 Dora, and Strato's Tower: which last Heroo 
 rebuilt after a glorious maniier, and adorne^i 
 iwith havens and temples; and changed its 
 name to Caesarea. All these Pompey left in ; 
 a state of freedom, and joined them to the/ 
 province of Syria. 
 
 5. Now the occasions of this misery which 
 came upon Jerusalem were Hyrcaiius and 
 Aristobulus, by raising a sedition one against 
 the other; for now we lost our liberty, and 
 became subject to the Romans, and were de- 
 prived of that country which we had gained 
 by our arms from the Syrians, and were com- 
 pelled to restore it to the Syrians. Moreover, \ 
 the Romans exacted of us, in a little time, j 
 above ten thousand talents ; and the royal / 
 
 t This is fully confirmed by the testimory of Cicero, 
 W'ho says, in his oration for Flaccus. 'I hat " ( neius l*om- 
 peius. when he was conqueror, and had tat eii Jerusalem^ 
 
 «aicj| J.'»>i jrsis'ed on.it. as is evident in nia' y plates in j did not touch any th nir belonging to that un pie 
 
 Uie New 'Irs^anieiit, thouuh be siiil int'niiied how per 
 
 Of this destniction of G;.dara here pre' upposed, ai:d 
 
 p>cioii> ti ai superstition mighr |)rove to them in their its restoration by Pompey^ see the note on Ito War, b. i 
 fligbt from the !tuuj»us. Matt. rxv. iO ) ch. vji. sect 7 
 
376 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIT 
 
 auf.hcrfty, wbich was a dignity formerly be- 
 stowed on those that were high-priests, by the 
 ri^ht of their family, became the property of 
 piivate men; but of these matters we shall 
 treat in their proper places. Now Pompey 
 committed Celesyria, as far as the river Eu- 
 phrates and Egypt, to Scaurus, with two Ro- 
 mun legions, and then went away to Cilicia, 
 and made haste to Rome. He also carried 
 b( und along with him Aristobulus and his 
 children; for he had two daughters and as 
 nnany sons; the one of whom ran away; but 
 the younger, Antigonus, was carried to Rome, 
 together with his sisters. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW SCAURUS MADE A LEAGUE OF MUTUAL 
 ASSISTANCE WITH ARETAS; AND WHAT 
 GABINIUS DID IN JUDEA, AFTER HE tiAD 
 CONQUERED ALEXANDER, THE SON OF ARIS- 
 TOBULUS. 
 
 § 1. ScAURUS made now an expedition against 
 Petrea, in Arabia, and set on fire all the places 
 round about it, because of the great difficulty 
 of access to it; and as his army was pinched 
 by famine, Antipater furnished him with corn 
 out of Judea, and with whatever else he 
 wanted, and this at the command of Hyrcanus; 
 and when he was sent to Aretas as an ambas- 
 sador, by Scaurus, because he had lived with 
 him formerly, he persuaded Aretas, to give 
 Scaurus a sum of money, to prevent the burn- 
 ing of his country ; and undertook to be his 
 surety for three hundred talents. So Scaurus, 
 upon these terms, ceased to make war any 
 longer: which was done as much at Scaurus's 
 desire as at the desire of Aretas. 
 
 2. Some time after this, when Alexander, 
 the son of Aristobulus, made an incursion into 
 Judea. Gabinius came from Rome to Syria, 
 as commander of the Roman forces. He 
 did many considerable actions; and particu- 
 larly made war with Alexander, since Hyrca- 
 nus was not yet able to oppose his power, but 
 was already attempting to rebuild the wall of 
 Jerusalem, which Pompey had overthrown, al- 
 though the Romans who were there restrained 
 him from that his design. However, Alex- 
 ander went over all the country round about, 
 and armed many of the Jews, and suddenly 
 got together ten thousand armed footmen, 
 and fifteen hundred horsemen, and fortified 
 Alexandrium, a fortress near to Coreae, and 
 Macherus, near the mountains of Arabia. Ga- 
 binius therefore came upon him, having sent 
 Marcus Antonius, with other coninanders, 
 before. 'J hese armed such Romans as fol- 
 lowed tb(m; and, together with them, such 
 Jews as were subject to them, whot^e leaders 
 ivere Pitbolaus and Malichus; and tlx y took 
 tvitb tbfcm also their friends that utre with 
 
 Antipater, and met Alexander, while Gubj. 
 nius himself followed with his legion. Here- 
 upon Alexander retired to the neighbourhood 
 of Jerusalem, where they fell upon one ano- 
 ther, and it came to a pitched battle; in which 
 the Romans slew of their enemies about three 
 thousand, and took a like number alive. 
 
 3. At which time Gabinius came to Alex- 
 andrium, and invited those that were in it to 
 deliver it up on certain conditions, and pro- 
 mised that then their former offences should 
 be forgiven: but as a great number of the 
 enemy had pitched their camp before the for- 
 tress, whom the Romans attacked, Marcus 
 Antonius fought bravely, and slew a great 
 number, and seemed to come off with the 
 greatest honour. So Gabinius left part ol 
 his army there, in order to take the place, and 
 he himself went into other parts of Judea, and 
 gave order to rebuild all the cities that he met 
 with that had been demolished; at which time 
 were rebuilt Samaria, Ashdod, Scythopolis, 
 Anthedon, Raphia, and Dora; Marissa also, 
 and Gaza, aiKl not a few others besides; and 
 as the men acted according to Gabinius'a 
 command, it came to pass, that at this time 
 these cities were securely inhabited, which had 
 been desolate for a long time. 
 
 4. When Gabinius had done thus in the 
 country be returned to Alexandrium; and 
 when be urged on the siege of the place, Alex- 
 ander sent an embassage to him, desiring that 
 he would pardon his former offences; he also 
 delivered up the fortresses, Hyrcania and 
 Macherus, and at last Alexandrium itself, 
 which fortresses Gabinius demolished; but 
 when Alexander's mother, who was of the side 
 of the Romans, as having her husband and 
 other children at Rome, came to him, he 
 granted her whatsoever she asked; and when 
 he had settled matters with her, he brought 
 Hyrcanus to Jerusalem, and committed the 
 care of the temple to him; and when be had 
 ordained five councils, he distributed the na- 
 tion into the same number of parts; so these 
 councils governed the people; the first was at 
 Jerusalem, the second at Gadara, the third at 
 Amathus, the fourth at Jericho, and the fifth 
 at Sepphoris, in Galilee. So the Jews were 
 now freed from monarchic authority, and 
 were governed by an aristocracy.* 
 
 • Dean Pi id^aux well observes, " That notwithntand- 
 injf the clamour apaiiist Gabinius at Koine, Juj<i>phru 
 gives him a laudable character as if he bad acquitted 
 himself with honour in the charge committed to biiu'* 
 [in J udea]. Slc at the year ^ 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 377 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 HOW OABINIUS CAUGHT ARISTOBULUS AFTER 
 HE HAD FLED FROM ROME, AND SENT HIM 
 BACK TO ROME AGAIN; AND HOW THE 
 SAME GABINIUS, AS HE RETURNED OUT OF 
 EGYPT, OVEKCAME ALEXANDER AND THE 
 NABATEANS IN BATTLE. 
 
 § 1. Now Aristobulus ran away from Rome 
 to Jiidea, and set about the rel)uilding of Alex- 
 andrium, which h^d been newly demolished; 
 hereupon Gabinius sent soldiers against him, 
 and for their commanders Sisenna, and An- 
 tonius, and Servilius, in order to hinder him 
 from getting possession of the country, and to 
 take him again; and indeed many of the Jews 
 ran to Aristobulus on account of his former 
 glory, as also because they should be glad of 
 an innovation. Now, there was one Pithoiaus, 
 a lieutenant at Jerusalem, who deserted to him 
 with a thousand men, although a great number 
 of those that came to him were unarmed; and 
 when Aristobulus had resolved to go to Ma- 
 cherus, he dismissed those people, because they 
 were unarmed ; for they could not be useful 
 to him in what actions he was going about; 
 but he took with him eight thousand that were 
 armed, and marched on; and as the Romans 
 fell upon them severely, the Jews fought 
 valiantly, but were beaten in the battle; and 
 when they had fought with alacrity, but were 
 overborne by the enemy, they were put to 
 flight; of whom were slain about five thou- 
 sand, and the rest being dispersed, tried, as 
 well as they were able, to save themselves. — 
 However, Aristobulus had with him still above 
 a thousand, and with them he fled to Mache- 
 rus, and fortified the place; and though he had 
 had ill success, he still had good hope of his 
 affairs; but when he had struggled against the 
 siege for two days' time, and had received 
 many wounds, he was brought as a captive to 
 Gabinius, with his son Antigonus, who also 
 fled with him from Rome, and this was the 
 fortune of Aristobulus, who was sent back 
 again to Rome, and was there retained in 
 bonds, having been both king and high-priest 
 for three years and six months; and was in- 
 deed an eminent person, and one of a great 
 soul. However, the senate let his children 
 go, upon Gabinius's writing to them that he 
 had promised their mother so much when she 
 delivered up the fortresses to him; and ac- 
 cordingly they then returned into Judea. 
 
 2. Now when Gabinius was making an 
 expedition against the Parthians and had al- 
 ready passed over Euphrates, he changed his 
 mind, and resolved to return into Egypt, in 
 order to restore Ptolemy to his kingdom,* 
 
 • This history is best illustrated by Dr. Hudson out 
 of Livy, who says, that "A. (ijibinins, the proconsul, 
 restored PtoWniy to bis kingdom of F.jopt, and ejected 
 Arcbelaus, uhom tbey had set up (or a king," &c. 8ee 
 Prid. at the years &4 aud C=o^ 
 
 This hath also been related elsewhere. Bow* 
 ever, Antipatcr supplied his army, whicb he 
 sent against Arehelaus, with corn, and wea- 
 pons, aqd money. He also made those Jews 
 who were above Pelusium his friends and con- 
 federates, and had been the guardians of the 
 passes that led into Egypt. But when he 
 came back out of Egypt, he found Syria in 
 disorder with seditions aod troubles; for Alex- 
 ander, the son of Aristobulus, having seized 
 on the government a second time by force, 
 made many of the Jews revolt to him; and 
 so he "marched over the country with a great 
 army, and slew all the Romans be could light 
 upon, and proceeded to besiege the mountain 
 called Gerizzim, whither they had retreated. 
 
 3. But when Gabinius found Syria in such 
 a state, he sent Antipater, who was a prudent 
 man, to those that were seditious, to try whe- 
 ther he could cure them of their madness, and 
 persuade them to return to a better mind; and 
 when he came to them, he brought many of 
 them to a sound mind, and induced them to 
 do what they ought to do. But he could not 
 restrain Alexander, for he had an army of thir- 
 ty thousand Jews, and met Gabinius, and 
 joining battle with him was beaten, and lost 
 ten thousand of his men about Mount Tabor. 
 
 4. So Gabinius settled the affairs which be- 
 longed to the city Jerusalem, as was agreeable 
 to Antipater's inclination, and went against 
 the Nabateans, and overcame them in battle. 
 He also sent away in a friendly manner, Mi- 
 thridates and Orsanes, who were Parthian 
 deserters, and came to him, though the report 
 went abroad that they had run away from him. 
 And when Gabinius had performed great and 
 glorious actions, in his management of the 
 affairs of the war, he returned to Rome, and 
 delivered the government to Crassus. Now 
 Nicolaus of Damascus, and Strabo of Cappa- 
 docia, both describe the expeditions of Pom- 
 pey and Gabinius against the Jews, while nei- 
 ther of them say any thing new which is not 
 in the other. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW CRASSUS CAME INTO JUDEA, AND PIL- 
 LAGED THE TEMPLE; AND THEN MARCHED 
 AGAINST THE PARTHIANS, AND PERISHED, 
 WITH HIS ARMY. ALSO HOW CASSIUS OB- 
 TAINED SYRIA, AND PUT A STOP TO THE 
 PARTHIANS, AND THEN WENT UP TO JUDEA, 
 
 § 1. Now Crassus, as he was going upon his 
 expedition against the Parthians, came into 
 Judea, and carried off the money that was in 
 the temple which Pompey had left, being two 
 thousand talents, and was disposed to spoil it 
 of all the gold belonging to it, which was 
 eight thousand talents. He also took a beam 
 which was made of solid beaten gold, of tbe 
 weight of three hundred minae, each of which 
 
878 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIV. 
 
 weighed two pounds and a half. It was the 
 priest who was guardian of the sacred trea- 
 sures, and whose name was Eleazar, that gave 
 him this heam, not out of a wirked <Jesign, 
 for he was a good and a righteous man ; but 
 being intrusted with the custody of the veils 
 belonging to the temple, which were of admir- 
 able beauty and of very costly workmanship, 
 and hung down from this beam, when he saw 
 that Crassus was busy in gathering money, 
 and was in fear for the entire ornaments of 
 the temple, he gave him this beam of gold as 
 a ransom for the whole, but this not till he 
 had given his oath that he would remove no- 
 thing else out of the temple, but be satisfied 
 with this only, which he should give him be- 
 ing worth many ten thousand [shekels]. Now, 
 this 'beam was contained in a wooden beam 
 that was hollow, but was known to no others; 
 but Eleazar alone knew it ; yet did Crassus 
 take away this beam, upon the condition of 
 touching nothing else that belonged to the 
 temple, — and then brake his oath and carried 
 away all the gold that was in the temple. 
 
 2. And let no one wonder that there was 
 80 much wealth in our temple, since all the 
 Jews throughout the habitable earth, and 
 those that worshipped God, nay, even those 
 of Asia and Europe, sent their contributions 
 to it, and this trom very ancient times. Nor 
 is the largeness of these sums without its at- 
 testation ; nor is that greatness owing to our 
 vanity, as raising it without ground to so 
 great a height; but there are many witnesses 
 to it, and particularly Strabo of Cappadocia, 
 who says thus: — "Mithridates sent to Cos, 
 and took the money which queen Cleopatra 
 had deposited there; as also eight hundred 
 talents belonging to the Jews." Now we 
 have no public money but only what apper- 
 tains to God; audit is evident that the Asian 
 Jews removed this money out of fear of Mi- 
 thridates; for it is not probable that those of 
 Judea, who had a strong city and temple, 
 should send their money to Cos; nor is it 
 likely that the Jews who are inhabitants of 
 Alexandrisi, should do so either, since they 
 were in no fear of Mithridates. And Strabo 
 himself bears witness to the same thing in 
 another place; that at the same time that S^lla 
 passed over into Greece, in order to fight 
 against Mithridates, he sent Lucullus to put 
 an end to a sedition that our nation,-of whom 
 the habitable earth is full, had raised in Cy- 
 rene; where he speaks thus: — *' There were 
 four rlajises of men among those of Cyrene; 
 that of citizens, that of husbandmen, the third 
 of strangers, and the fourth of Jews. Now 
 these Jews are already gotten into all cities; 
 and it is hard to find a f)lace in the habitable 
 earth that hath not adn itted this tribe of men 
 and is not posse«fed by them: and it hath come 
 to pass that Eg\ pt and Cyrene, as having the 
 (same governors, and a ^ reat number of other 
 nations, imitate tlieir UHy of living, and main- 
 
 tain great bodies of these Jews in a peculiar 
 manner, and grow up to greater prosperity 
 with them, and make use of the same laws 
 with that nation also. Accordingly, the Jews 
 have places assigned them in Egypt, wherein 
 they inhabit, besides what is pecubarly allot- 
 ted to this nation at Alexandria, which is a 
 large part of that city. There rs also an eth- 
 narch allowed them, who governs the nation, 
 and distributes justice to them, and takes care 
 of their contracts, and of the laws to them 
 belonging, as if he were the ruler of a free 
 republic. In Egypt, therefore, this nation is 
 powerful, because the Jews were originally 
 Egyptians, and because the land wherein they 
 inhabit since they went thence is near to 
 Egypt. They also removed into Cyrene, be- 
 cause that this land adjoined to the govern- 
 ment of Egypt, as well as does Judea, or ra- 
 ther was formerly under the same govern- 
 ment." And this is what Strabo says. 
 
 3. So when Crassus had settled all thing? 
 as he himself pleased, he marched into Par- 
 thia, where both be himself and all his army 
 perished, as hath been related elsewhere. But 
 Cassius, as he fled from Rome to Syria, took 
 possession of it, and was an impediment to 
 the Parthians, who, by reason of their victory 
 over Crassus, made incursions upon it; and 
 as he came back to Tyre, he went up into Ju- 
 dea also, and fe'l upon Taricbeae, ajid pre- 
 sently took it, and carried about thirty thou- 
 sand Jews captives; and slew Pitholaus, who 
 succeeded Aristobulus in his seditious prac- 
 tices, and that by the persuasion of Anti pater, 
 who proved to have great interest in him, and 
 was at that time in great repute with the Idu- 
 means also: out of which nation he married a 
 wife, who was the daughter of one of their 
 eminent men, and her name was Cypros,* by 
 whom he had four sons, Phasael, and Herod, 
 who was atterwards made king, and Joseph, 
 and Pheroras; and a daughter named Salouie. 
 This Antipater cultivated a friendship and 
 mutual kindness with other potentates, but 
 especially with the king of Arabia^ to whom 
 he committed his children, while he fought 
 against Aristobulus. So Cassius removed bis 
 camp, and marched to Euphrates to meet those 
 that were coming to attack him, as hath been 
 related by others. 
 
 4. But some time afterwards, Caesar, when 
 he had taken Rome, and after Pompey and 
 the senate were fled beyond the Ionian sen, 
 freed Aristobulus from his bonds, and resolved 
 to send hijn into Syria, and delivered two 
 legions to him, (hat he might set niatters right, 
 as being a potent man in that country : but 
 Aristobulus had no enjoyment of what h« 
 hoped for from the power that was given him 
 by Cajsar ; for those of Pompey 's party pre- 
 
 • Dr. Hudson ohjirrvM, that thp name of thin wife of 
 Aniipuirr, in Josi-pliii!', wa» Cypros, an an Hebrew ter. 
 niinutiun j but nut Cypiit, the Greek name for Venus, •* 
 tdtnc critic* were rea<)y to romct it 
 
ffr^.^*;^^^.. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ANTTQTTTTTES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 379 
 
 rented it,' and destroyi'ii Inti) '>> poison; and 
 those of Caesar's \)h~X\ tumt-d Imii. Hi> dead 
 bt>dy also laj^ for d pc^l «i oile. embalmed in 
 honey, till Antony rtfterwjinls sent, h to Judjea, 
 an! caused hin» to he buried ii, the roval se- 
 puicbre. But Scipio, upon Ponipey's send- 
 ing to him to sla_» Aiexander. ihe son of 
 Aris i)}iulu9, beoiiiis ' the }>> nj; ni-n was ac- 
 cn^eji of what offenf«'s he had been guilty of 
 at rtrst agaiiist the Rinnan-, rut off hi- head; 
 and thus did he <ie at Anti<w'h. Bu' Piole- 
 • ny, the son of .Mentieus, v* ho was the ruler 
 «<f Chalcis, under Mnuiit Lihtinus. took his 
 bipthren to him, and sent his son Philippion 
 to Askelon to Aristobulus's wife, and desired 
 h 'r to send back with him her son Antigo- 
 lus and her daughters: the one of whom, 
 whose name was Alexandra, Philippion fell 
 in love with, and married her; though after- 
 wards his father Ptolemy slew him, and mar- 
 ried Alexandra, and continued to take care of 
 her brethren. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE JEWS BECOME CONFEDERATES WITH CJE- 
 SAR WHEN HE FOITGHT AGAINST EGYPT. 
 THE GLORIOUS ACTIONS Of ANTIPATER, 
 AND HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH C.^SAR. THE 
 HONOURS WHICH THE JEWS RECEIVED FROM 
 THE ROMANS AND ATHENIANS. 
 
 § 1. Now after Pompey was dead, and after 
 that victory Caesar had gained over him, An- 
 tipater, who managed the Jewish affairs, be- 
 came very useful to Caesar when he made 
 war against Egypt, and that by the order of 
 Hyrcanus; for when Mithridates of Perga- 
 raus was bringing his auxiliaries, and was not 
 able to continue his march through Pelusium, 
 but obliged to stay at Askelon, Antipater 
 came to him, conducting three thousand of 
 the Jews, armed men: he had also taken care 
 the principal men of the Arabians should 
 come to his assistance; and on his account it 
 was that all the Syrians assisted him also, as 
 not willing to appear behindhand in their alac- 
 rity for Cjesar, viz. Jamblicus the ruler, and 
 Ptolemy his son, and Tholomy the son of 
 Sohemus, who dwelt at Mount Libanus, and 
 almost all the cities. So Mithridates marched 
 out of Syria, and came to Pelusium; and 
 when its inhabitants would not admit him, he 
 oesieged the city. Now Antipater signalized 
 himself here, and was the first who plucked 
 down part of the wall, and so opened a way 
 to the rest, whereby they might enter the city, 
 and by this means Pelusium was taken. But 
 it happened that the Egyptian Jews, who 
 dwelt in the country called Onion, would not 
 lot Antipater and Mithridates, with their sol- 
 diers, pass to Caesar; but Antipater persuaded 
 them to come over to their t»arty, bet^uuse 
 
 he was of the same pr'ople with them, and 
 that ciuertv b< showing them the epistles of 
 Hyr(•anu^ the hi^h-|»riest, wherein he exhorted 
 them to j'ultivate friendshi|» with CaPsar; and 
 to supply his army with money, and all sorts 
 of provisions which they wanted; and ai-cord- 
 ingly, when they saw Antipater and the high- 
 (i:iest of the same sentiments, they did as they 
 wert* <iesire<i. And when the Jews about 
 Men, phis heard that these Jews were come 
 over to C;es.r. they also invited Mithridates 
 to CO lie to theui; so he came and received 
 them also into his army. 
 
 *2. And when Mithridates had pone over all 
 Delta, as the place is called, he came to a 
 pitched battle with the enemy, near the place 
 culled the Jewi>b Camp. Now Mithridates 
 had the right wing, and Antipater the left; 
 and when it came to a tight that wing where 
 Mithridates was gave way, and was likely to 
 suffer extremely, unless Antipater had come 
 running to him with bis own soldiers along 
 the shore, when he had already beaten the 
 enemy that opposed him; so he delivered 
 Mithridates, and put those Egyptians who had 
 been too hard for him to flight. He also 
 took their camp, and continued in the pursuit 
 of them. He also recalled Mithridates, who 
 had been worsted, and was retired a great way 
 off. of whose soldiers eight hundred fell; but of 
 Antipater's fifty. So Mithridates sent an ac- 
 count of this battle to Caesar, and openly de- 
 clared that Antipater wastheauthor of this vic- 
 tory, and of his own preservation ; insomuch that 
 Caesar commended Antipater then, and made 
 use of him all the rest of that war in the most 
 hazardous undertakings: be happened also to 
 be wounded in one of those engagements. 
 
 3. However, when Caesar, after some time, 
 had finished that war, and was sailed away 
 for Syria, he honoured Antipater greatly, and 
 confirmed Hyrcanus in the high-priesthood; 
 and bestowed on Antipater the privilege of a 
 citizen of Rome, and a freedom from taxes 
 everywhere; and it is reported by many, that 
 Hyrcanus went along with Antipater in this 
 expedition, and came himself into Egypt. 
 And Strabo of Cappadocia bears witness to 
 this, when he says thus, in the name of Asi- 
 nius: — '* After Mithridates had invaded 
 Egypt, and with him Hyrcanus the high-priest 
 of the Jews." Nay, the same Strabo says 
 thus again in another place, in the name of 
 Hypsicrates, that *' Mithridates at first went 
 out alone; but that Antipater, who had the 
 rare of the Jewish affairs, was called by him 
 to Askelon, and that he had gotten ready three 
 thousand soldiers to go along with hina, and 
 encouraged other governors of the country to 
 go along with him also; and that Hyrcanus 
 the high-priest was also present in this expe- 
 dition." This is what Strabo says. 
 
 4. But Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, 
 came at this time to Caesar, and laintnted his 
 father's fate; and complained, that it was by 
 
880 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIV. 
 
 A«tipater*8 means tbat AHstobulus was taken 
 off by poison, and bis brother was beheaded 
 by Scipio, and desired that be would take pity 
 of him who had been ejected out of that prin- 
 cipality wh.'ch was due to him. He also ac- 
 cused Hyrcanus a.'id Antipater as governing 
 tbe nation by violence, and offering injuries 
 to himself. Antipater was present, and made 
 bis defence as to the accusations that were 
 laid against him. He demonstrated, that 
 Antigonus and his party were given to inno- 
 vation, and were seditious persons. He also 
 put Caesar in mind what difficult services he 
 had undergone when he assisted him in his 
 wars, and discoursed about what he was a 
 witness of himself. He added, that Aristo- 
 bulus was justly carried away to Rome, as 
 one that was an enemy to the Romans, and 
 could never be brought to be a friend to tbepn, 
 and that his brother had no more than he de- 
 served from Scipio, as being seized in com- 
 mitting robberies; and that this punishment 
 was not inflicted on him in a way of violence 
 or injustice by him that did it. 
 
 5. When Antipater had made this speech, 
 Caesar appointed Hyrcanus to be high-priest, 
 and gave Antipater what principality he him- 
 self should choose, leaving the determination 
 to himself; so he made him procurator of 
 Judea. He also gave Hyrcanus leave to 
 raise up the walls of his own city, upon his 
 asking that favour of him, for they had been 
 demolished by Pompey. And this grant ha 
 sent t4 the consuls at Rome, to be engraven 
 in the capitol. The decree of the senate was 
 this that follows:* "Lucius Valerius, the 
 son of Lucius the praetor, referred this to the 
 senate, upon the Ides of December, in the 
 temple of Concord. There were present at 
 the writing of this decree Lucius Coponius, 
 the son of Lucius of the Colline tribe, and 
 Papirius of the Quirine tribe, concerning the 
 affairs which Alexander, the son of Jason, 
 and Numenius the son of Antiochus, and 
 Alexander, the son of Dositheus, ambassadors 
 of the Jews, good and worthy men, proposed, 
 who came to renew that league of good- will 
 and friendship with the Romans which was 
 in being before. They also brought a shield 
 of gold, as a mark of confederacy, valued at 
 fifty thousand pieces of gold; and desired 
 that letters might be given them, directed 
 
 • Take Dr. Hudson's note npon this place, which I 
 Bupposf to be the truth: — " Here is some nii.stake in Jo- 
 aephus; for when he had promised us a decree for the 
 restoration of Jerusalem, he brings in a decree of far 
 greater antiquity, and that a leo^ue of friet dship and 
 union only. One may easily believe that Jor« phus gave 
 order frr one thin?, and his amanuensis performed nno- 
 ther, by transposing decrees that concerned the Ilyrcani, 
 and as deluded by the sameness of their names; for that 
 belongs to the first high-priest of this name [John Hyr- 
 canus], which Josephus here ascribes to one that lived 
 later [Flyrcanus, the son of Alexander Jannetis]. How- 
 ever, the decree which he proposed to set down follows a 
 Jittle lower, in the collection of Human decrei s that con- 
 cerned the Jews, and is that dattd when Cajsor was ceii- 
 •n ' t»»e flnh tini«»'» 8e» ch. X. sect. & 
 
 both to the free cities and to the kings, that 
 their country and their havens might be at 
 peace, and that no one among them might 
 receive any injury. Jt -therefore pleased [the 
 senate} to make a league of friendship and 
 good-will \yitb them, and to bestow on them 
 whatsoever they stood in need of, and to ac- 
 cept of the shield which was brought by them. 
 This was done in the ninth year of Hyrcanus 
 the high-pnest and ethnarch, in the mon+.h 
 Panemus." Hyrcanus also received honours 
 from the people of Athens, as having been 
 useful to them on many occasions; and when 
 they wrote to him, they sent him this decree, 
 as it here follows: — "Under the prutaneia 
 and priesthood of Dionysius, the son of Es- 
 cuiapius, on the fifth day of the latter part of 
 the month Panemus, this decree of the Athe- 
 nians was given to their commanders, when 
 Agathocles was archon, and Eucles, the son 
 of Menander of Alimusia, was the scrib^ 
 In the month Munychion, on the eleventh 
 day of the Prutaneia, a council of the presi- 
 dents was held in the theatre. Dorotheus 
 the high-priest, and the fellow-presidents with 
 him, put it to the vote of the people. Dio- 
 nysius, the son of Dionysius, gave the sen- 
 tence. Since Hyrcanus, the son of Alexan- 
 der, the high-priest and ethnarch of the Jews, 
 continues to bear good-will to our people in 
 general, and to every one of our citizens in 
 particular, and treats them with all sorts of 
 kindness; and when any of the Athenians 
 come to him, either as ambassadors, or on any 
 occasion of their own, he receives them in an 
 obliging manner, and sees that they are con- 
 ducted back in safety, of which we have had 
 several former testimonies; it is now also de- 
 creed, at the report of Theodosius, the son of 
 Theodorus, and upon his putting the people 
 in mind of the virtue of this man, and that 
 his purpose is to do us all the good that is in 
 his power, to honour him with a crown ot 
 gold, the usual reward according to the law, 
 and to erect his statue in brass in the temple 
 of Demus and of the Graces; and that this 
 present of a crown shall be proclaimed pub- 
 licly in the theatre, in the Dionysian shows, 
 while the new tragedies are acting; and in 
 the Panathenean, and Eleusinian, and Gym- 
 nical shows also; atid that the commanders 
 shall take care, while he continues in his 
 friendship, and preserves his good-will to us, 
 to return all possible honour and favour to 
 the man, for his affection and generosity ; 
 that by this treatment it may appear how oul 
 people receive the good kindly, and repay 
 them a suitable reward; and he may be in- 
 duced to proceed in his affection towards us, 
 by the honours we have already paid him. 
 That ambassadors be also chosen out of all 
 the Athenians, who shall cairy this decree to 
 him, and desire him to accept of the honours 
 we do him, and to et;dcttvour always to be 
 doing »on>c good to our city." — And thig 
 
;=t.:^^::;^r-- 
 
 ^"^' '2 
 
 & « 
 
 ^iX^'ir^-~ *» 
 
CHAP. IX, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 38 
 
 shall suffice us to have spoken as to the 
 honours that were paid by the Romans and 
 the people of Athens to Hyrcanus. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW ANTIPATER COMMITTED THt CARE OF 
 GALILEE TO HEROD, AN* THAT OF JERU- 
 SALEM TO PHASAELUS; AS ALSO, HOW HE- 
 RCyp, UPON THE jews' ENVY AT ANTIPATER, 
 WAS ACCUSED BEFORE HYRCANUS. 
 
 § 1. Now when Caesar had settled the affairs 
 of Syria, he sailed away; and as soon as An- 
 tipatLT had conducted Caesar out of Syria, he 
 returned to Judea. He then immediately 
 raised up the wall which had been thrajwn 
 down by Porapey; and, by coming thither^e 
 pacified that tumult which had been in the 
 country, and this by both threatening and ad- 
 vising them to be quiet; for that, if they would 
 be of Hyrcanus's side, they would live hap- 
 pily, and lead their lives without disturbance, 
 in the enjoyment of their own possessions; 
 but if they were addicted to the hopes of 
 what mi^'ht come by innovation, and aimed 
 to get wealth thereby, they should have him a 
 severe master, instead of a gentle governor, 
 and Hyrcanus a tyrant instead of a king, and 
 the Romans, toother with Caesar, their bitter 
 enemies, instead of rulers,' for that they would 
 never bear him to be set aside whom they had 
 appointed to govern. And when Anti pater 
 had said this to them, he himself settled the 
 affairs of this country. 
 
 2. And seeing that Hyrcanus was of a 
 slow and slothful temper, he niade Phasaelus, 
 his eldest son, governor of Jerusalem, and of 
 the places that were about it, but committed 
 Galilee to Herod, his next son, who was then 
 a very young man, for he was but fifteen years 
 of age; * but that youth of his was no impe- 
 diment to him ; but as he was a youth of great 
 mind, he presently met with an opportunity of 
 signalizing his courage ; for, finding there 
 was one Hezekias, a captain of a band of rob- 
 Ifers, who overran the neighbouring parts of 
 Syria with a great troop of them, he seized 
 him and slew him, as well as a great number 
 of the other robbers that were with him; for 
 which action he was greatly beloved by the 
 Syrians; for when they were very desirous 
 to have their country freed from this nest of 
 robbers, he purged it of them: so they sung 
 songs in his commendation in their villages 
 and cities, as having procured them peace and 
 
 • Those who will carefully obserre the several occa- 
 sional numbers and chronological characters in the life 
 and death of this Herod, and of his children, hereafter 
 noted, will see, that twenty-five years, and not fifteen, 
 must for certain have been here Josephus's own number 
 for the asfe of Herod, when he was made governor of 
 Galilre. See ch. xxiii, sect .'>; and ch xxi\> sect. 7; 
 and particularly Antiq. b. xvii. ch. viii. sect 1; where, 
 about iorty-four years afterwards, Heroii dies an old man 
 ^t about seTCBty. 
 
 the secure enjoyment of their possessions; 
 and on this account it was that he became 
 known to Sextus Caesar, who was a relation 
 of the great Caesar, and was now president of 
 Syria, Now Phasaelus, Herod's brother, was 
 moved \\ith emulation at his actions, and en- 
 vied the fame he had thereby gotten, and be- 
 came ambitious not to be behindhand with 
 him in deserving it : so he made the inhabi- 
 tants of Jerusalem bear him the greatest good- 
 will while he held the city himself^ but did 
 neithe'r manage its affairs improperly, nor 
 abuse his authority therein. This conduct 
 procured from the nation to Antipater such 
 respect as is due to kings, and such honours 
 as he might partake of if he were an absolute 
 lord of the country. Yet did not this splen- ^ 
 dour of his, as frequently happens, in the • 
 least diminish in him that kindness and fide- 
 lity which he owed to Hyrcanus. 
 
 3. But now the principal men among the 
 Jews, when they saw Antipater and his sons 
 to grow so much in the good-will the nation 
 bare to them, and in the revenues which they 
 received out of Judea, and out of Hyrcanus's 
 own wealth, they became ill-disposed to him; 
 for indeed Antipater bad contracted a friend- 
 ship with the Roman emperors; and when he 
 had prevailed with Hyrcanus to send them 
 money, he took it to himself, and purloined the 
 present intended, and sent it as if it were his 
 0\vn, and not Hyrcanus's gift to them. Hyrca- 
 nus heard of this his management, but took 
 no care about it ; nay, he rather was very glad 
 of it; but the chief men of the Jews were there- 
 fore in fear, because they saw that Herod was 
 a violent and bold man, and very desirous of 
 acting tyrannically; so they came to Hyrca- 
 nus, and now accused Antipater openly, and 
 said to him, " How long wilt thou be quiet 
 under such actions as are now done? Or dost 
 thou not see that Antipater and his sons have 
 already seized upon the government, and that it 
 is only the name of a king which is given thee? 
 But do not thou suffer these things to be hid- 
 den from thee: nor do thou think to escape 
 danger by being so careless of thyself and of 
 thy kingdom; for Antipater and his sons are 
 not now stewards of thine affairs; do not 
 thou deceive thyself with such a notion; they 
 are evidently absolute lords; for Herod, An- 
 tipater's son, hath slain Hezekias and those 
 that were with him, and hath thereby trans- 
 gressed our law, which hath forbidden to slay 
 any man, even though he were a wicked man, 
 unless he had been first condemned to suffer 
 death by the sanhedrim; f yet hath he been 
 
 + It is here worth wur while to remark, that none could 
 be put to death in Judea but by the approbation of the 
 Jewish sanhedrim, •lere being an excellent provision in 
 the law of Moses, that even in criminal causes, and par- 
 ticularly where life was concerned, an appeal should lie 
 from the lesser councils of seven in the other cities, to the 
 supreme council of seventy-one at Jerusalem j and this u 
 exactly according to our Saviour's words, wh«n he says, 
 ''It could net be that a prophet sbonid perish u«t of J era- 
 ulem." fjiiie uii.33> 
 
882 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK xr? 
 
 so insolent as to <To this, aim that without any 
 authority from thee." 
 
 4. I'pon Hyrcanus hearing this he com- 
 plied with them. The mothers nlso of those 
 ihat had been shin by Herod raised his in- 
 ripnation; for those women continued every 
 day in the temple, persuading the king and 
 the people that Herod might undergo a trial 
 htfore the sanhedrim for what he had done. 
 Hxrcanus was so moved by these complaints, 
 that he summoned Herod to come to his trial 
 for what was charged upon him. Accordingly 
 be came; but his father had persuaded him to 
 come not like a private man, but with a guard, 
 for the security of his person; and that when 
 be had settled the affairs of Galilee in flie best 
 manner he could for his own advantage, he 
 • should come to his trial, but still with a body 
 of men sufficient for his security on his jour- 
 ney, yet so that he should not come with so 
 great a force as might look like terrifying 
 Hyrcanus, but still such a one as might not 
 expose him naked and unguarded [to his ene- 
 mies]. However, Sextus Caesar, president of 
 S>ria, wrote to Hyrcanus, and desired him 
 to clear Herod, and dismiss him at his trial, 
 and threatened him beforehand if he did not 
 i^, do it. Which epistle of his was the occasion 
 ^^[ of Hyrcanus delivering Herod from suffering 
 any harm from the sanhedrim, for he loved 
 him as bis own son ; but when Herod stood 
 before the sanhedrim, with his body of men 
 about him, he affrighted them all, and no one 
 ef his former accusers durst after that bring 
 any charge against him, but there was a deep 
 silence, and nobody knew what was to be 
 done. When affairs stood thus, one whose 
 name Vvas Sameas,* a righteous mjffi be was, 
 and for that reason above all fear, rose up, and 
 said, " O you that are assessors with me, and 
 O thou that art our king, I neither have ever 
 myself known such a case, nor do I suppose 
 that any one of you can name its parallel, that 
 one who is called to take his trial by us ever 
 stood in such a manner before us; but every 
 one, whosoever he be, that comes to be tried 
 by this sanhedrim, presents himself in a sub- 
 missive manner, and like one that is in fear of 
 himself, and that endeavours to move us to 
 compassion, with his hair dishevelled, and in 
 8 black and mourning garment : but this admi- 
 rable man Herod, who is accused of murder, 
 and called to answer so heavy an accusation, 
 stands here clothed in purple, and with the 
 hair of his head finely trimmed, and with his 
 ainied men about him, that if we shall con- 
 demn him by our law, he may slay us, and 
 \)y overbearing justice may himself escape 
 deaib; yet do not I make this complaint 
 agaii.st Herod himself: he is^o be sure more 
 coiuerned for himself than for the laws; but 
 my complaint is against yourselves and your 
 
 * TbU account, as Reland obxprveK, is confirmed by 
 the 'I almudista, wbo call this i»aiueas *' bimeuo, the sou 
 «/t»h«lMb.» 
 
 king, who gave him a licence so to do. How « 
 ever, take you notice, that God is great, an<5 
 that this very man, whom you are going to 
 absolve and dismiss, for the sake of Hyrcanus, 
 will one day punish both you and your king 
 himself also." Nor did Sameas mistake in 
 any part of this prediction; for when Herod 
 had received the ^kingdom, he slew all the 
 members of this sanhedrim, and Hyrcanus 
 himself also, excepting Sameas, for he had a 
 great honour for him on account of his rijjbte- 
 ousness, and because, when the city was after- 
 wards besieged by Herod and Sosius, he per- 
 suaded the people to admit Herod into it ; and 
 told them, that for their sins they would not 
 be able to escape his hands: — which things 
 will be related by us in their proper places. 
 
 ||||£ut when Hyrcanus saw that the mem- 
 bers of the sanhedrim were ready to pro- 
 nounce the sentence of death upon Herod, he 
 put off the trial to another day, and sent pri- 
 vately to Herod, and advised him to fly out 
 of the city ; for that by this means he might 
 escape. So he retired to Damascus, as though . 
 he fled from the king; and when he had bcei»' 
 with Sextus Caesar, and had put his own af- 
 fairs in a sure posture, he resolved to do thus- 
 — That in case he were again summoned be- 
 fore the sanhedrim to take his trial, he would 
 not obey that summons. Hereupon the mem- 
 bers of the sanhedrim had great indignation 
 at this posture of a^airs, and endeavoured*to 
 persuaded Hyrcanus that all these things were 
 against him; which state of matters he was 
 not ignorant of; but his temper was so un- 
 manly and so foolish, that he was able to do 
 nothing at all; but when Sextus had made 
 Herod general of the army of Celesyria, for 
 he sold him that post for money, Hyrcanua 
 was in fear lest Herod should make war upon 
 him; nor vvas the effect of what he feared 
 long in coming upon him, — for Herod came, 
 and brought an army along with him to fight 
 with Hyrcanus, as being angry at the trial he 
 had been summoned to undergo before the 
 sanhedrinn; but his father Antipater, and his 
 brother [Phasaelus] met him, and hindered 
 him from assaulting Jerusalem. They also 
 pacified his vehement temper, and persuaded 
 him to do no overt action, but only to affright 
 them with threatenings, and to proceed no 
 farther against one who had given him the 
 dignity he had: they also desired him not 
 only to be angry that he was summoned, and 
 obliged to come to his trial, but to remember 
 w ithal how he was dismissed without condem- 
 nation, and how he ought to give Hjrcanus 
 thanks for the same; and that he was not to 
 regard only w hat was disagreeable to him, and 
 be unthankful for his deliverance. So they 
 desired him to consider, that since it is God 
 that turns the scales of war, there is great un- 
 certainty in the issue of battles, and that there- 
 fore he onjjht not to expect the vi<!tory when 
 he should fi^ht with hia king, and him thai 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 383 
 
 Lad supported him, and bestowed many bene- 
 fits upon him, and had done nothing of itself 
 very severe to him; for that his accusation, 
 which was derived from evil counsellors, and 
 not Iram himself, had rather the suspicion of 
 some severity, than any thing really severe 
 in it. Herod was persuaded by these argu- 
 ments, and believed that it was sufficient for 
 his future hopes to have made a show of his 
 strength before the nation, and done no more 
 to it; — and in this state were the aflfairs of 
 Judea at this time. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE HONOURS THAT WERE PAID THE JEW? ; 
 AND THE LEAGUES THAT WERE MADE BY THE 
 ROMANS, AND OTHER NATIONS, WITH THEM. 
 
 § 1. Now when Caesar was come to Rome, 
 he was ready to sail into Africa to fight 
 against Scipio and Cato, when Hyrcanus 
 sent ambassadors to him, and by them desired 
 that he would ratify that league of friendship 
 and mutual alliance which was between them; 
 and it seems to me to be necessary here to 
 give an account of all the honours that the 
 Romans and their emperors paid to our na- 
 tion, and of the leajrues of mutual assistance 
 they have made with it, that all the rest of 
 mankind may know what regard the kings of 
 Asia and Europe have had to us, and that they 
 have been abundantly satisfied of our courage 
 and fidelity ; for whereas many will not be- 
 lieve what hath been written about us by the 
 Persians and -Macedonians, because those 
 writings are not everywhere to be met with, 
 nor do lie in public places, but among us our- 
 selves, and certain other barbarous nations; 
 while there is no contradiction to be made 
 against the decrees of the Romans, for they 
 are laid up in the public places of the cities, 
 and are extant still in the capitol, and engraven 
 upon pillars of brass; nay, besides this, Ju- 
 lius Caesar made a pillar of brass for the Jews 
 at Alexandria, and declared publicly that they 
 were citizens of Alexandria. Out of these evi- 
 dences will I demonstrate what I say; and 
 will now set down the decrees made both by 
 the senate and by Julius Caesar, which relate 
 to Hyrcanus and to our nation. 
 
 2. "Caius Julius Ciesar, imperator and 
 high-priest and dictator the second time, to 
 the magistrates, senate, and people of Sidon, 
 sendeth greeting. If you be in health, it 
 is well. 1 also and the army are well. I 
 have sent you a copy of that decree regis- 
 tered on the tables, wbicn concerns Hyrca- 
 nus, the son of Alexander, the high-priest 
 and ethnarch of the Jews, that it may be laid 
 up among the public records; and I will that 
 it be r'penly proposed in a table of brass, both 
 in Gre«k and in Latin. It is as follows: — 
 
 I Julrus Caesar, imperator the second time, 
 and high-priest, have made this decree, with 
 the approbation of the senate: Whereas H\r- 
 canus, the son of Alexander the Jew, hath 
 demonstrated his fidelity and diligence about 
 our affairs, and this both now and in former 
 times, both in peace and in war, as many of 
 our generals have borne witness, and came to 
 our assistance in the last Alexandrian war,* 
 with fifteen hundred soldiers; and when he 
 was sent by me to Mithridates, showed him- 
 self superior in valour to all the rest of that 
 army; — for these reasons I will that Hyrca- 
 nus, the son of Alexander, and his children, 
 be ethnarchs of the Jews, and have the high- 
 priesthood of the Jews for ever, according to 
 the customs of their forefathers, and that he 
 and his son be our confederates; and that be- 
 sides this every one of them be reckoned 
 among our particular friends. I also ordain, 
 that he and his children retain whatsoever pri- 
 vileges belong to the office of high-priest, or 
 whatsoever favours have been hitherto granted 
 them; and if at any time hereafter there arise 
 any questions about the Jewish customs, I 
 will that he determine the same; and I think 
 it not proper that they should be obliged to 
 find us wi[iter quarters, or that any money 
 should be required of them." 
 
 3. "The decrees of Caius Caesar, consul, 
 containing what hath been granted and deter- 
 mined, are as follow: — That Hyrcanus and 
 his children bear rtde over the nation of the 
 Jews, and have the profits of the places to 
 them bequeathed; and that he, as himself the 
 high-priest and ethnarch of the Jews, defend 
 those that are injured; and that ambassadors 
 be sent to Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander 
 the high-priest of the Jews, that may discourse 
 with him about a league of friendship and 
 mutual assistance; and that a table of brass, 
 containmg the premises, be opeidy proposed 
 in the capitol, and at Sidon, and Tyre, and 
 Askelon, and in the temple, engraven in Ro- 
 man and Greek letters : that this decree may 
 also be communicated to the questors and 
 praetors of the several cities, and to the friends 
 of the Jews: and that the ambassadors may 
 have presents made them, and that these de* 
 crees be sent everywhere." 
 
 4. "Caius Caesar, imperator, dictator, con- 
 sul, hath granted, That out of regard to the 
 honour, and virtue, and kindness of the man, 
 and for the advantage of the senate, and of 
 the people of Rome, Hyrcanus, the son of 
 Alexander, both he and his children, be high- 
 priests and priests of Jerusalem, and of the 
 Jewish nation, by the same right, and accord- 
 ing to the same laws, by which their progeni- 
 tors have held the priesthood." 
 
 * That Hyrcanus was himself in F.eypt, along with 
 Antipater, at this time, to whom accordinijlv the bold 
 and prudent actions of his deputy Ar>»pater are here as- 
 cribed, as this decree of Julius C jesar supposes, we are 
 farther assured by the testimony of Strabo, already pro> 
 dncid by Jose 
 
584 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIV 
 
 6. "CaJus Caesar, consul the fifth time, 
 bath decreed, That the Jews shall possess Je- 
 rusialem, and may encompass that city with 
 "walls; and that Hyrcaniis, the son of Alex- 
 ander, the high-priest and ethnarch of the 
 Jews, retain it, in the manner he himself 
 pleases; and the Jews be allowed to deduct 
 ont of their tribute every second year the 
 land is let [in the Sabbatic period], a corus of 
 that tribute; and that the tribute they pay be 
 not let to farm, nor that they pay always the 
 game tribute." 
 
 6. "Caius Caesar, imperator the second 
 time, hath ordained. That all the country ot 
 the Jews, excepting Joppa, do pay a tribute 
 yearly for the city Jerusalem, excepting the 
 seventh, which they call the Sabbatical Year, 
 because thereon they neither receive the fruits 
 of their trees, nor do they sow their land; and 
 that they pay their tribute in Sidon on the se- 
 cond year [of that Sabbatic period], the fourth 
 part of what was sown: and besides this, they 
 are to pay the same tithes to Hyrcanus and 
 his sons, which they paid to their forefathers. 
 And that no one, neither president, nor lieu- 
 tenant, nor ambassador, raise auxiliaries with- 
 in the bounds of Judea, nor may soldiers ex- 
 act money of them for winter quarters, or un- 
 der any other pretence, but that they be free 
 from all sorts of injuries: and that whatsoever 
 they shall hereafter have, and are in possession 
 of, or have bought, they shall retain them all. 
 It is also our pleasure that the city Joppa, 
 which the Jews had originally, when they 
 made a league of friendship with the Romans, 
 shall belong to them, as- it formerly did; and 
 that Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander,, and his 
 sons, have as tribute of that city, from those 
 that occupy the land, for the country, and for 
 what they export every year to Sidon, twenty 
 thousand six hundred and seventy-five modii 
 every year, the seventh year, which they call 
 the Sabbatic Year, excepted; whereon they 
 neither plough, nor receive the product of 
 their trees. It is also the pleasure of the se- 
 nate, that as to the villages which are in the 
 great plain, which Hyrcanus and his forefa- 
 thers formerly possessed, Hyrcanus and the 
 Jews have them with the same privileges 
 with which they formerly had them also; and 
 that the same ori^nal ordinances remain still 
 in force which concern the Jews with regard 
 to their high-priests; and that they enjoy the 
 same benefits which they have had formerly 
 byi^he concession of the people, and of the 
 senate; and let them enjoy the like privileges 
 in Lydda. It is the pleasure also of the se- 
 nate, that Hyrcanus, the ethnarch, and the 
 Jews, retain those places, countries, and vil- 
 lages, which belonged to the kings of Syria 
 and Phoenicia, the confederates of the Ito- 
 n ans, and which they had bestowed on them 
 a^ their free gifts. It is also granted to Hyr- 
 (M.qs, and to his tO". and to the anibasHa- 
 dci& hy them sent t ut<, that in the tights 
 
 between single gladiators, and in those with 
 beasts, they shall sit among the senators to 
 see those shows; and that when they desire 
 an audience, they shall be introduced into the 
 senate by the dictator, or by the general of the 
 horse; and when they have introduced them, 
 their answers shall be returned them in ten 
 days at the farthest, atter the decree of the 
 senate is made about their affairs." 
 
 7. "Caius Caesar, imperator, dictator the 
 fourth time, and consul the fifth time, de- 
 clared to be perpetual dictator, made this 
 speech concerning the rights and privileges of 
 Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, the high- 
 priest and ethnarch of the Jews. Since those 
 imperators* that have been in the provinces 
 before me have borne witness to Hyrcanus, 
 the high-priest of the Jews, and to the Jews 
 themselves, and this before the senate and 
 people of Rome, when the people and senate 
 returned their thanks to them, it is good that 
 we now also remember the same, and provide 
 that a requital be made to Hyrcanus, to the 
 nation of the Jews, and to the sons of Hyr- 
 canus, by the senate and people of Rome, 
 and that suitably to what good- will they have 
 shown us, and to the benefits they have be- 
 stowed upon us." 
 
 8. "Julius Caius, praetor [consul] of 
 Rome, to the magistrates, senate, and people 
 of the Parians, sendeth greeting. The Jews 
 of Delos, and some other Jews that sojourn 
 there, in the presence of your ambassadors, 
 signified to us, that, oy a decree of yours, you 
 forbid them to make use of the customs of 
 their forefathers, and their way of sacred 
 worship. Now it does not please me that 
 such decrees should be made against our 
 friends and confederate's, whereby they are 
 forbidden to live according to their own cus- 
 toms, or to bring in contributions for common 
 suppers and holy festivals, while they are not 
 forbidden so to do even at Rome itself; for 
 even Caius Caesar, our imperator and consul, 
 in that decree wherein he forbade the Bac- 
 chanal rioters to meet in the city, did yet per- 
 mit these Jews, and these only, both to bring 
 in their contributions, and to make their 
 common suppers. Accordingly, when I for- 
 bid other Bacchanal rioters, I permit these 
 Jews to gather themselves together, accord- 
 ing to the laws and customs of their forefa- 
 thers, and to persist therein. It will be 
 therefore good for you, that if you have 
 made any decree against these our friends 
 and confederates, to abrogate the same, by 
 reason of their virtue, and kind disposition 
 towards us." 
 
 9. Now after Caius was slain, when Mar- 
 • Dr. Hudson justly supposes, that the Roman impe- 
 rators. or generals of urinii's. meant both here and sect. 
 2, who gave testimony to tUrcanuit^s and the Jew 3' fcith- 
 (Illness Olid p(>od will to the Fiomans before the st-imte 
 and people ol Konie were, principally l*<>mpey, Scaiinia, 
 and (iahiiiiuii: of ail whom Jorephus had already K>\ca 
 ii!« ilir history, M> l..r as the Jews were concerned witk 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OP THE JEWS. 
 
 385 
 
 cus Antonius and Publius Dolabella were 
 consuls, they both assembled the senate, and 
 introduced Hyrcanus's ambassadors into it, 
 and discoursed of what they desired, and made 
 a league of friendship with them. The senate 
 also decreed, to grant them all they desired. 
 I add this decree itself, that those who read 
 the present work, may have ready by them a 
 demonstration of the truth of what we say. 
 The decree was this : — 
 
 10. " The decree of the senate, copied out 
 of the treasury, from the public 'tables be- 
 longing to the quaestors, when Quintus Ru- 
 tilius and Caius Cornelius were quaestors, and 
 taken out of the second table of the first class, 
 on the third day before the ides of April, in the 
 temple of Concord. There were present at 
 the writing of this decree, Lucius Calpurnius 
 Piso, of the Menenian tribe, Servius Papi- 
 nius Potitus of the Lemonian tribe, Caius 
 Caninius Rebilius of the Terentine tribe, 
 Publius Tidetius, Lucius Apulinus, the son 
 of Lucius, of the Sergian tribe, Flavins, the 
 sen of Lucius, of the Lemonian tribe, Pub- 
 lius Platius, the son of Publius, of the Papy- 
 rian tribe, Marcus Acilius, the son of Mar- 
 cus, of the Mecian tribe, Lucius Erucius, the 
 son of Lucius, of the Stellatine tribe, Marcus 
 Quintus Plancillus, the son of Marcus, of 
 the Pollian tribe, and Publius Serins. Pub- 
 lius Dolabella and Marcus Antonius, the con- 
 suls, made this reference to the senate, that 
 as to those things which, by the decree of the 
 senate, Caius Csesar had adjudged about the 
 Jews, and yet had not hitherto that decree 
 been brought into the treasury, it is our will, 
 as it is also the desire of Publius Dolabella 
 and Marcus Antonius, our consuls, to have 
 these decrees put into the public tables, and 
 brought to the city quaestors, that they may 
 take care to have them put upon the double 
 tables. This was done before the fifth of the 
 ides of February, in the temple of Concord. 
 Now the ambassadors from Hyrcanus the 
 high-priest were these : — Lysimachus, the son 
 of Pausanias, Alexander, the son of Theodo- 
 rus, Patroclus, the son of Chereas, and Jona- 
 than, the son of Onias." 
 
 11. Hyrcanus sent also one of these am- 
 bassadors to Dolabella, who was then the 
 prefect of Asia, and desired him to dismiss the 
 Jews from military services, and to preserve 
 to them the customs of their forefathers, and 
 to permit them to live according to them. 
 And when Dolabella had received Hyrca- 
 nus's letter, without any farther deliberation, 
 he sent an epistle to all the Asiatics, and par- 
 ticularly to the city of the Ephesians, the me- 
 tropolis of Asia, about the Jews ; a copy of 
 which epistle here follows : — 
 
 12. " When Artemon was prytanis, on the 
 first day of the month Leneon, Dolabella 
 iraperator, to the senate and magistrates, 
 and people of the Ephesians, sendeth greeting. 
 
 Alexander, the son of Theodorus, the am- 
 bassador of Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, 
 the high-priest and ethnarch of the Jews, ap- 
 peared before me, to show that his countrymen 
 could not go into their armies, because they 
 are not allowed to bear arms, or to travel on 
 the Sabbath-days, nor there to procure them- 
 selves those sorts of food which they have been 
 used to eat from the times of their forefathers, 
 — I do therefore grant them a freedom from 
 going into the army, as the former prefects 
 have done, and permit them to use the customs 
 of their forefathSrs, in assembling together for 
 sacred and religious purposes, as their law 
 requires, and for collecting oblations necessary 
 for sacrifices ; and my will is, that you write 
 this to the several cities under your jurisdic- 
 tion." 
 
 13. And these were the concessions that 
 Dolabella made to our nation when Hyrcanus 
 sent an embassage to him; but Lucius the 
 consul's decree ran thus: — "I have at my 
 tribunal set these Jews, who are citizens of 
 Rome, and follow the Jewdsh religious rites, 
 and yet live at Ephesus, free from going into 
 the army, on account of the superstition they 
 are under. This was done before the twelfth 
 of the calends of October, when Lucius Len- 
 tulus and Caius Marcellus were consuls, in 
 the presence of Titus Appius Balgus, the son 
 of Titus, and lieutenant of the Horatian 
 tribe ; of Titus Tongius, the son of Titus, of 
 the Crustumine tribe; of Quintus Resius, the 
 son of Quintus; of Titus Pompeius Longinus, 
 the son of Titus; of Caius Servilius, the son 
 of Caius, of the Terentine tribe; of Braccus 
 the military tribune ; of Publius Lucius Cal- 
 lus, the son of Publius, of the Veturian tribe; 
 of Caius Sentius, the son of Caius, of the 
 Sabbatine tribe; of Titus Atilius Bulbus, the 
 son of Titus, lieutenant and vice-pretor to the 
 magistrates, senate, and people of the Ephe- 
 sians, sendeth greeting. Lucius Lentulus the 
 consul freed the Jews that are in Asia from 
 going into the armies, at my intercession for 
 them ; and when I had made the same peti- 
 tion some time afterward to Phanius the im- 
 perator, and to Lucius Antonius the vice- 
 quaestor, I obtained the privilege of them 
 also ; and my will is, that you take care that 
 no one give them any disturbance." 
 
 14. The decree of the Delians. "The an- 
 swer of the praetors, when Beotus was archon; 
 on the twentieth day of the month Thar- 
 geleon. While Marcus Piso the lieutenant 
 lived in our city, who was also appointed over 
 the choice of the soldiers, he called us, and 
 many other of the citizens, and gave order, 
 that if there be here any Jews who are Ro- 
 man citizens, no one is to give them any dis- 
 turbance about going into the army, because 
 Cornelius Lentulus, the consul, freed the 
 Jews from going into the army, on account 
 of the superstition they are under, — you are 
 
 2B 
 
386 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIV 
 
 therefore obliged to submit to the pretor:" 
 . — and the like decree was made by the Sar- 
 diatis about us also. 
 
 15. " Caius Phanius, the son of Caius, im- 
 perator and consul, to the magistrates of Cos, 
 sendeth greeting. I would have )ou know 
 that the ambao^adors of the Jews have been 
 with me, and desired they might have those 
 decrees which the senate had made about 
 them : which decrees are here subjoined. 
 My will is, that you have a regard to and 
 take care of these men, according to the se- 
 nate's decree, that they may be safely con- 
 veyed home through your country." 
 
 16. The declaration of Lucius Lentulus 
 the consul: — "1 have dismissed those Jews 
 who are Roman citizens, and who appear to 
 nie to have their religious rites, and to ob- 
 serve the laws of the Jews at Ephesus, on 
 account of the superstition they are under. 
 This act was done before the thirteenth of the 
 caleTids of October." 
 
 17. " Lucius Antonius, the son of Marcus, 
 vice-quaestor, and vice-pretor, to the magis- 
 trates, senate, and people of the Sardians, 
 sendeth greeting. Those Jews that are our 
 fellow-citizens of Rome, came to me, and de- 
 monstrated that they had an assembly of their 
 own, according to the laws of their forefathers, 
 and this from the beginning, as also a place 
 of their own, wherein they determined their 
 sxiits and controversies with one anotner. 
 Upon their petition therefore to n e, that 
 these might be lawful for them, I give order 
 that these their privileges be preserved, and 
 they be permitted to do accordingly." 
 
 18. The declaration of Marcus Publius, 
 ihe son of Spurius, and of Marcus, the son of 
 Marcus, and of Lucius, the son of Publius: 
 i— " We went to the proconsul, and informed 
 him of what Dositheus, the son of Cleopatrida 
 of Alexandria, desired, that, if he thought 
 good, he would dismiss those Jews who were 
 Roman citizens, and were wont to observe 
 the rites of the Jewish religion, on account 
 of the superstition they were under. Ac- 
 cordingly he did dismiss them. This was 
 done before the thirteenth of the calends of 
 October." 
 
 19. "In the month Quintilis, when Lu- 
 cius Lentulus and Caius Marcellus were con- 
 suls; and there were present Titus Appius 
 Balbus, the son of Titus, lieutenant of the 
 Horatian tribe, Titus Tongius of the Crus- 
 tumine tribe, Quintus Resius, the son of Quin- 
 tus, Titus Pompeius, the son of Titus, Cor- 
 nelius Longinus, Caius Servilius Bracchus, 
 the son of Caius, a military tribune, of the 
 Terentine tribe, Publius Clusius Callus, the 
 fon of Publius, of the Veturian tribe, Caius 
 Teutius, the son of Caius, a military tribune, 
 of the Emilian tribe, Sextus Atilius Serrsuius, 
 the eon of Sextus, of the Esquiline tribe, 
 Caius Pompeius, the son of Caius, of the Sab- 
 Iwtine tribe, Titus Appius Menandpr, the son 
 
 of Titus, Publius Servilius Strabo, the son o^ 
 Publius, Lucius Paccius Capito, the son of 
 Lucius, of the Colline tribe, Aulus F.:rius 
 Tertius, the son of Aulus, and Appius Me- 
 nas. In the presence of these it was that 
 Lentulus pronounced this decree; 1 have be- 
 fore the tribunal dismissed those Jews that 
 are Roman citizens, and are accustomed to 
 observe the sacred rites of the Jews at Ephe- 
 sus, on account of the superstition they are 
 under." 
 
 20. " The magistrates of the Laodiceans 
 to Caius Rubilius, the son of Caius, the con- 
 sul, send greeting. Sopater, the ambassa- 
 dor of Hyrcanus the high-priest, hath delivered 
 us an epistle from thee, whereb) he lets us 
 know that certain ambassadors were come 
 from Hyrcanus, the bigh-priest of the Jews, 
 and brought an epistle viritten concerning 
 their nation, wherein they desire that the 
 Jews may be allowed to observe their Sab- 
 baths and other sacred rites, according to the 
 laws of their forefathers, and that they may 
 be under no command, because they are our 
 friends and confederates: and that nobody 
 may injure them in our provinces. Now al- 
 though the Trallians there present contra- 
 dicted them, and were not pleased with these 
 decrees, yet didst thou give order that they 
 should be observed, and informed us that 
 thou hadst been desired to write this to us 
 about them. We therefore in obedience to 
 the injunctions we have received froni thee, 
 have received the epistle which thou sentest 
 us, and have laid it up by itself among our 
 public records; and as to the other things 
 about which thou didst send to us, we will 
 take care that no complaint be made against 
 us." 
 
 21. "Publius Servilius, the son of Publius, 
 cf the Galban tribe, the proconsul, to the ma- 
 gistrates, senate, and people of the Melesians, 
 sendeth greeting. Prytanes. the sou of Her- 
 mes, a citizen of yours, came to me when I 
 was at Tralles, and held a court there, and 
 informed me that you used the Jews in a way 
 different from my opinion, and forbade them 
 to celebrate their Sabbaths, and to perform the 
 sacred rites received from their forefathers, 
 and to manage the fruits of the earth accoid- 
 ing to their ancient custom; aiui that he had 
 himself been the promulger of your decree, 
 according as your laws require; I would 
 therefore have you know, that upon hearing 
 the pleadings on both sides, 1 gave sentence 
 that the Jews should not be prohibited to 
 make use of their own customs." 
 
 22. The decree of those of Pergamus: — 
 " When Cratippus was prytanis, oir the first 
 day of the month Desius, the decree of the 
 pretors was this: Since the Romans, follow- 
 ing the conduct of their ancestors, undertake 
 dangers for the common safety of all man- 
 kind, and are ambitious to settle their confe- 
 derates and friends in happiness, and in nrni 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 387 
 
 ppace, Jind since the nation of the Jews, and 
 ♦ heir hi^'h-priest Hvtc.itius, sent as ambassa- 
 dors to tTiern, Strato, the son of Theodatus, 
 ind Apolloiiiits, the son of Alexander, and 
 Eneas, the son of Antipater, and Aristobulus, 
 tb« son of Amyntas, and Sosi pater, the son 
 of Philip, worthy and good men, who gave a 
 particular account of their affairs, the senate 
 thereuptm m?de a dpcree abo\it what they bad 
 desired of them, that Antiochus the king, the 
 son of Antiochus, should do no injury to the 
 Jews, the confederates of the Romans; and 
 that the fortresses and the havens, and the 
 country, and whatsoever else he had taken 
 from them, should be restored to them; and 
 that it may be lawful for them to export tbeir 
 goods out of their own havens; and that no 
 king nor people may have leave to export any 
 goods, either out of the country of Judea, or 
 out of their havens, without paying customs, 
 but only Ptolemy, the king of Alexandria, 
 because he is our confederate and friend ; and 
 that, acoording to their desire, the garrisoji 
 that is in Joppa may be ejected. Now Lu- 
 cius Pettius, one of our senators, a worthy 
 and good man, gave order that we should 
 take care that these things should be done 
 according to the senate's decree: and that we 
 should take care also that their ambassadors 
 might return hon:>e in safety. Accordingly 
 we admitted Theodorus into our senate and 
 assembly, and took the epistle out of his hands, 
 as well as the decree of the senate; and as he 
 discoursed with great zeal about the Jews, and 
 described Hyrcanus's virtue and generosity, 
 and how he was a benefactor to all men in 
 common, and particularly to every body that 
 comes to him, we laid up the epistle in our 
 public records; and made a decree ourselves, 
 that since we also are in confederacy with the 
 Romans, we would do every thing we could 
 for the Jews, according to the senate's decree. 
 Theodorus also, who brought the epistle, de- 
 sired of our praetors, that they would send 
 Hyrcanus a copy of that decree, as also am- 
 bassadors to signify to him the affection of 
 our people to him, and to exhort them to 
 preserve and augment their friendship for us, 
 and be ready to bestow other benefits upon 
 us, as justly expecting to receive proper re- 
 quitals from us; and desiring them to remem- 
 ber that our ancestors* were friendly to the 
 
 * We hare here a most remarkable and anthentic at- 
 testation of the citizens of Pergamns, that Abraham was 
 tlif father of all the Hebrew*; that their own ancestors 
 were, in the oldest times, the friends of those Hebrews; 
 and that the public acts of their city, then extant, con- 
 firmed th_* same; which evidence is too strong to be 
 evaded by our present ignorance of the particular occa- 
 sion of such ancient friendship and alliance between 
 lliose people. See the like full evidence of the kindred 
 of the I.acedemoBians and the Jews; and that because 
 they were both the posterity of Abral.am, by a public epis- 
 tle of those people to the Jews, preserved in the first book 
 «f the Maccabees, xii. 19—23, and thence by Josephus, 
 Antiq. b. xii.cli.iv sect. 10; both which authentic records 
 Are highly valuable. It is also well worthy of observation, 
 what Moses Chorenensis, the principal Armenian histo- 
 tiiuu iaCormti us of, p. SJ, tliat Arsaces, who raued tLiO 
 
 Jews, even in the days of Abraham, who was 
 the father of all the Hebrews, Jis we have [also] 
 found it set dovvn in our public records." 
 
 23. The decree of those of Halicarnassus 
 " When Memnon, the son of Orestidas by 
 descent, but by adoption of Euonymous, was 
 priest, on the *** day of the month Ariste- 
 rion, the decree of the people, upon the re- 
 presentation of Marcus Alexander, was this: 
 Since we have ever a great regard to piety 
 towards God, and to holiness; and since wc 
 aim to follow the people of the Romans, who 
 are the benefactors of all men, and what they 
 have written to us about a league of friend- 
 ship and mutual assistance between the Jews 
 and our city, and that their sacred offices and 
 accustomed festivals and assemblies may be 
 observed by them ; we have decreed, that as 
 many men and women of the Jews as are 
 willing so to do, may celebrate their Sab- 
 baths, and perform their holy offices, accord- 
 ing to the Jewish laws; and may make their 
 proseuchae at the sea-side, according to the 
 customs of their forefathers; and if any one, 
 whether he be a magistrate or a private per- 
 son, hindereth them from so doing, he shall 
 be liable to a .fine, to be applied to the uses 
 of the city." 
 
 - 24. The decree of the Sardians. *' This 
 decree was made by the senate and people, 
 upon the representation of the praetors : — 
 Whereas those Jews who are our fellow-citi- 
 zens, and live with us in this city, have ever 
 had great benefits heaped upon them by the 
 people, and have come now into the senate, 
 and desired of the people, that upon the resti- 
 tution of their law and their liberty, by the 
 senate and people of Rome, they may assem- 
 ble together, according to their ancient legal 
 custom, and that we will not bring any suit 
 against them about it; and that a place may 
 be given them where they may have their con- 
 gregations with their wives and children, and 
 may offer, as did their forefathers, their pray- 
 ers and sacrifices to God. Now the senate 
 and people have decreed to permit them to 
 assemble together on the days formerly ap- 
 pointed, and to act according to their own 
 laws; and that such a place be set apart for 
 them by the praetors, for the building and in- 
 habiting the same, as they shall esteem fit for 
 that purpose: and that those that take care of 
 the provisions for the city, shall take care that 
 such sorts of food as they esteem fit for their 
 eating, may be iiriported into the city." 
 
 25. The decree of the Ephesians. "When 
 Meuophilus was prytanis, on the first day of 
 the month Artemisius, this decree was made 
 oy the people: — Nicanor, the son of Euphe- 
 mus, pronounced it, upon the representation 
 of the praetors. Since the Jews that dwell 
 
 F*arthian empire, was of the sect of Abraham by Ketu- 
 rah; and that thereby was acconjplished that prediction 
 wh'ch said, " Kings of nations shall proceed from tbce,** 
 Gen. xvii. 6. 
 
388 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK xir 
 
 m this city have petitioned Marcus Julius 
 Pompeius, the son of Brutus, the proconsul, 
 that they might be allowed to observe their 
 Sabbaths, and to act in all things according 
 to the customs of their forefathers, without 
 impediment from any body, the praetor hath 
 granted their petition. Accordingly, it was 
 decreed by the senate and people, that in this 
 affair that concerned the Romans, no one of 
 them should be hindered from keeping the 
 Sabbath-day, nor be fined for so doing; but 
 that they may be allowed to do all things ac- 
 cording to their own laws." 
 
 26. Now there are many such decrees of 
 the senate and imperators of the Romans,* 
 and those different from these before us, which 
 have been made in favour of Hyrcanus, and 
 of our nation ; as also, there have been more 
 decrees of the cities, and rescripts of the prae- 
 tors to such epistles as concerned our rights 
 and privileges: and certainly such as are not 
 ill-disposed to what we write, may believe that 
 they are all to this purpose, and that by the 
 specimens which we have inserted : for since 
 we have produced evident marks that may still 
 be seen, of the friendship we have had with 
 the Romans, and demonstrated that those 
 marks are engraven upon columns and tables 
 of brass in the capitol, that are still in being, 
 and preserved to this day, we have omitted to 
 set them all down, as needless and disagree- 
 able; for I cannot suppose any one so per- 
 verse as not to believe the friendship we have 
 had with the Romans, while they have de- 
 monstrated the same by such a great number 
 of their decrees relating to us ; nor will they 
 doubt of our fidelity as to the rest of these 
 decrees, since we have shown the same in 
 those we have produced. And thus have we 
 sufficiently explained that friendship and con- 
 federacy we at those times had with the Ro- 
 mans. 
 
 * If we compare Josephus's promise in sect. 1, to pro- 
 duce all the public decrees of the Romans in favour of 
 the Jews, with his excuse here for omitting many of 
 them, we may ohserTe. that when he came to transcribe 
 all those decrees he had collected, he found themso nu- 
 merous that ho thought he should too much tire his 
 readers if he had attempted it, which he thought a suf- 
 ficient apology for his omitting the rest of them ; yet 
 do those by him produced afford such a strong confir- 
 mation to his history, and give such great light to even 
 the Koman antiquities themselves, that I believe the 
 curioufl are not a little sorry for such his omissions. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Bf W MARCUsf SUCCEEDED SEXTUS WHEN HE 
 HAD BEEN SLAIN BY BASSUs's TREACHERY, 
 AND HOW, AFTER THE DEATH OF C^SAR, 
 CASSIUS CAME INTO SYRIA, AND blSTRESSlB 
 JUDEA; as also, how MALICHUS SLEW 
 ANTIPATER, AND WAS HIMSELF SLAIN BY 
 HEROD. 
 
 § 1. Now it so fell out that about this very 
 time the affairs of Syria were in great disor- 
 der, and this on the occasion following: Ce- 
 cilius Bassus, one of Pompey's party, laid a 
 treacherous design against Sextus Caesar, and 
 slew him, and then took his army, and got 
 the management of public affairs into his own 
 hand;, so there arose a great war about Apa- 
 ntiia, while Caesar's generals came against him 
 with an army of horsen)en and footmen ; to 
 these Antipater sent also succourg, and his 
 sons with them, as calling to mind the kind- 
 nesses they had received from Caesar, and ojj 
 that account he thought it but just to require 
 punishment for him, and to take vengeance 
 on the man that had murdered him. And 
 as the war was drawn out into a great length, 
 Marcus came from Rome to take Sextus's 
 government upon him: but Caesar was slain 
 by Cassius and Brutus in the senate-house, 
 after he had retained the government three 
 years and six months. This fact, however, 
 is related elsewhere. 
 
 2. As the war that arose upon the deatb 
 of Caesar was now begun, and the principal 
 men were all gone, some one way, and some 
 another, to raise armies, Cassius came fiom 
 Rome into Syria, in order to receive the 
 [army that lay in the] camp at Apamia; and 
 having raised the siege, he brought over both 
 Bassus and Marcus to his party. He then 
 went over the cities, and got together wea- 
 pons and soldiers, and laid great taxes upon 
 those cities; and he chiefly oppressed Judea, 
 and exacted of it seven hundred talents: bi;t 
 Antipater, when he saw the state to be in so 
 great consternation and disorder, he divided 
 the collection of that sum, and appointed his 
 soriitto gather it; and so that part of it was 
 to be exacted by Malichus, who was ill-dis- 
 posed to him, and part by others. And be- 
 cause Herod did exact what is required of 
 him from Galilee before others, he was in the 
 greatest favour with Cassius; for he thought 
 it a part of prudence to cultivate a friend.-hip 
 with the Romans, and to gain their good-will 
 at the expense of others; whereas the cura- 
 tors of the other cities, with their citizens, 
 were sold for slaves; and Cassius reduced 
 
 + For Marcus, this prepident of Syria, sent as succes. 
 «or to SrxtuH Caesar, th<> Roman historiuns require ii«.t« 
 read "Murcus" in JoMphiis. and this ptTpetually. K^tk 
 Suthcte AntiquitieH and in hi> HUtury of th» Wart. «» 
 thai««rp«<) gfcntrally aicrce. 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 389 
 
 four cities into a state of slavery, the two most 
 potent of which were Gophna and Emmaus ; 
 and, besides these, Lydia and Thamna. Nay, 
 Cassius was so very angry at Maiichus, that 
 he had killed him (for he assaulted him), had 
 not Hyrcanus, by the means of Antipater, 
 sent him an hundred talents of his own, and 
 thereby -pacified his anger against him. 
 
 3. But after Cassius was gone out of Ju- 
 dea, Maiichus laid snares for Antipater, as 
 thinking that his death would be the preser- 
 vation of Hyrcanus's government; but his 
 design was not unknown to Antipater, which, 
 when he perceived, he retired beyond Jordan, 
 and got together an army, partly of Arabs, 
 and partly of his own countrymen. How- 
 ever, Maiichus being one of great cunning, 
 denied that he had laid any snares for him, 
 and made his defence with an oath, both to 
 himself and his sons ; and said that while 
 Phasaelus had a garrison in Jerusalem, and 
 Herod had the weapons of war in his custody, 
 he could never have thought of any such 
 thing. So Antipater, perceiving the distress 
 that Maiichus was in, was reconciled to him, 
 and made an agreement with him ; this was 
 tvhen Marcus was president of Syria; who 
 yet perceiving that this Maiichus was ma- 
 king a disturbance in Judea, proceeded so 
 far that he had almost killed him ; but still, 
 at the intercession of Antipater, he saved 
 him. 
 
 4. However, Antipater little thought that 
 by saving Maiichus, He had saved his own 
 murderer; for now Cassius and Marcus had 
 got together an army, and intrusted the entire 
 care of it with Herod, and made him general 
 of the forces of Celesyria, and gave him a fleet 
 of ships, and an army of horsemen and foot- 
 men ; and promised him, that after the war 
 was over they would make him king of Judea ; 
 for a war was already begun between Antony 
 and the younger Cfesar ; but as Maiichus was 
 most afraid of Antipater, he took him out of 
 the way ; and by the offer of money persuaded 
 the butler of ^yrcanus, with whom they 
 were both to feast, to kill him by poison. This 
 being done, and he having armed men with 
 him, settled the affairs of the city. But when 
 Antipater's sons, Herod and Phasaelus, were 
 acquainted with this conspiracy against their 
 father, and had indignation at it, Maiichus 
 denied all, and utterly renounced any know- 
 ledge of the murder. And thus died Antipa- 
 ter, a man that had distinguished himself for 
 piety and justice, and love to his country. 
 And whereas one of his sons, Herod, resolved 
 immediately to revenge their father's death, 
 and was coming upon Maiichus with an army 
 for that purpose, the elder of his sons, Pha- 
 saelus, thought it best .rather to get this man 
 into their hands by policy, lest they should 
 appear to begin a civil war in the country ; 
 50 he accepted of Malichus's defence for him- 
 self, and pretended to believe him, that he had 
 
 had no hand in the violent death of Antipater 
 his father, but erected a fine monument for 
 him. Herod also went to Samaria ; and when 
 he found them in great distress, he revived 
 their spirits, and composed their differences. 
 
 5. However, a little after this, Herod, 
 upon the approach of a festival, came with his 
 soldiers into the city ; whereupon Maiichus 
 was affrighted, and persuaded Hyrcanus not 
 to permit him to come into the city. Hyr- 
 canus complied ; and, for a pretence of exclud- 
 ing him, alleged, that a rout of strangers ought 
 not to be admitted while the multitude were 
 purifying themselves. But Herod had little 
 regard to the messengers that were sent to him, 
 and entered the city in the night-time, and 
 affrighted Maiichus, yet did he remit nothing 
 of his former dissimulation, but wept for Anti- 
 pater, and bewailed him as a friend of his, 
 with a loud voice ; but Herod and his friends 
 thought it proper not openly to contradict 
 Malichus's hypocrisy, but to give him tokens 
 of mutual friendship, in order to prevent his 
 suspicion of them. 
 
 6. However, Herod sent to Cassius, and in- 
 formed him of the murder of his father ; who 
 knowing what sort of a man Maiichus was as 
 to his morals, sent him back word, that he 
 should revenge his father's death ; and also 
 sent privately to the commanders pf his army 
 at Tyre, with orders to assist Herod in the 
 execution of a very just design of his. Now 
 when Cassius had taken Laodicea, they all 
 went together to him, and carried him gar- 
 lands and money : and Herod thought that 
 Maiichus might be punished while, he was 
 there ; but he was somewhat apprehensive of 
 the thing, and designed to make some great 
 attempt, and because his son was then an hos- 
 tage at Tyre, he went to that city, and resolved 
 to steal him away privately, and to njarch 
 thence into Judea: and as Cassius was in 
 haste to march against Antony, he thought to 
 bring the country to revolt, and to procure 
 the government for himself. But Providence 
 opposed his counsels; and Herod being a 
 shrewd man, and perceiving what his inten- 
 tion was, he sent thither beforehand a ser- 
 vant, in appearance indeed to get a supper 
 ready, for he had said before, that he would 
 feast them all there, but in reality to the com- 
 manders of the army, whom he persuaded to 
 go out against Maiichus, with their daggers. 
 So they went out and met the man near the 
 city, upon the sea-shore, and there stabbed him. 
 Whereupon Hyrcanus was so astonished at 
 what had happened, that his speech failed 
 him; and when, after some difficulty, he had 
 recovered himself, he asked Herod what the 
 matter could be, and who it was that slew 
 
 i Maiichus ; and when he said that it was done 
 by the command of Cassius, he commended 
 the action; for that Maiichus was a very 
 wicked man, and one that conspired against 
 his own country. And this was the punish- 
 
890 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIV. 
 
 ment tbat was inflicted on Malichus for what 
 he wickedly did to Antipater. 
 
 7. But when Cassius was marched out of 
 Syria, disturbances arose in Juriea: for Felix, 
 who was left at Jerusalem with an army, 
 made a sudden attempt against Phasaelus, and 
 the people themselves rose in arms; but He- 
 rod went to Fabius, the prefect of Damascus, 
 and was desirous to run to Jiis brother's assist- 
 ance, but was hindered by a distemper that 
 seized upon him, till Phasaelus by hims^elf had 
 been too hard for Felix, and had shut him up 
 in the tower, and there, on certain conditions, 
 dismissed him. Phasaelus also complained of 
 Hyrcanus, that although he had received a 
 great many benefits from them, yet did he 
 support their enen)ies; for Malichus's brother 
 had made many places to revolt, and kept gar- 
 risons in them, and particularly Masada, the 
 strongest fortress of them all. In the mean 
 time, Herod was recovered of his disease, 
 and came and took from Felix all the places he 
 had gotten ; and, upon certain conditions, dis- 
 missed him also. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HEROD EJECTS ANTIGONUS, THE SON OF 
 ARISTOBULUS, OUT OF JUDEA, AND GAINS 
 THE FRIENDSHIP OF ANTONY, WHO WAS 
 NOW COME INTO SYIlIA, BY SENDING HIM 
 MUCH MONEY; ON WHICH ACCOUNT HE 
 WOULD NOT ADMIT OF THOSE THAT WOULD 
 HAVE ACCUSED HEUOD: AND WHAT IT WAS 
 THAT ANTONY WROTE TO THE TYRIANS IN 
 BEHALF OF THE JEWS. 
 
 § 1. Now* Ptolemy, the son of Menneus, 
 brought back into Judea, Antigonus, the son 
 of Aristobulus, who had already raised an army, 
 and had, by money, made Fabius to be his 
 friend, and this because he was of kin to 
 hifn. Marion also gave him assistance. He 
 hiid been left by Cassius to tyrannize over 
 Tyre; for this Cassius was a man that seized 
 on Syria, and then kept it under, in the way 
 of a tyrant. Marion also marched into Ga- 
 lilee, which lay in his neighbourhood, and 
 took three of its fortresses, and put garrisons 
 into them to keep them. But when Herod 
 came, he took all from him; but the Tyrian 
 garrison he dismissed in a very civil manner ; 
 
 • In this and the following chapters the reader wil 
 »a^ily rimark, how truly (ironoviiis observf-s. in his note- 
 on the Homan decrees in favtiur of the Jfws, that thei' 
 rights and privi leges were commonly purchased ol tht 
 HrniM s with money. Many examples of this sort. 
 both as to tie Romans and others in anlhority, will oc- 
 cur in our JosephuH. both now and hereafter, and need 
 not \te taken particular noti<e «if on the several occa- 
 ••ions in these notfs. Accordinely. the c.hM captain con- 
 fesses to St. I'anl. that, 'with a great stini he had oh- 
 fained his frt-tdom' (Acts xxii. ilfi): as had St. Paul's 
 ancestors, very probably, purrbasfd the like freedom for 
 thtlr family hy mone}, lu the kame author justly cun- 
 rtiHc* alaa. 
 
 nay, to some of the soldiers he made presents 
 out of the good-will he bare to that city. 
 When he had dispatched these affairs, and 
 was gone to meet Antigonus, he joined bat- 
 tle with him, and beat him, and drove him 
 out of Judea presently, when he was just 
 come into its borders; but when he was come 
 to Jerusalem, Hyrcanus and the people put 
 garlands about his head; for he had already 
 contracted an affinity with the family of H>r- 
 canus by having espoused a descendant of his, 
 and for that reason Herod took the greater 
 care of him, as being to marry the daughter 
 of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, and 
 the grand-daughter of Hyrcanus; by which 
 wife he became the father of three male and 
 two female children. He bad also married 
 before this another w ife, out of a lower family 
 of his own nation, whose name was Doris, by 
 whom he had his eldest son Antipater. 
 
 2. Now Antonius and Ca>sar had beaten 
 Cassius near Philippi, as others have related; 
 but after the victory, Caesar went into Gaul 
 [Italy], and Antony marched for Asia, who 
 when he was arrived at Bitbynia, he had am- 
 bassadors that met him from all parts. The 
 principal men also of the Jews came thither, 
 to accuse Phasaelus and Herod, and they said 
 that Hyrcanus had indeed the appearance of 
 reigning, but that these men had all the 
 power; but Antony paid great respect to 
 Herod, who was come to him to make his 
 defence against his accusers, on which ac- 
 count his adversaries could not so much as 
 obtain a hearing; which favour Herod had 
 gained of Antony by money; but still, when 
 Antony was come to Ephesus, Hyrcanus, 
 the high-priest, and our nation sent an em- 
 bassage to him, which carried a crown of gold 
 with them, and desired that he would write 
 to the governors of the provinces, to set those 
 Jews free who had been carried captive by 
 Cassius, and this without their having fought 
 against him, and to restore them that coun- 
 try which, in the days of Cassius, had been 
 taken from them. Antony tl#iight the Jews' 
 desires were just, and wrote immediately to 
 Hyrcanus, and to the Jews. He also sent, 
 at the same time, a decree to the Tyrians; 
 the contents of which were to the same pur- 
 pose. 
 
 3. " Marcus Antonius, imperator, to Hyr- 
 canus the high-priest aiul ethnarch of the 
 Jews, sendeth greeting. If you be in health, 
 it is well; I am also in health, with the army. 
 Lysimachus, the son of Pausanias. and Jose- 
 phus, the son of Menneus, and Alexander, 
 the son of Thcodorus, your ambassadors, met 
 me at Ephesus, and have renewed the embas- 
 sage which they had formerly been upon at 
 Rome, and have diligt-ntly acquitted them- 
 selves of the present embassage, whieh thou 
 and thy nation have intrusted to them, and 
 have fully declared the good-will thou hast 
 for us. I anj therefore satisfied, both by 
 
CHAP. XII, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 391 
 
 your actions and your words, that you are I the high-priest and ethnarch [of the Jews]. 
 
 appeared before me at Ephesus, and told hk 
 that you are in possession of part of tbt-i 
 country, which you entered upon under fh. 
 government ot our adversaries. Since, there- 
 fore, we have undertaken a war for the ob- 
 taining the government, and have taken ca 
 to do what was agreeable to piety and justi»( . 
 and have brought to punishment those th«6 
 had neither any remembrance of the kindiie.'^s 
 they had received, nor have kept their oaths, 
 I will that you be at peace with those that 
 are our confederates; as also, that what yoi 
 have taken by the means of our adversarie- 
 shall not be reckoned your own, but be re- 
 turned to those from whom you took them ; 
 for none of them took their provinces or their 
 armies by the gift of the senate, but they 
 seized them by force, and bestowed them hy 
 violence upon such as became useful to them 
 in their unjust proceedings. Since, there- 
 fore, those men have received the punishment 
 due to them, we desire that our confederates 
 may retain whatsoever it was that they for- 
 merly possessed without disturbance, and that 
 you restore all the places which belong to 
 Hyrcanus, the ethnarch of the Jews, which 
 you have had, though it were but one day 
 before Caius Cassius began an unjustifiable 
 war against us, and entered into our pio- 
 vince; nor do yo« use any force against hitn, 
 111 order to weaken him, that he may sot he 
 able to dispose of that which is his own; btit 
 if you have any contest with him about your 
 respective rights, it shall be lawful for you to 
 plead your cause, when we come upon the 
 places concerned, for we shall alike preserve 
 the rights, and hear ail the causes, of our 
 confederates." 
 
 5. " Marcus Antonius, imperator, to the 
 magistrates, senate, and people of Tyre, send- 
 eth greeting. I have sent you my decree, of 
 which I will that ye take care that it be en- 
 graven on the public tables, in Roman and 
 Greek letters, and that it stand engraven in 
 the most illustrious places, that it may be 
 read by all. Marcus Antonius, imperator, 
 one of the triumvirate over the publjc affairs, 
 made this declaration: — Since Caius Cassius, 
 in this revolt he hath made, hath pillaged 
 that province which belonged not to him, and 
 was held by garrisons there encamped, while 
 they were our confederates, and hath spoiled 
 that nation of the Jews which was in friend- 
 ship with the Roman people, as in war; and 
 since we have overcome his madness by aru)S, 
 we now correct, by our decrees and judicial 
 determinations, what he hath laid waste, that 
 those things may be restored to our confede- 
 rates; and as for what hath been sold of the 
 Jewish possessions, whether they be bodies or * 
 possessions, let them be released; the bodies 
 into that state of freedom they were orij:i- 
 nally in, and the possessions to their former 
 ownerfe. I also will, that he who shall not 
 
 well dispose<i to us; and I understand that 
 your conduct of life is constant and religious; 
 «o I reckon you as our own; but when those 
 that were adversaries to you, and to the Ro- 
 man people, abstained neither froiri cities nor 
 temples, and did not observe the agreement 
 they had confirmed by oath, it was not only 
 on account of our contest with them, but on 
 account of all mankind in common, that we 
 have taken vengeance on those who have been 
 the authors of great injustice towards men, 
 and of great wicke<lness towards the gods; 
 for the sake of which we supp<?se that it was 
 that the sun turned away bis light from us,* 
 as unwilling to view the horrid crime they 
 were piilty of in the case of Caesar. We 
 have also overcome their conspiracies, which 
 threatened the gods themselves, which Mace- 
 donia received, as^ is a climate peculiarly 
 proper for impious and insolent attempts; 
 and we have overcome that confused rout of 
 men, half mad with spite against us, which 
 they got together at Philippi, in Macedonia, 
 when they seized on the places that were pro- 
 per for their pur{x>&e, and, as it were, walled 
 them round with mountains to the very sea, 
 and vvhere the passage was open only through 
 a single gate. This victory we gained, be- 
 cause the gods had condemned those men for 
 their wicked enterprises. Now Brutus, when 
 he had fled as far as Philippi, was shut up by 
 tis, and became a partaker of the same perdi- 
 tion with Cassius; and now these have re- 
 ceived their punishment, we suppose that we 
 may enjoy peace for the time to come, and 
 that Asia may be at rest from war. We 
 therefiore make that peace which God hath 
 given us common to our confederates also, 
 insomuch that the body of Asia is now reco- 
 vered out of that distemper it was under by 
 means of our victory. I therefore, bearing 
 in mind both thee and your nation, shall take 
 care of what may be for your advantage. I 
 have also sent epistles in writing to the seve- 
 ral cities, that if any persons, whether free- 
 men or bondmen, have been sold under the 
 spear by Caius Cassius or his subordinate 
 officers, they may be set free; and I will 
 that you kindly make use of the favours 
 which I and Dolabella hi^ve granted you. I 
 also forbid the Tyrians to use any violence 
 with you ; and for what places of the Jews 
 they now possess, I order them to restore 
 them. I have withal accepted of the crown 
 which thou sentest me." 
 
 4. "Marcus Antoniqs, imperator, to the 
 magistrates, senate, and people of Tyre, send- 
 eth greeting. The ambassadors of Hyrcanus, 
 
 • This clair-e pi linly alludes to that well-known but 
 unusual and v^>-y long darkness of tht sun, whi.-.h hap- 
 pened upon tht? murder of Julius Caesar by Brutus and 
 Cassius; which is trreatly Uken notice of by Virgil, 
 I'liny. and other Rou» in aiitluirs. See Virgils Gi'or- 
 gjc-. book i. ju«t bel«r« the euii; and Fliny's Nat msU 
 ixMk ii. ch. XXX. 
 
392 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK xir. 
 
 comply with this decree of mine shall be 
 punished for his disobedience ; and if such a 
 one be caught, I will take care that the oflfen- 
 ders suffer condign punishment." 
 
 6. The same thing did Antony write to 
 the Sidonians, and the Antiochians, and the 
 Aradians. We have produced these decrees, 
 therefore, as marks for futurity of the truth 
 of what we have said, that the Romans had a 
 great concern about our nation. 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 HOW ANTONY MADE HEROD AND PHASAELU3 
 TBTRABCH8, AFTER THEY HAD BEEN AC- 
 CUSED TO NO purpose; and how the PAR- 
 thian8, when they brought antigonus 
 into judea, took hyrcanus and PHA- 
 
 SAELUS CAPTIVES. HEBOD's FLIGHT; AND 
 WHAT AFFLICTIONS HYRCANUS AND PHA- 
 SABLUS ENDURED. 
 
 § 1. When after this, Antony came into Sy- 
 ria, Cleopatra met him in Cilicia, and brought 
 him to fall in love with her. And there came 
 now also a hundred of the most potent of the 
 Jews to accuse Herod and those about him, and 
 set the men of the greatest eloquence among 
 them to speak. But Messala contradicted 
 them, on behalf of the young men, and all this 
 in the presence of Hyrcanus, who was He- 
 rod's father-in-law* already. When Antony 
 had heard both sides at Daphne, he asked 
 Hyrcanus who they were that governed the 
 nation best? He replied, Herod and his 
 friends. Hereupon Antony, by reason of the 
 old hospitable friendship he had made with 
 his father [Antipater], at that time when he 
 was with Gabinius, he made both Herod and 
 Phasaelus tetrarchs, and committed the public 
 affairs of the Jews to them, and wrote letters 
 to that purpose. He also bound fifteen of 
 their adversaries, and was going to kill them, 
 but that Herod obtained their pardon. 
 
 2. Yet did not these men continue quiet 
 when they were come back, but a thousand of 
 the Jews came to Tyre to meet him there, 
 whither the report was that he would come. 
 But Antony was corrupted by the money 
 which Herod and his brother had given him ; 
 and so he gave order to the governor of the 
 place to punish the Jewish ambassadors, who 
 were for making innovations, and to settle 
 the government upon Herod ; but Herod went 
 out hastily to them, and Hyrcanus was with 
 him (for they stood upon the shore before the 
 city); and he charged them to go their ways, 
 because great mischief would befall them 
 
 • We may here take notice that espoiiHals alone were 
 of old esteemed a sufficient foundation for affinity, Hyr- 
 canus beinp; here caWcd father-in-lato to Herod, because 
 his pfrand-dau(^htpr Mariainne was betrothed to him, 
 although the marriage was not completed till four 
 years aiUrwards. See Maitt. L 16. 
 
 if they went on with their accusation. Buf 
 they did not acquiesce : whereupon the Ro- 
 mans ran upon them with their daggers, and 
 slew some, and wounded more of them, and 
 the rest fled away, and went home, and lay 
 still in great consternation; and when the 
 people made a clamour against Herod, Antony 
 was so provoked at it, that he slew the prt 
 sonere. 
 
 3. Now, in the second year, Pacorus, the 
 king of Partiiia's son, and Barzaphames, a 
 commander of the Parthians, possessed them- 
 selves of Syria. Ptolemy, the son of Men- 
 neus, also was now dead, and Lysanias his 
 son took his government, and made a league 
 of friendship with Antigonus, the son of Aris- 
 tobulus : and in order to obtain it, made use 
 of that commander, who had a great interest 
 in him. Now Antigonus had promised to 
 give the Parthians a thcHMiind talents, and five 
 hundred women, upon condition they wodld 
 take the government away from Hyrcanus, 
 and bestow it upon him, and withal kill He- 
 rod. And although he did not give them what 
 he had promised, yet did the Parthians make 
 an expedition into Judea on that account, and 
 carried Antigonus with them. Pacorus went 
 along the maritime parts ; but the commander 
 Barzapharnes, through the midland. Now 
 the Tyrians excluded Pacorus; but the Sido- 
 nians, and those of Ptolemais, received him. 
 However, Pacorus sent a troop of horsemen 
 into Judea, to take a view of the state of the 
 country, and to assist Antigonus ; and sent 
 also the king's butler, of the same name with 
 himself. So when the Jews that dwelt about 
 mount Carmel came to Antigonus, and were 
 ready to march with him into Judea, Anti- 
 gonus hoped to get some part of the country 
 by their assistance. The place is called 
 Drymi ; and when some others came and met 
 them, the men privately fell upon Jerusalem ; 
 and when some more were come to them, they 
 got together in great numbers, and came 
 against the king's palace, and besieged it. 
 But as Phasaelus's and Jlerod's party came 
 to the other's assistance, and a battle happened 
 between them in the market-place, the young 
 men beat their enemies, and pursued them 
 into the temple, and sent some armed men 
 into the adjoining houses, to keep them in, 
 who yet being destitute of such as should sup- 
 port them, were burnt, and the bouses with 
 them, by the people who rose up against them. 
 But Herod was revenged on these seditious 
 adversaries of his a little afterward for this 
 injury they had offered him, when he fought 
 with them, and slew a great number of them. 
 
 4. But while there were daily skirmishes, 
 the enemy waited for the comini: of the mul- 
 titude out of the country to Pentecost, a feast 
 of ours so calle<l; and when that day was 
 come, many ten thousand.s of the f)eop!c were 
 gathered together al»ont the t-^mplc, some in 
 armour, and some without. Now those that 
 
CHAP. xin. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 393 
 
 came, guarded both the temple and the city, 
 excepting what belonged to the palace, which 
 Herod guarded with a few of his soldiers ; 
 and Phasaelus had the charge of the wall, 
 while Herod, with a body of his «nen, sallied 
 out upon the enemy, who lay in the suburbs, 
 and fought courageously, and put many ten 
 thousands to flight, some flying into the city, 
 and some into the temple, and some into the 
 outer fortifications, for some such fortifica- 
 tions there were in that place. Phasaelus 
 came also to his assistance ; yet was Pacorus, 
 the general of the Parthians, at the desire of 
 Antigonus, admitted into the city with a few 
 of his horsemen, under pretence indeed as if 
 he would still the sedition, but in reality to 
 assist Antigonus in obtaining the government. 
 And when Phasaelus met him, and received 
 him kindly, Pacorus persuaded him to go 
 himself as ambassador to Barzapharnes, which 
 was done fraudulently. Accordingly, Phasae- 
 lus, suspecting no harm, complied with his 
 proposal, while Herod did not give his con- 
 sent to what was done, because of the perfi- 
 diousness of those barbarians, but desired 
 Phasaelus rather to fight those that were 
 come into the city. 
 
 5. So both Hyrcanus and Phasaelus went 
 on the embassage ; but Pacorus left with He- 
 rod two hundred horsemen, and ten men, who 
 were called the freemen ; and conducted the 
 others on their journey ; and when they were 
 in Galilee, the governors of the cities there 
 met them in their arms. Barzapharnes also 
 received them at the first with cheerfulness, 
 and made them presents, though he afterward 
 conspired against them ; and Phasaelus with 
 his horsemen were conducted to the sea-side : 
 but when they heard that Antigonus had pro- 
 mised to give the Parthians a thousand talents, 
 and five hundred women, to assist him against 
 them, they soon had a suspicion of the bar- 
 barians. Moreover, there was one who in- 
 formed them that snares were laid for them by 
 night, while a guard came about them secretly ; 
 and they had then been seized upon, had they 
 not waited for the seizure of Herod by the Par- 
 thians that were about Jerusalem, lest, upon 
 the slaughter of Hyrcanus and Phasaelus, he 
 should have an intimation of it, and escape 
 out of their hands. And these were the cir- 
 cumstances they were now in ; and they saw 
 who they were that guarded them. Some 
 persons indeed would have persuaded Pha- 
 saelus to fly away immediately on horseback, 
 and not to stay any longer; and there was 
 one Ophellius, who above all the rest, was 
 earnest with him to do so, for he had heard 
 of this treachery from Saramalla, the richest 
 of all the Syrians at that time, who also pro- 
 mised to provide him ships to carry him off'; 
 for the sea was just by them: but he had no 
 mind to deseit Hyrcanus, nor bring his bro- 
 ther into danger: but he went to Barza- 
 pharnes, and told him he did not act justly 
 
 when he made such a contrivance against 
 them, for that if he wanted money, he would 
 give him more than Antigonus; and besides, 
 that it was a horrible thing to slay those that 
 came to him upon the security of their oaths, 
 and that when they had done him no injury. 
 But the barbarian swore to him that there 
 was no truth in any of his suspicions, bu 
 that he was troubled with nothing bu 
 false proposals, and then went away to 
 Pacorus. 
 
 6. But as soon as he was gone away, some 
 men came and bound Hyrcanus and Phasae- 
 lus; while Phasaelus greatly reproached the 
 Parthians for their perjury. However, that 
 butler who was sent against Herod had it in 
 command to get him without the walls of the 
 city, and seize upon him ; but messengers had 
 been sent by Phasaelus to inform Herod of 
 the perfidiousness of the Parthians ; and when 
 he knew that the enemy had seized upon 
 them, he went to Pacorus, and to the most 
 potent of the Parthians, as to the lords of the 
 rest, who although they knew the whole mat- 
 ter, dissembled with him in a deceitful way ; 
 and said that he ought to go out with them 
 before the walls, and meet those who were 
 bringing him his letters, for that they were 
 not taken by his adversaries, but were com- 
 ing to give him an account of the good suc- 
 cess Phasaelus had had. Herod did not give 
 credit to what they said ; for he had heard 
 that his brother was seized upon by others 
 also; and the daughter of Hyrcanus, whose 
 daughter he had espoused, was his monitor 
 also [not to credit them], which made him 
 still more suspicious of the Parthians; for 
 although other people did not give heed to 
 her, yet did he believe her, as a woman of 
 very great wisdom. 
 
 7. Now while the Parthians were in con- 
 sultation what was fit to be done ; for they 
 did not think it proper to make an open at- 
 tempt upon a person of his character; and 
 while they put off" the determination to the 
 next day, Herod was under great disturbance 
 of mind; and rather inclining to believe the 
 reports he heard about his brother and the 
 Parthians, than to give heed to what was said 
 on the other side, he determined, that when 
 the evening came on, he would make use of 
 it for his flight, and not make any longer 
 delay, as if the dangers from the enemy were 
 not yet certain. He therefore removed with 
 the armed men whom he had with him ; and 
 set his wives upon the beasts, as also his mo- 
 ther, and sister, and her ./hom he wts about 
 to marry [Mariamne], the daughter of Alex- 
 ander, the son of Aristobulus, with her mo- 
 ther, the daughter of Hyrcanus, and his 
 youngest brother, and all their servants, and 
 the rest of the multitude that was with him, 
 and without the enemy's privity pursued his 
 way to Idumea : nor could any enemy of his 
 who then saw him in this case be so hard 
 
394 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWI?. 
 
 BOOK XIV. 
 
 hearted, but would bave commiserated his 
 fortune, while the women drew along their 
 infant children, and left their own country, 
 and their friends in prison, with tears in their 
 eyes, and sad lamentations, and in expectation 
 of nothing but what was of a melancholy na- 
 ture. 
 
 8. But for Herod himself, he raised his 
 mind above the miserable state he was in, and 
 was of good courage in the midst of his mis- 
 fortunes; and, as he passed along, he bade 
 them every one to be of good cheer, and not 
 to give themselves up U) sorrow, because that 
 would hinder them in their flifjht, which was 
 now the only hope of safety that they had — 
 Accordingly, they tried to bear with patience 
 the calamity they were under, as he exhorted 
 them to do; yet was he once almost going to 
 kill himself upon the overthrow of a waggon, 
 and the danger his mother was then in of be- 
 ing killed; and this on two accounts, because 
 of his great concern for her, and because he 
 was afraid lest, by this delay, the enemy should 
 overtake him in the pursuit; but as he was 
 drawing his sword, and going to kill himself 
 therewith, those that were present restrained 
 him, and being so many in number, were too 
 hard for him; and told him that he ought not 
 to riesert them, and leave them a prey to their 
 enemies, for that it was not the part of a brave 
 man to free himself from the distresses he was 
 in, aiid to overlook his frientls that were in 
 the same distress also. So he was compelled 
 to let that horrid attempt alone, partly out of 
 shame at what they said to him, and partly 
 out of regard to the great number of those 
 that would not permit him to do what he 
 intended. So he encouraged his mother, and 
 took all the care of her the time would allow, 
 and proceeded on the way he proposed to go 
 with the utmost haste, and that was to the 
 fortress of Masada. And as he had many 
 skirmishes with such of the Parthians as at- 
 tacked him and pursued him, he was conqueror 
 in them all. 
 
 9. Nor indeed was he free from the Jews 
 all along as he was in his flight: for by the 
 time he was gotten sixty furlongs out of the 
 city, and was upon the road, they fell upon 
 him, and fought hand to hand with him, whom 
 he also put to flight, and overcame, not like 
 one that was in distress and in necessity, but 
 like one that was excellently prepared for war, 
 and had what he wanted in great plenty. And 
 in this very place where he overcame the Jews, 
 it was that he some time afterwards built a 
 most excellent pal<«e, and a city round about 
 it, and called it Ilerodium. And when he 
 was come to Idumea, at a place called Thres- 
 sa. his brother Joseph met him, and he then 
 held a council to take advice about all his af- 
 fairs, and what was fit to be done in his cir- 
 cunistances, since he had a great multitude 
 that followed him, besides his mercenary sol- 
 diert, and the place Masada, whither he pro- 
 
 posed to fly, was too small to contain so great 
 a multitude; so he sent away the greater part 
 of his company, being above nine thousand, 
 and bade them go, some one way and some 
 another, ai\^ so save themselves in Idumea, 
 and gave them what would buy them provi- 
 sions in their journey. But he took with him 
 those that were the least encumbered, and 
 were most intimate with him, and came to the 
 fortress, and placed there his wives and his 
 followers, being eight hundred in number, 
 there being in the place a sufficient quantit) 
 of corn and water, and other necessaries, and 
 went directly for Petra, in Arabia. But when 
 it was day, the Parthians plundered all Jeru- 
 salem, and the palace, and abstained from no- 
 thing but Hyrcanus's money, which was three 
 hundred talents. A gieat deal of Herod's 
 money escaped, and' principally all that the 
 man had been so provident as to send into 
 Idumea beforehand : nor indeed did what was 
 in the city suffice the Parthians; but they 
 went out into the country, and plundered it, 
 and demolished the city Marissa. 
 
 10. And thus was Antigonus brought back 
 into Judea by the king of the Parthians, and 
 received Hyrcanus and Phasaelus for his pri- 
 soners; but he was greatly cast down because 
 the women had esciiped, whom he intended 
 to have given the enemy, as having promised 
 they should have them, with the money, for 
 their reward: but being afraid that Hyrcanus, 
 who vi'as under the guard of the Parthians, 
 might have his kingdom restored to him by 
 the multitude, he cut off his ears, and there- 
 by took care that the high-priesthood should 
 never come to him any more, because he was 
 maimed, while the law required that this dig- 
 nity should belong to none but such as had 
 all their members entire.* But now one can- 
 not but here admire the fortitude of Phasae- 
 lus, who, perceiving that he was to be put to 
 death, did not think death any terrible thing 
 at all; but to die thus by the means of his, 
 enemy, this he thought a most pitiable and 
 dishonourable thing, and therefore, since he 
 had not his bands at liberty, for the bonds he 
 was in prevented him from killing himself 
 thereby, he dashed his head against a great 
 atone, and thereby took away his own life, 
 which he thought to be the best thing he 
 could do in such a distress as he was in., and 
 thereby put it out of the power of the enemy 
 to bring him to any death he pleased. It is 
 also reported, that when he had made a great 
 wound in his head, Antigonus sent physicians 
 to cure it, and, by ordering them to infuse 
 poison into the wound, killed him. How- 
 ever, Phasaelus hearing, before he was quite 
 dead, by a certain woman, that his brother 
 Herod had escaped the enemy, underwent his 
 death cheerfully, since he now left behind 
 
 • This law of Mosps, that the priextK wen to be 
 ♦'without blt-mish," as to all thtr parts of their bodies, 
 ia in Uvit. xxL 17—24 
 
CHAP. XIV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 395 
 
 him one who would revenge his death, and 
 wIjo was aol^ to inflict punishment on his 
 enemies. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 BOW HEROD GOT AWAY FROM THE KING OF 
 ARABIA, AND MADE HASTE TO GO INTO 
 EGYPT, AND THENCK WENT IN HASTE ALSO 
 TO ROME; AND HOW, BY PROMISING A 
 GREAT DEAL OF MONEY TO ANTONY, HE 
 OBTAINED OF THE SENATE AND OF C^SAR 
 TO BE MADE KING OF THE'JEWS. 
 
 § 1. As for Herod, the great miseries, he was 
 in did not discourage him. but made him 
 sharp in discovering surprising undertakings; 
 for he went to Malchus, king of Arabia, whom 
 he had formerly been very kind to, in order 
 to receive somewhat by way of requital; now 
 he was in more than ordinary want of it, and 
 desired he would let him have some money, 
 either by way of loan, or as his free gift, on 
 account of the many benefits he had received 
 from him; for not knowing what was become 
 of his brother, he vvas in haste to redeem him 
 out of the hand of his enemies, as willing to 
 give three hundred talents for the price of his 
 redemption. He also took with him the son 
 of Phasaelus, who was a child of but seven 
 years of age; for this very reason, that he 
 might be an hostage for the repayment of the 
 money. But there came messengers from 
 Malchus to meet him, by whom he was de- 
 sired to be gone, for that the Parthians had 
 laid a charge upon him not to entertain He- 
 rod. This was only a pretence which he 
 made use of, that he might not be oblitred to 
 repay him what he owed him; and this he 
 was farther induced to, oy the principal men 
 among the Arabians, that they n)i«ht cheat 
 him of what sums they had received from [his 
 father] Antipater, and which he had commit- 
 ted to their fidelity. He made answer, that 
 he did not intend to be troublesome to them 
 by his coming thither, but that he desired 
 only to discourse with them about certain 
 affairs that were to him of the greatest im- 
 portance. 
 
 2. Hereupon he resolved to go away, and 
 did go very prudently the road to Egypt ; 
 and then it was that he lodged in a certain 
 temple; for he had left a great many of his 
 followers there. On the next day he came to 
 Rhinocolura, and theie it was that he heard 
 what had befallen his brother. Though Mal- 
 chus soon repented of what he had done and 
 came running after Herod ; but with no man- 
 ner of succees. for he was gotten a very great 
 way off, af>d made haste into the road to Pe- 
 lusium ; and when the stationary ships that 
 lay there hindered him from sailing to Alex- 
 andria, he went to their captains, by whos^ 
 
 assistance, and that out of much reverence nf, 
 and great regard to him, he was conducted 
 into the city [Alexandria], and was retained 
 there by Cleopatra, yet was she not able to 
 prevail with him to stay there, because he vvas 
 making haste to Rome, even though the wea- 
 ther was stormy, and he was informed that 
 the affairs of Italy were very tumultuous 
 and in great disorder. 
 
 3. So he set sail from thence to Pamphy 
 lia, and falling into a violent storm, he had 
 much ado to escape to Rhodes, with the loss 
 of the ship's burden; and there it was that 
 two of his friends, Sappinas and Ptolemeus, 
 met with him: and hs he found that city very 
 much damaged in the war against Cassius, 
 though he were in necessity himself, be ne- 
 glected not to do it a kindness, but did what 
 he could to recover it to its former state. He 
 also built there a three-decked ship, and set 
 sail thence, with his friends, for Italy, and 
 came to the port of Brundusium: and when 
 he was come from thence to Rome, he first 
 related to Antony what had befallen him in 
 Judea, and how Phasaelus his brother was 
 seized on by the Parthians, and put to death 
 by them, and how Hyrcanus was detained 
 captive bv them, and how they had made An- 
 tigonus king, who had promised them a sum 
 of money, no less than a thousand talents, 
 with five hundred women, who were to be of 
 the principal families, and of the Jewish stock; 
 and that he had carried off the women by 
 night; and that, by undergoing a great many 
 hardships, he had escaped the hands of his 
 enemies; as also, that his own relations were 
 in danger of being besieged and taken, and 
 that he had sailed through a storm, and con- 
 temned all these terrible dangers, in order to 
 come, as soon as possible, to him who was his 
 hope and only succour at this time. 
 
 4. This account made Antony commiserate 
 the change that had happened in Herod's 
 condition;' and reasoning with himself that- 
 this was a common case among those that 
 are placed in such great dignities, and that 
 they are liable to the mutations that come 
 from fortune, he was very ready to give him 
 the assistance he desired; and this because 
 he called to mind the friendship he had had 
 vvith Antipater, because Herod olFered binv 
 money to make him king, as he had formerly 
 given it to him to make him tetrarch, and 
 chiefly because of his hatred to Antigonus, 
 for he took him to be a seditious person, and 
 an enemy to the Romans. Caesar was also 
 the forwarder to raise Herod's dignity, and 
 to give him his assistance in what he desired, 
 on account of the toils of war which he had 
 
 • Concernini? tlie chronolosry of Herod, and the timn 
 when he wan first made kin^ at Rome, and concerning 
 »hf time when he hegan his second reicn. withnot a ri- 
 val, upon the conq-.iest and slaughter of Antigonus, both 
 princ palJy derived from this and the two next chap- 
 ters in Josephus, see ib^ vntt on stct 6, and ch. xr 
 aecL 10. 
 
396 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK xiy. 
 
 himself undergone with Antipater his father 
 in Egypt, and of the hospitality he had treated 
 him withal, and the kindness he had always 
 shown him ; as also to gratify Antony, who 
 was very zealous for Herod. So a senate 
 was convocated ; and Messala first, and then 
 Atratinus, introduced Herod into it, and en- 
 larged upon the benefits they had received 
 from his father, and put them in mind of the 
 good-will he had borne to the Romans. At 
 the same time, they accused Antigonus, and 
 declared him an enemy, not only because of 
 his former opposition to them, but that he had 
 now overlooked the Romans, and taken the 
 government from the Parthians. Upon this 
 the senate was irritated ; and Antony informed 
 them farther, that it was for their advantage 
 in the Parthian war that Herod should be 
 king. This seemed good to all the senators ; 
 and so they made a decree accordingly. 
 
 5. And this was the principal instance of 
 Antony's affection for Herod, that he not 
 only procured him a kingdom which he did 
 not expect (for he did not come with an in- 
 tention to ask the kingdom for himself, which 
 he did not suppose the Romans would grant 
 him, who used to bestow it on some of the 
 royal family, but intended to desire it for his 
 wife's brother, who was grandson by his father 
 to Aristobulus, and to Hyrcanus by his mo- 
 ther), but that he procured it for him so sud- 
 denly, that he obtained what he did not expect, 
 and departed out of Italy in so few days as 
 seven in all. This young man [the grandson] 
 Herod afterward took care to have slain, as we 
 shall show in its proper place. But when the 
 senate was dissolved, Antony and Csesar went 
 out of the senate-house, with Herod between 
 them, and with the consuls and other magis- 
 trates before them, in order to offer sacrifices, 
 and to lay up their decrees in the capitol. 
 Antony also feasted Herod the first day of his 
 reign. And thus did this man receive the 
 kingdom, having obtained it on the hundred 
 and eighty-fourth olympiad, when Caius Do- 
 mitius Calvinus was consul the second time, 
 and Caius Asinius Pollio [the first time]. 
 
 6. All this while Antigonus besieged those 
 that were in Masada, who had plenty of all 
 other necessities, but were only in want of 
 water,* insomuch that on this occasion Joseph, 
 Herod's brother, was contriving to run away 
 from it, with two hundred of his dependants, 
 to the Arabians; for he had heard that Mal- 
 chus repented of the offences he had been 
 guilty of with regard to Herod ; but God, by 
 sending rain in the night-time, prevented his 
 going away, for their cisterns were thereby 
 filled, and he was under no necessity of run- 
 ning away on that account : but they were now 
 of good courage, and the more so, because the 
 
 ♦ ThU fnHlevotiB want of wjiter at Masada, till the 
 place had like to havo been taken by the Parthians 
 
 i mentioned both here and Of the War, b. \. ch. xt. sect 
 ), i« an indication that it was now summer-time. 
 
 sending that plenty of water which they had 
 been in want of, seemed a mafk of divine pro- 
 vidence ; so they made a sally, and fought hand 
 to hand with Antigonus's soldiers (with some 
 openly, with some privately), and destroyed a 
 great number of them. At the same time Ven- 
 tidius, the general of the Romans, was sent out 
 of Syria, to drive the Parthians out of it, and 
 marched after them into Judea, on pretence in- 
 deed to succour Joseph; but, in reality, the 
 whole affair was no more than a stratagem, in 
 order to get money of Antigonus; so they pitch- 
 ed their camp very near to Jerusalem, and strip- 
 ped Antigonus of a great deal of money, and 
 then he retired himself with the greater, part 
 of tne army ; but, that the wickedness he had 
 been guilty of might not be found out, he left 
 Silo there, with a certain part of his soldiers, 
 with whom also Antigonus cultivated an ac- 
 quaintance, that he might cause him no dis- 
 turjjance, and was still in hopes that the Par- 
 thians would come again and defend him. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HOW HEROD SAILED OUT OP ITALY TO JUDEA, 
 AND FOUGHT WITH ANTIGONUS; AND WHAl 
 OTHER THINGS HAPPENED IN JUDEA ABOUT 
 THAT TIME. 
 
 § 1. By this time Herod had sailed out of 
 Italy to Ptolemais, and had gotten together 
 no small army, both of strangers and of his 
 own countrymen, and marched through Gali- 
 lee against Antigonus. Silo also, and Ven- 
 tidius, came and assisted him, being persuaded 
 by Dellius, who was sent by Antony to assist 
 in bringing back Herod. Now, for Ven- 
 tidius, he was employed in composing the 
 disturbances that had been made in the cities 
 by the means of the Parthians ; and for Silo, 
 he was indeed in Judea, but corrupted by 
 Antigonus. However, as Herod went along, 
 his army increased every day, and all Galilee, 
 with some small exception, joined him ; but 
 as he was marching to those that were in Ma- 
 sada (for he was obliged to endeavour to save 
 those that were in that fortress, now they 
 were besieged, because they were his rela- 
 tions), Joppa was a hinderance to him, for it 
 was necessary for him to take that place, first, 
 it being a city at variance with him, that no 
 strong-hold might be left in his enemies' hands 
 behind him when he should go to Jerusalem. 
 And when Silo made this a pretence for rising 
 up from Jerusalem, and was thereupon pur- 
 sued by the Jews, Herod fell upon them with 
 a small body of men, and both put the Jews 
 to flight and saved Silo, when he was very 
 poorly able to defend himself; but when He- 
 rod had taken Joppa, he made haste to set 
 free those of his family that were in Masada. 
 Now of the people of the country, some 
 
CHAP. XY. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 39' 
 
 joined him because of the friendship they had 
 had with his father, and some because of the 
 splendid appearance he made, and others by 
 way of requital for the benefits they had re- 
 ceived from both of them ; but the greatest 
 number came to him in hopes of getting 
 somewhat from him afterward, if he were 
 once firmly settled in the kingdom. 
 
 2. Herod had now a strong array ; and as 
 he marched on, Antigonus laid snares and 
 ambushes in the passes and places most pro- 
 per for them ; but in truth he thereby did 
 little or no damage to the enemy : so Herod 
 received those of his family out of Masada, 
 and the fortress Ressa, and then went on for 
 Jerusalem. The soldiery also that was with 
 Silo accompanied him all along, as did many 
 of the citizens, being afraid of his power: 
 and as soon as he had pitched his camp on 
 the west side of the city, the soldiers that 
 were set to guard that part shot their arrows, 
 and threw their darts at him ; and when some 
 sallied out in a crowd, and came to fight 
 hand to hand with the first ranks of Herod's 
 army, he gave orders that they should, in the 
 first place, make proclamation about the wall, 
 that he came for the good of the 'people, and 
 for the preservation of the city, and not to 
 bear any old grudge at even his most open 
 enemies, but ready to forget the offences 
 which his greatest adversaries had done him ; 
 but Antigonus, by way of reply to what He- 
 rod had caused to be proclaimed, and this 
 before the Romans, and before Silo also, 
 said, that they would not do justly if they 
 gave the kingdom to Herod, who was no 
 more than a private man, and an Idumean, 
 i. e. a half Jew,* whereas they ought to be- 
 stow it on one of the royal family, as their 
 custom was ; for, that in case they at present 
 bare an iM-will^o him, and had resolved to 
 deprive him of the kingdom, as having re- 
 ceived it from the Parthians, yet were there 
 many others of his family that might by their 
 law take it, and these such as had no way 
 offended the Romans; and being of the sacer- 
 dotal family, it* would be an unworthy thing 
 to put them by. Now while they said thus 
 one to another, and fell to reproaching one 
 another on both sides, Antigonus permitted 
 his own men that were upon the wall to de- 
 fend themselves; who, using their bows, and 
 showing great alacrity against their enemies, 
 easily drove them away from the towers. 
 
 3. And now it was that Silo discovered that 
 
 * This affirmation of Antigotiiis, spoken in the days 
 of Herod, and in a manner to his face, that he was an 
 Idumean, i. e. a half Jew. eeems to me of nmch greater 
 authority than that pretence of his favourite and flat- 
 terer Nicolaus of Damascus, that he derived his pedi- 
 gree from Jews as far backward as the Babylonish cap- 
 tivity, ch. i. sect. 3. Accordingly Josephus always 
 esteems him an Idumean, though he says his father 
 Antipater was of the same people with the Jews (ch. 
 Till. sect. 1). and a Jew by birth ( Antiq. b. xx. ch. viii. 
 cect. 7). as indeed all such proselytes of justice as the 
 Idumean s were in time esteem©! the very same peo- 
 ple with the Jews. 
 
 I he had taken bribes: for he set a great nuro- 
 I ber of his soldiers to complain aloud of the 
 j want of provisions they were in, and to re- 
 quire money to buy them food ; and that it 
 was fit to let them go into places proper for 
 winter quarters, since the places near the city 
 were a desert, by reason that Antigonus's 
 soldiers had carried all away; so he set his 
 army upon removing, and endeavoured to 
 march away; but Herod pressed Silo not to 
 depart, and exhorted Silo's -aptains and sol- 
 diers not to desert him, when Csesar and An- 
 tony, and the senate, had sent him thither, for 
 that he would" provide them plenty of all the 
 things they wanted, and easily procure them 
 a great abundance of what they required; af- 
 ter which entreaty, he immediately went into 
 the country, and left not the least pretence 
 to Silo for bis departure, for he brought an 
 unexpected quantity of provisions, and sent 
 to those friends of his who inhabited about 
 Samaria, to bring down corn, and wine, and 
 oil, and cattle, and all other pro\nsions, to 
 Jericho, that there might be no want of a 
 supply for the soldiers for the time to come. 
 Antigonus was sensible of this, and sent pre- 
 sently over the country such as might restrain 
 and lie in ambush for those that went out for 
 provisions. So these men obeyed the orders 
 of Antigonus, and got together a great num- 
 ber of armed men about Jericho, and sat up- 
 on the mountains, and watched those that 
 brought the provisions. However, Herod was 
 not idle in the meantime, for he took ten 
 bands of soldiers, of whom five were of the 
 Romans, and five of the Jews, with some 
 mercenaries among them, and with some few 
 horsemen, and caine to Jericho; and as they 
 found the city deserted, but that five hundred 
 of them had settled themselves on the tops of 
 the hills, with their wives and children, those 
 he took and sent away: but the Romans fell 
 upon the city, and plundered it, and found 
 the houses full of all sorts of good things. 
 So the king left a garrison at Jericho, and 
 came back again, and sent the Roman army 
 to take their winter quarters in the countries 
 that were come over to him, Judea and Galilee, 
 and Samaria. And so much did Antigonus 
 gain of Silo for the bribes he gave him, that 
 part of the army should be quartered at Lyd- 
 da, in order to please Antony. So the Ro- 
 mans laid their weapons aside, and lived in 
 plenty of all things. 
 
 4. But Herod was not pleased with lying 
 still, but sent out his brother Joseph against 
 Idumea with two thousand armed footmen, 
 and four hundred horsemen, while he hiinself 
 came to Samaria, and left his mother and his 
 other relations there, for they were already 
 gone out of Masada, and went into Gahleo, 
 and took certain places which were held by the 
 garrisons of Antigonus; and he passed on to 
 Sepphoris, as God sent a snow, while Anti- 
 gonus's garrisons withdrew themselves, anU 
 
398 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIV, 
 
 had great plenty of provisions. He also went 
 tbence, and re!-olved to destroy those robbers 
 thHt fiwelt ill the raves, and did much mischief 
 in the country; so he sent a troop of horse- 
 men, ajid three companies of armed footmen, 
 ftgainst them. They were very near to a vil- 
 lage called Arbela; and on the fortieth day 
 after, he came himself with his whole army : 
 and as the enemy sallied out boldly upon him, 
 the left wing of his army gave way; but he 
 appearing with a body of men, put those to 
 flight who were already conquerors, and re- 
 called his men that ran away. He also pressed 
 upon his enemies, and pursued them as far as 
 the river Jordan, though they ran away by 
 different roads. So be brought over to him 
 all Galilee, excepting those that dwelt in the 
 caves, and distributed money to every one 
 of his soldiers, giving them a hundred and 
 fifty drachmae apiece, and much more to their 
 captains, and sent them into winter quarters; 
 at which time Silo came to him, and his com- 
 manders with him, because Antigonus would 
 not give them provisions any longer; for he 
 supplied them for no more than one month; 
 nay, be had sent to all the country round about, 
 and ordered them to carry off the provi>ioiis 
 that were there, and retired to the mountains, 
 that the Romans might have no provisions to 
 live upon, and so mi(.ht perish by famine; 
 but Herod committed the care of that matter 
 to Pheroras, his voungest brother, and ordered 
 bim to repair Alexandrium ali-o. Accordingly, 
 Be quickly made the soldiers abound with 
 great plenty of provisions, and rebuilt Alex- 
 andrium, which had been before desolate. 
 
 5. About this time it v\as that Antony con- 
 tinued some time at Athens, and that Venti- 
 dius, who was now in S}ria, sent for Silo, 
 and commanded4)im to assist Herod, in the 
 first place, to finish the present \\ar,and thento 
 sendforthei.r confederates forthe\^a^ they were 
 themselves engaged in; but as for Herod, he 
 went in haste against the robbers that v»ere 
 in the caves, and sent Silo away to Ventidi- 
 us, while he marched against Ihtm. Th«se 
 caves were in mountains that were exceeding 
 abrupt, and in their middle were no other 
 than precipices, with certain entrances into 
 the caves, and those caves were encompassed 
 with sharp rocks, and in these did the robbers 
 lie concealed, with all their families about 
 them; but the king caused certain chests to 
 be made, in order to destroy them, aiid to be 
 binig down, bound about with iron chains, by 
 an engine, from the top of the mountain, it 
 being not possible to get up to them, by rea- 
 ,son of the sharp ascent of the mountains, nor 
 to creep down to them from above. Kow 
 the«e chests were tilled with armed men, who 
 had long books in their bands, by which thev 
 might pull out such as resisred them, and 
 then tumble them down, and kill them by so 
 doing; but the letting the chests down proved 
 to be a matter of great danger, becauiie of 
 
 I the vast depth they were to he let down, al- 
 though they had their provisions in the chests 
 themselves; but when the chests were let 
 down, and not one of those in the mouths 
 of the caves durst coine near them, but lay 
 still out of fear, some of the armed men girt 
 on their armour, and by both their hands took 
 bold of the chain by which the chests were 
 let down, and went into the mouths of the 
 caves, because they fretted that such delay 
 was made by the robbers not daring to come 
 out of the caves; and when they were at any 
 of those mouths, they first killed many of 
 those that were in the mouths with their 
 darts, and afterwards pulled those to them 
 that resisted them with their hooks, and tum- 
 l)ied them down the precipices, and afterwards 
 went into the caves, and killed many more, 
 and then went into their chests again, and luy 
 still there; but upon this, terror seized the 
 rest, when the} heard the lamentations that 
 were made, and they despaired of escaping; 
 however, vkhen the night came on, that put 
 an end to the whole work; and as the king 
 proclaimed pardon by an herald to su(h as ■;» 
 delivered themselves up to him, mary accepted 
 of the offer. The same method of assault 
 was made use of the next day; and they went 
 farther, and got out in baskets to fight tbem, 
 and fought them at their doors, and sent fire 
 an)ong them, and set their caves on fire, for 
 there was a great deal of combustible matter 
 within them. Now there was one old man 
 who was caught within one of these caves, 
 with seven children and a wife; these pra\ed 
 him to give them leave to go out, and yield 
 themselves up to the enemy; but he stood at 
 the cave's mouth, and always- slew that child 
 of his who went out, till he had destroyed 
 them every one, and after that he slew his 
 wife, and cast their dead bodies ^own the 
 precipice, and himself after them, and so 
 underwent death rather than slavery; but 
 before he did this, he greatly reproached 
 Herod with the meanness of his family, al- 
 though he was then king. Herod also saw 
 what he was doing, and stretched out hi. 
 hand, and offered him all manner of security 
 for his life: by which means all these cave* 
 were at length subdued entirely. • 
 
 6. And when the king had set Ptolemy 
 over these parts of the country as his general, 
 he went to Samaria with six hundred horse- 
 men and three thousand armed footmen, as 
 intending to fight Antigonus: but still this 
 command of the army did not succeed well 
 with Ptolemy, hut those that had been trou- 
 blesome to Galilee before attacked him, and 
 •slew him; and when they had done this, they 
 fled among the lakes and places almost inaccei»- 
 sd)Ie, laying waste and plundering whatsoever 
 they could come at in those places; but lie- 
 rod soon returned, and punished them for wh.at 
 they had done; for scnve of those rebels he 
 elcw, and otberi of them, who had fled to the 
 
CHAP. XV, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 399 
 
 strong holds, he besieged, and both slew them 
 and demolished their strong holds; and when 
 he had thus put an end to their rebellion, 
 be laid a fine upon the cities of a hundred 
 talents. 
 
 7.. In the mean time Pacorus was fallen 
 in a battle, and the Parthians were defeated, 
 when Ventidius sent Macheras to the assist- 
 ance ot Herod, with two legions and a thou- 
 sand horsemen, while Antony encouraged 
 him to make haste; but Macheras, at the in- 
 stigation of Antigonus, without the approba- 
 tion of Herod, as being ci»rrupted by money, 
 went about to take a view of his affairs; but 
 Antigonus, suspecting this intention of his 
 coming, did not admit him into the city, but 
 kept him at a distance, with throwing stones 
 at him, and plainly showed what he hinjself 
 meant; but when Macheras was sensible that 
 Herod had given him good advice, and that 
 he had made a mistake himself in not heark- 
 ening to that advice, he retired to the city 
 Eiiimaus; and what Jews he met with he 
 slew them, whether they were enemies or 
 j»^riends, out of the rage he was in at what 
 ^ hardships he had undergone. The king was 
 provoked at this conduct of his, and went to 
 Samaria, and resolved to go to Antony about 
 these affairs, and to inform him that he stood 
 in no need of such, helpers, who did him more 
 mischief than they did his enemies; and that 
 he was able of himself to beat Antigonus. 
 But Macheras followed him, and desired that 
 - he would not go to Antony; or, if he was 
 resolved to go that he would join his brother 
 Joseph with them, and let them fight against 
 Antigonus. So he was reconciled to Mache- 
 ras, upon his earnest entreaties. Accordingly 
 he left Joseph there with his army, but char- 
 ged him to run no hazards, nor to quarrel with 
 Macheras. ^ 
 
 8. But for his own part, he made haste to 
 Antofiy (who was then at the siege of Samo- 
 gata, a place upon Euphrates) with his troops, 
 both horsemen and footmen, to be auxiliaries 
 to him; and when he came to Antioch. and 
 met there a greflt numher of men gotten to- 
 gether that were very desirous to go to An- 
 tony, but durst not venture to go, out of fear, 
 because the barbarians fell upon men on the 
 road, ai'd slew many, so he encouraged them, 
 and became their conductor upon the road. 
 Now, when they were within two days' march 
 of Samosata, the barbarians had laid an am- 
 bush there to disturb those that came to An- 
 tony, and where the woods made the passes 
 narrow, as they led to the plains, there .they 
 laid not a few of their horsemen, who were 
 to lie still until those passengers were gone 
 by into the wide place. Now as soon as the 
 first ranks were gone by (for Herod brought 
 on the rear), those that lay in ambush, who 
 were about five hundred, fell upon them on 
 the sudden, and when they had put the fore- 
 most to flight, the kin^j: came riding bird, with 
 
 the forces that were about him, and immedi. 
 ately drove back the enemy; by which means 
 he made the minds of his own men courage- 
 ous, and emboldened them to go on, insomuch 
 that those who ran away before, now returned 
 back, and the barbarians were slain on all 
 sides. The king also went on killing them, 
 and recovered all the baggage, among which 
 were a great number of beasts for burden, 
 and of slaves, and proceeded on in his march ; 
 and whereas there were a great number of 
 those in the woods that attacked them, and 
 were near the passage that led into the plain, 
 he made a sally upon these also with a strong 
 body of men, and put them to flight, and 
 slew many of them, and thereby rendered the 
 way safe for those that came after; and these 
 called Herod their saviour and protector. 
 
 9. And when he was near to Samosata, An- 
 tony sent out his army in all their proper ha- 
 biliments to meet him, in order to pay Herod 
 this respect, and because of the assistance he 
 had given him; for he had heard what at- 
 t icks the barbarians had made upon him [in 
 Judea]. He also was very glad to see him 
 there, as having been made acquainted with 
 the great actions he had performed upon the 
 road ; so he entertained him very kindly, and 
 could not but admire his courage. Antony 
 also embraced him as soon as he saw him, 
 and saluted him after a most affectionate man- 
 ner, and gave him the upper hand, as having 
 himself lately made him a king ; and in a 
 little time Antiochus delivered up the fortress, 
 and on that account this war was at an end ; 
 then Antony committed the rest to Sossius, 
 and gave him orders to assist Herod, and 
 went himself to Egypt. Accordingly, Sossius 
 sent two legions before into Judea to the as- 
 sistance of Herod, and he followed himself 
 with the body of the army. 
 
 10. Now Joseph was already slain in Judea, 
 in the manner following: — He forgot what 
 charge his brother Herod had given him when 
 he went to Antony; and .when he had pitched 
 his camp among the mountains, for Ma(;heras 
 had lent him five regiments, with these he 
 went hastily to Jericho, in order to reap the 
 corn thereto belonging; and as the Roman 
 regiments were but newly raised, and were 
 unskilful in war, for they were in great part 
 collected out of Syria, he was attacked by the 
 enemy, and caught in those places of difficulty, 
 and was himself slain, as he was fighting 
 bravely, and the whole army was lost, for 
 there were six regiments slain. So when 
 Antigonus had got possession of the dead 
 i)odies, he cut off Joseph's head, although 
 Pheroras, his brother, would have redeemed «t 
 at the price of fifty talents. After which de- 
 feat the Galileans revolted from their com- 
 manders, and took those of Herod's party, 
 and drowned them in the lake; and a great 
 part of Judea was become seditious: but Ma- 
 cheras fortified the place Gitta [in SamariuJ. 
 
400 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XIV. 
 
 11. At this time messengers came to He- 
 rod, and informed him of what had been 
 done; and when he was come to Daphne by 
 Antioch, they told him of the ill-fortune that 
 nad befallen his brother, which yet he expect- 
 ed, from certain visions that appeared to him 
 in his dreams, which clearly foreshowed his 
 brother's death. So he hastened his march; 
 and when he came to mount Libanus, he re- 
 ceived about eight hundred of the men of that 
 place, having already with him also one Ro- 
 man legion, and with these he came to Ptole- 
 mais. He also marched thence by night with 
 his army and proceeded along Galilee. Here 
 it was that the enemy met him, and fought 
 him, and were beaten, and shut up in the 
 same place of strength whence they had sallied 
 out the day before. So he attacked the place 
 in the morning; but, by reason of a great 
 storm that was then very violent, he was able 
 to do nothing, but drew off his army into the 
 neighbouring villages; yet as soon as the 
 other legion that Arjtony sent him was come 
 to his assistance, those that were in garrison 
 in the place were afraid, and deserted it in 
 the night-time. Then did the king march 
 hastily to Jericho, intending to avenge himself 
 on the enemy for the slaughter of his brother; 
 and when'he had pitched his tents, he niide 
 a feast for the principal commanders, and 
 after this collation was over, and he had dis- 
 missed his guests, be retired to his own cham- 
 ber: and here may one see what kindness 
 God had for the king, for the upper part of 
 the bouse fell down when nobody was in it, 
 and so killed none, insomuch that all the peo- 
 ple believed that Herod was beloved of God, 
 since he had escaped such a great and surpris- 
 ing danger. 
 
 12. But the next day six thousand of the 
 enemy came down fron#the tops of the moun- 
 tains to fight the Romans, which greatly ter- 
 rified them ; and the soldiers that were in light 
 armour came near, and pelted the king's 
 guards that were come out with darts and 
 stones, and one of them bit him on the side 
 with a dart. Antigonus also sent a comman- 
 der against Samaria, whose name was Pappus, 
 with some forces, being desirous to show the 
 enemy how potent he was, and that he had 
 men to spare in his war with them: he sat 
 down to oppose Macheras; but Herod, when 
 he had taken five cities, took such as were left 
 in them, being about two thousand, and slew 
 them, and burnt the cities themselves, and 
 then returned to go against Pappus, who was 
 encamped at a village called Isanas: and there 
 ran in to him many out of Jericho and Judea, 
 near to which places he was, and the enemy 
 fell upon his men, so stout were they at this 
 time, and joined battle with them, but he beat 
 them in the fight ; and in order to be reven- 
 ged on them for the slaughter of his brother, 
 he pursued them sharply, and killed them as 
 tbey ran away; and as the houses were full 
 
 of armed men,* and many of them ran as far 
 as the tops of the houses, he got them under 
 his power, and pulled down the roofs of the 
 houses, and saw the lower rooms full of sol- 
 diers that were caught, and lay all on a heap: 
 so they threw stones down upon them as tbey 
 lay piled one upon another, and thereby kill 
 ed them: nor was there a more frightful spec- 
 tacle in all the war than this, where, beyond 
 the walls, an immense multitude of dead men 
 lay heaped one upon another. This action it 
 was which chiefly brake the spirits of the ene- 
 my, who expected row what would come ; for 
 there appeared a mighty number of people 
 that came from places far distant, that were 
 now about the village, but then ran away; 
 and had it not been for the depth of winter, 
 which then restrained them, the king's army 
 had presently gone to Jerusalem, as being 
 very courageous at this good success, and the 
 whole work had been done immediately; for 
 Antigonus was already looking about how he 
 might fly away and leave the city. 
 
 13. At this time the king gave order that 
 the soldiers should go to supper, for it ws*l 
 late at night, while he went into a chamber to 
 use the bath, for he was very weary : and here 
 it was that he was in the greatest danger, 
 which yet, by God's providence, he escaped; 
 for as he was naked, and had but one servant 
 that followed him, to be with him while he 
 was bathing in an inner room, certain of the 
 enemy, who were in their armour, and had 
 fled thither out of fear, were then in the place, 
 and, as he was bathing, the first of them came 
 out with his naked sword drawn, and went 
 out at the doors, and after him a second, and 
 
 a third, armed in like manner, and were un- 
 der such a consternation, that they did no hurt 
 to the king, and thought themselves to have 
 come oflF very well in suffering no harm them- 
 selves in their getting out of the house. How- 
 ever, on the next day, he cut off the head of 
 Pappus, for he was already slain, and sent it 
 to Pheroras, as a punishment of what their 
 brother had suffered by his means, for he was 
 the man that. slew him with his own hand. 
 
 14. When the rigour of winter was over, 
 Herod removed his army and came near to 
 Jerusalem, and pitched his camp hard by the 
 city. Now this was the third year since he 
 had been made king at Rome ; and as he re- 
 moved his camp, and came near that part of 
 the wall where it could be most easily assault- 
 ed, he pitched that camp before the temple, 
 intending to make his attacks in the same 
 manner as did Pompey. So he encompassed 
 the place with three bulwarks, and erected 
 
 * It may be worth our observation here, that these 
 soldiers of Herod could not have gotten upon the tops of 
 thet.e houses which wer«- full of enemies, in order to pull 
 up the upper floors and destroy them benealh. but by 
 ladders from the (U^tsidei which illustrates some texts in 
 tlic New Testament by which it appears that men used 
 to arct-nd thither by ladders on the outside. See Matt 
 xziv.l7{ M«rkxiiLi6i Lukev.l9i xvil.31. 
 
CHAP. XVI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 401 
 
 lowers, and employed a great many hands 
 jibont the work, and cut down the trees that 
 were round about the city ; and when he ha# 
 appoiiitea proper persons to oversee the works, 
 even wmie the army lay before the city, he 
 hiinself went to Samaria, to complete his mar- 
 riage, and to take to wife the daughter of 
 Alexander, the son of Aristobulus; for he had 
 betrothed her already, as I have before related. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HOW HEROD, WHEN HE HAD MARRIED MARI- 
 AMNK, TOOK JERUSALEM, WITH THE AS- 
 SISTANCE OF SOSIUS, BY FORCE; AND HOW 
 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ASAMONEANS 
 WAS PUT AN END TO. 
 
 § 1. After the wedding was over, came 
 Sosius through Phoenicia, having sent out his 
 army before him over the midland parts. He 
 also, who was their commander, came himself, 
 ^^th a great number of horsemen and foot- 
 men. The kii)g also came himself from Sa- 
 maria, and brought with him no small army, 
 besides that which was there before, for they 
 were about thirty thousand; and they all met 
 together at the walls of Jerusalem, and en- 
 camped at the north wall of the city, being 
 now an army of eleven legions, armed men on 
 foot, and six thousand horsemen, with other 
 auxiliaries out of Syria. The generals wore 
 two: Sosrus, sent by Antony to assist Herod, 
 and Herod on his own account, in order to 
 take the government from Antigonus, who 
 was declared an enemy to Rome, and that he 
 might himself be king, according to the de- 
 cree of the senate. 
 
 2. Now the Jews that were inclosed within 
 the walls of the city fought against Herod with 
 great alacrity and zeal (for the whole nation 
 was gathered together); they also gave out 
 many prophesies about the temple, and many 
 things agreeable to the people, as if God 
 would deliver them out of the dangers they 
 were in; they had also carried off what was 
 out of the city, that they might not leave any 
 thing to afford sustenance either for men or 
 for beasts; and, by private robberies, they 
 made the want of necessaries greater. When 
 Herod understood this, he opposed ambushes 
 in the fittest places against their private rob- 
 beries, and he sent legions of armed men to 
 bring in provisions, and that from remote 
 places, so that in a little time they had great 
 plenty of provisions. Now the three bul- 
 warks were easily erected, because so many 
 hands were continually at work upon them ; for 
 it was summer-time, and there was nothing 
 to hinder them in raising their works, neither 
 from the air nor from the workmen: so they 
 brought their engines to bear, and shook the 
 walls of the citv, and tried a'.l manner of ways 
 
 *o get in; yet did not those within discover 
 ftny fear, but they also contrived not a few 
 engines to oppose their engines withal. They 
 also sallied out, and burnt not only those en- 
 gines that were not yet perfected, but those 
 that were; and when they came hand to hand, 
 their attempts were not less bold than those 
 of the Romans, though they were behind them 
 in skill. They also erected new works when 
 the former were ruined, and muking mines 
 under ground, they met each other, and fought 
 there; and making use of brtxtish courage 
 rather than of prudent valour, they persisted 
 in this war to the very last: and this they did 
 while a mighty army lay round about them, 
 and while they were distressed by famine and 
 the want of necessaries, for this happened to 
 be a Sabbatic Year. The first that scaled the 
 walls were twenty chosen men; the next were 
 Sosius's centurions; for the first wall was 
 taken in forty days, and the second in fifteen 
 more, when some of the cloisters that were 
 about the temple were burnt, which Herod 
 gave out to have been burnt by Antigonus, 
 in order to expose him to the hatred of the 
 Jews. And when the outer court of the tem- 
 ple, and the lower city were taken, the Jews 
 fled into the inner court of the temple, and 
 into the upper city; but now fearing lest the 
 Romans should hinder them from offering 
 their daily sacrifices to God, they sent an em- 
 bassage, and desired that they would only 
 permit them to bring in beasts for sacri- 
 fices, which Herod granted, hoping they were 
 going to yield; but when he saw that they 
 did nothing of what he supposed, but bitterly 
 opposed him, in order to preserve the king- 
 dom to Antigonus, he made an assault upon 
 the city, and took it by storm ; and now all 
 parts were full of those that were slain, by the 
 rage of the Romans tit the long duration of w; 
 the siege, and by the zeal of the Jews that 
 were on Herod's side, who were not willing 
 to leave one of their adversaries alive; so they 
 were murdered continually in the narrow 
 streets and in the houses by crowds, and as 
 they were flying to the temple for shelter, and 
 there was no pity taken of either infants or 
 the aged, nor did they spare so much as the 
 weaker sex; nay, although the king sent 
 about, and besought them to spare the people, 
 yet nobody restrained their hand from slaugh- 
 ter, but, as if they were a company of mad- 
 men, they fell upon persons of all ages, with- 
 out distinction ; and then Antigonus, without 
 regard to either his past or present circum- 
 stances, came down from the citadel, and fell 
 down at the feet of Sosius, who took no pity 
 of him, in the change of his fortune, but in- 
 sulted him beyond measure, and called him 
 Antigone [i. e. a woman, and not a man] ; 
 yet did be not treat him as if he were a woman, 
 by letting him go at liberty, but put him 
 into bonds, and kept him in close custody. 
 3. And now Herod having overcome his 
 2C 
 
402 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIV. 
 
 enemies, bis care was to govern those fo- 
 reigners who had been his assistants, for the 
 crowd of strangers rushed to see the temple, 
 and the sacred things in the temple; but the 
 king thinking a victory to be a more severe 
 affliction than a defeat, if any of those things 
 which it was not lawful to see should be seen 
 .by them, used entreaties and threatini'.gs, 
 and even sometime force itself, to restrain 
 thorn. He ^so prohibited the ravage that 
 was made in the city, ana many times asked 
 Sosius. whether the Romans would empty 
 the K,ivy bovb of nioney and men, and leave 
 him king of a desert; and told him, that he 
 esteemed the dominion over the whole habi- 
 table earth as by no means an equivalent satis- 
 faction for such a murder of his citizens: and 
 when he said that this plunder was justly to 
 be permitted the soldiers for the siege they 
 had undergone, he replied, that he would give 
 every one his reward out of his own money; 
 and by this means he redeemed what re- 
 mained of the city from destruction; and he 
 performed what he had promised him, for he 
 gave a noble present to every soldier, and a 
 proportionable present to their commanders; 
 but a most royal present to Sosius himself, 
 till they all went away full of money. 
 
 4. This destruction befel the city of Jeru- 
 salem when Marcus Agrippa and Caninius 
 Callus were consuls at Rome,* on the hun- 
 dred and eighty-fifth olympiad, on the third 
 month, on the solemnity of the fast, as if a 
 periodical revolution of calamities had re- 
 turned since that which befel the Jevvs under 
 
 • Note here that Josephus fully and frequently as- 
 sures us, that there passed above three years between 
 Herod's first obtaining the kingdom at Rome and h s 
 second obtaining it upon the taking of Jerusalem and 
 dea'h of Antigonus. The present history of this ijiter- 
 val twice mentions the army going into winter quarters, 
 which perhaps belonged to two several winters (cli. xv. 
 sect. 3. 4) ; and though Josephus says nothing how long 
 they lay in those quarters, yet does he give such an ac- 
 count of the long and studied delays of Vent dius, Silo, 
 and Macheras, who were to see Herod settled in his 
 new kingdom (hut seem not to have had sufficient 
 forces for that purpose, and were for certain all cor- 
 rupted by Antigonus to make the longest delays possi- 
 ble), and gives us such particular accounts of the many 
 great actions of Herod duriog the same interval, as 
 fairly imply tiMt interval, before Herod went to Samo- 
 sata. to have D«?en very considerable. However, what 
 is wanting in Josephus, is fully supplied by Moses Cho> 
 
 Pompey; for the Jews were taken by hino 
 on the same day, and this was after twenty- 
 seven years' time. So when Sosius had de- 
 dicated a crown of gold to God, he marched 
 away from Jerusalem, and carried Antigonus 
 with him in bonds to Antony; but Heiod 
 was afraid lest Antigonus should be kept in 
 I i»ii?t'n [only] by Antony, and that when he 
 1 was carried to Rome by him, he might get 
 his cause to be heard by the senate, and might 
 demonstrate, as he was himself of the ro)al 
 blood, and Herod but a private nian, tiiat 
 therefore it belonged to his sons, however, to 
 have the kingdom on account of the family 
 they were of, in case he had himself offended 
 the Romans by what he bad done. Out of 
 Herod's fear of this it was that he, by giving 
 Antony a great deal of money, endeavoured 
 to persuade him to have Antigonus slain, 
 which, if it were once done, he should be 
 free from that fear. And thus did the go- 
 vernment of the Asamoneans cease, a hun- 
 dred and twenty-six years after it was first set 
 up. This family vas a splendid and an illus^^ 
 trious one, both on account of the nobilit^f 
 of their stock, and of the dignity of the high- 
 priesthood, as also for the glorious actions 
 their ancestors had performed for our nation; 
 but these men lost the government by their 
 dissensions one with another, and it came to 
 Herod, the son of Antipater, who was of no 
 more than a vulgar family, and of no emi- 
 nent extraction, but one that was subject to 
 other kings. And this is what history tells 
 us was the end of the Asamonean family. 
 
 renensis. the Armenian historian, in his history of that 
 interval (b. ii. ch. xviii); where he directly assures us 
 that Tigranes, then king of Armenia, and the principal 
 manager of this Parthian war, reigned two years after 
 Herod was made king at Rome, and yet Antony did 
 not hrar of his death, in that very neighbourhood, at 
 Samosata. till he was come thither to besiege it; after 
 which Herod brought him an army, which was three 
 hundred and forty miles' march, and through a diffi- 
 cult country, full of enemies also, and joined with him 
 in the siege of Samosata till that city was taken; then 
 Herod and Sosius marched back with their large .irmies 
 the same number of three hundred and forty miles ; 
 and when, in a little time, they sat down to be^ie^e Je- 
 rusalem, they were not able to take it but by a siege of 
 live months. All which put together, fully supplies 
 what is wanting in Josephus, and secures tte entire 
 chronology of these times beyond contradiction. 
 
403 
 
 BOOK XV. 
 
 CONTAININQ THB INTKJIVAL OF BIOHTESN TBARS 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF ANTIGONUS TO THE FINISHING OF THB 
 TEMPLE BY HEROD. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 CONCERNING POLLIO AND SAMEAS. HEROD 
 
 SLAYS THE PRINCIPAL OF ANTIGONUs's 
 
 FRIENDS, AND SPOILS THE CITY OF ITS 
 
 ||^ WEALTH. ANTONY BEHEADS ANTIGONUS. 
 
 § 1. How Sosius and Herod took Jerusalem 
 by force'; and. besides that, bow they took 
 Ai»tigonus captive, has been related by us in 
 the foregoing book. We will now proceed in 
 the narration. And since Herod had now the 
 government of all Judea put into his hands, 
 he promoted such of the privatt men of the 
 city as had been of his party, but never left 
 off avenging and punishing every day those 
 that had chosen to be of the party of his ene- 
 mies ; but Pollio the Pharisee, and Sameas, a 
 disciple of his, were honoured by hitn above 
 all the rest; for when Jerusalem was besieged, 
 they advised the citizens to receive Herod 
 for which advice they were well requited. 
 But this Pollio, at the time when Herod was 
 once upon his trial of life and death, foretold, 
 in way of reproach to Hyrcanus and the other 
 judges, how this Herod, whom they suffered 
 now to escape, would afterward inflict punish- 
 ment on them all; which had its completion 
 in time, while God fulfilled the words he had 
 spoken. 
 
 2. At this time Herod, now he had got 
 Jerusalem under his power, carried off all the 
 royal ornaments and spoiled the wealthy men 
 of what they had gotten ; and when, by these 
 means, he had heaped together a great quan- 
 tity of silver and gold, he gave it all to An- 
 tony, and his friends that were about him. 
 He also slew forty-five of the principal men 
 of Antigonus's party, and set guards at the 
 gates of the city, that nothing might be car- 
 ried out together with their dead bodies. — 
 They also searched the dead, and whatsoever 
 was found, either of silver or gold, or other 
 treasure, it was carried to the king ; nor was 
 there any end of the miseries he brought 
 upon them; and this distress was in part oc- 
 «sioned by the covetousness of the princ« 
 
 regent, who was still in want of more, and in' 
 part by the Sabbatic Year, which was still go- 
 ing on, and forced the country to lie still un- 
 cultivated, since we are forbidden to sow the 
 land in that year. Now when Antony had 
 received Antigonus as his captive, he deter- 
 mined to keep him against his triumph; but 
 when he heard that the nation grew seditious, 
 and that, out of their hatred to Herod, they 
 continued to bear good-will to Antigonus, he 
 resolved to behead him at Antioch, for other- 
 wise the Jews could no way be brought to be 
 quiet. And Strabo of Cappadocia attests to 
 what I have said, when he thus speaks: — 
 "Antony ordered Antigonus the Jew to be 
 brought to Antioch, and there to be behead- 
 ed; and this Antony seems to me to have 
 been the very first man who beheaded a king, 
 as supposing he could no other way bend the 
 minds of the Jews so as to receive Herod, 
 whom he had made king in his stead; for by 
 no torments could they be forced to call hira 
 king, so great a fondness they had for their 
 former king; so he thought that this disho- 
 nourable death would diminish the value they 
 had for Antigonus's memory, and at the same 
 time vvould diminish the hatred they bare to 
 Herod." Thus far Strabo. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW HYRCANUS WAS SET AT LIBERTY BY THB 
 PARTHIANS, AND RETURNED TO HEROD; 
 AND WHAT ALEXANDRA DID WHEN SHE 
 HEARD THAT ANANELUS WAS MADE UIGU- 
 PRIEST. 
 
 § 1. Now after Herod was in possession of 
 the kingdom, Hyrcanus the high-priest, who 
 was then a captive among the Parthians, came 
 to him again, and was set free from his cap- 
 tivity in the manner following: — Barzapharnes 
 and Pacorus, the generals of the Parthians, 
 took Hyrcanus, who was first made high-priest 
 ajid afterwards king, and Herod's brother. 
 
404 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOCK XV. 
 
 Pbasaelus, captives, and were carrying them 
 away into Parthia. Phasaelus indeed could 
 not bear the reproach of being in bonds; and 
 thinking that death with glory was better 
 than any life whatsoever, he became his own 
 executioner, as I have formerly related. 
 
 2 But when Hyrcanus was brought into 
 Parthia, the king Phraates treated him after a 
 very gentle manner, as having already learned 
 of what an illustrious family he was; on which 
 account he set him free from his bonds, and 
 gave him a habitation at Babylon,* where 
 there were Jews in great numbers. These 
 Jews honoured Hyrcanus as their high-priest 
 and king, as did all the Jewish nation that 
 dwelt as far as Euphrates, which respect was 
 very much to his satisfaction. But when he 
 was informed that Herod had received the 
 kingdom, new hopes came upon him, as hav- 
 ing been himself still of a kind disposition 
 towards him; and expecting that Herod would 
 bear in mind what favour he had received 
 from him, and when he was upon his trial, and 
 when he was in danger that a capital sentence 
 would be pronounced against him, he deli- 
 vered him from that danger, and from all 
 punishment. Accordingly, he talked of that 
 matter with the Jews that came often to him 
 with great affection ; but they endeavoured to 
 retain him among them, and desired that he 
 would stay with them, putting him in mind of 
 the kind oflfi^ and honours they did him, and 
 that those hWours they paid him Were not at 
 all inferior to what they could pay to either 
 their high-priests or their kings : and what 
 was a greater motive to determine him, they 
 said, was this, that he could not have those 
 dignities [in Judea] because of that maim in 
 his body, which had been inflicted on him by 
 Antigonus; and that kings do not use to re- 
 quite men for those kindnesses which they 
 received when they were private persons, the 
 height of their fortune making usually no 
 small changes in them. 
 
 3. Now, although they suggested these 
 arguments to him for his own advantage, yet 
 did Hyrcanus still desire to depart. Herod 
 also wrote to him, and persuaded him to de- 
 sire of Phraates and the Jews that were there 
 that they should not grudge him the royal 
 authc^ity, which he should have jointly with 
 himself, for that now was the proper time for 
 himself to make him amends for the favours 
 he had received from him, as having been 
 brought up by him, and saved by him also, 
 as well as for Hyrcanus to receive it. A^d 
 as he wrote thus to Hyrcanus, so did he send 
 also Saramallas his ambassador to Phraates, 
 and many presents with him, and desired him, 
 
 • The city here called " Babylon" by Josepbtm, seems 
 to be the one which was built by some of the Seleucidse, 
 opon the Tigris; which, lonjf after the utter desolation of 
 Old Babylon, was commonly so called, and I suppose 
 not far from Seleucia; hist as the later adjoining city 
 Bai^dat has l>een and is often called by the same old 
 nani« of Bihylon till this Tery day. 
 
 in the niost obliging way, that he would be no 
 hinderance to his gratitude towaras his bene ■ 
 factor. But this zeal of Herod's did not flow 
 from that principle, but because he had been 
 made governor of that country without having 
 any just claim to it, he was afraid, and that 
 upon reasons good enough, of a change in his 
 condition, and so made what haste he could to 
 get Hyrcanus into his power, or indeed to put 
 him quite out of the way; which last thing 
 he effected afterwards. 
 
 4. Accordingly, when Hyrcanus came, full 
 of assurance, by the permission of the king 
 of Parthia, and at the expense of the Jews, 
 who supplied him with money, Herod re'*ei red 
 him with all possible respect, and gave him 
 the upper place at public meetings, and set 
 him above all the rest at feasts, and thereby 
 deceived him. He called him his father, and 
 endeavoured, by all the ways possible, that he 
 might have no suspicion of any treacherous 
 design against him. He also did other things, 
 in order to secure his government, which yet 
 occasioned a sedition in his own family; for 
 being cautious how he made any illustrious'*^ 
 person the high-priest of God,f he sent for 
 an obscure priest out of Babylon, whose name 
 was Anaiielus, and bestowed the high-priest- 
 hood upon him. 
 
 5. However, Alexandra, the daughter of 
 Hyrcanus, and wife of Alexander, the son of . 
 Aristobulus the king, who had also brought 
 Alexander [two] children, could not bear this 
 indignity. Now this son was one of the 
 greatest comeliness, and was called Aristo- 
 bulus ; and the daughter, Mariamne, was 
 married to Herod, and eminent for her beauty 
 also. This Alexandra was much disturbed, 
 and took this indignity offered to her son ex- 
 ceeding ill, that while he was alive, any one 
 else should be sent to have the dignity of the 
 high- priesthood conferred upon him. Accor- 
 dingly she wrote to Cleopatra (a musician 
 assisting her in taking care to have her letters 
 carried) to desire her intercession with An- 
 tony, in order to gain the high-priesthood for 
 her son. 
 
 6. But as Antony was slow in granting this 
 request, his friend DelliusJ came into Judea 
 upon some affairs, and when he saw Aristobu- 
 
 + Here we have an eminrnt example of Herod's 
 worldly and profane politics, when by the abuse of hit 
 unlawliil and usurped power, to make whom he pleased 
 hii;h-priest, in the person of Ananelus, he occasioned 
 such disturbances in his kingdom, and in his own fa- 
 mily, as suffered him to enjoy no lastinjr peace or tran« 
 quillity ever afterwards: and such is frequently the ef> 
 feet of profane court politics about matters of religion 
 in other ages and nations. Ttie Old Testament is full 
 of the miserit-s of the people of the Jews derived from 
 such court politics, especially in and after the days of 
 Jeroboam, the son of Nehat. " who made Israel to sin;" 
 who Rave the most pernicious example of it; who brought 
 on the grossest ccuruption of religion by it; and the 
 punishment ut whose fiiniily lor it was most remarkable. 
 The case is too well known to stand in need of particular 
 citations. 
 
 ; Of this wicked Ik-llius, see the note on th« War.t»,L 
 ch. XV. sect 3. 
 
CHAP. m. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 406 
 
 lus, he stood in admiration at the tallress and 
 handsomeness of the child, and no Vss »t 
 Mariamne, the king's wife, and was cp^n in 
 his cominendations of Alexandra, as the mo- 
 ther of most beautiful childreii: and when 
 she came to discourse with him, he persuaded 
 her to get pictures drawn of them both, and 
 to send them to Antony, for that \\i\eu he saw 
 4;hem, he would deny her nothing that she 
 would ask. Accordingly, Alexandra was ele- 
 vated with these words of his, and sent the 
 pictures to Antony, Dellius also talked ex- 
 travagantly, and said that these children seemed 
 not derived from men, but from some god 
 or other. His design in doing so was to 
 ■entice Antony into lewd pleasures with them, 
 who was ashamed to send for the damsel, as 
 teing the wife of Herod, and avoided it, be- 
 cause of the reproaches he should have from 
 Cleopatra on that account; but he sent, in 
 the most decent manner he could, for the 
 young man; but added this withal, unless he 
 thought it hard upon him so to do. When 
 this letter was brought to Herod, he did not 
 i' think it safe for him to send one so handsome 
 as was Aristobulus, in the prime of his life, 
 for he was sixteen years of age, and of so noble 
 a family, and particularly not to Antony, the 
 principal man among the Romans, and one 
 that would abuse him in his amours, and be- 
 sides, one that openly indulged himself in such 
 pleasures as his power allowed him, without 
 controul. He therefore wrote back to him, 
 that if this boy should only go out of the 
 country, all would be in a state of war and 
 uproar; because the Jews were in hopes of a 
 change in the government, and to have ano- 
 ther king over them. 
 
 7. When Herod had thus excused himself 
 to Antony, he resolved that he would not en- 
 tirely permit the child of Alexandra to be 
 treated dishonourably; but his wife Mariamne 
 lay vehemently at him to restore the high- 
 priesthood to her brother; and he judged it- 
 was for his advantage so to do, because, if he 
 once had that dignity, he could not go out of 
 the country. So he called all his friends to- 
 gether, and told them that Alexandra privately 
 conspired against his royal authority, and en- 
 deavoured, by the means of Cleopatra, so to 
 bring it about, that he might be deprived of 
 the government, and that by Antony's means 
 this youth might have the management of pub- 
 lic aflfairs in his stead; and that this proce- 
 dure of hers was unjust, since she would at 
 the same time deprive her daughter of the dig- 
 nity she now had, and would bring disturb- 
 ances upon the kingdom, for which he had 
 taken a great deal of pains, and had gotten it 
 with extraordinary hazards: that yet, while 
 he well remembered her wicked practices, he 
 would not leave off doing what was right him- 
 self, -but would even now give the youth the 
 high-priesthood; and that he formerly set up 
 Anunelus, because Aristobulus was th«D to 
 
 very young a child. Now when he bad said 
 this, not at random, but as he thought with 
 the best discretion he had, in order to deceive 
 the women, and those friends whom he had 
 taken to consult withal, Alexandra, out of 
 the great joy she had at this unexpected pro- 
 mise, and out of fear from the suspicions she 
 lay under, fell a- weeping; and made the fol' 
 lowing apology for herself, and said, that as 
 to the [high] priesthood, she was very much 
 concerned for the disgrace her son was under, 
 and so did her utmost endeavours to procure 
 it for him, hut that as to the kingdom, she 
 had made no attempts, and that if it were 
 offered her [for her son], she would not ac- 
 cept it; and that now she would be satisfied 
 with her son's dignity, while he himself held 
 the civil government, and she had thereby the 
 security that arose from his peculiar ability in 
 governing, to all the remainder of her family: 
 that she was now overcome by his benefits, 
 and thankfully accepted of this honour shown 
 by him to her son, and that she would here- 
 after be entirely obedient; and she desired 
 him to excuse her, if the nobility of her fa- 
 mily, and that freedom of acting which she 
 thought that allowed her, had made her act 
 too precipitately and imprudently in this mat- 
 ter. So when they had spoken thus to one 
 another, they came to an agreement; and all 
 suspicions, so far as appeared, were vanished 
 away. 
 
 CHAPTER IIT 
 
 HOW HEROD, UPON HIS MAKING ARISTOBULUS 
 HIGH-PRIEST, TOOK CARE THAT HE SHOULD 
 BE MURDERED IN A LITTLE TIME; AND 
 WHAT APOLOGY HE MADE TO ANTONY 
 ABOUT ARISTOBULUS: AS ALSO CONCERN- 
 ING JOSEPH AND MARIAMNE. 
 
 § 1. So king Herod immediately took the 
 high-priesthood away from Ananelus, who, 
 as we said before, was not of this country, 
 but one of those Jews that had been carried 
 captive beyond Euphrates; for there were not 
 a few ten thousands of this people that had 
 been carried captives, and dwelt about Baby- 
 lonia, whence Ananelus came. He was one 
 of the stock of the high-priests,* and had been 
 of old a particular friend of Herod-^ and 
 
 • When Josephus says here that this Ananelus, the 
 new high-priest, was " of the stock of the high-priests," 
 and since he had been just telling qs that he was a 
 priest cf an obscure family or character (ch. ii. sect 4), 
 it is nut at all probable that he could so soon say that 
 he was " of the stock of the high-priests. " However, 
 Josephus here makes a remarkable observation, that 
 this Ananelus was the third that was ever unjustly and 
 wickedly turned out of the high-priesthood by the civil 
 power, no king or governor having ventured to do so, 
 that Josephus knew of, but that heathen tyrant" and 
 persecutor Antiochus Epiphanes; that barbanous par- 
 ricide Aristobulus, the first that took royal authority 
 amcAig the Maccabees,- and this tyrant king Herod tha 
 Great: although afterward that infamous practice ha- 
 came frequent, till the very destruction •f Jeru«aletn 
 w^B the affiee of high-4[>riMtha*d waa at an mmk 
 
406 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XV. 
 
 when he was first made king, he conferred 
 that dignity upon him, and now put him out 
 of it again, in order to quiet the troubles in 
 his family, though what he did was plainly 
 unlawful, for at no other time [of old] was 
 any one that nad once been in that dignity 
 deprived of it. It was Antiochiis Epiphanes 
 who first brok'e that law, and deprived Jesus, 
 aiid made his brother Onias high-priest in his 
 stead. Aristobuius was the second that did 
 so, and took that dignity from his brother 
 LHyrcanus]; and this Herod was the third 
 who took that high office away [from Anane- 
 lus], and gave it to this young man, Aristo- 
 buius, in his stead. 
 
 2. And now Herod seemed to have healed 
 the divisions in his family; yet was he not 
 without suspicion, as is frequently the case 
 of people seeming to be reconciled to one 
 another, but thought that, as Alexandra had 
 already made attempts tending to innovations, 
 so did he fear that she vvould'go on therein, 
 if she found a fit opportunity for so doing ; 
 po he gave a command th^t she should dwell 
 in the palace, and meddle with no public af- 
 fairs: her guards also were so careful, that 
 nothing she did in private life every day was 
 concealed. All these hardships put her out 
 of patience, by little and little, and she began 
 to hate Herod ; for as she had the pride of a 
 woman to the utmost degree, she had great 
 indignation at this suspicious guard that was 
 about her, as desirous rather to undergo any 
 thing that could befal her than to be deprived 
 of her liberty of speech, and, under the no- 
 tion of an honorary guard, to live in a state 
 of slavery and terror. She therefore sent to 
 Cleopatra, and made a long complaint of the 
 circumstances she was in, and entreated her 
 to do her utmost for her assistance. Cleo- 
 patra hereupon advised her to take her son 
 with her, and come away immediately to her 
 into Egypt. This advice pleased her; and 
 she had this contrivance for getting away : 
 She got two coffins ma»'e, as if they were to 
 carry away two dead bodies, and put herself 
 into one, and her son into the other, and gave 
 orders to such of her servants as knew of her 
 iutentions, to carry them away in the night- 
 time. Now their road was to be thence to 
 the sea-side; and there was a ship ready to 
 carry them into Egypt. Now ^sop, one of 
 her servants, happened to fall upon Sabion, 
 ore of her friends, and spake of this matter 
 to l.im, as thinking he had known of it before. 
 "When Sabion knew this (who had formerly 
 been an ^nppny of Herod, and had been 
 esteemed one of those that laid snares for and 
 gave the poisop to [bis father] Antipater), he 
 expected that t^iis discovery would change 
 Herod's hatred into kindness; so he told the 
 king of this private stratagejn of Alexandra: 
 whereupon he suffered her to proceed to the 
 execution of her project, and raueht her in 
 the TCJ^ fact; but still bs passed by her pf- 
 
 fence: and though he had a great mind to 
 do it, he durst not inflict any thing that w&a 
 severe upon her, for he knew that Cleopatra 
 would not bear that he should have her ac- 
 cused, on account of her hatred to him; but 
 made a show as if it were rather the generosity 
 of his soul, and his great moderation, that 
 made him forgive them. However, he fully 
 proposed to himself to put this young maH»^ 
 out of the way, by one means or other; but 
 he thought he might in all probability be bet- 
 ter concealed in doing it, if he did it not pre- 
 sently nor immediafely after what had lately 
 happened. 
 
 3. And now, upon the approach of the 
 feast of tabernacles, which is a festival very 
 much observed among us, be let tho^e day* 
 pass over, and both he and the rest of the 
 people were therein very merry; yet did the 
 envy which at this time arose in him, cause 
 him to make haste to do what he was about, 
 and provoke him to it; for when this youth, 
 Aristobuius, who w^as now in the seventeenth 
 year of his age, went up to the altar, accord- 
 ing to the law, to offer the sacrifices, and this 
 with the ornaments of his high-priesthoody 
 and when he performed the sacred offices,* 
 he seemed to be exceeding comely and taller 
 than men usually were at that age, and to ex- 
 hibit in his countenance a great deal of that 
 high family he was sprung from, — a wari» 
 zeal and affection towards him appeared 
 among the people, and the memory of the 
 actions of his grandfather Aristobuius was 
 fresh in their minds; and their affections got 
 so far the mastery of them, that they could 
 not forbear to show their inclinations to him. 
 They at once rejoiced and were confounded, 
 and mingled with good wishes their jovful ac- 
 clamations which they made to him, till the 
 good-will of the multitude was made too evi- 
 dent; and they more rashly proclaimed the 
 happiness they had received from his famil)i 
 than was fit under a monarchy to have done. 
 Upon all this, Herod resolved to complete 
 what he had intended against the young man. 
 When therefore the festival was over, and he 
 was feasting at Jericho'f with Alexandra, who 
 entertained him there, be was then very plea- 
 sant with the young man, and drew him into 
 a lonely place, and at the same tim.e played 
 with him in a juvenile and ludicrous manner. 
 Now the nature of that place was hotter that 
 ordinary; so they went out in a body, and of 
 a sudden, and in a vein of madness; and as 
 they stood by the fish ponds, of which there 
 were large ones about the house, they went to 
 cool themselves [by bathing], because it was 
 
 • This entirely confutes the Tnlmiidists, who pretend 
 that no one under twenty years of age could officiate aa 
 high-priest among the Jews. 
 
 + An Hebrew cbronide. cited hy Kelani), soys this 
 drowning was atJordHn,nut at Jerirhn, and this -even 
 when he qnotrs Jooeplitis. I suspect the tiaiiseiibcr ol 
 the Hebrew cbroTiirl/» mistook the sainp, and wrot* 
 J[(>rdaii for Jericho. 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 40"/ 
 
 in the midst of a hot day. * At first they were 
 only spectators of Herod's servants and ac> 
 quaintance as they were swimming; but after 
 a while, the young man, at the instigation of 
 Herod, went into the water among them, 
 while such of Herod's acquaintance as he had 
 appointed to do it, dipped him as he was swim- 
 ming, and plunged him under water, in the 
 dark of the evening, as if it had been done in 
 sport only; nor did they desist till he was en- 
 tirely suffocated. And thus was Aristobulus 
 murdered, having lived no more in all than 
 eighteen years,* and kept the high-priesthood 
 one year only; which high-priesthood Anane- 
 lus now recovered again. 
 
 4. When this sad accident was told the 
 women, their joy was soon turned into la- 
 uientation, at the sight of the dead body that 
 lay before them, and their sorrow was immo- 
 derate. The city also [of Jerusalem], upon 
 the spreading of this news, was in very great 
 grief, every family looking on this calamity as 
 if it had not belonged to another, but that one 
 of themselves was slain: but Alexandra was 
 more deeply affected, upon her knowledge 
 that he had been destroyed [on purpose}. Her 
 sorrow was greater than that of others, by her 
 knowing how the murder was committed; but 
 she was under the necessity of bearing up un- 
 der it, out of her prospect of a greater mis- 
 chief that might otherwise follow ; and she 
 sometimes came to an inclination to destroy 
 herself with her own hand, but still she re- 
 strained herself, in hopes she might live long 
 enough to revenge the unjust murder thus 
 pri vately committed ; nay, she further resolved 
 to endeavour to live longer, and to give no 
 occasion to think she suspected that her son 
 was slain on purpose, and supposed that she 
 aiii(ht thereby be in a capacity of revenging 
 it at a proper opportunity. Thus did she re- 
 st rain herself, that she might not be noted for 
 entertaining any such suspicion. However, 
 Herod endeavoured that none abroad should 
 believe that the child's death was caused by 
 any design of his; and for this purpose he did 
 not only use the ordinary signs of sorrow, but, 
 fell into tears also, and exhibited a real con- 
 fusion of soul; and perhaps his affections were 
 overcome on this occasion, when he saw the 
 child's countenance so young and so beauti- 
 ful, although his death was supposed to tend 
 to his own security. So far at least this grief 
 served as to make some apology for him; and 
 as for his funeral, that he took care should be 
 very magnificent, by making great preparation 
 for a sepulchre to lay his body in, and pro- 
 viding a great quantity of spices, and burying 
 m:uiy ornaments together \v;th him, till the 
 very women, who were in such deep sorrow, 
 
 * The reading of one of J ospphuVs Greek MSS. seems 
 here to he right, that Aristobulus was '-Hot eighteen years 
 or' wbeii he was drowned, for he was not seventeen 
 V I'll lie was uade high-piiest (ch. ii.sect. (>; ch. iii. stct. 
 3) md he cominiied in that ofTice but one vea"^, as in the 
 place bofure ua. 
 
 were astonished at it, and received in this way 
 some consolation. 
 
 5. However, no such things could ov«rcomft 
 Alexandra's grief; but the remembrance ot 
 this miserable case made her sorrow both deep 
 and obstinate. Accordingly, she wrote an 
 account of this treacherous scene to Cleopatra, 
 and how her son was murdered; but Cleo- 
 patra, as she had formerly been desirous to 
 give her what satisfaction she could, and com- 
 miserating Alexandra's misfortunes, made the 
 case her own, and would not let Antony be 
 quiet, but excited him to punish the child's 
 murder: for that it was an unworthy thing 
 that Herod, who had by him been made a 
 king of a kingdom that no way belonged to 
 him, should be guilty of such horrid crimes 
 against those that were of the royal blood in 
 reality. Antony was persuaded by these ar- 
 guments ; and when he came to Laodicea, he 
 sent and commanded Herod to come and 
 make his defence as to what he had done to 
 Aristobulus, for that such a treacherous de- 
 sign was not well done, if he had any hand in 
 it. Herod was now in fear, both of the ac- 
 cusation aijd of Cleopatra's ill-will to him, 
 which was such that she was ever endeavour- 
 ing to make Antony hate him. He therefore 
 determined to obey his summons, for he had 
 no possible way to avoid it: so he left his uncle, 
 Joseph, procurator for his government and for 
 the public affairs, and gave him a private 
 charge, that if Antony should kill him, he also 
 should kill Mariamne immediately; for that 
 he had a tender affection for this his wife, and 
 was afraid of the injury that should be offered 
 him, if, after his death, she, for her beauty, 
 should be engaged to some other man: but 
 his intimation was nothing but this at the 
 bottom, that Antony had fallen in love with 
 her, when he had formerly heard somewhat of 
 her beauty. So when Herod had given Jo- 
 seph this charge, and had indeed no sure 
 hopes of escaping with his life, he went away 
 to Antony. 
 
 6. But as Joseph was administering the 
 public affairs of the kingdom, and for that 
 reason was very frequently with Mariamne, 
 both because his business required it, and be- 
 cause of the respects he ought to pay to the 
 queen, he frequently let himself into discourses 
 about Herod's kindness, and great affection 
 towards her; and when the women, especially 
 Alexandra, used to turn his discourses into 
 feminine raillery, Joseph was so over-desirous 
 to demonstrate the king's inclinations, that he 
 proceeded so far as to mention the charge he 
 had received, and thence drew his demonstra- 
 tion that Herod was not able to live without 
 her ; and that if he should come to any ill 
 end, he could not endure a separation from 
 her, even after he was dead. Thus spake Jo- 
 seph. But the women, as was natural, did 
 not take this to be an instance of Herod's 
 strong affection for them, but of his severe 
 
408 
 
 NTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XV. 
 
 «i8age of tbem, that tbey could not escape de- 
 ftruction, nor a tyrannical death, even when 
 he was dead himself: and this saying [of Jo- 
 Beph] was a foundation for the women's se- 
 vere suspicions about him afterwards. 
 
 7. At this time a report went about the 
 city of Jerusalem, among Herod's enemies, 
 that Antony had tortured Herod, and put 
 him to death. This report, as is natural, dis- 
 turbed those that were about the palace, but 
 chiefly the women : upon which Alexandra 
 endeavoured to persuade Joseph to go out of 
 the palace, and fly away with them to the en- 
 signs of the Roman legion, which then lay en- 
 Camped about the city, as a guard to the king- 
 dom, under the command of Julius; for that 
 by this means, if any disturbance shouldiiap- 
 pen about the palace, they should be in greater 
 security, as having the Romans favourable to 
 them ; and that besides they hoped to obtain 
 the highest authority, if Antony did but once 
 see Mariamne, by whose means they should 
 recover the kingdom, and want nothing which 
 was reasonable for them to hope for, because 
 of their royal extraction. 
 
 8. But as they were in the midst of these 
 deliberations, letters were brought from He- 
 rod about all his affairs, and proved contrary 
 to the report, and of what they before expec- 
 ted; for when he was come to Antony, he 
 soon recovered his interest with him, by the 
 presents he made him, which he had brought 
 with Hm from Jerusalem; and he soon in- 
 duced him, upon discoursing with him, to 
 leave offhis indignation at him, so that Cleo- 
 patra's persuasions had less force than the ar- 
 guments and presents he brought to regain 
 his friendship : for Antony said, that it was 
 not good to require an account of a king, as 
 to the affairs of his government, for at this 
 rate he could be no king at all, but that those 
 who had given him that authority ought to 
 permit him to make use of it. He also said 
 the same things to Cleopatra, that it would 
 be best for her not busily to meddle with the 
 acts of the king's government. Herod wrote 
 an account of these things ; and enlarged 
 upon the other honours which he had received 
 from Antony : how he sat by him at his hear- 
 ing causes, and took his diet with him every 
 day, and that he enjoyed those favours from 
 him, notwithstanding the reproaches that 
 Cleopatra so severely laid against him, who 
 having a great desire of his country, and ear- 
 nestly entreating Antony that the kingdom 
 might be given to her, laboured with her ut- 
 most diligence to have Irim out of the way ; 
 but that he still found Antony just to him, 
 and had no longer any apprehensions of hard 
 treatment from him ; and that he was soon 
 up'Ti his return, with a firmer additional as- 
 surance of his fcvour to him, in his reigning 
 and managing public aflPairs; and that there 
 was no longer any hope for Cleopatra's covet- 
 »Ui temper, since Ai.toii> had given her Cele- 
 
 syria, instead of what she desired ; by which 
 means he had at once pacified her, and got 
 clear of the entreaties which she made him 
 to have Judea bestowed upon her. 
 
 9. When these letters were brought, the 
 women left off their attempt for flying to the 
 Romans, which they thought of while Herod 
 was supposed to be dead; yet was not that 
 purpose of theirs a secret; but when the king 
 had conducted Antony on his way against the 
 Parthians, he returned to Judea, when both 
 his sister Salome, and his mother, informed 
 him of Alexandra's intentions. Salome also 
 added somewhat farther against Joseph, though 
 it was no more than a calumny, that he had 
 often had criminal conversation with Mari- 
 amne. The reason of her saying so was this, 
 that she for a long time bare her ill-will; for 
 when they had differences with one 'another, 
 Mariamne took great freedoms, and reproach- 
 ed the rest for the meanness of their birth 
 
 But Herod, whose affection to Mariamne was 
 always very warm, was presently disturbed 
 at this, and could not bear the torments of 
 jealousy, but was still restrained from doing 
 any rash thing to her by the love he had for 
 her; yet did his vehement affection and jea- 
 lousy together make him ask Mariamne by 
 herself about this matter of Joseph ; but she 
 denied it upon her oath, and said all that an 
 innocent woman could possibly say in her 
 own defence; so that by little and little the 
 king was prevailed upon to drop the suspi- 
 cion, and left off his anger at her; and being 
 overcome with his passion for his wife, he 
 made an apology to her for having seemed 
 to believe what he had heard about her, 
 and returned her a great many acknowledg- 
 ments of her modest behaviour, and professed 
 the extraordinary affection and kindness he 
 had for her, till at last, as is usuai between 
 lovers, they both fell into tears, and em- 
 braced one another with a most tender affec- 
 tion. But as the king gave more and more 
 assurances of his belief of her fidelity, and 
 endeavoured to draw her to a like confidence 
 in him, Mariamne said, " Yet was not that 
 command thou gavest, that if any harm came 
 to thee from Antony, I, who had been no 
 occasion of it, should perish with thee, a 
 sign of thy love to me ?" When these 
 words were fallen from her, the king was 
 shocked at them, and presently let her go out 
 of his arms, and cried out, and tore his hair 
 with his own hands, and said, that now be 
 had an evident demonstration that Joseph had 
 had criminal conversation with his wife ; for 
 that he would never have uttered what he had 
 told him alone by himself, unless there had 
 been such a great familiarity and firm confi. 
 dence between them. And while he was in 
 this passion he hud liked to have killed his 
 wife; but being still overborne by his love to 
 her, he sestrHined this his passion, though not 
 w'lhout a lusting grief and disquietnesn of 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 409 
 
 mind. However, he gave order to slay Jo- 
 seph, without permitting him to come into 
 his sight; and as for Alexandra, he bound her, 
 and kept her in custody, as the cause of all 
 this n^i&chief. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW CLEOPATRA, WHEN SHE HAD GOTTEN 
 FROM ANTONY SOME PART? OF JUDEA AND 
 ARABIA, CAME INTOJUDEA; AND HOW HE- 
 ROD GAVE HER MANY PRESENTS, AND CON- 
 DUCTED HEB ON HER WAY BACK TO EGYPT. 
 
 § 1. Now at this time the affairs of Syria 
 were in confusion by Cleopatra's constant 
 persuasions to Antony to make an attempt 
 upon every body's dominions; for she per- 
 suaded him to take those dominions away 
 from their several princes and bestow them 
 upon her; and she had a miijhty influence 
 upon him, by reason of his being enslaved to 
 her by his affections. She was also by na- 
 ture very covetous, ^nd stuck at no wicked- 
 ness. She had already poisoned her brother, 
 because she knew that he was to be king of 
 Egypt, and this when he was but fifteen years 
 old ; and she got her sister Arsinoe to be 
 slain, by the means of Antony, when she was 
 a supplicant at Diana's temple at Ephesus ; 
 for if there were but any hopes of getting mo- 
 ney, she would violate both temples and se- 
 pulchres. Nor was there any holy place that 
 was esteemed the most inviolable, from which 
 she would not fetch the ornaments it had in 
 it; nor any place so profane, but was to suf- 
 fer the most flagitious treatment possible from 
 her, if it could but contribute somewhat to 
 the covetous humour of this wicked creature; 
 yet did not all this suffice so extravagant a 
 woman, who was a slave to her lusts, but she 
 still imagined that she wanted every thing 
 she could think of, and did 4ier utmost to 
 gain it; for which reason she hurried Antony 
 on perpetually to deprive others of their do- 
 minions, and give them to her; and as she 
 went over Syria with him, she contrived to 
 get it into her possession; so he slew Lysa- 
 nias the son of Ptolemy, accusing him of his 
 bringing the Parthians upon those countries. 
 She also petitioned Antony to give her Judea 
 and Arabia; and, in order thereto, desired 
 him to take these countries away from their 
 present governors. As for Antony, he was 
 so entirely overcome by this woman, that one 
 would not think her conversation only could 
 do it, but that he was some way or other be- 
 witched to do whatsoever she would have him ; 
 yet did the grossest parts of her injustice make 
 him so ashamed, that he would not always 
 hearken to her to do these flagrant enormi- 
 ties she would have persuaded him to. That 
 therefore he might not totally deny her, nor 
 
 by doing every thing which she enjoined him 
 appear openly to be an ill man, he took some 
 parts of each of those countries away from 
 their former governors, and gave them to her 
 Thus he gave her the cities that were withii 
 the river Eleutherus, as far as Egypt, except 
 ing Tyre and Sidon, which he knew to have 
 been free cities from their ancestors, although 
 she pressed him very often to bestow those or 
 her also. 
 
 2. When Cleopatra had obtained thuf 
 much, and had accompanied Antony in hi? 
 expedition to Armenia, as far as Euphrates, 
 she returned back, and came to Apamia and 
 Damascus, and passed on to Judea; wherf 
 Herod met her, and farmed of her her part? 
 of Arabia, and those revenues that came to 
 her from the region about Jericho. This 
 country bears that balsam, which is the most 
 precious drug that is there, and grows there 
 alone. The place bears also palm-trees, both 
 many in number, and those excellent in their 
 kind. When she was there, and was very 
 often with Herod, she endeavoured to have 
 criminal conversation with the king: nor did 
 she affect secrecy in the indulgence of such 
 sort of pleasures; and perhaps she had in 
 some measure a passion of love to him, or 
 rather, what is most probable, she laid a trea- 
 cherous snare for him, by aiming to obtain such 
 adulterous conversation from him ; however, 
 upon the whole she s.eemed overcome witt 
 love to him. Now Herod had a ^.reat what 
 borne no good- will to Cleopatra, as knowing 
 that she was a woman irksome to all ; and at 
 that time he thought her particularly worthy 
 of his hatred, if this attempt proceeded out of 
 lust ; he had also thought of preventing her 
 intrigues by putting her to death, if such 
 were her endeavours. However, he refused 
 to comply with her proposals, and called a 
 counsel of his friends to consult with them 
 whether he should not kill her, now he had 
 her in his power; for that he should thereby 
 deliver all those from a multitude of evils to 
 whom she was already become irksome, and 
 was expected to be still so for the time to 
 come ; and that this very thing wouiu be 
 much for the advantage of Antony himself, 
 since she would certainly not be faithful to 
 him, in case any such reason or necessity 
 should come upon him as that he should stand 
 in need of her fidelity. But when he thought 
 to follow this advice, his friends would not 
 let him ; and told him, that, in the first place, 
 it was not right to attempt so great a thing, 
 and run himself thereby into the utmost dan- 
 ger; and they laid hard at him, and begged ot 
 him to undertake nothing rashly, for that An- 
 tony would never bear it, no, not though any 
 one should evidently lay before his eyes that 
 it was for his own advantage; and that the 
 appearance of depriving him of her conversa- 
 tion, by this violent and treacherous method, 
 %vould probably set his affections more on a 
 
410 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XV. 
 
 flame than before. Nor did it appear that he 
 could offer any thing of tolerable weight in 
 his defence, this attempt being against such a 
 woman as was of the highest dignity of any 
 of ber sex at that time in the world; and as 
 to any advantage to be expected from such an 
 undertaking, ii any such could be supposed 
 in this case, it would appear to deserve con- 
 demnation on account of the insolence he must 
 take upon him in doing it: which considera- 
 tions made it very plain, that in so doing he 
 would find bis government filled with mis- 
 chiefs, both great and lasting, both to himself 
 and his posterity, whereas it was still in his 
 power to reject that wickedness she would 
 persuade him to, and to come oflf honourably 
 at the same time. So by thus affrighting He- 
 rod, and representing to him the hazards he 
 must, in all probability, run by this under- 
 taking, they restrained him from it. So he 
 treated Cleopatra kindly, and made her pre- 
 sents, and conducted her on her way to Egypt. 
 3. But Antony subdued Armenia, and 
 sent Artabazes, the son of Tigranes, in bonds, 
 witb his children and procurators, to Egypt, 
 and made 9 present of them, and of all the 
 royal ornaments which he had taken out of 
 that kingdom, to Cleopatra; and Artaxias, 
 the eldest of bis sons, who had escaped at 
 that time, took the kingdom of Armenia; 
 who yet was ejected by Archelaus and Nero. 
 Caesar, when they restored Tigranes, his 
 younger brother, to that kingdom: but this 
 happened a good while afterward. 
 
 4. But then, as to the tributes which He- 
 rod was to pay Cleopatra for that country 
 which Antony had given her, he acted fairly 
 with her, as deeming it not safe for him to 
 afford any cause for Cleopatra to hate him. 
 As for the king of Arabia, whose tribute He- 
 rod had undertaken to pay her, for some time 
 indeed he paid him as much as came to two 
 hundred talents; but he afterward became 
 very niggardly and slow in his payAients, and 
 could hardly be brought to pay some parts 
 of it, and was not willing to pay even them 
 without some deductions. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW HEROD MADE WAR WITH THE KINO OF 
 ARABIA, AND AFTER THEY HAD FOUGHT 
 MANY BATTLES, AT LENGTH CONQUERED 
 HIM, AND WAS CHOSEN BY THE ARABS TO 
 BE GOVERNOR OF THAT NATION; AS ALSO 
 CONCERNING A GREAT EARTHQUAKE. 
 
 § 1. Hereupon Herod held himself ready 
 to go against the king of Arabia, because of 
 his ingratitude to him, and because, after all, 
 he would do nothing that was just to him, 
 although Herod made the Roman war an 
 occasion of delaying his own; fur the battle I 
 
 of Actium was now expected, which fell into 
 the hundred and eighty-seventh olympiad, 
 where Caesar and Antony were to fight for 
 the supreme power of the world ; but Herod 
 having enjoyed a country that was very fruit- 
 ful, and that now for a long time, and having 
 received great taxes and raised great armies 
 therewith, got together a body of men, and 
 carefully furnished them with all necessaries, 
 and designed them as auxiliaries for Antony; 
 but Antony said he had no want of his assis- 
 tance; but he commanded him to punish the 
 king of Arabia, for he had heard, both from 
 him, and from Cleopatra, how perfidious be 
 was ; for this was what Cleopatra desired, 
 who thought it for her own advantage that 
 these two kings should do one another as 
 great mischief as possible. Upon this mes- 
 sage from Antony, Herod returned back, but 
 kept his army with him in order to invade 
 Arabia immediately. So when his army of 
 horsemen and footmen was ready, he march- 
 ed to Diospolis, whither the Arabians came 
 also to meet them, for they were not unap- 
 prised of this war that was coming upon 
 them ; and after a great battle had been 
 fought, the Jews had the victory ; but after- 
 ward there were gotten together another nu- 
 merous army of the Arabians, at Cana, which 
 is a place of Celesyria. Herod was informed 
 of this beforehand: so he marched against 
 them with the greatest part of the forces he 
 had; and when he was come near to Cana, 
 he resolved to encamp himself: and he cast 
 up a bulwark that he might take a proper 
 season for attacking the enemy ; but as he 
 was giving those orders, the multitude of the 
 Jews cried out that he should make no delay, 
 but lead them against the Arabians. They 
 went with great spirit, as believing they were 
 in very good order ; and those especially were 
 so that had been in the former battle, and had 
 been conquerors, and had not permitted their 
 enemies so much as to come to a close fight 
 with them ; an4 when they were so tumultu- 
 ous, and showed such great alacrity, the king 
 resolved to make use of that zeal the multi- 
 tude then exhibited ; and when he had as- 
 sured them he would not be behindhand with 
 them in courage, he led them on, and stood 
 before them all in his armour, all the regi- 
 ments following him in their several ranks; 
 whereupon a consternation fell upon the Ara- 
 bians; for when they perceived that the Jews 
 were not to be conquered, and were full of 
 spirit, the greater part of them ran away, 
 and avoided fighting ; and they had been 
 quite destroyed, had not Athenio fallen upon 
 the Jews, and distressed them; for this ma^ 
 was Cleo[)atra's general over the soldiers she 
 had there, and was at enmity with Herod, 
 and very wistfully looked on to see what the 
 event of the Imttle would be. He had also 
 resolved that in case the Arabians did any 
 thing that whs brave and successful, he would 
 
CIIAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 411 
 
 lie still ; but in case they were beaten, as it 
 really happened, he would attack the Jews with 
 those forces he had of his own, and with those 
 that the country had gotten together for him: 
 so he fell upon the Jews unexpectedly, when 
 they were fatigued, and thought they had ^- 
 ready vanquished the enemy, and made a 
 great slaughter of them; for as the Jews had 
 spent their courage upon their known ene- 
 mies, and were about to enjoy themselves in 
 quietness after their victory, they were easily 
 beaten by these that attacked them afresh^ 
 and in particular received a great loss in 
 places wbta-e the horses could not be of any 
 service, and which were very stony, and where 
 those that attacked them were better acquaint- 
 ed with the places than themselves; and when 
 the Jews had suffered this loss, the Arabians 
 raised their spirits after their defeat, and re- 
 turning back again, slew those that were al- 
 ready put to flight; and indeed all sorts of 
 slaughter were now frequent, and of those 
 that escaped, a few only returned into the 
 camp. So king Herod, when he despaired 
 of the battle, rode up to them to bring them 
 assistance, yet did he not come time enough 
 to do them any service, though he laboured 
 hard to do it; b«t the Jewish camp was taken, 
 so that the Arabians had unexpectedly a most 
 glorious success, having gained that victory 
 which of themselves they were no way likely 
 to have gained, and slaying a great part of 
 the enemy's array: w^hence afterward Herod 
 could only act like a private robber, and 
 make excursions upon many parts of Arabia, 
 and distress them by sudden incursions, while 
 he encamped among the mountains, and avoid- 
 ed by any means to come to a pitched battle; 
 yet flid he greatly harass the enemy by his 
 assiduity, and the hard labour he took in 
 this matter. He also took great care of his 
 own forces, and used all the means he could 
 to restore his affairs to their old state. 
 
 2. At this time it was that the fight hap- 
 pened at Actium, between Octavius Caesar 
 and Antony, in the seventh year of the reign 
 of Herod;* a«d then it was also that there 
 was an earthquake in Judea, such a one as 
 had not happened at any other time, and 
 which earthquake brought a great destruction 
 upon the cattle in that country. About ten 
 thousand men also perished by the fall of 
 houses; but the army, which lodged in the 
 field, received no damage by this sad acci- 
 dent. When the Arabians were informed of 
 this, and when those that hated the Jews, and 
 pleased themselves with aggravating the re- 
 ports, told them of it, they raised their spirits, 
 as if their enemy's country was quite over- 
 
 • The reader is here to take notice, tliat this seventh 
 year of the reii;n of Herod, and all the other years of his 
 «eij;n, in Josephus, are dated from the death of Antigo- 
 fius. or at the soonest from the conquest of Anti^oniis. 
 and the taking of Jerusalem, a few months before, and 
 never from bis first obtaining the kinRdom at Rome, 
 fth.ive thre*! years before, a« zoiue have Ftry weakly and 
 i^^udicioiMlf daD& 
 
 thrown, and the men were utterly destroyed, 
 and thought there now remained nothing that 
 could oppose them. Accordingly, they took 
 the Jewish ambassadors, who came to them 
 after all this had happened, to make peace 
 with them, and slew them, and came with 
 great alacrity against their army; but the 
 Jews durst not withstand them, and were so 
 cast down by the calamities. they were under, 
 that they took no fare of their affairs, but 
 gave up themselves to despair, for they had 
 no hope that they should be upon a level 
 again with them in battles, nor obtain any as- 
 sistance elsewhere, while their affairs at home 
 were in such great distress also. When mut- 
 ters were in this condition, the king persua- 
 ded the commanders by his words, and tried 
 to raise their spirits, which were quite sunk: 
 and first he endeavoured to encourage and 
 embolden some of the better sort beforehand, 
 and then ventured to make a speech to the 
 multitude, which he had before avoided to 
 do, lest he should find them uneasy thereat, 
 because ofthe misfortunes which had happened; 
 so he made a consolatory speech to the mul- 
 titude in the manner following: — 
 
 3. " You are not unacquainted, my fellow- 
 soldiers, that we have had, not long since, 
 many accidents that have put a stop to what 
 we are about; and it is probable, that even 
 those that are most distinguished above others 
 for their courage, can hardly keep up their 
 spirits in such circumstances; but since we 
 cannot avoid fighting, and nothing that hath 
 happened is of such a nature but it may by 
 ourselves be recovered into a good state, and 
 this by one brave action only well performed, 
 I have proposed to myself both to give you 
 some encouragement, and, at the same time, 
 some information; both which parts of my 
 design will tend to this point, that you may 
 still continue in your own proper fortitude. 
 I will then, in the first place, demonstrate to 
 you, that this war is a just one on our side, 
 and that on this account it is a war of neces- 
 sity, and occasioned by the injustice of our 
 adversaries; for, if you be once satisfied of 
 this, it will be a real cause of alacrity to you ; 
 after which I will farther demonstrate, that 
 the misfortunes we are under are of no great 
 consequence, and that we have the greatest 
 reason to hope for victory. I shall begin 
 \vith the first, and appeal to yourselves as 
 witnesses to what I shall say. You are not 
 ignorant certainly of the wickedness of the 
 Arabians, which is to that degree as to appear 
 incredible to all other men, and to include 
 somewhat that shows the grossest barbarity 
 and ignorance of God. The chief things 
 wherein tiey have affronted us have arisen 
 from covetousness and envy; and they have 
 attacked us in an insidious manner, and on 
 the sudden. And what occasion is there for 
 me to mention many instances of such their 
 procedure? W^heu they were in danger of 
 
412 
 
 ANTlQUn lES QF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK AV. 
 
 losing their own government of -themselvts, 
 and of being slaves to Cleopatra, what others 
 were they that ireed them from that fear? for 
 it was the friendship I had with Antony, and 
 the kind disposition he was in towards us, 
 that hath been the occasion that even these 
 Arabians have not been utterly undone, An- 
 tony being unwilling to undertake any thing 
 which might be suspected by us of unkind- 
 ness: but when he had a mind to bestow 
 gome parts of each of our dominions on Cleo- 
 patra, I also managed that matter so, that by 
 giving him presents of my own, I might ob- 
 tain a security to both nations, while 1 under- 
 took myself to answer for the money, and 
 gave him two hundred talents, and became 
 surety for those two hundred more which 
 were imposed upon the land that was subject 
 to this tribute: and this they have defrauded 
 us of, although it was not reasonable that 
 Jews should pay tribute te any man living, 
 or allow part of their land to be taxable ; but 
 although that was to be, yet ought we not to 
 pay tribute for these Arabians, whom v/e have 
 ourselves preserved; nor is it fit that they 
 who have professed (and that with great in- 
 tegrity and sense of our kindness) that it is 
 by our means that they keep their principa- 
 lity, should injure us, and deprive us of what 
 ib our due, and this while we have been still 
 not their enemies but their friends. And 
 whereas observation of covenants takes place 
 among the bitterest enemies, but among 
 friends is absolutely necessary, — this is not 
 observed among these men, who think gain 
 to be the hes^ oi all things, let it be by any 
 Uteiiii whc Isi/cver, and that injustice is no 
 harm, if they may but get money by it:, is it 
 therefore a question with you, whether the 
 unjust are to be punished or not? when God 
 himself hath declared his mind that so it ought 
 to be, — and hath commanded that we ever 
 should hate injuries and injustice, which is 
 not only just but necessary in wars between 
 several nations; for these Arabians have done 
 what both the Greeks and Barbarians own to 
 be an instance of the grossest wickedness, 
 with regard to our ambassadors, whom they 
 have beheaded, while the Greeks declare that 
 such ambassadors are sacred and inviolable.* 
 And for ourselves, we have learned from God 
 the most excellent of our doctrines, and the 
 most holy part of our law, by angels or am- 
 bassadors; for this name brings God to the 
 knowledge of mankind, and is suihcient to 
 , reconcile enemies one to another. What 
 wickedness then can be greater than the 
 slaughter of ambassadors, who come to treat 
 about doing what is right? And when such 
 have been their actions, how is it possible 
 
 ♦ Herod aays here, that as ambassadors w«re sacred 
 when they carried messaKes to otkers, so did tlie Jaws of 
 the Jews derire a saored authority by being delivered 
 from <iod by iajjeis £or divine anibassadorsj ; which is 
 St. Taol's expressioB absut the same laws. Gal, iii. 19; 
 B«U iLS. 
 
 they can either live securely in common life, 
 or be successful in war? In wy opinion, 
 this is impossible. But perhaps some will say^ 
 that what is holy, and what is righteous, is 
 indeed on our pide, but that the Arabia/js are- 
 either more courageous or more niunerous 
 than we are. Now, as to this, in the first 
 place, it is not fit fur us to say so, for with 
 whom is what is riyhteuts, with them is God 
 himself; now, where God is, there is both 
 multitude and courage. But to oxpiriine our 
 own circumstances a little, we were corqj'er- 
 ors in the first battle; and when we fought 
 again, they were not able to oppose us, but 
 ran away, and could not endure our attacks 
 or our courage; but when we had conquered 
 them, then came Athenion, and made war 
 against us without declaring it; and pray, is 
 this an instance of their manhood, or is it not 
 a second instance of their wickedness and 
 treachery? Why are we therefore of less 
 courage, on account of that which ought to 
 inspire us with stronger hopes? and why are 
 we terrified at these, who, when they fight 
 upon a level, are continually beaten, and 
 when they seem to be conq^uerors,. they gain 
 it by wickedness? and if we suppose that 
 any one should .deem them to be men of real 
 courage, will not he be excited by that very 
 consideration to do his utmost against them? 
 for true valour is not shown by fighting 
 against weak persons, but in being able to- 
 overcome the most hardy. But then, if the 
 distresses we are ourselves under, and the mi-, 
 series that have come by the earthquake, have 
 atfrighted any one, let him consider, in the 
 first place, that this very thing will deceive 
 the Arabians, by their supposal that what 
 hath betallen us is greater than it rvally is. 
 Moreover, it is not right that the same thing 
 that emboldens them should discourage us; 
 for these men, you see, do not derive tlieir 
 alacrity from any advantageous virtue of theip 
 own, but fiom their hope, as to lis, that w^ 
 are quite cast down by our misfortunes; but' 
 when we boldly ujarch against them, we shall 
 soon pull down their insolent conceit of tliem« 
 selves, and shall gain this by attacking them, 
 that they will not be so insolent when we 
 come to the battle; for our distresses are not 
 so great, nor is what hath happened an indi- 
 cation of the anger of God against us, as 
 some imagine; for such things are accidental^ 
 and adversities that come in the usual course 
 of things; and if we allow that this was done 
 by the will of God, we must allow that it is 
 now over by his will also, and that he is sa- 
 tisfied with what hath already happened; foe 
 had he been wilUng to aaUct us still more 
 thereby, he had not changed his mind to soon. 
 And as for the war we are engaged in, he 
 hath himself demonstrated that he is willing 
 it should go on, and that he knows it to be a> 
 just war; for while some of the people in 
 the country have perished^ all you who wkm 
 
CKAP. n. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 413 
 
 in arms have suffered nothing, but are all 
 preserved alive; whereby God makes it plain 
 to us, that if you Lad universally, with your 
 children and wives, been in the army, it had 
 couie to pass that you had not undergone any 
 thing that would have much hurt you. Con- 
 wder these tnings, and, what is more than all 
 the rest, that you have God at all times for 
 your protector; and prosecute these men 
 vntii a just bravery, who, in point of friend- 
 ship, are unjust, in their battles perfidious, 
 towards ambassadors impious, and always in- 
 ferior to you in valour." 
 
 4. When the Jews heard this speech, they 
 were much raised in their minds, and more 
 disposed to fight than before. So Herod, 
 when he had oifered the sacrifices appointed 
 {)y the law,* made haste, and took them, and 
 led them against the Arabians; and in order 
 to that, passed over Jordan, and pitched his 
 camp near to that of the enemy. He also 
 thought fit to seize upon a certain castle that 
 My in the midst of them, as hoping it would 
 be for his advantage, and would the sooner 
 produce a battle; and that, if there were occa- 
 sion for delay, he should by it have his camp 
 fortified; and as the Arabians had the same 
 intentions upon that place, a contest arose 
 about it; at first they were but skirmishes, 
 after which there came more soldiers, and it 
 proved a sort of fight, and some fell on both 
 sides, till those of the Arabian side were 
 beaten, and retreated. This was no small 
 .ncouragement to the Jews immediately; and 
 A'hen Herod observed that the enemy's army 
 were disposed to any thing rather than to come 
 to an engagement, he ventured boldly to at- 
 tempt the bulwark itself, and to pull it to 
 pieces, and so to get nearer to their camp, in 
 order to fight them ; for when they were 
 forced out of their trenches, they went out in 
 disorder, and had not the least alacrity, or 
 hope of victory; yet did they fight hand to 
 hand, because they were more in number than 
 ^e Jews, and because they were in such a dis- 
 position of war that they were under a neces- 
 sity of coming on boldly; so they came to a 
 terrible battle, while not a few fell on each 
 side. However, at length the Arabians fled; 
 aiiii so great a slaughter was made upon their 
 being routed, that they were not only killed 
 by their enemies, but became the authors of 
 
 •• This piece of Telio^ion, the supplicating God with 
 •AcriGces, by Herod, before he went to this fight witti 
 the Arabians, taken notice of also in the first boolc Of 
 the War. ch. xix. sect o, is worth remarking, because 
 it is the only example of this nature, so far as I remem- 
 ber, that Jost-phus ever r.entions in all his large and 
 particular accounts of this Herod: and it was when he 
 haJ been in mighty distress, and discouraged by a great 
 defeat of his former army, and by a very great earth- 
 quake in Judea, such times of affliction making men 
 ii^st religious; nor was he disappointed of his hopes 
 here, but imraediately gained a most si-inal victory over 
 tte Arabians, wliile they who just betore had been so 
 great victois. and so much elevated upon the earthquake 
 ia Judea as to venture to slay the Jewish ambassadors, 
 vere now under a strange consternation, and hardly 
 ikbie to imai <n alL 
 
 their own deaths also, and were trodden down 
 by the multitude, and the great current of 
 people in disorder, and were destroyed by their 
 own armour; so five thousand men lay dead 
 upon the spot, while the rest of the multitude 
 soon ran within the bidwark [for safety], but 
 had no firm hope of safety, by reason of their 
 want of necessaries, and especially of water 
 The Jews pursued them, but could not get ia^ 
 with hem, but sat round about the bulwark,' 
 and watched any assistance that would get 
 into them, and prevented any there, that had 
 a mind to it, from lunning away. 
 
 5. When the Arabians were in these dr- 
 cximstances, they sent ambassadors to Herod, 
 in the first place, to propose terms of accom- 
 modation, and after that to offer him, so press- 
 ing was their thirst upon them, to undergo 
 whatsoever he pleased, if he would free thera 
 from their present distress; but he would 
 admit of no ambassadors, of no price of re- 
 demption, nor of any other moderate terms 
 whatever, being very desirous to revenge those 
 unjust actions which they had been guilty of 
 towards his nation. So they were necessitated 
 by other motives, and particularly by their 
 thirst, to come out, and deliver themselves up 
 to him, to be carried away captives; and in 
 five days' time, the number of four thousand 
 were taken prisoners, while all the rest re- 
 solved to make a sally upon their enemies, and 
 to fight it out \dth them, choosing rather, if so ■ 
 it must be, to die therein, than to perish gra- 
 dually and ingloriously. When they had 
 taken this resolution, they came out of their 
 trenches, but could no way sustain the fight, 
 being too much disabled, both in mind and 
 body, and having not room to exert them- 
 selves, and thought it an advantage to be 
 killed, and a misery to survive; so at the first 
 onset there fell about seven thousand of them, 
 after which stroke, they let all the courage 
 they had put on before fall, and stood amazed 
 at Herod's warlike spirit under his own cala- 
 mities; so for the future they yielded, and 
 made him ruler of their nation; whereupon 
 he was greatly elevated at so seasonable a suc- 
 cess, and returned home, taking great autho- 
 rity upon him, on account of so bold and 
 glorious an expedition as he had made. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW HEROD SLEW HYRCANUS, AND THEN 
 HA!iTED AWAY TO C..ESAR, AND OBTAINED 
 THE KINGDOM FROM HTM ALSO; AND HOW, 
 A LITTLE TIME AFTERWARD, HE ENTEE- 
 TAINKD C^SAR IN A MOST HONOURABLE 
 MANNER. 
 
 § 1. Herod's other affairs were now very 
 prosperous, and he was not to be easily as- 
 sHulted on any side. Yet did there come up- 
 on him a danger that woiUd hazard his entire 
 
414 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XV. 
 
 dominions, after Antony had been beaten at 
 the battle of Actium by Caesar [Octavian] ; 
 for at that time both Herod's enemies and 
 friends despaired of his affairs, for it was not 
 probable that he would remain without pun- 
 
 *" ishment, who had shown so much friendship 
 for Antony. So it happened that his friends 
 despaired, and had no hopes of his escape; 
 but for his enemies, they all outwardly ap- 
 peared to be troubled at his case, but were 
 privately very glad of it, as hoping to obtain 
 a change for the better. As for Herod him 
 self, he saw that there ^s no one of royal 
 dignity left but Hyrcanus, and therefore he 
 thought it would be for his advantage not to 
 suffer him to be an obstacle in his way any 
 longer; for that in case he. himself survived 
 and escaped the danger he was in, he thought 
 it was the safest way to put it out of the power 
 of such a man to make any attempt against 
 him at such junctures of affairs, as was more 
 Worthy of the kingdom than himself; and in 
 case he should be slain by Caesar, his envy 
 prompted him to desire to slay him that would 
 otherwise be king after him. 
 
 2. While Herod had these things in his 
 mind, there was a certain occasion afforded 
 him; for Hyrcanus was of so mild a temper, 
 both then and at other times, that he desired 
 not to meddle with public affairs, nor to con- 
 cern himself with innovations, but left all to 
 fortune, and contented himself with what that 
 afforded him: but Alexandra [his daughter] 
 was a lover of strife, and was exceeding de- 
 sirous of a change of the government; and 
 spoke to her father not to bear for ever He- 
 rod's injurious treatment of their family, but 
 to anticipate their future hopes, as he safely 
 might; and desired him to wiite about these 
 matters to Malchus, who was then governor 
 of Arabia, to receive them, and to secure them 
 [from Herod], for that if they went away, and 
 Herod's affairs proved to be, as it was likely 
 they would be by reason of Caesar's enmity to 
 him, they should then be the only persons that 
 could take the government; and this, both on 
 account of the royal family they were of, and 
 on account o£ the good disposition of the 
 multitude to them. While she used these per- 
 suasions, Hyrcanus put off her suit; but as 
 she showed that she was a woman, and a con- 
 tentious woman too, and would not desist 
 either night or day, but would always be 
 speaking to him about these matters, and 
 about Herod's treacherous designs, she at last 
 prevailed with him to entrust DosithcuS, one 
 of his friends, with a letter, wherein his re- 
 solution was declared; and he desired the 
 Arabian governor to send him some horsemen^ 
 who should receive liim, and conduct him to 
 the lake Asplialtites, which is from the bounds 
 of Jerusalem three hundred furlongs: and he 
 did therefore trust Dositheus with his letter, 
 because he was a careful attendant on hitn, 
 
 ^ And on Alexandra, and h.ul no small occasion 
 
 to bear ill- wll to Herod ; for he was a kins- 
 man of one Joseph, whom he had slain, and a 
 brother of those that were formerly slain at 
 Tyre by Antony: yet could not these motives 
 induce Dositheus to serve Hyrcanus in this 
 affair; for, preferring the hopes he had from 
 the present king to those he had from him, he 
 gave Herod the letter. So he took his kind- 
 ness in good part, and bade him besides do 
 what he had already done, that is, go on in 
 serving him, by rolling up the epistle and 
 sealing it again, and delivering it to Malchus, 
 and then to bring back the letter in answer to 
 it; for it would be much better if he could 
 know Malchus's intentions also. And when 
 Dositheus was very ready to serve him in this 
 point also, the Arabian governor returned 
 back for answer, that he would receive Hyr- 
 canus, and all that should come with him, and 
 even all the Jews that were of his party : that 
 he would, moreover, send forces sutficient to 
 secure them in their journey; and that he 
 should be in no want of any thing he should 
 desire. Now as soon as Herod had received 
 this letter, he immediately sent for Hyrcanus, 
 and questioned him about the league he had 
 made with Malchus; and when he denied it, 
 he showed his letter to the sanhedrim, and 
 put the man to death immediately. 
 
 3. And this account we give the reader, as it 
 is contained in the commentaries of king He- 
 rod: but other historians do not agree with 
 them, for they suppose that Herod did not find, 
 but rather made, this an occasion for thus put- 
 ting him to death, and that by treacherously lay- 
 ing a snare for him ; for thus do they write : — 
 That Herod and he were once at a treat, and 
 that Herod had given no occasion to suspect 
 [that he was displeased at him], but put this 
 question to Hyrcanus, Whether he had received 
 any letters from Malchus? and when he an- 
 swered that he had received letters, butthose of 
 salutation oidy; and when he asked farther, 
 whether he had not received any presents from 
 him? and when he had replied, that he had r* 
 ceived no more than four horses to ride on, 
 which Malchus had sent him, they pretended 
 thM Herod charged these upon him as the crimes 
 of bribery and treason, and gave order that ht 
 should be led away and slain. And in order 
 to demonstrate that he had been guilty of no 
 offence, when he was thus brought to his end, 
 they allege how mild his temper had been, 
 and that even in his youth he had never given 
 any demonstration of boldness or rashness, an(^ 
 that the case was the same when he came to 
 be king, but that he even then committed the 
 management of the greatest part of public 
 affairs to Antipater: and that he was now 
 above fourscore years old, and knew that He- 
 rod's government was in a secure state. He 
 also came over Euphrates, and left those who 
 greatly honoured him beyond that river, 
 though he were to be entirely under Herod's 
 government; and that it was a most incredible 
 
CHAP, VI, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 415 
 
 thing that he should enterprise any thing by 
 way of innovation, and not at all agreeable 
 to his temper, but that this was a plot of 
 Herod's own contrivance. 
 
 4. And this was the fate of Hyrcanus; and 
 thus did he end his life, after he had endured 
 various and manifold turns of fortune in his 
 lifetime; for he was made high-priest of the 
 Jewish nation in the beginning of his mother 
 Alexandra's reign, who held the government 
 nine years ; and when, after his mother's 
 death, he took the kingdom himself, and held 
 it three months, he lost it, by the means of 
 his brother Aristobulus. He was then re- 
 stored by Pompey, and received all sorts of 
 honour from him, and enjoyed them forty 
 years; but when he was again deprived by 
 Antigonus, and was maimed in his bedy, he 
 was made a captive by the Parthians, and 
 thence returned home again after some time, 
 on account of the hopes that Herod had given 
 him; none of which came to pass according 
 to his expectation, bat he still conflicted with 
 many misfortunes through the whole course 
 of his life; and, what was the heaviest cala- 
 mity of all, as we have related already, he 
 came to an end which was undeserved by 
 feim. His character appeared to be that of a 
 nran of a mild and moderate disposition, who 
 suffered the administration of affairs to be ge- 
 nerally done by others under him. He was 
 averse to much meddling with the public, nor 
 
 %i)ad shrewdness enough to govern a kingdom: 
 and both Antipater and Herod came to their 
 greatness by reason of "his mildness; and at 
 last he met witb sucli an end from them as 
 was not agreeable either to J ustice or piety. 
 
 5- Now Herod, as soon as he had put Hyr- 
 canus out of the way, made haste to Caesar; 
 and because he could not have any hopes of 
 kindness from him, on account of the friend- 
 ship he had for Antony, he had a suspicion of 
 Alexandra, lest she should take this opportu- i 
 nity to bring the multitude to a revolt, and | 
 
 •introduce a sedition int-j the affairs of the king- I 
 dora ; so he committed the care of every thing 
 to his brother Pheroras, and placed his mother 
 Cypres, and his sister [Salome], and the whole 
 family, at Massada, and gave him a charge, 
 that if he should hear any sad news about 
 him, he should take care of the government: 
 but as to Mariamne his wife, because of the 
 misunderstanding between her and his sister, 
 and his sister's mother, which made it impos- 
 sible for them to live together, he placed her 
 at Alexandrium, with Alexandra her mother, 
 and left his treasurer Joseph and Sohemus of 
 Iturea, to take care of that fortress. These 
 two had been very faithful to him from the 
 beginning, and were now left as a guard to 
 the women. They also had it in charge, that 
 if they should hear any miJ^hief had befallen 
 him, they should kill them both; and, as far 
 as they were able, to pn^serve the kingdom j 
 for his sons, and for his brother Pheroras. j 
 
 6. When he had given them this charge, 
 he made haste to Rhodes, to meet Casar; 
 and when he had sailed to that city, he took 
 off his diadem, but remitted nothing else of 
 his usual dignity: and when, upon his meet- 
 ing him, he desired that he would let him 
 speak to him, he therein exhibited a much 
 more noble specimen of a great soul, for be 
 did not betake himself to supplications, as 
 men usually do upon such occasions, nor 
 offered him any petition, as if he were an 
 offender; but, after an undaunted manner, 
 gave an account of what he had done ; for he 
 spake thus to Caesar: — That he had the 
 greatest friendship for Antony, and did every 
 thing he could that he might attain the go- 
 vernment: that he was not indeed in the 
 army with him, because the Arabians had 
 diverted him, but that he had sent him both 
 money and com, which was but too little in 
 comparison of what he ought to have done 
 for him; "for, if a man owns himself to be 
 another's friend, and knows him to be a bene- 
 factor, he is obliged to hazard every thing, to 
 use every faculty of his soul, every member of 
 his body, and all the wealth he hath, for him; 
 in which I confess I have been too deficient. 
 However, I am conscious to myself, that so 
 far I have done right, that I have not deserted 
 him upon his defeat at Actium: nor upon 
 the evident change of his fortune have I trans- 
 ferred my hopes from him to another, but 
 have preserved myself, though not as a valu- 
 able fellow-soldier, yet certainly as a faithful 
 counsellor, to Antony, when I demonstrated 
 to him that the only way he had to save him- 
 self, and not lose all his authority, was to 
 slay Cleopatra; for when she was once dead, 
 there would be room for him to retain his 
 authority, and rather to bring thee to make a 
 composition with him, than to continue at en- 
 mity any longer. None of which advices would 
 he attend to, but preferred his own rash reso- 
 lutions before them, which have happened un- 
 profitably for him, but profitably for thee. 
 Now, therefore, in case thou determinest 
 about me, and my alacrity in serving Antony, 
 according to thy anger at him, I own there is 
 no room for me to deny what I have done, 
 nor will I be ashamed to own, and that pub- 
 licly too, that I had a great kindness for bira; 
 but^ thou wilt put him out of the case, and 
 only examine how I behave myself to my be- 
 nefactors in general, and what sort of friend 
 I am, thou wilt find by experience that we 
 shail do and be the same to thyself, for it is 
 but changing the names, and the firmness of 
 friendship that we shall bear to thee, will not 
 be disapproved by thee." 
 
 7. By this speech, and by his beha- 
 viour, which showed Caesar the frankness of 
 his mind, he greatly gained upon him, who 
 was himself of a generous and magnificent 
 temper, insomuch that tho?e very actions, 
 which were the foundation of the accusation 
 
416 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK 
 
 against him, procured him Caesar's good- 
 wilL Accordingly, he restored him his dia- 
 dem again; and encouraged him to exhibit 
 himself as great a friend to himself as he 
 had been to Antony, and then had him in 
 great esteem. Moreover, he added this, that 
 Qiiintus Didius had written to him that He- 
 rod had very readily assisted him in the affair 
 of the gladiatorsi So when he had obtained 
 such a kind reception, and had, beyond all his 
 hopes, procured his crown to be more entirely 
 and firmly settled upon him than ever, by 
 Caesar's donation, as well as by that decree 
 of the Romans, which Caesar took care to pro- 
 cure for his greater security, he conducted 
 Csesar on his way to Egypt, and made pre- 
 sents, even beyond his ability, to both him 
 and his friends; and in general behaved him- 
 self with great magnanimity. He also desired 
 that Caesar would not put to death one 
 Alexander, who had been a companion of 
 Antony; but Caesar had sworn to put him to 
 death, and so he could not obtain that his pe- 
 tition: Mid now he returned to Judea again 
 with greater honour and assurance than ever, 
 and affrighted those that had expectations to 
 the contrary, as still acquiring from his very 
 dangers greater splendour than before, by the 
 favour of God to him. So he prepared for 
 the reception of Caesar as he was going o'at 
 of Sjrria to invade Egypt; and when he came, 
 he entertained him at Ptolemais with all royal 
 magnificence. He also bestowed presents on 
 the army, and brought them provisions in 
 abundance. He also proved to be one of 
 Caesar's most cordial friends, and put the army 
 in array, and rode along with Caesar, and had 
 a hundred and fifty men, well appointed in 
 all respects, after a rich and sumptuous man- 
 ner, for the better reception of him and his 
 friends. He also provided them with what 
 they should want, as they passed over the dry 
 desert, insomuch that they lacked neither wine 
 nor water, which last the soldiers stood in the 
 greatest need of; and besides, he presented 
 Caesar with eight hundred talents, and pro- 
 cured to himself the good- will of them ail, be- 
 cause he was assisting to them in a much 
 greater and more splendid degree than the 
 kingdom he had obtained could* afford; by 
 which he more and more demonstrated to 
 Caesar the firmness of his friendship, ani his 
 readiness to assist him : and what was of the 
 greatest advantage to him was this, that his 
 liberality came at a seasonable time also; «nd 
 wnen they returned again out of Egypt; his 
 assistances were no way inferior to the good 
 odices he had formerly done them. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 HOW HEROD SLEW SOHEMUS AND MARIAWNF, 
 AND AFTERWARDS ALEXANDRA AND C08T0- 
 BARUS, AND HIS MOST INTIMATE FRIENDS^ 
 AND, AT LAST, THE SONS OF BABA ALSO. 
 
 § 1. However, when he came into his king- 
 dom again, he found his house all in disorder, 
 and his wife Mariamne and her mother Alex- 
 andra very uneasy; for, as they supposed, 
 (what was easy to be supposed) that they were 
 not put into that fortress [Alexandrium] for 
 the security of their persons, but as into a 
 garrison for their imprisonment, and that they 
 had no power over any thing, eitfeer of others 
 or of their own affairs, they were very uneasy > 
 and Mariamne, supposing that the king's love 
 to her was but hypocritical, and rather pre- 
 tended (as advantageous to himself) than real, 
 she looked upon it as fallacious. She also 
 was grieved that he would not allow her any 
 hopes of surviving him, if he should come to 
 any harm himself. She also recollected what 
 commands he had formerly given to Joseph, 
 insomuch that she endeavoured to please her 
 keepers, and especially Soheraus, as well ap- 
 prised how all was in his power; and at the 
 first Sohemus was faithful to Herod, and ne- 
 glected none of the things he had given hiia 
 in charge. But when the women, by kinj^ 
 words, and liberal presents, had gained his 
 affections over to them, he was by degrees 
 overcome, and at length discovered to them 
 all the king's injunctions, and this on that ac- 
 count principally, that he did not so much as 
 hope he would come back with the same au- 
 thority he had before, so that he thought he 
 should both escape any danger from him, and 
 supposed that he did hereby much gratify the 
 women, who were likely not to be overlooked 
 in the settling of the government, nay, that 
 they would be able to make him abundant re-^ 
 compense, since they must either reign them- 
 selves, or be very near to him that should 
 reign. He had a farther ground of hope also, 
 that though Herod should have all the success 
 he could wish for, and should return again, 
 he could not contradict his wife in what she 
 desired, for he knew that the king's fondness 
 for his wife was inexpressible. These were 
 the motives that drew Sohemus to discover 
 what injunctions had been given him. So 
 Mariamne was greatly displeased to hear that 
 there was no end of the dangers she was un- 
 der from Herod, and was greatly uneasy at 
 it, and wished that he might obtain no favours 
 [from Caesar], and esteemed it almost an in- 
 supportable task to live with hiui any longer; 
 and this she aft Avards openly declared, with- 
 out concealing her resentment,. 
 
 2. And now lleroti suile<l lionie with joy, 
 at the unexpected good success- b« had bad; 
 
CHAP. Vile 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 417 
 
 and went first of all, as was proper, to this his 
 wife, and told her, and her only, the good 
 news, as pr^erring her before the rest, oii 
 account of his fondness for her, and the inti- 
 macy there had been between thera, and sa- 
 luted her? but so it happened, that as he told 
 her of the good success he had had, she was 
 so far from rejoicing at it, that she rather was 
 sorry for it ; nor was she able to conceal her 
 resentments, but, depending on her dignity, 
 and the nobility of her birth, in return for 
 his salutations, she gave a groan, and declared 
 evidently that she rather grieved than rejoiced 
 at his success, — and this till Herod was dis- 
 turbed at her, as affording him, not only 
 marks of her suspicion, but evident signs of 
 her dissatisfaction. This much troubled him, 
 to ;iee that this surprising hatred of his wife 
 to hiin was not concealed, but open ; and he 
 took this so ill, and yet was so unable to bear 
 it, on account of the fondness he had for her, 
 that he could hot continue long in any one 
 mind, but sometimes was angry at her, and 
 sometimes reconciled himself to her; but by 
 always changing one passion for another, he 
 was still in great uncertainty, and thus ^vas 
 entangled between hatred and love, and was 
 frequently disposed to inflict punishment on 
 her for her insolence towards him ; but being 
 deeply in love with her in his soul, he was 
 not able to get quit of this woman. In 
 short, as he would gladly have her punished, 
 so was he afraid lest, ere he were aware, he 
 should, by putting her to death, bring a hea- 
 vier punishment upon himself at the same 
 time. 
 
 3. "\Yhen Herod's sister and mother per- 
 ceived that he was in this temper with regard 
 to Mariamne, they thought they had now got 
 an excellent opportunity to exercise their ha- 
 tred against her, and provoked Herod to wrath 
 by telling him such long stories and calum- 
 nies about her, as might at once excite his 
 hatred and his jealousy. Now, though he will- 
 ingly enough heard their words, yet had not 
 he courage enough to do any thing to her as 
 if he believ(!d them, but still he became worse 
 and worse disposed to her, and these ill pas- 
 sions were more and more inflamed on both 
 sides, while she did not hide her disposition 
 towards him; and he turned his love to her 
 into wrath against her; but when he was just 
 going to put this matter past all remedy, he 
 heard the news that Caesar was the victor in 
 the war, and that Antony and Cleopatra were 
 both dead, and that he had conquered Egypt ; 
 whereupon he made haste to go to meet 
 Csesar, and left the affairs of his family in 
 their present state. However, Mariamne re- 
 commended Sohemus to him, as he was set- 
 ting out on his journey, and professed that she 
 owed him thanks for the care he had taken of 
 her, and asked of the king for him a place in 
 the government; upon which an honourable 
 employment was bes^towed upon him accord- 
 
 ingly. Now, when Herod was come into 
 Egypt, he was introduced to Caesar with great 
 freedom, as already a friend of his, and re- 
 ceived very great favours from him; for he 
 made him a present of those four hundred 
 Galatians who had been Cleopatra's guards, 
 and restored that country to him again, which, 
 by her means, had been taken away from him 
 He also added to his kingdom Gadara, Hip- 
 pos, and Samaria; and, besides those, the 
 maritime cities, Gaza, Anthedon, Joppa, and 
 Strato's Tower, 
 
 4. Upon these new acquisitions, he grew 
 more magnificent, and conducted Caesar as 
 far as Anfioch; but upon his return, as much 
 as his prosperity was augmented by the foreign 
 additions that had been made him, so muoh 
 the greater were the distresses that came 
 upon him in his own family, and chiefly in the 
 affair of his ^vife, wherein he formerly ap- 
 peared to hare been most of all fortunate ; for 
 the affection he had for Mariamne was no way 
 inferior to the affections of such as are on that 
 account celebrated in history, and this very 
 justly. As for her, she was in other respects 
 a chaste woman, and faithful to him ; yet had 
 she somewhat of a woman rough by nature, 
 and treated her husband imperiously enough, 
 because she saw he was so fond of her as to 
 b^ enslaved to her. She did not also con- 
 sider seasonably with herself that she lived 
 under a monarchy, and that she was at ano- 
 ther's disposal, and accordingly w5uld behave 
 herself after a saucy manner to him, which 
 yet he usually put off in a jesting way, and 
 bore with moderation and good temper. She 
 would also expose his mother and his sister 
 openly, on account of the meanness of their 
 birth, and would speak unkindly of them, in- 
 somuch, that there was before this a disagree- 
 ment and unpardonable hatred among the 
 women, and it was now come to greater re- 
 proaches, of one another than formerly, which 
 suspicions increased, and lasted a whole year 
 after Herod returned from Caesar. How- 
 ever, these misfortunes, which had been kept 
 under some decency for a great while, burst 
 out all at once upon such an occasion as was 
 now offered ; for as the king was one day 
 about noon Tain down on his bed to rest him, 
 he called for Mariamne, out of the great af- 
 fection he had always for her. She came in 
 accordingly, but would not lie down by him; 
 and when he was very desirous of her com- 
 pany, she showed her contempt of him; and 
 added, by way of reproach, that he had caused 
 her father and her brother to be slain;' and 
 when he took this injury very unkindly, and 
 
 • Whereas Mariamne is here represented as reproach- 
 ing Herod with the murder of her father [Alexander], 
 as well as her brother [Aristobulus], while it was her 
 grandfather Hyrcanus, and not her father Alexander, 
 whom he caused to be slain (as Josephus himself in- 
 forms us, ch. vL sect. 2), we must either take Zonara's 
 reading, which is here prand/ather. rightly, or rfse wo 
 must, as before (ch. i. sect. 1). allow a slip of Josephus'a 
 I pen or memory ia the place before ui. 
 
 2D 
 
418 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK xr» 
 
 was ready to use violence to her, in a precipi- 
 tate mariner, the king's sister Salome, ob- 
 serving that he was more than ordinarily dis- 
 turbed, setit in to the king his cup-bearer, 
 who had been prepared long beforehand for 
 such a design, and bade him tell the king how 
 Mariamne had persuaded him to give his as- 
 sistance in preparing a love-potion for him;* 
 and if he appeared to be greatly concerned, 
 and to ask what that love-potion was, to tell 
 him that she had the potion, and that he was 
 desired only to give it him; but in case he 
 did not appear to be much concerned at this 
 potion, to let the thing drop; and that if he 
 did so, no harm should thereby come to him. 
 When she had given him these instructions, 
 she sent him in at this time to make such a 
 speech. So he went in, after a composed 
 manner, to gain credit to what he should say, 
 and yet somewhat hastily; and said, that 
 Mariamne had given him presents, and per- 
 suaded him to give him a love-potion; and 
 when this moved the king,he said that this love- 
 potion was a composition that she had given 
 him, whose effects he did not know, which 
 was the reason of his resolving to give him 
 this information, as the safest course he could 
 take, both for himself and for the king. 
 When Herod heard what he said, and was in 
 an ill disposition before, his indignation grew 
 more violent; and he ordered that eunuch of 
 Mariamne, who was most faithful to her, to 
 be brought to torture about this potion, as 
 well knowing it was not possible that any 
 thing small or great could be done without 
 him; and when the man was under the ut- 
 most agonies, he could say nothing concern- 
 ing the thing he was tortured about, but so 
 far he knew, that Mariamne's hatred against 
 him was occasioned by somewhat that Sohe- 
 mus had said to her. Now, as he was saying 
 this, Herod cried out aloud, and said, that 
 Sohemus, who had been at all other times the 
 most faithful to him, and to his government, 
 would not have betrayed what injunctions he 
 had given him, unless he had had a nearer 
 conversation than ordinary Nvith Mariamne. 
 So he gave orders that Sohemus should be 
 seized on and slain immediately; but he allowed 
 his wife to take her trial; and -got together 
 those that were most faithful to him, and 
 laid an elaborate accusation against her for 
 this love-potion and composition, which had 
 been charged upon her by way of calumny 
 only. However, he kept no temper in what 
 he said, and was in too great a passion for 
 judging well about this matter. Accordingly, 
 when the court was at length satisfied that 
 he was so resolved, they passed the sentence 
 of death upon her; but when the sentence 
 was passed upon her, this temper was sug- 
 gested by himself, and by some others of the 
 court, that she should not be thus hastily put 
 to dAith, but be laid in prison in one of the 
 fortresses belonging to the kingdom; but 
 
 Salome and her party laboured hard to hav« 
 the woman put to death; and they prevailed 
 with the king to do so, and ad^sed this out 
 of caution, lest the multitude should be tu. 
 multuous if she M^re suffered to live; and 
 thus was Mariamne led to execution. 
 
 5. When Alexandra observed how things 
 went, and that there were small hopes that 
 she herself should escape the like treatment 
 from Herod, she changed her behaviour to 
 quite the reverse of what might have beer 
 expected from her former boldness, and this 
 after a very indecent manner; for out of her 
 desire to show how entirely ignorant she was 
 of the crimes laid against Mariamne, she 
 leaped out of her place, and reproached her 
 daughter, in the hearing of all the people; 
 and cried out, that she had been an ill >ro- 
 man, and ungrateful to her husband, and 
 that her punishment came justly wpon her 
 for such her insolent behaviour, <i>r that she 
 had not made proper returns to him who had 
 been their common bene^tctor. And when 
 she had for some time acted after this hypo- 
 critical manner, and had been so outrageous as 
 to tear her hair, this indecent and dissembling 
 behaviour, as was to be expected, was greatly 
 condemned by the rest of the spectators, as it 
 was principally by the poor woman who was 
 to suffer; for at the first she gave her not a 
 word, nor was discomposed at her peevish- 
 ness, and only looked at her, yet did she, out 
 of a greatness of soul, discover her concern 
 for her mother's offence, and especially for 
 her exposing herself in a manner so unbecom- 
 ing her: but as for herself, she went to her 
 death with an unshaken firmness of mind, 
 and without changing the colour of her face, 
 and thereby evidently discovered the nobility 
 of her descent to the spectators, even in the 
 last moments of her life. 
 
 6. And thus died Mariamne, a woman of 
 an excellent character, both for chastity and 
 greatness of soul; but she wanted modera- 
 tion, and had too much of contention in her 
 nature, yet had she all that can be said in the 
 beauty of her body, and her majestic appear- 
 ance in conversation; and thence arose the 
 greatest part of the occasions why she did 
 not prove so agreeable to the king, nor live 
 so pleasantly with him as she might other- 
 wise have done; for while she was most in- 
 dulgently used by the king, out of his fond- 
 ness for her, and did not expect that he could 
 do any thing hard to her, she took too un- 
 bounded a liberty. Moreover, that which 
 most afflicted her, was what he had done to 
 her relations; and she ventured to speak of all 
 they had suffered by him, and at last greatly 
 provoked both the king's mother and sister, 
 till they became enemies to her; and even he 
 himself also did the same, on whom alone she 
 depended for her expectations of escaping the 
 last of punishments. 
 
 7. But when she was once dead, the king'f 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 419 
 
 affections for her were kindled in a more out- 
 rageous manner than before, whose old pas- i 
 sion for her we have already described; for 
 his love to her was not of a calm nature, nor 
 such as we usually meet with among other 
 husbands, for at its commencement it was of 
 an enthusiastic kind; nor was it, by their 
 long cohabitation and free conversation to- 
 gether, brought under his power to manage; 
 but at this time his love to Mariamne seemed 
 to seize him in such a peculiar manner, as 
 looked like divine vengeance upon him for 
 the taking away her lite; for he would fre- 
 quently call for her, and frequently lament 
 for her, in a most indecent manner. More- 
 over, he bethought him of every thing he 
 could make use of to divert his mind from 
 thinking of her, and contrived feasts and as- 
 semblies for that purpose, but nothing would 
 suffice : he therefore laid aside the adminis- 
 tration of public affairs, and was so far con- 
 quered by his passion, that he would order 
 his servants to call for Mariamne, as if she 
 were still alive, and could still hear them; 
 and when he was in this way, there arose a 
 pestilential disease, and carried off the great- 
 est part of the multitude, and of his best and 
 most esteemed friends, and made all men sus- 
 pect that this was brought upon them by the 
 anger of God, for the injustice that had been 
 done to Mariamne. This circumstance af- 
 fected the king still more, till at length he 
 forced himself to go into desert places, and 
 there, under pretence of going a hunting, bit- 
 terly afflicted himself; yet had he not borne 
 his grief there many days before he fell into 
 a most dangerous distemper himself; he had 
 an inflammation upon him, and a pain in 
 the hinder part of his head, joined with mad- 
 ness; and for the remedies that were used, 
 they did him no good at all, but proved con- 
 trary to his case, and so at length brought 
 him to despair. All the physicians also that 
 were about him, partly because the medicines 
 they brought for his recovery could not at all 
 conquer the disease, and partly because his 
 diet could be no other that what his disease 
 inclined him to, desired him to eat whatever 
 he had a mind to, and so left the small hopes 
 they had of his recovery in the power of that 
 diet, and committed him to fortune. And 
 thus did his distemper go on, while he was at 
 Saniaria, now called Sebaste. 
 
 8. Now Alexandra abode at this time at 
 Jerusalem; and being informed what condi- 
 tion Herod was in, she endeavoured to get 
 possession of the fortified places that were 
 about the city, which were two, the one be- 
 longing to the city itself, the other belonging to 
 the temple; and those that could get them into 
 their hands had the whole nation under their ' 
 power, for without the command of them it 
 was not possible to offer their sacrifices; and . 
 to think of leaving off those sacrifices, is to 
 every Jew plainly impossible, who are still / 
 
 more ready to lose their lives than to leave 
 off that divine worship which thev have been 
 wont to pay unto God. Alexandra, there- 
 fore, discoursed with those that had the keep- 
 ing of these strongholds, that it was propel 
 for them to deliver the same to her, and to 
 Herod's sons, lest, upon his death, any pther 
 person should seize upon the government; 
 and that upon his recovery none could kee 
 them more safely for him than those of hi. 
 own family. These words were not by ther 
 at all taken in good part; and, as they had 
 been in former times faithful [to Herod], 
 they resolved to continue so more than ever, 
 both because they hated Alexandra, and be- 
 cause they thought it a sort of impiety to de- 
 spair of Herod's recovery while he was yet 
 alive, for they had been his old friends; 
 and one of them, whose name was Achiabus, 
 was his cousin-german. They sent messen- 
 gers, therefore, to acquaint him with Alex- 
 andra's design; so he made no longer delay, 
 but gave orders to have her slain; yet was it 
 with difficulty, and after he had endured great 
 pain, that he got clear of his distemper. He 
 was still sorely afflicted, both in mind and 
 body, and made very uneasy, and readier than 
 ever upon all occasions to inflict punishment 
 upon those that fell under his hand. He also 
 slew the most intimate of his friends, Costo- 
 barus, and Lysimachus, and Gadias, who was 
 also called Antipater; as also Dositheus, and 
 that upon the following occasion. 
 
 9. Costobarus was an Idumean by birth, 
 and one of principal dignity among them, 
 and one whose ancestors had been priests to 
 the Koze, whom the Idumeans had [formerly] 
 esteemed as a god; but after Hyrcanus had 
 made a change in their political govern- 
 ment, and made them receive the Jewish cus- 
 toms and law, Herod made Costobarus go- 
 vernor of Idumea and Gaza, and gave him 
 his sister Salome to wife; and this was upon 
 his slaughter of [his uncle] Joseph, who had 
 that government before, as we have related 
 already. When Costobarus had gotten to be 
 so highly advanced, it pleased him, and was 
 more than he hoped for, and he was more 
 and more puffed up by his good success, and 
 in a little while he exceeded all bounds, and 
 did not think fit to obey what Herod, as their 
 ruler, commanded him, or that the Idumeans 
 should make use of the Jewish customs, or 
 be subject to them. He therefore sent to 
 Cleopatra, and informed her that the Idu- 
 means had been always under his progenitors, 
 and that for the same reason it was but just 
 that she should desire that country for him of 
 Antony, for that he was ready to transfer his 
 friendship to her: and this he did not be- 
 cause he was better pleased to be under Cleo- 
 patra's government, but because he thought 
 that, upon the diminution of Herod's power, 
 it would not be difficult for him to obtain 
 hraiself the entire government over the Idw- 
 
420 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XV. 
 
 means, and *omewhat more also; for he raised 
 his hopes still higher, as having no small 
 pretences, both by his birth and by these 
 riches which he had gotten by his constant 
 attention to filthy lucre; and accordingly it 
 was not a small matter that he aimed at. So 
 Cleopatra desired this country of Antony, 
 but failed of her purpose. An account of 
 this was brought to Herod, who was there- 
 upon ready to kill Costobarus; yet, upon the 
 entreaties of his sister and mother, he forgave 
 him, and vouchsafed to pardon him entirely, 
 though he still had a suspicion of him after- 
 ward for this his attempt. 
 
 10. But some time afterward, when Sa- 
 lome happened to quarrel with Costobarus, 
 she sent him a bill of divorce,* and dissolved 
 her marriage with him, though this was not 
 according to the Jewish laws; for with us it 
 is lawful for a husband to do so; but a wife, 
 if she departs from her husband, cannot of 
 herself be married to another, miless her for- 
 mer husband put her away. However, Sa- 
 lome chose not to follow the law of her coun- 
 try, but the law of her authority, and so 
 renounced her wedlock; and told her brother 
 Herod, that she left her husband out of her 
 good-will to him, because she perceived that 
 he, with Antipater, and Lysimachus, and Do- 
 sitheus, were raising a sedition against him: 
 as an evidence whereof, she alleged the case 
 of the sons of Babas, that they had been by 
 him preserved alive already for the interval of 
 twelve years, which proved to be true. But 
 when Herod thus unexpectedly heard of it, 
 he was greatly surprised at it, and was the 
 more surprised, because the relation appeared 
 incredible to him. As for the fact relating to 
 these sons of Babas, Herod had formerly 
 taken great pains to bring them to punish- 
 ment, as being enemies to his government; 
 but they were now forgotten by him, on ac- 
 count of the length of time [since he had or- 
 dered them to be slain]. Now the cause of 
 his ill-will and hatred to theih arose hence: 
 that while Antigonus was king, Herod, with 
 his army, besieged the city of Jerusalem, 
 
 • Here is a plain example of a Jewish lady giving a bill 
 of divorce to her husband, though in the days of Jose- 
 pbus it was not esteemed lawful for a woman so to do. 
 See the like among the Farthians, Antiq. b. xviii. ch. ix. 
 8. 6. However, the Christian law, when it allowed di- 
 ▼orce for adultery riVlat. v 3-2), allowed the innocent wife 
 to' divorce her guilty husband, as well as the innocent 
 husband to divorce his guilty wife, as we learn from the 
 shepherd of Hermas (Mand. b. iv.), and from the second 
 apology of .iustin IV1artyr,w.here a persecution was brought 
 upon the Christians upon such a divorce; hnd 1 think 
 the Roman laws permitted it at that time, -as well as the 
 laws of Christianity. Now this Babas, who was one of 
 the race of the Asamoneans or Maccabees, as the latter 
 end of this section informs us, is related by the Jews, as 
 Dr. Hudson here remarks, to have been so eminently re- 
 ligious in the Jewish way, that, except the day following 
 the tenth of Tisri, the great day of atonement, when he 
 seems to have supposed all bis ains entirely forgiven, he 
 used every day ot the whole year to oiler a sacrifio*! (or 
 his sins of ignorance, or siich as he ^npposed he had been 
 Kuilt> of, but did not distinctly remnnber. See some- 
 what like it of Agrippa the Great, Aotiu. b. xix ch. iii. 
 •ret .3i and Job 1.4. A. * 
 
 where the distress and miseries which the 
 besieged endured were so pressing, that the 
 greater number of them invited Herod into 
 the city, and already placed their hopes on 
 him. Now, the sons of Babas were of great 
 dignity, and had power among the multitude, 
 and were faithful to Antigonus, and were al- 
 ways raising calumnies against Herod, and 
 encouraged the people to preserve the govern 
 ment to that royal family which held it by 
 inheritance. So these men acted thus politi- 
 cally, an^, as they thought, for their own ad- 
 vantage; but when the city was taken, and 
 Herod had gotten the government into his 
 own hands, and Costobarus was aopointed to 
 hinder men from passing out at the gates, and 
 to guard the city, that those citizens that were 
 guilty, and of the party opposite to the king, 
 might not get out of it, — Costobarus being 
 sensible that the sons of Babas were had in 
 respect and honour by the whole multitude, 
 and supposing that their preservation might 
 be of great advantage to him in the changes 
 of government afterward, he set them by them- 
 selves, and concealed them in his own farnjs. 
 and when the thing was suspected, he assured 
 Herod upon oath that he really Jknew nothing 
 of that matter, and so overcame the suspicions 
 that lay upon him; nay, after that, when the 
 king had publicly proposed a reward for tlio 
 discovery, and had put in practice all sorts ol 
 methods for searching out this matter, he 
 would not confess it; but being persuaded 
 that when he had at first denied it, if the meu 
 were found, he should not escape unpunished 
 he was forced to keep them secret, not only 
 out of his good- will to them, but out of a ne- 
 cessary regard to his own preservation also 
 But when the king knew the thing, by his 
 sister's information, he sent men to the places 
 where he had the intimation they were con 
 cealed, and ordered both them and those that 
 were accused as guilty with them, to be slain, 
 insomuch that there were now none at all left 
 of the kindred of Hyrcanus; and the king 
 dom was entirely in Herod's own power, and 
 there was nobody remaining of such dignity 
 as could put a stop to what he did against the 
 Jewish laws. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. \ 
 
 HOW TEN MEN OF THE CITIZENS [OF JERUSA- 
 LEM] MADE A CONSPIRACY AGAINST HEROD, 
 FOR THE FOREIGN PRACTICES HE HAD IN- 
 TRODUCED, WHICH WAS A TRANSGRESSION 
 OF THE LAWS OF THEIR COUNTRY. CON- 
 CERNING THE BUILDING OF SEBA8TE AND 
 CESAREA, AND OTHER EDIFICES OF HEROD. 
 
 § 1. On this account it was that Herod 
 revolted from the laws of his country, and 
 corrupted their ancient constitution, by tLe 
 
CHAP. vin. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 421 
 
 introduction of foreign practices, which consti- 
 tuuoii yet ought to have been preserved in 
 violable; by which means we became guilty 
 of great wickedness afterward, while those 
 religious observances which used to lead the 
 multitude to piety, were now neglected : for, 
 in the first place, he appointed solemn games 
 to be celebrated every fifth year, in honour of 
 Caesar, and built a theatre at Jerusalem, as 
 also a very great amphitheatre in the plain. 
 Both of them were indeed costly works, but 
 opposite to the Jewish customs; for we have 
 had no such shows delivered down to us as 
 fit to be used or exhibited by us, yet did he 
 celebrate these games every five years, in the 
 most solemn and splendid manner. He also 
 made proclamation to the neighbouring coun- 
 tries, and called, men together out of ever\ 
 nation. The wrestlers, and the rest of those 
 that strove for th"e prizes in such games, were 
 invited out of every land, both by the hopes 
 of the rewards there to be bestowed, and by 
 the glory of victory to be there gained. So 
 the principal persons that were the most emi- 
 nent in these sorts of exercises, were gotten 
 together, for there were very great rewards for 
 victory proposed, not only to those that per- 
 fonned their exercises naked, but to those 
 that played the musicians also, and were 
 called Tkijnielici; and he spared no pains to 
 induce all persons, the most famous for such 
 exercises, to come to this contest fof victory. 
 He also proposed no small rewards to those 
 who ran for the prizes in chariot-races, when 
 they were drawn by two, or three, or four 
 pair of horses. He also imitated every thing, 
 though ever so costly or magnificent, in other 
 nations, out of an ambition that he might 
 give most public demonstration of his gran- 
 deur. Inscriptions also of the great actions 
 of Ctesar, and trophies of those nations which 
 he had conquered in his wars, and all made 
 of the purest gold and silver, encompassed the 
 theatre itself: nor was there any thing that 
 could be subservient to his design, whether it 
 were precious garments, or precious stones set 
 in order, which was not also exposed to sight 
 in these games. He had also made a great 
 preparation of wild beasts, and of lions them- 
 selves in great abundance, and of such other 
 beasts as were either of uncommon strength, 
 or of such a sort as were rarely seen. These 
 were prepared either to fight with one ano- 
 ther, or that men who were condemned to 
 death were to fight with them. And truly 
 foreigners were greatly surprised and delighted 
 at the vastness of the expenses here exhi- 
 bited, and at the great dangers that were here 
 seen; but to natural Jews, this was no better 
 than a dissolution of these customs for which 
 they had so great a veneration.* It appeared 
 
 • These prand plays, and shows, and Thymelici, or 
 music-meetings, and ciiariot-races, whec the chariots were 
 drawn by two, three, or four pair of horses, &c. insti- 
 luted by Herod ia hi« theatres, were stul, as we see here, 
 
 also no better than an instance of barefaced 
 impiety, to throw men to wild beasts, for the 
 affording delight to the spectators ; and it 
 appeared an instance of no less impiety, to 
 change their own laws for such foieign exer- 
 cises: but, above all the rest, the trophies gave 
 most distaste to the Jews; for as they ima- 
 gined them to be images, included within the 
 armour that hung round about them, they 
 were sorely displeased at them, because it was 
 not the custom of their country to pay ho- 
 nours to such images. 
 
 2. Nor was Herod unacquainted with the 
 disturbance they were under ; and, as he 
 thought it unseasonable to use violence with 
 them, so he spoke to some of them by way of 
 consolation, and in order to free them from 
 that superstitious fear they were under; yet 
 could not he satisfy them, but they cried out 
 with one accord, out of their great uneasiness 
 at the offences they thought he had been guilty 
 of, that although they should think of bearing 
 all the rest, yet would they never bear images 
 of men in their city, meaning the trophies, 
 because this was disagreeable to the laws of 
 their country. Now when Herod saw them 
 in such a disorder, and that they would not 
 easily change their resolution unless they re- 
 ceived satisfaction in this point, he called to 
 him the most eminent men among them, and 
 brought them upon the theatre, and showed 
 them the trophies, and asked them, what sort 
 of things they took these trophies to be; and 
 when they cried out that they were the images 
 of men, he gave order that they should be 
 stripped of these outward ornaments which 
 were about them, and showed them the naked 
 pieces of wood; which pieces of wood, now 
 without any ornament, became matter of great 
 sport and laughter to them, because they had 
 before always had the ornaments of images 
 themselves in derision. 
 
 3. When therefore Herod had thus got 
 clear of the multitude, and had dissipated the 
 vehemency of passion under w^hich they had 
 been, the greatest part of the people were dis- 
 posed to change their conduct, and not to be 
 displeased at him any longer; but still some 
 of them continued in their displeasure against 
 him, for his introduction of new customs, 
 and esteemed the violation of the laws of their 
 country as likely to be the origin of very 
 great mischiefs to them, so that they deemed 
 it an instance of piety rather to hazard them- 
 selves [to be put to death], than to seem as if 
 they took no notice of Herod, who, upon the 
 change he had made in their government, 
 
 looked on by the sober Jews as heathenish sports, and 
 tending not only to corrupt the manners of the Jewish 
 nation, and to bring them in love with pai;anish idolatry 
 and paganish conduct of life, but to the dissolution of 
 the law of Moses, and accordingly \*ere greatly and 
 justly condemned by them, as appears here and every- 
 where else in Josephus. Nor is the case of our modern 
 masquerades, plays, operas, and the like " pomps and 
 vanitivs of this wicked world," of any better teadecvivf 
 utidei Christianity. 
 
422 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XV. 
 
 introduced sucli customs, and that in a violent 
 manner, which they had never been used to 
 before, as indeed in pretence a king, but in 
 reality one that showed himself an enemy to 
 their whole nation; on which account ten 
 men that were citizens [of Jerusalem], con- 
 spired together against him, and sware to one 
 another to undergo any dangers in the at- 
 tempt, and took daggers with them under 
 their garments [for the purpose of killing 
 Herod], Now there was a certain blind man 
 among those conspirators who had thus sworn 
 to one another, on account of the indignation 
 he had against what be heard to have been 
 done; he was not indeed able to afford the 
 rest any assistance in the undertaking, but 
 was ready to undergo any suffering with them, 
 if so be they should come to any harm, in- 
 somuch that he became a very great encou- 
 rager of the rest of the undertakers. 
 
 4. When they had taken this resolution, 
 and that by common consent, they went into 
 the theatre, hoping that, in the first place, 
 Herod himself could not escape them, as they 
 should fall upon him so unexpectedly; and 
 supposing, however, that if they missed him, 
 they should kill a great many of those that 
 were about him; and this resolution they 
 took, though they should die for it, in order 
 to suggest to the king what injuries he had 
 done to the multitude. These conspirators, 
 therefore, standing thus prepared beforehand, 
 went about their design with great alacrity; 
 but there was one of those spies of Herod that 
 were appointed for such purposes, to fish out 
 and inform him of any conspiracies that 
 should be made against him, who found out 
 the whole affair, and told the king of it, as 
 he was about to go into the theatre. So when 
 he reflected on the hatred which he knew the 
 greatest part of the people bore him, and on 
 the disturbances that arose upon every occa- 
 sion, he thought this plot against him not to 
 be improbable. Accordingly, he retired into 
 his palace, and called those that were accused 
 of this conspiracy before him by their several 
 names; and as, upon the guards falling upon 
 them, they were caught in the very fact, and 
 knew they could not escape, they prepared 
 themselves for their ends with all the decency 
 they could, and so as not at all to recede from 
 their resolute behaviour, for they showed no 
 shame for what they were about, nor denied 
 i^; but when they were seized, they showed 
 their daggers, and professed, that the conspi- 
 racy they had sworn to was a holy and a pious 
 action; that what they intended to do was 
 not for gain, or out of any indulgence to their 
 passions, but principally for those coiimnon 
 customs of their '•ouiitry, which ail the Jews 
 were obliged to observe, or to die for them. 
 This was what these men said, out of their 
 •jndttunted courage in this conspiracy. So 
 they were led away to execution by the king's 
 r»»««rdji that otood about them, and patiently 
 
 underwent all the torments inflicted on them 
 till they died. Nor was it long before that 
 spy who had discovered them, was seized on 
 by some of the people, out of the hatred they 
 bore to him; and was not only slain by them, 
 but pulled to pieces, limb from limb, and 
 given to the dogs. This execution was seen 
 by many of the citizens, yet would not one 
 of them discover the doers of it, till upon 
 Herod's making a strict scrutiny after them, 
 by bitter and severe tortures, certain women 
 that were tortured confessed M'hat they had 
 seen done ; the authors of which fact were so 
 terribly punished by the king, that their en- 
 tire families were destroyed for this their lash 
 attempt; yet did not the obstinacy of the peo- 
 ple, and the undaunted constancy they showed 
 in the defence of their laws, make Herod 
 a.iy easier to them, but he still strengthened 
 himself after a more secure manner, and re- 
 solved to encompass the multitude every way, 
 lest such innovations should end in an open 
 rebellion. 
 
 5. Since, therefore, he had now the city for- 
 tified by the palace in which he lived, and by 
 the temple which had a strong fortress by it, 
 called Antonia, and was rebuilt by himself, 
 he contrived to make Samaria a fortress for 
 himself also against all the people, and called 
 it Sebaste, supposing that this place would be 
 a stronghold against the country, not inferior 
 to the former, So he fortified that place, 
 which was a day's journey distant from Jeru- 
 salem, and which would be useful to him in 
 common, to keep both the couiitry and the 
 city in awe. He also built another fortress 
 for the whole nation: it was of old called 
 Strato's Tower: but was by him named Ce- 
 sarea. ^loreover, he chose out some select 
 horsemen, and placed them in the great plain; 
 and built [for them] a place in Galilee, called 
 Gaba, with Hesebonitis, in Perea; and these 
 were the places which he particularly built 
 while he always was inventing somewhat far 
 ther for his own security, and encompassing 
 the whole nation with guards, that they might 
 by no means get from under his power, nor 
 fall into tumults, which they did continually 
 upon any small commotion; and that if they 
 did make any commotions, he might know of 
 it, while some of his spies might be upon them 
 from the neighbourhood, and might both be 
 able to know what they were attempting, and 
 to prevent it; and when he went about build- 
 ing the wall of Samaria, he contrived to bring 
 thither many of those that had been assisting 
 to him in his wars, and many of the people 
 in that neighbourhood also, whom he made 
 fellow-citizens with the rest. This he did, out 
 of an ambitious desire of building a temple, 
 and out of a desire to make the city more enu- 
 nent than it had been before, but principally 
 because he contrived that it might at once be 
 for his own security, and a monument of his 
 magnificence. He ulso clianged its name 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 428 
 
 and called it Sebaste. Moreover, he parted 
 the adjoining country, which was excellent in 
 its kind, among the inhabitants of Samaria, 
 that they might be in a happy condition, upon 
 their first coming to inhabit. Besides all 
 which, he encompassed the city with a wall 
 of great strength, and made use of the accli- 
 vity of the place for making its fortifications 
 stronger, nor was the compass of the place 
 .made now so small as it had been before, but 
 was such as rendered it not inferior to the 
 mofct famous cities; for it was twenty furlongs 
 in circumference. Now within, and about 
 the middle of it, he built a sacred place, of a 
 furlong and a half [in circuit], and adorned 
 it with all sorts of decorations, and therein 
 erected a temple, which was illustrious, on 
 account of both its largeness and beauty; and 
 as to the several parts of the city, he adorned 
 them with decorations of all sorts also; and 
 as to what'was necessary to provide for his 
 own security, he made the walls very strong 
 for that purpose, and made it for the greatest 
 part a citadel , and as to the elegance of the 
 buildings, it was taken care of also, that he 
 might leave monuments of the fineness of his 
 taste, and of his beneficence, to future ages. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 20NCERNING THE FAMINE THAT HAPPENED 
 IN JUDEA AND SYRIA; AND HOW HEROD. 
 AFTER HE HAD MARRIED ANOTHER WIFE, 
 REBUILT CESAREA, AND OTHER GRECIAN 
 CITIES. 
 
 § 1. Now on this very year, which was the 
 thirteenth year of the reign of Herod, very 
 great calamities came upon the country ; whe- 
 ther they were derived from the anger of God, 
 or whether this misery returns again natu- 
 rally in certain periods of time;* for, in the 
 first place, there were perpetual droughts, and 
 I for that reason the ground was barren, and 
 did not bring forth the same quantity of fruits 
 that it used to produce; and after this barren- 
 ness of the soil, that change of food which the 
 want of corn occasioned, produced distempers 
 in the bodies of men, and a pestilential disease 
 prevailed, one misery following upon the 
 back of another; and these circumstances, 
 that they were destitute both of methods of 
 cure and of food, made the pestilential dis- 
 temper, which began after a violent manner, 
 the more lasting. The destruction of men 
 also, after such a manner, deprived those that 
 
 • Here we have aiveminent eJKimple of the 1aDe:aa£:e 
 of Josephus in hin writing to Gentiles, different Irom 
 that w'len he wrote to Jews; in his writini? t<» whom he 
 still derives all sucn jmlirments from the anger of God; 
 but because he kne-v many of the (ieatiles thought they 
 might natiirally co:ne m certain perioiis. he complies 
 with them in the fullovvini.' sentence See the note on 
 the War (b I ch. xxxiii. ^eoi. ^). 
 
 survived of all their courage, because they 
 had no way to provide remedies sufficient for 
 the distresses they were in. When therefore 
 the fruits of that year were spoiled, and what- 
 soever they had laid up beforehand was spent, 
 there was no foundation. of hope for relief re- 
 maining, but the misery, contrary to what 
 they expected, still increased upon them; and 
 this, not only on that year, while they had 
 nothing for themselves left [at the end of it], 
 but what seed they had sown perished also, 
 by reason of the ground not yielding its fruits 
 on the second year.f This distress they were 
 in made them also, out of necessity, to eat 
 many things that did not use to be eaten: 
 nor was the king himself free from this dis- 
 tress any more than other men, as being de- 
 prived of that tribute he used to have from 
 the fruits of the ground; and having already 
 expended what money he had, in his liberality 
 to those whose cities he had built; nor had 
 he any people that were worthy of his assist- 
 ance, since this miserable state of things had 
 procured him the hatred of his subjects; for it 
 is a constant rule, that misfortunes are still 
 laid to the account of those that govern. 
 
 2. In these circumstances, he considered 
 with himself how to procure some seasonable 
 help ; but this was a hard thing to be done, 
 while their neighbours had no food to sell 
 them; and their money also was gone, had it 
 been possible to purchase a little food at a 
 great price. However, he thought it his best 
 way, by all means, not to leave ofi" his endea- 
 vours to assist his people ; so he cut off the 
 rich furniture that was in his palace, both of 
 silver and gold, insomuch that he did not 
 spare the finest vessels he had, or those that 
 were made with the most elaborate skill of 
 the artificers, but sent the money to Petronius, 
 who had been made prefect of Egypt by 
 Caesar; and as not a few had already tied 
 to him under their necessities, and as he was^ 
 particularly a friend to Herod, and desirous 
 to have his subjects preserved, he gave leave 
 to them, in the first place, to export corn, and 
 assisted them every way, both in purchasing 
 and exporting the same; so that he was the 
 principal, if not the only peison, who afforded 
 them what help they had. And Herod, ta- 
 king care the people should understand that 
 
 + This famine for two y»^ars that aflected Judea and 
 Syria, the thirteenth and lourteenth years of Herod, 
 which are the twenty-third and twenty-fourth years be- 
 fore the Christian jera, seems to have been more terrible 
 during this time than was that in the days of Jacob, Gen. 
 xij xlii. And what makes the comparison the more re- 
 markable is this:— That now, as well as then, the relief 
 they had was from Euypt also; then from Joseph t^e go- 
 vernor of Egypt, under Pnaraoh king of Egypt; and now 
 from Petronius the prefect of I gypt, under Augustus, the 
 Roman emperor. See aim >st the like case, Antiq b. xx, 
 ch. ii. sect. 6. it is also well worth our observation here, 
 that these two years were a Sabbatic Year, and a year of 
 jubilee, for which Providence, during the theocracy, used 
 to provide a triple crop beforehand; but which became 
 now, when the Jews had torfeited that blessing, the 
 greatest years of famine to them ever since the dajs of 
 A hah. 1 Kings, xviL xviii. 
 
424 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XV 
 
 this help came froin himself, did thereby not 
 only remove the ill opinion of those that for- 
 merly hated him, but gave them the greatest 
 demonstration possible of his good-will to 
 them, and care of them: for, in the first place, 
 as for those who w«re able to provide their 
 own food, he distributed to them their pro- 
 portion of corn in the exactest manner ; but 
 for those many that were not able, either by 
 reason of their old age, or any other infirmity, 
 to provide food for themselves, he made this 
 provision for them, that the bakers should 
 make their bread ready for them. He also 
 took care that they might not be hurt by the 
 dangers of winter, since they were in great 
 want of clothing also, by reason of the utter 
 destruction and consumption of their sheep 
 and goats, till they had no wool to make use 
 of, nor any thing else to cover themselves 
 withal. And when he had procured these 
 things for his own subjects, he went farther, 
 in order to provide necessaries for their neigh- 
 bours; and gave seed to the Syrians; which 
 things turned greatly to his own advantage 
 also, this charitable assistance being afforded 
 most seasonably to their fruitful soil, so that 
 every one had now a plentiful provision of 
 food. Upon the whole, when the harvest of 
 the land was approaching, he sent no fewer 
 than fifty thousand men, whom he had sus- 
 tained, into the country; by which means he 
 both repaired the afflicted condition of his own 
 kingdom with great generosity and diligence, 
 and lightened the afflictions of his neighbours, 
 who were under the same ci^amities; tor there 
 was nobody who had been in want, that was 
 left destitute of a suitable assistance by him: 
 nay, farther, there were neither any people, 
 nor any cities, nor any private men, who were 
 to make provision for the multitudes; and on 
 that account were in want of support, and 
 had recourse to him, but received what they 
 ^ stood in need of, insomuch that it appeared, 
 upon a computation, that the number of cori 
 of wheat, of ten Attic medimni a-piece, that 
 were given to foreigners, amounted to ten 
 thousand; and the number that was given in 
 his own kingdom M'as fourscore thousand. 
 Now it happened that this care of his, and 
 this seasonable benefa-^tion, had such influ- 
 ence on the Jews, and was so cried up among 
 other nations, as to wipe oflf that old hatred 
 which his violation of some of their customs, 
 during his reign, had procured him among 
 all the nation, and that this liberality of his 
 assistance in this their greatest necessity was 
 full satisfaction for all that be had done of 
 that nature, as it also procured him great 
 iame among foreigners; and it looked as 
 i( these calamities that afflicted his land to a 
 degree plainly incredible, came in order to 
 raise bis glory, and to be to his great advan- 
 tage: for the greatness of his liberality in 
 these distresses, which he now demonstrated 
 beyond all expectation, did so change tb iis- 
 
 position of the multitude towards him, that 
 they were ready to suppose he had been 
 from the beginning not such a one as they 
 had found him to be by experience, but 
 such a one as the care he had taken of them 
 in supplying their necessities proved him now 
 to be. 
 
 3. About this time it was that he sent five 
 hundred chosen men out of the guards of bis 
 body as auxiliaries to Caesar, whom -3iliu9 
 Gallus* led to the Red Sea, and who were oJ 
 great service to him there. "When therefore 
 his affairs were thus improved, and were again 
 in a flourishing condition, he built himself t» 
 palace in the upper city, raising the rooms to 
 a very great height, and adorning them with 
 the most costly furniture of gold, and marble 
 seats, and beds; and these were so large that 
 they could contain very many companies of 
 men. These apartments were also of distinct 
 magnitudes, and had particular names given 
 them; for one apartment was called Caesar's, 
 another Agrippa's. He also fell in love again, 
 and married another wife, not suffering his 
 reason to hinder him from living as he pleased. 
 The occasion of this his marriage was as fol- 
 lows: — There was one Simon, a citizen of 
 Jerusalem, the son of one Boethus, a citizen 
 of Alexandria, and a priest of great note there: 
 this man had a daughter, who was esteemed 
 the most beautiful woman of this time; and 
 when the people of Jerusalem began to speak 
 much in her commendation, it happened that 
 Herod was much affected with what was said 
 of her: and when he saw the damsel, he was 
 smitten with her beauty, yet did he entirely 
 reject the thoughts of using his authority to 
 abuse her; as believing, what was the truth, 
 that by so doing he should be stigmatized for 
 violence and tyranny: so he thought it be§t 
 to take the damsel to wife. And while Simon 
 was of a dignity too inferior to be allied to 
 him, but still too considerable to be despised, 
 he governed his inclinations after the njost 
 prudent manner, by augmenting the dignity 
 of the family, and n)aking them more honour- 
 able; so he immediately deprivea Jesus the 
 son of Phabet of the high -priesthood, and 
 conferred that dignity on Simon, and so 
 joined in afflnity with him [by marrying his 
 daughter]. 
 
 4. When this wedding was over, he built 
 another citadel in that place where he had 
 conquered the Jews, when he was driven out 
 of bis government, and Antigonus enjoyed it. 
 This citadel is distant from Jerusalem about 
 threescore furlongs. It was strong by nature, 
 and fit for such a building. It is a sort of a 
 moderate hill, raised to a farther height by 
 the hand of man, till it was of the shape of u 
 
 • This ^lins Oallus Rcenn to he no other than that 
 ^lius I^rguR, whom l)io speaks of as conducting »n 
 expedition that was ahont this time made into Arabia 
 Ft-rix, according to Petavius. who is ht-re cited by Span« 
 htim. ^ee a lull account ot this expedilioi) in I'hdeauz, 
 at the years '£i and H. 
 
GHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 425 
 
 woman's breast. It is encompassed with cir- 
 cular towers, and hath a straight ascent up 
 to it, which ascent is composed of steps of 
 polished stones, in number two hundred. 
 Within it are royal and very rich apartments, 
 of a structure that provided both for security 
 and for beauty. About the. bottom there are 
 habitations of such a structure as are well 
 worth seeing, both on other accounts, and also 
 on account of the water which is brought 
 thither from a great way off, and at vast ex- 
 penses; for the place itself is destitute of 
 water. The plain that is about this citadel 
 is full of edifices, not inferior to any city in 
 largeness, and having the hill above it in the 
 nature of a castle. 
 
 5. And now, when all Herod's designs 
 had succeeded according to his hopes, he had 
 not the least suspicion that any troubles could 
 arise in his kingdom, because he kept his 
 people obedient, as well by the fear they stood 
 in of him, for he was implacable in the inflic- 
 tion of his punishments, as by the provident 
 care he had shown towards them, after the 
 most magnanimous manner, when they* were 
 iHider their distresses: but still he took care 
 to have external security for his government, 
 as a fortress against his subjects; for the ora- 
 tions he made to the cities were very fine, and 
 full of kindness; and he cultivated a season- 
 able good understanding with their govern- 
 ors, and bestowed presents on every one of 
 them, inducing them thereby to be more 
 friendly to him, and using his magnificent 
 disposition so as his kingdom might be the 
 better secured to him, and this till all his 
 affairs were every way more and more aug- 
 mented. But then, this magnificent temper 
 of his, and that submissive behaviour and 
 liberality which he exercised towards Caesar, 
 and the most powerful men of Rome, obliged 
 him to transgress the customs of his nation, 
 and to set aside many of their laws, by build- 
 ing cities after an extravagant manner, and 
 erecting temples, — not in Judea indeed, for 
 that would not have been borne, it being for- 
 bidden for us to pay any honour to images, 
 or representations of animals, after the man- 
 ner of the Greeks ; but still he did this in 
 the country [properly] out of our bounds, 
 and in the cities thereof.* The apology 
 
 ♦ One may here take notice, that how tyranni(»l and 
 extravagant soever Herod were in himself, and in his 
 Grecian cities, as to those plays, and shows, and temples 
 for idolatry, mentioned above (ch. viii. sect. I), and here 
 also, yet durst even he introduce vry tew of them into 
 the cities of the Jews, who. as Josephus here notes, 
 would not even then have borne them, so zealous were 
 they still for many of the laws of Moses, even under so 
 tyrannical a government as this was of Herod the Great; 
 which tyrannical government puts me naturally in mind 
 of Uean Prideaux's honest reflection upon the lik** am- 
 bition alter such tyrannical power in Pompey and Caj- 
 sar; — " One of these (says he, at the year tiO), could not 
 bear an equal, nor the other a superior; and through 
 this ambitii)us humour and thirst after more power in 
 these two men, the whole Roman Kmpirt- beinfi: divided 
 into two oppositr factions, there was produced hereby 
 th» most destructive war that e%'er atHicled it; aD<* the 
 
 which he made to the Jews for these things 
 was this: — That all was done, not out of his 
 own inclinations, but by the commands and 
 injun'!tions of others, in order to please Ciesar 
 and the Romans; as though he had not the 
 Jewish customs so much in his eye as he had 
 the honour of those Romans, while yet he 
 had himself entirely in view all the while, and 
 indeed was very ambititius to leave great 
 monuments of his government to posterity; 
 whence it was that he was so zealous in build- 
 ing such fine cities, and spent such vast sums 
 of money upon them. 
 
 6. Now upon his observation of a place 
 near the sea, which was very proper for con- 
 taining a city, and was before called Strato's 
 Tower, he set about getting a plan for a mag- 
 nificent city there, and erected many edifices 
 with great diligence all over it, and this of 
 white stone. He also adorned it with most 
 sumptuous palaces, and large edifices for con- 
 taining the people; and what was the great- 
 est and most laborious work of all, he adorned 
 it with a haven, that was always free from the 
 waves of the sea. Its largeness was not less 
 than the Pyraeum [at Athens] ; and had to- 
 wards the city a double station for the ships. 
 It was of excellent workmanship; and this 
 was the more remarkable for its being built 
 in a place that of itself was not suitable to 
 such noble structures, but was to be brought 
 to perfection by materials from other places, 
 and at very great expenses. This city is situ- 
 ate in Phoenicia, in the passage by sea to 
 Egypt, between Joppa and Dora, which are 
 lesser maritijjie cities, and not fit for havens, 
 on account of the impetuous south winds that 
 beat upon them, which, rolling the sands that 
 come from the sea against the shores, do not 
 admit of ships lying in their station ; but the 
 merchants are generally there forced to ride 
 at their anchors in the sea itself. So Herod 
 endeavoured to rectify this inconvenience, 
 and laid out such a compass towards the land 
 as might be sufficient for a haven, wherein the 
 great ships might lie in safety ; and this he 
 effected by letting down vast stones of above 
 fifty feet in length, not less than eighteen in 
 breadth, and nine in depth, into twenty fa- 
 thoms deep; and as some were lesser, so 
 were others bigger, than those dimensions. 
 This mole which he built by the sea-side was 
 two hundred feet wide, the half of which was 
 opposed to the current of the waves, so as to 
 
 like folly too much reigns in all other places. Could 
 about thirty men be persuaded to live at home in peace, 
 without enterprising upon the rights of each other, for 
 the vain glory of conquest, and the enlargement of 
 power, the whole world might be at quiet; but their 
 ambition, their follies, and their humour, leading them 
 constantly to encroach upon and quarrel with each 
 other, they involve all that are under them in the mis- 
 chiefs thereof, and many thousands are they which 
 yearly perish by it: so that it may almost raise a , 
 doubt, whether the benefit which the world receives 
 from government be sufficient to make amends for the 
 calamities which it sutlers from the follies aud mai- 
 admitiistrationfc of those tt**t manage it." 
 
426 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XV. 
 
 keep off those waves which were to break 
 upon them, and so was called Procymatia, or 
 the first breaker of the waves; but the other 
 half had upon it a wall, with several towers, 
 the largest of which was named Drusus, and 
 was a work of very great excellence, and had 
 its name from Drusus, the son-in-law of Cae- 
 sar, who died young. There were also a 
 great number of arches, where the mariners 
 dwelt: there was also before them a quay 
 [or landing-place], which ran round the en- 
 tire haven, and was a most agreeable walk to 
 such as had a mind to that exercise ; but the 
 entrance or mouth of the port was made on 
 the north quarter, on which side was the still- 
 est of the winds of all in this place: and the 
 basis of the whole circuit on the left hand, as 
 you enter the port, supported a round turret, 
 which was made' very strong, in order to re- 
 sist the greatest waves; while, on the right 
 hand, as you enter, stood two vast stones, and 
 those each of them larger than the turret, 
 which was over-against them: these stood 
 upright, and were joined together. Now there 
 were edifices all along the circular haven, 
 made of the most polished stone, with a certain 
 elevation, whereon was erected a temple, that 
 was seen a great way off by those that were 
 sailing for that haven, and had in it two 
 statues, the one of Rome, the other of C«Esar. 
 The city itself was called Cesarea, which was 
 also itself built of fine material3,^nd was of 
 a fine structure; nay, the very subterranean 
 vaults and cellars had no less of architecture 
 bestowed on them than had the buildings 
 above ground. Some of these vaults carried 
 things at even distances to the haven and to 
 the sea; but one of them ran obliquely, and 
 bound all the rest together, that both the rain 
 and the tilth of the citizens were together car- 
 ried off with ease, and the sea itself, upon the 
 flux of the tide from without, came into the 
 city, and washed it all clean. Herod also 
 built therein a theatre of stone ; and on the 
 south quarter, behind the port, an amphi- 
 theatre also, capable of holding a vast num- 
 ber of men, and conveniently situated for a 
 prospect of the sea. So this city was thus 
 finished in twelve years;* during which time 
 the king did not fail to go on both with the 
 work, and to pay the charges that were ne- 
 cessary. 
 
 • Cesarea being here said to be rebuilt and adorned in 
 twelve years, and soon afterwards in ten years (Antiq 
 b. xvi. ch- V. sect. 1), there must be a mistake in one of 
 the places as to the true number; bui in which of them, 
 It is bard positively to determine. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW HXROD SENT HIS SONS TO ROME; HOW 
 ALSO HE WAS ACCUSED BY ZENODORUS AND 
 THE GaDARENS, but WAS CLEARED OF 
 WHAT TI^Y ACCUSED HIM OF, AND WITHAL 
 GAINED TO HIMSELF THE GOOD-WII-L OF 
 CiESAR. CONCERNING THE FHARI&EES, 
 THE ESSENS, AND MANAHEM. 
 
 § 1. When Herod was engaged in such mat- 
 ters, and when he had already re-edified Se- 
 baste [Samaria], he resolved to send his sons 
 Alexander and Aristobulus to Rome, to en- 
 joy the company of Caesar; who, when they 
 came thither, lodged at the house of PoUio.f 
 who was very fond of Herod's friendship: 
 and they had leave to lodge in Caesar's own 
 palace, for he received these sons of Herod 
 with all humanity, and gave Herod leave to 
 give his kingdom to which of his sons he 
 pleased ; and, besides all this, he bestowed on 
 him Trkchon, and Batanea, and Auraiiitis, 
 which he gave him on the occasion following: 
 — One Zenodorusf had hired what was called 
 the house of Lysanias, who, as he was not 
 satisfied with its revenues, became a partner 
 with the robbers thatinhabited the Trachonites, 
 and so procured him a larger income; for the 
 inhabitants of those places lived in a mad way, 
 and pillaged the country of the Damascenes, 
 while Zenodorus did not restrain them, but 
 partook of the prey they acquired. Now, 
 as the neighbouring people were hereby great 
 sufferers, they complained to Varro, who was 
 then president [of Syria], and entreated him 
 to write to Caesar about this injustice of Ze- 
 nodorus. When these matters were laid be- 
 fore Caesar, he wrote back to Varro to destroy 
 those nests of robbers, and to give the land 
 to Herod, that by his care the neighbouring 
 countries might be no longer disturbed with 
 these doings of the Trachonites, for it was not 
 an easy thing to restrain them, sincethis way 
 of robbery had been their usual practice, and 
 they had no other way to get their living, be- 
 cause they had neither any city of th«ir own, 
 nor lands in their possession, but only some 
 receptacles and dens in the earth, and there 
 they ^nd their cattle lived in common toge- 
 ther: however, they had made contrivances to 
 get pools of water, and laid up corn in gra- 
 naries for themselves, and were able to make 
 great resistance, by issuing out on the sudden 
 against any that attacked them; for the en 
 
 + This Follio, with wliom Herod's sons lived at Rome 
 was not I'ljllio the Pharisee, already mentioned by Jose- 
 phus (ch. i sect. I), and aj{;iin presently after this (ch. x. 
 sect 4), but Asinius Pulliu, the Human, as Spanbeim 
 here observes. 
 
 t The character of this Zenodorus is so like that of a 
 famous robl)er of the same name in (Strabo, and that 
 about this very country, and about this very time also, 
 that I thinli Dr. Hudson hardly needed to have put a 
 ptrhapM \o bis determination (hut tliry were the same. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 427 
 
 trances of their caves were narrow, in which 
 but one could come in at a time, and the 
 places within incredibly large, and made very 
 wide; but the ground over their habitations 
 was not very high, but rather on a plain, while 
 the rocks are altogether hard and difficult to 
 be entered upon, unless any one gets into the 
 plain road by the guidance of another, for 
 these roads are not straight, butliave several 
 revolutions. But when these men are hin- 
 dered from their wicked preying upon their 
 neighbours, their custom is to prey one upon 
 another, insomuch that no sort or injustice 
 comes amiss to them. But when Herod had 
 received this grant from CiEsar, and was come 
 into this country, he procured skilful guides, 
 and put a stop to their wicked robberies, and 
 procured peace and quietness to the neigh- 
 bouring people. 
 
 2. Hereupon Zenodorus was grieved, in the 
 first place, because his principality was taken 
 away from him, and still more so, because he 
 envied Herod, who had gotten it; so he went 
 up to Rome to accuse him, but returned back 
 again without success. Now Agrippa was 
 [about this time] sent to succeed Caesar in 
 the government of the countries beyond the 
 Ionian Sea, upon whom Herod lighted when 
 he was wintering about Mitylene, for he had 
 been his particular friend and companion, and 
 then returned into Judea again. However, 
 some of the Gadarens came to Agrippa, and 
 accused Herod, whom he sent back bound to 
 the king, without giving them the hearing: 
 but still the Arabians, who of old bare ill-will 
 to Herod's government, were nettled, and at 
 that time attempted to raise a sedition in his 
 domiruons, and, as they thought, upon a more 
 justifiable occasion; for Zenodorus, despairing 
 already of success as to his own affairs, pre- 
 vented [his enemies], by selling to those Ara- 
 bians a part of his principality, called Aura- 
 nitis, for the value of fifty talents; but as 
 this was included in the donations of Csesar, 
 they contested the point with Herod, as un- 
 justly deprived of what they had bought. 
 Sometimes they did this by making incursions 
 upon him, and sometimes by attempting force 
 against him, and sometimes by going to law 
 with him. Moreover, they persuaded the 
 poorer soldiers to help them, and were trouble- 
 some to him, out of a constant hope that they 
 should reduce the people to raise a sedition; 
 in which designs those that are in the most 
 miserable circumstances of life are still the 
 most earnest; and although Herod had been 
 ft great while apprized of these attempts, yet 
 did not he indulge any severity to them, but 
 by rational methods aimed to mitigate things, 
 as not willing to give any handle for tu- 
 mults. 
 
 3. Now when Herod had already reigned 
 seventeen years, Ciesar came into Syria; at 
 which time the greatest part of the inhabitants 
 «f Gadara clamoured against Herod, as one 
 
 that was heavy in his injunctions, aiid tyran- 
 nical. These reproaches they mainly ven- 
 tured upon by the encouragement of Zenodo- 
 rus, who took his oath that he would never 
 leav« Herod till he had procured that they 
 should be severed from Herod's kingdom, 
 and joined to Caesar's province. The Gada- 
 rens were induced hereby, and made no small 
 cry against him; and that the more boldly, 
 because those that had been delivered up by 
 Agrippa were not punished by Herod, who 
 let them go, and did them no harm ; for in- 
 deed he was the principal man in the world 
 who appeared almost inexorable in punishing 
 crimes in his own family; but very generous 
 in remitting the offences that were committed 
 elsewhere. And while they accused Herod 
 of injuries and plunderings, and subversion 
 of temples, he stood unconcerned, and was 
 ready to make his defence. However, Caesar 
 gave him his right hand, and remitted no- 
 thing of his kindness to him, upon this dis- 
 turbance by the multitude; and indeed these 
 things were alleged the first day, but the hear- 
 ing proceeded no farther; for as the Gada- 
 rens saw the inclination of Caesar and of his 
 assessors, and expected, as they had reason to 
 do, that they should be delivered up to the 
 king, some of them, out of a dread of the tor> 
 ments they might undergo, cut their own 
 throats in the night-time, and some of them 
 threw themselves down precipices, and others 
 of them cast themselves into the river, and de- 
 stroyed themselves of their own accord; which 
 accidents seemed a sufficient condemnation 
 of the rashness and crimes they had been 
 guilty of; whereupon Ciesar made no longer 
 delay, but cleared Herod from the crimes he 
 was accused of. Another happy accident 
 there was, which was a farther great advan- 
 tage to Herod at this time; for Zenodorus's 
 belly burst, and a great quantity of blood is- 
 sued from him in his sickness, and he there- 
 by departed this life at Antioch in Syria; so 
 Caesar bestowed his country, which was no 
 small one, upon Herod; it lay between 
 Trachon and Galilee, and contained Ulatha, 
 and Paneas, and the country round about. 
 He also made him one of the procurators of 
 Syria, and commanded that they should do 
 every thing with his approbation; and, in 
 short, he arrived at that pitch of felicity, that 
 whereas there were but two men that governed 
 the vast Roman empire, first Caesar and then 
 Agrippa, who was his principal favourite, 
 Caesar preferred no one to Herod besides 
 Agrippa; and Agrippa made no one his 
 greater friend than Herod beside Caesar; and 
 when he had acquired such freedom, he beg- 
 ged of Caesar a tetrarchy* for his brother 
 
 • A tetrarchy properly and originally denoted the 
 fourth pari of an entire kingdom or country, and a t«- 
 trarch one that was ruler of such a fourth part, which 
 always implies somewhat less extent of dominion and 
 power than belong to a kingdom ^nd to a king. 
 
428 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVil 
 
 Pberoras, while he did himself bestow upon 
 him a revenue of a hundred talents out of his 
 own kingdom, that, in case he came to any 
 harm himself, his brother might be in safety, 
 and that his sons might not have dominion 
 over him. So when he had conducted Ctesar 
 to the sea, and was returned home, he built 
 bim a most beautiful temple, of the whitest 
 stone in Zenodorus's country, near the place 
 calfed Panium. This is a very fine cave in a 
 mountain, under which there is a great cavity 
 in the earth, and the cavern is abrupt, and 
 prodigiously deep, and full of a still water; 
 over it hangs a vast mountain; and under the 
 caverns arise the springs of the river Jordan. 
 Herod adorned this place, which was already 
 a very remarkable one, still farther by the 
 erection of this temple, which he dedicated 
 to Caesar. 
 
 4. At which time Herod released to his 
 subjects the third part of their taxes, under 
 pretence indeed of relieving them, after the 
 dearth they had had; but the main reason was, 
 to recover their good -will, which he now 
 wanted; for they were uneasy at him, because 
 of the innovations he had introduced in their 
 practices, of the dissolution of their religion, 
 and of the disuse of their own customs; and 
 fte people everywhere talked against him, 
 like those that were still more provoked and 
 disturbed at his procedure ; against which 
 discontents he greatly guarded himself, and 
 took away the opportunities they might have, 
 to disturb him, and enjoined them to be always 
 at work; nor did he permit the citizens either 
 to meet together, or to walk, or eat together, 
 but watched every thing they did, and when 
 any were caught, they were severely, punished; 
 hnd many there were who were brought to 
 the citadel Hyrcania, both openly and secretly, 
 and were there put to death ; and there were 
 spies set everywhere, both in the city and in 
 the roads, who watched those that met toge- 
 ther; nay, it is reported that he did not him- 
 self neglect this part of caution, but that he 
 would oftentimes himself take the habit of a 
 private man, and mix among the multitude, 
 in the night-time, and make trial what opinion 
 they had of his government ; and as for those 
 that could no way be reduced to acquiesce 
 under his scheme of government, he persecuted 
 them all manner of ways; but for the rest of 
 the multitude, he required that they should be 
 obliged to take an oath of fidelity to him, and 
 at the same time compelled them to swear 
 that they would bear him good-will, and con- 
 tinue certainly so to do, in his management 
 of the govf^rnment; and indeed a great part 
 of th3m, either to please him or out of fear 
 of him, yielded to what he required of them ; 
 but for such as were of a more open and ge- 
 nerous disposition, and had indignation at the 
 force he used to them, he by one means or 
 other made way with them. He endeavoured 
 •Uo to persuade PoUio the Pharisee, and Sa- 
 
 meas, and the greatest part of their scholars, 
 to take the oath; but these would neither sub- 
 mit so to do, nor were they punished together 
 with the rest, out of the reverence he bore to 
 Pollio. The Essens also, as we call a sect 
 of ours, M'ere excused from this imposition. 
 These men live the same kind of life as do 
 those whom the Greeks call Pythagoreans; 
 concerning whom I shall discourse more lully 
 elsewhere. However, it is but fit to set down 
 here the reasons wherefore Herod bad these 
 Essens in such honour, and thought higher of 
 them than their mortal nature required: nor 
 will this account be unsuitable to the nature 
 of this history, as it will show the opinion men 
 had of these Essens. 
 
 5. Now there was one of these Essens, 
 whose name was Manahem, who had this tes- 
 timony, that he not only conducted his life 
 after an excellent manner, but had the fore- 
 knowledge of future events given hina by 
 God also. This man once saw Herod when 
 he was a child, and going to school, and sa- 
 luted him as king of the Jews; but he, think- 
 ing that either he did not know bim, or 
 that he was in jest, put him in mind that he 
 was but a private man ; but Manahem sniiled 
 to himself, and clapped him on his backside 
 with his hand, and said, " However that be, 
 thou wilt be king, and wilt begin thy reign 
 happily, for God finds thee worthy of it; and 
 do thou remember the blows that Manahem 
 hath given thee, as being a signal of the 
 change of thy fortune; and truly this will be 
 the best reasoning for thee, that thou love 
 justice [towards men], and piety towards God, 
 and clemency towards thy citizens; yet do 1 
 know how thy whole conduct will be, that 
 thou wilt not be such a one, for then wilt ex- 
 cel all men in happiness, and obtain an ever- 
 lasting reputation, but wilt forget piety and 
 righteousness; and these crimes will not be 
 concealed from God at the conclusion of thy 
 life, when thou wilt find that he will be mindlul 
 of them, and punish thee for them." Kow 
 at that time Herod did not at all attend to 
 what Manahem said, as having no hopes of 
 such advancement; but a little afterward, 
 when he was so fortunate as to be advanced 
 to the dignity of king, and was in the height 
 of his dominion, he sent for Manahem, and 
 asked him how long he should reign. Ma- 
 nahem did not tell him the full length of his 
 reign ; wherefore, upon that silence of his, 
 he asked him farther, whether he should reign 
 ten years or not? He replied, " Yes, twenty, 
 nay, thirty years;" but did not assign the 
 just determinate limit of his reign. Herod 
 was satisfied with these rephes, and gave Ma- 
 nahem his hand, and dismissed him ; and 
 from that time be continued to honour all the 
 Essens. We have thought it proper to re- 
 late these facts to our rewlers, how strange 
 soever they be, and to declare what hath 
 happened among u.-, bc.':uus« aiany of these 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 429 
 
 Essens have, by their excellent virtue, been 
 thought worthy of this knowledge of divine 
 revelations. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HOW HEROD REBUILT THE TEMPLE, AND 
 RAISED IT HIGHER, AND MADE IT MORE 
 MAGNIFICENT THAN IT WAS BEFORE; AND 
 ALSO CONCERNING THAT TOWER WHICH HE 
 CALLED ANTONIA. 
 
 § 1. And now Herod, in the eighteenth year 
 of his reign, and after the acts already men- 
 tioned, undertook a very great work, that 
 is, to build of himself the temple of God,* 
 and make it larger in compass, and to raise it 
 to a most magnificent altitude, as esteeming 
 it to be the most glorious of all his actions, as 
 it really was, to bring it to perfection, and 
 that this would be sufficient for an everlast- 
 ing memorial of him; but as he knew the 
 multitude were not ready nor willing to as- 
 sist him in so vast a design, he thought to 
 prepare them first by making a speech to 
 them, and then set about the work itself; so 
 he called them together, and spake thus to 
 them: — "I think I need not speak to you, 
 my countrymen, about such other works as I 
 have done siiice I came to the kingdom, al- 
 though I may say they have been performed 
 in such a manner as to bring more security 
 to you than glory to myself; for I have nei- 
 ther been negligent in the most difficult 
 times about what tended to ease your ne- 
 cessities, nor have the buildings I have made 
 been so proper to preserve me as yourselves 
 from injuries; and I imagine that, with God's 
 assistance, I have advanced the nation of 
 the Jews to a degree of happiness which 
 they never had before; and for the particu- 
 lar edifices belonging to your own country, 
 and to your own cities, as also to those cities 
 that we have lately acquired, which we have 
 erected and greatly adorned, and thereby aug- 
 mented the dignity of your nation, it seems 
 to me a needless task to enumerate them to 
 you, since you well know them yourselves; 
 but as to that undertaking which 1 have a 
 mind to set about at present, and which will 
 be a work of the greatest piety and excellence 
 that can possibly be undertaken by us, I will 
 now declare it to you. Our fathers, indeed, 
 when they were returned from Babylon, built 
 
 ♦* We may here observe, that the fancy of the modem 
 Jews, in calling this temple, which was really the third 
 of their temples, the secoud temple, followed so long by 
 later Christians, seems to be without any solid foundation. 
 The reason why the Christians here follow the Jews is. 
 because of the prophecy of Ha^gai (ii. 6, 9), which they 
 expound of the Messiah's coming'to the second or Zoro- 
 fcabel'8 temple, of which they suppose this of Herod to be 
 only a continuation, which is meant, I think, of his com- 
 injj to the fourth and last temple, or to that future, lar- 
 jtest, and most glorious one.described by Ezekiel; whence 
 t tike the former notion, bow gsnei al soever, to be a gr«at 
 B>Uukc. «ee Lit Aevomp. of Propb. p. Sr^ 
 
 this temple to God Almighty, yet does it 
 want sixty cubits of its largei«ess in altitude; 
 for so much did that first temple which Solo- 
 mon built exceed this temple: nor let any 
 one condemn our fathers for their negligence 
 or want of piety herein, for it was not tneu 
 fault that the temple was no higher; for they 
 were Cyrus, and Darius the son of Hystas- 
 pes, who determined the measures for its re- 
 building; and it hath been by reason of the 
 subjection of those fathers of ours to them 
 and to their posterity, and after them to the 
 JNIacedonians, that they had not the opportu- 
 nity to follow the original model of this pious 
 edifice, nor could raise it to its ancient alti- 
 tude; but since I am now, by God's will, 
 your governor, and I have had peace a long 
 time, and have gained great riches and large 
 revenues, and, what is the principal thing of 
 all, I am at amity with and well regarded by 
 the Romans, who, if I may so say, are the 
 rulers of the whole world, I will do my endea- 
 vour to correct that imperfection, which hath 
 arisen from the necessity of our affairs, and 
 the slavery we have been under formerly, and 
 to make a thankful return, after the most 
 pious manner, to God, for what blessings I 
 have received from him, by giving me this 
 kingdom, and that by rendering his temple ai* 
 complete as I am able." 
 
 2. And this was the speech which Herod 
 made to them: but still this speech afi'righted 
 many of the people, as being unexpected by 
 them, and because it seemed incredible, it did 
 not encourage them, but put a damp upon 
 them, for they were afraid that he would pull 
 down the whole edifice, and not be able to 
 bring his intentions to perfection for its re- 
 building; and this danger appeared to them 
 to be very great, and the vastness of the 
 undertaking to be such as could hardly be ac- 
 complished. But while they were in this dis- 
 position, the king encouraged them, and told 
 them he would not pull down their temple till 
 all things were gotten ready for building it up 
 entirely again. And as he promised them 
 this beforehand, so he did not break his word 
 with them, but got ready a thousand waggons, 
 that were to bring stones for the builuing, 
 and chose out ten thousand of the most skil- 
 ful workmen, and bought a thousand sacer- 
 dotal garments for as many of the priests, and 
 had some of them taught the arts *.f stone- 
 cutters, and others of carpenters, and then 
 began to build; but this not till every thing 
 was well prepared for the work. 
 
 3. So Herod took away the old foundations, 
 and laid others, and erected the tepiple upon 
 them, being in length a hundred cubits, and 
 in height twenty additional cubits, which 
 [twenty], upon the sinking of their founda- 
 tionSjf fell down: and this part it was that 
 
 + Some of our modern students in architecture hava 
 made a strange blunder here, when they imagine that 
 J«»ephus affirms tii« entire fouadatioo of the temple 
 
430 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XV, 
 
 we resolved to /mse again in the days of 
 Nero. Now the temple was- built of stones 
 that were white and strong, and eacn of their 
 length was twenty -five cubits, their height 
 was eight, and their breadth about twelve ; 
 and the whole structure, as also the structure 
 of the royal cloister, was on each side much 
 lower, but the middle was much higher, till 
 they were visible to those that dwelt in the 
 country for a great many furlongs, but chiefly 
 to such as lived over-against *thera, and those 
 that approached to them. The temple had 
 doors also at the entrance, and lintels over 
 them, of the same height with the temple it- 
 self. They were adorned with embroidered 
 veils, with their flowers of purple, and pil- 
 lars interwoven s and over these, but under 
 the crown- work, was spread out a golden vine, 
 with its branches hanging down from a great 
 height, the largeness and fine workmanship 
 of which was a surprising sight to the spec- 
 tators, to see what vast materials there were, 
 and with what great skill the workmanship 
 was done. He also encompassed the entire 
 temple with very large cloisters, contriving 
 them to be in a due proportion thereto ; and 
 he laid out larger sums of money upon them 
 than had been done before him, till it seemed 
 that no one else had so greatly adorned the 
 temple as be had done. There was a large 
 wall to both the cloisters; which wall was 
 itself the most prodigious work that was ever 
 heard of by man. The hill was a rocky 
 ascent, that declined by degrees towards the 
 east parts of the city, till it came to an ele- 
 vated level. This hill it was which Solomon, 
 who was the first of our kings, by divine reve- 
 lation, encompassed with a wall; it was of ex- 
 cellent workmanship upwards, and round the 
 top of it. He also built a wall below, begin- 
 ning at the bottom, which was encompassed 
 by a deep valley j and at the south side he 
 laid rocks together, and bound them one to 
 another with lead, and included some of the 
 inner parts, till it proceeded to a great height, 
 and till both the largeness of the square edi- 
 fice and its altitude were immense, and till 
 the vastness of the stones in the front were 
 plainly visible on the outside, yet so that the 
 inward parts were fastened together with iron, 
 and preserved the joints immoveable for aU 
 
 or holy house sank down into the rocky mountain on 
 whiirli it stood, no less than twenty cubits, whereas he 
 .» i:<vnT that they were the foundations of the additional 
 tw«rii!y cubits only above the hundred (made perhaps 
 >vf';it on purpose, and only for show and grandeur), that 
 b.iiik or fell down, as Dr. Hudson rightly understands 
 li in: nor is the thing itself possible in the other sense. 
 .\»;rippa's preparation for huildin^ the inner parts of ttie 
 temple twenty cubits hiKher (History of the War, b. v. 
 ch. 1. sect. 6), must in all probability refer to this mat- 
 ter, since Josephus says here, that this which had fallep 
 down was designed to be raised up again under Nero. 
 • under whom Agrippa made that preparation. Hut what 
 Josephus says presently, that Solomon was the first Kin»^ 
 of the Jews, appears by the parallel place, Aiitiq. b. xx 
 cb. ix. sect. 7, and other places, to be meant only XUo 
 Crst of liATid'a posterity, and the first builder of tne 
 
 future times. When this work [for the foun- 
 dation] was done in this manner, and joined 
 together as part of the hill itself to the verjf 
 top of it, he wrought it all into one outward 
 surface, and filled up the hollow places which 
 were about the wall, and made it a level on 
 the external upper surface, and a smooth level 
 also. This hill was walled all round, and ill 
 compass four furlongs, [the distance of] each 
 angle containing in length a furlong: but 
 within this wall, and on the very top of all, 
 there ran another wall of stone also, having, on 
 the east quarter, a double cloister, of the same 
 length with the wall; in the midst of which 
 was the temple itself. This cloister looked 
 to the gates of the temple; and it had been 
 adorned by many kings in former times; and 
 round about the entire temple were fixed the 
 spoils taken from barbarous nations ; all these 
 had been dedicated to the temple by Herod, 
 with the addition of these he had taken from 
 the Arabians. 
 
 4. Now on the north side [of the temple] 
 was built a citadel, whose walls were square, 
 and strong, and of extraordinary firainess. 
 This citadel was built by the kings of the 
 Asamonean race, who were also high -priests 
 before Herod, and they called it the Tower, in 
 which were reposited the vestments of the 
 high-priest, which the high-priest only put on 
 at the time when he was to offer sacrifice. 
 These vestments king Herod kept in that 
 place; and after his death they were under the 
 power of the Romans, until the time of Ti- 
 berius Caesar; under whose reign Vitellius, the 
 president of Syria, when he once came to Je- 
 rusalem, and had been most magnificently re- 
 ceived by the multitude, he had a niind to 
 make them some requital for the kindness 
 they had shown him; so, upon their petition 
 to have those holy vestments in their own 
 power, he wrote about them to Tiberius Cae- 
 stir, who granted his request: and this their 
 power over the sacerdotal vestments continued 
 with the Jews till the death of king Agrippa; 
 but after that, Cassius Longinus, who was 
 president of Syria, and Cuspius Fadt's, who 
 was procurator of Judea, enjoined the Jews 
 to reposit those vestments in the tower of An- 
 tonia, for that they ought to have them in their 
 power, as they formerly had. However, the 
 Jews sent ambassadors to Clairdius Casar, to 
 intercede with him for them; upon whose 
 coming, king Agrippa, junior, being then at 
 Rome, asked for and obtained the power over 
 them From the emperor; who gave command 
 to Vitellius, who was then commander in Syria, 
 to give them it accoidingly. Before thaL time 
 they were kept under the seal of the high- 
 priest, and of the treasurers, of the temple; 
 which treasurers the day before a festival, 
 went up to the Roman captain of the temple- 
 guards, and viewed their own seal, and 
 received the vestiufiits; and ai^uiii when the 
 festival wa* over, ilwy bn.»ugiii it to the «ama 
 
CHAP. xr. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 431 
 
 place, and showed the captain of the temple- 
 guards their seal, which corresponded with his 
 Beal, a»d reposited them there. And that 
 these things were so, the afflictions that hap- 
 pened to us afterward [about them] are sutii- 
 cieut evidence: but for the tower itself, when 
 Herod the king of the Jews had fortified it 
 more firmly than before, in order to secure and 
 guard the temple, he gratified Antonius, who 
 was his friend, and the Roman ruler, and then 
 gave it the name of the Tower of Antonia. 
 
 5. Now, in the western quarter of the en- 
 closures of the temple there were four gates; 
 the first led to the king's palace, and went to 
 a passage over the intermediate valley; two 
 more led to the suburbs of the city; and the 
 last led to the other city, where the road de- 
 scended down into the valley by a great num- 
 ber of steps, and thence up again by the as- 
 sceut; for the city lay over-against the temple 
 in the manner of a theatre, and was encom- 
 passed with a deep valley along the entire 
 south quarter; but the fourth front of the 
 temple, which was southward, had indeed it- 
 self gates in its middle, as also it had the 
 royal cloisters, with three walks, which reached 
 in length from the east valley unto that on 
 the west, for it was impossible it should 
 reach any farther: and this cloister deserves 
 to be mentioned better than any other under 
 the sun; for while the valley was very deep, 
 and its bottom could not be seen, if you 
 looked from above into the depth, this farther 
 vastly high elevation of the cloister stood 
 upon that height, insomuch that if any one 
 looked dowTi from the top of the battlements, 
 or down both those altitudes, he would be 
 gidi'y, while his sight could not reach to such 
 an immense depth. This cloister had pillars 
 tlirtt stood in four rows one over-against the 
 >ther all along, for the fourth row was inter- 
 woven into the wall, which [also was built of 
 stone] ; and the thickness of each pillar was 
 such, that three men might, with their arms 
 extended, fathom it round, and join their 
 hands again, while its length was twenty- 
 seven feet, with a double spiral at its basis; 
 and the number of all the pillars [in that 
 court] was an hundred and sixty-two. Their 
 chapiters were made with sculptures after the 
 Corinthian order, and caused an amazement 
 [to the spectators], by reason of the grandeur 
 of the whole. These four rows of pillars in- 
 cluded three intervals for walking in the mid- 
 dle of this cloister; two of which walks were 
 nude parallel to each other, and were con- 
 trived after the same manner; the breadth of 
 each of them was thirty feet, the length was 
 a furlong, and the height fifty feet: but the 
 breadth of the middle part of the cloister was 
 one and a half of the other, and the height 
 was double, for it was much higher than those 
 on each side; but the roo were adorned 
 with deep sculptures in wood, representing 
 MHiiy so is of figures: the middle was much 
 
 higher than the rest, and the wall of the front 
 was adorned with beams, resting upon pillars, 
 that were interwoven into it, and that front 
 was all of polished stone aisomuch that its 
 fineness, to such as had not seen it, was in- 
 credible, and to such as had seen it, was 
 greatly amazing. Thus was the first enclo- 
 sure. In the midst of which* and not far 
 from it, was the second, to be gone up to by 
 a few steps: this was encompassed by a stone 
 wall for a partition, with an inscription, which 
 forbade any foreigner to go in, under pain of 
 death. Now this inner enclosure had on its 
 southern and northern quarters three gates 
 [equally] distant from one another; but on 
 the east quarter, towards the sun-rising, there 
 was one large gate through wMch such as 
 were pure came in, together with their wives; 
 but the temple farther inward in that gate 
 was not allowed to the women; but still more 
 inward was there a third [court of the] tem- 
 ple, whereinto it was not lawful for any but 
 the priests alone to enter. The temple itself 
 was within this; and before that temple was 
 the altar, upon which we offer our sacrifices 
 and burnt-offerings to God. Into none of 
 these three did king Herod en^er,* for he was 
 forbidden, because he was not a priest. How- 
 ever, he took care of the cloisters and the outer 
 enclosures; and these he built in eight years. 
 
 6. But the temple itself was built by the 
 priests in a year and six months, — upon which 
 all the people were full of joys and presently 
 they returned thanks, in the first place, to 
 God; and in the next place, for the alacrity 
 the king had shown. They feasted and cele- 
 brated this rebuilding of the temple: and for 
 the king, he sacrificed three hundred oxen to 
 God; as did the rest, every one according to 
 his ability: the number of which sacrifices is 
 not possible to set down; for it cannot be 
 that we should truly relate it; for at the same 
 time with this celebration for the work about 
 the temple, fell also the day of the king's 
 inauguration, which he kept of an old custom 
 as a festival, and it now coincided with the 
 other; which coincidence of them both made 
 the festival most illustrious. 
 
 7. There was also an occult passage built 
 for the king: it led from Antonia to. the in- 
 ner temple, at its eastern gate; over which he 
 also erected for himself a tower, that he might 
 have the opportunity of a subterraneous as- 
 cent to the temple, in order to guard against 
 any sedition which might be made by the peo- 
 ple against their kings. It is also reported,! 
 
 • " Into none of these three did Line Herod enter." i. e. 
 1. Not into the court of the priests; i Nor into the holy 
 house itself; 3. Nor into the separate place belonging to 
 the altar, as the words following imply; for none bat 
 priests, or their attendants the Levites, minbt come into 
 any of them. See Antiq. b. xvi ch. iv. sect. 6, wbea 
 Herod ^oes into the temple, and makes a speech in it to 
 The people; but that cuuld only be into the court vf 1»- 
 fael, whither the people cuuld come to bear him. 
 
 + This tradition which Josephus here mentions, ai 
 delivered down from f^-tbers to tbeir cbildren, of ^fais 
 
432 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK- XVI 
 
 that during tbe time that the temple was 
 building, it did not rain in the day-time, but 
 that tbe showers fell in the nights, so that the 
 work was not hindered. And this our fathers 
 
 have delivered to us; nor is it incredible, if 
 any have regard to the manifestations of God. 
 And thus was performed the work of the 
 
 rebuilding of the temple. 
 
 BOOK XVI. 
 
 COWTAINING THE INTERVAL OF TWELVE TEARS, 
 
 FROM THE FINISHING OF THE TEMPLE BY HEROD TO THE DEATH 
 OF ALEXANDER AND ARISTOBULUS. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 A LAW OF HEROD's ABOUT THIEVES. SALOME 
 AND PHERORAS CALUMNIATE ALEXANDER 
 AND ARISTOBULUS, UPON THEIR RETURN 
 FROM ROME, FOR WHOM HEROD YET PRO- 
 VIDES WIVES. 
 
 § 1. As king Herod was very zealous in the 
 administration of his entire government, and 
 desirous to put a stop to particular acts of in- 
 justice which were done by criminals about 
 the city and country, he made a law, no way 
 like our original laws, and which he enacted 
 of himself, to expose housebreakers to be 
 ejected out of his kingdom ; which punish- 
 ment was not only grievous to be borne by 
 the offenders, but contained in it a dissolu- 
 tion of the customs of our forefathers; for 
 this slavery to foreigners, and such as did not 
 live after the manner of Jews, and this neces- 
 sity that they were under to do whatsoever 
 such men should command, was an offence 
 against our rebgious settlement, rather than a 
 punishment to such as were found to have 
 offended, such a punishment being avoided in 
 our original laws; for those laws ordain, that 
 the thief shall restore fourfold ; and that if he 
 have not so much, he shall be sold indeed, 
 but not to foreigners, nor so that he be under 
 perpetual slavery, for he must have been 
 released after six years. But this law, thus 
 
 particular remarkable circumMance relating; to the build- 
 InK of Herud's temple, is a deinoiistrutiuii that such its 
 building; was a Ltiowri thing in Judeaai this lime. He 
 waa born but furty-six yrars after it is rtrlated to have 
 been finished, and might himselt have seen and ^pu ..en 
 with Slime of the builders themselves, and with a great 
 DUmlier ol iliose who had seen its building. I'he duubl 
 therefore about the truth of this history of the pulling 
 down and rebuilding this temple by lierud. which suqje 
 weak people have indulged, was not then iliicIi greater 
 tbsu it S4Min may be, wbelhev or nut M I'liui's church In 
 Ion was burnt down in the «re of I nmlun, * u liioo, 
 " b) air Cbriftopner VViru u littiv it/terwurd. 
 
 enacted in order to introduce a sfevere and ille- 
 gal punishment, seemed to be a piece of inso- 
 lence in Herod, when he did not act as a king 
 but as a tyrant, and thus contemptuously, 
 and without any regard to his subjects, did be 
 venture to introduce such a punishment. 
 Now this penalty thus brought into practice, 
 was like Herod's other actions, and became a 
 part of his accusation, and an occasion of the 
 hatred he lay under. 
 
 2. Now at this time it was that he sailed to 
 Italy, as very desirous to meet with Cjesar, 
 and to see his sons who lived at Rome : 
 and Cajsar was not only very obliging to hiuj 
 in other respects, but delivered him his suns 
 again, that he might take them home with 
 him, as having already completed themselves 
 in the sciences; but as soon as the young men 
 were come from Italy; the multitude were 
 very desirous to see them, and they became 
 conspicuous among them all, as adorned with 
 great blessings of fortune, and having the 
 countenances of persons of royal dignity. 
 So they soon appeared to be the objects of 
 envy to Salome, the king's sister, and to such 
 as had raised calumnies against Marianuie; 
 for they were suspicious, that when these 
 came to the government, they should be pun- 
 ished far the wickedness they had been guilty 
 of against their mother; so they made tins 
 very fear of theirs a motive to raise calumnies 
 against them also. They gave it out lliat . 
 they were not pleased with their father's 
 company, because he had put their mother to 
 death, as if it were not agreeable to piety to 
 appear to converse with their mother's mur- 
 derer. Now, by carrying these stories, that 
 had indeed a true iuunUution [in the fact], 
 but were only built on probubiUties as to the 
 present accu^ation, tliey were able to do them 
 tuidchicf, and to make Herod take away that 
 kindness tVoui hia suns whiuh he had b<;tar« 
 
ClUP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 433 
 
 borne to them, for tney did not say these 
 tmnff? to liiin openly, but scattered abroad 
 siicn words among the rest of the multitude; 
 trom which words, when carried to Herod, he 
 uras induced [at last] to hate them, and which 
 uatural atfection itself, even in length of time, 
 was not able to overcome; yet was the king 
 Bt that time in a condition to prefer the natu- 
 ral affection of a father before all the suspi- 
 cions and calumnies his sons lay under: 
 80 he respected them as he ought to do, and 
 ojarried them to wives, now they were of an 
 Bge suitable thereto. To Aristobulus he gave 
 for a wife Bernice, Salome's daughter; and 
 to Alexander, Glaphyra, the daughter of Ar- 
 chelaus, king of Cappadocia. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW HEROD TWICE SAILED TO AGRIPPA; AND 
 HOW, UPON THE COMPLAINT OF THE JEWS 
 IN IONIA AGAINST THE GREEKS, AGRIPPA 
 CONFIRMED THE LAWS OF THE JEWS TO 
 THEM. 
 
 § 1. When Herod had dispatched these af- 
 fairs, and he understood that Marcus Agrippa 
 had sailed again out of Italy into Asia, he 
 made haste to him, and besought him to come 
 to him into his kingdom, and to partake of 
 what he might justly expect from one that 
 had been his guest, and was his friend. This 
 request he greatly pressed, and to it Agrippa 
 agreed, and came into Judea: whereupon 
 Herod omitted nothing that might please him. 
 He entertained him in his new-built cities, 
 and showed him the edifices he had built, and 
 provided all sorts of the best and most costly 
 dainties for him and his friends, and that at 
 Sebaste and Cesarea, about that port that he 
 had built, and at the fortresses which he had 
 erected at great expenses, Alexandrium, and 
 Herodium, and Hyrcania. He also conducted 
 him to the city Jerusalem, where all the 
 people met him in their festival garments, and 
 received him with acclamations. Agrippa 
 also offered a hecatomb of sacrifices to God; 
 and feasted the people, without omitting any 
 of the greatest dainties that could be gotten. 
 lie also took so much pleasure there, that he 
 abode many days with them, and would will- 
 ingly have staid longer, but that the season 
 of the year made him make haste away; for, 
 as winter was coming on, he thought it not 
 safe to go to sea later, and yet he was of 
 necessity to return again to Ionia. 
 
 2. So Agrippa went away, when Herod 
 had bestowed on him, and on the principal of 
 those that were with him, many presents; 
 but king Herod, when he haid passed the win- 
 ter in his own dominions, made haste to get 
 to him again in the spring, when he knew he 
 designed to go to a campaign at the Bosphorus. 
 
 So when he had sailed by Rhodes and by 
 Cos, he touched at Lesbos, as thinking he 
 should have overtaken Agrippa there; but he 
 was taken short here by a north wind, which 
 hindered his ship from going to the shore; 
 so . be continued many days at Chius, and 
 there he kindly treated a great many that 
 came to him, and obliged them by giving 
 them royal gifts. And when he saw that the 
 portico of the city was fallen down, which as 
 it was overthrown in the Mithndatic war, and 
 was a very large and fine building, so was it 
 not so easy to rebuild that as it was the rest, 
 yet did he furnish a sura not only large enough 
 for that purpose, but what was more than 
 sufficient to finish the building; and ordered 
 them not to overlook that portico, but to re- 
 build it quickly, that so the city might recover 
 its proper ornaments. And when the high 
 winds were laid, he sailed to Mitylene, and 
 thence to Byzantium; and when he heard 
 that Agrippa was sailed beyond the Cyanean 
 rocks, he made all the haste possible to over- 
 take him, and came up with him abont Si- 
 nope, in Pontus. He was seen sailing by 
 the shipmen most unexpectedly, but appeared 
 to their great joy; and many friendly saluta- 
 tions there were between them, insomuch that 
 Agrippa thought he had received the greatest 
 marks of the king's kindness and humanity 
 towards him possible, since the king had come 
 so long a voyage, and at a very proper sea- 
 son, for his assistance, and had left the govern- 
 ment of his own dominions, and thought it 
 more worth his while to come to hira. Ac- 
 cordingly, Herod was all in all to Agrippa, 
 in the management of the war, and a great 
 assistant in civil affairs, and in giving him 
 counsel as to particular matters. He was 
 also a pleasant companion for him when he 
 relaxed himself, and a joint partaker with him 
 in all things ; in troubles because of his kind- 
 ness; and in prosperity, because of the re- 
 spect Agrippa had for him. Now as soon as 
 those affairs of Pontus were finished, for whose 
 sake Agrippa was sent thither, they did not 
 think fit to return by sea, but passed through 
 Paphlagonia and Cappadocia; they then tra- 
 velled thence over great Phrygia, and came 
 to Ephesus, and then they sailed from Ephe- 
 sus to Samos. And indeed the king bestowed 
 a great many benefits on every city that he 
 came to, according as they stood in need of 
 them ; for as for those that wanted either mo- 
 ney or kind treatment, he was not wanting to 
 them ; but he supplied the former himself out 
 of his own expenses: he also became an in- 
 tercessor with Agrippa for all such as sought 
 after his favour, and he brought things so 
 about, that the petitioners failed in none of 
 their suits to him, Agrippa being himself of 
 a good disposition, and of great generosity 
 and ready to grant all such requests as might 
 be advantageous to the petitioners, provided 
 they were not to the detriment of others, 
 2B 
 
434 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XVI. 
 
 The inclination of the king was of great 
 weight also, and sIjU excited Agrippa, who 
 was himself ready to do good ; for he made a 
 reconciliation between the people of Ilium, at 
 whom he was angry, and paid what money the 
 people of Chilis ovved Caesar's procurators, 
 and discharged them of their tributes; and 
 uelped all others, according as their several 
 aecessities required. 
 
 3. But now, when Agrippa and Herod 
 were in Ionia, a great multitude of Jews, who 
 dwelt in their cities, came to them, and laying 
 hold of the opportunity and the liberty now 
 given them, laid before them the injuries 
 which they suffered, while they were not per- 
 mitted to use their own laws, but were com- 
 pelled to prosecute their law-suits, by the ill 
 usage of the judges, upon their holy days, 
 and were deprived of the money they used to 
 lay up at Jerusalem, and were forced into tjie 
 arujy, and upon such other offices as obliged 
 them to spend their sacred money ; from 
 which burdens they always used to be freed 
 by the Romans, who had still permitted them 
 to live according to their own laws. When 
 this clamour was made, the king desired of 
 Agrippa that he would hear their cause, and 
 assigned Nicolaus, one of his friends, to plead 
 for those their privileges. Accordingly, when 
 Agrippa had cadled the principal of the Ro- 
 mans, and such of the kings and rulers us 
 were there, to be his assessors, Niculaus stood 
 up, and pleaded for the Jews, as follows: — 
 * it is of necessity incumbent on such as are 
 jn distress to have recourse to those that huve 
 it in their power to free them from those in- 
 juries they lie under; and for those that now 
 are complainants, they approach you with 
 great assurance; for as they have formerly 
 often obtained your favour, so far as they have 
 even wished to have it, they now only entreat 
 that you, who have been the donors, will take 
 care that those favours you have already grant- 
 ed them may not be taken away from them. 
 "We have received these favours from you, who 
 alone have power to grant them, but have 
 them taken from us by such as are no greater 
 than ourselves, and by such as we know are 
 as much subjects as we are; and certainly, if 
 we have been vouchsafed great favours, it is 
 to our commendation who have obtained them, 
 as^ having been found deserving of such great 
 favours; and if those favours be but snn.all 
 ones, il would be barbarous for the donors not 
 to contirm them to us: and for those that are 
 the hinderance of the Jews, and use them re- 
 proachfully, it is evident that they affront both 
 the receivers, while they will not allow those 
 to be worthy men to whom their excellent 
 rulers themselves have borne their testimony, 
 and the donors, while they desire those favours 
 already granted may be abrogated. Now if 
 any one should ask these Gentiles thonjselves, 
 which of the two things they would choose to 
 part with, their lives, or the customs of their 
 
 forefathers, their solemnltifs, their sacrificesi 
 their festivals, which they celebrate in honour 
 of those they suppose to be gods? I know 
 very well that they would choose to sutfer any 
 thing whatsoever rather than a dissoiutioii ul 
 any of the customs of their forefathers ; tor 
 a great many of them have rather chosen to 
 go to war on that account, as very solicitoua 
 not to transgress in those matters: and indeed 
 we take an estimate of that happiness which 
 all mankind do now enjoy by your means 
 from this very thing, that we are allowed every 
 one to worship as our ov/n institutions require, 
 and yet to live [in peace] ; and although they 
 would not be thus treated themselves, yet do 
 they endeavour to compel others to comply 
 with them, as if it were not as great an in- 
 stance of impiety, profanely to dissolve the 
 religious solemnities of any others, as to be 
 negligent in the observation of their own to- 
 wards their gods. And let us now consider 
 the one of these practices : — Is there any 
 people, or city, or community of men, to whom 
 your government and the Roman power does 
 not appear to be the greatest blessing? Is 
 there any one that can desire to make void the 
 favours they have granted? No one is cer- 
 tainly so mad; for there are no men but such 
 as have been partakers of their favours, both 
 public and private ; and indeed those that take 
 away what you have granted, can have no 
 assurance, but every one of their own grants 
 made them by you may be taken from thena 
 also; which grants of yours can yet never be 
 sufficiently valued ; for if they consider the 
 old govcrninents under kings, together with 
 your present government, besides the great 
 number of benefits which this government 
 hath bestowed on them, in order to their hap- 
 piness, this is instead of all the rest, that they 
 appear to be no longer in a state of slavery, 
 but of freedom. Now the privileges we de- 
 sire, even when we are in the best circumstan- 
 ces, are not such as deserve to be envied, for 
 we are indeed in a prosperous state by your 
 means, but this is only in common with others; 
 and it is no more than this which we desire, 
 to preserve our religion without any prohibi- 
 tion, which, as it appears not in itself a privi- 
 lege to be envied us, so it is for the advantage 
 of those that grant it to us: for if the Divi- 
 nity delights in being honoured, he must de- 
 light in those that permit him to be honoured. 
 And there are none of our customs which are 
 inhuman, but all tending to piety, and de- 
 voted to the preservation of justice; nor do 
 we conceal those injunctions of ours by which 
 we govern our lives, they being raeuiorials of 
 piety, and of a friendly conversation among 
 men. And the seventh day we set apart from 
 labour; it is dedicated to the learning of our 
 customs and laws,* we thinking it proper lo 
 
 • We may here observe the ancient practice of th» 
 JeMH, uf dvdicKliiiK tlii; Sabbath-day, not to idlent-8ft 
 but tu the IcantiuK tbeu: aacred rites aud reli<iuu 
 
CHAP, ir 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 435 
 
 reflect on them, as well as on any [good] thing 
 else, in order to our avoiding of sin. If any 
 one, therefore, examine into our observances, 
 he will find they are good in themselves, and 
 that they are ancient also, though some think 
 o:<herwise, insomuch that those who have re- 
 ceived them cannot easily be brought to de- 
 part from thera, out of that honour they pay 
 to the length of time they have religiously 
 enjoyed them and observed then). Now our 
 adversaries take these our privileges away in 
 the way of injustice; they violently seize upon 
 that money of ours which is oflfered to God, 
 and called sacred money, and this openly, after 
 a sacrilegious manner; and they impose tri- 
 butes upon us, and bring us before tribunals 
 on holy days, and then require other like debts 
 of us, not because the contracts require it, 
 »nd for their own advantage, but because they 
 would put an affront on our religion, of 
 which they are conscious as well as we, and 
 have indulged themselves in an unjust, and 
 •to them involuntary, hatred; for your govern- 
 ment over all is one, tending to the establish- 
 ing of benevolence, and abolishing of ill-will 
 among such as are disposed to it. This is 
 therefore what we implore from thee, most ex- 
 cellent Agrippa, that we may not be ill treat- 
 ed; that we may not be abused; that we may 
 not be hindered from making use of our own 
 customs, nor be despoiled of our goods; nor 
 be forced by these men to do what we our- 
 selves force nobody to do: for these privileges 
 of ours are not only according to justice, but 
 have formerly been granted us by you : and 
 we are able to read to you many decree^of 
 the senate, and the tables that contain them, 
 which are still extant in the capitol concern- 
 ing these things, which, it is evident, were 
 granted after you had experience of our fide- 
 lity towards you, which ought to be valued, 
 though no such fidelity had been; for you 
 have hitherto preserved what people were in 
 possession of, not to us only, but aimost to 
 all men, and have added greater advantages 
 than they could have hoped for, and thereby 
 j'our government is become a great advantage 
 to thera. And if any one were able to enu- 
 merate the prosperity you have conferred on 
 <;very natioa, which they possess by your 
 tneans, he could never put an end to his dis- 
 course; but that we may demonstrate that we 
 are not unworthy of all those advantages we 
 have obtained, it will be sufficient for us to 
 Bay nothing of other things, but to speak 
 freely of this king who now governs us, and 
 Ls now one of thy assessors; and indeed in. 
 what instance of good- will, as to your house, 
 hath he been deficient? What mark of fide- 
 lity to it hath he omitted? What token of 
 honour, hath he not devised? What occasion 
 for his assistance of you bath be not regarded 
 
 zustoms, and to the meditation on the law of Moses. The 
 like to which we meet with elsewbece in Josephtts also, 
 •^autft Apioa- b. i sect. ii. 
 
 at the very first? What hindereth, therefore, 
 but that your kindnesses may be as numerous 
 as his so great benefits to you have been? 
 It may also perhaps be fit not here tc pass 
 over in silence the valour, of his father Anti- 
 pater, who, when Ctesar made an expedition 
 into Egypt, assisted him \\'ith two thousand 
 armed men, and proved inferior to none, 
 neither in the battles on land, nor in the ma- 
 nagement of the navy; and what need I say 
 any thing of how great weight those soldiers 
 were at that juncture ? or how many, and how 
 great presents they were vouchsafed by Caesar? 
 And truly I ought before now to have men- 
 tioned the epistles which Caesar wrote to the se- 
 nate; and how Anti pater had honours, and the 
 freedom of the city of Rome, bestowed upon 
 him; for these are demonstrations both that we 
 have received these favours by our own deserts, 
 and do on that account petition thee for thy 
 confirmation of them, from whom we had rea- 
 son to hope for them, though they had not been 
 given us before, both out of regard to our 
 king's disposition towards you, and your dis- 
 position towards him; and farther, we have 
 been informed by those Jews that were there, 
 with what kindness thou camest into our coun- 
 try, and how thou offeredst the most perfect 
 sacrifices to God, and honouredst him with 
 remarkable vows, and how thou gavest the 
 people a feast, and acceptedst of their own hos- 
 pitable presents to thee. We ought to esteem 
 all these kind entertainments made both by our 
 nation and our dty, to a man who is the ruler 
 and manager 6f so much of the public affairs, 
 as indications of that friendship which thou 
 hast returned to the Jewish nation, and which 
 hath been procured them by the family of He- 
 rod. So we put thee in mind of these things in 
 the presence of the king, now sitting by thee, 
 and make our request for no more but thie, 
 that what you have given us yourselves, you 
 will not see taken away by others from us." 
 
 4. When Nicolaus had made this speech, 
 there was no opposition made to it by the 
 Greeks, for this was not an inquiry made, as 
 in a court of justice, but an intercession to 
 prevent violence to be offered to the Jews any 
 longer; nor did the Greeks make any defence 
 of themselves, or deny what it was supposed 
 they had done. Their pretence was no more 
 than this, that while the Jews inhabited in 
 their country, they were entirely unjust to 
 them [in not joining in their worship]; but 
 they demonstrated their generosity in this, 
 that though they worshipped according to 
 their own institutions, they did nothing that 
 ought to grieve them. So when Agrippa 
 perceived that they had been oppressed by 
 violence, he made this answer: — That, on 
 account of Herod's good-will and friendship, 
 he was ready to grant the Jews whatsoever 
 they should ask him, and that their requests 
 seemed to him in themselves just; and that 
 if they requested any thing farther, he should 
 
436 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVI 
 
 not scruple to grant it tbem, provided they 
 were no way to the detriment of the Roman 
 government; but that, while their request was 
 no more than this, that what privileges they 
 had already given them might not be abro- 
 gated, he confirmed this to theni^ that they 
 might continue in the observation of their 
 own customs, without any one offering them 
 the least injury; and when he had said thus, 
 he dissolved the assembly: upon which He- 
 rod stood up and saluted him, and gave him 
 thanks for the kind disposition be showed to 
 them. Agrippa also took this in a very 
 obliging manner, and saluted him again, and 
 embraced him in his arms; after which he 
 went away from Lesbos; but the king deter- 
 mined to sail from Samos to his own coun- 
 try; and when he had taken his leave of 
 Agrippa, he pursued his voyage, and landed 
 at Cesarea in a few days' time, as having 
 favourable winds; from whence he went to 
 Jerusalem, and there gathered all the people 
 together to an assembly, not a few being 
 there out of the country also. So when he 
 came to them, he gave them a particular 
 account of all his journey, and of the afikirs of 
 all the Jews in Asia, how by his means they 
 would live without injurious treatment for the 
 time to come. He also told them of the en- 
 tire good fortune he had met with, and how 
 he had admimstered the government, and had 
 not neglected any thing which was for their 
 advantage; and as he was very joyful, he now 
 remitted to them the fourth part of their taxes 
 for the last year. Accordingly, they were so 
 pleased with his favour and speech to them, 
 that they went their ways ,with great glad- 
 ness, and wished the king all manner of hap- 
 piness. 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 HOW GREAT DISTURBANCES AROSE IN HEROD's 
 FAMILY ON HIS PREFERRING ANTIl'ATlill, 
 HIS ELDEST SON, BEFORE THE REST, TILL 
 ALEXANDER TOOK THAT INJURY VERY 
 HEINOUSLY. 
 
 § 1. But now the affairs in Herod's family 
 were in more and more disorder, and became 
 more severe upon him, by the hatred of Salome 
 to the young men [Alexander and Aristobu- 
 lus], which descended as it were by inheritance 
 [from their mother Mariamne]: and as she 
 had fully succeeded against their mother, so 
 she proceeded to that degree of madness and 
 insolence, as to endeavour that none of her 
 posterity might be left alive, who might have 
 it in their power to revenge her death. The 
 young men had also somewhat of a bold and 
 uneasy disposition towards their father, occa- 
 sioned by the remembrance of what their 
 mother had unjustly suffered, and by their own 
 
 affectation of dominion. The old grudge was als«» 
 renewed; and they cast reproaches on Saiom« 
 and Pheroras, who requited the young men 
 with malicious designs, and actually laid 
 treacherous snares for them. Now, as for 
 this hatred, it was equal on both sides, but 
 the manner of exerting that hatred was dif- 
 ferent; for as for the young men, they were 
 rash, reproaching and affronting the others 
 openly, and were inexperienced enough to 
 think it the most generous to declare their 
 minds in that undaunted manner; but the 
 others did not take that method, but made 
 use of calumnies after a subtile and a spite- 
 ful manner, still provoking the young men,. 
 and imagining that their boldness nii>;ht in 
 time turn to the offering violence to their 
 father, for inasmuch as they were not ashamed 
 of the pretended crimes of their mother, nor 
 thought she suffered justly, these su[.i,used 
 that might at length exceed all boundh, and 
 induce them to think they ought to be avenged 
 on their father, though it were by dispatchnig- 
 him with their own hands. At length it 
 came to this, that the whole eity was full 
 of their discourses, and, as is usual in such 
 contests, the unskilfulness of the }oung meu 
 was pitied J but the contrivance of Salome 
 was too hard for them, and what imputa- 
 tions she laid upon them came to be believed, 
 by means of their own conduct; for they 
 were so deeply affected with the death of 
 their mother, that while they said both she 
 and themselves were in a miserable case, they 
 vehemently complained of her pitiable end> 
 w^ch indeed was truly such, and aaid that 
 they were themselves in a pitiable "^ase also> 
 because they were forced to live with those 
 that had been her murderers, and to be par- 
 takers with them. 
 
 2. These disorders increased greatly, and 
 the king's absence abroad had afforded a fit 
 opportunity for that increase; but as soon as 
 Herod was returned, and had made the fore- 
 mentioned speech to the multitude, Pheroras 
 and Salome let fall words immediately, as ii 
 he were in great danger, and as if the young 
 men openly threatened that they wouU not 
 spare him any longer, but revenge their 
 mother's death upon him. They also added 
 another circumstance, that their hopes were 
 fixed on Archelaus,the king of Cappadocia, that 
 they should be able by his means to come to 
 C^iesar, and accuse their father. Upon hearing 
 such things, Herod was immediately dis- 
 turbed ; and indeed was the more astonished, 
 because the same things were related to him 
 by some others also. He then called to mind 
 his former calamity, and considered that the 
 disorders in his family had hindered him from 
 enjoying any comfort from those that were 
 dearest to him, or from his wife whom he 
 loved so well; and suspecting that his future 
 troubles would soon be heavier and {>reater 
 than those that were past, he was in gretU 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 437 
 
 confusion of mind, for divine Providence had 
 in reality conferred upon him a great many 
 outward advantages for his happiness, even 
 beyond his hopes, — but the troubles he had 
 at home were such as he never expected to 
 have met with, and rendered him unfortunate; 
 nay, both sorts came upon him to such a 
 degree as no one could imagine, and made it a 
 doubtful question, whether, upon the com- 
 parison of both, he ought to have exchanged 
 so great a success of outward good things for 
 so great misfortunes at home, or whether he 
 ought not to have chosen to avoid the cala- 
 mities relating to his family, though he had, 
 for a compensation, never been possessed of 
 the admired grandeur of a kingdom. 
 
 3. As be was thus disturbed and afflicted, 
 in order to depress these young men, he 
 brought to court another of his sons, that was 
 bom to him >vhen he was a private man ; his 
 name was Antipater: yet did he not then 
 indulge him as he did afterwards, when he was 
 quite overcome by him, and let him do every 
 thing as he pleased, but rather with a design of 
 depressing the insolence of the sons of Mariam- 
 ne, and managing this elevation of bis son, that it 
 might be for a warning to them; for this bold 
 behaviour of theirs [be thought] would not be 
 so great, if they were once persuaded that the 
 succession to the kingdom did not appertain 
 to them alone, or must of necessity come to 
 them. So he introduced Antipater as their 
 antagonist, and imagined that he made a good 
 provision for discouraging their pride, and 
 that after this was done to the young men, 
 there might be a proper season for expecting 
 these to be of a better disposition : but the 
 event proved otherwise than he intended, for 
 the young men thought he did them a very 
 great injury; and as Antipater was a shrewd 
 man, when he had once obtained this degree 
 of freedom, and began to expect greater things 
 than he had before hoped for, he had but one 
 single design in his head, and that was to dis- 
 tress his brethren, and not^t all to yield to 
 them the pre-eminence, but to keep close to 
 his father, who was already alienated from 
 them by the calumnies he had heard about 
 them, and ready to be wrought upon in any 
 way his zeal against them should advise him 
 to pursue, that he might be continually more 
 and more severe against them. Accordingly, 
 all the reports that were spread abroad came 
 from him, while he avoided himself the sus- 
 picion, as if those discoveries proceeded from 
 him: but he rather chose to make use of 
 those persons for his assistants that were un- 
 suspected, and such as might be believed to 
 speak truth by reason of the good- will they 
 bore to the king ; and indeed there were 
 already not a few who cultivated a friendship 
 with Antipater, in hopes of gaining somewhat 
 by him, and these were the men who most of 
 all persuaded Herod, because they appeared 
 to speak thus out of their good- will to him: 
 
 and while these joint accusations, which, from 
 various foundations, supported one another's 
 veracity, the young men themselves afforded 
 farther occasions to Antipater also; for they 
 were observed to shed tears often, on account of 
 the injury that was offered them, and had their 
 mother in their mouths; and among their 
 friends they ventured to reproach their father, 
 *s not acting justly by them: all which things 
 were with an evil intention reserved in me- 
 mory by Antipater against a proper oppor- 
 tunity; and when they were told to Herod, 
 with aggravations, increased the disorder so 
 much, that it brought a great tumult into the 
 family; for while the king was very angry at 
 imputations that were laid upon the sons of Ma- 
 riamne, and was desirous to humble them, he 
 still increased the honour that he had bestowed 
 on Antipater, and was at last so overcome by 
 his persuasions, that he brought his mother to 
 court also. He also wrote frequently to Caesar 
 in favour of him, and more earnestly recom- 
 mended him to his care particularly. And 
 when Agrippa was returned to Rome, after 
 he had finished his ten years' government in 
 Asia,* Herod sailed from Judea; and when he 
 met with him, he 4iad none with him but An- 
 tipater, whom he delivered to Agrippa, that 
 he might take him along with him, together 
 with many presents, that so he might become 
 Ciesar's friend, insomuch that things already 
 looked as if he had all his father's .favour, and 
 that the young men were already entirely 
 rejected from any hopes of the kingdom. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW, DURING ANTIPATEr's ABODE AT ROME, 
 HEROD BROUGHT ALEXANDER AND ARIS- 
 TOBULUS BEFORE C^SAR, AND ACCUSED 
 
 THEM. Alexander's defence of him- 
 self BEFORE C^SAR, AND RECONCILIATION 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 § 1. And now what happened during Anti- 
 pater's absence augmented the honour to 
 which he had been promoted, and his apparent 
 eminence above his brethren; for he had mad 
 a great figure in Rome, because Herod had 
 sent recommendations of him to all his friends 
 there; only he was grieved that he was not at 
 home, nor had proper opportunities of perpe- 
 tually calumniating his brethren; and his chief 
 fear was, lest his father should alter his mind, 
 and entertain a more favourable opinion of 
 the sons of Mariamne; and as he had this in 
 his mind, he did not desist from his purpose, 
 but continually sent from Rome any such 
 stories as he hoped might grieve and irritate 
 
 ♦ This interval of ten years for the duration of Marcus 
 Agrip;>a's government in Asia, seeros t> be tmr, and 
 agreeable to the Roman history. See Usher's Annala 
 at AH. U39;^ 
 
438 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVL 
 
 his father against his brethren, under pretence 
 indeed of a deep concern for his preservation, 
 but in truth, such as his malicious mind dic- 
 tated, in order to purchase a greater hope of 
 the succession, which yet was already great 
 in itself: and thus he did till he had excited 
 such a degree of anger in Herod, that he was 
 already become very ill disposed towards the 
 young men; but still, while he delayed #1 
 exercise so violent a disgust against them, and 
 that he might not either be too remiss or too 
 rash, and so offend, he thought it best to sail 
 to Rome, and there accuse his sons before 
 Caesar, and not indulge himself in any such 
 crime as might be heinous enough to be sus- 
 pected of impiety. But as he was going up 
 to Rome, it happened that he made such haste 
 as to meet with Caesar at the city Aquilei:* 
 80 when he came to the speech of Caesar, he 
 asked for a time for hearing this great cause, 
 wherein he thought himself very miserable, 
 and presented his sons there, and accused 
 them of their mad actions, and of their 
 attempts against him: — That they were ene- 
 mies to him ; and, by all the means they were 
 able, Ad their endeavours to show their hatred 
 to their own father, and .would take away 
 his life, and so obtain his kingdom, after the 
 most barbarous manner: that he had power 
 from Caesar to dispose of it, not by necessity, 
 but by choice, to him who shall exercise the 
 greatest piety towards him; while these my 
 bons are not so desirous of ruling, as they are, 
 upon a disappointment thereof, to expose their 
 own life, if so be they may but deprive their 
 father of his life ; so wild and polluted is their 
 mind by time become, out of their hatred to 
 him: that whereas he had a long time borne 
 this his misfortune, he was now compelled to 
 lay it before Caesar, and to pollute his ears 
 with such language; while he himself wants 
 to know what severity they have ever suffered 
 from him, or what hardships he had ever laid 
 upon them, to make them complain of him; 
 and how they can think it just that he should 
 not be lord of that kingdom which he, in a 
 long time, and with great danger, had gained, 
 and not allow him to keep it and dispose 
 of it to him who should deserve best; and 
 this, with other advantages, he proposes as a 
 reward for the piety of such a one as will here- 
 after imitate the care he hath taken of it; and 
 that such a one may gain so great a requital 
 as that is: and that it is an impious thing 
 for them to pretend to meddle with it before- 
 hand, for he who hath ever the kingdom in 
 
 • Althont^h Herod met Aiit^ustus at Aquilei, yet was 
 tl»i« aci-.tiHutton of hi* ions deterred till they came to Home, 
 us s. 3 assures us, and as we are particularly informed in 
 ttie History of the War, b i c. xxiii. s. 3. tiiounh what he 
 here says belonj^ed distinctly to Alexander, the elder bro- 
 ther, 1 mean his heinK hruu({ht to Kome, is here JHstly ex- 
 tended tu both the brotherN,an<l that not only in ourcopies. 
 but in that o( Zunaras also: nor is there reason to doulx 
 but they were both at this solemn hearing by Augustus, al- 
 ttiotigh the defence wan ntutle by Alexander alone, who 
 w«k 0«r e»dr«t hT«>iher. Mid one that could »pcal> very well. 
 
 his view, at the same time reckons upon pro- 
 curing the death of his father, because other- 
 wise he cannot come at the goveriunent: that 
 as for himself, he had hitherto given them all 
 that he was able, and what was agreeable to 
 such as are subject to the royal authority, 
 and the sons of a king; what ornaments they 
 wanted, with servants and delicate fare, and 
 had married them into the most illustrious 
 families, the one [Aristobulus] to his sister's 
 daughter, but Alexander to the daughter of 
 king Archelaus; and, what was the greatest- 
 favour of all, when their crimes were so very 
 bad, and he had authority to punish them, 
 yet had he not made use of it against them, 
 but had brought them before Caesar, their 
 common benefactor, and had not used the 
 severity which either as a father who had been 
 impiously abused, or as a king who had been 
 assaulted treacherously, he miglit have done, 
 but made them stand upon the level with 
 him in judgment: that, however, it was ne- 
 cessary that all this should not be passed over 
 without punishment, nor himself live in the 
 greatest fears; nay, that it was not for their 
 own advantage to see the light of the sun 
 after what they had done, although they 
 should escape at this time, since they had 
 done the vilest things, and would certainly 
 suffer the greatest punishments that ever were 
 known among mankind. 
 
 2. These were the accusations which He- 
 rod laid with great veheniency against his 
 sons before Caesar. Now the young men, 
 both while he was speaking, and chiefly at his 
 concluding, wept, and were in confusion. 
 Now as to themselves, they knew in their own 
 conscience they were innocent, but because 
 they were accused by their father, they were 
 sensible, as the truth was, that it was hard for 
 them to make their apology, since though 
 they were at liberty to speak their minds 
 freely as the occasion required, and might with 
 force and earnestness refute the accusation, 
 yet was it not noflr decent so to do. There 
 was therefore a dithculty how they should be 
 able to speak; and tears, and at length a deep 
 groan followed, while they were afraid, that 
 if they said nothing, they should seem to be 
 in this difficulty from a consciousness of guiit, 
 — nor had they any defence ready, by reason 
 of their youth, and the disorder they were 
 under; yet was not Caesar unapprised, when he 
 looked upon them in the confusion they were 
 in, that their delay to make their defence did 
 not arise from any consciousness of great 
 enormities, but from their unskilfulness and 
 modesty. They were also commiserated by 
 those that were there in particular; and they 
 moved their father's affections in earnest till 
 he had much ado to conceal them. 
 
 3. But when they saw there was a kind 
 disposition arisen both in him, and in Caesar, 
 and that every one of the rest did either shed 
 tears, or at least did all grieve with them, the 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 439 
 
 one of thern, whose name was Alexander, called 
 to his father, and attempted to answer his 
 accusation, and said, " O father, the benevo- 
 ience thou hast showed to us is evident, even 
 in this very judicial procedure, for hadst thou 
 any pernicious intentions about us, thou hadst 
 not produced us here before the common 
 saviour of all, for it was in thy power, both 
 is a king and as a father, to punish the 
 guilty ; but by thus bringing us to Rome, and 
 making Caesar himself a witness to what is 
 done, thou intimatest that thou intendest to 
 save us ; for no one that hath a design to slay 
 a man will bring him to the temples, and to 
 the altars: yet are our circumstances still 
 worse, for we caniiot endure to live ourselves 
 any longer, if it be believed that we have 
 iujured such a father; nay, perhaps it would 
 be worse for us to live with this suspicion 
 upon us, that we have injured him, than to die 
 without such guilt: and if our open defence 
 «nay be taken to be true, we shall be happy, 
 both in paqMiig thee, and in escaping the 
 danger we ar^~ in; but if this calumny so 
 prevails, it is more than enough for us that 
 we have seen the s«n this day ; whicl> why 
 should we see, if this suspicion be fixed upon 
 us? Now it is easy to say of young men, 
 that they desired to reign; and to say farther, 
 that this evil proceeds from the case o£ our 
 unhappy mother. This is abundantly suffi- 
 cient to produce our present raisibrtune out of 
 the former; but consider well, whether such an 
 accusation does not suit all such young men, 
 and may not be said of them all promiscuous- 
 iy; for nothing can hinder him that reigns, if 
 be have children, and their mother be dead, 
 but the father may have a suspicion upon all 
 his sons, as intending some treachery to him : 
 but a suspicion is not sufficient to prove such 
 an impious practice. Now let any man say, 
 whether we have actually and insolently at- 
 tempted any such thing, whereby actions other- 
 vrise incredible used to be made credible? 
 Can any body prove that poison hath been 
 prepared ? or prove a conspiracy of our 
 equals, or the corruption of servants, or letter/ 
 written against thee? thotigh indeed there are 
 none of tho=*} things but have sometimes been 
 pretended ^' way of calumny, when they 
 were never done; for a royal family that is 
 »t variance with itself is a terrible thing; 
 and that which thou callest a reward of piety, 
 often becomes, among very wicked men, such 
 a foundation of hope, as makes them leave no 
 sort of mischief untried. Nor does any one 
 lay any wicked practices to our charge; but 
 as to calumnies by hearsay, how can he put 
 an end to them, who will not hear what we 
 nave to say? Have we talked \vith too great 
 treedora? yes; but not against thee, for that 
 would be unjust, but against those that never 
 conceal any thing that is spoken to them. 
 Hath either of us lamented our mother? yes; 
 .rUt not because she is dead, but because she 
 
 was evil spoken of by those that had no reason 
 so to do. Are we desirous of that domi- 
 nion which we know our father is possessed 
 of? For what reason can we do so ? If we 
 already have royal honours, as we have, should 
 not we labour in vain? And if we have them 
 not, yet are not we in hopes of them? Or 
 supposing that we had killed thee, could we 
 expect to obtain thy kingdom? while neither 
 the earth would let us tread upon it, nor the 
 sea let us sail upon it, after such an action as 
 that: nay, the religion of all your subjects, 
 and the piety of the whole nation, would have 
 prohibited parricides from assuming the go- 
 vernment, and from entering into that most 
 holy temple which was built by thee.* But 
 suppose we had made light oi other dangers, 
 can any murderer go off unpunished while 
 Caesar is alive? We are thy sons, and not so 
 impious, or so thoughtless as that comes to, 
 though perhaps more unfortunate than is con 
 venient for thee. But in case thou neither 
 findest any causes of complaint, nor any 
 treacherous designs, what sufficient evidence 
 hast thou to make such a wickedness of ours 
 credible? Our mother is dead indeed, but 
 then what befel her might be an instruction 
 to us to caution, and not an incitement to 
 wickedness. We are willing to make a larger 
 apology for ourselves; but actions never done 
 do not admit of discourse: nay, we will make 
 this agreement with thee, and that before 
 Caesar, the lord of all, who is now a mediator 
 between us, if thou, O father, canst bring thy- 
 self, by the evidence of truth, to have a mind 
 free from suspicion concerning us, let us live, 
 though even then we shall live in an un- 
 happy way, for to be accused of great acts of 
 wickedness, though falsely, is a terrible thing; 
 but if thou hast any fear remaining, continue 
 thou on in thy pious life, we will give this 
 reason for our own conduct; our life is not 
 so desirable to us as to desire to have it, if it 
 tend to the harm of our father who gave it 
 us." 
 
 4. When Alexander had thus spoken, Cae- 
 sar, who did not before believe so gross a 
 calumny, was still more moved by it, and 
 looked intently upon Herod, and , perceived 
 he was a little confounded : the persons there 
 present were under an anxiety about the 
 young men, and the fame that was spread 
 abroad made the king hated, for the very 
 
 • Since some prejudiced men have indaltced a wild 
 suspicion, as we have supposed already (Antiq b. xv. 
 ch. xi. sect. 7^, that Josephus's history of Herod's re- 
 building the temple is no tietter than a fable, it nay not 
 be amiss to take notice of this occasional clause in the 
 sp(>ech of Alexandt-r before his father Herod, in his and 
 his brother's viodicatioo, which mentions the temple as 
 known by every body to have been built by Herod. See 
 John ii 20. See also another speech of Herod's own to 
 the young men that pulled down his golden eagle from 
 the front of the temple, where he takes notice how the 
 building of the temple cost him a vast sum; and that 
 the Asamoneans, in those one hundred and twenty-five 
 years they held the government, were not able to per- 
 form so great a work, to tiie honour of God as this WM, 
 Antiq. b. xvii. ch- vL secU A 
 
440 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVI, 
 
 incredibility of the calumny, and the commi- 
 seration of the flower of youth, the beauty of 
 bod>, which were in the young men, pleaded 
 strongly for assistance, and the more so on 
 this account, that Alexander had made their 
 defence with dexterity and prudence; nay, 
 they did not themselves any longer continue 
 in their former countenances, which had been 
 bedewed with tears, and cast downwards to 
 the ground, but now there arose in them hope 
 of the best: and the king himself appeared 
 not to have had foundation enough to build 
 such an accusation upon, he having no real 
 evidence wherewith to convict them. Indeed 
 he wanted some apology for making the 
 accusation; but Caesar, after some delay, said, 
 that although the young men were thoroughly 
 ijinocent of that for which they were calum- 
 niated, yet had they been so far to blame, 
 that they had not demeaned themselves towards 
 their father so as to prevent that suspi- 
 cion which was spread abroad concerning 
 thera. He also exhorted Herod to lay all 
 such suspicions aside, and to be reconciled to 
 his sons; for that it was not just to give any 
 credit to such reports -concerning his own 
 children; and that this repentance on both 
 sides might heal those breaches that had hap- 
 pened between them, and might improve that 
 their good- will to one another, whereby those 
 on both sides, excusing the rashness of their 
 suspicions, might resolve to bear a greater 
 degree of affection towards each other than 
 they had before. After Caesar had given 
 them this admonition, he beckoned to the 
 young men. When, therefore, they were 
 disposed to fall down, to make intercession to 
 their father, he took them up, and embraced 
 them, as they were in tears, and took each 
 of them distinctly in his arms, till not one of 
 those that were present, whether freeman or 
 slave, but was deeply affected with what they 
 saw. 
 
 5. Then did they return thanks to Caesar, 
 and went away together ; and with them went 
 Anti pater, with an hypocritical pretence that 
 he rejoiced at this reconciliation. And in the 
 last days they were with Caesar, Herod made 
 bim a present of three hundred talents, as he 
 was then exhibiting shows and largesses to the 
 people of Rome: and Caesar made him a pre- 
 sent of half the revenue of the copper mines 
 in Cyprus, and committed the care of the 
 other half to bim, and honoured him with 
 other gifts and incomes: and as to his own 
 kingdom, he left it in his power to appoint 
 which of his sons he pleased for bis successor, 
 or to distribute it in parts to every one, that 
 the dignity might thereby come to them all; 
 and when Herod was disposed to make such 
 a settlement immediately, Csesar said he would 
 not give him leave to deprive himsell', while 
 he was alive, of the power over his kingdom, 
 or over his /»ons. 
 
 9. After this, Herod returned to Judca 
 
 again ; but during his absence, no small part 
 of his dominions about Trachou had revolted, 
 whom yet the commanders he left there had 
 vanquished, and compelled to a submission 
 again. Now, as Herod was sailing with his 
 sons, and was come over-agaiitst Cilicia, to 
 [the island] Eleusa, which hath now changed 
 its name for Sebaste, he met with Archelaus, 
 king of Cuppadocia, who received him kindly, 
 as rejoicing that he was reconciled to his sons, 
 and that the accusation against Alexander, 
 who had married his daughter, was at an end. 
 They also made one another such presents as 
 it became kings to make. From thence 
 Herod came to Judea and to the ternple, where 
 he made a speech to the people concerning 
 what bad been done in this his journey: he 
 also discoursed to them about Caesar's kind- 
 ness to him, and about as many of the parti- 
 culars he had done as he thought it for his 
 advantage other people should be acquainted 
 with. At last he turned his speech to the ad- 
 monition of his sons; and exhorted those that 
 lived at court, and the multitude, to concord; 
 and informed them that his sons were to reign 
 after him; Antipater first, and then Alexan- 
 der and Aristobulus, the sons of Mariannie; 
 but he desired that at present they should all 
 have regard to himself, and esteem him king 
 and lord of all, since he vi^as not yet hindered 
 by old age, but was in that period of life when 
 he must be the most skilful in governing; and 
 that he was not deficient in other aits of ma- 
 nagement that might enable him to govern the 
 kingdom well, and to rule over his children 
 also. He farther told the rulers under him, 
 and the soldiery, that in case they would look 
 upon him alone, their life would be led in a 
 peaceable manner, and they would make one 
 another happy; and when he bad said this, he 
 dismissed the assembly. Which speech was 
 acceptable to the greatest part of the audience, 
 but not so to them all; for the contention 
 among his sons, and the hopes he had given 
 them, occasioned thoughts and desires of in- 
 novations among them. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW HEROD CELKBRATED THE GAMES THAT 
 WERE TO RETURN EVERY FIFTH YEAR, 
 UPON THE BUILDING OF CESAREA ; AND 
 HOW HE BUILT AND ADORNED MANY OTHER 
 PLACES AFTER A MAGNIFICENT MANNER; 
 AND DID MANY OTHER ACTIONS GLOUW 
 OUSLY. 
 
 § 1. About this time it was tliat Ces'irea 
 Sebaste, which he hud built, was hiushed. The 
 entire building being aceouiphsheu in the 
 tenth year, the soloinnit}' of it tvll into the 
 twenty-eighth yi-ar of hrrodV i\-i^t\, «^/i into 
 the hunurud uiio iiincty-kucuiKi ulympiad 
 
-^^E. 
 
CHAP. T. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OP THE JEWS* 
 
 441 
 
 theTC was accordingly a great festival, and 
 most sumptuous preparations made presently, 
 in order to its dedication ; for he had appoint- 
 ^ ed a contention in music, and games to be 
 performed naked; he bad also gotten ready a 
 great number of those that fight single com- 
 bats, and of beasts for the like purpose; horse- 
 races also, and the most chargeable of such 
 sports and shows as used to be exhibited at 
 Rome, and in other places. He consecrated 
 this combat to Caesar, and ordered it to be 
 celebrated every fifth year. He also sent all 
 sorts of ornaments for it out of his own fur- 
 niture, that it might want nothing to make it 
 decent; nay, Julia, Ciesar's wife, sent a great 
 part of her most valuable furniture [from 
 Rome],.insomuch that he had no want of any 
 thing; the sum of them all was estimated at 
 five hundred talents. Now when a great 
 multitude was conae to that city to see the 
 shows, as well as the ambassadors whom other 
 people sent, on account of the benefits they 
 had received [from Herod], be entertained 
 them all in the public inns, and at public 
 tables, and with perpetual feasts; this solem- 
 nity having in the day-time the diversions of 
 the fights, and in the night-time such merry 
 iheetings as cost vast sums of money,- and 
 publicly demonstrated the generosity of his 
 soul ; for in all his undertakings he was am- 
 bitious to exhibit what exceeded whatsoever 
 had been done before of the same kind ; and 
 it is related that Caesar and Agrippa often 
 said, that the dominions of Herod were too 
 little for the greatness of his soul ; for that 
 he deserved to have both all the kingdom of 
 Syria, and that of Egypt also. 
 
 2. After this solemnity and these festivals 
 were over, Herod erected another city in the 
 plain called Capharsaba, where he chose out 
 a fit place, both for plenty of water and good- 
 ness of soil, and proper for the production of 
 what was there planted, where a river encom- 
 passed the city itself, and a grove of the best 
 trees for magnitude was round about it; this 
 he named Antipatris, from his father Antipa- 
 ter. He also built upon another spot of 
 ground above Jericho, of the same name with 
 his mother, a place of great security, and very 
 pleasant for habitation, and called it Cyprus. 
 He also dedicated the finest monuments to 
 his brother Phasaelus, on account of the great 
 natural affection there had been between them, 
 by erecting a tower in the city itself, not less 
 than the tower of Pharos, which he named 
 Phasaelus, which was at once a part of the 
 strong defences of the city, and a memorial 
 for him that was deceased, because it bare his 
 name. He also built a city of the same name 
 in the valley of Jericho, as you go from it 
 northward, whereby he rendered the neigh- 
 bouring country more fruitful, by the culti- 
 vation its inhabitants introduced ; and this 
 also he called Phasaelus. 
 
 3. But as fur his other benefits, it is impos- 
 
 sible to reckon them up, those which he be* 
 stowed O' cities, both in Syria and in Greece, 
 and in all the places he came to in his voy- 
 ages; for he seems to have conferred, and 
 that after a most plentiful manner, what would 
 minister to many necessities, and the build- 
 ing of public works, and gave them the 
 money that was necessary tp such works as 
 wanted it, to support them upon the failure 
 of their other revenues; but what was the 
 greatest and most illustrious of all his works, 
 he erected Apollo's temple at Rhodes, at bis 
 own expenses, and gave them a great num- 
 ber of talents of silver for the repair of their 
 fleet. He also built the greatest part of the 
 public edifices for the innauitants of Nicopo- 
 lis, at Actium ;* and for the Antiochians, the 
 inhabitants of the principal city of Syria, 
 where a broad street cuts through the place 
 lengthways, he built cloisters along it on both 
 sides, and laid the open road with polished 
 stone, which was of very great advantage to 
 the inhabitants; and as to the Olympic games, 
 which were in a very low condition, by 
 reason of the failure of their revenues, he 
 recovered their reputation, and appointed 
 revenues for their maintenance, and made that 
 solemn meeting more venerable, as to the 
 sacrifices and other ornaments; and by reason 
 of this vast liberality, he was generally de- 
 clared in their inscriptions to be one of the 
 perpetual managers of those games. 
 
 4. Now some there are who stand amazed 
 at the diversity of Herod's nature and pur- 
 poses; for when we have respect to his mag-* 
 nificence, and the benefits which he bestowed 
 on all mankind, there is no possibility for 
 even those that had the least respect for him 
 to deny, or not openly to confess, that he had 
 a nature vastly beneficent: but when any one 
 looks upon the punishments he inflicted, and 
 the injuries he did, not only to his subjects, 
 but to his nearest relations, and takes notice 
 of his severe and unrelenting disposition there 
 he will be forced to allow that he was brutish, 
 and a stranger to all humanity; insomuch 
 that these men suppose his nature to be dif- 
 ferent, and sometimes at contradiction with 
 itself; but I am myself of another opinion, 
 and imagine that the occasion of both these 
 sorts of actions was one and the same; for 
 being a man ambitious of honour, and quite 
 overcome by that passion, he was induced to 
 be magnificent, wherever there appeared any 
 hopes of a future memorial, or of reputa- 
 tion at present; and as his expenses were 
 beyond his abilities, he was necessitated to 
 be harsh to his subjects; for the persons 
 on whom he expended his money were so 
 many, that they made him a very bad procurer 
 
 • Dr. Hudson here {fives us the words of .Suetoniui 
 C)Dcerning this Nicopojis. when Augustus rebuilt it:— 
 *> And that the inemor> (if the victory at Actium mii^ht 
 be celebrated ttie more afterward, he built Nicopolis ai 
 Actium. and appointed puhix shows to be there exhibited 
 every fiftti year." In August sccL ISL 
 
442 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XVI 
 
 of it; and because he was conscious that 
 he was hated by those under him, for the 
 injuries he did them, he thought it not an easy 
 thing to amend his offences, for that was 
 inconvenient for his revenue; he therefore 
 strove on the other side to make their ill-will 
 an occasion of his gains. As to his own 
 court, therefore, if any one was not very 
 obsequious to him in his language, and would 
 not confess himself to be his slave, or but 
 seemed to think of any innovation in his go- 
 vernment, he was not able to contain himself, 
 but prosecuted his very kindred and friends, 
 and putiished them as if they were enemies; 
 and this wickedness he undertook out of a 
 desire that he might be himself alone honoured. 
 Novv for this my assertion about that passion 
 of his, we have the greatest evidence, by 
 what he did to honour Caesar and Agrippa, 
 and his other friends; for with what honours 
 he paid his respects to them who were his 
 superiors, the same did he desire to be paid to 
 himself; and what he thought the most ex- 
 cellent present he could make another, he 
 discovered an inclination to have the like pre- 
 sented to himself; but novv the Jewish nation 
 is by their law a stranger to all such things, 
 and accustomed to prefer righteousness to 
 glory; for which reason that nation was not 
 agreeable to him, because it was out of their 
 power to flatter the king's ambition with sta- 
 tues or temples, or any other such perform- 
 ances; and this seems to me to have been at 
 once the occasion of Herod's crimes a's to his 
 own courtiers and counsellors, and of his bene- 
 factions as to foreigners and those that had no 
 relation to him. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 AN EMBASSAGE OF THE JEWS IN GYRENE AND 
 ASIA TO CiESAU, CONCERNING THE COM- 
 PLAINTS THEY HAD TO MAKE AGAINST 
 THE GREEKS; WITH COPIES OF THE EPIS- 
 TLES WHICH C^SAR AND AGRIPPA WROTE 
 TO THE CITIES FOR THEM. 
 
 § I. Now the cities ill-treated the Jews in 
 Asia, and all those also of the same nation 
 which hved in Libya, which joins to Cyrene, 
 while the former kings had given them equal 
 privileges with the other citizens; but the 
 Greeks affronted them at this time, and that 
 80 far as to take away their sacred money, 
 and to do them mischief on other particular 
 occasions. When, therefore, they were thus 
 b/jfUcled, and found no end of the barbarous 
 treatment they met with among the Greeks, 
 they sent ambassadors to Caisar on those 
 accounts; who gave them the same privileges 
 as they had before, and sent letters to the 
 same purpose to the governors of the pro- 
 rinoes, copies of which 1 subjoin here, us 
 
 testimonials of the ancient favourable dispo 
 sition the Roman emperors had towards us. 
 
 2. " Caesar Augustus, high-priest and tri- 
 bune of the people, ordains thus: — Since the | 
 nation of the Jews have been found grateful 
 to the Roman people, not only at this time, 
 but in times past also, and chiefly Hyrcanus 
 the high-priest, under iny father,* Caesar the 
 emperor, it seemed good to me and my coun- 
 sellors, according to the sentence and oath of 
 the people of Rome, that the Jews have 
 liberty to make use of their own customs, 
 according to the law of their forefathers, 
 as they made use of them under Hyrcanus, the 
 high-priest of Almighty God; and that their 
 sacred money be not touched, but be sent to 
 Jerusalem, and that it be committed^ to the 
 care of the jecei vers at Jerusalem; and that 
 they be not obliged to go before any judge 
 on the Sabbath-day, nor on the day of the 
 preparation to it, after the ninth hour;t but if 
 any be caught stealing their holy books, or 
 their sacred money, whether it be out of the 
 synagogue or public school, he shall be deemed 
 
 a sacrilegious person, and his goods shall 
 be brought into the public treasury of the 
 Romans. And I give order, that the testi- 
 monial which they have given me, on account 
 of my regard to that piety which 1 exercise 
 toward all mankind, and out of regard to 
 Caius Marcus Censorinus, together with the 
 present decree, be proposed in that most euji- 
 nent place which hath been consecrated to me 
 by the community of Asia at Ancyra. And 
 if any one transgress any part of what is 
 above decreed, he shall be severely punished." 
 This was inscribed upon a pillar in the temple 
 of Caesar. 
 
 3. " Caesar to Norbanus Flaccus, sendeth 
 greeting. Let those Jews, how many soever 
 they be, who have been used, according to 
 their ancient custom, to send their sacred 
 money to Jerusalem, do the same freely." 
 These were the decrees of Caesar. 
 
 4. Agrippa also did himself write, after the 
 manner following, on behalf of the Jews: — 
 " Agrippa, to the magistrates, senate, and 
 people of the Ephesians, sendeth greeting. I 
 will that the care and custody of the sacred 
 money that is carried to the te.7:ple at Jeru- 
 salem be left to the Jews of Asia, to do with 
 it according to their ancient custom ; and that 
 such as steal that sacred money of the Jews, 
 and fly to a sanctuary, shall be taken thence 
 and delivered to the Jews, by the same law 
 that sacrilegious persons are taken thence. I 
 have also written to Sylvanus the pretor, that 
 no one compel the Jews to come before a 
 judge on the Sabbath-day." 
 
 • Augustus here calls Julius Cflssar his/ather, though 
 by birth he was only his uncle, on account ot his aduptioa 
 by him. See the same. Antiq. b. xiv. ch. xiv. sect. 4. 
 
 ■f 'J'his is authentic evidcncif that the Jews in the days 
 of Augustus, beRan to prepare for t!ie celebration of th» 
 Nabliudi iti ibe ninth hour on IVitiay. as the tradttioa Of 
 uf the elders did, it seeius, tbeu letiuire of Ibeiu. 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 443 
 
 5. "Marcus Agrippa to the magistrates, se- 
 nate, and people of Cyrene, sendeth greeting. 
 The Jews of Cyrene have interceded with me 
 fnr the performance of what Augustus sent 
 orders about to Flavius, the then pretor of 
 Libya, and to the other procurators of that 
 province, that the sacred money may be sent 
 to Jerusalem freely, as hath been their custom 
 from their forefathers, they complaining that 
 they are abused by certain informers, and, un- 
 der pretence of taxes which were not due, ure 
 hindered from sending them; which I com- 
 mand to be restored without any diminution 
 or disturbance given to them: and if any of 
 that sacred money in the cities be taken from 
 Iheir proper receivers, I farther enjoin, that 
 the same he exactly returned to the Jews in 
 that place." 
 
 6. " Caius Norbanus Flaccus, proconsul, 
 to the magistrates of the Sardians, sendeth 
 greeting. Caesar hath written to me, and 
 commanded me not to forbid the Jews, how 
 many soever they be, from assembling toge- 
 ther according to the custom of their fore- 
 fathers, nor from sending their money to 
 Jerusalem: I have therefore written to you, 
 that you may know that both Caesar and 1 
 would have you act accordingly." 
 
 7. Nor did Julius Antonius, the proconsul, 
 write otherwise. " To the magistrates, se- 
 nate, and people of the Ephesians, sendeth 
 greeting. As I was dispensing justice at 
 Ephesus, on the ides of February, the Jews 
 that dwell in Asia demonstrated to me that 
 Augustus and Agrippa had permitted them 
 to use their own laws and customs, and to 
 offer those their first-fruits, which every one of 
 them freely offers to the Deity on account of 
 piety, and to carry them in a company toge- 
 ther to Jerusalem without disturbance. They 
 also petitioned me, that I would confirm 
 what had been granted by Augustus and 
 Agrippa by my own sanction. I would there- 
 fore have you take notice, that, according to 
 the will of Augustus and Agrippa, I permit 
 them to use and do according to the customs 
 of their forefathers without disturbance." 
 
 8. I have been obliged to set down these 
 decrees, because the present history of our 
 own acts will go generally among the Greeks; 
 and I have hereby demonstrated to them, that 
 we have formerly been in great esteem, and 
 have not been prohibited by those governors 
 we were under from keeping any of the laws 
 of our forefathers; nay, that we liave been 
 supported by them, while we followed our 
 own religion, and the worship we paid to God: 
 and I frequently make mention of these de- 
 crees, in order to reconcile other people to us, 
 and to take away the causes of that hatred 
 which unreasonable men bear to us. As for 
 our customs,* there is no nation which always 
 
 • The remainin-i pirt of this chapter is remarkable, 
 as justly distinguishing natural justice, rt-ligiou, and 
 Jity, from positive uistitutiuns, in all countries, 
 
 makes use of the same, and in every city 
 almost we meet with them different from one 
 another; but natural justice is most agreeable 
 to the advantage of all men equally, both 
 Greeks and barbarians, to which our laws 
 have the greatest regard, and thereby render 
 us, if we abide in them after a pure manner, 
 benevolent and friendly to all men: on which 
 account we have reason to expect the like 
 return from others, and to inform them that 
 they ought not to esteem difference of positive 
 institutions a sufficient cause of alienation, 
 but [join with us in] the pursuit of virtue 
 and probity, for this belongs to all men in 
 common, and of itself alone is sufficient for 
 the preservation ol human life. I now return 
 to the thread of my history. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW, UPON HEROD's GOING DOWN INTO 
 
 David's sepulchue, the sedition in his 
 family greatly increased. 
 
 § 1. As for Herod, he had spent vast sum? 
 about the cities, both without and within hi^ 
 own kingdom: and as he had before heard 
 that Hyrcanus, who had been king before 
 him, had opened David's sepulchre, and taken 
 out of it three thousand talents of silver, and 
 that there was a much greater number left 
 behind, and indeed enough to suffice all his 
 wants, he had a great while an intention 
 to make the attempt; and at this time he 
 opened that sepulchre by night, and went into 
 it, and endeavoured that it should not be 
 at all known in the city, but took only his 
 most faithful friends with him. As for any 
 money, he found none, as Hyrcanus hadrlone, 
 but that furniture of gold, and those precious 
 goods that were laid up there; all which he 
 took away. However, he had a great desire 
 to make a more diligent search, and to go 
 farther in, even as far as the very bodies of 
 David and Solomon; where two of his guards 
 were slain, by a flame that burst out upon 
 those that went in, as the report was. So he 
 was terribly affrighted, and went out, and 
 built a propitiatory monument of that fright 
 he had been in; and this of white stone, at 
 the mouth of the sepulchre, and that at * 
 great expense also. And even Mcolausf hi& 
 
 and evidently preferring the former before the latter, 
 as did the true prophets of <iod alwavs under the Old 
 Testament, and Christ and his apostles always under 
 the New; whence our Jusephus seems to have been at 
 this time nearer Christianity than were the Scribes and 
 Pharisees of his age; who, as we know from the New 
 Testament, were entirely of a different opinion and 
 practice. 
 
 + It is here worth our observation, how careful Jose- 
 phus was as to the discoveiy of truth in Herod's history, 
 since he would not follow Mcolaus of Damascus him- 
 self, so great an historian, where there was great reason 
 to suspect that he had flattered Merod; which impar. 
 tiality in history Josephus here solemnly professes, and 
 ot which impartiality b« has given mon« d'tmuuBlration* 
 
444 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVI. 
 
 historiographer makes mention of this monu- 
 ment built by Herod, though he does not 
 mention his going .down into the sepulchre, 
 as knowing that action to be of ill repute; 
 and many other things he treats of in *,he 
 same manner in his book; for he wrote in 
 Herod's lifetime, and under his reign, and 
 so as to please him, and as a servant to him, 
 touching upon nothing but what tended to his 
 glory, and openly excusing many of his noto- 
 rious crimes, and very diligently concealing 
 them. And as he was desirous to put hand- 
 some colours on the death of Mariamne and 
 her sons, which were barbarous actions in the 
 king, he tells falsehoods about the inconti- 
 nence of Mariamne, and the treacherous 
 designs of his sons upon him; and thus he 
 proceeded in his whole work, making a pom- 
 pous encomium upon what just actions he had 
 done, but earnestly apologizing for his unjust 
 ones. Indeed, a man, as I said, may have a 
 great deal to say by way of excuse for Nico- 
 laus, for he did not so properly write this as a 
 history for others, as somewhat that might be 
 subservient to the king himself. As for our- 
 selves, who come of a family nearly allied to 
 the Asamonean kings, and on that account 
 have an honourable place, which is the priest- 
 hood, we think it indecent to say any thing 
 that is false about them, and accordingly we 
 have described their actions after an unble- 
 mished and upright manner. And although we 
 reverence many of Herod's posterity, who 
 still reign, yet do we pay a greater regard to 
 truth than to them, and this though it some- 
 times happens that we incur their displeasure 
 by so doing. 
 
 2. And indeed Herod's troubles in his 
 fami^ seemed to be augmented, by reason of 
 this attempt he made upon David's sepulchre; 
 vvhether divine vengeance increased the cala- 
 mities he lay under, in order to render them 
 incurable, or whether fortune made an assault 
 upon him, in those cases, wherein the season- 
 ableness of the cause made it strongly believed 
 that the calamities came upon him for his 
 mpiety; for the tumult was like a civil war 
 n his palace; and their hatred towards one 
 another was like that where each one strove 
 to exceed another in calumnies. However, 
 Antipater used stratagems perpetually against 
 his brethren, and that very cunningly : while 
 broad he loaded them with accusations, but 
 still took upon him frequently to apologize 
 for them, that this apparent benevolence to 
 them might make him be believed, and for- 
 ward his attempts against them; by which 
 means he, after various manners, circumvented 
 his father, who believed that all he did was 
 for his preservation. Herod also recommended 
 Ptolemy, who was a great director of the 
 
 than almost any other historian; but as to Hrrod'n 
 taking great wealth out of David's «piilr.hre. th«.iH5»i I 
 csjiiiot prove it, jet do 1 itronijly suspect it ironi U»ie 
 *»rjr history. 
 
 affairs of his kingdom, to Antipater; and 
 consulted with his mother about the public 
 affairs also. And indeed these were all in 
 all, and did what they pleased, and made the 
 king angry against any other persons, as they 
 thought it might be to their own advantage: 
 but still the sons of Mariamne were in a 
 worse and worse condition perpetually; and 
 while they were thrust out, and set in a more 
 dishonourable rank, who yet by birth were the 
 most noble, they could not bear the disho- 
 nour. And for the women, Glaphyra, Alex- 
 ander's wife, the daughter of Archelaus, 
 hated Salome, both because of her love to her 
 husband, and because Glaphyra seemed to 
 behave herself somewhat insolently towards 
 Salome's daughter, who was the wife of 
 Aristobulus, which «. Uality of hers to herself 
 Glaphyra took very impatiently. 
 
 3. Now, besides this second contention that 
 had fallen among them, neither did the king's 
 brother Pheroras keep himself out of trouble, 
 but had a particular foundation for sus- 
 picion and hatred; for he was overcome with 
 the charms of his wife, to such a degree 
 of madness, that he despised the king's daugh- 
 ter, to whom he had been betrothed, and 
 wholly bent his mind to the other, who had 
 been but a servant. Herod also was grieved, 
 by the dishonour that was done him, because 
 he had bestowed many favours upon him, 
 and had advanced him to that height of power 
 that he was almost a partner with him in 
 the kingdom; and saw that he had not made 
 him a due return for his favours, and esteemed 
 himself unhappy on that account. So upon 
 Pheroras's unworthy refusal, he gave the 
 damsel to Phasaelus's son; but after some 
 time, when he thought the heat of his bro- 
 ther's affections was over, he blamed liiin for 
 his former conduct, and desired him to take 
 his second daughter, whose name was Cypros. 
 Ptolemy also advised him to leave off aitront- 
 ing his brother, and to forsake her whom ho 
 had loved, for that it was a base thing to be 
 so enamoured of a servant, as to deprive' him- 
 self of the king's good-will to him, and be- 
 come an occasion of his trouble, and make 
 himself hated by him. Pheroras knew that 
 this advice would be for his own advantage, 
 particularly because he had been accused 
 before, and forgiven; so he put his wife away, 
 although he already had a son by her, and 
 engaged to the king that he would take his 
 second daughter, and agreed that the thirtieth 
 day after should be the day of marriage; and 
 sware he would have no farther conversation 
 with her whom he had put away; but when 
 the thirty days were over, he was such a slave 
 to his affections, that he no longer performed 
 any thing he had promised, but continued 
 still with his former wife. This occasioned 
 Herod to grieve ope»dy, and made him angrv, 
 while the king dropped one word or other 
 against Pheroras perpetually; iuid many made 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 445 
 
 the king's ancrer an opportunity for raising 
 calumnies against him. Nor bad the king 
 any longer a single quiet day or hour, but 
 occasions of one iresh quarrel or another arose 
 among his relations, and those that were dear- 
 est to him ; for Salome was of a harsh tem- 
 per, and ill-natured to Mariamne's sons; nor 
 would she sulFer her own daughter, who was 
 the wife of Aristobulus, one of those young 
 man, to bear a good-will to her husband, but 
 persuaded her to tell her if he said any thing 
 to her in private, and when any misunder- 
 standing happened, as is common, she raised 
 a great many suspicions out of it: by which 
 means she learned all their concerns, and 
 made the damsel ill-natured to the young 
 man. And in order to gratify her mother, 
 she often said that the young men used to 
 mention Mariamne when they were by them- 
 selves; and that they hated their father, and 
 were continually threatening, that if they had 
 once got the kingdom, they would make He- 
 rod's sons, by his other wives, country-school- 
 masters, for that the present education which 
 was given them, and their diligence in learn- 
 ing, fitted them for such an employment. 
 _And as for the women, whenever they saw 
 ^hem adorned with their mother's clothes, they 
 threatened, that instead of their present gaudy 
 apparel, they should be clothed in sackcloth, 
 and confined so closely that they should not 
 see the light of the sun. These stories were 
 presently carried by Salome to the king, who 
 was troubled to hear them, and endeavoured 
 to make up matters: but these suspicions 
 afflicted him, and, becoming more and more 
 uneasy, he believed every body against every 
 body. However, upon his rebuking his sons, 
 •uui hearing the defence they made for them- 
 selves, he was easier for a while, though a 
 little afterwards much worse accidents came 
 upon him. 
 
 4. For Pheroras came to Alexander, the 
 husband of Glaphyra, who was the daughter of 
 Archelaus, as we have already told you, and 
 said that he had heard from Salome, that 
 Herod was enamoured of Glaphyra, and that 
 his -passion for her was incurable. When 
 Alexander heard that, he vsas all on fire, from 
 his youth and jealousy ; and he interpreted the 
 instances of Herod's obliging behaviour to 
 her, which were very frequent, for the worse, 
 which came from those suspicions he had on 
 account of that 'word which fell from Phero- 
 ras; nor could he conceal his grief at the 
 thing, but informed him what words Phero- 
 ras had said. Upon which Herod was in a 
 greater disorder than ever; and not bearing 
 such a false calumny, which was to his shame, 
 was much disturbed at it: and often did he 
 lament the wickedness of his domestics, and 
 bow good he had been to them, and how ill 
 requitals they had made him. So he sent for 
 Pheroras, and reproached him, and said. 
 
 Thou vilest of all men! art thou come to 
 
 that unmeasurable and extravagant degree 
 of ingratitude, as not only to supjHJse such 
 things of me, but to speak of them? I now 
 indeed perceive what thy intentions are: it is 
 not thy only aim to reproach me, when thou 
 usest such words to my son, but thereby to 
 persuade him to plot against me, and get me 
 (•estroyed by poison; and who is tht?re, if he 
 had not a good genius at his elbow, as hath 
 my son, that would bear such a suspicion of 
 his father, but would revenge himself upon 
 him? Dost thou suppose that thou hast only 
 dropped a word for him to think of, and 
 not rather hast put a sword into his hand to 
 slay his father? And what dost thou mean, 
 when thou really hatest both him and his 
 brother, to pretend kindness to them, only in 
 order to raise a reproach against me, and talk of 
 such things as no one but such an impious 
 wretch as thou art could either devise in their 
 mind, or declare in their words? Begone, 
 thou that art such a plague to thy benefactor 
 and thy brother; and may that evil con- 
 science of thine go along with thee; while I 
 still overcome my relations by kindness, and 
 am so far from avenging myself of them as 
 they deserve, that I bestow greater benefits 
 upon them than they are worthy of." 
 
 5. Thus did the king speak. Whereupon 
 Pheroras, who was caught in the very act oi 
 his villany, said, that, "it was Salome who 
 was the framer of this plot, and that the words 
 came from her;" but as soon as she heard 
 that, for she was at hand, she cried out, like 
 one that would be believed, that no such thing 
 ever came out of her mouth; that they all 
 earnestly endeavoured to make the king hate 
 her, and to make her away, because of the good- 
 will she bore to Herod, and because she was 
 always foreseeing the dangers that were com- 
 ing upon him, and that at present there were 
 more plots against him than usual: for while 
 she was the only person who persuaded her 
 brother to put away the wife he now had, and 
 to take the king's daughter, it was no wonder 
 if she were hated by him. As she said this, 
 and often tore her hair, and often beat her 
 breasti, her countenance made her denial to be 
 believed, but the perverseness of her manners 
 declared at the same time her dissimulation 
 in these proceedings; but Pheroras was caught 
 between them, and had nothing plausible to 
 offer in his own defence, while he confessed that 
 he had said what was charged upon him, but 
 was not believeff when he said he had heard 
 it from Salome; so the confusion among them 
 was increased, and their quarrelsome words 
 one to another. At last the king, out of his 
 hatred to his brother and sister, sent them both 
 away ; and when he had commended the 
 moderation of his son, and that he had him- 
 self told him of the report, he went ^n the 
 evening to refresh himself. After such a 
 contest as this had fallen out among them^ 
 I Salome's reputation suffered greatly, since slie 
 
446 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVI. 
 
 was supposed to hare first raised the calumny; 
 and the king's wives were grieved at her, as 
 knowing she was a very ill-natured woman, 
 and would sometimes be a friend, and some- 
 times an enemy, at different seasons; so they 
 perpetually said one thing or another against 
 lier; and somewhat that now fell out, made 
 them tbB bolder in speaking against her. 
 
 6. There was one Obodas, king of Arabia, 
 an inactive and slothful man in his nature; 
 but Sylleus managed jnost of his affairs for 
 him. He was a shrewd man, although he 
 was but young, and was handsome withal. 
 This Sylleus, upon some occasion coming to 
 Herod, and supping with him, saw Salome, 
 and set his heart upon her: and understand- 
 ing that she was a widow, he discoursed with 
 her. Now because Salome was at this time 
 less in favour with her brother, she looked 
 upon Sylleus with some passion, and was very 
 earnest to be married to him; and on the days 
 following there appeared many, and those 
 very great, indications of their agreement to- 
 gether. Now the women carried this news to 
 the king, and laughed at the indecency of it; 
 whereupon Herod inquired about it farther 
 of Pheroras, and desired him to observe them 
 at supper, how their behaviour was one towards 
 another; who told him, that by the signals' 
 which came from their heads and their eyes, 
 they both were evidently in love. After this, 
 Sylleus the Arabian being suspected, went 
 away, but came again in two or three months 
 afterwards, as it were on that very design, 
 and spake to Herod about it, and desired that 
 Salome might be given him to wife; for that 
 his affinity might not be disadvantageous to 
 his affairs, by a union with Arabia, the go- 
 vernmenl of which country was already in 
 .effect under his power, and more evidently 
 would be his hereafter. Accordingly, when 
 Herod discoursed with his sister about it, and 
 asked her whether she were disposed to this 
 match, she immediately agreed to it; but 
 when Sylleus was desired to come over to the 
 Jewish religion, and then he should marry 
 her, and that it was impossible to do it on any 
 other terms, he could not bear that proposal, 
 and went his way; for he said, that if he 
 should do so, he should be stoned by the 
 Arabs. Then did Pheroras reproach Salome 
 for her incontinency, as did the women much 
 more; and said that Sylleus had debauched 
 her. As for that damsel which the king had 
 betrothed to his brother Ph^oras, but he had 
 not taken her, as I have before related, be- 
 cause he was enamoured of bis former wife, 
 Salome desired of Herod she might be given 
 to her son by Costobarus: which match he 
 was very willing to, but was dissuaded from 
 it by Pheroras, who pleaded, that this young 
 man would not be kind to her since his father 
 had been slain by him, and that it was more 
 »U8t that his son, who was to be his successor 
 in the t«^trarchy, ahould have her: so h»^ 
 
 begged his pardon, and persuaded him to do 
 so. Accordingly the damsel, upon this change 
 of her espousals, was disposed of to tiiis 
 young man, the son of Pheroras, the king 
 giving for her portion a hundred talents. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HOW HEROD TOOK UP ALEXANDER, AND 
 BOUND HIM; WHOM YET ARCHELAUS, KING 
 OF CAPPADOCIA, RECONCILED TO HIS FA- 
 THER HEROD AGAIN. 
 
 § 1. But still the affairs of Herod's family 
 were no better, but perpetually more trouble- 
 some. Now this accident happened, which 
 arose from no decent occasion, but proceeded 
 so far as to bring great difficulties upon hiu). 
 There were certain eunuchs which the king 
 had, and on account of their beauty was very 
 fond of them; and the care of bringing hiin 
 drink was entrusted to one of them; of bring- 
 ing him his supper, to another; and of putting 
 him to bed, to the third, who also ma- 
 naged the principal affairs of the government; 
 and there was one told the king that these 
 eunuchs were corrupted by Alexander the 
 king's son, by great sums of money: and when 
 they were asked whether Alexander had had 
 criminal conversation with them, they con- 
 fessed it, but said they knew of no farther 
 mischief of his against his father; but when 
 they were more severely tortured, and were 
 in the utmost extremity, and the tormentors, 
 out of compliance with Antipater, stretched 
 the rack to the very utmost, they said that 
 Alexander bare great ill-will and innate hatred 
 to his father; and that he told them that 
 Herod despaired to live much longer; and that, 
 in order to cover his great age, he coloured 
 his hair black, and endeavoured to conceal 
 what would discover how old he was; but tliaS 
 if he would apply himself to him, when he 
 should attain the kingdom, which in spite ot 
 his father, could come to no one else, he 
 should quickly have the first place in thai 
 kingdom under him, for that he was now 
 ready to take the kingdom, not only as his 
 birthright, but by the preparations he had 
 made for obtaining it, because a great many 
 of the rulers, and a great many of his friends, 
 were of his side, and those no ill men neither, 
 ready both to do and to suffer whatsoevei 
 should come on that account. 
 
 2. When Herod heard this confession^ he 
 was all over anger and fear, some parti 
 seeming to him reproachful, and son)e made 
 him suspicious of dangers that attended hini, 
 insomuch, that on both accounts he wai 
 provoked, and bitterly afraid lest some more 
 iieuvy plot was laid against him than he should 
 be tlien able to escape from; whereupon hq 
 liid not now make un open search, but sent 
 
CHAP. V^ii 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 447 
 
 ■bout spies to watch such as he suspected, 
 for he was now overrun with suspicion and 
 hatred against all about him; and indulging 
 abundance of those suspicions, in order to his 
 preservation, he continued to suspect those 
 that were guiltless: nor did he set any bounds 
 to himself; but supposing that those who 
 staid with him had the most power to hurt 
 him, they were t^ him very frightful; and 
 for those that did not use to come to him, it 
 seemed enough to name them [to make them 
 suspected], and he thought himself safer when 
 they were destroyed: and at last his domes- 
 tics were come to that pass, that being no way 
 secure of escaping themselves, they fell to 
 accusing one another, and imagining that he 
 who first accused another was most likely to 
 save himself; yet, when any had overthrown 
 others, they were hated; and they were 
 thought to suffer justly, who unjustly accused 
 others; and they only thereby prevented their 
 own accusation; nay, they now executed their 
 own private enmities by this means, and when 
 they were caught, they were punished in the 
 same way. Thus these men contrived to 
 make use of this opportunity as an instrument 
 and a snare against their enemies ; yet, when 
 they tried it, were themselves caught also in 
 the same snare which they laid for others: 
 »nd the king soon repented of what he had 
 done, because he had no clear evidence of the 
 guilt of those whom he had slain; and yet 
 what was still more severe m him, he did not 
 make use of his repentance, in order to leave 
 off doing the like again, but in order to inflict 
 the same punishment upon their accusers. 
 
 3. And in thi§ state of disorder were the 
 affairs of the palace; and he had already told 
 many of his friends directly, that they ought 
 not to appear before him, nor come into the 
 palace; and the reason of this injunction was, 
 that [when they were there] he had less free- 
 dom of acting, or a greater restraint on him- 
 self on their account; for at this time it was 
 that he expelled Andromachus and Gemellus, 
 men who had of old been his friends, and 
 been very useful to him in the affairs of his 
 kingdom, and been of advantage to his family, 
 by their embassages and counsels; and had 
 been tutors to his sons, and had in a manner 
 the first degree of freedom with him. He 
 expelled Andromachus, because his son De- 
 metrius was a companion to Alexander; and 
 Gemellus, because he knew that he wished 
 him well, which arose from his having been 
 with him in his youth, when he was at school, 
 and absent at liome. These he expelled out 
 of his palace, and was willing enough to have 
 done worse by them ; but that he might not 
 seem to take such liberty against men of so 
 great reputation, he contented himself with 
 depriving them of their digriity, and of their 
 power to hinder his wicked proceedings. 
 
 4. Now it WHS Antipater who was the 
 cause of all this; who when he knew what a 
 
 mad and licentious way of acting his father 
 was in, and had been a great while one of his 
 counsellors, he hurried him on, and then 
 thought he should bring him to do somewhat 
 to purpose, when every one that could oppose 
 him was taken away. When therefore An- 
 dromachus and his friends were driven away, 
 and had no discourse nor freedom with the 
 king any longer, the king, in the first place, 
 examined by torture all whom he thought to 
 be faithful to Alexander, whether they knew 
 of any of his attempts against him; but these 
 died without having any thing to say to that 
 matter, which made the king more zealous 
 [after discoveries], when he could not find 
 out what evil proceedings he suspected them 
 of. As for Antipater, he was very sagacious 
 to raise a calumny against those that were 
 really innocent, as if their denial was only 
 their constancy and fidelity [to Alexander], 
 and thereupon provoked Herod to discover 
 by the torture of great numbers, what at- 
 tempts were still concealed. Now there was 
 a certain person among the many that were 
 tortured, who said that he knew that the 
 young man had often said, that when he was 
 commended as a tall man in his body, and a 
 skilful marksman, and that in his other com- 
 mendable exercises he exceeded all men, these 
 quaUfications, given him by nature, though 
 good in themselves, were not advantageous to 
 him, because his father was grieved at them, 
 and envied him for them; and that when he 
 walked along with his fatber, he endeavoured 
 to depress and shorten himself that he might 
 not appear too tall; and that when he shot at 
 any thing as he was hunting, when his father 
 was by, he missed his mark on purpose; for 
 he knew how ambitious his father was of 
 being superior in such exercises. So when the 
 man was tormented about this saying, and 
 had ease given his body after it, he added, 
 that he had his brother Aristobulus for his 
 assistance, and contrived to he in wait for their 
 father, as they were hunting, and kill him; 
 and when they had done so, to fly to Rome, 
 and desire to have the kingdom given them. 
 There were also letters of the young man 
 found, written to his brother; wherein he 
 complained that his father did not act justly 
 in giving Antipater a country, whose [yearly] 
 revenues amounted to ten hundred talents. 
 Upon these confessions Herod presently 
 thought he had somewhat to depend on, in 
 his own opinioii^as to his suspicion about his 
 sons: so he took up Alexander and bound 
 him; yet did he still continue to be uneasy, 
 and vvas not quite satisfied of the truth of 
 what he had heard; and when he came to 
 recollect himself, he found that they had only 
 made juvenile complaints and contentions, and 
 that it was an incredible thing, that when his 
 son should have slain him, he should openly 
 go to Rome [to heg the kingdom]; so he 
 was desirous to have some surer mark ci &is 
 
448 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVI. 
 
 son's wickedness, and was very solicitous 
 about it, that he might not appear to have 
 condennned him to be put in prison too rashly ; 
 so he tortured the principal of Alexander's 
 friends, and put not a few of them to death, 
 without getting any of the things out of them 
 whi h he suspected. And while Herod was 
 very busy about this matter, and the palace 
 was full of terror and trouble, one of the 
 younger sort, when he was in the utmost 
 agony, confessed that Alexander had sent to his 
 friends at Rome, and desired that he might 
 be quickly invited thither by Ccesar, and that 
 he could discover a plot against him ; that 
 Mithridates, the king of Parthia, was joined 
 in friendship with bis father against the Ro- 
 mans, and that he had a poisonous potion 
 ready prepared at Askelon. 
 
 5. To these accusations Herod gave credit, 
 and enjoyed hereby, in his miserable case, 
 some sort of consolation, in excuse of his rash- 
 ness, as tiattering himself with finding things 
 in so bad a condition ; but as for the poison- 
 ous potion, which he laboured to find, he 
 could find none. As for Alexander, he was 
 very desirous to aggravate the vast misfortunes 
 he was under, so he pretended not to deny the 
 accusations, but punished the rashness of his 
 father 'with a greater crime of his own; and 
 perhaps he was willing to make his father 
 ashamed of his easy belief of such calumnies: 
 he aimed especially, if he could gain belief to 
 his story, to plague him and his whole king- 
 dom; for he wrote four letters and sent them 
 to him, that " he did not need to torture any 
 more persons, for he had plotted against him , 
 and that he had for his partners, Pheroras, and 
 the most faithful of his friends ; and that Sa- 
 lome came in to him by night, and that she 
 lay with him whether he would or not ; and 
 that all men were come to be of one mind to 
 make away with him as soon as they could, and 
 so get clear of the continual fear they were in 
 from him." Among these were accused Pto- 
 lemy and Sapinnius, who were the most faith- 
 ful friends to the king. And what more can 
 be said, but that those who before were the 
 most intimate friends, were become wild beasts 
 to one another, as if a certain madness had 
 fallen upon them, while there wag no room 
 for defence or refutation, in order to the dis- 
 covery of the truth, but all were at random 
 doomed to destruction! so that some lamented 
 those that were in prison, some those that were 
 put to death, and others lam'ented that they 
 were in expectation of the same miseries ; and 
 a melancholy solitude rendered the kingdom 
 deformed, and quite the reverse of that happy 
 state it was formerly in. Herod's own life 
 also was entirely disturbed; and, because he 
 could trust nobody, he was sorely punished by 
 the expectation of farther misery; for he often 
 fiuicied in his imagination, that his son had 
 fiillen upon him, or stood by him with a sword 
 in his band; and thus was his mind night and 
 
 day intent upon this thing, and revolved it over 
 and over, and no otherwise than if he were 
 under a distraction. And this was the sad 
 condition Herod was now in. 
 
 6. But when Archelaus, king of Cappado- 
 cia, heard of the state that Herod was in, and 
 being in great distress about his daughter, and 
 the young man [her husband], and grieving 
 with Herod, as with a man that was his friend, 
 on account of so great a disturbance as he 
 was under, he came [to Jerusalem] on pur- 
 pose to compose their differences; and, when 
 he found Herod in such a temper, he thought 
 it wholly unseasonable to reprove him, or to 
 pretend that he had done any thing rashly, for 
 that he should thereby naturally bring him to 
 dispute the point with him, and by still more 
 and more apologizing for himself to be the 
 more irritated: he went, therefore, another 
 way to work, in order to correct the former 
 misfortunes, and appeared angry at the young 
 man, and said that Herod had been so very 
 mild a man that he had not acted a rash part 
 at all. He also said he would dissolve his 
 daughter's marriage* with Alexander, nor 
 could in justice spare his own daughter, if 
 she were conscious of any thing, and did not 
 inform Herod of it. When Archelaus appear- 
 ed to be of this temper, and otherwise than 
 Herod expected or imagined, and for the main 
 took Herod's part, and was angry on his ac- 
 count, the king abated of his harshness, and 
 took occasion from his appearing to have acted 
 justly hitherto, to come by degrees to put 
 on the affection of a father, and was on both 
 sides to be pitied; for when some persons 
 refuted the calumnies that were laid on the 
 young man, he was thrown into a passion; 
 but when Archelaus joined in the accusation, 
 he was dissolved into tears and sorrow after 
 an affectionate manner. Accordingly, he de- 
 sired that he would not dissolve his son's mar- 
 riage, and became not so angry as before for 
 his offences. So when Archelaus had brought 
 him to a more moderate temper, he transferred 
 the calumnies upon his friends; and said it 
 must be owing to them that so young a man, 
 and one unacquainted with malice, was cor- 
 rupted; and he supposed that there was more 
 reason to suspect the brother than the son. 
 Upon which Herod was very much displeased 
 at Pheroras, who indeed now had no one tliai 
 could make a reconciliation between him and 
 his brother. So when he sa^v that Archelaus 
 had the greatest power with Herod, he betook 
 himself to him in the habit of a mourner, and 
 like one that had all the signs upon him of an 
 undone man. Upon this Archelaus did not 
 overlook the intercession he made to hiu), nor 
 yet did he undertake to change the king's 
 disposition towards him immediately; and he 
 said that it was better for him to come himself 
 to the king, and confess himself the occasion 
 of all; that this would make the king's a/ig^r 
 not to be extravagant towards bim, and ti> U 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 449 
 
 then he would be present to assist him. When 
 he had persuaded him to this, he gained his 
 point with both of them; and the calumnies 
 raised against the young man were, beyond 
 all expectation, wiped off. And Archelaus, 
 as soon as he had made the reconciliation, 
 went then away to Cappadocia, having proved 
 at this juncture of time the most acceptable 
 person to Herod in the world; on which 
 account he gave him the richest presents, as 
 tokens of his respects to him, and being on 
 other occasions magnanimous, he esteemed 
 him one of his dearest friends. He also made 
 an agreement with him that he would go to 
 Rome, because he had written to Caesar about 
 these affairs; so they went together as far as 
 Antioch, and there Herod made a recon- 
 ciliation between Archelaus and Titus, the 
 president of Syria, who had been greatly at 
 variance, and so returned back to Judea. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CONCERNING THE REVOLT OF THE TRACHON- 
 ITES; HOW SYLLEUS ACCUSED HEROD BE- 
 FORE CiESAR; AND HOW HEROD, WHEN 
 CiESAR WAS ANGRY AT HIM, RESOLVED TO 
 SEND NICOLAUS TO ROME. 
 
 § 1. When Herod had been at Rome, and 
 was come back again, a war arose between 
 him and the Arabians, on the occasion follow- 
 ing: — The inhabitants of Trachonitis, after 
 Caesar had taken the country away from 
 Zenodorus, and added it to Herod, had not now 
 power to rob, but were forced to plough the 
 land, and to live quietly, which was a thing 
 they did not like; and when they did take 
 that pains, the ground did not produce much 
 fruit for them. However, at the first the king 
 would not permit them to rob; and so they 
 abstained from that unjust way of living 
 upon their neighbours, which procured Herod 
 a great reputation for his care. But when he 
 was sailing to Rome, it was at that time when 
 he went to accuse his son Alexander, and to 
 commit Antipater to Caesar's protection, the 
 Tra<:honites spread a report as if he were 
 dead, and revolted from his dominion, and 
 betook themselves again to their accustomed 
 way of robbing their neighbours; at which 
 time the king's^commanders subdued them 
 during his absence: but about forty of the 
 principal robbers, being terrified by those that 
 had been taken, left the country, and retired 
 into Arabia, Sylleus entertaining them, after 
 he had missed of marrying Salome, and gave 
 them a place of strength, in which they dwelt. 
 So they overran not only Judea, but all Cele- 
 fiyria also, and carried off the prey, while 
 Sylleus afforded them places of protection and 
 quietness during their wicked practices. But 
 when Herod ooiic back from Rome, he p«r- 
 
 I ceived that his dominions had greatly suffered 
 j by them, and since he could not reach the 
 robbers themselves, because of the secure 
 retreat they had in that country, and A-hich the 
 Arabian government afforded them, and yet 
 being very uneasy at the injuries they had 
 done him, he went all over Trachoi.itis, and 
 slew their relations; whereupon these robbers 
 were more angry than before, it being a law 
 among them to be avenged on the murderers 
 of their relations by all possible means; so 
 they continued to tear and rend every thing 
 under Herod's dominion with impunity; then 
 did he discourse about these robberies to 
 Saturninus and Volumnius, and required that 
 they should be punished; upon which occa- 
 sion they still the more confirmed themselves 
 in their robberies, and became more numerous, 
 and made very great disturbances, laying 
 waste the countries and villages that belonged 
 to Herod's kingdom, and killing those men 
 whom they caught, till these unjust proceedings 
 came to be like a real war, for the robbers 
 were now become about a thousand; — at 
 which Herod was sore displeased, and required 
 thd" robbers, as well as the money which he 
 had lent Obodas, by Sylleus, which was sixty 
 talents, and since the time of payment was 
 now past, he desired to have it paid him: but 
 Sylleus, who had laid Obodas aside, and 
 managed all by himself, denied that the robbers 
 were in Arabia, and put off the payment of 
 the money; about which there was a hearing 
 before Saturninus and Volumnius, who were 
 then the presidents of Syria.* At last, he, 
 by their means, agreed, that within thirty 
 days' time Herod should be paid his money 
 and that each of them should deliver up th« 
 other's subjects reciprocally. Now, as to 
 Herod, there was not one of the other's sub- 
 jects found in his kingdom, either as doing 
 any injustice, or on any other account; but i<" 
 'was proved that the Arabians had the robbers 
 amongst them. 
 
 2. When the day appoint«l for payment of 
 the money was past, without Sylleus's per- 
 forming any part of his agreement, and he 
 was gone to Rome, Herod demanded the pay- 
 ment of the money, and that the robbers that 
 were in Arabia should be delivered up; and, 
 by the permission of Saturninus and Volum- 
 nius, executed the judgment himself upon 
 those that were refractory.^ He took an army 
 that he had, and led it into Arabia, and in 
 three days' time marched seven mansions; 
 and when he came to the garrison wherein 
 the robbers were, he made an assault upon 
 them, and took them all, and demolished the 
 place, which was called Raepta, but did no 
 harm to any others. But as the Arabians 
 came to their assistance, under Naceb their 
 
 • These joint presidents of Syria. Saturninus and Vo« 
 
 lomnius, wrre not perltaps of equal authority, but the lat« 
 
 ter like a procurator under the turmer. as the very lenno^ 
 
 Nohsaod Pagi, and with thera Or. Uudsoa. deteimina 
 
 2F 
 
460 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVI. 
 
 captain, tbere ensued a battle, wherein a few 
 of Herod's soldiers, and Naceb, the captain 
 of the Arabians, and about twenty of his sol- 
 diers fell, while the rest betook themselves to 
 flight. So when he had brought these to pun- 
 ishment, he placed three thousand Idumeans 
 in Trachonitis, and thereby restrained the rob- 
 bers that were there. He also sent an account 
 to the captains that were about Phoenicia, aiid 
 demonstrated that he had done nothing but 
 what he ought to do, in punishing the refrac- 
 tory Arabians, which, upon an exact inquiry, 
 they found to be no more than what was true. 
 3. However, messengers were hasted away 
 to Sylleus to Rome, and informed him what 
 had been done, and, as is usual, aggravated 
 every thing. Now Sylleus had already in- 
 sinuated himself into the knowledge of Caesar, 
 and was then about the palace ; and as soon 
 as he heard of these things, he changed his 
 habit into black, and went in, and told Cae- 
 sar that Arabia was afflicted with war, and 
 that all his kingdom was in great confusion, 
 upon Herod's laying it waste with his army ; 
 and he said, with tears in his eyes, that 
 two thousand five hundred of the principal 
 men among the Arabians had been destroyed, 
 and that their captain Nacebus, bis familiar 
 friend and kinsman, was slain; and that the 
 riches that were at Raepta were carried off; 
 and that Obodas was despised, whose infirm 
 state of body rendered him unfit for war; on 
 which account, neither he nor the Arabian 
 army were present. When Sylleus said so, 
 and added invidiously, that he would not him- 
 self have come out of the country, unless he 
 had believed that Caesar would have provided 
 that they should all have peace one u'ith ano- 
 ther, and that, had he been there, he would 
 have taken care that the war should not have 
 been to Herod's advantage. Caesar was pro- 
 voked when this was said; and asked no more 
 than this one question, both of Herod's friends 
 that were there, and of his own friends, who 
 were come from Syria, Whether Herod had 
 led an army thither? And when they were 
 forced to confess so much, Caesar, without 
 staying to hear for what reason he did it, and 
 how it was done, grew very angry, and wrote 
 to Herod sharply. The sum of his epistle 
 was this, that whereas of old he had used him 
 as his friend, he should now use him as his 
 subject. Sylleus also wrote an account of this 
 to the Arabians, \^o were so elevated with 
 it, that they neither delivered up the robbers 
 that had Hed to them, nor paid the money 
 that was due: they retained those pastures 
 also which they had hired, and kept them 
 without paying their rent, and all this because 
 the king of the Jews was now in a low con- 
 dition, by reason of Ciesar's anger at him. 
 Those of Trachonitis also made use of this 
 opportunity, and rose up against the Idumcan 
 garrison, and followed the same way of rob- 
 (nng with the Arabians, who had pillaged 
 
 their country, and were more rigid in their 
 unjust proceedings, not only in order to get 
 by it, but by way of revenge also. 
 
 4. Now Herod was forced to bear all this, 
 that confidence of his being quite gone with 
 which Caesar's favour used to inspire him; 
 for Caesar would not admit so much as an 
 embassage from him, to make an apology for 
 him; and when they came again, he sent 
 them away without success: so he was cast 
 into sadness and fear; and Sy Ileus's circum- 
 stances grieved him exceedingly, who was 
 now believed by Caesar, and was present at 
 Rome, nay, sometimes aspiring higher. Now 
 it came to pass that Obodas was dead: and 
 ^neas, whose name was afterward changed 
 to Aretas,* took the government, for Sylleus 
 endeavoured by calumnies to get him turned 
 out of his principality, that he might himself 
 take it; with which design he gave much 
 money to the courtiers, and promised much 
 money to Caesar, who indeed was angry that 
 Aretas had not sent to him first before he 
 took the kingdom, yet did -^neas send an 
 epistle and presents to Caesar, and a crown of 
 gold, of the weight of many talents. Now 
 that epistle accused Sylleus as having been a 
 wicked servant, and having killed Obodas by 
 poison; and that while he was alive, he had 
 governed him as he pleased; and had also 
 debauched the wives of the Arabians; and 
 had borrowed money, in order to obtain the 
 dominion for himself: yet did not Caesar give 
 heed to these accusations, but sent his ambas- 
 sadors back, without receiving any of his pre- 
 sents. But in the mean time the affairs of 
 Judea and Arabia became worse and worse, 
 partly because of the anarchy they were un- 
 der, and partly because, bad as they were, 
 nobody had power to govern them; for of 
 the two kings, the one was not yet confirmed 
 in his kingdom, and so had not authority suf- 
 ficient to restrain the evil doers; and as for 
 Herod, Caesar was immediately angry at him 
 for having avenged himself, and so he was 
 compelled to bear all the injuries that wore 
 offered him. At length, when he saw no end 
 of the mischief which surrounded him, he 
 resolved to send ambassadors to Rome again, 
 to see whether his friends had prevailed to 
 mitigate Caesar, and to address themselves to 
 Caesar himself; and the ambassador he sent 
 thither was Nicolaus of Damascus. 
 
 • This Aretus was now become p established a nama 
 for the kings of Arabia [at Petra and Damascus], that 
 when the crown came to this ^neas, he changeil hii 
 name to Aretas, as Havercamp here jusUy obbcrvedk 
 See Antiq. b. xiii. ch. xv. sect '2. 
 
CH/^P. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 451 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW ECRTCLES FALSELY ACCUSED HEKOD's 
 SONS; AND HOW THEIR FATHER BOUND 
 THEM, AND WROTE TO CiESAR ABOUT 
 THEM. OF SYLLEUS; AND HOW HE WAS 
 ACCUSED BY NICOLAUS. 
 
 § 1. The disorders about Herod's family and 
 children about this time grew much worse; for 
 it now appeared certain, nor was it unforeseen 
 beforehand, that fortune threatened the great- 
 est and most insupportable misfortunes pos- 
 sible to his kingdom. Its progress and 
 augmentation at this time arose on the occasion 
 following: — One Eurycles, a Lacedemonian 
 (& person of note there, but a man of a per- 
 verse mind, and so cunning in his ways of 
 voluptuousness and flattery, as to indulge 
 both, and yet seem to indulge neither of 
 them), came in his travels to Herod, and 
 made him presents, but so that he received j 
 more presents from him. He also took such 
 proper seasons for insinuating himself into 
 his friendship, that he became one of the most 
 intimate of the king's friends. He had his 
 lodging in Antipater's house; but he had not 
 only access, but free conversation, with Alex- 
 ander, as pretending to him thit he was In 
 great favour with Arclielaus, the king of 
 Cappadocia; whence he pretended much re- 
 spect to Glaphyra, and, m an occal> manner, 
 cultivated a friendship with them all. but 
 always attending to what was said and done, 
 that he might be furnished with calumnies to 
 please then) all. In short, he behaved himself 
 so to every b9dy in his conversation, as to 
 appear to be his particular friend, and he 
 made others believe that his being anywhere 
 was for that person's advantage. So he won 
 upon Alexander, who was but young; and 
 persuaded him, that he might open his 
 grievances to him with assurance, and with 
 nobody else. So he declared his grief to him, 
 how his father was alienated from him. He 
 related to him also the affairs of his motk|r, 
 and of Antipater; that he had driven tl#ii 
 from their proper dignity, and had the power 
 over every thing himself; that no part of this 
 was tolerable, since his father was already 
 •come to hate them; and he added, that he 
 would neither admit them to his table nor to 
 his conversation. Such were the complaints, 
 as was but natural, of Alexander about the 
 things that troubled him: and these discourses 
 Eurycles carried to Antipater, and told him, 
 he did "hot inform him of this on his own 
 account, but that being overcome by his kind- 
 ness, the great importance of the thing obliged 
 him to do it: and he warned him to have a 
 care of Alexander, for that what he said was 
 spoken with vebemency, and that, in conse- 
 quence of what he said, he would certainly 
 kill him with his own hand, ^"hereupon 
 
 Antipater, thinking him to be his friend 
 by this advice, gave him presents upon all 
 occasions, and at length persuaded him to 
 inform Herod of what he had heard. So 
 when he related to the king Alexander's ill 
 temper, as discovered by the words be had 
 heard him speak, he was easily believed by 
 him; and he thereby brought the king Vu 
 that pass, turning him about by his words, 
 and irritating him, till he increased his hatred 
 to him, and made him implacable, which he 
 showed at that very time, for he immediately 
 gave Eurycles a present of fifty talents; who, 
 when he had gotten them, went to Archelaus, 
 king of Cappadocia, and commended Alex- 
 ander before him, and told him that he had 
 been many ways of advantage to him, in 
 making a reconciliation between him and his 
 father. So he got money from him also, 
 and went away, before his pernicious prac- 
 tices were found out; but when Eurycles was 
 returned to Lacedemon, he did not leave oflf 
 doing mischief; and so, for his many acts of in- 
 justice, he was banished from his own country. 
 
 2. But as for the king of the Jews, he was 
 not now m the temper he was in formerly 
 towards Alexander and Aristobulus, when he 
 had been content with the hearing their 
 calumnies when others told him of them, but 
 he was now come to that pass as to hate them 
 himself, and to urge men to speak against 
 them, though they did not do it of themselves. 
 He also observed all that was said, and put 
 questions, and gave ear to every one that 
 would but speak, if they could but say any 
 thing against them, till at length he heard that 
 Euaratus of Cos was a conspirator with Alex 
 ander; which thing to Herod was the most 
 agreeable and sweetest news imaginable. 
 
 3. But still a greater misfortune *came 
 upon the young men; while the calumnies 
 against them were continually increased, and, 
 as a man may say, one would think it was 
 every one's endeavour to lay some grievous 
 thing to their charge, which might appear to 
 be for the king's preservation. There were 
 two guards of Herod's body, who were in 
 great esteem for their great strength and tall- 
 ness, Jucundus and Tyrannus; these men 
 had been cast off by Herod, who was dis- 
 pleased at them; these now used to ride along 
 with Alexander, and for their skill in their 
 exercises were in great esteem with him, and 
 had some gold and otheiJ||^fts bestowed on 
 them. Now the king, havivg an immediate 
 suspicion of these men, had them tortured; who 
 endured the torture courageously for a long 
 time; but at last confessed that Alexander 
 would have persuaded them to kill Herod 
 when he was in pursuit of the wild beasts, 
 that it might be said he fell from his horse, 
 and was run through with his own spear, for 
 that he had once such a misfortune formerly. 
 They also showed where there was money 
 bidden in the stable, under groimd; and these 
 
452 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XVI. 
 
 con%icted the king's chief hunter, that he had 
 given the young men the royal hunting-spears 
 and weapons to Alexander's dependants, and 
 at Alexander's command. 
 
 4. After these, the commander of the gar- 
 rison of Alexandrium was caught and tortured; 
 for he was accused to have promised to 
 receive the young men into his fortress, and 
 to supply them with that money of the king's 
 which was laid up in that fortress, yet did not 
 he acknowledge any thing of it himself; but 
 his son came in, and said it was so, and deli- 
 vered up the writing, which, so far as could 
 be guessed, was in Alexander's hand. Its 
 contents were these : — " When we have 
 finished, by God's help, all that we have 
 proposed to do, we will come to you; but do 
 your endeavours, as you have promised, to re- 
 ceive us into your fortress." After this writ- 
 ing was produced, Herod had no doubt about 
 the treacherous designs of his sons against 
 him; but Alexander said that Diophantus, 
 the scribe, had imitated his hand, and that the 
 paper was maliciously drawn up by Antipater; 
 for Diophantus appeared to be very cunning 
 in such practices; and as he was-afterward 
 convicted of forging other papers, he was 
 put to death for it. 
 
 5. So the king produced those that had been 
 tortured before the multitude at Jericho, in 
 order to have theni accuse the young men, 
 which accusers many of the people stoned to 
 death ; and when they were going to kill 
 Alexander and Aristobulus likewise, the king 
 would not permit them to do so, but restrained 
 the multitude, by means of Ptolemy and 
 Pheroras. However, the young men were 
 put under a guard, and kept in custody, that 
 nobody might come at them ; and all that 
 they rfid or said was watched, and the re- 
 proach and fear they were in was little or 
 nothing different from those of condemned 
 criminals; and one of them, who was Aristo- 
 bulus, was so deeply affected, that he brought 
 Salome, who was his aunt, and his mother-in- 
 law, to lament with him for his calamities, and 
 to hate him who had suffered things to come 
 to that pass; when he said to her, " Art thou 
 not in danger of destruction also, while the 
 report goes that thou hadst disclosed before- 
 hand all our affairs to Sylleus, when thou 
 wast in hopes of being mariied to him?" 
 But she immediately carried those words to 
 her brother: uponjius he was out of patience, 
 and gave commanOto bind him; and enjoined 
 them both, now they were kept separate one 
 from the other, to write down all the ill 
 things they had done against their father, and 
 bring the writings to him. So when this was 
 enjoined them, they wrote this: that they had 
 laid no treacherous designs, nor made any 
 preparations against their father, but that they 
 had intended to fly away; and that by the 
 distress they were in, their lives being now 
 uncertain and todious to them. 
 
 6. About this time there came an ambassa- 
 dor out of Cappadocia from Archelaus, whose 
 name was Melas; he was one of the prin- 
 cipal rulers under him. So Herod being 
 desirous to show Archelaus's ill-will to hii.., 
 called for Alexander, as he was in his bonds, 
 and asked him again concerning his flight, 
 whether and how they had resolved to retire: 
 Alexander replied, — To Archelaus, who had 
 promised to send them away to Rome; but 
 that they had no wicked or mischievous de- 
 signs against their father, and that nothing of 
 that nature which their adversaries had charged 
 upon them was true; and that their desire 
 was, that he might have examined Tyrannus 
 and Jucundus more strictly, but that they 
 had been suddenly slain by the means of An- 
 tipater, who put his own friends among the 
 multitude [for that purpose]. 
 
 7. When this was said, Herod commanded 
 that both Alexander nnd Melas should be 
 carried to Glaphyra, Archelaus's daughter, and 
 that she should be asked, whether she did not 
 know somewhat of Alexander's treacherous 
 designs against Herod ? Now as soon as 
 they were come to her, and she saw Alexander 
 in bonds, she beat her head, and in great con- 
 sternation, gave a deep and a moving groan. 
 The young man also fell into tears. This was 
 so miserable a spectacle to those present, that, 
 for a great while, they were not able to say or 
 to do any thing; but at length Ptolemy, who 
 was ordered to bring Alexander, bade him 
 say whether his wife were conscious of bis 
 actions. He replied, " How is it possible that 
 she, whom I love better than my own soul, 
 and by whom I have had children, should not 
 know what I do?" Upon which she cried 
 out, that she knew of no wicked designs of 
 his ; but that yet, if her accusing herself 
 falsely would tend to his preservation, she 
 would confess it all. Alexander replied, 
 " There is no such wickedness as those (who 
 ought the least of all so to do) suspect, which 
 either I have imagined, or thou knowest of, but 
 this only, that we had resolved to retire to 
 Arahelaus, and from thence to Rome." Which 
 shp also confessed. Upon which Herod, 
 supposing that Archelaus's ill-will to him was 
 fully proved, sent a letter by Olympus and 
 Volumnius; and bade them, as they sailed by, 
 to touc^ at Eleusa of Cilicia, and give Arche- 
 laus the letter. And that when they had 
 expostulated with him, that he had a hand 
 in his son's treacherous design against him, 
 they should from thence sail to Rome ; and 
 that, in case they found "Nicolaus had gained 
 any ground, and that Caesar was no" longer 
 displeased at him, he should give him his let- 
 ters, and the proof which he had ready to show 
 against the young men. As to Archelaus, he 
 made this defence for himself, that he had 
 promised to receive the young men, because 
 it was both for their oM-n and their faihor't 
 advantage so to do, lest some too sev«;re 
 
CHAP, X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 453 
 
 procedure sboulti be gone upon in that anger 
 and disorder tbey were in on occasion of the 
 present suspicious; but that still he had not 
 promised to send them to Ccesar; and that he 
 had not promised any thing else to the young 
 Hien that could show any ill-will to him. 
 
 8. When these ambassadors were come to 
 Rome, they had a fit opportunity of delivering 
 their letters to Caesar, because they found him 
 reconciled to Herod ; for the circumstances 
 f Nicolaus's embassage had been as follows: — 
 As soon as be was come to Rome, and was 
 about the court, he did not first of all set 
 bout what he was come for only, but he 
 hought fit also to accuse Sylleus. Now, the 
 Arabians, even before he came to talk with 
 hem, were quarrelling one with another; and 
 ome of them left Sylleus's party, and joining 
 themselves to Nicolaus, informed him of all the 
 wicked things that had been done; and pro- 
 duced to him evident demonstrations of the 
 slaughter of a great number of Obodas's 
 friends by Sylleus; for when these men left 
 Sylleus, they had carried oflF with them those 
 letters whereby they could convict him. When 
 Nicolaus saw such an opportunity afforded 
 faim, he made use of it, in order to gain his 
 own point afterward, and endeavoured imme- 
 diately to make a reconciliation between 
 Ciesar and Herod; for he was fully satisfied, 
 that if he should desire to make a defence for 
 Herod directly, he should not be allowed that 
 liberty; but that if he desired to accuse Syl- 
 leus, there would an occasion present itself 
 of speaking on Herod's behalf. So when the 
 cause was ready for a hearing, and the day 
 was appointed, Nicolaus, while Aretas's am- 
 bassadors were present, accused Sylleus, and 
 said that he imputed to him the destruction 
 of the king [Obodas], and of many others of 
 the Arabians: that he had borrowed money 
 for no good design; and he proved that he 
 tiad been guilty of adultery, not only with the 
 Arabian, but Roman women also. And he 
 added, that above all the rest he had alienated 
 Caesar from Herod; and that all that he had 
 said about the actions o£ Herod were faWi- 
 ties. When Nicolaus was come to this topVc, 
 Cassar stopped him from going on, and 
 desired him only to speak to this affair of 
 Herod, and to show that he had not led an 
 army into Arabia, nor slain two thousand fire 
 hundred men there, nor taken prisoners, nor 
 pillaged the country. To which Nicolaus 
 made this answer: — "I shall principally 
 demonstrate, that either nothing at all, or but 
 a very little, of those imputations are true, of 
 which thou hast been informed; for had they 
 been true, thou mightest justly have been still 
 more angry at Herod." At this strange aS' 
 sertion, Ciesar was very attentive; and Nico- 
 laus said, that there was a debt due to Herod 
 of five hundred talents, and a bond, wherein 
 t was written, that if the time appointed be 
 elapsed, it should be lawful to make a sei2ure 
 
 out of any part of his country. " As for the 
 pretended army," he said, " it was no army, 
 but a party sent out to require the just pay- 
 ment of the money: that this was not sent 
 immediately, nor so soon as the bond allowed, 
 but that Sylleus had frequently come before 
 Saturninus and Volumnius, the presidents of 
 Syria: and that at last he had sworn at Be- 
 rytus, by thy fortune,* that he would cer- 
 tainly pay the money within thirty days, and 
 deliver up the fugitives that were under his 
 dominion. And that when Sylleus had per- 
 formed nothing of this, Herod came again 
 before the presidents; and upon their per- 
 mission to make a seizure for his money, he, 
 with difficulty, went out of his country with 
 a party of soldiers for that purpose. And 
 this is all the war which these men so tragi- 
 cally describe; and this is the affair of the 
 expedition into Arabia. And how can this 
 be called a war, when thy presidents permit- 
 ted it, the covenants allowed it, and it was 
 not executed till thy name, O CtEsar, as well 
 as that of the other gods, had been profaned? 
 And now I must speak in order about the 
 captives. There were robbers that dwelt in 
 Trachonitis: — at first their number was no 
 more than forty, but they became more after- 
 wards, and they escaped the punishment He- 
 rod would have inflicted on them, by making 
 Arabia their refuge. Sylleus received them, 
 and supported them with food, that they might 
 be mischievous to all mankind; and gave them 
 a country to inhabit, and himself received the 
 gains they made by robbery; yet did he pro- 
 mise that he would deliver up these men, and 
 that by the same oaths and same time that he 
 sware and fixed for payment of his debt: nor 
 can he by any means show that any other per- 
 sons have at this time been taken out of Ara- 
 bia besides these, and indeed not all these 
 neither, but only so many as coMd not con- 
 ceal themselves. And thus does the calumny 
 of the captives, which hath been so odiously 
 represented, appear to be no better than a 
 fiction and a lie, made on purpose to provoke 
 thy indignation ; for I venture to affirm, that 
 when the forces of the Arabians came upon 
 us, and one or two of Herod's party fell, he 
 then only defended himself, and there fell 
 Nacebus their general, and in all about twenty- 
 five others, and no more; whence Sylleus, 
 by multiplying every single soldier to a 
 hundred, he reckons the slain to have beau 
 two thousand five hundred." 
 
 9. This provoked Caesar more than ever; 
 so he turned to Sylleus full of rage, and asked 
 him how many of the Arabians were slain. 
 Hereupon he hesitated, and said he had been 
 imposed upon. The covenants were also read 
 about the money he had borrowed, and the 
 
 ♦ This oath, by the fortune of Ccesar, was put to 
 Polycarp, a bishop of Smyrna, by the Roman governor, 
 to try whether he were a Christian, as they were then 
 esteemed who refused to swear that oath. Alartyc 
 Palycarp. sect. S». 
 
454 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK X^T 
 
 letters of the presidents of Syria, and the 
 complaints of the several cities, so many as 
 nad been injured by the robbers. The con- 
 chision was this, that Sylleus was condemned 
 to die, and that Caesar was reconciled to 
 Herod, and owned his repentance for what 
 severe things he had written to him, occasioned 
 by calumny, insomuch that he told Sylleus, that 
 he bad compelled him, by his lying account 
 of things, to be guilty of ingratitude against 
 a man that was bis friend. At the last all 
 came to this, — Sylleus was sent away to 
 answer Herod's suit, and to repay the debt that 
 he owed, and after that to be punished [with 
 death]; but still Csesar was offended with 
 Aretas, that he had taken upon himself the 
 government, without his consent first obtained, 
 tor he had determined to bestow Arabia 
 upon Herod; but that the letters he had sent 
 hindered him from so doing; for Olympus 
 and Volumnius, perceiving that Caesar was 
 now become favourable to Herod, thought fit 
 iiumediately to deliver him the letters they 
 were commanded by Herod to give him con- 
 cerning his sons. When Cjfisar had read them, 
 he thought it would not be proper to add 
 another government to him, now he was old, 
 and in an ill state with relation to his sons, so 
 he admitted Aretas's ambassadors; and after 
 he had just reproved him for his rashness, in 
 not tarrying till he received the kingdom from 
 him, he accepted of his presents, and con- 
 firmed him in his government. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 HOW HEROD, BY PERMISSION FROM C-iESAE, 
 ACCUSED HIS SONS BEFORE AN ASSEMBLY 
 OF JUDGES AT BERYTUS; AND WHAT TERO 
 SUFFERED, FOR USING A BOUNDLESS AND 
 MILITAR-ifLIBERTY OF SPEECH. CONCERN- 
 ING ALSO THE DEATH OF THE YOUNG MEN, 
 AND THEIR BURIAL AT ALEXANDRIUM. 
 
 § 1. So Caesar was now reconciled to Herod, 
 and wrote thus to him: — That he was grieved 
 for him on account of his sons; and that in 
 case they had been guilty of any profane and 
 insolent crimes against him, it would behove 
 him to punish them as parricides, for which he 
 ^Hve him power accordingly; but if they had 
 only contrived to fly away, he would have 
 hi III give them anr. admonition, and not pro- 
 ceed to extremity with them. He also ad- 
 vised him to get an assembly together, and to 
 appoint some place near Berytus,* which is a 
 city belonging to the Romans, and to take 
 the presidents of Syria, and Archelaus, king 
 
 • What JoMpbus relates Aueaatus to have here naid, 
 that B«ryt>is was a city belunKin^ to the Romans, is con- 
 ttrmrd by Mpaiiheim's note here:— " It was (says he) a co- 
 lony pliiced there by Augustus. Whence Ulpian, De Cens 
 b*"!. L. T. XV. The colony of Berytus was reQdere<i 
 iMiiioiift by the ben. ttts of C»<ar: and thence it 1% that 
 atnonc the coins of Augustus, we meet wirh some having 
 this iiiacTi|>Uuac The bapuy colony of Aui{ii»tus at 15e- 
 rytoM.'* 
 
 of Cappadocia, and as many more as h« 
 thought to be illustrious for their friendsUiO 
 to him, and the dignities they were m, and 
 determine what should be done by iheit 
 approbation. These were the directions that 
 Caesar gave him. Accordingly Herod, when 
 the letter was brought to him, was immediately 
 very glad of Caesar's reconciliation to him, 
 and very glad also that he had a complete 
 authority given him over his sons. And it 
 strangely came about, that whereas before, n 
 his adversity, though he had indeed shown 
 himself severe, yet had he not been very rash, 
 nor hasty, in procuring the destruction of his 
 sons; he now, in his prosperity, took advan- 
 tage of this change for the better, and the 
 freedom he now had, to exercise his hatred 
 against them, after an unheard-of manner ^ 
 he therefore sent and called as many as he 
 thought fit to this assembly, excepting Arche- 
 laus; for as for him, he either hated him, so 
 that he would not invite him, or thought he 
 would be an obstacle to his designs. 
 
 2. When the presidents, and the rest that 
 belonged to the cities were come to Berytus, 
 he kept his sons in a certain village belongii.g 
 to Sidon, called Platana, but near to this city, 
 that if they were called he might produce 
 them, for he did not think fit to bring them 
 before the assembly: and when there were 
 one hundred and fifty assessors present, Herod 
 came by himself alone, and accused his sons, 
 and in such a way as if it were not a melan- 
 choly, accusation, and not made but out of 
 necessity, and upon the misfortunes he was 
 under; indeed, in such a way as was very 
 indecent for a father to accuse his sons, for he 
 was very vehement and disordered when he 
 came to the demonstration of the crime they 
 were accused of, and gave the greatest signs 
 of passion and barbarity: nor would he sulfer 
 the assessors to consider of the weight of the 
 evidence, but asserted them to be true by his 
 own authority, alter a manner most indecent 
 in a father against his sons, and read himself 
 what they themselves had written, wherein 
 theVe was no confession of any plots or con- 
 trivances against him, but only how they 
 had coufc-ived to *fly away, and containing 
 withal certain reproaches against him, on 
 account of the ill-will he bare them; and when 
 he came to those reproaches, he cried out 
 most of all, and exaggerated what they said, 
 as if they had confessed the design against 
 him, — and took his oath that he had rather 
 lose his life than hear such reproachful wotds. 
 At last he said that he had sutHcitnt authority, 
 both by nature and by Cajsar's grant to him, 
 [to do what he thought fit.] He also MUied 
 an allegation of a law of their country, which 
 enjoined this: — That if parents laid their 
 hands on the head of him that was accused, 
 the standers by were oldiged to cast stones at 
 him, and thereby to slay him; which though 
 b« w«r« r«Nidy to do in his own country and 
 
CRAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 4f!m 
 
 kiii}rdom, yet did be wait for their determina- 
 tii-ii; and yet they came thither not so much 
 rts jufljrcs, to coiuiemn them for such manifest 
 designs against him, whereby he had almost 
 perished by his sons* means, but as persons 
 that had an opportunity of showing their de- 
 testation of such practices, and declaring how 
 unworthy a thing it must be in any, even the 
 most remote, to pass over such treacherous 
 designs [without punishment]. 
 
 S. When the king had said this, and the 
 young men had not been produced to make 
 any defence for themselves, the assessors per- 
 ceived there was no room for equity and re- 
 conciliation, so they confirmed his authority. 
 And in the first place, Saturniims, a person 
 that had been consul, and one of great dignity, 
 pronounced his sentence, but with great 
 moderation and trouble ; and said, that he 
 condemned Herod's sons ; but did not think 
 they should be put to death. He had sons 
 of his own; and to put one's son to death, is 
 a greater misfortune than any other that could 
 befal him by their means. After him Satur- 
 ninus's sons, for he had three sons that fol- 
 lowed him, and were his legates, pronounced 
 the same sentence with their father. On the 
 contrary, Volumnius's sentence was to inflict 
 death on such as had been so impiously un- 
 dutiful to their father; and the greatest part 
 of the rest said the same, insomuch that the 
 conclusion seemed to be, that the young men 
 v/ere condemned to die. Immediately after 
 this, Herod came away from thence, and took 
 his sons to Tyre, where Nicolaus met him in 
 his voyage from Rome; of whom he inquired, 
 after he had related to him what had passed at 
 Berytus, what his sentiments were about his 
 sons, and what his friends at Rome thought 
 of that matter. His answer was, " That what 
 they had determined to do to thee was im- 
 pious, and that thou oughtest to keep them in 
 prison: and if thou thinkest any thing farther 
 necessary, thou mayest indeed so punish them, 
 that thou mayest not appear to indulge thy 
 anger more than to govern thyself by judg- 
 nJL'iit; but if thou inclinest to the milder side, 
 thou mayest absolve them, lest perhaps thy 
 misfortunes be rendered incurable: and this 
 is the opinion of the greatest part of thy 
 friends at Rome also." Whereupon Herod 
 was silent, and in great thoughtfulness, and 
 bade Jiicolaus sail along with him. 
 
 4. Now as they came to Cesarea, every 
 body was there talking of Herod's sons; and 
 the kingdom was in suspense, and the people 
 in great expectation of what wouhl become 
 ol tnein, for a terrible feui seized upon all 
 m«'n, iest the ancient disorders of the family 
 SDouio come to a sad conclusion, and they 
 were in great trouble about their sufferings; 
 nor was it without danger to say any rash 
 tnirig about this matter, nor even to hear ano- 
 tiitr saying it, but men's pity was forced to 
 be shut up in themselves, which rendered the 
 
 excess of their sorrow very irksome, but very 
 silent; yet was there an old soldier of Htrod's, 
 whose name was Tero, who had a son of the 
 same age as Alexander, and his friend, who 
 was so very free as openly to speak out what 
 others silently thought about that matter; and 
 was forced to cry out often among the mul- 
 titude, and said, in the most unguarded 
 manner, that truth was perished, and justice 
 taken away from men, while lies and ill-will 
 prevailed, and brought such a mist before 
 public affairs, that the offenders were not 
 able to see the greatest mischiefs that can 
 befal men. And as he was so bold, he seemed 
 not to have kept himself out of danger, by 
 speaking so freely ; but the reasonableness of 
 what he said moved men to regard him as 
 having behaved himself with great manhood, 
 and this at a proper time also, for v/hich 
 reason every one heard what he said with 
 pleasure: and although they first took care of 
 their own safety by keeping silent themselves, 
 yet did they kindly receive the great freedom 
 he took; for the expectation they were in 
 of so great an aflliction, put a force upon 
 them to speak of Tero whatsoever they pleased. 
 5. This man had thrust himself into the 
 king's presence with the greatest freedom, and 
 desired to speak with him by himself alone, 
 which the king permitted him to do; where he 
 said this: — " Since I am not able, O king, to 
 bear up under so great a concern as I am under, 
 I have preferred the use of this bold liberty 
 that I now take, which may be for thy advan- 
 tage, if thou mind to get any profit by it, 
 before my own safety. Whither is thy under- 
 standing gone, and left thy soul empty? 
 Whither is that extraordinary sagacity of thine 
 gone, whereby thou hast performed so many 
 and such glorious actions? Whence comes this 
 solitude, and desertion of thy friends and rela- 
 tions? Of which I cannot but determine that 
 they are neither thy friends nor relations, while 
 they overlook such horrid wickedness in thy 
 once happy kingdom. Dost not thou perceive 
 what is doing? Wilt thou slay these two young 
 men, born of thy queen, who are accomplished 
 with every virtue in the highest degree, and 
 leave thyself destitute in thy old age, but 
 exposed to one son, who hath very ill uianaged 
 the hopes thou hast given him, and to relations, 
 whose death thou hast so often resolved on 
 thyself? Dost not thou take notice, that the 
 Very silence of the multitude at once sees the 
 crime, and abhors the fact? The whole army 
 and the officers have commiseration on the 
 poor unhappy youths, and hatred to those 
 that are the actors in this matter." — These 
 words the king heard, and for some time with 
 good temper. But what can one say? When 
 Tero plainly touched upon the bad behaviour 
 and perfidiousness of his domestics, he was 
 moved at it; but Tero went on farther, and 
 by degrees used an unbounded military free- 
 dom of speech, nor was he <o \vv\l diacipiined 
 
456 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVI. 
 
 as to accommodate himself to the time: so 
 Herod was greatly disturbed, and seemed to 
 be rather reproached by this speech, than to 
 be hearing what was for his advantage, while 
 he learned thereby that both the soldiers 
 abhorred the thing he was about, and the offi- 
 cers had indignation at it, he gave order that 
 all whom Tero had named, and Tero himself, 
 should be bound and kept in prison. 
 
 6. When this was over, one Trypho, who 
 was the king's barber, took the opportunity, 
 and came and told the king that Tero would 
 often have persuaded him, when he trimmed 
 him with a razor, to cut his throat, for that 
 by this means he should be among the chief 
 of Alexander's friends?, and receive great re- 
 wards from him. When he had said this, the 
 king gave order that Tero, and his son, and 
 the barber, should be tortured, which was done 
 accordingly; but while Tero bore up himself, 
 his son, seeing his father already in a sad case, 
 and with no hope of deliverance, and perceiv- 
 ing what would be the co«equen<e of his 
 terrible sufferings, said, that if the king would 
 free him and his father from these torments 
 for what he should say, he would tell the 
 truth. And when the Icing had given his 
 word to do so, he said that there was an agree- 
 ment made, that Tero should lay violent hands 
 on the king, because it was easy for him to 
 come when he was alone; and that if, when he 
 had done the thing, he should suffer death for 
 it, as was not unlikely, it would be an act of 
 generosity done in favour of Alexander. This 
 was what Tero's son said, and thereby freed 
 his father from the distress he was in; but un- 
 certain it is whether he had been thus forced to 
 speak what was true, or whether it were a con- 
 trivance of his, in order to procure his own and 
 his father's deliverance from their miseries. 
 
 7. As for Herod, if he had before any doubt 
 about the slaughter of his sons, there was now 
 no longer any room left in his soul for it; but 
 be had banished away whatsoever might 
 afford him the least suggestion of reasoning 
 better about this matter, so he already made 
 baste to bring his purpose to a conclusion. 
 He also brought out three hundred of the 
 officers that were under an accusation, as also 
 Tero and his son, and the barber that accused 
 them, before an assembly, and brought an 
 accusation against them all; whom the multi- 
 tude stoned with whatsoever came to hand, 
 and thereby slew them. Alexander also and 
 Aristobulus were brought to Sebaste, by their 
 father's command, and there strangled; but 
 thv'ir dead bodies were, in the night-time, car- 
 ried to Alexandrium, where their uncle, by 
 the mother's side, and the greatest part of 
 their ancestors, had been deposited. 
 
 8. • And now perhaps it may not seem un- 
 
 • The reader is here to note, that thia eiglilh section is 
 entirely wauiing in the old Latin versicm, as Spanheira 
 truly obHrrvcs; nor i* ih«Te any other rra»ou fur it. I sup- 
 |pg«r, thmi tb« §n:»l ditJicuUy of »u ex»ft trun»ii«ti.»n. 
 
 reasonable to some, that such an inveterate 
 hatred might increase so much [on both 
 sides], as to proceed farther, and overcome 
 nature; but it may justly deserve consiuera- 
 tion, whether it be to be laid to the charge of 
 the young men, that they gave such an occa- 
 sion to their father's anger, and led him to 
 do what he did, and by going on long in the 
 same way, put things past remedy, and brought 
 him to use them so unmercifully; or whether 
 it be to be laid to the father's charge, that he 
 was so hard-hearted, and so very tender in 
 the desire of government, and of other things 
 that would tend to his glory, that he would 
 take no one into a partnership with him, that 
 so whatsoever he would have done himself 
 might continue iaimoveable; or, indeed, whe- 
 ther fortune ha> not greater power than all 
 prudent reasonings: whence we are pers^uaded 
 that human actions are thereby deteruiiued 
 beforehand by an inevitable necessity, and we 
 call her Fate, because there is nothing which 
 is not done by her; wheielore 1 suppose it 
 will be sufficient to compare this notion with 
 that other, which attributes somewhat to our- 
 selves, and renders men not unaccountable 
 for the diiferent conducts of their hves; which 
 notion is no other than the philosophical de- 
 termination of our ancient law. Accoroingly, 
 of the two other causes of this sad event, 
 any body may lay the blame on the young 
 men, who acted by youthlul vanity, and pride 
 of their royal birth, that they should bear to 
 hear the calumnies that were raised against 
 their father, while ceitainly they were not 
 equitable judges of the actions of his lite, but 
 ill-natured in suspecting, and intemperate in 
 speaking of it, and on both accounts easily 
 caught by those that observed them, and re- 
 vealed them to gain favour; yet cannot their 
 father be thought worthy of excuse, as to that 
 horrid impiety which he was guilty of about 
 them, while he ventured, without any certain 
 evidence of their treacherous designs against 
 him, and without any proofs that they had 
 made preparations for such an attempt, to kill 
 his own sons, who were of very comely bouies 
 and the great darlings of other men, and uo 
 way delicient in their conduct, whether it 
 were in hunting, or in warlike exercises, or in 
 speaking upon occasional topics of discourse; 
 for in all these they were skilful, and espe- 
 cially Alexander, who was the eldest; for 
 certainly it had been sufficient, even though he 
 had condemned them, to have kept them ulive 
 'm bonds, or to let them hve at a distance 
 from his dominions in banishment, while he 
 was surrounded by the Roman forces, which 
 were a strong security to him, whose help 
 would prevent his suffering any thing by u 
 sudden onset, or by open force; but for him 
 to kill them on the sudden, in order to graiily 
 a passion that governed him, was a demon- 
 stration of insufferable impiety. He aUo w as 
 guilty of %o grtai a crime in his older agej 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 457 
 
 nor will the delays thai he made, and the 
 leiijk'th of time in which the thing Was done, 
 plea(i at all for his excuse; for when a man 
 is on a sudden amazed, and in commotion of 
 mind, and then commits a wicked action, 
 although this be a heavy crime, yet it is a thing 
 that frequently happens; but to do it upon 
 deliberation, and after frequent attempts, and 
 as frequent puttings -oflF, to undertake it at 
 last, and accomplish it, was the action of a 
 murderous mind, and such as was not easily 
 
 moved from that which was evO: and thia 
 temper he showed in what he did afterward, 
 when he did not spare those that seemed to 
 be the best-beloved of his friends that were 
 left, wherein, though the justice of the pun- 
 ishment caused those that perished to be the 
 less pitied, yet was the barbarity of the man 
 here equal, in that he did not abstain from 
 their slaughter also. But of those persons 
 we shall have occasion to discourse more 
 hereafter. 
 
 BOOK XVII. 
 
 CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF FOURTEEN TEARS. 
 
 FROM ALEXANDER AND ARISTOBULUS'S DEATH TO THE 
 BANISHMENT OF ARCHELAUS. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 HOW ANTIPATER WAS HATED BY ALL THE NA- 
 TION [of the jews] for THE SLAUGHTER 
 or HIS BRETHREN; AND HOW, FOR THAT 
 REASON, HE GOT INTO PECULIAR FAVOUR 
 WITH HIS FRIENDS AT ROME, BY GIVING 
 THEM MANY PRESENTS; AS HE DID ALSO 
 WITH SATURNINUS, THE PRESIDENT OF 
 SYRIA, AND THE GOVERNORS WHO WERE 
 UNDER HIM; AND CONCERNING HEEOD's 
 WIVES AND CHILDREN. 
 
 § 1. When Antipater had thus taken off his 
 brethren, and had brought his father into the 
 highest degree of impiety, till he was haunted 
 with furies for what he had done, his hopes 
 did iiot succeed to his mind, as to the rest of 
 his life; for although he was delivered from i 
 the fear of his brethren being his rivals as to i 
 the government, yet did he find it a very [ 
 hard thing, and almost impracticable, to come 
 at the kingdom, because the hatred of the 
 nation against him on that account was become 
 very great ; and, besides this very disagree- | 
 able circumstance, the affairs of the soldiery 
 grieved him still more, who were alienated 
 from him, from which yet these kings de- 
 rived all the safety which they had, whenever 
 they found the nation desirous of innova- 
 tion, and all this danger was drawn upon 
 him by his destruction of his brethren. How- 
 ever, he governed the nation jointly with his 
 Uther, being indeed no other than a king 
 ilready; and he was for that very reason 
 
 trusted, and the more firmly depended on, for 
 which he ought himself to have been put to 
 death, as appearing to have betrayed his bre- 
 thren out of his concern for the preservation 
 of Herod, and not rather out of his ill-will 
 to them, and before them, to his father him- 
 self; and this was the accursed state he was 
 in. Now, all Antipater's cotitrivances tended 
 to make his way to take off Herod, that he 
 might have nobody to accuse him in the vile 
 practices he was devising; and that Herod 
 might have no refuge, nor any to afford him 
 their assistance, since they must thereby have 
 Antipater for their open enemy; insomuch 
 that the very plots he had laid ngainst hva bre- 
 thren, were occasioned by the hatred he bore 
 ' his father. But at this time he was more 
 ; than ever set upon the execution of his 
 I attempts against Herod, because, if he were 
 j once dead, the government would now be 
 [ firmly secured to him ; but if he were suffered 
 to live any longer, he should be in danger 
 upon a discovery of that wickedness of which 
 he had been the contriver, and his father 
 would then of necessity become his enemy. 
 And on this account it was that he became 
 very bountiful to his father's friends, and 
 bestowed great sums on several of them, in 
 order to surprise men with his good deeds, and 
 take off their hatred against them. And he 
 sent great presents to his friends at Rome 
 particularly, to gain their good- will; and, 
 above all, to Saturninus, the president of 
 Syria. He also hoped to gain the favour of 
 Satiu'ninus's brother with the large presents he 
 
458 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVIT 
 
 bestowed on him; as also he used the same 
 art to [Salome] the king's sister, who had 
 married one ot Heroti's ehief friends. And, 
 when he counterfeited friendship to those 
 with whom he conversed, he was very subtle 
 in gaining their belief, and very cunning to 
 hide his hatred against any that he really did 
 -bate. But he could not iu)pose upon his 
 aunt, who understood him of a long tiuie, ar.i 
 was a woman ;.ot easily to be deluded, espe- 
 cially while she had already used all possible 
 caution in preventing his pernicious designs. 
 Although Antipater's uncle by the mother's 
 side was married to her daughter, and this by 
 his own connivance and management, while 
 she kad before been married to Aristobulus, 
 and while Salome's other daughter by that 
 husband was married to the son of Calleas; 
 yet that marriage was no obstacle to her, who 
 knew how wicked he was, in her discovering 
 his designs, as her former kindred to him 
 could not prevent her hatred of him. Now 
 Herod had compelled Salome, while she was 
 in love with Sylleus the Arabian, and had 
 taken a fondness to him, to marry Alexas; 
 which match was by her submitted to at the 
 instance of JuUa, who persuaded Salome not 
 to refuse it, lest she should herself be their 
 open enemy, since Herod had sworn that he 
 would never be friends with Salome if she 
 would not accept of Alexas for her husband; 
 so she submitted to Julia, as being Ciesar's 
 wife; and besides that, she advised her to 
 nothing but what was very much for her own 
 advantage. At this time also it was that 
 Herod sent back king Archelaus's daughter, 
 who bad been Alexander's wife, to her father, 
 returning the portion he had with her out of 
 his own estate, that there might be no dispute 
 between them about it. 
 
 2. Now Herod brought up his sons* chil- 
 dren with great care; for Alexander had two 
 sons by Glaphyra; and Aristobulus had three 
 sons by Bernice, Salome's daughter, and 
 two daughters; and as his friends were once 
 with him, he presented the children before 
 them; and deploring the hard fortune of his 
 own sons, he prayed that no such ill fortune 
 would befal these who were their children, 
 but that they might improve in virtue, and 
 obtain what they justly deserved, and might 
 make him amends for his care of their edu- 
 cation. He also caused them to be betrothed 
 against they should come to the proper age 
 of marriage; the elder of Alexander's sons 
 to Pberoras's daughter, and Antipater's daugh- 
 ter to Aristobulus's eldest son. He also 
 allotted one of Aristobulus's daughters to 
 Antipater's son, and Aristobulus's other 
 daughter to Herod, a son of his own, who 
 was born to him by the high-priest's daughter: 
 for it is the ancient practice among us to 
 have many wives at the same time. Now, 
 the king rtnde these espousals for tfie chil- 
 dren, out ol commiseration of them now they 
 
 were fatherless, as endeavouring to render 
 Antipater kind to them by these intermar- 
 riages. But Antipater did not fail to bear 
 tlie same temper ot mind to his brothers 
 children which he had borne to hi? b'/'>.*h^'V9 
 themselves; and his father's concern a*>*"it 
 them provoked his inriignution against ll'em 
 upon his supposal, that they would becon«€ 
 greater than ever his brothers had been; wliiU 
 Archelaus, a king, would support his daugh- 
 ter's sons, and Pheroras, a tetrarch, wouk 
 accept of one of the daughters as a wife tc 
 his son. What provoked him also was this, 
 that all the multitude would so commiserate 
 these fatherless children, and so hate him [tor 
 making them fatherless], that all would come 
 out, since they were no strangers to his vile 
 disposition towards his brethren. He con- 
 trived, therefore, to overturn his father's set- 
 tletnents, as thinking it a terrible thing that 
 they should be so related to him, and be so 
 powerful withal. So Herod yielded to him, 
 and changed his resolution at his entreaty; 
 and the determination now was, that Anti()atei 
 himself should uiarry Aristobulus's daughter, 
 and Antipater's son should marry Pheroras's 
 daughter. So the espousals for the marriages 
 were changed after this manner, even without 
 the king's real approbation. 
 
 3. Now Herod* the king had at this time 
 nine wives; one of them Antipater's mother, 
 and another the high-priest's daughter, by 
 whom he had a son of his own name. He had 
 also one who was his brother's daughter, and 
 another his sister's da^ighter; which two had 
 no children. One of his wives also was of the 
 Samaritan nation, whose sons were Antipas 
 and Archelaus, and whose daughter was Olym- 
 pias; which daughter was afterward married 
 to Joseph, the king's brother's son; but 
 Archelaus and Antipas were brought up with 
 a certain private man at Rome. Herod had 
 also to wife Cleopatra of Jerusalem, and by 
 her he had his sons Herod and Philip; which 
 last was also brought up at Roine: Pallas 
 also was one of his wives, who bare him his 
 son Phasaelus; and besides these, he had for 
 his wives Phedra and El pis, by whom he had 
 his daughters Roxana and Salome. As for 
 his elder daughlfers by the same mother with 
 Alexander and Aristobulus, and whom Phe- 
 roras neglected to marry, he gave the one in 
 marriage to Antipater, the king's sister's son, 
 and the other to Phasaelus, his brother's son; 
 — and this was the posterity of Herod. 
 
 • Thow who have a mind to know all the family and 
 <le.scei)dant8 of AndpHler the Idiinieun, and of lierod the 
 Great, his son. and have a menioiy to preserve them al] 
 distinctly, may consult Josephus, Autiij. b. xviii. i-ih. v. 
 sect. 4; and Of the War. b. i vh. xxviii. sect. 4; and 
 Noldiiis ill Haveicamp's edition, p.lKkij and >()&..tlieira, 
 ib. p. 4U2— 4U6i aud Relaud, Talestiu-part i. p. 176, I7& 
 
>^^ 
 
CKAr. n< 
 
 AJirriQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 COm,ERKlSG ZAMAaiS, THE BABYLONIAN 
 JfcW; CONCEaMNG THE PLOTS LAID BY 
 ANflPATER AGAINST HIS FATHER; AND 
 80MEWHAT ABOUT THE PHAIUSEES. 
 
 § 1. And now it was that Herod, being de- 
 sirous to secure hiuiseU" on the side of the 
 Trachouites, resolved to build a village as 
 large as a city for the Jews, in the middle of 
 that country, which might make his own 
 country ditficult to be assaulted, and whence 
 be might be at haiid to make sallies upon 
 them, and do them a mischief. Accordingly, 
 when he understood that there was a man 
 that was a Jew come out of Babylon, with 
 five hundred borsenten, all of whom could 
 shoot thtfir arrows as they rode on horseback, 
 and, with a hundred of his relations, had 
 passed over Euphrates, and now abode at 
 Antioch by Daphne of Syria, where Saturni- 
 Bus, who was then president, had given them 
 a place for habitation, called Valatha, be sent 
 for this luan, with the multitude that fol- 
 lowed him, and promised to give him land in 
 the toparchy called Batanea, which country 
 is bounded with Tracbonitis, as desirous to 
 make that his habitation a guard to himself. 
 Ke also engaged to let him hold the country 
 free from tribute, and that they should dwell 
 entirely without paying such customs as used 
 to be paid, and gave it him tax-free. 
 
 2. The Babylonian was induced by these 
 offers to come hither; so he tool^ possession 
 of the laud, and built in it fortresses and a 
 village, and named it Bathyra. Whereby 
 this man became a safeguard to the inhabi- 
 tants against the Trachonites, and preserved 
 those Jews who came out of Babylon, to offer 
 their sacrifices at Jerusalem, from being hurt 
 by the Traehonite robbers; so that a great 
 number came to him from all those parts 
 where the ancient Jewish laws were observed, 
 and the country became full of people, by rea- 
 son of their universal freedom from taxes. 
 This continued during the life of Herod; but 
 when Philip, who was [tetrarch] after him, 
 took the government, he made them pay some 
 small taxes, and that for a little while only; 
 and Agrippa the Great, and his son of the 
 same name, although they harassed them 
 greatly, yet would they not take their liberty 
 away. From whom, when the Romans have 
 now taken the government into their own 
 hands, they still gave them the privilege of 
 their freedom, but oppress them entirely with 
 the imposition of taxes. Of which matter 1 
 •LaJ treat more accurately in the progress 
 of this history.* 
 
 % At lengthy Zamaris the Babylonian, to 
 
 • Tkia ta now wanting. 
 
 whom Herod had given that country for a (ros- 
 session, died; having lived virtuously, and 
 left children of a good character behind hitii ; 
 one of whom was Jacim, who was fain<iu.>- 
 for his valour, and taught his Babylonians 
 how to ride their horses ; ami a troop ot 
 them were guards to the fore-mentioned kings; 
 and when Jacim was dead in his old age, \w 
 left a son, whose name was Philip, one oi 
 great strength in his hands, and in other rr-- 
 spects also more eminent for his valour thai; 
 any of his contemporaries; on which accouu! 
 there was a contidence and tirm friendship 
 between oim and king Agrippa. He had tt».-.o 
 an army which he maintained, as great a> thai 
 of a king; which he exercised and led where- 
 soever he had occasion to inarch. 
 
 4. When the affairs of Herod were in the 
 condition 1 have described, all the public at- 
 fairs depended upon Anti,)ater; and bi> power 
 was such, that he could do good turns to 
 as many aUie pleased, and this by his father's 
 concession, in hopes of his good- will and 
 fidelity to him; and this till he ventured to 
 use his ^ower still farther, because hfs wicked 
 designs were concealed from his father, and 
 he made him bebeve every thing he said. 
 He was also formidable to all, not so much 
 on account of the power and authority he 
 had, as for the shrewdness of his vile attempts 
 beforehand; but he who principally cultivated 
 a friendship with him was Pheroras, wlio 
 received the like marks of his friendship; 
 while Antipater had cunningly encom|>assed 
 him about by a company of women, whom he 
 placed as guards about him; for Pheroras 
 was greatly enslaved to his wite, and to her 
 mother, and to her sister; and this notwith- 
 standing the hatred he bare them, for the in- 
 dignities they had offered to his virgin daugh- 
 ters. Yet did he bear them; and nothing 
 was to be done without the women, who had 
 got this man into their circle, and continued 
 still to assist each other in all things, inso- 
 much that Antipater vi'as entirely addicted to 
 them, both by himself and by his mother; 
 for these four women* said all one and the 
 same thing; but the opinions of Pheroras 
 and Antipater were different in some points 
 of no consequence. But the king's sister 
 [Salome] was their antagonist, who for a good 
 while had looked about all their affairs, aiid 
 was apprised that this their friendship was 
 made, in order to do Herod some mischief, and 
 was disposed to inform the king of it; and 
 since these people knew toat their friendship 
 was very disagreeable to Herod, as tending 
 to do him a mischief, they, contrived that theii 
 meetings should not be discovered; so they 
 pretended to hate one another, and abuse one 
 another when time served, and especially when 
 Herod was present, or when any one was 
 
 * Pberoras's wif«, and her mother and 
 Doris, A nti pater's mother 
 
460 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOQK XVI ^ 
 
 there that would tell him; but still their 
 intimacy was firmer than ever, when they were 
 private; and this was the course they took. 
 But they could not conceal from Salome 
 neither their first contrivance, when they set 
 about these their intentions, nor when they 
 had made some progress in them; but she 
 searched out every thing, and, aggravating 
 the relations to her brother, declared to him, 
 ds well their secret assemblies and compota- 
 tions, as their counsels taken in a clandestine 
 manner, which, if they were not in order to 
 destroy him, they might well enough have 
 been open and public; but to appearance 
 they are at variance, and speak about one 
 another as if they intended one another a 
 mischief, but agree so well together when 
 they are out of the sight of the multitude; 
 for when they are alone by themselves they 
 act in concert, and profess that they will 
 never leave off their friendship, but will tight 
 against those from whom they conceal their 
 designs: and thus did she search out these 
 things, and get a perfect knowledge of them, 
 and then told her brother of them, who un- 
 derstood also of himself a great deal of what 
 she said, but still durst not depend upon it, 
 because of the suspicions he had of his sister's 
 calumnies; for there was a certain sect of 
 men that were Jews, who valued themselves 
 highly upon the exact skill they had in the 
 law of their fathers, and made men believe 
 they were highly favoured by God, by whom 
 this set of women were inveigled. These 
 are those that are called the sect of the Pha- 
 risees, who were in a capacity of greatly 
 opposing kings. A cunning sect they were, 
 and soon elevated to a pitch of open fighting 
 and doing mischief. Accordingly, when all 
 the people of the Jews gave assurance of 
 their good-will to Caesar, and to the king's 
 government, these very men did not swear, 
 being above six thousand; and when the^ 
 king imposed a fine upon them, Pheroras's 
 wife paid their fine for them. In order to 
 requite which kindness of hers, since they 
 were believed to have the foreknowledge of 
 things to come by divine inspiration, they 
 foretold how God had decreed that Herod's 
 government should cease, and his posterity 
 should be deprived of it; but that the king- 
 dom should come to her and Pheroras, and 
 to" their children. These predictions were 
 not concealed from Salome, but were told 
 the king; as also how they had perverted 
 some persons about the palace itself. So the 
 king slew such of the Pharisees as were prin- 
 cipally accused, aq^ Bagoas the eunuch, and 
 one Car us, who exceeded all men of that 
 time in comeliness, and one that was his 
 catamite. He slew also all those of his own 
 family who had consented to what the Phari- 
 sees foretold; and for Bagoas, he had been 
 puffed up by them, as though he should be 
 named the father and the ben^actor of him 
 
 who, by the prediction, was foretold to b< 
 their appointed king; for that this king 
 would have all things in his power, and 
 would enable Bagoas to marry, and to hav« 
 children of his own body begotten. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONCERNING THE ENMITY BETWEEN HEROD 
 AND pheroras; how HEROD SENT ANTI- 
 PATER TO C-<ESARr AND OF THE DEATH OS 
 PHERORAS. 
 
 § 1. When Herod had pninished those Pha- 
 risees who had been convicted of the fore- 
 going crimes, he gathered an assembly together 
 of his friends, and accused Pheroras's wifej 
 and ascribing the abuses of the virgins to the 
 impudence of that woman, brought an -accu- 
 sation against her for the dishonour she had 
 brought upon them: that she had studious:ly 
 introduced a quarrel between him and his 
 brother; and, by her ill temper, had brought 
 them into a state of war, both by her words 
 and actions: that the fines which he had laid 
 had not been paid, and the offeuders had 
 escaped punishment by her means; and that 
 nothing which had of late been done, had 
 been done without her: "for which reasoa 
 Pheroras would do well, if .he would of his 
 own accord, and by his own coiiimand, and 
 not at my entreaty, or as following my 
 opinion, put this his wife away, as one that 
 will still be the occasion of war between thee 
 and me. And now, Pheroras, if thou vainest 
 thy relation to me, put this wife of tlime 
 away; for by this means thou wilt continue 
 to be a brother to me, and wilt abide in thy 
 love to me." Then said Pheroras (.although 
 he was pressed hard by the former words), that 
 as he would not do so unjust a thing as to 
 renounce his brotherly relation to him, so 
 would he not leave off his affection for his 
 wife; that he would rather choose to die, than 
 to live and be deprived of a wife that was s» 
 dear unto him. Hereupon Herod put off 
 his anger against Pheroras on these accounts, 
 although he himself thereby underwent a very 
 uneasy punishment. However, he forbade 
 Antipater and his mother to have any conver- 
 sation with Pheroras, and bade them to take 
 care to avoid the assemblies of the women: 
 which they promised to do, but still got 
 together when occasion served; and both 
 Pheroras and Antipater had their own merry 
 meetings. The report went also, that Antipater 
 had criminal conversation with Pheroras's 
 wife, and that they were brought together by 
 Antipater's mother. 
 
 2. But Antipater had now a suspicion o( 
 his father, and was afraid that the elfects of 
 his hatred to him nii{jht increase; so he wrot» 
 to bis friends at Uuuie, aud bade theru seod 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 461 
 
 to Herod, that he would immediately send 
 Antipater to Caesar; which, when it was done, 
 Ilerod sent Antipater thither, and sent most 
 noble presents along with him ; as also his 
 testament, wherein Antipater was appointed 
 to be his successor : and that if Antipater 
 should die first, his son [Herod Philip], by 
 the high -priest's daughter, should succeed. 
 And, together with Antipater, there went to 
 Rome, Sylleus the Arabian, although he had 
 done nothing of all that Caesar had enjoined 
 him. Antipatei also accused him of the same 
 crimes of w hich he had been formerly accused 
 by Herod. Sylleu was also accused by Are- 
 tas, that without his consent he had slain 
 many of the chief of the Arabians at Petra; 
 and particularly Soemus, a man that deserved 
 to be honoured by all men, and that he had 
 slain Fabatus, a servant of Caesar. These 
 were the things of which Sylleus was accused, 
 and that on the occasion following: — There 
 was one Corinthus, belonging to Herod, of 
 the guards of the king's body, and one who 
 was greatly trusted by him. Sylleus had per- 
 suaded this man with the offer of a great sum of 
 money to kill Herod; and hehad promised todo 
 it. When Fabatus had been made acquainted 
 with this, for Sylleus had himself told him 
 of it, he informed the king of it; who caught 
 Corinthus, and put him to the torture, and 
 thereby got out of him the whole conspiracy. 
 He also caught two other Arabians, who were 
 discovered by Corinthus; the one the head of 
 a tribe, and the other a friend to Sylleus, who 
 both were by the king brought to the torture, 
 and confessed that they were come to encou- 
 rage Corinthus not to foil of doing what he 
 had undertaken to do; and to assist him with 
 their own hands in the murder, if need should 
 require their assistance. So Saturninus, upon 
 Herod's discovering the whole to him, sent 
 them to Rome. 
 
 3. At this time Heroti ^.ommanded Phe- 
 roras, that since he was so obstinate in his 
 affection for his wife, he should retire into his 
 own tetrarchy; which he did very willingly, 
 and sware many oaths that he would not come 
 again till he heard that Herod was dead. 
 And indeed when, upon a sickness of the king, 
 he was desired to come to him before he died, 
 that he might entrust him with some of his 
 injunctions, he had such a regard to his oath, 
 that he would not come to him ; yet did not 
 Herod so retain his hatred to Pheroras, but 
 remitted of his purpose [not to see him] which 
 he before bad, and that for such great causes 
 as have been already mentioned: but as soon 
 as he became to be ill he came to him, and this j 
 without being sent for ; and when he was 
 dead he took care of his funeral, and had his 
 body brought to Jerusalem, and buried there, 
 nd appointed a solemn mourning for him. 
 This [death ol Pheroras] became the origin 
 of Antipater's misfortunes, although he had 
 already sailed for Rome. God now being 
 
 about to punish him for the murder of his 
 brethren. I will explain the history of this 
 matter very distinctly, that it may be for 
 a warning to mankind, that they take care 
 of conducting their whole lives by the rules 
 of virtue. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. I 
 
 PHEROHAS'S WIFE IS ACCUSED BY HIS FREED- 
 MEN AS GUILTY OF POISONING HIM; AND 
 HOW HEROD, UPON EXAMINING OF THB 
 MATTER BY TORTURE, FOUND THE POISON; 
 BUT SO THAT IT HAD BEEN PREPARED FOa 
 HIMSELF BY HIS SON ANTIPATER; AND, 
 UPON AN INQUIRY BY TORTURE, HE DIS- 
 COVERED THE DANGEROUS DESIGNS OP 
 
 ANTIPATER. 
 
 I 
 
 § 1. As soon as Pheroras was dead, and his 
 funeral was over, two of Pheroras's freedmen, 
 who were much esteemed by him, came to 
 Herod, and entreated him not to leave the 
 murder of his brother without avenging it, 
 but to examine into such an unreason^le and 
 unhappy death. When he was moved with 
 these words, for they seemed to him to be 
 true, they said that Pheroras supped with his 
 wife the day before he fell sick, and that a 
 certain potion was brought him in such a 
 sort of food as he was not used to eat ; but 
 that when he had eaten he died of it: that 
 this potion was brought out of Arabia by a 
 woman, under pretence indeed as a love- 
 potion, for that was its name, but in reahty to 
 kill Pheroras; for that the Arabian women 
 are skilful in making such poisons: and the 
 woman to whom they ascribe this, was con- 
 fessedly a most intimate friend of one of Syl- 
 leus's mistresses; and that both the mother 
 and the sister of Pheroras's wife had been at 
 the place where she lived, arrd had persuaded 
 her to sell them this potion, and bad come 
 back and brought it with them the day before 
 that of his supper. Hereupon the king was 
 provoked, and put the women-slaves to the 
 torture, and some that were free with them; 
 and as the fact did not yet appear, because 
 none of them would confess it, at length one 
 of them, under the utmost agonies, said no 
 more but this, that she prayed that Go* 
 would send the like agonies upon Antipater's 
 mother, who had been the occasion of these 
 miseries to all of them. This prayer induced 
 Herod to increase the women's tortures, till 
 thereby all was discovered: their merry meet- 
 ings, their secret assemblies, and the disclos- 
 ing of what he bad said to his son alone unto 
 Pheroras's* women. (Now what Herod had 
 charged Antipater to conceal, was the gift of 
 a hundred talents to him, not to have any 
 conversation with Pheroras.) And what 
 
 • His wife, her mother, and aistm. 
 
462 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XTIL 
 
 hatred be bore to bis father; and that he com- 
 pluiiieii to his mother how very long his 
 father lived, and that he was himself almost 
 an old man, insomuch that if the kingdom 
 should come to him, it would not afford hin» 
 any great pleasure ; aiid that there were a great 
 many of his brothers, or brothers' children, 
 bringing up, that might have hopes of the 
 kingdom as well as himself; all which made 
 bis own hopes of it uncertain; for that even 
 now, if he should himself not live, Herod 
 bad ordained that tbe government should be 
 conferred, Tiot on his son, but rather on a 
 brother. He also had accused the king of great 
 oarbarity, and of the slaughter of his sons; 
 and that it was out of the fear he was under, 
 lest he should do the like to him, that made 
 him contrive this his journey to Rome, and 
 Pheroras contrive to go to his own tetrarchy.* 
 
 • 2. These confessions agreed with what his 
 sister had told him, and tended greatly to 
 corroborate her testimony, and to free her 
 
 • from the suspicion of her unfaithfulness to him. 
 So the king having satisfied himself of the 
 spite which Doris, Antipater's mother, as«well 
 as hiiqself, bore to him, took away from her 
 all her fine ornaments, which were worth «nany 
 talents, and then sent her away, and entered 
 into friendship with Pheroras's women. But 
 he who most of all irritated the king against 
 his son, was one Antipater, the procurator of 
 Antipater the king's son, who, when he was 
 tortured, among other things, said that Anti- 
 pater had prepared a deadly potion, and given 
 it to Pheroras, with his desire that he would 
 give ^t to his father during his absence, and 
 
 , when he was too remote to have the least 
 suspicion cast upon him thereto relating; that 
 Antiphilus, one of Antipater's friends, brought 
 that potion out of Egypt; and that it was sent 
 to Pheroras by Theudion, the brother of the 
 mother of Antipater, the king's son, and by 
 that means came to Pheroras's wife, her hus- 
 band having given it her to keep. And when 
 the king asked her about it, she confessed it; 
 and as she was running to fetch it, she threw 
 herself down from the house-top, yet did she 
 not kill herself, because she fell upon her 
 feet: by which means, when the king had 
 comforted her, and had promised her and her 
 domestics pardon, upon condition of their 
 concealing nothing of the truth from him, 
 but had threatened her with the utmost mise- 
 ries if she proved ungrateful [and concealed 
 any thing]; so she proTiised him, and swore 
 that she would speak out every thing, and tell 
 
 • It st-ems to me, by this whole »tory put togetfier, that 
 Pheroras was not himiieir poisoned, as is commonly sup- 
 posed; for Aiitipatfr haii per^uaiied him to poison Herod 
 ich. T. s. 1). which would lali to the ground if he were 
 himself poisoned: nur could the puisotink; of Pheroras 
 serve any denign that appears now kuii>k forward; it was 
 only the supposal uftwu ui bis Ireediiitn. that thin juve- 
 potion, ur poison, wiiich they kn*-w was briiut;ht tu Phero- 
 ras's wife, was made use of h»r ^ixiuiiiK him ; witneaK it 
 ■ ppritrs lo have l>«frn broiiKht fur her husband to poison 
 lierod withal, as tbe fiuure cxantiuatiuus demonstrate. 
 
 after what manner every thing was done; and 
 said what man) took to be entirely true, that 
 the potion was brought out of Egypt by 
 Antiphilus, and that his brother, who wab a 
 physician, had procured it; and that, "when 
 Theudion brought it us, she kept it upon 
 I*heroras's committing it to her; and that it 
 was prepared by Antipater for thee. When, 
 therefore, Pheroras was fallen sick, and thou 
 camest to him and tookest care of him, and 
 when he saw the kindness thou hadst for him, 
 his mind was overborne thereby. So he called 
 me to him, and said to me, 'O woman! 
 Antipater hath circumvented me in this atfair 
 of his father and my brother, by persuading 
 me to have a murderous intention to him, and 
 procuring a potion to be subservient thereto: 
 do thou, therefore, go and fetch my potion 
 (since my brother appears to have still the 
 same virtuous disposition towards me which 
 he had formerly, and 1 do not expect to live 
 long myself, and that 1 may not defile my 
 forefathers by the murder of a brother) and 
 burn it before my face:' that accordingly she 
 itnmediately brought it, and did as her husband 
 bade her; and that she burnt the greatest 
 part of the potion ; but that a little of it wa« 
 left, that if the king, after Pheroras's death, 
 should treat her ill, she might poison herself, ^ 
 and thereby get clear of her miseries." Upor flj 
 her saying thus, she brought out the potion, 
 and the box in which it was, before them all. 
 Nay, there was another brother of Antiphilus, 
 and his mother also, who, by the extremity of 
 pain and torture, confessed the same things, 
 and owned the box [to be that which had 
 been brought out of Egypt]. The high- 
 priest's daughter also, who was the king's 
 wife, was accused to have been conscious of 
 all this, and had resolved to conceal it; for 
 which reason Herod divorced her, and blotted 
 her son out of his testament, wherein he had 
 been mentioned as one that was to reign after 
 him; and he took the high-priesthood away 
 from his father-in-law, Simeon the son of 
 Boethus, and appointed Matthias the son ol 
 Theophilus, who was born at Jerusalem, to 
 be high- priest in his room. 
 
 3. While this was doing, Bathyllus also, 
 Antipater's freedman, came from Rome, and 
 upon the torture was fjund to have brought 
 another potion, to give it into the hands of 
 Antipater's mother, and of Pheroras, that if 
 the former potion did not operate upon the 
 king, this at least might carry him off. There 
 came also letters from Hero<i's friends at 
 Rome, by the approbation and at the sugges- 
 tion of Antipater, to accuse Arcbelaus and 
 ! Philip, as if they calumniated their father on 
 account of the slaughter of Alexander end 
 Aristobuliis, and as if they commiserated their 
 deaths, and as if, because they were sent for 
 home (for their father bad already recalled 
 them), they concluded they were themselves 
 also to be destroyed. These letters had been 
 
CHAP. V, 
 
 ANTiaUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 463 
 
 prncnred by great rewards, by Antipater's 
 frfpiids; bat Antipater himself wrote to his 
 Catberabout tbeia, aiid laid the heavietst thing)' 
 to their charge; yet did he entirely excuse 
 theic «^ any guiit, and said they were but 
 youPjT loeo, afid lio imputed their word:$ tu 
 tbeir v-ottth. Bat be said that he had hioi- 
 self been very busy in the afiair relating tu 
 Sylletts, and in i^ettii^ intere^ aiuoiig the 
 great Mcn; and on that account had bought 
 spleiulid ornaiHents to preseut them vkithaL. 
 which cost him two hundred talents. Now, 
 one may wonder bow it caine about, thaU 
 while so many arrusatioas were laid against 
 faim in Jadea during seven inoiKhs before this 
 time, he was not made acquainted with aiiy 
 of them. The causes of which were, that 
 the ruads were exactly guarded, and that wen 
 bated Antipater; for there was nobody who 
 would run auiy hazard himself, to gain him 
 any advaati^ges. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 4KTirATE«*S NAVIGATION FftOlf ftOME TO HTS 
 FATHER; AND llUW HE WAS ACCUSED BT 
 KiruLACS OF DAMASCUS, AND CONDEMNED 
 TO DIE BV HIS FATHER, AND BT QOIN- 
 TIUUS VARUS, WHO WAS THEN FRESIOFNT 
 OF stria; AND HOW HE WaS THEN BO0ND 
 TILL OiilSAR SUOCLO BE INFORMED OF UlS 
 CACSE. 
 
 § 1. Now Herod, upon Antipater's writing 
 to him, that having done all that he was to 
 do, and this in the manner he was to do it, 
 fae would suddenly come to him, coiM^aled 
 his anger against him, and wrote back to him, 
 and bade lum not delay his journey, lest any 
 harm should be£il himself in his absence. 
 At the same time also he made some litfle 
 complaint about his mother, but promised that 
 he would lay those complaints aside when he 
 should return. He withal expressed bis en- 
 tire affection for him, as fearing lest he should 
 have some suspicion of him, and defer his 
 journey to him; and lest, while he lired at 
 fiome, he should lay plots for the kingdom, 
 and, moreover, do something against himsel£ 
 This letter Antipater met with in Cilicia; but 
 bad received an account of Pheroras's death be- 
 fore at TarcDtum. This last news affected him 
 deeply; -oi ^Mit of any affection for Phero- 
 ras, but because he was dead without baring 
 murdered his father, which he had promised 
 him to do. And whe^ he was at Celendris 
 in Cilicia, he began to deliberate with him- 
 self about his sailing home, u being much 
 grieved with the ejection of his mother. Now, 
 some of his friends advised him that he should 
 tarry a while somewhere, in expectation of 
 fiirrher informatiou. But others advisui him 
 to sail home without delay; for that if be 
 
 were once come thither, be would soon put an 
 end to all accusations, and that nodung afford- 
 ed any weight to his accusers at present but 
 his absence. Ue wast persuaded by tnesse last, 
 and sailed on, and landed at the haven exiled 
 Seba>tus, which llerud had built at vast««x> 
 peuses ill honour of Caesar, and called Sebas- 
 tus. And now wa« Antipater evidently in a 
 miserable condition, while nobody came to 
 him nor saluted him, as they diu at hi:* gunu; 
 away, aith good aishes or joyful acrl«uM. 
 tious; nor was there now any thing to hiiuier 
 them from entertaiuing him, ou the cikutr*r\, 
 with bitter curses, while they suppoMti ht 
 was coiue to recuve bis puni^inwrut fur the 
 murder of his brethren. 
 
 2. Now Quiutilius Varus was at this timt 
 at Jerusaieai. being sent to succeed Siaturm- 
 nus as president of Syria, and aras oouie a? 
 aii assessor to Herod, who bad desired bi» 
 ail vice in his present affairs; and as they were 
 sitting t<^ether, Ajitipater came upon them, 
 «rithuut kuuwit^ any tbi^g oft the matter; >o 
 be cajiie into the p ^U c c eluthed in purple 
 The purttrr^ indeed recei^red him in, but ex- 
 cluded his friends. And now he was in gn^t 
 disorder, and presently uuderstuod the cuutJ- 
 tiou he M-as in, while, u{kmi h» guiiig tu 
 salute his &ther, he was repuh<ed by hiui, who 
 called him a murderer of hi> brethren, aiui 
 plotter of destruction against hini^^lf, aiiu 
 tokl him that Varus shouln be his amator amu: 
 his judge the very next day; so be tuttuU, 
 that what misfortune he now heard of W4!^ 
 already upon him, with the greatness of which 
 he went away in coiifu.'%ion ; uptia which hi^ 
 mother and lus w^e met him (which wife witi- 
 the daughter of Antigonus, who ap«s kuig ot 
 the Jews before Herod), from whom he 
 learned all circumstances which cuiUrerueo 
 him, and then prepared himself tor his trial. 
 
 3. On the next day Varus and the kin^ 
 sat together in judgment, and both tlicir 
 friends were also called in, as also the king's 
 relations, with his sister Salome, and as many 
 as could discover any thing, and such as h^ 
 been tortured; and besides these, some slaves 
 of Antipater's mother, who were taken up a 
 little before Antipater*s coming, and brougnt 
 H-ith them a h ritten letter, the sum of whu-h 
 was this: That he should mA come back, be- 
 cause all was come to his Either 's knowlei'.ge, 
 and that Caesar was the only refuge be hat< 
 left, to prevent both his and her delivery inu< 
 bis father's hands, ^hen did Antipater tiA 
 dou-n at his father's feet, and besought bi.t. 
 not to prejudge his cause, but that he might ik 
 tirst heard by his father, and that his hither 
 would keep himself stiU unprejudiced. So 
 Herod <Hdered him to be brought into the 
 midst, and then lamented himself about bis 
 children, from whom b€ bad suffered such great 
 misfortunes; and because Antipater fell upon 
 him in his old age. He also reckoned up% 
 what ciaint f T'lniv . and what oducatimi be hati 
 
464 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVII. 
 
 given them; and Vfhat seasonable supplies of 
 wealth he had aflforded them, according to 
 their own desires; none of which favours had 
 hindered them from contriving against him, 
 and from bringing his very life into danger in 
 order to gain his kingdom, after an impious 
 manner, by taking away his life before the 
 course of nature, their father's wishes, or 
 'ustice, required that that kingdom should 
 come to them; and that he wondered what 
 hupes could elevate Antipater to such a pass 
 as to be hardy enough to attempt such things; 
 that he had by his testament in writing de- 
 clared him his successor in the government; 
 and while he was alive, he was in no respect 
 interior to him, either in his illustrious dig- 
 nity, or in power and authority, he having no 
 less than filty talents for his yearly income, 
 and had received for bis journey to Rome no 
 fewer than thirty talents. He also objected 
 to bira the case of his brethren whom he had 
 accused; and if they were guilty, he had 
 imitated their example; and if not, he had 
 brought him groundless accusations against 
 his near relations; for that he had been 
 acquainted with all those things by him, and 
 by nobody else, and had done what was done 
 by bis approbation, and whom he now 
 absolved from all that was criminal, by be- 
 coming the inheritor of the guilt of such 
 their parricide. 
 
 4. When Herod had thus spoken, he fell 
 a- weeping, and was not able to say any more ; 
 but at his desire Nicolaus of Damascus, being 
 tbe king's friend, and always conversant with 
 him, and acquainted with whatsoever he did, 
 and with the circumstances of his affairs, pro- 
 ceeded to what remained, and explained all 
 that concerned the demonstrations and evi- 
 dences of the facts. Upon which Antipater, 
 in order to make his legal defence, turned 
 himself to his father, and enlarged upon the 
 many indications he had given of his good- 
 will t© him; and instanced in the honours 
 that bad been done him, which yet had not 
 been done, had he not deserved them by his 
 virtuous concern about him; for that he had 
 made provision for every thing that was fit to 
 be foreseen beforehand, as to giving him his 
 wisest advice; and whenever there was occa- 
 sion for the labour of his own hands, he had 
 not grudged any such pains for him. And 
 that it was almost impossible that he, who had 
 delivered his father from so, many treacherous 
 contrivances laid against him, should be him- 
 self in a plot against him, and so lose all the 
 reputation he had gained for his virtue, by 
 his wickedness which succeeded it; and this 
 while he had nothing to prohibit him, who 
 was already appointed his successor, to enjoy 
 the royal honour with his father also at present ; 
 ai d that there was no likelihood that a person 
 who had tbe one half of that authority without 
 '-any danger, and with a good character, should 
 bunt after tb« whole with infamy and danger, 
 
 and this when it was doubtful whether h« 
 could obtain it or not ; and when he saw the 
 sad example of his brethren before him, and 
 was both the informer and the accuser against 
 them, at a time when they might not other- 
 wise have been discovered; nay, was the 
 author of the punishment inflicted upon them, 
 when it appeared evidently that they were 
 guilty of a wicked attempt against their father; 
 and that even the contentions that were in 
 the king's family, were indications that he 
 had ever managed affairs out of tbe sincerest 
 affection to his father. And as to what he 
 had done at Rome, Caesar was a witness 
 thereto, who was yet no more to be imposed 
 upon than God himself; of whose opinions 
 his letters sent hither are sufficient evidence: 
 and that it was not reasonable to prefer the 
 calumnies of such as proposed to raise dis- 
 turbances, before those letters; the greatest 
 part of which calumnies had been raised 
 during his absence, which gave scope to his 
 enemies to forge them, which they had not 
 been able to do if he had been there. More- 
 over he showed the weakness of the evidence 
 obtained by torture, which was commonly 
 false; because the distress men are in under 
 such tortures, naturally obliges them to say 
 many things, in order to please those that 
 govern them. He also offered himself to the 
 torture. 
 
 5. Hereupon there was a change observed 
 in the assembly, while they greatly pitied 
 Antipater, who, by weeping and putting on 
 a countenance suitable to his sad case, made 
 them commiserate the same; insomuch that 
 his very enemies were moved to compassion; 
 and it appeared plainly that Herod himself 
 was .affected in his own mind, although he 
 was not willing it should be taken notice of. 
 Then did Nicolaus begin to prosecute what 
 the king had begun, and that with great 
 bitterness; and summed up all tbe evidence 
 which arose from the tortures, or from the 
 testimonies. He principally and largely crieu 
 up the king's virtues, which he had exhibited 
 in the maintenance and education of his sons; 
 while he never could gain any advantage 
 thereby, but still fell from one misfortune to 
 another. Although he owned that he was 
 not so much surprised with that thoughtless 
 behaviour of his former sons, who were 
 but young, and were besides corrupted by 
 wicked counsellors, who were the occasion 
 of their wiping out of their minds all the 
 righteous dictates of nature, and this out of 
 a desire of coming to tbe government sooner 
 than they ought to do; yet that he could not 
 but justly stand amazed at the horrid wicked- 
 ness of Antipater, who, although he had not 
 only had great benetits bestowed on him by 
 his father, enough to tame his reason, yet 
 could not be more tamed than the n:ost 
 envenomed serpents; whereas even those crea- 
 tures admit of oCMiie mitigation, and will not 
 
'""'^lUi 'lIBlip mi iiiiiiJiil 
 
^P-^:. 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 465 
 
 bite their benefactors, while Anti pater hath 
 not let the misfortunes of his brethrSn be any 
 hinderance to him, but he hath gone on to imi- 
 tate Their barbarity notwithstanding. "Yet 
 wast thou, O Antipater! (as thoa hast thy- 
 self confessed) the informer as to what wicked 
 actions they had done, and the searcher out 
 of the evidence against them, and the author 
 of the punishment they underwent upon their 
 detection. Nor do we say this as accusing 
 ibee for being so zealous in thy anger against 
 them, but are astonished at thy endeavours to 
 imitate their profligate behaviour; and we 
 discover thereby, that thou didst not act thus 
 for the safety of thy father, but for the de- 
 struction of thy brethren, that by such outside 
 hatred of their impiety thou mightest be 
 believed a lover of thy father, and mightest 
 thereby get thee power enough to do mischief 
 with the greatest impunity; which design thy 
 actions indeed demonstrate. It is true, thou 
 tookest thy brethren off, because thou didst 
 convict them of their wicked designs; but 
 thou didst not yield up to justice those who 
 were their partners; and thereby didst make 
 it evident to all men that thou madest a cove- 
 nant with them against thy father, when .thou 
 chosest to be the accuser of thy brethren, as 
 desirous to gain to thyself alone this advan- 
 tage of laying plots to kill thy father, and so 
 to enjoy double pleasure, which is truly worthy 
 of thy evil disposition, — which thou hast 
 openly shown against thy brethren; on which 
 account thou didst rejoice, as having done a 
 most famous exploit, nor was that behaviour 
 unworthy of thee; but if thy intention were 
 otherwise, thou art worse than they: while 
 thou didst contrive to hide thy treachery 
 against thy father, thou didst hate them; not 
 as plotters against thy father, for in that case 
 thou hadst not thyself fallen upon the like 
 crime, but as successors of his dominions, and 
 more worthy of that succession than thyself. 
 Thou wouldest kill thy father after thy bre- 
 thren, lest thy lies raised against them might 
 be detected ; and lest ,thou shouldst suffer 
 what punishment thou hadst deserved, thou 
 hadst a mind to exact that punishment of thy 
 unhappy father, and didst devise such a sort 
 of uncommon parricide as the world never 
 yet saw; — for thou who art his son didst not 
 only lay a treacherous design against thy 
 father, and didst it while he loved thee, and 
 had been thy benefactor, — had made thee in 
 reality hU partner in the king<lom, and had 
 openly declared thee his successor, while thuu 
 wast not forbidden to taste the sweetness of 
 authority already, and hadst the iirm hope of 
 what was future by thy father's determination, 
 and the security of a written testament; but 
 for certain, thou didst not measure these things 
 according to thy father's various disposition, 
 but according to thy own thoughts and incli- 
 nations; and wast desirous to take the part 
 that remained away from thy too indulgent 
 
 father, and soughtest to destroy him with thy 
 deeds, whom thou in words pretendedst to 
 preserve. Nor wast thou content to be wicked 
 thyself, but thou filledst thy mother's head 
 with thy devices, and raisedst disturbance 
 among thy brethren, and hadst the boldness to 
 call thy father a wild beast; while thou hadst 
 thyself a mind more cruel than any serpent 
 whence thou sentest out that poison a.moug 
 thy nearest kindred and greatest benefactors, 
 and invitedst them to assist thee and guard 
 thee, and didst hedge thyself in on all sides 
 by the artifices of both men and women, 
 against an old man, — as though that mind ot 
 thine was not sufficient of itself to support so 
 great a hatred as thou barest to him; and 
 here thou appearest, after the tortures of free- 
 men, of domestics, of men and women, which 
 have been examined on thy account, and 
 after the informations of thy fellow-conspira- 
 tors, as making haste to contradict the truth; 
 and hast thought on ways not only how to 
 take thy father out of the world, but to disan- 
 nul that written law which is against thee, 
 and the virtue of Varus, and the nature of 
 justice; nay, such is that impudence of thine 
 on which thou confidest, that thou desirest to 
 be put to the torture thyself, while thou 
 allegest that the tortures of those already 
 examined thereby have made them tell lies; 
 that those that have been the deliverers of thy 
 father may not be allowed to have spoken the 
 truth; but that thy tortures may be esteemed 
 the discoverers of truth. Wilt not thou, O 
 Varus! deliver the king from the injuries oi 
 his kindred? "Wilt not thou destroy this 
 wicked wild beast, which halh pretended kind- 
 ness to his father, in order to destroy his bre- 
 thren; while yet he is himself alone ready to 
 carry off the kingdom immediately, and ap- 
 pears to be the most bloody butcher to hira 
 of them all? for thou art sensible that par- 
 ricide is a general injuuy both to nature and 
 to common life ; and that the intention of 
 parricide is not inferior to its preparation ; 
 and he who does not punish it, is injurious to 
 nature itself." 
 
 6. Nicolaus added farther what belonged 
 to Antipater's mother, and whatsoever she 
 had prattled like a woman ; as al»o about the 
 predictions and the sacrifices relating to th-e 
 king; and whatsoever Antipater had done 
 lasciviously in his cups and his amours among 
 Plieroras's women; the examination upon 
 torture; and v/hatsoever concerned the tes- 
 timoiiiesof the witnesses, which weremany,and 
 of various kinds; some prepared beforehand, 
 and others were sudden answers, which farther 
 declared and confirmed the foregoing evi- 
 dence. For those men who were iict ec- 
 quainted with Antipater's practices, but had 
 concealed thern out of fear, when they saw 
 that he was exposed to the accusations ot ttie 
 former witnesses, and that his great good tor 
 tune, which Had supported Lim hitherto, had 
 
466 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVII 
 
 now evidently betrayed him into the hands of 
 his enemies, who were now insatiable in their 
 hatred to hiui, told all they knew of him; and 
 his ruin was now hastened, not so much by 
 theentuityot those mat were his accusers, as by 
 his gross, impudent, and wicked contrivances, 
 and by his ill-will to his father and his 
 brethren; while he had filled their house with 
 disturbance, and caused them to murder one 
 another; and was neither fair in his hatred 
 nor kind in his friendship, but just so tar as 
 served his own turn. Now, there were a 
 ^reat number who for a long time beforehand 
 had seen all this, and especially such as were 
 naturally disposed to judge of matters by the 
 rules of virtue, because they were used to de- 
 termine about affairs without passion, but had 
 been restrained from making any open com- 
 plaints before; these, upon the leave now 
 given them, produced all that they knew 
 befor^ the public. 'I'he denionstrations also of 
 these wicked facts could no way be 1i>proved ; 
 because the many witnesses there were did 
 neither speak out of favour to Herod, nor 
 were they obliged to keep what they had to 
 say silent, out of suspicion of any danger they 
 were in; but they spwke what they knew, 
 because they thought such actions very wicked, 
 and that Antipater deserved the greatest 
 punishment; and indeed not so much for 
 Hero<i's safety, as on account of the man's own 
 wickedness. Many things were also said, 
 and those by a great number of persons, who 
 were no way obliged to say them: insomuch 
 that Antipater, who used generally to be very 
 shrewd in his lies and impudence, was not 
 able to say one word to the contrary. When 
 Nicolaus bad left off speaking, and had pro- 
 duced the evidence. Varus bade Antipater to 
 betake himself to the making his defence, if 
 he had prepared any thing whereby it might 
 appear that he was not guilty of the crimes 
 he was accused of; for that, as he was himself 
 desirous, so did he know that his father was 
 in like manner desirous also to have him found 
 entirely innocent; but Antipater fell down 
 on his face, and appealed to God and to all 
 men, for testimonials of his imiocency, desiring 
 that God would declare, by some evident 
 signals, that he had not laid any plot against 
 bis father. This being the usual method of 
 all men destitute of virtue, that, when they 
 8et about any wicked undertakings, they fall 
 to work according to their own inclinations, 
 as if idey believed that God was uncon- 
 cerned in human affairs; but when once they 
 are found out, and are in danger of undergo- 
 ing the punishment due to their crimes, they 
 endeavour to overthrow all the evidence 
 against them, by appealing to God; which was 
 the very thing which Antipater now did; for 
 whareas he had done every thing as if there 
 were no God in the world, when he was on all 
 ■ides distressed by justice, and when he had 
 M> other advantage to expect from any legal 
 
 proofs, by which he might disprove the accu 
 sations laid against him, he impudently abused 
 the majesty of God, and ascribed it to his 
 power, that he hath been preserved hitherto; 
 and produced before them all what difficulties 
 he had ever undergone in his bold acting for 
 his father's preservation. 
 
 7. So when Varus, upon asking Antipater 
 what he had to say for himself, found that hf 
 had nothing to say besides his appeal to God, 
 and saw that there was no end of that, he 
 bade them bring the potion before the court, 
 that he might see what virtue still remained 
 in it; and when it was brought, and one that 
 was condemned to die had drank it by Varus's 
 command, he died presently. Then Varus 
 got up, and departed out of the courts and 
 went away the day following to Antioch, 
 where his usual residence was, because that 
 was the palace of the Syrians; upon which 
 Herod lai<i his son in bonds: but what were 
 Varus's discourses to Herod, was not known 
 to the generality, and upon a hat words it was 
 that he went away; though it was also gene- 
 rally su|)posed, that whatsoever Herod did 
 afterward al)out his son, was done with his 
 approbation: but when Herod had bound his 
 son, he sent letters to Rome to Ca;sar about 
 him, and such messengers withal as should, 
 by word of mouth, inform Ciesar of Antipater's 
 wickedness. Now, at this very time, there 
 was seized a letter of Antiphilus, written to 
 Antipater out of Egypt (for he lived there); 
 and, when it was opened by the king, it was 
 found to contain what follows: — ' I have sent 
 thee Acme's letter, and hazarded my own life; 
 for thou knowest tHat I am in danger from 
 two families, if I be discovered. I wish thee 
 good success in thy affair." These were the 
 contents of this letter; but the king made 
 inquiry about the other letter also, for it <ii<l not 
 appear; and Antiphilus's slave, who brought 
 that letter which had been read, denied that 
 he had received the other: but while the king 
 was in doubt about it, one of Herod's friends 
 seeing a seam upon the inner coat of the slave, 
 and a doubling of the cloth (for he had two 
 coats on) he guessed that the letter might be 
 within that doubling; which accordingly 
 proved to be true. So they took out the 
 letter; and its contents were these: — "Acme 
 to Antipater. I have written such a letter to 
 thy father as thou desiredst me. I have also 
 taken a copy and sent it, as if it came from 
 Salome, to my lady [Livia]; which when thou 
 readest, I know that Herod will punish Salome, 
 as plotting against him." Now, this pretendod 
 letter of Salome to her lady was composed 
 by Antipater, in the name of Salome, as to 
 its meaning, but in the words of Acme. The 
 letter was this: — "Acme to king Herod. 
 1 have done my endeavour that nothing that 
 is done against thee should be concealed from 
 thee. So, upon my finding a letter of Salome 
 written to my lady against thee, I hav« 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THfi JEWS. 
 
 457 
 
 written out a copy and sent it to thee ; with 
 buziird to myself, but for thy advantage. The 
 reason why she wrote it was this, — that she 
 had a mind to be married to Sylleus. Do 
 thou therefore tear this letter in pieces, that 1 
 may not come into danger of my life." Now 
 Acme had written to Anti pater himself, and 
 inJbrmed him, that in compliance with his 
 command, she had both herself written to He- 
 roii, as if Salome had laid a sudilen plot en- 
 tirely against him, and had herself sent a copy 
 of an epistle, as coming from Salome to her 
 lady. Now Acme was a Jew by birth, and a 
 servant to Julia, Ciesar's wife; and did this 
 out of her friendship for Antipater, as having 
 been corrupted by him with a large present of 
 money, to assist in his pernicious designs 
 against his father and his aunt. 
 *8. Hereupon Herod was so amazed at the 
 prodigious wickedness of Antipater, that he 
 was ready to have ordered him to be slain im- 
 mediately, as a turbulent person in the most 
 important concerns, and as one that had laid 
 a plot not only against himself, but against 
 his sister also; and even corrupted Ciesar's 
 own domestics. Salonie also provoked him to 
 it, beating her breast, and bidding him kill her, 
 if he could produce any credil)le testimony 
 that she had acted in that manner. Herod 
 also sent for his son, and asked him about 
 this matter, and bade him contradict it if he 
 could, and not suppress any thing he had to 
 say for himself; and when he had not one 
 word to say, he asked him, since he was every 
 way caught in his villany, that he would make 
 no farther delay but discover his associates 
 in these hU wicked designs. So he laid all 
 upon Antiphilus; but discovered nobody else. 
 Hereupon Herod was in such great grief, that 
 he was ready to send his son to Home to 
 Caesar, there to give an account of these his 
 Mricked contrivances. But he soon became 
 afraid, lest he might there, by the assistance 
 of his friends, escape the danger he was in: 
 so he kept him bound as before, and sent 
 more ambassadors and letters [to Rome] to 
 accuse his son, and an account of what as- 
 sistance Acme had given him in his wicked 
 designs, with copies of the epistles before- 
 mentioned. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 COXCERNIN'G THE DISEASE THAT HEROD FELL 
 INTO, AND THE SEDITION WHICH THE JEWS 
 RAISED THEREUPON; WITH THE PUNISH- 
 MENT OF THE SEDITIOUS. 
 
 § 1. Now Herod's ambassadors made haste to 
 Rome; but sent, as instructed beforehand, 
 what answers they were to make to the ques- 
 tions put to them. They also carried the 
 
 epistles with them. But Herod now fell into 
 a distemper, and made his will, and bequeathed 
 his kingdom to [Antipas], his youngest 
 son; and this out of that hatred to Arcbelaus 
 and Philip, which the calumnies of Anti- 
 pater had raised against them. He also be- 
 queathed a thousand talents to Caesar, and 
 tive hundred to Julia, C:esar's wife, to Cae 
 sar's children, and friends, and freedmen 
 He also distributed among his sons and thei 
 sons his money, his revenues, and his lands. 
 He also made Salome, his sister, very rich, 
 because she had continued faithful to him in 
 all his circumstances, and was never so rash 
 as to do him any harm. And as he despaired 
 of recovering, ior he was about the seven- 
 tieth year of his age, he grew tierce, and in- 
 dulged the bitt^irest anger upon all occasions; 
 the cause whereof was this, that he thought 
 himself despised, and that the nation was 
 pleased with his misfortunes; besides which, 
 he resented a sedition which some of the 
 lower sort of men excited against him, the 
 occasion of which was as follows: — 
 
 2. There was one Judas, the son of Sari- 
 pheus, and Matthias, the son of Marg.dothus 
 two of the most eloquent men among the 
 'Jews, and the most celebrated interpreters ol 
 the Jewish laws, and men well-belove<l by 
 the people, because of their educatioii of theii 
 youth; for all those that were studious ot 
 virtue frequented their lecture* every day. 
 These men, when they found that the king's 
 distemper was incurable, excited the young 
 men that they would pull down all those 
 works which the king had erecte(i contrary lo 
 the law of their fathers, and thereby obtain 
 the rewards which the law will confer on 
 them for such actions of piety; for that it 
 was truly on account of Herod's rashness in 
 making such things as the law bad forbidden, 
 that his other misfortunes, and this distemper 
 also, which was so unusual among mankind, 
 and with which he was now atfiicted, came 
 upon him: for Herod had caused such things 
 to be nmde, which were contrary to the law, 
 of which he was accused by Jjidas and Mat- 
 thias; for the king had erected over the great 
 gate of the temple a large golden eagle, of 
 great value, and had dedicated it to the tem- 
 ple. Now, the law forbids those that pro- 
 pose to live according to it, to erect images,* 
 or representations of any living creature. So 
 these wise men persuaded [their scholars] to 
 pull down the golden eagle; alleging, that 
 although they should incur any danger which 
 might bring them to their deaths, the virtue 
 of the action now proposed to them would 
 appear much more advantageous to them 
 than the pleasures of life; since they would 
 die for the preservation and observation of 
 the law of their fathers; since they would also 
 
 • That the making <■'( iinae«s. without an inientiov 
 to wursiiip them, was not unlawful t> the Jews, aee the 
 note on Antiq. b. viii. cb. tu. se^a- 
 
468 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVIT. 
 
 acquire an everlasting fame and commenda- 
 tion; since they would be both commended 
 by the present generation, and leave an 
 example ot lite that would never be forgotten 
 to posterity; since that common calamity of 
 dying cannot be avoided by our living so as 
 to escape any such dangers: that therefore it 
 is a right thmg for those who are in love with 
 virtuous conduct, to wait for that fatal hour 
 y such a behaviour as may carry them out 
 of the world with praise and honour; and 
 that this will alleviate death to such a degree, 
 thus to come at it by the performance of 
 brave actions, which bring us into danger of 
 it; and at the same time to leave that repu- 
 tation behind them to their children, and to 
 all their relations, whether they be men or 
 women, which will be of great advantage to 
 them afterward. 
 
 3. And with such discourses as this did 
 these men excite the young men to this 
 action; and a report being come to them that 
 the king was dead, this was an addition to the 
 wise men's persuasions; so, in the very middle 
 of the day they got upon the place, they 
 pulled down the eagle, and cut it into pieces 
 with axes, while a great number of the people 
 were in the temple. And now the king's 
 captain, upon hearing what the undertaking 
 was, and supposing it was a thing of a higher 
 nature than it proved to be, came up thither, 
 having a great band of soldiers with him, such 
 as was sufficient to put a stop to the multitude 
 of those who pulled down what was dedicated 
 to God: so he fell upon them unexpectedly, 
 Hiid as they were upon this bold attempt, in a 
 foolish presumption rather than a cautious 
 circumspection, as is usual with the. multi- 
 tude, and while they were in disorder, and 
 incautious of what was for their advantage, — 
 so he caught no fewer than forty of the young 
 men, who had the courage to stay behind 
 when the rest ran away, together with the 
 authors of this bold attempt, Judas and Mat- 
 thias, who thought it an ignominious thing to 
 retire upon his approach, and led them to the 
 king. And when they were come to the king, 
 and he had asked them if they had been so 
 bold as to pull down what he had dedicated 
 to God, " Yes (said they) what was contrived 
 we contrived, and what hath been performed, 
 we performed it; and that with such a vir- 
 tuous courage as becomes men ; for we hare 
 given our assistance to those things which 
 were deaicated to the majesty of God, and we 
 have provided for what we have learned by 
 heanng the law; and it ought not to be won- 
 derea at, if we esteem those laws which Moses 
 had 8ui<:gested to him, and were taught him 
 by oofl. and which he wrote and left behind 
 him, more worthy of observation than thy 
 cotrmands. Accordingly, we will undergo 
 deacn, and all sorts of punishments which 
 thou canst inflict upon us, with ^.lc•a:^ul•e, since 
 we are conscious to ourselves that we shall 
 
 die, not for any unrighteous actions, but foi 
 our love to religion." And thus they ail saidi 
 and their courage was still equal to their pro- 
 fession, and equal to that with which they 
 readily set about this undertaking. And when 
 the king had ordered them to be bound, he 
 sent them to Jericho, and called together the 
 principal men among the Jews; and when 
 they were come, he made them assemble in 
 the theatre, and because he could not himself 
 stand, he lay upon a couch, and enumerated 
 the many labours that he had long endured 
 on their account, and his building of the tem- 
 ple, and what a vast charge that was to him ; 
 while the Asamoneans, during the hundred 
 and twenty-five years of their government, 
 had not been able to perform any so great a 
 work for the honour of God as that was: that 
 he had also adorned it with very valuable 
 donations; on which account he hoped that he 
 had left himself a memorial, and procu'ed 
 himself a reputation after his death. He 
 then cried out, that these men had not 
 abstained from affronting him, even in his 
 life-time, but that, in the very day-time, and 
 in the sight of the multitude, they had abused 
 him to that degree, as to tall upon what he 
 had dedicated, and in that way of abuse, had 
 pulled it down to the ground. They pre- 
 tended, indeed, that they did it to affront him ; 
 but if any one consider the thing truly, they 
 will find thrt they were guilty of sacrilege 
 against God therein. 
 
 4. But the people, on account of Herod's 
 barbarous temper, and for fear he should be 
 so cruel as to intlict punishment on them, said 
 what was done, was done without approbation, 
 and that it seemed to them that the actors 
 might well be punished for what they had 
 done. But as for Herod, he dealt more 
 mildly with others [of the assembly]; but he 
 deprived Matthias of the high-priesthood, as in 
 part an occasion of this action, and made 
 Joazar, who was Matthias's vvitie's brother, 
 high-priest in his stead. Now it happened, 
 that during the time of the high- priesthood 
 of this Matthias, there was another person 
 made high-priest for a single day, that very 
 day which the Jews observed as a last. The 
 occasion was this: — This Matthias the high- 
 priest, on the night before that day when the 
 fast was to be celebrated, seemed, in a dream," 
 
 • This fact, that one Joseph was made high-priest for 
 a single day. on occasion of tli<' action here specilied. that 
 befel Matthias, the real hiRh-priest, in his sleep, the 
 ninhl before the Kreat day of expiation, is attested to hoth 
 in the V/ishna and Talmud, as Dr. Hudson here inlurms 
 us. And indted from this fad. thus lully attested, we 
 may confute that pretended rule in the Talmu<l here 
 mentioned, and endeavoured to be excused by Reland, 
 that the high-priest was not suHered to seep the night 
 before that ureat day of expiation ; which waicliinjj w..uld 
 surely rather unfit him fur ti.e many important duties he 
 was to perform on that solemn day, than dispose turn 
 duly to perform them. Nor do such Taliuudical rules, 
 when unnupportt-d by better evidence, mucli less when 
 contradicted thereby, seem to me of weij;ht eiiuugii to 
 deserve that so K^at a man as Kelund abuuld spend hit 
 time in endeavours at their vindicaliwB. 
 
CHAP. Vt. 
 
 ANTIQT IT 5^^ OF ThK JEWS. 
 
 46& 
 
 to have conversation with his wife; and 
 because he could not officiate himself on that 
 account, Joseph, the son of Ellen)us, his kins- 
 man, assisted him in that sacred office. But 
 Herod deprived this Matthias of the high- 
 priesthood, and burnt the other Matthias, who 
 had raised the sedition, with his companions, 
 alive. And that very night there was an 
 erliose of the moon.* 
 
 5. But now Herod's distemper greatiy 
 increased upon him after a severe manner, 
 and this by God's judgment upon him for his 
 sins: for a fire glowed in him slowly, which 
 did not so much appear to the touch out- 
 wardly, as it augmented his pains inwardly; 
 for it brought upon him a vehement appetite 
 to eating, which he could not avoid to supply 
 with one sort of food or other. His entrails 
 were also exulcerated, and the chief violence 
 of his pain lay on his colon; an aqueous and 
 transparent liquor also had settled itself about 
 his feet, and a like matter afflicted him at 
 the bottom of his belly. Nay, farther, his 
 privy-member was putrified, and produced 
 worms; and when he sat upright he had a 
 difficulty of breathing, which was very loath- 
 some, on account of the stench of his breath, 
 and the quickness of its returns; he had also 
 convulsions in all parts of his body, which in- 
 creased his strength to an insufferable degree. 
 K was said by those who pretended to divine, 
 and who were endued with wisdom to fore- 
 tell such things, that God inflicted this pun- 
 ishment on the king on account of his great 
 impiety; yet was he still in hopes of recover- 
 ing, though his afflictions seemed greater than 
 any one could bear. He also sent for physi- 
 cians, and did not refuse to follow what they 
 prescribed for his assistance; and went beyond 
 the river Jordan, and bathed himself in warm 
 baths that were at Callirrhoe, which, besides 
 their other general virtues, were also fit 
 to drink; which water runs into the lake 
 called Asphaltitis. And when the physicians 
 once thought fit to have him bathed in a 
 vessel full of oil, it was supposed that he was 
 just dying; but, upon the lamentable cries of 
 his domestics, he revived; and having no 
 longer the least hopes of recovering, he gave 
 order that every soldier should be paid fifty 
 drachmae; and he also gave a great deal to 
 their commanders, and to his friends, and 
 came again to Jericho, where he grew so cho- 
 leric, that it brought him to do all things like 
 a madman; and though he were near his 
 death, he contrived the following wicked 
 designs. He commanded that all the principal 
 
 • This eclipse of the moon (which is the only eclipse 
 of either of the luminaries mentioned by our Josephus in 
 any of his writings) is of the greatest consequence for the 
 determination of the time for the death uf Herod and a n- 
 tipater. and for the birth and entire chronology of Jesus 
 Christ. It happened March 13th, in the year of the Julian 
 period 4710 and the 4th >ear before the Christiaifaira. 
 See its calculation by the rules of astronomy, at the end 
 of tbe Astronomical Lectures, edit Lsit. p. 461. ioi. 
 
 men of the entire Jewish nation, wheresoever 
 they lived, should be called to him. Accor- 
 dingly, there were a great number that came, 
 because the whole nation was called, and all 
 men heard of this call, and death was the 
 penalty of such as should despise the epistles 
 that were sent to call them. And now the 
 king was in a wild rage against them all, the 
 innocent as well as those that had afforded him 
 ground ror accusations; and when they were 
 come, he ordered them all to be shut up in 
 the hippodrome, t and sent for his sister 
 Salome, and her husband Alexas, and spake 
 thus to them: — " I shall die in a little time, so 
 great are my pains; which death ought to be 
 cheerfully borne, and to be welcomed by all 
 men; but what principally troubles me is 
 this, that I shall die without being lamented, 
 and without such mourning as men usually 
 expect at a king's death." For that be was 
 not unacquainted with the temper of the Jews, 
 that his death would be a thing very desirable, 
 and exceedingly acceptable to them; because 
 during his lifetime they were ready to revolt 
 from him, and to abuse the donations he had 
 dedicated to God: that it therefore was their 
 business to resolve to afford him some allevi- 
 ation of his great sorrows on this occasion; 
 for that, if they do not refuse him their con- 
 sent in what he desires, he shall have a great 
 mourning at his funeral, and such as never 
 any king had before him; for then the whole 
 nation would mourn from their very soul, 
 which otherwise would be done in sport and 
 mockery only. He desired therefore that as 
 soon as they see he hath given up the ghost, 
 they shall place soldiers round the hippodrome, 
 while they do not know that he is dead; and 
 that they shall not declare his death to the 
 multitude till this is done, but that they shall 
 give orders to have those that are in custody 
 shot with their darts; and that this slaughter 
 of them all will cause that he shall not miss 
 to rejoice on a double account; that as he is 
 dying, they will make him secure that his will 
 shall be executed in what he charges them to 
 do; and that he shall have the honour*of a 
 memorable mourning at his funeral. So he 
 deplored his condition, with tears in his eyes, 
 and obtested them by the kindness due from 
 them, as of his kindred, and by the faith they 
 owed to God, and begged of them that they 
 would not hinder him of this honourable 
 mourning at his funeral. So they promised 
 him not to transgress his commands. 
 
 6. Now any one may easily discover the 
 temper of this man's mind, which not only 
 took pleasure in doing what he had done 
 formerly against his relations, out of the love 
 of life, but by those commands of bis which 
 savoured of no humanity; since he took care, 
 when he was departing out of this life, that 
 the whole nation should be put into momxtiiig, 
 
 h A place for the horse-races. 
 
470 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XVII. 
 
 and indeed made desolate of their dearest I for some of his guards, and commanded them 
 
 kindred, when he gave order that one out 
 of every family should be slain, although 
 they had done nothing that was unjust, or 
 against him, nor were they accused of any 
 other crimes; while it is usual for those who 
 have any regard to virtue, to lay asicTe their 
 hatred at such a time, even with respect to 
 those they justly esteemed their enemies. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HEROD HAS THOUGHTS OF KILLING HIMSELF 
 WITH HIS OWN HAND; AND A LITTLE AF- 
 TLilWAUDS HE OKDEKS ANTIPAT^U TO BE 
 SLAIN. 
 
 § 1. As he was giving these commands to his 
 relations, there came letters from his ambas- 
 sadors, who had been sent to Rome unto 
 Caesar, which when they were read, their pur- 
 port was this: — That Acme was slain by Ca;- 
 sar, out of his indignation at what hand she 
 bad in Antipater's wicked practices; and that 
 as to Antipater himself, Cmsar left it to He- 
 rod to act as became a tather and a king, and 
 either to banish hiu» or to take away his life, 
 which he pleased. When Herod heard this, 
 he was somewhat better, out of the pleasure 
 he had from the contents of the letters, and 
 was elevated at the death of Acme, and at 
 the power that was given him over his son; 
 but, as his pains were become very great, he 
 was now ready to faint for want of something 
 to eat; so he called for an apple and a knife; 
 for it was his custom formerly. to pare the 
 apple himself, and soon afterwards to cut it, 
 and eat it. When he had got the knife, he 
 looked about, and had a mind to stab himself 
 with it; and he had done it, had not his first 
 cousin, Achiabus, prevented him, and held 
 bis hand, and cried out loudly. Whereupon 
 a woful lamentation echoed through the pa- 
 lace, and a great tumult was made, as if the 
 king.. were dead. Upon which Antipater, who 
 verily believed his father was deceased, grew 
 bold in his discourse, as hoping to be innne- 
 iliately and entirely released from his bonds, 
 and to take the kingdom into his hands, with- 
 out any more ado; so he discoursed with the 
 jailor about letting him go, and in that case 
 promised him great things, both now and 
 hereafter, as if that were the only thing now 
 in question; but the jailor did not only 
 refuse to do what Antipater would have him, 
 but informed the king of his intentions, and 
 bow many solicitations he had had from him 
 [OJ luat nature]. Hereupon Herod, who 
 bad formerly no affection or good -will to- 
 wards bis son to restrain him, when he heard 
 wiiat tlie jailor said, he cried out, and beat 
 hi* head, although he was at (icath's door, 
 and r<iiiied bimtk:lf upon Lii elbow, and sent 
 
 to kill Antipater without any farther delay, 
 and to do it presently, and to bury him in 
 an ignoble manner at Hyrcania. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONCERNING HEROD's DEATH, AND TESTA- 
 MENT, AND BURIAL. 
 
 § 1. And now Herod altered his testament 
 upon the alteration of his mind; for he ap- 
 pointed Antipas, to whom he had before It-ft 
 the kingdom, to be tetrarch of CJahlee and Be- 
 rea, and gi anted the knigdom to Archelaus. 
 He also gave Gaulomiis, and Trachoniiis, 
 a/id Panea.-., to Pliilip, who was his son, but 
 own brother to Archelaus,* by the name of a 
 Tetrarchy; and bequeathed Jamnia, and Ash- 
 dod, aim l*hasaelis, to Salome his sister, with 
 five hundred thousand [drachma;] of silver 
 that was coined. He also made provision for 
 all the rest of his kindred, by giving them 
 sums of money and annual revenues, and so 
 left them all in a wealthy condition. He be- 
 queathed also to Caesar ten millions [of drach- 
 luvt:] of coined money ; besides both vessels 
 of gold and silver, and garments exceeding 
 costly, to Julia, Caesar's wife; and to certain 
 others, five millions. When he had done 
 these things, he died the fifth day after he 
 had caused Antipater to be slain; having 
 reigned, since he had procured Antigonusf to 
 be slain, thirty-four years; but since he had 
 been declared king by the Romans, thirty- 
 seven. — A man he was of great barbarity 
 towards all men equally, and a slave to his 
 passion; but above the consideration o( what 
 was right; yet was he favoured by fortune as 
 much as any man ever was, for from a private 
 man he became a king; and though he were 
 encompassed with ten thousand dangers, ht 
 got clear of them all, and continued his lif« 
 till a very old age; but then, as to the afTairt 
 of his family and children, in which, indeed, 
 according to his own opinion, he was alst 
 very fortunate, because he was able to conquei 
 his enemies; yet, in my opinion, he wai 
 herein very unfortunate. 
 
 2. Bi^t then Salome and Alexas, before the 
 
 • When it is said that Philip the tetrarch. and Arche- 
 laus the king, or ethnarch, were ahX^ci yxrtei, or 
 uetiHUu brothers, if thtise words mean onti bnnhtrs. oi 
 bi)rn oJthe same father and mother, there must be htre 
 some mitttake; because tliey had indeed the same talher, 
 Herod, but dillerent mothers; the former, Cleopatra.— 
 and Archelaus, iMalttmre. They were indeed broujfht 
 lip altoKether at Rome like own brothers; and Phi ip 
 was ArcheluHsS deputy when he went to have his kin«. 
 dom contirmed to him at Koine (eh. ix. sect. 5. and Of 
 the War, b ii. ch. ii. ^ect. 1); which intimacy is perhaps 
 all th^tt Josephus intended by tlie words helore us. 
 
 + These numbers of years foi Herod's reJKn. 34 and 37 
 are \\\t very same wiih thosie (Of the War, b. i. ch 
 xxsifi. sect «) and are amonij the (fincipal clronoliinical 
 characters beionuinK to tiie reii;(i or death of Herod. .>m 
 Harm, of the Evan, pa^e 160—150. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 471 
 
 king's death was made known, dismissed those 
 that were shut up in the hippodrome, and 
 told them that the king ordered them to go 
 away to their own lands, and take care of 
 their own affairs, which was esteemed by the 
 nation a great benefit; and now the king's 
 death was made public, when Salome and 
 Alexas gathered the soldiery together in the 
 amphitheatre at Jericho; and the first thing 
 they did was, they read Herod's letter, writ- 
 ten to the soldiery, thanking them for their 
 fidelity and good-will to him, and exhorting 
 them to afl!brd his son Archelaus, whom he 
 bad appointed for their king, like fidelity and 
 ^oo<l-will. After which Ptolemy, who had 
 the king's seal intrusted to him, read the 
 king's testament, which was to be of force 
 no otherwise than as it should stand when 
 Ciesar had inspected it; so there was presently 
 an acclamation made to Archelaus, as king; 
 and the soldiers came by bands, and their 
 commanders with them, and promised the 
 saa;e good- will to him, and readiness to serve 
 him, which they had exhibited to Herod; and 
 they prayed God to be assistant to him. 
 
 3. After this was over, they prepared for 
 his funeral, it being Archelaus's care that the 
 procession to his father's sepulchre should be 
 very sumptuous. Accordingly he brought 
 out all his ornaments to adorn the pomp of 
 the funeraL The body was carried upon a 
 golden bier, embroidered with very precious 
 stones of great variety, and it was covered 
 over with purple, as well as the body itself; 
 he had a diadem upon his head, and above it 
 a crown of gold; he also had a sceptre in his 
 right hand. About the bier were his sons 
 and his numerous relations; next to these was 
 the soldiery distinguished according to their 
 several countries and denominations; and 
 they were put into the following order: — 
 First of all went his guards; then the band 
 of Thracians; and after them the Germans; 
 and next the band of Galatians, every one in 
 their habiliments of war; and behind these 
 marched the whole army in the «ame maniier 
 as they used to go out to war, and as they 
 used to be put in array by their muster- 
 masters and centurions: these were followed by 
 five hundred of his domestics, carrying spices. 
 So they went eight furlongs,* to Herodium; 
 for there, by his own command, he was to be 
 buried; — and thus did Herod end his life. 
 
 4. Now Archelaus paid him so much 
 respect, as to continue his mourning till the 
 seventh day; for so many days are appointed 
 for it by the law of our fathers; and when 
 he had given a treat to the multitude, and 
 left off his mourning, he went up into the 
 temple; he had also acclamations and praises 
 
 • At eight sfar/ia or furlong's a-day. .is hev. Herod'a 
 funeral, conducted to llerodiuin (which lay at the dis- 
 tance from Jerictio. where iie died, of ilJO stadia or fur- 
 «oM||fs, Of the VSai. b. i ch. xxxiii. sect. 9;. must have 
 token up no less tiiaH twenty-live days. 
 
 given him, which way soever he went, every 
 one striving with the rest who should anpeur 
 to use the loudest acclamations. So be 
 ascended a high elevation made for hing, and 
 took his seat, in a throne made of gold, and 
 spake kindly to the multitude, and declared 
 with what joy he received their acclamations, 
 and the marks of the good-will they showed 
 to him: and returned them thanks that they 
 did not remember the injuries his father had 
 done them, to his^'disad vantage; and promised 
 them. he would endeavour not to be behind 
 hand with them in rewarding their alacrity in 
 his service, after a suitable manner; but that 
 he should abstain at present from the name 
 of King; and that he should have the honour 
 of tha^ dignity, if Caesar should confirm and 
 settle that testament which his father had 
 made; and that it was on this account, that 
 when the army would have put the diadem 
 on him at Jericho, he would not accept of 
 that honour, which is usually so much desired, 
 because it was not yet evident that he who 
 was to be principally concerned in bestowing 
 it, would give it him; although, by his accep- 
 tance of the government, he should not want 
 the ability of rewarding their kindness to 
 him; and that it should be his endeavour, as 
 to all things wherein they were concerned, to 
 prove in every respect better than his father. 
 Whereupon the multitude, as it is usual with 
 them, supposed that the first days of those 
 that enter upon such governments, declare 
 the intentions of those that accept them; and 
 so by how much Archelaus spake the more 
 gently and civilly to them, by so much did 
 they more highly commend him, and made 
 application ^o him for the grant of what they 
 desired. Some made a clamour that he would 
 ease them of some of their annual payments; 
 but others desired him to release those that 
 were put into prison by Herod, who were^ 
 many, and had been put there at several times; 
 others of them reqinred that he would take 
 away those taxes which had been severely laid 
 upon what was publicly sold and bought. So 
 Archelaus contradicted them in nothing, since 
 he pretended to do all things so as to get the 
 good-will of the multitude to him, as look- 
 ing upon that good- will to be a great step 
 towards his preservation of the government. 
 Hereupon he went and offered sacrifice to 
 God, and then betook himself to feast with 
 his friends. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW THE PEOPLE RAISED A SEDITION A OATNST 
 ARCHELAUS, AND HOW HE SAILED TO EOMK. 
 
 § 1 . At this time also it was that scne of the 
 Jews got together, out of a desire of innova 
 tion. They lamented ^latthias, and those 
 
472 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVII. 
 
 that were slain with him by Herod, who had 
 not any respect paid them by a funeral mourn- 
 ing, out of the fear men were in of that man ; 
 they were those who had been condemned for 
 pulling down the golden eagle. The people 
 made a great clamour and lamentation here- 
 upon, and cast eut some reproaches against 
 the king also, as if that tended to alleviate 
 the miseries of the deceased. The people 
 aasenibled together, and desired of Archelaus, 
 that, in way of revenge on their account, he 
 would inflict punishment on those who had 
 been honoured by Herod; and that, in the 
 first and principal place, he would deprive 
 that high -priest whom Herod had made, and 
 would choose one more agreeable to the law, 
 and of greater purity, to officiate «is high- 
 priest. This was granted by Archelaus, 
 although he was mightily offended at their 
 importunity, because he proposed to himself 
 to go to Rome immediately, to look after Caj- 
 sar's determination about him. However, he 
 sent the general of his forces to use persua- 
 sions, and to tell them that the death which 
 was inflicted on their friends, was according 
 to the law; and to represent to them, that 
 their petitions about these things were carried 
 to a great height of injury to him; that the 
 time was not now proper for such petitions, 
 but required their unanimity until such time 
 as he should be established in the govern- 
 ment by the consent of Caesar, and should 
 then be come back to them; for that he would 
 then consult with them in common concern- 
 ing the purport of their petitions; but that 
 - they ought at present to be quiet, lest they 
 should seem seditious persons. 
 
 2. So when the king had suggested these 
 things, and instructed his general in what he 
 was to say, he sent him away to the people; 
 but they made a clamour, and would not give 
 , him leave to speak, and put him in danger of 
 his life, and as many more as were desirous to 
 venture upon saying openly any thing which 
 might reduce them to a sober mind, and pre- 
 vent their going on in their present courses, 
 — because they had more concern to have all 
 their own wills performed than to yield obe- 
 dience to their governors; thinking it to be a 
 thing insufferable that, while Herod was alive, 
 they should lose those that were the most dear 
 to them, and that when he was dead, they 
 could not get the actors to be punished. So 
 they went on with their designs after a vio- 
 lent manner, and thought all to be lawful and 
 right which tended to please them, and being 
 unskilful in foreseeing what dangers they in- 
 curred ; and when they had suspicion of such 
 a thing, yet did the present pleasure they took 
 in the punishment of those they deemed their 
 enemies overweigb all such considerations; 
 and although Archelaus sent many to speak 
 to them, yet they treated them not as messen- 
 gers sent by him, but as persons that came of 
 their own accord to mitigate their anger, and 
 
 would not let one of them speak. The 
 sedition, also, was made by such as were in a 
 great passion; and it was evident that they 
 were proceeding farther in seditious practices, 
 by the multitude running so fast upon them. 
 3. Now, upon tne approach of th.it feast 
 of unleavened bread, which the law of their 
 fathers had appointed for the Jews at this 
 time, which feast is called the Passover,* and. 
 is a memorial of their deliverance out of 
 Egypt (when they offer sacrifices with great 
 alacrity; and when they are required to slay 
 more sacrifices in number than at any other 
 festival; and when an innumerable multitude 
 came thither out of the country, nay, from 
 l)eyond its limits also, in order to wor>hip 
 Gcd), t>e seditious lamented Judas and Mat- 
 thias, those teachers of the laws, and kept to- 
 gether in the temple, and had plenty of food, 
 because these seditious persoifs were not 
 ashamed to beg it. And as Archelaus was 
 afraid lest some terrible thing should spring 
 up by means of these men's madness, he sent 
 a regiment of armed men, and with them a 
 captain of a thousand, to suppress the violent 
 efforts of the seditious, before the whole mul- 
 titude should be infected with the like mad- 
 ness; and gave them this charge, that if they 
 found any much more openly seditious than 
 others, and more busy in tumultuous prac- 
 tices, they should bring them to him. but 
 those that were seditious oji account of those 
 teachers of the law, irritated the people by 
 the noise and clamours they used to encou- 
 rage the people in their designs; so they Uiade 
 an assault upon the soldiers, and came up to 
 them, and stoned the greatest part of them, 
 although some of them ran away wounded, 
 and their captain among them ; and when they 
 had thus done, they returned to the sacrifices 
 which were already in their hands. Now 
 Archelaus thought there was no way to pre- 
 serve the entire government, but by cutting 
 off those who made this attempt upon it; so 
 he sent out the whole army upon them, and 
 sent the horsemen to prevent those that had 
 their tents without the temple, from assisting 
 those that were within the temple, and to kill 
 such as ran away from the footmen when 
 they thought themselves out of danger; which 
 horsemen slew three thousand men, while the 
 rest went to the neighbouring mountains. 
 Then did Archelaus order proclamation to be 
 made to them all, that they should retire to 
 their own homes ; so they went away and left 
 the festival, out of fear of somewhat worse 
 which would follow, although they had been so 
 bold by reason of their want of instruction. So 
 Archelaus went down to the sea with his mo- 
 ther, and took with him Nicolaus and Ptole- 
 my, and many others of his friends, and left 
 
 • This paisoTer. when the sedition here mentioned was 
 moved aKitinst ArdielauH, was not onr, but tliiit«;en 
 muatbs after the eclip»e ol the loooo, already mtntiODC^ 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 473 
 
 Philip his brother as governor of all things 
 belonging both to his own family and to the 
 pi'bhc. There went out also with him 
 Salome, Herod's sister, who took with her her 
 children, and many of her kindred were with 
 her; which kindred of hers went, as they pre- 
 tended, to assist Archelaus in gaining the king- 
 dom, but in reality to oppose him, and chiefly 
 to make loud complaints of what he had done 
 in the temple. But Sabinus, Caesar's steward 
 for Syrian affairs, as he was making haste 
 into Judea, to preserve Herod's effects, met 
 with Archelaus at Ciesarea; but Varus (pre- 
 sident of Syria) came at that time, and 
 restrained him from meddling with them, for 
 he was there as sent for by Archelaus, by the 
 means of Ptolemy. And Sabinus, out of 
 regard to Varus, did neither seize upon any 
 of the castles that were among the Jews, nor 
 did he seal up the treasures in them, but per- 
 mitted Archelaus to have them, until Caesar 
 should declare his resolution about them; so 
 that, upon this his promise, he tarried still at 
 Ciesarea. But after Archelaus was sailed for 
 Rouje, and Varus was removed to Antioch, 
 Sabinus went to Jerusalem, and seized on the 
 king's palace. He also sent for the keepers 
 of the garrisons, and for all those that hud 
 the charge of Herod's effects, and declared 
 publicly that he should require them to give 
 au account of what they had: and he disposed 
 of the castles in the manner he pleased: but 
 those who kept them did not neglect what 
 Archelaus had given them in command, but 
 continued, to keep all things in the manner 
 they had been enjoined them ; and their pre- 
 tence, was, that they kept them all for Caesar. 
 4. At the same time also did Antipas, 
 another of Herod's sons, sail to Rome, in order 
 to gain the government; being buoyed up by 
 Salome with promises that he should take 
 that government; and that he was a much 
 honester and titter man than Archelaus for 
 that authority, since Herod had, in his former 
 testament, deemed him the worthiest to be 
 made king; which ought to be esteemed more 
 valid than his latter testament. Antipas also 
 brought with him his mother, and Ptolemy 
 the brother of Nicolaus, one that had been 
 Herod's most honoured friend, and was now 
 zealous for Antipas: but it was Ireneus the 
 orator, and one who, on account of his repu- 
 tation for sagacity, was intrusted with the 
 affairs of the kingdom, who most of all 
 encouraged him to attempt to gain the king- 
 dom ; by whose means it was that, when some 
 advised him to yield to Archelaus, as to his 
 elder brother, and who had been declared 
 king by their father's last will, he would not 
 submit so to do. And when he was come 
 to Rome, all his relations revolted to him; 
 not out of their good-will to him, but out 
 of their hatred to Archelaus; though indeed 
 they were most of all desirous of gaining 
 their liberty, and to be put under a Roman 
 
 governor; but, if there were too great an 
 opposition made to that, they thought Antipas 
 preferable to Archelaus, and so joined with 
 him, in order to procure the kingdom for him. 
 Sabinus also, by letters, accused Archelaus to 
 Caesar. 
 
 5. Now when Archelaus had sent in his 
 papers to Caesar, wherein he pleaded his right 
 to the kingdom, and his father's testament, 
 with the accounts of Herod's money, and with 
 Ptolemy, who brought Herod's seal, he so 
 expected the event; but when Caesar had read 
 these papers, and Varus's and Sabinus's letters, 
 with the accounts of the money, and what 
 were the annual incomes of the kingdom, 
 and understood that Antipas had also sent 
 letters to lay claim to the kingdom, he 
 summoned his friends together, to know their 
 opinions, and with them Caius, the son of 
 Agrippa, and of Julia his daughter, whom he 
 had adopted, and took him, and made him sit 
 first of all, and desired such as pleased to 
 speak their minds about the affairs now before 
 them. Now, Antipater, Salome's son, a very 
 subtle orator, and a bitter enemy to Archelaus, 
 spake first to this purpose: — That it was ridi- 
 culous in Archelaus to plead now to have the 
 kingdom given him, since he had, in reality, 
 taken already the power over it to himself, 
 before Caesar had granted it to him; and 
 appealed to those bold actions of his, in 
 destroying so many at the Jewish festival ; and, 
 if the men had acted unjustly, it was but fit 
 the punishing of them should have been re- 
 served to those that were outof thecountry,but 
 had the power to punish them, and not been 
 executed by a man that, if he pretended to be a 
 king, he did an injury to Caesar, by usurping 
 that authority before it was determined for 
 him by Caesar; but, if he owned himself to 
 be a private person, his case was much worse, 
 since he who vvas putting in for the kingdom, 
 could by no means expect to have that power 
 granted him, of which he had already deprived 
 Caesar [by taking it to himself]. He also 
 touched sharply upon him, and appealed to 
 his changing the commanders in the army, 
 and his sitting in the royal throne before- 
 hand, and his determination of law-suits; all 
 done as if he were no other than a king. He 
 appealed also to his concessions to those that 
 petitioned him on a public account, and indeed 
 doing such things, than which he could 
 devise no greater if he had been already 
 settled in the kingdom by Caesar. He also 
 ascribed to him the releasing of the prisoners 
 that were in the hippodrome, and many other 
 things, that either had been certainly done by 
 him, or were believed to be done, and easily 
 might be believed to have been done, because 
 they were of such a nature as to be usually 
 done by young men, and by such as, out of a 
 desire of ruling, seize upon the government 
 too soon. He also charged him with hisi 
 neglect of the funeral mournio^ for his father. 
 
474 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK xvn. 
 
 »nd with having merry meetings the very 
 iiight in which he died; and that it was 
 thence the multitude took the handle of rais- 
 ing a tumult; and if Archelaus could thus 
 requite his dead father, who had bestowed such 
 benefits upon him, and bequeathed such great 
 things to him, by pretending to shed tears for 
 him in the day-time, like an actor on the 
 stage, but every night making mirth for hav- 
 ing gotten the government, he would appear 
 to be the same Archelaus with regard to Cae- 
 sar, if he granted him the kingdom, which he 
 hath been to his father; since he had then 
 dancing and singing, as though an enemy of 
 his were fallen, and not as though a man were 
 carried to his funeral that was so nearly related, 
 and had been so great a benefactor to him. 
 But he said that the greatest crime of all was 
 this, that he came now before Ciesar to 
 obtain the government by his grant, while he 
 had before acted in all things as he could have 
 acted if Caesar himself, who ruled all, had 
 fixed him firmly in the government. And 
 what he most aggravated in his pleading, was 
 the slaughter of those about the temple, and 
 the impiety of it, as done at the festival; and 
 how they were slain like sacrifices themselves, 
 some of whom were foreigners, and others of 
 their own country, till the temple was full of 
 dead bodies: and all this was done, not by 
 an alien, but by one who pretended to the 
 lawful title of a king, that he might complete 
 the wicked tyranny which his nature prompt- 
 ed him to, and which is hated by all men. 
 On which account his father never so much 
 as dreamed of making him his successor in 
 the kingdom, when he was of a sound mind, 
 because he knew his disposition; and, in his 
 former and more authentic testament, he 
 appointed his antagonist Antipas to succeed ; 
 but that Archelaus was called by his father to 
 that dignity, when he was in a dying condi- 
 tion, both of body and mind; while Antipas 
 was called when he was ripest in his judg- 
 ment, and of such strength of body as njude 
 him capable of managing his own affairs : 
 and if his lather had the like notion of him 
 formerly that he hath now shown, yet hath he 
 given a sullicient specimen what a king he is 
 liicely to be when be hath [in elfect] deprived 
 Cajsar of that power of disposing of the king- 
 dom, which he justly hath, and hath not ab- 
 stained from making a terrible slaughter of 
 his fellow-citizens in the temple, while he was 
 but a private person. 
 
 6. So when Antipater had made this speech, 
 and had confirmed what he had said by produ- 
 cing many witnesses from among Archelaus's 
 own relations, he made an end of iiis pleading. 
 Upon which Nicolaus arose up to plead for 
 Archelaus, and said, " That what had been 
 done at the temple was rather to be attribute*! 
 to the mind of those that had been kille(i, 
 than to the authority of Archeluu&; /or tliut 
 tboM who wer« the authors of such thing's, 
 
 are not only wicked in the injuries they do of 
 themselves, but in forcing sober persons to 
 avenge themselves upon them. Now, it is 
 evident that what these did in way of opposi- 
 tion was done under pretence, indeed against 
 Archelaus, but in reality against Cijesar him- 
 self, for they, after an injurious manner, 
 attacked and slew those who were sent by Ar- 
 chelaus, and who came only to put a stop to 
 their dohigs. They had no regard, either to 
 God or to the festival, whom Antipater yet is 
 not ashanied to patronize, whether it be out 
 of his indulgence of an enmity to Archelaus, or 
 out of his hatred of virtue and justice. For 
 as to those who begin such tumults, and first 
 set about such unrighteous actions, they are 
 the men who force those that punish them to 
 betake themselves to arms even against their 
 will. So that Antipater in effect ascribes the 
 rest of what was done to all those who were 
 of counsel to the accusers; for nothing which 
 is here accused of injustice has been done, 
 but what was derived from them as its au- 
 thors; nor are those things evil in themselves, 
 but so represented only, in order to do harm 
 to Archelaus. Such is these men's inclina- 
 tion to do an injury to a man that is of their 
 kindred, their father's benefactor, and familiarly 
 acquainted with them, and that hath ever 
 lived in friendship with them; for that, as to 
 this testament, it was made by the king when 
 he was of a soun^i mind, and so ought to be 
 of more authority than his former testament; 
 and that for this reason, because Cajsar is 
 therein left to be the judge and disposer of 
 all therein contained; and for Caesar, he will 
 not, to be sure, at all imitate the unjust- pro- 
 ceedings of those men, who, during Herod's 
 whole life, had on all occasions been joint- 
 partakers of power with him, and yet do 
 zealously endeavour to injure his determina- 
 tion, while they have not themselves had the 
 same regard to their kinsman [which Arche- 
 laus had]. Caesar will not therefore disannul 
 the testament of a man whom he had entirely 
 supported, of his friend and confederate. a:;d 
 that which is connnitted to him in trust to 
 ratify; nor will Caesar's virtuous and upright 
 disposition, which is known ajid uncontested 
 through all the habitable world, imitate tne 
 \vicke<lness of these men in condemning u 
 king as a madman, and as having lest bis rea- 
 son, while he hath bequeathed the succession 
 to a good son of his, and to one who flies to 
 Caesar's upright determination for refuse. 
 Nor can Herod at any time have been nns- 
 taken in his judgnjent about a successor, 
 while he siiowed so nmch prudence as to sub- 
 mit all to Caesar's determination." 
 
 7. Now when Nicolaus had laid these 
 things before Ciesar, he ended his plea; 
 whereupon Cu;sar was so obliging to Arche- 
 laus, that he raised him up when he had cast 
 himself down at his feet, and said, that be 
 well dusttrvud the kingdom; and he soon let 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF TffE JEWS. 
 
 475 
 
 tLem know that ^e was so far moved in his 
 favour, that he would not act otherwise than 
 his father's testament directed, and than was 
 for the advantage of Archelaus. However, 
 while he gave this encouragement to Arche- 
 laus to depend upon him securely, he made no 
 full determination about him; and, when the 
 assembly was broken up, he considered by 
 himself whether he should confirm the king- 
 dom to Archelaus, or whether he should part 
 it among all Herod's posterity; and this 
 heoause they all stood in need of much 
 assistance to support them. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A SEDITION OF THE JEWS AcaINST SABINUS; 
 AND HOW VARUS BBOUGHT THE AUTHORS 
 OF IT TO PUNISHMENT. 
 
 § 1. But before these things could be brought 
 to a settlement, Malthace, Archelaus's mother, 
 fell into a distemper, and died of it; and 
 letters came from Varus the president of 
 Syria, which informed Ctesar of the revolt of 
 the Jews; for after Archelaus was sailed, the 
 M'hole nation was in a tumult. So Varus, 
 since he was there himself, brought the 
 authors of the disturbance to punishment; 
 and when he had restrained them for the most 
 part from this sedition, which was a great one, 
 he took his journey to Antioch, leaving one 
 legion of his army at Jerusalem to keep 
 the Jews quiet, who were now very fond of 
 innovation. Yet did not this at all avail to 
 put an end to that their sedition, for, after 
 Varus was gone away, Sabinus, Cajsar's pro- 
 curator, staid behind, and greatly distressed 
 the Jews, relying on the forces that were left 
 there, that they would by their multitude 
 protect him; for he made use of them, and 
 armed them as his guard*, thereby so oppress- 
 ing the Jews, and giving them so great 
 disturbance, that at length they rebelled; for 
 he used force in seizing the citadels, and 
 zealously pressed on the search after the king's 
 money, in order to seize upon it by foice, on 
 account of his love of gain, and his extraordi- 
 nary covetpusness. 
 
 2. But on the approach of Pentecost, which 
 is a festival of ours, so called from the days 
 of our forefathers, a great many ten thousands 
 of men got together; nor did they co(ne only 
 to celebrate the festival, but out of their 
 indignation at the madness of Sabinus, and at 
 the injuries he offered them. A great num- 
 ber there was of Galileans, and Idumeans, 
 and many men from Jericho, and others who 
 had passed over the river Jordan, and iidia- 
 bited those parts. This^ whole multitu<le 
 joined themselves to all the rest, and were 
 uiore zealous than the others in makiiig an 
 assault on Sabinus, in order to be avejiged 
 
 on him; so they parted themselves into three 
 bands, and encamped themselves in the places 
 following: — some of them seized on the hip- 
 podrome; and of the other two bands, one 
 pitched themselves from the northern part of 
 the temple to the southern, on the east quar- 
 ter; but the third band held the western part 
 of the city, where the king's palace was. 
 Their work tended entirely to besiege the 
 Romans, and to enclose them on all sides. 
 Now Sabinus was afraid of these men's num- 
 ber, and of their resolution, who had little 
 regard to their lives, but were very desirous 
 not to be overcome, while they thought it a 
 point of puissance to overcome their ene- 
 mies; so he sent immediately a letter to 
 Varus, and, as he used to do, was very pressing 
 v\dth him, and entreated him to come quickly 
 to his assistance; because the forces he had 
 left were in imminent danger, and would 
 probably, in no long time, be seized upon, 
 and cut to pieces; while he did himself get 
 up to the highest tower of the fortress Pha- 
 saelus, which had been built in honour of 
 Phasaelus, king Herod's brother, and called 
 so when the Parthians had brought him to 
 his death.* So Sabinus gave thence a signal 
 to the Romans to fall upon the Jews, although 
 he did not himself venture so much as to 
 come down to his friends, and thought he 
 might expect that the others should expose 
 themselves first to die on account of his ava- 
 rice. However, the Romans ventured to 
 make a sally out of the place, and a terrible 
 battle ensued; wherein, though it is true the 
 Romans beat their adversaries, yet were not 
 the Jews daunted in their resolutions, even 
 when they had the sight of that terrible 
 slaughter that was made of them; but they 
 went round about, and got upon those clois- 
 ters which encompassed the outer court of the 
 temple, where a great fight was still continued, 
 and they cast stones at the Romans, partly 
 with their hands, and partly with slings, as 
 being much used to those exercises. All the 
 archers also in array did the Romans a great 
 deal of mischief, because they used their hands 
 dexterously from a place superior to the others, 
 and because the others were at an utter loss 
 what to do; for when they tried to shoot their 
 arrows against the Jews upwards, these 
 arrows could not reach them, insomuch that 
 the Jews were easily too hard for their ene- 
 mies. And this sort of tight lasted a great 
 while, till at last the Romans, who were 
 greatly distressed by what was done, set fire 
 to the cloisters so privately, that those who 
 were gotten u{)on them did not perceive it. 
 This tire,t being fed by a great deal of com- 
 
 • i'ee Antiq. b. xiv.ch. xiii. sect. 10; and Uf the War, 
 b ii. cli xii. sect 9 
 
 + These great devastations maue about the temple 
 here, and Ol the War. b. ii. ca. iit. sect 3, seem not to 
 liave been fully re-editied in the days of Nero; till 
 who>e time there were eiijhteen thousand workri*A 
 coiiUBualiy employed ia rebuilding and repauiuK tb&t 
 
476 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVII. 
 
 bustible matter, caught hold immediately on 
 the roof of the cloisters; so the wood, which 
 was full of pitch and wax, and whose gold 
 was laid on it with wax, yielded to the flame 
 presently, and those vast works, which were 
 of the highest value and esteem, were de- 
 stroyed utterly, while those that were on the 
 roof unexpectedly perished at the same time; 
 for as the roof tumbled down, some of these 
 men tumbled down with it, and others of 
 them were killed by their enemies who en- 
 compassed them. There was a great number 
 more, who, out of despair of saving their lives, 
 and out of astonishment at the misery that 
 surrounded them, did either cast themselves 
 into the fire, or throw themselves upon their 
 own swords, and so got out of their misery. 
 But as to those that retired behind the same 
 way by which they ascended, and thereby 
 escaped, they were ail killed by the Romans, 
 as being unarmed men, and their courage 
 failing them; their wild fury being now not 
 able to help them, because they were desti- 
 tute of armour, insomuch that of those that 
 went up to the top of the roof, not one es- 
 caped. The Romans also rushed through the 
 fire, where it gave them room so to do, and 
 seized on that treasure where the sacred mo- 
 ney was reposited : a great part of which was 
 stolen by the soldiers; and Sabinus got openly 
 four hundred talents. 
 
 3. But this calamity of the Jews' friends, 
 who fell in this battle, grieved them, as did 
 also this plundering of the money dedicated 
 to God in the temple. Accordingly, that body 
 of them which continued best together, and 
 was the most warlike, encompassed the palace, 
 and threatened to set lire to it, and kill all 
 that were in it. Yet still they commanded 
 them to go out presently, and promised that 
 if they would do so, they would not hurt 
 them, nor Sabinus neither; at which time the 
 greatest part of the king's troops deserted to 
 them, while Rufus and Gratus, who had three 
 thousand of the most warlike of Herod's 
 army with them, who were men of active 
 bodies, went over to the Romans. There was 
 also a band of horsemen under the command 
 of Rufus, which itself went over to the Ro- 
 mans also. However, the Jews went on with 
 the siege, and dug mines under the palace- 
 walls, and besought those that were gone over 
 to the otbei side, net to be their hinderance, 
 now they had such a proper opportunity for 
 the recovery of their country's ancient liberty; 
 &nd for Sabinus, truly he was desirous of go- 
 ing away with his soldiers, but was not able 
 to trust himself with the enemy, on account 
 of what mischief he had already done them; 
 and he took this great [pretended] lenity of 
 theirs for an argument why he should not 
 comply with them ; and so, because he ex- 
 
 tcmpk, as Jogephus informi u^ Antiq. b. xx. ch. ix- 
 Met 7. 8m the nott on that pluc*. 
 
 pected that Varus was coming, he still bore 
 the siege. 
 
 4. Now, at this time there were ten thou- 
 sand other disorders in Judea*, which were 
 like tumults, because a great number put 
 themselves into a warlike posture, either out 
 of hopes of gain to themselves, or out of 
 enmity to the Jews. In particular, two thou- 
 sand of Herod's old soldiers, who had been 
 alr'^ady disbanded, got togethei in Judea itself, 
 and fought against the king's troops, although 
 Achiabus, Herod's first cousin, opposed them ; 
 but as he was driven out of the plains into 
 the mountainous parts by the military skill of 
 those men, he kept himself in the fastnesses 
 that were there, and saved what he could. 
 
 5. There was also Judas,* the son of that 
 Ezekias who had been head of the robbers; 
 which Ezekias was a very strong man, and 
 had with great difficulty been caught by He- 
 rod. This Judas having gotten together a 
 multitude of men of a profligate character 
 about Sepphoris in Galilee, made an as- 
 sault upon the palace [there], and seized upon 
 all the weapons that were laid up in it, and 
 with them armed every one of those that were 
 with him, and carried away what money was 
 left there ; and he became terrible to all men, 
 by tearing and rending those that came near 
 him; and ail this in order to raise himself, 
 and out of an ambitious desire of the royal 
 dignity; and he hoped to obtain that as the 
 reward, not of his virtuous skill in war, but 
 of his extravagance in doing injuries. 
 
 6. There was also Simon, who had been a 
 slave of Herod the king, but in other respects 
 a comely person, of a tall and robust body; he 
 was one that was much superior to othersof his 
 order, and had had great things committed to 
 his care. This man was elevated at the dis- 
 orderly state of things, and was so bold as to 
 put a diadem on his head, while a certain 
 number of the people stood by him, and by 
 them he was declared to be king, and thought 
 himself more worthy of that dignity than any 
 one else. He burnt down the royal palace 
 at Jericho, and plundered what was left in it. 
 He also set fire to many others of the king's 
 houses in several places of the country, and 
 utterly destroyed them, and permitted those 
 that were with him to take what was left in 
 
 • Unless this Judas, the son of Ezekias, be the same 
 with that Theiidas, nientioiicd Acts v. 30. Josephus must 
 have omitted hiiu; tor that other Theudas, whom he 
 afterwards mentions under Fadus, the Koinan governor, 
 b. XX. ch. V. sect 1, is n)uch too late to correspond to 
 him that is mentioned in the Acts. The names Theu 
 das, Thaddeus, and Judas dilier but little. !See Aich- 
 bishop Usher's Annals, at a. bi 4001. However, sines 
 Josephus does not pretend to reckon up the hearts of all 
 those ten thousand disorders in Judea, which he tells us 
 were then abroad, see sect. 4 and 8, the Theudas of the 
 Acts might he at tiie hend of one of those seditions, 
 though nut purticulaily named by him. 1 tans he in- 
 forms us heie. sect (J, and of the War, b. il. ch. iv 
 sect. a. that certain o* tli» seditious came and burnt the 
 royal palai e at Ami«thn<«. or Beiliaramphta, upon the 
 river Jordan. Ivrlii»|i.s then leader, who is Dot luuatd 
 bjr Josephus, lutKbt be U.is Tlieudas. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 477 
 
 them for a prey; and he would have done 
 greater things, unless care had been taken to 
 repress him immediately; for Gratus, when 
 he had joined hiuiself to some Roman soldiers, 
 took the forces h* had with him, and met 
 Simon, and after a great and a long fight, no 
 small part of those that catne from Perea, 
 who were a disordered body of men, and 
 fought rather in a bold than in a skilful 
 manner, were destroyed ; and although Simon 
 had saved himself by flying away through a 
 certain valley, yet Gratus overtook him, and 
 cut off his head. The royal palace also, at 
 Amathus, by the river Jordan, was burnt 
 down by a party of men that were got toge- 
 ther, as were those belonging to Simon. And 
 thus did a great and wild fury spread itself 
 over the nation, because they had no king to 
 keep the multitude in good order; and 
 because those foreigners, who came to reduce 
 the seditious to sobriety, did, on the contrary, 
 set them more in a flame, because of the 
 injuries they oflfered them, and the avaricious 
 management of their affairs. 
 
 7. But because Athronges, a person nei- 
 ther eminent by the dignity of progenitors, nor 
 for any great wealth he was possessed of, but 
 one that had in all respects been a shepherd 
 only, and was not known by any body; yet 
 because he was a tall man, and excelled 
 others in the strength of his hands, he was so 
 bold as to set up for king. This man thought 
 it so sweet a thing to do more than ordinary 
 injuries to others, that although he should be 
 killed, he did not much care if he lost his life 
 in so great a design. He had also four 
 brethren, who were tall men themselves, and 
 were believed to be superior to others in the 
 strength of their hands, and thereby were 
 encouraged to aim at great things, and thought 
 that strength of theirs would support them in 
 retaining the kingdom. Each of these ruled 
 over a band of men of their own; for those 
 that got together to them were very numerous. 
 They were every one of them also com- 
 manders; but, when they came to fight, they 
 were subordinate to him, and fought for him, 
 while he put a diadem about his head, and 
 assembled a council to debate about what 
 things should be done; and all things were 
 done according to his pleasure. And this man 
 retained his power a great while; he was also 
 called king, and had nothing to hinder him 
 from doing what he pleased. He also, as 
 well as his brethren, slew a great many both 
 of the Romans and of the king's forces, and 
 managed matters with the like hatred to each 
 of them. The king's forces they fell upon, 
 because of the licentious conduct they had 
 been allowed under Herod's government; 
 and they fell upon the Romans, because of 
 the injuries they had so lately received from 
 them. But in process of time they grew 
 more cruel to all sorts of men ; nor could any 
 one escape from one or other of th««e seditions, 
 
 since they slew some out of the hopes of 
 gain, and others from a mere custom of slay- 
 ing men. They once attacked a company 
 of Romans at Emmaus, who were bringing 
 corn and weapons to the army, and fell upon 
 Arius, the centurion, who commanded the 
 company, and shot forty of the best of his foot- 
 soldiers; but the rest of them were affrighted 
 at their slaughter, and left their dead behind 
 them, but saved themselves by the means of 
 Gratus, who came with the king's troops that 
 were about him to their assistance. Now, 
 these four brethren continued the war a long 
 while by such sort of expeditions, and much 
 grieved the Romans (but did their own nation 
 also a great deal of mischief); yet were 
 they afterwards subdued; one of them in a 
 fight with Gratus, another with Ptolemy; 
 Archelaus also took the eldest of them pri- 
 soner; while the last of them was so dejected 
 at the others' misfortune, and saw so plainly 
 that he had no way now left to save himself, 
 his army being worn away with sickness and 
 continual labours, that he also delivered him- 
 self up to Archelaus, upqj) his promise and 
 oath to God to [preserve his life]. But 
 these things came to pass a good while after- 
 ward. 
 
 8. And now Judea was full of robberies; 
 and, as the several companies of the seditious 
 lighted upon any one to head them, he was 
 created a king immediately, in order to do mis- 
 chief to the public. They were in some sniall 
 measure indeed, and in small matters, hurtful 
 to the Romans, but the murders they conmiit- 
 ted upon their own people lasted a long while. 
 
 9. As soon as Varus was once informed of 
 the state of Judea by Sabinus's writing to 
 him, he was afraid for the legion he had left 
 there; so he took the two other legions (,for 
 there were three legions in all belonging to 
 Syria), and four troops of horsemen, with 
 the several auxiliary forces which either the 
 kings or certain of the tetrarchs afforded 
 him, and made what haste he could to assist 
 those that were then besieged in Judea. He 
 also gave order, that all that were sent out 
 for this expedition should make haste to 
 Ptoleraais. The citizens of Berytus also gave 
 him fifteen hundred auxiliaries, as he passed 
 through their city. Aretas also, the king of 
 Arabia Tetrea, out of his hatred to Herod, 
 and in order to purchase the favour of the 
 Romans, sent him no small assistance, besides 
 their footmen and horsemen: and, when he 
 had now collected all his forces together, 
 he committed part of them .to his son, and 
 to a friend of his, and sent them upon an 
 expedition into Galilee, which lies in the 
 neighbourhood of Ptolemais; who made an 
 attack upon the enemy, and put them to flight, 
 and took Sepphoris, and made its inhabitants 
 slaves, and burnt the city. But Varus him- 
 self pursued his march to Samaria with his 
 whole army: yet did not he meddle with tha 
 
478 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVII 
 
 city of tbat name, because it had not at all 
 I'ined with the seditious, but pitched his 
 camp at a certain village that belonged to 
 i'loleniy, whose name was Arus, which the 
 Arabians burnt, out of their hatred to Herod, 
 and out of the enmity they bore to his friends; 
 whence they marched to another village, whose 
 iiame was Sampho, vvhijh the Arabians plun- 
 iered and burnt, although it was a fortified 
 iiid strong place; and all along this march 
 ^luthing escaped them, but all places were full 
 )f tire and of slaughter. Eu)maus was also 
 :»urnt by Varus 's order, after its inhabitants 
 had deserted it, that he might avenge those 
 that had there been destroyed. From thence 
 lie now marched to Jerusalem ; whereupon 
 those Jews whose camp lay there, aiwl who 
 had besieged the Roman legion, not bearing 
 the coming of this army, left the siege im- 
 perfect: but as to the Jerusalem Jews, when 
 Varus reproached them bitterly for what had 
 been done, they cleared themselves of the ac- 
 cusation ; and alleged that the conflux of the 
 people was occasioned by the feast; that the 
 war Wis not made with their approbation, but by 
 the rashness of the strangers; while they were 
 on the side of the Romans, and besieged 
 together with them, rather than having any 
 inequation to besiege them. There also came 
 beforehand to meet Varus, Joseph, the cousin- 
 german of king Herod, as also Gratus and 
 Rufus, who brought their soldiers along with 
 them, together with those Romans who had 
 been besieged: but Sabinus did not come 
 into Varus's presence, but stole out of the 
 city privately, and went to the sea-side. 
 
 10. Upon this, Varus sent a part of his 
 army into the country, to seek out those that 
 had been the authors of the revolt; and when 
 they were discovered, he punished some of 
 them that were most guilty, and some he dis- 
 missed: now the number of those that were 
 crucified on this account were two thousand : 
 after which he disbanded his army, which he 
 found nowise useful to him in the affairs he 
 came about; for they behaved themselves very 
 disorderly, and disobeyed his orders, and 
 what Varus desired them to do^ and this out 
 of regard to that gain which they made by the 
 mischief they did. As for himself, .when he 
 was informed that ten thousand Jews had 
 gotten together, he made haste to catah them ; 
 but they did not proceed so far as to fight 
 him, but, by the advice of Achiabus, they 
 came together, and delivered themselves up 
 to him: hereupon Varus forgave the crime 
 of revolting to the multitude, but sent their 
 several commanders to Caesar, many of whoni 
 Cajsar dismissed ; but for the several rela- 
 tions of Herod who had been among these 
 men in this war, they were the only persons 
 whom be punished, who, without the lea&t 
 regard tp justice, fought against tliejr own 
 kindr«4> 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 AN EMBASSAGE OF THE JEWS TO C^SAR ; AND 
 HOW C^SAtt CONFIUMED HEROD's TESTA 
 MENT. 
 
 § 1. So when Varus had settled these affairs^ 
 and had placed the former legion at Jerusa. 
 lem, he returned back to Antioch; but as for 
 Archelaus, he had new sources of trouble 
 come upon him at Rome, on the occasions 
 following: for an embassage of the Jews was 
 come to Rome, Varus having permitted the 
 nation to send it, that they might petition fo» 
 the liberty of living by their own laws.* 
 Now, the number of the ambassadors that 
 were sent by the authority of the nation was 
 fifty, to which they joined above eight thou- 
 sand of the Jews that were at Rome already. 
 Hereupon Caesar assembled bis friends, and 
 the chief men among the Romans, in the tem- 
 ple of Apollojf which he had built at a vast 
 charge ; whither the ambassadors came, and a 
 multitude of the Jews that were there already 
 came with them, as did also Archelaus and his 
 friends; but as for the several kinsmen which 
 Archelaus had, they would not join them- 
 selves with him, out of their hatred to him; 
 and yet they thought it too gross a thing for 
 them to assist the ambassadors [against him], 
 as supposing it would be a disgrace to them 
 in Caesar's opinion to think of thus acting in 
 opposition to a man of their own kindred: 
 Philip J also was come hither out of Syria, by 
 the persuasion of Varus, with this principal 
 intention to assist his brother [Archelaus]; 
 for Varus was his great friend: but still so, 
 that if there should any change happen in the 
 form of government (which Varus suspected 
 there would), and if any distribution should be 
 made on account of the number that desired 
 the liberty of living by their own laws, that 
 he might not be disappointed, but might have 
 his share in it. 
 
 2. Now, upon the liberty that was given to 
 the Jewish ambassadors to speak, they who 
 hoped to obtain a dissolution of kingly 
 government betook themselves to accuse He- 
 rod of his iniquities; and they declared that 
 he was indeed in name a king, but that he 
 had taken to himself that uncontrollable 
 authority which tyrants exercise over their 
 subjects, and had made use of that authority 
 for the destruction of the Jews, and did not 
 abstain from making many innovations among 
 them besides, according to his own inclina- 
 tions; and that whereas there were a great 
 many who perished by that destruction he 
 brought upon them, so many indeed as no 
 other history relates, they that survived were 
 
 • Sr« Of the W»r. b. i\. oh \i. •f«t a 
 
 + Srr «hf iiotr. Ul n.r War. h. it «b. tL acot k 
 
 t U« WM trUarr U aricrwant*. 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 479 
 
 fur more miserable than those that suffered 
 under him, not only by the anxiety they were 
 in from his looks and disposition towards 
 .fthem, but from the danger their estates were 
 in of being taken away by him. That he did 
 never leave off adorning the»e cities that lay 
 in their neighbourhood, but were inhabited 
 by foreigners, but so that the cities belong- 
 ing to his own government were ruined, and 
 utterly destroyed: that whereas, when he took 
 the Liagdom, it was in an extraordinary 
 flourisbidg condition, he had tilled the nation 
 with the utmost degree of poverty; and when, 
 upon unjust pretences, he had slain any of 
 the nobility, he took away their estates: and 
 when he permitted any of them to live, he 
 condemned them to the forfeiture of what they 
 possessed. And, besides the anrmal imposi- 
 tions which he laid upon every one of them, 
 they were to make liberal presents to himself, 
 to his domestics and friends, and to such of 
 his slaves as were vouchsafed the favour of 
 being his tax-gatherers; because there was no 
 way of obtaining a freedom from unjust vio- 
 lence, without giving either gold or silver for 
 it. That they would say nothing of the cor- 
 ruption of the chastity of their virgins, and 
 the reproach laid on their wives for inconti- 
 nency, and those things acted after an inso- 
 lent and inhuman manner; .because it was 
 not a smaller pleasure to the sufferers to have 
 such things concealed, than it would have 
 been not to have suffered them. That Herod 
 had put sich abu>es upon them as a wild 
 beast would not have put on them, if he had 
 power given him to rule over us: and that 
 although their nation had passed through 
 many subversions and alterations of govern- 
 ment, their history gave no account of any 
 calamity they had ever been under, that could 
 be compared with this whirh Herod bad 
 brought upon their nation; that it was for 
 this reason that they thought they might 
 justly and gladly salute Archelaus as king, 
 upon this supposition, that whosoever should be 
 set over their kingdom, he would appear more 
 mild to them than Herod had been; and that 
 they had joined with him in the mourning for 
 bis father, in order to gratify him, and were 
 ready to oblige him in other points also, if 
 they could meet with any degree of modera- 
 tion from him; but that he seemed to be 
 afraid lest he should not be deemed Herod's 
 own son; and so, without any delay, he imme- 
 <liately let the nation understand his meaning, 
 aiid this before his dominion was well esta- 
 blished, since the power of disposing of it 
 belonged to Csesar, who could either give it 
 to him or not as he pleased. That he had 
 given a specimen of his future virtue to his 
 subjects, and with what kind of moderation 
 and good administration he would govern 
 them, by that his first action which concerned 
 them, his own citizens, and God himself also, 
 when be made the slaughter of threa thousand 
 
 of his own countrymen at the temple. How, 
 then, could they avoid the just hatred of him, 
 who, to the rest of his barbarity, hath added 
 this as one of our crimes, that we have opposed 
 and contradicted him in the exercise of his 
 authority? Now. the main thing they desired 
 was thisi. That they might be delivered 
 from kingly and the hke forms of govern- 
 ment,* and might be added to Syria, and be 
 put under the authority of such presidents of 
 theirs as should be sent to them ; for that it 
 would thereby be made evident, whether they 
 be really a seditious people, and generally 
 fond of innovations, or whether they would 
 live in an orderly manner, if they might have 
 governors of any sort of moderation set over 
 them. 
 
 3. Now when the Jews had said this, Nico- 
 laus vindicated the kings from those accusa- 
 tions, and said, that as for Herod, since he 
 had never been thus accused f all the time of 
 his life, it was not fit for those that might 
 have accused hira of lesser criiifes than those 
 now mentioned, and might have procured 
 him to be punished during his lifetime, to 
 bring an accusation against him now he is 
 dead. He also attributed the actions of 
 Archelaus to the Jews' injuries to him, who, 
 affecting to govern contrary to the laws, and 
 going about to kill those that .would have 
 hindered them from acting unjustly, when 
 they were by him punished for what they had 
 done, made their complaints again&t him; so 
 he accused them of their attempts for innova- 
 tion, and of the pleasure they took in sedition, 
 by reason of their not having learned to 
 submit to justice and to the laws, but still 
 desiring to be superior in all things. This 
 was the substance of what Nicolaus said. 
 
 4. When Ciesarjiad heard these pieadings, 
 he dissolved the assembly; but a few days 
 afterwards he appointed Archelaus, not indted 
 to be the king of the whole country, but 
 ethnarch of one half of that which had been 
 subject to Herod, and promised to give him 
 the royal dignity hereafter, if he governed his 
 part virtuously. But as for the other half, 
 he divided it into two parts, and gave it 
 
 * If any one compare that divine prediction concern- 
 ing the tyrannical power vvtiich the Jewish kittfis would 
 t-xercise over tliein. il they won d be so loolish as to pre- 
 ter it before their ancient theocracy oi aristocracv (I Sam. 
 viii. I— :i2. Ant. b' vi civ. s. j). he will somi find that it 
 was superuhundanily fu'fiilid in the days of Herud and 
 that to such a degree, thai the nation now at last seemed 
 sore'y to repent of such their ancient choice, inoppositioa 
 to God's belter choice for them, and had much rather be 
 subject to even a pagan Roman government, and their 
 deputies than to be any longer under the 0(>pie.ssion of 
 the tamily of Herod; which request of tiieirs Augustusdid 
 not now grant them, but did it for the one half of that na- 
 tion in a few years afterward, upon fresh complaints made 
 by the Jews against Archelaus, who. under Ibe more 
 humble name of an ethnarch. which Aapftisius would only 
 now allow him. soon took upon him the ios^dence and 
 tyranny of his fattier king Herod, as trie reniainmg part 
 of tl is book will inlbrm us, and particular!) c. xiii. s. i. 
 
 + This is not true. See Ant b. xiv ch. tx .-ect.3. 4; 
 and ch. xii sect i and ch. xiii.sect. I. V; Vm \> w cX 
 ifi.4ier.t.5f »cideh. X.n^U9.3; At>» l» ^vi -ui^.,. 4:1.4, 
 
480 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVII. 
 
 to two other of Herod's sons, to Philip and 
 to Antipas, that Antipas who disputed with 
 Archelaus for the whole kingdom. Now, to 
 him it was that Perea and Galilee paid their 
 tribute, which amounted annually to 200 ta- 
 lents,' while Batanea with Trachonitis, as well 
 as Auranitis, with a certain part of what was 
 called the House of Zcnodorus,-\ paid the tri- 
 bute of one hundred talents to Philip; but 
 Idumea, and Judea, and the country of Sa- 
 maria, paid trihute to Archelaus, but had 
 how a fourth part of that tribute taken off by 
 the order of Cuesar, who decreed them that 
 mitigation, because they did not join in this 
 revolt with the rest of the multitude. There 
 were also certain of the cities which paid 
 tribute to Archelaus: — Strato's Tower and 
 Sebaste, with Joppa and Jerusalem; for as to 
 Gaza, Gadara, and Hippos, they were Gre- 
 cian cities, which Caesar separated from his 
 government, and added them to the province 
 of Syria. Now the tribute-money that came 
 to Archelaus every year from his own domi- 
 nions, amounted to six hundred talents. 
 
 4. And s'o much came to Herod's sons 
 from their father's inheritance; but Salome, 
 besides what her brother left her by his testa- 
 ment, which were Jamnia, Ashdod, and Pha- 
 saelis, and five hundred thousand [drachmae] 
 
 • Since Josepbus here informs us that Archelaus had 
 bne-balt of the kingdom of Herod, and presently in- 
 forms us farther, that Archelaus's annual income, after 
 an abatement of one-quarter for the present, was tOO 
 talents, we may therefore gather pretty ne-iily what was 
 Herod the Great's yearly income, I mean about lOOO 
 talents, which, at the known value of IJOOO shekels to a 
 talent, and about 2s iOd. to a shekel, in the days of 
 Josepbus. see the note on Antiq. b. iii. ch viii. sect. 2, 
 amounts to £G80.0(iO sterling per «»jnum/ which in- 
 come, though great in itself, bearing no propprtion to 
 his vast expenses everywhere visible in Josepbus, and to 
 the vast sums he left behind him in his will (ch. viii. 
 sect. 1; and ch. xii. sect. I), the rest must have arisen 
 either from his confiscation of those great men's estates 
 whom he put to death, or made to pay fine for the 
 saving of their lives, or for some other heavy methods 
 ot oppression which such savai;e tyrants usually exercise 
 upon their miserable subjects; or rather from these 
 several methods put together, all which yet seem very 
 much too small for his expenses, being drawn from no 
 larger. a nation than that of the Jews, which was very 
 populous, but without the advantage of trade to bring 
 tbem riclies; so tliat I cannot but strongly suspect that 
 no small part of this bis wealth arose from another 
 source; 1 mean from some vast sums he took out of 
 David's sepulchre, but concealed from the people, ^«ee 
 the note on Antiq. b. viL ch. xv. sect. 3. 
 
 + Take here a very uselul note of (irotius, on l.uke 
 iii. 1. here quoted by Dr. Hudson: — »• When Josepbus 
 says that some part ol tiie house (or possession) of Ze- 
 nodurus (i.e. Abiene) was allotted to Philip, be thereby 
 declares that the lart^er part of it belonged to another 
 This other was Lysanias, whom Luke mentions, of 
 the poMterity of that Lysanias who was possessed of 
 the same country called Abilene, froiU the city Abila, 
 and by others Chalcidene, from the city oi-Chalcis, when 
 the government ot the east was under Aiitonius. and 
 this alter Ptolemy, tne son of Menutfus; from which 
 Lysanias, this country came to be cum iionly called the 
 Country ol Lysanias > and as, alter the death of the for> 
 Dier Lysanias, it was clled the Tetrarchy of Zenodorus, 
 so aficr the death of Zenodorus, or when the time for 
 Which he hired it was ended, wheu another Lysanias. of 
 the same name with the fornier, was possessed of the 
 same country, it beean to be called the I'etrarchy of 
 Lyxanias." However, since Josepbus elsewhere (Antiq 
 b. XX. rb. vii. sect 1; clearly riisiiiicnishes Ahilfne Irom 
 CkmUident, Grotius must be here ^'> lar uii*taKrn. 
 
 of coined silver, Caesar made her a present of 
 a royal habitation at Askelon : in all, her 
 revenues amouiited tv) sixty talents by the 
 year, and her dwelling-house was within Ar- j 
 chelaus's government. The rest also of the 
 king's relations received what his testament 
 allotted them. Moreover, Caesar matie a pre- 
 sent to each of Herod's two virgin daughters, 
 besides what their fatner left them, of two 
 hundred and fifty thousand [drachma?] of sil- 
 ver, and married them to Pheroras's sons: he 
 also granted all that was bequeathed to him- 
 self to the king's sons, which was one thou- 
 sand five hundred talents, excepting a few of 
 the Vessels, which he reserved for himself; 
 and they were acceptable to him, not so much 
 for the great value they were of, as because 
 they were memorials of the king to him. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CONCERNING A SPURIOUS ALEXANDER. 
 
 § 1. When these affairs had been thus set- 
 tled by Caesar, a certain young man, by birth 
 a Jew, but brought up by a Roman freedinan 
 in the city Sidon, ingrafted himself into the 
 kindred of Herod, by the resemblance of bis 
 countenance, vyhich those that saw him 
 attested to be that of Alexander, the son of 
 Herod, whom he had slain; and this was an 
 incitement to him to endeavour to obtain the 
 government; so he took to him as an assis- 
 tant, a man of his own country (one that was 
 well acquainted with the affairs of the pa- 
 lace, but, on other accounts, an ill man, and 
 one whose nature made him capable of caus- 
 ing great disturbances to the public, and one 
 that became a teacher of such a mischievous 
 contrivance to the other), and declared liiin- 
 self to be Alexander, and the son of Herod, 
 but stolen away by one of those that werv 
 sent to slay him, who, in reality, slew other 
 men, in order to deceive the spectators, but 
 saved both him and his brother Aristobulus. 
 Thus was this man elated, and able to im- 
 pose on those that came to him; and when 
 he was come to Crete, he made all the Jews 
 that came to discourse with him believe him 
 to be [Alexander]. And when he had gotten 
 much money which had been presented to 
 him there, he passed over to Melos, where he 
 got much more money than he had before, 
 out of the belief they had that he was of the 
 royal family, and their hopes that he would 
 recover his father's principality, and reward 
 his benefactors; so he made haste to Rome, 
 and was conducted thither by those strangers 
 who entertained him. He was also so for- 
 tunate as, upon his landing at Dicearchia, to 
 bring the Jews that were there into the anme 
 (leiur-ion; and not only other people, but a^so 
 all thusc who had bt-en great with Herod, or 
 hiid '• kiudnesii for biin, joined tbeuiselves to 
 
CHAP. xni. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 481 
 
 this man as to their king. The cause of it 
 was (his, that men were gh^d of his pretences, 
 which were secoiuied l)v the likeness of liis 
 coitntetiance, which made those that had heen 
 acquainted with Alexander strongly to believe 
 that he was no other but the very same per- 
 son, vvhich they also confirmed to others by 
 oath; insomuch that when the report went 
 about him that he was coming to Rome, the 
 whole multitude of the Jews that were there 
 went out to meet him, ascribing it to Divine 
 Providence that he had so unexpectedly 
 escaped, and being very joyful on account of 
 his mother's family. And when he was come, 
 he was carried in a royal litter through the 
 streets; and all the ornaments about him were 
 such as kings are adorned withal; and this 
 was at the expense of those that entertained 
 him. The multitude also flocked about him 
 greatly, and made mighty acclamations to 
 him, and nothing was omitted which could 
 be thought suitable to such as had been so 
 unexpectedly preserved. 
 
 2. When this thing was told Caesar, he did 
 not believe it, because Herod was not easily 
 to be imposed upon in such affuirs as were of 
 great concern to him ; yet, having some sus- 
 picion it might be so, he sent one Celadus, a 
 freed-man of his, and one that had conversed 
 with the young men themselves, and bade 
 him bring Alexander into his presence: so 
 he brought him, being no more accurate in 
 judging about him than the rest of the mul- 
 titude. Yet did not he deceive Caesar; for 
 although there was a resemblance between 
 him and Alexander, yet it was not so exact as 
 to impose on such as were prudent in discern- 
 ing; for this spurious Alexander had his hands 
 rough, by the labours he had been put to; and 
 instead of that softness of body which the 
 other had, and this as derived from his deli- 
 cate and generous education, this man, for 
 the contiary reason, had a rugged body. 
 When, therefore, Caesar saw how the master 
 and the scholar agreed in this lying story, and 
 in a bold way of talking, he inquired about 
 Aristobulus, and asked what became of him, 
 who (it seemsj was stolen away together with 
 bim, and for what reason it was that he did 
 not come along with him, and endeavour to 
 recover that dominion which was due to his 
 hi^h birth also. And when he said that he 
 had been left in the Isle of Crete, for fear of 
 the dangers of the sea, that, in case any acci 
 dent should come to himself, the posterity of 
 Mariamne might not utterly perish, but that 
 Aristobulus might survive, and punish those 
 that laid such treacherous designs against 
 them ; and when he persevered in his affirma 
 tions, and the author of the imposture agreed 
 in supporting it, Caesar took the young man 
 by himself, and said to him, " If thou wilt 
 not impose upon me, thou shalt have this for 
 thy reward, that thou shalt escape with thy 
 life; tell me then, who thou art, and who it 
 
 was that had boldness enough to contrive such 
 a cheat as this. For this contrivance is too 
 considerable a piece of villany to be un('er- 
 taken by one of thy age." Accordingly, be- 
 cause he had no other way to take, he told 
 Caesar the contrivance, and after what man- 
 ner, and by whom it was laid together. So 
 Caesar, upon observing the spurious Alexan 
 der to be a stroiig active man, and fit to work 
 with his hands, that he might not break his 
 promise to him, put him among those that 
 were to row among the mariners, but slew 
 him that induced him to do what he had done; 
 for as for the people of Melos, he thought 
 them sufficiently punished, in having thrown 
 away so much of their money upon this spu- 
 rious Alexander. And such was the igno- 
 minious conclusion of this bold contrivance 
 about the spurious Alexander, 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HOW ARCHELAUS, UPON A SECOND ACCUSA- 
 TION WAS BANISHED TO VIENNA. 
 
 § 1. When Archelaus was entered on his 
 ethnarchy, and was come into Judea, he ac- 
 cused Joazar, the son of Boethus, of assisting 
 the seditious, and took away the high-priest- 
 hood from him, and put Eleazar his brother 
 in his place. He also magnificently rebuilt 
 the royal palace that had been at Jericho, and 
 he diverted half the water with which the vil- 
 lage of Neara used to be watered, and drew 
 off that water into the plain, to water those 
 palm-trees which he had there planted ; he 
 also built a village, and put his own name 
 upon it, and called it Archelais. Moreover, 
 he transgressed the law of our fathers,* and 
 married Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, 
 who had been the wife of his brother Alex- 
 ander, vvhich Alexander had three children by 
 her, while it was a thing detestable among the 
 Jews to marry the brother's wife. Nor did 
 this Eleazar abide long in the high- priesthood, 
 Jesus, the son of Sie, being put in his room 
 while he w^as still living. 
 
 2. But in the tenth year of Archelaus's 
 government, both his brethren and the prin- 
 cipal men of Judea and Samaria, not being 
 able to bear his barbarous and tyrannical 
 usage of them, accused him before Caesar, 
 and that especially because they knew he had 
 broken the •ommands of Caesar, which obli- 
 ged him to behave himself with moderation 
 among them. Whereupon Caesar, when he 
 heard it, was very angry, and called for Ar- 
 chelaus's steward, who took care of his affaira 
 at Rome, and whose name was Archelaus 
 
 * Spanheim seasonably observes here, that it was f-ir. 
 bidden the Jews to marry their brother's wife when dhe 
 had children by her first husband; and that Zenora* 
 (cites, or; interprets the clause before ut accordiDgly. 
 
 2H 
 
482 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVII 
 
 also; and thinking it beneatli bim to write to 
 Archelaus, he hade him sail away as soon as 
 possible, and bring him to Rome; so the man 
 made haste in his voyage, and when he came 
 into Judea he found Archelaus feasting with 
 his friends; so he told him what Caesar had 
 sent him about, and hastened him away. And 
 when he was come [to Rome], Caesar up- 
 on hearing what certain accusers of his had 
 to say, and what repiy he could make, both 
 banished him, and appointed Vienna, a city 
 of gaul, to be the place of his habitation, 
 and took his money away from him. 
 
 3. Now, before Archelaus was gone up to 
 Rome upon this message, he related this 
 dream to his friends: That he saw ears of 
 corn, in number ten, full of wheat, perfectly 
 ripe; which ears, as it seemed to him, were 
 devoured by oxen. And when he was awake 
 and gotten up, because the vision appeared to 
 be of great importance to him, he sent for 
 the diviners, whose study was employed about 
 dreams. And while some were of one opi- 
 nion arid some of another (for all their inter- 
 pretations did not agree), Simon, a man of the 
 sect of the Essens, desired leave to speak his 
 mind freely, and said, that the vision denoted 
 a cliange in the affairs of Archelaus. and that 
 not for the better; that oxen, because that 
 animal takes uneasy pains in his labours, de- 
 noted afflictions, and indeed denoted, farther, 
 a change of affairs; because that land which 
 is ploujihed by oxen cannot remain in its for- 
 mer state ; and that the ears of corn being ten, 
 determined the like number of years, because 
 an ear of corn grows in one year; and that 
 the time of Archelaus's government was over. 
 And thus did this man expound the dream. 
 Now, on the fifth day after this dream came 
 first to Archelaus, the other Archelaus, that 
 was sent to Judea by Caesar to call him away, 
 came hither also. 
 
 4. The like accident befel Glaphyra his 
 wife, who was the daughter of king Arche- 
 laus, who, as I said before, was married, while 
 she was a virgin, to Alexander, the son of 
 Herod, and brother of Arctielaus; but since 
 
 it fell out so that Alexander was slam by his 
 father, she was married to Juba, the king of 
 Libya; and when he was dead, and she lived 
 in widowhood in Cappadocia with her father,^ 
 Archelaus divorced his former wife Mariamne, 
 and married her, so great was his affection 
 for her; who, during her marriaf-e to him, 
 saw the following dream: — She thought she 
 saw Alexander standing by her; at which she 
 rejoiced, and embraced him with great affec- 
 tion ; but that he complained of her, and said, 
 " O Glaphyra! thou provest that s^^iiig ic- be 
 true, which assures us that women are not to 
 be trusted. Didst thou not pledge thy faith 
 to me? and wast thou not married to me 
 when thou wast a virgin? and had we not 
 children between us? Yet hast thou forgot- 
 ten the affection I bare to thee, out of desire 
 of a second husband. Nor hast thou been 
 satisfied with that injury thou didst me, but 
 thou hast been so bold as to procure thee a 
 third husband to lie by thee, and in an inde- 
 cent and imprudent manner hast entered into 
 my bouse, and hast been married to Arche- 
 laus, thy husband and my brother. How- 
 ever, I will not Ibrget thy former kind affec- 
 tion for me; but will set thee free from every 
 such reproachful action, and cause thee to be 
 mine again, as thou once wa?t." When she 
 had reliited this to her female companions, in 
 a few days* time she departed this life. 
 
 5. Now I did not think these histories im- 
 proper for the present discourse, both because 
 my discourse now is concerning kings, and 
 otherwise also on account of the advantage 
 hence to be drawn, as well for the confirma- 
 tion of the immortality of the soul, as of the 
 providence of God over human affairs, I 
 thought them fit to be set down; but if any 
 tuie does not believe such relations, let him 
 indeed erjoy his own opinion, but let him not 
 hinder another that would thereby encourage 
 hin.self in virtue. Sc A-cbelaus's coimtry 
 was laid to the pro»''nco of Syria; and Cvre- 
 nius, one that had been ."on«ul, was se»'t b» 
 Cwsar to tsko account of people's eflTectv «• 
 Syria, ana tc sell the Aou«e ok AxJlieiaus. 
 
483 
 
 BOOK XVIII. 
 
 CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF THIRTT-TWO TBAK& 
 
 FROM THE BANISHMENT OF ARCHELAUS TO THE DEPARTURE OF 
 THE JEWS FROM BABYLON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW CYRENIUS WAS SENT BY C^SAR TO MAKE 
 A TAXATION OF STUIA AND JUDEA^ AND 
 HOW COPONIUS WAS SENT TO BE PROCURA- 
 TOR OF JUDEA; concerning JUDAS OF GA- 
 LILEE, AND CONCERNING THE SECTS THAT 
 WERE AMONG THE JEWS. 
 
 § 1. Now Cyrenius, a Roman senator, and 
 one who had gone through other magistracies, 
 and had passed through them till he had been 
 consul, and one who, on other accounts, was 
 of great dignity, came at this time into Syria, 
 with a few others, being sent by Caesar to be 
 a judge of that nation, and to take an account 
 of their substance: Coponius also, a man of 
 the equestrian order, was sent together with 
 hira, to have the supreme power over the 
 Jews. Moreover, Cyrenius came himself in- 
 to Judea, which was now ad(ied to the pro- 
 vince of Syria, to take an account of their 
 substance, and to dispose of Archelaus's mo- 
 ney: but the Jews, although at the beginning 
 they took the report of a taxation heinously, 
 yet did they leave off any farther opposition 
 to it, by the persuasion of Joazar, who was 
 the son of Boetbus, and high-priest. So 
 they, being over-persuaded by Joazar's words, 
 gave an account of their estates, without 
 any dispute anoutit; yet there was one Ju- 
 das a Gaulonite,* of a city whose name was 
 
 • Since St Luke once (Acts t. 37), and Josephns 
 our several timfs. onr.e h«re (sect 6; and h. xx. ch. v. 
 ViCX.'i: <)1 the '-^ar. h. ii.ch.viii. sect 1; and chap xvii 
 sect. 8). raUs tins Jndas. who was the pestilent author of 
 that seditions doctnne and temper which brought the 
 Jewish nation to utter destruction, a Galilean; but here 
 (sect I), Josepbus calls him a Gaulonite, of the city of 
 Gainala; it is a great question where this Judas was 
 born, whether in (iaiilee on the west side, or in Gaulo- 
 tjitis 01. the east side of the river Jordan j whi'e. in the 
 place just now cited out of the Antiquities (b. xx. ch. v 
 eect.-2). he is not only called a Galilean, but it is added 
 to his story, •'as I have signified in the lo<tks that ko 
 before these," as if he had still callt-d him i Galilfcan in 
 those Atitiquities before, as well as in tint particular 
 (ilnce, as Dean Aldrich observes. Of the Wat b. ii ch. 
 viii. sect. i. Nor can one well ima^nf why he should 
 herecall him a (>aulonite. when, in tlie tith sect following 
 here, as well as twice < >f the War. he still Ciills him a Gj^- 
 iileiin. As for the city of Gamala. whence this Judas 
 •v»k ^rived, it determines n«»thiug, tinct; there were 
 
 Gamala, who taking vnth him Sadduc.f a 
 Pharisee, became zealous to draw them to 
 a revolt, who both said that this taxation was 
 no better than an introduction to slavery, and 
 exhorted the nation to assert their liberty ; as 
 if they could procure them happiness and se- 
 curity for what they possessed, and an assur- 
 ed enjoyment of a still greater good, which 
 was that of the honour and glory they would 
 thereby acquire for magnanimity. They also 
 said that God would not otherwise be assist- 
 ing tothera, than upon their joining with one 
 another in such counsels as might be success- 
 ful, and for their own advantage; and this 
 especially, if they wotfld set about great ex- 
 ploits, and not grow weary in executing the 
 same; so men received what they said vvith 
 pleasure, and this bold attempt proceeded to 
 a great height. All sorts of misfortunes also 
 sprang from these men, and the nation was 
 infected with this doctrine to an incredible 
 degree; one violent war came upon us after 
 another, and we lost our friends, who used 
 to alleviate our pains; there were also very 
 great robberies and murders of our principal 
 men. This was done in pretence indeed for 
 the public welfare, but in reality for the hopes 
 of gain to themselves; whence arose seditions, 
 and from them murders of men. which some, 
 times tell on those of their own peoule ''bv t^e 
 madness of these men towaras one anorner, 
 while their desire was that none of the adverse 
 party might be left), and sometimes on their 
 enemies; a famine also coming upon us reduced 
 us to the last degree of despair, as did also 
 the taking and demolishing of cities ; nay, the 
 
 two of that nam«, the on« In Ganlonitis, the other 
 in Galilee. See Reland on the city or towr of that 
 name. 
 
 + It seems not very improbable tomb that this Snd- 
 duc. the Pharisee, was the very same man of whom the 
 Kabhins speak, as the unhappy but undesigning occa- 
 sion of the impiety or infidelity of the Sadducees; nor 
 perhaps had the men this name of Sadducees till tint 
 v«ry time. th<mch they were a distinct »oct long before. 
 See the note on b. xiii.ch. x. sect.5, and Dean Pridraux, 
 as there quoted; nor do we, that 1 know of. find the 
 least footsteps of Euch impiety rr intidel<ty of these 
 Sadducees befure this time, the Recognitions assuring 
 us that they began about tbe days of John the BaptuU 
 b.Lch. liv. 
 
484 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF TPIE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVIII. 
 
 sedition at last increased so high, that the 
 very temple of God was burnt down by their 
 eneipy's lire. Such were the consequences of 
 this, that the customs of our fathers were 
 altered, and such a change was made, as add- 
 ed a mighty weight toward bringing all to 
 destruction, which these men occasioned by 
 thus conspiring together; for Judas and Sad- 
 due,* who excited a fourth philosophic sect 
 ,1 .'.oug us, and had a great many followers 
 i herein, filled our civil government with tu- 
 mults at present, and laid the foundation of 
 our future miseiies, by this system of philo- 
 t^ophy, which we were before unacquainted 
 withal; concerning which I shall discourse a 
 little, and this the rather, because the infec- 
 tion which spread thence among the younger 
 sort, who were zealous for it, brought the 
 public to destruction* 
 
 2. The Jews had for a great while three 
 fcects of philosophy peculiar to themselves ; 
 the sect of the Essens, and the sect of the 
 Sadducees, and the third sort of opinions was 
 that of those called Pharisees; of which sects, 
 although I have already spoken in the second 
 book of the Jewish War, yet will I a little 
 touch upon them now. 
 
 3. Now, for the Pharisees, they live mean- 
 ly, and despise delix^acies in diet; and they fol- 
 low the conduct of reason; and what that 
 prescribes to them as good for them, they do; 
 and they think they ought earnestly to strive 
 
 to observe reason's nictates for practice 
 
 They also pay a respect to such as are in 
 years; nor are they so bold as to contradict 
 them in any thing which they have intro- 
 duced; and, when they determine that all 
 things are done by fate, they do not take 
 away the freedom from men of acting as they 
 think fit; since their notion is, that it hath 
 pleased God to make a temperament, where- 
 by what he wills is done, but so that the 
 will of men can act virtuously or viciously. 
 They also believe that souls have an immortal 
 vigour in them, and that under the earth 
 there will be rewards or punishments, accord- 
 ing as they have lived virtuously or viciously 
 in this life; and the latter are to be detained 
 ill an everlasting prison, but that the former 
 shall have power to revive and live again; on 
 account of which doctrines they are able great- 
 ly to persuade the body of the people; and 
 whatsoever they do about divine worship, 
 prayers, and sacrifices, they perform them 
 according to their direction; insomuch that 
 the cities gave great attestions to them on 
 account of their entire virtuous conduct, both 
 in the actions of their lives and their discourses 
 also. 
 
 4. But the doctrine of the Sadducees is 
 thig: That souls die with the bodies; nor do 
 they regard the observation of any thing be- 
 sides what the law enjoins them; for they 
 
 • See tbe preyitnit Note. 
 
 think it an instajice of virtue to dispute with 
 those teachers of philosophy whom they frer 
 quent; but this doctrine is received but by a 
 few, yet by those still of the greatest dignity; 
 but they are able to do almost nothing of 
 themselves; for when they become magis- 
 trates, as they are unwillingly and by force 
 sometimes obliged to be, they addict them- 
 selves to the notions of the Pharisees, be- 
 cause the multitude would not otherwise hear 
 them. 
 
 5. The doctrine of the Essens is this: That 
 all things are best ascribed to God. They 
 teach the immortality of souls, and esteem 
 that the rewards of righteousness are to be 
 earnestly striven for ; and when they send 
 what they have dedicated to God into the 
 temple, they do not. offer sacrifices,! becaus* 
 they have more pure lustrations of their own; 
 on which account they are excluded from the 
 common court of the temple, but offer their 
 sacrifices themselves; yet is their course of 
 life better than that of other men ; and they 
 entirely addict themselves to husbandry. It 
 also deserves our admiration, how much they 
 exceed all other men that addict themselves to 
 virtue, and this in righteousness: and indeed 
 to such a degree, that as it hath never appear- 
 ed among any other men, neither Greeks nor 
 barbarians, no, not for a little time, so hath it 
 endured a long while among them. This is 
 demonstrated by that institution of theirs 
 which will not suffer any thing to hinder them 
 from having all things in common; so that a 
 rich man enjoys no more of his own wealth 
 than he who hath nothing at all. There are 
 about four thousand men that live in this way, 
 and neither marry wives, nor are desirous to 
 keep servants; as thinking the latter tempts 
 men to be unjust, and the former gives the 
 handle to domestic quarvels ; but as they live 
 by themselves, they minister one to another. 
 They also appoint certain stewards to receive 
 the incomes of their revenues, and of the 
 fruits of the ground ; such as are good men 
 and priests, who are to get their corn and 
 their food ready for them. They none of 
 them differ from others of the Essens in their 
 way of living, but do the most resemble those 
 Pacae who are called PolistaX [dwellers in 
 cities.] 
 
 6. But of the fourth sect of Jewish philo- 
 
 + It seems by wh:it Josephus says here, and I'hilo 
 himself elsewhere (Op. p.tJ7*»), that these Kssens did not 
 use to go to tlie Jewish feativals at Jenisalem, or to offe*- 
 saciificrs there, which m»y be one great occasion why 
 they are never mentioned in the ordinary btioks of the 
 New Testament; though, in the Apostdliral €onbiitu« 
 tions, they are mentioned es those that obserred the cus- 
 toirts of their forefathers, and that without ajiy such ili 
 character laid npcn them as is there laid upon the othee 
 sects amontc that people. 
 
 J, \\ ho these Utiwrreti in Josephus.or Kt ni in Strftb<v 
 amon^; tlie P\thaKorio Uarie were, it is not easy to dett r- 
 miie. Scalieer offers no improbable conjecture, that 
 some of these Daca; lired a;oiit^ like monks, in tents or 
 caves; but that otiiirs of fhtin lived ti«<et*'et i» bmll 
 cities, and thence were culled hy turh nuoteb as impU»4 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 485 
 
 Bopby, Judas the Galilean was the author. 
 These men agree in all other things with the 
 Phiiris'Jiic notions; but they have an inviolable 
 attachment to liberty; and say that God is to 
 be their only Ruler and Lord. They also do 
 not value d>ing any kinds of death, nor in- 
 deed do they heed the deaths of their relations 
 and friends, nor can any such fear make 
 them call any man Lord; and since this im- 
 moveable resolution of theirs is well known 
 to a great many, 1 shall speak no farther 
 about that matter; nor am I afraid that any 
 thing 1 have said of them should be disbelieved, 
 but rather fear, that what I have said is be- 
 neath the resolution they show when they un- 
 dergo pain; and it was in Gessius Florus's 
 time that the nation began to gron' mad with 
 this distemper, who was our procurator, and 
 who occasioned the Jews to go wild with it 
 by the abuse of his authority, and to make 
 them revolt from the Romans; and these are 
 the sects of Jewish philosophy. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 HOW HEROD AND PHILIP BUILT SEVERAL 
 CITIES IN HONOUa OF C-SSAR. CONCERN- 
 ING THE SUCCESSION OF PRIESTS AND PRO- 
 CURATORS; AS ALSO WHAT BEFEL PHRA- 
 ATES AND THE PARTHIANS. 
 
 § 1. When Cyrenius had now disposed of 
 Arcbelaus's niMiey, and when the taxings 
 were come to a cmiclusion, which were made in 
 the thirty-seventh year of Caesar's victory over 
 Antony at Actium, he deprived Joazar of the 
 high-priesthood, which dignity had been con- 
 ferreii on him by the multitude, and be ap- 
 pointed Aiianus, the son of Seth, to be high- 
 priest; while Herod and Philip had each of 
 them received their own tetrarchy, and settled 
 the affairs thereof. Herod also built a wall 
 about Sepphoris (which is the security of all 
 Galilee), and made it the metropolis of the 
 country. He also built a wall round Betha- 
 ramphtha, which was itself a city also, and 
 called it Julias, from the name of the empe- 
 ror's wife. When Philip, also, had built Pa- 
 neas, a city, at the fountains of Jordan, he 
 named it Cesarea. He also advanced the vil- 
 lage Bethsaida, situate at the lake of Gennesa- 
 reth, unto the dignity of a city, both by the 
 number of inhabitants it contained, and its 
 other grandeur, and called it by the name of 
 Julias, the same name with Caesar's daughter. 
 2. As Coponius, who we told you was sent 
 along with Cyrenius, was exercising his office 
 of procurator, and governing Judea, the fol- 
 lowing accidents happened. As the Jews 
 were celebrating the feast of unleavened 
 bread, which we call the Passover, it was 
 customary for tLe priests tr) open the temple- 
 gates just after midnight. When, therefore, 
 
 those gates were first opened, some of the 
 Samaritans came privately into Jerusalem, 
 and threw about dead men's bodies in ttie 
 cloisters; on which account the Jews after- 
 ward excluded them out of the temple, which 
 they had not used to do at such festivals; and 
 on other accounts also they watched the tem- 
 ple more carefully than they had formerl 
 done. A little after which accident, Copa' 
 nius returned to Rome, and Marcus Ambi 
 vius came to be his successor in that govern- 
 ment; under whom Salome, the sister of king 
 Herod, died, and left to Julia [Caesar's wife], 
 Jauuiia, all its toparchy, and Pbasaelis in the 
 plain, and Archelais, where is a great planta- 
 tion of palm-trees, and their fruit is excellent 
 in its kind. After him came Annius Rufus, 
 under whom died Caesar, the second emperor 
 of the Romans, the duration of whose reign 
 was fifty-seven years, besides six months and 
 two days (of which time Antonius ruled to- 
 gether with him fourteen years; but the du- 
 ration of his life was seventy-seven years); 
 upon whose death Tiberius Nero, his wife 
 Julia's son, succeeded. He was now the 
 third emperor; and he sent Valerius Gratus 
 to be procurator of Judea, and to succeed 
 Annius Rufus. This man deprived Ananus 
 of the high-priesthood, and appointed Ismael, 
 the son of Phabi, to be high-priest. He also 
 deprived him in a little time, and ordained 
 Eleazar, the son of Ananus, who had been 
 high-priest before, to be high-priest: which 
 office, when he had held for a year, Gratus 
 deprived him of it, and gave the high-priest- 
 hood to Simon, the son of Camithus; and, 
 when he had possessed that dignity no longer 
 than a }ear, Joseph Caiphas was made his 
 successor. When Gratus had done those 
 things, he went back to Rome, after he had 
 tarried in Judea eleven years, when Pontius 
 Pilate came as his successor. 
 
 3. And now Herod the tetrarch, who was 
 in great favour with Tiberius, built a city of 
 the same name with him, and called it Tibe- 
 rias. He built it in the best part of Galilee, at 
 the lake of Gennesareth. There are warm 
 baths at a little distance from it, in a village 
 named Emmaus. Strangers came and in- 
 habited this city; a great number of the in 
 habitants were Galileans also; and many 
 were necessitated by Herod to come thither 
 out of the country belonging to him, and'were 
 by force compelled to be its inhabitants; some 
 of them were persons of condition. He also 
 admitted poor people, such as those that were 
 collected from all parts, to dwell in it. Nay, 
 some of them v\'ere not quite freemen; and 
 these he was a benefactor to, and made them 
 free in great numbers; but obliged them not 
 to forsake the city, by building them very 
 good houses at his own expenses, and by giv- 
 ing them land also; for he was sensible, tliat 
 to make this place a habitation was to trans- 
 gress the Jewish ancient laws, because many 
 
#486 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XVIII. 
 
 Bepulcbres were to be tere taken away, in order 
 to r^ake room for the city Tiberias;* whereas 
 our ^w pronounces, that such inhabitants are 
 unclean for seven days.f 
 
 4. About this time died Phraates, king of 
 the Parthians, by the treachery of Phraataces 
 his son, upon the occasion following: — When 
 Phraates bad had legitimate sons of his own, he 
 jad also an Italian maid-servant, whose name 
 was Thermusa, who had been formerly sent to 
 him by Julius Caesar, among other presents. 
 He first made her his concubine; but he being 
 a great admirer of her beauty, in process of 
 time having a son by her, whose name was 
 Phraataces, he made her his legitimate wife, 
 and had a great respect for her. Now, she 
 was able to persuade him to do any thing that 
 she said, and was earnesf in procuring the 
 government of Parthia for her son ; but still 
 she saw that her endeavours would not suc- 
 ceed, unless she could contrive how to remove 
 Phraates's legitimate sons [out of the king- 
 dom]; so she persuaded him to send those his 
 sons as pledges of his fidelity to Rome; and 
 they were sent to Rome accordingly, because 
 it was not easy for him to contradict her com- 
 mands. Now, while Phraataces was alone 
 brought up in order to succeed in the govern- 
 ment, he thought it very tedious to expect that 
 government by his father's donation [as his 
 successor] ; he therefore fornied a treacherous 
 design against bis father, by his mother's as- 
 sistance, with whom, as the report went, be 
 bad criminal conversation also. So he was 
 hated for both these vices, while bis subjects 
 esteemed this [wicked] love of his mother to 
 be no way inferior to bis parricide; and he 
 was by them, in a sedition, expelled out of 
 the country before be grew too great, and 
 died. But, as the best sort of Parthians 
 agreed together, that it was impossible they 
 •ihould be governed without a king, while also 
 it vvastbtir constant practice to choose one of 
 the family of ArsMces [nor did their law allow 
 of an\ otliers; and ibey tbcugbt tl.is king< om 
 had i)een si nicieiitly injured already by the 
 marriiige vvirli an Italian concubine, and by 
 her isMie], iliey sent ambassadors, and called 
 Orodes [lo lake the crown]; for the multitude 
 would not otlfciwise have borne them; and 
 tboutb le was accused of very great cruelty, 
 end \^»s of ap nntractable temper, and prone 
 to wrath. \et still be was one of the family of 
 Aisaces. However, they made a conspiracy 
 against him, and slew bim, and that, as some 
 say, at a festival and among their sacrifices 
 (for it is the universal custom there to carry 
 their swords with them); but, as the more 
 
 •• We iray here takr notice, as well an in the parallr) 
 parts of the hookii (>l Ihe U ar, h. ii. ch. ix. oert. 4, that 
 •ftf-r Ihe death of Herod the (iieat. and the succei'sion 
 of ArcheluiiH, .loM-phiiii is very lir:ef in his arcounts of 
 Jiiriea. till neai hid t>wii time. I Miiniose the rradon is. 
 that alter the lartie h story ol Nirolaii^ of Damayciis. in- 
 cludinir the life of I erod. and | rohahh tie fiireessioii 
 •nd first aetiiins oi hit sons, tie bad but frV f^iHid histories 
 •f tlMse times hcfore him. ♦ Num. xix. 11— 14. 
 
 general report is, they slew him when they 
 had drawn him out a-hunting. So they sent 
 ambassadors to Rome.-and desired they would 
 send one of tbgse that were there as pledges, 
 to be their kir.g. Accordingly, Vonones was 
 preferred before the rest, and sent to them 
 (for he seemed capable of such great fortune, 
 which two of the greatest kingdoms under 
 the sun now offered him, his own and a 
 foreign one). However, the barbarians soon 
 changed their minds, they being naturally of 
 a mutable disposition, upon the supposal that 
 this man was not worthy to be their governor; 
 for they could not think of obeying the com- 
 mands of one that bad been a slave (for so 
 they called those that bad been hostages), nor 
 could they bear the ignominy of that name; 
 and this was the more intolerable, because 
 then the Parthians must have such a king set 
 over them, not by right of war, but in time 
 of peace. So they presently invited Artaba- 
 nus, king of Media, to be their king, he be- 
 ing also of the race of Arsaces. Artabanus 
 complied with the offer that was made bim, 
 and came to them with an army. So Vonones 
 met him; and at first the multitude of 
 the Parthians stood on his side, and he put 
 his army in array; but Artabanus was beaten, 
 and fled to the mountains of Media. Yet 
 did he a little after gather a great army to- 
 gether, and fought with Vonones, and beat 
 bim; whereupon Vonones fled away on horse- 
 back, with a few of bis attendants about bim, 
 toSeleucia[upon Tigris]. So when Artaba- 
 nus had slain a great numbii', and this after 
 he had gotten the victory by reason of the 
 very great dismay the barbarians were in, he 
 retired to Ctesipbon with a great number of 
 his people; and so be now reigned over the 
 Parthians. But Vonones fled away to Ar- 
 menia; and as soon as be came thither, he 
 had an inclination to have the government of 
 the country given bim, and sent ambassadors 
 to Rome [for that purpose]. But because 
 Tiberius refused it him, and because be wanted 
 courage, and because the Parthian king 
 threatened bim, and sent ambassadors to bim 
 to denounce war against bim if be proceeded, 
 and because be bad no wa\ to take to regain 
 any other kingdom (for the people of authority 
 among the Armenians about Niphates joined 
 themselves to Artabanus), he delivered up 
 himself to Silanus, the president of .Syria, who, 
 out of regard to his education at Rome, kept 
 bim in Syria, while Artabanus gave Armenia 
 to Orodes, one of his own sons. 
 
 5. At this time died Antiochus, the king or 
 Commagene; wereupon the multitude con- 
 tended with the n( bility, and both sent am- 
 bassadors [to Rome]; for the men of power 
 were desirous that their form of go\ernment 
 might be changed into that of a [Roman] 
 province; as were the multitude desirous to 
 be under kingn, as their fathers bad been. So 
 the senate made a decree, that Germanicus 
 
CHAP. Ill, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 487 
 
 should be sent to settle the affairs of the east, 
 fortune hereby taking a proper opportunity 
 for depriving bim of his life; for when he had 
 been in the east, and settled all affairs there, 
 bis lite was taken away by the poison which 
 Piso gave hiai, as hath beea related else- 
 where.* 
 
 CHAPTER HL 
 
 •EDITION OF THE JEWS AGAINST PONTIUS 
 PILATE; CONCERNING CHRIST, AND WHAT 
 BEFEL PAULINA AND THE JEWS AT ROME. 
 
 § 1. But now Pilate, the procurator of Ju- 
 dea, removed the army from Cesarea to Jeru- 
 salem, to take their winter-quarters there, in 
 order to abolish the Jewish laws. So he in- 
 troduced Caesar's effigies, which were upon 
 the ensigns, and brought them into the city; 
 whereas our law forbids us the very making 
 of images ; on which account the former pro- 
 curators were wont to make their entry into 
 the city with such ensigns as had not those 
 ornaments. Pilate was the first who brought 
 those images to Jerusalem, and set them up 
 there; which was done without the knowledge 
 of the people, because it was done in the 
 night-time; but as soon as they knew it, they 
 come in multitudes to Cesarea, and inter- 
 ceded with Pilate many days, that he would 
 remove the images; and when he would not 
 grant their requests, because it would tend to 
 the injury of C^sar, while yet they persevered 
 in their request, on the sixth day he ordered 
 his soldiers to have their weapons privately, 
 while he came and sat upon his judgment- 
 seat, w-^ich seat was so prepared in the open 
 place of the city, that it concealed the army 
 that lay ready to oppress them; and when the 
 iews petitioned him again, he gave a signal 
 to the soldiers to encompass them round, and 
 threatened that their punishment should be 
 no less than immediate death, unless they 
 would leave off disturbing him, and go their 
 ways home. But they threw themselves upon 
 the ground, and laid their necks bare, and 
 said they would take their death very will- 
 ingly, rather than the wisdom of their law« 
 should be transgressed; upon which Pilate 
 was deeply affected with their firm resolution 
 to keep their laws inviolable, and presently 
 I commanded the images to be carried back 
 from Jerusalem to Cesarea. 
 
 2. But Pilate undertook to bring a current 
 of water to Jerusalem, and did it with the 
 sacred money, and derived the origin of the 
 stream from the distance of two hundred fur- 
 longs. However, the Jews f were not pleased 
 
 • This citation is now wantini?. 
 
 + These Jews, a» they are here ralletl, whose blood 
 rilate shed on this occasjion, may very well be those 
 very Galilean Jews. '• n h6se blood' Pilate had mingled 
 •ith their sacrificef" (Luke xiii. 1, 2)t lbe«e tumults 
 
 with what had been done about this water; 
 and many ten thousands of the people got 
 together, and made a claxiiour against bun, 
 and insisted that he should leave off that dc 
 sign. Some of them also used reproa<*lies. 
 atid abused the man, as crowds of such peo- 
 ple usually do. So he habited a great num- 
 ber of his soldiers in their habit, who carriru 
 daggers under their garments, and sent thtm 
 to a place where they might surround them. 
 So he bade the Jews himself go auavi but 
 they boldly casting reproaches upon him. ht- 
 gave the soldiers that signal which had lieep 
 beforehand agreed on: who laid upon them 
 much greater blows than Pilate had com- 
 manded them, and equally punished those 
 that were tumultuous, and those that were 
 not, nor did they spare them in the least; and 
 since the people were unarmed, and were 
 caught by men prepared for what they were 
 about, there were a great number of them 
 slain by this means, and others of them nui 
 away wounded; and thus an €iid was put tu 
 this sedition. 
 
 3. Now, there was about this time Jesus, 
 a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, 
 for he was a doer of wonderful works, — a 
 teacher of such men as receive the truth with 
 pleasure. He drew over to him both «)anv 
 of the Jews, and ntiany of the Gentiles, fie 
 was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the 
 suggestion of the principal men amongst ns, 
 had condemned him to the cross.J those that 
 loved him at the first did not forsake faiin, for 
 he appeared to them alive again the third day. |; 
 as the divine prophets h-dtl foretold these and 
 ten thousand other wonderful things concern 
 ing him; and the tribe of Christians, so nameci 
 from him, are not extinct at this day. 
 
 4. About the &ame time also another sad ca- 
 lamity put the Jews into disorder; and certain 
 shameful practices happened about the tem- 
 ple of Isis that was at Rome. I will no\\ 
 first take notice of the wicked attempt about 
 the temple of Isis, and will then give an ac- 
 count of the Jewish affairs. There was at 
 
 being usually excited at some of the Jews' great frsti- 
 vals. when they slew ahundance of sacrifices, a' d the 
 Galileans being commonly much more busy in such tu- 
 mults than those of Judea and Jerusalem, as we learn 
 from the History of Archelaus (Antiq. b. xvii. cli. ix 
 sect 3; and ch. x. sect. 2, 9); though, indeed, Jtsc- 
 phus's present copies say not one word of "those eich. 
 teen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew 
 them." which the 4th verse of the same 13th chapter •>' 
 St. Luke informs us of: but since our Gospel teaches 
 us (Luke xxiii. 6, 7), that " when Pilate heard of Ga- 
 lilee, he asked whether Jesus were a Galilean ;* And as 
 soon as be knew that he beUmged to Herod's inrisdic- 
 lion, he sent him to Herod ;" and (ver. 12) ** the same 
 day Pilate and Herod were made friends together; foi 
 before they had b«'en at enmity between themselves ;" 
 take the very probable key of ihis matter in the words o._ 
 the learned Noldius. de Herod, No 2-19. " 1 he cause of 
 the enmity between Herod and Pilate (says he) seems 
 to have been this, that Pilate had intermeddled with the 
 fetrarch's jurisdiction, and had slain some of his Gali- 
 lean subjects (Luke xiii. 1); and, as he was willing t» 
 correct that error, he sent Christ to Uerod at thii time.'* 
 
 + A. I). 33, April 3. 
 
 U April & 
 
488 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVIIL 
 
 Kcme a woman whose name was Paulina; 
 one who, on account of the dignity of her an- 
 cestors, and by the regular conduct of a vir- 
 tuous life, had a great reputation: she was 
 also very rich; and although she was of a 
 beautiful countenance, and in that flower of 
 her age wherein women are the most gay, yet 
 did she lead a life of great modesty. She 
 was married to Saturninus, one that was every 
 way answerable to her in an excellent charac- 
 ter. Decius Mundus fell in love with this 
 woman, who was a man very high in the 
 equestrian order; and as she was of too great 
 dignity to be caught by presents, and had al- 
 ready rejected them, though they had been 
 sent in great abundance, he was still more in- 
 flamed with love to her, insomuch that he 
 promised to give her two hundred thousand 
 Attic drachma for one night's lodging; and 
 when this would not prevail upon her, and he 
 was not able to bear this misfortune in his 
 amours, he thought it the best way to famish 
 himself to death for want of food, on account 
 of Paulina's sad refusal; and he determined 
 with himself to dia after such a manner, and 
 he went on with his purpose accordingly. 
 Now, Mundus had a freed- woman, who had 
 been made free by his father, whose name 
 was Ide, one skilful in all sorts of mischief. 
 This woman was very much grieved at the 
 young man's resolution to kill himself (for 
 he did not conceal his intentions to destroy 
 himself from others), and came to him, and 
 encouraged him by her discourse, and made 
 him to hope, by some promises she gave him, 
 that he might obtain a night's lodging with 
 Paulina; and when he joyfully hearkened to 
 her entreaty, she said she wanted no more 
 •than fifty thousand drachmae for the entrap- 
 ping of the woman. So when she had en- 
 couraged the young man, and gotten as much 
 money as she required, she did not take the 
 same methods as had been taken before, be- 
 cause she perceived that the woman was by 
 no means to be tempted by money; but as 
 she knew that she was very much given to the 
 worship of the goddess Isis, she devised the 
 following stratagem: — She went to some of 
 Isis's priests, and upon the strongest assu- 
 rances [of concealment], she persuaded them 
 by words, but chiefly by the oflTer of money, 
 of twenty-five thousand drachmae in hand, 
 and as much more when the thing had taken 
 effect; and told them the passion of the young 
 man, and persuaded them to use all means 
 possible to beguile the woman. So they were 
 drawn in to promise so to do, by that large 
 sum of gold they were to have. According- 
 ly, the oldest of them went immediately to 
 Paulina; and upon his admittance, he desired 
 to speak with her by herself. When that was 
 granted him, be told her that he was sent by 
 the god Anubis, who was fallen in love with 
 her, and enjoined her to come to hin). Upon 
 tbif she took the message very kindly, and 
 
 valued herself greatly upon this condescen- 
 sion of Anubis; and told her husband that 
 she had a message sent her, and was to sup 
 and lie with Anubis; so he agreed to her ac- 
 ceptance of the offer, as fully satisfied with 
 the chastity of his wife. Accordingly, she 
 went to the temple; and after she had supped 
 there, and it was the hour to go to sleep, the 
 priest shut the doors of the temple; when, iu 
 the holy part of it, the lights were also put 
 out. Then did Mundus leap out (for he was 
 hidden therein) and did not fail of enjoying 
 her, who was at his service all the night long, 
 as supposing he was the god; and when he 
 was gone away, which was before those priests 
 who knew nothing of this stratagem were stir- 
 ring, Paulina came early to her husband, and 
 told him how the god Anubis had appeared 
 to her. Among her friends also she declared 
 how great a value she put upon this favour, 
 who partly disbelieved the thing, when they 
 reflected on its nature, and partly were amazed 
 at it, as having no pretence for not believing 
 it, when they considered the modesty and the 
 dignity of the person ; but now, on the third 
 day after what had been done, Mundus met 
 Patilina, and said, " Nay, Paulina, thou hast 
 saved me two hundred thousand drachma-, 
 which sum thou mightest have added to thy 
 own family; yet hast thou not failed to be at 
 my service in the manner I invited thee. As 
 for the reproaches thou hast laid upon Mun- 
 dus, I value not the business of names; but 
 I rejoice in the pleasure 1 reaped by w hat I did, 
 while I took to myself the name of Anubis." 
 When he bad said this, he went his May; but 
 now she began to come to the sense of the 
 grossness of what she hud (ione, and rent her 
 garments, and told her husbiind of the horrid 
 natureof this wicked contrivance, and pra\ed 
 him not to neglect to assist her in this case. 
 So he discovered the fact to the emperor; 
 whereupon Tiberius inquired into the matter 
 thoroughly, by examining the priests about it. 
 and ordered them to he crucified, as well ag 
 Ide, who was the occasion of their peidi- 
 tion, and who had contrived the whole matter, 
 which was so injurious to the woman. He 
 also demolished the temple of Isis, and pave 
 order that her statue should be thrown into 
 the river Tiber; while he only banished l^lun- 
 dus, but did no more to him, because he sup- 
 posed that what crime he bad committed whs 
 done out of the passion of love; and these 
 were the circumstances which concerned the 
 temple of Isis, and the injuries occasioned by 
 
 her priests I now return to the relation of 
 
 what happened about this time to the Jews at 
 Rome, as 1 formerly told you 1 would. 
 
 5. There was a man who was u Jew, but 
 had been driven away from his own country 
 by an accusation laid against him for trans- 
 gressing their laws, and by the fear he was 
 under of punishment i'ur lite same; but in ail 
 rusp«ct» a vvicktd man: — he then living at 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 489 
 
 Rome, professed to instruct men in the wis- 
 dom of the laws of Moses, He procured 
 also three other men, entirely of the same 
 character with himself, to be his partners. 
 These men persuaded Fulvia, a woman of 
 great dignity, and one that had embraced the 
 Jewish religion, to send purple and gold to 
 the temple at Jerusalem; and, when they 
 had gotten them, they employed them for 
 their own uses, and spent the money them- 
 selves; on which account it was that they 
 at first required it of her. Whereupon Ti- 
 berius, who had been informed of the thing 
 by Saturnius, the husband of Fulvia, who 
 desired inquiry might be made about it, or- 
 dered all the Jews to be banished out of 
 Rome; at which time the consuls listed four 
 thousand men out of them, and sent them to 
 the island Sardinia; but punished a greater 
 number of them, who were unwilling to be- 
 come soldiers on account of keeping the laws 
 of their forefathers.* Thus were these Jews 
 banished out of the city by the wickedness of 
 four men. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW THE SAMARITANS MADE A TUMULT, AND 
 PILATE DESTROYED MANY OF THEM; HOW 
 PILATE WAS ACCUSED, AND WHAT THINGS 
 WERE DONE BY VITELLIUS BELATIKG TO 
 THE JEWS AND THE PARTHIANS. 
 
 § 1. But the nation of the Samaritans did 
 not escape without tumults. The man who 
 excited tbem to it, was one who thought 
 lying a thing of little consequence, and who 
 contrived every thing so that the multitude 
 might be pleased; so he bade them get to- 
 gether upon Mount Gerizzim, which is by 
 tbem looked upon as the most holy of all 
 mountains, and assured them that, when they 
 were come thither, be would show them those 
 sacred vessels which were laid under that 
 place, because Moses put them there. "f So 
 
 • Of the banishment of theie four thousand Jews into 
 Sardinia by Tiberius see Suetonius in Tiber, sect 36w 
 But as for Sir- Keland's note here, which supposes that 
 Jews could not, consistently with their laws, be soldiers, 
 it is contradicted by one branch of the history bt fore us, 
 and contrary to innumerable instances of thrir fiehfin^. 
 and proTin? excellent soldiers in war; and indeed many 
 of the btstof them, and even under heathen kings them- 
 selves, dd SO; those, 1 mean, who allowed them their 
 rest on the Sabbath-flay, and other solemn festivals, and 
 let them live accordinif to their own laws, as AlrxanHer 
 the Great and the I'toieniies of Egvpl did. It is true, 
 they could not always oht<«in those privileKes and ti>en 
 they eot excused as well as they could, or sometimes ab- 
 •olntelv refused to fight, which seems to have been the 
 ease here, as to the mujor part of the Jews now banished, 
 but nothing more. See several of the Roman decrees in 
 their favour as to such matters, b. xiv. ch. x. 
 
 ■f Since Moses never c. me himself beyond Jordaa, 
 nor particularly to IMoui t Gerizzim. and sirce these Sa- 
 mantans have a tradition amoni; them, related here by 
 Dr Hudson, frcm • eland, who was very skilful in Je\»- 
 iflh and ^~am!lri!aIl iearnini:. that in the days of I'zzi <»r 
 0718 the hifh-prifsi (1 ( hrop. vi 6). the ark and oth-j 
 •acned vesaels were, by Uod's commanH. laid up or 
 
 they came thither armed, and thought the di»* 
 course of the man probable; and as they 
 abode at a certain village, which was called 
 Tirathaba, they got the rest together to them, 
 and desired to go up the mountain in a great 
 multitude together. But Pilate prevented 
 their going up, by seizing upon the roads 
 with a great band of horsemen and footmen, 
 who fell upon those that were gotten to- 
 gether in the village; and when they came to 
 an action, some of them they slew, and others 
 of them they put to flight, and took a great 
 many alive, the principal of whom, and also 
 the most potent of those that fled away, Pi- 
 late ordered to be slain. 
 
 2. But when this tumult was appeased, 
 the Samaritan senate sent an embassy to 
 Vitellius, a man that had been consul, and 
 who was now president of Syria, and accu&ed 
 Pilate of the murder of those that were killed ; 
 for that they did not go to Tirathaba in order 
 to revolt from the Romans, but to escape the 
 violence of Pilate. So Vitellius sent Marcel- 
 lus, a friend of his, to take care of the affairs 
 of Judea, and ordered Pilate to go to Rome, 
 to answer before the emperor to the accusation 
 of the Jews. So Pilate, when he had tarried 
 ten years in Judea, made haste to Rome, and 
 this in obedience to the orders of Vitellius, 
 which he durst not contradict; but before he 
 could get to Rome, Tiberius was dead. 
 
 3. But Vitellius came into Judea, and 
 went up to Jerusalem; it was at the time of 
 that festival which is called the Passover. 
 Vitellius was there magnificently received, 
 and released the inhabitants of Jerusalem 
 from all the taxes upon the fruits that were 
 bought and sold, and gave them leave to have 
 the care of the high-priest's vestments, with 
 all their ornaments, and to have them under 
 the custody of the priests in the temple; 
 which power they used to have formerly, 
 although at this time they were laid up in the 
 tower of Antonia, the citadel so called, and 
 that on the occasion following: — There was 
 one of the [high] priests, named Hyrcanus, 
 and as there were many of that name, he was 
 the first of them ; this man built a tower near 
 the temple, and when he had so done, he 
 generally dwelt in it, and bad these vestments 
 with him ; because it was lawful for him 
 alone to pu^them on, and he had tbem there 
 reposited when he went down into the city, 
 and took his ordinary garments ; the same 
 things were continued to be done by his sons, 
 and by their ?oiis after them; but when He- 
 rod came to be king, he rebuilt this tower, 
 which was very conveniently situated, in a 
 magnificent manner; and because he was a 
 friend to Antonius, he called it by the ntcae 
 
 hidden in Monnt Gerizzim, it Is highly probable *'j^t 
 tills was the f(M)lish foundation the pre^ent Samaritans 
 . went upon, in the sedition here de^ciibrd, and that jm 
 \ shoiild read here Q'ia«, instead of Mt4»ettn, in (be text 
 of Jiwephua. 
 
490 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK xviir 
 
 of Antonia; and as he found these vestments 
 lyiiij? there, he retained them in the same place, 
 as believing that, while he had them in bis 
 custody, the people would make no innova- 
 tions against him. The like to what Herod 
 did was done by his son Arihelaus, who was 
 made king after him; after whom the Ro- 
 mans, when they entered on the government, 
 took po-session of thes^e vestments of the high- 
 priest, and had them rep«)sited in a stone- 
 chamber, uiidtr the seal of the priests, and of 
 the keepers of the temple, the captain of the 
 guard lighting n lamp there every day; and 
 seven days before a festival* they were de- 
 livered to them by the captain of the guard, 
 when the high-priest having purified them, 
 and made use of them, la>d them up again in 
 the same chamber where they had been laid up 
 before, and this the very next day after the 
 feast was over. This was the practice at the 
 three yearly festivals, and on the fast-day; 
 but Vitellius put those garments into our own 
 power, as in the days of our forefathers, and 
 ordered the captain of the guard not to trouble 
 himself to inquire where they were laid, or 
 when they were to be used; and this he did 
 as an act of kindness, to oblige the nation to 
 him. Besides which, he also deprived Joseph, 
 who was called Caiphas, of the high-priesthood, 
 and appointed Jonathan, the son of Ananus, 
 the former high-priest, to succeed him. After 
 which he took his journey back to Antioch. 
 
 4. Moreover, Tiberius sent a letter to Vi- 
 tellius, and commanded him to make a league 
 of friendship with Artabanus, the king of 
 Parthia; for, while he was his enemy he ter- 
 rified him, because he had taken Armenia 
 away from him, lest he should proceed farther, 
 and told him he should no otherwise trust 
 him than upon his giving him hostages, and 
 especially his son Artabanus. Upon Tibe- 
 rius's writing thus to Vitellius, by the oflfer of 
 great presents of money, he persuaded both 
 the king of Iberia and the king of Albania to 
 make no delay, but to fight against Artaba- 
 nus; and although they would not do it them- 
 selves, yet did they give the Scythians a pas- 
 sage through their country, and opened the 
 Caspian gates to them, and brought them 
 upon Artabanus. So Armenia was again 
 taken from the Parthians, and the country of 
 Parthia was filled with war, and ?he principal 
 of their men were slain, and all things were 
 in disorder among them; the king's son also 
 himself fell in these wars, together with many 
 ten thousands of bis army. Vitellius had 
 also sent such great sums of money to Arta- 
 
 • This mention ofthf hiRh-priMt'8«Bcrpd garments re- 
 eeivrd seven days br for* a festival, and purified in 1ho<<e 
 days against a festival, as having bfen polluted by heine 
 in the custody of heathens, in Josepbus, agrees with the 
 traditions of the TaUnndis<s, as Reland here observes. 
 Nor is there any question but the three feaxts here men- 
 tioned, were the Passover. Pentecost, and Feast ol Ta- 
 bernacles,- and the Fast, so called by way of distinction 
 fas Acts axvii. 9), was the great day of expiation. 
 
 banus's father's kinsmen and friends, that he 
 had almost proctired hiu> to be slain by the 
 means of those bribes which they bad taken. 
 And when Artabanus perceived that the plotf 
 laid against him was not to be avoided, be- 
 cause it was laid by the principal men, and 
 those a great many in number, and that if 
 would certainly take effect, — when he bad 
 estimated the number of those that were truly 
 faithful to him, as also of those who were 
 already corrupted, but were deceitful in the « 
 kindness they professed to him, and were 
 likely, upon trial, to go over to his enemies, 
 he made his escape to the upper provinces, 
 where he afterwards raised a great army out 
 of the Dahae and Sacae, and fought with his 
 enemies, and retained his principality. 
 
 5. When Tiberius had heard of these things, 
 he desired to haveti league of friendship made 
 between him and Artabanus; and when, 
 upon this invitation, he received the proposal 
 kindly, Artabanus and Vitellius went to Eu- 
 phrates, and as a bridge was laid over the 
 river, they each of them came with their 
 guards about them, and met one another on 
 the midst of the bridge. And when they had 
 agreed upon the terms of peace, Herod the 
 tetrarch erected a rich tent on the midst of 
 the passage, and made them a feast there. 
 Artabanus also, not long afterwards, sent his 
 son Darius as an hostage, with many presents, 
 among which there was a man seven cubits 
 tall, a Jew he was by birth, and his name was 
 Eleazar, who, for his tallness, was called a 
 giant. After which Vitellius went to An- 
 tioch, and Artabanus to Babylon; but Herod 
 [the tetrarch], being desirous to give Cjesar 
 the first information that they had obtained 
 hostages, sent posts with letters, wherein he 
 had accurately described all the particulars, 
 and had left nothing for the consular Vitellius 
 to inform him of. But w hen Vitellius's letters 
 were sent, and Caesar bad let him know thiit he 
 was acquainted with theaflfairsalready, because 
 Herod had given him an account of them be- 
 fore, Vitellius was very much troubled at it; 
 and supposing that he had been thereby a 
 greater suflferer than he really was, he kept 
 up a secret anger upon this occasion, till he 
 could be revenged on him; which he wa? 
 after Caius had taken the government. 
 
 6. About this time it was that Philip, He- 
 rod's brother, departed this life, in the twen- 
 tieth year of the reign of Tiberiu8,f after he 
 had been tetrarch of Trachonitis, and Gau- 
 lonitis, and of the nation of the Batanean* 
 
 + This calculation, from all Josephus's Greek copies, 
 is exactly right; for since Herod died about Septem- 
 ber, in the fourth year before the Christian sera, and 
 I'iberius began, as is well known, Aug. 19. a. d. 14, it is 
 evident that the 37th year of Philip, reckoned from his 
 father's death, was the iOth of Tiberius, or near the end 
 of A.D. 33 (the very year if onr ^aviour's death also), or, 
 however, in the beginning of the next year, a.d. 34. 
 Ihis Philip the tetrarch seems to buve been the best oif 
 all the posterity of Herod, for bis lovr vf peace, and hi* 
 lore of justice. 
 

Tohn the Uaptist.— Page 41)1. 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 491 
 
 also, thirty-seven years. He had shown him- 
 self a person of moderation and quietness in 
 the conduct of bis life and government; he 
 constantly lived in that country which was 
 subject to him;* he used to make his pro- 
 gress with a few chosen friends; his tribunal 
 also, on which he sat in judgment, followed 
 him in his progress; and when any one met 
 Mm who wanted his assistance, he made no 
 delay, but had his tribunal set down imme- 
 diately, wheresoever he happened to be, and 
 sat down upon it, and heard his complaint: 
 he there ordered the guilty that were convicted 
 to be punished, and absolved those that had 
 been accused unjustly. He died at Julias; 
 and when he was carried to that monument 
 which he had already erected for himself be- 
 forehand, he was buried with great pomp. 
 His principality Tiberius took (for he left no 
 sons behind him) and added it to the province 
 of Syria, but gave order that the tributes 
 which arose from it should be collected, and 
 laid up in his tetrarchy. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HEROD THE TETARCH MAKES WAR WITH 
 ARETAS, THE KINO OF ARABIA, AND IS 
 BEATEN BY HIM; AS ALSO CONCERNING 
 THE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. HOW 
 VITELLIDS WENT UP TO JERUSALEM ; 'TO- 
 GETHER WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF AGRlPPA, 
 AND OF THE POSTERITY OF HEROD THE 
 GREAT. 
 
 § 1. About this time Aretas (the king of 
 Arabia Petrea) and Herod had a quarrel, on 
 the account following: Herod the tetrarch 
 had married the daughter of Aretas, and had 
 lived with her a great while; but when he 
 was once at Rome, he lodged with Herod, f 
 who was his brother indeed, but not by the 
 same mother; for this Herod was the son of 
 the high-priest Simon's daughter. However, 
 he fell in love with Herodias, this last He- 
 rod's wife, who was the daughter of Aristo- 
 bulus their brother, and the sister of Agrippa 
 the Great. This man ventured to talk to 
 her about a marriage between them; which 
 address when she admitted, an agreement was 
 
 • A" excellent example this. 
 
 + This Herod seems to have had the additional name 
 of Philip, as Antipas was named Herod-Antipas: and as 
 Antipas and Antipater seem to be in a manner the very 
 ■ame name, yet were the names of two sous of Herod 
 the Great; so might Philip the tetrarch and this Herod- 
 Philip be two different sons of the same father; all 
 which Grotius observes on Matt. xiv. 3. Nor was it. as 
 I aijree with Giotiiis and others of the learned. Philip 
 the tetrarch, but this Herod-Ptiilip. whose wife Herod 
 the tetrarch had married, and that in her first husband's 
 life-time, and when her first husband had issue by her; 
 for >■ hich adulterous and incestuous marriase. .lolin the 
 baptist justly reproved Herod the tetrarch; and for 
 which reproof Salome, the daughter of Henxl as h> her 
 first husband Henid-Philip. who was sUil alive, occa- 
 ■ioned him to be unjustly beheaded. 
 
 made for her to change her h^bi'tation, and 
 cou^e to him as soon us he should return 
 from Rome; one article of this nmrriage also 
 was this, that he should divorce Aretas's 
 daughter. So Antipas, when he hatl made 
 this agreement, sailed to Rome; but when he 
 had done there the business he went about, 
 and was returned again, his wife having dis- 
 covered the agreement he had made with He. 
 rodias, and having learned it before he had 
 notice of her knowledge of the whole design, 
 she desired him to send her to Macherus, 
 which is a place on the borders of the domi- 
 nions of Aretas and Herod, without inform- 
 ing him of any of her intentions. Accordnigly 
 Herod sent her tbitber, as thinking his wife 
 hiid not perceived any thing; now she had 
 sent a good while before to Macherus, whicK 
 was subject to her father, and so all things 
 necessary for her journey were made ready for 
 her by the general of Aretas's^trmy, and by 
 that means she soon came into Arabia, under 
 the conduct of the several generals, who car- 
 ried her from one to another successively; and 
 she soon came to her father, and told him of 
 Herod's intentions. So Aretas made this the 
 first occasion of bis enmity between him and 
 Herod, who had also some quarrel with him 
 about their limits at the country of Gamaiitis. 
 So they raised armies on both sides, and pre- 
 pared for war, and sent their generals to fight 
 instead of themselves; and, when they had 
 joined battle, all Herod's army was destroyed 
 by the treachery of some fugitives, who, 
 though they were of the tetrarchy of Philip, 
 joined with Aretas's army. So Herod wrote 
 about these affairs to Tiberius; who, being 
 very angry at the attempt made by Aretas, 
 wrote to Vitellius, to make war upon him, 
 and either to take him alive, and bring him to 
 him in bonds, or to kill him, and send him his 
 head. This was the charge that Tiberius 
 gave to the president of Syria. 
 
 2. Now, some of the Jews thought that 
 the destruction of Herod's army came from 
 God, and that very justly, as a punishment of 
 what he did against John, that was called the 
 Baptist; for Herod slew him, who was a good 
 man, and commanded the Jews to exercise 
 virtue, both as to righteousness towards one 
 another, and piety towards God, and so to 
 come to baptism; for that the washing [with 
 water] would be acceptable to him, if they 
 made use of it, not in order to the putting 
 away [or the remission] of some sins [otd\], 
 but for the purification of the body; suppos- 
 ing still that the soul was thoroughly purified 
 beforehand by righteousness. Now, when 
 [many] others came in crowds about him, for 
 they were greatly moved [or pleased] by hear- 
 ing his words, Herod, who feared leSt the 
 great influence John had over the people 
 might put it into his power and inclination to 
 raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do 
 any thinj; he should advise), thought it best, bv 
 
492 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVIII 
 
 putting him to death, to prevent any mis- 
 chiei he nnaht cause, and not bring himself 
 into difliculties, by sparing a nian who might 
 make him repent of it when it should be too 
 late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, 
 out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Mache- 
 rus, the castle I before mentioned, and was 
 there put to death. Now the Jews had an 
 Dpinion that the destruction of this army was 
 ient as a punishment upon Herod, and a 
 jiark of God's displeasure against him. 
 
 3. So Vitellius prepared to make war with 
 Aretas, having with him two legions of armed 
 men ; he also took with him all those of light 
 irmatnre, and of the horsemen which belonged 
 to them, and were drawn out of those king- 
 doms which were under the Romans, and 
 made haste for Petra, and came to Ptolemais. 
 But as he was marching very busily, and 
 leading his army through Judea, the princi- 
 pal men met him, and desired that he would 
 Dot thus march through their land; for that 
 ilie laws of their country would not perciit 
 thenj to overlook those images which were 
 brought into it, of which there were a great 
 uany in their ensigns; so he was persuaded 
 oy what they said ; and changed that resolu- 
 ;ion of his, which he had before taken in this 
 natter. Whereupon he ordered the army to 
 i.arch along the Great Plain, while he him- 
 self, with Herod the tetrarch, and his friends, 
 iv'ent up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to 
 jod, an ancient festival of the Jews being 
 ,hen just approaching; and when he had been 
 .here, and been honourably entertained by the 
 multitude of the Jews, he made a stay there 
 for three days, within which time he deprived 
 Jonathan of the high-priesthood, and gave it 
 to his brother Theophilus; but when on the 
 Fourth day letters came to him, which inform- 
 ed him of the death of Tiberius, he obliged 
 the multitude to take an oath of fidelity to 
 Caius; he also recalled his army, and made 
 them every one go home, and take their win- 
 der-quarters there, since, upon the devolution 
 jf the empire upon Caius, he had not the like 
 iuthority of making this war which he had 
 before. It was also reported, that when Are- 
 »8 heard of the coming of Vitellius to fight 
 }im, he said, upon his consulting the diviners, 
 ;hat it was impossible that this army of Vitel- 
 ius's couM enter Petra; for that one of the 
 •u\er8 would die, either he that gave orders 
 'or the war, or be that was marching at the 
 M'oer's desire, in order to be subservient to 
 □18 will, or else he against whom this army is 
 •)repared. So Vitellius truly retired to An- 
 tiocb; but Aprippa, the son of Aristobulys, 
 »vent up to Rome, a year before the death of 
 rruenus, in order to treat of some affairs with 
 the emperor, if he mipht be permitted so to 
 lo. I have now a mind to describe Herod 
 «rd his family, how it fared with them, partly 
 because it its suitable to this historv to speak 
 of that matter^and partly because this thing 
 
 is a demonstration of the interposition of Pro- 
 vidence; how a multitude of children is of no 
 advantage, no more than any other strength 
 that mankind set their hearts upon, besides 
 those acts of piety which are done towards 
 God; for it happened, that within the revolu- 
 tion of a hundred years, the posterity ol Herod, 
 who were a great many in number, were, ex- 
 cepting a few, utterly destroyed.* One may 
 well apply this for the instruction of mankind, 
 and learn thence how unhappy they were: it 
 will also show us the history of Agrippa, who, 
 as he was a person most worthy of admiration, 
 so was he from a private man, beyond all the 
 expectation of those that knew him, advanced 
 to great power and authority. I have said 
 something of them formerly; but 1 shall now 
 also speak accurately about them. 
 
 4. Herod the Great had two daughters by 
 Mariamne, the [grand] daughter of Hyr 
 canus; the one was Salampsio, who was 
 married to Phasaelus, her first cousin, v\lio 
 was himself the son of Phasaelus, Herod's 
 brqther, her father making the match: the 
 other was Cypros, who was herself married 
 also to her first cousin Antipater, the son of 
 Salome, Herod's sister. Pha^aeleus bad five 
 children by Salampsio; Antipater, Herod, aisd 
 Alexander, and two daughters, Alexandra 
 and Cypros; which last, Agrippa, the son of 
 Aristobulus, married; and Timius of Cyprus 
 married Alexandra; he was a man of note, 
 but had by her no children. Aprippa had by 
 Cypros two sons and three daughters, v\bich 
 daughters were named Bernice, Mariamne. 
 and Drusilla; but the names of the sons were 
 Agrippa and Drusus, of which Drusus died 
 before he came to the years of puberty; hut 
 their father, Agrippa, was brought up with 
 his other brethren, Herod and Aristobulus, 
 for these were also the sons of the son of He- 
 rod the Great, by Bernice; but Bernice was 
 the daughter of Gostobarus and of Salome, 
 who was Herod's sister. Aristobulus left 
 these infants when he was slain by his father, 
 together with his brother Alexander, as we 
 have already related; but when they were ar- 
 rived at the years of puberty, this Herod, the 
 brother of Agrippa, married Mariamne, the 
 daughter of Olympias, who was the daughter 
 of Herod the king, and of Joseph the son of 
 Joseph, who was brother to Herod the king, 
 and had by her a son, Aristobulus; but Aris- 
 tobulus, the third brother of Agrippa, married 
 Jotape, the daughter of Sampsigeramiis, king 
 of Emesa;t they had a daughter who was 
 
 • M'hether this sudden extinction of almoxt thr entire 
 lineage of Herod the Great, whicli «a» v«ry niinieri.««, 
 as we are both here anrt in the next section infoinifd, 
 was not in part as a punisiiment for the gross Initxfr 
 they were frequently giiiltv o(. in marrvini: their own 
 nephews and nieces, wt II dest-rves to be considerid. See 
 I evi*. xviii. 6, 7j xxi. 10; and Noldius, De tierod. ^o. 
 2i,y. -^70. 
 
 + There ore coins still extanl of this Emesa, as Sjmui. 
 beini infcm.s us. 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 493 
 
 (leaf, whose name also was Jotape; and these 
 hitherto were the children of the male line; 
 but Hero.'ias, their sister, was married to 
 Herod [Philip], the son of Herod the Great, 
 who was born of Marianine, the daughter of 
 Simon the high-priest, who had a daughter, 
 Salome; after whose birth Herodiastook upon 
 her to confound the laws of our country, and 
 divorce herself from her husband while he 
 was alive, and was married to Herod [Anti- 
 pas], her husband's brother by the father's 
 "side; he was tetrarch of Galilee; but her 
 daughter Salome was married to Philip, the 
 son of Herod, and tetrarch of Trachonitis; 
 and, as he died childlessi, Aristgbulus, the son 
 of Herod, the brother of Agrippa, married 
 her; they had three sons, Herod, Agrippa, 
 and Aristobulus; and this was the posterity 
 of Phasaelusand Salampsio; but the daughter 
 of Antipater by Cypros, was Cypros, whom 
 Alexas Selcias, the son of Ale^cas, married; 
 they had a daughter, Cypros; but Herod and 
 Alexander, who, as we told you, were the 
 brothers of Antipater, died childless. As to 
 Alexander, the son of Herod the king, who 
 was slain by his father, he had two sons, Alex- 
 ander and Tigranes, by the daughter of Arche- 
 laus, king of Cappadocia. Tigranes, who 
 was king of Armenia, was accused at Rome, 
 and died childless; Alexander had a son of 
 the same name with his brother Tigranes, and 
 was sent to take possession of the kingdom of 
 Armenia by Nero; he had a son, Alexander, 
 who married Jotape,* the daughter of An- 
 tiochus, the king of Commagona; Vespasian 
 made him king of an island in Cilicia. But 
 these descendants of Alexander, soon after 
 their birth, deserted the Jewish religion, and 
 went over to that of the Greeks; but for the 
 rest of the daughters of Herod the king, it 
 happened that they died childless: and as 
 these descendants of Herod, whom we have 
 enumerated, were in being at the same time 
 that Agrippa the Great took the kingdom, 
 and I have now given an account of them, it 
 now remains that I relate the several hard 
 fortunes which befel Agrippa, and how he 
 got clear of them, and was advanced to the 
 greatest height of dignity and power. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 or THE 'NAVIGATION OF KING AGRIPPA TO 
 ROME, TO TIBERIUS Ci«SAR; AND HOW, 
 UPON HIS BEING ACCUSED BY HIS OWN 
 FREED-MAN, HE WAS BOUND; HOW ALSO 
 HE WAS SET AT LIBERTY BY CAIUS, AFTER 
 TIBERIUS'S DEATH, AND WAS MADE KING 
 OF THE TETRARCHY OF PHILIP. 
 
 § 1. A LITTLE before the death of Herod the 
 king, Agrippa lived at Rome, and was gene- 
 
 • Spanheim also infonns us of a coin still extant of 
 this Jotape, dAUgbter of the kiug of Commagena. 
 
 rally brought up and conversed with Drusus 
 the emperor Tiberius's son, and contracted a 
 friendship with Antonia, the wife of Drusus 
 the Great, who had his mother Bernice in 
 great esteem, and was very desirous of ad- 
 vancing her son. Now, as Agrippa was by 
 nature magnanimous and generous in the 
 presents he made while his mother was alive, 
 this inclination of his mind did not appear, 
 that he might be able to avoid her anger for 
 such his extravagance; but when Bernice was 
 dead, and he was left to his oan conduct, he 
 spent a great deal extravagantly in his daily 
 way of living, and a great deal in the immo- 
 derate presents he made, and those chiefly 
 among Caesar's freed-men, in order to gain 
 their assistance, insomuch that he was in a 
 little time reduced to poverty, and could not 
 live at Rome any longer. Tiberius also for- 
 bade the friends of his deceased son to come 
 into his sight, because on seeing them he 
 should be put in mind of his son, and his^ 
 grief would thereby be re\nved. 
 
 2. For these reasons he went away from 
 Rome, and sailed to Judea, but in evil cir- 
 cumstances, being dejected with the loss of 
 that money which he once had, and because 
 he had not wherewithal to pay his creditors, 
 who were many in number, and such as gave 
 no room for esc<iping them. Wliereupon he 
 knew not what to do; so for shame of his 
 present condition, he retired to a certain tow er 
 at Malatha, in Idumea, and had thoughts 
 of killing himself; but his wife Cypros per- 
 ceived his intentions, and tried all sorts of 
 methods to divert him from his taking such a 
 course: so she sent a letter to his sister He- 
 rodias, who was now the wife of Herod the 
 tetrarch, and let her know Agrippa's present 
 design, and what necessity it was which drove 
 him thereto, and desired her as a kinswoman 
 of his, to give him her help, and to engage 
 he." husband to do the same, since she saw 
 hovv she alleviated these her husband's troubles 
 all she could, although she had not the like 
 wealth to do it withal. So they sent for 
 him, and allotted him Tiberias for his habita- 
 tion, and appointed him some income of 
 money for his maintenance, and made him a 
 mjigistrate of that city, by way of honour to 
 him. Yet did not Herod long continue in 
 that resolution of supporting him, though 
 even that support was not sufficient for him; 
 for, as once they were at a feast at Tyre, and 
 in their cups, and reproaches were cast upon 
 one another, Agrippa thought that was not to 
 be borne, while Herod hit him in the teeth 
 with his poverty, and with his owing his ne- 
 cessary food to him. So he went to Flaccjs, 
 one that had been consul, and had been a 
 very great friend to him at Rome formerly, 
 and was now president of Syria. 
 
 3. Hereupon Flaccus received him kindly, 
 and he lived with him. Flaccus had also 
 with him there Aristobulus, who was indeed 
 
494 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVIII. 
 
 Agrippa's brother, but was at variance with 
 him; yet did not their enmity to one another 
 hinder the friendship of Flaccus to them both; 
 but still they were honourably treated by him. 
 However, Aristobulus did not abate of his 
 ill-will to Agrippa, till at length he brought 
 him into ill terms with Flaccus; the occasion 
 of bringing on which estrangement was this: 
 —The Damascens were at difference with the 
 Sidonians about their limits, and when Flac- 
 cus was about to hear the cause between 
 them, they understood that Agrippa had a 
 mij^hty influence upon him; so they desired 
 that he would be of their side, and for that 
 favour promised him a great deal of money; 
 so he was zealous in assisting the Damascens 
 as far as he was able. Now, Aristobulus had 
 gotten intelligence of this promise of money 
 to him, and accused him to Flaccus of the 
 same; and when, upon a thorough examina- 
 tion of the matter, it appeared plainly so to 
 be, he rejected Agrippa out of the number of 
 his friends. So he was reduced to the ut- 
 most necessity, and came to Ptolemais; and 
 because he knew not where else to get a live- 
 lihood, he thought to sail to Italy; but as he 
 was restrained from so doing by want of mo- 
 ney, he desired Marsyas, who was his freed- 
 man, to find some method for procuring him 
 80 much as he wanted for that purpose, by 
 borrowing such a sum of some person or 
 other. So Marsyas desired of Peter, who was 
 the freed-man of Bernice, Agrippa's mother, 
 and by the right of her testament was be- 
 queathed to Antonia, to lend so much upon 
 Agrii)pa'8 own bond and security : but he 
 accused Agrippa of having defrauded him of 
 certain sums of money, and so obliged Mar- 
 syas, when he made the bond of twenty -thou- 
 sand Attic drachnije, to accept of twenty-five 
 hundred drachmae* less than what he desired; 
 which the other allowed of, because he could 
 rot help it. Upon the receipt of this money, 
 Agrippa came to Anthedon, and took ship- 
 ping, and was going to set sail; but Herennius 
 Capito, who was the procurator of .lamnia, sent 
 a band of soldiers to demand of him three hun- 
 dred thousand drachma* of silver, which were 
 by him owning to Caesar's treasury while he 
 was at Rome, and so forced him to stay. He 
 then pretended that he would do as he bade 
 him; but when night came on, he cut his 
 cables, and went off, and sailed to Alexan- 
 dria, where he desired Alexander the ala- 
 bar<h f to lend him two hundred thousand 
 druchmae; but he said he would not lend it 
 to him, but would not refuse it to Cjii)ro8, as 
 greatly astonished at her affection to her hus- 
 band, and at the other instHuces of her vir- 
 tue; 80 she undertook to repay it. Accord- 
 
 • Spanhfim ohitrrven. that we have here an inntanre 
 of thf Attic qnantit) of iiw-monry. which \vii«< tlie 
 eichth part nf theorivinni sum. or lU^ yrr cent- for such 
 b Ibf pr<>|N>rtion o! 'iiA/0 (•> -.0.< 00. 
 
 ♦ The fovemcir of the Jewa thers. 
 
 ingly, Alexander paid them five talents at 
 Alexandria, and promised to pay them rhe 
 rest of that sum at Dicearchia [Puteouj; 
 and this he did out of the fear he was in that 
 Agrippa would soon spend it. So this Cy- 
 pros set her husband free, and dismissed him 
 to go on with his navigation to Italy, while 
 she and her children departed for Judea. 
 
 4. And now Agrippa was come to Puteoli, 
 whence he wrote a letter to Tiberius Caesar, 
 who then lived at Capreae, and told him that, 
 he was come so far, in order to wait on him, 
 and to "pay him a visit; and desired that he 
 would give him leave to come oyer to Capreae: 
 so Tiberius made no difficulty, but wrote to 
 him in an obliging way in other respects; and 
 withal told him he was glad of his safe re- 
 turn, and desired him to come to Capreae; 
 and, when he was come, he did not fail to 
 treat him as kindly as he had promised him 
 in his letter to do. But the next day came a 
 letter to Caesar from Herennius Capito, to in- 
 form him that Agrippa had borrowed three 
 hundred thousand drachmae, and not paid iti 
 at the time appointed; but, when it was de- 
 manded of him, he ran away like a fugitive, 
 out of the places under his government, and 
 put it out of his power to get the money of 
 him. When Caesar had read this letter, he 
 was much troubled at it, and gave order that 
 Agrippa should be excluded from his presence 
 until he had paid that debt: upon which he 
 was no way daunted at Caesar's anger, but 
 entreated Antonia, the mother of Germanicus 
 and of Claudius, who was afterwards Cae.>-ar 
 himself, to lend him those three hundred 
 thousand drachmae, that he might not be de- 
 prived of Tiberius's friendship; so, out of re- 
 gard to the memory of Bernice his mother 
 (for those two women were very familiar with 
 one another), and out of regard of his and 
 Claudius's education together, she Unt him 
 the money; and, upon the payment of this 
 debt, there was nothing to hinder Tiberius's 
 friendship to him. After this, Tiberius Ca'sar 
 recommended to him his grandson,* and or- 
 dered that he should alwajs accompany him 
 when he went abroad. But, upon Agrippa's 
 kind reception by Antonia, he betook him to 
 pay his respects to Caius, who was her grand- 
 son, and in very high reputation by reason of 
 the good- will they bare his father.f Now 
 there was one Thallus, a freed-man of (^oesar, 
 of whom he borrowed a million of dracl n;aD, 
 and thence repaid Antonia the debt he owed 
 her; and by sending the over|»lus in pacing 
 his court to Caius, because a person of great 
 authority with him. 
 
 5. Now. 88 the friendship which Agrippa 
 hiid for Caius was come to a great height, there 
 happened >ome words to pass bet ween uiem, 
 US tliev once were in a chariot together, con 
 cerniiig Tiberius; Agrippa praying [to GodJ 
 
 1 iberiiu. junior. 
 
 4' GermaiucQii 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 495 
 
 f'CoT they two sat by themselves) thafr Tiberius 
 m'eht soon go off the stage, and leave the go- 
 vernment to Caius, who was in every respect 
 more worthy of it. Now, Eutychus, who 
 was Agrippa's freed-man, and drove his cha- 
 riot, heard these words, and at that time said 
 nothing of them; but when Agrippa accused 
 him of stealing some garments of his (which 
 was certainly true), he ran away from him; 
 but when he was caught, and brought before 
 Piso, who was governor of the city, and the 
 man was asVed why he ran away, he replied, 
 that he had somewhat to say to Caesar, that 
 tended to his security and preservation : so 
 Piso bound him, and sent him to Capreae. 
 But Tiberius, according to his usual custom, 
 kept him still in bonds, being a delayer of 
 affairs, if ever there was any other king or 
 tyrant that was so; for he did not admit 
 amnassadors quickly, and no successors were 
 dispatched away to governors or procurators 
 of the provinces that had been formerly sent, 
 unless they were dead; whence it was that he 
 was so negligent in hearing the causes of pri- 
 soners; insomuch that when he was asked by 
 his friends what was the reason of his delay 
 in such cases, he said that he delayed to hear 
 ambassadors, lest, upon their quick dismission, 
 other ambassadors should be appointed, and 
 return upon him ; and so he should bring 
 trouble upon himself in their public reception 
 and dismission: that he permitted those go- 
 vernors who had been sent once to their 
 governments [to stay there a great while], out 
 of regard to the subjects that were under 
 thecn; for that all governors are naturally dis- 
 posed to get as much as they can ; and that 
 those who are not to fix there, but to stay a 
 short time, and that at an uncertainty when 
 they shall be turned out, do the more severely 
 hurry themselves on to fleece the people; but 
 that, if their government be long continued 
 to them, they are at last satiated with the 
 spoils, as having gotten a vast deal, and so 
 become at length less sharp in their pillaging; 
 but that, if successors are sent quickly, the 
 p -or subjects, who are exposed to them as a 
 prey, will not be able to bear the new ones,' 
 while they shall not have the same time allow- ! 
 ed them wherein their predecessors had filled 
 themselves, and so grow more unconcerned 
 about getting more, arid this because they 
 are removed before they have had time [for 
 their oppressions]. He gave them an exam- 
 pie to show his meaning: — " A great number 
 of flies came about the sore places of a man 
 that had been wouruled; upoti which one of 
 the statiders-by pitied the man's misfortune, 
 and thinking he was not able to drive away 
 those flies himself, was going to drive them 
 awHv for him; b'lt he praved him to let them 
 alone ; the other, by way of reply, asked him 
 th(' reason of such a preposterous proceeding, 
 in preventing relief from his present misery; 
 to which h'^ nnswered, ' If thou drivcst these 
 
 flies away, thou wilt hurt me worse ; tor as 
 these are already full of ray blood, they do 
 not crowd about me, nor pain me so much 
 as before, but are sometimes more remiss, 
 while the fresh ones that come, almost fa- 
 mished, and find me quite tired down already, 
 will be my destruction.' For this cause, there- 
 fore, it is that I am myself careful not to send 
 such new governors perpetually to those my 
 subjects, who are already sufficiently harassed 
 by many oppressions, as may, like these flies, 
 farther distress them ; and so, besides their 
 natural desire of gain, may have this addi- 
 tional incitement to it, that they expect to be 
 suddenly deprived of that pleasure which they 
 take in it." And, as a farther attestation to 
 what I say of the dilatory nature of Tiberius, 
 I appeal to this his practice itself; for although 
 he was emperor twenty-two years, he sent in 
 all but two procurators to govern the nation 
 of the Jews, — Gratus, and his successor in 
 the government, Pilate. Nor was he in one 
 way of acting with respect to the Jews, and 
 in another with respect to tue rest of his sub- 
 jects. He further informed them, that even 
 in the hearing of the causes of prisoners, he 
 made such delays, because immediate death 
 to those that must be condemned to die, 
 would be an alleviation of their present mi- 
 series, while those wicked wretches have not 
 deserved any favour; "but I do it, that by 
 being harassed with the present calamity, the/ 
 may undergo greater misery." 
 
 6. On this account it was that Eutychus 
 could not obtain a hearing, but was kept still 
 in prison. However, some time afterward, 
 Tiberius came from Capreae to Tusculanum 
 which is about a hundred furloTigs from Rome. 
 Agrippa then desired of Antonia that she 
 would procure a hearing for Eutychus, let the 
 matter whereof he accused him prove what it 
 would. Now, Antonia-was greatly esteemed 
 by Tiberius on all accounts, from the dignity 
 of her relation to him, who had been his bro- 
 ther Drusus's wife, and from her eminent 
 chastity ;* for though she was still a young 
 
 • This hi(Th commendation of Antonia for marrying 
 but once, given here, and supported elsewhere. Antiq. b. 
 xvii.ch. xiii. secL4; and this, notwithstanding the stron:;- 
 est temptations, shows how honourable single marriages 
 were b ith among the Jews and Komans, in the days ot 
 Josephus and of the apostles, and takes away much ol 
 that surprise which the modern Protestants have at those 
 laws of the apostles, where no widows, but those who l>ad 
 been the wives of one husband only, are taken into the 
 church list; and no bishops, priests, or deacons, are 
 allowed to marry more than once, without leaving off tn 
 ofticiate as clergymen any longer. Si^e l.uke ii. '60; 1 
 'lira. V. II. 12; iii'i. lii; Tit. i. 10; Constitiit Apost b. 
 ii sect. 1.2; b. vi.sect. 17; Can.b. xvii.; Grot, in Luc. 
 ii.36; and Respons.ad Consult. Cassand. p.44. and Co. 
 telet. in Constit b. vi. sect. 17. A nd note, that Tertu'lian 
 owns thii* law ai'ainst second marriages of the clergy, had 
 Deen once at least ext cured in his lime; and heavily com- 
 plains elsewhere, that the breach thereof had not been 
 always punished by the Catholics, as It ouLht to have 
 been. Jerome, speaking of the ill reputation of marrying 
 twice, says, thai no such person could be chosen into the 
 clerg7 in his days; which Augustine testifies also; anc* 
 for Kpi|)hanius. rather earlier, he is c'ear and full to the 
 i>ame purpose, and says, that low ohtainvd orer the Vibnle 
 
496 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVIII. 
 
 woman, sbe continued in her widowhood, and 
 refused all other matches, although Augustus 
 had enjoined her to be married to somebody 
 else ; yet did she all along preserve her repu- 
 tation free from reproach. She had also been 
 the greatest benefactress to Tiberius, when 
 there w* a very dangerous plot laid against 
 him by Sejanus, a man who had been her hus- 
 band's friend, and who had the greatest au- 
 thority, because he was general of the army, 
 and when many members of the senate, and 
 many of the freed-men, joined with him, and 
 the soldiery was corrupted, and the plot was 
 come to a great height. Now Sejanus had 
 certainly gained his point, had not Antonia's 
 boldness been more wisely conducted than Se- 
 janus's malice ; for, when she had discovered 
 his designs against Tiberius, she wrote him 
 an exact account of the whole, and give the 
 letter to Pallas, the most faithful of her ser- 
 vants, and sent him to Capreae to Tiberius, 
 who, when he understood it, slew Sejanus and 
 his confederates; so that Tiberius, who had 
 her in great esteem before, now looked upon 
 her with still greater respect, and depended 
 upon her in all things. So, when Tiberius 
 was desired by this Antonia to examine Eu- 
 tychus, he answered, "If indeed Eutychus 
 hath falsely accused Agrippa in what he hath 
 said of him,- he hath had sufficient punish- 
 ment by what I have done to him already ; 
 but if, upon examination, the accusation ap- 
 pears to be true, let Agrippa have a care, lest, 
 out of desire of punishing his freed-man, he 
 do not rather bring a punishment upon him- 
 self." Now, when Antonia told Agrippa of 
 this, he was still much more pressing that the 
 matter might be examined into ; so Antonia, 
 upon Agrippa's lying hard at her continually 
 to beg this favour, took the following oppor- 
 tunity: — As Tiberius, lay once at his ease 
 upon his sedan, and was carried about, and 
 Caius, her grandson, and Agrippa, were be- 
 fore him after dinner, she walked by the se- 
 dan, and desired him to call Eutychus, and 
 have him examined; to which he replied, "O 
 Antonia! the gods are my witnesses that I am 
 induced ^o do what I am going to do, not by 
 iny own inclination, but because I am forced 
 to it by thy prayers." When he had said this, 
 he ordered Macro, who succeeded Sejanus, to 
 bring Eutychus to him; accordingly, without 
 any delay, he was brought. Then Tiberius 
 asked him what he had to say against a man 
 who had given him his liberty. Upon which 
 he said, *' O my lord ! this Caius, and Agrip- 
 pa with him, were once riding in a chariot, 
 when I sat at their feet, and, among other 
 discourses that passed, Agrippa said to Caius, 
 O that the day would once come when this 
 old fellow will die, and name thee for the 
 governor of the habitable earth! for then this 
 Tiberius, his grandson, would be no hinder- 
 Catholic church in his days,— m Ihe place* in the fore- 
 citrd 3.oUiort Lafotm ua. 
 
 ance, buj; would be taken off by thee, and th*. 
 
 earth would be happy, and I happy also." 
 
 Now, Tiberius took these to be truly Agrip- 
 pa's words, and bearing a grudge withal at 
 Agrippa, because, when he had commanded 
 him to pay his respects to Tiberius, his grand- 
 son, and the son of Dvusus, Agrippa had not 
 paid him that respect, but had disobeyed his 
 commands, and transferred all his regard to 
 Caius; he said to Macro, "Bind this man." 
 But Macro, not distinctly knowing which of 
 them it was whom he bade him bind, and not 
 expecting that he would have any such thing 
 done to Agrippa, he forebore, and came to ask 
 more distinctly what it was that he said. But 
 when Caesar had gone round the hippodrome, 
 he found Agrippa standing: — "For certain," 
 said he, *' Macro, this is the man I meant to 
 have bound;" and when he still asked which 
 of these is to be bound? he said, Agrippa. 
 Upon which Agrippa betook himself to make 
 supplication for himself, putting him in mind 
 of his son, with whom he was brought up, 
 and of Tiberius [his grandson] whom he had 
 educated, but all to no purpose, for they led 
 him about bound even in his purple garments. 
 It was also very hot weather, and they had 
 but little wine to their meal, so that he was 
 very thirsty ; he was also in a sort of agony, 
 and took this treatment of him heinously : as 
 he therefore saw one of Caius's slaves, w hose 
 name was Thaumastus, carrying some water 
 in a vessel, he desired that he would let him 
 drink ; so the servant gave him some water to 
 drink; and he drank heartily, and said, *'0 
 thou boy ! this service of thine to me will be 
 for thy advantage; for, if I once get clear of 
 these my bonds, I will soon procure thee thy 
 freedom from Caius, who has not been want- 
 ing to minister to me now I am in bonds, in 
 the same manner as when I was in my former 
 state and dignity." Nor did he deceive him 
 in what he promised him, but made hira 
 amends for what he had now done; for, when 
 afterward Agrippa was come to the kingdom, 
 he took particular care of Thaumastus, and 
 got him his liberty from Caius, and made him 
 the steward over his own estate; and when 
 he died, he left him to Agrippa his son, and 
 to Bernice his daughter, to minister to them 
 in the same capacity. The man also grew 
 old in that honourable post, and therein died. ♦ 
 But all this happened a good while later. 
 
 7. Now Agrippa stood in his bonds before 
 the royal palace, and leaned on a certain tree 
 for grief, with many others, who were in 
 bonds also ; and as a certain bird sat upon 
 the tree on which Agrippa leaned (the Romans 
 called this bird bubo), [an owl], one of those 
 that were bound, a German by nation, saw 
 him, and asked a soldier who that man in 
 purple was ; and when he was informed that 
 his name was Agrippa, and th»t he was by 
 nation a Jew, and one of the principal men 
 of that nation, he asked leave of the soldier 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OP THE JEWS. 
 
 497 
 
 to whom he was bound,* to let him come 
 near to him, to speak with him ; for that he 
 bad a mind to inquire of him about some 
 things relating to his country; which liberty 
 when he had obtained, as he stood near him 
 he said thus to him by an interpreter, — " This 
 sudden change of thy condition, O young 
 man! is grievous to thee, as bringing on 
 thee a manifold and very great adversity; 
 nor wilt thou believe me, when I foretel how 
 thou wilt get clear of tbis misery which thou 
 art now under, and how Divine Providence 
 will provide for thee. Know therefore (and 
 I appeal to my own country gods, as well as 
 to the gods of tbis place, who have awarded 
 these bonds to us), that all 1 am going to say 
 about thy concerns, shall neither be said for 
 favour nor bribery, nor out of an endeavour 
 to make thee cheerful without cause; for 
 such predictions, when they come to fail, 
 make the grief at last, and in earnest, more 
 bitter than if the party had never heard of any 
 such thing. However, though I run the ha- 
 zard of my own self, I think it fit to declare 
 to thee the prediction of the gods. It can- 
 not be that thou shouldst long continue in 
 these bonds; but thou wilt soon be delivered 
 from them, and wilt be promoted to the high- 
 est dignity and power, and thou wilt be envied 
 by all those who now pity thy hard fortune; 
 and thou wilt be happy till thy death, and 
 wilt leave thine happiness to the children 
 whom thou shalt have. But, do thou remem- 
 ber, when thou seest this bird again, that thou 
 wilt then live but five days longer. This event 
 will be brought to pass by that God who hath 
 sent this bird hither to be a sign unto thee. 
 And I cannot but think it unjust to conceal 
 from thee what I foreknow concerning thee, 
 that, by thy knowing beforehand what happi- 
 ness is coming upon thee, thou mayest not 
 regard thy present misfortunes. But, when 
 this happiness shall actually befal thee, do 
 not forget what misery I am in myself, but 
 endeavour to deliver me." So when the 
 German had said this, he made Agrippa laugh 
 at him as much as he afterwards appeared 
 worthy of admiration. But now Antonia 
 took Agrippa's misfortune to heart: however, 
 to speak to Tiberius on his behalf, she took 
 to be a very difficult thing, and indeed quite 
 impracticable, as to any hope of success; yet 
 did she procure of Macro, that the soldiers 
 that kept him should be of a gentle nature, 
 and that the centurion who was over them, 
 and was to diet with him, should be of the 
 jame disposition, and that he might have leave 
 to bathe himself every day, and that his freed- 
 men and friends might come to him, and that 
 other things that tended to ease him might be 
 indulged him. So his friend Silas came in 
 
 • Dr. Hudson here takes notice, out of Seneca, Epis- 
 tle ▼. that this was thr custom of Tiberius, to conv>le 
 the prisoner and thts soldier that guarded him togelber 
 in the saio* chaia 
 
 to him, and two of his freed-men, Marsyaa 
 and Stechus, brought him such sorts of food 
 as he was fond of, and indeed took great care 
 of him; they also brought him garments, un- 
 der pretence of selling them, and when night 
 came on, they laid them under him; and the 
 soldiers assisted them, as Macro had given 
 them order to do beforehand. And this was 
 Agrippa's condition for six months' .time ; 
 and in this case were his aflfairs. 
 
 8. But as for Tiberius, upon his return to 
 Capreae, he fell sick. At first his distemper 
 was but gentle; but as that distemper in- 
 creased upon him, he had small or no hopes 
 of recovery. Hereupon he bade Euodus, 
 who was the freed-man whom he most of all 
 respected, to bring the children f to him, for 
 that he wanted to talk to them before he died* 
 Now he had at present no sons of his own 
 ahve; for Drusus, who was his only son, was 
 dead; but Drusus's son Tiberius was still 
 living, whose additional name was Gemellus; 
 there was also living Caius, the son of Ger- 
 manicus, who was the son J of his brother 
 [Drusus]. He was now grown up, and had 
 had a liberal education, and was well improved 
 by it, and was in esteem and favour with the 
 people, on account of the excellent character 
 of his father Germanicus, who had attained 
 the highest honour among the multitude, by 
 the firmness of his virtuous behaviour, by the 
 easiness and agreeableness of his conversing 
 with the multitude, and because the dignity 
 he was in did not hinder his familiarity with 
 them all, as if they were his equals; by which 
 behaviour he was not only greatly esteemed 
 by the people and the senate, but by every 
 one of those nations that were subject to the 
 Romans; some of whom were affected when 
 they came to him, with the gracefulness of 
 their reception by him; and others were af- 
 fected in the same manner by the report of 
 the others that had been with him: and, upon 
 his death, there was a lamentation made by all 
 men; not such a one as was to be made in 
 way of flattery to their rulers, while they did 
 but counterfeit sorrow, but such as was real; 
 while every body grieved at his death, as if 
 they had lost one that was near to them. And 
 truly such had been his easy conversation with 
 men, that it turned greatly to the advantage 
 of his son among all : and, among others, the 
 soldiery were so peculiarly affected to hira, 
 that they reckoned it an eligible thing, if need 
 were, to die themselves, if he might but at 
 tain to the government. 
 
 9. But when Tiberius had given order to 
 Euodus to bring the children to him the next 
 day in the morning, he prayed to his country 
 gods to show him a manifest signal, which of 
 those children should come to the govern- 
 
 + Tiberius his own grandson, and Caias his hruthfct 
 Drusus's graiidion. ' 
 
 i Sq I correct Josephus's copy, which calls G«mianl» 
 cus his brother, who was his brother's mtn. 
 )il 
 
498 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVIII, 
 
 ment; being very desirous to leave it to his 
 son's son, but still depending upon what God 
 would foreshow ooncerning them, more than 
 upon his own opinion and inclination; so be 
 made this to be the omen, that the govern- 
 ment should be left to him who should come 
 to hin\ first the next day. When he had thus 
 resolved within himself, he sent to his grand- 
 son's tutor, and ordered him to bring the 
 child to him early in the morning, as suppos- 
 ing that God would permit him to be made 
 emperor. But God proved opposite to his 
 designation; for, while Tiberius was thus 
 contriving matters, and as soon as it was at 
 all day, he bid Euodus to call in that child 
 which should be there ready. So he went 
 out, and found Caius before the door, for Ti- 
 berius was not yet come, but staid waiting 
 Tor his breakfast; for Euodus knew nothing 
 of what his lord intended ; so he said to Caius, 
 *' Thy father calls thee," and then brought 
 him in. As soon as Tiberius saw Caius, and 
 not before, he reflected on the power of God, 
 and how the ability of bestowing the govern- 
 ment on whom he would was entirely taken 
 from him; and thence he vvas not able to 
 establish what he had intended. So he greatly 
 lamented that his power of establishing what 
 he had before contrived was taken from him, 
 and that. his grandson Tiberius was not only 
 to lose the Roman empire by bis fatality, 
 but his own safety also; because his preser- 
 vation would now depend upon such as would 
 be more potent than himself, who would 
 think it a thing not to be borne, that a 
 kinsman should live with them, and so bis 
 relation would not be able to protect him : 
 but he would be feared and hated by him 
 who had the supreme authority, partly on 
 account of his being next to the empire, and 
 partly on account of his perpetually contriv- 
 ing to get the government, both in order to 
 preserve himself, and to be at the head of 
 atiairs also. Now Tiberius had been very 
 much given to astrology,* and the calcula- 
 tion of nativities; and had spent his life in 
 the esteem of what predictions had proved 
 true, more than those whose profession it 
 was. Accordingly, when he once saw Galba 
 coming in to him, he said to his n)Ost inti- 
 mate friends, that there came in a man that 
 would one day have the dignity of the Ro- 
 man empire. So that this Tiberius vvas more 
 addicted to all such sorts of diviners than any 
 other of the Roman emperors, because he 
 had found them to have told the truth in his 
 own affairs; and indeed he was now in great 
 distress upon this accident that had befallen 
 bim, a*»d was very n)uch grieved at the de- 
 struction of his son's son, which he foresaw, 
 and complained of himself, tliat he should 
 Vave D)ade use uf such a method of divina- 
 
 • ThU it • known tliinc ainon^- the Roman hiato. 
 rinra and pocla. that f iberiut was greatly given to aa> 
 ovluinr aoJ divination. 
 
 tion beforehand, while it was in his power to y 
 have died without ^rief by this knowledge of 
 futurity; whereas he was now tormented by 
 his foreknowledge of the misfortune of such 
 as were dearest to him, and must die under 
 that torment. Now, although he was disor- 
 dered at this unexpected revolution of the go- 
 vernment to those for whom he did not in- 
 tend it, he spake thus to Caius, though un- 
 willingly and against his own inclination: — 
 " O child, although Tiberius be nearer re- 
 lated to me than thou art, 1 by my own de- 
 termination, and the conspiring suffrage of the 
 gods, do give, and put into thy hancJ, the 
 Roman empire; and I desire thee never to 
 be unmindful when thou comest to it, either 
 of my kindness to thee, who set thee in so 
 high a dignity, or of thy relation to Tiberius; 
 but as thou knowest that I am, together v\ith 
 and after the gods, the procurer of so great 
 happiness to thee, so I desire that thou w ilt 
 make me a return for my readiness to assist 
 thee, and wilt take care of Tiberius because 
 of his near relation to thee. Besides which, 
 thou art to know, that while Tiberius is 
 alive, he will be a security to thee, both as to 
 empire and as to thy own preservation; but, 
 if he die, that will be but a prelude to thy 
 own misfortunes; for to be alone under the 
 weight of such vast affairs, is very dangerous; 
 nor will the gods suffer those actions \vhich 
 am unjustly done, contrary to that law which 
 directs men to do otherwise, to go off unpun- 
 ished." This was the speech which Tibe- 
 rius made; which did not persuade Caius to 
 act accordingly, although he promised so to 
 do; but, when be was settled in the govern- 
 ment, he took off this Tiberius, as was pre- 
 dicted by the other Tiberius; as he was also 
 himself, in no long time afterward, slain by a 
 secret plot laid against him. 
 
 10. So when Tiberius had at this time ap- 
 pointed Caius to be his successor, he outlived 
 but a few days, and then (iied, after he had 
 held the government twenty-two years five 
 months and three days. Now Caius was the 
 fourth emperor: but when the Romans un- 
 derstood that Tiberius was dead, they rejoiced 
 at the good news, but had not coumge to be- 
 lieve it; not because they were unwilling it 
 should be true, for they would have given 
 laige sums of money that it might be so, but 
 because they were afraid that, if they had 
 shown their joy when the news proved false, 
 their joy shoiild be openly known, and they 
 should be accused for it, a'nd be thereby un- 
 done; for this Tiberius had brought a vast 
 number of miseries on the best families of the 
 Romans, since he was easily inflamed with 
 passion in all cases, and was of such a temper 
 as rendered his anger irrevocable, till he had 
 executed the same, although he had taken a 
 hatred against men without reason; for he 
 WHS by nature fierce in nil the sentences he 
 gave, and made death the penalty for the 
 
CHAP. vri. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 499 
 
 slightest offences; insomuch that when the 
 Romans heard the rumour about his death 
 gladly, they were restrained troui the enjo>- 
 nieiit of that pleasure by the dread of such 
 miseries as they foresaw would follow, if their 
 hopes proved ill-grounded. Now Marsyas. 
 Agrippa's fret'd-man, as soon as he heard of 
 Til)erius's death, came running to tell Agrippa 
 the news; and tiuriing him going out to 
 the bath, he gave him a nod, and said, in the 
 Hebrew tongue, " The lion * is dead;" who, 
 understanding his meaning, and being over- 
 joyed at the news, " Nay," said he, " but all 
 sorts of thanks and happiness attend thee for 
 this news of thine; only I wish that what 
 thou sayest may prove true." Now the cen- 
 turion who was set to keep Agrippa, when he 
 saw with what haste Marsyas came, and what 
 joy Agrippa had from what he said, he had a 
 suspicion that his words implied some great 
 innovation of affairs, and he asked them about 
 what was said. They at first diverted the 
 discourse; but upon his farther pre^sing, 
 Agrippa, without more ado, told him, for he 
 was already become his friend; so he joined 
 with him in that pleasure which this news oc- 
 casioned, because it would be fortunate to 
 Agrippa, and made him a supper: but, a< 
 they %vere feastirg, and the cups went about, 
 there came one who siiid, that Tiberius was 
 still alive, and would return to the city in a 
 
 still in custody, yet it was now with ease to 
 his own affairs. Now, as soon as Caius was 
 come to Rome, and had brought Tiberius's 
 dead body with him, and had n)ade a sumptu- 
 ous funeral for him,\iccordiiig to the laws of 
 his country, he was niuch disposed to set 
 Agrippa at liberty that very day ; but Anto- 
 riia hindered hint, not out of au) ill-will lo 
 the prisoner, but out of regard to <iecency 
 Caius, lest that should make men believe ^ 
 be received the death of Tiberius with plea- 
 sure, when he loo?ed one whom he had bound 
 iaunediately. However, there did not many 
 da_\s pass ere he sent for him to his house, 
 and had hiiu shaved, and made him change 
 his raiment; after wbicii he put a diadem 
 upon his head, and appoiitted him to be king 
 of the tetrarchy of Philip. He also gave him 
 the tetrarchy of Lysiiiiias.f and changed bis 
 iron chain for a golden one of equal weight. 
 He also sent MaruUus to be procurator of 
 Judea. 
 
 11. Now, in the second year of the reign 
 of Caius Caesar, Agrippa desired leave to be 
 given him to sail home, and settle the affairs 
 of his government; and he promised to re- 
 turn again when he had put the rest in order, 
 as it ought to be put. So, upon the empe- 
 ror's permission, he came into his own coun- 
 try, and appeared to them all unexpectedly as 
 a king, and thereby demonstrated to the men 
 few days. At which news the centurion was j that saw hino, the power of fortune, when they 
 exceedingly troubled, because he had done ' compared his former poverty with his present 
 
 what might cost him his life, to have treated ^^ ^ ^' "* ^•'- - ' 
 
 so joyfully a prisoner, and this upon the news 
 of the death of Ciesar; so he thrust Agrippa 
 
 from the couch whereon he lay, and said 
 '* Dost thou think to cheat me by a lie about 
 the emperor without punishment? and shalt 
 not thou pay for this thy malicious report at 
 the price of thine head?" When he had so 
 said, he ordered Agrippa to be bound again 
 (for he had loosed him before), and kept a 
 severer guard over him than formerly, and in 
 that evil condition was Agrippa that night; 
 but the next day the rumour increased in the 
 city, and confirmed the news that Tiberius 
 was certainly dead ; insomuch that men durst 
 now openly and freely talk about it; nay, 
 some offered sacrifices on that account. Se- 
 veral letters also came from Caius; one of 
 them to the senate, which informed them of 
 the death of Tiberius, and of his own entrance 
 on the government; another to Piso, the go- 
 vernor of the city, which told him the same 
 thing. He also gave order that Agrippa 
 should be removed out of the camp, and go 
 to that house were he lived before he was 
 put in prison; so that he was now out of fear 
 as to his own affairs; for, although he was 
 
 • The name of a lion is often given to tyrants, espe*. 
 cially by the Jews, such as Agnppa. and prohably his 
 frcH'd-man Mars-.as, in etfect were. Krek. xix. I. 9; 
 Ksih. iT. 13; -i Tim iv. 17 They are al*o sometimes 
 c«rn pared to. or repre«ented by. wild beasts, of which 
 Ihc lutn ie Uitr prinripat. l>an. v'ii. 3« Hi Ap<ie. xiii. 1.2. 
 
 happy affluence; so some called him a happy 
 man; and others could not well believe that 
 things were so much changed with him for 
 the better. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW HEEOD THE TETRARCH WAS BANISHEr- 
 
 § 1. But Herodias, Agrippa's sister, wbc 
 now lived as wife to that Herod who was te- 
 trarch of Galilee and Perea, took this autho- 
 rity of her brother in an envious manner, par- 
 ticularly when she saw that he had a greater 
 dignity bestowed on him tha.i her husband 
 had ; since, 'when he ran away, he was not 
 able to pay hi? debts; and now he was come 
 back, it was because he was in a way of dig- 
 nity and of great fortune. She was therefore 
 grieved and much displeased at so great a 
 mutation of his affairs; and chiefly when she 
 saw him marching among the multitude with 
 the usual ensigns of royal authority, she was 
 not able to conceal how miserable she was, by 
 reason of the envy she had towards him; but 
 she excited her husband, and desired him that 
 he would sail to Rome, to court honours 
 
 4 Although Caius now promised to give Agrippa the 
 tetrarchy of Lysai.ias, yet was it not actually conferrea 
 upon hiro till the reign of Claudius, a« we learn, Antiq 
 b. xix. chap. v. sect. L 
 
600 
 
 ANtrQlTltiES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK xvrii. 
 
 equal to his J for she said, that she could not 
 bear to live any longer, while Agrippa, the 
 son of that Aristobulus who was condemned 
 to die by his father, one that came to her hus- 
 band in such extreme poverty, that the neces- 
 saries of life were forced to he entirely sup- 
 plied him day by day; and when he fled away 
 from his creditors by sea, he now returned a 
 king: while he was himself the son of a king, 
 and while the near relation he bare to royal 
 authority, called upon him to gain the like 
 dignity, he sat still, and was contented with 
 a privater life. "But then, Herod, although 
 thou wast formerly not concerned to be in a 
 lower condition than thy father, from whom 
 thou wast derived, had been, yet do thou now 
 seek after the dignity which thy kinsman hath 
 attained to: and do not thou bear this con- 
 tempt, that a man who admired thy riches 
 should be in greater honour than thyself, 
 nor suffer his poverty to show itself able 
 to purchase greater things than our abun- 
 dance; nor do thou esteem it other than a 
 shameful thing to be inferior to one who, the 
 other day, lived upon thy charity. But let 
 us go to Rome, and let us spare no pains nor 
 expenses, either of silver or gold, since they 
 cannot be kept for any better use than for the 
 obtaining of a kingdom." 
 
 2. But for Herod, be opposed her request 
 at this time, out of the love of ease, and hav- 
 ing a suspicion of the trouble he should have 
 at Rome; so he tried to instruct her better. 
 But the more she saw him draw back, the 
 more she pressed him to it, and des-ired him 
 to leave no stone unturned in order to be 
 king: and at last she left not off till she en- 
 gaged him, whether he would or not, to be 
 of her sentiments, because he could no other- 
 wise avoid her importunity. So he got all 
 things ready, after as sumptuous a manner 
 as he was able, and spared for nothing, and 
 went up to Rome, and took Herodias along 
 with him. But Agrippa, when he was made 
 sensible of their intentions and preparations, 
 he also prepared to go thither; and as soon 
 as he heard they set sail, he sent Fortunatus, 
 one of his freed-men, to Rome, to carry pre- 
 sents to the emperor, and letters against He- 
 rod, and to give Caius a particular account 
 of those matters, if he should have any op- 
 portunity. This man followed Herod so 
 quick, and had so prosperous a vojage, and 
 came so little after Herod, that while Herod 
 was with Caius, he came himself, and deli- 
 vered his letters; for they both sailed to Di- 
 cearchia, and found Caius at Baise, which is 
 itself a little city of Campania, at the distance 
 of about five furlongs from Dicearchia. There 
 are in that place royal palaces, with sump- 
 tuous apartments, every emperor still endea- 
 vouring to outdo his predecessor's magnifi- 
 eenccv: the place also affords warm baths, 
 that spring out of the ground of their own 
 •tfcvrd, which are of advantage for the reco- 
 
 very of the health of those that make use of 
 them; and, besides, they minister to men's 
 luxury also. Now Caius saluted Herod, for 
 he first met with him, and then looked upon 
 the letters which Agrippa had sent him, and 
 which were written in order to accuse He- 
 rod; wherein he accused him, that he had 
 been in confederacy with Scjanus, against 
 Tiberius's government, and that he was now 
 confederate with Artabanus, the king of Par- 
 thia, in opposition to the government of 
 Caius; as a demonstration of which, he al- 
 leged that he had armour sufficient for seventy 
 thousand men ready in his armoury. Caius 
 was moved at this information, and asked 
 Herod, whether what was said shout the ar- 
 mour was true; and when he confessed there 
 was such armour there, for he could not deny 
 the same, the truth of it being too notorious, 
 Caius took that to be a sufficient proof of the 
 accusation, that he intended to revolt. So 
 he took away from him his tetrarchy, and 
 gave it by way of addition to Agrippa's king- 
 dom; he also gave Herod's money to Agrippa, 
 and, by way of punishment, awarded him a 
 perpetual banishment, and appointed Lyons, 
 a city of Gaul, to be his place of habitation. 
 But when he was informed that Herodias 
 was Agrippa's sister, he made her a present of 
 what money was her own, and told her that 
 it was her brother who prevented her being 
 put under the same calamity with her hus- 
 band. But she made this reply: — "Thou, 
 indeed, O emperor! actest after a magnifi- 
 cent manner, and as becomes thyself, in uhat 
 thou offerest me; but the kindness ^hich 1 
 have for my husband hinders me from par- 
 taking of the favour of thy gift: for it is ntft 
 just that I, \\ho have been made a partner in 
 his prosperity, should forsake him in his mis- 
 fortunes." Hereupon Caius was angry at 
 her, and sent her with Herod into banish- 
 ment, and gave her estate to Agrippa. And 
 thus did God punish Herodias for her envy 
 at her brother, and Herod also for giving ear 
 to the vain discourses of a woman. Now, 
 Caius managed public affairs with great mag- 
 nanimity during the first and second year of 
 his reign, and behaved himself with such mo- 
 deration, that he pained the good- will of the 
 Romans themselves, and of his other subjects. 
 But, in process of time, he went beyond tlie 
 bounds of human nature in his conceit of 
 himself, and, by reason of the vastness of his 
 dominions, mude himself a god, and took 
 upon himself to act in all things to the re» 
 proach of the Deity itself. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 501 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONCERNING THE EMBASSAGE OF THE JEWS 
 TO CAIUS ;* AND HOW CAIUS SENT PETRO- 
 NIUS INTO SYRIA, TO MAKE WAR AGAINST 
 THE JEWS, UNLESS THEY WOULD RECEIVE 
 HIS STATUE. 
 
 § 1. There was now a tumult arisen at 
 Alexandria, between the Jewish inhabitants 
 and the Greeks ; and three anibassadorsf 
 were chosen out of each party that were at 
 variance, who came to Caius. Now one of 
 these ambassadors from the people of Alex- 
 andria was Apion, who uttered many blasphe- 
 mies against the Jews ; and, among other 
 things, that he said he charged them with ne- 
 glecting the honours that belonged to Caesar; 
 for that while all who were subject to the 
 Roman empire, built altars and temples to 
 Caius, and in other regards universally re- 
 ceived him as they received the gods, these 
 Jews alone thought it a dishonourfible thing 
 for them to erect statues in honour of him, 
 as well as to swear by his name. Many of 
 these severe things were said by Apion, by 
 which he hoped to provoke Caius to anger at 
 the Jews, as he was likely to be. But Philo, 
 the principal of the Jewish embassage, a man 
 eminent on all accounts, brother to Alexan- 
 der the alabarchjj and one not unskilful in 
 philosophy, was ready to betake himself to 
 make his defence against those accusations; 
 but Caius prohibited him, and bade him be- 
 gone: he was also in such a rage, that it open- 
 ly appeared he was about to do them some 
 very great mischief. So Philo, being thus 
 affronted, went out, and said to those Jews 
 who were about him, that they should be of 
 good courage, since Caius's words indeed 
 showed anger at them, but in reality bad al- 
 ready set God against himself. 
 
 2. Hereupon Caius, taking it very hein- 
 
 • This is a most remarkable chapter, as containing 
 finch instances of the interposition of Pmvidence, as have 
 been always very rare among the other idolatrous nations, 
 but of old very many among the posterity of Abraham, 
 the worshippers of the true God; nor do these seem much 
 inferior to those in the Old Testament, which are the 
 more remarkable, because, among all their otlier follies 
 and vices, the Jews were not at this time idolaters; and 
 the deliverances here mentioned were done in order-to 
 prevent their relapse into that idolatry. 
 
 + Josephus here assures us, that the ambassadors from 
 Alexandria to Caius were on each part no more than 
 three in number, for the Jews, and for the Gentiles, 
 which are but six in all: whereas Philo, who was the 
 principal ambassador from tt>e Jews, as Josephus here 
 confesses (as was Apion for the Gentilesl. says, the Jews' 
 ambassadors were themselves no fewer than five, towards 
 the end of his legation to Caius j which, if there be no 
 mistake in the copies, must be supposed the truth; nor, 
 in that case, would Josephus have contradicted so au- 
 thentic a witness, had he seen that account of Philo's; 
 which, that he ever did does not appear. 
 
 I This Alexander, the alabarch, or governor of the 
 JewB. at Alexandria, and brothei to Philo, is supposed, 
 by Bishop Pearson, in Act. A post. p. 41,42, to be the 
 same with that Alexander who is mentioned by St. 
 l.ukti, M a( tt)e kindrvd of tin- higU-priestt, Acts iv. & 
 
 ously that he should be thus despised by the 
 Jews alone, sent Petronius to be president 
 of Syria, and successor in the government to 
 Vitellius, and gave him order to make an in- 
 vasion into Judea, with a great body of troops, 
 and, if they would admit of his statue wil- 
 lingly, to erect it in the temple of God; but, 
 if they were obstinate, to conquer them by 
 war, and then to do it. Accordingly, Petro- 
 nius took the government of Syria, and made 
 haste to obey Caesar's epistle. He got to- 
 gether as great a number of auxiliaries as he 
 possibly could, and took with him two legions 
 of the Roman army, and came to Ptolemais, 
 and there wintered, as intending to set about 
 the war in the spring. He also wrote word 
 to Cains what he had resolved to do; who 
 commended him for his alacrity, and ordered 
 him to go on, and to make war with them, in 
 case they would not obey his commands. But 
 there came many ten thousands of the Jews 
 to Petronius, to Ptolemais, to offer their pe- 
 titions to him, that he would not compel them 
 to transgress and violate the law of their fore- 
 fathers; "but if," said they, "thou art en- 
 tirely resolved to bring this statue, and erect 
 it, do thou first kill us, and then do what thou 
 hast resolved on, for, while we are alive, we 
 cannot permit such things as are forbidden us 
 to be done by the authority of our legislator, 
 and by our forefathers* determination that 
 such prohibitions are instances of virtue." 
 But Petronius was angry at them, and said, 
 " If indeed I were myself emperor, and were 
 at liberty to follow my own inclination, and 
 then had designed to act thus, these your 
 words would be justly spoken to me; but now 
 Caesar hath sent to me, I am under the ne- 
 cessity of being subservient to his decrees, 
 because a disobedience to them will bring 
 upon me inevitable destruction." Then the 
 Jews replied, "Since, therefore, thou art so, 
 disposed, O Petronius ! that thou wilt not 
 disobey Caius's epistles, neither will we trans- 
 gress the commands of our law ; and as we 
 depend upon the excellency of our laws, and, 
 by the labours of our ancestors, have con- 
 tinued hitherto without suffering them to be 
 transgressed, we dare not by any means suf- 
 fer ourselves to be so timorous as to transgress 
 those lafv's out of the fear of death, which 
 God hath determined are for our advantage 
 and, if we fall into misfortunes, we will bear 
 them, in order to preserve our laws, as know- 
 ing that those who expose themselves to dan- 
 gers, have good hope of escaping them; be- 
 cause God will stand on our side, when, out 
 of regard to him, we undergo afflictions, and 
 sustain the uncertain turns of fortune. But, 
 if we should submit to thee, we should be 
 greatly reproached for our cowardice, as 
 thereby showing ourselves ready to transgress 
 our law; and vv hould incur the great anger 
 of God also, A , even thyself being judge, 
 it 8U{>ari«T to ' aius.** 
 
502 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOjv XVIIU 
 
 3. When Petronius saw by their words that 
 their determination was hard to be removed, 
 and that, without a war, he should not be able 
 to be subservient to Caius in the dedication 
 of his statue, and that there must be a great 
 deal of bloodshed, he took his friends, and 
 the servants that were about him, and hasted 
 to Tiberias, as wanting to know in what pos- 
 ture the affairs of the Jews were; and many 
 ten thousands of the Jews met Petronius 
 Hgain, when he was come to Tiberias. These 
 thought they must run a mighty hazard if 
 they should have a war with the Romans, but 
 iudged that the transgression of the law was 
 of much greater consequence, and made sup- 
 plication to him, that he would by no means 
 reduce them to such distresses, nor defile their 
 city with the dedication of the statue. Then 
 Petronius said to them, •' Will you then make 
 war with Caesar, without considering his great 
 preparations for war, and your own weak- 
 ness?" They replied, " We will not by any 
 means make war with him ; but still we will 
 die before we see our laws transgressed." So 
 they threw themselves down upon their faces, 
 and stretched out their throats, and said they 
 were ready to be slain; and this they did for 
 forty days together, and in the mean time left 
 off the tilling of their ground, and that while 
 the season of the year required them to sow 
 it.* Thus they continued firm in their reso- 
 lution, and proposed to themselves to die wil- 
 lingly, rather than to see the dedication of 
 the statue. 
 
 4. When matters were in this state, Aristo- 
 bulus, king Agrippa's brother, and Helcias 
 the Great, and the other principal men of that 
 family with them, went in unto Petronius, 
 and besought him, that, since he saw the re- 
 solution of the multitude, he would not make 
 any alteration, and thereby drive them to de- 
 spair; but would write to Caius, that the Jews 
 had an insuperable aversion to the reception 
 of the statue, and how they continued with 
 him, and left off the tillage of their ground: 
 that they were not willing to go to war with 
 him, because they were not able to do it, but 
 were ready to die with pleasure, rather than 
 Buffer their laws to be transgressed: and how, 
 upon the land's continuing unsown, robberies 
 would grow up, on the inability they would 
 be under of paying their tributes; and that 
 perhaps Caius might be thereby moved to 
 pity, and not order any barbarous action to 
 bo done to them, nor think of destroying the 
 nation: that if he continues inflexible in his 
 former opinion to bring a war upon them, he 
 may then set about it himself. And thus did 
 Aristobulus, and the rest with him, suppli- 
 
 • What Josepbns here, and sect. 6, relates an done by 
 th« Jews before seed-time, is, in Philo. " not far off tlie 
 t'aof! when the corn was ripe," who, as Le Clerc notes, 
 diMer here one from the other. I'his ts anotlier indica- 
 tion that Jo8«phu8, when he wrote tluH account, had not 
 •een Philo's l^gat. ad Caiura, oih«rwiiie he would hardly 
 bav« bwwiaililUMd tem bin 
 
 cate Petronius. So Petronius, f partly on 
 account of the pressing instances whi4» Aris- 
 tobulus and the rest with him made, and 
 because of the great consequence of what they 
 desired, and the earnestness wherewith they 
 made their supplication, — partly on account 
 of the firmness of the opposition made by the 
 Jews, which he saw, while he thought it » 
 horrible thing for him to be such a slave to 
 the madness of Caius, as to slay so many ten 
 thousand men, only because of their religious 
 disposition towards God, and after that to 
 pass his life in expectation of punishment; 
 Petronius, I say, thought it much better to 
 send to Caius, and to let him know how intole- 
 rable it was to him to bear the anger he might 
 have against him for not serving him sooner, 
 in obedience to his epistle, for that perhaps 
 he might persuade him ; and that if this mad 
 resolution continued, he might then begin the 
 war against them; nay, that in ease be should 
 turn his hatred against himself, it was fit for 
 virtuous persons even to die for the sake of 
 such vast multitudes of men. Accordingly 
 he determined to hearken to the petitions in 
 this matter. 
 
 5. He then called the Jews together to 
 Tiberias, who came many ten thousands in 
 number; he also placed that army he now 
 had with him opposite to them ; but did not 
 discover his own meaning, but the commaiiCiS 
 of the emperor, and told them that his wrath 
 wotdd, without delay, be executed on such a» 
 had the courage to disobey what he had com- 
 manded, and this immediately; and that it 
 was fit for him who had received so great a 
 dignity by his grant, not to contradict him in 
 any thing: — "yet (said he) I do not think it 
 just to have such a regard to my own safety 
 and honour, as to refuse to sacrifice them for 
 your preservation, who are so many in num- 
 ber, and endeavour to preserve the regard that 
 is due to your lawj which as it hath come 
 down to you from your forefathers, so do you 
 esteem it worthy of your utmost contention 
 to preserve it: nor, with the supreme assist- 
 ance and power of God, will 1 be so hardy 
 as to sufl^er your temple to fall into conten)pt 
 by the means of the imperial authority. I 
 will, therefore, send to Caius, and let him 
 know what your resolutions are, and wall 
 assist your suit as far as I am able, that you 
 may not be exposed to suffer on account of 
 the honest designs you have proposed to your- 
 selves; and may God be your assistant, for 
 his authority is beyond all the contrivance and 
 power of men; and may he procure you the 
 
 + This Publiiis Petroniuit was nfter this still president 
 of Syiia. under Claudius, and, at the desire o^A^rippa, 
 published a severe decrt-e a^ainxt the itiliaintHtits of 
 Dora, who, in a sort of imitation of Caius, had set up a 
 statue of Claudius in a Jewish s>na>fogue there. Thia 
 decree is extant b.xix. ch. vi. sect. 3; and K^eatly cun« 
 firms the prrsent ncronnlH o( .los.-phiiM. as do the othel 
 decrees of C'l:ni(iui>. m la'ini: to rt'- .liM\i.sli .iflairK.h. xix 
 eta. t. srct. V.3, (o .'-iiali t rilcr ;iu iuqiiisuiTe roader. 
 
CHAP. vni. 
 
 Al^TIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 603 
 
 preservation of your ancient laws, and may 
 not he be deprived, though v\ithout your con- 
 sent, of bis accustonied honours. But if 
 Caius be irritated, and turn the violence of 
 his rage upon me, I will rather undergo all 
 thiit daiigas- and that affliction that may come 
 either on my \md\ or my soul, than see so 
 many of you perish, while \ou are acting in 
 so excellent a manner. Do you, therefore, 
 every one of you, go your way about your 
 own occupations, and fnll to the cultivation 
 of your ground; I will myself send to Rome, 
 and will not refuse to serve you in all things, 
 hoth bv myself and by my friends." 
 
 G. When Petronius had said this, and had 
 dismissed the assembly of the Jews, he de- 
 t.iri'd the principal of them to take care of 
 l!u-ir husbandry, and to speak kindly to the 
 petiple; and encourage them to have good hope 
 «f their affairs. Thus did he readily bring 
 the ti.iiltitude to be cheerful again. And now 
 ^ id (iod show his presence* to Petronius, and 
 siu'iiifv to him, that he would afford him his 
 iis<i-ta:ice in his whole design; for he had no 
 srtiier finished the speech that he made to the 
 .J>vvs, but God sent down great showers of 
 rni\, contrary to human expectation; for that 
 day was a clear day, and gave no sign, by the 
 }ip[>e!«rance of the sky, of any rain; nay, the 
 \' hole year had been subject to a great drought, 
 and made men despair of any water from 
 above, even when at any time they saw the 
 heinens overcast with clouds; insomuch, that 
 w iie/i such a great quantity of rain came, and 
 tiiat in an unusual manner and without any 
 «>;her expectation of it, the Jews hoped that 
 IV'troiiius would by no means fail in his pe- 
 tuioii for them. But as to Petronius, he was 
 n.ightiiy surprised when he perceived that 
 <i«id evidently took care of the Jews, and 
 grtve very plain signs of his appearance, f and 
 this to such a degree, that those that were in 
 <;,ii nest much inclined to the contrary, had 
 III) power left to contradict it. This was also 
 among those other particulars which he wrote 
 to Caius, which all tended to dissuade him, 
 Hud by all means to entreat him not to make 
 ?o many ten thousands of these men go dis- 
 tracted; whom, if he should slay (for without 
 war they would by no means suffer the laws 
 of their worship to be set aside) he would lose 
 the revenue they paid him, and would be 
 publicly cursed by them for all future ages. 
 Moreover, that God who was their governor, 
 had shown his power most evidently on their 
 account, and that such a power of his as left 
 
 ♦ Josephus here uses the solemn New Testament 
 words, rmt^r^^ia- and iwif<ifUa. the presence and appear, 
 ance uf God. for the extraordinary manifestation of his 
 power and providence to Petronius, by sending rain in a 
 time of distress, immed ately upon the resolution he had i 
 taken to preserve Ibe temple an polluted, at the hazard ; 
 of his own lite, without any other miraculous appearance 1 
 lit all in that case: whicli well drst-rves to be taken no- . 
 lirf of here, and fre-tly illustrates seveial texts, both in 
 U>^ <^>!d and Nt-w 'IVytanient. 
 f eice »lie pr*x*-dii-.(; note. 
 
 no room for doubt about it; — and this was 
 the business that Petronius was now engaged 
 in. 
 
 7. But king Agrippa, who now lived at 
 Rome, was more and more in the favour of 
 Caius; and when he had once made him a 
 supper, and was careful to exceed all others, 
 both in expenses and in such preparatioiss as 
 might contribute most to his pleasure; nay, 
 it was so far from the ability of others, that 
 Caius himself could never equal, much less 
 exceed it (such care had he taken before- 
 hand tu exceed all men, and particularlv to 
 make all agreeable to Ciesar); hereupon Caius 
 admired his understanditig and magnificence, 
 that he should force himself to do all to please 
 him, even beyond such expenses as he could 
 bear, and was desirous not to be behind 
 Agrippa in that generosity which he exerted, in 
 order to please him. So Caius, when he bad 
 drank wine plentifully, and was merrier than 
 ordinary, said thus during the feast, when 
 Agrippa had drank to him: — " I knew before 
 now J how great a respect thou hast had for 
 me, and how great kindness thou hast shown 
 me, though with those hazards to thyself, 
 which thou underwentest under Tiberius on 
 that account; nor hast thou omitted any thing 
 to show thy good-will towards us, even be- 
 yond thy ability; whence it would be a base 
 thing for me to be conquered by thy affection. 
 1 am therefore desirous to make thee amends 
 for every thing in which I have been formerly 
 deficient; for all that I have bestowed on 
 thee, that may be called my gifts, is but little. 
 Every thing that may contribute to th} hap- 
 piness shall be at thy service, and that cheer- 
 fully, and so far as my ability will reach;" — 
 and this was what Caius said to Agrippa, 
 thinking he would ask for some large coun- 
 try, or the revenues of certain cities; but, 
 although he had prepared beforehand what 
 he would ask, yet had he not discovered his 
 intentions, but made this answer to Caius im- 
 mediately, that it was not out of any expecta- 
 tion of gain that he formerly paid his respects 
 to him, contrary to the commands of Tibe- 
 rius, nor did he now do any thing relating 
 to him out of regard to his ov^ii advantage, 
 and in order to receive any thing from him: 
 that the gifts he had already bestowed upon 
 him were great, and beyond the hopes of even 
 a craving man; for although they may be 
 beneath thy power [who art the donor], yet 
 are they greater than my inclination and dig- 
 nity, who am the receiver; — and, as Caius 
 was astonished at Agrippa's inclinations, and 
 still the more pressed him to make his request 
 for somewhat which he might gratify him 
 with, Agrippa replied, " Since thou, O my 
 Lord, declarest such is thy readiness to grant, 
 that I am worthy of tby gifts, I will ask no- 
 
 % This behavionr of Cains to Agrippa, is rery \Vte that 
 of Herod Antipa.n. his uncle, to Herodias. Agrippa's sis* 
 t£r, about Jolin the Baptist, Matt. xit. ^-IL 
 
604 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVIII. 
 
 thing relating to my own felicity; for what 
 thou hast already bestowed on me has made 
 me excel therein; but I desire somewhat 
 vhich may make thee glorious for piety, and 
 render the Divinity assistant to thy designs, 
 and may be for an honour to me among those 
 that inquire about it, as showing that I never 
 once fail of obtaining vvhat Idesire of thee: 
 for my petition is this, that thou wilt no 
 longer think of the dedication of that statue 
 which thou hast ordered to be set up in the 
 Jewish temple by Petronius." 
 
 8. And thus did Agrippa venture to cast 
 the die upon this occasion, so great was the 
 affair in his opinion, and in reality, though he 
 knew how dangerous a thing it was so to 
 speak; for, had not Caius approved it, it had 
 tended to no less than the loss of his life. 
 So Caius, who was mightily taken with 
 Agrippa's obliging behaviour, and on other 
 accounts thinking it a dishonourable thing to 
 be guilty of falsehood before so many wit- 
 nesses, in points wherein he had witli such 
 alacrity forced Agrippa to become a petitioner, 
 and that it would look as if he had already 
 repented of vvhat he had said, and because he 
 greatly admired Agrippa's virtue, in not de- 
 siring him at all to augment his own domi- 
 nions, either with larger revenues, or other 
 authority, but took care of the public tranquil- 
 lity, of the laws, and of the Divinity itself; he 
 granted him what he requested. He also wrote 
 thus to Petronius, commending him for his 
 issembling his army, and then consulting him 
 about these affairs. " If, therefore,'' said he, 
 " thou hast already erected my statue, let it 
 stand ; but if thou hast not yet dedicated it, do 
 not trouble thyself farther about it, but dismiss 
 thy army, go back, and take care of those 
 affairs which I sent thee about at first, for I 
 have now no occasion for the erection of that 
 statue. This I have granted as a favour to 
 Agrippa, a man whom I honour so very greatly, 
 that I am not able to contradict what he 
 would have, or what he desired me to do for 
 him." And this was what Caius wrote to 
 Petronius, which was before he received his 
 letter, informing him that the Jews were very 
 ready to revolt about this statue, and that 
 they seemed resolved to threaten war against 
 the Romans, and nothing else. "When there- 
 fore Caius was much displeased that any at- 
 tempt should be made against his government, 
 as he was a slave to base and vicions actions 
 on all occasions, and had no regard to what 
 was virtuous and honourable, and against 
 whomsoever he resolved to show his anger. 
 Mid that for any cause whatsoever, he suffered 
 not himself to be restrained by any admoni- 
 tion, but thought the indulging his anger to 
 bt a real pleasure, he wrote thus to Petronius: 
 — " Seeing thou esteemest the presents made 
 thee by the Jews to be of greater value than 
 "Py commands, and art grown insolent enough 
 o be subsvrvicnt to their pleasure, I chargw 
 
 thee to become thy own judge, and to consider 
 what thou art to do, now thou art under my 
 displeasure: for I will make thee an example 
 to the present and to all future ages, that they 
 may not dare to contradict the commands of 
 their emperor." 
 
 9. This was the epistle which Caius wrote 
 to Petronius; but Petr'onius did not receivs 
 it while Caius was alive, that ship which car- 
 ried it sailed so slow, that other letters came to 
 Petronius before this, by which he understood 
 that Caius was dead; for God would not 
 forget the dangers Petronius had undertaken 
 on account of the Jews, and of his own 
 honour. But when he had taken Caius away, 
 out of his indignation of vvhat he had so in- 
 solently attempted, in assuming to himself 
 divine worship, both Rome and all that do- 
 minion conspired with Petronius, especially 
 those that were of the senatorian order, to 
 give Caius his due reward, because he li;i<l 
 been unmercifully severe to them; for he died 
 not long after he had written to Petronius 
 that epistle which threatened him with deaih. 
 But as for the occasion of his death, and the 
 nature of the plot against him, I shall relate 
 them in the progress of this narration. Now, 
 that epistle which informed Petronius of 
 Caius's death came first; and a little after- 
 ward came that which commanded him to kill 
 himself with his own hands. Whereupon he 
 rejoiced at. this coincidence as to the death of 
 Caius, and admired God's providence, who, 
 without the least delay, and immediately, gave 
 him a reward for the regard he had to the 
 temple, and the assistance he afforded the Jew s 
 for avoiding the dangers they were in. And 
 by this means Petronius escaped that danger 
 of death which he could not foresee. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WHAT BEFEL THE JEWS THAT WEBE IN BA- 
 BYLON ON OCCASION OF ASINEUS AND ANl- 
 LEUS, TWO BRETHREN. 
 
 § 1. A VERY sad calamity now befel the 
 Jews that were in Mesopotamia, and especially 
 those that dwelt in -Babylonia. Inferior it 
 was to none of the calamities which had ^one 
 before, and came together with a great slauf:h- 
 ter of them, and that greater than any iifton 
 record before; concerning all which I shall 
 speak more accurately, and shall explain the 
 occasions whence these miseries came upon 
 them. There was a city of BabyloniH called 
 Neerda; not only a very, populous one, but 
 one that had a good and large territory about 
 it; and, besides its other advantages, full ot 
 men also. It was, besides, not easily to he 
 assaulted by enemies, from the river Euphrutea 
 enronipassiiig it all round, and from the vvtiUa 
 that vvcrv built ubuut it. There v\as al9<> i!t« 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 605 
 
 city Nisibis, situate on the same current of the 
 river. For which reason the Jews, depending 
 on the natural strength of these places, de- 
 posited in them that half shekel which every 
 one, by the cusjtom 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 t^n thousand men undertook the carriage 
 of those donations, out of fear of the ravages 
 of the Parthians, to whom the Babylonians 
 were then subject. Novf, 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 a disgrace among them 
 for men to be weavers of cloth. Now, he 
 that taught them that art, and was set ovej 
 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 bouse, which were not a 
 few, and went into a certain place where was 
 a partition of the rivers, and was a place na- 
 turally 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 kilUhe 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 march- 
 ed against them, thinking to attack then* and 
 destroy them before any one should carry them 
 the news that he had got an army together. 
 He then encanaptd at a 'ak-. 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 prison- 
 ers, 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, 1 hear a neighing 
 of horses; not of such as are feeding, but 
 such as have men on their backs; 1 also hear 
 such a noise of their bridles, that I am afraid 
 that some enemies are coming upon us to en- 
 compass 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 re- 
 strained from doing it by the prohibition of 
 our law, which obliges us to rest [on this 
 day]." But Asineus 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 ne- 
 cessity they were fallen into, and break their 
 law by avenging themselves, although they 
 should die in the action, than by doing no- 
 thing 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 vie- 
 tory, 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 desi- 
 rous to see them and speak with them. He 
 therefore sent the most trusty of all his guards 
 to say thus to them: — " That king Artaba- 
 nus, although he had been unjustly treated 
 by you, who have made an attempt against 
 his government, yet hath he more regard 
 to your courageous behaviour than to the 
 anger he bears to you, and hath sent me to 
 give you his right handf and security; and 
 
 • 'Enrmmera/t is here, and in very many other places 
 uf Josephus, " inimediately at band." and is to be so 
 expounde<U 2 Tbess. ii. 2, when some falsely pretended 
 that St. Paul liad said, either by word of mouth or by 
 an epistle, or by both. '• that the day of Christ was im- 
 mediately at hand;" for still St Paul did taen plainly 
 think that day not very many years future. 
 
 + The joining of the right hands was esteemed among 
 tiie Persians fand Parthians] in particalar. a most iavio. 
 
606 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVIH. 
 
 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 jriends, without n)eaning any guile or de- 
 ceit 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 therehy 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 t-o the kings pre- 
 sence, and when Artabazjus saw Anileus com- 
 ing alone, be inquired into the reason why 
 Asineus avoided to oome along with him ; 
 and when he understood that he was afraid, 
 and staid by the lake, he took an oath, by the 
 gods of bis country, that he would do them 
 no barm, if they came to him upon the assu- 
 rances be 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 their fidelity, when that is once 
 given, even though they were before suspected 
 of injustice. When Artabanus had done this, 
 be sent away Anileus to persuade bis brother 
 to come to him. Now this the king did, be- 
 cause be 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, bad they been sent on 
 an expedition against them. He was also 
 afraid, lest when be 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 dis- 
 appointed in that case, they would not fail of 
 doing farther mischief to him. 
 
 4. When the king bad these intentions, he 
 sent away Anileus; and Anileus prevailed on 
 bis brother [to come to the king], when he 
 bad related to him the king's good- will, and 
 the oath that be had taken. Accordingly, they 
 made baste to go to Artabanus, who received 
 them, when they were come, with pleasure, 
 and admired Asineus's courage in the actions 
 be bad done, and this becau^e he was a little 
 man to see to, and at first sight appeared con- 
 temptible also, and such as one might deem a 
 person of no value at all. He also said to 
 bis friends, bow, upon the comparison, he 
 showed his soul to le, in all respects, superior 
 to bis body; and wlen, as they were drinking 
 together, be once showed Asineus to Abdaga- 
 
 Uble oblifmtion to fidelity, as Dr. Hndson here observes, 
 and refers to the commentary on Justin, b. xi. rli. xv. 
 for its ronftrniation. Me often meet with the like use 
 of it in Ju«e|)hu*. 
 • Sea the above note. 
 
 ses, one of the generals of his army, and told 
 him his name, a?id described the great cou- 
 rage be was of in war, and Abriagases bad de- 
 sired leave to kill him, and thereby to inflict 
 upon 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 1 have sent him my right 
 hand, and endeavoured to gain his belief by 
 oaths made by the gods. But, if thou beest 
 a truly warlike roan, thou standest not in need 
 of my perjury. Go thou then, and avenge 
 the Parthian government; attack this man, 
 when be 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 manl to return 
 tome, and not provoke the indignation of my 
 generals in this place any farther, 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 inxio- 
 lable 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 be had said this, and given 
 Asineus some presents, he sent him away 
 immediately; vvho, 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 
 honour that was paid him by the Babylonians 
 seemed to them too small, and beneath his 
 deserts, although be were in no small dignity 
 and power there: nay, indeed, all the affairs 
 of Mesopotamia depended upon him; and be 
 more and more flourished in this happy con- 
 dition of his for fifteen years. 
 
 5. But as their affairs were in so flourish- 
 ing a state, there sprang up a calamity among 
 them on the follov\ing 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 domi- 
 nion of their lusts and pleasures. A ceitain 
 Parthian, who came as general of an army 
 into those parts, had a wife following him, 
 who had a vast reputation for other accom- 
 plishmints, and particularly was admired 
 above all other women for her beauty. Ani- 
 leus, the brother of Asineus, either heard of 
 that her beauty from others, or perhaf)* saw 
 her himself also, and so became at once her 
 .love* and her enemy; partly, becaufie he could 
 not hope to enjoy this woman but by obtain, 
 ing power over her as a captive, and partly 
 because he thought he cculd not conauer bis 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 507 
 
 inclinations for her. As soon, therefore, as 
 har 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 misfor- 
 tunes, both to Anileus himself, and to Asi- 
 neus also; but brought great mischiefs upon 
 them on the occasion following. Since she 
 was led away captive, on the death of her 
 husband, she concealed the images of those 
 ^ods which were their country gods, common 
 to her husband and to herself: now it is 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; agreeably to which cus- 
 tom of theirs she carried her idols with her. 
 Now, at first she performed her worship to 
 them privately, bat 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 tlic^ • transgressed the accurate appoint- 
 ments of their sacrifices and religious cere- 
 monies; that he ought to consider, kst by 
 allowing himself in many pleasures of the 
 body, he might lose his principality on ac- 
 count of the beauty of a wife, and that high 
 authority which, hy God's blessing, he had 
 arrived at. But v\'iien 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 com- 
 panions 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 hira when he 
 suffered in the defence of their laws. Now 
 these latter were sorely grieved, yet did they 
 tolerate these doings, because they remem- 
 bered 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 
 oflfered to their laws was to be borne no 
 longer; and a greater number of them came to 
 Afeineus, and loudly complained of Anileus, 
 and told hira, that it had been well that he 
 had of himself ^en what was advantageous 
 
 • This cusfora of the M^sopotamians to carry their 
 tonseliold-ijofl.saion^with them wherever they travelled, 
 t5 as oW as the days of Jacob, when Rachel his wife did 
 the s^anae (Oen. xxxl 19. 30— .35); nor is it to pa»8 here 
 anobserved, what ^reat miseries came on these Jews, 
 because they suffered one of tlieir leaders to marry an 
 idolatrous wife, contrary to the law of Moses. Of which 
 Matter see the note on b xjcch. v. sect. i. 
 
 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 offence, 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 hira, 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 cla- 
 mours about it became greater, he at length 
 spake to Anileus about these clamours, re- 
 proving him for his former actions, and de- 
 siring 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 in- 
 fused poison into Asineus's food, and thereby 
 took him off, and wa? now secure of prevail- 
 ing 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 Parthia, and had mar- 
 ried king Artabanus's daughter; he also plim- 
 dered 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 hira, 
 and to affront hira in his present dignity, 
 vvhen he had not oflFered 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 
 hira 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 unap- 
 prised what they should do; so he fell upon 
 them about the fourth watch 'of the night 
 and some of them he slew while they weir 
 
608 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XVIU. 
 
 asleep, and others he put to flight, and toolc 
 Mithridiites 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 ho- 
 noured with matching into the royal family ; 
 that so far as they had hither,to gone was 
 tolerable ; for although they had injured Mi- 
 thridates, 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 he were once put to death, the king would 
 not be at rest till he had made a great slaugh- 
 ter 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 be- 
 cause, if any misfortune befal 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 according- 
 ly ; 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 Jiave escaped 
 them ; and she bade 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 whieh, partly because he could not 
 bear the daily trouble of her taunts, and part- 
 ly 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 him- 
 self 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 be.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 plun- 
 der the people, and in order to terrify the 
 
 • Thi» custom in 8>ria and Menopotamia, of »ettinR 
 mpn upon an ass, by way of disgrace, U still kept up at 
 Damascus in Syria; wliere, in order to show tiieir de- 
 ■pile a«cainst the Christians, the Turks will not suffer 
 tiiem to hire horses, but asses only, when tliey go abrohd 
 to Me the ••untrv. as Mr. MavDdrel assures us, p. 1:28. 
 
 enemy again by their numbers. But wher» 
 they had marched ninety furlongs, while the 
 road had been through dry [and saudy] places, 
 and about the midst of the day, they were be- 
 come very thirsty: and Mithridates appeared, 
 and fell upon them, as they were in distress 
 for want of water, on which account, and oi> 
 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 stoo(i 
 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 oame in to Ani- 
 leus a conflux of bad men, who regarded their 
 own lives very little, if they might but gaiu 
 some present ease, insomuch that they, by 
 thus coming to him, compensated the multi- 
 tude of those that perished in the fight. Yet 
 were not these men like to those that fell, 
 because they were rash, arfd unexercised in 
 war: however, with these he came upon the 
 vill^es of the Babylonians, and a mighty de- 
 vastation of all things was made there by the 
 injimes that Anileus did them. So the Ba- 
 bylonians, 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 de- 
 sire to make peace with them. To which the 
 other replied, that they also wanted to settle 
 conditions of peace with them, arid sent men 
 together with the Babylonians, who discoursed 
 with Anileus about them. But the Babylo- 
 nians, upon taking a view of his situation, and 
 having learned where Anileus and his men 
 lay, fell secretly upon tbem 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 contra- 
 riety 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 inju- 
 ries they received from the Babylonians, that, 
 being neither able to fight tnem, nor bearing 
 to live with them, they went to Seleucia. the 
 principal city of those parts, which was built 
 by Seleucus Nicator. It was inhabitetl by 
 many of the Macedonians, but by more of the 
 Grecians; not a few (»f the Syrians also dwelt 
 there ; and thither did the Jews Ay. an^ 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 509 
 
 lived there five years without any misfortunes. 
 But, on the sixth year, a pestilence came upon 
 these at Babylon which occasioned new re- 
 movals of men's habitations out of that city; 
 and because they came to Seleucia, it hap- 
 pened 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, who were Greeks and Syrians, was 
 commonly quarrelsome, and full of discords, 
 though the Greeks were too hard for the Sy- 
 rians. 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 despised 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 discours- 
 ed with such of the Syrians as were formerly 
 their acquaintance, and promised they would be 
 at peace and friendship with them. Accord- 
 ingly* 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 bot/j 
 knew that the great design of such theik* 
 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 neighbours afforded them in order 
 to let them fly away. These retired to Cte- 
 siphon, a Grecian city, and situated near to 
 Seleucia, where the king [of Parthia] lives 
 in winter every year, and where the greatest 
 part of his riches are deposited; but the Jews 
 had here no certain settlement, those of Se- 
 leucia having little concern for the king's ho- 
 nour. 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 Baby- 
 lonia. 
 
 BOOK XIX. 
 
 CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF THREk TEARS AND A HALF. 
 
 FROM THE JEWS' DEPARTURE OUT OF BABYLON TO FADUS THE 
 ROMAN PROCURATOR. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW CAIUS WAS SLAIN BY CHEREA* 
 
 § 1. Now this Caiusf did not demonstrate 
 his mfadness in offering injuries only to the 
 Jews at Jerusalem, or to those that dwelt in 
 the neighbourhood, but suffered it to extend 
 
 • In this and the next three chapters we have. I think. ' 
 a lareer and more distinct accoiint of the slaughter of i 
 Caius, and the succession of Claudius, than we have of I 
 any such ancient facts whatsoever elsewhere. Some of ! 
 the occasions of which probably were, Josephus's bitter 
 hatred against tyranny; and the pleasure he took in \ 
 giving the history of the slaughter of such a barbarous 
 tyrant as was this Caius Caligula, as also the deliverance 
 his own nation had by that slaughter, of which he speaks, 
 sect. 2. together with the great intimacy he had with 
 Agrippa. Junior, whose father was deeply concerned in 
 the advancement of Claudius, upon the dea'h of Caiusj ' 
 from which Agrippa. junior, Josephus might be fully | 
 infonned of this hjstory. ■ 
 
 f Called Caliaula by the Romans. 1 
 
 itself through all the earth and sea, so tar as 
 was in subjection to the Romans, and filled it 
 with ten thousand mischiefs; so many indeed 
 in number as no former history relates. But 
 Rome itself felt the most dismal effects ot 
 what he did, while he deemed that not to be 
 any way more honourable than the rest of the 
 cities ; but he pulled and hauled its other 
 citizens, but especially the senate, and parti- 
 cularly the nobility, and such as had been dig- 
 nified by illustrious ancestors; he also had 
 ten thousand devices against such of the 
 equestrian order, as it was styled, who were 
 esteemed by the citizens equal in dignity and 
 wealth with the senators, because out of 
 them the senators were themselves chosen; 
 these he treated after an ignominious man- 
 ner, and removed them out of his way while 
 they were at once slain, and their wealth 
 
610 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIX. 
 
 plundered; because he slew men generally, 
 in order to seize on their riches. He also 
 asserted his own divinity, and insisted on 
 greater honours to be paid him by bis sub- 
 jects than are due to mankind. He also fre- 
 quented that temple of Jupiter which they 
 style the Capitol, which is with them the most 
 holy of all temples, and had boldness enough 
 to call himself the brother of Jupiter. And 
 other pranks he did like a madman ; as when 
 he laid a bridge from the city Dicearchia. 
 which belongs to Campania, to Misenum, 
 another city upon the sea-side, from one pro- 
 montory to another, of the length of thirty 
 furlongs as measured over the sea. And 
 this was done because he esteemed it to be a 
 most tedious thing to row over in a small 
 ship, and thought withal that it became him 
 to make that bridge, as he was lord of the 
 sea, and might oblige it to give marks of obe- 
 dience as well as the earth ; so he enclosed 
 the whole bay within his bridge, and drove 
 his chariot over it; and thought that as he vvas 
 a god, it was fit for him to travel over such 
 roads as this was. . Nor did he abstain from 
 the plunder of any of the Grecian temples, 
 and gave order that all the engravings and 
 sculptures, and the rest of the ornaments of 
 the statues and donations therein dedicated, 
 should be brought to him, saying, that the 
 best things ought to be set nowhere but in 
 the best place, and that the city of Rome was 
 that best place. He also adorned his own 
 house and his gardens with the curiosities 
 brought from those temples, together with the 
 houses he lay at when he travelled all over Italy : 
 whence he did not scruple to give a command 
 that the statue of Jupiter Olympius, so called 
 because he was honoured at the Olympian 
 games by the Greeks, which was the work of 
 Phidias the Athenian, should be brought to 
 Rome. Yet did not he compass his end, be- 
 cause the architects told Memmius Regulus, 
 who was commanded to remove that statue of 
 Jupiter, that the workmanship was such as 
 would be spoiled and would not bear the re- 
 moval. It was also reported that Memmius, 
 both on that account, and on account of some 
 such mighty prodigies as-are of an incredible 
 nature, put off the taking it down, and wrote 
 to Cains those accounts, as his apology for 
 not having done what his epistle required of 
 him; and that when he was thence in danger 
 of perishing, he was saved by Cains being dead 
 himself, before he had put him to death. 
 
 2. Nay, Caius's madness came to this height, 
 that when he had a daughter born, he carried 
 her into the capitol, and put her upon the 
 knees of the statue, and said that the child 
 was common to him and to Jupiter, and de- 
 termined that she had two fathers, — but which 
 of these fathers were the greatest, he left 
 undetermined ; and yet mankind bore him in 
 •ucb his pranks. He also ga\ e leave to slaves 
 to accuse tho'ir masters of any crimes whatso- 
 
 ever they pleased; for all such accusations 
 were terrible, because they were in great part 
 made to please him, and at his suggestion, 
 insomuch that Pollux, Claudius's slave, had 
 the boldness to lay an accusation against 
 Claudius himself; and Caius was not ashamed 
 to be present at his trial of life and death, to 
 hear that trial of his own uncle, in hopes of 
 being able to take him off, although be did 
 not succeed to his mind : but when he had 
 filled the whole habitable world which he 
 governed, with false accusations and miseries, 
 and had occasioned the greatest insults of 
 slaves against their masters, who indeed, in a 
 great measure ruled them, there were many 
 secret plots now laid against him ; some in 
 anger, and in order for men to revenge them- 
 selves, on account of the miseries they had 
 already undergone from him ; and others made 
 attempts upon him, in order to take him off 
 before they should fall into such great miseries, 
 while his death came very fortunately for the 
 preservation of the laws of all men, and had 
 a great influence upon the public welfare : 
 •and this happened most happily for our nation 
 in particular, which had almost utterly perish- 
 ed if he had not been suddenly slain ; and I 
 confess I have a mind to give a full account 
 of this matter particularly, because it will af- 
 ford great assurance of the power of God, and 
 great comfort to those that are under aflflic- 
 tions, and wise caution to those who think 
 their happiness will never end, nor bring them 
 at length to the most lasting miseries, if they 
 do not conduct their lives by the principles of 
 virtue. 
 
 3. Now there were three several conspiracif • 
 made, in order to take off Caius, and each « 
 these three were conducted by excellent per 
 sons. Emilius Regulus, born at Corduba ii 
 Spain, got some men together, and was de- 
 sirous to take Caius off, either by them or by 
 himself. Another conspiracy there was laid 
 by them, under the conduct of Cherea Cassius, 
 the tribune [of the pretorian band] ; Minuci- 
 anus Annius was also one of great conse- 
 quence among those that were prepared to 
 oppose his tyranny. Now the several occasions 
 of these men's several hatred and conspiracy 
 against Caius were these : — Regulus had in- 
 dignation and hatred against all injustice, for 
 he had a mind naturally angry, and bold, 
 and free, which made him not conceal his 
 counsels; so he communicated them to many 
 of his friends, and to others who seemed to 
 him persons of activity and vigour: Minuci- 
 anus entered into this conspiracy, because of 
 the injustice done to Lepidus his particular 
 friend, and one of the best character of all the 
 citizens, whom Caius had slain, as also be. 
 cause he was afraid of himself, since Caius's 
 wrath tended to the slaughter of all alike : 
 and for Cherea, he came in, because he 
 thought it a (feed worthy of a free ingenuous 
 man to kill Caius. and was ashamed of th« 
 
CHAP. I, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 511 
 
 reproaches he lay under from Caius, as though 
 he were a coward; as also because he was 
 himself in danger every day from his friend- 
 ship with him, and the observance he paid 
 him. These men proposed this attempt to all 
 the rest that were concerned, who saw the 
 injuries that were offered them, and were 
 desirous that Caius's slaughter might succeed 
 by their mutual assistance of one another, 
 that they might themselves escape being killed 
 by the taking off Caius; that perhaps they 
 should gain their point, and that it would be 
 a happy thing if they should gain it, to ap- 
 prove themselves to so many excellent per- 
 sons as earnestly wished to be partakers with 
 them in their design, for the delivery of the 
 city and of the government, even at the ha- 
 isard of their own lives; but still Cherea was 
 the most zealous of them all, both out of a 
 desire of getting himself the greatest name, 
 and also by reason of his access to Caius's 
 presence with less danger, because he was 
 tribune, and could therefore the more easily 
 kill him. 
 
 4. Now, at this time came on the horse- 
 races [Circensian games]; the view of which 
 games was eagerly desired by the people of 
 Rome, for they come with great alacrity into 
 the hippodrome £circus] at such times, and 
 petition their emperors, in great multitudes, 
 for what they stand in need of; who usually 
 did not think fit to deny them thek requests, 
 but readily and gratefully granted them. Ac- 
 cordingly, they most importunately desired 
 that Caius would now ease them in their tri- 
 butes, and abate somewhat of the rigour of 
 the taxes imposed upon them; but he would 
 not hear their petition; and, when their cla- 
 mours increased, he sent soldiers, some one 
 way and some another, and gave order that 
 they should lay hold on those that made the 
 clamours, and, without any more ado, bring 
 them out and put them to death. These were 
 Caius's commands, and those who were com- 
 manded executed the same; and the number 
 of those who were slain on this occasion was 
 very great. Now the people saw this, and 
 bore it so far, that they left off clamouring, 
 because they saw with their own eyes, that 
 <his petition to be relieved, as to the payment 
 >f their nwney, brought immediate death 
 ipon them. These tiings made Cherea more 
 ♦esolute to go on with his plot, in order to 
 lut an end to this barbarity of Caius against 
 «en. He then, at several times, thought to 
 fall upon Caius as he was feasting, yet did 
 he restrain himself by some considerations; 
 "ot that he had any doubt on him about kill- 
 ing him, but as watching for a proper season, 
 that the attempt might not be frustrated, but 
 that he might give the blow so as might cer- 
 tainly gain his purpose, 
 
 5. Cherea bad been in the army a long 
 t^me, yet was he not pleased with conversing 
 •o much with Caius: but Caius had set him 
 
 to require the tributes, and other dues, which, 
 when not paid in due time, were forfeited to 
 Caesar's treasury; and he had made some de- 
 lays in requiring them, because those burdens 
 had been doubled; and had rather indulged his 
 own mild disposition than performed Caius's 
 command; nay, indeed, he provoked Caius 
 to anger by his sparing men, and pitying the 
 hard fortunes of those from whom he de- 
 manded the taxes; and Caius upbraided him 
 with his sloth and effeminacy in being so loni: 
 about collecting the taxes ; and indeed he di<i 
 not only affront him in other respects, but 
 when he gave him the watch-word of the das . 
 to whom it was to be given by his place, be 
 gave him feminine words, and those of a na- 
 ture very reproachful; and these watch-word.- 
 he gave out, as having been initiated in tht- 
 secrets of certain mysteries, which he had 
 been himself the author of. Now, although 
 he had sometimes put on women's clothes, 
 and had been wrapt in some embroidered 
 garments to them belonging, and done a great 
 many other things in order to make the cou)- 
 pany mistake him for a woman; yet did he. 
 by way of reproach, object the like womanish 
 behaviour to Cherea. But wben Cherea 
 received the watch-w^ord from him, he had 
 indignation at it, but had greater indigna- 
 tion at the delivery of it to others, as being 
 laughed at by those that received it; insomuch 
 that his fellow-tribunes made him the subject 
 of their drollery; for they would foretel that 
 he would bring them some of his usual watch- 
 words when he was about to take the watch- 
 word from Caesar, and would thereby make 
 him ridiculous; on which account he took 
 the courage of assuming certain partners to 
 him, as having just reasons for his indigna- 
 tion against Caius. Now there was one Pom- 
 pedius, a senator, and one who had gone 
 through almost all posts in the government, 
 but otherwise an Epicurean, and for that 
 reason loved to lead an inactive life. Now 
 Timidius, an enemy of his, had informed Caius 
 that he had used indecent reproaches against 
 him, and he made use of Quintilia for a 
 witness to them: a woman she was much 
 beloved by many that frequented the theatre, 
 and particularly by Pompedius, on account 
 of her great beauty. Now this woman 
 thought it a horrible thing to attest to an 
 accusation that touched the life of her lover, 
 which was also a lie. Timidius, however, 
 wanted to have her brought to the torture. 
 Caius was irritated at this reproach upon 
 him, and commanded Cherea, without any 
 delay, to torture Quintilia, as he used to em- 
 ploy Cherea in such bloody matters, and those 
 that required the torture, because he thought 
 he would do it the more barbarously, in order 
 to avoid that imputation of effeminacy which 
 he had laid upon him. But Quintilia, wher 
 she was brought to the rack, trod upon th« 
 foot of one of her associates, and let hiu* 
 
512 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XIX. 
 
 know that he might be of good courage, and 
 not be afraid of the consequence of her tor- 
 tures, for that she would bear them with 
 magnanimity. Cherea tortured this woman 
 after a cruel manner; unwillingly indeed, 
 but because he could not help it. He then 
 brought her, without being in the least moved 
 at what she had suflFered, into the presence of 
 Caius, and that in such a state as was sad to 
 behold; and Caius, being somewhat affected 
 with the sight of Quintilia, who had her body 
 miserably disordered by the pains she had 
 undergone, freed both her and Pompedius of 
 the crime laid to their charge. He also gave 
 her money to make her an honourable amends, 
 and comfort her for that mwming of her body, 
 which she had suffered, and for her glorious 
 patience under such unsufferable torments, 
 
 6. This matter sorely grieved Cherea, as 
 having been the cause, as far as he could, or 
 the instrument of those miseries to men, 
 which seemed worthy of consolation to Caius 
 himself; on which account he said to Clement 
 and to Papinius (of whom Clement was gene- 
 ral of the army, and Papinius was a tribune): 
 •* To be sure, O Clement, we have no way failed 
 in our guarding the emperor; for as to those 
 that have made conspiracies against his go- 
 vernment, some have been slain by our care 
 and pains, and some have been by us tortured, 
 and this to such a degree, that he hath him- 
 self pitied them. How great then is onr 
 virtue in submitting to conduct his armies!" 
 Clement held bis peace, but showed the shame 
 be was under in obeying Caius's orders, both 
 by his eyes and his blushing countenance, while 
 he thought it by no means right to accuse the 
 emperor in express words, lest their own 
 safety should be endangered thereby. Upon 
 which Cherea took courage, and spake to him 
 without fear of the dangers that were before 
 bim, and discoursed largely of the sore ca- 
 lamities under which the city and the govern- 
 ment then laboured, and said, " We may 
 indeed pretend in words, that Caius is the 
 person unto whom the cause of such miseries 
 ought to be imputed; but, in the opinion of 
 such as are able to judge uprightly, it is I, O 
 Clement 1 and this Papinius, and before us 
 thou thyself, who bring these tortures upon 
 the Romans, and upon all mankind. It is 
 not done by our being subservient to the 
 commands of Caius, but it is done by our 
 own consent ; for whereas it is in our power 
 to put an end to the life of this man, who 
 bath 80 terribly injured the citizens and his 
 subjects, we are his guard in mischief and his 
 executioners, instead of his soldiers, and are 
 the instruments of his cruelty. We bear 
 these weapons, not for our liberty, not for the 
 Roman government, but only for his preser- 
 Tation, who hath enslaved both their bodies 
 and their minds; and we are every day pol- 
 luted with the blood that we shed, and the 
 torments we inflict upon others; and this we 
 
 do, till somebody becomes Caius's instrument 
 in bringing the like miseries upon ourselves. 
 Nor does he thus employ us, because he hath 
 a kindness for us, but rather because he hath 
 a suspicion of us, as also because, when abun- 
 dance more have been killed (for Caius will 
 set no bounds to his wrath, since he aims to 
 do all, not out of regard to justice, but to his 
 own pleasure), we shall also ourselves be 
 exposed to his cruelty; whereas we ought to 
 be the means of confirming the security and 
 liberty of all, and at the same time to resolve 
 to free ourselves from dangers." 
 
 7. Hereupon Clement openly commended 
 Cherea's intentions, but bade him hold his 
 tongue ; for in that case his words should get 
 out among many, and such things should be 
 spread abroad as were fit to be concealed, the 
 plot would come to be discovered before it was 
 executed, and they should be brought to 
 punishment; but that they should leave all to 
 futurity, and the hope which thence arose, that 
 some fortunate event would come to their 
 assistance: that, as for himself, his age would 
 not permit him to make any attempt in that 
 case. "However, although perhaps I could 
 suggest what may be safer than what then, 
 Cherea, hast contrived and said, yet how is it 
 possible for any one to suggest what is more 
 for thy reputation?" So Clement M'ent his 
 way home, with deep reflections on what he 
 had heard, and what he had himself said. 
 Cherea also was under a concern, and went 
 quickly to Cornelius Sabinus, who was him- 
 self one of the tribunes, and whom he other- 
 wise knew to be a worthy man, and a lover of 
 liberty, and on that account very uneasy at 
 the present management of public affairs, he 
 being desirous to come immediately to the 
 execution of what bad been determined, and 
 thinking it right for him to propose it to the 
 other, and afraid lest Clement should discovei 
 them, and besides looking upon delays and 
 puttings-off to be the next to desisting from 
 the enterprize. 
 
 8. But as all was agreeable to Sabinus, 
 who had himself, equally with Cherea, thfl 
 same design, but had been silent for want ol 
 a person to whom he could safely communi- 
 cate that design ; so having now met with one, 
 who not only promised to conceal what bo 
 heard, but who had already opened his mind 
 to him, he was much more encouraged, and 
 desired of Cherea that no delay might be niacie 
 therein. Accordingly they went to Minuci- 
 anus, who was as virtuous a man, and as zeal- 
 ous to do glorious actions as themselves, and 
 suspected by Caiii8,>on occasion of the slaijgh- 
 ter of Lepidus; for Minucianiis and Lepidus 
 were intimate friends, and both in fear of the 
 dangers that tl.oy were under; fur Caius was 
 terrible to all the great men, as appearing 
 ready to act a mad part towards each of them 
 in particuliir, and towards all of them in 
 general; and these mcu.wcre afraid of on« 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THf. JEWS, 
 
 513 
 
 another, while they were yet uneasy at the 
 posture of affairs, but avoided to declare their 
 mind and their hatred against Caius to one 
 another, out of fear of the dangers they might j 
 be in thereby, although theyperceived by other | 
 means their mutual hatred against Caius, and j 
 on that account were not averse to a mutual | 
 kindness one towards another. j 
 
 9. When Minucianus and Cherea had met 
 together, and saluted one another (as theyj 
 had been used in former conversations to give i 
 the upper hand to Mnucianus, both on ac- j 
 count of his eminent dignity, for he was the 
 noblest of all the citizens, and highly com- 
 mended by all men, especially when he made 
 speeches to them), Minucianus began first, | 
 and asked Cherea, What was the watch-word ' 
 he had received that day from Caius? for the j 
 affront which was offered Cherea in giving 
 the watch- words, was famous over the city, j 
 But Cherea made no delay so long as to reply 
 to that question, out of the joy he had that 
 Minucianus would have such confidence in 
 him as to discourse with him. " But do 
 thou," said he, *'give me the watch- word of 
 liberty. And I return thee my thanks, that 
 thou hast so greatly encouraged me to exert 
 tnyself after an extraordinary manner ; nor 
 do 1 stand in need of many words to encou- 
 rage me, since both thou and I are of the 
 same mind, and partakers of the same resolu- 
 tions, and this before we have conferred to- 
 gether. I have indeed but one sword girt on, 
 but this one will serve us both. Come on, 
 therefore, let us set about the work. Do thou 
 go first, if thou hast a mind, and bid me fol- 
 low thee ; or else I will go first, and thou 
 shalt assist me, and we will assist one ano- 
 ther, and trust one another. Nor is there a 
 necessity for even one sword to such as have 
 a mind disposed to such works, by which 
 mind the sv/ord uses to be successful. I am 
 zealous about this action, nor am I solicitous 
 what I may myself undergo ; for I am not 
 a* leisure to consider the danger that may 
 come upon myself, so deeply am I troubled 
 at the slavery our once free country is now 
 under, and at the contempt cast upon our 
 excellent laws, and at the destruction which 
 hangs over all men by the means of Caius. 
 I wish that I may be judged by thee, and that 
 thou mayest esteem me worthy of credit in 
 these matters, seeing we are both of the same 
 opinion, and there is herein no difference 
 between us." 
 
 10. When Minucianus saw the vehemency 
 with which Cherea delivered himself, he glad- 
 ly embraced him, and encoi^ged him in bis 
 bold attempt, commending him, and en^ra- 
 cing him ; so he let him go with his good 
 wishes; and some affirm, that he thereby con- 
 firmed Minucianus in the prosecution of what 
 had been agreed among them ; for, as Cherea 
 entered into the court, the report runs, that 
 a voice came from among the iuultitude to 
 
 encourage him, which bade hira finish what 
 he was about, and take the opportunity that 
 Providence offered ; and that Cherea at first 
 suspected that some one of the conspirators 
 had betrayed him, and he was caught; but at 
 length perceived that it was by way of exhor- 
 tation. Whether somebody* that was co^i- 
 scious of what he was about gave a signal 
 for his encouragement, or whether it was God 
 himself, who looks upon the actions of men, 
 that encouraged him to go on boldly in his 
 design, is uncertain. The plot was now com- 
 municated to a great many, and they were all 
 in their armour; some of the conspirators 
 being senators, and some of the equestrian 
 order, and as many of the soldiery as were made 
 acquainted with it ; for there was not one of 
 them who would not reckon it a part of his 
 happiness to kill Caius ; and on that account 
 they were all very zealous in the affair, by 
 what means soever any one could come at it, 
 that he might not be behindhand in these vir- 
 tuous designs, but might be ready with all hii 
 alacrity or power, both by words and actions, 
 to complete this slaughter of a tyrant. And 
 besides these, Callistus also, who was a freed- 
 man of Caius, and was the only man that had 
 arrived at the gheatest degree of power under 
 him, — such a power, indeed, as was in a mtin- 
 ner equal to the power of the tyrant himself 
 by the dread that all men had of him, and by 
 the great riches he had acquired ; for he took 
 bribes most plenteously, and committed inju- 
 ries without bounds; and was more extrava- 
 gant in the use of his power in unjust pro- 
 ceedings than any other. He also knew the 
 disposition of Caius to be implacable, and 
 never to be turned from what he had resolved 
 on. He had withal many other reasons why 
 he thought himself in danger, and the vast- 
 ness of bis wealth was not one of the least of 
 them: on which account he privately ingra- 
 tiated himself with Claudius, and transferred 
 his courtship to him, out of this hope, that in 
 case, upon the removal of Caius, the govern- 
 ment shojld come to him, his interest in such 
 changes should lay a foundation for his pre- 
 serving h-s dignity under him, since he laid 
 in beforehand a stock of merit, and did Clau- 
 dius good offices in his promotion. He also 
 had the boldness to pretend, that he had been 
 persuaded to make away with Claudius, by 
 poisoning him . but had still invented ten 
 thousand excuses for delaying to do it. But 
 it seems prot)ab e to me that Callistus only 
 counterfeited this, in order to ingratiate him- 
 self with Claudius; for if Caius had been in 
 earnest resolved to take off Claudius, he 
 would not have admitted of Callistus's ex- 
 cuses, nor would Callistus, if he bad been 
 enjoined to do such an act as was desired by 
 
 • Just such a Toice as this is related to be, came, and 
 from an unknown oriyinal also, to the famo'is Polycarp, 
 4s he was goini? to maitvrriom, bidding hi/".i "play the 
 man;" a!» the chi\rch ot Smyrna assures lu in their ac- 
 count of tliat his martyrdom, sect 9 
 2 H 
 
614 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIX. 
 
 Caius, have put it off, nor, if he had disobeyed 
 those injunctions of his master had he escaped 
 Inimediate punishment; while Claudius was 
 prescribed from the madness of Caius by a 
 certain divine providence, and Callistus pre- 
 tended to such a piece of merit as he no way 
 deserved. 
 
 11. However, the execution of Cberea's 
 designs was put off from day to day, by the 
 sloth of many therein concerned; for as to 
 Cherea himself, he would not willingly make 
 any delay in that execution, thinking every 
 time a fit time for it, for frequent opportuni- 
 ties offered themselves; as when Caius went 
 up to the capitol to sacrifice for his daughter, 
 or when he stood upon his royal palace, and 
 threw gold and silver pieces of money among 
 the people, he might be pushed down head- 
 long, because the top of the palace, that looks 
 tovvard the market-place, was very high; and 
 also when he celebrated the mysteries, which 
 he had appointed at that time; for he was 
 then no way secluded from the people, but 
 solicitous to do every thing carefully and 
 decently; and was free from all suspicion that 
 he should be then assaulted by any body; and 
 although the gods should afford him no divine 
 assistance to enable him to take away his 
 life, yet had he strength himself sufficient to 
 dispatch Caius, even without a sword. Thus 
 was Cherea angry at his fellow-conspirators, 
 for fear they should suffer a proper opportu- 
 nity to pass by; and they were themselves 
 sensible that he had just cause to be angry at 
 them, and that his eagerness was for their 
 advantage; yet did they desire he would have 
 a little longer patience, lest, upon any disap- 
 pointment they might meet with, they should 
 put the city into disorder, and an inquisition 
 should be made after the conspiracy, and 
 should render the courage of those that were 
 to attack Caius without success, while he 
 would then secure himself more carefully 
 than ever against them; that it would there- 
 fore be the best to set about the work when 
 the shows were exhibited in the palace. These 
 shows were acted in honour of that Caesar* 
 who first of all changed the popular govern- 
 ment, and transferred it to himself; galleries 
 being fixed before the palace, where the Ro- 
 mans that were patricians became spectators, 
 together with their children and their wives, 
 and Cjesar himself was to be also a spectator; 
 and they reckoned among those many ten thou- 
 sands who would there be crowded into a 
 narrow compass, they should have a favourable 
 opportunity to make their attempt upon him 
 as he came in ; because his guards that should 
 protect him, if any one of them should have a 
 mind to do it, would not here be able to give 
 him any assistance. 
 
 • Here Josephui supposes that It was Aiiffustus, and 
 not Julius CiEsar. who first cAmngeA the Roman com- 
 monwealth into a monarchy; for these shows w«Te in 
 honour of Augustus, as we ihail leurn in the next section 
 bat CO*. 
 
 12. Cherea consented to this delay; and 
 when the shows were exhibited it was resolved 
 to do the work the first day. But fortune, 
 which allowed a farther delay to his slaugh- 
 ter, was too hard for their foregoing resolution: 
 and, as three days of the regular time for 
 these shows were now over, they had much 
 ado to get the business done on the last day. 
 Then Cherea called the conspirators together, 
 and spake thus to them: — "So much time 
 passed away without effect is a reproach to 
 us, as delaying to go through such a virtuous 
 design as we are engaged in; but more fatal 
 will this delay prove if we be discovered, and 
 the design be frustrated; — for Caius will then 
 become more cruel in his unjust proceedings. 
 Do not we see how long we deprive all our 
 friends of their liberty, and give Caius leave 
 still to tyrannize over them? while we ought 
 to have procured them security for the future, 
 and, by laying a foundation for the happiness 
 of others, gain to ourselves great admira- 
 tion and honour for all time to come." — , 
 Now, while the conspirators had nothing 
 tolerable to say by way of contradiction, 
 and yet did not quite relish what they were 
 doing, but stood silent and astonished, he 
 said further, " O, my brave comrades I why 
 do we make such delays? Do not you see 
 that this is the last day of these shows, and 
 that Caius is about to go to sea ? for he is 
 preparing to sail to Alexandria, in order to 
 see Egypt. Is it therefore for your honour 
 to let a man go out of your hands who is a 
 reproach to mankind, and to permit him to 
 go after a pompous manner, triumphing both 
 at land and sea? shall not we be justly 
 ashamed of ourselves if we give leave to 
 some Egyptian or other, who shall think his 
 injuries insufferable to free-men to kill him? 
 As for myself, I will no longer bear your 
 slow proceedings, but will expose myself to 
 the dangers of the enterprise this very day, 
 and bear cheerfully whatsoever shall be thb 
 consequence of the attempt; nor, let thevt 
 be ever so great, will I put them off an^ 
 longer: for, to a wise and courageous man 
 what can be more miserable than that, while 
 I am alive, any one else should kill Caius, and 
 deprive me of the honour of so virtuous an 
 action ?" 
 
 13. When Cherea had spoken thus, he 
 zealously set about the work, and inspired 
 courage into the rest to go on wiih it ; and 
 they were all eager to fall to it without farther 
 delay. So he was at the palace in the morning, 
 with his equestrian sword girt on him ; for it 
 was the custom^hat the tribunes should ask 
 for the watch-word with their swords on, and 
 this was the day on which Cherea was by cus- 
 tom to receive the watch-word; and the mul- 
 titude were already come to the palace, to be 
 soiin enough for seeing the shows, and that in 
 great crowds, an<i one tuinultuously crushing 
 another, while Caius was delij^bted with this 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 615 
 
 eagerness of the multitude ; for which reason 
 there was no order observed in the seating men, 
 nor was any peculiar place appointed for the 
 senators, or for the equestrian order; but they 
 sat at random, men and women together, and 
 freemen were mixed with the sla\es. So 
 Caius came out in a solemn manner, and 
 offered sacrifice to Augustus Caesar, in whose 
 honour indeed these shows were celebrated. 
 Now it happened, upon the fall of a certain 
 priest, that the garment of Asprenas, a sena- 
 tor. Nvas filled with blood, which made Caius 
 laugh, although this w;is an evident omen to 
 Asprenas, for he was slain at the same time 
 with Caius. It is also related, that Caius was 
 that day, contrary to his usual custom, so very 
 alf.ihle and good-natured in his conversation, 
 that every one of those that vere [)resent were 
 astonirhed at it. After the sacrifice was 
 over, Caius betook himself to see the shows, 
 and sat down for that purpose, as did also the 
 principal of his friends sit near him. Now 
 the parts of the theatre were so fastened 
 together, as it used to be every year, in the 
 manner following: — It had two doors; the 
 one door led to the open air, the other was 
 for going into, or going out of, the cloisters, 
 that those within the theatre might not be 
 thereby disturbed ; but out of one gallery 
 there went an inward passage, parted into 
 partitions also, which led into another gallery, 
 to give room to the combatants, and to the 
 musicians, to go out as occasion served. 
 When the multitude were set down, and 
 Cherea, with the other tribunes were set down 
 also, and the right corner of the theatre 
 was allotted to Caesar, one Vatinius, a sena- 
 tor, commander of the Pretorian band, asked 
 of Cluvius, one that sat by him, and was of 
 consular dignity also, — Whether he had heard 
 any thing of the news or not? — but took 
 care that nobody should hear what he said; 
 and when Cluvius replied, that he had heard 
 no news, — '* Know then (said Vatinius) that 
 the game of the slaughter of tyrants is to be 
 played this day." But Cluvius replied, " O 
 brave comrade! hold thy peace, lest some 
 other of the Achaians hear thy tale." And 
 as there was abundance of autumnal fruit 
 thrown among the spectators, and a great 
 number of birds, that were of great value 
 to such as possessed them, on account of their 
 rareness, Caius was pleased with the birds 
 fighting for the fruits, and with the violence 
 wherewith the spectators seized upon thenv^ 
 and here he perceived two prodigies that hap- 
 pened there; for an actor was introductid, by 
 whom a leader of robbers was crucified, and 
 the pantomime brought in a play called Ciny- 
 ras, wherein he himself was to be slain, as well 
 as his daughter Myrrha, and wherein a great 
 deal of fictitious blood was shed, both about 
 him that was crucified, and also about Ciny- 
 ras. It is aUo confessed, that this was the 
 «arae day wherein Pausanias, a friend of 
 
 Philip, the son of AmyntaS, who was king of 
 Macedonia, slew him as he was entering into 
 the theatre. And now Caius was in doubt 
 whether he should tarry to the end of the 
 shows, because it was the last day, or whether 
 he should not go first to the bath, and to din- 
 ner, and then return and sit down as before. 
 Hereupon Minucianus, who sat over Caius, 
 and was afraid that the opportunity should 
 fail them, got up, because he saw Cherea was 
 already gone out, and made haste out, to 
 confirm him in his resolution ; but Caius 
 took hold of his garment in an obliging way, 
 and said to him, — "() brave man? whither 
 art thou going?" Whereupon, out of reve- 
 rence to C*sar, as it seemed, he sat down 
 again; but his fear prevailed over him, and in 
 a little time he got up again, and then Caius 
 did no way oppose his going out, as thinking 
 that he went out to perform some necessities 
 of nature. And Asprenas, who was one of 
 the confederates, persuaded Caius to go out 
 to the bath, and to dinner, and then to conie 
 in again ; as desirous that what had been re- 
 solved on might be brought to a conclusion 
 immediately. 
 
 14. So Cherea's associates placed them- 
 selves in order, as the time would permit 
 them, and they were obliged to labour hard, 
 that the place which was appointed them 
 should not be left by them ; but they had an 
 indignation at the tediousness of the delays, 
 and that what they were about should be put 
 off any longer, for it was already about the 
 ninth* hour of the day; and Cherea, upon 
 Caius's tarrying so long, had a great mind to 
 go in, and fall upon him in his seat, although 
 he foresaw that this could not be done v\'ith. 
 out much bloodshed, both of the senators and 
 of those of. the equestrian order that were 
 present; and although he knew this must 
 happen, yet had he a great mind to do so, as 
 thinking it a right thing to procure security 
 and freedom to all, at the expense of such as 
 might perish at the same time. And as they 
 were just going back into the entrance tc 
 the theatre, word was brought them that 
 Caius was arisen, whereby a tumult was 
 made; hereupon the conspirators thrust away 
 the crowd, under pretence as if Caius wa* 
 angry at them, but in reality as desirous to 
 have a quiet place, that should have none in 
 it to defend him, while they set about Caius's 
 slaughter. Now Claudius, his uncle, was 
 gone out before, and Marcus Vinicius, his 
 sister's husband, as also Valerius of Asia; 
 whom, though they had had such a mind to put 
 out of their places, the reverence to their dig- 
 nity hindered them so to do; then followed 
 Caius, with Paulus Arruntius: and because 
 Caius was now gotten within the palace, he 
 left the direct road, along which those his 
 
 • Suetonius says Cains was slain about the seTe'nth 
 hour of the Hay. Josephus about the ninth. The series 
 of the narration favours Josephus. 
 
516 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIX. 
 
 servants stood that were in waiting, and by 
 whicb road Claudius had gone out before, 
 Caius turned aside into a private narrow pas- 
 sage, in order to go to the place for bathing, 
 as also in order to take a view of the boys that 
 came out of Asia, who were sent thence partly 
 to sing hymns in these mysteries which were 
 now celebrated, and partly to dance in the 
 Pyrrhic way of dancing upon the theatres. 
 So Cherea met him, and asked him for the 
 watch- word ; upon Caius's giving him one of hi« 
 ridiculous words, he immediately reproached 
 him, and drew his sword and gave him a 
 terrible stroke with it, yet was not this stroke 
 mortal. And although there be those that say 
 it was so contrived on purpose by Cherea that 
 Caius should not be killed at one blow, but 
 should be punished more severely by a mul- 
 titude of wounds, yet does this story appear 
 to be incredible; because the fear men are 
 under in such actions does not allow them to 
 use their reason. And if Cherea was of that 
 mind, I esteem him the greatest of all fools, 
 in pleasing himself in his spite against Caius, 
 rather than immediately procuring safety to 
 himself and to his confederates from the dan- 
 gers they were in; because there might many 
 things still happen for helping Caius's escape, 
 if he had not already given up the ghost; for 
 certainly Cherea would have regard, not so 
 much to the punishment of Caius, as to the 
 affliction himself and his friends were in, 
 while it was in bis power, after such success, to 
 keep silent, and to escape the wrath of Caius's 
 defenders, and not leave it to uncertainty 
 whether he should gain the end he aimed 
 at or not; and after an unreasonable manner 
 to act as if he had a mind to ruin himself, 
 and lose the opportunity that lay before him. 
 But every body may guess as he pleases about 
 this matter. However, Caius was staggered 
 with the pain that the blow gave him; for the 
 stroke of the sword falling in the middle, 
 between the shoulder and the neck, was hin- 
 dered by the first bone of the breast from 
 proceeding any farther. Nor did he either cry 
 fut (in such astonishment was he), nor did he 
 call out for any of his friends; whether it 
 were that he had no confidence in them, or 
 that his mind was otherwise disordered, but 
 he groaned under the pain he endured, and 
 presently went forward and fled, — when Cor- 
 nelius Sabinus, who was already prepared in 
 mind so to do, thrust him down upon bis 
 knee, where many of them stood round about 
 him, and struck him with their swords, and 
 they cried out, and encouraged one another 
 all at once to strike him again ; but all agree 
 that Aquila gave him the finishing stroke, 
 which directly killed him. But one may 
 justly ascribe this act to Cherea; for although 
 many concurred in the act itself, yet was he 
 the first contriver of it, and began long be- 
 fore all the rest to prepare for it ; and whs the 
 first man that boldly spake of it to the rest; 
 
 and upon their admission of what he said 
 about it, he got the dispersed conspirators 
 together; he prepared every thing after a pru- 
 dent manner, and by suggestiiig good advice, 
 showed himself far superior to the rest, and 
 made obliging speeches to them, insomuch 
 that he even compelled them all to go on, who 
 otherwise had not courage enough for that 
 purpose; and when opportunity served to use 
 his sword in hand, he appeared first of all 
 ready so to do, and gave the first blow in this 
 virtuous slaughter; he also brought Caius 
 easily into the power of the rest, and almost 
 killed him himself, insomuch that it is but 
 just to ascribe all that the rest did to the 
 advice, and bravery, and labours of the hands 
 of Cherea. 
 
 15. Thus did Caius come to his end, and 
 lay dead, by the many wounds which had 
 been given him. Now Cherea and his asso- 
 ciates, upon Caius's slaughter, saw that it was 
 impossible for them to save themselves, if they 
 should all go the same way, partly on account 
 of the astonishment they were under; for it 
 was no small danger they bad incurred by 
 killing an emperor, who was honoured and 
 loved by the madness of the people, especially 
 when the soldiers were likely to make a 
 bloody inquiry after his murderers. The 
 passages also were narrow wherein the work 
 was done, which were also crowded with a 
 great multitude of Caius's attendants, and of 
 such of the soldiers as were of the emperor's 
 guard that day; whence it was that they went 
 by other ways, and came to the house of 
 Germanicus, the father of Caius, whom they 
 had now killed (which house adjoined to the 
 palace; for while the edifice was one, it was 
 built in its several parts by those particular 
 persons who had been emperors, and those 
 I parts bear the names of those that built them, 
 I or the name of him who had begun to build 
 rany of its parts). So they got away from the 
 insults of the multitude, and then were for 
 ! the present out of danger, that is, so long as 
 the misfortune which had overtaken the 
 emperor was not known. The Germans were 
 the first who perceived that Caius was slain. 
 I These Germans were Caius's guard, and 
 I carried the name of the country whence they 
 I were chosen, and composed the Celtic .egion. 
 j The men of that country are naturally pas- 
 I sionate, which is commonly the temper of 
 some other of the barbarous nations also, as 
 I being not used to consider much about what 
 1 they do; they are of robust bodies, and fall 
 upon their enemies as soon as ever they are 
 attacked by them; and which way soever 
 they go, they perform great exploits. When, 
 therefore, these cSerman guards understood 
 that Caius was slain, they were very sorry for 
 it, because they did not use their reason )n 
 judging about public affairs, but measured all 
 by the advantages themselves received, Cams 
 being beloved by them, because of the money 
 
// 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 ANTigiiiriKS OF rilK JEWS, 
 
 617 
 
 he gave them, by wJiich he had purchased 
 their kindness to him: so they drew their 
 swords, and Sabinus led them on. He was 
 one of the tribunes, not by the means of the 
 virtuous actions of his progenitors, for he had 
 been a gladiator, but he had obtained that 
 post in the army by his having a robust body. 
 So these Germans marched along the houses 
 in quest of Ciesar's murderers, and cut Asprenas 
 to pieces, because he was the tirst man they 
 fell upon, and whose garment it was that the 
 blood of the sacrifices stained, as I have 
 said already, and which foretold that this his 
 meeting the soldiers would not be for his 
 good. Then did Norbanus meet them, who 
 was one of the principal nobility of the city, 
 and could show many generals of armies 
 among his ancestors; but they paid no regard 
 to his dignity: yet was he of such great 
 strength, that he wrested the sword of the 
 first of those that assaulted him out of his 
 hands, and appeared plainly not to be willing 
 to die without a struggle for his life, until he 
 was surrounded by a great number of assail- 
 ants, and died by the multitude of the wounds 
 »vhich they gave him. The third man was 
 Anteius, a senator, and a few others with 
 him. He did not meet with these Germans 
 by chance, as the rest did before, but came to 
 show his hatred to Caius, and because he loved 
 to see Caius lie dead with his own eyes, and 
 took a pleasure in that sight; for Caius had 
 banished Anteius's father, who was of the 
 same name with himself, and, being not 
 satisfied with that, he sent out his soldiers, and 
 slew him; so he was come to rejoice at the 
 sight of him, now he was dead. But as the 
 house was now all in a tumult, when he was 
 aiming to hide himself, he could not escape 
 that accurate search which the Germans made, 
 while they barbarously slew those that were 
 guilty and those that were not guilty, and this 
 equally also. And thus were these [three] 
 persons slain. 
 
 16. But when the rumour that Caius was 
 slain reached the theatre, they were astonished 
 at it, and could not believe it: even some that 
 entertained his destruction with great plea- 
 sure, and were more desirous of its happening 
 than almost any other satisfaction that could 
 come to them, were under such a fear, that 
 they could not believe it. There were also 
 those who greatly distrusted it, because they 
 were unwilling that any such thing should 
 come to Caius, nor could believe it, though it 
 were ever so true, because they thought no 
 man could possibly have so much power as 
 to kill Caius. These were the women, and 
 the children, and the slaves, and some of the 
 soldiery. This last sort had taken his pay, 
 and in a manner tyrannized with him, and 
 had abused the best of the citizens, in being 
 subservient to his unjust commands, in order 
 to gain honours and advantages to themselves; 
 but for the women and the youth, they had 
 
 been inveigled with shows, and the fightings 
 of the gladiators, and certain distributions of 
 tiesh-meat an)ong them, which things in pre- 
 tence were designed for the pleasing of the 
 multitude, but in reality to satiate the barba- 
 rous cruelty and madness of Caius. The 
 slaves also were sorry, because they were by 
 Caius allowed to accuse and to despise their 
 masters, and they could have recourse to his 
 assistance when they had unjustly atfrojittd 
 them; for he was very easy in believing them 
 against their masters, even when they accused 
 them falsely; and, if they would discover what, 
 money their masters had, they might soon 
 obtain both riches and liberty, as the rewards of 
 their accusations, because the reward of these 
 informers was the eighth* part of the crimi- 
 nal's substance. As to the nobles, although 
 the report appeared credible to some of them, 
 either because they knew of the plot before- 
 hand, or because they wished it might be 
 true; however, they concealed not only the 
 joy they had at the relation of it, but that they 
 had heard any thing at all about it. These 
 last acted so, out of the fear they had that if 
 the report proved false, they should be pun- 
 ished, for having so soon let men know theii 
 minds. But those that knew Caius was dead, 
 because they were partners with the conspira- 
 tors, they concealed all still more cautiously, 
 as not knowing one another's minds; and 
 fearing lest they should speak of it to some of 
 those to whom the continuance of tyranny 
 was advantageous; and, if Caius should prove 
 to be alive, they might be informed against, 
 and punished. And another report went 
 about, that although Caius had been wounded 
 indeed, yet was not he dead, but alive still, 
 and under the physician's hands. Nor was 
 any one looked upon by another as faithful 
 enough to be trusted, and to whom any one 
 would open his mind; for he was either a 
 friend to Caius, and therefore suspected to 
 favour his tyranny, or he was one that hated 
 him, who therefore might be suspected to 
 deserve the less credit, because of his ill-will 
 to him. Nay, it was said by some (and this 
 indeed it was that deprived the nobility of their 
 hopes, and made them sad) that Caius was in 
 a condition to despise the dangers he had 
 been in, and took no care of healing his 
 wounds, but was gotten away into the market- 
 place, and, bloody as he was, was making an 
 harangue to the people. And these were the 
 conjectural reports of those that were so 
 unreasonable as to endeavour to raise tumults, 
 which they turned different ways, according 
 to the opinions of the hearers. Yet did they 
 not leave their seats, for fear of being 
 accused, if they should go out before the rest; 
 for they should not be sentenced according 
 
 * This reward proposed by the Roman laws to iu« 
 formers, was sometimes an ci^hth part of the criminals 
 goods, us hert^; and sometimbs a lourth p£rt,as Spaa« 
 beim assures us. from Suetoaius and TacUua. 
 
618 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIX. 
 
 to the real intention with which they went 
 out, but according to the supposals of the 
 accusers, and of i lie judges. 
 
 17. But now a multitude of Germans had 
 surrounded the theatre with their swords 
 drawn; all the spectators looked for nothing 
 but death ; and at every one's coming in, a 
 fear seized upon them, as if they were to be 
 cut in pieces innnediately; and in great dis- 
 tress they were, as neither having courai;;e 
 enough to go out of the theatre, nor believing 
 theujselves safe from dangers if they tarried 
 there. And when the Germans came upon 
 them, the cry was so great, that the theatre 
 rang again with the entreaties of the spectators 
 to the soldiers, pleadirig that they were entirely 
 ignorant of every thing that related to such 
 seditious contrivances, and if there were any 
 sedition raised, they knew nothing of it; they 
 therefore begged that they would spare them, 
 and not punish those that had not the least 
 hand in such bold crimes as belonged to other 
 persons, while they neglected to search after 
 such as had really done whatsoever it be that 
 hath been done. Thus did these people ap- 
 peal to God, and deplore their infeUcity with 
 shedding of tears and beating their faces, and 
 said every thing that the most imminent 
 danger, and the utmost concern for their lives, 
 could dictate to them. This brake the fury 
 of the soldiers, and made them repent of what 
 they minded to do to the spectators, which 
 would have been the greatest instance of 
 cruelty. And so it appeared to even these 
 savages, when they had once tixed the heads 
 of those that were slain with Asprenas upon 
 ilie altar; at which sight the spectators were 
 sorely afflicted, both upon the consideration 
 of the dignity of the persons, and out of a 
 commiseration of their sufferings; nay, indeed, 
 they were almost in as great disorder at the 
 prospect of the danger themselves were in, 
 seeing it was still uncertain whether they 
 should entirely escape the like calamity. 
 Whence it was, that such as thoroughly and 
 justly hated Caius, could yet no way enjoy 
 the pleasure of his death, because they were 
 themselves in jeopardy of perishing together 
 with him; nor had they hitherto any firm 
 assurance of surviving. 
 
 18. There was at this time, one Euaristus 
 Arruntius, a public crier in the market, and 
 therefore of a strong and audible voice, who 
 vied in wealth with the richest of the Romans, 
 ant^was able to do what he pleased in the 
 city, both then and afterward. This man put 
 himself into the most mournful habit be could, 
 although he had a greater hatred agaiiint I 
 Caius than any one else; hi< fear and his wise ' 
 contrivance to gain hi» sali-t\ tnii^iht him so ■ 
 to <1(), and prevailed ov» r l:is pn-M-nt |ili'«.>iire; I 
 •*o he put on ^udl a ntonrwan MVi>:- tt> in- 
 \»^.)uUi have done huit ii«' io^t (ti> iifiiro; 
 frirmls in the wnrhl, t.'.j- urn. .mimi- mio i.'i. 
 Uic-MUv, unti n»ii,iu»^u LiiiMi oi iitc ueuiu ol 
 
 Caius, and by this means put an end to that 
 state of ignorance the men had been in. Ar- 
 runtius also went round about the pillars, and 
 called out to the Germans, as did the tribunes 
 with him, bidding them put up their swords, 
 and telling them that Caius was dead; and 
 this proclamation it was plainly which saved 
 those that were collected together in the 
 theatre, and all the rest who any way met the 
 Germans; for while they had hopes that Caius 
 had still any breath in him, they abstainetd 
 from no sort of mischief; and such an abun- 
 dant kindness they &till had for Caius, that 
 they would willingly have prevented the plot 
 against him, and piocured his escape from so 
 sad a ujisfortune, at the expense of their own 
 Hves; but they now left off the warm zeal 
 they had to punish his enemies, now they 
 were fully satistied that Caius was dead, be- 
 cause it was now in vain for them to show 
 their zeal and kindness to him, when he who 
 should reward them was perished. They 
 were also afraid that they should be punished 
 by the senate, if they should go on in doing 
 such injuries, that is, in case the authority 
 I of the supreme governor should revert to 
 them; and thus at length a stop was put, 
 though not without difficulty, to that rage 
 which possessed the Germans on account of 
 Caius's death. 
 
 19. But Cherea was so much afraid for 
 Alinucianus, lest he should light upon the 
 Germans, now they were in their fury, that 
 he went and spake to every one of the sol- 
 diers, and prayed them to take care of his 
 preservation, and made himself great inquiry 
 about him, lest he should have been slain; 
 and for Clement, he let Minucianus go when 
 he was brought to him, and, with many other 
 of the senators, aflinneu lie action was right, 
 and commended the virtue of those that con- 
 trived it, and had eouiaf<c enough to execute 
 it; and said, that " tyrants do indeed please 
 themselves and look big for a while, upon 
 having the power to act unjustly; but do not, 
 however, go happily out of the world, because 
 they are hated by the virtuous; and that 
 Caius, together with all his unhappiness, was 
 become a conspirator against himself, before 
 these other men who attacked him did so; 
 and by becoming intolerable, in setting aside 
 the wise provision the laws had made, taught 
 his dearest friends to treat him as an enemj ; 
 insomuch, that although in common dis- 
 course these conspirators were those that 
 slew Caius, yet that, in reality, he lies now 
 dead as perishing by his own s<ilf." 
 
 20. Mow by /his time the people in tbp 
 theatre were aristri from their seats, and those 
 th.it were therein made a very great disturn- 
 ance; the cause of which was this, that the 
 .>pfCtators were too hasty in getting away, 
 iiicre was hUo one Alcyon, a physician, who 
 ii.irne<l away, as if to cure tliose that w—/} 
 vtuniided; auti, ujider that pretence, he sent 
 
iiipPIRPpPiiliPPIPW 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 519 
 
 those that were with him to fetch what things 
 wer -• necessary for the healing of those wounded 
 persons, but in r ality to get them clear of 
 the present dangers they were in. Now the 
 senate, during this interval, had met, and the 
 people also assembled together in the accus- 
 tomed form, and were both employed in 
 searching after the murderers of Caius. The 
 people did it very zealously, but the senate in 
 appearance only; for there was present Vale- 
 rius of Asia, one that bad been consul; this 
 man went to the people, as they were in dis- 
 order, and very uneasy that they could not 
 yet discover who they were that had murdered 
 the emperor; he was then earnestly asked by 
 them all, who it was that had done it? He 
 replied, " I wish I had been the man." The 
 consuls* also published an edict, wherein 
 they accused Caius, and gave order to the 
 people then got together, and to the soldiers, 
 to go home, and gave the people hopes of 
 the abatement of the oppressions they lay 
 under; and promised the soldiers, if they lay 
 quiet as they used to do, and would not go 
 abroad to do mischief unjustly, that they 
 would bestow rewards upon them; for there 
 was repson to fear lest the city might suffer 
 harm by their wild and ungovernable beha- 
 viour, if they should once betake themselves 
 to spoil the citizens, or plunder the temples. 
 And now the whole multitude of the senators 
 were assembled together, and especially those 
 that had conspired to take away the life of 
 Caius, who put on at this time an air of great 
 assurance, and appeared with great magnani- 
 mity, as if the administration of public affairs 
 were already devolved upon them. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOWTHE SENATORS DETERMINED TO RESTORE 
 THE DEMOCRACY; BUT THE SOLDIERS WERE 
 FOR PRESERVING THE MONARCHY. CON- 
 CERNING THE SLAUGHTER OF CAIUS's WIFE 
 AND DAUGHTER. A CHARACTER OF CAIUS's 
 MORALS. 
 
 § 1. When the public affairs were in this 
 posture, Claudius was on the sudden hurried 
 »way out of his house; for the soldiers had 
 meeting together; and when they had 
 debated about what was to be done, they saw 
 that a democracy was incapable of managing 
 such a vast weight of public affairs; and that 
 if it should be set up, it would not be for 
 tbeir advantage; and in case any one of those 
 already in the government should obtain the 
 supreme power, it would in all respects be to 
 their grief, if they were not assisting to him 
 
 • These ronsuU are named in the War of the Jews 
 (h.ii ch. xi secl. 1). S«-ntius "'aturninns and Pvjmponius 
 Secuiidus. as SpMilicim notes here The speccli i)f the 
 K>n>i«r (f *ticm is sel tluwu in the iioxt chapter, aect 'i. 
 
 in this advancement: that it would therefore 
 be right for them, while the public affairs 
 were unsettled, to choose Claudius emperor, 
 who was uncle to the deceased Caius, and of 
 a superior dignity and worth to every one of 
 those who were assembled together in the 
 senate, both on account of the virtues of his 
 ancestors, and of the learning he had acquired 
 in his education; and who, if once settled 
 in the empire, would reward them according 
 to their deserts, and bestow largesses upon 
 them. These were their consultations, and 
 they executed the same immediately. Clau- 
 dius was therefore seized upon suddeidy by 
 the soldiery. But Cneus Sentius Saturni- 
 nus, although he understood that Claudius 
 was seized, and that he intended to claim the 
 government, unwillingly indeed in appear- 
 ance, but in reality by his own free consent, 
 stood up in the senate, and, without being 
 dismayed, made an exhortatory oration to 
 them, and such a one indeed as was tit for 
 men of freedom and generosity, and spake 
 thus: — 
 
 2. " Although it be a thing incredible, O 
 Romans! because of the great length of time, 
 that so unexpected an event hath happened, 
 yet are we now in possession of liberty. How 
 long indeed this will last is uncertain, and lies 
 at the disposal of the gods, whose grant it is; 
 yet such it is as is sufficient to make us 
 rejoice, and be happy for the present, although 
 we may soon be deprived of it; for one hour 
 is sufficient to those that are exercised in vir- 
 tue, wherein we may live with a mind account- 
 able only to ourselves, in our own country, now 
 free, and governed by such laws as this coun- 
 try once flourished under. As for myself, i 
 cannot remember our former time of liberty, 
 as being born after it was gone; but I am 
 beyond measure filled with joy at the thoughts 
 of our present freedom. I also esteem those 
 that were born and brought up in that our 
 former liberty happy men, and that those men 
 are worthy of no less esteem than the gods 
 themselves, who have given us a taste of it 
 in this age; and I heartily wish that this quiet 
 enjoyment of it, which we have at present, 
 might continue to all ages. However, this 
 single day may suffice for our youth, as well 
 as for us that are in years. It will seem an 
 age to our old men, if they might die during 
 its happy duration: it may also be for the 
 instruction of the younger sort, what kind of 
 virtue those men, from whose loins we are 
 derived, were exercised in. As for ourselves, 
 our business is, during the space of time, to 
 live virtuously, — than which nothing can be 
 more to our advantage; which course of virtue 
 it is alone that can preserve our liberty; for, 
 as to our ancient state, I have heard of it by 
 the relations of others; bat as to our later 
 state, during n)y lifetime, I have known it by 
 experience, and learned thereby what mischiet 
 tyrannies have brought upon this commou- 
 
520 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIX 
 
 wealth, discouraging all virtue, and depriving 
 persons of magnanimity of their liberty, and 
 proving the tearhers of flattery and slavish 
 fear, because it leaves the public administra- 
 tion not to be governed by wise laws, but by 
 the humour of those that govern. For since 
 Julius Caesar took it into his head to dissolve 
 our democracy, and, by overbearing the regu- 
 lar system of our laws, to bring disorders 
 into our administration, and to get above right 
 and justice, and to be a slave to his OTVn in- 
 clinations, there is no kind of misery but what 
 hath tended to the subversion of this city; 
 while ail those that have succeeded him have 
 striven one with another to overthrow the 
 ancient laws of their country, and have left it 
 destitute of such citizens as were of generous 
 principles; because they thought it tended to 
 their safety to have vicious men to converse 
 withal, and not only to break the spirits of 
 those that were best esteemed for their virtue, 
 but to resolve upon their utter destruction. 
 Of all which emperors, who have been many 
 in number, and who laid upon us insufferable 
 hardships during the times of their govern- 
 ment, this Caius, who hath been slain to-day, 
 hath brought more terrible calamities upon us 
 than did all the rest, not only by exercising 
 his ungoverned rage upon his fellow- citizens, 
 but also upon his kindred and friends, and 
 alike upon all others, and by inflicting still 
 greater miseries upon them, as punishments, 
 which they never deserved, he being equally 
 furious against men and against the gods; for 
 tyrants are not content to gain their sweet 
 pleasure, and this by acting injuriously, and 
 in the vexation they bring both upon men's 
 estates and their wives, — but they look upon 
 that to be their principal advantage, when they 
 can utterly overthrow the entire families of 
 their enemies ; while all lovers of liberty are 
 the enemies of tyranny. Nor can those that 
 patiently endure what miseries they bring on 
 them gain their friendship; for as they are 
 conscious of the abundant mischiefs they have 
 brought on these men, and how magnanimously 
 they have borne their hard fortunes, they 
 cannot but be sensible what evils they have 
 done, and thence only depend on security 
 from what they are suspicious of, if it may be 
 in their power to take them quite out of the 
 world. Since, then, we are now gotten clear 
 of such great misfortunes, and are only 
 accountable to one another (which form of 
 governiiicnt affords us the best assurance of 
 our present concord, and promises us the best 
 security from all evil designs, and will be most 
 for our own glory in settling the city in good 
 order j, you ought, every one of you in parti- 
 cular, to make provision for his own, and in 
 general for the public utility; or, on the con- 
 trary, they may declare their dissent to such 
 things as have been proposed, and this with- 
 out any hazard of danger to come upon them, 
 —because they have now no lord «et over 
 
 them, who, without fear of punishment, could 
 do mischief to the city, and had an uncon- 
 trollable power to take off those that freely 
 declared their opinions. Nor has any thing 
 so much contributed to this increase of 
 tyranny of late as sloth, and a timorous for- 
 bearance of contradicting the emperor's will ; 
 while men had an over-great inclination to 
 the sweetness of peace, and had learned to 
 live like slaves, and as many of us as either 
 heard of intolerable calamities that happened 
 at a distance from us, or saw the miseries that 
 were near us, out of the dread of dying 
 virtuously, endured a death joined with the 
 utmost infamy. We ought, then, in the first 
 place, to decree the greatest honours we are 
 able to those that have taken off the tyrant, 
 especially to Cherea Cassius; for this one 
 man, with the assistance of the gods, hath, by 
 his counsel and by his actions, been the pro- 
 curer of our liberty. Nor ought we to forget 
 him now we have recovered our liberty, who, 
 under the foregoing tyranny, took counsel 
 beforehand, and beforehand hazarded himself 
 for our liberties; but ought to decree him 
 proper honours, and thereby freely declare, 
 that he, from the b.eginning, acted with our 
 approbation. And certainly it is a very ex- 
 cellent thing, and what becomes freemen, to 
 requite their benefactors, as this man hath 
 been a benefactor to us all, though not at all 
 ike Cassius and Brutus, who slew Caius 
 Julius [Caesar] ; for those men laid the foun- 
 dations of sedition and civil wars in our city; 
 — but this man, together with his slaughter 
 of the tyrant, hath set our city free from all 
 those sad miseries which arose from the 
 tyranny."* 
 
 3. Arjd this was the purport of Sentius's 
 oration, "which was received with pleasure by 
 the senators, and by as many of the equestrian 
 order as were present. And now one Tre- 
 bellius Maximus rose up hastily, and took 
 from Sentius's finger a ring, which had a 
 stone, with the image of Caius engraven upon 
 it, and which, in his zeal in speaking, and his 
 earnestness in doing what he was about, as it 
 was supposed, he had forgotten to take off 
 himself. This sculpture was broken imme- 
 diately. But as it was now far in the night, 
 Cherea demanded of the consuls the watch- 
 word, who gave him this word. Liberty 
 These facts were the subjects of admiration 
 to themselves, and almost incredible; for it 
 was a hundred years f since the democracy 
 
 • In this oration of Sentius Saturninus, we may see 
 the great value virtuous men put upon publin liberty, 
 and the sad misery they underwent while they were 
 tyrannized over by such emperors as Caius. See Jose- 
 phus's own short but pithy reflection at the end of llie 
 chapter: '* So diflicult," says he, " it is for those to ob- 
 tain the virtue that is necessary to a wise man, who 
 have the absolute power to do what they please without 
 control." 
 
 ■f Hence we learn that, in the opinion of Haturninas, 
 the sovereign authority of the consuls and senate bad 
 been taken away just one hundred years belore the death 
 ot Caiui, A. D. 41; or in th* (JUtb year before tlw Cbri*« 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 621 
 
 had been laid aside, when this giving the 
 watch- word returned to the consuls; for, 
 before the city was subject to tyrants, they 
 were the commanders of the soldiers. But 
 when Cherea had received that watch- word, 
 he delivered it to those who were on the 
 senate's side, which were four regiments, who 
 esteemed the government without emperors 
 to be preferable to tyranny. So these went 
 away with their tribunes. The people also 
 now departed very joyful, full of hope and of 
 courage, as having recovered their former 
 democracy, and no longer under an emperor: 
 and Cherea was in very great esteem with 
 them. 
 
 4. And now Cherea was very uneasy that 
 Caius's daughter and wife were still alive, 
 and that all his family did not perish with 
 him, since whosoever was left of them must 
 be left for the ruin of the city and of the 
 laws. Moreover, in order to finish this matter 
 with the utmost zeal, and in order to satisfy 
 his hatred of Caius, he sent Julius Lupus, 
 one of the tribunes, to kill Caius's wife and 
 daughter. They proposed this office to 
 Lupus as to a kinsman of Clement, that he 
 might be so far a partaker of this murder of 
 the tyrant, and might rejoice in the virtue of 
 having assisted his fellow-citizens, and that 
 he might appear to have been a partaker M-ith 
 those that were first in their designs against 
 him; yet did this action appear to some of j 
 the conspirators to be too cruel, as to this 
 using such severity to a woman, because 
 Caius did more indulge his own ill-nature 
 than use her advice in all that he did; from 
 which ill-nature it w^ that the city was in 
 BO desperate a condition with the miseries that 
 were brought on it, and the flower of the 
 city was destroyed; but others accused her of 
 giving her consent to these things; nayj they 
 ascribed all that Caius had done to her as the 
 cause of it, and said she had given a potion to 
 Caius, which had made him obnoxious to her, 
 and had tied him down to love her by such 
 evil methods; insomuch that she, having ren- 
 dered him distracted, was become the author 
 of all the mischiefs that had befallen the 
 Romans, and that habitable world which was 
 subject to them. So that at length it was 
 determined that she must die; nor could 
 those of the contrary opinion at all prevail to 
 have her saved; and Lupus was sent accord- 
 ingly. Nor was there any delay made in 
 executing what he went about, but he was 
 subservient to those who sent him on the first 
 opportunity, as desirous to be no way blame- 
 able in what might be done for the advantage 
 of the people. So, when he was come into 
 the palace, he found Cesonia, who was Caius's 
 wife, lying by her husband's dead body, which 
 also lay down on the ground, and destitute 
 of all such things as the law allows to 
 
 tian Kra, when the first triumT irate lie^an under CaeHar, 
 Toaipey, and CraAsus. 
 
 the dead, and all over herself besmeared with 
 the blood of her husband's wounds, and 
 bewailing the great affliction she was under, 
 her daughter lying by her also; and nothing 
 else was heard in these her circumstances but 
 her complaint of Caius, as if he had not 
 regarded what she had often told him of 
 beforehand; which words of hers were taken 
 in a different sense even at that time, and are 
 now esteemed equally ambiguous by those that 
 hear of them, and are still interpreted accord- 
 ing to the different inclinations of people. 
 Now some said that the words denoted, that 
 she had advised him to leave off his mad 
 behaviour and his barbarous cruelty to the 
 citizens, and to govern the public with mode- 
 ration and virtue, lest he should perish by 
 the same way,\ipon their using him as he had 
 used them. But some said, that as certain 
 words had passed concerning the conspirators, 
 she desired Caius to make no delay, but imme- 
 diately to put them all to death; and this 
 whether they were guilty or not, and that 
 thereby he would be out of the fear of any 
 danger; and that this was what she reproached 
 him for when she advised him so to do, but 
 he was too slow and tender in the matter. 
 And this was what Cesonia said; and what 
 the opinions of men were about it. But 
 when she saw Lupus approach, she showed 
 him Caius's dead body, and persuaded him 
 to come nearer, with lamentation and t>eavs; 
 and as she perceived that Lupus was in 
 disorder, and approached her in order to exe- 
 cute some design disagreeable to himself, she 
 was well aware for what purpose he came, and 
 stretched out her naked throat, and that very 
 cheerfully to him, bewailing her case, like one 
 utterly despairing of her life, and bidding him 
 not to boggle at finishing the tragedy they 
 had resolved upon relating to her. So she 
 boldly received her death's wound at the hand 
 of Lupus, as did the daughter after her. So 
 Lupus made haste to inform Cherea of what 
 he iad done. 
 
 5. This was the end of C^ius, after he had 
 reigned four years, within four months. He 
 was, even before he came to be emperor, 
 ill-natured, and one that had arrived at tHe 
 utmost pitch of wickedness; a slave to bis 
 pleasures, and a lover of calumny; greatly 
 affected by every terrible accident, and on that 
 account of a very murderous disposition where 
 he durst show it. He enjoyed his exorbitant 
 power to this only purpose, to injure those 
 who least deserved it, with unreasonable inso- 
 lence, and got his wealth by murder and 
 injustice. He laboured to appear above regard- 
 ing eith-er what was divine or agreeable to the 
 laws, but was a slave to the commendations 
 of the populace; and whatsoever the laws 
 determined to be shameful, and punished, that 
 he esteemed more ho:iourable than what was 
 virtuous. He was unmindful of his friends, 
 Jiow intimate soever, and though they were 
 
623 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XLX. 
 
 persons of the highest character; and, if he 
 was once angry at any of them, he would 
 inflict punishment upon them on the smallest 
 occasions; and esteemed every man that 
 endeavoured to lead a virtuous life his enemy! 
 And whatsoever he commanded, he would 
 not admit of any contradiction to his inclina- 
 tions; whence it whs that he had criminal 
 conversation with his own sister;* from which 
 occasion chiefly it was also that a bitter hatred 
 first sprang up against him among the citi- 
 zens, that sort of incest not having been known 
 of a long time ; and so this provoked men to 
 distrust him, and to hate him that was guilty 
 of it. And for any great or royal work that 
 he ever did, which might be for the present 
 and for future ages, nobody can name any 
 such, but only the haven that He made about 
 Rhegium and Sicily, for the reception of the 
 ships that brought corn from Egypt; which 
 was indeed a work without dispute very great 
 in itself, and of very great advantage to the 
 navigation. Yet was not this work brought 
 to perfection by him, but was the one half of 
 it left imperfect, by reason of his want of 
 application to it; the cause of which was this, 
 that he employed his studies about useless 
 matters, and that by spending his money upon 
 such pleasures as concerned no one's benefit 
 but his owji, he could not exert his liberality 
 m things that were undeniably of great con- 
 sequence. Otherwise he was an excellent 
 orator, and thoroughly acquainted with the 
 Greek tongue, as well as with his own country 
 or Roman language. He was also able, off- 
 hand and readily, to give answers to composi- 
 tions made by others, of considerable length 
 and accuracy. He was also more skilful in 
 persuading others to very great things than 
 any one else, and this from a natural affability 
 of temper, which had been improved by much 
 exercise and pains-taking: for aa he was the 
 grandson f of the brother of Tiberius, whose 
 successor he was, this was a strong inducement 
 to his acquiring of learning, because Tiberius 
 aspired after the highest pitch of that sort of re- 
 putation : and Cams aspired after the like glory 
 for eloquence, being induced thereto by the 
 letters of his kinsman and his emperor. He was 
 aUo among the first rank of his own citizens. 
 Hut the advantages he received from his learn- 
 ing (lid not countervail the mischief he brought 
 upon himself in the exercise of his authority ; 
 'so difficult it is for those to obtain th<^ virtue 
 that is necessary for a wise man, who have 
 the absolute power to do what they please 
 
 • Spanheim here notes from Suetonius, that the 
 name of Caius's sister, with whom he was guilty of°in> 
 cest, was Urusilla; and that >uet(iuius adds, he was 
 guilty uf the same crime with all his sisters also Il« 
 notes farther, that Suetonius omits the mention of the 
 haven (or ships, which uur author esteems the only public 
 work for the good of the present and nuure ages which 
 Caius left behind him, though in au imperiect condition. 
 
 f This Caius was the son of that excellent person 
 Oemi.inicus, who was the tun of Drusui, the brother o/ 
 Tiberius the emperor. 
 
 without control. At the first he.got himself 
 such friends as were in all respects the most 
 worthy, and was greatly beloved by them, 
 while he imitated their zealous application to 
 the learning, and to the glorious actions of the 
 best men ; but when he became insolent to- 
 wards them, they laid aside the kindness they 
 had for him, and began to hate him; horn 
 which hatred came that plot which they raised 
 against him, and wherein he perished. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HOW CLAUDIUS WAS SEIZED UPON, AND 
 BROUGHT OUT OF HIS HOUSE, AND BROUGHT 
 TO THE CAMP; AND HOW THE SENATE SENT 
 AN EMBASSAGE TO HIM. 
 
 § 1. Now Claudius, as I said before, went 
 out of that way along which Caius was gone; 
 and as the family was in a mighty disorder 
 upon the sad accident of the murder of Caius, 
 he was in great distress how to save himself, 
 and was found to have hidden himself in a 
 certain narrow place, { though he had no 
 other occasion for suspicion of any dangers, 
 besides the dignity of his birth; for while he 
 was a private man, he behaved himself with 
 moderation, and was contented with his pre- 
 sent fortune, applying himself to learjiing, 
 and especially to that of the Greeks, and 
 keeping himself entirely clear from every 
 thing that might bring on any disturbance. 
 But at this time the multitude were under a 
 consternation, and the whole palace Was full 
 of the soldiers' madness, and the very empe- 
 ror's guards seemed under the like fear and 
 disorder with private persons, the band called 
 pretvrian, which was the purest part of the 
 army, was in consultation what A'as to be 
 done at this juncture. Kow all those that 
 were at this consultation, bad litt'e regard to 
 the punishment Caius had suffered, because 
 he justly deserved such his fortune; but they 
 were rather considering their own circum- 
 stances, how they might take the best care of 
 themselves, especially while the Germans were 
 busy in punishing the murderers of Caius; 
 which yet was rather done to gratify their 
 own savage temper, than for the good of the 
 public; all which things disturbed Claudius, 
 who was afraid of his own safety, and this 
 particularly because he saw the heads of As- 
 prenas and his partners carried about. Ui.s 
 station had been on a certain elevated place, 
 whither a few steps led him, and whether he 
 had retired in the dai k by himself. But when 
 Gratus, who was one of the soldiers that be- 
 longed to the palace, saw him, but did not 
 well know by his countenance who he was, 
 
 X The first place Cfaudius came to was inhibited, 
 and called lleriurniii, u.^ .^panheiiu here inlbrms US 
 fruHi >uvtuniii», iu Claud, c x. 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES i)F THE JEWS. 
 
 523 
 
 because it was dark, though he could well 
 iudge that it was a man who was privately 
 there on some design, he came nearer to him; 
 and when Claudius desired that he would 
 retire, he discovered who he was, and owned 
 aim to be Claudius. So he said to his fol- 
 lowers, "This is a Germanicus;* come on, 
 let us choose him for our emperor." But 
 when Claudius saw they were making prepa- 
 rations for taking him away by force, and was 
 afraid they would kill him, as they had killed 
 Caius, he besought them to spare him, putting 
 them in mind how quietly he had demeaned 
 himself, and that he was unacquainted with 
 what had been done. Hereupon Gratus smiled 
 upon him, and took him by the right hand, and 
 aaid, " Leave off. Sir, these low thoughts of 
 saving yourself, while you ought to have 
 greater thoughts, even of obtaiiiing the empire, 
 which the gods, out of their concern for the 
 habitable world, by taking Caius out of the 
 way, commit to thy virtuous conduct. Go to, 
 therefore, and accept of the throne of thy 
 ancestors." So they took him up and carried 
 him, because he was not then able to go on 
 foot, such was his dread and his joy at what 
 was told him. 
 
 2. Now there was already gathered toge- 
 ther about Gratus, a great number of the 
 guards; and when they saw Claudius carried 
 off, they looked with a sad countenance, as 
 supposing that he was carried to execution 
 for the mischiefs that had been lately done; 
 while yet they thought him a man who never 
 meddled with public affairs all his life long, 
 and one that had met with no contemptible 
 dangers under the reign of Caius; and some 
 of them thought it reasonable that the consuls 
 should take cognizance of these matters; and, 
 as still more and more of the soldiery got 
 together, the crowd about him ran away, and 
 Claudius could hardly go on, his body was 
 then so weak; and those who carried his 
 sedan, upon an inquiry that was made about 
 his being carried off, ran away and saved 
 themselves, as despairing of their lord's pre- 
 servation. But, when they were come into 
 the large court of the palace (which, as the 
 report goes about it, was inhabited first of all 
 the parts of the city of Rome), and had just 
 reached the public treasury, many njore sol- 
 diers came about him, as glad to see Claudius's 
 face, and thought it exceeding right to make 
 him emperor on account of their kindness for 
 Germanicus, who was his brother, and had 
 left behind him a vast reputation among all 
 that were acquainted with him. They ledected 
 also on the col'etous temper of the leading 
 men of the senate, and what great errors they 
 had been guilty of when the senate had the 
 
 + How Claudius, another son of Orusus, which l)ra- 
 •us was the father of Germanicus, could be here himself 
 called Germanicus, Suetonius informs us, when he 
 assures us that, by a decree of the st-nate, the surname of 
 Germanicus was bestowe i u^^on Driiius, and his poste- 
 rity also.— In Claud, c L 
 
 government formerly; they also considered 
 the impossibility of such an undertaking, as 
 also what dangers they should be in, if the 
 government should come to a single person, 
 and that such a one shouli possess it as they 
 had no hand in advancing, and not to Clau- 
 dius, who would take it as their grant, and as 
 gained by their good-will to him, and would 
 remember the favours they had done him, and 
 would make them a sufficient recompense for 
 the same. 
 
 3. These were the discourses the soldiers 
 had one with another by themselves, and they 
 communicated them to all such as came in to 
 them. Now those that inquired about this 
 matter, willingly embraced the invitation that 
 was made them to join with the rest: so they 
 carried Claudius into the camp, crowding 
 about him as his guard, and encompassing him 
 about, one chairman still succeeding another, 
 that their vehement endeavours might not be 
 hindered. But as to the populace and sena- 
 tors, they disagreed in their opyiions. The 
 latter were very desirous to recover their for- 
 mer dignity, and were zealous to get clear of 
 the slavery that had been brought on them 
 by the injurious treatment of the tyrants, 
 which the present opportunity afforded them; 
 but for the people, who were envious against 
 them, and knew that the emperors were 
 capable of curbing their covetous temper, and 
 were a refuge from them, they were very glad 
 that Claudius had been seized upon, and 
 brought to them, and thought, that if Clau- 
 dius were made emperor, he would prevent a 
 civil war, such as there was in the days of 
 Pompey. But when the senate knew that 
 Claudius was brought into the camp by the 
 soldiers, they sent to him those of their body 
 which had the best character for their virtues, 
 that they might inform him that he ought tc 
 do nothing by violence, in order to gain the 
 government; that he who was a single person, 
 one either already, or hereafter to be a mem- 
 ber of their body, ought to yield to the senate, 
 which consisted of so great a number; that 
 he ought to let the law take place in the dis- 
 posal of all that related to the public order, 
 and to remember how greatly the former 
 tyrants had afflicted their city, and what dangers 
 both he and they had escaped under Caius; 
 and that he ought not to hate the heavy bur- 
 den of tyranny, when the injury is done by 
 others, while he did himself wilfully treat his 
 country after a mad arid insolent manner; 
 that if he would comply with them, and 
 demonstrate that his firm resolution was to 
 live quietly and virtuously, he would have the 
 greatest honours decreed to him that a free 
 people could bestow; and by subjecting him- 
 self to the law, would obtain this branch of 
 commendation, that he acted like a man of 
 virtue, both as a ruler and a subject; but that 
 if he would act foolishly, and learn no wis- 
 dom by Caius's death, they would not permit 
 
624 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIX. 
 
 him to go on ; that a great part of the army 
 was got together for them, with plenty of 
 weapons, and a great number of slaves, which 
 they could make use of: that good hope was 
 a great matter in such cases, as was also good 
 fortune; and that the gods would never assist 
 any others but those that undertook to act 
 with virtue and goodness, who can be no 
 other than such as fight for the liberty of their 
 country. 
 
 4. Now the ambassadors, Veranius and 
 Brocchus, who were both of them tribunes of 
 the people, made this speech to Claudius; 
 and, falling down upon their knees, they 
 begged of him ' that he wouM not throw the 
 city into wars and misfortunes; but when 
 they saw what a multitude of soldiers encom- 
 passed and guarded Claudius, and that the 
 forces that were with the consuls were, in 
 comparison of them, perfectly inconsiderable, 
 they added, that if he did desire the govern- 
 ment, he should accept of it as given by the 
 senate; that he would prosper better, and be 
 happier if he came to it, not by the injustice, 
 but by the good- will of those that would 
 bestow it upon him. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WHAT THINGS KING AGRIPPA DID FOR CLAU- 
 DirJS; AND HOW CLAUDIUS, WHEN HE HAD 
 TAKEN THE GOVERNMENT, COMMANDED 
 THE MURDERERS OP CAIUS TO BE SLAIN. 
 
 § 1. Now Claudius, though he was sensible 
 after what an insolent manner the senate had 
 sent to him, yet did he, according to their 
 advice, behave himself for the present with 
 moderation; but not so far that he could not 
 recover himself out of his fright; so he was 
 encouraged [to claim the government] partly 
 by the boldness of the soldiers, and partly by 
 the persuasion of king Agrippa, who exhorted 
 him not to let such a dominion slip out of his 
 bands, when it came thus to him of its own 
 accord. Now this Agrippa, with relation to 
 Caius, did what became one that had been so 
 much honoured by him ; for he embraced 
 Caius 's body after he was dead, and laid it 
 upon a bed, and covered it as well as he could, 
 and went out to the guards, and told them 
 that Caius was still alive; but he said that 
 they should call for physicians, since he was 
 very ill of his wounds. But when he had 
 learned that Claudius was carried away vio- 
 lently by the soldiers, he rushed through the 
 crowd to him, and when he found that he was 
 in disorder, and ready to resign up the 
 government to the senate, he encouraged him, 
 and desired him to keep the government; 
 but when he had said this to Claudius, he 
 retired home. And, upon the senate's sending 
 for hToi, be anointed his head with ointment, 
 
 as if he had lately accompanied with his wife, 
 and had dismissed her, and then came to 
 them: he also asked of the senators what 
 Claudius did; who told him the present state 
 of affairs, and then asked his opinion about 
 the settlement of the public. He told them 
 in words, that he was ready to lose his life for 
 the honour of the senate, but desired them 
 to consider what was for their advantage, 
 without any regard to what was most agree- 
 able to them; for that those who grasp at 
 government, will stand in need of weapons and 
 soldiers to guard them, unless they will set 
 up without any preparation for it, and so fail 
 into danger. And when the senate replied, 
 that they would bring in weapons in abun- 
 dance, and money, and that as to an army, a 
 part of it was already collected together for 
 them, and they would raise a larger one by 
 giving the slaves their liberty, — Agrippa 
 made answer, "0 senators! may you be able 
 to compass what you have a mind to; yet will 
 I immediately tell you my thoughts, because 
 they tend to your preservation. Take notice, 
 then, that the army which will fight for Clau- 
 dius hath been long exercised in w^arlike 
 affairs; but our army will be no better than a 
 rude multitude of raw men, and those such 
 as have been unexpectedly made free from 
 slavery, and ungovernable ; we must then 
 fight against those that are skilful in war, 
 with men who know not so much as how to 
 draw their swords. So that my opinion is, 
 I that we should send some persons to Clau- 
 ! dius, to persuade him to lay down the govern- 
 I ment; and I am ready to be one of your 
 ; ambassadors." 
 
 I 2. Upon this speech of Agrippa, the senate 
 I complied with him, and he was sent among 
 I others, and privately informed Claudius of the 
 I disorder the senate was in, and gave him 
 1 instructions to answer them in a somewhat 
 I commanding strain, and as one invested with 
 j dignity and authority. Accordingly, Clau'Jius 
 ' said to the ambassadors, that he did not wonder 
 I the senate had no nund to have an emperor 
 over them, because they had been harassed 
 by the baTbarity of those that had formerly 
 been at the head of their affairs; but that they 
 should taste of an equitable government under 
 him, ai>d moderate times, while he should 
 only be their ruler in name, but the authority 
 should be equally common to them all; and 
 since he had passed through many and various 
 scenes of life before their eyes, it would be 
 good for them not to distrust him. So the 
 ambassadors, upon their hearing ibis hia 
 answer, were dismissed. But Claudius dis- 
 coursed with the army which was there ga- 
 thered together, who took oaths that they would 
 persist in their fidelity to him; upon which 
 he gave the guards every man five thoiifand* 
 
 • This nunil)er of draolitnai to be distributed to each 
 
 private soldier, liv<- tlioiisiiitd diuciuiia). eqtiui to twenty 
 
 I tbouittiid motctct*. ur one Ijuiidrcd kud •)xty«one 
 
CHAPr I\, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 525 
 
 drachmae a-piece, ana a proportionable quan- 
 tity to their captains, and promised to give 
 the same to the rest of the armies whereso- 
 ever they were. 
 
 3. Ajid now the cons«ls called the senate 
 together, into the temple of Jupiter the Con- 
 queror, while it was still night; but some of 
 ttiose senators concealed themselves in the 
 city, he'uig uncertain what to do, upon the 
 hearing of this summons; and some of them 
 went out of the city to their own farms, as 
 foreseeing whither the public affairs were 
 going, and despairing of liberty; nay, these 
 supposed it much better for them to be slaves 
 without danger to themselves, and to live a 
 lazy and inactive life, than by claiming the 
 dignity of their forefathers, to run the hazard 
 of their own safety. However, a hundred, 
 and no more, were gotten together; and as 
 they were in consultation about the present 
 posture of affairs, a sudden clamour was 
 made by the soldiers that were on their side, 
 desiring that the senate would choose them 
 sin emperor, and not bring the government 
 into ruin by setting up a multitude ofj 
 rulers. So they fully declared themselves to | 
 be for the giving the government not to 
 all, but to one; but they gave the senate! 
 leave to look out for a person worthy to be 
 set over them, insomuch, that now the affairs 
 of the senate were much worse than before; 
 because they had not only failed in the reco- 
 very of their liberty, which they boasted them- 
 selves of, but were in dread of Claudius also. 
 Yet there were those that hankered after the 
 government, both on account of the dignity of 
 their families, and that accruing to them by 
 their marriages; for Marcus Minucianus was 
 illustrious, both by his own nobility and by 
 his having naarried Julia, the sister of Caius, 
 who accordingly was very ready to claim the 
 government, although the consuls discouraged 
 him, and made one delay after another in 
 proposing it: that Minucianus also, who was 
 one of Caius's murderers, restrained Valerius 
 of Asia from thinking of such things; and a 
 prodigious slaughter there had been, if leave 
 had been given to these men to set up for 
 themselves, and oppose Claudius. There were 
 also a considerable number of gladiators 
 besides, and of those soldiers who kept watch 
 by night in the city, and rowers of ships, who 
 ill ran into the camp; insomuch, that of those 
 who put in for the government, some left off 
 their pretensions, in order to spare the city, 
 and others out of fear for their own persons. 
 
 4. But as soon as ever it was day, Cherea, 
 and those that were with him, came into the 
 senate, and attempted to make speeches to the 
 
 ponnds sterlinsr, seems much too large, and diredly con- 
 tradicts Suetonius, ch. x. who makes them in all but fif- 
 teen sesterces, or two shillings and fourpence. Yet might 
 Jvispphus have this numl)er from Aijrippa. junior, though 
 I doubt tlie thousands, nr at least ttie hundreds, have 
 been added by the transcribers; of which w« hav« had 
 ■everal examples already iu Jusephus. 
 
 soldiers. However, the multitude of tliose 
 soldiers, when they saw that they were makii.j^ 
 signals for silence with their hands, a.iJ 
 were ready to begin to speak to them, grew 
 tumultuous, and would not let them speak at 
 all, because they were all zealous to be under 
 a monarchy; and they demanded of the senate 
 one for their ruler, as not enduring an) 
 longer delays. But the senate hesitated about 
 either their own governing, or how they should 
 themselVes be governed, while the soldiers 
 would not admit them to govern; and the 
 murderers of Caius would not permit the sol- 
 diers to dictate to them. When they were in 
 these circumstances, Cherea was not able to 
 contain the anger he had, and promised, that 
 if they de^red an emperor, he would give 
 them one, if any one would bring him the 
 watch-word from Eutychus. Now, this Euty- 
 chus was charioteer of the green-band faction, 
 styled Prasine, and a great friend of Caius, 
 I who used to harass the soldiery with building 
 ; stables for the horses, and spent his time 
 ^ in ignominious labours, which occasioned 
 j Cherea to reproach them with him, and to 
 1 abuse them with much other scurrilous lan- 
 guage; and told them he would bring them 
 ! the head of Claudius; and that it was an 
 amazing thing that, after their former mad- 
 ness, they should commit their government to 
 ' a fool. Yet were not they moved with his 
 j words, but drew their swords, and took up 
 their ensigns, and went to Claudius, to join 
 ! in taking the oath of fidelity to him. So the 
 I senate were left without any body to defend 
 them; and the very consuls differed nothing 
 from private persons. They were also under 
 consternation and sorrow, men not knowing 
 what would become of them, because Clau- 
 dius was very angry at them; so they fell a 
 reproaching one another, and repented of 
 what they had done. At which juncture 
 Sabinus, one of Caius's tnurderers, threatened 
 that he would sooner come into the midst of 
 them and kill himself, than consent to make 
 Claudius emperor, and see slavery returning 
 upon them; he also abused Cherea for loving 
 his life too well, while he who was the first 
 in his contempt of Caius, could think it a 
 good thing to live, when, even by all that 
 they had done for the recovery of their liberty, 
 they had found it impossible to do it. But 
 Cherea said he had no manner of doubt upon 
 I him about killing himself; yet he would first 
 sound the intentions of Claudius before he 
 did it. 
 
 5. These were the debates [about the senate]; 
 but in the camp every body was crowding 
 on all sides to pay their court to Claudius; 
 and the other consul, Quintus Pomponius, 
 was reproached by the soldiery as having 
 rather exhorted the senate to recover their 
 liberty ; whereupon they drew their swords, 
 and were going to assault him, and they had 
 done it if Claudius had not hindered tbem^ 
 
526 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIX. 
 
 who sratclied the consul out of the danger he 
 was in, and set him by him. But he did not 
 receive that part of the senate which was with 
 Quintus in the like honourable manner; nay, 
 some of them received blows, and were thrust 
 away as they came to salute Claudius; nay, 
 Aponius went away wounded, and they were 
 all in danger. However, king Agrippa went 
 up to Claudius, and desired he would treat 
 the senators more gently; for if any mischief 
 should come to the senate, he would have no 
 others over whom to rule. Claudius com- 
 plied with him, and called the senate together 
 into the palace, and was carried thither 
 himself through the city, while the soldiery 
 conducted him, though this was to the great 
 vexation of the multitude; for Cherea and 
 Sabinus, two of Caius's murderers, went in the 
 fore-front of them, in an open maimer, while 
 Pollio, whom Claudius a little before, had 
 made captain of his guards, had sent them an 
 epistolary edict, to forbid them to appear in 
 public. Then did Claudius, upon his com- 
 ing to the palace, get his friends together, 
 and desired their suffrages about Cherea. 
 They said that the work he had done was a 
 glorious one; but they accused him that he 
 did it of perfidiousness, and thought it just 
 to inflict the punishment [of death] upon him, 
 to discountenance such actions for the time 
 to come. So Cherea was led to his execu- 
 tion, and Lupus and many other Romans 
 with him. Now it is reported that Cherea 
 bore his calamity courageously; and this not 
 only by the firmness of his own behaviour 
 under it, but by the reproaches he laid upon 
 Lupus, who fell into tears ; for when Lupus 
 had laid his garment aside, and complained 
 of the cold,* he said, that cold was never 
 hurtful to Lupus [i. e. a wolf]. And as a 
 great many men went along with them to see 
 the sight, when Cherea came to the place, he 
 asked the soldier who was to be their execu- 
 tioner, whether this office was what he was 
 used to, or whether this was the first time of 
 his using his sword in that manner; and 
 desired him to bring him that very sword with 
 which he himself slew Caius. So he was 
 happily killed at one stroke. But Lupus 
 did not meet with sudi good fortune in going 
 out of the world, since he was timorous, 
 and had many blows levelled ^at his neck, 
 because he did not stretch it out boldly [as he 
 ougiit to have done]. 
 
 b. Now a few days after this, as the Paren- 
 tal Solemnities were just at hand, the Roman 
 multitude made their usual oblations to 
 their several ghosts, and put portions into the 
 fire in honour of Cherea, and besought him 
 to be merciful to them, and not continue his 
 
 • Th{§ ptercinf; cold here complained of by Lupus, 
 •gTw well to the time of the year when Clau<liu8 be^an 
 hii reiguj it bein^ for certain about the months ol 
 Novenib«»r, Dectmber, or January, and most probubly 
 a" few days after January the twenty-fourth, and a few 
 4ayt \»»i»n tb« Komaa Pareatalia. 
 
 anger against them for their ingratitude. And 
 this was the end of the fife that Cherea came 
 to. But for Sabinus, although Claudius not 
 only set him at liberty, but gave him leave to 
 retain his former couimaiid in the army, yet 
 did he think it would be unjust in him to fail 
 of performing his obligations to his tellow- 
 confederates; so he fell upon his sword, anil 
 killed himself, the wound reaching up to the 
 very hilt of the sword.| 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 how claudius restored to agrippa his 
 grandfather's kingdoms, augmented 
 his dominions; and how he published 
 an edict in behalf of the jews. 
 
 § 1. Now, when Claudius had taken out of 
 the way all those soldiers whom he suspected^ 
 which he did immediately, he published an 
 edict, and therein confirmed that kingdom to 
 Agrippa, which Caius had given him, and 
 therein commended the king highly. He also 
 made an addition to it of all that country 
 over which Herod, who was his grandfather, 
 had reigned, that is, Judea and Samaria; and 
 this he restored to him as due to his family. 
 But for Abila| of Lysauias, and all that lay 
 at Mount Libanus, he bestowed them upon 
 him, as out of his own territories. He also 
 
 + It is both here and elsewhere very remarkable, that 
 the murderers of the vilest tyrants, wbo'yel hi^'hly de- 
 served to die, when the murderers were under oailis, or 
 other tlie like obligations of fidelity lo them, were usu- 
 ally revenged, and the murderers v.rere cut otf them- 
 selves, and that after a reuiarkabie manner; and this 
 sometimes, as in the present case, by those very person* 
 who were not sorry for such murders, but aol kingdoms 
 by them. 'I'he examples are very numerous, both in 
 sacred and prufajie histories, and seem generally ind, ca- 
 tions of divine vengeance on s»»cii iiiurdert-rs. hm is 
 it unworthy of remark, that such murderers of t>rani» 
 do it usually on such ill principles, in such a cruei man- 
 ner, and as read) to involve tlie innocent with IDe gnilly, 
 which was the case here (chap. i. Sect. I4,and chap. ii. 
 aect. 4). as jnsil> deserved tbe divine vengeance upoa 
 them. VV hieh seems to have been the ca.se ot Jehu also, 
 when, besides the house of A hub, for whose slaughter 
 he hud a commission from God, without any such 
 commi.ssion, any justice or coinroiseration, he killtd 
 Allah's great nien, and acquaintance, and priests, and 
 fiirly-two ol the Kindred of Ahaziah, U Kings x. il — 
 14. ^ee Hos, i, 4 I do not mean here to condmiu 
 I' hud or .hidiih, or the like executioners of God's ven- 
 geance on those wicked tyrants who had unjustly op- 
 pre.ssed God's own people under their theocracy; who 
 as tht-y appear still to have had no seltish designs not 
 iuteutions to slay the innocent, so had they still a divine 
 commission, or a divine impulse, which was theik 
 curuuiission, for what they did. Judges iii. 16, if), UOt 
 Judith ix. U; Test. Levi, sect S, in Authent. Rec. p. 3ii. 
 See also page 432. 
 
 I Here St. laike is in some measure conflrmed, when 
 he informs us, ch. iiL 1, that Lysanias was some time 
 before tetrarch of Abilene, whose capital was Ahila; as 
 he is farther contirmed by I'tolemy, the great geograjj.hcr, 
 which Spanheim here observes, when Ite calls that city 
 ^bila of Lysanias See the note on b. xvii ch. xl 
 sett. 4; and I'rid. at the years thirty-six and twenty -two^ 
 1 esteem this priiieiptrtit> lo have tielonged to the lai.vl of 
 Canaan on inally. to have been the liurying-place of 
 Abel, ttnd reieii«<l to as such, iMaii. xxiii Sui Lull* 
 si. 61- tt«« AuitieuL Keo. part u. p. OKI— ottft. 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 527 
 
 made a league with this Agrippa, confirmed 
 by oaths, in the middle of the forum, in the 
 city of Rome: he also took away from Antio- 
 chu3 that kingdom which he was possessed 
 of, but gave him a certain part of Cilicia and 
 Commagena: he also set Alexander Lysima- 
 chuiv the alaharch, at liberty, who had been his 
 old friend, and steward to his mother Antonia, 
 but had been imprisoned by Caius, whose son 
 [Marcus] married Bernice, the daughter of 
 Agrippa. But when Marcus, Alexander's 
 son, was dead, who had married her when she 
 was a virgin, Agrippa gave her in marriage to 
 his brother Herod, and begged for him of 
 Claudius the kingdom of Chalcis, 
 
 2. Now, about this time there was a sedi- 
 tion between the Jews* and the Greeks, at the 
 city of Alexandria; for, when Caius was 
 dead, the nation of the Jews, which had been 
 very much mortified under the reign of Caius, 
 and reduced to very great distress by the 
 people of Alexandria, recovered itself, and 
 immediately took up their arms to fight for 
 themselves. So Claudius sent an order to 
 the president of Egypt, to quiet that tumult; 
 he also sent an edict, at the request of king 
 Agrippa and king Herod, both to Alexandria 
 and to Syria, whose contents were as follows: 
 " Tiberius Claudius Ciesar Augustus Ger- 
 niHiiicus, high-priest, and tribune of the peo- 
 ple, ordains thus: — Since 1 am assured that 
 the Jews of Alexandria, called Alexandrians, 
 ha ve been joint inhabitants in the «»arIieot times 
 with the Alexandrians, and huve obtained 
 from their kings equril privileges with them, 
 as is evident by the public records that are in 
 their possession, and the edicts themselves; 
 and that after Alexandria had been subjected 
 t«) our empire by Augustus, their rights and 
 privileges have been preserved by those presi- 
 dents who have at divers times been sent 
 thither; and that no dispute had been raised 
 about thqpe rights and privileges, even when 
 Aquila was governor of Alexandria; and 
 that when the Jewish ethnarch was dead, 
 Aui^ustus did not prohibit the making such 
 ethnarchs, as willing that all men should be 
 so subject [to the Romans] as to continue in 
 the observation of their own customs, and 
 not be forced to transgress the ancient rules 
 of their own country religion; but that, in 
 the time of Caius, the Alexandrians became 
 insolent toward the Jews that were among 
 theui, which Caius, out of his great madness, 
 ana want of understanding, reduced the nation 
 of the Jews very low, because they would 
 not transgress the religious worship of their 
 country, and call him a god : I will, therefore, 
 that the nation of the Jews be not deprived of 
 •their rij^hts and privileges, on account of the 
 uijulness of Caius; but that those rights and 
 privileges, which they formerly enjoyed, be 
 presiTved tx) them, and that they may continue 
 in meir own customs. And I charge both 
 parties to tako very great cart? that no troubles 
 
 may arise after the promulgation of this 
 edict." 
 
 3. And such were the contents of this edict 
 on behalf of the Jews, that was sent to Alexan- 
 dria. But the edict that was sent into the other 
 parts of the habitable earth was this which fol- 
 lows: — "Tiberius Claudius Ciesar Augustus 
 Germanicus, high-priest, tribune of the people, 
 chosen consul the second time, ordains thus: — 
 Upon the petition of kinpf Agrippa and king 
 Herod, who are persons very dear to me, that 
 I would grant the same rights and privileges 
 should be preserved to the Jews which are in all 
 the Roman empire, which I have granted to 
 those of Alexandria, I very willingly comply 
 therewith ; and this grant I make not only for 
 the sake of the petitioners, but as judging 
 those Jews for whom I have been petitioned 
 worthy of such a favour, on account of their 
 fidelity and friendship to the Romans. I think 
 it also very just that no Grecian city should 
 be deprived of such rights and privileges, since 
 they were preserved to them under the great 
 Augustus. It will therefore be fit to permit 
 the Jews, who are in all the world under us, 
 to keep their ancient customs without being 
 hindered so to do. And I do charge them also 
 to use this my kindness to them with modera- 
 tion, and not to show a contempt of the 
 superstitious observances of other nations, but 
 to keep their own laws only. And 1 will 
 that this decree of mine be engraven on tables 
 by the magistrates of the cities and coloiiies, 
 and municipal places, both th<»se within Italy 
 and those without it, both kings ami guvera- 
 ors, by the means of the ambussatiors, ami to 
 have them exposed to the public for fuli ihii t} 
 days, in such a place, whence it may j/laii.ly 
 be read from the ground."* . 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WHAT THINGS WERE DONE BY AOUU'i'A AT 
 JERUSALEM WHEN HE WAS KEiXKMD 
 BACK INTO JUDEA; AND WHAT IT VV AS 
 THAT PETKONIUS WROTE TO THK INHABIT- 
 ANTS OF DORIS, IN BEHALF UF THE JEWS 
 
 § 1. Now Claudius Ciesar, by these decrees 
 of his which were sent to Alexandria and to 
 all the habitable earth, made kuown what 
 opinion he had of the Jews. So he soon sent 
 Agrippa away to take his kingdom, now he 
 was advanced to a more illustrious dignity 
 than before, and sent letters to the presidents 
 and procurators of the provinces, that they 
 should treat him very kindly. Accordii'gly 
 he returned in haste, as was likely he would, 
 
 • This form was so known and frequent among the 
 Romans, as i>r. Hu<ison here tells ui trom the great SeU 
 ilen. that it used to be thus represented at ti:e liXtom of 
 their edicts by the initial letters omw, U 1) P. R. L.H, 
 Uiide l>e Piano Rede Le^e t'ussit: ^ Wbeuct; it luay ^ 
 plainly read trum the ^ruuu<} " 
 
528 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIX. 
 
 tow he returned in much greater prosperity [ 
 than he had before. He also came to Jeru- J 
 salem, and offered all the sacrifices that be- 
 longed to him, and omitted nothing which 
 the law required ;* on which account he 
 ordained that many of the Nazarites should 
 have their heads shorn. And for the golden 
 chain which had been given him by Caius, of 
 equal weight with that iron chain wherewith 
 his royal hands had been bound, he hung it 
 up within the limits of the temple, over the 
 treasury,! that it might be a memorial of the 
 severe fate he had lain under, and a testimony 
 of his change for the better; that it might be 
 a demonstration how the greatest prosperity 
 may have a fall, and that God sometimes 
 raises what is fallen down: for this chain 
 thus dedicated, afforded a document to all 
 men, that king Agrippa had been- once bound 
 in a chain for a small cause, but recovered 
 his former dignity again; and a little whi.le 
 afterwards got out of his bonds, and was ad- 
 vanced to be a more illustrious king than he 
 was before. Whence men may understand, 
 that all that partake of human nature, how 
 great soever they are, may fall; and that those 
 that fall may gain their former illustrious 
 dignity again. 
 
 2. And when Agrippa had entirely fin- 
 ished all the duties of the divine worship, he 
 removed Theophilus, the son of Ananus, 
 from the high-priesthood, and bestowed that 
 honour of his on Simon the son of Boethus, ; 
 whose name was also Cantheras, whose daugh- 1 
 ter king Herod had married, as I have related 
 above. Simon, therefore, had the [high]- 1 
 priesthood with his brethren, and with his fa- 
 ther, in like manner as the sons of Simon, 
 the son of Onias, who were three, had it for- 
 merly under the government of the Macedo- 
 nians, as we have related in a former book. 
 
 3. When the king had settled the high- 
 priesthood after this manner, he returned the 
 kindness which the inhabitants of Jerusalem 
 had shown him; for he released them from 
 the tax upon houses, every one of whom paid 
 It before, thinking it a good thing to requite 
 the tender affection of those that loved him. 
 He also made Silas the general of his forces, 
 as a man who had partaken with him in many 
 of his troubles. But after a very little while 
 the young men of Doris, preferring a rash at- 
 tempt before piety, and being naturally bold 
 
 ♦ Josephus shows, both here and ch. vii. sect 3, that 
 he hod a much greater opinion of kin^ Agrippa I. than 
 Simon the learned rubbi, than the people of Cesarea 
 and Sebaste, ch. vii. sect. 4, and chap. ix. sect. 1 ; and 
 indeed than his double-dealing between the senate and 
 Claudius, chap. iv. sect 2, than his slaughter of James, 
 tlie brother of John, and his imprisonment of Peter, 
 or his vainglorious behaviour before he died, both in 
 Acts xii. 1,2,3; and here, chap. iv. sect. 1, will justify 
 or allow. Jo8ephus*8 character was probably taken 
 from his son Agrip)ia, junior. 
 
 + This treasury'Chamher seems to have been th? very 
 •ame in which our Saviour taurht. and whe-re the peo- 
 ple oflered tlieir charity motiey. for the repairs or othel 
 OSes of the teinplr. Mark xii -iJ, Oie..( i.uke xxii. 1{ 
 
 and insolent, carried a statue of C<Esar into a 
 synagogue of the Jews, and erected it there 
 This procedure of theirs greatly provoked 
 Agrippa; for it plainly tended to the dissolu- 
 tion of the laws of his country. So he came 
 without delay to Publius Petronius, who was ' 
 then president of Syria, and accused the peo- 
 ple of Doris. Nor did he less resent what 
 was done than did Agrippa; for he judged it 
 a piece of impiety to transgress the laws that 
 regulate the actions of men. So he wrote the 
 following letter to the people of Doris in an 
 angry strain : — " Publius Petroniu-s, the 
 president under Tiberius Claudius Caesar 
 Augustus Germanicus, to the magistrates ol 
 Doris, ordains as follows: since some of you 
 have had the boldnefs, or madness rather, 
 after the edict of Claudius Cwsar Augustus 
 Germanicus was published, for permitting 
 the Jews to observe the laws of their country, 
 not to obey the same, but have acted in entire 
 opposition thereto,- as forbidding the Jews to 
 assemble together in the synagogue, by 
 removing Ciesar's statue, and setting it up 
 therein, and thereby have offended not only 
 the Jews, but the emperor himself, whose 
 statue is more commodiously placed in his 
 own temple than in a foreign one, where is 
 the place of assembling together; while it is 
 but a part of natural justice, that every one 
 should have the power over the place belong- 
 ing peculiarly to themselves, according to the 
 determination of Caesar, — to say nothing of 
 my own determination, which it would be 
 •■'diculous to mention after the emperor's 
 edict, which gives the Jews leave to make 
 use of their own customs, as also gives order 
 that they enjoy equally the rights of citizens 
 with the Greeks themselves, — I therefore 
 ordain, that Proculus Vitellius, the centurion, 
 bring those men to me, who, contrary to Au- 
 gustus's edict, have been so insolent as to do 
 this thing, at which those very^men wiio 
 appear to be of principal reputation anioiig 
 them, have an indignation also, and allege 
 for themselves, that it was not done with 
 their consent, but by the violence of the mul- 
 titude, that they may give an account of what 
 hath been done. I also exhort the principal 
 magistrates among them, uidess they have a 
 mind to have this action esteemed to be done 
 with their consent, to inform the centurion of 
 those that were guilty of it, and take care that i 
 no handle be hence taken for raising a sedi- | 
 tion or quarrel among them; which those | 
 seem to me to hunt after, who encourage i 
 such doings; while both 1 myself, and kintr 
 Agrippa, for whom I have the highest htv 
 nour, have nothing more under our care than 
 that the nation of the Jews may have no oc-- 
 casion given them of getting together, undei 
 the pretence of avenging themselves, and be- 
 come tinniiltuods. And that it may be more 
 publicly known wlifii Augustus hath resolved J 
 Vibout this whole niMtttr. I have su'ojuii'pd | 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 529 
 
 those edicts which he hath lately caused to be 
 published at Alexandria, and which, although 
 they may be well known to all, yet did king 
 Agrippa, for whom I have the highest honour, 
 rjad them at that time before my tribunal, 
 and pleaded that the Jews ought not to be 
 deprived of those rights which Augustus hath 
 granted them. I therefore charge you, that 
 you do not, for the time to come, seek for any 
 occasion of sedition or disturbance, but' that 
 every one be allowed to follow their own 
 religious customs." 
 
 4. Thus did Petronius take care of this 
 matter, that such a breach of the law might 
 be corrected, and that no such thing might 
 be attempted afterwards against the Jews. 
 And now king Agrippa took the [high] 
 priesthood away from Simon Cantheras, and 
 put Jonathan, the son of Ananus, into it 
 again, and owmed that he was more worthy 
 of that dignity than the other. But this was 
 not a thing acceptable to him, to recover that 
 his former dignity. So he refused it, and 
 said, " O king! I rejoice in the honour that 
 thou hast for me, and take it kindly that thou 
 wouldst give me such a dignity of thy own 
 inclinations, although God hath judged that 
 I am not at all worthy of the high-priesthood. 
 I am satisfied with having once put on the 
 sacred garments; for I then put them on 
 after a more holy manner than I should now 
 receive them again. But, if thou desirest 
 that a person more worthy than myself should 
 have this honourable employment, give me 
 leave to name thee such a one. I have a 
 brother that is pure from all sin against God, 
 and of all offences against thyself; I recom- 
 mend him to thee, as one that is fit for this 
 dignity." So the king was pleased with these 
 words of his, and passed by Jonathan, and, 
 according to his brother's desire, bestowed 
 the high-priesthood upon INIatthias. Nor was 
 it long before Marcus succeeded Petronius, 
 as president of Syria. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 CONCERNING SILAS, — AND ON WHAT ACCOUNT 
 IT WAS IHAT KING AGRIPPA WAS ANGRY 
 AT HIM. HOW AGRIPPA BEGAN TO ENCOM- 
 PASS JERUSALEM WITH A WALL; AND 
 WHAT BENEFITS HE BESTOWED ON THE 
 INHABITANTS OF BEBYTUS. 
 
 § 1. Now Silas, the general of the king's 
 horse, because he had been faithful to him 
 under all his misfortunes, and had never refused 
 to be a partaker with him in any of his dan- 
 gers, but had oftentimes undergone the most 
 hazardous dangers for him, was full of assu- 
 rance, and thought he might expect a sort of 
 equality with the king, on account of the firm- 
 ness of the friendship he had shown to him. 
 
 Accordingly, he wt>uld nowhere let the king 
 sit as his superior, and took the like liberty 
 in speaking to him upon all occasions, till he 
 became troublesome to the king, when ih'^y 
 were merry together, extolling himself btyond 
 measure, and oft putting the king in mini of 
 the severity of fortune he had undergone, that 
 he might, by way of ostentation, demon- 
 strate what zeal he had shown in his service; 
 and was continually harping upon this string, 
 what pains he had taken for him, and much 
 enlarged still upon that subject. The repe- 
 tition of this so frequently seemed to reproach 
 the king, insomuch that he took this ungo- 
 vernable liberty of talking very ill at his 
 hands. For the commemoration of times, 
 when men have been under ignominy, is 
 by no means agreeable to them; and he is 
 a very silly man, who is perpetually relating 
 to a person what kindness he had done 
 him. At last, therefore, Silas had so tho- 
 roughly provoked the king's indignation, that 
 he acted rather out of passion than good 
 consideration, and did not only turn Silas 
 out of his place, as general of his horse, but 
 sent him in bonds into his own country. 
 But the edge of his anger wore off by length 
 of time, and made room for more just rea- 
 sonings as to his judgment about this man; 
 and he considered how many labours he had 
 undergone for his sake. So when Agrippa 
 was solemnizing his biwh-day, and he gave 
 festival entertainments to all his subjects, 
 he sent for Silas on the sudden to be his 
 guest. But, as he was a very frank man, 
 he thought he had now a just handle given 
 him to be angry; which he could not conceal 
 from those that came for him, but said to 
 them, " What honour is this the king invites 
 me to, which I conclude \rill soon be over? 
 For the king hath not let me keep those oji- 
 ginal marks of the good-will I bore him, 
 which I once had from him; but he hath 
 plundered me, and that unjustly also. Does 
 he think that I can leave off that liberty of 
 speech, which, upon the consciousness of my 
 deserts, I shall use more loudly than before, 
 and shall relate how many misfortunes I have 
 delivered him from? how many labours I 
 have undergone for him, whereby I procured 
 him deliverance and respect? as a reward 
 for which I have borne the hardships of bonds 
 and a dark prison! I shall never forget this 
 usage. Nay, perhaps, my very soul, when it 
 is departed out of the body, will not forget 
 the glorious actions I did on his account." 
 This was the clamour he made; and he 
 ordered the messengers to tell it to the king. 
 So he perceived that Silas was incurable in 
 his folly, and still suffered him to lie in 
 prison. 
 
 2. As for the walls of Jerusalem, that were 
 
 adjoining to the new city [Bezetha], he 
 
 repaired them at the expense of the public, and 
 
 built them wider in breadth and higher in 
 
 *4L 
 
630 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XIX. 
 
 altitude; and he had madei^hem too strong for 
 all human power to demolish, unless Marcus, 
 the then president of Syria, had by letter 
 informed Claudius Caesar of what he was 
 doing. And when Claudius had some suspi- 
 cion of attempts for innovation, he sent to 
 Agrippa to leave off the building of those 
 walls presently. So he obeyed, as not think- 
 ing it proper to contradict Claudius. 
 
 3. Now, this king was by nature very 
 beneficent, and liberal in his gifts, and very 
 ambitious to oblige people with such large do- 
 nations; and he made himself very illustrious 
 by the many chargeable presents he made 
 them. He took delight in giving, and re- 
 joiced in living with good reputation. He 
 was not at all like that Herod who reigned 
 before him; for that Herod was ill-natured, 
 and severe in his punishments, and had no 
 mercy on them that he hated; and every 
 one perceived that he was more friendly to 
 the Greeks than to the Jews; for he adorned 
 foreign cities with large presents in money; 
 with building them baths and theatres besides; 
 nay, in some of those places, he erected tem- 
 ples, and porticoes in others; but he did not 
 vouchsafe to raise one of the least edifices in 
 any Jewish city, or make them any donation 
 that was worth mentioning. But Agrippa's 
 temper was mild, and equally liberal to all 
 men. He was humane to foreigners, and 
 made them sensible^" his liberality. He was 
 in like manner rather of a gentie and compas- 
 sionate temper. Accordingly, he loved to 
 live continually at Jerusalem, and was exactly 
 careful in the observance of the laws of 
 his country. He therefore kept himself en- 
 tirely pure: nor did any day pass over his 
 head without its appointed sacrifice. 
 
 4. However, there was a certain man of the 
 Jewish nation at Jerusalem, who appeared to 
 be very accurate in the knowledge of the 
 law. His name was Simon. This man got 
 together an assembly, while the king was 
 absent at Cesarea, and had the insolence to 
 accuse him as not living holily, and that he 
 might justly be excluded out of the temple, 
 since it belonged only to native Jews. But 
 the general of Agrippa's army informed him, 
 that Simon had made such a speech to the 
 people. So the king sent for him ; and, as he 
 was then sitting in the theatre, he bade him sit 
 down by him, and said to him with a low 
 and gentle voice, — " What is there done in 
 this place that is contrary to the law?" But 
 he had nothing to say for himself, but begged 
 his pardon. So the king was more easily 
 reconciled to him than one could have ima- 
 gined, as esteeming mildness a better quality in 
 a king than anger; and knowing that mode- 
 /ation is more becoming in great men than 
 passion. So he made Simon a small present, 
 and dismissed him. 
 
 A. Now, as Agrippa was a great builder in 
 many places, he paid a peculiar regard to the 
 
 people of Berytus : for he erected a theatre 
 for them, superior to many others of that sort, 
 both in sumptuousness and elegance, as also 
 an amphitheatre, built at vast expenses; and 
 besides these, he built them baths and porti- 
 coes, and spared for ao costs in any of his 
 edifices, to render them both handsome and 
 large. He also spent a great deal upon their 
 dedication, and exhibited shows upon them, 
 and brought thither musicians of all sorts, and 
 such as made the most delightful music of 
 the greatest variety. He also showed his 
 magnificence upon the theatre, in bis great 
 number of gladiators; and there it was that 
 he exhibited the several antagonists, in order 
 to please the spectators; no fewer indeed than 
 seven hundred men to fight with seven hun- 
 dred other men ;* and allotted all the male- 
 factors he had for this exercise, that both the 
 malefactors might receive their punishment, 
 and that this operation of war might be a 
 recreation in peace. And thus were these 
 criminals all destroyed at once^^ 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WHAT OTHER ACTS WERE DONE BY AGRIPPA 
 UNTIL HIS DEATH; AND AFTER WHAT 
 MANNER HE DIED. 
 
 § 1. When Agrippa had finished what I have 
 above related at Berytus, he removed to Ti- 
 berias, a city of Galilee. Now he was in great 
 esteem among other kings. Accordingly, 
 there came to him Antiochus, king of Coai- 
 magena, Sampsigeramus, king of Emesa, and 
 Cotys, who was king of the Lesser Armenia, 
 and Polemo, who was king of Pontus, as 
 also Herod his brother, who was king of 
 Chalcis. All these he treated with agreeable 
 entertainments, and after an obliging manner, 
 and so as to exhibit the greatness of his mind, 
 — and so as to appear worthy of those respects 
 which the kings paid to him, by coming thus 
 to see him. However, while these kings staid 
 with him, Marcus, the president of Syria, 
 came thither. So the king, in order to pre- 
 serve the respect that was due to the Romans, 
 went out of the city to meet him, as far as 
 seven furlongs. But this proved to be the 
 beginning of a difference between him and 
 Marcus; for he took with him in his chariot 
 those other kings as his assessors. But Mar- 
 cus had a suspicion what the meaning could 
 be of so great a friendship of these kings one 
 with another, and did not think so close an 
 agreement of so many potentates to be for the 
 interest of the Romans. He therefore sent 
 some of his domestics to every one of them, 
 and enjoined them to go their ways home t 
 
 • A Ktranf^p number of coudc^miied criminals to bfl 
 under ttciiteiice ol deatb at ooce; no fewer, it Kietnt 
 lliuii 1-UK). 
 
CHAP. VIII, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 531 
 
 without further delay. THis was very ill 
 taken by Agrippa, who after that became his 
 enemy. And now he took the high-priest- 
 bood away from Matthias, and made Elio- 
 Beus, the son of Cantheras, high-priest in his 
 stead. 
 
 2. Now, when Agrippa had reigned three 
 years over ail Judea, he came to the city 
 Cesarea, which was formerly called Strato's 
 Tower; and there he exhibited shows in 
 honour of Cassar, upon his being informed that 
 there was a certain festival celebrated to make 
 vows for his safety. At which festival, a great 
 multitude was gotten tc^ether of the prin- 
 cipal persons, and such as were of dignity 
 through his province. On the second day of 
 which shows he put on a garment made 
 wholly of silver, and of a contexture truly 
 wonderful, and came into the theatre early in 
 the morning; at which time the silver of his 
 garment being illuminated by the fresh reflec- 
 tion of the sun's raya upon it, shone out after a 
 surprising manner, and was so resplendent as 
 to spread a horror over those that looked 
 intently upon him: and presently his flatterers 
 cried out, one from one place, and another 
 from another (though not for his good), that 
 he was a god: and they added, "Be thou 
 merciful to us; for although we have hitherto 
 reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we 
 henceforth own thee as superior to mortal 
 nature." Upon this the king did neither 
 rebuke them, nor rgect their impious flattery. 
 But, as he presently afterwards looked up, he 
 saw an owl* sitting on a certain rope over his 
 head, and immediately understood that this 
 
 • We have a mighty cry made here by some critics, as 
 if the pfreat Eusebius had on purpose fialsified this account 
 of Josephus, so as to make it agree with tlie parallel 
 account in the Acts of the Apostles; because the present 
 copies of his citation of it, Hist. Eccles. b. ii. ch. x. omit 
 the words fitpSSvm — in fxoitiw riwat^ i.e. an owl — on a 
 certain riype, which Josephus's present copies retain, and 
 only have the explicatory word ityytKo», or angel i as if 
 he meant that augel of the Lord which St Luke men- 
 tions as smiting Herod, Acts xii. 23, and not tliat owl 
 which Josephus called an angel or miissesiQer,/ortneriy of 
 ^o'd. but noTV of bad news to Agrippa. 'Ihis accusation 
 Is a somewhat strani^e one iu the case of the great Euse- 
 bius. who is known to have so accurately and faithtully 
 firodwced a vast numberofotlwr ancient records, particu- 
 arly not a few out of our Josephus also, without suspi- 
 cion of prevarication. Now, not to allege how uncertain 
 we are whether Josephus's and Eusebiys's copies of the 
 f.>urth century were just like the present in this clause, 
 which we have no distinct evidence of, the following 
 words, preserved still in Eusebius, will not admit of any 
 euch exposition: "This [bird] (says Eusebius) Aurippa 
 presently perceived to be the cause ot ill fortune, as it was 
 once of good foitune. to him;" which can only belong to 
 that bird, the ottU. which as it had formerly foreboded his 
 liappy deliverance from imprisonment. Ant. b.xviii.c.vi. 
 6 7. so was it thf n foretold to prove afterward the unhappy 
 forerunner of his death in five days' time. If the impro- 
 per words signifying cause, be changed for Josephus's 
 proper word cyy.kDv, amjel or messenger, &i\A tl)e Jore- 
 goiiig words. ^oSiitm — i<r< ^x"'*"*^ r/»«f, be inserted, 
 F.nsehius's text will truly represent that in Josephus 
 Had this iniperfection been in some heathen author that 
 was in good esteem with our modern critics, they would 
 h.ive readily corrected these as barely errorsin the copies; 
 > but being in an ancient Christian writer, not so well re- 
 ii«hed by many of those critics, nothing will .«erve but the 
 ttt'^rouDded sui)po8ai ol tvtljul conupliun and prevari- 
 
 bird was the messenger of ill tidings, as it had 
 once been the messenger of good tidings to 
 him; and fell into the deepest sorrow. A 
 severe pain also arose in his belly, and began 
 in a most violent manner. He therefore looked 
 upon his friends, and said, " I, whom you call 
 a god, am commanded presently to depart this 
 Ufe; while Providence thus reproves the lying 
 words you just now said to me; and I, who 
 was by you called immortal, am immediately 
 to be hurried away by death. But I am boun«l 
 to accept of what Providence allots, as it pleases 
 God; for we have by no means lived ill, but 
 i:i a splendid and happy manner." When he 
 said this, his pain was become violent. Accor- 
 dingly he was carried into the palace; and the 
 rumour went abroad everywhere, that he 
 would certainly die in a little time. But the 
 multitude presently sat in sackcloth, with 
 their wives and children, after the law of their 
 country, and besought God for the king's 
 recovery. All places were also full of mourn- 
 ing and lamentation. Now the king rested in 
 a high chamber, and as he saw them below- 
 lying prostrate on the ground, he could not 
 himself forbear weeping. And when he had 
 been quite worn out by the pain in his belly 
 for five days, he departed this life, being in 
 the fifty-fourth year of his age, and in the 
 seventh year of his reign; for he reigned four 
 years under Caius Caesar, three of them were 
 over Philip's tetrarchy only, and on the fourth 
 he had that of Herod added to it; and he 
 reigned, besides those, three years under the 
 reign of Claudius Csesar: in which time he 
 reigned over the forementioned countries, and 
 also had Judea added to them, as also Samaria 
 and Cesarea. The revenues that he received 
 out of them were very great, no less than 
 twelve millions of drachmae.f Yet did he bor- 
 row great sums from others; for he was so 
 very liberal, that his expenses exceeded his 
 incomes; and his generosity was boundless. J 
 3. But before the multitude were made 
 acquainted with Agrippa's being expired, 
 Herod the king of Chalds, and Helcias the 
 master of his horse, and the king's friend, sent 
 Aristo, one of the king's most faithful 
 servants, and slew Silas, who had been their 
 enemy, as if it had been done by the king's 
 own command. 
 
 + This sum of twelve millions of drachmas, which is 
 equal to three millions of shekels, t.e. at 2s. lOd a shekel, 
 equal to tour liundred and tweoty-flve thousand pounds 
 sterling, was Agrippa the Great's yearly income, or about 
 three quarters of bis grandfather Herod's income, he 
 having abated the tax upon bouses at Jerusalem, cb. vi. 
 sect. 3; and was not so tyrannical as Herod bad been to 
 the Jews See the note on Antiq.b.xvii.ch. xi. sect4 
 A large sum this '. but uot, it seems, sufficient for bis ex» 
 travagant expenses. 
 
 i Keiafld takes notice here, not iioproperly. that Jose- 
 phus omits the reconciliation of this Herod Agrippa, to 
 the I'yrians and Sidonians, by the means of Blastus, the 
 king's chamberlain, mentioned Acts xM. 20. Nor U 
 there any history in the world so complete, as lo omi 
 nothing that other historians take notice of. unless th 
 one be taken out of the other, and accommodated to it. 
 
533 
 
 ANTIQU/TIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XIX, 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 T< :f AT THINGS WERE DONE AFTER THE DEATH 
 
 or agrippa; and how claudlus, on 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE YOUTH AND UNSKILFUL:- 
 NESS OF AGRIPPA, JUNIOR, SENT CUSPIUS 
 FADUS to BE PROCURATOR OF JUDEA, AND 
 OF THE ENTIRE KINGDOM. 
 
 § 1. And thus did king Agrippa depart this 
 
 I 2. Now Agrippa, the son of the deceased, 
 
 I was at Rome, and brought up with Glaudiud 
 
 ' Caesar. And when Caesar was informed that 
 
 Agrippa was dead, and that the inhabitants 
 
 of Sebaste and Cesarea had abused him, he 
 
 was sorry for the first news, and was dis- 
 
 ; pleased with the ingratitude of those cities. 
 
 He was therefore disposed to send Agrippa, 
 
 junior, away presently to succeed his father in. 
 
 the kingdom, and was willing to confirm hinv 
 
 in it by his oath. But those freemen and 
 
 life. But he left behind him a son, Agrippa I fi-iends of his who had the greatest authority 
 by name, a youth in the seventeenth year of' with him, dissuaded him from it, and said 
 
 his age, and three daughters, one of whom, 
 Bernice, was married to Herod, his tkther's 
 brother, and was sixteen years old; the other 
 two, Mariamne and Drusilla, were still virgins; 
 the former was ten years old, and Drusilla 
 six. Now these his daughters were thus 
 espoused by their father; Mariamne to Julius 
 Archelaus Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus, 
 the ;son of Chelcias; and Drusilla to the 
 king of Commagena. But when it was 
 known that Agrippa was departed this life, 
 tlie inhabitants of Cesarea and of Sebaste for- 
 got the kindnesses he had bestowed on them, 
 and acted the part of the bitterest enemies; 
 
 that it was a dangerous experiment to permit 
 so large a kingdom to come under the go- 
 vernment of so very young a man, and one 
 hardly yet arrived at the years of discretion, 
 who would not be able to take suflicient care 
 of its administration; while the weight of a 
 kingdom is heavy enough to a grown man. 
 So Caesar thought what they said to be rea- 
 sonable. — Accordingly, he sent Cuspiiis Fadu» 
 to be procurator of Judea, and of the entire 
 kingdom, and paid that respect to the de- 
 ceased as not to introduce Marcus, who harT 
 been at variance with him, into his kingdoni. 
 But he determined, in the first place, to send 
 
 for they cast such reproaches upon the de- orders to Fadus, that he should chastise the 
 ceased as are not fit to be spoken of: and so inhabitants of Cesarea and Sebaste for those 
 many of them as were then soldiers, which | abusA they had offered to him that was de- 
 were a great number, went to his house, and j ceased, and their madness towards his daugh- 
 hastily carried off the statues* of this king's i ters that were still alive; and that he should 
 daughters, and all at once carried them into -remove that body of soldiers that were at Ce- 
 the brothel-houses, and when they had set sarea and Sebaste, with the five regiments, 
 thenj on the tops of those houses, they abused I into Pontus, that they might do their military 
 them to the utmost of their power, and did [ duty there, and that he should choose an equaf 
 such things to them as are too indecent to be ^ number of soldiers out of the Roman legions 
 
 related. They also laid themselves down in 
 public places, and celebrated general feast- 
 ings, with garlands on their heads, and with 
 ointments and libations to Charon, and drink- 
 ing to one another for joy that the king was 
 expired. Nay, they were not only un- 
 minciful of Agrippa, who had extended his 
 liberality to them in abundance, but of his 
 grandfather Herod also, who had himself re- 
 built their cities, and had raised them havens 
 and temples at vast expenses. 
 
 « Pbotius, who made an extract out of this section, 
 says, tliey were not the jtatues or images, but the ladies 
 th')mM>lves w^o were thus basely abused by the toUuin. 
 
 < \ OOTVITili. 
 
 that were in Syria, to supply their place. 
 Yet were not those that had such orders 
 actually removed; for by sending ambassadors 
 to Claudius, they mollified him, and got 
 leave to abide in Judea still; and these were 
 the very men that became the source of very 
 great calamities to the Jews in after-times, 
 and sowed the seeds of that war which begau 
 under Florus; whence it was that, when Ves- 
 pasian had subdued the country, he removed 
 them out of his province, as we shall relate 
 hereafter.f 
 
 f This hlttorv is now wantiof^ 
 
533 
 
 BOOK XX. 
 
 CONTAININa THE INTERVAL OP TWENTY-TWO YEARS. 
 
 FROM FADUS THE PROCURATOR TO FLORUS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 h XTWri^a OF THE PHILADELPHIANS AGAINST 
 
 viiE jews; and also concerning the 
 
 ^UiilMENTS OF THE HIGH-PRIEST. 
 
 § 1. Upon the death of king Agrippa, whicli 
 we have related in the foregoing book, Clau- 
 dius Cifisar sent Cassius Longinus as succes- 
 sor to Alircus, out of regard to the memory 
 of king Agrippa, who had often desired of 
 him by letters, while he was alive, that he 
 would not suffer Marcus to be any longer 
 president of Syria. But Fadus, as soon as 
 he was come procurator into Judea, found 
 quarrelsome doings between the Jews that 
 dwelt in Perea and the people of Philadel- 
 phia, about their borders, at a village called 
 Mia, that was filled with men of a warlike 
 temper; for the Jews of Perea had taken up 
 arms without the consent of their principal 
 men, and had destroyed many of the Phila- 
 delphians. When Fadus was informed of 
 this procedure, it provoked hia\ very much 
 that they had not left the determination of 
 the matter to him, if they thought that the 
 Philadelphians had done them any wrong, 
 but had rashly taken uj) arms against them. 
 So he seized upon throo of their principal 
 men, who were also the cause of tliis sedi- 
 tion, and ordered them io be bound, and 
 afterward had one of theno dain, whose nam.e 
 was Hannibal; and he btwnshed the other 
 two, Amram and Eleazar; Tholomy also, the 
 arch robber, was, after some tirae, brought to 
 him bound, and slain, but not till he had 
 done a world of mischief to Idumea and the 
 Arabians. And indeed, from that time, Judea 
 was cleared of robberies by the care and 
 providence of Fadus. He also at this time 
 sent for the high-priests and the principal 
 citizens of Jerusalem, and this at the com- 
 mand of the emperor, and admonished them, j 
 that they should lay up the long garment and 
 the sacred vestment, which it is customary 
 for nobody but the high-priest to wear, in the 
 tower of Antonia, that it might be under the 
 power of the Romans, as it had been formerly. 
 Now the Jews durst cot contradict what 
 
 he had said, but desired Fadus, however, 
 and Longinus (which last was come to Jeru- 
 salem, and had brought a great army with 
 him, out of a fear that the [rigid] injunctions 
 of Fadus should force the Jews to rebel), 
 that they might, in the first place, have leave 
 to send ambassadors to Ceesar, to petition 
 him that they might have the holy vestments 
 under their own power; and that, in the next 
 place, they would tarry till they knew what 
 answer Claudius would give to that their 
 request. So they replied, that they would give 
 them leave to send their ambassadors, provided 
 they would give them their sons as pledges 
 [for their peaceable behaviour]. And when 
 they had agreed so to do, and had given them 
 the pledges they desired, the ambassadors were 
 sent accordingly. But when, upon their com- 
 ing to Rome, Agrippa, junior, the son of the 
 deceased, understood the reason why they 
 came (for he dwelt with Claudius Caesar, as 
 we said before), he besought Csesar to grant 
 the Jews their request about the holy vestments, 
 and to send a message to Fadus accordingly. 
 
 2. Hereupon Claudius called for the ambas- 
 sadors, and told them that he granted their 
 request; and bade them to return their thanks 
 to Agrippa for this favour, which had been 
 bestowed on them upon his entreaty. And, 
 besides these answers of his, he sent the fol- 
 lowing letter by them: "Claudius Cajsar, 
 Germanicus, tribune of the people the fifth 
 time, and designed consul the fourth time, 
 and imperator the tenth time, the father ot 
 his country, to the magistrates, senate, and 
 people, and the whole nation of the Jews, 
 sendeth greeting. Upon the presentation of 
 your ambassadors to me by Agrippa my friend, 
 whom I have brought up, and have now with 
 me, and who is a person of very great piety, 
 who are come to give me thanks for the care 
 I have taken of your nation, and to entreat 
 me, in an earnest and obliging manner, that 
 they may have the holy vestments, with the 
 crown belonging to them, under their power, 
 — I grant their request, as that excellent per- 
 son Vitellius, who is very dear to me, had 
 done before me. And I have complied with 
 your desire, in the first place, out of regard 
 
534 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XX, 
 
 to that piety which I profess, and because I 
 would have every one worship God according 
 to the laws of their own country; and this I do 
 also, because I shall hereby highly gratify 
 king Herod and Agrippa, junior, whose sacred 
 regards to me, and earnest good-will to you, 
 I am well acquainted with, and with whom I 
 have the greatest friendship, and whom I 
 highly esteem, and look on as persons of the 
 best character. Now I have written about 
 these affairs to Cuspius Fadus, my procura- 
 tor. The names of those that brought me 
 your letter are Cornelius, the son of Cero, 
 Trypho, the son of Theudio, Dorotheus, the 
 son of Nathaniel, and John, the son of John. 
 This is dated before the fourth of the calends 
 of July, when Rufus and Pompeius Sylvanus 
 are consuls." 
 
 3. Herod also, the brother of the deceased 
 Agrippa, who was then possessed of the royal 
 Buthority over Chalcis, petitioned Claudius 
 Csesar for the authority over the temple, and 
 the money of the sacred treasure, and the 
 choice of the high-priests, and obtained all 
 that he petitioned for. So that after that time 
 this authority continued among all his de- 
 scendants till the end of the war.* Accord- 
 ingly, Herod removed the last high -priest, 
 called Cantheras, and bestowed that dignity 
 on his successor Joseph, the son of Camus. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW HELENA, THE QUEEN OF ADIABENE, AND 
 HKtt SON, IZATES, EMBRACED THE JEWISH 
 RELIGION; AND HOW HELENA SUPPLIED 
 THE POOR WITH CORN, WHEN THERE WAS 
 A GREAT FAMINE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 § 1. About this time it was that Helena, 
 queen of Adiabene, and her son Izates, 
 changed their course of life, and embraced the 
 Jewish customs, and this on the occasion fol- 
 lowing: — Monobazus, the king of Adiabene, 
 who had also the name of Bazeus, fell in love 
 with bis sister Helena, and took her to be his 
 wife, and begat her with child. But as he 
 was in bed with her one night, he laid his 
 hand upon his wife's belly, and fell asleep, 
 and seemed to hear a voice, which bade him 
 take his hand off his wife's belly, and not to 
 hurt the infant that was therein, which, by 
 God's providence, would be safely born, and 
 have a happy end. This voice put him into 
 disorder; so he awaked immediately, and told 
 the story to his wife; and when his son was 
 born, he called him Izates. He had indeed 
 
 • Here is uome error in the copier*, or inixtakes in Jo- 
 ■eplius; fur the power uf appointing hii;h-prie8ts. after 
 Herod, king uf Chaiciit, was dea<l. and A;{rippa, junior, 
 was made king uf Chalcis in his room, heh)nKed to him; 
 and he exercised the same all ulonx till J«iu8alein was 
 destroyed, as Jo^eplms elnewliere Lifonos us, cb. viii. 
 •ect a, Hi cb. ix. sect. I, 4, (i. 7- 
 
 Monobazus, his elder brother, by Helena also, 
 as he had other sons by other wives besides. 
 Yet did hg openly place all his affections on 
 this his only-begotteiif son Izates, which was 
 the origin of that envy which his other bre- 
 thren, by the same father, bore to him ; while, 
 on this account, they hated him more and 
 more, and were all under great affliction that 
 their father should prefer Izates before them 
 all. Now although their father was very sen- 
 sible of these their passions, yet did he forgive 
 them, as not indulging those passions out ol 
 an ill disposition, but out of a desire each of 
 them had to be beloved by their father. How- 
 ever, he sent Izates, with many presents, to 
 Abennerig, the king of Charax-Spasini, and 
 that out of the great dread he was in about 
 him, lest he should come to some misfortune 
 by the hatred his brethren bore hiqj^ and he 
 committed his son's preservation -to him. 
 Upon which, Abennerig gladly received the 
 young man, and had a great affection for him, 
 and married him to his own daughter, whose 
 name was Samacha : he also bestowed a 
 country upon him, from which he received 
 large revenues. 
 
 2. But when Monobazus was grown old, 
 and saw that he had but a little time to live 
 he had a mind to come to the sight of his son 
 before he died. So he sent for him, and em- 
 braced him after the most affectionate man- 
 ner, and bestowed on him the country called 
 Carrae; it was a soil that bare amomum in 
 great plenty: there are also in it the remains 
 of that ark, wherein it is related that Noah 
 escaped the deluge, and where they are still 
 shown to such as are desirous to see them. J 
 Accordingly, Izates abode in that country 
 until his father's death. But the very* day 
 that Monobazus died, queen Helena sent for 
 all the grandees and governors of the king- 
 dom, and for those that had the armies com- 
 mitted to their command; and when they were 
 come, she made the following speech to them: 
 — "I believe you are not unacquainted that 
 my husband was desirous Izates should suc- 
 ceed him in the government, and thought him 
 worthy so to do. However, I wait your de- 
 termination; for happy is he who receives a 
 kingdom, not from a single person only, but 
 from the willing suffrages of a great many." 
 This she said, in order to try those that were 
 invited, and to discover their sentiments. 
 Upon the hearing of which, they first of all 
 paid their homage to the queen, as their 
 custt)m was, and then they said that they con- 
 firmed the king's determination, and would 
 , submit to i£; and they rejoiced that Izates's 
 
 + Josephus here uses the word ,uit0yt*¥i, an only- 
 bei^otten son, for no other than one best-l>eloved, as doi»« 
 both the Old and New Testament; I mean where there 
 were one or more sons besides. <ien. xxii. ii; Heb. xi. I? 
 S«'e the note on b i ch. xiii. sect I. 
 
 J It is here very remarkable, that the remains uf 
 No.ih'n ark were helieveil to he still in heitw in tin- days 
 ul Jwsephus. See the note un b. i. clt. :i, sect. 6 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 635 
 
 father hsid preferred him before the rest of his 
 brethren, as being agreeable to all their \%4shes: 
 but that they were desirous first of all to day 
 bis brethren and kinsmen, that so the govern- 
 ment might come securely to Izates; because 
 Jf they were once destroyed, all that fear 
 iTOuId be over which might arise from their 
 l«nl7iKi and envy to hira. Helena replied to 
 thia, that she returned them her thanks for 
 tbes*" kindness to herself and to leates; but 
 desi'-'ed that they would however defer the exe- 
 CHtiin of this slaughter of Izates's brethren 
 tiCl "le should be there himself, and give hi« 
 app obation to it. So since these men had 
 not prevailed with her when they advised her 
 to jay them, they exhorted her at least to 
 kee;i them in bonds till he should come, and 
 tha'v for their own security; they also gave 
 her counsel to set up some one whom she 
 cou^'d put the greatest trust in, as governor 
 of the kingdom in the mean time. So queen 
 Helena complied with this counsel of theirs, 
 and set up Monobazus, the eldest son, to be 
 kiaj, and put the diadem upon his head, and 
 gav< hits his father's ring, with its signet; as 
 rIsc the ornament which they called Sampser, 
 and exhorted him to administer the aflfairs of 
 the kingdom till his brother should come; 
 who came suddenly upon hearing that his 
 father was dead, and succeeded his brother 
 Monobaxus, who resigned up the government 
 to him. 
 
 3. Now, during the time Izates abode at 
 Charax-Spasini, a certaii^Jewish merchant, 
 whose name was Ananias, got among the 
 women that belonged to the king, and taught 
 them to worship God according to the Jewish 
 religion. He, moreover, by thdr n>eans 
 became known to Izates; and persuaded him, 
 in like mauner, to embrace that religion; he 
 also, at the earnest entreaty of Izates, accom- 
 panied him when he was sent for by his 
 father to come to Adiabene; it also happened 
 that Helena, about the same time, was 
 instructed by a certain other Jew, and went 
 over to them. But, when Izates had taken 
 the kingdom, and was come to Adiabene, and 
 <here saw his brethren and other kinsmen in 
 6Qnds, he was displeased at it; and as he 
 thought it an instance of impiety either .to 
 slay or imprison them, but still thought it a 
 liazardous thing for to let them have their 
 liberty, with the remembrance of the injuries 
 that had been offered them, he sent some of 
 them and their children for hostages to Rome, 
 to Claudius Cajsar, and sent the others to 
 Artabanus, the king of Parthia, with the like 
 intentions. 
 
 4. And when he perceived that his mother 
 was highly pleased with the Jewish customs, 
 he made haste to change, and to embrace them 
 entirely; and as he supposed that he could 
 not be. thoroughly a Jew unless he were cir- 
 ciUDcised, he was ready to have it done. But 
 H'hen his mother understood what he was 
 
 about, she endeavoured to hinder him from 
 doing it, and said to him that this thing would 
 bring him into danger; and that as he was a 
 king, he would thereby bring himself into 
 great odium among his subjects, when they 
 should understand that he was so fond of rites 
 that were to them strange and foreign; ant: 
 that they would never bear to be ruK ; 
 over by a Jew. This it was that she said !■. 
 hijn, and for the present persuaded him t 
 forbear. And when he had related w a. 
 she had said to Ananias, he continued v h-^ 
 his mother had said; and when be had al- 
 threatened to leave him, unless he coumiIu 
 with him, he went away from him; aiid s^r 
 that he was afraid lest such an action tt» i 
 once become public to all, he should him . 
 be in danger of punishment for having h. > 
 the occasion of it, and having been the Kih^ 
 instructor in actions that were of ill reputatiui 
 and he said, that he might worship) God wii 
 out being circumcised, even though he *. 
 resolve to followthe Jewish lawentirely; v. bi( 
 worship of God was of a superior nature -■ 
 circumcision. He added, that God wo'.. 
 forgive him, though he did not perfortn 
 operation, while it was omitted out of lu i 
 sity, and for fear of his subjects. So the ki 
 at that time complied with these persuasii. 
 of Ananias. But afterwards, as he had m 
 quite left off his desire of d<Hng this thing, 
 certain other Jew that came out of Galiiet 
 whose name was Eleazer, and who wa 
 esteemed very skilful in the learning of hi> 
 country, persuaded him to do *the thing; to; 
 as he entered into his palace to caiute hii. 
 and found him reading the law of Moses, L. 
 said to him, " Thou dost not consider, O kiiij. ! 
 that thou unjustly breakest the principal oi 
 those laws, and art injurious to God him^ell. 
 [by omitting to be circumeise<i] ; for thot. 
 oughtest not only to read them, but chieflv u 
 practise what they enjoin thee. How loi.t 
 wilt thou continue uncircumcised? but. 
 thou hast not yet read the law about circu:. 
 cision, and dost not know how great in»pii; 
 thou art guilty of by neglecting it, rea(i i 
 now." When the king had heard what ti 
 said, he delayed the thing no longer, ho 
 retired to another room, and sent for a surge 
 and did what he was commanded to do. 
 then sent for his mother, and Ananias . 
 tutor, and informed them that he had doi 
 the thing; upon which they were presenil, 
 struck with astonishment and fear, and thai 
 to a great degree, lest the thing should In 
 openly discovered and censured, and the km; 
 should hazard the loss of his kingdom, wU.U 
 his subjects would not bear to be governed !>•, 
 a man who was so zealous in another relignui; 
 and lest they should themselves run some 
 hazard, because they would be supposed the 
 occasion of his so doing. But it was God 
 himself who hindered what they feared from 
 taking effect; for he preserved both Izaies 
 
536 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XX, 
 
 himself and his sons when they fell into many 
 dangers, and procured their deliverance when 
 it seemed to be impossible, and demonstrated 
 thereby, that the fruit of piety does not perish 
 as to those that have regard to him, and fix 
 their faith upon him only :* — but these events 
 we shall relate hereafter. 
 
 5. But as to Helena, the king's mother, 
 when she saw that the affairs of Izates's king- 
 dom were in peace, and that her son was a 
 happy man, and admired among all men, and 
 even among foreigners, by the means of God's 
 providence over him, she had a mind to go to 
 the city of Jerusalem, in order to worship at 
 that temple of God which was so very famous 
 among all men, and to offer her thank- 
 offerings there. So she desired her son to 
 give her leave to go thither; upon which he 
 t^dve his consent to what she desired very wil- 
 lingly, and made great preparations for her 
 dismission, and gave her a great deal of money, 
 and she went down to the city Jerusalem, 
 her son conducting her on her journey a 
 great way. Now her coming was of very 
 great advantage to the people of Jerusalem; 
 for whereas a famine did oppress them at that 
 time, and many people died for want of what 
 was necessary to procure food withal, queen 
 Helena sent some of her servants to Alexan- 
 dria with money to buy a great quantity of 
 corn, and others of them to Cyprus, to bring 
 a cargo of dried figs; and as soon as they 
 were come back, and had brought those pro- 
 visions, which was done very quickly, she dis- 
 tributed food £o those that were in want of it, 
 and left a most excellent memorial behind her 
 of this benefaction, which she bestowed on 
 our whole nation; and when her son Izates 
 was informed of this famine, he sent great 
 suras of money to the principal men in Jeru- 
 salem. However, what favours this queen 
 and king conferred upon our city Jerusalem, 
 shall be farther related hereafter.f 
 
 • Josepbos is very full and express in these three 
 chapters (iiuiv.and v.) in observing how carefully Divine 
 Providence preserved this Izates, king of Adiabene, and 
 his sons, while he did what he thought was his bounden 
 diity, notwithstanding^ the strongest political motives to 
 thf» contrary. 
 
 + This farther account of the benefactions of Izates 
 and Helena to the Jerusalem Jews which Josepbus here 
 promises, is, [ think, nowhere performed by him in his 
 present works; butof this terrible famine itself in J udea, 
 take Dr. Hudson's note here: — "This (says he) is that 
 vaiHine foretold by Agabus, Acts xi.28; which liappened 
 when Claudius was consul the fourth time; and not that 
 other which happened when Claudius was consul the 
 second time, and Caesina was his colleague, as Scaliger 
 says upon Eusebius, p. 174." Now, when Josepbus had 
 said a little afterward (c.v.scct.'i ) that "Tiberius Alex- 
 ander succeeded Cuspius Fadus as procurator," he imme- 
 diately subjoins, that "under these procurators there 
 happened a great famine in Judea." Whence it is plain 
 that this famine continued for many years, on account of 
 its duration under those two procurators. Now Fadus 
 was not sent into Judea till after the death of king 
 Ai;rippa, i.e. towaras the latter end of the 4tli year ul 
 Claudius: so that this famine foretold by Agabus. hap- 
 pened upon the 5th, Gth, and 7th years of Claudius, as 
 says Valesius on Fuseb. ii. 12. Of this famine also, and 
 quv.n Helena's su^^tplies, and lier monnroent. see IMoses 
 Cborenensis, p Ifi. Uo; where it is observed in the 
 DotM, that Pauiiaaiai ueutioDS that ber munumvut also. 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 HOW ARTABANUS, THE KING OF PARTHIA, 
 OUT OP FEAR OP THE SECRET CONTRI- 
 VANCES OP HIS SUBJECTS AGAINST HIM, 
 WENT TO IZATES, AND WAS BY HIM RE- 
 INSTATED IN HIS government; AS ALSO 
 HOW BARDANES, HIS SON, DENOUNCED WAR 
 AGAINST IZATES. 
 
 § 1. But now Artabanus, king of the Par- 
 thians, perceiving that the governors of the 
 provinces had framed a plot against him, did 
 not think it safe for him to continue among 
 them ; but resolved to go to Izates, in hopes 
 of finding some way for his preservation by 
 his means, and, if possible, for his return to 
 ms own domimons. So he came to Izates, 
 and brought a thousand cf his kindred and 
 servants with him, and met him upon the 
 road, while he well knew Izates^ but Izates 
 did not know him. When Artabanus stood 
 near him, and in the first place, worshipped 
 nim according to the custom, he then said to 
 nim, "O kingl do not thou overlook nie thy 
 servant, nor do thou proudly reject the suit 
 I make thee; for as I am reduced to a low- 
 estate, by the change of fortune, and of a king 
 am become a private man, I stand in need of 
 thy assistance. Have regard, therefore, unto 
 the uncertainty of fortune, and esteem the 
 care thou shalt take of me to be taken of thy- 
 self also; for if I be neglected, and my sub- 
 jects go off unpunished, many other subjects 
 will become the more insolent towards other 
 kings also." And this speech Artabanus made 
 with tears in his eyes, and with a dejected coun- 
 tenance. Now, as soon as Izates heard Artaba- 
 nus's name, and saw him stand as a supplicant 
 before him, he leaped down from his horse 
 immediately, and said to him, " Take courage, 
 O kingl nor be disturbed at thy present cala- 
 mity, as if it were incurable; for the change 
 of thy sad condition shall be sudden; for thou 
 shalt find me to be more thy friend and thy 
 assistant than thy hopes can promise thee; 
 for I will either re-establish thee in the king- 
 dom of Parthia, or lose my own." 
 
 2. When he had said this, he set Artaba- 
 nus upon his horse, and followed him on 
 foot, in honour of a king whom he owned as 
 greater than himself; — which when Artaba- 
 nus saw, he was very uneasy at it, and swure 
 by his present fortune and honour, that he 
 would get down from his horse, unless Izutes 
 would get upon his horse again and go 
 before him. So he complied with his desire, 
 and leaped upon his horse; and, when h(; had 
 brought him to his royal palace, he showed 
 him all sorts of respect when they sat toge- 
 ther, — and be uave him the upptr place at 
 festivals also, as re^aruitig not his present for- 
 tune, but hi> lormt r tlij;uity; and that UMon 
 this ctMtaidttauoii al»o. that the changes of 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 537 
 
 fortune are common to all men. He qlao 
 wrote to the Parthians, to persuade them to 
 receive Artabanus again; and gave them his 
 right hand and his faith, that he should for- 
 get what was past and done, and that he 
 would undertake for this as a mediator be- 
 tween them. Now the Parthians did not 
 themselves refuse to receive him again, but 
 pleaded that it was not now in their power so 
 to do, because they had committed the govern- 
 ment to another person, who had accepted 
 of it, and whose name was Cinnamus; 
 and that they were afraid lest a civil war 
 should arise on this account. When Cinna- 
 mus understood their intentions, he wrote to 
 Artabanus himself, for he had been brought 
 up by him, and was of a nature good and 
 gentle also, and desired him to put confidence 
 in him, and to come and take his own domi- 
 nions again. Accordingly, Artabanus trusted 
 him, and returned home; when Cinnamus 
 met him, w6rshipped him, and saluted him as 
 a king, and took the diadem off his own head, 
 and put it on the head of Artabanus. 
 
 3. And thus was Artabanus* restored to his 
 kingdom again by the means of Izates, when 
 ne had lost it by the means of the grandees 
 of the kingdom. Nor was he unmindful of tb« 
 benefits he had conferred upon him, but re- 
 warded him with such honours as were of the 
 greatest esteem among them ; for he gave him 
 leave to wear his tiara upright,* and to sleep 
 upon a golden bed, which are privileges and 
 marks of honour peculiar to the kings of 
 Partbia. He also cut off a large and fruitful 
 country from the kingof Armenia, and bestowed 
 it upon him. The name of the country is 
 Nisibis, wherein the Macedonians had formerly 
 built that city which they called Antioch of 
 Mygodonia. And these were the honours that 
 were paid Izates by the king of the Parthians. 
 
 4. But in no long time Artabanus died, 
 and left his kingdom to his sou Bardanes. 
 Now this Bardanes came to Izates, and would 
 have persuaded him to join him with his army, 
 and to assist him in the war he was preparing 
 to make with the Romans; but he could not 
 prevail with him. For Izates so well knew 
 the strength and good fortune of the Romans, 
 that he took Bardanes to attempt what was 
 impossible to be done; and having besides 
 sent his sons, five in number, and they but 
 young also, to learn accurately the language 
 of our nation, together with our learning, as 
 well as he had sent bis mother to worship at 
 our temple, as 1 have said already, aas the 
 more back ward to a compliance; and restrained 
 Bardanes, telling him perpetually of the 
 great armies and famous actions of the Ro- 
 mans, and thought thereby to terrify him, and 
 desired thereby to hinder him from that expe- 
 
 • This privjieee of wearing the tii*r:i upright, or 
 with the lip ol the cone erect, is kiowii to tiAve Inen <•' 
 old peculiar to ^re^it kini;*. from XcnOjii)on and otii r 8 
 as Dr. Uudsuii ui>MrTe8 here. * 
 
 Jition. But the Paithian king was provoked 
 at this his behaviour, and denounced war 
 immediately against Izates. Yet did he gain 
 no advantage by this war, because God cut 
 off all his hopes therein ; for the Parthians, 
 perceiving Bardanes's intention, and how he 
 had determined to make war with the Romans, 
 slew him, and gave his kingdom to his brother 
 Gotarzes. He also, in no long time, perished 
 by a plot made against him, and Vologases, 
 his brother, succeeded him, who committed 
 two of his provinces to two of his brothers 
 by the same father; — that of the Medes to 
 the elder, Pacorus; and Armenia to the 
 younger, Tiridates. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW IZATES WAS BETRAYED BY HIS OWlf 
 SUBJECTS, AND FOUGHT AGAINST BY TEH 
 ARABIANS; AND HOW IZATES, BY THE PRO- 
 VIDENCE OF GOD, WAS DELIVERED OUT OB' 
 THEIR HANDS. 
 
 § 1. Now when the king's brother, Monaba- 
 zus, and his other kindred, saw how Izates, 
 by his piety to God, was become greatly 
 bsteemed by all men, they also had a desire 
 to leave the regions of their country, and to 
 embrace the customs of the Jews; but that 
 act of theirs was discovered by Izates's sub- 
 jects. Whereupon the grandees were much 
 displeased, and could not contain their anger 
 at them, but had an intention, when they 
 should find a proper opportunity, to inflict a 
 punishment upon them. Accordingly, they 
 wrote to Abia, king of the Arabians, and pro- 
 mised him great sums of money, if he would 
 make an expedition against their king: and 
 they farther promised him, that, on the first 
 onset, they would desert their king, because 
 they were desirous to punish him, by reason 
 of the hatred he had to their religious worship ; 
 then they obliged themselves, by oaths, to be 
 faithful to each other, and desired that he 
 would make haste in this design. The king 
 of Arabia complied with their desires, and 
 brought a great army into the field, and 
 marched against Izates; and, in the beginning 
 of the first onset, and before they came to a close 
 fight, those grandees, as if they had a panic 
 terror upon them, all deserted Izates, as they 
 had agreed to do, and, turning their backs 
 upon their enemies, ran away. Yet was not 
 Izates dismayed at this; but when he under- 
 stood that the grandees had betrayed him, he 
 also retired into his camp, and made inquiry 
 into the matter; and as soon as he knew who 
 they were that had made this conspiracy with 
 the king of Arabia, he cut off those that were 
 found guilty; and renewinr; the fight on the- 
 next day, he slew the greatest part of his ene- 
 mies, and forced all the rest ko betake them- 
 
038 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XX. 
 
 selves to flight. He also pursued their king, 
 and drove him into a fortress called Arsamus, 
 and, following on the siege vigorously, he 
 took that fortress. And, when he had plun- 
 dered it of all the prey that was in it, which 
 was not small, he returned to Adiabene; yet 
 did not he take Abia alive; because, when he 
 found himself encompassed upon every side, 
 he slew himself. 
 
 2. But although the grandees of Adiabene 
 had failed in their first attempt, as being 
 delivered up by God into their king's hands, 
 yet would they not even then be quiet, but 
 wrote again to Vologases, who was then king 
 of Parthia, and desired that he would kill 
 Izates, and set over them some other potentate, 
 who should be of a Parthian family; for they 
 said that they hated their own king for abro- 
 gating the laws of their forefathers, and 
 embracing foreign customs. When the king of 
 Parthia heard this, he boldly made war upon 
 Izates; and, as he had no just pretence for 
 this war, he sent to him, and demanded back 
 those honourable privileges which had beea 
 be?to\ved on him by his father, and threatened, 
 on his refusal, to make war upon him. Upon 
 hearing of this, Izates was under no small 
 trouble of mind, as thinking it would be a 
 reproach upon him to appear to resign those 
 privileges that had been bestowed upon him 
 out of cowardice; yet, because he knew, that 
 though the king of Parthia should receive 
 back those honours, yet would he not be quiet, 
 he resolved to commit himself to God, his 
 protector, in the present danger he was in of 
 his life; and as he esteemed him to be his 
 principal assistant, he intrusted his children 
 and his wives to a very strong fortress, and 
 laid up his corn in his citadels, and set the 
 hay and the grass on fire. And when he had 
 thus put things in order, as well as he could, 
 he awaited the coming of the enemy. And 
 when the king of Parthia was come, with a 
 great army of footmen and horsemen, which 
 he did sooner than was expected (for he 
 marched in great haste), and had cast up a 
 bank at the river that parted Adiabene from 
 Media, — Izates also pitched his camp not far 
 off, having with him six thousand horsemen. 
 But there came a messenger to Izates, sent 
 by the king of Parthia, who told him how 
 large his dominions were, as reaching from 
 the river Euphrates to Bactria, and enume- 
 rated that king's subjects: he also threatened 
 bim that he should be punished, as a person 
 ungrateful to his lords; and said that the 
 God whom he worshipped could not deliver 
 him out of the king's bands. When the 
 messenger had delivered this his message, 
 Izates replied, that he knew the king of Par- 
 thia'8 power was much greater than his own; 
 but that he knew also that God was much 
 more powerful than all men. And when be 
 had returned bim this answer, he betook him- 
 »elf to make «upplic}ition to God, and threw 
 
 hiniself on the ground, and put ashes upon 
 his head, in testimony of his confusion, and 
 fasted, together with his wives and children.* 
 Then he called upon God, and said, " O 
 Lord and Governor, if I have not in vain 
 committed myself to thy goodness, but have 
 justly determined that thou only art the Lord 
 and principal of all beings, come now to my 
 assistance, and defend me from my enemies, 
 not only on my own account, but on account 
 of their insolent behaviour with regard to thy 
 power, while they have not feared to lift up 
 their proud and arrogant tongue against thee." 
 Thus did he lament and bemoan himself, with 
 tears in his eyes; whereupon God heard his 
 prayer. And immediately that very night 
 Vologases received letters, the contents ol 
 which were these, that a great band of Daha; 
 and Sacae, despising him, now he was gone 
 so long a journey from home, had made an 
 expedition, and laid Parthia waste ; so that he 
 [was forced to] retiie back, without doing 
 any thing. And thus it was that Izates 
 escaped the threatenings of the Parthians, by 
 
 I the providence of God. 
 
 I 3. It was not long ere Izates died, when 
 he had completed fifty-five years of his lite, 
 
 I and had ruled his kingdom twenty-four years. 
 He left behind him twenty-four sons and 
 twenty-four daughters. However, he gave 
 order that his brother Monobazus should 
 succeed in the government, thereby requiting 
 him, because, while he was himself absent, 
 after their father's death, he had faithfully 
 preserved the government for him. But 
 when Helena, his mother, heard of her son's 
 death, she was in great heaviness, as was but 
 natural, upon her loss of such a most dutilul 
 son; yet was it a comfort to her that she 
 heard the succession came to her eldest son. 
 Accordingly she went to him in haste; and 
 when she was come into Adiabene, she did 
 not long outlive her son Izates. But Mono- 
 bazus sent her bones, as well as those of 
 Izates, his brother, to Jerusalem, and gave 
 order that they should be buried at the pyra- 
 mids f which their mother had erected; they 
 were three in number, and distant no more 
 than three furlongs from the city of Jerusa- 
 lem. But for the actions of Monobazus the 
 king, which he did during the rest of his life, 
 we will relate them hereafter. J 
 
 • This monminc;. and fastinp, and prayinpr, asfd by 
 Izates, with prostration of his body, and ashes upon his 
 head, are plain sijjns that he was become either a Jew, 
 or an Ehionite Christian, who indeed dillered not much 
 from proper Jews. See chap, vi sect. 1. However, his 
 supplications wert heard, and he was providentially 
 delivered from that imminent danger he was in. 
 
 + These pyramids or pillars, erected by Helena, queen 
 of Adiabene, near Jerusalem, three in number, are 
 mentioned by Eusebius, in hisliccl. Hist b. a, ch, l!i, 
 for which Dr. Hudson rrfers us to Valesius's notes upon 
 that place. — They are also mentioned by Pausanias. as 
 hath been already noted, chap ii. sect. 6. Kebnd 
 finesses that that now called Absalom's i'ili •> may be 
 one of them. 
 
 I This account is now wanUng. 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 639 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 CONCERNING THEUDAS AND THE SONS OF 
 JUUAS THE GALILEAN; AS ALSO WHAT 
 CALAMITY FELL UPON THE JEWS ON THE 
 DAY OF THE PASSOVER. 
 
 § 1. Now it came to pass, while Fadus was 
 procurator of Judea, that a certain magician, 
 whose name was Theudas,* persuaded a great 
 part of the people to t^ke their effects with 
 them, and follow him to the river Jordan; 
 for he told them he was a prophet, and that 
 he would, by his own command, divide the 
 river, and afford them an easy passage over 
 it; and many were deluded by his words. 
 However, Fadus did not permit them to make 
 any advantage of his wild attempt, but sent a 
 troop of horsemen out against them; who, 
 falling upon them unexpectedly, slew many 
 of them, and took many of them alive. They 
 also took Theudas alive, and cut off his head, 
 and carried it to Jerusalem. This was what 
 befel the Jews in the time of Cuspius Fadus's 
 government. 
 
 2. Then came Tiberius Alexander as succes- 
 sor to Fadus; he was the son of Alexand«r 
 the alabarch of Alexandria; which Alexander 
 was a principal person among all his contem- 
 poraries, both for his family and wealth: he 
 was also more eminent for his piety than this 
 his son Alexander, for he did not continue in 
 the religion of his country. Under these pro- 
 curators that great famine happened in Judea, 
 in which queen Helena bought corn in Egypt 
 at a great expense, and distributed it to those 
 that were in want, as I have related already; 
 and besides this, the sons of Judas of Galilee 
 were now slain; I mean of that Judas who 
 caused the people to revolt, when Cy renins 
 came to take an account of the estates of the 
 Jews, as we have shown in a foregoing book. 
 The names of those sons were James and 
 Simon, whom Alexander commanded to be 
 crucified; but now Herod, king of Chalcis, 
 removed Joseph, the son of Camydus, from 
 the high- priesthood, and made Ananias, the 
 son of Nebedeus, his successor ; and now it was 
 that Cumanus came as successor to Tiberius 
 Alexander; as also that Herod, brother of 
 Agrippa the great king, departed this life, in 
 the eighth year of the reign of Claudius Ciesar. 
 He left behind him three sons, Aristobulus, 
 whom he had by his first wife, with Bernici- 
 anus and Hyrcanus, both whom he had by 
 Bernice his brother's daughter; but Claudius 
 Caesar bestowed his dominions on Agrippa, 
 junior. 
 
 3. Now, while the Jewish affairs were 
 
 • This Theudas. who arose under Fadus the pr^cura- 
 tor, about a D. id or 46. could ni;t be that Theudas who 
 arose in the days of tiie taxuii;. under Cyrejiins; oi about 
 A. D 7. Acts V. 3 ). 37. Who that earlier Theudas was. 
 se? th*; note ua ^ xvii cb. x sect o. 
 
 under the administration of Cumanus, ^;here 
 happened a great tumult at the city of Jeru- 
 salem, and many of the Jews perished 
 therein ; but I shall first explain the occasion 
 whence it was derived. When that feast 
 which is called the Passover was at hand, at 
 which time our custom is to use unleavened 
 bread, and a great multitude was gathered 
 together from all parts to that feast, Cumanii'* 
 was afraid lest some attempt of innovation 
 should then be made by them ; so he ordered 
 that one regiment of the army should take 
 their arms, and stand in the temple cloisters, 
 to repress any attempts of innovation, if per- 
 chance any such should begin; and this was 
 no more than what tbe former procurators of 
 Judea did at such festivals; but on the fourth 
 day of the feast, a certain soldier let down his 
 breeches, and exposed his privy members to 
 the multitude, which put those that saw him 
 into a furious rage, and made them cry out 
 that this impious action was not done to 
 reproach them, but God himself; nay, some 
 of them reproached Cumanus, and pretended 
 that the soldier was set on by him; which 
 when Cumanus heard, he was also himself not 
 a little provoked at such reproaches laid upon 
 him; yet did he exhort them to leave off such 
 seditious attempts, and not to raise a tumult 
 at the festival; but when he could not induce 
 them to be quiet, for they still went on in 
 their reproaches to him, he gave order that 
 the whole army should take their entire 
 armour, and come to Antonia, which was a 
 fortress, as we have said already, which over- 
 looked the temple; but when the multitude 
 saw the soldiers there, they were affrighted at 
 them, and ran away hastily; but as the pas- 
 sages out were but narrow, and as they 
 thought their enemies followed them, they 
 were crowded together in their flight, and a 
 great number were pressed to death in those 
 narrow passages; nor indeed was the number 
 fewer than twenty thousand that perished in 
 this tumult. So, instead of a festival they 
 had at last a mournful dav of it and they all 
 of them forgot thcT" prayers and sacrifices, 
 and betook themselves to lamentation and 
 weeping; so great an affliction did the impu- 
 dent obsceneness of a single soldier bring upon 
 thera.t 
 
 4. Now before this their first mourning 
 was over, another mischief befel them also; 
 for some of those that raised the foregoing 
 tumult, when they were travelling along the 
 public road, about a hundred furlongs from 
 the city, robbed Stephanus, a servant of 
 Caesar, as he was journeying, and plundered 
 him of all that he had with him ; which things 
 
 + This and many more tumults and seditions, which 
 aro"!e at the Jewish festivals, in Josephus, illustrate th« 
 cautious procedure of the Jewisli governors, when they 
 s.\id. Matt xxvi.o. '• Let us not take Jt-sus on the least- 
 day. lest there be an upm.-ir amonu the people:" a» Re and 
 well observes on this place. Josephns also takes notice 
 of the same thing. Of the War, B. L cli iv. sect 3. 
 
540 
 
 ANTIQUITIES 3F THE JEWS. 
 
 when Cumanus heard of, he sent soldiers im- 
 mediately, and ordered them to plunder the 
 neighbouring villages, and to bring the most 
 eminent persons among them in bonds to 
 him. Now, as this devastation was making, 
 one of the soldiers seized the Laws of Moses, 
 that lay in one of those villages, and brought 
 them out before the eyes of all present, and 
 tore them to pieces ; and this was done with 
 reproachful language, and much scurrility ; 
 which things, when the Jews heard of, they 
 ran together, and that in great numbers, and 
 came down to Cesarea, where Cumanus then 
 was, and besought him that he would avenge, 
 not themselves, but God himself, whose laws 
 had been affronted ; for that they could not 
 bear to live any longer, if the laws of their 
 forefathers must be affronted after this manner. 
 Accordingly, Cumanus, out of fear lest the 
 multitude should go into sedition, and by 
 the advice of his friends also, took care that 
 the soldier who had offered the affront to the 
 laws should be beheaded ; and thereby put a 
 stop to the sedition 'which was ready to be 
 kindled a second time. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW THERE HAPPENED A QUARREL BETWEEN 
 THE JEWS AND THE SAMARITANS; AND 
 HOW CLAUDIUS PUT AN END TO THEIR DIF- 
 FERENCES. 
 
 § 1. Now there arose a quarrel between the 
 Samaritans and the Jews on the occasion fol- 
 lowing : — It was the custom of the Galileans, 
 when they came to the holy city at the festi- 
 vals, to take their journeys through the country 
 of the Samaritans ;* and at this time there lay, 
 in the road they took, a village that was called 
 Ginea, which was situated in the limits of 
 Samaria and the great plain, where certain 
 persons thereto belonging fought with the 
 Galileans, and killed a great many of them ; 
 but when the principal of the Galileans were 
 informed of what had been done, they came to 
 Cumanus, and desired him to avenge the 
 murder of those that were killed ; but he was 
 induced by the Samaritans, with money, to 
 do nothing in the matter; upon which the 
 Galileans were much displeased, and per- 
 suaded the multitude of the Jews to betake 
 themselves to arms, and to regain their 
 liberty, saying, that slavery was in itself a 
 bitter thing, but that, when it was joined with 
 direct injuries, it was perfectly intolerable. 
 And when their principal men endeavoured 
 
 ♦ This constant pansape of the Galilcanfl through the 
 country of Samaria, as they went to Judea and JeruFa- 
 lem, illustrates several passages in the Clospols to the 
 same purpose, as Dr. Hudson rightly ohserres. See 
 Lnke XTil.; John iv. 4. ?ro also .lose) hus in his own 
 Life (sect. 62), when that journey is determined to three 
 iaya. 
 
 to pacify them, and promised to endeavour 
 to persuade Cumanus to avenge those that 
 were killed, they would not hearken to them, 
 but took their weapons, and entreated the 
 assistance of Eleazar, the son of Dineus, a 
 robber, who had many years made his abode 
 in the mountains, with which assistance they 
 plundered many villages of the Samaritans. 
 When Cumanus heard of this actions of theirs, 
 he took the band of Sebaste, with four regi- 
 ments of footmen, and armed the Samaritans, 
 and marched out against the Jews, and caught 
 them, and slew many of them, and took a 
 great number of them alive ; whereupon those 
 that were the most eminent persons at Jeru- 
 salem, and that both in regard to the respect 
 that was paid them, and the families they 
 were of, as soon as they saw to what a height 
 things were gone, put on sackcloth, and heaped 
 ashes upon their heads, and by all possible 
 means besought the seditious, and persuaded 
 them that they would set before their eyes 
 the utter subversion of their country, the con- 
 flagration of their temple, and the slavery of 
 themselves, their wives, and children,f which 
 would be the consequences of what they were 
 doing, and would alter their minds, would 
 cast away their weapons, and for the future 
 iJe quiet, and return to their own homes. 
 These persuasions of theirs prevailed upon 
 them. So the people dispersed themselves, 
 and the robbers went away again to their 
 places of strength; and after this time all 
 Judea was overrun with robberies. 
 
 2; But the principal of the Samaritans 
 went to Ummidius Quadratus, the president 
 of Syria, who at that time was at Tyre, and 
 accused the Jews of setting their villages on 
 fire, and plundering them; and said withal, 
 that they were not so much displeased at whut 
 they had suffered, as they were at the con- 
 tempt thereby shown to the Romans; while. 
 if they had received any injury, they ought to 
 have made them the judges of what had been 
 done, and not presently to make such devasta- 
 tion, as if they had not the Romans for their 
 governors; on which account they came to 
 him, in order to obtain that vengeance they 
 wanted. This was the accusation which the 
 Samaritans brought against the Jews. But 
 the Jews affirmed, that the Samaritans werfe 
 the authors of this tumult and fighting, and 
 that, in the first place, Cumanus had been 
 corrupted by their gifts, and passed over the 
 murder of those that were slain in silence; — 
 which allegations when Quadratus heard, he 
 put off the hearing of the cause, and promised 
 that he would give sentence when he should 
 come into Judea, and should have a more 
 
 * Our Saviour had foretold that the Jews' rejection of 
 his Gospel would bring upon them, among other miseries 
 these three, which they thrmiu'lves here show they ex- 
 pected would be tlii" consequences of.theirpres«-nt tumults 
 and seditions; the tiiter »ubver^ion of thi-ir country, ilie 
 conflagration of tlirir temple, and the sluvery of iheni' 
 ■elves, then wives, and children. .See I-uke xxi. 6 — av. 
 
CHAP. VIT. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THR JEWS. 
 
 ^41 
 
 exact knowledge of the truth of that matter. 
 So these men went away without success. 
 Yet was it not long ere Quadratus came to 
 Samaria; where, upon hearing the cause, he 
 supposed that the Samaritans were the authors 
 of that disturbance. But when he was 
 informed that certain of the Jews were making 
 innovations, he ordered those to be crucified 
 whom Cumanus had taken captives. From 
 whence he came to a certain village called 
 Lydda, which was not less than a city in 
 largeness, and there heard the Samaritan 
 cause a second time before his tribunal, and 
 there learned from a certain Samaritan, that 
 one of the chief of the Jews, whose name was 
 Cortus, and some other innovaters with him, 
 four in number, persuaded the multitude to a 
 revolt from the Romans; whom Quadratus 
 ordered to be put to death: but still he sent 
 away Ananias the high-priest, and Ananus 
 the commander [of the temple], in bonds to 
 Rome, to give an account of what they had 
 done to Claudias Caesar. He also ordered 
 the principal men, both of the Samaritans and 
 of the Jews, as also Cumanus the procurator, 
 and Celer the tribune, to go to Italy to the 
 emperor, that he might hear their cause, and 
 determine their differences one with another. 
 But he came again to the city of Jerusalem, 
 out of his fear that the multitude of the Jews 
 should attempt some innovations; but he 
 found the city in a peaceable state, and cele- 
 brating one of the usual festivals of their 
 country to God. So he believed that they 
 would not attempt any innovations, and left 
 them at the celebration of the festival, and 
 returned to Antioch. 
 
 3. Now Cumanus and the principal of 
 the Samaritans, who were sent to Rome, 
 had a day appointed them by the emperor, 
 whereon they were to have pleaded their cause 
 about the quarrels they had one with another. 
 But now C;esar's freedraen and his friends 
 were very zealous on the behalf of Cumanus 
 and the Samaritans; and they had prevailed 
 over the .Jews, unless Agrippa, junior, who 
 was then at Rome, had seen the principal of 
 the Jews hard set, and had earnestly entreated 
 Agrippina, the emperor's wife, to persuade 
 her husband to hear the cause, so as was 
 agreeable to his justice, and to condemn those 
 to be punished who were really the authors 
 of this revolt from the Roman government: 
 — whereupon Clau<lius was so well disposed 
 beforehand, that when he had heard the cause, 
 and found that the Samaritans had been the 
 ringleaders in those mischievous doings, he 
 gave order that those who came up to him 
 should be slain, and that Cumanus should be 
 banished. He also gave order that Celer the 
 tribune should be carried back to Jerusalem, 
 and should be drawn through the city in the 
 sight of all the people, and then should be 
 ilaia. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FELIX IS MADE PROCURATOtt OF .TUHKa? A^ 
 ALSO CONCERNINO AGRIPPA, JUNIOR, AVO 
 HIS SISTERS. 
 
 § 1. So Claudius sent Felix, the brother vf 
 Pallans, to take care of the affairs of Judi»y ; 
 and, when he had already completed the 
 twelfth year of his reign, he bestowed upon 
 Agrippa the tetrarchy of Philip, and Batanea, 
 and added thereto Trachonitis, with Ab'la; 
 which last had been the tetrarchy of Lysa- 
 nius; but he took from him.Chalcis, when he 
 had been governor thereof four years. And 
 when Agrippa had received these countries as 
 the gift of Caesar, he gave his sister Drusilla 
 in marriap-e to Azizus, king of Emesa, upon 
 his coni^ent to be circumcised; for Epiphanes, 
 the sov of king Antiochus, had refused to 
 marry >v«r, because, after he had promised her 
 father tormerly to come over to the Jewish 
 religion, he would not now perform that pro- 
 mise. He also gave Mariamne in marriage 
 to Archelaus the son of Helcias, to whom 
 she had formerly been betrothed by Agrippa 
 her father; from which marriage was derived 
 a daughter, whose name was Bernice. 
 
 2. But for the marriage of DrusiUa with 
 Azizus, it was in no long time afterward dis- 
 solved, upon the following occasion: — While 
 Felix was procurator of Judea, he saw this 
 Drusilla, and fell in love with her; for she 
 did indeed exceed all other women in beauty; 
 and he sent to her a person whose name was 
 Simon,* one of his friends; a Jew he was, 
 
 * This Simon, a friend of Felix, a Jew, horn in Cyprus, 
 though he pretended to be a magician, and seems to have 
 been wicked enough, could hardly be that famous Simon 
 the magician, in the Acts of the Apostles (viii.9,Scc.";, as 
 some are ready to suppose. The Simon mentioned in the 
 Acts was not properly a Jew. but a Samaritan, of the 
 town of Gittje, in the country of Samaria, as the Aposto- 
 lical C'oiistituiions, vi.7, the Recognitions of Clement, ri. 
 G, and Justin Martyr, himself born in the country of 
 Samaria, Apology, i. 34, inform us. He was also the 
 author, not of any ancient Jewish, but of the first Gentile 
 heresies, as the furementioned authors assure us. So I 
 suppose him a different person from the other. I mean 
 this only upon the In'pothesis that Josephus was not mis- 
 informed as to his being a Cypriot Jew; for otherwise 
 the time, the name, the profession, and the wickec'ness jf 
 them both, would strongly incline one to believe them 
 tlie very same. As to that Drusilla, the sister of Agrippa, 
 junior, as .losephiis informs us here, and a Jewess, as 
 St Luke informs us,Acts xxiv. 2i,whom this Simon men- 
 tioned by Josephus persuaded to leave her former hus- 
 band, Azizus, king of Emesa, a proselyte of justice, and 
 to marry I'elix, the heathen procurator of Judea, Taci- 
 tus (Hist V, 9) suppo.ses her to be a heathen, and the 
 grand-daughter of Anionius and Cleopatra, contrary both 
 to St. Luke and Josephus. Now Taciins lived some- 
 what too remote, botn as to time and place, to be com- 
 pared with either of those Jewish writers, in a matter 
 concerning the Jews in Judea in their own days, and con- 
 cerning a si.ster of Agrippa, junior, with which Agrippa 
 Josephus was himself so well acquainted. It is probable 
 that Tacitus may Siiy true, when he informs us that this 
 Felix (who had m all three wives, or queens, as Sueto- 
 nius in Claudius. 8.^8, assures u.s) did once marry such 
 a grandchild of A ntonius and Cleopatra; and, finding the 
 name of one .>f rl>em to have been Drusilla, he mistook 
 her tor that oth»r w ife, whose name he did not know. 
 
642 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XX. 
 
 end by birth a Oypriot, and one who pre- 
 teiuie<l to be a magu-ian; and endeavoured to 
 persua<te her to forsake her present husband, 
 and uiarry him ; and promised, that if she 
 v\<>uld not refuse him, he would make her a 
 happy woman. Accordingly, she acted ill, 
 uiui bcTituse she was desirous to avoid her 
 si-ti-r iiernice's envy, for she was very ill 
 i . ,ire(i by her on account of her beauty, was 
 J 1. vailed upon to transgress the laws of her 
 t.-reiatiiers, and to marry Felix; and when 
 hi- nad had a son by her, he named him 
 A>jrippa. iiut after what manner that young 
 uiaii, with his wife, perished at the conflagration 
 \ vt the mountain Vesuvius,* in the days of 
 Thus (Jiesar, shall be related hereafter.f 
 
 «i.. lint is for Bernice, she lived a widow a 
 loii;^ vvldle after the death of Herod [king of 
 1 I'.iicisj, who was both her husband and her 
 uncle. But, when the report went that she 
 li.iii criminal conversation with her brother 
 I Airnppa. junior], she persuaded Polemo, who 
 wi,-, king of Cilicia, to be circumcised, and to 
 unity Her, as supposing that, by this means, 
 stie sliouUl prove those calumnies upon her to 
 t»e false; and Polemo was prevailed upon, 
 and tnat chiefly on account of her riches. 
 Yet (iid not this matrimony endure long; but 
 Bernice left Polemo, and, as was said, with 
 im()ure intentions. So he forsook at once this 
 matrimony, and the Jewish religion: and, at 
 the same time, Mariamne put away Arche- 
 laus, and was married to Demetrius, the prin- 
 cipal man among the Alexandrian Jews, both 
 for his family and his wealth; and indeed he 
 was then their alabarch. So she named her 
 son whom she had by him Agrippinus. But 
 of all these particulars we shall hereafter treat 
 more exactly.:}: 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 AFTER WHAT MANNER, UPON THE DEATH 
 OF CLAUDIUS, NERO SUCCEEDED IN THE 
 GOVERNMENT; AS ALSO WHAT BARBAROUS 
 THINGS HE DID. CONCERNING THE ROB- 
 BERS, MURDERERS, AND IMPOSTORS, THAT 
 AROSE WHILE FELIX AND FESTUS WERE 
 PROCURATORS OF JTUDEA. 
 
 § 1. Now Claudius Cjesar died when he bad 
 reigned thirteen years, eight months, and 
 
 • This eruption of Vesuvius was one of the greatest 
 we have ia history 8ee liyanchini's curious and im- 
 portant ob<«ervatiuns on tliis Vesuvius, and Jts iwvfh 
 several f(rcat eruptions, with their rnnains vitrilied, aii<l 
 still existing, in so many dilterc til >trnta under ^romtd. 
 till the di^k-ers came tu the aiitideluvian walrrs. wiiti 
 Ineir proportionable ittlerstiees. iuii'lyiiii; tht- lii'lii'.'«- 
 t> have been above two tli»ii»aii i live liuiidrtil v'-ur^ 
 liol'ore the Christian era, acfoidinj,' to out exiVi.sii 
 Ot>roiioioKy. 
 
 4 Tins is now wnnltn);. 
 
 t litis aisu u nuw Mauling 
 
 twenty days;§ and a report went about that 
 he was poisoned by his wife Agrippina. Her 
 father was Germanicus, the brother of Csesar. 
 Her husband was Domitius ^nobarbus, one 
 of the most illustrious persons that was in the 
 city of Rome; after whose death, and her 
 long continuance in widowhood, Claudius 
 took her to wife. She brought along with 
 her a son, Domitius, of the same name with 
 his father. He had before this slain his wife, 
 Messalina, out of jealousy, by whom he had 
 his children, Britannicus and Octavia; their 
 eldest sister was Antonia, whom he had by 
 Pelina his first wife. He also married Octavia 
 to Nero; for that was the name that Cffisar 
 gave him afterward, upon his adopting him for 
 his son. 
 
 2. But now Agrippina was afraid, lest, 
 when Britannicus should come to man's estate, 
 he should succeed his father in the govern- 
 ment, and desired to seize upon the principa- 
 lity beforehand for her own son [Nero] ; upon 
 which the report went that she thence com- 
 passed the death of Claudius. Accordingly, 
 she sent Burrhus, the general of the army, 
 immediately, and with him the tribunes, and 
 such also of the freedmen as were of the 
 greatest authority, to bring Nero away into 
 the camp, and to salute' him emperor. And 
 when Nero had thus obtained the government, 
 he got Britannicus to be so poisoned, that the 
 multitude should not perceive it; although 
 he publicly put his own mother to death not 
 long afterward, making her this requital, not 
 only for being born of her, but for bringing 
 it so about by her contrivances, that he ob- 
 tained the Roman empire. He also slew 
 Octavia his own wife, and many other illus- 
 trious persons, under this pretence, that they 
 plotted against him. 
 
 3. But I omit any farther discourse' about 
 these affairs; for there have been a great 
 many who have composed the history of Nero; 
 some of whom have departed from the truth 
 of facts, out of "favour, as having received 
 benefits from him ; while others, out of hatred 
 to him, and the great ill-will which they bare 
 him, have so impudently raved against hin. 
 with their lies, that they justly deserved to bt 
 condemned. Nor do 1 wonder at such ai 
 have told lies of Nero, since they have not in 
 their writings preserved the truth of history 
 as to those facts that were earlier than his 
 time, even when the actors could have no way 
 incurred their hatred, since those writers 
 Mved a long time after them; but as to those 
 that have no regard to truth, they may write 
 as they please, — for in that they take delight; 
 but as to ourselves, who hare made truth our 
 direct aim, we shall briefly touch upon what 
 only beltJiigs remotely to this undertaking, 
 
 i This (lur;iti<iii uf tlie r<-itrn of Claudius aureei« witti 
 |)io. as l>r IliidMin li«-re rentar-s; as he aUu le.uarliS 
 I i.«t Nero's iiuirie. which w^iv ut lir^tt I, Dotiiitiiis Ano. 
 Iciriiiix. alter Cluud'us nad adopted him, was Nero C'Uu- 
 cJtus Cicvir DiUMiS Uerii-aiiiciis. 
 
CHAP. VIII, 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 643 
 
 but shall relate what hath happened to us 
 Jews with great accuracy, and shall not grudge 
 our pains in giving an account both of the 
 calamities we have suffered and of the crimes 
 we have been guilty of. — I will now there- 
 fore return to the relation of our own affairs. 
 
 4. For in the first year of the reign of Nero, 
 upon the death of Azizus, king of Eraesa, 
 Soemus,* his brother, succeeded in his king- 
 dom, and Aristobulus, the son of Herod, king 
 of Chalcis, was intrusted by Nero with the 
 government of the Lesser Armenia. Caesar 
 also Bfestowed on Agrippa a certain part of 
 Galilee, Tiberias and Taricheae,t and ordered 
 them to submit to his jurisdiction. He gave 
 him also Julias, a city of Perea, with fourteen 
 villages that lay about it. 
 
 5. Now, as for the affairs of the Jews, they 
 grew worse and worse continually; for the 
 country was again filled with robbers and 
 impostors, who deluded the multitude. Yet 
 did Felix catch and put to death many of those 
 impostors every day, together with the rob- 
 bers. He also caught Eleazar, the son of 
 Dineus, who had gotten together a company 
 of robbers; and this he did by treachery; 
 for he gave him assurance that he should 
 suffer no harm, and thereby persuaded him to 
 come to him; but when he came, he bound 
 him and sent him to Rome. Felix also 
 bore an ill-will to Jonathan, the high-priest, 
 because he frequently gave him admonitions 
 about governing the Jewish affairs better than 
 be did, lest he should himself have complaints 
 made of hira by the multitude, since he it 
 was who had desired Caesar to send him as 
 procurator of Judea. So Felix contrived a 
 method whereby he might get rid of him, 
 now he was become so continually trouble- 
 some to him; for such continual admonitions 
 are grievous to those who are disposed to act 
 unjustly. Wherefore Felix persuaded one of 
 Jonathan's most faithful friends, a citizen of 
 Jerusalem, whose name was Doras, to bring 
 the robbers upon Jonathan, in order to kill 
 him; and this he did by promising to give 
 liiin a great deal of money for so doing. 
 Doras complied with the proposal, and con- 
 trived matters so, that the robbers might 
 murder him after the following manner: — 
 Certain of those robbers went up to the city, 
 as if they were going to worship God, while 
 they had daggers under their garments; and, 
 by thus mingling themselves among the multi- 
 tude, they slew Jonathan; j; and as this murder 
 
 » This Soemus is elsewhere mentioned [by Josephus, 
 in his own Life, sect. 11. as also] by Uio Cassius and 
 Taritus, as l)r Hudson informs us 
 
 + This agrees with Josephus's frequent accounts else- 
 where in his own Life, that Tiberias, and Taricheae, and 
 Gamala. were under this Agrippa, junior, till Justus, the 
 son of Pistus, seized upon theai for tlie Jews, upon the 
 breaking! out of tiie w ir. 
 
 } This treacherous and barharous murder of the good 
 hisjhyriesl Jonathan, by the contrivance of this wicked 
 |'ii;ruiatiir I'eiix, was the immediate i>C(tasion of the 
 et suing raiirders bv ttie twirii or ruffians, and one ifreat 
 cause ui tue I'uilawin: lUiritU ciuelties and tniti«rics of 
 
 was never avenged, the robbers went up with 
 the greatest security at the festivals after this 
 time; and having weapons concealed in like 
 manner as before, and mingling themselves 
 among the multitude, they slew certain of their 
 own enemies, and weresubservienttoother men 
 for money; and slew others not only in remote 
 parts of the city, but in the temple itself also ; 
 for they had the boldness to murder men there, 
 without thinking of the impiety of which they 
 were guilty. And this seems to me to have 
 been the reason why God, out of his hatred to 
 these men's wickedness, rejected our city; and 
 as for the temple, he no longer esteemed it 
 sufficiently pure for him to inhabit therein, but 
 brought the Romans upon us, and threw a fire 
 upon the city to purge it; and brought upon 
 us, our wives, and children, slavery, — as desi- 
 rous to make us wiser by our calamities. 
 
 6. These works, that were done by the rob- 
 bers, filled the city with all sorts of impiety. 
 And now these impostors and deceivers j] 
 persuaded the multitude to follow them 
 into the wilderness, and pretended that they 
 would exhibit manifest wonders and signs, 
 that should be performed by the providence 
 of God. And many that were prevailed on 
 by them suffered the punishments of their 
 
 the Jewish nation, as Josephus here supposes; whose 
 excellent reflection on the gross wickedness of that nation, 
 as the direct cause of their terrible destruction, is well 
 worthy the attention of every Jewish and Christian 
 reader. And, since we are soon coming to the cata- 
 logue of Jewish high-priests, it may not be amiss, with 
 Reiand, to insert this Jonathan among them; and to 
 transcribe his particular catalogue of the last twenty- 
 eight high-priests, taken out of Josephus, and begin with 
 Ananelus, who was made by Herod the Great Sc« 
 Antiq. b. xv. ch. IL sect 4, and the note there. 
 
 1. Ananelus. 
 
 2. Aristobulus. 
 
 3. Jesus, the son of Fahus. 
 
 4. Simon, the son of Boethns. 
 
 6. Matthias, the son of I'heophilus. 
 
 6. Joazar, the son of Boethus. 
 
 7. Eleazar, the son of Boethus. 
 H. Jesus, the son of Sie. 
 
 9. [Annas, or] Ananus, the son of Seth. 
 
 10. Ismael, the son of Fahus. 
 
 11. Kleazar, the son of Ananus. 
 I'i. Simon, the son of Camitlms. 
 
 13. Josephus Caiaphas, the son-in-law to Ananus. 
 
 14. Jonathan, the son of Ananus. 
 
 1.5. Theophilus, his brother, and son of Ananus. 
 
 16. ^>imon, the son of Boethus. 
 
 17. Matthias, the brother of Jonathan, and son of Ananus. 
 
 18. Aljoneus. 
 
 19. Josephus, the son of Camydus. 
 -^0. Ananias, the son of Mebedsus. 
 21. Junatiias. 
 
 ■2-2. Ismael. the son of Fabi. 
 
 23. Joseph Cabi, tl)e son of Simon. 
 
 24. Ananus, the son of Ananus. 
 2->. Jesus, the son of Damneus. 
 
 26. Jesus, the son of (Gamaliel. 
 
 27. Matthias, the son of Ttieophilus. 
 
 28. Phannias. the son of Samuel, 
 
 As for Ananus and Joseph Caiaphas, here mentioned 
 about the middle of this catalogue, they are no other than 
 those Annas and Caiaphas so otten mentioned in the Four 
 Gospels; and that .Ananias, the son of Nebedeus, was 
 that high-priast before whom St. Paul pleaded his owo 
 cause. Actit xxiv. 
 
 II «)f these Jewish impostors and false prophets, with 
 many other ci:cumstances and miseries of the Jews, till 
 their utter destruction, foretold by our Saviour, set lit. 
 Accompl. of Prupb. p. .i5 — 7o. 
 
544 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XX. 
 
 folly; for Felix brought them back, and then 
 punished them. Moreover, there came out 
 of Egypt * about this time to Jerusalem, one 
 that said he was a prophet, and advised the 
 iiiuititude of ttie common people to go along 
 with him to the» Mount of Olives, as it was 
 called, which lay over against the city, and at 
 the distance of five furlongs. He said far- 
 ther, that he would show them from hence, 
 how, at his command, the walls of Jerusalem 
 would fall dowTi; and he promised them that 
 be would procure them an entrance into the 
 city through those walls, when they were 
 fallen down. Now when Felix was informed 
 of these things, he ordered his soldiers to take 
 their weapons, and came against them with a 
 great number of horsemen and footmen, from 
 Jerusalem, and attacked the Egyptian and 
 the people that were with him. He also slew 
 four hundred of them, and took two hundred 
 alive. But the Egyptian himself escaped out 
 of the fight, but did not appear any more. 
 And again the robbers stirred up the people 
 to make war with the Romans, and said they 
 ought not to obey them at all; and when any 
 persons would not comply with them, they 
 set fire to their villages, and plundered them. 
 7. And now it was that a great sedition 
 arose between the Jews that inhabited Cesarea, 
 and the Syrians who dwelt there also, con- 
 cerning their equal right to the privileges bo- 
 longing to citizens; for the Jews claimed the 
 pre-eminence, because Herod their king was 
 the builder of Cesarea, and because he was 
 by birth a. Jew. Now the Syrians did not 
 deny what was alleged about Herod; but 
 they said that Cesarea was formerly called 
 Strato's Tower, and that then there was not 
 one Jewish inhabitant. When the presidents 
 of that country heard of these disorders, they 
 caught the authors of them on both sides, and. 
 tormented them with stripes, and by that means 
 put a stop to the disturbance for a time. But 
 the Jewish citizens depending on their wealth, 
 and on that account despising the Syrians, re- 
 proached them again, and hoped to provoke 
 them by such reproaches. However, the Syri- 
 ans, though they were inferior in wealth, yet 
 valuing themselves highly on this account, that 
 the greatest part of the Roman soldiers that 
 were there, were either of Cesarea or Sebaste, 
 they also for some time used reproachful lan- 
 guage to the Jews also; and thus it was, till 
 at length they came to throwing stones at 
 one another; and several were wounded, and 
 fell on both sides, though still the Jews were 
 the conquerors. But when Felix saw that this 
 quarrel was become a kind of war, he came 
 upon them on the sudden, and desired the 
 Jews to desist; and when they refused so to 
 do, he armed his soldiers, and sent them out 
 upon them, and slew many of them, and took 
 more of them alive, and permitted his soldiers 
 
 • Of tbis Hiffyptian impostor, and the number of bis 
 foHowwa^ in Josephus, see Acts xxi. Jd. 
 
 to plunder some of the houses of the citizens, 
 which were full of riches. Now those Jews 
 that were more moderate, and of principal 
 dignity among them, were afraid of them- 
 selves, and desired of Felix that he would 
 sound a retreat to his soldiers, and spare them 
 for the future, and afford them room for re- 
 pentance for what they had done; and Felix 
 was prevailed upon to do so. 
 
 8. About this time king Agrippa gave the 
 high-priesthood to Ismael, who was the son 
 of Fabi. And now arose a sedition between 
 the high-priests and the principal men*of the 
 multitude of Jerusalem ; each of whom got 
 them a company of the boldest sort of men, 
 and of those that loved innovations, about 
 them, and became leaders to them; and when 
 they struggled together, they did it by casting 
 reproachful words against one another, and 
 by throwing stones also. And there was 
 nobody to reprove them; but these disorders 
 were done after a licentious manner in the 
 city, as if it had no government over it. And 
 such was the impudence f and boldness that 
 had seized on the high-priests, that they had 
 the hardiness to send their servants into the 
 thrashing-floors, to take away those tithes that 
 were due to the priests, insomuch that it so fell 
 out that the poorer sort of the priests died for 
 want. To this degree did the violence of the 
 seditious prevail over all right and justice. 
 
 9. Now, when Porcius Festus was sent as 
 
 I successor to Felix by Nero, the principal of 
 I the Jewish inhabitants of Cesarea went up to 
 I Rome to accuse Felix; and he had certainly 
 been brought to punishment, unless Nero had 
 yielded to the importunate solicitations of his 
 brother Pallas, who was at that time had in 
 the greatest honour by him. Two of the 
 principal Syrians in Cesarea persuaded Burr- 
 hus, who was Nero's tutor, and secretary for 
 his Greek epistles, by giving him a great sum 
 of money, to disannul that equality of the 
 Jewish privileges of citizens which they hither- 
 to enjoyed. So Burrhus, by his solicitations, 
 obtained leave of the emperor, that an epistle 
 should be written to that purpose. This 
 epistle became the occasion of the following 
 miseries that befel our nation ; for, when the 
 Jews of Cesarea were informed of the contents 
 of this epistle to the Syrians, they were more 
 disorderly than before, till a war was kindled: 
 
 10. Upon Festus's coming into Judea, it 
 happened that Judea was afflicted by the rob- 
 bers, while all the villages were set on fire, 
 and plundered by them. And then it was 
 that the sicariiy as they were called, who were 
 rt)bbers, grew numerous. They made use of 
 suiall swords, not much different in length 
 from the Persian acinaca, but somewhat 
 
 + The wickedness here was very peculiar and extra- 
 ordinary, that the hi^h- priests should so oppress their 
 brethren the priests, as to starve the poorest of them to 
 (leatli, See the like presently, ch ix. sect. i. iSucb 
 fatal crimes ate rovetoiisness and tyranny m the oler^ 
 as well as in the laity, in al' agei. J 
 
 I 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 545 
 
 crookgd, and like the Roman siccB [or sickles], 
 as they were called; and from these weapons 
 these robbers got their denomination; and 
 with these weapons they slew a great many; 
 for they mingled themselves among the multi- 
 tude at their festivals, when they were come up 
 in crowds from all parts to the city to worship 
 God, as we said before, and easily slew those 
 that they had a mind to slay. They also came 
 frequently upon the villages belonging to their 
 enemies, with their weapons, and plundered 
 them, syid set them on fire. So Festus sent 
 forces, both horsemen and footmen, to fall 
 upon those that had been seduced by a ceftain 
 impostor, who promised them deliverance and 
 freedom from the miseries they were under, 
 if they would but follow him as far as the 
 wilderness. Accordingly, those forces that 
 were sent destroyed both him that had deluded 
 them, and those that were his followers also. 
 11. About the same time king Agrippa 
 built himself a very large dining-room in the 
 royal palace at Jerusalem, near to the portico. 
 Now this palace had been erected of old by 
 the children of Asamoneus, and was situate 
 upon an elevation, and afforded a most de- 
 lightful prospect to those that had a mind to 
 take a view of the city, which prospect was 
 desired by the king; and there he could lie 
 down, and eat, and thence observed what was 
 done in the temple: which thing, when the 
 chief men of Jerusalem saw, they were very 
 much displeased at it; for it was not agree- 
 able to the institutions of our country or law 
 that what was done in the temple should be 
 viewed by others, especially what belonged to 
 the sacrifices. They therefore erected a wall 
 upon the uppermost building which belonged 
 to the inner court of the temple towards the 
 west ; which wall, when it was built, did not 
 only intercept the prospect of the dining-room 
 in the palace, but also of the western cloisters 
 that belonged to the outer court of the tem- 
 ple also, where it was that the Romans kept 
 guards for the temple at the festivals. At 
 these doings, both king Agrippa, and princi- 
 pally Festus the procurator, were much dis- 
 pleased; and Festus ordered them to pull the 
 wall down again : but the Jews petitioned 
 him to give them leave to send an embassage 
 about this matter to Nero; for they said they 
 could not endure to live if any part of the 
 temple should be demolished; and when Fes- 
 tus had given them leave so to do, they sent 
 ten of their principal men to Nero, as also 
 Ismael the high-priest, and Helcias, the keeper 
 of the sacred treasure. And when Nero had 
 heard what they had to say, he not only for- 
 gave * them what they had already done, but 
 
 ♦ We have !iere one eminent example of Nero's 
 inildne,ss and goodness in bis j^overnment towards the 
 JcK» aiiring the first five years of his reii^n, so tamoiis 
 ;n antiquity; we have perhaps another in Josephiis's 
 own Life, sect 3; and a third, though of a very ditfe- 
 rtnt nature, heie in sect 9, just bftonf. However, bo>h 
 tbe generous acts of kindness were obtained of Nero by 
 
 also gave them leave to let the wall they had 
 built stand. This was granted them in order 
 to gratify Poppea, Nero's wife, who was a 
 religious woman and had requested thes'- 
 favours of Nero, and who gave order to the. 
 ten ambassadors to go their way home; but 
 retained Helcias and Ismael as hostages with 
 herself. As soon as the king heard this news, 
 he gave the high-priesthood to Joseph, who 
 was called Cabi, the son of Simon, formerly 
 high-priest. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CONCERNING ALBINUS, UNDER WHOSE PRO- 
 CURATORSHIP JAMES WAS SLAIN; AS ALSO 
 WHAT EDIFICES WERE BUILT BY AGRIPPA. 
 
 § 1. And now Caesar, upon hearing tbe d.eath 
 of Festus, sent Albinus into Judea, as procu- 
 rator; but the king deprived Joseph of the- 
 high-priesthood, and bestowed the succession 
 to that dignity on the son of Ananus, who 
 was also himself called Ananus. Now the 
 report goes, that this elder Ananus proved a 
 most fortunate man; for he had five sons who 
 had all performed the office of a high -priest 
 to God, and he had himself enjoyed that dig- 
 -lity a long time formerly, which had never 
 happened to any other of our high-priests, 
 but this younger Ananus, who, as we have 
 told you already, took the high-priesthood, 
 was a bold man in his temper, and very inso- 
 lent; he was also of the sect of the Sad- 
 ducees,f vr^o are very rigid in judging 
 offenders, above all the rest of the Jews, as 
 we have already observed; when, therefore, 
 Ananus was of this disposition, he thought he 
 had now a proper opportunity [to exercise 
 his authority]. Festus was now dead, and 
 Albinus was but upon the road; so he assem- 
 bled the sanhedrim of judges, and brought 
 before them the brother of Jesus,^^who was 
 called Christ," whose name was James, and 
 some others [or some of his companions]; 
 and when he had formed an accusation against 
 them as breakers of the law, he delivered 
 them to be stoned: but as for those who 
 seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and. 
 such as were the most uneasy at the breach of 
 the laws, they disliked what was done; they 
 also sent to the king [Agrippa], desiring him 
 to send to Ananus that he should act so no 
 more, for that what he had already done was 
 not to be justified: nay, some of them went 
 
 his queen Poppea, who was a religious lady, and per- 
 haps privately a Jewish proselyte, and so" were nol 
 owinn entirely to Nero's own goodness. 
 
 + It hence evidently appears that Sadducees might bo 
 hii{h-priests in the days of Josephus, and that these Sad- 
 ducees were usually very severe and inexorable judges, 
 while the Pharisees were -nuch milder, and more mer- 
 ciful, as appears by Keland's instances in his note ou 
 this place, and on Josephus's Life, sect. 34, and thos3 
 taken from the New Testament, from Josephus himselC 
 and iroin the .rabbins; nor do we meet with any Sad- 
 ducet.'» later than this hii;h-priest in all Josephus 
 
 2M 
 
546 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK XX., 
 
 also to meet Albinus, as he was upon his 
 journey from Alexandria, and informed him 
 that it was not lawful for Ananus to assemble 
 a sanhedrim without his consent:* — where- 
 upon Albinus complied with what they said, 
 and wrote in anger to AnanuSj^anfl threatened 
 that he would bring him to punishment for 
 what he had done; on which king Agrippa 
 took the high-priesthood from ^im, when he 
 had ruled but three months, and made Jesus, 
 the son of Damneus, high-priest. 
 
 2. Now, as soon as Albinus was come to 
 the city of Jerusalem, he used all his endea- 
 vours and care that the country might be 
 kept in peace, and this by destroying many 
 of the sicarii; but as for the high-priest Ana- 
 nias,! ^e increased in glory every day, and 
 this to a grpat degree, and had obtained the 
 favour and esteem of the citizens in a signal 
 manner; for he was a great hoarder up of 
 money: he therefore cultivated the friendship 
 of Albinus, and of the high-priest [Jesus], by 
 making them presents; he also had servants 
 who were very wicked, who joined themselves 
 to the boldest sort of the people, and went to 
 the thrashing-floors, and took away the tithes 
 that belonged to the priests by violence, and 
 did not refrain from beating such as would 
 not give these tithes to them. So the other 
 high-priests acted in the like manner, as did 
 those his servants, without any one being able 
 to prohibit them; so that [some of the] priests, 
 that of old were wont to be supported with 
 those tithes, died for want of food. 
 
 3. But now the sicarii went into the city by 
 night, just before the festival, which was now 
 at hand, and took the scribe belonging to the 
 governor of the temple, whose name was 
 Eleazar, who was the son of Ananus (Ananias) 
 the high-priest, and bound him, and carried 
 him away with them; after which they sent 
 to Ananias, and said that they would send the 
 scribe to him, if he would persuade Albinus 
 to release ten of those prisoners which he had 
 
 * Of this condemnation of James the Just, and its 
 causes, as also that he did not die till lun^ afterwards, 
 see Prim. Christ. Revived, vol. iii. eh. 43 — 46- 'J he san- 
 hedrioi condemned our Saviour, but could not put him 
 to death without the approbation of the Roman procura- 
 tor: nor could therefore Ananas and his sanhedrim do 
 more here, since they never had Albiuus's approbation 
 fur the putting this James to death. 
 
 ■f i'liis Ananias was not the son of Nebedeus. as I take 
 it, but he who was called Annas or Atinanus the KIder, the 
 9th in the catalo};ue, and who had been esteemed high- 
 
 f)rie8t for a long time; and besides, Caiaphas hisson-in- 
 aw had tive of his own sons hi^h-prilsts alter him, who 
 were those of numbers II, 14, lo, 17, Ui. in the foregoii))^ 
 :;aialo);ue. Nor ought we to pass slightly over what 
 Ju»e|)hu8 here says of this Annas or Anai.ias, that he 
 was high-priest a long time before his children were so; 
 he was the sun of ^elh, and is set down first for iiiKh- 
 priest in the forritoing catalogue under number 9. He 
 was made by Uuirinus, aud continued till lamael, the 
 loth in number, for about twenty-three years; which 
 luntf duration of his hiKh-prifSlhoud, joined to the sue- 
 crsnioiis of bis suu-in-law, and live children of hii own. 
 made bim a sort of perpetual higli-pneht, a4id was pei- 
 Iktiis ihc occasion ibat lurnier hitili-prieiiiB kept tlieii 
 lilies ever aUerwanls; for I believe it is hardly met witii 
 bttton huu. 
 
 caught of their party; so Ananias was plainly 
 forced to persuade Albintis, and gained his 
 request of him. This was the beginning of 
 greater calamities; for the robbers perpetually 
 contrived to catch some of Ananias's servants; 
 and when they had taken them alive, they 
 would not let them go till they thereby reco- 
 vered some of their own sicoru; and as they were 
 again become no small number, they grew bold, 
 and were a great affliction to the whole country. 
 
 4. About this time it was that Agrippa built 
 Cesarea Philippi larger than it was before, 
 and, in honour of Nero, named it Neronias; 
 and when he had built a theatre at Berytus 
 with vast expenses, he bestowed on them 
 shows, to be exhibited every year, and spent 
 therein many ten thousand [drachmae] ; he also 
 gave the people a largess of corn, and distri- 
 buted oil among them, and adorned the entire 
 city with statues of his own donation, and 
 with original images made by ancient hands; 
 nay, he almost transferred all that was most 
 ornamental in his own kingdom thither. This 
 made him more than ordinarily hated by his 
 subjects; because he took those things away 
 that belonged to them, to adorn a foreign city ; 
 and now Jesus, the son of Gamaliel, became 
 the successor of Jesus, the son of Damneus, 
 in the high-priesthood, which the king had 
 taken from the other; on which account a 
 sedition arose between the high-priests, with 
 regard to one another; for they got together 
 bodies of the boldest sort of the people, and 
 frequently came, from reproaches, to throwing 
 of stones at each other; but Ananias was too 
 hard for the rest, by his riches, — which ena- 
 bled him to gain those that were most rea(iy 
 to receive. Costobarus also, and Saulus, did 
 themselves get together a multitude of wicked 
 wretches, and^this because they were of the 
 royal family; and so they obtained favour 
 among them, because of their kindred to 
 Agrippa: but still they used violence with the 
 people,and were very ready to plunder those that 
 were weaker than themselves. And from lliat 
 time it principally came to pass, that our city 
 was greatly disordered, and that all things 
 grew worse and worse among us. 
 
 5. But when Albiims heard that Gessius 
 Florus was coming to succeed him, he was 
 desirous to appear to do somewhat that might 
 be grateful to the people of Jerusalem; so he 
 brought out all those prisoners who seemed 
 to him to be the most plainly worthy of death, 
 and ordered them to be put to death accord- 
 ingly. But as to those who had been put into 
 prison on some trifling occasion, he took money 
 of them, and dismissed them; by which means 
 the prisons were indeed emptied, but the 
 country was filled with robbers. 
 
 6. Now, as many of the Lovites,* which is 
 a tribe of ours, as were singers of bymJis, 
 
 • this iiiS)'fi t pe-tition ol H*»me ol the Invites, to 
 Mvai Ide .^acftduiat ^ariufiitn When iiii) sung h>mii^ li 
 
CHAP.rfC. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 647 
 
 persuaded the king to assemble a sanhedrim, 
 and to give them leave to wear linen garujents, 
 as well as the priests; for they said that this 
 would be a work worthy the times ol his 
 gove'iimeiit, that he might have a memorial of 
 siu'h a novelty, as being his doing. Nor did 
 >.hey fail of obtaining their desire; for the 
 king, with the suffrages of those that came 
 into the sanhedrim, granted the singers of 
 hymns this privilege, that they might lay 
 uside their former garments, and wear such a 
 linen one as they desired; and as a part of 
 this tribe ministered in the temple, he also 
 permitted them to learn those hymns as they 
 had besought him for. Now all this was 
 contrary to the laws of our country, which, 
 whenever they have been transgressed, we 
 have never been able to avoid the punishment 
 of such transgressions. 
 
 7. And now it was that the temple was 
 finished.* So, when the people saw that the 
 workmen were unemployed, who were above 
 eighteen thousand, and that they, receiving 
 no wages, were in want, because they had 
 earned their bread by their labours about the 
 temple ; and while they were unwilling to 
 keep them by their treasuries that were there 
 deposited, out of fear of [their being carried 
 awiiy by] the Romans; and while they had 
 a regard to the making provision for the 
 workmen, they had a mind to expend those 
 treasures upon them; for if any one of them 
 did but labour for a single hour, he received 
 his pay immediately; so they persuaded him 
 to rebuild the eastern cloisters. These clois- 
 ters belonged to the outer court, and were 
 situated in a deep valley, and had walls that 
 reached four hundred cubits [in lengtli], and 
 were built of srjuare and very white^ stones, 
 the length of each of which stones was twenty 
 cubits, and their height six cubits. This was 
 the work of king Solomon, f who first of all 
 built the entire temple. But king Agrippa, 
 who had the care of the temple committed to 
 him by Claudius Caesar, considering that it 
 is easy to demolish any building, but hard to 
 build it up again, and that it was particularly 
 hard to do it to those cloisters, which would 
 require a considerable time, and great sums 
 of money, he denied the petitioners their 
 request about that matter; but he did not 
 obstruct them when they desired the city might 
 be paved with white stone. He also deprived 
 Jesus, the son of Gamaliel, of the high-priest- 
 hood, and gave it to Mattnias, the son of 
 Theopbilus, under whom the Jews' war with 
 the Iloraans took its beginning. 
 
 God in the temple, was very probably owin^ to the 
 great ilepressiun aad contempt tlie haughty hi^b-priests 
 liart now brought their brethren the priests into; of 
 which see cb. viii sect. 8; and cti. ix. sect i 
 
 * Of this iinishint;. not ui the N'aa;, <»r holy hmtse. 
 but of the it^of, or courts about it, called in ijeneral the 
 temple, see t le note on b. xvii. en. x. sect. i. 
 
 + '(f these <l .i>ters ot Solomon, st-e the dertcriptioii 
 ol the tenipie. ch. xiL— I'hey ^4eem. by Jw>epiiuVs words. 
 to hav« ueen built iruni toe hutimu ol the vn Vy. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 AN ENUMERATION OF THE HIGH-PRIESTS. 
 
 § 1. And now I think it proper, and agree- 
 able to this history, to give an account of our 
 high-priests; how they began, who those are 
 which are capable of that dignity, and how 
 many of them there had been at the end of 
 the war. In the first place, therefore, history 
 informs us that Aaron, the brother of Moses, 
 orticiated to iGod as a high- priest; and that, 
 after his death, his sons succeeded him imme- 
 diately; and that this dignity hath been con- 
 tinued down from them all to their posterity. 
 Whence it is a custom of our country, that 
 no one should take the high -priesthood of 
 God, but he who is of the blood of Aaron, 
 while every one that is of another stock, 
 though he were a king, can never obtain that 
 high-priesthood. Accordingly, the number of 
 all the high-priests from Aaron, of whom we 
 have spoken already as of the first of them, 
 until Phanas, who was made high-priest during 
 the war by the seditious, was eighty - three ; 
 of whom thirteen officiated as high-priests in 
 the wilderness, from the days of Moses, while 
 the tabernacle was standing, until the people 
 came into Judea, when king Solomon erected 
 the temple of God; for at first they held 
 the high-priesthood till the end of their life, 
 although afterward they had successors while 
 they were alive. Now these thirteen, who 
 were the descendants of two of the sons of 
 Aaron, received this dignity by succession, 
 one after another; for their form of govern- 
 ment was an aristocracy, and after that a mon- 
 archy, and, in the third place, the government 
 was regal. Now, the number of years during 
 the rule of these thirteen, from the day 
 when our fathers departed out of Egypt, 
 under Moses their leader, until the building of 
 that temple which king Solomon erected at 
 Jerusalem, were six hundred and twelve. 
 After those thirteen high -priests, eighteen 
 took the high-priesthood at Jerusalem, one in 
 succession to another, from the days of king 
 Solomon until Nebuchadnezzar, king of Baby- 
 lon, made an expedition against that ciry, 
 and burnt the temple, and removed our nation 
 into Babylon, and then took Josadek, the 
 high-priest, captive; the times of these high- 
 priests were four hundred and sixty-six years, 
 six months, and ten days, while the Jews were 
 still under the refal government. But after 
 the term of seventy years' captivity under the 
 Babylonians, Cyrus, king of Persia, sent the 
 Jews from Babylon to their own land again, 
 and gave them leave to rebuild their temple; 
 at which time Jesus, the son of Josadek, took 
 the high-priesthood over the captives when 
 they were returned home. Now he and his 
 posterity, who were in all fifteen, unto king 
 
648 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XX. 
 
 Antiochus Eupator, were under a democratical 
 government for four hundred and fourteen 
 years; and then the forementioned Antiochus 
 and Lysias the general of his army, deprived 
 Onius, who was also called Menelaus, of the 
 high-priesthood, and slew him at Berea; and, 
 driving away the son [of Onias the third], put 
 Jacimus into the high-priest's place, one that 
 was indeed of the stock of Aaron, but not of 
 the family of Onias. On which account Onias, 
 who was the nephew of Onias that was dead, 
 and bore the same name with his father, came 
 into Egypt, and got into the friendship of 
 Ptolemy Philometor, and Cleopatra his wife, 
 and persuaded them to make him the high- 
 priest of that temple which he built to God 
 in the prefecture of Heliopolis, and this in 
 imitation of that at Jerusalem; but as for 
 that temple which was built in Egypt, we 
 have spoken of it frequently already. Now, 
 when Jacimus had retained the priesthood 
 three years, he died, and there was no one 
 that succeeded him, but the city contiimed 
 seven years without a high-priest. But then 
 the posterity of the sons of Asamoneus, who 
 had the government of the nation conferred 
 upon them, when they had beaten the Mace- 
 donians in war, appointed Jonathan to be 
 their high-priest, who ruled over them seven 
 years. And when he had been slain by the ' 
 treacherous contrivance of Trypho, as we ' 
 have related somewhere, Simon his brother • 
 took the high-priesthood; and when he was 
 destroyed at a feast by the treachery of his 
 son-in-law, his own son, whose name was Hyr- 
 canus, succeeded him, after he had held the 
 high-priesthood one year longer than his bro- 
 ther. This Hyrcanus enjoyed that dignity 
 thirty years, and died an old man, leaving the 
 succession to Judas, who was also called Aris- 
 tobulus, whose brother Alexander was his 
 beir; which Judas died of a sore distemper, 
 after he had kept the priesthood, together 
 with the royal authority; for this Judas was 
 the first that put on his head a diadem, for 
 one year. And when Alexander had been 
 both king and high-priest twenty-seven years, 
 he departed this life, and permitted his wife 
 Alexandra to appoint him that should be 
 high-priest; so she gave the high-priesthood 
 to Hyrcanus, but retained the kingdom her- 
 self nine years, and then departed this life. 
 The like duration [and no longer] did her 
 son Hyrcanus enjoy the high-priesthood; for 
 after her death his brother Aristobulus fought 
 against him, and beat him, and deprived him 
 of his principality; and he-did himself both 
 reign and perform the office of high-priest to 
 God. But when he had reigned three years, 
 and as many months, Pompey came upon 
 him, and not only took the city of Jerusalem 
 by force, but put him and his children in 
 oonds, and sent them to Rome. He also 
 restored the high-priesthood to Hyrcanus, 
 and made him governor of thv nation, but 
 
 forbade hita to wear a diadem. This Hyrcanus 
 ruled, besides his first nine years, twenty-four 
 years more, when Barzapharnes and Pacorusy 
 the generals of the Parthians, passed over 
 Euphrates, and fought with Hyrcanus, and 
 took him alive, and made Antigonus, the son of 
 Aristobulus, king; and when he had reigned 
 three years and three months, Sosius and 
 Herod besieged him, and took him, when 
 Antony had him brought to Antioch, and slain 
 there. Herod was then made king by the i 
 Romans, but did no longer appoint high- I 
 priests out of the family of Asamoneus; but 
 made certain men to be so that were of no 
 eminent families, but barely of those that 
 were priests, excepting that be gave that dig- 
 nity to Aristobulus; for when he had made thia 
 Aristobulus, the grandson of that Hyrcanus 
 who was then taken by the Parthians, and had 
 taken his sister Mariamne to wife, he thereby 
 aimed to win the good-will of the people, who 
 had a kind remembrance of Hyrcanus [his 
 grandfather]. Yet did he afterward, out of 
 his fear lest they should all bend their inclina- 
 tions to Aristobulus, put him to death, and 
 that by contriving how to have him suffocated, 
 as he was swimming at Jericho, as w-e have 
 already related that matter; but after this 
 man, he never intrusted the high-priesthood J 
 to the posterity of the sons of Asamoneus. I 
 Archelaus also, Herod's son, did like his 
 father in the appointment of the high-priests, 
 as did the Romans also, who took the govern- . 
 ment over the Jews into their hands afterward. ; 
 Accordingly the number of the high-priests, ' 
 from the days of Herod until the day when 
 Titus took the temple and the city, and burnt 
 them, were in all twenty-eight; the time also 
 that belonged to them was a hundred and 
 seven years. Some of these were the politi- 
 cal governors of the people under the reign of 
 Herod, and under the reign of Archelaus his 
 son, although, after their death, the govern- 
 ment became an aristocracy, and the high- 
 priests were intrusted with a dominion over 
 the nation. And thus much may suffice to be! j 
 said concerning our high-priests. , 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 CONCERNING FLORUS THE PROCURATOR, WHO , 
 NECESSITATED THE JEWS TO TAKE UP ARMS 
 AGAINST THE ROMANS. THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 § 1. Now Gessius Florus, who was sent as 
 successor to Albinus by Nero, filled Judea 
 with abundance of miseries. He was by birth 
 of the city of Clazomenjc, and brought along 
 with him his wife Cleopatra (by whose friend- 
 ship with Pop|)ea, Nero's wife, he obtained 
 this governiuent), who was no way different 
 from him in wicki'diu'ss. This Florus \v»h 
 so wicked, ami &u violent in ihe use of his 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 549 
 
 authority, that the Jews took Albinns to have 
 ieen [comparatively] their benefactor; so 
 excessive were the mischiefs that he brought 
 upon them. For Albinus concealed his 
 wickedness, and was careful that it might not 
 be discovered to all men ; but Gessius Florus, 
 as though he had been sent on purpose to 
 show his crimes to every body, made a 
 pompous ostentation of them to our nation, as 
 never omitting any sort of violence, nor any 
 unjust sort of punishment; for he was not to 
 be moved by pity, and never was satisfied 
 with any degree of gain that came in his way ; 
 nor had he any more regard to great than to 
 small acquisitions, but became a partner with 
 the robbers themselves; for a great many fell 
 then into that practice without fear, as having 
 him for their security, and depending on 
 him, that he would save them harmless in 
 their particular robberies; so that there were 
 no bounds set to the nation's miseries; but 
 the unhappy Jews, when they were not able 
 to bear the devastations which the robbers 
 made among them, were all under a neces- 
 sity of leaving their own habitations, and of 
 flying away, as hoping to dwell more easily 
 anywhere else in the world among foreigners 
 [than in their own country]. And what need 
 I say any more upon this head? since it was 
 this Florus who necessitated us to take up 
 arms against the Romans, while we thought 
 it better to be destroyed at once than by little 
 and little. Now this war began in the 
 second year of the government of Florus, and 
 the twelfth year of the reign of Nero. But 
 then what actions we were forced to do, or 
 what miseries we were enabled to suffer, may 
 be accurately known by such as will peruse 
 those books which I have written about the 
 Jewish war. 
 
 2. I shall now, therefore, make an end here 
 of my Antiquities; after the conclusion of 
 which events, I began to write that account 
 of the war; and these Antiquities contain 
 what hath been delivered down to us from 
 the original creation of man, until the twelfth 
 year of the reign of Nero, as to what hath 
 befallen the Jews, as well in Egypt as in 
 Syria, and in Palestine, and what we have 
 suffered from the Assyrians and Babylonians, 
 and what afflictions the Persians and Mace- 
 donians, and after them the Romans, have 
 ftrbught upon us ; for I think I may say that 
 I have composed this history with sufficient 
 accuracy in all things. I have attempted to 
 eiJumerate those high-priests that we have had 
 during the interval of two thousand years; 
 I have also carried down the succession of 
 our kings, and related their actions, and poli- 
 tical administration, without [considerable] 
 errors, as also the power of our monarchs; 
 and all according to what is written in our. 
 sacred books; for this it was that I promised 
 to do in the beginning of this history. And 
 I am 80 bold as to say, now I hav« so com- 
 
 pletely perfected the work I proposed to 
 myself to do, that no other person, whether he ' 
 were a Jew or a foreigner, had he ever so 
 great an inclination to it, could so accurately 
 deliver these accounts to the Greeks as is 
 done in these books. For those of my own 
 nation freely acknowledge that I far exceed 
 them in the learning belonging to the Jews. 
 I have also taken a great deal of pains to 
 obtain the learning of the Greeks, and under- 
 stand the elements of the Greek language, 
 although I have so long accustomed myself 
 to speak our own tongue, that I cannot pro- 
 nounce Greek with sufficient exactness^ for 
 ovr nation does not encourage those that 
 learn the languages of many nations, and so 
 adorn their discourses with the smoothness of 
 their periods; because they look upon this 
 sort of accomplishment as common, not only 
 to all sorts of freemen, but to as many of the 
 servants as please to learn them. But they 
 give him the testimony of being a wise man 
 who is fully acquainted with our laws, and is 
 able to interpret their meaning; on which 
 account, as there have been many who have 
 done their endeavours with great patience to 
 obtain this learrting, there have yet hardly 
 been so many as two or three that have suc- 
 ceeded therein, who were immediately well 
 rewarded for their pains. 
 
 3. And now it will not be perhaps an 
 invidious thing, if I treat briefly of my own 
 family, and of the actions of my own life,* 
 while there are still living such as can either 
 prove what I say to be false, or can attest 
 that it is true ; with which accounts I shall 
 put an end to these Antiquities, which are 
 contained in twenty books, and sixty thousand 
 verses. And if Godf permit me, I will 
 
 * The Life here referred to will be found at the begin- 
 ning of the Tolume, 
 
 + What Josephus here declares his intention to do, 
 if God permitted, to give the public again an abridg- 
 ment of the Jewish War, and to add, whai befel them 
 farther to that very day, the 13th of Domitian, or A. D. 
 y3, is not, that I have observed, taken distinct notice of 
 by any one; nor do we ever hear of it elsewhere, whe- 
 ther he performed what he now intended or not. Some 
 of the reasons of this design of his might possibly be, 
 his observation of the many errors he had been guilty of 
 in the two first books of those seven books of the War, 
 which were written when he was comparatively young, 
 and less acquainted with the Jewish antiquities than he 
 now was, and in which abridgment we might have 
 hoped to find those many passages which himself, as 
 well as those several passages which others refer to, as 
 written by him, but which are not extant in his present 
 works. However, since many of his own references to 
 what he had written elsewhere, as well as most of his 
 own errors, belong to such early times as could not well 
 come into this abridgment of the Jewish War; and since 
 none of those that quote things not now extant in his 
 works.including himself as well as others, ever cite any 
 such abridgment, I a^ forced rather to suppose that 
 he never did publish any such work at all; I mean, as 
 distinct from his own Life, written by himself, for an 
 appendix to these Antiquities, and this at least seven 
 years after these Antiquities were finished. Nor indeed 
 does it appear to rae that Josephus ever published that 
 other work here mentioned, as intended by hiik. for the 
 public also. I mean the three or four books conceratng 
 God and his Essence, and concerning the Jewish Lan't ; 
 why, according to them, some things were permitted the 
 JtKt, •nd tthtirt prohibited: which last 8e«int to b« tbo 
 
550 
 
 ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK XX. 
 
 concerning our Jewish opinions about God 
 and his essence, and about our laws; why, 
 according to them, some things are permitted 
 us to do, and others are prohibited. 
 
 briefly run over this war again, with what 
 betel us therein to this very day, which is the 
 thirteenth year of the reign of Caesar Domi- 
 tian, ftnd the fifty-sixth of my own life. I 
 have also an intention to write three books 
 
 tame work which Josephus had also promised, if Goa i a&d no acquaintance with to the crown, I mean Nerva 
 vermilted, at the conclusion of bis Preface to these t and Trajan, together with his removal from Home ta 
 Antiquities; nor do 1 suppose that he ever published any I J udea, with what followed it, might ^atil^ interrup 
 Bf them. The death of all his friends at court, Vespa- such his iutentions. and prereat his poUiMttMi of tbcM 
 sian, Titoa, and Domi ian, and the coming of those he [ works. 
 
THB 
 
 WAES OF THE JEWS,- 
 
 THE HISTORY 
 
 THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 § 1. * Whereas the war which the Jews ' 
 made with the Romans hath been the greatest 
 of all those, not only that have been in 
 our times, but, in a manner, of those that 
 ever were heard of; both of those wherein 
 cities have fought against cities, or nations 
 against nations; while some men who were 
 not concerned in the affairs themselves, have 
 gotten together vain and contradictory stories 
 by hearsay, and have written them down 
 after a sophistical manner; and while those ; 
 that were there present have given false 
 accounts of things, and this either out of a 
 humour of flattery to the Romans, or of hatred 
 towards the Jews; and while their writings 
 contain sometimes accusations, and sometimes ; 
 encomiums, but nowhere the accurate truth 
 of the facts, I have proposed to myself, for 
 the sake of such as live under the government 
 of the Romans, to translate those books into 
 the Greek tongue, which I formerly composed 
 
 • 1 have already observed more than once, that Chia 
 history of the Jewish War was Josephus's first work, and ' 
 published about a. d. 75, whea he was but thirty-ei^ht 
 years of ai;e ; and that when he wrote it, he was not tho- 
 roughly acqnainted with several circumstances of history 
 from the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, with whioh it; 
 begins, till near his own times, contained in the first and i 
 former part of the second book, and so committed manyj 
 involuntary errors therein. That he published his Anti- 
 quities eighteen years afterward, in the 13th year ofj 
 Domitian, a. d. 9J, when he was much more completelyi 
 acqii:iinted with those ancient times, and after he bad 
 perused those most authentic histories, the first book of 
 Maccabees, and the Chronicles of the Priesthood of 
 John Hyrcanus, &c — Tliat accord'oglv he then reviewed 
 those parts of this work, and i^ave the public a more 
 faithful, complete, and accurate account of the facts 
 therein related; and honestly corrected the errors he had 
 bofore ran into 
 
 in the language of our coimtry, and sent to 
 the Upper Barbarians;! I, Joseph, the son of 
 Matthias, by birth an Hebrew, a priest also, 
 and one who at first fought against the 
 Romans myself, and was forced to be present 
 at what was done afterwards [am the author 
 of this work]. 
 
 2. Now at the time when this great con- 
 cussion of affairs happened, the affairs of the 
 Romans themselves were in great disorder. 
 Those Jews also, who were for innovations, 
 then arose when the times were disturbed; 
 they were also in a flourishing condition for 
 strength and riches, insomuch that the affairs 
 of the east were then exceeding tumultuous, 
 while some hoped for gain, and others were 
 afraid of loss in such troubles; for the Jews 
 hoped that all of their nation which were 
 beyond Euphrates would have raised an insur- 
 rection together with them. The Gauls also, 
 in the neighbourhood of the Romans, were 
 in motion, and the Celtae were not quiet; but 
 all was in disorder after the death of Nero. 
 And the opportunity now offered induced 
 many to aim at the royal power: and the 
 soldiery affected change, out of the hopes of 
 getting money. I thought it therefore an 
 
 + Who these Upper Barbarians, remote from the sea, 
 wercN Josephus himself will inform us, sect 2, tnz. the 
 Parthians and Babylonians, and remotest Arabians [or 
 the Jews aroont; them]; besides the Jews beyond Eu- 
 phrates, and the Adiabeni. or Assyrians. Whence we 
 also learn, that these Parthians, Babylonians, the remo- 
 test Arabians [or at least the Jews among them], as also 
 the Jews beyond Euphrates, and Adiabeni, or Assyrians, 
 understood Josephus's Hebrew, or rather Chaldaic, 
 books of the Jewish War, before they were put ipto the 
 Greek langu^^;« 
 
652 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 absurd thing to see the truth falsified in 
 nflfairs of such great consequence, and to take 
 no notice of it ; but to suffer those Greeks 
 and Romans that were not in the wars to be 
 ignorant of these things, and to read either 
 flatteries or fictions, while the Parthians, and 
 the Babylonians, and the remotest Arabians, 
 and those of our nation beyond Euphrates, 
 with the Adiabeni, by my means, knew accu- 
 rately both whence the war begun, what 
 miseries it brought upon us, and after what 
 manner it ended. 
 
 3. It is true, these writers have the confi- 
 dence to call their accounts histories; wherein 
 yet the}* seem to nrle to fail of their own 
 purpose, as well as to relate nothing that is 
 Bound; for they have a mind to demonstrate 
 the greatness of the Romans, while they still 
 diminish and lessen the actions of the Jews, 
 as not discerning how it cannot be that those 
 must appear to be great who have only con- 
 quered those that were little; nor are they 
 ashamed to overlook the length of the war, 
 the multitude of the Roman forces who so 
 greatly sufiered in it, or the might of the 
 commanders, — whose great labours about 
 Jerusalem will be deemed inglorious, if what 
 they achieved be reckoned but a small matter. 
 
 4. However, I will not go to the other 
 extreme, out of opposition to those men who 
 extol the Romans, nor will I determine to 
 raise the actions of my countrymen too high; 
 but I will prosecute the actions of both par- 
 ties with accuracy. Yet shall I suit my 
 language to the passions I am under, as to 
 the affairs I describe, and must be allowed to 
 indulge some lamentations upon the miseries 
 undergone by my own country; for that it 
 was a seditious temper of our own that de- 
 stroyed it; and that they were the tyrants 
 among th»*Jevvs who brought the Roman 
 power upon us, who unwillingly attacked us, 
 and occasioned the burning of our holy tem- 
 ple; Titus Cffisar, who destroyed it, is himself 
 *a witness, who, during the entire war, pitied 
 the people who were kept under by the sedi- 
 tious, and did often voluntarily delay the taking 
 of the city, and allowed time to the siege, 
 in order to let the authors have opportunity 
 for repentance. But if any one makes an 
 unjust accusation against us, when we speak 
 60 passionately about the tyrants, or the rob- 
 bers, or sorely bewail the misfortunes of our 
 country, let him indulge my affections herein, 
 though it be contrary to the rules for writing 
 history; because it had so come to pass, that 
 our city Jerusalem had arrived at a higher 
 degree of felicity than any other city under 
 the Roman government, and yet at last fell 
 into the sorest of calamities again. Accord- 
 ingly, it appears to me, that the misfortunes 
 of all men, from the beginning of the world, 
 if they be compared to tinise of the Jews,* 
 
 • Tbat thew calamitiea of the Jews, wdo were our 
 ■•Tlour'f luurdem*, were to b« the greate«t that hud 
 
 are not so considerable as they were; while 
 the authors of them were not foreigners 
 neither. This makes it impossible for me to 
 contain my lamentations. But, if any one be 
 inflexible in his censures of me, let him attri- 
 bute the facts themselves to the historical 
 part, and the lamentations to the writer him- 
 self only. 
 
 5. However, I may justly blame the learned 
 men among the Greeks, who, when such great 
 actions have been done in their own times, 
 which, upon the comparison, quite eclipse 
 the old wars, do yet sit as judges of those af- 
 fairs, and pass bitter censures upon the labours 
 of the best writers of antiquity; which mo- 
 derns, although they may be superior to the 
 old writers in eloquence, yet they are inferior 
 to them in the execution of what they intended 
 to do. While these also write new histories 
 about the Assyrians and Medes, as if the 
 ancient writers had not described their affairs 
 as they ought to have done; although these 
 be as far inferior to them in abilities as they 
 are different in their notions from them ; for 
 of old, every one took upon them to write 
 what happened in his own time; where their 
 immediate concern in the actions made their 
 promises of value; and where it mu&t be 
 reproachful to write lies, when they must be 
 known by the readers to be such. But then, 
 an undertaking to preserve the memory of 
 what hath not been before recorded, and to 
 represent the affairs of one's own time to those 
 that come afterwards, is really worthy of 
 praise and commendation. Now, he is to be 
 esteemed to have taken good pains in earnest, 
 not who does no more than change the dis- 
 position and order of other men's works, but 
 he who not only relates what had not been 
 related before, but composes an entire body 
 of history of his own : accordingly, I have 
 been at great charges, and have taken very 
 great pains [about this history], though I be 
 a foreigner; and do dedicate this work, as a 
 memorial of great actions, both to the Greeks 
 and to the Barbarians. But, for some of our 
 own principal men, their mouths are wide 
 open, and their tongues loosed presently, for 
 gain and lawsuits, but quite muzzled up 
 when they are to write history, where they 
 must speak truth and gather facts together 
 with a great deal of pains; and so they leave 
 the writing such histories to weaker people> 
 and to such as are not acquainted with tlie 
 actions of princes. Yet shall the real truth 
 of historical facts be preferred by us, how 
 much soever it be neglected among the Greek 
 historians. 
 
 6. To write concerning the Antiquities of 
 the Jews, who they were [originally], and 
 how they revolted from the Egyptians, and 
 
 ever been since the beginning of the world, our Savionr 
 hud directly furetold. Matt xxiv. til- Mark xiii 19; 
 l.iike xxi. 2:i, V4; and that they proved to he iiucti 
 accordingly, Juscobuf is here a most authentic witncts. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 553 
 
 waat country they travelled over, and what 
 countnes they seized upon afterward, and how 
 they were removed out of them, I think this 
 not. to be a fit opportunity, and, on other 
 accounts, also superfluous; and this because 
 many Jews before me have composed the his- 
 tories of our ancestors very exactly; as have 
 some of the Greeks done it also, and have 
 translated our histories into their own tongue, 
 and have not much mistaken the truth in their 
 histories. But then, where the writers of 
 these affairs and our prophets leave off, thence 
 shall I take my rise, and begin my history. 
 Now, as to what concerns that war which 
 happened in my own time, I will go over it 
 very largely, and with all the diligence I am 
 able; but, for what preceded mine own age, 
 that I shall run over briefly. 
 
 7. [For example, I shall relate] how Antio- 
 chus, who was named Epiphanes, took Jeru- 
 salem by force, and held it three years and 
 three months, and was then ejected out of the 
 country by the sons of Asamoneus: after that 
 how their posterity quarrelled about the 
 government, and brought upon their settlement 
 the Romans and Pompey; how Herod also, 
 the son of Antipater, dissolved their govern- 
 ment, and brought Socius upon them; as 
 also how our people made a sedition upon 
 Herod's death, while Augustus was the 
 Roman emperor, and Quintilius Varus was in 
 that country; and how the war broke out in 
 the twelfth year of Nero, with what happened 
 to Cestius; and what places the Jews assaulted 
 in an hostile manner in the first sallies of the 
 war. 
 
 8. As also, [I shall relate] how they built 
 walls about the neighbouring cities; and 
 how Nero, upon Cestius's defeat, was in fear 
 of the entire event of the war, and thereuj[fcn 
 made Vespasian general in this war; and 
 how this Vespasian, with the elder of his 
 sons,* made an expedition into the country 
 of Judea; what was the number of the 
 Roman army that he made use of; and how 
 many of his auxiliaries were cut off in all 
 Galilee; and how he took some of its cities 
 entirely, and by force, and others of them by 
 treaty, and on terms. Now, when I am come so 
 far, I shall describe the good order of the 
 Romans in war, and the discipline of their 
 legions: the amplitude of both the Galilees, 
 with its nature, and the limits of Judea. And, 
 besides this, I shall particularly go over what 
 is peculiar to the country, the lakes and foun- 
 tains that are in them, and what miseries hap- 
 pened to every city as they were taken; and 
 all this wkh accuracy, as I saw the things 
 done, or suffered in them; for I shall not con- 
 ceal any of the calamities I myself endured, 
 since I shall relate them to such as know the 
 truth of them. 
 
 9. After this [I shall relate] how, when the 
 
 r Titiu. 
 
 Jews' affairs were become very bad, Nero 
 died; and Vespasian, when he was going to 
 attack Jerusalem, was called back to take the 
 government upon him; what signs happened 
 to him relating to his gaining that government, 
 and what mutations of government then hap- 
 pened at Rome, and how he was unwillingly 
 made emperor by his soldiers; and how upon 
 his departure to Egypt, to take upon Mm 
 the government o£ the empire, the affairs ot 
 the Jews became very tumultuous; as also 
 how the tyrants rose up against them, and fell 
 into dissensions amongst themselves. 
 
 10. Moreover, [I shall relate] how Titus 
 marched out of Egypt into Judea the second 
 time; as also how and where, and how many 
 forces he got together; and in what stat^ the 
 city was, by means of the seditious, at his 
 coming; what attacks he made, and how many 
 ramparts he cast up; of the three walls that 
 encompassed the city, and of their measures; 
 of the strength of the city, and the structure 
 of the temple and holy house; and besides, 
 the measures of those edifices, and of the altar, 
 and all accurately determined. A c'escription 
 also of certain of their festivals, and seven pu- 
 rifications or degrees of purity, t and the sacred 
 ministrations of the priests, with the garments 
 of the priests, and of the high-priests; and of 
 the nature of the most holy place of the tem- 
 ple; without concealing any thing, or adding 
 any thing to the known truth of things. 
 
 1 1 . After this, I shall relate the barbarity 
 of the tyrants towards the people of their own 
 nation, as well as the indulgence of the 
 Romans in sparing foreigners; and how often 
 Titus, out of his desire to preserve the city 
 and the temple, invited the seditious to come 
 to terms of accommodation. I shall also dis- 
 tinguish the sufferings of the people, and their 
 calamities ; how far they were afflicted by the 
 sedition, and how far by the famine, and at 
 length were taken. Nor shall I omit to 
 mention the misfortunes of the deserters, nor 
 the punishments inflicted on the captives; as 
 also, how the temple \tas burnt, against the 
 consent of Caesar; and how many sacred 
 things that had been laid up in the temple, 
 were snatched out of the fire; the destruc- 
 tion also of the entire city, with the signs 
 and wonders that went before it; and the 
 taking the tyrants captive, and the multitude 
 of those that were made slaves, and into what 
 different misfortunes they were every one dis- 
 tributed. Moreover, what the Romans did 
 to the remains of the wall; and how they 
 demolished the strong-holds that were in the 
 country; and how Titus went over the whole 
 country, and settled its affairs; together with 
 his return into Italy, and his triumph. 
 
 12. I have comprehended all these thingi 
 
 + These seven, or rather five, degrees of parity, of 
 purification, are enumerated hereafter, b.v.ch.v. sectu. 
 The rabbins make ten degrees of them, as Keland there 
 informs 'is* 
 
664 
 
 WARS OP THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 in seven books; and have left no occasion for 
 complaint or accusation to such as have been 
 acquainted with this war; and I have written 
 it down for the sake of those that love truth. 
 
 but not for those that please themselves [with 
 fictitious relations]. And I will begin my 
 account of these things with what I call my 
 First Chapter. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTT-SEVEN YEARS 
 
 FROM ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES TAKING JERUSALEM TO THE 
 DEATH OF HEROD THE GREAT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 KOW THE CITY OF JERUSALEM WAS TAKEN, 
 AND THE TEMPLE PILLAGED [BY ANTIOCHUS 
 EPIPHANEs]. AS ALSO CONCERNING THE 
 ACTIONS OP THE MACCABEES, MATTHIAS 
 AND JUDAS; AND CONCERNING THE DEATH 
 or JUDAS. 
 
 § 1. At the same time that Antiochus, who 
 was called Epiphanes, had a quarrel with the 
 sixth Ptolemy about his right to the whole 
 country of Syria, a great sedition fell among 
 the men of power in Judea, and they had a 
 contention about obtaining the government ; 
 while each of those that were of dignity could 
 not endure to be subject to their equals. 
 However, Onias, one of the high-priests, got 
 the better, and cast the sons of Tobias out of 
 the city; who fled to Antiochus, and be- 
 sought him to make use of them for his lead- 
 ers, and to make an expedition into Judea. 
 The king being thereto disposed beforehand, 
 complied with them, end came upon the Jews 
 with a great army, and took their city by 
 force, and slew a great multitude of those 
 that favoured Ptoleray, and sent out his sol- 
 diers to plunder them without mercy. He 
 also spoiled the temple, and put a stop to the 
 constant practice of offering a daily sacrifice 
 of expiation for three years and six months. 
 But Onias, the high-priest, fled to Ptolemy, 
 and received a place from him in the Nomus 
 of Heliopolis, where he built a city resem- 
 bling Jerusalem, and a temple that was like 
 its temple;* concerning which we shall speak 
 more in its proper place hereafter. 
 
 • I Bee little difference in the several accounts in 
 Joseph** about the Egyptian temple Onion, ot which 
 Urge complaints are made by his commentators. Onias, 
 It seems, hoped to have made it very like that at JerU- 
 Mlem, and of the same dimensions! and so be appears 
 to have really done, as lar as he was able, and thought 
 
 I roper. Of this temple, see Antiq. b. xiii. ch. iiL sect 
 , 2, 3i and Of the War, U vii cU. x. sect. a. 
 
 2. Now Antiochus was not satisfied either 
 with his unexpected taking the city, or with 
 its pillage, or with the great slaughter he had 
 made there ; but being overcome with his 
 violent passions, and remembering what he 
 had suffered during the siege, he compelled 
 the Jews to dissolve the laws of their coun- 
 try, and to keep their infants uncircumcised, 
 and to sacrifice swine's flesh upon the altar; 
 against which they all opposed themselves, 
 and the most approved among them were put 
 to death. Bacchides also, who was sent to 
 keep the fortresses, having these wicked com- 
 mands, joined to his own natural barbarity, 
 indulged all sorts of the extremest wicked- 
 ness, and tormented the worthiest of the in- 
 habitants, man by man, and threatened their 
 cify every day with open destruction ; till at 
 length he provoked the poor sufferers, by the 
 extremity of his wicked doings, to avenge 
 themselves. 
 
 3. Accordingly, Matthias, the son of Asa- 
 moneus, one of the priests who lived in a 
 village called Modin, armed himself, together 
 with his own family, which had five sons of 
 his in it, and slew Bacchides with daggers; 
 and, thereupon, out of the fear of the many 
 garrisons [of the enemy], he fled to the moun- 
 tains ; and so many of the people followed 
 him, that he was encouraged to come down 
 from the mountains, and to give battle to 
 Antiochus's generals, when he beat them, 
 and drove them out of Judea. So he came 
 to the government by this his success, and 
 became the prince of his own people by their 
 own free consent, and then died, leaving the 
 government to Judas, his eldest son. 
 
 4. Now Judas, supposing that Antiochus 
 would not lie still, gathered an army out of 
 his own couiitrynieii, and was the first tLat 
 made a league of friendship with the Romans, 
 and drove Epiphanes out of the country when 
 he had pvtnle u second expedition into it, aiid 
 
CHAP. IT. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 655 
 
 tbis by giving bim a great defeat there; and 
 when he was warmed by this great success, 
 be made an assault upon the garrison that 
 was in the city, for it had not been cut off 
 hitherto; so he ejected them out of the upper 
 city, and drove the soldiers into the lower, 
 which part of the city was called the Citadel, 
 lie then got the temple under his power, and 
 cleansed the whole place, and walled it round 
 about, and made new vessels for sacred minis- 
 trations, and brought them into the tenplf. 
 because the former vessels had been profaned. 
 He also built another altar, and began to 
 offer the sacrifices; and when the city had 
 already received its sacred constitution again, 
 Antiochus died; whose son Antiocbus suc- 
 ceeded him in the kingdom, and in his hatred 
 to the Jews also. 
 
 5. So this Antiochus got together fifty 
 thousand footmen, and five thousand horse- 
 men, and fourscore elephants, and marched 
 through Judea into the mountainous parts. 
 He then took Bethsura, which was a small 
 city; bat, at a place called Bethzacharias, 
 where the passage was narrow, Judas met 
 bim with his army. However, before the 
 forces joined battle, Judas's brother, Eleazar, 
 seeing the very highest of the elephants 
 adorned yvith a large tower, and with mili- 
 tary trappings of gold to guard him, and sup- 
 posing that Antiochus himself was upon him, 
 he ran a great way before his own army, and 
 cutting hjs way through the enemies* troops, 
 be got up to the elephant; yet could not 
 reach him who seemed to be the king, by 
 reason of his being so high; but still he ran 
 his weapon into the belly of the beast, and 
 brought him down upon himself, and was 
 crushed to death, having done no more than 
 attempted great things, and showed that he 
 preferred glory before life. Now he that 
 governed the elephant was but a private man; 
 but had he proved to be Antiochus, Eleazar 
 had perfoimed nothing more by this bold 
 stroke than that it might appear he chose to 
 die, when he had the bare hope of thereby 
 doing a glorious action ; nay, this disappoint- 
 ment proved an omen to his brother [Judas] 
 bow the entire battle would end. It is true, 
 that the Jews fought it out bravely for a long 
 time; but the king's forces, being superior 
 in number, and having fortune on their side, 
 obtained the victory; and when a great many 
 of his men were slain, Judas took the resi; 
 with him, and fled to the toparchy of 
 Gophna. So Antiochus went to Jerusalem, 
 and staid there but a few days, for he wanted 
 provisions, and so he went his way. He left 
 indeed a garrison behind him, such as he 
 thought sulhcient to keep the place; but 
 drew the rest of his army off, to take their 
 winter-quarters in Syria. 
 
 6. Now, after the king was departed, Judas 
 was not idle; for as many of his own ition 
 came to bm, se did ha gather those thtJt 
 
 had escaped out of the battle together, and 
 gave battle again to Antiochus's genera^ at 
 a village called Adasa; and being too hard 
 for his enemies in the battle, and killing a 
 great number of them, he was at last himself 
 slain also. Nor was it many days afterward 
 that his brother John had a plot laid against 
 him by Antiochus's party, and was slain by 
 them, ■ 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 CONCERNING THE SUCCESSORS OF JCDAS, WHO 
 WERE JONATHAN, SIMEON, AND JOHN 
 HYRCAN-K. 
 
 § 1. When Jcr.sthan, who was Judas's bro- 
 ther, succeeded him, he behaved himself Nvith 
 great circumspection in other respects, with 
 relation to his own people; and he corrobo- 
 rated his authority ly p/eserving his friend- 
 ship with the Romans. He also made a league 
 with Antiochus the son. Yet was not all this 
 sufficient for his security; for the tyrant Try- 
 pho, who was guardian to Antiochus's son, 
 laid a plot against him ; and, besides that, en- 
 deavoured to take off his friends, and caught 
 Jonathan by a wile, as he was going to Pto- 
 lemais tc Antiochus, with a few persons in 
 his company, and put them in bonds, and then 
 made an expedition against the Jews: but 
 Vi^hen he was afterward driven ^way by Simeon, 
 who was Jonathan's brother, and was enraged 
 at his defeat, he put Jonathan to death. 
 
 2. However, Simeon managed the public 
 affairs after a courageous manner, and took 
 Gazara, and Joppa, and Jamnia, which were 
 cities in the neighbourhood. He also got the 
 garrison under, and demolished the citadel. 
 He was afterwards an auxiliary to Antiochus, 
 against Trypho, whom he besieged in Dora, 
 before he went on his expedition against the 
 Medes; yet could not he make the king 
 ashamed of his ambition, though he had as- 
 sisted him in killing Trypho ; for it was not 
 long ere Antiochus sent Cendebeus his gene- 
 ral with an army to lay waste Judea, and to 
 subdue Simeon; yet he, though he was now in 
 years, conducted the war as if he were a much 
 younger man. He also sent his sons with a 
 band of strong men against Antiochus, while 
 he took part of the army himself with him, 
 and fell upon him from another quarter: he 
 also laid a great many men in ambush in 
 many places of the mountains, and was supe- 
 rior in all his attacks upon them. And when 
 he had been conqueror after so glorious a 
 manner, he was made high- priest, and also 
 freed the Jews from the dominion of the Ma- 
 cedonians, after a hundred and seventy years 
 of the empire [of Seleucus]. 
 
 3. This Simon had also a plot laid against 
 him, and was slain at a feast by his son-in-law 
 
!S^b6 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK 1 
 
 Ptolemy, who put his wife and two sons 
 into prison, and sent some persons to kill 
 John, who was also called Hyrcanus.* But 
 when the young man was informed of their 
 coming beforehand, he made much haste to 
 get to the city, as having a very great confi- 
 dence in the p«ople there, both on account of 
 the memory of the glorious actions of his 
 father, and of the hatred they could^not but 
 bear to the injustice of Ptolemy. Ptolemy 
 also made an attempt to get into the city by 
 another gate, but was repelled by the people, 
 who had just then admitted Hyrcanus; so he 
 retired presently to one of the fortresses that 
 were above Jericho, which was called Dagon. 
 Now, when Hyrcanus had received the high- 
 priesthood,, which bis father had held before, 
 and had offered sacrifice to God, he made 
 great haste to attack Ptolemy, tha't he might 
 atford relief to his mother and brethren. 
 
 4. So he laid siege to the fortress, and was 
 superior to Ptolemy in other respects, but was 
 overcome by him as to the just affection [he 
 had for his relations] ; for when Ptolemy was 
 distressed, he brought forth his mother and 
 his brethren, and set them upon the wall, and 
 beat them with rods in every body's sight, 
 and threatened, that, unless he would go away 
 immediately, he would throw them down 
 headlong; at which sight Hyrcanus's com- 
 miseration and concern were too hard for his 
 anger. But his mother was not dismayed, 
 neither at the stripes she received, nor at the 
 death with which she was threatened, but 
 stretched out h^ hands, and prayed her son 
 not to be moved with the injuries that she 
 suiFered, to spare the vi^retch; since it was to 
 her better to die by the means of Ptolemy 
 than to live ever so long, provided he might 
 be punished for the injuries he had done to 
 their fomily. Now John's case was this: — 
 When he considered the courage of his 
 mother, and heard her entreaty, he set about 
 his attacks; but when he saw her beaten, and 
 torn to pieces with the stripes, he grew feeble, 
 and was entirely overcome by his affections. 
 And as tlie siege was delayed by this means, 
 the year of rest came on, upon which the 
 Jews rest every seventh year as they do on 
 every seventh day. On this year, therefore, 
 Ptolemy was freed from being besieged, and 
 slew the brethren of John, with their mother, 
 and fled to Zeno, who was also called Coty- 
 las, who was the tyrant of Philadelphia. 
 
 5. Aiid now Antiochus was so angry at 
 what he bad suffered from Simeon, that he 
 
 * Why this John the son of Simeon, the hi(;h-priest 
 and governor of the Jews, was called Hyrcanus, Juse- 
 
 y bus nowhere informs us; nor is he called other than 
 obn at the end of the first book of the Maccabevs 
 However, Sixtus Senensis, when he ^ives iis an epitome 
 of the Greek version of the book here abridged by Jose- 
 phus, or of the Chronicles of this John Hyrcanus, then 
 extant, assures us that he was called Hyrcanus, from his 
 conquest of one of that name. See Authent. liec. part i. 
 p.S7. But of this younger Antiochus, see Dean Aldricb's 
 
 made an expedition i-nto Judea, and sat dowB 
 before Jerusalem, and besieged Hyrcanus 
 but Hyrcanus opened the sepulchre of David^ 
 who was the richest of all kings, and took 
 thence about three thousand talents in money,, 
 and induced Antiochus, by the promise oi 
 three thousand talents, to raise the siege^ 
 Moreover, he was the first of the Jews that 
 had money enough, and began to hire foreign 
 auxiliaries also. 
 
 6. However, at another time, when Antio- 
 chus was gone upon an expedition against 
 the Medes, and so gave Hyrcanus an oppor- 
 tunity of being avenged upon him, he imme- 
 diately made an attack upon the cities of 
 Syria, as thinking,^ what proved to be the case 
 with them, that he should find them empty of 
 good troops. So he took Medaba and Samea, 
 with the towns in their neighbourhood, as 
 also Shechem and Gerizzim ; and besides these,^ 
 [he subdued] the nation of the Cutheans, who- 
 dwelt round about that temple which was 
 built in imitation of the temple at Jerusalem: 
 he also took a great many .other cities of Idu- 
 mea, with Adoreon and Marissa. 
 
 7. He also proceeded as far as Samaria, 
 where is now the city Sebaste, which was 
 built by Herod the king, and encompassed it 
 all round with a wall, and set his sons, Aris- 
 tobulus and Antigonus over the siege; who 
 pushed it on so hard, that a famine so far pre- 
 vailed within the city, that they were forced 
 to eat what never was esteemed food. They 
 also invited Antiochus, who was called Cyzi- 
 cenus, to come to their assistance; whereupon 
 he got ready, and complied with their invita- 
 tion, but was beaten by Aristobulus and 
 Antigonus; .ind indeed he was pursued as far 
 as Scythopolis by these brethren, and fled away 
 from them. So they returned back to Sama- 
 ria, and shut the multitude again within the 
 wall; and when they had taken the city, they * 
 demolished it, and made slaves of its inhabi- 
 tants. And, as they had still great success in 
 their undertakings, they did not suffer theij 
 zeal to cool, but marched with an army as fap 
 
 as Scythopolis, and made an incursion upon it, 
 and laid waste all the country that lay within 
 mount Carmel. 
 
 8. But then, these successes of John and 
 of his sons made them be envied, and occa- 
 sioned a sedition in the country; and many 
 there were who got together, and would noS 
 be at rest till they brake out into open war, 
 
 in which war they were beaten. So John . I 
 lived the rest of his life very happily, and i 
 administered the government after a most 
 extraordinary maimer, and this for thirty-three 
 entire years together. He died, leaving five 
 80i)3 behind him. He was certainly a verv 
 happy man, ai»d affortied no occasion to have 
 any complaint made of fortune on his account. 
 He it was who alone had three of the most 
 desirable things in the world,, — the govern, 
 ment of hLt natiuu. vrnd the high-priestkcvct 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 557 
 
 and the gift of prophecy; for the Deity con- 
 versed with him, — and he was not ignorant 
 of any thing that was to come afterwards; 
 insomuch, that he foresaw and foretold that 
 his two eldest sons would not continue mas- 
 ters of the government: and it will highly 
 deserve our narration to describe their catas- 
 trophe, and how far inferior these men were 
 to their father in felicity. 
 
 CHAPTER HL 
 
 HOW ARISTOBULnS WAS THE FIRST THAT PUT 
 A DIADEM ABOUT HIS HEAD; AND, AFTER 
 HE HAD PUT HIS MOTHER AND BROTHER 
 TO DEATH, DIED HIMSELF, WHEN HE HAD 
 REIGNED NO MORE THAN A YEAR. 
 
 § 1. For, after the death of their father, the 
 elder of them, Aristobulus, changed the go- 
 vernment into a kingdom, and was the first 
 that put a diadem upon his head, four hun- 
 dred and seventy-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 pub- 
 lic 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 h^ 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, Aris- 
 tobulus 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, Antigo- 
 nus 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 
 inarched, and that sueh his insolence was too 
 great for a private person, 5nd that, accord- 
 ingly, he was come with a grear band of men 
 kill hiui; tor that he could not endure this 
 
 bare enjoyment of royal honour, when it was 
 in his power to take the kingdom himself. 
 
 3. Now Aristobulus, by degrees, and un« 
 willingly, 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 sub- 
 terraneous passage ; for he lay sick in a cer- 
 tain 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 armour, 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 cun- 
 ningly 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 fine suit of armour, 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 
 armour, 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 armour on, to show it to his brother; 
 but when he was going along that dark pas- 
 sage, which was 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 ac- 
 quaintance (they were not a few who attended 
 upon him as his scholars), " O strange 1" 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 have 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 
 fulfilled." And when the old man had said 
 this he was dejected in his mind, and so con- 
 tinued. 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 
 la} by the sea-side; and this ambiguity it was 
 which caused the prophet's disorder. 
 
658 
 
 WARS OF tHE JEWS- 
 
 BOOK I, 
 
 6. Hereupon Aristobulus repented of the 
 great crime be bad been guilty of, and this 
 gave occasion to tbe increase of his distemper. 
 He also grew worse and worse, and his soul 
 was constantly disturbed at the thought 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, be, by some super- 
 natural 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; where- 
 upon be 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 sufler 
 for a mother and a brother slain how long 
 shall I myself spend my blood drop by drop i 
 let them take it ail 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. 
 
 CHAPTER rV. 
 
 WHAT ACTTONS WERE DONE BY ALEXANDER 
 JANNEUS, WHO REIGNED TWENTY-SEVEN 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 § 1. And now the king's wife loosed the 
 king's brethren, and made Alexander king, 
 who appeared both elder in age and more 
 moderate in his temper than the rest; who, 
 when he came to the government, slew one of 
 his brethren, as affecting to govern himself; 
 but had the other of them in great esteem, as 
 loving a quiet life, without meddling with 
 pt.Mic aflairs. 
 
 "2. Now it happened that there was a battle 
 hotwecM him and Ptolemy, who was called 
 Lathyrus, who had taken the city Asochis. 
 He indeed slew a great many of his enemies; 
 but the victory rather inclined to Ptolemy. 
 But, when this Ptoleiny was pursued by his 
 mother Cleopatra, and retired into Egypt, 
 
 Alexander besieged Gadara, and took it; as 
 also he did Amathus, which was the strongest 
 of all the fortresses that were about Jordan, 
 and therein were the most precious of all the 
 possessions of Theodorus, the son of Zeno. 
 Whereupon Theodorus marched against him, 
 and took what belonged to himself, as well as 
 the king's baggage, and slew ten thousand of 
 the Jews. However, Alexander recovered 
 this blow, and turned his force towards the 
 maritime parts, and took Raphia, and Gaza, 
 with Anthedon also, which was afterwards 
 called Agrippias by king Herod. 
 
 3. But when he had made slaves of the citi- 
 zens of all these cities, the nation of the Jews 
 made an insurrection against him at a festival; 
 for at those feasts seditions are generally 
 begun: and it looked as if he should not be 
 able to escape the plot they had laid for him, 
 had not his foreign auxiliaries, the Pisidians 
 and Cilicians, assisted him; for, as to the 
 Syrians, he never admitted them among his 
 mercenary troops, on account of their innate 
 enmity against the Jewish nation. And when 
 he had slain more than six thousand of the 
 rebels, he made an incursion into Arabia, and 
 when he had taken that country, together with 
 the Gileadites and Moabites, he enjoined them 
 to pay him tribute, and returned to Amathus; 
 and as Theodorus was surprised at his great 
 success, he took the fortress, and demo- 
 liiiiifcd it. 
 
 4. However, when he fought with Obodas, 
 king of the Arabians, who had laid an ambush 
 for him near Golan, and a plot against him, 
 he lost his entire army, which was crowded 
 together in a deep valley, and broken to pieces 
 by the multitude of camels; and ;^en he had 
 made his escape to Jerusalem, he provoked 
 the multitude, who hated him before, to make 
 an insurrection against him, and this on 
 account of the greatness of the calamity that 
 he was under. However, he was then too 
 hard for them; and, in the several battles that 
 were fought on both sides, he slew not fewer 
 than fifty thousand of the Jews, in the inter- 
 val of six years. Yet had he no reason to 
 rejoice in these victories, since he did but con- 
 sume his own kingdom; till at length he left 
 off fighting, and endeavoured to come to a 
 composition with them, by talking with his 
 subjects; but this mutabiUty and irregularity 
 of his conduct made them hate him still more; 
 and when he asked them why they so hated 
 him, and what he should do, in order to 
 appease them, they said, by killing himself; 
 for that it would, be then all they could do, to 
 be reconciled to him who had done such tra- 
 gical things to them, even when he was dead. 
 At the same time they invited Demetrius, 
 who was called Euoerus, to assist them; and 
 as he readily complied with their request, in 
 hopes of great advantages, and came with his 
 army, the Jews joined with those their auxi- 
 liaries about Sbechem. 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 559 
 
 5. Yet did Alexander meet both these foTces 
 with one thousand horsemen, and eight thou* 
 sand mercenaries that were on foot. He had 
 also with him that part of the Jews which 
 favoured him, to the number of ten thousand; 
 while the adverse party had three thousand 
 borsemen, and fourteen thousand footmen. 
 Now, before they joiiied battle, the kings 
 Tiade proclamation, and endeavoured to draw 
 off each other's soldiers, and make them 
 revolt; while Demetrius hoped to induce 
 Alexander's mercenaries to leave him, — and 
 Alexander hoped to induce the Jews that were 
 with Demetrius to leave him ; but, since 
 neither the Jews would leave off their rage, 
 nor the Greeks prove unfaithful, they came 
 to an engagement, and to a close fight with 
 their weapons. In which battle Demetrius 
 was the conqueror, although Alexander's 
 Hiercenaries showed the greatest exploits, 
 both in soul and body. Yet did the upshot 
 of this battle prove different from what was 
 expected, as to both of them ; for neither did 
 those that invited Demetrius to come to them 
 continue firm to him, though he was con- 
 queror; and six thousand Jews, out of pity 
 to the change of Alexander's condition, when 
 fee was fled to the mountains, came over to 
 him. Yet could not Demetrius bear this 
 turn of affairs; but, supposing that Alex- 
 ander was already become a match for him 
 again, and that all the nation would [atlen^h] 
 run to hiu^ he left the country, and weat his 
 way. 
 
 6. However, the rest of the [Jewish] mul- 
 titude did not lay aside their quarrels with 
 liim, when the [foreign] auxiliaries were gone: 
 but they had a perpetual war with Alexander, 
 until he bad slain the greatest part of them, 
 and driven the rest into the city Bemeselis; 
 and when he had demolished that city, he 
 carried the captives to Jerusalem. Nay, his 
 rage was grown so extravagant, that his bar- 
 barity proceeded to a degree of impiety; for 
 when he had ordered eight hundred to be 
 hung upon crosses in the midst of the city, 
 he had the throats of their wives and children 
 cut before their eyes; and these executjons 
 he saw as he was drinking and lying down 
 with his concubines. Upon which, so deep a 
 surprise seized on the people, that eight thou- 
 sand of his opposers fled away the very next 
 night, out of all Judea, whose flight was 
 only terminated by Alexander's death ; so at 
 last, though not tUl late, and with great diffi- 
 culty, he, by such actions, procured quiet to 
 his kingdom, and left off fighting any more. 
 
 7. Yet did that Antiochus, who was also 
 called Dionysius, become an origin of trou- 
 bles again. This man was the brother of 
 Demetrius, and the last of the race of the 
 Seleucidic.* Alexander was afraid of him, 
 
 • Jiisephus here calls this AntMcbns the last of the 
 JH:leui:d«, althi>Uj;h ilitrie reinainrti sti I a shadow of 
 aMotber king of that tamil), AuUochus A«i<tUciis, or 
 
 wken he was marching against the Arabians 
 so he cut a deep trench between Antipatris, 
 which was near the mountains, and the shores 
 of Joppa; he also erected a high wall before 
 the trench, and built wooden towers in order 
 to hinder any sudden approaches; but stiil 
 he was not able to exclude Antiochus, for be 
 burnt the towers, and filled up the trenchet-, 
 and marched on with his army; and as be 
 looked upon taking his revenge on Alexander 
 for endeavouring to stop him, as a thing ot 
 less consequence, he marched directly againsi 
 the Arabians, whose king retired into suci. 
 parts of the country as were fittest for engag- 
 ing the enemy, and then on the sudden maCt 
 his horse turn back, who were in number" ten 
 thousand, and fell upon Antiochus 's amn 
 while they were in disorder, and a terribie 
 battle ensued. Antiochus's troops, so long 
 as he was alive, fought it out, although a 
 mighty slaughter was made among them by 
 the Arabians; but when he fell, for he was 
 in the fore-front, in the utmost danger, in 
 rallying his troops, they all gave ground, anii 
 the greatest part of his army were destroye«l, 
 either in the action or the flight; and for the 
 rest, who fled to the village of Oana, it hap- 
 pened that they were all consumed by wani 
 of necessaries, a few only excepted, 
 
 8. About this time it was that the peoph 
 of Damascus, out of their hatred to Ptolemy . 
 the son of Menneus, invited Aretas [to takt 
 the government], and made him king of 
 Ceiesyria. This man also made an expedition 
 against Judea, and beat Alexander in battle ; 
 but afterwards retired by mutual agreement. 
 But Alexander, when he had taken Pella, 
 marched to Gerasa again, out of the cove- 
 tous desire he had of I'iieodorus's possessions; 
 and when he had omit a triple wall about the 
 garrison, he took the place by force. He 
 also demolished Golan, and Seleucia, and 
 what was called the Valley of Antiochus; 
 besides which, h? tock tbe strong fortress of 
 Gamala, and stripped Demetrius, who was 
 governor therein, of what he had, on account 
 of the many crimes laid to his charge, and 
 then returned into Judea, after he had been 
 three whole years in this expedition; and now 
 he was kindl/ received of the nation, because 
 of the good success he had. So, when he 
 was at rest from war, he fell into a distemper; 
 for he was afflicted with a quartan ague, and 
 supposed that, by exercising himself again in 
 martial affairs, he should get rid of this dis- 
 temper; but, by making such expediuons at 
 unseasonable times, and forcing his body to 
 undergo greater hardships than it was able to 
 bear, he orought himself to his cnJ. He 
 died, therefore, in the midst of his troubles, 
 after he had reigned seven-and-twenty years'. 
 
 Comma^nns, who reigned, or rather fay hid, till Pom- 
 pey quite turned him out, as Dean Aldrich h«-«< notsS: 
 from Appiaa and Justin. 
 
660 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK L 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ALEXANDRA REIGNS NINE YEARS; DURING 
 WHICH TIME THE PHARISEES WERE THE 
 REAL RULERS OF THE NATION. 
 
 § 1. Now Alexander left the kingdom to 
 Alexandra his wife, and depended upon it 
 that the Jews would now very readily submit 
 to her; because she had been very averse to 
 such cruelty as he had treated them with, and 
 had opposed his violation of their laws, and 
 had thereby got the good-will of the people. 
 Nor was he mistaken as to his expectations; 
 for this woman kept the dominion, by the 
 • opimon that the people had of her piety; for 
 she chiefly studied the ancient customs of her 
 country, and cast those men out of the 
 government that offended against their holy 
 laws. And as she had two sons by Alexander, 
 she made Hyrcanus, the elder, high-priest, on 
 account of his ^e; as also, besides that, on 
 account of his inactive temper noway disposing 
 him to disturb the public. But she retained 
 the younger, Aristobulus, with her as a pri- 
 vate person, by reason of the warmth of his 
 temper. 
 
 2. And now the Pharisees joined themselves 
 to her, to assist her in the government. These 
 are a certain sect of the Jews that appear 
 more religious than others, and seem to inter- 
 pret the laws more accurately. Now, Alex- 
 andra hearkened to them to an extraordinary 
 degree, as being herself a woman of great piety 
 towards God. But these Pharisees artfully 
 insinuated themselves into her favour by little 
 and little, and became themselves the real 
 administrators of the public affairs: they 
 banished and reduced whom they pleased; 
 they bound and loosed [men] at their plea- 
 sure;*! a"<^» to say all at once, they had the 
 enjoyment of the royal authority, whilst the 
 expenses and the difficulties of it belonged to 
 Alexandra. She was a sagacious woman in 
 the management of great affairs, and intent 
 always upon gathering soldiers together; so 
 that she increased the army the one half, and 
 procured a great body of foreign troops, till 
 her own nation became not only very power- 
 ful at home, but terrible also to foreign 
 potentates, while she governed other people, 
 and the Pharisees governed her. 
 
 3. Accordingly they themselves slew Dio- 
 genes, a person of figure, and one that had 
 been a friend to Alexander; and accused 
 
 * him as having assisted the king with his 
 advice, for crucifying the eight hundred men 
 [before mentioned]. They also prevailed with 
 
 • Matt XTi. 19 J xviil 18. 
 
 + Here we have the oldest and most authentic Jewish 
 exposition of binding and loosing, for punishing or al)so]- 
 V lug men J not for declaring actions lawful or unlawful, as 
 Mxuo mora modern Jews and Cbristiaas vainly pretend. 
 
 Alexandra to put to death the rest of those 
 who had irritated him against them. Now, she 
 was so superstitious as to comply with their 
 desires, and accordingly they slew whom they 
 pleased themselves. But the principal of those 
 that were in danger fled to Aristobulus, who 
 persuaded his mother to spare the men on 
 account of their dignity, but to expel them out 
 of the city, unless she took them to be inno- 
 cent; so they were suffered to go unpunished, 
 and were dispersed all over the country. But, 
 when Alexandra sent out her army to Damas- 
 cus, under pretence that Ptolemy was always 
 oppressing that city, she got possession of it ; 
 nor did it make any considerable resistance. 
 She also prevailed with Tigranes, king of 
 Armenia, who lay with his troops about Ptole- 
 mais, and besieged Cleopatra, J by agreements 
 and presents, to go away. Accordingly Tigra- 
 nes soon arose from the siege, by reason ot 
 those domestic tumults which happened upon 
 Lucullus's expedition into Armenia. 
 
 4. In the mean time, Alexandra fell sick, 
 and Aristobulus, her younger son, took hold 
 of this opportunity, with his domestics, of 
 which he had a great many, who were all of 
 them his friends, on account of the warmth 
 of their youth, and got possession of all the 
 fortresses. He also used the sums of money 
 he found in them, to get together a number 
 of mercenary soldiers, and made himself king; 
 and besides this, upon Hyrcanus's complaint 
 to his mother, she compassionated his case, and 
 put Aristobulus's wife and sons under restraint 
 in Antonia, which was a fortress that joined 
 to the north part of the temple. It was, as 1 
 have already said, of old called the Citadel, 
 but afterwards got the name of Antonia, wher» 
 Antony was lord [of the east], just as the 
 other cities, Sebaste and Agrippias, had their 
 names changed, and these given them from 
 Sebastus and Agrippa. But Alexandra died 
 before she could punish Aristobulus for his 
 disinheriting his brother, after she had reigned 
 nine years. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WHEN HYRCANUS, WHO WAS ALEXANDER'S 
 HEIR, RECEDED FROM HIS CLAIM TO THE 
 CROWN, ARISTOBULUS IS MADE KING; AND 
 AFTERWARD THE SAME HYRCANUS, BY 
 THE MEANS OF ANTIPATER, IS BUOUGHl 
 BACK BY ARETAS. AT LAST POMPEY IS 
 MADE THE ARBITRATOR OF THE DISPUTE 
 BETWEEN THE BROTHERS. 
 
 § 1. Now Hyrcanus was heir to the king- 
 dom, and to him did his mother commit it 
 
 t Strabo, b. xvi. p. 740, relates that this Selene 
 Cleopatra was besieged by Tigranes, not in Ptolemais, 
 as here. I;iil i fier she had left Syria, in Seleucia, a cita- 
 del in Mcsoiotemia; and adds, that when he had kept 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 501 
 
 before she died: but Aristobulus was supe- 
 rior to hira in power and magnanimity; and 
 when there was a battle between them, to 
 decide the dispute about the kingdom, near 
 Jericho, the greatest part deserted Hyrcanus, 
 and went over to Aristobulus; but Hyrca- 
 nus, with those of his party who staid with 
 him, fled to Antonia, and got into his power 
 the hostages that might be for his preserva- 
 tion (which were Aristobulus's wife, uath her 
 children); but they came to an agreement 
 before things should come to extremities, that 
 Aristobulus should be king, and Hyrcanus 
 should resign that up, but retain all the rest 
 of his dignities, as being the king's brother. 
 Hereupon they were reconciled to each other 
 in the temple, and embraced one another in 
 a very kind manner, while the people stood 
 round about them: they also changed their 
 houses; while Aristobulus went to the royal 
 palace, and Hyrcanus Retired to the house of 
 4ristobulus. 
 
 2. Now, those other people who were at 
 rariance with Aristobulus were afraid, upon 
 his unexpectedly obtaining the government; 
 and . especially this concerned Ajitipater, * 
 whom Aristobulus hated of old. He was 
 by birth an Idumean, and one of the princi- 
 pal of that nation, on account of his ances- 
 tors and riches, and other authority to him 
 belonging: he also persuaded Hyrcanus to 
 fly to Aretas, the king of Arabia, and to lay 
 claim to the kingdom ; as also he persuaded 
 Aretas to receive Hyrcanus, and to bring 
 him back to his kingdom: he also cast re- 
 proaches upon Aristobulus, as to his morals, 
 and gave great commendations to Hyrcanus, 
 and exhorted Aretas to receive him, and told 
 him how becoming a thing it would be for 
 him, who ruled so great a kingdom, to afford 
 his assistance to such as are injured; alleg- 
 ing that Hyrcanus was treated unjustly, by 
 being deprived of that dominion which be- 
 longed to him by the prerogative of his birth. 
 And when he had predisposed them both to 
 do what he would have them, he took Hyr- 
 canus by night, and ran away from the .city; 
 and, continuing his flight with great swift- 
 ness, he escaped to the place called Petra, 
 which is the royal seat of the king of Arabia, 
 where he put Hyrcanus into Aretas's hands; 
 and, by discoursing much with him, arid gain- 
 ing upon him with many presents, he pre- 
 vailed with him to give him an army that 
 might restore him to his kingdom. This 
 army consisted of tifty thousand footmen and 
 
 her a while in prison, he put her to death. Dean 
 Aldrich supposes here that Strabo contradicts Josephus, 
 which does not appear to rae; for although Josephus 
 »ajs both here and in the Antiq. b. xiii. cli. xvi. sect. 4. 
 that Tigranes besieged her now in Ptoleraais. and that 
 he took the city, as the Antiquities inform us, yet does 
 be nowhere intimate that he now took the queen her- 
 self; so that both the narrations of Strabo and Josephus 
 may still be true notwithstanding. 
 
 • That this A,ntipater, the father of Herod the Great, 
 was an Idumean, as Josephus affirms here, see the note 
 on Antiq. b. xiv. cb xv. sect 2. 
 
 horsemen, against which Aristobulus was not 
 able to make resistance, but was deserted in 
 his first onset, and was driven to Jerusalem . 
 he also had been taken at first by force, if 
 Scaurus, the Roman general, had not come 
 and seasonably interposed himself, and raised 
 the siege. This Scaurus was sent into Syria 
 from Armenia, by Pompey the Great, when 
 he fought against Tigranes; so Scaurus cane 
 to Damascus, which had been lately taken 
 by Metellus and LoUius, and caused them 
 to leave the place; and, upon his hearing 
 how the affairs of Judea stood, he made haste 
 thither as to a certain booty. 
 
 3. As soon, therefore, as he was come into 
 the country, there came ambassadors from 
 both the brothers, each of them desiring his 
 assistance; but Aristobulus's three hundred 
 talents had more weight with him than the 
 justice of the cause; which sum, when Scaurus 
 had received, he sent a herald to Hyrcanus 
 and the Arabians, and threatened them with 
 the resentment of the Romans and of 
 Pompey, unless they would raise the siege. 
 So Aretas was terrified, and retired out of 
 Judea to Philadelphia, as did Scaurus return 
 to Damascus again: nor was Aristobulus 
 satisfied with escaping [out of hfs brother's 
 hands], but gathered all his forces together, 
 and pursued his enemies, and fought them at 
 a place called Papyron, and slew above six 
 thousand of them, and, together with them, 
 Antipater's brother, Phalion. 
 
 4. Whej^ Hyrcanus and Antipater were ^^ 
 thus deprived of their hopes from the Ara- 
 bians, they transferred the same to their 
 adversaries; and because Pompey had passed 
 through Syria, and was come to Damascus, 
 
 they fled to him for assistance; and, without 
 any bribes, f they made the same equitable 
 pleas that they had used to Aretas, and be- 
 sought him to hate the violent behaviour of 
 Aristobulus, and to bestow the kingdom upon 
 him to whom it justly belonged, both on 
 account of his good character, and on account 
 of his superiority in age. However, neither 
 was Aristobulus wanting to himself in this 
 case, as reiving on the bribes that Scaurus 
 had received : he was also there himself, and 
 adorned himself after a manner the most 
 agreeable to royalty that he was able. But 
 he soon thought it beneath him to come in 
 such a servile manner, and could not endure 
 to serve his own ends in a way so much more 
 abject than he was used to; so he departed 
 from Diospolis. 
 
 5. At this his behaviour Pompey had great 
 
 + It is somewhat probable, as Havercamp snpposes, 
 and partly Spanheim also, that the Latin copy is here 
 the truest; tfiat Pompey did take the many presents 
 offered him by H\rcanus, as he would have done the 
 others from Aristobulus (sect. )i. ); altboui^h his remark- 
 able al)stii)ence from ttie 2000 taUnts that were in the 
 Jewish temple, when he took, it a little afterward (ch. 
 vii. sect. 6, and Antiq. b. xiv ch. iv. sect. 4), will hardly 
 permit us to desert the Greek copies; all which &gnm 
 that be did not take them. 
 
6m 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 indignation; Hyrcanus also and his friends 
 made great intercession to Pompey; so he 
 took not only his Roman forces, but many of 
 his Syrian auxiliaries, and marched against 
 Aristobulus. But when he had passed by 
 Pella and Scythopolis, and was come to Corea, 
 where you enter into the country of Judea, 
 when you go up to it through the Mediter- 
 ruiieati parts, he heard that Aristobulus was 
 tied to Alexandrium, which is a strong-hold, 
 fortitied with the utmost magnificence, and 
 situated upon a high mountain, and he sent 
 to him, and commanded him to come down. 
 Kow his inclination was to try his fortune in 
 a battle, since he was called in such an impe- 
 rious manner, rather than to comply with that 
 call. However, he saw the multitude were 
 in great fear, and his friends exhorted him to 
 consider what the power of the Romans was, 
 and how it was irresistible; so he complied 
 with their advice, and came down to Pompey; 
 and when he had made a long apology for 
 himself, and for the justness of his cause in 
 taking the government, he returned to the 
 fortress. And when his brother invited him 
 again [to plead his cause], he came down and- 
 spake aboufe the justice of it, and then went 
 away without any hinderance from Pompey: 
 so he was -between hope and fear. And when 
 he came down, it was to prevail with Pompey 
 to allow him the government entirely; and 
 when he went up to the citadel, it was that 
 he might not appear to debase himself too 
 low. However, Pompey commaifled him to 
 give up his fortitied places, and forced him to 
 write to every one of their governors to yield 
 them up; they having had this charge given 
 them, to obey no letters but what were of his 
 own hand-writing. Accordingly he did what 
 he was ordered to do; but had still an indig- 
 nation at what was done, and«retired to Jeru- 
 salem, and prepared to fight with Pompey. 
 
 6. But Pomppy did not give him time 
 to make any preparations [for a siege], but 
 followed him at his heels; he was also obliged 
 to make haste in his attempt, by the death of 
 Mithridates, of which he was informed about 
 Jericho. JSow here is the most fruitful 
 country of Judea, which bears a vast number 
 of palm-trees, besides the balsam-tree,* 
 whose sprouts they cut with sharp stones, 
 and at the incisions they gather the juice, 
 which drops down like tears. So Pompey 
 pitched bis camp in that place one night, 
 and then hasted away the next morning to 
 Jerusalem; but Aristobulus was so aflfrighted 
 at his approach, that he came and met him by 
 way of supplication. He also promised him 
 money, and that he would deliver up both 
 himself and the city into his disposal; — and 
 thereby be mitigated the anger of Pompey. 
 
 * Of the famous palm-trees and balsam about Jericho 
 and Bnxuddi, see the notes in Havercanip's edition, both 
 oere and b. ii. ch. ix. sect. I. 'I'iiey are somewhat too 
 lODg to b* transcribed in this plaoe. 
 
 Yet did not he perform any of the conditions 
 he had agreed to; for Aristobtilus's party 
 would not so much as admit Gabiti'.us La^ 
 the city, who was sent to receive the inor,ey 
 that he had promised. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW POMPEY HAD THE CITY OF JERUSALEM 
 DELIVERED UP TO HIM, BUT TOOK THE 
 TEMPLE [by force]. HOW HE WENT 
 INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES; AS ALSO WHAT 
 WERE HIS OTHER EXPLOITS IN JUDEA. 
 
 § 1. At this treatment Pompey was very 
 angry, and took Aristobulus into custody; 
 and when he was come to the city he looked 
 about where he might jnake his attack : for 
 he saw the walls were so firm that it would 
 be hard to overcome them, and that the val- 
 ley before the walls was terrible ; and that the 
 temple, wSic^^kVvas \vithin that valley, was itself 
 encompassed wlth/^ very strong wall, insomuch 
 that if the city were taken, the temple would 
 be a second place of refuge for the enemy to 
 retire to. 
 
 2. Now, as he was long in deliberating 
 about this matter, a sedition arose among the 
 people within the city; Aristobulus's party 
 being willing to fight, and to set their king at 
 liberty, while the party of Hyrcanus were for 
 opening the gates to Pompey; and the dread 
 people were in, occasioned these last to be a 
 very numerous party, when they looked upon 
 the excellent order the Roman soldiers were 
 in. So Aristobulus's party was worsted, and 
 retired into the temple, and cut oflf the com- 
 munication between the temple and the city, 
 by breaking down the bridge that joined them 
 together, and prepared to make an opposition 
 to the utmost; but as the others had*received 
 the Romans into the city, and had delivered 
 up the palace to him, Pompey sent Piso, one 
 of his great officers, into that palace with an 
 army," who distributed a garrj^on about the 
 city, because he could not persuade any one 
 of those that had fled to the temple to come to 
 terms of accommodation; he then disposed ail 
 things that were round about them so as 
 might favour their attacks, as having Hyrca- 
 nus's party very ready to aflford them both 
 counsel and assistance. 
 
 3. But Pompey himself filled up the ditch 
 that was on the north side of the temple, and 
 the entire valley also, the army itself being 
 obliged to carry the materials for that pur- 
 pose. And indeed it was a hard thing to fill 
 up that valley, by reason of its immense depth, 
 especially as the Jews used all the means pos- 
 sible to repel them from their superior station; 
 nor had the Romans succei'<led in their endea- 
 vours, had not Pompoy taken notice of the 
 seventh days, on which the Jews abstaia 
 
chaK vir. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 663 
 
 from al! sorts of work on a religious account, 
 snd -aised his bank, but restrained his soldiers 
 from fighting on those days; for the Jews 
 "'>]•' ic^e^i defensively on Sabbath-days. But 
 as soon as Pornpey had filled up the valley, 
 he erected high towers upon the bank, and 
 brought those engines which they had fetched 
 from Tyre near to the wall, and tried to bat- 
 ter it down; and the slingers of stones beat 
 off those that stood above them, and drove 
 theni away: but the towers on this side of 
 the city made very great resistance, and were 
 indeed extraordinary both for largeness and 
 magnificence. 
 
 4. Now, here it was that, upon the many 
 hardships which the Romans underwent, Porn- 
 pey could not but admire not only at the other 
 instances of the Jews' fortitude, but especially 
 that they did not at all intermit their religious 
 services, even when they were encompassed 
 with darts on all sides; for, as, if the city 
 were in full peace, their daily sacrifices and' 
 purifications, and every branch of their reli- 
 gious worship, were still performed to God 
 with the utmost exactness. Nor indeed, 
 -when the temple was actually taken, an(f 
 they were every day slain about the altar, did 
 they leave off the instances of their divine 
 
 open to strangers; for Pompey, and those 
 that were about him, went into the temple 
 itself,* whither it was not lawful for any to 
 enter but the high-priest, and saw what was 
 reposited therein, the candlestick with its 
 lamps, and the table, and the pouring vessels, 
 and the censers, all made entirely of gold, as 
 also a great quantity of spices heaped together 
 with two thousand talents of sacred money 
 Yet did not he touch the money, nor any 
 thing else that was there reposited; but he 
 commanded the ministers about the temple, 
 the very next day after he had taken it, to 
 cleanse it, and to perform their accustomed 
 sacrifices. Moreover, he made Hyrcanus 
 high-priest, as one that not only in other 
 respects had shown great alacrity, on his side, 
 during the siege, but as he had been the means 
 of hindering the multitude that was in the 
 country from fighting for Aristobulus, which 
 they were otherwise very ready to have done; 
 by which means he acted the part of a good 
 general, and reconciled the people to him more 
 by benevolence than by terror. Now among 
 the captives, Aristobulus's father-in-law was 
 taken, who was also his uncle: so those that 
 were the most guilty he punished with decol- 
 lation; but rewarded Faustus, and those with 
 
 worship that were appointed by their law; for him that had fought so bravely, with glorious 
 it was in the third month of the siege before presents; and laid a tribute upon the country, 
 the Romans could even with great difficulty and upon Jerusalem itself, 
 overthrow one of the towers, and get into the I 7. He also took away from the nation all 
 temple. Now he that first of all ventured to ' those cities they had formerly taken, and that 
 get over the wall, was Faustus Cornelius, the belonged to Celesyria, and made them subject 
 son of Sylla; and next after him were two to him that was at that time appointed to be 
 
 centurions, Furius and Fabius; and every 
 one of these was followed by a cohort of his 
 own, who encompassed the Jews on all sides, 
 and slew them; some of them as they were 
 running for shelter to the temple, and others 
 as they, for a while, fought in their own 
 defence. 
 
 5. And now did many of the prM^s, even 
 when they saw their enemies assailing them 
 with swords in their hands, without any dis- 
 turbance, go on with their divine worship, 
 and were slain while they were offering their 
 drink-offerings and burning their ii'llense, as 
 preferring the duties about their wOT^iip to 
 God before their own preservation. The 
 
 countrymen of the adverse faction, and an 
 innumerable multitude threw themselvesdowu 
 precipices; nay some there were who were so 
 .distracted among the insuperable difficulties 
 they were under, that Ihey set fire to the 
 buildings that were near to the wall, and were 
 burnt together with them. Now of^e Jews 
 were slain twelve thousand; bi^ of-, the 
 Romans very few were slain, but a, greater 
 number was wounded. 
 
 the Roman president there, and reduced 
 Judea within its proper bounds. He also 
 rebuiltf Gadara, that had been demolished by 
 the Jews, in order to gratify one Demetrius, 
 who was of Gadara, and was one of his own 
 freed-men. He also made other cities free 
 from their dominion, that lay in the midst of 
 the country, — such, I mean, as they had not 
 demolished before that time; Hippos, and 
 Scythopolis, as also Pella, and Samaria, and 
 Marissa; and besides these, Ashdod, and J^m- 
 nia, and Arethusa; arid in like mahner dealt 
 he with the maritime cities Gaza, atid Joppa, 
 and Dora, and that which was anciently called 
 Strato's Tower, but waa^fterward rebuilt 
 
 greatest part of them were slain by their owij.' with the most magnificent edifices, and bad 
 
 its name changed to Cesarea, by king Herod. 
 All which he restored to their own citizens, 
 and put them under the province of Syria; 
 which province, together with Jndea, and the 
 countries as far as Egypt and Euphrates, he 
 committed to^caurus as their governor, and 
 gave him two legions to support him; while 
 
 • Thus says Tacitus:— Cn.Pompeiiis first of all sub- 
 dued the Jews, and went into their temple, by right of 
 , I- .1 i rr J ii. ' conquest. Hist, b.v.ch.ix. Nor did he touch any of its 
 
 b. But there was nothing that anected the . riches, as has been observed on the parallel place of the 
 nation so much, in the calacnities they were Antiquities, b.xiv. ch.iv. sect. 4. out of Cicero himself. 
 
 i-K^r, „«^ „„ iU t *u ;_ 1 1.. „!..„„ ..,u:«l, U^A + A'he coin of this Gadara. still extant, with its date 
 
 then under, as that their holy place, which had f.^^, ,,,43 ^.^^ j, ^ ^^^^i,. evide.ce of this its rebuUdmg 
 
 t>e<>n hitherto seen by none, should be laid by Pumpey, as Spaobcim here assures us. 
 
564 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 he made all the haste he could himself to go 
 through Cilicia, in his way to Rome, having 
 Aristobulus and his children along with him, 
 as his captives. They were two daughters 
 and two sons; the one of which sons, Alex- 
 ander, ran away as he was going; but the 
 younger, Antigonus, with his sisters, were 
 carried to Rome. 
 
 CHAPTER Vm. 
 
 ALEXANDER, THE SON OF ARISTOBULUS, WHO 
 RAN AWAY FROM POMPEY, MAKES AN EXPE- 
 DITION AGAINST HYRCANUS; BUT, BEING 
 OVERCOME BY GABINIUS, HE DELIVERS UP 
 THE FORTRESSES TO HIM. AFTER THIS, 
 ARISTOBULUS ESCAPES FROM ROME, AND 
 GATHERS AN ARMY TOGETHER; BUT BEING 
 BEATEN BY THE ROMANS, HE IS BROUGHT 
 BACK TO ROME; WITH OTHER THINGS 
 RELATING TO GABINIUS, CRASSUS, AND 
 CASSIUS. 
 
 § 1. In the mean time, Scaurus made an 
 expedition into Arabia, but was stopped by the 
 diliiculty of the places about Petra. How- 
 ever, he laid waste the country about Pella, 
 though even there he was under great hard- 
 ship, for his army was afflicted with famine. 
 In order to supply which want, Hyrcanus 
 afforded him some assistance, and sent him 
 provisions by the means of Antipater; whom 
 also Scaurus sent to Aretas, as one well ac- 
 quainted with him, to induce him to pay him 
 money to buy his peace. The king of Ara- 
 bia complied with the proposal, and gave him 
 three hundred talents; upon which Scaurus 
 drew his army out of Arabia.* 
 
 2. But as for Alexander, that son of Aris- 
 tobulus who ran away from Pompey, in some 
 time he got a considerable band of men 
 together, and lay heavy upon Hyrcanus, and 
 overran Judea, and was likely to overturn 
 him quickly; and indeed he had come to 
 Jerusalem, and had ventured to rebuild its 
 wall that was thrown down by Pompey, had 
 not Gabinius, who was sent as successor to 
 Scaurus into Syria, shown his bravery, as in 
 many other points, so in making an expedi- 
 tion against Alexander; who, as he was 
 afraid that he would attack him, so he got 
 together a large army, composed of ten thou- 
 sand armed footmen, and fifteen hundred 
 borsemen. He also built walls about proper 
 places; Alexandrium, and Hyrcanium, and 
 
 • Take the like attestation to the trath of tb« sub- 
 missiou of Aretas, king of Arabia, to Scaurus tite itoman 
 general, in the words of IJean Aldrich. " Hence (nays 
 he) is derived that old and famous Denarius belonging 
 to the Eniilian family [represented in Havercamp's edi> 
 tion], wherein Areias appears in a posture ot supplica- 
 tiun, and takinf; bold ot a camel's bridle with his left 
 hand, and with his right hand presenting a branch uf 
 the Iraiikincense-tree, with this inscriptiun : Rl. SCAD- j 
 KU8 k.X b. C.i and beneath. RLX AKLIA-S." 
 
 Macherus, that lay upon the mountains of 
 Arabia. 
 
 3. However, Gabinius sent before him 
 Marcus Antonius, and followed himself with 
 his whole army; but for the select body of 
 soldiers that were about Antipater, and 
 another body of Jews under the command of 
 Malichus and Pitholaus, these joined them- 
 selves to those captains that v/ere about Mar- 
 cus Antonius, and met Alexander; to which 
 body came Gabinius with his main army soon 
 afterward; and as Alexander was not able to 
 sustain the charge of the enemies' forces, 
 now they were joined, he retired. But when 
 he was come near to Jerusalem, he was forced 
 to fight, and lost six thousand men in the 
 battle; three thousand of whom fell down 
 dead, and three thousand were taken alive ; 
 so he fled with the remainder to Alexandrium. 
 
 4. Now, when Gabinius was come to Alex- 
 andrium, because he found a great many there 
 encamped, he tried, by promising them par- 
 don for their former offences, to induce them 
 to come over to him before it came to a fight; 
 but when they would hearken to no terms of 
 accommodation, he slew a great number of 
 Ihem, and shut up a great number of them 
 in the citadel. Now Marcus Antonius, their 
 leader, signalized himself in this battle, who, 
 as he always showed great courage, so did he 
 never show it so much as now; but Gabi- 
 nius, leaving forces to take the citadel, went 
 away himself, and settled the cities that had 
 not been demolished, and rebuilt those that 
 had been destroyed. Accordingly, upon his 
 injunction, the following cities were restored: 
 — Scythopolis, Samaria, Anthedon, Apollo- 
 nia, Jamnia, Raphia, Marissa, Adoreus, Ga- 
 mala, Ashdod, and many others; while a 
 great number of men readily ran to each o< 
 them, and became their inhabitants. 
 
 5. When Gabinius had taken care of these 
 cities, he returned to Alexandrium, and 
 pressed on the siege. So when Alexander 
 despaired of ever obtaining the government, he 
 sent ambassadors to him, and prayed him to 
 forgive what he had offended him in, and 
 gave up to him the remaining fortresses, Hyr- 
 caniunbvd Macherus, as he put Alexandrium 
 into h^hands afterwards: all which Gabinius 
 demolished, at the persuasion of Alexander's 
 mother, that they might not be receptacles 
 of men in a second war. She was now there, 
 in order to mollify Gabinius, out of her 
 concern for her relations that were captives 
 at Rome, which were her husband and her 
 other children. Aft\r this, Gabinius brought 
 Hyrcanu^ to Jerusalem, and conunitted the 
 ^are of. the temple to him; but ordained the 
 political govennnent to be by an aristocracy. 
 He also parted the whole nation into five 
 conventions, assigning one portion to Jerusa- Jf 
 lem, another to Gadara, that another should 
 belong to Amathus, u t'ourtii to Jericho, and 
 to the fifth. division was allotted Sep()horis, a 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 666 
 
 city of Galilee, So the people were glad to 
 be thus freed from monarchical government, 
 and were overned for the future by an aris- 
 tocracy. 
 
 6. Yet did Aristobulus aflford a new foun- 
 dation for other disturbances. He fled away 
 from Rome, and got together again many of 
 the Jews that were desirous of a change, such 
 as had borne an affection to him of old; and 
 when he had taken Alexandrium in the lirst 
 place, he attempted to build a wall about it; 
 but as soon as Gabinius had sent an army 
 against him under Sisenna, Antoriius, and 
 Servilius, he was aware of it, and retreated 
 to Macherus. And as for the unprofitable 
 multitude, he dismissed them, and only marched 
 on with those that were armed, beiiig to 
 the number of eight thousand, among whom 
 was Pitholaus, who had been the lieutenant 
 at Jerusalem, but deserted to Aristobulus 
 with a thousand of his men: so the Romans 
 followed him, and when it came to a battle, 
 Aristobulus's party for a long time fought 
 courageously; but at length they were over- 
 borne by the Romans, and of them five thou- 
 sand fell dead, and about two thousand fled 
 to a certain little hill, but the thousand that 
 remained with Aristobulus brake through the 
 Roman army, and marched together to Ma- 
 cherus; and, when the king had lodged the 
 first night on its ruins, he was in hopes of 
 raising another army, if the war would but 
 cease a while; accordingly, he fortified that 
 strong-hold, though it was done after a poor 
 manner. But the Romans falling upon him, 
 he resisted, even beyond his abilities, for two 
 days, and then was taken, and brought a pri- 
 soner to Gabinius, with Antigonus his son, 
 who had fled away together with him from 
 Rome; and from Gabinius he was carried to 
 Rome again. Wherefore the senate put him 
 under confineoaeut, but returned his children 
 back to Judea, because Gabinius informed 
 them by letters, that he had promised Aristo- 
 bulus's mother to do so, for her delivering 
 the fortresses up to him. 
 
 7. But now, as Gabinius was marching to 
 the war against the Parthians, he was hindered 
 by Ptolemy, whom, upon his return from 
 Euphrates, he brought back into Egypt, 
 making use of Hyrcanus and Antipater to 
 provide every thing that was necessary for this 
 expedition; for Antipater furnished him with 
 money, and weapons, and corn, and auxiliaries; 
 he also prevailed with the Jews that were 
 tliere, and guarded the avenues at Pelusium, 
 to let them pass. But now, upon Gabinius's 
 absence, the other part of Syria was in mo- 
 tion, and Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, 
 brought the Jews to revolt again. Accord- 
 ingly, he got together a very great army, and 
 set about killing all the Romans that were in 
 the country; hereupon Gabinius was afraid 
 (for he was come back already out of Egypt, 
 and obliged to come back quickly by these 
 
 tumults), and sent Antipater, who prevailed 
 with some of the revolters to be quiet. How- 
 ever, thirty thousand still continued with 
 Alexander, who was himself eager to fight 
 also; accordingly, Gabinius went out to tight, 
 when the Jews met him; and, as the battle 
 was fought near Mount Tabor, ten thousand 
 of them were slain, and the rest of the mul- 
 titude dispersed themselves, and fled away. 
 So Gabinius came to Jerusalem, and settled 
 the government as Antipater would have it; 
 thence he marched, and fought, and beat the 
 Nabateans: as for Mithridates and Orsanes, 
 who fled out of Parthia, he sent them away 
 privately, but gave it out among the soldiers 
 that they had run away. 
 
 8. In the mean time, Crassus came as suc- 
 cessor to Gabinius in Syria. He took away 
 all the rest of the gold belonging to the tem- 
 ple of Jerusalem, in order to furnish himself 
 for his expedition against the Parthians. He 
 also took away the two thousand talents which 
 Pompey had not touched ; but when he had 
 passed over Euphrates, he perished himself, 
 and his army with him; concerning which 
 affairs this is not a proper time to speak [more 
 largely]. 
 
 9. But now Cassias, after Crassus, put a 
 stop to the Parthians, who were marching, in 
 order to enter Syria. Cassius had fled into 
 that province, and when he had taken posses- 
 sion of the same, he made a hasty march into 
 Judea; and, upon his taking Taricheae, he 
 carried thirty thousand Jews into slavery. He 
 also slew Pitholaus, who had supported the 
 seditious followers of Aristobulus; and it 
 was Antipater who advised him so to do. 
 Now this Antipater married a wife of an emi- 
 nent family among the Arabians, whose name 
 was Cypros, and had four sons born to him 
 by her, Phasaelus and Herod, who was after- 
 wards king, and besides, Joseph and Pheroras; 
 and he had a daughter, whose name was 
 Salome. Now, as be made himself friends 
 among the men of power everywhere, by the 
 kind offices he did them, and the hospitablg 
 manner that he treated them; so did he con- 
 tract th^ greatest friendship with the khig of 
 Arabia, by marrying his relation; insomuch 
 that when he made war with Aristobulus, he 
 sent and intrusted his children with him. So, 
 when Cassius had forced Alexander to come 
 to terms and to be quiet, he returned to Eu- 
 phrates, in order to prevent the Parthians 
 from repassing it; concerning which matter 
 we shall speak elsewhere.* 
 
 * This citation is now wanting. 
 
566 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ABISTOBULUS IS TAKEN OFF BY POMPEY's 
 FRIENDS, AS IS HIS SON ALEXANDER BY 
 SCIPIO. ANTIPATER CULTIVATES A FRIEND- 
 SHIP WITH CiESAR, AFTER POMPEY's DEATH ; 
 HE ALSO PERFORMS GREAT ACTIONS IN THAT 
 WAR, WHEREIN HE ASSISTED MITHRIDATES. 
 
 § 1. Now, upon the flight of Pompey and 
 of the senate beyond the Ionian Sea, Caesar 
 got Rome and the empire under his power, 
 and released Aristobulus from his bonds. He 
 also committed two legions to him, and sent 
 him in haste into Syria, as hoping that by his 
 means he should easily conquer that country, 
 and the parts adjoining to Judea. But envy 
 prevented any effect of Aristobulus's alacrity 
 and the hopes of Caesar; for he was taken off 
 by poison given him by those of Pompey 's 
 party; and, for a long while, he had not so 
 much as a burial vouchsafed him in his own 
 country; but his dead body lay [above 
 ground], preserved in honey, until it was sent 
 to the Jews by Antony, in order to be buried 
 in the royal sepulchres. 
 
 2. His son Alexander also was beheaded 
 by Scipio at Antioch, and that by the com- 
 mand of Pompey, and upon an accusation 
 laid against him before his tribunal, for the 
 mischiefs he had done to the Romans. Bat 
 Ptolemy, the son of Menneus, who was then 
 ruler of Chalcis, under Libanus, took his 
 brethren to him, by sending his son Philippic 
 for them to Ascalon; who took Antigont^s, 
 as well as his si.sters, away from Aristobulus's 
 Avife, and brought them to his father; and 
 falling in love with the younger daughter, he 
 married her, and was afterward slain by his 
 father on her account; for Ptolemy himself, 
 after he had slain his son, married her, whose 
 name was Alexandra; on account of which 
 marriage, he took the greater care of her 
 brother and sister. 
 
 3. Now, after Pompey was dead, Antipa- 
 ter changed sides, and cultivated a friendship 
 with Caesar. And, since Mithridates of Per- 
 gamus, with the forces he led against Egypt, 
 was excluded from the avenues about Pelu- 
 eium, and was forced to stay at Ascalon, he 
 persuaded the Arabians among whom he had 
 lived, to assist him, and came himself to him, 
 at the head of three thousand men. He aiso 
 encouraged the men of power in Syria to 
 come to his assistance; as also of the inliabi- 
 tants of Libanus, Ptolemy, and Jambhcus, 
 and another Ptolemy; by which means the 
 cities of that country came rea<iily into this 
 war; insomuch that Mithridates ventured 
 now, in dependence upon the additiunal 
 strength that he bad gotten by Antiputer, to 
 march forward to Pelusium; and when tli»y 
 ref'ised him a passage through it, he besieged 
 
 the dty; in the attack of which place, Anti.- 
 pater principally signalized himself, for lie 
 brought down that part of the wall which waa 
 over-against him, and leaped first of all into 
 the city, with the men that were about him. 
 
 4. Thus was Pelusium taken. But still, 
 as they were marching on, those Egyptian 
 Jews that inhabited the country, called the 
 country of Onias, stopped them. Then did 
 Antipater persuade them not only not to stop 
 them, but to afford provisions for their army; 
 on which account even the people about 
 Memphis would not fight against them, but, 
 of their own accord, joined Mithridates. 
 Whereupon he went round about Delta, and 
 fought the rest of the Egyptians at a place 
 called the Jews' Camp: nay, when he was in 
 danger in the battle with all his right wing, 
 Antipater wheeled about, and came along the 
 bank of the river to him; for he had beaten 
 those that opposed him as he led the left wing. 
 After which success he fell upon those that 
 pursued Mithridates, and slew a great many 
 of them, and pursued the remainder so far, 
 that he took their camp, while he lost no more 
 than fourscore of his own men; as Mithrida- 
 tes lost, during the pursuit that was made 
 after him, about eight hundred. He was also 
 himself saved unexpectedly, and became an 
 unreproachable witness to Caesar of the great 
 actions of Antipater. 
 
 5. Whereupon Caesar encouraged Antipa- 
 ter to undertake other hazardous enterprises 
 for him, and that by giving him great com- 
 mendations and hopes of reward. In all 
 which enterprises he readily exposed himself 
 to many dangers, and became a most coura- 
 geous warrior; and had many wounds all over 
 his body, as demonstrations of his valour. 
 And when Caesar had settled the affairs ot 
 Egypt, and was returning into Syria agaui, 
 he gave him the privilege of a Roman citizen, 
 and freedom from taxes, and rendered him 
 an object of admiration by the honours and 
 marks of friendship he bestowed upon him. 
 On this account it was that he also confiimcd 
 Hyrcanus in the high-priesthood. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 C^SAR MAKES ANTIPATER PROCURATOR 0¥ 
 JUDEA; AS DOES ANTIPATER APPOINT PHA- 
 SAELUS TO BE GOVERNOR OF JERUSALElfl, 
 AND HEROD GOVERNOR OF GALILEE; WHO, 
 IN SOME TIME, WAS CALLED TO ANSWER 
 FOR HIMSELF [BEFORE THE SANHEDIUm], 
 WHERE HE IS ACQUITTED. SEXTUS CA;SAtt 
 IS TREACHEROUSLY KILLED BY BASSUS, 
 AND IS SUCCEEDED BY MARCUS. 
 
 § 1. About this time it was that Antigonus, 
 the son of Aristobulus, came to Caesar, Jind 
 became, in a surprising manner, the occasiou 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 567 
 
 cf Anfipater's farther advancement; for, 
 whereas he ought to have lamented that his 
 fitber appeared to have been poisoned on 
 account of his quarrels >vith Pompey, and to 
 have complained of Scipio's barbarity towards 
 his brother, and not to mix any invidious pas- 
 sion when suing for mercy; instead of 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 
 regard 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 friend- 
 ship 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 inhe- 
 ritance from his father to be fond of innova- 
 tions and seditions, that he should undertake 
 to accuse other men before the Roman gover- 
 nor, and endeavour 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, I 
 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- i 
 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 con- 
 stituted procurator of all Judea, and obtained 
 leave, moreover, to rebuild* those walls of 
 bis 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, 
 ind of the virtue of Antipater. 
 
 4. But as soon as Antipater had conducted 
 \}aesar out of Syria he returned to Judea, and 
 Vhe first thing he did, was to rebuild that wall 
 of his own country [Jerusalem], which Pom- 
 pey had overthrown, and then to go over the 
 country, and to quiet the tumults that were 
 
 • What is here noted by Hudson and Spanheim, that 
 this eraiit of leave to rebuild the walls of the cities of 
 Judea was made by Julius Cwsar. nut as here to Antipa- 
 ter. but to H>rcaiiu3 (Aniiq b. xiv. ch. viiL set-t 5), has 
 hardly an appearance uf a contradiction; Antipater being 
 now perhaps considered only as Hvrcanns's deputy ana 
 - minisler. aithoui;h he attfrrwanis made a cypher of Hyr- 
 canus and. under f-reat decency of bebaViaur to hiin, 
 (ouk the real auth« ly tu biuibclL 
 
 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 hop>es, 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 neighbouring 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 kins- 
 man of the great Caesar, and president of 
 Syria. A just emulation of his glorious actions 
 excited Phasaelus also to imitate him. Accor- 
 dingly, he procured the good- will of the inha- 
 bitants 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 
 honours they all yielded him were equal to 
 the honours 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 Hyr- 
 canus 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 underta- 
 kings. There were also many people in the 
 royal palace itself who inflamed his envy at 
 him ; those, I mean, who were obstructed in 
 
 + Or 25 years of aj?e. Si»« note on Antiq.b. Lch.xii. 
 sect 3 i and on li.xiv'.ch.ix.sect.i; and «>f the War, b.U. 
 cb xi. sect 6; and Pol>b. b.xvii.p. 7:2^ 
 
668 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK 1 
 
 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 mis- 
 take 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 pri- 
 vate man, still ought to come to his trial, and 
 answer it to him, and to the laws of his coun- 
 try, which do not permit any one to be killed 
 till he had been condemned in judgment. 
 
 7. Now Hyrcanus was by degrees inflamed 
 with these discourses, and at length could 
 bear no longer, but 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 over- 
 throw 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 tbe young man, lest he should be 
 taken by his enemies, and brought to punish- 
 ment; 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; where- 
 upon 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 Celesyria and Samaria by Sextus 
 Caisar, he was formidable, not only from the 
 good- will which the nation bore him, but by 
 the power h* himself had; insomuch that 
 Hyrcanus fell into the utmost degree of ter- 
 ror, and expected he would presently march 
 against bini with his army. 
 
 9. Nor was he mistaken in the conjecture 
 he made ; for He'rod got his army together, 
 out of the anger he bare him for his threaten- 
 ing 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 bro- 
 ther had gone out together and broken the 
 force of his fury, and this by exhorting him 
 to carry his revenge no farther than to threat- 
 ening 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 me- 
 lancholy 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 there- 
 fore 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 counsellors, and this no far-, 
 ther 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 distur- 
 bance among the Romans about Apamia, and 
 a civil war occasioned by the treacherous 
 slaughter of Sextus Ciesar,* by Cecilius Bas- 
 sus, 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 com- 
 manders 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 whom were their 
 friends ; and as this war grew to be of a con- 
 siderable length, JViarcus came out of Italy aa 
 successor to Sextus. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HEUOD IS MADE PROCURATOR Or AIL SYRIA; 
 MALICHUS IS AFRAID OF HIM, AND TAKl.d 
 ANTIPATER OFF BY POISON: WHEREUPON 
 THE TRIBUNES OF THE SOLDIERS ARE PRE- 
 VAILED WITH TO KILL HIM. 
 
 § 1. There was at this time a mighty war 
 raised among the Romans, upon the sudden 
 and treacherous slaughter of Caesar by Cassius 
 and Brutus, after he had held the govern- 
 ment for three years and seven months, "f 
 
 • Many writers of the Roman history ^ive an account 
 of this murder of Sextus Cesar, and of the war of 
 Apamia upon this occasiun. 'I'hey are cited in Dean. 
 Aldrich's note. 
 
 + In the Antiquities, b. siv. ch. xi. sect. 1, the durap 
 tiuu of the reign of Julius CKsar is three vvars six 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 569 
 
 Upon this murder there were very great agi- 
 tations, and the great men were mightily 
 at diiference one with another, and every one 
 betook himself to that party where they had 
 the greatest hopes of advancing themselves. 
 Accordingly, Cassius came into Syria, in order 
 to receive the forces that were at Apamia, 
 where he procured a reconciliation between 
 Bassus and Marcus, and the legions which 
 were at difference with him: so he raised the 
 siege of Apamia, and took upon him the 
 command of the army, and went about exact- 
 ing tribute of the cities, and demanding their 
 money to such a degree as they were not able 
 to bear. 
 
 2. So he gave command that the Jews 
 should bring in seven hundred talents: where- 
 upon Antipatery out of his dread of Cassius's 
 threats, parted the raising of this sum among 
 his sons, and among others of his acquaint- 
 ance, and to be done immediately; and 
 among them he required one Malichus, who 
 was at enmity with him, to do his part also, 
 which necessity forced him to do. Now 
 Herod, in the first place, mitigated the passion 
 of Cassius, by bringing his share out of Gali- 
 lee, which was a hundred talents, on which 
 account he was in the highest favour with 
 him; and when he reproached the rest for 
 being tardy, he was angry at the cities them- 
 selves; so he made slaves of Gophna and 
 Emmaus, and two others of less note: nay, 
 he proceeded as if he would kill Malichus, 
 because he had not made greater haste in 
 exacting his tribute; but Antipater prevented 
 the ruin of this man, and of the other cities, 
 and got into Cassius's favour by bringing in a 
 hundred talents immediately.* 
 
 3. However, when Cassius was gone, Mali- 
 chus forgot the kindness that Antipater had 
 done him, and laid frequent plots against him 
 that had saved him, as making haste to get 
 him out of the way, who was an obstacle to 
 his wicked practices; but Antipater was so 
 much afraid of the power and cunning of the 
 man, that he went beyond Jordan, in order to 
 get an army to guard himself against his 
 treacherous designs; but when Malichus was 
 caught in his plot, he put upon Antipater's 
 sons by his impudence, for he thoroughly 
 deluded Phasaelus, who was the guardian of 
 Jerusalem, and Herod, who was intrusted with 
 the weapons of war, and this by a great 
 many excuses and oaths, and persuaded them 
 
 months; but here three years seven months, beginning 
 rightly, says Uean Aldrich, from his second dictatorship. 
 It is probable the real duration might be three years and 
 between six and seven months. 
 
 • It appears evidently by Josephus's accounts, both 
 here and in his Antiquities (b. xiv.cb. xL sect 2), that this 
 Cassius, one of Caesar's murderers, was a bitter oppres- 
 sor, and exacter of tribute in Judea. These seven hun- 
 dred talents amount to about three hundred thousand 
 pounds sterling, and are about half the yearly revenues 
 cf kicg Herod afterwards. See the note on Antiq.b.xvii. 
 cL.xi.sect 4. It also appears that Galilee then paid no 
 mare than one hundred talents, or the seventh part of the 
 wun to be levittl in all the country. 
 
 to procure his reconciliation to his father 
 Thus was he preserved again by Antipater, 
 who dissuaded Marcus, the then president of 
 Syria, from his resolution of killing Malichus, 
 on account of his attempts for innovation. 
 
 4. Upon the war between Cassius and Bru- 
 tus on one side, against the younger Ciesar 
 [Augustus] and Antony on the other, Cassiuf 
 and Marcus got together an army out of Syria; 
 and because Herod was likely to have a great 
 share in providing necessaries, they then made 
 him procurator of all Syria, and gave him an 
 army of foot and horse. Cassius promised him 
 also, that after the war was over, he would 
 make him king of Judea; but it so happened, 
 that the power and hopes of his son became 
 the cause of his perdition; for, as Malichus 
 was afraid of this, he corrupted one of the 
 king's cup-bearers with money, to give a poi- 
 soned potion to Antipater; so he became a 
 sacrifice to Malichus's wickedness, and died at 
 a feast. He was a man, in other respects, 
 active in the management of affairs, and one 
 that recovered the government to Hyrcanus, 
 
 and preserved it in his hands. ^ 
 
 5. However, Malichus, when he was sus- 
 pected of poisoning Antipater, and when the 
 multitude was angry with him for it, denied 
 it, and made the people believe he was not 
 guilty. He also prepared to make a greater 
 figure, and raised soldiers; for he did not 
 suppose that Herod would be quiet, who 
 indeed came upon him with an army pre- 
 sently, in order to revenge his father's death; 
 but, upon hearing the advice of his brother 
 Phasaelus, not to punish him in an open man- 
 ner, lest the multitude should fall into a 
 sedition, he admitted of Malichus's apology, 
 and professed that he cleared him of the sus- 
 picion; he also made a pompous funeral for 
 his father. 
 
 6. So Herod went to Samaria, which was 
 then in a tumult, and settled the city in 
 peace; after which, at the [Pentecost] festi- 
 val, he returned to Jerusalem, having his 
 armed men with him; hereupon Hyrcanus, 
 at the request of Malichus, who feared his 
 approach, forbade them to introduce foreigners 
 to mix themselves with the people of the 
 country, while they were purifying them- 
 selves; but Herod despised the pretence, 
 and him that gave that command, and came 
 in by night. Upon which Malichus came to 
 him, and bewailed Antipater; Herod also 
 made him believe [he admitted of his lamen- 
 tation as real], although he had much ado to 
 restrain his passion at him; however, he did 
 himself bewail the murder of his father in his 
 letters to Cassius, who, on other accounts, 
 also hated Malichus. Cassius sent him word 
 back that he should avenge his father's death 
 upon him, and privately gave order to the 
 tribunes tnat were under him, that they should 
 assist Herod in a righteous action he was 
 about. 
 
670 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 7. And because, upon the taking of Lao- 
 dicea by Cassius, the men of power were got- 
 ten together from all quarters, with presents 
 and crowns in their hands, Herod allotted 
 this time for the punishment of Malichus. 
 When Malichus suspected that, and was at 
 Tyre, he resolved to withdraw his son pri- 
 
 . "vately from among the Tyrians, who was an 
 hostage there, while he got ready to fly away 
 into Judea; the despair he was in of escaping 
 excited hhn to think of greater things; 
 for he hoped that he should raise the nation 
 to a revolt from the Romans, while Cassius 
 was busy about the war against Antony, and 
 that he should easily depose Hyrcanus, and 
 get the crown for himself. 
 
 8. But fate laughed at the hopes he had ; 
 for Herod foresaw what he was so zealous 
 about, and invited both Hyrcanus and him 
 to supper; but calling one of the principal 
 servants that stood by him to him, he sent 
 him out, as though it were to get things ready 
 for supper, but in reality to give notice be- 
 forehand about the plot that was laid against 
 
 "* him; accordingly, they called to mind what 
 orders Cassius had given them, and went out 
 of the city with their swords in their hands 
 upon the sea-shore, where they encompassed 
 Malichus round about, and killed him with 
 many wounds. Upon which Hyrcanus was 
 immediately affrighted, till he swooned away, 
 and fell down at the surprise he was in; and 
 it was with difficulty that he was recovered, 
 when he asked who it was that had killed 
 Malichus. And when one of the tribunes 
 replied, that it was done by the command of 
 Cassius, " Then," said he, " Cassius hath 
 saved both me and my country, by cutting 
 off one that was laying plots against them 
 both." Whether he spake according to his 
 own sentiments, or whether his fear was such, 
 that he was obliged to commend the action 
 by saying so, is uncertain; however, by this 
 method Herod inflicted punishment upon 
 Malichus. 
 
 ♦ CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 PHASAELUS IS TOO HARD FOR FELIX; HEROD 
 ALSO OVERCOMES ANTIGONUS IN BATTLE: 
 AND THE JEWS ACCUSE BOTH HEROD AND 
 PHASAELUS; BUT ANTONIUS ACQUITS THEM, 
 AND MAKES THEM TETRARCH8. 
 
 § 1. When Cassius was gone out of Syria, 
 another sedition arose at Jerusalem, wherein 
 Felix assaulted Pbasaelus 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; m the mean time, Phasaelus was 
 
 by himself too hard for Felix, and reproached 
 Hyrcanus on account of his ingratitude, botI» 
 for what assistance he had afforded Malichus, 
 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 for- 
 tresses 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 pre- 
 served them all alive; nay, some of them he 
 gave presents to, and so seiit them away, and 
 thereby procured good- will to himself from the 
 city, and hatred to the tyrant. Marion had in- 
 deed obtained that tyrannical power of Cassius, 
 who set tyrants over all Syria;* and out of 
 hatred to Herod it was that he assisted Anti- 
 gonus, the son of Aristobulus, and princi- 
 pally 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 kins- 
 man o[ 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 favour him, dii,' 
 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 An ti pater, so 
 did he now marry Mariamne, the daughter of 
 
 I Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, and the 
 i grand-daughter of H}'rcanus, and was become 
 thereby a relation of the king. 
 
 4. But when Cffisar and Antony had slain 
 Cassius near Philippi, and Csesar 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 honourable name. Herod appeared ready 
 to answer this accusation; fend, having made 
 Antony his friend by the large sums of money 
 he gave him, he brought him to such a 
 temper as not to bear the others speak against 
 him; and thus did they part at this tiaie. 
 
 5. However, after this there came a hundred 
 
 • Here we »ee that Cassius set tyrants over all Syria 
 ■o that bis assistini; to destroy Cwsur do«iS not susat to 
 have proceeded from his true zeal tor public liberty 
 but frora a desire to be a tyrant hioibclf. 
 
CHAP. xm. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 671 
 
 of the principal men among the Jews to [already succeeded, upon the death of his father 
 Daphne by Antioch, to Antony, who was ' Ptolemy, the son of Menneus, in the govern- 
 already in love with Cleopatra to the degree I ment [of Chalcis], he prevailed with the 
 of slavery; these Jews put those men that I governor, by a promise of a thousand talents, 
 were the most potent, both in dignity and I and five hundred women, to bring back 
 
 eloquence, foremost, and accused the breth- 
 ren.* But Messala opposed them, and defended 
 the brethren, and that while Hyrcanus stood 
 by him, on account of his relation to them. 
 
 Antigonus to his kingdom, and to turn Hyr- 
 canus out of it. Pacorus was by these means 
 induced so to do, and marched along the 
 sea-coast, while he ordered Barzapharnes to 
 
 When Antony had heard both sides, he asked , fall upon the Jews as he went along the 
 Hyrcanus which party was the fittest to Mediterranean part of the country; but ol 
 govern; who replied, that Herod and his party i the maritime people, the Tyrians would not 
 were the fittest. Antony was glad of that receive Pacorus, although those of Ptolemais 
 answer, for he had been formerly treated inland Sidon had received him; so he com- 
 an hospitable and obliging manner by his \ mitted a troop of his horse to a certain 
 father Antipater, when he marched into Judea cup-bearer belonging to the royal family, 
 with Gabinius; so he constituted the breth- of his own name [Pacorus], and gave hiin 
 ren tetrarchs, and committed to them the orders to march into Judea, in order to learn 
 
 government of Judea. 
 
 6. But when the ambassadors had indig- 
 nation 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 occa- 
 sion a still greater tumult arose at Jerusalem; 
 
 the state of affairs among their enemies, and 
 to help Antigonus when he should want his 
 assistance. 
 
 2. Now, as these men were ravaging Car- 
 mel, many of the Jews ran together to 
 Antigonus, and showed themselves ready to 
 make an incursion into the country; so he senl 
 
 so they sent again a thousand ambassadors to them before into that place called Drynius 
 Tyre, where Antony now abode, as he was [the woodland], f to seize upon the plaee; 
 marching to Jerusalem; upon these men who ' whereupon a battle was fought between thei 
 
 made a clamour, 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 con- 
 tentions; and when they gtew still more out- 
 rageous, 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 
 Btill, but put the aflfairs of the city into such 
 disorder, and so provoked Antony, that be 
 slew those whom he had put in bonds also. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE PARTHIANS BRING ANTIGONUS BACK 
 INTO JUDEA, AND CAST HYRCANUS AND 
 PHASAELUS INTO PRISON. THE FLIGHT OF 
 HEROD, AND THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM, 
 AND WHAT HYRCANUS AND PHASAELUS 
 SUFFERED. 
 
 § 1. Now two years afterward, when Barza- 
 pharnes, a governor among the Parthians, | 
 and Pacorus, the king's son, had possessed 
 
 and they drove the enemy away, and pur- 
 sued them, and ran after them as far as Jeru- 
 salem, and as their numbers increased, they 
 proceeded as far as the king's palace; but as 
 Hyrcanus and Phasaelus received them with 
 a strong body of men, there happened a 
 battle in the market-place, in which Herod's 
 party beat the enemy, and shut them up in 
 the temple, and set sixty men in the houses 
 adjoining as a guard on them. But the 
 people that were tumultuous against the 
 brethren came in and burnt those men; while 
 Herod, in his rage for killing them, attacked 
 and slew many of the people, till one party 
 made incursions on the other by turns, day 
 by day, in the way of ambushes; and slaugh- 
 ters were made continually among them. 
 
 3. Now, when that festival which we call 
 Pentecost was at hand, all the places about 
 the temple, and the whole city was full of a 
 multitude of people that were come out of the 
 country, and who were the greatest part of 
 them armed also, at which time Phasaelus 
 guarded the wall, and Herod, with a few, 
 guarded the royal palace; and when he made 
 an assault upon his enemies, as they were out 
 of their ranks, on the north quarter of the 
 city, he slew a very great number of them, 
 and put them all to flight; and some of them 
 he shut up within the city, and others within 
 the outward rampart. In the mean time 
 Antigonus desired that Pacorus might be 
 
 i This large and noted wood, or woodland, belonging 
 themselves of Syria, and when Lysanias had i to Carmel, called Aiuuot by the Septuagint, is mentioned 
 
 in the 0!d Testament, 2 Kings xix.:23; and Isa.xxxriL 
 k4; and Strabo, b.XTi.p.758; as both Aldrich and Span- 
 • Phasaelus and Herod. | keim ber« remark very pertinently. 
 
672 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 admitted to be a reconciler between them ; and 
 Phasaelus was prevailed upon to admit the 
 Parthian into the city with five hundred horse, 
 and to treat him in an hospitable manner, 
 who pretended that he came to quell the 
 tumult, but in reality he came to assist Anti- 
 gonus; however, he laid a plot for Phasaelus, 
 and persuaded him to go as an ambassador 
 to Barzapharnes, in order to put an end 
 to the war, although Herod was very earnest 
 with him to the contrary, and exhorted him 
 to kill the plotter, but not expose himself to 
 tii snares he had laid for him, because the 
 barbarians are naturally perfidious. How- 
 ever, Pacorus went out and took Hyrcanus 
 with him, that he might be the less suspected ; 
 he also* left some of the horsemen, called the 
 Freemen, with Herod, and conducted Phasae- 
 lus with the rest. 
 
 4. But now, when they were come to Gali- 
 lee, they found that the people of that country 
 had revolted, and were in arms, who came 
 ▼8! 7 cunningly to their leader, and besought 
 hi ti to conceal his treacherous intentions by 
 an obliging behaviour to them; accordingly, 
 h& at first made them presents, and afterward, 
 as til 7 went away, laid ambushes for them ; 
 aud. i^hen they were come to one of the mari- 
 ii'^i cities called Ecdippon, they perceived 
 that a plot was laid for them; for they were 
 there informed of the promise of a thousand 
 talents, and how Antigonus had devoted the 
 greatest number of the women that were there 
 with them, among the five hundred, to the 
 Parthians; they also perceived that an am- 
 bush was always laid for them by the barba- 
 rians in the night-time; they had also been 
 seized on before this, unless they had waited 
 for the seizure of Herod first at Jerusalem, 
 because, if he were once informed of this 
 treachery of theirs, he would take care of 
 himself; nor was this a mere report, for 
 they saw the guards already not far off them. 
 
 6. Nor would Phasaelus think of forsaking 
 Hyrcanus and flying away, although Ophel- 
 Hus earnestly persuaded him to it; for this 
 man had learned the whole scheme of the plot 
 from Saramalla, the richest of all the Syrians. 
 But Phasaelus went up to the Parthian 
 governor, and reproached him to his face for 
 laying this treacherous plot against them, and 
 chiefly because he had done it for money; 
 and he promised him, that he would give him 
 more money for their preservation, than 
 Antigonus had promised to give for the king- 
 dom. But the sly Parthian endeavoured to 
 remove all bis suspicion by apologies and by 
 oaths, and then went to [the other] Pacorus; 
 immediately after which, those Parthians who 
 were left, and bad it in charge, seized upon 
 
 • These accoant»,both here and Antiq. b. xiv. ch.xili. 
 sect. 5, that the Parthians fought chiefly on horseback, 
 •nd that only some few of their soldiers were free. 
 icen, perfectly agree with Trogus Poinpeius, in Justin, 
 bw xlL S, a, as O-an Aldrioh well obatrT^s ia this plaec. 
 
 Phasaelus and Hyrcanus, who could do no 
 more than curse their perfidiousness and their' 
 perjury. 
 
 6. In the mean time, the cup-bearer was 
 sent [back], and laid a plot how to seize upon 
 Herod, by deluding him, and getting him out 
 of the city, as he was commanded to do. 
 But Herod suspected the barbarians from the 
 beginning; and having then received intelli- 
 gence that a messenger, who was to bring 
 him the letters that informed him of the 
 treachery intended, had fallen among the ene- 
 my, he would not go out of the city; though 
 Pacorus said, very positively, that he ouglit 
 to go out, and meet the messengers that 
 brought the letters, for that the enemy had not 
 taken them, and that the contents of them were 
 not accounts of any plots upon them, but of 
 what Phasaelus had done; yet had he heard 
 from others that his brother was seized; and 
 Alexandra,! the shrewdest woman in the 
 world, Hyrcanus's daughter, begged of him 
 that he would not go out, nor trust himself 
 to those barbarians, who now were come to 
 make an attempt upon him openly. 
 
 7. Now, as Pacorus and his friends were 
 considering how they might bring their plot 
 to bear privately, because it was not possible 
 to circumvent a man of so great prudence by 
 openly attacking him, Herod prevented them, 
 and went off with the persons that were the 
 most nearly related to him by night, and this 
 without their enemies being apprised of it. 
 But, as soon as the Parthians perceived it, 
 they pursued after them; and, as he gave 
 orders for his mother, and sister, and the young 
 woman who was betrothed to him, with her 
 mother, and his youngest brother, to make 
 the best of their way, he himself, with his 
 servants, took all the care they could to keep 
 off the barbarians; and when, at every assault, 
 he had slain a great many of them, he came 
 to the strong-hold of Masada. 
 
 8. Nay, he found by experience that the 
 Jews fell more heavily upon him than did 
 the Parthians, and created him troubles per- 
 petually, and this ever since he was gotten 
 sixty furlongs from the city; these sometimes 
 brought it to a sort of a regular battle. Now, 
 in the place where Herod beat them, and killed 
 a great number of them, there he afterward 
 built a citadel, in memory of the gi'eat actions 
 he did there, and adorned it with the most 
 costly palaces, and erected very strong forti- 
 fications, and called it, from his own name, 
 Herodium. Now, as they were in their flight, 
 many joined themselves to him every day; 
 and, at a place called Thressa of Idumea, his 
 brother Joseph met him, and advised him to 
 ease himself of a great number of his fol- 
 lowers; because Masada would not contain so 
 great a multitude, which were above nine 
 thousand. Herod complied with this advice, 
 
 * Mariawnr hert:, in the eoptea. 
 
CHAP. XIV. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 673 
 
 and sent away the most cumbersome part of 
 his retinue, that they might go into Idumea, 
 and gave them provisions for their journey; 
 but he got safe to the fortress with his nearest 
 relations, and retained with him only the 
 stoutest of his followers; and there it was 
 that he left eight hundred of his men as a 
 guard for the women, and proWsions sufficient 
 for a siege; but be made haste himself to 
 Petra of Arabia. 
 
 9. As for the Partbians in Jerusalem, they 
 betook themselves to plundering, and fell upon 
 the houses of those that were ded, and upon 
 the king's palace, and spared nothing but 
 Hyrcanus's money, which was not above three 
 hundred talents. They lighted on other men's 
 money also, but not so much as they hoped 
 for; for Herod, having a long while had a 
 suspicion of the perfidiousness of the barba- 
 rians, had taken care to have what was most 
 splendid among his treasures conveyed into 
 Idumea, as every one belonging to him had 
 in like manner done also. But the Parthians 
 proceeded to that degree of injustice, as to 
 fill all the country with war without denoun- 
 cing it, and to demolish the city Marissa, and 
 not only to set up Antigonus for king, but to 
 deliver Phasaelus and Hyrcanus bound into 
 his hands, in order to their being tormented 
 by him. Antigonus himself also bit off Hyr- 
 canus's ears with his own teeth, as he fell 
 down upon his knees to him, that so he might 
 lever be able, upon any mutation of affairs, 
 to take the high -priesthood again; for the 
 high-priests that officiated were tobe complete, 
 and without blemish^ 
 
 10. However, he failed in his purpose of 
 abusing Phasaelus, by reason of his courage, 
 for though he neither haet the command of his 
 sword nor of his hands, he prevented all abuses 
 by dashing his bead against a stone; so he de- 
 monstrated himself to be Herod's own brother, 
 and Hyrcanus a most degenerate relation, and 
 died with great bravery, and made the end of 
 his life agreeable to the actions of it. There 
 is also another report about his end, viz. that 
 he recovered of that stroke, and that a sur- 
 geon, who was sent by Antigonus to heal 
 him, filled the wound with poisonous ingre- 
 dients, and so killed him. Whichsoever of 
 these deaths he came to, the beginning of it 
 was glorious. It is also reported, that before 
 he expired, he was informed by a certain poor 
 woman how Herod had escaped out of their 
 hands, and that he said thereupon, " I now 
 die with comfort, since I leave behind me one 
 alive that will avenge me of mine enemies." 
 
 11. This was the death of Phasaelus; but 
 the Parthians, although they had failed of the 
 women they chiefly desired, yet did they put 
 the government of Jerusalem into the hands 
 of Antigonus, and took away Hyrcanus, and 
 bound him, and carried bim to Partbia. 
 
 CILAPTER XIV. 
 
 WHEN HEROD IS EEJECTED IK ARABIA, HE 
 MAKES HASTE TO ROME, WHERE ANTONY 
 AND CiESAR JOIN THEIR INTEREST TO 
 MAKE HIM KING OF THE JEWS. 
 
 § 1. Now Herod did the more zealously pur- 
 sue bis journey into Arabia, as making haste 
 to get money of the king, while his brother 
 was yet alive; by which money alone it was 
 that he hoped to prevail upon the covetous 
 temper of the barbarians, to spare Phasaelus; 
 for he reasoned thus with himself: — That if 
 the Arabian king was too forgetful of his 
 father's friendship with him, and was too 
 covetous to make him a free gift, he would, 
 however, borrow of him as much as might 
 redeem his brother, and put into his hands, as 
 a pledge, the son of him that was to be re- 
 deemed. Accordingly, he led his brother's son 
 along with him, who was of the age of seven 
 years. Now he was ready to give three bun 
 dred talents for his brother, and intended to 
 desire the intercession of the Tyrians, to get 
 them accepted; howerer, fate had been too 
 quick for his diligence; and since Phasaelus 
 was dead, Herod's brotherly love was now in 
 vain. Moreover, he was not able to find any 
 lasting friendship among the Arabians; for 
 their king, Malicbus, sent to him immediately, 
 and commanded him to return back out ot 
 his country, and used the name of the Par 
 thians as a pretence for so doing, as though 
 these had denounced to him, by their ambas- 
 sadors, to cast Herod out of Arabia; while in 
 reality they had a mind to keep back what 
 they owed to Antipater, and not be obliged 
 to make requital to his sons for the free gifts 
 the father had made them. He also took the 
 imprudent advice of those who, equally with 
 himself, were willing to deprive Herod of 
 what Antipater had deposited among them; 
 and these men were the most potent of all 
 whom he had in his kingdom. 
 
 2. So when Herod had found that the Ara- 
 bians were his enemies, and this for those very 
 reasons whence he hoped they would have 
 been the most friendly, and had given them 
 such an answer as his passion suggested, he 
 returned back and went for Egypt. Now he 
 lodged the first evening at one of the temples 
 of that country, in order to meet with those 
 whom he left behind ; but on the next day word 
 was brought him, as he was going to Rhino- 
 curura, that his brother was dead, and how he 
 came by his death; and when he had lamented 
 him as much as his present circumstances 
 could bear, he soon laid aside su€h cares, and 
 proceeded on his journey. But now, after 
 some time, the king of Arabia repented of 
 what he had done, and sent presently away 
 mtssengers to call him back: Herod had 
 
674 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 fiOOK i. 
 
 prevented them, and was come to Pelusium, 
 where he could not obtain a passage from 
 those that lay with the fleet, so he besought 
 their captains to let him go by them ; accord- 
 ingly, out of the reverence they bore to the 
 fame and dignity of the man, they conducted 
 him to Alexandria; and when he came into 
 the city, he was received by Cleopatra with 
 (jreat splendour, — Who hoped he might bo 
 persuaded to be commander of her forces in 
 the expedition she was now about. But he 
 rejected the queen's solicitations, and being 
 neither affrighted at the height of that storm 
 which then happened, nor at the tumults that 
 were now in Italy, he sailed for Rome. 
 
 3. But as he was in peril about Pamphylia, 
 and obliged to Cast out the greatest part of 
 the ship's lading, he, with difficulty, got safe 
 to Rhodes, a place which had been grievously 
 harassed in the war with Cassias. He was 
 there received by his friends, Ptolemy and 
 Sappinius; and, although he was then in want 
 of money, he fitted up a three-decked ship of 
 very great magnitude, wherein he and his 
 friends sailed to Brundusium,* and went to 
 Rome with all speed; where he first \)f all 
 went to Antony, on account of the friendship 
 his father had with him, and laid before him 
 the calamities of himself and his family; 
 and that he had left his nearest relations 
 besieged in a fortress, and had sailed to him 
 through a storm, to make supplication to him 
 for assistance. 
 
 4. Hereupon Antony was moved to com- 
 passion at the change that had been made in 
 Herod's affairs, and this both upon his calling 
 to mind how hospitably he had been treated 
 by Antipater, but more especially on account 
 of Herod's own virtue; so he then resolved 
 to get him made king of the Jews, whom he 
 had himself formerly made tetrarch. The 
 cotJtest also that he had with Antigonus was 
 another inducement, and that of no less weight 
 than the great regard he had for Herod; for 
 he looked upon Antigonus as a seditious 
 person, and an enemy of the Romans: and as 
 for Ciesar, Herod found him better prepared 
 than Antony, as remembering very fresh the 
 wars he had gone through together with his 
 father, the hospitable treatment he had met 
 with, from him, and the entire good-will he 
 had shown to him; besides the activity which 
 he saw in Herod himself. So he called the 
 senate together, wherein Messalas, and after 
 hnn Atratinus, produced Hero(J before them, 
 and gave a full account of the merits of his 
 father, and his own good- will to the Romans. 
 At the same time they demonstrated that 
 Antigonus was their enemy, not only because 
 he soon quarrelled with them, but because he 
 DOW overlool^ed the Romans, and took the 
 government by the means of the Parthiang. 
 
 * This Brentetium or Brunduoinm has coins itill pre* 
 wrreil, on which is written Bi'EN AU£IOUIj, a« Spanr 
 Wim Inform* oib 
 
 These reasons greatly moved the senate; at 
 which juncture Antony came in, and told 
 them that it was for their advantage in the 
 Parthian war that Herod should be king; so 
 they all gave their votes for it. And when 
 the senate was separated, Antony and Ctesa? 
 went out, with Herod between them; whila 
 the consul and the rest of the magistrate* 
 went before them, in order to offer sacrif'ces, 
 and to lay the decree in the Capitol. Antony 
 also made a feast for Herod on the first day 
 of his reign. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ANTIGONUS BESIEGES THOSE THAT WERE IN 
 MASADA, WHOM HEROD FREES FROM CON- 
 FINEMENT WHEN HE CAME BACK FROM 
 ROME, AND PRESENTLY MARCHES TO JERU- 
 SALEM, WHERE HE FINDS glLO CORRUPTEIX 
 BY BRIBES. 
 
 § 1. Now during this time, Antigonus 
 besieged those that were in Masada, who had 
 all other necessaries in sufficient quantity, but 
 were in want of water; on which account 
 Joseph, Herod's brother, was disposed to run 
 away to the Arabians, with two hundred of 
 his own friends, because he bad heard that 
 Malichus repented of his offences with regard 
 to Herod; and he had been so quick as to 
 have been gone out of the fortress already,, 
 unless, on that very night when he was going 
 away, there had fallen a great deal of rain, 
 insomuch that his reservoirs were full of water, 
 and so he was under no necessity of running 
 away. After which, therefore, they made an 
 irruption upon Antigonus's party, and slew a 
 great many of them, some in open battles, and 
 some in private ambush; nor had they always 
 success in their attempts, for sometimes they 
 were beaten, and ran away. 
 
 2. In the mean time Ventidius, the Roman 
 general, was sent out of Syria, to restrain the 
 incursions of the Parthians; and after he had 
 done that, he came into Judea, in pretence 
 indeed to assist Joseph and his party, but in 
 reality to get money of Antigonus; and when 
 he had pitched his camp very near to Jerusa- 
 lem, as soon as he had got money enough, he 
 went away with the greatest part of his forces; 
 yet still did he leave Silo with some part of 
 them, lest if he had taken them all away, his 
 taking of bribes might have been too openly 
 
 ' discovered. Now Antigonus hoped that the 
 Parthians would come again to his assistance, 
 and therefore cultivated a good understanciing 
 with Silo in the mean time, lest any interrup- 
 tion should be given to his hopes. 
 
 3. Now by this time Herod had sailed out 
 of Italy, and' was come to Piolemais: and as 
 ijoon as he had gotten together no small a«uiy 
 of foreigners, and of his own countrymen, h« 
 
CHAP. XV. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 675 
 
 marched through Galilee against Antigonus, 
 wherein he was assisted by Ventidius and 
 Silo, both whom Dellius,* a person seijt by 
 Antony, persuaded to bring Herod [into his 
 kingdom]. Now Ventidius was at this time 
 among the cities, and composing the distur- 
 bances which had happened by means of the 
 Parthians, as was Silo in Judea corrupted by 
 the bribes that Antigonus had given him; yet 
 was not Herod himself destitute of power, 
 but the number of his forces increased every 
 day as he went along, and all Galilee, with 
 few* exceptions, joined themselves to him. 
 So he proposed to himself to set about his 
 most necessary enterprise, and that was Ma- 
 sada, in order to deliver his relations from the 
 siege they endured. But still Joppa stood in 
 his way, and hindered his going thither; for 
 it was necessary to take that city first, which 
 was in the enemies' hands, that when he 
 should go to Jerusalem, no fortress might be 
 left in the enemies power behind him. Silo 
 also mllingly joined him, as having now a 
 plausible occasion of drawing off his forces 
 [from Jerusalem]; and when the Jews pur- 
 sued him, and pressed upon him [in his re- 
 treat], Herod made an excursion upon them 
 with a small body of his men, and soon put 
 them to flight, and saved Silo when he was in 
 distress. 
 
 4. After this, Herod took Joppa, and then 
 made haste to Masada to free his relations. 
 Now, as he was marching, many came in to 
 him; some induced by their friendship to his 
 father, some by the reputation he had already 
 gained himself, and some, in order to repay 
 the benefits they had received from them both; 
 but still what engaged the greatest number 
 on his side, was the hopes from him, when he 
 hhould be established in his kingdom; so that 
 he had gotten together already an army hard 
 to be conquered. But Antigonus laid an 
 ambush for him as he marched out, in which 
 he did little or no harm to his enemies. How- 
 ever, he easily recovered his relations again 
 that ware in Masada, as well as the fortress 
 Ressa, and then marched to Jerusalem, 
 where the soldiers that were with Silo joined 
 themselves to his own, as did many out of 
 the city, from a dread of his power. 
 
 5. Now, when he had pitched his camp on 
 the west side of the city, the guards who 
 were there shot with arrows, and threw their 
 darts at them, while others ran out in com- 
 panies, and attacked those in the fore-front; 
 but Herod commanded proclamation to be 
 n.ade at the wall, that he was come for the 
 good of the people, and the preservation of 
 the city, without any design to be revenged 
 on his open enemies, but to grant oblivion to 
 them, though they had been the most obsti- 
 nate against him. Now the soldiers that 
 
 « This Uellius is famous, or rather infamous, in the 
 hi.-'Jir, i>f viarK Antony, as -Spanheim arm Aldrich, ben^ 
 note, irom the coius from Ptutarcb and Dio. 
 
 were xrr Antigonus made a contrary clamour, 
 and did neither permit any body to hear that 
 proclamation, nor to change their party; so 
 Antigonus gave order to his forces to beat 
 the enemy from the walls: accordingly, they 
 soon threw their darts at them from the towers, 
 and put them to flight. 
 
 6. And here it was that Silo discovered be 
 had taken bribes; for he set many of the sol- 
 diers to clamour about their want o^ neces- 
 saries, and to require their pay, in order to buy 
 ! themselves food, and to demand that he would 
 j lead them into places convenient for their 
 winter quarters; because all the parts about 
 the city were laid waste by the means of An- 
 ! tigonus's army, which had taken all things 
 away. By this he moved the army, and 
 attempted to get them off the siege; but 
 Herod went to the captains that were under 
 Silo, and to a great many of the soldiers, and 
 begged of them not to leave him, who was 
 sent thither by Caesar and Antony, and the 
 'senate; for that he would take care to have 
 ; their wants supplied that very day. After 
 j the making of which entreaty, he went hastily 
 into the country, and brought thither so great 
 an abundance of necessaries, that he cut off 
 all Silo's pretences; and, in order to provide 
 that for the following days they should not 
 j want supplies, he sent to the people that were 
 about Samaria (which city had joined itself 
 to him) to bring corn, wine, and oil, and 
 cattle to Jericho. When Antigonus beard of 
 i this, he sent some of his party with orders to 
 i hinder, and lay ambushes for these collectors 
 of corn. This command was obeyed, and a 
 great multitude of armed men were gathered 
 together about Jericho, and lay upon the 
 mountains, to watch those that brought the 
 provisions. Yet was Herod not idle, but took 
 with him ten cohorts, five of them were Ro- 
 jnans, and five were Jewish cohorts, together 
 with some mercenary troops intermixed 
 among them, and besides those a few horse- 
 men, and came to Jericho; and when he came 
 he found the city deserted, but that there 
 were five hundred men, with their wives and 
 children, who had taken possession of the 
 tops of the mountains; these he took, and 
 dismissed them, while the Romans fell upon 
 the rest of the city, and plundered it, having 
 found the houses full of all sorts of good 
 things. So the king left a garrison at Jeri- 
 cho, and came back, and ;gent the Roman 
 army into those cities which were come over 
 to him, to take their winter quarters there, 
 viz. into Judea [or Idumea], and Galilee, and 
 Samaria. Antigonus also, by bribes, obtainerl 
 of Silo to let a part of his army be received 
 at Lydda as a compliment to Antouius. 
 
570 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK 1 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HCROD TAKES SEPPHORIS, AND SUBDUES THE 
 KOBBEUS THAT WERE IN THE CAVES: HE 
 AFTER THAT AVENGES HIMSELF UPON 
 MACHERAS, AS UPON AN ENEMY OF HIS, 
 AND GOES TO ANTONY, A3 HE WAS 
 BESIEGING SAMOSATA. 
 
 § 1. So the Romans lived in plenty of all 
 things, and rested from war. However, Herod 
 did not lie at rest, but seized upon Idumea, 
 and kept it, with two thousand footmen, and 
 four hundred horsemen; and this he did by 
 sending his brother Joseph thither, that no 
 innovation might be made by Antigonus. He 
 also removed his mother, and all his relations, 
 who had been in Masada, to Samaria; and 
 when he had settled them securely, he marched 
 to take the remaining parts of Galilee, and 
 to drive away the garrisons placed there by 
 Antigonus. 
 
 2. But when Herod had reached Seppho- 
 ris,* in a very great snow, he took the city 
 without any difficulty, the guards that should 
 have kept it flying away before it was 
 assaulted; where he gave an opportunity to 
 his followers that had been in distress to 
 refresh themselves, there being in that city a 
 great abundance of necessaries. After which 
 he hasted away to the robbers that were in the 
 caves, who overran a great part of the coun- 
 try, and did as great mischief to its inhabitants 
 as a war itself could have done. Accordingly, 
 he sent beforehand three cohorts of footmen, 
 and one troop of horsemen, to the village 
 Arbela, and came himself forty days after- 
 wards f with the rest of his forces. Yet were 
 not the enemy affrighted at his assault, but 
 met him in arms; for their skill was that of 
 warriors, but their boldness was the boldness 
 of robbers: when, therefore, it came to a 
 pitched battle, they put to flight Herod's left 
 wing with their right one: but Herod, wheel- 
 ing about on the sudden from his own right 
 wing, came to their assistance, and both made 
 his own left wing return back from its flight, 
 and fell upon the pursuers, and cooled their 
 courage, till they could not bear the attempts 
 that were made directly upon them, and so 
 turned back and ran away. 
 
 3. But Herocf followed them, and slew 
 
 * This Sepphoris, the metropolis of Galilee, so often 
 mentioned by Josephus, has coins still remaining, 2£1I- 
 ♦llPHNHN. as Spantieim here informs us. 
 
 ♦ This way of speaking, "after forty djys," is inter- 
 
 Ereted by Josephus himself, "on the fortieth day;" Antiq. 
 .xiv. ch. XV. sect 4. In like manner, when Josephui> 
 •ays, ch.xxxiil.sectS, that Herod lived "after" he had 
 ordered Antipater to lie slain *' Ave days i" this is by him- 
 self interpreted, Antiq. b.xvii.ch.viii. sect 1, that he died 
 "Oil the tilth day alterward" So also what is in this 
 book, chap. xiiu sect. 1, "after two years," Is, Antiq. b. 
 xiv ch. xiii. sect 3. "on the second year:" and Dean 
 Aldrich here uutes, that this way of speaking is familiar 
 Id JoMpbus. 
 
 them as he followed them, and destroyed a 
 great part of them, till those that remained 
 were scattered beyond the river [Jordan] ; and 
 Galilee was freed from the terrors they had 
 been under, excepting from those that remained, 
 and lay concealed in caves, which required 
 longer time ere they could be conquered. In 
 order to which, Herod, in the first place, dis- 
 tributed the fruits of their former labours to 
 the soldiers, and gave every one of them a 
 hundred and fifty drachmae of silver, and a 
 great deal more to their commanders, and 
 sent them ^nto their winter quarters. He 
 also sent to his youngest brother Pheroras, to 
 take care of a good market for them, where 
 they might buy themselves provisions, and to 
 build a wall about Alexandrium ; who took 
 care of both those injunctions accordingly. 
 
 4. In the mean time Antony abode at 
 Athens, while Ventidius called for Silo and 
 Herod to come to the war against the Par- 
 thians, but ordered them first to settle the 
 affairs of Judea: so Herod willingly dismissed 
 Silo to go to Ventidius; but he made an 
 expedition himself against those that lay in the 
 caves. Now these caves were in the preci- 
 pices of craggy mountains, and could not be 
 come at from any side, since they had only 
 some winding path- ways, very narrow, by 
 which they got up to them; but the rock that 
 lay on their front had beneath it valleys of a 
 vast depth, and of an almost perpendicular 
 declivity; insomuch that the king was doubt- 
 ful for a long time what to do, by rea.son of 
 a kind of impossibility there was of attacking 
 the place. Yet did he at length make use of 
 a contrivance that was subject to the utmost 
 hazard; for he let down the most hardy of 
 his men in chests, and set them at the mouths 
 of the dens. Now these men slew the rob- 
 bers and their families, and when they made 
 resistance, they sent in fire upon them [and 
 burnt them]; and as Herod was desirous of 
 saving some of them, he had proclamation 
 made, that they should come and deliver 
 themselves up to him; but not one of them 
 came willingly to him; and of those tliat 
 were compelled to come, many preferred death 
 to captivity. And here a certain old man, 
 the father of seven children, whose children, 
 together with their mother, desired him to 
 give them leave to go out, upon the assurance 
 and right hand that was offered them, slew 
 them after the following manner: — He ordered 
 every one of them to go out, while he stood 
 himself at the cave's mouth, and slew that 
 son of his perpetually who went out. Herod 
 was near enough to see this sight, and his 
 bowels of compassion were moved at it, and 
 he stretched out his right hand to the old 
 man, and besought him to spare bis child rt't<; 
 yet did not he relent at all upon \\h.,t 
 he said, but over and above reproii^hed 
 Herod on the lowness of his descent, and 
 slew his wife as well a* hig children; uud 
 
CHAP. XVII. 
 
 WARS OP THE JEWS. 
 
 677 
 
 when he had thrown their dead bodies down 
 the precipice, he at last threw himself down 
 after them. 
 
 5. By this means Herod subdued these 
 caves, and the robbers that were in them. He 
 then left there a part of his army, as many as 
 he thought sufficient to prevent any sedition, 
 ar.d made Ptolemy their general, and returned 
 to Samaria : he led also with him three 
 thousand armed footmen, and six hundred 
 horsemen, against Antigonus. Now here 
 those that used to raise tumults in Galilee, 
 having liberty so to do upon his departure, 
 fell unexpectedly upon Ptolemy, the general 
 of his forces, and slew him: they also laid the 
 country waste, and then retired to the bogs, 
 and to places not easily to be found; but 
 when Herod was informed of this insurrection, 
 he came to the assistance of the country im- 
 mediately, and destroyed a great number of 
 the seditious, and raised the sieges of all those 
 fortresses they had besieged; he also exacted 
 the tribute of a hundred talents of his enemies, 
 as a penalty for the mutations they had made 
 in the country. 
 
 6. By this time (the Parthians being already 
 driven out of the country, and Pacorus slain) 
 Ventidius, by Antony's command, sent a 
 thousand horsemen, and two legions, as auxi- 
 liaries to Herod, against Antigonus. Now 
 Antigonus besought Macheras, who was their 
 general, by letter, to come to his assistance, 
 arfd made a great many mournful complaints 
 about Herod's violence, and about the injuries 
 he did to the kingdom ; and promised to give 
 hJm money for such his assistance : but he 
 ccmplied not with his invitation to betray his 
 trust, for he did not contemn him that sent 
 him, especially while Herod gave him more 
 money [than the other offered]. So he pre- 
 tended friendship to Antigonus, but came as 
 a spy to discover his affairs, although he did 
 not herein comply with Herod, who dissuaded 
 him from so doing; but Antigonus perceived 
 what his intentions were beforehand, and 
 excluded him out -of the city, and defended 
 himself against him as against an enemy, from 
 the walls; till Macheras was ashamed of what 
 he had done, and retired to Emmaus to 
 Herod; and, as he was in a rage at his dis- 
 appointment, he slew all the Jews whom he 
 met with, without sparing those that were for 
 Herod, but using them all as if they were for 
 Antigonus. 
 
 7. Hereupon Herod was very angry at him, 
 and was going to fight against Macheras as 
 bjs enemy; but he restrained his indignation, 
 and marched to Antony to accuse Macheras of 
 mal-administration; but Macheras was made 
 sensible of his offences, and followed after the 
 king immediately, and earnestly begged and 
 obtained that he would be reconciled to him. 
 However, Herod did not desist from his reso- 
 lution of going to Ajtitony; but when he 
 
 heard that he was besieging Samosata* with 
 a great army, which is a strong city near to 
 Euphrates, he made the greater haste; as ob- 
 serving that this was a proper opportunity for 
 showing at once his courage, and for doing 
 what would greatly oblige Antony. Indeed, 
 when he came, he soon made an end of that 
 siege, and slew a great number of the bar- 
 barians, and took from them a large prey; 
 insomuch that Antony, who admired his cou- 
 rage formerly, did now admire it still more.' 
 Accordingly, he heaped many more honours 
 upon him, and gave him more assured hopes 
 that he should gain his kingdom : and now 
 king Antiochus was forced to deliver up 
 Samosata. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 THE DEATH OF JOSEPH [HEROD's BROTHER], 
 WHICH HAD BEEN SIGNIFIED TO HEROD IN 
 DREAMS. HOW HEROD WAS PRESERVED 
 TWICE, AFTER A WONDERFUL MANNER. 
 HE CUTS OFF THE HEAD OF PAPPUS, WHO 
 WAS THE MURDERER OF HIS BROTHER, 
 AND SENDS THAT HEAD TO [HIS OTHER 
 brother] PHERORAS. AND IN NO LONG 
 TIME HE BESIEGES JERUSALEM, AND 
 MARHIES MARIAMNE. 
 
 § 1. In the mean time Herod's affairs in 
 Judea were in an ill state. He had left his 
 brother Joseph with full power, but had 
 charged him to make no attempts against 
 Antigonus till his return; for that Macheras 
 would not be such an assistant as he could 
 depend on, as it appeared by what he had done 
 already; but as soon as Joseph heard that his 
 brother was at a very great distance, he ne- 
 glected the charge he had received, and march- 
 ed towards Jericho with five cohorts, which 
 Macheras sent with him. This movement 
 was intended for seizing on the corn, as it was 
 now in the midst of summer; but when his 
 enemies attacked him in the mountains, and 
 in places which were difficult to pass, he was 
 both killed himself, as he was very bravely 
 fighting in the battle, and the entire Roman 
 cohorts were destroyed; for these cohorts 
 were new-raised men, gathered out of Syria, 
 an^ there was no mixture of those called 
 veteran soldiers among them, who might have 
 supported those that were unskilful in war. 
 
 2. This victory was not sufficient for An- 
 tigonus; but he proceeded to that degree of 
 rage, as to treat the dead body of Joseph bar- 
 barously; for when he had gotten possession 
 of the bodies of those that were slain, he cut 
 
 • This Samosata, the metropolis of Commagena, is 
 well known from its coins, as Spanbeim here assurer us. 
 Dean Aldrich also confirms what Josephus here notes 
 tljat Herod was a great means of taking the city by 
 Aotony, and that from PluUrcb and Dio. 
 2 O 
 
578 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 off his head, although his brother Pheroras 
 would have given fifty talents as a price of 
 redemption for it. And now the affairs of 
 Galilee were put into such disorder after this 
 Viclofy of Antigonus, that those of Antigo- 
 nus'a party brought the principal men that 
 were on Herod's side to the lake, and there 
 drowned them. There was a great change 
 made also in Idumea, where Macheras was 
 building a wall about one of the fortresses, 
 that was called Gittha. But Herod had not 
 yet been informed of these things; for after 
 the taking of Samosata, and when Antony 
 had set Sosius over the affairs of Syria, and 
 given him orders to assist Herod against 
 Aiitigonus, he departed into Egypt. But 
 Sosius sent two legions before him into Judea, 
 to assist Herod, and followed himself soon 
 after with the rest of his army. 
 
 3. Now when Herod was at Daphne, by 
 Antioch, he had some dreams which clearly 
 foreboded his brother's death; and as he 
 leaped out of his bed in a disturbed manner, 
 there came messengers that acquainted him 
 with that calamity. So when he had lamented 
 this misfortune for a while, he put off the 
 main part of his mourning, and made haste to 
 march against his enemies; and when he had 
 performed a march that was above his 
 strength, and was gone as far as Libanus, he 
 got eight- hundred men of those that lived 
 near to that mountain, as his assistants, and 
 joined with them one Roman legion, with 
 which, before it was day, he made an irrup- 
 tion into Galilee, and met his enemies, and 
 drove them back to the place which they had 
 left. He also made an immediate and conti- 
 nued attack upon the fortress. Yet was he 
 forced, by a most terrible storm, to pitch his 
 camp in the neighbouring village before he 
 could take it. But when, after a few days' 
 time, the second legion, that came from 
 Antony, joined themselves to him, the enemy 
 were affrighted at his power, and left their 
 fortifications in the night-time. 
 
 4. After this he marched through Jericho, 
 as making what haste he could to be avenged 
 on his brother's murderers: where happened 
 to him a providential sign, out of which when 
 he had unexpectedly escaped, he had the repu- 
 tation of being very dear to God; for that 
 evening there feasted with him many of the 
 principal men; and after that feast was oVer, 
 and all the guests were gone out, the house 
 fell down immediately. And as he judged this 
 to be a common signal of what dangers he 
 should undergo, and how he should escape 
 them in the war that he was going about, he 
 in the morning set forward with his army, 
 when about six thousand of his enemies came 
 running down from the mountains, and began 
 to fight with those in bis fore-front; yet 
 durst they not be so very bold as to engage 
 the liomans band to hand, but threw stones 
 And darts at them at a distance, by which 
 
 means they wounded a considerable number 5 
 in which action Herod's own side was wounuea 
 with a dart. 
 
 5. Now as Antigonus had a mind to appear 
 to exceed Herod not only in the courage, biiu 
 in the number of his men, he sent Pappus, 
 one of his companions, with an army agaiuat 
 Samaria, whose fortune it was to oppose 
 Macheras. But Herod overran the enemies' 
 country, and demolished five little cities, and 
 destroyed two thousand men that were in 
 them, and burned their houses, and then 
 returned to his camp; but his head-quarters 
 were at the village called Cana. 
 
 6. Now a great multitude of Jews resorted 
 to him every day, both out of Jericho and the 
 other parts of the country. Some were moved 
 so to do out of their hatred to Antigonus, 
 and some out of regard to the glorious actions 
 Herod had done; but others were led on by 
 an unreasonable desire of change; so he fell 
 upon them immediately. As for Pappus and 
 his party, they were not terrified either at their 
 number or at their zeal, but marched out with 
 great alacrity to fight them; and it came to a 
 close fight. Now other parts of their army 
 made resistance for a while: but Herod, run- 
 ning the utmost hazard, out of the rage he 
 was in at the murder of his brother, that he 
 might be avenged on those that had been the 
 authors of it, soon beat those that opposed 
 him; and, after he had beaten them, he always 
 turned his force against those that stood* to 
 it still, and pursued them all; so that a great 
 slaughter was made, while some were forced 
 back into that village whence they came out; 
 he also pressed hard upon the hinderniost, 
 and slew a vast number of them; he also fell 
 into the village with the enemy, where every 
 house was filled with armed men, and the 
 upper rooms were crowded above with sol- 
 diers for their defence; and when he had 
 beaten those that were on the outside, he 
 pulled the houses to pieces, and plucked out 
 those that were within; upon many he had 
 the roofs shaken down, w^iereby they perished 
 by heaps; and as for those that ded out of 
 the ruins, the soldiers received them with their 
 swords in their hands; and the multitude of 
 those slain and lying in heaps was so great, 
 that the conquerors could not pass along the 
 roads. Now the enemy could not bear this 
 blow, 80 that when the multitude of them 
 which was gathered together, saw that those 
 in the village were slain, they dispersed theai- 
 selves and fled away; upon the confidence oi 
 which victory, Herod had marched in.a.f- 
 diately to Jerusalem, unless he haa been hin- 
 dered by the depth of winter^s [coming on]. 
 This was the impediment that lay in the way 
 of this his entire glorious progress, and was 
 what hindered Antigo:iu» from being now 
 conquered, who was already dis)>08ed to for- 
 sake the city. 
 
 7. Now when at the evening Herod baii 
 
CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 679 
 
 already dismissed his friends to refresh them- 
 selves after their fatigue, and when he was 
 gone himself, while he was still hot in his 
 nrmour, like a common soldier, to bathe him- 
 Sf'lf, and had but one servant that attended 
 him, and before he was gotten into the bath, 
 one of the enemies met him in the face with 
 a sword in his hand, and then a second, and 
 then a third, and after that more of them; 
 thesg were men who had run awqy out of the 
 battle into the bath in their armour, and they 
 had lain there for some time in great terror, 
 and in privacy; and when they saw the king, 
 they trembled for fear, and ran by him in a 
 fright, although he was naked, and endea- 
 voured to get off into the public road. Now 
 there was by chance nobody else at hand that 
 might seize upon these men; and for Herod, 
 be was contented to have come to no harm 
 himself, so that they all got away in safety. 
 
 8. But on the next day Herod had Pappus's 
 head cut off, who was the general for Antigo- 
 nus, and was slain in the battle, wild sent it to 
 his brother Pheroras, by way of punishment 
 for their slain brother; for he was the man 
 that slew Joseph. Now as winter was going 
 oflE^ Herod marched to Jerusalem, and brought 
 his army to the wall of it; this was the third 
 year since he had been made king at Rome; 
 BO he pitched his camp before the temple, for 
 on that side it might be besieged; and there 
 it was that Pompey took the city. So he 
 parted the work among the army, and demo- 
 lished the suburbs, and raised three banks, 
 and gave orders to have towers built upon 
 those banks, and left the most laborious of his 
 acquaintance at the works. But be went 
 himself to Samaria, to take tluj daughter of 
 Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, to wife, 
 who had been, betrothed to him before, as we 
 have already said; and thus he accomplished 
 this by the bye, during the siege of the city, for 
 he had his enemies in great contempt already. 
 
 9. When he had thus married Mariamne, he 
 came back to Jerusalem with a greater army. 
 Sosius also joined him with a large army, both 
 of horsemen and footmen, which he sent before 
 him through the midland parts, while he 
 marched himself along Phoenicia; and when the 
 whole army was gotten together, which were 
 eleven regiments of footmen, and six thousand 
 horsemen, besides the Syrian auxiliaries, which 
 were no small part of the army, they pitched 
 their camp near to the north wall. Herod's 
 dependence was upon the decree of the senate, 
 by which he was made king; and Sosius relied 
 upon Antony, who sent the army that was 
 on'Jer him to Herod's assistance. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 how herod and sosius took jerusat.km 
 by force; and what death antiq0nu8 
 came to. also, concerning cleupa- 
 tua's avaricious temper. 
 
 § 1. Now the multitude of the Jews that were 
 in the city were divided into several factions; 
 for the people that crowded about the temple, 
 being the weaker part of them, gave it out 
 that, as the times were, he was the happiest 
 and mpst religious man who should die first. 
 But as to the more bold and hardy men, they 
 got together in bodies, and fell a robbing 
 others after various manners, and these par- 
 ticularly plundered the places that were about 
 the city, and this because there was no food 
 left either for the horses or the men; yet 
 some of the warlike men, who were used to 
 fight regularly, were appointed to defend the 
 city during the siege, and these drove those 
 that raised the banks away from the wall; 
 and these were always inventing one engine 
 or another to be a hinderance to the engines 
 x>f the enemy; nor had they so much success 
 any way as in the mines under ground. 
 
 2. Now, as for the robberies which were 
 committed, the king contrived that ambushes 
 should be so laid, that they might restrain 
 their excursions; and as tor the want of 
 provisions, he provided that they should be 
 brouglit to them from great distances. He 
 was also too hai'd tor the Jews, by the 
 Romans' skill in the art of war: although they 
 were bold to the utmost degree, now they durst 
 not come to a plain battle with the Romans, 
 which was certain death; l»ut through their 
 mines under ground they would appear in the 
 midst of them on the sudden, and before they 
 could battler down one wall, thiy built them 
 another in its stead; and to sum up all at 
 once, they did not show any want either of 
 painstaking or of contrivances, as having 
 resolved to hold out to the very last. Indeed, 
 though they had so great an army lying 
 round about them, they bore a siege of live 
 months, till some of Herod's chosen men ven- 
 tured to get upon the wall, and fell into the 
 city, as did Sosius's centurions after them 
 and now they first of all seized upon what was 
 about the temple; and upon the pouring in 
 of the army, there was slaughter of vast mul- 
 titudes everywhere, by reason of the rage the 
 Romans were in at the length of the siege, 
 and by rezison that the Jews that were about 
 Herod earnestly endeavoured that none of 
 their adversaries might remain; so they were 
 cut to pieces by great multitudes, and as 
 they were crowded together in narrow streets, 
 and in houses, or were running away to the 
 tenaple ; nor was there any mercy shown either 
 to infants or to the aged, or to the weaker 
 
680 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I, 
 
 Bex; insomuch, that although the king sent 
 about and desired them to spare the people, 
 nobody could be persuaded to withhold their 
 right hand from slaughter, but they slew 
 people of alL ages, like UKidtiien. Then it 
 was that Antigonus, without any regard to 
 his former or to his present fortune, came 
 down from the citadel, and fell down at 
 Sosius's feet, who without pitying him at all, 
 upon the change of his condition, laughed at 
 hnn beyond measure, and called him Anti- 
 gona.* Yet did not he treat him like a 
 woman, or let him go free, but put him into 
 bonds, and kept him in custody. 
 
 3. But Herod's concern at present,i«ow he 
 had gotten his enemies under his power, was 
 to restrain the zeal of his foreign auxiliaries ; 
 for the multitude of the strange people were 
 very eager to see the temple, and what was 
 sacred in the holy house itself; but the king 
 endeavoured to restrain them, partly by his 
 exhortations, partly by his threatenings, nay, 
 partly by force, as thinking the victory worse 
 than a defeat to him, if any thing that ought 
 not to be seen were seen by them. He also 
 forbade, at the same time, the spoiling of the 
 city, asking Sosius in the most earnest manner, 
 whether the Romans, by thus emptying the 
 city of money and men, had a mind to leave 
 jim king of a desert, — and told him, that he 
 judged the dominion of the habitable earth too 
 small a compensation for the slaughter of so 
 many citizens. And when Sosius said, that it 
 was but just to allow the soldiers thi^ plun- 
 der, as a reward for what they suffered during 
 tbe siege, Herod made answer, that he would 
 give every one of the soldiers a reward out of 
 bis own money. So he purchased the deliver- 
 ance of his country, and performed his pro- 
 mises to them, and made presents after a 
 magnificent manner to each soldier, and propor- 
 tionably to tJieir commanders, and with a most 
 royal bounty to Sosius himself, whereby 
 nobody went away but in a wealthy condition. 
 Hereupon Sosius dedicated a crown of gold 
 to God, and then went away from Jerusalem, 
 leading Antigonus away in bonds to Antony; 
 then did the axe bring him to his end,f who 
 still had a fond desire of life, and some frigid 
 hopes of it to the last; but by his cowardly 
 behaviour well deserved to die by it. 
 
 4. Hereupon king Herod distinguished the 
 multitude that was in the city; and for those 
 that were of his side, he made them stUl more 
 bis friends by the honours he conferred on 
 them; but for those of Antigonus's party, he 
 slew them: and as his money ran low, he 
 turned all the ornaments he had into money, 
 and sent it to Antony, and to those about 
 bim. Yet could he not hereby purchase an 
 
 • TbU (fl a woman, not a man. 
 
 ♦ Tbi« death of Antigonus is connrraed by Plutarch 
 and Stmboi tbe latter of wbom is cited fur it by Jose- 
 pbus hiniself, Antiq. b. XT.cb. L MCt 2, at Dean Aldricb 
 
 exemption from all sufferings; for Antony 
 was now bewitched by his love to Cleopatra* 
 and was entirely conquered by her charms. 
 Nt>w Cleopatra had put to death ail her kin- 
 dred, till no one near her in blood remained 
 alive, and after that she fell a slaying those 
 no way related to her. So she calumniated 
 the principal men among the Syrians to 
 Antony, and persuaded him to have them 
 slain, that so she might easily gain to be mis- 
 tress of what they had; nay, she extended her 
 avaricious humour to the Jews and Arabians, 
 and secretly laboured to have Herod and Mali- 
 chus, the kings of both those nations, slain by 
 his order. 
 
 5. Now as to these her injunctions to 
 Antony, he complied in part; for though he 
 esteemed it too abominable a thing to kill such 
 good and great kings, yet was he thereby 
 alienated from the friendship he had for them. 
 He also took away a great deal of their 
 country; nay even the plantation of palm- 
 trees at Jericho, where also grows the balsam- 
 tree, and bestowed them upon her; as also 
 all the cities on this side the river Eleutherus, 
 Tyre and SidonJ excepted. And when she 
 was become mistress of these, and had con- 
 ducted.Antony in his expedition against the 
 Parthians, as far as Euphrates, she came by 
 Apamia and Damascus into Judea; and there 
 did Herod pacify her indignation at him by 
 large presents. He also hired of her those 
 places that had been torn away from his 
 kingdom, at the yearly rent of two hundred 
 talents. He conducted her also as far as 
 Pelusium, and paid her all the respects pos- 
 sible. Now it was not long after this that 
 Antony was come back from Parthia, and led 
 with him Artabazes, Tigranes's son, captive, 
 as a present for Cleopatra; for this Parthian 
 was presently given her, with his money, and 
 all the prey that was taken with him. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 HOW ANTONY, AT THE PERSUASION OF CLEO- 
 PATRA, SENT HEUOD TO FIGHT AGAINST 
 THE ARABIANS; AND HOW, AFTER SEVE- 
 RAL BATTLES, HE AT LENGTH GOT THB 
 VICTORY. AS ALSO CONCERNING A GREAl 
 EARTHQUAKE. 
 
 § 1. Now when the war about Actium wa$ 
 begun, Herod prepared to come to the assist. 
 ance of Antony, as being already freed from 
 his troubles in Judea, and having gained 
 Hyrcania, which was a plac« that was held by 
 
 t This ancient liberty of Tyre and Sidon under th« 
 Kon.uris, tak.cn notice of hy Josephus, both here and 
 Antiq. b.xv.cii.lv.sfct I, is r.ontirmed by the testimony 
 of Strabo, b. xvi. p. 767, as Dean Aldricb reniariisi 
 although, as he justly adds, this liberty lasted a litti* 
 while lunger, whku Augustus took, it away trom Ibcio. 
 
CHAP. XIX. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 681 
 
 Antigonus's sister. However, he was cun- 
 ningly hindered from partaking of the hazards 
 that Antony went through by Cleopatra; for 
 since, as we have already noted, she had laid 
 a plot against the kings [of Judea and Arabia], 
 she prevailed with Antony to commit the war 
 against the Arabians to Herod; that so, if he 
 got the better, she might become mistress of 
 Arabia, or, if he were worsted, of Judea; and 
 that she might destroy one of those kings by 
 the other. 
 
 2. However, this contrivance tended to the 
 advantage of Herod; for at the very first he 
 took hostages from the enemy, and got toge- 
 ther a great body of horse, and ordered them 
 to march against them about Diospolis; and 
 he conquered that army although it fought 
 resolutely against him. After which defeat, 
 the Arabians were in great motion, and assem- 
 bled themselves together at Kanatha, a city of 
 Celesyria, in vast multitudes, and waited for 
 the Jews. And when Herod was come thither, 
 he tried to manage this war with particular 
 prudence, and gave orders that they should 
 build a wall about their camp; yet did not the 
 multitude comply with those orders, but were 
 so emboldened by their foregoing victory, that 
 they presently attacked the Arabians, and beat 
 them at the first onset, and then pursued them ; 
 yet were there snares laid for Herod in that 
 pursuit; while Athenio, who was one of Cleo- 
 patra's generals, and always an antagonist to 
 Herod, sent out of Kanatha the men of that 
 country against him; for, upon this fresh 
 onset, the Arabians took courage, and returned 
 back, and both joined their numerous forces 
 about stony places, that were hard to be gone 
 over, and there put Herod's men to the rout, 
 and made a great slaughter of them; but those 
 that escaped out of the battle tied to Ormiza, 
 where the Arabians surrounded their camp, 
 and took it, with all the men in it. 
 
 3. In a little time after this calamity, 
 Herod came to bring them succours; but he 
 came too late. Now the occasion of that blow 
 was this, that the officers would not obey 
 orders; for had not the fight begun so sud- 
 denly, Athenio had not found a proper season 
 for the snares he laid for Herod: however, he 
 was even with the Arabians afterward, and 
 over-ran their country, and did them more 
 harm than their single victory could compen- 
 sate. But as he was avenging himself on his 
 enemies, there fell upon him another provi- 
 dential calamity; for in the seventh* year of 
 his reign, when the war about Actium was 
 t 
 
 • This seventh year of the reign of Herod [from the 
 conquest or death of Antigonus], with the great earlh- 
 quaLe in the beginning of the same spring, which are 
 here fully implied to be not much before the fight at 
 Actium, between Octavius and Antony, and which is 
 known from the Roman historians to have been in the 
 beginning of September, in the Ulst year before the 
 Christian rera, dett-rmines the chronolo:^y of Joseptuis as 
 to the re4gn of Heroil. vie that he he^an in the yrxir ;i7. 
 beyond rational contnidiction. J('or is it «jiiite unworthy 
 Mf our notice, that tliis seventh year •« the reign of Herod, 
 
 at the height, at the beginning oC.the spring, 
 the earth was shaken, and destroyed an 
 immense number of cattle, with thirty thousand 
 men; but the army received no harm, because 
 it lay in the open air. In the mean time, the 
 fame of this earthquake elevated the Arabians 
 to greater courage, and this by augmenting it 
 to a fabulous height, as is constantly the case 
 in melancholy accidents, and pretending that 
 all Judea was overthrown. Upon this suppo- 
 sal, therefore, that they should easily get a 
 land that was destitute of inhabitants into 
 their power, they first sacrificed those ambas- 
 sadors who were come to them from the Jews, 
 and then marched into Judea immediately. 
 Now the Jewish nation were affrighted at this 
 invasion, and quite dispirited at the greatness 
 of their calamities one after another; whom 
 yet Herod got together, and endeavoured to 
 encourage to defend themselves by the follow- 
 ing speech which he made to them: — 
 
 4. " The present dread you are under, 
 seems to me to have seized upon you very 
 unseasonably. It is true, you might justly 
 be dismayed at the providential chastisement 
 which hath befallen you; but to suffer your- 
 selves to be equally terrified at the invasion 
 of men, is unmanly. As for myself, I am so 
 far from being affrighted at our enemies after 
 this earthquake, that I imagine that God 
 hath thereby laid a bait for the Arabians, that 
 we may be avenged on them; for their pre- 
 sent invasion proceeds more from our acci- 
 dental misfortunes, than that they have any 
 great dependence on their weapons, or their 
 own fitness for attion. Now that hope which 
 depends not on men's own power, but on 
 others' ill success, is a very ticklish thing; for 
 there is no certainty among men, either in 
 their bad or good fortunes; but we may easily 
 observe, that fortune is mutable, and goes from 
 one side to another; and this you may readily 
 learn from examples among /ourselves; for 
 when you were once victors in the former 
 fight, your enemies overcame you at last; 
 and very likely it will now happen so, that 
 these who think themselves sure of beating 
 you, will themselves be beaten; for when 
 men are very confident, they are not upon 
 their guard, while fear teaches men to act 
 with caution; insomuch, that I venture to 
 prove from your very timorousness, that you 
 ought to take courage; for when you were 
 more bold than you ought to have been, and 
 than I would have had you, and marched 
 on, Athenio'^reachery took place; but your 
 present slowness and seeming dejection of 
 mind, is to me a pledge and assurance of 
 victory; and indeed it is proper beforehand 
 to be thiw provident: but when we come to 
 action, we ought to erect our minds, and to 
 make our enemies, be they ever so wicked. 
 
 or the 31st before fhe Christian «rra, ront»in«l the latter 
 part of a Sabbat.c year; on which Nabbatio year, there* 
 fore, it is plain this gn>at earthquake happened m Jiidea. 
 
582 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 believe, that neither any human, no, nor any 
 providential misfortune, can ever depress the 
 courage of Jews while they are alive; nor 
 will any of them ever overlook an Arabian, 
 or suffer such a one to become lord of his 
 good things, whom he has in a manner taken 
 captive, and that many times also: — and do 
 not you disturb yourselves at the quaking of 
 inanimate creatures, nor do you imagine that 
 this earthquake is a sign of another calamity; 
 for such affections of the elenients are accord- 
 ing to the course of nature; nor does it im- 
 port any thing farther to men, than what 
 mischief it does immediately of itself. Per- 
 haps, there may come some short sign before- 
 hand in the case of pestilences, and famines, 
 and earthquakes; but these calamities them- 
 selves have their lorce limited by themselves, 
 [without foreboding any other calamity]; and 
 indeed what greater mischief can the war, 
 though it should be a violent one, do to us, 
 than the earthquake hath done? Nay, there 
 is a signal of our enemies* destruction visi- 
 ble, and that a very great one also; and this 
 is not a natural one, nor derived from the 
 hand of foreigners neither, but it is this, that 
 they have barbarously murdered our ambas- 
 sadors, contrary to the common law of man- 
 kind; and they have destroyed so many, as 
 if they esteemed them sacrifices for God, in 
 relation to this war; but they will not avoid 
 his great eye, nor his invincible right hand; 
 and we shall be revenged of them presently, 
 in case we still retain any of the courage of 
 our forefathers, and rise up boldly to punish 
 these covenant-breakers. Let every one there- 
 fore go on and fight, not so much for his wife 
 or his children, or for the danger his country 
 is in, as for these ambassadors of ours; those 
 dead ambassadors will conduct this war of 
 ours better than we ourselves who are alive; 
 and if you will be ruled by me, I will myself 
 go before you into danger; for you know this 
 well enough, that your courage is irresistible, 
 unless you hurt yourselves by acting rash- 
 ly."* 
 
 5. When Herod had encouraged them by 
 this speech, and he saw with what alacrity 
 they went, he offered sacrifice to God; and 
 after that sacrifice, he passed over the river 
 Jordan with his army, and pitched his camp 
 about Philadelphia, near the 'enemy, and 
 about a fortification that lay between them. 
 He then shot at them at a distance, and was 
 desirous to come to an engagement presently ; 
 for some of them had been sei^ beforehand 
 to seize upon that fortification: but the king 
 sent some who immediately beat them out of 
 the fortification, while he himself went in the 
 fqre- front of the army, which he put in 
 
 • T>iit speech of H«rod in set down twice by Jose, 
 phns, here and Anti(i. b. xv. rh. ▼. sect. 3, to the very 
 ■ame pur|io*e, but by no nieatisi in the sanie words; 
 whence it appears that the sense was Herod's, but the 
 Jus 
 
 OomponUioQ Jusephus'a. 
 
 battle-array every day, and invited the Arabians 
 to fight; but as none of them came out of 
 their camp, for they were in a terrible fright, 
 and their general, Elthemus, was not able to 
 say a word for fear, — so Herod came upon 
 them, and pulled their fortification to pieces, 
 by which means they were compelled to come 
 out to fight, which they, did in disorder, and 
 so that the horsemen and footmen were 
 mixed together. They were indeed superior 
 to the Jews in number, but inferior in their 
 alacrity, although they were obliged to expose 
 themselves to danger by their very despair of 
 victory. 
 
 6. Now while they made opposition, they 
 had not a great number slain ; but as soon as 
 they turned their backs, a great many were 
 trodden to pieces by the Jews, and a great 
 many by themselves, and so perished, till five 
 thousand were fallen down dead in their 
 flight, while the rest of the multitude pre- 
 vented their immediate death, by crowding 
 into the fortification. Herod encompassed 
 these around, and besieged them ; and while 
 they were ready to be taken by their enemies 
 in arms, they had another additional distress 
 upon them, which was thirst and want of 
 water; for the king was above hearkening to 
 their ambassadors; and when they offered five 
 hundred talents, as the price of their redemp- 
 tion, he pressed still harder upon them; and 
 as they were burnt up by their thirst, they came 
 out, and voluntarily delivered themselves up 
 by multitudes to the Jews, till in five days' 
 time four thousand of them were put into 
 bonds; and on the sixth day the multitude 
 that were left despaired of saving thenrselves, 
 and came out to fight: with these Herod 
 fought, and slew again about seven thousand, 
 insomuch that he punished Arabia so severely, 
 and so far extinguished the spirits of the 
 men, that he was chosen by the nation for 
 their ruler. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 HEROD IS CONFIRMED IN HIS KINGDOM BY 
 C-SSAR, AND CULTIVATES A FRIENDSHIP 
 WITH THE EMPEROR BY MAGNIFICENT 
 PRESENTS ; WHILE C^SAR RETURNS HIB 
 KINDNESS BY BESTOWING ON HIM THAT 
 PART OF HIS KINGDOM WHICH HAD BEEN 
 TAKEN AWAY FROM IT BY CLEOPATRA, 
 WITH THE ADDITION OF ZENODORUS'S 
 COUNTRY ALSO. 
 
 § 1. But now Herod was under immediate 
 concern about a most important affair, on 
 account of his friendship with Antony, who 
 was already overcome at Actiu'n) by Cajsar, yet 
 he was more afraid than hurt; for Caestir did 
 not think he hud quite undone Antony, while 
 Herod continued his assistance to him. How- ] 
 
 ever, the king resolved to expot^e himself to 
 
CHAP. XX. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. • 
 
 683 
 
 dangers: accordingly he sailed to Rhodes, 
 where Caesar then abode, and canoe to him 
 without' his diadem, and in the habit and 
 appearance of a private person, but in his 
 behaviour as a king. So he concealed nothing 
 of the truth, but spake thus before his face: 
 — "O Caesar, as I was made king of the Jews 
 by Antony, so do I profess that I have used 
 my royal authority in the best manner, and 
 entirely for his advantage: nor will 1 conceal 
 this farther, that thou hadst certainly found 
 me ia arms, and an inseparable companion of 
 his, had not the Arabians hindered me. How- 
 ever, I spnt him as many auxiliaries as I was 
 able, and many ten thousand [cori] of corn. 
 Nay, indeed, I did not desert my benefactor 
 after the blow that was given him at Actium; 
 but I gave him the best advice I was able, 
 when I was no longer able to assist him in 
 the war; and I told him that there was but 
 one way of recovering his affairs, and that 
 was to kill Cleopatra; and I promised him, 
 that if she were once dead, I would afford 
 him money and walls for his security, with 
 an army and myself to assist him in his war 
 against thee: but his affections for Cleopatra 
 stopped his ears, as did God himself also, 
 who hath bestowed the government on thee. 
 I own myself also to be overcome together 
 with him; and with his last fortune I have 
 laid aside my diadem, and am come hither to 
 thee, having my hopes of safety in thy virtue; 
 and I desire that thou wilt first consider how 
 faithful a friend, and not whose friend, I have 
 been." 
 
 2. Caesar replied to him thus: — "Nay, 
 thou shait not only be in safety, but shalt be 
 a king, and that more firmly than thou wast 
 before; for thou art worthy to reign over a 
 great many subjects, by reason of the fastness 
 of thy friendship; and do thou endeavour to 
 be equally constant in thy friendship to me 
 upon my good success, which is what I depend 
 upon from the generosity of thy disposition. 
 However, Antony hath dohe well in preferring 
 Cleopatra to thee; for by this means we 
 have gained thee by her madness, and thus 
 thou hast begun to be ray friend before I 
 began to be thine; on which account Quintus 
 Didius hath written to me that thou sentest 
 fcjm assistance against the gladiators. I do 
 therefore assure thee that I will confirm the 
 kingdom to thee by decree; I shall also 
 endeavour to do thee some farther kindness 
 hereafter, that thou raayest find no loss in the 
 want of Antony." 
 
 3. When Caesar had spoken such obliging 
 things to the king, aiid had put the diadem 
 again about ^is head, he proclaiiped what he 
 had bestowed on him by a decree, in which 
 he enlarged in the commendation of the man 
 after a magnificent manner. Whereupon 
 Herod obliged hitu to be kind to him by the 
 presents he gave him, and he desired him to 
 forgive Alexander, one of Antony'* friends, 
 
 who was become a supplicant to him. But 
 Caesar's anger against him prevailed, and he 
 complained of the many and very great 
 offences the man whom he petitioned for had 
 been guilty of; and by that means he rejected 
 bis petiiiuu. After this, Caesar went for 
 Egypt through Syria, when Herod received 
 him with royal and rich entertainments; and 
 then did he first of ail ride along with Caesar 
 as he was reviewing his army about Ptole- 
 raais, and feasted him with all his friends, and 
 then distributed among the rest of the army 
 what was necessary to feast them withal. He 
 also made a plentiful provision of water for 
 them, when they were to march as far as 
 Pelusium, through a dry country, which he 
 did also in like manner on their return thence; 
 nor were there any necessaries wanting to that 
 army. It was therefore the opinion, both of 
 Caesar and of his soldiers, that Herod's king- 
 dom was too small for those generous presents 
 he made them ; for which reason, when Caesar 
 was come into, Egypt, and Cleopatra and 
 Antony were dead, he did not only bestow 
 other marks of honour upon him, but made an 
 addition to his kingdom, by giving him not 
 only the country which had been taken from 
 him by Cleopatra, but, besides that, Gadara, 
 and Hippos, and Samaria; and moreover, of 
 the maritime cities, Gaza,* and Anthedon, 
 and Joppa, and Strato's Tower. He also 
 made him a present of four hundred Galls # 
 [Galatians] as a guard for his body, which 
 they had been to Cleopatfa before. Nor did 
 any thing so strongly induce Caesar to make 
 these presents as the generosity of him that 
 received them. 
 
 4. Moreover, after the first games at 
 Actium, he added to his kingdom both the 
 region called Trachonitis, and what lay in its 
 neighbourhood, Batanea, and the country of 
 Auranitis; and that on the following occa- 
 sion: — Zenodorus, who had hired the house of 
 Lysanias, had all along sent robbers out of 
 Trachonitis among the Damascens; who there- 
 upon had recourse to Varro, the president of 
 Syria, and desired of him that he would 
 represent the calamity they were in to Ciesar. 
 When Caesar was acquainted with it, he sent 
 back orders that this nest of robbers should 
 be destroyed. Varro therefore made an expe- 
 dition against them, and cleared the land o( 
 those men, and took it away from Zenodo* ^ 
 rus. Caesar did also afterward bestow it on 
 Herod, that it might not again become a 
 receptacle for those robbers that had come 
 
 • Since Josephos, both here and in his Antiq. b. xv 
 ch.Tii.sect3. reckons Gaza, which bad been a tree city, 
 among the cities given Herud by Augustus, and jet 
 implies that Herod bad made Costobarus a governor o( 
 it before, Antiq b. xv. ch. viL sect 9. Harduin has some 
 pretence tor saying that Josepbus here contradicted him- 
 seif. But perhaps Herod thought he bad jtufficicnt 
 authority to put a governor into Gaul, after he was 
 made tetrarcb or king, in times of war, before the city 
 was delivered entirely into bis bands by Augustub. 
 
584 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK 1 
 
 ogainst Damascus. He also made bim a pro- 
 curator of all Syria, and this on the tenth 
 year afterward, when he came again into that 
 province; and this was so established, that 
 the other procurators could not do any thing 
 in the administration without his advice: but 
 when Zenodorus was dead, Caesar bestowed 
 on him all that land which lay between Tra- 
 chonitis and Galilee. Yet, what was still of 
 more consequence to Herod, he was beloved 
 by Caesar next after Agrippa, and by Agrippa 
 next after Caesar; whence he arrived at a 
 very great degree of felicity; yet did the 
 greatness of his soul exceed it; and the main 
 part of his magnanimity was extended to the 
 promotion of piety. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 OF THE [temple ANd] CITIES THAT WERE 
 BUILT BY HEROD, AND ERECTED FROM THE 
 VERY FOUNDATIONS; AS ALSO OF THOSE 
 OTHER EDIFICES THAT WERE ERECTED BY 
 HIM; AND WHAT MAGNIFICENCE HE SHOW- 
 ED TO FOREIGNERS; AND HOW FORTUNE 
 WAS IN ALL THINGS FAVOURABLE TO HIM. 
 
 § 1. Accordingly, in the fifteenth year of 
 his reign, Herod rebuilt the temple, and 
 
 0^ encompassed a piece of land about it with a 
 
 ^ wall; which land was twice as large as that 
 
 before enclosed. The expenses he laid out 
 
 upon it were vastly large also, and the riches 
 
 about it were unspeakable. A sign of which 
 
 . you have in the great cloisters that were erect- 
 ed about the temple, and the citadel * which 
 was on its north side. The cloisters he built 
 from the foundation, but the citadel he re- 
 paired at a vast expense; nor was it other than 
 a royal palace, which he called Antonia, in 
 honour of Antony. He also built himself a 
 palace in the upper city, containing two very 
 large and most beautiful apartments; to which 
 the holy house itself could not be compared 
 [in largeness]. The one apartment he named 
 Caesareum, and the other Agrippium, from 
 his [two great] friends. 
 
 2. Yet did he not preserve their memory 
 by particular buildings only, with their names 
 given them, but his generosity went as far as 
 % entire cities; for when he had built a most 
 beautiful wall round a country in Samaria, 
 twenty furlongs long, and had brought six 
 thousand inhabitants into it, and had allotted 
 to it a most fruitful piece of land, and in the 
 
 * This fort was first bailt, as is supposed, by John 
 Hyncanus. See Prid. at the year 107, and called '♦ Baris," 
 the Tower or Citadel. It was afterwards rebuilt, with 
 •rest improvements, by Herod, under the government 
 i Antonius, and was named from hini " the Tower of 
 \ntonia;*' and about the time when Herod rebuilt the 
 Gempte, he seems to have put his last hand to it- Hee 
 Aat.q. bw xviii. ch. v. sect. 4. Of the War, b. i. ch. iii. 
 •ect 3, and ch. r. sect. 4. It lay on the north-west 
 •Ide of tb« tempi*, and was a quarter as large. 
 
 midst of this city, thus built, had erected » 
 very large temple to Caesar, and bad laid 
 round about it a portion of sacred land of 
 three furlongs and a half, he called the city 
 Sebaste, from Sebastus, or Augustus, and set- 
 tled the aflfairs of the city after a most regular 
 manner. 
 
 3. And when Caesar had ferther bestowed 
 upon him another additional country, he built 
 there also a temple of white marble, hard by 
 the fountains of Jordan: the place is called 
 Panium, where is a top of a mountain that i& 
 raised to an immense height, and at its side, 
 beneath, or at its bottom, a dark eave open& 
 itself; within which there is a horrible pre- 
 cipice, that descends abruptly to a vast depth: 
 it contains a mighty quantity of water, which 
 is immoveable, and when any body lets down 
 any thing to measure the depth of the earth 
 beneath the water, no length of cord is suffi- 
 cient to reach it. Now the fountains '>f Jor- 
 dan rise at the roots of this cavity outv ardly; 
 and, as some think, this is the utmosr origin 
 of Jordan: but we shall speak of that r>atter 
 more accurately in our following hista-y. 
 
 4. But the king erected other places at 
 Jericho also, between the citadel Cypros and 
 the former palace, such as were better and 
 more useful than the former for travellers, 
 and named them from the same friends of his. 
 To say all at once, there was not any piece of 
 his kingdom fit for the purpose, that was per- 
 mitted to be without somewhat that was for 
 Caesar's honour; and when he had filled his 
 own country with temples, he poured out the 
 like plentiful marks of his esteem into his pro- 
 vince, and built many cities which he called 
 Cesareas. 
 
 5. And when he observed that there was a 
 city by the sea-side that was much decayed (its 
 name was Strato's Tower) but that the place, 
 by the happiness of its situation, was capable 
 of great improvements from his liberality, he 
 rebuilt it all with white stone, and adorned it 
 with several most splendid palaces, wherein 
 he especially demonstrated his magnanimity ; 
 for the case was this, that all the sea-shore be- 
 tween Dora and Joppa, in the middle, between 
 which this city is situated, had no good baren, 
 insomuch that every one that sailed from Phoe- 
 nicia for Egypt was obliged to lie in the 
 stormy sea,' by reason of the south winds that 
 threatened them; which wind, if it blew but 
 a little fresh, such vast waves are raised, and 
 dash upon the rocks, that, upon their retreat, 
 the sea is in a great ferment for a long way. 
 But the king, by the expenses he was at, and 
 the liberal disposal of them, overcame nature, 
 and built a haven larger thq,n was the 
 Pyrecumf [at Athens]; and in the inner 
 
 + That Josephus speaks truth, whan he assures us 
 that the haven of this Cesarea was made by Herod not 
 less, nay, rather lart^er, than that famous haven at Athens, 
 called the Pyrecuro. will appear, says Dean Aldricb, to 
 him who compares the description ut that at Athens i» 
 Tbucydides and Pausauias, with this of Cesarea in 
 
CHAP. XXI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 685 
 
 retirements of the water he built other deep 
 stations [for the ships also]. 
 
 6. Now, although the place where he built 
 was greatly opposite to his purposes, yet did 
 he so fully struggle with that ditficulty, that 
 the firmness of his building could not easily 
 be conquered by the sea; and the beauty and 
 ornament of the works were such, as though 
 he had not had any difficulty in the operation ; 
 for when he had measured out as large a 
 space as we have before mentioned, he let 
 down stones into twenty-fathom water, the 
 greatest part of which were fii'ty feet in length, 
 and nine in depth, and ten in breadth, and 
 some still larger. But when the haven was 
 filled up to that depth, he enlarged that wall 
 which was thus already extant above the sea, 
 till it was two hundred feet wide; one hun- 
 dred of which had buildings before it, in order 
 to break the force of the waves, whence it 
 was called Procumatia, or the first breaker of 
 the waves; but the rest of the space was 
 under a stone-wall that ran round it. On this 
 wall were very large towers, the principal and 
 most beautiful of which was called Drusium, 
 from Drusus, who was son-in-law to Caesar. 
 
 7. There were also a great number of 
 arches, where the mariners dwelt; and all the 
 places before them round about was a large 
 valley, or walk, for a quay [or landing-place] 
 to those that came on shore; but the entrance 
 was on the north, because the north wind was 
 there the most gentle of all the winds. At 
 the mouth of the haven were on each side 
 three great Colossi, supported by pillars, 
 where those Colossi that are on your left hand 
 as you sail into the port, are supported by a 
 solid tower; but those on the right hand are 
 supported by two upright stones joined toge- 
 ther, which stones were larger than that tower 
 which was on the other side of the entrance. 
 Now there were continual edifices joined to 
 the haven, which were also themselves of 
 white stone; and to this haven did the narrow 
 streets of the city lead, and were built at 
 equal distances one from another. And over- 
 dgainst the mouth of the haven, upon an ele- 
 vation, there was a temple for Caesar, which 
 was excellent both in beauty and largeness; 
 ind therein was a Colossus of Ciesar, not 
 less than that of Jupiter Olympius, which it 
 was made to resemble. The other Colossus 
 of Rome was equal to that of Juno at Argos. 
 So he dedicated the city to the province, 
 and the haven to the sailors there; but the 
 honour of the building he ascribed to Caesar,* 
 and named it Cesarea accordingly. 
 
 8. He also built the other edifices, the 
 
 Josephns here, and in the Antiq.b. X¥. ch.ix. sect 6, and 
 b. xvii. ch. ix sect 1. 
 
 • These buildintrs of cities by the name of Caesar, and 
 institution of solemn );ames in honour of Augustus 
 Cteaar. as here and in the Antiquities, related of Herod 
 by Josephus. the Human historians attest to as things 
 UWu Irequeiit in tue piovioces uf ttiat empire, as Dean 
 Alohcn obMrves on this chapter- • 
 
 amphitheatre, and theatre, and market-plaoe, 
 in a manner agreeable to that denomination; 
 and appointed games every fifth year, and 
 called them, in like manner, Caesar's Games; 
 and he first himself proposed the largest prizes 
 upon the hundred ninety-second Olympiad; 
 in which not only the victors themselves, but 
 those that came next to them, and even those 
 that came in the third place, were partakeia 
 of his royal bounty. He also rebuilt Anthe 
 don, a city that lay on the coast, and had been 
 demolished in the wars, and named it Agrip- 
 peum. Moreover, he had so very great a 
 kindness for his friend Agrippa, that he Lad 
 his name engraved upon that gate which he 
 had himself erected in the temple. 
 
 9. Herod was also a lover of his &ther, if 
 any other person ever was so; for he made a 
 monument for his father, even that city which 
 he built in the finest plain that was in his 
 kingdom, and which had rivers and trees in 
 abundance, and named it Antipatris. He also 
 built a wall about a citadel that lay above 
 Jericho, and was a very strong and very fime 
 building, and dedicated it to his mother, and 
 called it Cypros. Moreover, he dedicated a 
 tower that was at Jerusalem, and called it by 
 the name of his brother Phasaelus, whose 
 structure, largeness, and magnificence, we shall 
 describe hereafter. He also built another city 
 in the valley that leads northward from 
 Jericho, and named it Phasaelus. 
 
 10. And as he transmitted to eternity his 
 family and friends, so did he not neglect a 
 memorial for himself, but built a fortress upon 
 a mountain towards Arabia, and named it from 
 himself Herodium;f and he called that hill 
 that was of the shape of a woman's breast, and 
 was sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem, by 
 the same name. He also bestowed much 
 curious art upon it with great ambition, and 
 built round towers all about the top of it, and 
 filled up the remaining space >\'ith the most 
 costly palaces round about, insomuch that not 
 only the sight of the inner apartments was 
 splendid, but great wealth was laid out on the 
 outward walls, and partitions, and roofs also. 
 Besides this, he brought a mighty quantity of 
 water from a great distance, and at vast charges, 
 and raised an ascent to it of two hundred steps 
 of the whitest marble, for the hill was itself 
 moderately high, and entirely factitious. He 
 also built other palaces about the roots of the 
 hill, sufficient to receive the furniture that 
 was put into them, with his friends also, inso- 
 much that on account of its containing ail 
 necessaries, the fortress might seem to be a city, 
 but, by the bounds it had, a palace only. 
 
 + There were two cities, or citadels, called Herodinm. 
 in Judea,and both mentioned by Josephus, not only here, 
 but Antiq. b. xiv. ch. xiii- sect 9; b. xt. ch. ix. sect 6, 
 Of the War. b.L chap. xiii. sect 8; b. iiu ch. iil sect £• 
 One of them was ^'0. and the other 60 furlongs distaa 
 from Jerusalem. One of them is mentiuned by Plinyi 
 Hist >at h. T. chap. xir. as Uean Aklrieb obwrvM 
 ner» 
 
686 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 11. And when he had built so much, he 
 showed the greatness of his soul to no small 
 number of foreign cities. He built palaces 
 for exercise at Tripoli, and Damascus, and 
 Ptolemais; he built a wall about Byblus, as 
 also large rooms, and cloisters, and temples, 
 and market-places at Berytus and Tyre, with 
 theatres at Sidon and Damascus. He also 
 built aqueducts for those Laodiceans who 
 lived by the sea-side; and for those of Ascalon 
 he built baths and costly fountains, as also 
 cloisters round a court, that were admirable 
 both for their workmanship and largeness. 
 Moreover, he dedicated groves and meadows 
 to some people: nay, not a few cities there 
 were who had lands of his donation, as if they 
 were parts of his own kingdom He also 
 bestowed annual revenues, and those for ever 
 also, on the settlements for exercises, and 
 appointed for them, as well as for the people 
 of Cos, that such rewards should never be 
 wanting. He also gave corn to all such as 
 wanted it, and conferred upon Rhodes large 
 sums of money for building ships; and this he 
 did in many places, and frequently also. And 
 wheo Apollo's temple had been burnt down, 
 he rebuilt it at his own charges, after a better 
 manner than it was before. What need I 
 speak of the presents he made to the Lycians 
 and SamniansI or of his great liberality 
 through all Ionia! and that according to 
 every body's wants of them. And are not 
 the Athenians, and Lacedemonians, and Nico- 
 politans, and that Pergamus which is in 
 Mysia, full of donations that Herod presented 
 them withal! And as for that large open 
 place belonging to Antioch in Syria, did not 
 he pave it with polished marble, though it 
 were twenty furlongs long! and this when it 
 was shunned by all men before, because it 
 was full of dirt and lilthiness; when he besides 
 adorned the same place with a cloister of the 
 same length. 
 
 12. It is true, a man may say, these were 
 favours peculiar to those particular places on 
 which he bestowed his benefits; but then what 
 ta-vours he bestowed on the Eleans, was a 
 ^onation not only in common to all Greece, 
 but to all the habitable earth, as far as the 
 glory of the Olympic games reached; for 
 when he perceived that they were come to 
 nothing, for want of money, and that the only 
 remains of ancient Greece were in a manner 
 gone, he not only became one of the comba- 
 tants in that return of the fifth year games, 
 which in his sailing to Rome he happened to 
 be present at, but he settled upon them reve- 
 nues of money for perpetuity, insomuch that 
 his memorial as a combatant there can never 
 fail. It would be an infinite task if I should 
 go over bis payments of people's debts, or 
 tributes, for them, as he eased the people of 
 Pbasaelus, of Batanca, and of the small cities 
 fbout Cilicia, of those annual pensions they 
 before paid. However, the fear he wa« in 
 
 much disturbed the greatness of his soul, lest 
 he should be exposed to envy, or seem to hunt 
 after greater things than he ought, while he 
 bestowed more liberal gifts upon these cities 
 than did their owners themselves. 
 
 13. Now Herod had a body suited to his 
 soul, and was ever a most excellent hunter, 
 where he generally had good success, by 
 means of his great skill in riding horses ; for 
 in one day he caught forty wild beasts:* that 
 country breeds also bears; and the greatest 
 part of it is replenished with stags and wild 
 asses. He was also such a warrior as could 
 not be withstood: many men therefore there 
 are who have stood amazed at his readiness 
 in his exercises, when they saw him throw the 
 javelin directly forward, and shoot the arrow 
 upon the mark; and then, besides these per- 
 formances of his depending on his 6vvn 
 strength of mind and body, fortune was also 
 very favourable to him, for he seldom failed 
 of success in his wars; and when he failed, 
 he was not himself the occasion of such fail- 
 ings, but he either was betrayed by some, or 
 the rashness of his own soldiers procured his 
 defeat. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE MURDER OF ARISTOBULUS AND HYR- 
 CANUS THE HIGH-PRIES1S; AS ALSO OF 
 MARIAMNE THE QUEEN. 
 
 § 1. However, fortune was avenged on 
 Herod in his external great successes, by 
 raising him up domestic troubles: and he began 
 to have wild disorders in his family, on account 
 of his wife, of whom he was so very fond; 
 for when he came to the government, he sent 
 away her whom he had before married when 
 he was a private person, and who was born 
 at Jerusalem, whose name was Doris, and 
 married Mariamne, the daughter of Alex- 
 ander, the son of Aristobulus; on whose 
 account disturbances arose in his family, and 
 that in part very soon, but chiefly after his 
 return from Rome; for, first of all, he expelled 
 Antipater the son of Doris, for the sake of 
 his sons by Mariamne, out of the city, and 
 permitted him to come thither at no other 
 times than at the festivals. After this he slew 
 his wife's grandfather, Hyrcanus, when ha 
 was returned out of Parthia to him, ur.dei: 
 this pretence, that he suspected him of plot- 
 ting against him. Now this Hyrcanus hud 
 been carried captive to Barzapharnes, whe:\ 
 he overran Syria; but those of his own 
 country beyond Euphrates were desirous he 
 would stay with th^ni, and this out of the 
 
 • Here ncems to be a small defnct in the copies which 
 duscribe (he wild b«asts which wt-re bunted in a certain 
 country by Herod, without naming aof such oouutil 
 at all. • 
 
CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 587 
 
 wmmiseration they had for his condition; and 
 had he complied with their desires, when they 
 exhorted him not to go over the river to He- 
 rod, he had not perished: but the marriage of 
 his grand-daughter [to Herod] was his temp- 
 tation; for as he relied upon him, and was 
 over fond of his own country, be came back 
 to it. Herod's provocation was this: — not 
 that Hyrcanus made any attempt to gain the 
 kingdom, but that it was fitter for him to be 
 their king than for Herod. 
 
 2. Now of the five children which Herod 
 had by Mariamne, two of them were daugh- 
 ters, and three were sons ; and the youngest 
 of those sons was educated a't Rome, and there 
 died ; but the two eldest he treated as those 
 of royal blood, on account of the nobility of 
 their mother, and because they were not born 
 till he was king; but then what was stronger 
 than all this, was the love that he bare to Mari- 
 amne, and which inflamed him every day to a 
 great degree, and so far conspired with the 
 other motives, that he felt no other troubles, 
 on account of her he loved so entirely; but 
 Mariamne's hatred to him was not inferior to 
 his love to her. She had'indeed but too just 
 a cause of indignation, frona what he had done, 
 while her boldness proceeded from his affection 
 to her; so she openly reproached him with 
 what he had done to her grandfather Hyr- 
 canus, and to her brother Aristobulus, for 
 be had not spared this Aristobulus, though he 
 were but a child;, for when he had given him 
 the high-priesthood at the age of seventeen, 
 he slew him quickly after he had conferred 
 that dignity upon him; but when Aristobulus 
 had put on the holy vestments, and had ap- 
 proached to the altar at a festival, the multi- 
 tude, in great crowds, fell into tears; where- 
 upon the child was sent by night to Jericho, 
 and was there dipped by the Galls, at Herod's 
 command, in a pool till he was drowned. 
 
 3. For these reasons Mariamne reproached 
 Herod, and his sister and mother, after a most 
 contumelious manner, while he was dumb on 
 account of his atfection for her; yet had the 
 women great indignation at her, and raised a 
 calumny against her, that she was false to his 
 Ded: which thing they thought most likely to 
 move Herod to anger. They also contrived to 
 have many other circumstances believed, in 
 order to make the thing more credible, and ac- 
 cused her of having sent her picture into Egypt 
 to Antony, and that her lust was so extravagant, 
 as to have thus shown herself, though she was 
 absent, to a man that ran mad after women, 
 and to a man that had it in his power to use 
 violence to her. This charge fell like a thun- 
 de-bolt upon Herod, and put him into dis- 
 order; and that especially, because his love to 
 her occasioned him to be jealous, and because 
 he considered with himself that Cleopatra was 
 a shrewd woman, and that on her account 
 Lys^iiias the king was taken off as well as 
 MaUciius the Arabian; for his fear did not 
 
 only extend to the dissolving of his marriage, 
 but to the danger of his life. 
 
 4. When therefore he was about to take a 
 journey abroad, he committed his wife to Jo- 
 seph, his sister Salome's husband, as to one 
 who would be faithful to him, and bare him 
 good- will on account of their kindred: he also 
 gave him a secret injunction, that if Antony 
 slew him, he should slay her; but Joseph 
 without any ill design, and only in order to 
 demonstrate the king's love to his wife, how 
 he could not bear to think of being separated 
 from her, even by death itself, discovered this 
 grand secret to her; upon which, when Herod 
 was come back, and as they talked together, 
 and he confirmed bis love to her by many 
 oaths, and assured her that he had never such 
 an affection for any other woman as he had for 
 her, — "Yes," says she, "thou didst, to be 
 sure, demonstrate thy love to me by the in- 
 junctions thou gavest Joseph, when thou 
 commandest him to kill me."* 
 
 5. When he heard that this grand secret 
 was discovered, he was like a distracted man, 
 and said, that Joseph would never have dis- 
 closed that injunction of his, unless he had 
 debauched her. His passion also made him 
 stark mad, and leaping out of his bed, he ran 
 about the palace after a wild manner ; at 
 which time his sister Salome took the oppor- 
 tunity also to blast her reputation, and con- 
 firmed bis suspicion about Joseph ; whereupon, 
 out of his ungovernable jealousy and rage, he 
 commanded both of them to be slain immedi- 
 ately; but as soon as ever his passion was 
 over, he repented of what he had done, and as 
 soon as his anger was worn off, his affections 
 were kindled again; and indeed the flame of 
 his desires for her was so ardent, that he could 
 not think she was dead, but would appear, 
 under his disorders, to speak to her as if she 
 were still alive, till he were better instructed 
 by time, when his grief and trouble, now she 
 was dead, appeared as great as his affection 
 had been for her while she was living. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIIL 
 
 CALUMNIES AGAINST THE SONS OF MARIAMNE. 
 ANTIPATER IS PREFERRED BEFORE THEM. 
 THEY ARE ACCUSED BEFORE C^SAB, AND 
 HEROD IS RECONCILED TO THEM. 
 
 § 1. Now Mariamne's sons were heirs to that 
 hatred which had been borne their mother; and 
 when they considered the greatness of He- 
 rod's crime towards her, they were suspicious 
 
 • Here is either a defect or a great mistake, in Joae- 
 phus's present copies or memory; tor Mariamne did not 
 now reproach Herod with this bis first injunction to 
 Joseph to xvill her, if he himself were slain by Antonjr, 
 but that he had given the like command a second tim« 
 to >oemus also, when be was alraid of being slain by 
 Augustus. Antiq. b. xv. cb. iii. sect. 5. 
 
688 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK r. 
 
 of him as of an enemy of theirs ; and this first 
 while they were educated at Rome, but still 
 more when they were returned to Judea. 
 This temper of theirs increased upon them as 
 they grew up to be men; and when they were 
 come to an age tit for marriage, the one of 
 them married their aunt Salome's daughter, 
 which Salome had been the accuser of their 
 mother; the other married the daughter of 
 Arcnelaus, king of Cappadocia. And now 
 they used bohlness in speaking, as well as 
 bore hatred in their minds. Now those that 
 calumniated them took a handle from such 
 their boldness, and certain of them spake now 
 more plainly to the king, that there were 
 treacherous designs laid against him by both 
 nis sorjs; and he that was son-in-law to Arche- 
 laus, relying upon his father-in-law, was pre- 
 paring to fly away, in order to accuse Herod 
 before Caesar; and when Herod's head had 
 been long enough tilled with these calumnies, 
 be brought Antipater, whom he had by Doris, 
 into favour again, as a defence to him against 
 his other sons, and began all the ways he pos- 
 sibly could to prefer him before them. 
 
 2. But these sons were not able to bear 
 this change in their affairs; for when they 
 saw him that was born of a mother of no 
 fcimily, the nobility of their birth made them 
 unable to contain their indignation; but when- 
 soever they were uneasy, they showed the 
 anger they had at it; and as these sons did 
 day after day improve in that their anger, 
 Antipater already exercised all his own abili- 
 ties, which were very great, in flattering his 
 father, and in contriving many sorts of calum- 
 nies against his brethren, while he told some 
 stories of them himself, and put it upon other 
 proper persons to raise other stories against 
 them; till at length he entirely cut his bre- 
 thren off from all hopes of succeeding to the 
 kingdom; for he was already publicly put 
 into his father's will as his successor. Accor- 
 dingly, he was sent with royal ornaments, and 
 other marks of royalty, to Caesar, excepting 
 the diadem. He was also able in time to 
 introduce his mother again into Mariamne's 
 bed. The two sorts of weapons he made use 
 of against his brethren, were flattery and 
 calumny, whereby he brought matters pri- 
 vately to such a pass, that the king had 
 thoughts of putting his sons to death. 
 
 3. So the father drew Alexander as far as 
 Rome, and charged him with an attempt of 
 poisoning him, before Csesar. Alexander 
 could hardly speak for lamentation; but 
 having a judge that was more skilful than 
 Antipater, and more wise than Herod, he 
 modestly avoided laying any imputation upon 
 Lis father, but with great strength of reason 
 confuted the calumnies laid against him; and 
 when he had demonstrated the innocency of 
 his brother, who was in the like danger with 
 himself, he at last bewailed the craftiness of 
 Antipater, and the disgrace they were under. 
 
 He was enabled also to justify himself, not 
 only by a clear conscience, which he carried 
 within him, but by his eloquence; for he was 
 a shrewd man in making speeches. And 
 upon his saying at last, that if his father 
 objected this crime to them, it was in his 
 power to put them to death, he made all the 
 audience weep; and he brought Caesar to that 
 pass, as to reject the accusations, and to 
 reconcile their father to them immediately. 
 But the conditions of this reconciliation were 
 these, that they should in all things be obe- 
 dient to their father, ana that he should have 
 power to leave the kingdom to which of them 
 he pleased. 
 
 4. After this the king came back from 
 Rome, and seemed to have forgiven his sons 
 upon these accusations; but still so, that he 
 was not without his suspicions of them. They 
 were followed by Antipater, who was the 
 fountain-head of those accusations; yet did 
 not he openly discover his hatred to them, as 
 revering him that had reconciled them. But 
 as Herod sailed by Cilicia, he touched at 
 Eleusa,* where Archelaus treated them in the 
 most obliging manner, and gave him thanks 
 for the deliveranca^f his son-in-law, and was 
 much pleased at their reconciliation; and this 
 the more, because he had formerly written to 
 his friends at Rome that they should be 
 assisting to Alexander at his trial. So he con- 
 ducted Herod as far as Zephyrium, and made 
 him presents to the value of thirty talents. 
 
 5. Now when Herod was come to Jerusa- 
 lem, he gathered the people together, and 
 presented to them his three sons, and gave 
 them an apologetic account of his absence, 
 and thanked God greatly, and thanked Cassar 
 greatly also, for settling his house when it was 
 under disturbances, and had procured con- 
 cord among his sons, which was of greater 
 consequence than the kingdom itself, — "and 
 which I will render still more firm ; for Caesar 
 hath put into my power to dispose of the 
 government, and to appoint my successor. 
 Accordingly, in way of requital for his kind- 
 ness, and in order to provide for mine own 
 advantage, I do declare that these three sons 
 of mine shall be kings. And, in the first 
 place, I pray for the approbation of God to 
 what I am about; and, in the next place, I 
 desire your approbation also. The age of one 
 of them, and the nobility of the other two 
 shall procure them the succession. Nay, 
 indeed, my kingdom is so large, that it may be ; 
 sufficient for more kings. Now do you keep ■ 
 those in their places whom Caesar hath joined ■ 
 and their father hath appointed ; and do not 
 you pay undue or unequal respects to them, 
 
 • That this island EIrusa, afterward called Sebaste, 
 near Cilicia, had in it the royal palace of this Archelaus, 
 king of Cappadocia, Strabo ti-stities, b. xv. p (i7l. Ste- 
 phanus ot li)zantiiini also calls it "an island of Cilicia^ 
 which is now Nebahte;" both whose li.-stinionits are per- 
 tinently cited here by i)r. Hudson. t>ee the same Lit« 
 tory, Antiq. b. xvi. cb x- sect 7 
 
CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 VTARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 589 
 
 but to every one according to the prerogative 
 of their births; for he that payj such respects 
 unduly, will thereby not make him that is 
 honoured beyond what his age requires, so 
 joyful as he will make him that is dishonoured 
 sorrowful. As for the kindred and friends 
 that are to converse with them, I will appoint 
 them to each of them, and will so constitute 
 them, that they may be securities for their 
 concord; as well knowing that the ill tempers 
 of those with whom they converse will pro- 
 duce quarrels and contentions among them; 
 but that, if these with whom they converse be 
 of good tempers, they will preserve their na- 
 tural affections for one another. But still I 
 desire, that not these only, but all the captains 
 of my army have for the present their hopes 
 placed on me alone; for I do not give away 
 my kingdom to these my sons, but give them 
 royal honours only; whereby it will come to 
 pass that they will enjoy the sweet parts of 
 government as rulers themselves, but that the 
 burden of administration will rest upon my- 
 self whether I will or not. And let every 
 one consider what age I am of; how I have 
 conducted my life, and what piety I have ex- 
 ercised; for my age is not so great, that men 
 may soon expect the end of my life; nor have 
 I indulged such a luxurious way of living as 
 cuts men off when they are young; and we 
 have been so religious towards God, that we 
 [have reason to hope we] may arrive at a 
 very great age. But for such as cultivate a 
 friendship with my sons, so as to aim at my 
 destruction, they shall be punished by me on 
 their account. I am not one who envy my 
 own children, and therefore forbid men to pay 
 them great respect; but I know that such 
 [extravagant] respects are the way to make 
 them insolent. And if every one that comes 
 near them does but revolve this in bis mind, 
 that if he proves a good man, he shall receive a 
 reward from me, but that if he prove seditious, 
 his ill-intended complaisance shall get him 
 nothing from him to whom it is shown, I 
 suppose they will all be of my side, that is, 
 of my sons' side; for it will be for their ad- 
 vantage that I reign, and that I be at concord 
 with them. But do you, O ray good children, 
 reflect upon the holiness of nature itself, 
 by whose means natural affection is preserved, 
 even among wild beasts ; in the next place, 
 reflect upon Caesar, who hath made this 
 reconciliation among us ; and, in the third 
 place, reflect upon me, who entreat you to do 
 what I have power to command you, — con- 
 tinue brethren. I give you royal garments, 
 and royal honours; and I pray to God to 
 preserve what I have determined, in case you 
 be at concord one with another." When the 
 king had thus spoken, and had saluted every 
 one of his sons after an obliging manner, he 
 dismissed the multitude; some of whom gave 
 their assent to what he said, and wished it 
 might take effect accordingly ; but for those 
 
 who vnshed for a change of affairs, they 
 pretended they did not so much as bear what 
 
 he said. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE MALICE OF ANTIPATER AND DORIS. 
 ALEXANDER IS VERY UNEASY ON GLA- 
 PHYRa's ACCOUNT. HEROD PARDONS PHE- 
 RORAS, WHOM HE SUSPECTED, AND SALOME, 
 WHOM HE KNEW TO MAKE MISCHIEF AMONG 
 THEM. HEROD's EUNUCHS ARE TORTURED 
 AND ALEXANDER IS BOUND. 
 
 § 1. But now the quarrel that was between 
 them still accompanied these brethren when 
 they parted, and the suspicions they had one 
 of the other grew worse. Alexander and 
 Aristobulus were much grieved that the 
 privilege of the first-born was confirmed to 
 Antipater; as was Antipater very angry at his 
 brethren, that they were to succeed him. But 
 then the last being of a disposition that was 
 mutable and politic, he knew how to hold 
 his tongue, and used a great deal of cun- 
 ning, and thereby concealed the hatred he 
 bore to them; while the former, depending 
 on the nobility of their births, had every thing 
 upon their tongues which was in thelt minds. 
 Many also there were who provoked theo 
 farther, and many of their [seeming] friends 
 insinuated themselves into their acquaintance, 
 to spy out what they did. Now every thing 
 that was said by Alexander was presently 
 brought to Antipater, and from Antipater it 
 was brought to Herod with additions. Nor 
 could the young man say any thing in the 
 simplicity of his heart, without giving offence, 
 but what he said was still turned to calumny 
 against him. And if he had been at any time 
 a little free in his conversation, great impu- 
 tations were forged from the smallest occasions. 
 Antipater also was perpetually setting some 
 to provoke him to speak, that the lies he 
 raised of him might seem to have some foun- 
 dation of truth; and if, among the many 
 stories that were given out, but one of them 
 could be proved true, that was supposed to 
 imply the rest to be true also. And as to 
 Antipater's friends, they were all either na- 
 turally so cautious in speaking, or had been 
 so far bribed to conceal their thoughts, that 
 nothing of these grand secrets got abroad by 
 their means. Nor should one be mistaken if 
 he called the life of Antipater a mystery of 
 wickedness; for he either corrupted Alexan- 
 der's acquaintance with money, or got into 
 their favour by flatteries ; by which two means 
 he gained all his designs, and brought them 
 to betray their master, and to steal away, ai^d 
 reveal what he either did or said. Thus diU 
 he act a part very cunningly in all points, nnd 
 wrought himself a passage by his calumnies 
 with the greatest shrewdness; while he put oc 
 
690 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK T. 
 
 a face as if he were a bind brother to Alex- 
 ander and Aristobulus, but suborned other 
 men to inform of what they did to Herod. 
 And when any thing was told against Alex- 
 ander, he would come in and pretend [to be 
 of his side], and would begin to contradict 
 what was said; but would afterward contrive 
 matters so privately, that the king should 
 have an indignation at him. His general aim 
 was this: — To lay a plot, and to make it be 
 believed that Alexander lay in wait to kill his 
 father; for nothing afforded so great a confir- 
 mation to these calumnies as did Antipater's 
 apologies for him. 
 
 2. By these methods Herod was inflamed, 
 and, as much as his uatural affection to the 
 young men did every day diminish, so much 
 did it increase towards Antipater. The cour- 
 tiers also inclined to the same conduct; some 
 of their own accord, and others by the king's 
 injunction, as particularly Ptolemy, the king's 
 dearest friend, as also the king's brethren, 
 and all his children; for Antipater was all 
 in all: and what was the bitterest part of. all 
 to Alexander, Antipater's mother was also all 
 in all: she was one that gave counsel against 
 them, and was more harsh than a step- 
 mother, and one that hated the queen's sons 
 more than is usual to hate sons-in-law. All 
 men did therefore alreadj pay their respects 
 to Antipater, in hopes of advantage; and it 
 was the king's command which alienated every 
 body [from the brethren], behaving given this 
 charge to his most intimate friends, that they 
 should not come near, nor pay any regard, to 
 Alexander, or to his friends. Herod was also 
 become terrible, not only to his domestics 
 about the court, but to his friends abroad; for 
 Cajsar had given such a privilege to no other 
 king as he had given to him, which was this: 
 — that he might fetch back any one that fled 
 from him, even out of a city that was not 
 under his own jurisdiction. Now the young 
 men were not acquainted with thcfpalumnies 
 raised against them; for which reason they 
 could not guard themselves against them, but 
 fell under them; for their father did not make 
 any public complaints against either of them; 
 though in a little time they perceived how 
 things were, by his coldness to them, and by 
 the great uneasiness he showed upon any 
 thing that troubled him. Antipater had also 
 made their uncle Pheroras to be their enemy, 
 as well as their aunt Salome, while he was 
 always talking with her as with a wife, and 
 irritating her against tliem. Moreover, Alex- 
 ander's wife, Glaphyra, augmented this hatred 
 against them, by deriving her nobility and 
 genealogy [from great persons], and pretend- 
 ing that she was a lady superior to all others 
 in that kingdom, as being derived by her 
 father's side from Teinenus, and by her 
 mother's side from Darius, t he son otllystaspes. 
 She ulso frequently reproached llero'^'s sister 
 find wives, with ihe ignobihty of their descent; 
 
 and that they were every one chosen by him 
 for their beauty, but not for their fanuly. 
 Now those wives of his were not a few; it being 
 of old permitted to the Jews to marry many 
 wives,* — and this king delighting in many; 
 all whom hated Alexander, on account of 
 Glaphyra's boasting and reproaches. 
 
 3. Nay, Aristobulus had raised a quarrel 
 between himself and Salome, who was bis 
 mother-in-law, besides the anger he had con- 
 ceived at Glaphyra's reproaches; for he 
 perpetually upbraided his wife with the mean- 
 ness of her family, and complained, that as 
 he had married a woman of a low family, so 
 had his brother Alexander married one of 
 royal blood. At this Salome's daughter wept, 
 and told it her with this addition, that Alex- 
 ander threatened the mothers of his other 
 brethren, that when he should come to the 
 crown, he would make them weave with their 
 maidens, and would make those brothers of 
 his country schoolmasters; and brake this jest 
 upon them, that they had been very caretuUy 
 instructed, to fit them for such an employment. 
 Hereupon Salome could not contain her anger, 
 but told all to Herod ; nor could her testiuiony 
 be suspected, since it was against her own 
 son-in-law. There was also another calumny 
 that ran abroad, and inflamed the king's mind ; 
 for he heard that these sons of his were per- 
 petually speaking of their mother, and, among 
 their lamentations for her, did not abstain 
 from cursing him; and that when he made 
 presents of any of Mariamne's garments to his 
 later wives, these threatened, that in a little 
 time, instead of royal garments, they would 
 clothe them in no better than hair-cloth. 
 
 4. Now upon these accounts, though Herod 
 was somewhat afraid of the young men's high 
 spirit, yet did he not despair of reducing them 
 to a better mind; but before he went to 
 Rome, whither he was now going by sea, he 
 called them to him, and partly threatened 
 them a little, as a king; but for the main, he 
 admonished them as a father, and exhorted 
 them to love their brethren; and tohl them 
 that he would pardon their former offences, 
 if they would amend for the time to come. 
 But they refuted the calumnies that had been 
 raised of them, and said they were false, and 
 alleged that their actions were sufficient for 
 their vindication; and said withal, that he 
 himself ought to shut his ears against such 
 
 • That it was an inimemorial custom among thd 
 Jews, and their loretatliers, the patriarchs, to have wrin- 
 tinies more wives, or wives and concubines, than one at 
 the same time, and thai this polygamy was not dkiccliv 
 forbidden in the law ot Moses, is evident; but, fh-it p<ji> • 
 gamy was ever properly and distinctly perniitied in that 
 law of iMoses, in the places here cited by Ut-an A Id rich, 
 DeuU xvii. 16, 17; or xxi. lii, or indet-d any vvheie t'.se, 
 durs Dot appear to me. And what our 8avtour iiu>* 
 about the common Jewish divorces, which may )»y 
 much greater claim to such a permission than pul)ganiy, 
 ■eems to me true in this case also; titat Muses, -tor 
 the hardness ol their hearts," sniieieil them to have sev^ 
 ral wives at the same lime; but that ^- Irum tba begiD* 
 ning it was nut *u." Matt xix b; Mark X. 6. 
 
CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS 
 
 691 
 
 tales, and not to be too easy in believing them, 
 lor that there would never be wanting those 
 ibut would tell lies to their disadvantage, as 
 1 «np af any would give ear to them. 
 
 5 When they had thus soon pacified him, 
 as being their father, they got clear of the 
 present fear they were in. Yet did they see 
 occasion for sorrow irfsorae time afterwards; 
 for they knew that Salome, as well as their 
 uncle Pheroras, were their enemies; who were 
 both of them heavy and severe persons, and 
 especially Pheroras, who was a partner with 
 Herod in all the affairs of the kingdom, ex- 
 cepting his diadem. He had also a hundred 
 talents of his own revenues, and enjoyed the 
 advantage of all the land beyond Jordan, 
 which he had received as a gift from his bro- 
 ther, who had asked of Caesar to make him a 
 tetrarch, as he was made accordingly. Herod 
 had also given him a wife out of the royal 
 family, who was no other than his own wife's 
 sister; and after her death, had solemnly 
 espoused to him his own eldest daughter, with 
 a dowry of three hundred talents; but Phero- 
 ras refused to consummate this royal marriage, 
 out of his affection to a maid-servant of his. 
 Upon which account, Herod was very angry, 
 and gave that daughter in marriage to a 
 brother's son of his [Joseph], who was slain 
 afterward by the Parthians ; but in some time 
 he laid aside his anger against Pheroras, and. 
 pardoned him, as one not able to overcome 
 his foolish passion for the maid-servant. 
 
 6. Nay, Pheroras had been accused long 
 before, while the queen [Mariamne] was alive, 
 as if he were in a plot to poison Herod; and 
 there came so great a number of informers, 
 that Herod himself, though he was an exceed- 
 ing lover of his brethren, was brought to be- 
 lieve what was said, and to be afraid of it also; 
 and when he had brought many of those that 
 were under suspicion to the torture, he came 
 at last to Pheroras's own friends; none of 
 whom did openly confess the crime, but they 
 owned that he had made preparation to take 
 her whom he loved, and run away to the Par- 
 thians. Costobarus also, the husband of 
 Salome, to whom the king had given her in 
 marriage, after her former husband had been 
 put to death for adultery, was instrumental in 
 bringing about this contrivance and flight of 
 his. Nor did Salome escape all calumny upon 
 herself; for her brother Pheroras accused her, 
 that she had made an agreement to marry Sil- 
 leus, the procurator of Obodas, king of Arabia, 
 who was at bitter enmity with Herod; but 
 when she was convicted of this, and of all that 
 Pherjras had accused her of, she obtained her 
 j.ardon. The king also pardoned Pheroras 
 himself the crimes he had been accused of. 
 
 7. But the storm of the whole family was 
 removed to Alexander; and all of it rested 
 uoon his head. There were three euimchs 
 who were in'the highest esteem with the king, 
 as was plain by the otfices they vvere in about 
 
 him; for one.of them was appointed to be hig 
 butler, another of thera got his supper ready 
 for him, and the third put him into bed, and 
 lay down by him. Now Alexander had pre- 
 vailed with these men, by large gifts, to let 
 him use them after an obscene manner; which, 
 when it was told to the king, they were tor- 
 tured, and found guilty, and presently con- 
 fessed the criminal conversation he had with 
 them. They also discovered the promises by 
 which they were induced so to do, and how 
 they vvere deluded by Alexander, who had told 
 them that they ought not to fix their hopes 
 upon Herod, an old man, and one so shame- 
 less as to colour his hair, unless they thought 
 that would make him young again ; but that 
 they ought to fix their attention to him, who 
 was to be his successor in the kingdom, whe- 
 ther he would or not; and who in no long 
 time would avenge himself on his enemies, 
 and make his friends happy and blessed, and 
 themselves in the first place; that the men of 
 power did already pay respects to Alexander 
 privately, and that the captains of the soldiery, 
 and the officers, did secretly come to him. 
 
 8. These confessions did so terrify Herod, 
 that he durst not immediately publish them; 
 but he sent spies abroad privately, by night and 
 by day, who should make a close inquiry after 
 all that was done and said; and when any 
 were but suspected [of treason] he put them 
 to death, insomuch that the palace was full of 
 horribly unjust proceedhigs; for every body 
 forged calumnies, as they were themselves in 
 a state of enmity or hatred against others; and 
 many there were who abused the king's bloody 
 passion to the disadvantage of those with 
 whom they had quarrels, and lies vvere easily 
 believed, and punishments were inflicted sooner 
 than the calumnies were forged. He who had 
 just then been accusing another, was accused 
 himself, and was led away to execution to- 
 gether with him whom he had convicted; for 
 the danger the king was in of his life made 
 examinations be very short. He also pro- 
 ceeded to such a degree of bitterness, that he 
 could not look on any of those that were not 
 accused with a pleasant countenance, but was 
 in the most barbarous disposition towards Lis 
 own friends. Accordingly, he forbade a great 
 many of them to come to court, and to those 
 whom he had not power to punish actually, 
 he spake harshly ; but for Antipater, he insult- 
 ed Alexander, now he was under his misfor- 
 tunes, and got a stout company of his kindred 
 together, and raised all sorts of calumny 
 against him: and for the king, he was brought 
 to such a degree of terror by those prodigious 
 slanders and contrivances, that he fancied ho 
 saw Alexander coming to him with a drawn 
 sword in his hand. So he caused him to be 
 seized upon immediately 'and bound, and fell 
 to exan)ining his friends by torture, many of 
 whom died [under the torture], but would 
 discover nothing, nor say any thing against 
 
592 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 their consciences; but some of them, being 
 forced to speak falsely by the pains they 
 endured, said that Alexander, and his brother 
 Agistobulus, plotted against him, and waited 
 for an opportunity to kill him as he was hunt- 
 ing, and then fly away to Rome. These accu- 
 sations, though they were of an incredible 
 nature, and only framed upon the great dis- 
 tress they were in, were readily believed by 
 the king, who thought it some comfort to him, 
 after he had bound his son, that it might 
 appear he had not done it unjustly. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 AECHELAU8 PROCURES A RECONCILIATION 
 BETWEEN ALEXANDER, PHERORAS, AND 
 HEROD. 
 
 § 1. Now as to Alexander, since he perceived 
 it impossible to persuade his father [that he 
 was innocent], he resolved to meet his cala- 
 mities, how severe. soever they were; so he 
 composed four books against his enemies, 
 and confessed that he had been in a plot; but 
 declared withal that the greatest part [of the 
 courtiers] were in a plot with him, and chiefly 
 Pheroras and Salome: nay, that Salome once 
 •arne and forced him to lie with her in the 
 night-time, whether he would or no. These 
 books were put into Herod's hands, and made 
 a great clamour against the men in power. 
 And now it was that Archelaus came hastily 
 into Judea, as being aflrighted for his son-in- 
 law and his daughter; and he came as a pro- 
 per assistant, and in a very prudent maimer, 
 and by a stratagem he obhged the king not to 
 execute what he had threatened ; for when he 
 was come to him, he cried out, " Where in 
 the world is this wretched son-in-law of mine? 
 Where shall I see the head of him who had 
 contrived to murder his father, which I will 
 tear to pieces with my own hands? I will do 
 the same also to my daughter, who hath such 
 a fine husband; for although she be not a 
 partner in the plot, yet, by being the wife of 
 such a creature, she is polluted. And I can- 
 not but admire at thy patience, against whom 
 this plot is laid, if Alexander be still alive; 
 for as I came with what haste I could from 
 Cappadocia, I expected to find him put to 
 death for his crimes long ago; but still, in order 
 to make an examination with thee about my 
 daughter, whom, out of regard to thee, and 
 thy dignity, I had espoused to him in mar- 
 riage, but now we must take counsel about 
 thefn both; and if thy paternal affection be 
 so great, that thou canst not punish thy son, 
 who hath plotted against thee, let us change 
 our right hands, and let us succeed one to 
 the other in expressing our rage upon this 
 occasion." 
 
 2. When he had made this pompous 
 
 declaration, he got Herod to remit of his 
 anger, though he was in disorder, who there- 
 upon gave him the books which Alexander 
 had composed to be read by him ; and as he 
 came to every head, he considered of it, toge- 
 ther with Herod. So Archelaus took hence 
 the occasion for that stratagem which he 
 made use of, and by degrees he laid the blame 
 on these men whose names were in these 
 books, and especially upon Pheroras; and 
 when he saw that the king believed him [to 
 be in earnest] he said " We must consider 
 whether the young man be not himself plot- 
 ted against by such a number of wicked 
 wretches, and not thou plotted against by the 
 young man; for I cannot see any occasion for 
 his falling into so horrid a crime, since he 
 enjoys the advantages of royalty already, and 
 has the expectation of being one of thy succes- 
 sors; I mean this, unless there were some 
 persons that persuade him to it, and such per- 
 sons as make an ill use of the facility they 
 know there is to persuade young men ; for by 
 such persons, not only young men are some- 
 times imposed upon, but old men also; and by 
 them sometimes are the most illustrious fami- 
 lies and kingdoms overturned." 
 
 3. Herod assented to what he had said, and, 
 by degrees, abated of his anger against Alex- 
 ander; but was more angry at Pheroras, who 
 perceiving that the king's inclinations changed 
 on a sudden, and that Archelaus's friendship 
 could do every thing with him, and that he 
 had no honourable method of preserving him- 
 self, he procured his safety by his impudence. 
 So he left Alexander, and had recourse to 
 Archelaus; who told him that he did not see 
 how he could get him excused, now he was 
 directly caught in so many crimes, whereby 
 it was evidently demonstrated that he had 
 plotted against the king, and had been the 
 cause of those misfortunes which the young 
 man was now under, *nless he would more- 
 over leave off his cunning knavery and his 
 denials of what he was charge withal, and 
 confess the charge, and implore pardon of his 
 brother, who still had a kindness for him: but 
 that if he would do so, he would afford him 
 all the assistance he was able. 
 
 4. With this advice Pheroras complied, 
 and, putting himself into such a habit as 
 might most move compassion, he came with 
 black cloth upon his body, and tears in his 
 eyes, and threw himself down at Herod's feet, 
 and begged his pardon for what he had done, 
 and confessed that he had acted very wickedly, 
 and was guilty of every thing that he had 
 been accused of, and lamented that disorder 
 of his mind and distraction which his love to 
 a woman, he said, had brought him to. So 
 when Archelaus had brought Pheroras to 
 accuse and bear witness against himself, he 
 then made an excuse for him, and mitigated 
 Herod's anger towards him, and this by using 
 certain domestic examples; for that when he 
 
CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 503 
 
 had suffered much greater miscliiefs from a 
 brother of his own, he preferred the obliga- 
 tions of nature before tht passion of revenge; 
 because it is in kingdoms as it is in gross 
 bodies, where some member or other is ever 
 swelled by the body's weight ; in which case 
 it is not proper to cut off such member, but 
 to heal it by a gentle method of cure. 
 
 5. Upon Archelaus's saying this, and much 
 mere to the same purpose, Herod's displea- 
 sure against Pheroras was mollified; yet did 
 he persevere in his own indignation against 
 Alexander, and said he would have his daugh- 
 ter divorced and taken away frcm him, and 
 this till he had brought Herod to that pass, 
 that, contrary to his former behaviour to him, 
 he petitioned Archelaus for the young man, 
 and that he would let his daughter continue 
 espoused to him : but Archelaus made him 
 strongly believe that he would permit her to 
 be married to any one else, but not to Alex- 
 ander ; because he looked upon it as a very 
 valuable advantage that the relation they had 
 contracted by that affinity, and the privileges 
 that went along with it, might be preserved : 
 and when the king said that his son would take j 
 it for a great favour done to him if he would 
 not dissolve the marriage, especially since they 
 had already children between the young man : 
 and her, and since that wife of his was so well , 
 beloved by him, and that as while she remains 
 his wife she would be a great preservative to 
 him, and keep him from offending, as he had 
 formerly done; so if she should be torn away 
 from him, she would be the cause of his fall- 
 ing into despair; because such young men's 
 attempts are best mollified when they are 
 diverted from them by sMtling their afiections 
 at home. So Archelaus complied with what 
 Herod desired, but not without difficulty, and 
 was both himself reconciled to the young man 
 and reconciled his father to him also. How- 
 ever, he said he must, by all means, be sent 
 to Rome to discourse with Caesar, because he 
 had already written a full account to him of 
 this whole matter. 
 
 6. Thus a period was put to Archelaus's 
 stratagem, whereby he delivered his son-in- 
 law out of the dangers he was in : but when 
 these reconciliations were over, they spent 
 their time in feastings and agreeable enter- 
 tainments : and when Archelaus was going 
 away, Herod made him a present of seventy 
 talents, with a golden throne set with precious 
 stones, and some eunuchs, and a concubine, 
 who was called Pannychis. He also paid due 
 honours to every one of his friends according 
 to their dignity. In like manner did all the 
 king's kindred, by his command, make glorious 
 presents to Archelaus ; and so he was con- 
 ducted on his way by Herod and his nobility 
 as far as Antioch. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 HOW EaRTcI.ES* CALUMNIATED THE SONS OP 
 MARIAMNE; AND HOW EUARATUS's APO- 
 LOGY HAD NO EFFECT. 
 
 § 1. Now a little, afterward there came into 
 Judea a man that was much superior to Ar- 
 chelaus's stratagems, who did not only over- 
 turn that reconciliation that had been so wisely 
 made with Alexander, but proved the occasion 
 of his ruin. He was a Lacedemonian, and his 
 name was Eurycles. He was so corrupt a 
 man, that out of the desire of getting money, 
 he chose to live under a king, for Greece 
 could not suffice his luxury. He presented 
 Herod with splendid gifts as a bait which he 
 laid, in order to compass his ends, and quickly 
 received them back again manifold; yet did 
 he esteem bare gifts as nothing, unless he 
 imbrued the kingdom in blood by his pur- 
 chases. Accordingly, he imposed upon the 
 king by flattering him, and by talking sub- 
 tilely to him, as also by the lying encomiums 
 which he made upon him: for as he soon per- 
 ceived Herod's blind side, so he said and did 
 every thing that might please him, and thereby 
 became one of his most intimate friends; for 
 both the king, and all that were about him, 
 had a great regard for this Spartan, on account 
 of his country.f 
 
 2. Now as soon as this fellow perceived the 
 rotten parts of the family, and what quarrels 
 the brothers had one with another, and in what 
 disposition the father was towards each of them, 
 he chose to take his lodging at the first in the 
 house of Antipater, but deluded Alexander 
 with a pretence of friendship to him, and 
 falsely claimed to be an old acquaintance of 
 Archelaus ; for which reason he was presently 
 admitted into Alexander's familiarity as a 
 faithful friend. He also soon recommended 
 himself to his brother Aristobulus: and when 
 he had thus made trial of these several persons, 
 he imposed upon one of them by one method, 
 and upon another by another; but he was 
 principally hired by Antipater, and so betray- 
 ed Alexander, and this by reproaching Anti- 
 pater, because, while he was the eldest son, 
 he overlooked the intrigues of those who 
 stood in the way of his expectations ; and by 
 •■eproaching Alexander, because he who was 
 
 * This vile fellow, Eurycles the Lacedemonian, seems 
 to have been the same who is mentioned by Plutarch, as 
 (twenty-five years before) a companion to Mark Antony, 
 and as'living with Herod; whence he might easily insi- 
 nuate himself into the acquaintance of Herod's sons, 
 Antipater and Alexander, as Usher, Hudson, and Span- 
 heini justly suppose. The reason why his bein? a Spar- 
 tan rendered him acceptable to the Jews, as we here see 
 be was, is visible from the public records of the Jews and 
 Spartans, owning those Spartans to be of kin to the Jews, 
 and derived from their coairaon ancestor Abraham, the 
 first patriarch of the Jewish nation. Antiq. b. xii, chap, 
 iy. sect. 10; b. xiii. chap. v. sectS; and I Mace chap.xiL 
 ver. 7. 
 
 •f See the preceding note. 
 
 a p 
 
504 
 
 Wars Oi THE JEWS.' 
 
 BOOK I, 
 
 Dorn of a queen, and was married to a king's 
 daughter, permitted one that was born of a 
 jiean woman to lay claim to the succession, 
 and this when he had Archelaus to support 
 dim in the most complete manner. Nor was 
 Sis advice thought to be other than faithful 
 by the young man because of his pretended 
 friendship with Archelaus : on which account 
 it was that Alexander lamented to him Anti- 
 pater's behaviour with regard to himself, and 
 this without concealing any thing from him ; 
 and bow it was no wonder if Herod, after he 
 had killed their mother, should deprive them of 
 her kingdom. Upon this Eurycles pretended 
 to commiserate his condition, and to grieve 
 with him. He also, by a bait that he laid for 
 him, procured Aristobulus to say the same 
 things. Thus did he inveigle both the bro- 
 thers to make complaints of their father, and 
 then went to Antipater, and carried these 
 grand secrets to him. He also added a fiction 
 of his own, as if his brothers had laid a plot 
 against him, and were almost ready to come 
 upon him with their drafwn swords. For this 
 intelligence he received a great sum of money, 
 and on that account he commended Antipater 
 before his father, and at length undertook the 
 work of bringing Alexander and Aristobulus 
 to their graves, and accused them before their 
 father. So he came to Herod and told him 
 that he would save his life, as a requital for 
 the fevours he had received from him, and 
 would preserve his light [of life] by way of 
 retribution for his kind entertainment; for that 
 a' sword had been long whetted, and Alexan- 
 der's right hand had been long stretched out 
 against him; but that he had laid impediments 
 in his way, prevented his speed, arid that by 
 pretending to assist him in his design : how 
 Alexander said that Herod was not contented 
 to reign in a kingdom that belonged to others, 
 and to make dilapidations in their mother's 
 government after he had killed her ; but 
 besides all this, that he introduced a spurious 
 successor, and proposed to give the kingdom 
 of their ancestors to that pestilent fellow An- 
 tipater: that he would now appease the ghosts 
 of Hyrcanus and Mariamne, by taking ven- 
 geance on him; for that it was not fit for him 
 to take the succession to the government from 
 such a father without bloodshed ; that many 
 things happen every day to provoke him so to 
 do, insomuch that he can say nothing at all, but 
 it affords occasion for calumny against him ; 
 for that, if any mention be made of nobility 
 or birth, even in other cases, he is abused un- 
 justly, while Jiis father would say that nobody, 
 to be sure, is of noble birth but Alexander, 
 and that his father was inglorious for Want of 
 such nobility. If they be at any time hunting, 
 and he says nothing, he ghves offence; and if 
 he commends any body, they take it in way of 
 j*»«'t ; that they always find their father iinmt r- 
 cifully severe, and have no natural affection 
 for any of them but for Antipatwr; on which 
 
 accounts, if this plot does not take he is rery 
 willing to die; but that in case he kill nis 
 father he hath sufficient opportunity for saving 
 himself. In the first place, he hath Archelau« 
 his father-in-law, to whom he can easily fly ; 
 and in the next place, he hath Caesar, who 
 had never known Herod's character to this 
 day ; for that he shall not appear then before 
 him with that dread he used to do when his 
 father was there to terrify him; and that he 
 will not then produce the accusations that 
 concerned himself alone, but would, in the 
 first place, openly insist on the calamities of 
 their nation, and how they are taxed to death, 
 and in what ways of luxury and wicked prac- 
 tices that wealth is spent which was gotten by 
 bloodshed; what sort of persons they are 
 that get our riches, and to whom those cities 
 belong, upon whom he bestows his favours ; 
 that he would have inquiry made what became 
 of his grandfather [Hyrcanus], and his mother 
 [Mariamne], and would openly proclaim the 
 gross wickedness that was in the kingdom ; 
 on which accounts he should not be deemed 
 I a parricide. 
 
 I 3. When Eurycles had made this porten- 
 I tous speech, he greatly commended Antipa- 
 I ter, as the only child that had an affection for 
 I his father, and on that account was an iinpe- 
 I diment to the others' plot against him. Here- 
 j upon the king, who had hardly repressed his 
 I anger upon the former accusations, was exas- 
 perated to an incurable degree. At which 
 time Antipater took another occasion to send 
 in other persons to his father to accuse his 
 brethren, and to tell him that they bad pri- 
 vately discoursed with Jucundus and Tyran- 
 nus, who had once been masters of the horse 
 to the king, but for some offences had been 
 
 put out of that honourable employment 
 
 Herod was in a very great rage at these infor- 
 mations, and presently ordered those men to 
 be tortured: yet did not they confess any 
 thing of what the king had been informed; 
 but a certain letter was produced, as written 
 by Alexander to the governor of a cast)'i, to 
 desire him to receive him and Aristobulus 
 into the castle when he had killed his father ; 
 and to give them weapons, and what other 
 assistance he could, upon that occasion. Alex- 
 ander said that this letter was a forgery oi 
 Diophantus. This Diophantus was the kin^^'s 
 secretary, a bold man, cunning in countpr- 
 feiting any one's hand ; and after ho had 
 counterfeited a great number, he was at last 
 put to death for it. Herod did also order ini* 
 governor of the castle to he tortured.- bit pot 
 nothing out of him of what the accu^^at'ons 
 suggested. 
 
 4. However, although Herod found the 
 proofs too weak, he gave order to have h'«i 
 sons kept in custody: for till now t)i*»y hwd 
 been at liberty. He also railed that r.o,*t ,>f 
 his fruiiilv. him' foiver of nil ih)s vile acru- 
 »atJiMi. r.ur)rle>'. Iii> s.ivitxjr and hencfa'':*'>r. 
 
CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 WARS OF Tift: Jt:vvs. 
 
 595 
 
 and gave him a reward of fifty talents. Upon 
 which he prevented any accurate accounts 
 that could come of what he had done, by 
 going immediately into Cappadocia, and 
 •there he got money of Archelaus, having the 
 impudence to pretend that he had reconciled 
 Herod to Alexander. He thence passed over 
 into Greece, and used what he had thus 
 wickedly gotten to the like wicked purposes. 
 Accordingly, he was twice accused before 
 Caesar, that he had filled Achaia with sedition, 
 and had plundered its cities; so he was sent 
 into banishment. And thus was he punished 
 for what wicked actions he had been guilty of 
 about Aristobulus and Alexander. 
 
 5. But it will be now worth while to put 
 Euaratus of Cos in opposition to this Spar- 
 tan ; for as he was one of Alexander's most 
 intimate friends, and came to him in his 
 travels at the same time that Eurycles came; 
 so the king put the question to him, whether 
 those things of which Alexander was accused 
 were true? He assured him upon oath that 
 he had never heard any such things from the 
 young men; yet did this testimony avail 
 nothing for the clearing those miserable crea- 
 tures; for Herod was only disposed the most 
 
 them. Now, as soon as they had sailed to 
 Rome, and delivered the king's Icttcs to 
 Caesar, Ctesar was mightily troubleo at the 
 case of the young men; yet did not he think 
 he ought to take the power from the father 
 of condemning his sons; so he wrote ba^-k t-^ 
 him, and appointed him to have the powe** 
 over his sons; but said withal, that be vvoulu 
 do well to make an examination into tnis 
 matter of the plot against him in a punhc 
 court, and to take for his assessors his own 
 kindred, and the governors of the province- 
 — and if those sons be found guilty to put 
 them to death; but if they appear to have 
 thought of no more than only flying away 
 from him, that he should, in that case, mo- 
 derate their punishment. 
 
 2. With these directions Herod coraoliod, 
 and came t® Berytus, where Caesar had or- 
 dered the court to be assembled, and got the 
 judicature together. The presidents sat first, 
 as Caesar's letters had appointed, who were 
 Saturninus*and Pedanius, and their lieutenants 
 that were with them, with whom was the pro- 
 curator Volumnius also; next to them sat the 
 king's kinsmen and friends, with Salome also, 
 and Pheroras ; after whom sat the princij 
 
 readily to hearken to what made, against ' men of all Syria, excepting Archelaus ; for 
 them and every one was most agreeable to Herod had a suspicion of him, because he 
 him that would believe they were guilty, and was Alexander' father-in-law. Yet did not 
 showed their indignation at them. he produce his sons in open court; and this 
 
 was done very cunningly, for he knew well 
 
 I enough that, had they but appeared only, they 
 CHAPTER XX VII. 'vould certainly have been pitied; and if 
 
 1 withal they had been, suffered to speak, Alex- 
 HEROD, BY Cesar's direction, accuses his lander would easily have answered what they 
 gONS AT BERYius. THEY ARE NOT PRO- I were accused of; but they were in custody at 
 DUCED BEFORE THE COURT, BUT YET ARE j Platane, a village of the Sidonians. 
 CONDEMNED; AND IN A LITTLE TIME ARE I 3. So the king got up, and inveighed against 
 SENT TO SEBASTE. AND STRANGLED 1 his SOUS as if they Were present ; and as for 
 
 that part of the accusation that they had 
 plotted against him, he urged it but faintly, 
 because he was destitute of proofs; but he 
 insisted before the assessors on the reproaches, 
 and jests, and injurious carriage, and ten thou- 
 sand the like oflTences against them, which 
 were heavier than death itself; and when 
 nobody contradicted him, he moved them to 
 pity his case, as though he had been con- 
 demned himself, now he had gained a bitter 
 victory against his sons. So he asked every 
 one's sentence; which sentence was first of 
 all given by Saturninus, and was this: — That 
 he condemned the young men, but not to 
 death; for that it was not fit for him, who 
 had three sons of his own now present, to give 
 his vote for the destruction of the sons of 
 another. The two lieutenants also gave the 
 like vote; some others there were also who 
 followed their example; but Volumnius began 
 to vote on the more melancholy side, and all 
 those that came after him condemned the 
 \oung men to die; some out of flattery, and 
 some out of hatred to Herod ; but none out 
 of indignation at their crimes. And now all 
 
 § 1. Moreover, Salome exasperated Herod's 
 cruelty against his sons; for Aristobulus was 
 desirous to bring her, who was his mother-in- 
 law and his aunt, into the like dangers with 
 themselves: so he sent to her to take care of 
 her own safety, and told her that the king was 
 preparing to put her to death, on account of 
 the accusation that was laid against her, as if 
 when she formerly endeavoured to marry 
 erself to Sylleus the Arabian, she had dis- 
 covered the king's grand secrets to him, who 
 was the king's enemy ; and this it was that 
 came as the last storna, and entirely sunk the 
 young men, who were in great danger before ; 
 for Salome came running to the king, and 
 informed him of what admonition had been 
 given her ; whereupon he could bear no 
 longer, but commanded both the young men 
 to be bound, and kept the one asunder from 
 the other. He also sent Volumnius, the 
 general of his army, to Casar iiiime<iiately, 
 as also hi? friend 01\n:p>is with him, who 
 carrie<! the inturiiiation!- in writing along with 
 
696 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Syria and Judea was in great expectation, and 
 waited for the last act of this tragedy ; yet did 
 nobody suppose that Herod would be so bar- 
 Lttrous as to murder his children : however, 
 he carried them away to Tyre, and thence 
 sailed to Cesarea, and then Be deliberated 
 with himself what sort of death the young 
 men should suffer. 
 
 4. Now there was a certain old soldier of 
 the king's, whose name was Tero, who had 
 a son that was very familiar with, and a 
 friend to Alexander, and who himself parti- 
 cularly loved the young men. This soldier 
 was in a manner distracted, out of the excess 
 of the indignation he had at what was doing; 
 and at first he cried out aloud, as he went 
 about, that justice was trampled under foot; 
 that truth was perished, and nature con- 
 founded; and that the life of man was full of 
 iniquity, and every thing else that passion could 
 suggest to a man who spared not his own life; 
 and at last he ventured to go to the king, and 
 said, " Truly, I think, thou arl a most 
 miserable man, when thou hearkenest to most 
 wicked wretches, against those that ought to 
 be dearest to thee ; since thou hast frequently 
 resolved that Pheroras and Salome should be 
 put to death, and yet believest them against 
 thy sons; while these, by cutting off the suc- 
 cession of thine own sons, leave all wholly to 
 Antipater, and thereby choose to have thee 
 such a king as may be thoroughly in their 
 own power. However, consider whether this 
 death of Antipater's brethren will not make 
 him hated by the soldiers; for there is nobody 
 but commiserates the young men; and of the 
 captains, a great many show their indignation 
 at it openly." Upon his saying this, he named 
 those that had such indignation ; but the king 
 ordered those men, with Tero himself, and his 
 son, to be seized upon immediately. 
 
 5. At which time there was a certain bar- 
 ber, whose name was Trypho. This man 
 leaped out from among the people in a kind 
 of madness, and accused himself, and said, 
 " this Tero endeavoured to persuade me also 
 to cut thy throat with my razor when 1 trim- 
 med thee; and promised that Alexander 
 should give me large presents for so doing. 
 When Herod heard this, he examined Tero, 
 with his son and the barber, by the torture; 
 but as the others denied the accusation, and 
 he said nothing farther, Herod gave order 
 that Tero should be racked more severely ; 
 but his son, out of pity to his father, pro- 
 mised to discover the whole to the king, if he 
 would grant [that his father should be no 
 longer tortured]. When he had agreed to 
 this, he said, that his father, at the persuasion 
 of Alexander, had an intention to kill him. 
 Now some said this was forged, in order to 
 free his father from his torments; and some 
 said it was true. 
 
 6. And now Herod accused the captains 
 and Tf>rn in »>• aub«utb]> of tb« people, and 
 
 brought the people together in a body against 
 them; and accordingly there were they put 
 to death, together with [Trypho] the barber; 
 they were killed by the pieces of wood and 
 the stones that were thrown at them. Viey 
 also sent his sons to Sebaste, a city not tar 
 from Cesarea, and ordered them to be there 
 strangled; and as what he had ordered was 
 executed immediately, so he commanded that 
 their dead bodies should be brought to the 
 fortress Alexandrium, to be buried with 
 Alexander, their grandfather by the mother's 
 side. And this was the end of Alexander 
 and Aristobulus. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 HOW ANTIPATER IS HATED OF ALL MEN; 
 AND HOW THE KING ESPOUSES THE SONS 
 OF THOSE THAT HAD BEEN SLAIN TO HIS 
 KINDRED; BUT THAT ANTIPATER MADE 
 HIM CHANGE THEM FOR OTHER WOMEN. 
 OF HEROD's marriages and CHILDREN. 
 
 § I. But an intolerable hatred fell upon 
 Antipater from the nation, though he had now 
 an indisputable title to the succession ; be- 
 cause they all knew that he was the person 
 who contrived all the calumnies against his 
 brethren. However, he began to be in a 
 terrible fear, as he saw the posterity of those 
 that had been slain growing up; for Alex- 
 ander had two sons by Glaphyra, Tygranes 
 and Alexander; and Aristobulus had Herod, 
 and Agrippa, and Aristobulus, his sons, with 
 Herodias and Mariamne, his daughters; and 
 all by Bernice, Salome's daughter. As- for 
 Glaphyra, Herod, as soon as he had killed 
 Alexander, sent her back, together with her 
 portion, to Cappadocia. He married Bernice, 
 Aristobuhis's daughter, to Antipater's uncle 
 by his mother, and it was Antipater who, it 
 order to reconcile her to him, when she had 
 been at variance with him, contrived this 
 match; he also got into Pheroras's favour, 
 and into the favour of Caesar's friends, by 
 presents, and other ways of obsequiousness, 
 and sent no small sums of money to Rome ; 
 Saturninus also, and his friends in Syria, 
 were all well replenished with the presents he 
 made them ; yet the more he gave the more 
 he was hated, as not making these presents 
 out of generosity, but spending his money out 
 of fear. Accordingly it so fell out, that the 
 receivers bore him no more good-will than 
 before, but that those to whom he gave nothing 
 were his more bitter enemies. However, he 
 bestowed his money every day more and more 
 profusely, on observing that, contrary to his 
 expectations, the king was taking care about ; 
 the orphans, and discovering at the same time i 
 his repcntJUTe for killing their fathers, hy his 
 commiscrminji of tlir^'e that sprang Ircm them. 
 2. A(ri>r(iii.^>), lldud got togethsr his 
 
CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 WARS OF TH1E JEWS. 
 
 697 
 
 kindred and friends, and set before them the 
 children, and with his eyes full of tears, said 
 thus to them: " It was an unlucky fate that 
 took away from me these children's fathers, 
 which children are recommended to me by 
 that natural commiseration which their orphan 
 tjondition requires; however, I will endeavour, 
 though I have been a most unfortunate 
 father, to appear a better grandfather, and to 
 (eave these children such curators after myself 
 as are dearest to me. I therefore betroth thy 
 daughter, Pheroras, to the elder of these bre- 
 thren, the children of Alexander, that thou 
 mayest be obliged to take care of them. I 
 also betroth to thy son, Antipater, the daugh- 
 ter of Aristobulus; be thou therefore a father 
 to that orphan ; and my son Herod [Philip] 
 sliall have her sister, whose grandfather, by 
 the mother's side, was high-priest. And let 
 every one that loves me be of ray sentiments 
 in these dispositions, which none that hath 
 an affection for me will abrogate. And I 
 pray God that he will join these children 
 together in marriage, to the advantage of 
 my kingdom, and of my posterity ; and 
 may he look down with eyes more serene 
 apon them than he looked upon their 
 fathers !" 
 
 3. While he spake these words, he wept, 
 and joined the children's right hands toge- 
 ther: after which he embraced them every one 
 after an affectionate manner, and dismissed 
 the assembly. Upon this Antipater was in 
 great disorder immediately, and lamented 
 publicly at what was done ; for he supposed 
 that this dignity, which was conferred on these 
 orphans was for his own destruction, even in 
 his father's life time, and that he should run 
 another risk of losing the government if 
 Alexander's sons should have both Archelaus 
 \_H king], and Pheroras a tetrach, to support 
 them. He also considered how he was him- 
 self hated by the nation, and how they pitied 
 these orphans: how great affection the Jews 
 bare to those brethren of his when they were 
 alive, and how gladly they remembered them, 
 now they had perished by his means. So he 
 resolved by all the ways possible to get these 
 espousals dissolved. 
 
 4, Now he was afraid of going subtilely 
 about this matter with his father, who was 
 hard to be pleased, and was presently moved 
 upon the least suspicion: so he ventured to go 
 to him directly, and to beg of him before his 
 face, not to deprive him of that dignity which 
 he had been pleased to bestow upon him ; 
 and that he might not have the bare name of 
 a king, while the power was in other persons; 
 for that he should never be able to keep the 
 government, if Alexander's son was to have 
 both his grandfather Archelaus and Pheroras 
 for his curators ; and he besought him ear- 
 nestly, since there were so many of the royal 
 family alive, that he would change those [in- 
 tended] marriages. Now the king had nine 
 
 wives,* and children by seven of them; Anti* 
 pater was himself born of Doris, and Herod 
 [Philip] of Mariamne, the high-priest's daugh- 
 ter ; Antipas also and Archelaus were by 
 Malthace, the Samaritan, as was his daughter 
 Olympias, which his brother Joseph'sf son 
 had* married. By Cleopatra of Jerusalem he 
 had Herod and Philip; and by Pallas, Pha- 
 saelus; he had also two daughters, Roxana 
 and Salome, the one by Phedra, and the other 
 by Elpis: he had also two wives who had no 
 children, the one his first cousin, and the other 
 his niece; and besides these he had two daugh- 
 ters, the sisters of Alexander and Aristobulus, 
 by Mariamne. Since, therefore, the royal 
 family was so numerous, Antipater prayed 
 him to change these intended marriages. 
 
 5. When the king perceived what disposi- 
 tion he was in towards these orphans, he was 
 angry at it, and a suspicion came into his 
 mind as to those sons whom he had put to 
 death, whether that had not been brought 
 about by the false tales of Antipater ; so at 
 that time he made Antipater a long and a 
 peevish answer, and bade him begone. Yet 
 was he afterwards prevailed upon cunningly 
 by his flatteries, and changed the marriages ; 
 he married Aristobulus's daughter to him, 
 and his son to Pheroras's daughter. 
 
 6. Now one may learn, in this instance, 
 how very much this flattering Antipater could 
 do,— even what Salome in the like circum- 
 stances could not do; for when she, who was 
 his sister, had by the means of Julia, Caesar's 
 wife, earnestly desired leave to be married to 
 Sylleus the Arabian, Herod swore he wouKi 
 esteem her his bitter enemy, unless she would 
 leave off that project; ^^ also caused her, 
 against her own consent, to be married to 
 Alexas, a friend of his, and that one of her 
 daughters should be married to Alexas 's son, 
 and the other to Antipater's uncle by the 
 mother's side. And for the daughters that 
 the king had by Mariamne, the one was mar- 
 ried to Antipater, his sister's son, and the 
 other to his brother's son, Phasaelus. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 ANTIPATER BECOMES INTOLERABLE. HE IS 
 SENT TO ROME, AND CARRIES HEROD's 
 TESTAMENT WI^H HIM. PHERORAS LEAVES 
 HIS BROTHER THAT HE MAY KEEP HIS 
 WIFE. HE DIES AT HOME. 
 
 § 1. Now when Antipater had cut off the 
 hopes of the orphans, and had contracted such 
 
 ♦ Dean Aldrich takes notice here, that these nine 
 wives of Herod were alive at the same time, and that 
 if the celebrated Mariamne, who was now dead, be 
 reckoned, those wives were in all ten. Yet it is remark 
 able that be had no more than fifteen children by them 
 all. ' 
 
 + To prevent eanfusion, it may not be amiss, with 
 D«an Alirieh, to distinguish between foMr J«MpI^ 
 
698 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I, 
 
 affinities as would be most for his own advan- 
 tage, he proceeded briskly, as having a certain 
 expectation of the kingdom ; and as he had 
 now assurance added to his wickedness, he 
 became intolerable; for not being able to avoid 
 the hatred of all people, he built his security 
 upon the terror he struck into them. Phe- 
 roras also assisted him in his designs, looking 
 upon him as already fixed in the kingdom. 
 There was also a company of women in the 
 court, who excited new disturbances; for 
 Pheroras's wife, together with her mother 
 and sister, as also Antipater's mother, grew 
 very impudent in the palace. She also was 
 so insolent as to affront the king's two daugh- 
 ters,* on which account the king hated her to 
 a great degree ; yet although these women 
 were hated by him, they domineered over 
 others : there was only Salome who opposed 
 their good agreement, and informed the king 
 
 of their meetings, as not being for the advan- i daughter. 
 
 what to do farther in that matter, turned hrs 
 speech to Antipater, and charged him to have 
 no intercourse either with Pheroras's wife, 
 or with Pheroras himself, or with any one 
 belonging to her. Now, thotigh Antipater 
 did not transgress that his injunction publicly, 
 yet did he in secret come to their night-meet- 
 ings : and because he was afraid that Salome 
 observed what he did, he procured by the 
 means of his Italian friends, that he might 
 go and live at Rome ; for when they wrote 
 that it was proper for Antipater to be sent to 
 Csesar for some time, Herod made no delay, 
 but sent him, and that with a splendid atten- 
 dance, and a great deal of money, and gave 
 him his testament to carry with him, — where- 
 in Antipater had the kingdom bequeathed to 
 him, and wherein Herod was named for An- 
 tipater's successor ; that Herod, I mean, wh5 
 was the son of Mariamne, the high-priest's 
 
 tage of his affairs; and when those women 
 knew what calumnies she had raised against 
 them, and how much Herod was displeased, 
 they left off their public meetings and friendly 
 entertainments of one another ; nay, on the 
 contrary, they pretended to quarrel one with 
 another when the king was within hearing. 
 The like dissimulation did Antipater make 
 use of; and when matters were public, he 
 opposed Pheroras : but still they had private 
 cabals, and men-y meetings in the night-time ; 
 nor did the observation of others do any more 
 
 3. Sylleus also, the Arabian, sailed to 
 Rome, without any regard to Caesar's injunc- 
 tions, and this in order to oppose Antipater 
 with all his might, as to that law-suit which 
 Nicolaus had with him before. This Sylleus 
 had also a great contest with Aretas his own 
 king; for he had slain many others of Aretas's 
 friends, and particularly Sohemus, the most 
 potent man in the city Petra. Moreover, he 
 had prevailed with Phabatus, who was Heroi's 
 steward, by giving him a great sum of money, 
 to assist him against Herod; but when Herod 
 
 than confirm their mutual agreement. How-/ gave him more, he induced him to leave Sv>- 
 
 ever, Salome knew every thing they did, and 
 told every thing to Herod. 
 
 2. But he was inflamed with anger at them, 
 and chiefly at Pheroras's wife ; for Salome 
 had principally accused her. So he got an 
 assembly of his friends and kindred together, 
 and there accused this woman of many things, 
 and particularly of the affronts she had offered 
 his daughters ; and that she had supplied the 
 Pharisees with money, by way of rewards for 
 what they had done against him, and had pro- 
 cured his brother to become his enemy, by 
 giving him love potions. At length he turned 
 his speech to Pheroras, and told him that 
 be would give him his choice of these two 
 things: — Whether he would keep in with his 
 brother, or with his wife ? And when Phe- 
 roras said that he certainly would die rather 
 than forsake his wife,! — Herod, not knowing 
 
 the 1 istory of Herod. I. Joseph, Herod»8 ancle, and 
 tl)f [fiecond | husband of his sister Salome, slain by 
 UphmI on account of Mariamne. 2. Joseph, Herod's 
 
 3iia*stor. or treasurer, slain on the same account 3. 
 useph, Herod's brother, slain in the battle against An- 
 tixontis. 4- Joseph, Herod's nephew, the husband of 
 Ulyinpias, mentioned in this place. 
 
 ♦ These daughters of Herod, whom Pheroras's wife 
 affronted, were Salome and Roxana, two virgins, who 
 were bom to him of his two wives, Elpide and Fhedra. 
 See Herod's Kenealojty, AntLq.b.xvii.ch.i.sect 3. 
 
 ■f This strange obstinacy of Pheroras in retaining his 
 wife, who was one of a low family, and refusing to marry 
 one nearly related to Herod, though he so earnestly dr. 
 MMd It, as ala* that w4&<« admission to t^ councils 
 
 leus, and by his means he demanded of bim 
 all that Caesar had required of him to nav 
 but when Sylleus paid nothing of what he was 
 to pay, and did also accuse Phabatus to Cae- 
 sar, and said that he was not a ste^rard for 
 Caesar's advantage, but for Herod's, Phabatus 
 was angry at him on that account, but was 
 still in very great esteem with Herod, and 
 discovered Sylleus's grand secrets, and toid 
 the king that Sylleus had corrupted Conn- 
 thus, one of the guards of his body, by brib- 
 ing him, and of whom he must therefore have 
 a care. Accordingly the king complied • for 
 this Corinthus, though he was brought up in 
 Herod's kingdom, yet was by birth an Ara- 
 bian ; so the king ordered him to be taken up 
 immediately, and not only him, but twc otht- 
 Arabians, who were caught with him ; the cm- 
 of them was Sylleus's friend, the other the 
 head of a tribe. These last, being put t,o tho 
 torture, confessed that they had prevailed with 
 Corinthus, for a large sum of money, to kill 
 
 of the other great court-ladies, together with Hernd»<j 
 own importunity as to Pheroras's divorce and otner 
 marriage, all so remarkable here or in the Antiq. j. 
 xvii. ch. ii. sect. 4; and ch. iii. sect. 3. cannot he w<?U' 
 accounted for, but on the supposal that Pheroras be- 
 lieved, and llerod piispected, that the Pharisees' priv 
 diction. as if the crown of .liidea should be tramlutt^ 
 from Herod to IMifroias'.-i imsterity, and that most ;>r'>- 
 bably to Pheroras's |M)sitiity by this his wife, also would 
 prove true. Swc Aiitiq. b. xvii. ch. ii. sect 4j and cit. 
 Ui. sect. 1 
 
CHAP. XXX. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 599 
 
 Herod; and when they hkd been farther 
 examined before Saturninus, the president of 
 Syria, they were sent to Rome. 
 
 4. However, Herod did not leave off impor- 
 tuning Pheroras, but proceeded to force him to 
 put away his wife ; yet could he not devise 
 any way by which he could bring the woman 
 herself to punishment, although he had many 
 causes of hatred to her ; till at length he was 
 in such great uneasiness at her, that he cast 
 both her and his brother out of his kingdom. 
 Pheroras took this injury very patiently, and 
 went away into his ovvn tetrarchy [Perea, be- 
 yond Jordan], and sware that there should be 
 out one end put to his flight, and that should 
 oe Herod's death ; and that he would never 
 return while he was alive. Nor indeed would 
 be return when his brother was sick, although 
 he earnestly sent for him to come to him, 
 because he had a mind to leave some injunc- 
 tions with him before he died ; but Herod 
 unexpectedly recovered. A little afterward 
 Pheroras himself fell sick, when Herod showed 
 great moderation ; for he came to him, and 
 pitied his case, and took care of him ; but his 
 affection for him did him no good, for Phero- 
 ras died a little afterward. Now, though 
 Herod had so great an affection for him to the 
 •ast day of his life, yet was a report spread 
 jibroad that he had killed him by poison. 
 However, he took care to have his dead body 
 carried to Jerusalem, and appointed a very 
 great mourning to the whole nation for bim, 
 and bestowed a most pompous funeral upon 
 uiui ; and this was the end that one of Alex- 
 ancie.-'s and Aristobulus's murderers came to. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 WHEN HEROD MADE INQUIRY ABOUT PHERO- 
 RAS S DEATH, A DISCOVERY WAS MADE 
 THAT ANTIPATER HAD PREPARED A POI- I 
 60N0US DaAUGHT FOR HIM. HEROD CASTS 
 UOKIS AND HER ACCOMPLICES, AS ALSO 
 MaRIAMNE, out of THE PALACE, AND 
 BI-OTS HER SON HEROD OUT OF HIS TES- 
 TAMENT, j 
 
 § ». But now the punishment was transfer- 
 ffii unto the original author, Antipater, and 
 iin)k its rise from the death of Pheroras ; for 
 rertain of his freed-men came with a sad 
 ii»untenance to the king, and- told him that i 
 U!s brother had been destroyed by poison, and 
 that his wife had brought bim somewhat that ' 
 was prepared after an unusual manner, and ' 
 that upon his eatmg it. he presently fell into 
 his distemper; that Antipater's mother and 
 siister, two days before, brought a woman out 
 of Arabia, that was skillful in mixing such drugs, 
 that she might prepare a love-potion for Phe- 
 roras; and that, instead of a love-potion, she 
 had given him deadly poison; and that tiiia! 
 
 was done by the management of Sylleus, who 
 was acquainted with that woman. 
 
 2. The king was deeply affected with so 
 many suspicions, and had the maid-servants 
 and some of the free-women also tortured ; 
 one of whom cried out in her agonies, " May 
 that God that governs the earth and the heaven 
 punish the author of all these our miseries. 
 Antipater's mother 1" The king took a handle 
 from this confession, and proceeded to inquire 
 farther into the truth of this matter. So this 
 woman discovered the friendship of Antipa- 
 ter's mother to Pheroras and Antipater's 
 women, as also their secret meetings, and that 
 Pheroras and Antipater had drank with them 
 for a whole night together as they returned 
 from the king, and would not suffer any body, 
 either man-servant or maid-servant to be there: 
 while one of the free-women discovered the 
 whole of the matter. 
 
 3. Upon this, Herod tortured the maid- 
 servants, everyone by themselves separately; 
 who all unanimously agreed in the foregoing 
 discoveries, and that accordingly by agree- 
 ment they went away, Antipater to Rome, 
 and Pheroras to Perea ; for that they often- 
 times talked to one another thus: — That aftei 
 Herod had slain Alexander and Aristobulus, 
 he would fall upon them, and upon theii 
 wives, because, after he had not spared Ma- 
 riamue and her children, he would spare no- 
 body ; and that for this reason it was best to 
 get as far off the wild beast as they were able : 
 and that Antipater oftentimes lamented his 
 own case before his mother ; and said to her, 
 that he had already grey hairs upon his head, 
 and that his father grew younger again every 
 day, and that perhaps death would overtake 
 "him before he should begin to be a king in 
 earnest; and that in case Herod should die, 
 which yet nobody knew when it vvould be, 
 the enjoyment of the succession could certainly 
 be but for a little time; for that these heads of 
 Hydra, the sons of Alexander and Aristobu- 
 lus, were growing up: that he wa^ deprived 
 by his father of the hopes of being succeeded 
 by his children, for that his successor after his 
 death was not to be any one of his own sons, 
 but Herod the son of Mariamne: — that in 
 this point Herod was plaiidy distracted, to 
 think that his testament should therein take 
 place; for he would take care that not one of 
 his posterity should remain, because he was, of 
 all fathers, the greatest hater of his children. 
 Yet does he hate his brother still worse; 
 whence it was that he a whi'e ago gave him- 
 self a hundred talents that he should jiot 
 have anv intercourse with Pheroras. And 
 w^ben Pheroras said, wherein have we done 
 him any harm ? Antipater replied. " 1 wish 
 he would but deprive us of all we have, and 
 leave us naked and alive only : but it is in- 
 deed impossible to escape this wild bea.st, who 
 is thus given to murder; who will nm permit 
 U8 to love any person openly, akliou/h w- be 
 
■f^: 
 
 600 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 together privately ; yet may we be so openly 
 too, if we are but endowed with the courage 
 and the hands of men." 
 
 4. These things were said by the women 
 upon the torture : as also that Pheroras 
 resolved to fly with them to Perea. Now 
 Herod gave credit to all they said, on account 
 of the affair of the hundred talents; for he had 
 had no discourse with anybodyabout them, but 
 only with Antipater. So he vented his anger 
 first of all against Antipater's mother, and 
 took away from her all the ornaments which 
 he had given her, which cost a great many 
 talents, and cast her out of the palace a second 
 time. He also took care of Pheroras's women 
 after their tortures, as being now reconciled 
 to them ; but he was in great consternation 
 himself, and inflamed upon every suspicion, 
 and had many innocent persons led to the tor- 
 ture, out of his fear, lest he should perhaps 
 leave any guilty person untortured. 
 
 5. Ai)d now it was that he betook himself 
 to examine Antipater of Samaria, who was 
 the steward of [his son] Antipater; and upon 
 torturing him, he learned that Antipater had 
 sent for a potion of deadly poison for him out 
 of Egypt, by Antiphilus, a companion of his; 
 that Theudio, the uncle of Antipater, had it 
 from him, and delivered it to Pheroras; for 
 that Antipater had charged him to take his 
 father off while he was at Rome, and go free 
 him from the suspicion of doing it himself: 
 that Pheroras also committed this potion to 
 his wife. Then did the king send for her, 
 and bade her bring to him what she had re- 
 ceived immediately. So she came out of her 
 house as if she would bring it with her, but 
 threw herself down from the top of the house, 
 in order to prevent any examination and tor- 
 ture from the king. However, it came to 
 pass, as it seems by the providence of God, 
 when he intended to bring Antipater to pun- 
 ishment, that she fell not upon her head, but 
 upon other parts of her body, and escaped. 
 The king, when she was brought to him, took 
 care of her (for she was at first quite senseless 
 upon her fall), and asked her why she had 
 thrown herself down; and gave her his oath, 
 that if she would speak the real truth, he 
 would excuse her from punishment ; but that 
 if she concealed any thing, he would have her 
 body torn to pieces by torments, and leave no 
 part of it to be buried. 
 
 d. Upon this the woman paused a little, 
 and then said, •' Why do I spare to speak of 
 these grand secrets, novv Pheroras is deadl 
 that,would only tend to save Antipater, who 
 is all our destruction. Hear then, O king, 
 and be thou, and God himself, who cannot be 
 deceived, witnesses to the truth of what lam 
 going to cay. When thou didst sit weeping 
 by Pheroras as he was dying, then it was that 
 he called me to him, and said, — * My dear 
 wife, I have been greatly mistalen as to the 
 dUpoiition of my brether towardi me, and 
 
 have hated him that is so affectionate to me, 
 and have contrived to kill him who is in sucu 
 disorder for me before I am dead. As tor 
 myself, I receive the recompense of my im- 
 piety; but do thou bring what poison was left 
 with us by Antipater, and which thou keepest, 
 in order to destroy him, and consume it imme- 
 diately in the fire in my sight, that 1 may not 
 be liable to the avenger in the invisible world.* 
 This I brought as he bade me, and emptied the 
 greatest part of it into the fire, but reserved a 
 little of it for my own use against uncertain 
 futurity, and out of my fear of thee." 
 
 7. When she had said this, she brought 
 the box, which had a small quantity of this 
 potion in it : but the king let her alone, and 
 transferred the tortures to Antiphilus's mo- 
 ther and brother; who both confessed that 
 Antiphilus brought the box out of Egypt, 
 and that they had received the potion from a 
 brother of his, who was a physician at Alex- 
 andria. Then did the ghosts of Alexander 
 and Aristobulus go round all the palace, and 
 became the inquisitors and discoverers of what 
 could not otherwise have been found out, and 
 brought such as were the freest from suspi 
 cion to- be examined ; whereby it was disco 
 vered that Mariamne, the high- priest's daugh 
 ter, was conscious of this plot; and her very 
 brothers, when they were tortured, declared 
 it so to be. Whereupon the king avenged 
 this insolent attempt of the mother upon her 
 I son, and blotted Herod, whom he had by her, ■ 
 out of his testament, who had been before 
 named therein as successor to Antipater. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 ANTIPATER IS CONVICTED BY BATHYLLUS; 
 BUT HE STILL RETURNS FROM ROME, 
 WITHOUT KNOWING IT. HEROD BRINGS 
 HIM TO HIS TRIAL. 
 
 § 1. After these things were over, Bathyl- 
 lus came under examination, in order to con- 
 vict Antipater, who proved the concluding 
 attestation to Antipater's designs ; for indeed 
 he was no other than his freed-man. This 
 man came, and brought another deadly po- 
 tion, the poison of asps and the juices ol 
 other serpents, that if the first potion did not 
 do the business, Pheroras and his wife might 
 be armed with this also to destroy the king. 
 He brought also an addition to Antipater's 
 insolent attempts against his father, which was 
 the letters which he wrote against his bre- 
 thren, Archelaus and I'hilip, who were the 
 king's sons, and educated at Rome, being 
 yet youths, but of generous dispositions. 
 Antipater set himself to get rid of these as 
 soon as he could, that they might not l>e 
 prejudicial to his hopes; and to that end he 
 
CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 601 
 
 forged letters against them in the name of 
 Ills friends at Rome. Some of these he 
 corrupted by bribes, to write how they grossly 
 reprouche«l tlieir father, and did openly be- 
 wsiii rt.exander and Aristobulus, and were 
 uneubv at their being recalled; for their 
 father had already sent for them, which was 
 the \t'ry thing that troubled Antipater. 
 
 2. Is ay indeed, while Antipater was in 
 Judea, and before he was upon his journey 
 to Konie, he gave money to have the like 
 letters against them sent from Rome, and then 
 came to bis father, who as yet had no suspicion 
 of him, apologized for his brethren, and alleged 
 on their behalf, that some of the things con- 
 tained in those letters were false, and others 
 of them were only youthful errors. Yet at 
 the same time that he expended a great deal 
 of his money by making presents to such as 
 wrote against his brethren, did he aim to 
 bring his accounts into confusion, by buying 
 costly garments, and carpets of various con- 
 textures, with silver and gold cups, and a 
 great many more curious things, that so, 
 among the very great expenses laid out upon 
 such furniture, he might conceal the money 
 he had used in hiring men [to write the 
 letters] ; for he brought in an account of his 
 expenses, amounting to two hundred talents, 
 his main pretence for which, was the law-suit 
 that he had been in with Sylleus. So while 
 all his rogueries, even those of a lesser sort 
 
 made great lamentations at it; for which some 
 commended him, as being for his own uncle; 
 though probably this confusion aroce on ac- 
 count of his having thereby failed in his plot 
 [on his father's life] ; and his tears were more 
 for the loss of him that was to have been sub- 
 servient therein, than for [an uncle] Pheroras; 
 moreover, a sort of fear came upon him as to 
 his designs, lest the poison should have been 
 discovered. However, when he was in Cilicia 
 he received the forementioned epistle from 
 his father, and made great haste accordingly. 
 But when he had sailed to Celenderis, a 
 suspicion came into his mind relating to his 
 mother's misfortunes; as if his soul foreboded 
 some mischief to itself. Those therefore of 
 his friends who were the most considerate, 
 advised him not rashly to go to his father, till 
 he had learned what were the occasions why 
 his mother bad been ejected, because they 
 were afraid that he might be involved in the 
 calumnies that had been cast upon his mother; 
 but those that were less considerate, and had 
 more regard to their own desires of seeing 
 their native country than to Antipnter's safety, 
 persuaded him to make haste home, and not, 
 by delaying his journey, afford his father 
 ground for an ill suspicion, and give a handle 
 ^ those that raised stories against him ;, for 
 mat in case any thing had been moved to his 
 disadvantage, it was owing to his absence, 
 which durst not have been done had he been 
 
 ,'ere covered by his great villany, while all present; — and they said it was absurd to de- 
 tbe examinations by torture proclaimed his pri ye himself of certain happiness, for the sake 
 attempt to murder his father, and the letters of an uncertain suspicion, and not rather to 
 proclaimed his second attempt to murder his return to his father, and take the royal autho- 
 bretbren, — yet did no one of those that came rity upon him, which was in a state of fluctu- 
 to Rome inform him of his misfortunes in ation on his account only. Antipater com- 
 Judea, although seven months had intervened plied with this last advice; for Providence 
 between his conviction and his return, — so hurried him on [to his destruction]. So he 
 freat was the hatred which they all bore to passed over the sea, and landed at Sebastus, 
 him. And perhaps they were the ghosts of: the haven of Cesarea. 
 
 those brethren of bis that had been murdered, i 4. And here he found a perfect and unex- 
 that stopped the mouthsof those that intended I pected solitude, while every body avoided 
 to have told him. He then wrote from Rome, him, and nobody durst come at him; for he* 
 and informed his [friends] that he would soon was equally hated by all men; and now 
 come to them, and how he was dismissed with that hatred had liberty to show itself, and the 
 honour by Caesar. dread men were in of the king's anger made 
 
 3. Now the king being desirous to get men keep from him; for the whole city [of 
 
 this plotter against him into his hands, and 
 being also afraid lest he should some way 
 come to the knowledge how his affairs stood 
 and be upon his guard, he dissembled his 
 anger in his epistle to him, as in other points 
 he wrote kindly to him, and desired him to 
 make haste, because if he came quickly, he 
 would then lay aside the complaints he "had 
 against his mother; for Antipater was not 
 ignorant that his mother had been expelled 
 out of the palace. However, he had before 
 received a letter, which contained an account 
 of the death of Pheroras, at Tarentum,* — and 
 
 • Tb!s Tarentum has coins still extant, as Reland in- 
 batm* OS here in bis note 
 
 Jerusalem] was filled with the rumours about 
 Antipater, and Antipater himself was the only 
 person who was ignorant of them ; for as no 
 man was dismissed more magnificently when 
 he began his voyage to Rome, so was no man 
 now received back with greater ignominy. 
 And indeed he began already to suspect what 
 misfortunes there were in Herod's family; 
 yet did he cunningly conceal his suspicidh; 
 and while he was inwardly ready to die for 
 fear, he put on a forced boldness of counte- 
 nance. Nor could he now fly any whither, 
 nor had he any way of emerging out of the 
 difficulties which encompassed him; nor in- 
 deed had he even there any certain intelligence 
 of the affairs of the royal family, by reason 
 
602 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 of the threats the king had given out; yet 
 had he some small hopes of better tidings, 
 for perhaps nothing had been discovered ; or, 
 if any discovery had been made, perhaps he 
 should be able to clear himself by impudence 
 and artful tricks, which were the only things 
 he relied upon for his deliverance. 
 
 5. And with these hopes did he screen 
 himself, till he came to the palace, without 
 any friends with him ; for these were affronted, 
 and shut out at the first gate. Now Va- 
 rus, the president of Syria, happened to be 
 in the palace [at this juncture]; so Antipater 
 vient in to his father, and putting on a bold 
 face, he came near to salute him. But He- 
 rod stretched out his hands, and turned his 
 head away from him, and cried out, *' Even 
 this is an indication of a parricide, to be 
 desirous to get me into his arms, when he is 
 under such heinous accusations. God con- 
 found thee, thou vile wretch; do not thou 
 touch me till thou hast cleared thyself of 
 these crimes that are charged upon thee. 1 
 appoint thee a court where thou art to be 
 judged; and this Varus, who is very season- 
 ably here, to be thy judge; and get thou thy 
 defence ready against to-morrow, for I give 
 thee so much time to prepare suitable excuses 
 for, thyself." And as Antipater was so con- 
 founded, that he was able to make no answer 
 to this charge, he went away; but his mother 
 and wife came to him, and told him of ail the 
 evidence they had gotten against him. Here- 
 upon he recollected himself, and considered 
 what defence he should make against the 
 accusations. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 AKTIPATEB IS ACCUSED BEFORE TARUS, AND 
 IS CONVICTED OF LAYING A PLOT [aGAINBT 
 HIS father] BY THE STRONGEST EVIDENCE. 
 HEROD PUTS OFF HIS PUNISHMENT TILL 
 HE SHOULD BE RECOVERED, AND IN THE 
 MEAN TIME ALTERS HIS TESTAMENT. 
 
 § 1. Now the day following, the king assem- 
 bled a court of his kinsmen and friends, and 
 called in Antipater's friends also. Herod 
 bimself, with Varus, were the presidents; and 
 Herod called for all the witnesses, and ordered 
 them to be brought in; among whom some 
 of the domestic servants of Antipater's mo- 
 ther were brought in also, who bad but a little 
 while before been caught, as they w ere carry- 
 irfg the following letter from her to her son : 
 i— " Since all those things have been already 
 discovered to thy father, do not thou come to 
 him, unless thou canst procure some assistance 
 from CKsar." When this and the other wit- 
 nesbes were introduced, Antipater cnme in, 
 and falling on his face before his father's feet, 
 be laid, " Father, 1 beseech thee, do not thou 
 
 condemn me beforehand, but let thy ears bt 
 unbiassed, and attend to my defence; for il 
 thou wilt give me leave, I will demonstrate 
 that 1 am innocent," 
 
 2. Hereupon Herod cried out to him to 
 hold his peace, and spake thus to Varus: — 
 " I cannot but think that thou. Varus, and 
 every other upright judge, will determine that 
 Antipater is a vile wretch. I am also afraid 
 that thou wilt abhor my ill fortune, and judge 
 me also myself worthy of all sorts of cala- 
 mity for begetting such children; while yet I 
 ought rather to be pitied, who have been so 
 affectionate a father to such wretched sons; 
 for when I had settled the kingdom on my 
 j former sons, even when they were young, and 
 I when, besides the charges of their education 
 at Rome, I had made them the friends of 
 I Caesar, and made them envied by other kings, 
 ' I found them plotting against me. These 
 have been put to deaih, and that, in a great 
 measure, for the sake of Antipater; for as he 
 was then young, and appointed to be my suc- 
 cessor, I took care chiefly to secure him from 
 danger: but this profligate wild beast, when 
 he had been over and above satiated with that 
 patience which I show ed him, he made use of 
 that abundance I had given him against 
 myself; for I seemed to him to live too long, 
 and he was very uneasy at the old age I had 
 arrived at: nor could he stay any longer, but 
 would be a king by parricide. And justly I 
 am served by him for bringing him back out 
 of the country to court, when he was ot no 
 esteem before, and for thrusting out those 
 sons of mine that were born of the queen, 
 and for making him a successor to my domi- 
 nions. I confess to thee, O Varus, the great 
 folly I was guilty of; for I provoked those 
 sons of mine to act against me, and cut off 
 their just expectations for the sake of Anti- 
 patei ; and indeed what kindness did I do tc 
 them, that could equal what I have done tf 
 Antipater! to whom I have, in a manner, 
 yielded up my royal authority while I a» 
 alive, and whom I have openly named foi 
 the successor to my dominions in my testa- 
 ment, and given him a yearly revenue of hi 
 own of fifty talents, and supplied him witk 
 money to an extravagant degree out of my 
 own revenue ; and when he was about to sail 
 to Rome, I gave him three hundred talents, 
 and recommended him and him alone of all 
 my children, to Caesar, as his father's de- 
 liverer. Now what crimes were these other 
 sons of mine guilty of like those of Antipa- 
 ter! and what evidence was there brought 
 against them so strong as there is to demon- 
 strate this son to have plotted against me! 
 Yet does this parricide presume to speak for 
 himself, and hopes to obscure the truth by 
 his cunning tricks. Thou, O Varus, must 
 guard thyself against him ; for I know the 
 wild beast, and I foresee how plausibly he 
 will talk, and his counterfeit lamentation 
 
CHAP. xxxn. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 eK)3 
 
 This was he who exhorted me to have a care 
 of Alexander, when he was alive, and not to 
 intrust my body with all men ! This was he 
 who came to my very bed, and looked about, 
 lest any one should lay snares for me 1 This 
 was he who took care of my sleep, and 
 secured me from any fear of danger, who 
 comforted me under the trouble I was in 
 upon the slaughter of my sons, and looked to 
 Kee what affection my surviving brethren bore 
 me! This was my protector, and the guar- 
 dian of my body ! And when I call to mind, 
 O Varus, his craftiness upon every occasion, 
 and his art of dissembling, I can hardly believe 
 that I am still alive, and I wonder how I have 
 escaped such a deep plotter of mischief! — 
 However, since some fate or other makes my 
 house desolate, and perpetually raises up 
 those that are dearest to me against me, I 
 will, with tears, lament n?y hard fortune, and 
 privately groan under my lonesome condition; 
 yet am I resolved that no one who thirsts 
 after my blood shall escape punishment, 
 although the evidence should extend itself 
 to all my sons." 
 
 3. Upon Herod's saying this, he was inter- 
 rupted by the confusion he was in ; but or- 
 dered Nicolaus, one of his friends, to produce 
 the evidence against Antipater. But in the 
 mean time Antipater lifted up his head (for 
 he lay on the ground before his father's feet) 
 and cried out aloud, " Thou, O father, hast 
 made my apology for me ; for how can I be a 
 parricide, whom thou thyself confessest to 
 have always had for thy guardian? Thou 
 callest my filial affection prodigious lies and 
 hypocrisy ! how then could it be that I, who 
 was so subtle in other matters, should here be 
 80 mad as not to understand that it was not 
 easy that he who committed so horrid a crime 
 should be concealed from men, but impossible 
 that he should be concealed from the Judge 
 of Heaven, who sees all things, and is present 
 everywhere? or did not I know what end my 
 brethren came to, on whom God inflicted 
 so great a punishment for their evil designs 
 against thee? And indeed what was there 
 that could possibly provoke me against thee ? 
 Could the hope of being a king do it ? I was 
 a. king already. Could I suspect hatred from 
 thee ? No : was I not beloved by thee ? and 
 what other fear could I have ? Nay, by pre- 
 Berving thee safe, I was a terror to others. 
 Did I want money? No: for who was able to 
 expend so much as myself? Indeed, father, 
 had I been the most execrable of all mankind, 
 and had I had the soul of the most execrable 
 wild beast, must I not have been overcome 
 with the benefits thou hast bestowed upon me? 
 whom, as thou thyself sayest, thou broughtest 
 finto the palace]; whom thou didst prefer be- 
 fore so many of thy sons; whom thou madest 
 a king in thine own life-time, and, by the 
 rast magnitude of the other advantages thou 
 bestowedst on me« thou madest me an obiect 
 
 )f envy. O miserable man ! that thou shoulds 
 undergo this bitter absence, and thereby afford 
 a great opportunity for envy to arise against 
 thee, and a long space for such as were lay 
 ing designs against thee ! Yet was I absent 
 father, on thy affairs, that Sylleus might not 
 treat thee with contempt in thine old age.— 
 Rome is a witness to my filial affection, and 
 50 is Caesar, the ruler of the habitable earth, 
 who oftentimes called me Philopater.* Take 
 here the letters he hath sent thee, they are more 
 to be believed than the calumnies raised here ; 
 these letters are my only apology; these I use 
 as the demonstration of that natural affection 
 I have to thee. Remember, that it was against 
 my own choice that I sailed [to Rome], as 
 knowing the latent hatred that was in the 
 kingdom against me. It was thou, O father, 
 however unwillingly, who hast been my ruin, 
 by forcing me to allow time for the calumnies 
 against me and envy at me. However, I am 
 come hither, and am ready to hear the evi- 
 dence there is against me. If I be a parricide, I 
 have passed by land and by sea, without suffer- 
 ing any misfortune on either of them; but this 
 method of trial is no advantage to me ; for it 
 seems, O father, that I am already condemned, 
 both before God and before thee; and as I am 
 already condemned, I beg that thou wilt not 
 believe the others that have been tortured, but 
 let fire be brought to torment me ; let the racks 
 march through my bowels; have no regard to 
 any lamentations that this polluted body can 
 make; for if I be a parricide, I ought not to 
 die without torture." Thus did Antipater 
 cry out with lamentation and weeping, and 
 moved all the rest, and Varus in particular, to 
 commiserate his case. Herod was the only 
 person whose passion was too strong to per- 
 mit him to weep, as knowing that the testi- 
 monies against him were true. 
 
 4. And now it was that, at the king's 
 command, Nicolaus, when he had premised 
 a great deal about the craftiness of Antipater, 
 and had prevented the effects of their com- 
 miseration to him, afterwards brought in a 
 bitter and large accusation against him, ascri- 
 bing all the wickedness that had been in the 
 kingdom to him, and especially the murder 
 of his brethren, and demonstrated that they 
 had perished by the calumnies he had raised 
 against them. He also said that he had laid 
 designs against them that were stili alive, as 
 if they were laying plots for the succession ; 
 and (said he) how can it be supposed that he 
 who prepared poison for his father, should 
 abstain from mischief as to his brethren? He 
 then proceeded to convict him of the attempt 
 to poison Herod, and gave an account, in 
 order, of the several discoveries that had been 
 made ; and bad great indignation as to the 
 afTair of Pheroras, because Antipater had been 
 for miking him murder his brother, and bad 
 
 • A lover of his father. 
 
604 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 fiOCK 1. 
 
 corrupted those that were dearest to the king, 
 and filled the whole palace with wickedness ; 
 and when he had insisted on many other accu- 
 sations, and the proofs of them, he left off. 
 
 5. Then Varus bade Antipater make his 
 defence; but he lay long in silence, and said 
 no more but this: — "God is my witness that 
 I am entirely innocent." So Varus asked for 
 the potion, and gave it to be drank by a con- 
 demned malefactor, who was then in prison, 
 who died upon the spot. So Varus, when he 
 had had a very private discourse with Herod, 
 and had written an account of this assembly 
 to Caesar, went away, after a day's stay. The 
 king also bound Antipater, and sent away to 
 inform Caesar of his misfortunes. 
 
 6. Now after this, it was discovered that 
 Antipater had laid a plot against Salome also; 
 for one of Antiphilus's domestic servants 
 ciime, and brought letters from Rome, from 
 a maid-servant of Julia [Caesar's wife], whose 
 name was Acme. By her a message was sent 
 to the king, that she had found a letter written 
 by Salome, among Julia's papers, and had 
 sent it to him privately, out of her good- will 
 to him. This letter of Salome contained the 
 most bitter reproaches of the king, and the 
 highest accusation against him. Antipater 
 had forged this letter, and had corrupted 
 Acme, and persuaded her to send it to Herod. 
 This was proved by her letter to Antipater, 
 for thus did this woman write to him : — " As 
 thou desirest, I have written a letter to thy 
 father, and have sent that letter; and am per- 
 suaded that the king will not spare his sister 
 when he reads it. Thou wilt do well to 
 remember what thou hast promised, when all 
 is accomplished." 
 
 7. When this epistle was discovered, and 
 what the epistle forged against Salome con- 
 tained, a suspicion came into the king's mind, 
 that perhaps the letters against Alexander 
 were also forged; he was moreover greatly 
 disturbed, and in a passion, because he had 
 almost slain his sister on Antipater's account. 
 He did no longer delay therefore to bring him 
 to punishment for all his crimes; yet when he 
 was eagerly pursuing Antipater, he was re- 
 strained by a severe distemper he fell into. 
 However, he sent an account to Caesar about 
 Acme, and the contrivances against Salome: 
 he sent also for his testament and altered it, 
 and therein made Antipas king, as taking no 
 care of Archelaus and Philip, because Anti- 
 pater bad blasted their reputations with him ; 
 but he bequeathed to Cicsar, besides other 
 presents that he gave him, a thousand talents; 
 as also to his wife, and children, and friends, 
 and freed-men about five hundred: he also 
 bequeathed to all others a great quantity of 
 land, and of money, and showed his respects 
 to Salome his sister, by giving her most splen- 
 did gifts. And this was what was contained 
 in his testament, as it was now altered. 
 
 CHAPTER xxxnr. 
 
 THE GOLDEN EAGLKISCUT TO PIECES. HEROn'ft 
 BARBARITY WHEN HE WAS BEABf TO DIB, 
 HE ATTEMPTS TO KILL HIMSELF. HE COM 
 MANDS ANTIPATER TO BE SLAIN. HE SUR 
 VIVES HIM FIVE DAYS, AWD THEN DIES. 
 
 § 1. Now Herod's distemper became more an^ 
 more severe to him, and this because these his 
 disorders fell upon him in his old age, and 
 when he was in a melancholy condition ; for 
 he >vas already almost -seventy years of age, 
 and had been brought low by the calamities 
 that happened to him about his children, 
 whereby he had no pleas-ure in life, even whei* 
 he was in health ; the grief also that Antipa- 
 ter was still alive aggravated his disease, whor» 
 he resolved to put to death now, not at ran- 
 dom, but as soon as he should be well again ; 
 and resolved to have hiui slain [in a public 
 manner]. 
 
 2. There also now happened to him among 
 his other calamities, a certain popular sedition. 
 There were two men of learning in the city 
 [Jerusalem], who were thought the most 
 skilful in the laws of their country, and were 
 on that account had in very great esteem all 
 over the nation; they were, the one Judas, the 
 son of Sepphoris, and the other Matthias, the 
 son of Margalus. There was a great concourse 
 of the young men to these men when they 
 expounded the laws, and there got together 
 every day a kind of an army of such as were 
 growing up to be men. Now when these 
 men were informed that the king was wear- 
 ing away with melancholy, and with a distem- 
 per, they dropped words to their acquaintance, 
 how it was now a very proper time to defend 
 the cause of God, and to pull down what had 
 been erected contrary to the laws of thoif 
 country ; for it was unlawful there should be 
 any such thing in the temple as images, o» 
 feces, or the like representation of any animal 
 whatsoever. Now the king had put up a 
 golden eagle over the great gate of the temple, 
 which these learned men exhorted them to 
 cut down : aiKJ tokl them that if there should 
 any danger arise, it was a glorious thing to 
 die for the laws of their country; because 
 that the soul was immortal, and that an eter- 
 nal enjoyment of happiness did await such as 
 died on that account; while the mean.s[)irited, 
 and those that were not wise enou.'^h to show 
 a right love of their souls, preferred death by 
 a disease, before that which is the result ol 
 a virtuous behaviour. 
 
 3. At the same time that these men madj 
 this speech to their disciples, a rumour was 
 spread abroad that the kirig was dying, which 
 made the young men set about the work with 
 greater boldness ; they therefore let tb'wm- 
 selves down frmn the top of the temple with 
 
CHAP. XXXIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 605 
 
 thick cords, and this at mid-day, and while 
 Q great number of people were in the temple, 
 and cut down that golden eagle with axes. 
 This was presently told to the king's captain 
 of the temple, who came running with a great 
 aody of soldiers, and caught about forty of 
 toe young men, and brought them to the king. 
 And when he asked them, first of all, whether 
 Xfaey had been so hardy as to cut down the 
 polden eagle, they confessed they had done so; 
 and when he asked them by whose command 
 rhey had done it, they replied, at the com- 
 mand of the law of their country ; and when 1 
 oe farther asked them how they could be so I 
 joyful when they were to be put to death, 
 tney replied, because they should enjoy greater 
 happiness after they were dead.* 
 
 4. At this the king was in such an extra- 
 vagant passion, that he overcame his disease 
 (for the time], and went out, and spake to 
 I he people; wherein he made a terrible accu- 
 sation against those men, as being guilty of 
 sacrilege, and as making greater attempts 
 under pretence of their law; and he thought 
 they deserved to be punished as impious 
 persons. Whereupon the public were afraid 
 lest a great number should be found guilty, 
 and desired that when he had first punished 
 those that put them upon this work, and then 
 those that were caught in it, he would leave 
 off his anger as to the rest. With this the 
 king complied, though not without difficulty; 
 and ordered those that had let themselves 
 down, together with their rabbins, to be burnt 
 alive; but delivered the rest that were caught 
 to the proper officers, to be put to death by 
 them. 
 
 5. After this, the distemper seized upon his 
 whole body, and greatly disordered all its 
 parts with various symptoms; for there was 
 a gcTitle fever upon him, and an intolerable 
 itching over all the surface of his body, and 
 
 * Since in these two sections we have an evident ac- 
 count of the Jewish opinions in the days of Josepbus, 
 about a future happy state, and the resurrection of the 
 dead, as in the New Testament (John xi. 24.), I shall 
 here refer to the other places in Jnsephus, before be be- 
 came a Catholic Christian, which concern the same 
 matters. Of the War, b. ii. ch. viii, sect. 10, II; b. iii. 
 ch, viii. sect. 4; b. vii. ch.vi. sect. 7; Contr. Apion.b. ii. 
 8e«:t 30; where we may observe, that none of these pas- 
 sa^^esare in his Books of Antiquities, written peculiarly 
 for the use of the Gentiles, to whom he thought it not pro- 
 per to insist on topics so much out of their way as these 
 were. Nor is this observation to be omitted here, espe- 
 cially on acconnt of the sensible diflference we have now 
 before us in Josephns's representation of the arguments 
 used by the rabbins to persuade their scholars to hazard 
 their lives for the vindication of God's law against im- 
 ages, by IVIoses, as well as of the answers those scholars 
 made to Herod, when they were cauglit, and ready to 
 die for the same; I mean as compared with the parallel 
 arguments and answers represented in the Aptiquities, i 
 b. xvii. ch. vi. sect. 2, 3. A like difference between Jew- | 
 ish and Gentile notions, the reader will find in niy notes I 
 on Antiquitie.s, b. iii. ch. vii. sect. 7; b. xv. ch. ix. sect. : 
 1. See the like also in the case of the three Jewish sects [ 
 in the Antiquities, b. xiii. ch. v. sect. 9, and ch. x. sect. 
 4auid; b. xviii. ch. i. sect .5; and con pared with th s , 
 in h.s Wars of the Jews, h. i ch. viii. .<eri -J. 14. NDr | 
 di>es«t.P:inl h.mseU reasin to Genlilts »< Athens, Acts 
 XTii. tO, M, as he does to Jews in bis Lpi&tles. 
 
 continual pains in his colon, and dropsical 
 tumours about his feet, and an inflammation of 
 the abdomen, — and a putrefaction of his privy 
 member, that produced worms. Besides which 
 he had a difficulty of breathing upon him, and 
 could not breathe bu* when he ?at upright, 
 and had a convulsion cf all Lii members; 
 insomuch that the divin'^rs said those diseases 
 were a punishment upon oim for what he hud 
 done to the rabbins. Yet did he struggle 
 with his numerous disorders, and still had a 
 desire to live, and hope for recovery, and con- 
 sidered of several methods of cure. Atcx^rd- 
 ingly, he went over Jordan, and made u8 ^ of 
 those hot baths at Callirrhoe, which run into 
 the lake Asphaltitis, but are themselves sweet 
 enough to be drank. And here the physicians 
 thought proper to bathe his whole body in 
 warm oil, by letting it down into a large 
 vessel full of oil; whereupon his eyes failed 
 him, and he came and went as if he were 
 dying; and as a tumult was then made by 
 his servants, at their voice he revived again. 
 Yet did he after this despair of recovery, and 
 gave orders that each soldier should have fifty 
 drachmoe a-piece, and that his commanders 
 and friends should have great sums of money 
 given them. 
 
 6. He then returned back and came to 
 Jericho, in such a melancholy state of body 
 as almost threatened him with present death, 
 when he proceeded to attempt a horrid wicked- 
 ness; for he got together the most illustrious 
 men of the whole Jewish nation, out of every 
 village, into a place called the Hippodrome, 
 and there shut them in. He then called for 
 his sister Salome, and her husband Alexas, 
 and made this speech to them: — "I know 
 well enough that the Jews wiK keep a festival 
 upon my death; however, it is in my power 
 to be mourned for on other accounts, and to 
 have a splendid funeral, if you will but be 
 subservient to my commands. Do you but 
 tekt care to send soldiers to encompass these 
 men that are now in custody, and slay them 
 immediately upon my death, and then all 
 Judea, and every family of them, will weep at 
 it whether they will or no." 
 
 7. Th^^e were the commands he gave them : 
 when there came letters from his ambassadors 
 at Rome, whereby information was given that 
 Acme was put to death at Caesar's command, 
 and that Antipater was condemned to die; 
 however, they wrote withal, that if Herod 
 had a mind rather to banish him, Caesar 
 permitted him so to do. So he for a little 
 while revived, and had a desire to live; but 
 presently after he was overborne by his pains, 
 and was disordered by want of food, and by 
 a convulsive cough, and endeavoured to pre- 
 vent H natural death ; so he took an apple, 
 and asked for a knife, for he used to pare 
 aprles and eat them; he then looked round 
 abu It to see that there was nobody to hinder 
 h'.m, and lifted up his right hand as if he would 
 
606 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 stab himself; but Achiabus, his first cousin, 
 came running to him, and held his hand, and 
 hinders him from so doing; on which occa- 
 sion a very great lamentation was made in the 
 palace as if the king were expiring. As soon 
 as ever Antipater he^rd that, he took courage, 
 ar.d with joy in his looks, besought his keep- 
 ers, for a sum of money, to loose him and let 
 him go; but the principal keeper of the prison 
 did not only obstruct him in that his intention, 
 but ran and told the king what his design 
 was; hereupon the king cried out louder than 
 his distemper would well bear, and immedi- 
 ately sent some of his guards and slew Anti- 
 pater; he also gave order to have him buried 
 at Hyrcanium, and altered his testament 
 again, — and therein made Archelaus, his 
 eldest son, and the brother of Antipas, hisi 
 successor; and made Antipas tetrarcb. 
 
 8'. So Herod, having surviving the slaughter 
 of his son five days, died, having reigned 
 thirty-four years, since he had caused Antigo- 
 nus to be slain, and obtained his kingdom ; 
 but thirty-seven years since he had been made 
 king by the Romans. Now, as for his for- 
 tune, it was prosperous in all other respects, 
 if ever any other man could be so; since, 
 from a private man, he obtained the kingdom, 
 and kept it so long, and left it to his own 
 sons; but still in his domestic aflfairs, he was 
 a most imfortunate man. Now before the 
 soldiers knew of his death, Salome and her 
 husband came out and dismissed those that 
 were in bonds, whom the king had com- 
 manded to be slain, and told them that he had 
 altered his mind, and would have every one of 
 them sent to their own homes. When these 
 men were gone, Salome told the soldiers [the 
 king was dead], and got them and the rest of 
 the multitude together to an assembly, in the 
 amphitheatre at Jericho, where Ptolemy, who 
 was intrusted by the king with his signet- 
 ring, came before them, and spake of the hap- 
 P'r.ess the king had attained, and comforted 
 the multitude, and read the epistle which had 
 
 been left for the soldiers, wherein he earnestly 
 exhorted them to bear good-will to his suc- 
 cessor ; and after he had read the epistle, he 
 opened and read .his testament, wherein 
 Philip was to inherit Trachonitis, and the 
 neighbouring countries, and Antipas was to 
 be tetrarch, as we said before, and Archelaua 
 was made king. He had also been com- 
 manded to carry Herod's ring to Caesar, and 
 the settlements he had made, sealed up, b':- 
 cause Caesar was to be lord of all the settle- 
 ments he bad made, and was to confirm bis 
 testament; and he ordered that the disposi- 
 tions he had made were to be kept as they 
 were in his former testament. 
 
 9. So there was an acclamation made to 
 Archelaus, to congratulate him upon hia 
 advancement; and the soldiers, with the mul- 
 titude, went round about in troops, and pro- 
 mised him their good- will, and besides, prajed 
 God to bless his government. After this, 
 they betook themselves to prepare for the 
 king's funeral; and Archelaus omitted no- 
 thing of magnificence therein, but brought out 
 all the royal ornaments to augment the pomp 
 of the deceased. There was a bier all ot gold, 
 embroidered with precious stones, and a pur- 
 ple bed of various contexture, with the dead 
 body upon it, covered with purple; and a 
 diadem was put upon his head, and a crown of 
 gold above it, and a sceptre in his right hand; 
 and near to the bier were Herod's sons, and 
 a multitude of his kindred; next to whom 
 came his guards, and the regiment of Thra- 
 cians, the Germans also and Gauls, all ac- 
 coutred as if they were going jto war; but the 
 rest of the army went foremost, armed, and 
 following their captains and officers in a 
 regular manner; after whom, five hundred of 
 his domestic servants and freed-men followed, 
 with sweet spices in their hands; and the 
 body was carried two hundred furlongs, to 
 Herodium, where he had given order to hn 
 buried. And this shall suffice for the con- 
 clusion of the life of Herod. 
 
607 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 OONTAININO THB INTERVAL OF 8IXTY-NINK TBASS. 
 
 FBOM THE DEATH OF HEROD TILL VESPASIAN WAS SENT TO 
 SUBDUE THE JEWS BY NEEO. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 /UtTHELAUS MAKES A FUNERAL FEAST FOR 
 THB PEOPLE, ON THE ACCOUNT OF HEROD. 
 AFTER WHICH A GREAT TUMULT IS RAISED 
 BY THE MULTITUDE, AND HE SENDS THE 
 SOLDIERS OUT UPON THEM, WHO DESTROY 
 ABOUT THREE THOUSAND OF THEM. 
 
 fi 1. Now the necessity which Archelaus was 
 urder of taking a journey to Roaie was the 
 occasion of new disturbances, for when he 
 had mourned for his father seven days,* and 
 had given a very expensive funeral feast to 
 the multitude (which custom is the occasion 
 of poverty to many of the Jews, because they 
 are forced to feast the multitude; for if any 
 one omits it, he is not esteemed a ht^y per- 
 son), he put on a white garment, and went up 
 to the temple, where the people accosted hini 
 with various acclamations. He also spake 
 kindly to the multitude, from an elevated 
 seat a«d a throne of goW, and returned them 
 thanks for the zeal they had shown about his 
 father's funeral, and the submission tbey had 
 mad? to him, as if he were already settled in 
 the kingdom; but he told them withal, that 
 he would not at present take upon him either 
 the authority of a king, or the names thereto 
 belonging, until Caesar, who is made lord of 
 *,his whole affair by the testament, confirms 
 the succession ; for that when the soldiers 
 would have set the diadem on his head at Je- 
 richo, he would not accept of it ; but that he 
 would make abundant requitals, not to the 
 soldiers only, but to the people, for their alac- 
 
 • Hear Dean A Id rich's note on this place : "The law 
 •rcastona of the Jews (says he) requires seven days' 
 Mj«irnine for the dead (Antiq. b. xvii ch. viii. sect. 4); 
 w Vnce the author of the book of F.cclesiasticus (ch. xx i. 
 *3^ assigns seven days as the proper time of mourning 
 for tne dead, and (ch.xxxviii. 17) enjoins men to moura 
 for the dead, that they may not be evil spoken of; f.T, as 
 Josepbas savs presently, if any one omits this mournin(r 
 [funeral feast], he is not estet-roed a holy person. Now 
 4t is certain that such a seven days' mournin? has bt-ea 
 rnstomary fr.>m times of the greatest atitiquity, (i«-n. I. 
 10. Funeral feasts are a'so mentioned as of considerable 
 «ntiquity, Ezek. xxiv. 17; Jer. xii. 7; Frov. xxxi. 6; 
 Deut. xxvL 14; Josephus, {Of the War, b. iii. ch. ix. 
 •ecu d.)" 
 
 [ rity and good- will to him, when the superior 
 
 j lords [the Romans] sboul. have given him a 
 
 complete title to the kingdom ; frw Xb&t it 
 
 should be his study to appear in all things 
 
 better than his father. 
 
 2. Upon this the multitude were pleased, 
 and presently made a trial of what he intended, 
 by asking great things of him; for some marie 
 a clamour that he would ease them in their 
 taxes; others, that he would take off the 
 duties upon commodities; and some, that be 
 would ioose-those that were in prison ; in aW 
 which cases he answered readily to their satis- 
 faction, in order to get the good- will of the 
 multitude; after which he oflfered [the proper] 
 sacritiees, and feasted with his friends. And 
 here it was that a great many of those that 
 desired innovations came in crowds towaras 
 the evening, and began then to mourn on 
 their own account, when the^jublic mourning 
 for the king was over. These lamented those 
 that were put to death by Herod, because they 
 had cut down the golden eagle that had be n 
 over the gate of the temfile. Nor was this 
 mourning of aljrivate nature, but the lamen- 
 tations were very great, the mourning solenni, 
 and the weeping such as was loudly heard all 
 over the city, as being for those men who hnd 
 perished for the laws of their country, and 
 for the temple. They cried out, that a pun- 
 ishment ought to be inflicted for these men 
 upon those that were honoured by Herod ; 
 and that, in the first place, the man whom he 
 had made high-priest should be deprived; and 
 that it was fit to choose a person of greater 
 piety and purity than he was. 
 
 3. At these clamours Archelaus was pro- 
 voked ; but restrained himself from taking 
 vengeance on the authors, on account of the 
 haste he was in of going to Rome, as fearing 
 lest, upon his making war on the multitude, 
 such an action might detain him at home. 
 Accordingly, he made trial to quiet the inno- 
 vators by persuasion rather than by force, and 
 sent his petjeral in a private way to them, and 
 by him exhorted them to be quiet. But the 
 seditious threw stones at him, and drove him 
 away, as he came iut.o the temple, and befor* 
 
608 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 he could say any thing to them. The like 
 treatment they showed to others, who came to 
 them after him, many of whom were sent by 
 Archelaus, in order to reduce them to sobrie- 
 ty, and these answered still on all occasions 
 after a passionate manner; and it openly ap- 
 peared that they would not be quiet, if their 
 numbers were but considerable. And indeed, 
 at the feast of unleav ^ned bread, which was 
 now at hand, and Is by the Jews called the 
 passover, and used to be celebrated with a 
 great number of sacrifices, an innumerable 
 multitude of the people came out of the coun- 
 try to worship: some of these stood in the 
 temple bewailing the rabbins [that had been 
 put to death], and procured their sustenance 
 by begging, in order to support their sedition. 
 At this Archelaus was affrighted, and pri- 
 vately sent a tribune, with his cohort of sol- 
 diers upwn them, before the disease should 
 spread over the whole multitude, and gave 
 orders that they should constrain those that 
 began the tumult, by force, to be quiet. At 
 these the whole multitude wore irritated, and 
 threw stones at many of the soldiers, and 
 killed them ; but the tribune fled away 
 wounded, and had much ado to escape so. 
 After which they betook themselves to their 
 sacrifices, as if they had done no mischief; nor 
 did it appear to Archelaus that the multitude 
 could be restrained without bloodshed ; so he 
 sent his whole array upon them, the footmen 
 in great multitudes, by the way of the city, 
 and the horsemen "by the way of the plain, 
 who, falling upon them on the sudden, as they 
 were ofiering their sacrifices, destroyed about 
 three thousand of them ; but the rest of the 
 multitude were dispersed upon the adjoining 
 mountains: these were followed by Arche- 
 laus's heralds, who commanded every one to 
 retire to their own homes; whither they al) 
 went, and left the festival. - 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 ARCHELAtJS GOES TO ROME WITH A GREAT 
 NUMBER OF HIS KINDRED: HE IS THERE 
 ACCUSED BEFORE CiESAR BY ANTIPATEi ; 
 BUT IS SUPERIOR TO HIS ACCUSERS IN 
 JUDGMe'nT, BY THE MEANS OF THAT DE- 
 FENCE WHICH NICpLAUS MADE FOR HIM. 
 
 § 1. Archelaus went down now to the 
 Bea-side, with his mother and his friends, 
 Poplas, and Ptolemy, and Nicolaus, and left 
 behind him Philip, to be his steward in the 
 palace, and to take care of his domestic affairs, 
 tialome went also along with him with her 
 •on 8, as did also the king's brethren and 
 ■ons-in-law. These, in appearance, went to 
 g?v« him all the assistance they were able, in 
 onUtr to secure bis succession, but in reality 
 
 to arcifte him for his breach of the laws by 
 what he had done at the temple. 
 
 2 But as they were come to Cesarea, Sabi- 
 nu9, the procurator of Syria, met ibtm ; he 
 was going up to Judea, to secure Herod** 
 effects; but Varus [president of Syrrr], who 
 was come thither, restrained him from going 
 any farther. This Varus, Archelaus nad sent 
 for, by the earnest entreaty of Ptoleiry. At 
 this time, indeed, Sabinus, to gratify Varus, 
 neither went to the citadels, nor did he shut 
 up the treasuries where his father's money 
 was laid up, but promised that he would lie 
 still, until Caesar should have taken cogni- 
 zance of the affair. So he abode at Cesarean 
 but as soon as those that were his hinderance 
 were gone, when Varus was gone to Antioch, 
 and Archelaus was sailed to Rome, he iq^me- 
 diately went on to Jerusalem, and seized 
 upon the palace; and when he had called for 
 the governors of the citadels, and the stewards 
 [of the king's private affairs], he tried to sift 
 out the accounts of the money, and to take 
 possession of the citadels. But the gover- 
 nors of those citadels were not unmindful of 
 the commands laid upon them by Archelaus, 
 and continued to guard them, and said, the 
 custody of them rather belonged to Caesar than 
 to Archelaus. 
 
 3. In the mean time Antipas went also to 
 Rome, to strive for the kingdom, and to insist 
 that the former testament, wherein he was 
 named to be king, was valid before the latter 
 testament. Salome had also pnomised to as- 
 sist him, as had many of Archelaus's kindred, 
 who sailed along with Archelaus himself also. 
 He also carried along with him his mother, 
 and Ptolemy, the brother of Nicolaus, who 
 seemed one of great weight, on account of 
 the great trust Herod put in him, he having 
 been one of his most honoured friends. Hovv- 
 ever, Antipas depended chiefly upon Ireneus, 
 the orator; upon whose authority he had 
 rejected such as advised him to yield to Ar- 
 che^us, because he was his elder brother, and 
 because the second testament gave the king- 
 dom to him. The inclinations also of all 
 Archelaus's kindred, who hated him, were 
 removed to Antipas, when they came to Rome; 
 although, in the first place, every one rather 
 desired to live under their own laws [without 
 a king], and to be under a Roman governor ; 
 but if they should fail in that point, these 
 desired that Antipas might be their king. 
 
 4. Sabinus did also afford these his aosist- 
 ance to the same purpose by the letters he sent, 
 wherein he accused Archelaus before Caesar, 
 and highly commended Antipas. Salome also, 
 and those with her, put the crimes which they 
 accused Archelaus of in order, jind put them 
 into Caesar's hands; and after they hud done 
 that, Archelaus wrote down the reasons of his 
 claim, and, by Ptolemy, sent in his father's 
 ring, and his father's arrounts; and when 
 C«6ar had maturely weight-d by himself what 
 
CHAP. IlL. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 ao9 
 
 both had to allege for themselves, as also had 
 considered of the great burden of the king- 
 dom, and largeness of the revenues, and withal 
 the number of the children Herod had left 
 behind him; and had moreover read the letters 
 be had received from Varus and Sabinus on 
 this occasion, be assembled the principal per- 
 sons among the Romans together (in which 
 Hssembly Caius, the son of Agrippa and his 
 (iaughter Julias, but by himself adopted for 
 his own son, sat in the first seat^ and gave the 
 ploHflers leave to speak. 
 
 5. Then stood up Salome's son, Antipater 
 (who of all Archelaus's antagonists was the 
 i^hrewdest pleader), and accused him in the 
 following speech: — That Archelaus did in 
 svords contend for the kingdom, but that in 
 deeds he had long exercised royal authority, 
 nnd so did insult Csesar in desiring to be now 
 heard on that account, since he had not 
 staid for his determination about the succes- 
 gioii, and since he had suborned certain per- 
 sons, after Herod's death, to move for putting 
 the diadem upon his head; since he had set 
 himself down in the throne, and given answers 
 ■*s a king, and altered the disposition of the 
 army, ar«d granted to some higher digiiities: 
 that he had also complied in all things with 
 the people in the requests they had made to 
 him as to their king, and had also dismissed 
 those that had been put into bonds by his 
 father, for most important reasons. Now, 
 after all this, he desires the shadow of that 
 royal authority, whose substance he had al- 
 ready seized to himself, and so hath made 
 Caesar lord, not of things, but of words. He 
 also reproached him farther, that his mourning 
 for his father was only pretended, w^hile he 
 put on a sad countenance in the day-time, 
 but drank to great excess in the night; from 
 which behaviour, he said, the late disturbances 
 among the multitude came, while they had 
 an indignation thereat; and indeed the pur- 
 port of his whole discourse was to aggravate 
 Archelaus's crime in slaying such a multitude 
 about the temple, which multitude came to 
 the festival, but were barbarously slain in the 
 midst of their own sacrifices; and he said 
 there was such a vast number of dead bodies 
 heaped together in the temple, as even a 
 foreign war, should that come upon them 
 [suddenly], before it was denounced, could 
 not have heaped together; and he added, that 
 it was the foresight his father had of that his 
 barbarity, which made him never give him 
 any hopes of the kingdom; but when his 
 mind was more infirm than his body, and he 
 was not able to reason soundly, and did not 
 well know what was the character of that son, 
 whom in his second testament he made his 
 successor; and this was done by him at a 
 time when he had no complaints to make of 
 him whom he had named before, when he was 
 sound in V)ody, and when his mind was free 
 (rom all passion. That, however, if any one 
 
 should suppose Herod's judgment, when he 
 was sick, was superior to that at another time, 
 yet had Archelaus forfeited his kingdom by 
 his own behaviour, and those his actions, 
 which were contrary to the law, and to its 
 disadvantage. Or what sort of a king will 
 this man be, when he bath obtained the go- 
 vernment from Caesar, who hath slain so many 
 before he hath obtained it! 
 
 6. When Antipater had spoken largely to 
 this purpose, and had produced a great num- 
 ber of Archelaus's kindred as witnesses, to 
 prove every part of the accusation, he ended 
 his discourse. Then stood up Nicolaus to 
 plead for Archelaus. He alleged that the 
 slaughter in the temple could not be avoided; 
 that those that were slain were become ene- 
 mies not to Archelaus's kingdom only, but to 
 Caesar, who was to determine about him. 
 He also demonstrated, that Archelaus's ac- 
 cusers had advised him to perpetrate other 
 things of which he might have been accused ; 
 but he insisted that the latter testament should, 
 for this reason, above all others, be esteemed 
 valid, because Herod had therein appointed 
 Caesar to be the person who should confirm 
 the succession ; for he who showed such pru- 
 dence as to recede from his own power, and 
 yield it up to the lord of the world, cannot 
 be supposed mistaken in his judgment 
 about him that was to be his heir; and he 
 that so well knew whom to choose for arbi- 
 trator of the succession, could not be un- 
 acquainted with him whom he chose for his 
 successor. 
 
 7. When Nicolaus had gone through all 
 he had to say, Archelaus came, and fell 
 down before Caesar's knees, without any noise; 
 — upon which he raised him up, after a very 
 obliging manner, and declared, that truly 
 he was worthy to succeed his father. How- 
 ever, he still made no firm determination in 
 his case; but when he had dismissed those 
 assessors that had been with him that day, 
 he deliberated by himself about the allega- 
 tions which he had heard, whether it were fit 
 to constitute any of those named in the testa- 
 ments for Herod's successor, or whether the 
 government should be parted among all his 
 posterity; and this because of the number of 
 those that seemed to stand in need of support 
 therefrom. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE JEWS FIGHT A GREAT BATTLE WITH 
 SABINUS'S SOLDIERS, AND A GREAT DE- 
 STRUCTION IS MADE AT JERUSALEM. 
 
 § 1. Now before Caesar had determined any 
 thing about these afl^airs, Malthace, Arche- * 
 laus's mothtT, fell sick and died. Letters also 
 were brought out of Syria from Varus, about a 
 revolt of the Jews. This was foreseen by Varus, 
 20 
 
610 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 ROOK II 
 
 who accordingly, after Archelaus was sailed, 
 went up to Jerusalem to restrain the promo- 
 ters of the sedition, since it was manifest that 
 the nation would not be at rest; so he left 
 one of those legions which he brought with 
 him out of Syria in the city, and went him- 
 self to Antioch. But Sabinus came, after he 
 was gone, and gave them an occasion of 
 making innovations; for he compelled the 
 keepers of the citadels to deliver them up to 
 him, and made a bitter search after the king's 
 money, as depending not only on the soldiers 
 who were left by Varus, but on the multitude 
 of his own servants, all whom he armed and 
 used as the instruments of his covetousness. 
 Now when that feast, which was observed 
 after seven weeks, and which the Jews called 
 Pentecost (i. e. the 50th day) was at hand, its 
 name being taken from the number of the 
 days [after the Passover], the people got to- 
 gether, but not on account of the accustomed 
 divine worship, but of the indignation they 
 had [at the present state of affairs]. Where- 
 fore an immense multitude ran together, out 
 of Galilee, and Idumea, and Jericho, and 
 Perea that was beyond Jordan; but the peo- 
 ple that naturally belonged to Judea itself 
 were above the rest both in number and in the 
 alacrity of the men. So they distributed them- 
 selves into three parts, and pitched their camps 
 in three places; one at the north side of the 
 temple, another at the south side, by the 
 Hippodrome, and the third part were at the 
 palace on the west. So tbey lay round about 
 the Romans on every side, and besieged 
 them. 
 
 2. Now Sabinus was affrighted, both at 
 their multitude and at their courage, and sent 
 
 - messengers to Varus continually, and be- 
 sought him to come to his succour quickly, for 
 that, if he delayed, his legion would be cut to 
 pieces. As for Sabinus himself, he got up to 
 the highest tower of the fortress, which was 
 called Phasaelus; it is of the same name with 
 Herod's brother, who was destroyed by the 
 Parthians; and then he made signs to the sol- 
 diers of that legion to attack the enemy ; for 
 his astonishment was so great, that he durst 
 not go down to his own men. Hereupon the 
 soldiers were prevailed upon, and leaped out 
 into the temple, and fought a terrible battle 
 with the Jews; in which, while there were 
 none over their heads to distress them, they 
 were too hard for them, by their skill, and 
 the others' want of skill in war; but when 
 once many of the Jews had gotten up to the 
 top of the cloisters, and threwtheirdarts down- 
 wards upon the beads of the Romans, there 
 were a great many of them destroyed. Nor 
 was it easy to avenge themselves upon those 
 
 • that threw their weapons from on high, nor 
 was it more easy for them to sustain those 
 who came to fight them hand to hand. 
 
 3. Since therefore the Romans were sorely 
 llfflicted by both these circumstances, they set 
 
 fire to the cloisters, which were works to be 
 admired, both on account of their magnitude 
 and costliness. Whereupon those that were 
 above them were presently encompassed with 
 the flame, and many of them perished there- 
 in ; as many of them also were destroyed by 
 the enemy, who came suddenly upon them ; 
 some of them also threw themselves dovvn 
 from the walls backward, and some there were, 
 who, from the desperate condition they were 
 in, prevented the fire, by killing themselves 
 with their own swords: but so many of them 
 as crept out from the walls, and came upon 
 the Romans, were easily mastered by them, 
 by reason of the astonishment they were 
 under; until at last some of the Jews being 
 destroyed, and others dispersed by the terror 
 they were in, the soldiers fell upon the trea- 
 sure of God, which was novtr deserted, and 
 plundered about four hundred talents, of 
 which sum Sabinus got together all that was 
 not carried away by the soldiers. 
 
 4. However, this destruction of the works 
 [about the temple], and of the men occa- 
 sioned a much greater number, and those of a 
 more warlike sort, to get together, to oppose 
 the Romans. These encompassed the palace 
 round, and threatened to destroy all that were 
 in it, unless they went their ways quickly ; for 
 they promised that Sabinus should come to no 
 harm, if he should go out with his legion. 
 There were also a great many of the king's 
 party who deserted the Romans, and assisted 
 the Jews; yet did the most warlike body of 
 them all, who were three thousand of the men 
 of Sebaste, go over to the Romans. Rufus 
 also, and Gratus, their captains, did the same 
 (Gratus having the foot of the king's party 
 under him, and Rufus the horsej; each of 
 whom, even without the forces under them, 
 were of great weight, on account of their 
 strength and wisdom, which turn the scales 
 in war. Now the Jews persevered in the 
 siege, and tried to break down the walls of 
 the fortress, and cried out to Sabinus and his 
 party, that they should go their ways, and not 
 prove a hinderance to them, now they hopcl, 
 after a long time, to recover that ancieiit 
 liberty which their forefathers had enjoyed. 
 Sabinus indeed was well contented to get out 
 of the danger he was in; but he distrusted the 
 assurances the Jews gave him, and suspected 
 such gentle treatment was but a bait laid as a 
 snare for them : this consideration, together 
 with the hopes he had of succour from Varus, 
 made him bear the siege still longer. 
 
CHAP. IV. V, 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 611 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HCROD*S VETERAN SOLDIERS BECOME TDMUL- 
 TUOUa. THE ROBBERIES OF JUDAS. SIMON 
 AND ATHRONGEU3 TAKE THE NAME OF 
 KING UPON THEM. 
 
 § 1. At this time there were great disturb- 
 mces in the country, and that in many places; 
 ind the opportunity that now offered itself 
 Jiduced a great many to set up for kings; and 
 jideed in Idumea two thousand of Herod's 
 eet*an soldiers got together, and armed them- 
 selves and fought agtiinst those of the king's 
 party ; against whom Achiabus, the king's first 
 lousin, fought, and that out of some of the 
 places that were the most strongly fortified ; 
 but so as to avoid a direct conflict with them 
 in the plains. In Sepphoris also, a city of 
 Galilee, there was one Judas Cthe son of that 
 3t*ch robber Hezekias, who formerly overran 
 the country, and had been subdued by king 
 Herod); this man got no small multitude 
 together, and broke open the place where the 
 royal armour was laid up, and armed those 
 about him, and attacked those that were so 
 "arnest to gain the dominion. 
 
 2. In Perea also, Simon, one of the ser- 
 vants to the king, relying upon the handsome 
 appearance, and talluess of his body, put a 
 diadem upon his own head also; he also went 
 about with a company of robbers that he had 
 gotten together, and burnt down the royal 
 palace that was at Jericho, and many other 
 costly edifices besides, and procured himself 
 very easily spoils by rapine, as snatching them 
 out of the fire ; and he had soon burnt down 
 all the fine edifices, if Gratus, the captain of 
 the foot of the king's party, had not taken the 
 Trachonite archers, and the most warlike of 
 Sebaste, and met the man. His footmen were 
 jlain in the battle in abundance ; Gratus also 
 ?ut to pieces Simon himself, as he was flying 
 ilong a strait valley, when he gave him an 
 )blique stroke upon his neck, as he ran away, 
 ind broke it. The royal palaces that were 
 lear Jordan, at Betharamptha, were also burnt 
 iown by some other of the seditious that came 
 Dut of Perea. 
 
 3. At this time it was that a certain shep- 
 aerd ventured to set himself up for a king: 
 ne was called Athrongeus. It was his strength 
 3f bo<]y that made him expect such a dignity, 
 IS well as his soul, which despised death ; and 
 Desides these qualifications, he had four bre- 
 thren like himself. He put a troop of armed 
 tnen under each of these his brethren, and 
 made use of them as his generals and com- 
 manders, when he made his incursions, while 
 he did himself act like a king, and meddled 
 only with the more important affairs ; and at 
 this time he put a diadem about his head, and 
 
 cntinued after t.ha to over-run the couutrv 
 
 for no little time with Lis brethren, and be- 
 came their leader in killing both the Romans 
 and those of the king's party ; nor did any 
 Jew escape him, if any gain could accrue to 
 him thereby. He once ventured to encom- 
 pass a whole troop of Romans at Emmaus, 
 who were carrying corn and weapons to their 
 legion : his men shot their arrows and darts 
 and thereby slew their centurion Arius, an 
 forty of the stoutest of his men, while th 
 rest of them, who were in danger of the same 
 fate, upon the coming of Gratus, with those 
 of Sebaste, to their assistance, escaped ; and 
 when these men had thus served both their 
 own countrymen and foreigners, and that 
 through this whole war, three of them were 
 after some time subdued ; the eldest by Arche- 
 laus, the two next by falling into the hands 
 of Gratus and Ptolemeus ; but the fourth 
 delivered himself up to Archelaus, upon his 
 giving him his right hand for his security. 
 However, this their end was not till after- 
 ward, while at present they filled all Judea 
 with a piratic war. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 VARUS COMPOSES THE TUMULTS IN JUDEA, 
 AND CRUCIFIES ABOUT TWO THOUSAND OP 
 THE SEDITIOUS. 
 
 § 1. Upon Varus's reception of the letters 
 that were written by Sabinus and the captains, 
 he could not avoid being afraid for the whole 
 legion [he had left there]. So he made haste 
 to their relief, and took with him the other 
 two legions, with the four troops of horsemen 
 to them belonging, and marched to Ptolemais, 
 — having given orders for the auxiliaries that 
 were sent by the kings and governors of cities 
 to meet him there. Moreover, he received 
 from the people of Berytus, as he passed 
 through their city, fifteen hundred armed 
 men. Now as soon as the other body of auxi- 
 liaries were come to Ptolemais, as well as 
 Aretus the Arabian (who, out of the hatred 
 he bore to Herod, brought a great army of 
 horse and foot), Varus sent a part of his arm) 
 presently to Galilee, which lay near to Ptole- 
 mais, and Caius, one of his friends, for theit 
 captain. This Caius put those that met him 
 to flight, and took the city Sepphoris, and 
 burnt it, and made slaves of its inhabitants. 
 But as for Varus himself, he marched to Sa- 
 maria with his whole army, where he did not 
 meddle with the city itself, because he found 
 that it had made no commotion during these 
 troubles, but pitched his camp about a certain 
 village which was called Arus. It belonged 
 to Ptolemy, and on that account was plun- 
 dered by the Arabians, who were very angry 
 even at Herod's friends also. He thence 
 marched on to the village Sampho, another 
 
012 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK n. 
 
 fortified place, which they plundered, as they 
 had done the other. As they carried off all 
 the money they lighted upon belonging to the 
 public revenues, all was now full of fire and 
 bloodshed, and nothing could resist the plun- 
 ders of the Arabians. Emmaus was also 
 burnt, upon the flight of its inhabitants, and 
 this at the command of Varus, out of his rage 
 at the slaughter of those that were about 
 Arias. 
 
 2. Thence he marched on to Jerusalem, 
 and as soon as he was but seen by the Jews, 
 he made their camps disperse themselves: they 
 also went away, and fled up and down the 
 country. But the citizens received him, and 
 cleared themselves of having any hand in this 
 revolt, and said that they had raised no com- 
 motions, but had only been forced to admit 
 the multitude, because of the festival, and 
 that they were rather besieged together with 
 the Romans, than assisted those that had 
 revolted. There had before this met him 
 Joseph, the first cousin of Archelaus, and 
 Grartus, together with Rufus, who led those 
 of Sebaste, as well as the king's army: there 
 also met him those of the Roman legion, 
 ai;nied after their accustomed manner ; for as 
 to Sabinus, he durst not come into Varus's 
 sight, but was gone out of the city before 
 this, to the sea-side. But Varus sent a part 
 of his army into the country, against those 
 that had been the authors of this commotion, 
 and as they caught great numbers of them, 
 those that appeared to have been the least 
 concerned in these tumults he put into cus- 
 tody, but such as were the most guilty he 
 crucified ; these were in number about two 
 thousand'. 
 
 3. He was also informed that there con- 
 tinued in Idumea ten thousand men still in 
 arms ; but when he found that the Arabians 
 did not act 'ike auxiliaries, but managed the 
 war according to their own passions, and did 
 mischief to the country otherwise than he in- 
 tended, and this out off their hatred to Herod, 
 he sent them away, but made haste, with his 
 own legions, to march against those that had 
 revolted ; but these, by the advice of Achia- 
 bus, delivered themselves up to him before it 
 came to a battle. Then did Varus forgive the 
 multitude their offences, but sent their cap- 
 tains to Caesar to be examined by him. Now 
 Caesar forgave the rest, but gave orders that 
 certain of the king's relations (for some of 
 those that were among them were Herod's 
 kinsmen) should be put to death, because they 
 had engaged in a war against a king of their 
 own family. When, therefore. Varus had set- 
 tled matters at Jerusalem after this manner, 
 and had left the former legion there as a gar- 
 ~ he returned to Antioch. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE JEWS GREATLY COMPLAIN OF ARCHE- 
 LAUS, AND DESIRE THAT THEY MAY BE 
 MADE SUBJECT TO ROMAN GOVERNORS. 
 BUT WHEN C^SAU HAD HEARD WHAT 
 THEY HAD TO SAY, HE DISTRIBUTED 
 HEROD's DOMINIONS AMONG HIS SONS, 
 ACCORDING TO HIS OWN PLEASURE. 
 
 § 1. But now came another accusation from 
 the Jews against Archelaus at Rome, which 
 be was to answer to. It was made by those 
 ambassadors who, before the revolt, had come, 
 by Varus's permission, to plead for the liberty 
 of their country ; those that came were fifty 
 in number, but there were more than eight 
 thousand of the Jews at Rome who supported 
 them ; and when Caesar had assembled a coun- 
 cil of the principal Romans in Apollo's* tem- 
 ple, that was in the palace (this was what* he 
 had himself built and adorned, at a vast 
 expense), the multitude of the Jews stood 
 with the ambassadors, and on the other side 
 stood Archelaus, with his friends : but as for 
 the kindred of Archelaus, they stood on nei- 
 ther side ; for to stand on Archelaus's side, 
 their hatred to him, and envy at him, would 
 notgive them leave ; while yet they were afraid 
 to be seen by Caesar with his accusers. Be- 
 sides these, there was present Archelaus's 
 brother, Philip, being sent thither beforehand, 
 out of kindness, by Varus, for two reasons : 
 the one was this, that he might be ^^sisting 
 to Archelaus ; and the other was this, that in 
 case Caesar should make a distribution of what 
 Herod possessed among his posterity, he might 
 obtain some share of it. 
 
 2. And now, upon the permission that was 
 given the accusers to speak, they, in the first 
 place, went over Herod's breaches of their 
 law, and said that he was not a king, but the 
 most barbarous of all tyrants, and that they 
 had found him to be such by the sufferings 
 they underwent from him : that when a very 
 great number h;»d been slain by him, those 
 that were left bad endured such miseries, that 
 they called those that were dead happy men ; 
 that he had not only tortured the bodies of his 
 subjects, but entire cities, and had done much 
 harm to the cities of his own country, while 
 he adorned those that belonged to foreigners; 
 and he shed the blood of Jews, in order to do 
 kindness to those people who were out of their 
 bounds: that he had filled the nation full of 
 poverty, and of the greatest iniquity, instead 
 of that happiness and those laws which they 
 had anciently enjoyed ; that, in short, the 
 
 • This holdinff of a council in thi* temple of Apullo.io 
 the emneror'n palace at Rome, by AuRintus. and even 
 the buildint; of thi» temple maeniflcenlly \\j hlmnelf in 
 that palace, are exactly acreeabic to Aufiu^tiis, in hi* 
 
 cidrr vears, a* Aldrirh and Spanhcim observe atd 
 
 from Suetonius and I'ropcrtius 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 «iS 
 
 J !\vs had borne more calamities from Herod, 
 in a few y<;ars, than had their forefathers diir- 
 iuf; all that interval of time that had passed 
 sir)ce they had come out of Babylon, and re- 
 turned home, in the reign of Xerxes :* that, 
 • however, the nation was come to so low a con- 
 dition, by being inured to hardships, that they 
 submitted to his succ«^ssor of their own accord, 
 though he brought them into bitter slavery; 
 that accordingly they readily called Archelaus, 
 though he was the son of so great a tyrant, 
 king, after the decease of his father, and joined 
 with him in mourning for the death of Herod, 
 and in wishing him good success in that his 
 succession; while yet this Archelaus, lest he 
 should be in danger of not being thought the 
 genuine son of Herod, beg^n his reign with 
 the murder of three thousand citizens; as if 
 he had a mind to offer so many bloody sacri- 
 fices to God for his government, and to fill 
 the temple with the like number of dead 
 bodies at that festival: that, however, those 
 th:it were left after so many miseries, had just 
 reason to consider now at last the calamities 
 they had undergone, and to oppose them- 
 selves, like soldiers in war, to receive those 
 stripes upon their faces, [but not upon their 
 backs as hitherto]. Whereupon they prayed 
 that the Romans would have compassion 
 upon the [poor] remains of Judea, and not 
 expose what was left of them to such as bar- 
 barously tore them to pieces, and that they 
 would join their country to Syria, and admi- 
 nister the government by their own comman- 
 ders, whereby it would [soon] be demonstrated 
 that those who are now under the calumny of 
 seditious persons, and lovers of war, know 
 how to bear governors that are set over them, 
 if they be but tolerable ones. So the Jews 
 concluded their accusations with this request. 
 Then rose up Nicolaus, and confuted the accu- 
 sations that were brought against the kings, 
 and himself accused the Jewish nation, as 
 hard to be ruled, and as naturally disobedient 
 to kings. He also reproached all those kins- 
 men of Archelaus who had left him and were 
 gone over to his accusers. 
 
 3. So Caesar, after he had heard both sides, 
 dissolved the assembly for that time; but a 
 f^nv days afterward, he gave the one half of 
 Herod's kingdom to Archelaus, by the name 
 of Ethnarch, and promised to make him king 
 also afterward, if he rendered himself worthy 
 of that dignity; but as to the other half, he 
 divided it into two tetrachies, and gave them 
 to two other sons of Herod, the one of them 
 to Philip, and the other to that Antipas who 
 contested the kingdom with Archelaus. Un- 
 der this last was Perea and Galilee, with a 
 revenue of two hundred talents: but Batanea, 
 
 • Here we have a strong confirmation that it was 
 Xerxes, and not Artaxerxes, under whom the main part 
 of the Jews returned ont of the Babylonian captivity; i.e. 
 in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The same thing is 
 in the Antiq. b. xi. cbap. t. sect 1 
 
 and Trachonitis, and Auranitis, and certain 
 parts of Zeno's house about Jamnia. wun a 
 revenue of a hundred talents, were made suo- 
 ject to Philip; while Idumea, and all Judea, 
 and Samaria, were parts of the ethnarciv lii 
 Archelaus, although Samaria was eased ot one 
 quarter of its taxes, out of regard to lueir not 
 having revolted with the rest of the ration. 
 He also made subject to him the following 
 cities, viz. Strato's Tower, and Sebaste, and 
 Joppa, and Jerusalem ; but as to the Grecian 
 cities GiTza, and Gadara, and Hippos, be cut 
 them off from the kingdom, and added them 
 to Syria. Now the revenue of the country 
 that was given to Archelaus, was four hun- 
 dred talents. Salome also, besides what the 
 king had left her in his testaments, was now 
 made mistress of Jamnia, and Ashdod, and 
 Phasaelis. Caesar did moreover bestow upon 
 her the royal palace of Ascalon; by all which 
 she got together a revenue of sixty talents; 
 but he put her house under the ethnarchy of 
 Archelaus; and for the rest of Herod's off- 
 spring, they received what was bequeathed to 
 them in his testaments; but, besides that, Cae- 
 sar granted to Herod's two virgin daughters 
 five hundred thousand [drachmae] of silver, and 
 gave them in marriage to the sons of Phero- 
 ras: but after this family distribution, he gave 
 between them what had been bequeathed t» 
 him by Herod, which was a thousand talents, 
 reserving to himself only some inconsiderable 
 presents, in honour of the deceased. 
 
 * ^ CHAPTER VIL 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE SPURIOUS ALEXANDER, 
 ARCHELAUS IS BANISHED, AND GLAPHYRA 
 DIES, AFTER WHAT WAS TO HAPPEN TO 
 BOTH OF THEM HAD BEEN SHOWN THEM 
 fN DREAMS. 
 
 § 1. In the mean time there was a man, who 
 was by birth a Jew, but brought up at Sidon 
 with one of the Roman freed-men, who falsely 
 pretended, on account of the resemblance of 
 their countenances, that he was that Alex- 
 ander who was slain by Herod. This man 
 came to Rome, in hopes of not being de- 
 tected! He had one who was his assistant, 
 of his own nation, and who knew all the af- 
 fairs of the kingdom, and instructed him to say 
 how those that were sent to kill him and Aris- 
 tobulus had pity upon them, and stole them 
 away, by putting bodies that were like theirs 
 in their places. This man deceived the Jews 
 that were at Crete, and got a great deal of 
 money of them, for travelling in splendour; 
 and thence sailed to Melos, where he was 
 thought so certainly genuine, that he got a 
 great deal more money, and prevailed with 
 those who had treated him to sail along with 
 him to Rome. So he landed at Dicearchia 
 [Puteoli], and got very large presents from 
 
614 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 the Jews who dwelt there, and was conducted 
 by his father's friends as if he were a king ; 
 nay, the resemblance in his countenance pro- 
 cured him so much credit that those who had 
 Been Alexander, and had known him very 
 well, would take their oaths that he was the 
 very same person. Accordingly, the whole 
 body of the Jews that were at Rome ran out 
 in crowds to see him, and an innumerable 
 nniltitude there was who stood in the narrow 
 places through which he was carried ; for 
 those of Melos were so far distracted, that 
 they carried hira in a sedan, and maintained a 
 royal attendance for him at their own proper 
 charges. 
 
 2. But Caesar, who knew perfectly well 
 the lineaments of Alexander's face, because 
 he had been accused by Herod before him, 
 discerned the fallacy in his countenance, even 
 before he saw the man. However, he suffered 
 the agreeable fame that went of him to have 
 some weight with him, and sent Celadus, one 
 who well knew Alexander, and ordered him 
 to bring the young rtian to him. But when 
 Caesar saw him, he immediately discerned a 
 difference in his countenance; and when he 
 had discovered that his whole body was of a 
 more robust texture, and like that of a slave, 
 he understood the whole was a contrivance. 
 But the impudence of what he said greatly 
 provoked him to be angry at him ; for when 
 he was asked about Aristobulus, he said that 
 he was also preserved alive, and was left on 
 purpose in Cyprus, for fear of treachery, be- 
 cause it vvould be harder for plotters to get 
 them both into their power whil^ they were 
 separate. Then did Caesar take him by him- 
 self privately, and said to him, — " I will give 
 thee thy life, if thou wilt discover who it 
 was that persuaded thee to forge such stories." 
 So he said that he would discover him,, and 
 followed Caesar, and pointed to that Jew who 
 abused the resemblance of his face to get 
 money; for that he had received more pre- 
 sents in every city than ever Alexander did 
 when he was alive. Caesar laughed fat the 
 contrivance, and put this spurious Alexander 
 among his rowers, on account of the strength 
 of his body; but ordered him that persuaded 
 him to be put to death. But for the. people 
 of Melos, they had been sufficiently punished 
 for their folly, by the expenses they bad be6n 
 at on his account. 
 
 3. And now Archelaus took possession of 
 his ethnarchy, and used not the Jews only, 
 but the Samaritans also, barbarously; and this 
 out of his resentment of their old quarrels 
 with him. Whereupon they both of them 
 sent ambassadors against him to Caisar; and 
 in the ninth year of his government he was 
 banished to Vienna, a city of Gaul, and his 
 effect* were put into Caesar's treasury. Bat 
 the report goes, that before he was sent for 
 by Caesar, he seemed to see nine ears of corn, 
 'ull and large, but devoured by oxen. When, 
 
 therefore, he had sent for the diviners, and 
 some of the Chaldeans, and inquired of thejo 
 what they thought it portended ; and wnen 
 one of them had one interpretation, and ano- 
 ther had another, Simon, one of the sect oi 
 the Essens, said that he thought the ears ot 
 corn denoted years; and the oxen denoted a 
 mutation of things, because by their plough- 
 ing they made an alteration of the country. 
 That therefore he should reign as many years 
 as there were ears of corn ; and after he had 
 passed through various alterations of fortune, 
 should die. Now five days after Archelaus 
 had heard this interpretation, he was called to 
 his trial. 
 
 4. I cannot but think it worthy to be re- 
 corded what dream Glaphyra, the daughter of 
 Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, had, who had 
 at first been wife to Alexander, who was the 
 brother of Archelaus, concerning whom we 
 have been discoursing. This Alexander was 
 the son of Herod the king, by whom he was 
 put to death, as we have already related. 
 This Glaphyra was married, after his death, 
 to Juba, king of Libya ; and, after his death, 
 was returned home, and lived a widow with 
 her father. Then it was that Archelaus, the 
 ethnarch, saw her, and fell so deeply in love 
 with her, that he divorced Mariamne, who 
 was then his wife, and married her. When, 
 therefore, she was come into Judea, and had 
 been there for a little while, she thought she 
 saw Alexander stand by her, and that he said 
 to her, — " Thy marriage with the king of 
 Libya might have been sufficient for thee ; 
 but thou wast not contented with him, but 
 art returned again to my family, to a third 
 husband ; and him, thou impudent woman, 
 hast thou chosen for thine husband, who is 
 my brother. However, I shall not overlook 
 the injury thou hast offered me; 1 shall [soon] 
 have thee again, whether thou wilt or not." 
 Now Glaphyra hardly survived the narration 
 of this dream of hers two days. 
 
 CHAPTER Vm. 
 
 ARCHELADS'S ETHNARCHY IS REDUCED INTO 
 
 A [roman] province, the sedition of 
 
 JUDAS OF GALILEE. THE THREE SECTS OP 
 THE JEWS. 
 
 § L And now Archelaus's part of Judea 
 was reduced 4"to a province, and Coponius, 
 one of the equestrian order among the Ro- 
 mans, was sent as a procurator, having the 
 power of [life and] death put into his hands 
 by Ca>sar. Ilnrier his administration it was 
 that a certain Galilean, whose name was Judas, 
 prevailed with his countrymen to revolt; and 
 said they were cowards if they would endure 
 to pay a tax to the Rotnafis. and would, uft'T 
 God, submit to mortal men as their icjics. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 615 
 
 This roan was a teacher of a peculiar sect of 
 hi? own, and was not at all like the rest of 
 those their leaders. 
 
 2. For there are three philosophical sects 
 among the Jews. The followers of the first 
 of whom are the Pharisees; of the second the 
 Sadductes; and the third sect, who pretends 
 to a severer discipline, are called Essens. 
 These last are Jews by birth, and seem to 
 have a greater affection for one another than 
 the other sects have. These Essens reject 
 pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence, 
 and the conquest over our passions, to be vir- 
 tue. They neglect wedlock, but choose out 
 other persons' children, while they are pliable, 
 and fit for learning; and esteem them to be of 
 their kindred, and form them according to their 
 own manners. They do not absolutely deny 
 the fitness of marriage, and the succession of 
 mankind thereby continued; but they guard 
 against the lascivious behaviour of women, 
 and are persuaded that none of them preserve 
 their fidelity to one man. 
 
 3. These men are despisers of riches, and 
 so very communicative as raises our admi- 
 ration. Nor is there any one to be found 
 among them who hath more than another; 
 for it is a law among them, that those who 
 come to them must let what they have be 
 common to the whole order, — insomuch, that 
 among them all there is no appearance of 
 poverty or excess of riches, but every one's 
 possessions are intermingled with every other's 
 possessions; and so there is, as it were, one 
 patrimony among all the brethren. They 
 think that oil is a defilement; and if any one 
 of them be anointed without his own approba- 
 tion, it is wiped off his body; for they think 
 to be sweaty is a good thing, as they do also 
 to be clothed in white garments. They also 
 have stewards appointed to take care of their 
 common affairs, who every one of them have 
 no separate business for any, but what is for 
 the use of them all. 
 
 4. They have no certain city, but many of 
 them dwell in every city; and if any of their 
 sect come from other places, what they have 
 lies open for them, just as if it were their own; 
 and they go into such as they never knew 
 before, as if they had been ever so long ac- 
 quainted with them. For which reason they 
 carry nothing with them when they travel 
 into remote parts, though still they take their 
 weapons with them, for fear of thieves. Ac- 
 cordingly there is, in every city where they 
 live, one appointed particularly to take care of 
 strangers, and to provide garments and other 
 necessaries for them. But the habit and 
 management of their bodies is such as chil- 
 dren use who are in fear of their masters. 
 Nor do they allow of the change of garments, 
 or of shoes, till they be first entirely torn to 
 peces, or worn out by time. Nor do they 
 eithi'r buy or sell any thing to one another: 
 
 but every one of them gives what he hath to 
 him that wanteth it, and receives from him 
 again in lieu of it what may be convenient for 
 himself; and although there be no requital 
 made, they are fully allowed to take what they 
 want of whomsoever they please. 
 
 5. And as for their piety towards God, it 
 is very extraordinary; for before sun-rising 
 they speak not a word about profane matters, 
 but put up certain prayers which they have 
 received from their forefathers, as if they 
 made a supplication for its rising. After this 
 every one of them are sent away by their 
 curators, to exercise some of those arts wherein 
 they are skilled, in which they labour with 
 great diligence till the fifth hour. After 
 which they assemble themselves together 
 again into one place; and when they have 
 clothed themselves in white veils, they then 
 bathe their bodies in cold water. And after 
 this purification is over, they every one meet 
 together in an apartment of their own, into 
 which it is not permitted to any of another 
 sect to enter ; while they go, after a pure 
 manner, into the dining-room, as into a 
 certain holy temple, and quietly set themselves 
 down; upon which the baker lays them loaves 
 in order; the cook also brings a single plate 
 of one sort of food, and sets it before every 
 one of them; but a priest says grace before 
 meat ; and it is unlawful for any one to taste 
 of the food before grace be said. T^he same 
 priest, when he hath dined, says grace again 
 after meat; and when they begin, and when 
 they end, they praise God, as he that bestows 
 their food upon them; after which they lay 
 aside their [white] garments, and betake them- 
 selves to their labours again till the evening; 
 then they return home to supper, after the 
 same manner; and if there be any strangers 
 there, they^it down with them. Nor is there 
 ever any clamour or disturbance to pollute 
 their house, but they give every one leave to 
 speak in their turn; which silence thus kept 
 in their house, appears to foreigners like some 
 tremendous mystery; the cause of which is 
 that perpetual sobriety they exercise, and the 
 same settled measure of meat and drink that 
 is allotted to them, and that such as is abun- 
 dantly sufficient for them. 
 
 6. And truly, as for other things, they 
 do nothing but according to the injunctions 
 of their curators; only these two things are 
 done among them at every one's own free 
 will, which are, to assist those that want it, 
 and to show mercy; for they are permitted of 
 their own accord to afford succour to such as 
 deserve it, when they stand in need of it, and 
 to bestow food on those that are in distress; 
 but they cannot give any thing to their kin- 
 dred without the curators. They dispense 
 their anger after a just manner, and re- 
 strain their passion. They are eminent for 
 fidelity, and are the ministers of peace; what- 
 
616 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IT. 
 
 soever tbey «ay also is firmer than an oath ; but 
 swearint: is avoided by them, and they esteem 
 It worse than perjury:* for they say, that he 
 wuo cannot be believed without [swearing by] 
 God. IS already condemned. They also take 
 great pains in studying the writings of the 
 ancients, and choose out of them what is most 
 for the advantage of their soul and body; and 
 they inquire after such roots and medicinal 
 stones as may cure their distempers. 
 
 7. But now, if any one hath a mind to 
 come over to their sect, he is not immediately 
 admitted, but he is prescribed the same 
 method of living which they use, for a year, 
 while he continues excluded; and they give 
 him a small hatchet, and the fore-mentioned 
 girdle, and the white garment. And when 
 he hath given evidence, during that time, that 
 he can observe their continence, he approaches 
 nearer to their way of living, and is made a 
 partaker of the waters of purification; yet is 
 he not even now admitted to live with them; 
 for after this demonstration of his fortitude, 
 his temper is tried two more years, and if he 
 appear to be worthy, they then admit him 
 into their society. And before he is allowed 
 to touch their common food, he is obliged to 
 take tremendous oaths; that, in the first place, 
 he will exercise piety towards God; and then, 
 that he will observe justice towards men; and 
 that he will do no harm to any one, either of 
 his own accord, or by the command of others; 
 that he will always hate the wicked, and be 
 assistant to the righteous; that he will ever 
 show fidelity to all men, and especially to 
 those in authority, because no one obtains the 
 government without God's assistance; and 
 that if he be in authority, he will at no time 
 whatever abuse his authority, nor endeavour 
 to outshine his subjects, either in his garments, 
 or any other finery; that he will, be perpetu- 
 ally a lover of truth, and propose to himself 
 to reprove those that tell lies; that he will 
 keep his hands clear from theft, and his soul 
 from unlawful gains; and that he will neither 
 conceal any thing from those of his own sect, 
 nor discover any of their doctrines to others, 
 no, not though any one should compel him 
 so to do at the hazard of his life. Moreover, 
 
 • This practice of the Essens, in refusing to swear, 
 and esteeming swearing, on ordinary occasions, worse 
 than perjnry. is delivered here in general words, as are 
 tlie parallel injunctions of our Saviour, Matt vi. 34; 
 xxiii. 16; and of ^>t. James v. 12; hut all admit of par- 
 ticular exceptions for solemn causes, and on great and 
 necessary occasions. Thus these very Kssens, who here 
 do so zealously avoid swearing, are related in the very 
 next section, to admit none till they take tremendous 
 oattis to perform their several duties to God, and to their 
 neighbour, without supposing they thereby break this 
 rule. Not to swear at all. The case is the same in Chris- 
 tianity, as we learn from the Apostolical Constitutions, 
 which, although they agree with Christ and St. James, 
 in forbidding to swear in general, ch. v. 12, vi. 23; yet 
 do they explain it elsewhere, hy avoiding to swear falsely, 
 and to swear often and in vain, ch ii. 36; and again by 
 **not swearing at all " but withal adding, that " if that 
 cannot be avoided, to swear truly," ch. vii, 3; which 
 •bnndantly explain to us the nature of the measure of 
 Uiia gentral injunction. 
 
 he swears to communicate their doctrines to 
 no one any otherwise than as he received them 
 himself; that he will abstain from robbery, 
 and will equally preserve the hooks belonging 
 to their sect, and the names of the angels f [or 
 messengers]. These are the oaths by which 
 they secure their proselytes to themselves. 
 
 8. But for tlu/se that are caught in any 
 heinous sins, they cast them out of their 
 society; and he who is thus separated from 
 them, does often die after a miserable man- 
 ner; for as he is bound by the oath he hath 
 taken, and by the customs he hath been en- 
 gaged in, he is not at liberty to partake of 
 that food that he meets with elsewhere, but is 
 forced to eat grass, and to famish his body 
 with hunger till he perish; for which reason 
 they receive many of them again when they 
 are at their last gasp, out of coojpassion to 
 them, as thinking the miseries they have en- 
 dured till they came to the very brink of 
 death, to be a sufficient punishment for the 
 sins they had been guilty of. 
 
 9. But in the judgments they exercise they 
 are most accurate and just; nor do they pass 
 sentence by the votes of a court that is fewer 
 than a hundred. And as to what is once de- 
 termined by that number, it is unalterable. 
 What they most of all honour, after God him- 
 self, is the name of their legislator [Moses] ; 
 whom, if any one blaspheme, he is pnnished 
 capitally. They also think it a good thing 
 to obey their elders, and the major part. Ac- 
 cordingly, if ten of them be sitting together, 
 no one of them will speak while the other 
 nine are against it. They also avoid spitting 
 in the midst of them, or on the right side. 
 Moreover, they are stricter than any other of 
 the Jews in resting from their labours on the 
 seventh day ; for they not only get their food 
 ready the day before, that they may not be 
 obliged to kindle a fire on that day, but they 
 will not remove any vessel out of , its place, 
 nor go to stool thereon. Nay,- on the other 
 days they dig a small pit, a foot deep, with a 
 paddle (which kind of hatchet is given them 
 when they are first admitted among ihem) ; 
 and covering themselves round with their 
 garment, that they may not affront the divine 
 rays of light, they ease themselves into that 
 pit, after which they put the earth that was 
 
 + This mention of the " names of angels." so parti, 
 cularly preserved by the Essens (if it means more tlwin 
 those "messengers" who were employed to bring tliein 
 the peculiar bool;s of their s<cl). looks like a prelude to 
 that "worshipping of angels," blamed by St Tanl. as 
 superstitious and unlawful !n some such sort of people 
 as these Essens were, Coloss. ii. K As is the prayer to 
 or towards the Sun. for bis rising every mcining, men- 
 tioned before, sect 5, very like those not much later 
 observances made mention of in tiie preachins; of Peter. 
 Authent. Hec. part ii, page fidO. and recarding a kina 
 of worship of angels, of the month, and of the moon, 
 and not celebrating the new monns, or other festivals, 
 unless the moon appeared. Which, indeed, seems to 
 me the earliest mention of any regard to the moon's 
 phases in fixing the Jewish calendar, of which the TaU 
 mild and later rabbins talk lo much, and upon soverv 
 liitla ancient fuundution. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 617 
 
 Aug out again into the pit; and even this they 
 do only in the more lonely places, which they 
 choose out for this purpose; and although this 
 ^.-asement of the body be natural, yet it is a 
 'ule with them to wash themselves after it, 
 as if it were a defilement to them. 
 
 10. Now after the time of their prepara- 
 tory trial is over, they are parted into four 
 •classes; and so far are the juniors inferior to 
 the seniors, that if the seniors should be 
 touched by the juniors, they must wash them- 
 selves, as if they had intermixed themselves 
 tvith the company of a foreigner. They are 
 long-lived also; insomuch that many of them 
 live above a hundred years, by means of the 
 simplicity of their diet; nay, as I think, by 
 means of the regular course of life they ob- 
 serve also. They contemn the miseries of 
 life, and are above pain, by the generosity of 
 their mind. And as for death, if it will be 
 for their glory, they esteem it better than liv- 
 ing always ; and indeed our war with the 
 Romans gave abundant evidence what great 
 souls they had in their trials, wherein, al- 
 though they were tortured and distorted, 
 burnt and torn to pieces, and went through 
 all kinds of instruments of torment, that they 
 might be forced either to blaspheme their 
 legislator, or to eat what was forbidden them, 
 yet could they not be made to do either of 
 them, no, nor once to flatter their tormentors, 
 or to shed a tear; but they smiled in their 
 very pains, and laughed those to scorn who 
 inflicted the torments upon them, and resigned 
 up their souls with great alacrity, as expect- 
 ing to receive them again. 
 r^ 11. For their doctrine is this: — That bodies 
 are corruptible, and that the matter they are 
 made of is not permanent ; but that the souls 
 are immortal, and continue for ever ; and 
 that they come out of the most subtile air, 
 and are united to their bodies as in prisons, 
 into which they are drawn by a certain natu- 
 ral enticement ; but that when they are set 
 free from the bonds of the flesh, they then, as 
 released from a long bondage, rejoice and 
 mount upward. And this is like the opinion 
 of the Greeks, that good souls have their habi- 
 tations beyond the ocean, in a region that is 
 neither oppressed with storms of rain, or snow, 
 or with intense heat, but that this place is 
 such as is refreshed by the gentle breathing of 
 a west wind, that is perpetually blowing from 
 the ocean ; while they allot to bad souls a dark 
 and tempestuous den, full of never-ceasing 
 punishments. And indeed the Greeks seem 
 to me to have followed the same notion, when 
 they allot the islands of the blessed to their 
 brave men, whom they call heroes and demi- 
 gods ; and to the souls of the wicked, the 
 region of the ungodly, in Hades, where their 
 fables relate that certain persons, such as Sisy- 
 phus, and Tantalus, and Ixion, and Tityus, 
 are punished; which is built on this first sup- 
 position, that souU are immortal; and thence 
 
 are those exhortations to virtue, and dehor- 
 tations from wickedness collected ; whereby 
 good men are bettered in the conduct of their 
 life, by the hope they have of reward after their 
 death, and whereby the vehemeiw inclinations 
 of bad men to vice are restrained, by the fear 
 and expectation they are in, that although they 
 should lie concealed in this life, they should 
 suffer immortal punishment after their death. 
 These are the divine doctrines of the Essens* 
 about the soul, which lay an unavoidable bait 
 for such as have once had a taste of their phi- 
 losophy. 
 
 12. There are also those among them who 
 undertake to foretel things to come,"f by 
 reading the holy books, and using several 
 sorts of purifications, and being perpetually 
 conversant in the discourses of the prophets; 
 and it is but seldom that they miss in their 
 predictions. 
 
 13. Moreover, there is another order of 
 Essens, who agree with the rest as to their 
 way of living, and customs, and laws, but 
 differ from them in the point of marriage, as 
 thinking that by not marrying they cut off 
 the principal part of human life, which is the 
 •prospect of succession; nay rather, that if all 
 men should be of the same opinion, the whole 
 race of mankind would fail. However, they 
 try their spouses for three years ; and if they 
 find that they have their natural purgations 
 thrice, as trials that they are likely to be fruit- 
 ful, they then actually marry them. But they 
 do not use to accompany with their wives 
 when they are with child, as a demonstration 
 that they do not marry out of regard to plea- 
 sure, but for the sake of posterity. Now the 
 women go into the baths with some of their 
 garments on, as the men do with somewhat 
 girded about them. And these ar.*:" the cus- 
 toms of this order of Essens. 
 
 14. But then as to the two other orders at 
 first mentioned ; the Pharisees are those who 
 are esteemed most skilful in the exact expli- 
 cation of their laws, and introduce the first 
 sect. These ascribe all to fate [or provi- 
 dence], and to God, and yet allow, that to 
 act what is right or the contrary, is princi- 
 pally in the power of men, although fate does 
 co-operate in every action. They say that all 
 souls are incorruptible; but that the souls J of 
 
 • Of these Jewish or Essene (and indeed Christian) 
 doctrines concerning souls, both pood and had, in Hades, 
 see that excellent discourse or homily of our Josephus 
 concerning Hades, at the end of the volume. 
 
 + Dean Aldrich reckons up three examples of this ^ftof 
 prophecy, in several of these l-lssens out of Josephus him- 
 self, viz. in the History of the War, b. i. ch. iii. sect. 5. — 
 Judas foretold the death of Antipfonus at Strato's Tower; 
 b. ii. ch. vii. sect 3. Simon foretold that Archelaus 
 should reign but nine or ten years; and Antiq. b. xv. 
 ch. X. sect. 4. 5, Menahem foretold that Herod should 
 be kintr. and should reign tvrannically. and that for more 
 than twer.ty or even thirty years. All which came to 
 pass accordingly. 
 I t Tht-re is so much more here about the Essens than 
 I- is cited from Jcisephus in Porphyry and Kusebius, and yet 
 I so innch less abi>ut the Pharisees and Sadduoees. the two 
 1 other Jewish ftecu. than would naturally be expected in 
 
618 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 good men are only removed into other bodies, 
 —but that the souls of bad men are subject to 
 eternal punishment. But the Sadducees are those 
 that compose the second order, and take away 
 fate entirely, ||id suppose that God is not con- 
 cerned in our doing or not doing what is evil ; 
 and they say, that to act what is good or wliat is 
 evil, is at men's own choice, and that the one or 
 the other belongs so to every one! that they may 
 act as they please. They also take away the 
 belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and 
 the punishments and rewards in Hades. More- 
 over, the Pharisees are friendly to one another, 
 and are for the exercise of concord and regard 
 for the public. But the behaviour of the Sad- 
 ducees one towards another is in some degree 
 wild; and their conversation with those that 
 are of their own party is as barbarous as if 
 they were strangers to them. And this is what 
 I had to say concerning the philosophic sects 
 among the Jews. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DEATH OF SALOME. THE CITIES WHICH 
 HEEOD AND PHILIP BUILT. PILATE OCCASIONS 
 DI8TUEBANCES. TIBERIUS PUTS AGRIPPA IN 
 TO BONDS, BUT CAIUS FREES HIM FROM THEM, 
 AND MAKES HIM KING. HEROD ANTEPAS IS 
 BANISHED. 
 
 ^ 1. And now, as the ethnarchy of Arche- 
 laus was fallen into a Roman province, the 
 other sons of Herod, Philip, and that Herod 
 who was called Antipas, each of them took 
 upon them the administration of their own 
 tetrarchies; for when Salome died, she be- 
 
 proportion to the Essens or third sect, nay, than 
 seems to be referred to by himself elsewhere, that one 
 is tempted to suppose Josephus had at first written 
 less of the one, and more of the two others, tlian his 
 present copies afford us ; as also, that, by some un- 
 known accident, our present copies are here made up 
 of the larger editii)n in the first case, and of the smaller 
 in the second. See the note in Havercamps fditiun. 
 However, what Josephus says in the name of the Pha- 
 risees, that only the souls of good men go out of one 
 body into another, although all souls be immortal, and 
 still the souls of the r ad are liable to eternal punish- 
 ment: as also what he says afterwards, Antiq. b. xviii. 
 chap 1. sect. 8, that the soul's vigour is immortil, and 
 that under the earth they r-eceive rewards or punish- 
 ments according as their lives have been virtuous or 
 vicious in the present world; that to the bad is allot- 
 ted nn eternal prison, but tliat the good are jwrmitted 
 to live again In this world, are nearly agreeable to the 
 doctrines of Christianity. Only Jost-phus's rejection 
 of the return ot the wicked into other bodies, or into 
 this world, which he grants to the good, loi>k8 some- 
 what like a contrarliction to St. Paul"^ account of the 
 doctrine of the Jews, that "themselves allowed that 
 there should be a resurrection of the dead, both of the 
 Just and unjust"— Acts, ch. xxlv. 15; yet because Jo- 
 eephns's account is that of the Pharisees, and St. Paul's 
 that of the Jews in general, and of himself, the contra- 
 diction is not very certain. 
 
 queathed to Julia, the wife of Augustus, both 
 her toparchy, and Jamnia. as also her planta- 
 tion of palm-trees that were in Phasaelis* 
 But when the Roman empire was translated to 
 Tiberius, the son of Julia, upon the death of 
 Augustus, who had reigned fifty-seven years, 
 six months, and two days, both Herod and 
 Philip continued in their tetrarchies ; and the 
 latter of them built the city Cesarea. at the 
 fountains of Jordan, and in the region of Paneas ; 
 as also the city Julias, in the Lower Gaulontis. 
 Herod also built the city Tiberias in Galilee, 
 and in Perea [beyond Jordan] another that was 
 also called Julias. 
 
 2. Now Pilate, who was sent as procurator 
 into Judea by Tiberius, sent by night those im- 
 ages of Caesar that are called Ensigns, into Jeru- 
 salem. This excited a very great tumult among 
 the Jews when it was day ; for those that were 
 near them were astonished at the sight of them, 
 as indications that their laws were trodden un- 
 der |foot : for those laws do not permit any 
 sort of image to be brought into the city. Nay, 
 besides the indignation which the citizens them- 
 selves had at this procedure, a vast number 
 of people came running out of the country. 
 These came zealously to Pilate to Cesarea, and 
 besought him to carry those ensigns out of Jeru- 
 salem, and to preserve them their ancient laws 
 inviolable ; but upon Pilate's denial of their re- 
 quest, they fell down prostrate upon the ground, 
 and continued immoveable in that posture for 
 five days and as many nights. 
 
 3. On the next day Pilate sat upon his tribu- 
 nal, in the open market place, and called to him 
 the multitude, as desirous to give them an an- 
 swer; and then gave a signal to the soldiers that 
 they should all by agreement at once encompass 
 the Jews with their weapons ; so the band of 
 soldiers stood round about the Jews in three 
 ranks. The Jews were under the utmost con- 
 sternation at that unexpected sight. Pilate also 
 said to them, that they should be cut in pieces, 
 unless they would admit of Caesar's images ; and 
 gave intimation to the soldiers to draw their na- 
 ked swords. Hereupon the Jews, as it were at 
 one signal, fell down in vast numbers together, 
 and exposed their necks bare, and cried out tliat 
 they were sooner ready to be slain, than that theii 
 law should be transgressed. Hereupon Pilate 
 was greatly surprised at their prodigious super- 
 stition, and gave order that the ensigns sliould 
 be presently carried out of Jerusalem. 
 
 4. After this he raised another disturbance, 
 by expending that sacred treasure which is 
 
 * We have here, in that Greek MS. which was once 
 Alexander Petaviuss, but it is now in the library at 
 Leyden, two most remarkable additions to the com- 
 mon copies, though deemed worth little remark by 
 the editor; which upon the mention of Tiberius's 
 coming to tlie empire, inserts first the famous testl« 
 mony of Josephus concerning Jesus Christ, Jis it 
 stands verbatim in the Antiq. b. xviii. chap. iii. sect. 
 8, with some parts of that excellent discourhe or hom- 
 ily of Josephus concerning Hades, annexed to the 
 work. But what is here principally to be noted is 
 thl'. that in this homily, Josephus, having just men- 
 tioned Christ, as "G«h1 the Word, and the Judge of 
 the world, appointed bv the Father," &c., adds, that 
 " he had himself elsewhere spoken about him more 
 nicely or partioularly." 
 
en \p. X. 
 
 W \RS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 t51l^ 
 
 palit'l OtiriM' * «!I>PP Hqiiediicts, whereby be 
 hroiubt .tJitur tVoni the (li.-taiK-e of four hun- 
 dred f iiloiigs. At this the multitude had 
 great in(hgiiation ; and when Pilate was come 
 to Jerusaleu), they v^anie about his tribunal, and 
 :nade a cbitnour at it. Now when he was 
 apprised aforehand of this disturbance, he 
 mixed his own soldiers in their armour with 
 the multitude, and ordered them to conceal 
 tlieiiKselves under the habits of private men, 
 and not indeed to use their swords, but with 
 their staves to beat those that made the cia- 
 mour. He then gave the signal from his tri- 
 bunal [to do as he had bidden them]. Now 
 the Jews were so sadly beaten, that many of 
 them perished by the stripes they received, and 
 many of them perished as trodden to death, by 
 which means the multitude was astonished at 
 the calamity of those that were slain, and held 
 their peace. 
 
 o. In the mean time Agrippa, the son of 
 that Aristobulus who had been slain by his 
 father Herod, came to Tiberius to accuse 
 Herod the tetrarch ; who not admitting of his 
 accusation, he staid at Rome, and cultivated a 
 friendship with others of the men of note, but 
 principally with Caius the son of Germanicus, 
 who was then but a private person. Now 
 this Agrippa, at a certain time, feasted Caius; 
 and as he was very complaisant to him on 
 several other accounts, he at length stretched 
 out his hands, and openly wished that Tiberius 
 might die, and that he might quickly see him 
 emperor of the world. This was told to 
 Tiberius by one of Agrippa's domestics; who 
 thereupon was very angry, and ordered 
 Agrippa to be bound, and had him very ill 
 treated in the prison for six months, until 
 Tiberius died, after he had reigned twenty- 
 tuo years, and six months, and three days. 
 
 6. But when Caius was made Caesar, he 
 released Agrippa from his bonds, and made him 
 king of Philip's tetrarchy, who was now dead; 
 but when Agrippa had arrived at that degree 
 of dignity, he inflamed the ambitious desires of 
 Herod the tetrarch, who was chietly induced 
 to hope for the royal authority by his wife 
 Herodias, who reproached him for his sloth, 
 and told him that it was only because he 
 would not sail to Caesar that he was destitute 
 of that great dignity; for since Caesar had 
 made Agrippa a king, from a private person, 
 much more would he advance him from a 
 tetrarch to that dignity. These arguments 
 prevailed with Herod, so that he came to 
 Caius, by whom he was punished for his am- 
 bition, by being banished into Spain; for 
 Agrippa followed him, in order to accuse him ; 
 to whom also Caius gave his tetrarchy, by 
 way of addition. So Herod died in Spain, 
 whither his wife bad followed him. 
 
 • This use of corban or oblation, as here appli»d 
 to the facied money dedicated t(i d' d in the trrHsiiry ff 
 tht temple, illustrites our Saviour's words Mark vii. 
 11.18. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CAIUS COMMANDS THAT HIS STATUE SHOUrU 
 BE SET UP IN THE TEMPLE ITSELF; ANO 
 WHAT PETRONIUS DID THEREUPON. 
 
 § 1. Now Caius Ccesar did so grossly abuse 
 the fortune he had arrived at, as to take him- 
 self to be a god, and to desire to be so called 
 also, and to cut off those of the greatest no- 
 bility out of his country He also extended 
 his impiety as far as the Jews. Accordingly, 
 he sent Petronius with an army to Jerusalem, 
 to place his statues in the temple, "j" and coui- 
 manded him that, in case the Jews would not 
 admit of them, he should slay those that op- 
 posed it, and carry all the rest of the nation 
 into captivity: but God concerned himself 
 with these his commands. However, Petro- 
 nius marched out of Antioch into Judea, 
 with three legions, and many Syrian auxili- 
 aries. Now as to the Jews, some of them 
 could not believe the stories that spake of a 
 war; but those that did believe them were 
 in the utmost distress how to defend them- 
 selves, and the terror diffused itself presently 
 through them all; for the army was already 
 come to Ptolemais. • 
 
 2. This Ptolemais is a maritime city of 
 Galilee, built in the great plain. It is en- 
 compassed with mountains : that on the east 
 side, sixty furlongs off, belongs to Galilee ; 
 but that on the south belongs to Carmel, 
 which is distant from it a hundred and twenty 
 furlongs; and that on the north is the high- 
 est of them all. and is called by the people ot 
 the country. The Ladder of the Tyrians, 
 which is at the distance of a hundred furlongs. 
 The very small river Belus J runs by it, at 
 the distance of two furlongs; near which 
 there is Memnon's monument, § and hath 
 near it a place no larger than a hundred cu- 
 bits, which deserves admiration; for the place 
 is round and hollow, and affords such sand 
 as glass is made of; which place when it hath 
 been emptied by the many ships there loaded, 
 it is filled again by the winds, which bring 
 into it, as it were on purpose, that sand which 
 lay remote, and was no more than bare com- 
 mon sand, while this mine presently turns it 
 into glassy sand; and what is to me still more 
 wonderful, that glassy sand which is super- 
 fluous, and is once removed out of the 
 
 + Tacitns owns tbat Caius commanded the Jews tc 
 place his effigies in their temple, though he be mistaken 
 when he adds that the Jews thereupon took arms. 
 
 t 1 his account of a place near the mouth of the rivei 
 Uelus in f'hcenicia, whence came that sand out of wbi<:b 
 the antients made their glass, is a known thing in his. 
 ti.r^; particularly in 1 acitus and Strabo, and morf 
 largely in Pliny. 
 
 } 1 his Memnon had several monuments; and one rvi 
 th. m appears, both by Strabo and Diodorus, to hav» 
 bt-cn in 8yria, and not improbably in this very plao«. 
 
^20 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK 11. 
 
 place, becomes bare common sand again ; and 
 this is the nature of the place we are speak- 
 ing of. 
 
 3. But now the Jews got together in great 
 numbers, with their wives and children, into 
 that plain that was by Ptolemais, and made 
 supplication to Petronius, first for their laws, 
 and, in the next place, for themselves. So 
 he was prevailed upon by the multitude of 
 the supplicants, and by their supplications, 
 and left his army and statues at Ptolemais, 
 and then went forward into Galilee, and called 
 together the multitude and all the men of 
 note to Tiberias, and showed them the power 
 of the Romans, and the threatenings of Ctesar ; 
 and, besides this, proved that their petition 
 was unreasonable, because, while all the na- 
 tions in subjection to them had placed the 
 images of Cajsar in their several cities, among 
 the rest of their gods, — for them alone to 
 oppose it, was almost like the behaviour of 
 revolters, and was injurious to Caesar. 
 
 4. And when they insisted on their law, 
 and the custom of their country, and bow it 
 was not only not permitted them to make 
 either an image of God, or indeed of a man, 
 and to put it in any despicable part of their 
 country, much less in the temple itself, Petro- 
 nius replied, *' And am not 1 also," said he, 
 "bound to keep the law of my own lord? 
 For if I transgress it, anckspare you, it is but 
 just that I perish; while he that sent me, 
 and not I, will commence a war against you ; 
 for I am under command as well as you." 
 Hereupon the whole multitude cried out, that 
 they were ready to suffer for their law. Pe- 
 tronius then quieted them, and said to them, 
 " Will you then make war against Caesar?" 
 The Jews said, *' We offer sacrifices twice 
 every day for Caesar, and for the Roman peo- 
 ple;" but that if he would place the images 
 among them, he must first sacrifice the whole 
 Jewish nation; and that they were ready to 
 expose themselves, together with their children 
 and wives, to be slain. At this Petronius 
 was astonished and pitied them on account of 
 the inexpressible sense of religion the men 
 were under, and that courage of theirs 
 which made them ready to die for it; so they 
 were disniissed without success. 
 
 5. But on the following days, he got to- 
 gether the men of power privately, and the 
 n»ltitude publicly, and sometimes he used 
 persuasions to them, and sometimes he gave 
 them his advice; but he chiefly made use of 
 threatenings to them, and insisted upon the 
 power of the Romans, and the anger of Caius; 
 and, besides, upon the necessity he was him- 
 self under [to do as he was enjoined]. But 
 ai they could no way be prevailed upon, and 
 he saw that the country was in danger of lying 
 without tillage (for it was about seed-time 
 that the multitude continued for fifty days 
 together idle), so he at last got them together, 
 and told them that it was beit for him to rim- 
 
 some hazard himself; "for either, by the di- 
 vine assistance, I shall prevail with Caesar ; 
 and shall myself escape the danger as well as 
 you, wnich will be matter of joy to us both; 
 or, in case Caesar continue in his rage, I will 
 be ready to expose my own life for such a 
 great number as you are." Whereupon he 
 dismissed the multitude, who prayed greatlv 
 for his prosperity; and he took the army c-ut 
 of Ptolemais, and returned to Antioch; from 
 whence he presently sent an epistle to Cassar, 
 and informed him of the irruption he hud 
 made into Judea, and of the supplications of 
 the nation; and that unless he had a mind to 
 lose both the country and the men in it, he 
 must permit them to keep their law, and must 
 countermand his former injunction. Caius 
 answered that epistle in a violent way, and 
 threatened to have Petronius put to death 
 for his being so tardy in the execution of 
 what he had commanded. But it happened 
 that those who brought Caius's epistle were 
 tossed by a storm, and were detained on the 
 sea for three months, while others that brought 
 the news of Caius's death had a good voyage. 
 Accordingly, Petronius received the epistle 
 concerning Caius, seven-and-tvventy days 
 before he received that which was against 
 himsel£ 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CONCERNING THE GOVERNMENT OT CLAU- 
 DIUS, AND THE flEIGN OF AGRIPPA. CON- 
 CERNING THE DEATH OF AGIilPPA AND 
 OF HEROD, AND WHAT CHILDREN TPIEY 
 BOTH LEFT BEHIND THEM. 
 
 § 1. Now when Caius had reigned three years 
 and eight months, and had been slain by 
 treachery, Claudius was hurried away by the 
 armies that were at Rome to take the govern- 
 ment upon him; but the senate, upon the 
 reference of the consuls, Sentius Saturninus, 
 and Pomponius Secundus, gave orders to the 
 three regiments of soldiers that staid with 
 them, to keep the city quiet, and went up 
 into the Capitol in great numbers, and resolved 
 to oppose Claudius by force, on account of 
 the barbarous treatUient they had met with 
 from Caius; and they determined either to 
 settle the nation under an aristocracy, as they 
 had of old been governed, or at least to choose 
 by vote such a one for emperor as might be 
 worthy of it. 
 
 2. Now it happened, that at this time 
 Agrippa pojounied at Rome, and that both 
 the senate called him to consult with them, 
 and at the same time Claudius sent for him 
 out of the camp, (but he n)ight be serviceable 
 to him, as he should have occasion for his 
 service. So he, pricriving that Claudius was 
 in effect made C'Ks.ir alivady, went to him« 
 
C«AP. Xf. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 621 
 
 who sent him, as an ambassador to the senate 
 to let them know what his intentions were : 
 that, in the first place, it was without his seek- 
 ing, that he was hurried away by the soldiers; 
 ♦noreover, that he thought it was not just to 
 desert those soldiers in such their zeal for 
 him, and that if he should do so, his own for- 
 tune would be an uncertainty; tor that it was 
 a dangerous case to have been once called to 
 the empire. He added farther, that he would 
 administer the government as a good prince, 
 «nd not like a tyrant; for that he would be 
 satisfied with the honour of being called Em- 
 peror, but ux)uld, in every one of his actions, 
 permit them all to give him their advice; for 
 that although he bad not been by nature for 
 moderation, yet would the death of Caius 
 afford him a sufficient demonstration how 
 soberly he ought to act in that station. 
 
 3. This message was delivered by Agrippa: 
 to which the senate replied, that since they 
 had an army, and the wisest counsels on their 
 side, they would not endure a voluntary sla- 
 very. When Claudius heard what answer the 
 senate had made, he sent Agrippa to them 
 again, with the following message: — That he 
 could not bear the thoughts of betraying thera 
 that had given their oaths to be true t(J him ; 
 and that he saw he must fight, though unwil- 
 lingly, against such as he had no mind to 
 fight; that, however [if it did come to that], 
 it was proper to choose a place without the 
 city for the war, because it was not agreeable 
 to piety to pollute the temples of their own 
 city with the blood of their own countrymen, 
 and this only on occasion of their imprudent 
 conduct. And when Agrippa had heard this 
 message, he delivered it to the senators. 
 
 4. In the mean time, one of the soldiers 
 belonging to the senate drew his sword, and 
 cried out, " O my fellow-soldiers, what is the 
 meaning of this choice of ours, to kill our 
 brethren, and to use violence to our kindred 
 that are with Claudius! while we may have 
 him for our emperor whom no one can blame, 
 and who hath so many just reasons [to lay 
 claim to tke government] ! and this with 
 regard tOi;4hose agamst whom we are going to 
 fight 1" When be had said this, he marched 
 through tne whole senate, and carried all the 
 soldiers along with him. Upon which all the 
 patricians were immediately in a great fright 
 at their being thus deserted. ■ But still, be- 
 cause there appeared no other way whither 
 they could turn themselves for deliverance, 
 they made haste the same way with the sol- 
 diers, and went to Claudius. But those that 
 had the greatest luck in flattering the good 
 fortune of Claudius betimes, met them before 
 the walls with their naked swords, and there 
 was reason to fear that those that came first 
 might have been in danger, before Claudius 
 co;i!d know what violence the soldiers were 
 gring to offer them, had not Agrippa run 
 Dciore, and told bi|ia what a dangerous thing 
 
 they were going about, and that unless he 
 restrained the violence of these men, who 
 were in a fit of naadness against the patriciang, • 
 he would lose those on whose account it was 
 most desirable to rule, and would be emperor 
 over a desert. 
 
 5. When Claudius heard this he restraiT^d 
 the violence of the soldiery, and received the 
 senate into the camp, and treated them after 
 an obliging manner, and went out with them 
 presently, to offer their thank-offerings to God, 
 which were proper upon his first coming to 
 the empire. Moreover, he bestowed on Agrip- 
 pa his whole paternal kingdom immediately, 
 and added to it, besides those countries that 
 had been given by Augustus to Herod, Tra- 
 chonitis, and Auranitis, and still besides these, 
 that kingdom which was called the kingdom 
 of Lysanias. This gift he declared to the 
 people by a decree, but ordered the magis- 
 trates to have the donation engraved on 
 taldes ot" brass, and to be set up in the Capi- 
 tol. He bestowed on his brother Herod, who 
 was also his son-in-law, by marrying [his 
 daughter] Bernice, the kingdom of Chalcis. 
 
 6. So now riches flowed in to Agrippa by 
 his enjoyment of so large a dominion ; nor 
 did he abuse the money he had on small mat- 
 ters, but he began to encompass Jerusalem 
 with such a wall, which, had it been brought 
 to perfection, had made it impracticable for the 
 Romans to take it by siege; but his death, 
 which happened at Cesarea, before he had 
 raised the walls to their due height, prevented 
 him. He had then reigned three years, as he 
 had governed his tetrarchies three other years. 
 He left behind him three daughters, born to 
 him by Cypres ; Bernice, Mariamne, and 
 Drusilla; and a son born of the same mother, 
 whose name was Agrippa: he was left a very 
 young child, so that Claudius made the coun- 
 try a Roman province, and sent Cuspius Fa- 
 dus to be its procurator, and after him Tibe- 
 rius Alexander, who, making no alterations 
 of the ancient laws, kept the nation in tran- 
 quillity. Now after this, Herod the king of 
 Chalcis died, and left behind him two sons, 
 born to him of his brother's daughter Bernice ; 
 their names were Bernicianus, and Hyrcanus. 
 [He also left behind him] Aristobulus, whom 
 he had by his former wife Mariamfte. There 
 was besides, another brother of his that died a 
 private person, his name was also Aristobulus, 
 who left behind him a daughter, whose name 
 was Jotape : and these, as I have formerly 
 said, were the children of Aristobulus, the son 
 of Herod ; which Aristobnlus and Alexander 
 were born to Herod by Mariamne, and wre 
 slain by him. But as for Alexander's poste- 
 rity, they reigned in Armenia. 
 
622 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK ir. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MANY TUMULTS UNDER CUMANUS, WHICH 
 WERE COMPOSED BY QUADUATUS. FELIX IS 
 PKi CURi»TOB OF JUDEA. AGttlPFA IS ADVAN- 
 CED FROM CHALCIS TO A GREATER KINGDOM. 
 
 § 1. Now after the death of Herod, king of 
 Chalcis, Claudius set Agrippa, the son of 
 A^rippa, over his uncle's kingdom, while 
 Cuujanus took upon him the office of procu- 
 rator of the rest, which was a Roman province, 
 and therein he succeeded Alexander ; under 
 which Cumanus began the troubles, and the 
 Jews* ruin came on; for when the multitude 
 were co#)e together to Jerusalem, to the feast 
 of unleavened bread, and a Roman cohort stood 
 over the cloisters of the temple (for they 
 always were armed and kept guard at the 
 festivals, to prevent any innovation which the 
 multitude thus gathered together might make), 
 one of the soldiers pulled back his garment, 
 and cowering down after an indecent manner, 
 turned his breech to the Jews, and spake such 
 words as you might expect upon such a pos- 
 ture. At this the whole multitude had indig- 
 nation, and made a clamour to Cumanus, that 
 he would punish the soldier; while the rasher 
 part of the youth, and such as were naturally 
 the most tumultuous fell to fighting, and 
 caught up stones, and threw them at the sol- 
 diers. Upon which Cumanus was afraid lest 
 all the people should make an assault upon 
 him, and sent to call for more armed men, 
 who, when they came in great numbers into 
 the cloisters, the Jews were in a very great 
 consternation ; and being beaten out of the 
 temple, they ran into the city; and the vio- 
 lence with which they crowded to get out was 
 so great, that they trod upon each other, and 
 squeezed one another, till ten thousand of them 
 were killed, insomuch that this feast became 
 the cause of mourning to the whole nation, and 
 every family lamented [their own relations]. 
 2. Now there followed after this another 
 calamity, w hich arose from a tumult made by 
 robbers; for at the public road of Beth-horen, 
 one Stephen, a servant of Caesar, carried some 
 furniture, which the robbers fell upon and 
 spizfd. Upon this Cumanus sent men to go 
 rourd about to the neighbouring villages, and 
 to l;ring their inhabitants to him bound, as 
 lay-jig it to their charge that they had not pur- 
 sued after the thieves, and caught them. Now 
 here it was that a certain soldier, finding the 
 »acred book of the law, tore it to pieces, and 
 threw it into the fire.' Pereupon the Jews 
 were in great disorder, as if their whole coun- 
 try were in a flame, and assembled themselves 
 
 • Rrland notet here, that the Talmud, in recotjntins 
 trn sad accident* for which the Jews oiigiit to rend their 
 rarroenU, reckont this for owr-" ^Vben they hear that 
 
 so many of them by their zeal for their relipiorr, 
 as by an engine; and ran together with united 
 clamour to Cesarea, to Cumanus, and made 
 supplication to him' that he would not over- 
 look this man, who had offered such an affront 
 to God, and to his law ; but punish him for 
 what he had done. Accordingly, he perceiviifg 
 that the multitude would not be quiet unless 
 they bad a comfortable answer from him, gave 
 order that the soldier should be brought, and 
 drawn through those that required to have 
 him punished to execution; which being done, 
 the Jews went their wavs. 
 
 3. After this there happened a fight between 
 the Galileans and the Samaritans; it happened 
 at a village called Gemon, which is situate in 
 the great plain of Samaria; where as a great 
 number of Jews were going up to Jerusalem 
 to the feast [of tabernacles], a certain Gali- 
 lean was slain ; and besides a vast number 
 of people ran together out of Galilee, in order 
 to fight with the Samaritans. But the prin- 
 cipal men among them came to Cumanus, and 
 besought him that, before the evil became 
 incurable, he would come into Galilee, and 
 bring the authors of this murder to punish- 
 ment ;^ for that there was no other way to 
 make the multitude separate, without coming 
 to blows. However, Cumanus postponed 
 their supplications to the other affairs he was 
 then about, and sent tie petitioners away 
 without success. 
 
 4. But when the affair of this murder 
 came to be told at Jerusalem, it put the mul- 
 titude ijito disorder, and they left the feast; 
 and without any generals to conduct them, 
 they marched with great violence to Samaria; 
 nor would they be ruled by any of the ma- 
 gistrates that were set over them ; but they 
 were managed by one Eleazar, the son of 
 Dineus, and by Alexander, in these their 
 thievish and seditious attempts. These men 
 fell upon those that were in the neighbourhood 
 of the Acrabatene toparchy, and slew them, 
 without sparing any age, and set the villages 
 on fire. 
 
 5. But Cumanus took one troop of horse- 
 men, called the Troop of Sebaste, out of Ce- 
 sarea, and came to the assistance of those that 
 were spoiled; he also seized upon a great num- 
 ber of those that followed Eleazar, and slew 
 more of them. And as for the rest of the 
 multitu<ie of those that went so zealously to 
 light with the Samaritans, the rulers of Jeru- 
 salem ran out, clothed with sackcloth, and 
 having ashes on their heads^ and begged of 
 them to go their ways, lest by their attempt 
 to revenge themselves upon the Samaritans, 
 they should provoke the Romans to come 
 against Jerusalem; to have compassion upon 
 their country and temple, their children and 
 their wives, and not bring the utmost dangers 
 of destruction upon 4 hem, in order to avenge 
 themselves upon one Galilean only. Th^ 
 Jew« complied with these persuasions of 
 
CHAP. XITI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 623 
 
 tlieirs, and dispersed themselves; but still 
 there were a great number who betook them- 
 selves to robbing, in hopes of impunity; and 
 rapines and insurrection^ of the bolder sort 
 happened over the whole country. And the 
 men of power among the Samaritans came to 
 Tyre, to Ummidius Quadratus,* the presi- 
 dent of Syria, and desired that they that had 
 laid waste the country might be punished : 
 the great men also of the Jews, and Jonathan 
 the son of Ananus, the high-priest, came 
 thither, and said that the Samaritans were the 
 beginiiers of the disturbance, on account of 
 that murder they had committed; and that 
 Cumanus had given occasion to what had hap- 
 pened, by his unwillingness to punish the 
 original authors of that murder. 
 
 6. But Quadratas put both parties off for 
 that time, and told them, that when he should 
 cotne to those places he would make a diligent 
 inquiry after every circumstance. After which 
 he went to Cesarea, and crucified all those 
 whom Cumanus had taken alive; and when 
 from thence he was come to the city Lydda, 
 he beard the affair of the Samaritans, and sent 
 for eighteen of the Jews, whom he had learned 
 to have been concerned in that fight, and be- 
 headed them; but he sent two otheis of those 
 that were of the greatest power among them, 
 and both Jonathan and Ananias, the high- 
 priests, as also Ananus the son of this Ana- 
 nias, and certain others that were eminent 
 among the Jews, to Caesar; as be did in like 
 maiuier by the most illustrious of the Sama- 
 ritans. He also ordered that Cumanus [the 
 procurator] and Celer the tributie should sail 
 to Rome, in order to give an account of what 
 had been done to C^sar. When he had fin- 
 islii (1 these matters, he went up from Lydda 
 t(» Jerusalem, a;id finding the multitude cele- 
 brating their feast of unleavened bread with- 
 out any tumult, he returned to Antioch. 
 
 7. Now when Caesar at Rome had heard 
 what Cumanus and the Samaritans had to 
 say (where it was done in the hearing of 
 Ay^rippa, who zealously espoused the cause of 
 the Jews, as in like maimer many of the great 
 men stood by Cumanus), he condemned the 
 Samaritans, and commanded that three of the 
 most powerful men among them should he 
 put to death: he banished Cumanus, and sent 
 Celer bound to Jerusalem, to be delivered 
 over to the Jews to be tormented f that he 
 should be drawn round the city, and then 
 beheaded. 
 
 8. After this Caesar sent Felix, f the bro- 
 
 • This Ummidius. or Numidins, or. as Tacitus calls 
 him. Vinidius Quadratus, is mentioned in an ancient in- 
 sr.ription. still preserved, jw Spanheiin here informs us, 
 wliicb calls him Ummidivs Quadratus. 
 
 * lake the character of this Felix (who is well known) 
 Irom the Acts of the Aposties, particularly from his 
 trtmhlini: when St. Paul discoursed of "fighteousness. 
 chastity, and judjrmen^t to come" (Actsxxiv. ii); and 
 no w .iidi r, when we hs\ve el.sewhere seeH that ht- lived 
 in adultery with On'silit. another rnanN wife (Aniiq b 
 «*. ch. rii. sect. i\, in 'be word." «f 'I aritus, produei d 
 
 ther of Pallas, to be procurator of Galilee, 
 and Samaria, and Perea, and removed Agrippa 
 from Chalcis unto a greater kingdom; for 
 he gave him the tetrarchy which had belonged 
 to Philip, which contained Batanea, Tratiio- 
 nitisjand Gaulonitis: he added to it the king- 
 dom of Lysanias, and that province [Abilene] 
 which Varus had governed. But Claudius 
 himself, when he had administered the govern- 
 ment thirteen years, eight months, and twenty 
 days, died, and left Nero to be his successor 
 in the empire, whom he had adopted l)y his 
 wife Agrippina's delusions, in order to be his 
 successor, although he had a son of his 0"vn 
 whose name was Britannicus, by Messalina 
 his former wife, and a daughter whose name 
 was Octavia, whom he had married to Nero; 
 he had also another daughter by Petina, whose 
 name was Antonia. 
 
 CHAPTER XHI. 
 
 NERO ADDS FOUR CITIES TO AGRIPPa's KING- 
 DOM; BUT THE OTHER PARTS OF JUDEA 
 WERE UNDER FELIX. THE DISTURBANCES 
 WHICH WERE RAISED BY THE SlCARII, THE 
 MAGICIANS, AND AN EGYPTIAN FALSE 
 PROPHET. THE JEWS AND SYRIANS HAVE 
 A CONTEST AT CESAREA. 
 
 § 1. Now as to the many things in which 
 Nero acted like a madman, out of the extra- 
 vagant degree of the felicity and riches which 
 he enjoyed, and by that means used his good 
 fortune to the injury of others; and after 
 what manner he slew his brother, aiul wife, 
 and mother; from whom his barbarity spread 
 itself to others that were most nearly related 
 to him; and how, at last, he was so distracted 
 that he became an actor in the scenes, and 
 
 here by De;in Aldrich: " Felix exercised (says Tacitus) 
 the authority of a king, with the di.«position of a slave, 
 and rehin^upon the great power of his brother Pallas 
 al court, thouiiht he miyht sately he guilty of all kinds 
 of wicked practices." Observe also the time when he 
 was made procuiator. a. D. o2; that when St. Paul 
 pleaded his cause beior^ him, A. D. 58. he might have 
 been "'many years ;i judge unto that nation," as St. Paul 
 savs he had then been (Acts xxiv. lU), but as to what 
 Tacitus here says, thai before the death of Cumanu.s, 
 Felix was procurator over Samaria only, it does not 
 wtll agree wilh St. Paul's words, who would hardly 
 have called Samaria a Jewish nation. In short, since 
 what lacitus here says is about countries very remote 
 from Home, where he lived: since what he sa>sof iwo 
 Roman procurators, the one over Galilee, the othei 
 over Samaria at the same time, is without all example 
 elsewhere; and since Joseplms. who lived at that very 
 time in J udea, appears to have known nothing of this 
 procuratorsliip of Felix, before the death of C'linutnns, 
 — 1 much suspect the story itself as nothing better thaa 
 a mistake of 1 acitus. especially when it seems not only 
 omittfd. hut contradicted b\ Josephus, as any one may 
 find that compares their histories toj^ether. Possibljr 
 Felix misht have been a sub .rdinaie jndce among the 
 Jews sometime before, under Cumai iis; but that he was 
 in earnest a procurator of Samaria before. 1 do not be- 
 lieve. Bishop Pearson, as well as Bishop I.lovd. quote 
 thi* acc'juni, biU with a doubtful clause ; Si fidrs To- 
 citn. •• If we *iiav be'iev.. laci'us" Pears. Annul. Pau- 
 liii. puo- t<. Marsha l'HTi.''-i. »i k.u W. 
 
624 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 upon the tbeatre, — ^I omit to say any more 
 about them, because there are writers enough 
 npoi! those subjects everywhere; but I shall 
 turn mvself to those actions of his time in 
 wriich the Jews were concerned. 
 
 2. Nero therefore bestowed the kingdom 
 of the Lesser Armenia upon Aristobulus, 
 Herod's* son, and he added to Agrippa's 
 kingdom four cities, with the toparchies to 
 tiiein belonging: I mean Abila, and that 
 Julias which is in Perea, Tarichea also, and 
 Tiberias of Galilee; but over the rest of Judea 
 he made Felix procurator. This Felix took 
 Eleazar the arch robber, and many that were 
 with him, alive, when they had ravaged the 
 country for twenty years together, and sent 
 them to Rome; but as to the number of the 
 robbers whom he caused to be crucified, and of 
 those who were caught among them, and 
 whom he brought to punishment, they were a 
 multitude not to be enumerated. 
 
 3. When the country was purged of these, 
 there sprang up another sort of robbers in 
 
 /"Jerusalem, which were called Sicarii, who 
 slew men in the day-time, and in the midst of 
 the city; this they did chiefly at the festivals, 
 vhen they mingled themselves among the 
 multitude, and concealed daggers under their 
 garments, with which they stabbed those that 
 were their enemies; and when any fell down 
 dead, the murderers became a part of those 
 that had indignation against them ; by which 
 means they appeared persons of such reputa- 
 tion, that they could by no means be discover- 
 ed. The first man who was slain by them 
 was Jonathan the high-priest, after whose 
 death many were slain every day, while the 
 fear men were in of being so served, was more 
 afflicting than the calamity itself; and while 
 every body expected death every hour, as men 
 do in war, so men were obliged to look be- 
 fore them, and to take notice of their enemies 
 at a great distance; nor, if their friends were 
 coming to them, durst they trust them any 
 longer; but, in the midst of their suspicions 
 and guarding of themselves, they were slain. 
 Such was the celerity of the plotters against 
 them, and so cunning was their contriv- 
 ance. 
 
 4. There was also another body of wicked 
 men gotten together, not so impure in their 
 actions, but more wicked in their intentions, 
 who laid waste the happy state of the city no 
 less than did these murderers. These were 
 such men as deceived and deluded the people 
 under pretence of divine inspiration, but 
 were for procuring innovations and changes 
 of the government; and these prevailed with 
 the multitued to act like madmen, and went 
 before them into the wilderness, as pretend- 
 ing that God would there show them the 
 signals of liberty; but Felix thought this 
 procedure was to be the beginning of a revolt ; 
 
 • i «. Herod, kiog of Cbulcis. 
 
 so he sent some horsemen and footmen, both 
 armed, who destroyed a great number of 
 them. 
 
 5. But there wa% an Egyptian false pro- 
 phet that did the Jews more mischief than 
 the former ; for he was a cheat, and pretended 
 to be a prophet also, and got together thirty 
 thousand men that were deluded by him ; 
 these he led round about from the wilderness 
 to the mount which was called the Mount of 
 Olives, and was ready to break into Jerusa- 
 lem by force from that place; and if he could 
 but once conquer the Roman garrison and 
 the people, he intended to domineer over 
 them by the assistance of those guards of his 
 that were to break into the city with him; 
 but Felix prevented his attempt, and met him 
 with his Roman soldiers, while all the people 
 assisted him in his attack upon them, insomuch 
 that, when it came to a battle, the Egyptian 
 ran away, with a few others, while the 
 greatest part of those that were with him were 
 either destroyed or taken alive; but the rest 
 of the multitude were dispersed every one to 
 their own homes and there concealed them- 
 selves. 
 
 6. Now, when these were quieted, it hap- 
 pened, as it does in a diseased body, that an- 
 other part was subject to an inflammation ; foi 
 a company of deceivers and robbers got to- 
 gether, and persuaded the Jews to revolt, 
 and exhorted them to assert their liberty, in- 
 flicting death on those that continued in obe- 
 dience to the Roman government, and paying, 
 that such as willingly chose slavery ought to 
 be forced from such their desired inclinations; 
 for they parted themselves into different 
 bodies, and lay in wait up and down the 
 country, and plundered the houses of the great 
 men, and slew the men themselves, and set the 
 villages on fire; and this till all Judea was 
 filled with the effects of their madness. And 
 thus the flame was every day more and more 
 blown up, till it came to a direct war. 
 
 7. There was also another disturbance at 
 Cesarea: — those Jews who were mixed with 
 the Syrians that lived there, raising a tumult 
 against them. The Jews pretended that the 
 city was theirs, and said that he who built it 
 was a Jew; meaning king Herod. The 
 Syrians confessed also that its builder was a 
 Jew; but they still said, however, that the 
 city was a Grecian city; for that he who set 
 up statues and temples in it could not design 
 it for Jews. On which account both parties 
 had a contest with one another; and this con- 
 test increased so much, that it came at last to 
 arms, and the bolder sort of them marched 
 out to fight; for the elders of the Jews were 
 not able to put a stop to their own people 
 that were disposed to be tumultuous, an«l the 
 Greeks thought it a shame for them to be 
 overcome by the Jews. Now these Jewf 
 exceeded the others in riches and titrengtti of 
 
CHAP. XIV. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 625 
 
 body ; but tbe Grecian part bad tbe advantage 
 or assistance from the soldiery; for the great- 
 est part of the Roman garrison was raised 
 out of Syria; and being thus related to the 
 
 Syrian part, they were ready to assist it 
 
 However, the governors of the city were con- 
 cerned to keep all quiet, and whenever they 
 caught those that were most for fighting on 
 either sidp they punished them with stripes 
 and bonds. Yet did not the sufferings of 
 those that were caught affright the remainder, 
 or make them desist; bu*^^ they were still 
 more and more exasperated, and deeper en- 
 gaged in the sedition. And as Felix came 
 once into the market-place, and commanded 
 the Jews, when they had beaten the Syrians, 
 to go their ways, and threatened them if they 
 would not, and they would not obey him, he 
 sent his soldiers out upon them and slew a 
 great many of them, upon which it fell out 
 that what they had was plundered. And as 
 the sedition still continued, he chose out the 
 most eminent men on both sides as ambassa- 
 dors to Nero, to argue about their several 
 privileges. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FESTUS SUCCEEDS FELIX, WHO IS SUCCEEDED 
 BY ALBINUS, AS HE IS BY FLORUS; WHO, BY 
 THE BARBARITY OF HIS GOVERNMENT, 
 FORCES THE JEWS INTO THE WAR. 
 
 § I. Now it was that Festus succeeded Felix 
 as procurator, and made it his business to 
 correct those that made disturbances in the 
 country. So he caught the greatest part of 
 the robbers, and destroyed a great many of 
 them. But then Albinus, who succeeded 
 Festus, did not execute his office as the other 
 bad done; nor was there any sort of wicked- 
 ness that could be named but he had a band 
 in it. Accordingly, he did not only, in his 
 political capacity, steal and plunder every 
 one's substance, nor did he only burden the 
 whole nation with taxes, but he permitted the 
 relations of such as w ere in prison for robbery, 
 and had been laid there, either by the senate 
 of every city, or by the former procurators, 
 to redeem them for money; and nobody 
 remained in the prisons as a malefactor but 
 he who gave bim nothing. At this time it 
 was that the enterprises of the seditious at 
 Jerusalem were very formidable; the princi- 
 pal men among them purchasing leave of Al- 
 binus to go on with their seditious practices; 
 while that part of the people who delighted 
 in disturbances joined themselves to such as 
 bad fellowship with Albinus; and every one 
 of these wicked wretches was encompassed 
 with his own band of robbers, whiie he him- 
 self, like an arch robber, or a tyrant, made a 
 bgure among his company, and abused bis 
 authority over those about him, in order to 
 
 plunder tbose that lived quietly. The effect 
 of which was this, that those who lost their 
 goods were forced to hold their peare, when 
 they had reason to show great indignation at 
 what they had suffered ; but those who hid 
 escaped, were forced to flatter him that de- 
 served to be punished, out of the fear they 
 were in of suffering equally with the others. 
 Upon the whole nobody durst speak their 
 minds, for tyranny was generally tolerated ; 
 and at this time were those seeds sown which 
 brought the city to destruction. 
 
 2. And although such was the character of 
 Albinus, yet did Gessius Florus,* who suc- 
 ceeded him, demonstrate him to have been a 
 most excellent person, upon the comparison : 
 for the former did the greatest part of his ro- 
 gueries in private, and with a sort of dissimu- 
 lation ; but Gessius did his unjust actions to 
 the harm of the nation after a pompous man 
 ner ; and as though he had been sent as an 
 executioner to punish condemned malefactors, 
 he omitted no sort of rapine, or of vexation : 
 where the case was really pitiable, be was 
 most barbarous; and in things of the greatest 
 turpitude, he was most impudent; nor could 
 any one outdo bim in disguising the truth ; 
 nor could any one contrive more subtle ways 
 of deceit than he did. He indeed thought it 
 hv*- A petty offence to get money out of single 
 persons; so he spoiled whole cities, and ruined 
 entire bodies of men at once, and did almost 
 publicly proclaim it all the country over, that 
 they had liberty given them to turn robbers, 
 upon this condition, that he might go shares 
 with them in the spoils. Accordingly, this 
 his greediness of gain was the occasion that 
 entire toparchies were brought to desolation; 
 and a great many of tbe people left their own 
 country, and fled into foreign provinces. 
 
 3. And truly, while Cestius Gullus was pre- 
 sident of the province of Syria, nobody durst do 
 so much as send an embassage to him against 
 Florus; but when he was come to Jerusalem, 
 upon the approach of the feast of unleavened 
 bread, the people came about him not fewer 
 in number than three millionsf; these be- 
 sought him to commiserate the calamities of 
 their nation, and cried out upon Florus as the 
 bane of their country. But as be was pre- 
 
 * Not long after this beginning of Floras, the wickedest 
 of all the Roman procurators of J lulea. and the immediate 
 occasion of the Jewish war, at the twelfth year of Nero, 
 and the seventeenth of Agrippa. or a.d. 66. the history in 
 thetwentybooksofJosephus'8 Antiquities ends; althungh 
 .losephus did not finish these books till the thirteenth of 
 Domitian, or ad. 9;3; twenty-seven years afterward; as 
 he did not finish their Appendix, containing an account 
 of his own life, till Agrippa was dead, which happened 
 in the third year of Trajan, or A.D. 100; aa 1 have several 
 times observed before. 
 
 + Here we may note, that three millions of the Jews 
 werfe present at the passover. a D. 65; which confirms 
 what Josephus elsewhere informs us of. that at a pa.ss- 
 over a little later, they counting two hundred and fifty-six 
 thousand five hundred paschal lambs; which, at twelve 
 to each lamb, which is no immoderate calculation, come 
 to three millions seventy-eight thousand. ' Sec b. vi. cb. 
 ix. sects. 
 
 ^ -a. 
 
626 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 sent, and stood by Cestius, he laughed at their 
 words. However, Cestius, when he had 
 quieted the multitude, and had assured them 
 tliat he would take care that Floras should 
 hereafter treat them in a more gentle manner, 
 returned to Antioch ; Florus also conducted 
 him as far as Cesarea, and deluded him, 
 though he had at that very time the purpose 
 of showing his anger at the nation, and pro- 
 curing a war upon them, by which means alone 
 it was that he supposed he might conceal his 
 enormities; for he expected that, if the peace 
 continued, he should have the Jews for his 
 accusers before Caesar ; but that if he could 
 procure them to make a revolt, he should 
 divert their laying lesser crimes to his charge, 
 by a misery that was so much greater ; he 
 therefore did every day augment their calami- 
 ties, in order to induce them to a rebellion. 
 
 4. Now at this time it happened that the 
 Grecians at Ceserea had been too hard for 
 the Jews, and had obtained of Nero the go- 
 vernment of the city, and had brought the 
 judicial determination: at the same time began 
 the war, in tfie twelfth year of the reign of 
 Nero, and the seventeenth of the reign of 
 Agrippa, in the month of Artemisius [Jyar]. 
 Now the occasion of this war was by no means 
 proportionable to those heavy calamities which 
 it brought upon us; for the Jews that dwelt at 
 Cesarea had a synagogue near the place, whose 
 owner was a certain Cesarean Greek : the Jews 
 had endeavoured frequently to have purchased 
 the possession of the place, and had offered 
 many times its value for its price; but as the 
 owner overlooked their offers, so did he raise 
 other buildings upon the place, in way of affront 
 to them, and made working-shops of them, 
 and left them but a narrow passage, and such 
 as was very troublesome for them to go along 
 to their synagogue; whereupon the warmer 
 part of the Jewish youth went hastily to the 
 workmen, and forbade them to build there ; 
 but as Florus would not permit them to use 
 force, the great men of the Jews, with John 
 the publican, being in the utmost distress 
 what to do, persuaded Florus, with the offer 
 of eight talents, to hinder the work. He 
 then, being intent upon nothing but getting 
 money, promised he would do for them all 
 they desired of him, and then went away from 
 Cesarea to Sebaste, and left the sedition to 
 take its full course, as if he had sold a license 
 to the Jews to fight it out. 
 
 5. Now on the next day, which was the 
 seventh day of the week, when the Jews were 
 crowding apace to their synagogue, a certain 
 man of Cesarea, of a seditious temper, got an 
 earthen vessel, and set it with the bottom up- 
 ward, at the entrance of that synagogue, and 
 sacrificed birds.* This thing provoked" the 
 
 • Tak« here Dr. Iludnnn'* very pertinent note. " By 
 this action." rays he, •' the Jiillinu of a bird over an ear- 
 then Tewel, the Jews were expoKed an a leproiin people; 
 tor tliAt WM to be done by the law in tiic cleansing of a 
 
 Jews to an incurable degree, because their 
 laws were affronted, and the place was poU 
 luted; whereupon the sober and moderate part 
 of the Jews thought it proper to have recourse 
 to their governors again, while the seditious 
 part, and such as were in the fervour of theii 
 
 youth, were vehemently inflamed to fight 
 
 The seditious also among [the Gentiles of] 
 Cesarea stood ready for the same purpose , 
 for they had, by agreement, sent the mnii to 
 sacrifice beforehand [as ready to support him] ; 
 so that it soon came to blows. Hereui)on 
 Jucundus, the master of the horse, who was 
 ordered to prevent the fight, came thither, and 
 took away the earthen vessel, and endeavoured 
 to put a stop to the sedition; but when he 
 was overcome by the violence of the people 
 of Cesarea, the Jews caught up their books 
 of the law, and retired to Narbata, which 
 was a place to them belonging, distant from 
 Cesarea sixty furlongs. But John, and twelve 
 of the principal men with him, went to Flo- 
 rus, to Sebaste, and made a lamentable com- 
 plaint of their case, and besought him to help 
 them : and with all possible decency, put 
 him in mind of the eight talents they had 
 given him ; but he had the men seized upon, 
 and put in prison, and accused them foi 
 carrying the books of the law out of Ce- 
 sarea. 
 
 6. Moreover, as to the citizens of Jerusa. 
 lem, although they took this matter very ill, 
 yet did they restrain their passion; but Flo- 
 rus acted herein as if he had been hired, and 
 blew up the war into a flame, and sent sonie 
 to take seventeen talents out of the sacred 
 treasure, and pretended that Caesar wanted 
 them. At this the people were in confusion 
 immediately, and ran together to the temple, 
 with prodigious clamours, and called upon 
 Cffisar by name, and besought him to free 
 them from the tyranny of Florus. Some also 
 of the seditious Cried out upon Florus, and 
 cast the greatest repronches upon him, and 
 carried a basket about, and begged some spilis, 
 of money for him, as for one that was desti- 
 tute of possessions, and in a miserable condi- 
 tion. Yet was not he m* de ashamed hereby 
 of his love of money, but was more enraged, 
 and provoked to get still more ; and instead 
 of coming to Cesarea, as he ought to have 
 done, and quenching the flame of war, which « 
 was beginning thence, and so taking away I 
 the occasion of any disturbances, on which I 
 account it was that he had received a reward I 
 [of eight talents], be marched hastily with ' ^ 
 an army of horsemen and footmen against 
 Jerusalem, that he might gain his will by the ^ 
 arms of the Romans, Jind n)ight, by his terror 
 and byjiis threatenings, bring the city into 
 subjection. 
 
 leper (Levit. rh. xiv). It is also known that the Gem:Ie» 
 reproached »he .li-ws as subject to the leprosy, j>nd ho 
 lieved that lhe> vvrredriven out of I'jrypton that nrcount 
 This that eoiment person, IVlr. Keluud, SUKVCsted to me.** 
 
•-riAP. XV. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 627 
 
 7. But the people ware desirous of making 
 Florus ashamed of his attempt, and met bis 
 soldiers with acclatnations, and put themselves 
 in order to recei\»" him very submissively; 
 but he sent Capito, a centurion, belorehand, 
 with fifty soldiers, to bid them go back, and 
 not now make a show of receiving him in an 
 obliging manner, whom they had so foully 
 reproached before ; and said that it was in- 
 cumbent on them, in case they had generous 
 souls, and were free speakers, to jest upon 
 him to his face, and appear to be lovers of 
 liberty, not only in words, but with their 
 weapons also. With this message was the 
 multitude amazed ; and upon the coming of 
 Capito's horsemen into the midst of them, 
 they were dispersed before they could salute 
 Florus, or manifest their submissive behaviour 
 to him. Accoruingly, they retired to their 
 own houses, and spent that night ia fear and 
 confusion of face. 
 
 8. Now at this time Florus took up his 
 quarters at the palace ; and on the next day 
 he had his tribunal set before it, and sat upon 
 it, when the high-priests, and the men of 
 power, and those of the greatest eminence in 
 the city, came all before that tribunal; upon 
 which Florus commanded them to deliver up 
 to him those that had reproached him, and 
 told them that they should themselves partake 
 of the vengeance to them belonging, if they 
 did not produce the criminals; but these de- 
 monstrated that the people were peaceably dis- 
 posed, and they begged forgiveness for those 
 that had spoken amiss ; for that it was no 
 wonder at all that in so great a naultitude 
 there should be some more daring than they 
 ought to be, and by reason of their younger 
 age, foolish also ; and that it was impossible 
 
 f. to distinguish those that offended from the 
 
 rest, while every one was sorry for what he 
 had done, and denied it out of fear of what 
 would follow : that he ought, however, to 
 provide for the peace of the nation, and to 
 take such counsels as might preserve the city 
 for the Romans, and rather, for the sake of a 
 great number of iimocent people, to forgive a 
 few that were guilty, than for the sake of a 
 few of the wicked, to put so large and good a 
 body of men into disorder. 
 
 9. Florus was more provoked at this, and 
 called out aloud to the soldiers to plunder 
 that which was called the Upper Market 
 Place, and to slay such as they met with. So 
 the soldiers, taking this exhortation of their 
 commander fh a sense agreeable to their de- 
 sire of gain, did not only plunder the place 
 they were sent to, but forcing themselves into 
 
 ' every house, they slew its inhabitants; so the 
 citizens fled along the narrow lanes, and the 
 soldiers slew those that they caught, and no 
 method of plunder was omitted; they also 
 caught many of the quiet people, and brought 
 them before Florus. uhoiu he tirst chastised 
 with stripes, und then crucified. Accordingly, 
 
 the whole number of those that were destroyed 
 that day, with their wives and chihlren (for 
 they did not spare even the infants them- 
 selves), was about three thousand and six 
 hundred; and what made this calamity the 
 heavier, was this new method of Roman bar- 
 barity ; for Florus ventured then to do what 
 no one had done before, that is, to ha\e men 
 of the equestrian order whipped,* and nailed 
 to the cross before his tribunal; who, although 
 thl^ were by birth Jews, yet were they of 
 Roman dignity notwithstanding. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CON'CEKNING BERNICE's PETITION TO FLORUS, 
 TO SPARE THE JEWS, BUT IN VAIN; AS 
 ALSO HOW, AFTER THE SEDITIOUS FLAME 
 WAS QUENCHED, IT WAS KINDLED AGAIN 
 BY FLORUS. 
 
 § 1. About this very time king Agrippa was 
 going to Alexandria, to congratulate Alexun- 
 der upon his having obtained the government 
 of Egypt from Nero; but as his sister Ber- 
 nice was come to Jerusalem,- and saw the 
 wicked practices of the soldiers, she was 
 sorely affected at it, and frequently sent the 
 masters of her horse and her guards to Florus, 
 and begged of him to leave off these slaugh- 
 ters; but he would not comply with her 
 request, nor have any regard either to the 
 multitude of those already slain, or to the 
 nobility of her that interceded, but only to the 
 advantage he should make by his plundering ; 
 nay, this violence of the soldiers broke out to 
 such a degree of madness, that it spent itself 
 on the queen herself; for they did not only 
 torment and destroy those whom they had 
 caught under her very eyes, but indeed bad 
 killed herself also, unless she had prevented 
 them by flying to the palace, and had staid 
 there all night with her guai-ds, which she had 
 about her for fear of an insult from the sol- 
 diers. Now she dwelt then at Jerusalem, in 
 order to perform a vowf which she had made 
 
 * Here we have examples of native Jews who were of 
 the equestrian order among the Romans, and so ought 
 never to have been whipped orcrucilied, according to the 
 Roman laws, t^ee almost the like case ia St. Paul him- 
 self. Acts xxii. 23 — -29. 
 
 + This vow which Bernice (here and elsewhere called 
 Queen, not only as a daughter and sister to two kings, 
 Agrippa the Great, and Aijrippa junior, but the widow 
 ot Herod, king of Chalcis) came now to accomplish at 
 Jerusalem, was not that of a Nazarite, but such a one 
 as religious Jews used to make, in hopes of any deliver- 
 ance from a disease or other danger, as Josephus here 
 intimates. However, these thirty days' abode at Jeru- 
 salem, for fasting and preparation against the oblation 
 of a proper sacrifice, seems to be too long, unless it 
 were wholly v»»luntary in this great lady. It is not re- 
 quired in trie law uf .Moses relating to Nazaritt-s. Numb, 
 vi. ; and is very ditferent from St. Paul's time for such 
 preparation, which was but one day. Acts xxi. 2ti. So 
 we want already the contuinatiou of the Antiquities to 
 ailurd us light here, as they have hitherto done, ou so 
 many uctasions elsewhere. Perhaps in this age tne tra- 
 ditions uf the Pharisees had obliged the Jews to this 
 degree ol rigour, not only as to these thirty days j>n>> 
 
628 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK n 
 
 to God ; for it is usual with those that had 
 been either afflicted with a distemper, or with 
 a-.-.y other distresses, to make vows ; and for 
 'Jurty days before they are to offer their sacri- 
 fices, to abstain from wine, and to shave the 
 hair of their head. Which things Bernice 
 was now performing, and stood barefoot before 
 Florus's tribunal, and besought him [to spare 
 the Jews]. Yet could she neither have reve- 
 rence paid to her, nor could she escape «kh- 
 oat some danger of being slain herself. 
 
 2. This happened upon the sixteenth day 
 of the month Artemisius [Jyar]. Now on 
 the next day, tlie multitude, who were in a 
 great agony, ran together to the upper mar- 
 ket-place, and made the loudest lamentations 
 for those that had perished ; and the greatest 
 part of the cries were such as reflected on 
 Florus ; at which the men of power were 
 affrighted, together with the high- priests, and 
 rent their garments, and fell down before each 
 of them, and besought them to leave off, and 
 not to provoke Florus to some incurable pro- 
 cedure, besides what they had already suffered. 
 Accordingly, the multitude complied imme- 
 diately, out of reverence to those that had de- 
 sired it of th^m, and out of the hope they had 
 that Florus would do them no more injuries. 
 
 3. So Florus was troubled that the distur- 
 bances were over, and endeavoured to kindle 
 that tlame again, and sent for the high-priests, 
 with the other eminent persons, and said, the 
 only demonstration that the people would not 
 make any other innovations should be this, — 
 that they must go out and meet the soldiers 
 that were ascending from Cesarea, whence 
 two cohorts were coming; and while the^e 
 men were exhorting the multitude so to do, 
 he sent beforehand, and gave directions to the 
 centuiions of the cohorts that they should 
 give notice to those that were under them, not 
 to return the Jews* salutations; and that if 
 they made any reply to his disadvantage, they 
 should make use of their weapons. Now the 
 high-priests assembled the multitude in the 
 temple, and desFred them to go and meet the 
 Romans, and to salute the cohorts very civilly, 
 before their miserable case should become in- 
 curable. Now the seditious part would not 
 romply with these persuasions; but the con- 
 •^ideration of those that had been destroyed 
 n;ade them incline to those that were the 
 boldest for action. 
 
 paration, but as to the Roing barefoot all that time, — 
 wliicli here Bernice submilted to also. For we know 
 tbat as God's and our Saviour's yok» is usually easy, 
 and his burden comparatively liijnt. in such positive 
 
 injunctions. Mat. xi. 30, so did the Scribes and I'hari 
 sees sometimt-s "bind upon mt-n htayy hardens, and 
 KrifTous to b« borne." even when they themselves 
 '•would not touch them with one of their fmuers," 
 Mat. xxiii. 4; Luke xi. 40. However, NoKlins well 
 observes. I)e Herod. No. 4(J4, 414. that Juvenui, in his 
 •ixth satire, alludes to this remarkable |>enanre or siib- 
 mi»Mou of this Bernice to Jewish discipline, and jests 
 upon her for it; as do Tacitus, Dio, Suetonius, and 
 Kex'.us AureHus, meotion ber a« one well known at 
 
 4. At this time it was that every priest, 
 and every servant of God, brought out the 
 holy vessel.', and the ornamental garment* 
 wherein they used to minister in sacred things. 
 The harpers also, and the singers of hymn;!, 
 came out with their rnstruinents of music, 
 and fell down before the multitude, and beg- 
 ged of them that they would preserve those 
 holy ornaments to them, and not to provoke 
 the Romans to can y off those saeied treasures. 
 You might also see then the high-priests them- 
 selves, with dust sprinkled in great plenty 
 upon their heads, with bosoms deprived of 
 any covering but what was rent ; these be- 
 sought every one of the eminent men by 
 name, and the multitude in common, that 
 they would not for a small offence betray their 
 country to those that were desirous to have 
 it laid waste; sayhig, "What benefit will it 
 bring to the soldiers to have a salutation from 
 the Jews? or what amendment of your affairs 
 will it bring you, if you do not now go out 
 to meet them ? and that if they saluted them 
 civilly, all handle would be cut off from Flo- 
 rus to begin a war; that they should thereby 
 gain their country, and freedom from all far- 
 ther sufferings ; and that, besides, it would 
 be a sign of great want of command of them- 
 selves, if they should yield to a few seditious 
 persons, while it was fitter for them who were 
 so great a people, to force the others to act 
 soberly." 
 
 5. By these persuasions, which they used 
 to the multitude and to the seditious, they 
 restrained some by threatenings^ and others 
 by -the reverence that was paid them. After 
 this they led them out, and they met the sol- 
 diers quietly, and after a composed manner, 
 and when they were come up with them, they 
 saluted them; but when they made noanswer, 
 the seditious exclaimed against Florus, which 
 was the signal givei> for falling upon them. 
 The soldiers therefore encompassed thetu 
 presently, and struck them with their cluhs, 
 and as they fled away, the horsemen trampled 
 them down ; so that a great many fell down 
 dead by the strokes of the Romans, and more 
 by their own violence in crushing one another. 
 Now there was a terrible crowding about 
 the gates, and while every body was making 
 haste to get before another, the flight of 
 them all was retarded, and a terrible de- 
 struction there was among those that fell 
 down, for they were suffocated, and broken 
 to pieces by the multitude of those that were 
 uppermost ; nor could any of tlSem Iw distin- 
 gui&hed by his relations, in onier to the care 
 of his funeral ; the soldiers also who heat 
 them fell upon those whom they overtook 
 without showing them any mercy, aiui thrust 
 the multitude through the place called Beze« 
 tha,* a.s they forced their way, i« order to get 
 
 • I take this Bezetha to be that small hill adjnin.rMi 
 to the Boi tlf aid* nt U)« Utmpla, wbaatua wma tb* Un^ 
 
CHAP. XVI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 629 
 
 in and seize upon the temple, ^nd the tower 
 Antoniu. Florus also, being desirous to get 
 those places into his possession, brought such, 
 as were with him out of the king's palace, and 
 would have compelled them to get as far as the 
 citadel [Antonia]; but his attempt failed, for 
 the people immediately turned back upon him, 
 and stopped the violence of his attempt ; and as 
 they stood upon the tops of their houses they 
 threw their darts at the Romans, who, as they 
 were sorely galled thereby, because those wea- 
 pons came from above, and they were not able 
 to make a passage through the multitude, 
 which stopped up the narrow passages, they 
 retired to the camp which was at the palace. 
 6. But for the seditious, they were afraid 
 lest Florus should come again, and get pos- 
 session of the temple, through Antonia; so 
 they got immediately upon those cloisters of 
 the temple that joined to Antonia, and cut 
 them down. This cooled the avarice of Flo- 
 rus; for whereas he was eager to obtain the 
 treasures of Go(r[in the temple], and on that 
 account was desirous of getting into Antonia, 
 as soon as the cloisters were broken down he 
 left otf his attempt; he then sent for the high- 
 priests and the sanhedrim, and told them that 
 be was indeed himself going out of the city, 
 but that he would leave them as large a gar- 
 rison as they shouM desire. Hereupon they 
 promised*lhat they would make no innova- 
 tions, in case he would leave them one band; 
 but not that which had fought with the Jews, 
 because the multitude bore ill-will against 
 that band on account of \\hat they had suf- 
 fered from it; so he changed the band as 
 they desired, and with the rest of his forces 
 returned to Caesarea. - 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CESTIUS SENDS NEOPi LITANUS THE TRIBUNE 
 TO SEE IN WHAT CONDITION THE AFFAIRS 
 OF THE JEWS WERE. AGRIPPA MAKES A 
 SPEECH TO THE PEOPLE OF THE JEWS, THAT 
 HE MAY DIVERT THEM FROM THEIR INTEN- 
 TIONS OF MAKING WAR WITH THE ROMANS. 
 
 § 1. However, Florus contrived another way 
 to oblige the Jews to begin the war, and sent 
 to Cestius and accused the Jews falsely of re- 
 volting [from the Roman government], and 
 imputed the beginning of the former fight to 
 them, and pretended they had been the authors 
 
 pital with five porticoes or cloisters, and beneath which 
 was tlie sheep-pool of Bcthesda; into which an angel or 
 messeuger, at a certain season, descended ; and where he 
 or they, who were the " first put into the pool," were 
 cured. John v. 1. &c. This situation of Hezetha, in Jo- 
 •ephus, on the north side of the temple, and not far off 
 the tower Antonia, exactly agrees to the place of the 
 same pool at this day; only Uie remaining cloisters are 
 but three. See Man nd re 1. page 106. The entire build- 
 ings seem to have been Ojitled the New City; and this 
 part, wliere was ihe hospital, peculiarly Bezetha or Be- 
 Iheada. Se* cb. xix. sect.4. 
 
 of that disturbance, wherein they were only 
 the sufferers. Yet were not the governors of 
 Jerusalem silent upon this occasion, but did 
 themselves write to Cestius, as did Bernic/3 
 also, about the illegal practices of which Floris 
 had been guilty against the city; who, upo.i 
 reading both accounts, consulted with his cap- 
 tains [what he should do]. Now soma of 
 them thought it best for Ce^'tius to go up with 
 hU army, either to punish the revolt, if it was 
 rWk, or to settle the Roman affairs on a surer 
 foundation, if the Jews continued quiet under 
 them; but he thought it best himself to send 
 one of his intimate friends beforehajid, to see 
 the state of affairs, and to give him a faithful 
 account of the intentions of the Jews. Accord- 
 ingly, he sent one of his tribunes, whose name 
 was Neopolitanus, who met with king Agrippa 
 as he was returning from Alexandria, at Jam- 
 nia, and told him who it was that sent him, and 
 on what errands he vvas sent. 
 
 2. And here it was that the high-priests 
 and men of power among the Jews, as well 
 as the sanhedrim, came to congratulate the 
 king [upon his safe returti]; and after they 
 had paid him their respects, they lamented 
 their own calamities, and related to him 
 what barbarous treatment they had met with 
 from Florus. At which barbarity Agrippa 
 had great indignation, but transferred, after a 
 subtle manner, his anger towards those Jews 
 whom he really pitied, that he might beat 
 dovvn their high thoughts of themselves, and 
 would have them believe that they had not 
 been so unjustly treated, in order to dissuade 
 them from avenging themselves. So these 
 great men, as of better understanding than the 
 rest, and desirous of peace, because of the pos- 
 sessions they had, understood that this rebuke 
 which they king gave them was intended for 
 their good; but as to the people, they came 
 sixty furlongs out of Jerusalem, and congra- 
 tulated both Agrippa and Neopolitanus; but 
 the wjves of those that had been slain came 
 running first of all and lamenting. The peo- 
 ple also, when they heard their mourning, fell 
 into lamentations also, and besought Agrippa 
 to assist them : they also cried out to Neopoli- 
 tanus, and complained of the many miseries 
 they had endured under Florus; and they 
 showed them, when they were come into the 
 city, how the market-place was made desolate, 
 and the houses plundered. They then per- 
 suaded Neopolitanus, by the means of Agrippa, 
 that he would walk round the city, with only 
 one servant, as far as Siloam, that he might 
 inform himself that the Jews submitted to all 
 the rest of the Romans, and were only disy. 
 pleased at Florus, by reason of his exceeding 
 barbarity to them. So he walked round, and 
 had sufficient experience of the good temper 
 the people were in, and then went u-p to the 
 temple, where he called the multitude together, 
 and highly commended them for their fidelity 
 to the Romans, and earnestly exhorted them to 
 
630 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK 11. 
 
 keep thet peace; and having performed such 
 parts of divine worship at the temple as he was 
 allowed to do, Le returned to Cestius. 
 
 3. But as for the multitude of the Jews, 
 they addressed themselves to the king, and to 
 the high-priests, and desired they might have 
 leave to send ambassadors to Nero against 
 Florus, and not by their silence afford a sus- 
 picion that they had been the occasion of such 
 great slaughters as had been made, and were 
 disposed to revolt, alleging that they sltibld 
 seem to have been the first beginners of the 
 war, if they did not prevent the report by 
 showing who it was that began it; and it ap- 
 peared openly that they would not be quiet, if 
 any body should hinder them trom sending such 
 an embassage. But Agrippa, although he 
 thought it too dangerous a thing for them to 
 appoint men to go as the accusers of Florus, 
 yet did he not think it fit fcr him to overlook 
 them, as they were 'n a disposition for war. 
 He therefore called the multitude together into 
 a large gallery, and placed his sister Bernice in 
 the houseofthe Asamoneansjthat she might be 
 seen by them (which house was over the gal- 
 lery, at the passage to the upper city, where 
 the bridge joined the temple to the gallery), 
 and spake to them as follows: — 
 
 4. * " Had I perceived that you were all 
 zealously disposed to go to war with the Ro- 
 mans, and that the purer and more sincere 
 part of the people did not propose to live in 
 peace, I had not come out to you, nor been 
 so bold as to give you counsel; for all dis- 
 courses that tend to persuade men to do what 
 they ought to do is superfluous, when the 
 hearers are agreed to do the contrary. But 
 because some are earnest to go to war because 
 they are young, and v'thout experience of 
 the miseries it brings; and because some are 
 
 • In this speech of king Agrippa we have an authen- 
 tic account of the extent and strength of the Roman 
 empire when the Jewish war began. And this speech, 
 with other circumstances in Josephus. demonstrates how 
 wise and I ow great a person Agrippa was. and why Jo- 
 sephus ekewliere calls him Oce.v,ua<riuTocTOs,Oi vndsl won- 
 derful, or admirable man, Contr A p. i. 9. He is the 
 sanie Agrippa wlio said to Paul, "Almost thou persuad- 
 est me to Le a C hristian," Actsxxvi.iS; and of whom 
 JSt. Paul SHid, " He was fxnert in all the customs and. 
 questions of the Jews," v. 3. hee another intimation of 
 the limits ol the same Roman empire, Of the War. b. 
 iii. ch. V. sect. 7. But what seems to me very remark- 
 able here is this, that when Jo^iephus, in imitation of 
 the Greeks and Romans, tor wliose use he wrote bis An- 
 tiquities, did himself frequently compose the speeches 
 which he put into their mouths, they arpear. by the 
 politeness of their composition, and their flij^hts of 
 orHtory, to be not the real t^peeche* of the persons con- 
 cerned, who usually were no orators, but of his own 
 elegant composition. 1 he speech before us is of ano- 
 ther naiure. full of undeniable facts, and composed in 
 a plain and unartful, but moving way ; so it appears to 
 be king Agrippa'sown speech, and to have been giver 
 Josephus by Agrippa himself, with whom .(otiephus had 
 the (jreatest fritndship. Nor may tte omit AgrippaV 
 constant doctrine here, that this boman empire was 
 raided and stipported by Divit e Providence; and that 
 therefore it was in vain for the Jews, or any others, to 
 think of destroying it. Nor may we negle'^t to take 
 notice of Agrippa'n solemn apptal to the anq^els, here 
 used; the likeappexls to whirh we b«ve in t't. Paul, 1 
 Tim V, 21. and by the »p<istlt-s in ceiieral. in the form 
 ol the ordination oi h thopr, C'on^titut Apost. viii.4. 
 
 for it, out of an unreasonable expectation of 
 regaining their liberty, and because others 
 hope to get by it, and are therefore earnestly 
 bent upon it; that in the confusion of your 
 affairs they may gain v\hat belongs to tlios-e 
 that are too weak to resist them, 1 have 
 thought proper to get you all together, and 
 to say to you what I think to be for your ad- 
 vantage; that so the former may grow wiser, 
 and change their minds, and that the best men 
 may come to no harm by the ill conduct ot 
 some others. And let not any one be tumul- 
 tuous against me, in case what they hear me 
 say do not please them; for as to those that 
 admit of no cure, but are resolved upon a 
 revolt, it will still be in their power to retain 
 the same sentiments after my exhortation is 
 over; but still my discourse will fall to the 
 ground, even with relation to those that have 
 a mind to hear me, tunless you will all keep 
 silence. I am well aware that many make a 
 tragical exclamation concerning the injuries 
 that have been offered you by your procura- 
 tors, and concerning the glorious advantages 
 of liberty; but before I begin the inquiry, 
 who you are that must go to war, and v\ho 
 they are against whom you must fight, — I 
 shall first separate those pretences that are by 
 some connected together; for if you aim at 
 avenging yourselves on those that have done 
 you injury, why do you pretend tlirc to be a 
 war for recovering your liberty? but if you 
 think all servitude intolerable, to what pur- 
 pose serve your complaints against your par- 
 ticular governors? for if they treated you 
 with moderation, it would still be equally an 
 unworthy thing to be in servitude. Consider 
 now the several cases that may be supposed, 
 how little occasion there is for your going to 
 war. Your first occasion is the accusation"< 
 you have to make against your procurators • 
 now here you ought to be submissive t6 
 those in authority, and not give them any • 
 provocation: but when you reproach men 
 greatly for small offences, you excite those 
 whom you reproach to be your ad\ersaries; 
 for this will only make them leave off hurt- 
 ing you privately, and with some degree of 
 modesty, and to lay what you have waste 
 openly. Kow nothing so much damps the 
 force of strokes as bearing them with pa- 
 tience; and the quietness of those who are 
 injured, diverts the injurious persons from 
 afflicting. But let us take it for granted, that 
 the Roman ministers are injurious to you, j 
 and are incurably severe; yet are they not all ,1 
 the Romans who thus injure you; nor hath 
 Caesar, against whom you are going to make 
 war, injured you: it is not by their command 
 that any wicked governor is sent to you; for 
 they who are in t he west cannot see those that 
 are in the east; nor indeed is it easy for them 
 there, even to bear what is done in these parts. 
 Now it is absurd to n)»ke war with a great 
 manv for the sake of one; to do so with such 
 
CHAP. xvr. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 631 
 
 cnigfaty people, for a small cause; and this 
 when these people are not able to know of 
 what you complain : nay, such crimes as we 
 complain of may ^oon be corrected, for the 
 Bame procurator will not continue for ever ; 
 and probable it is that the successors will 
 come with more moderate inclinations. But 
 as for war, if it be once begun, it is not easily 
 laid down again, nor borne without calamities 
 coming therewith. However, as to the de- 
 sire of recovering your liberty, it is unsea- 
 gonuble to indulge it so late; whereas you 
 ought to have laboured earnestly in old time 
 that you might never have lost it: for the 
 first experience of slavery was hard to be en- 
 dured, and the struggle that you might never 
 have been subject to it would have been just; 
 but that slave who hath been once brought 
 into subjection, and then runs away, is rather 
 a refractory slave tlian a lover of liberty; for 
 it was then the proper time for doiiig all that 
 was possible, that you might never have 
 admitted the Romans [into your city] when 
 Porapey came first into the country. But so 
 it was, that our ancestors and their kings, 
 who were in much better circumstances than 
 we are. both as to money and [strong] bodies, 
 and [valiant] souls, did not bear the onset of 
 a small body of the Roman army. And yet 
 you who have not accustomed yourselves to 
 obedience from one generafion to another, 
 and who are so much inferior to those who 
 first submitted in your circumstances, will 
 venture to oppose the entire empire of the 
 Romans ; while those Athenians, who, in or- 
 der to preserve the liberty of Greece, did once 
 set fire to their own city; who pursued Xerxes, 
 that proud prince, when he sailed upon the 
 sea; atul could not be contained. by the seas, 
 hut condu«ted such an army as was too broad 
 for Europe ; and made him run away like a 
 fugitive in a single ship, and brake so great a 
 part of Asia at the Lesser Sakmis, are yet at 
 this time servants to the Romans; and those 
 injunctions which are sent from Italy, become 
 laws to the principal governing city of Greece, 
 — Those Lacedemonians also, who got the 
 great victories at Thermopylae and Platea, 
 and had Agesilaus [for their king]» an(l 
 searched every corner of A^i;i, are contented 
 to admit the same lords. These Macedoni- 
 uns also, who still fancy what irreat men their 
 Philip and Alexander were, and see that the 
 latter had promised them the empire over the 
 world, these bear so great a change, and pay 
 their obedience to those whom fortune hath 
 advanced in their stead. — Moreover, ten thou- 
 sand other nations there are, who had greater 
 reason than we to claim their entire liberty, and 
 yet do submit. You are the only people who 
 ' think it a disgrace to be servants to those to 
 whom all the world hath submitted. What sort 
 of an army do you relv on ? What are the 
 arms you depend on? Where is your fleet that 
 may seize upon the Roman seas ? and where 
 
 are those treasures which may be sufTicient for 
 your undertakings? Do you suppose, 1 pray 
 you, that you are to make war with the Eg\ p- 
 tians, and with the Arabians? Will you not 
 carefully redect upon the Roman empire? 
 Will you not estimate your own weakness? 
 Hath not your army been often beaten even 
 by your neighbouring nations, while the fK)we 
 of the Romans is invincible in all parts ot th 
 habitalHe earth ? nay, rather, they seek fi? 
 somewhat still beyond that; for all EuplirH- 
 tes is not a sufficient boiuidary for them on 
 the east side, nor the Danube on the north; 
 and for their soutbern limit, Libya hath been 
 searched over by them, as far as countries 
 uninhal)ited, as is Cadiz their limit on the west; 
 nay, indeed, they have sought for another 
 habitable earth beyond the ocean, and have 
 carried their arms as far as such British 
 islands as were never known before. What 
 therefore, do you pretend to? Are you richer 
 than the Gauls, stronger than the Gerinms, 
 wiser than the Greeks, more numerous than 
 all men upon the habitable earth ? — What 
 confidence is it that elevates you to oppose 
 the Romans? Perhaps it will be said. It is 
 hard to endure slavery. Yes; but hovv much 
 harder is it to the Greeks, who were es- 
 teemed the noblest of all people under the 
 sun ! These, though they inhabit in a large 
 country, are in subjection to six burwiles of 
 Roman rods. It is the same case with the 
 Macedonians, who have juster reason to claim 
 their liberty than you have. What is the case 
 of five hundred cities of Asia? do they not 
 submit to a single governor, and to the con- 
 sular bundle of rods? What need 1 speak of 
 the Heniochi, and Colchi, and the nation of 
 Tauri, those that inhabit the Bosphorus, and 
 the nations about Pontus, and Meotis, who 
 formerly knew not so much as a lord of their 
 own, but are now subject to three thousand 
 armed men, and where forty long ships keep 
 the sea in peace, which before was not navi- 
 gible, and very tempestuous? How strorig a 
 plea may Bithynia, and Cappadocia, .ind the 
 people of Pamphylia. the Lycians, and Cili- 
 cians, put in for liberty! but they are made 
 tributary without an army. What are the 
 circumstances of the Thracians, whose coun- 
 try extends in breadth five days' journey, and 
 in length seven, and is of a much more harsh 
 constitution, and much more defensible than 
 yours, and, bv the rigour of its cold, suffi- 
 cient to keep otf armies from attacking them? 
 do not they submit to two thousand men of 
 the Roman garrisons? Are not the Illyrians, 
 who inhabit the country adjoining, as far as 
 Dalmatia and the Danube, governed by barely 
 two legions? by which also they put a stop 
 to the incursions of the Dacians; and for 
 the Dalmatians, who have made such fre- 
 quent insurrections, in order to. regain their 
 liberty, and who could never before be so 
 thoroughly subdued, but that they always 
 
632 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK n. 
 
 gathered their forces together again, and re- 
 volted, yet are they now very quiet under one 
 Uoman legion. Moreover, if great advan- 
 tages might provoke any people to revolt, the 
 QhuIs might do it best of all, as being so 
 thoroughly walled round by nature ; on the 
 east side by the Alps, on the north by the 
 river Rhine, on the south by the Pyrenean 
 mountains, and on the west by the ocean. 
 Now, although these Gauls have siich ob- 
 stacles before them to prevent any attack 
 upon them, and have no fewer than three 
 hundred and five nations among them, nay, 
 have, as one may say, the fountains of domes- 
 tic happiness within themselves, and send out 
 plentiful streams of happiness over almost the 
 whole world, these bear to be tributary to 
 the Romans, and derive their prosperous con- 
 dition from them ; and they undergo this, not 
 ueeause they are of effeminate minds, or be- 
 cause they are of an ignoble stock, as having 
 borne a war of eighty years, in order to pre- 
 serve their liberty; but by reason of the great 
 regard they have to the power of the Romans, 
 and their good fortune, which is of greater 
 efficacy than their arms. These Gauls, there- 
 fore, are kept in servitude by twelve hundred 
 soldiers, who are hardly so many as are their 
 cities; nor hath the gold dug out of the mines 
 of Spain been sufficient for the support of a 
 war to preserve their liberty, nor could their 
 vast distance from the Romans by land and 
 by sea do it ; nor could the martial tribes of 
 the Lusitanians and Spaniards escape ; no 
 more could the ocean, with its tide, which 
 yet was terrible to the ancient inhabitants. 
 Nay, the Romans have extended their arms 
 beyond the pillars of Hercules, and have 
 walked among the clouds, upon the Pyrenean 
 mountains, and have subdued these nations ; 
 and one legion is a sufficient guard for these 
 peop/le, although they were so hard to be 
 conquered, and at a distance so remote from 
 Rome. Who is there among you that hath 
 not heard of the great number of the Ger- 
 mans? You have, to be sure, yourselves seen 
 them to be strong and tall, and that frequent- 
 ly, since the Romans have them among their 
 captives everywhere; yet these Germans 
 who dwell in an immense country, who have 
 minds greater than their bodies, and a soul 
 that despises death, and who are in rage 
 more fierce than wild beasts, have the Rhine 
 for the boundary of their enterprises, and are 
 tamed by eight Roman legions. Such of 
 them as were taken captives* became their ser- 
 vants; and the rest of the entire nation were 
 obliged to save themselves by flight. Do you 
 also, who depend on the walls of Jerusalem, 
 consider what a wall the Britons had : for the 
 Romans sailed away to them, and subdued 
 them while they were encompassed by the 
 ocean, and inhabited an island that is not less 
 than [the continent of] this habitable earth, 
 Mid fcur legions aie a sufficient guard to so 
 
 large an island : and why should I speak 
 much more about this matter, while the Par- 
 thians, that most warlike body of men, and 
 lords of so many nations, and encompassed 
 with such mighty forces, send hostages to the 
 Romans ; whereby you may see, if you please, 
 even in Italy, the noblest nation of the east, 
 under the notion of peace, submitting to serve 
 them. Now, when almost all people under 
 the sun submit to the Roman arms, will you 
 be the only people that make war against 
 them ? and this without regarding the fate 
 of the Carthaginians, who, in the midst of 
 their brags of the great Hannibal, and the 
 nobility of their Phenician original, fell by 
 the hand of Scipio. Nor ind(^ed have the 
 Cyrenians, derived from the Lacedemonians, 
 nor the Marmaridae, a nation extended as far 
 as the regions uninhabitable for want of water, 
 nor have the Syrtes, a place terrible to such as 
 barely hear it described, the Nassamons and 
 Moors, and the immense multitude of the 
 Numidians, been able to put a stop to the 
 Roman valour ; and as for the third part of 
 the habitable earth [Africa], whose nations 
 are so many, that it is not easy to number 
 them, and which is bounded by the Atlantic 
 sea, and the Pillars of Hercules, and feeds an 
 innumerable multitude of Ethiopians, as far 
 as the Red Sea, these have the Romans sub- 
 dued entirely. And besides the annual fruits 
 of the earth, which maintain the multitude of 
 the Romans for eight months in the year, this, 
 over and above, pays all sorts of tribute, and 
 affords revenues suitable to the necessities of 
 the government. Nor do they, like you, 
 esteem such injunctions a disgrace to them, 
 although they have but one Roman legion that 
 abides among them ; and indeed what occa- 
 sion is there for showing you the power of the 
 Romans over remote countries, when it is so 
 easy to learn it from Egypt, in your neigh- 
 bourhood? This country is extended as far 
 as the Ethiopians, and Arabia the Happy, and 
 borders upon India; it hath seven millions 
 five hundred thousand men, besides the inha- 
 bitants of Alexandria, as may be learned from 
 the revenue of the poll-tax ; yet it is not 
 ashamed to submit to the Roman government, 
 although it hath Alexandria as a grand temp- 
 tation to a revolt, by reason it is so full of 
 people and of riches, and is besides exceeding 
 large, its length being thirty furlongs, and its 
 breadth no less than tep ; and it pays more 
 tribute to the Romans in one month than you 
 do in a year : nay, besides what it pays in 
 money, it sends corn to Rome that sii[)port8 
 it for four months [in the year] : it is also 
 walled round on all sides, either by almost 
 impassable deserts, or seas that hnv: no 
 havens, or by rivers, or by lakes; yet have 
 none of these thing-s been found too strong 
 for the Roman good fortune : however, two 
 legions that lie in that <;ity -trc a bridle bi>th 
 for the remoter parts of Kgypt, and for tho 
 
CHAP. XVI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 633 
 
 parts inhabited by the more noble Macedo- 
 nians. Where then are those people whom 
 you are to have for your auxiliaries? Must 
 they come from the parts of the world that are 
 uninhabited? for all that are in the habitable 
 ^ earth are [under the] Romans. — Unless ai»y 
 of you extend his hopes as far as beyond the 
 Euphrates, and suppose that those of your 
 own nation that dwell in Adiabene will come 
 to your assistance (but certainly these will 
 not embarrass themselves with an unjustifiable 
 war, nor, if they should follow suih ill ad- 
 vice, will the Parthians permit them so to 
 do) ; for it is their concern to maintain the 
 truce that is between them and the Romans, 
 and they will be supposed to break the cove- 
 nants between them, if any under their go- 
 verrunent march against the Romans. What 
 remains, therefore, is this, that you have re- 
 course to divine assistance; but this is already 
 on the side of the Romans ; for it is impos- 
 sible that so vast an empir.e should be settled 
 without God's providence. Reflect upon it, 
 how impossible it is for your zealous observa- 
 tion of your religious customs to be here pre- 
 served, which are hard to be observed, even 
 when you tight with those whom you are able 
 to conquer; and how can you then most of 
 all hope for God's assistance, when, by being 
 forced to transgress his law, you will make 
 him turn his face from you ? and if you do 
 observe the custom of the Sabbath-days, and 
 will not be prevailed on to do any thing there- 
 on, you will easily be taken, as were your 
 forefathers by Pompey, who was the busiest 
 in his siege on those days on which the be- 
 sieged rested ; but if in time of war you 
 transgress the law of your country, I cannot 
 tell on whose account you will afterward go 
 to war ; for your concern is but one, that 
 you do nothing against any of your forefa- 
 thers ; and ho<v will you call upon God to 
 assist you, when you are voluntarily trans- 
 gressing against his religion? Now, all men 
 that go to war, do it either as depending on 
 divine or on human assistance; but since your 
 going to war will cut off both those assis- 
 tances, those that are for going to war choose 
 evident destruction. What hinders you from 
 flaying your children and wives with your 
 own hands, and burning this most excellent 
 uative city of yours? for by this mad prank 
 you will, however, escape the reproach of 
 being beaten ; but it were best, O my friends, 
 it were best, while the vessel is still in the 
 haven, to foresee the impending storm, and not 
 to sec sail out of the port into the middle of the 
 nuniciuies; for we justly pity those who fall 
 intogreat misfortunes without foreseeingthem; 
 but for him who rushes into manifest ruin, he 
 gains reproaches [instead of commiseration]. 
 But certainly no one can imagine that you 
 can enter into a war as by an agreement,' or 
 that when the Romans have got you under 
 their power, they will use you with modera- 
 
 tion, or will not rather, for an example to other 
 nations, burn your holy city, and utterly de- 
 stroy your whole nation; for those of you who 
 shall survive the war will not be able to find 
 a place whither to flee, since all men have the 
 Romans for their lords already, or are afraid 
 they shall have hereafter. Nay, indeed, the 
 danger concerns not those Jews that dwiU 
 here only, but those of them who dwell in 
 other cities also; for there is no people upon 
 the habitable earth which hlTve not some por- 
 tion of you among them, whom your enemies 
 will slay, in case you go to war, and on that 
 account also; and so every city which hath 
 Jews in it will be filled with slaughter for the 
 sake only of a few men, and they who slay 
 them will be pardoned ; but if that slaughter 
 be not made by them, consider ho»v wicked a 
 thing it is to take arms against those that are 
 so kind to you. Have pity, therefore, if not 
 on your children and wives, yet upon this 
 your metropolis, and its sacred walls ; spare 
 the temple, and preserve the holy hou^e, with 
 its holy furniture, for yourselves; for if the 
 Romans get you under their power, they will 
 no longer abstain from them when their for- 
 mer abstinence shall have been so ungratefully 
 requited. 1 call to witness your sanctuary, 
 and the holy angels of God, and this couniry 
 common to us all, that 1 have not kept back 
 any thing that is for yoin* preservation ; and 
 if you will follow that advice which you ought 
 to do, you will have that peace which will be 
 common to you and to me; but if you indulge 
 your passions, you will run those* hazards 
 which I shall be free from." 
 
 5. When Agrippa had spoken thus, both he 
 and his sister wept, and by their tears reprei- 
 sed a great deal of the violence of the peoph-, 
 but still they cried out that they would nti 
 fight against the Romans but against Florus, 
 on account of what they had suffered by his 
 means. To which Agrippa replied, that what 
 they had already done was like such as make 
 war against the Romans; "for you have not 
 paid the tribute which is due to Caesar ;* and 
 you ha\e cut off the cloisters [of the temple] 
 from joining to the tower Antonia. You will 
 therefore prevent any occasion of revolt, if you 
 will but join these together again, and if you 
 will but pay your tribute ; for the citadel does 
 not now belong to Florus, nor are you to pay 
 the tribute money to Florus." 
 
 * Jiilins Ctesar had decreed, that the Jews of Jerusa- 
 lem shuuld pa^ an aimual tribute to the Romans, except- 
 ini{ tlie city of Joppa, and for the Sabbatical year; as 
 Spanheim observes from the Antiq. b 'xir: ciiap. X, 
 sect. 6. 
 
634 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HOW THE WAR OF THE JEWS WITH THE RO- 
 MANS BEGAN ; AND CONCERNING MANA- 
 UEM. 
 
 § 1. This advice the people hearkened to, and 
 went up into the temple with the king and 
 Bernice, and began to rebuiJd the cloisters : 
 the rulers also and senators divided themselvfes 
 into the villages, and collected the tributes, 
 and soon got together forty talents, which was 
 the sum that was deficient. And thus did 
 Agrippa then put a stop to that war which was 
 threatened. Moreover, he attempted to per- 
 suade the multitude to obey Florus, until Caesar 
 should send one to succeed him ; but they 
 were hereby more provoked, and cast re- 
 proaches upon the Icing, and got him excluded 
 out of the city ; nay, some of the seditious 
 had the impudence to throw stones at him. 
 So when the king saw that the violence of 
 those that were for innovations was not to be 
 restrained, and being very angry at the con- 
 tumelies he had received, he sent their rulers, 
 together with their men of power, to Florus, 
 to Cesarea, that he might appoint whom he 
 thought fit to collect the tribute in the coun- 
 try, while he retired into his own kingdom. 
 
 2. And at this time it was that some of 
 those that principally excited the people to go 
 to war, made an assarilt upon a certain for- 
 tress called Masada. They took it by treach- 
 ery, and'slew the Romans that W'ere there, and 
 put others of their own party to keep it. At 
 the same time Eleazar, the son of Ananias the 
 high-priest, a very bold youth, who was at 
 that time governor of the temple, persuaded 
 those that officiated in the divine service to 
 receive no gift or sacrifice for any foreigner. 
 And this was the true beginning of our war 
 with the Romans : for they rejected the sacri- 
 fice of Caesar on this account: and when many 
 of the high-priests and principal men besought 
 them not to omit the sacrifice, which it was 
 customary for them to oflfer for their princes, 
 they would not be prevailed upon. These 
 relied much upon their multitude, for the most 
 flourishing part of the innovators assisted 
 them; but they had the chief regard to Elea- 
 zar, the governor of the temple. 
 
 3. Hereupon the men of power got toge- 
 ther, and conferred with the high-priests, as 
 did also the principal of the Pharisees ; and 
 thinking all was at stake, and that their caja- 
 mities were becoming incurable, took counsel 
 what was to be done. Accordingly they de- 
 termined to try what they could do with the 
 dcditious by words, and assembled the people 
 before the brazen gate, which was that gate 
 of the inner temple [court of the priests] 
 which looked towards the sun-rising. And, 
 in the first place, they showed the great 
 indignation thcv bad at this attempt 'or a 
 
 revolt, and for their bringing so grcit a war 
 upon their country ; after which they confuted 
 their pretence as unjustifiable, and told them 
 that their forefathers had adorned their tem- 
 ple in great part with donations bestowed on 
 them by foreigners, and had always received 
 what had been presented to them from foreign 
 nations ; and that they had been so far from 
 rejecting ajiy person's sacrifice (which would 
 be the highest instance of impiety), that they 
 had themselveei placed those donations about 
 the temple which were still visible, and had 
 remained there so long a time that they did 
 now irritate the Romans to take arms against 
 them, and invited them to make war upon 
 them, and brought up novel rules of a strange 
 divine worship, and determined to run the 
 hazard of having their city condemned for 
 impiety, while they w'ould not allow any fo- 
 reigner but Jews only, either to sacrifice or to 
 worship therein. And if such a law should 
 ever be introduced in the case of a single per- 
 son only, he would have indignation at it, 
 as an instance of inhumanity determined 
 against him; while they have no regard to the 
 Romans or to Caesar, and forbade even their 
 oblations to be received also: that however 
 they cannot but fear, lest, by thus rejecting 
 their sacrifices, they shall not be allowed to 
 oflfer their own ; and that this city will lose 
 its principality, unless they grow wiser quickly, 
 and restore the sacrifices as formerly ; and 
 indeed amend the injury [they have offered 
 to foreigners] before the report of it conies 
 to the ears of those that have been injured. 
 
 4. And as they said these things, they pro- 
 duced those priests that were skilful in the 
 customs of their country, who made thfe re- 
 port, that all their forefathers had received the 
 sacrifices from foreign nations. — But still not 
 one of the innovators would hearken to w hat 
 was said ; nay, those that ministered about 
 the temple would not attend their divine ser- 
 vice, but were preparing matters for beginning 
 the war. So the men of power, perceiving 
 that the sedition was too hard for them to 
 subdue, and that the danger which would 
 arise from the Romans would come upon 
 them first of all, endeavoured to save them- 
 selves, and sent ambassadors; some to Flo- 
 rus, the chief of whom was Simon the son of 
 Ananias; and others to Agrippa, among whom 
 the most eminent were Saul, and Antipas, 
 and Costobarus, who were of the king's kin- 
 dred ; and they desired of them both that 
 they would come with an army to the city, 
 and cut oflF the sedition before it should be 
 too hard to be subdued. Now this terrible 
 message was good news to Florus ; and be- 
 cause his design was to have a war kindled, 
 he gave the ambassadors no answer at all. 
 But Agrippa was equally solicitous for those 
 that were revolting, and for those against 
 whom the war was to be made, and was de- 
 sirous to preserve the Jews for the Romans, 
 
CHAP. XVII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 635 
 
 and the temple and metropolis for the Jews ; 
 he A'as also sensible that it was not for his 
 o\V5i aflvantage that the disturbances should 
 proceed; so he sent three thousand horsemen 
 to the assistance of the people out of Aurani- 
 tis, and Batanea, and Trachonitis, and these 
 under Darius, the master of his horse ; and 
 Philip the son of Jacimus, the general of his 
 pnny. 
 
 5. Upon this the men of power, with the 
 nigh-priests, as also all the p'art of the mul- 
 titude that were desirous of peace, took cou- 
 rage, and seized upon the upper city [Mount 
 Sion] ; for the seditious part had the lower 
 city and the temple in their power: so they 
 made use of stones and slings perpetually 
 against one another, and threw darts conti- 
 nually on both sides; and sometimes it hap- 
 pened that they made excursions by troops, 
 and fought it out hand to hand, while the 
 seditious were superior in boldness, but the 
 king's soldiers in skill. These last strove 
 chiefly to gain the temple, and to drive those 
 out of it who profaned it; as did the seditious, 
 with Eleazar (besides what they had already), 
 labour to gain the upper city. Thus were 
 there perpetual slaughters on both sides for 
 seven days' time ; but neither side would yield 
 up the parts they had seized upon. 
 
 6. Now the next day was the festival of 
 Xylophory ; upon which the custom was for 
 every one to bring wood for the altar (that 
 there might never be a want of fuel for that 
 fire which was unquenchable and always burn- 
 ing). Upon that day they excluded the oppo- 
 site party from the observation of this part 
 of religion. And when they had joined to 
 themselves many of the Sicarii, who crowded 
 in among the weaker people (that vvas the 
 nauje for such robbers as had under their 
 bosoms swords called Sicae), they grew bolder, 
 and carried their undertakings farther-; inso- 
 much that the king's soldiers were overpow- 
 ered by their multitude and boldness ; and so 
 they gave way, and were driven out of the 
 upper city by force. The others then set fire 
 to the house of Ananias the high-priest, and 
 to the palaces of Agrippa and Bernice ; after 
 which they carried the fire to the place where 
 the archives were reposited, and made haste 
 to burn the contracts belonging to their cre- 
 ditors, and thereby dissolve their obligations 
 for paying their debts; and this was done, in 
 order to gain the multitude of those who had 
 been debtors, and that they might persuade 
 the poorer sort to join in their insurrection 
 with safety against the more wealthy ; so the 
 keepers of the records fled away, and the rest 
 set fire to them. And when they had thus 
 burnt down the nerves of the city, they fell 
 upon their enemies; at which time some of 
 the men of power and of the high-priests, 
 went into the vaults under ground, and con- 
 cealed themselves, while others fled with the 
 king's soldiers to the upi)er palace, and shut 
 
 the gates immediately; among whom were 
 Ananias the high-priest, and the ambassadors 
 that had been sent to Agrippa. And now the 
 seditious were contented with the victory they 
 had gotten, and the buildings they bad burnt 
 down, and proceeded no farther. 
 
 7. But on the next day, which was the 
 fifteenth of the month Lous [Ab], they made 
 an assault upon Antonia, and besieged the 
 garrison which was in it two days, and then 
 took the garrison, and slew them, and set tbe^ 
 citadel on fire ; after which they marched to 
 the palace, whither the king's soldiers were 
 fled, and parted themselves into four bodies, 
 and made an attack upon the walls. As for 
 those that were within it, no one had the 
 courage to sally out, because those that as- 
 saulted them were so numerous; but they dis- 
 tributed themselves into the breast-works and 
 turrets, and shot at the besiegers, whereby 
 many of the robbers fell under the walls; nor 
 did they cease to fight one with another either 
 by night or by day; while the seditious sup- 
 posed that those within would grow weary for 
 want of food ; and those without, supposed 
 the others would do the like by the tedious- 
 ness of the siege. 
 
 8. In the mean time one Manahem, the 
 son of Judas, that was called the Galilean 
 (who was a very cunning sophister, and had 
 formerly reproached the Jews under Cyrenius, 
 that after God they were subject to the Ro- 
 mans^, took some of the men of note with him, 
 and retired to Masada, where he broke open 
 king Herod's armoury, and gave arms not 
 only to his own people, but to other robbers 
 also. These he made use of for a guard, and 
 returned in the state of a king to Jerusalem ; 
 he became the leader of the sedition, and gave 
 orders for continuing the siege; but they 
 wanted proper instruments, and it was not 
 practicable to undermine the wall, because the 
 darts came down upon them from above.. But 
 still they dug a mine from a great distance, 
 under one of the towers and made it totter ; 
 and having done that they set on fire what 
 was combustible, and left it: and when the 
 foundations were burnt below, the tower fell 
 down suddenly. Yet did they then meet with 
 another wall that had been built within, for 
 the besieged were sensible beforehand of what 
 they were doing, and probably the tower shook 
 as it was undernrHning ; so they provided 
 themselves of another fortification : which 
 when the besiegers unexpectedly saw, while 
 they thought they had already gained the 
 place, they were under some consternation. 
 However, those that were within sent to Ma- 
 nahem, and to the other leaders of the sedition, 
 and desired they might go out upon a capi- 
 tulation ; this was granted to the king's sol- 
 diers and their own countrymen only, who 
 went out accordingly; but the Romans that 
 were left alone were greatly dejected, for they 
 were not able to force their way through such 
 
636 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 a multitude; and to desire them to give them 
 their right hand tor their security, they thought 
 would be a reproach to them ; and besides, if 
 they should give it them, they durst not de- 
 pend upon it ; so they deserted their camp, 
 as easily taken, and ran away to the royal 
 towers, — that called Hippicus, that called 
 Phasaelus and that called Mariamne. But 
 Maiiahem and his party fell upon the place 
 whence the soldiers were fled, and slew as 
 ^ many of them as they could catch, before they 
 got up to the towers, and plundered what they 
 left behind them, and set tire to their camp. 
 This was executed on the sixth day of the 
 month Gorpieus [Elul]. 
 
 9. But on the next day the high-priest was 
 :;aught, where he had concealed himself in an 
 aqueduct; he was slain, together with Heze- 
 kiah his brother, by the robbers : hereupon 
 the seditious besieged the towers, and kept 
 them guarded, lest any one of the soldiers 
 should escape. Now the overthrow of the 
 places of strength, and the death of the high- 
 priest Ananias, so puffed up Manahem, that 
 he became barbarously cruel ; and, as he 
 thought he had no antagonist to dispute the 
 management of affairs with him, he was no 
 better than an insupportable tyrant: but Elea- 
 zar and his party, when words had passed be- 
 tween them, how it was not proper when they 
 revolted from the Romans, out of the desire 
 of liberty, to betray that liberty to any of their 
 own people, and to bear a lord, who, though 
 he should be guilty of no violence, was yet 
 meaner than themselves; as also, that, in case 
 they were obliged to set some one over their 
 public affairs, it was fitter they should give 
 that privilege to any one rather than to him, 
 they made an assault upon him in the temple; 
 for he went up thither to worship in a pompous 
 manner, and adorned with royal garments, 
 and had his followers with him in their 
 armour. But Eleazar and his party fell vio- 
 lently upon him, as did also the rest of the 
 people, and taking up stones to attack him 
 withal, they threw them at the sophister, and 
 thought that if he were once ruined the en- 
 tire sedition would fall to the ground. Now 
 Manahem and his party made resistance for a 
 while; but when they perceived that the whole 
 multitude were falling upon them, they fled 
 which way every one was able ; those that 
 were caught were slain, and those that hid 
 themselves were searched for. A few there 
 were of them who privately escaped to Masada, 
 among whom was Eleazar, the son of Jairus, 
 who was of kin to Manahem, and acted the 
 part of a tyrant at Masada afterward. As for 
 Manahem himself, he ran away to the place 
 called Ophla, and there lay skulking in pri- 
 vate ; but they took him alive, and drew him 
 out before them all ; they then tortured him 
 with many sorts of torments, and after all 
 •lew him, as they did by those that were cap- 
 tains under biin >il80, &nd particularly by tbel 
 
 principal instrument of his tyranny, whose 
 na«ie was Apsalom. 
 
 10. And, as 1 said, so far truly the' people 
 assisted them, -while they hoped this might 
 afford some amendment to the seditious prac- 
 tices; but the others were not in haste to put 
 an end to the war, but hoped to prosecute it 
 with less danger, now they had slain Manahem. 
 It is true, that when the people earnestly de- 
 sired that they would leave off besieging the 
 soldiers, they Were the more earnest in press- 
 ing it forward, and this till Metilius, who was 
 the Roman general, sent to Eleazar, and de- 
 sired that they would give them security to 
 spare their lives only; but agreed to deliver 
 up their arms, and what else they had with 
 them. The others readily complied with 
 their petition, sent to them Gorion, the sop 
 of Nicodemus, and Ananias, the son of Sad- 
 duk, and Judas, the son of Jonathan, that 
 they might give them the security of their 
 right hands, and of their oaths: after which 
 Metilius brought down his soldiers; which 
 soldiers, while they were in arms, were not 
 meddled with by any of the seditious, nor w as 
 there any appearance of treachery : but as 
 soon as, according to the articles of capitula- 
 tion, they had all laid down their shields and 
 their swords, and were under no farther sus- 
 picion of any harm, but were going away. Elea- 
 zar's men attacked them after a violent man- 
 ner, and encompassed them round, and slew 
 them, while they neither defended themselves 
 nor entreated for mercy, but oidy cried out 
 upon the breach of their articles of capitula- 
 tion and their oaths. And thus were all these 
 men barbarously murdered, excepting Meti- 
 lius; for when he entreated for mercy, and 
 promised that he would turn Jew, and be cir- 
 cumcised, they saved him alive, hut none else. 
 This loss to the Romans was but light, there 
 being no more than a few slain out of an im- 
 mense army ; but still it appeared to be a 
 prelude to the Jews' own destruction, while 
 men made public lamentation when they saw 
 that such occasions were afforded for a war as 
 were incurable; that the city was all over 
 polluted with such abominations, from which 
 it was but reasonable to expect some ven- 
 geance, even though they should escape re- 
 venge from the Romans; so that the city was 
 filled with sadness, and every one of the mo- 
 derate men in it were under great disturbance, 
 as likely themselves to undergo punishment 
 for the wickedness of the seditious ; for in- 
 deed it so happened that this murder was per- 
 petrated on the Sabbath day, on which day 
 the Jews have a respite from their works on 
 account of divine worship. 
 
nAP. XVIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 637 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE CALAMITIES AND SLAUGHTERS THAT 
 CAME UPON THE JEWS. 
 
 § 1. Now the people of Caesarea had slain 
 the Jews that were among them on the very 
 same day and hour [when the soldiers were 
 slain], which one would think must have 
 come to pass by the direction of Providence ; 
 insomuch that in one hour's time above twenty 
 thousand Jews were killed, and all Caesarea 
 was emptied of its Jewish inhabitants ; for 
 Florus caught such as ran away, and sent 
 them in bonds to the galleys. Upon whjch 
 stroke that the Jews received at Cesarea, the 
 whole nation was greatly enraged ; so they 
 divided themselves into several parties, and 
 laid waste the villages of the Syrians, and 
 their neighbouring cities, Philadelphia, and 
 Sebonitis, and Gerasa, and Pella, and Scytho- 
 pol's, and after them Gadara, and Hippos ; 
 and falling upon Gaulonitis, some cities they 
 destroyed there, and some they set on fire, 
 and then they went to Kedasa, belonging to the 
 Tyrians, and to Ptolemais, and to Gaba, and 
 to Cesarea; nor was either Sebaste (Sanfiaria) 
 or Askelon able to oppose the violence with 
 which they were attacked ; and when they 
 had burned these to the ground, they entirely 
 demolished Anthedon and Gaza; many also 
 of the villages that were about every one of 
 those cities were jlPlndered, and an immense 
 slaughter was made of the men who were 
 caught in them. 
 
 2. However, the Syrians were even with 
 the Jews in the multitude of the men whom 
 they slew; for they killed those whom they 
 caught in their cities, and that not only out 
 of the hatred they bare them, as formerly, but 
 to prevent the danger under which they were 
 from them ; so that the disorders in all Syria 
 were terrible, and every city was divided into 
 two armies encamped one against another, 
 and the preservation of the one party was in 
 the destruction of the other ; so the day-time 
 was spent in shedding of blood, and the night 
 in fear, — which was of the two the more ter- 
 rible; for when the Syrians thought they had 
 rained the Jews, they had the Judaizers in 
 suspicion also ; and as each side did not care 
 to slay those whom they only suspected on 
 the other, so did they greatly fear them when 
 they were mingled with the other, as if they 
 were certainly foreigners. Moreover, greedi- 
 ness of gain was a provocation to kill the 
 opposite party, even to such as had of old 
 appeared very mild and gentle towards them; 
 for they without fear plundered the effects of 
 the slain, and carried off the spoils of those 
 whom they slew to their own houses, as if 
 they had been gained in a set battle ; and be 
 Wa5 esteemed a man of honour who got the 
 
 greatest ^hare. as having prevailed over the 
 greatest number of his enemies. It was 
 then common to see cities filled with dead 
 bodies, still lying unburied, and those of old 
 men, mixed with infants, all dead, and scat- 
 tered about together; women also lay amongst 
 them, without any covering for their naked- 
 ness: you might then see the whole province 
 full of inexpressible calamities, while the 
 dread of still more barbarous practices whli:-i 
 were threatened, was everywhere greater thdii 
 what had been already perpetrated. 
 
 3. And thus far the conflict had been be- 
 tween Jews and foreigners; but when they 
 made excursions to Scythopolis, they found 
 Jews that acted as enemies; for as they stood 
 in battle-array with those of Scythopolis, and 
 preferred their own safety before their relation 
 to us, they fought against their own country- 
 men ; nay, their alacrity was so very great, 
 that those of Scythopolis suspected them. 
 These were afraid, therefore, lest they should 
 make an assault upon the city in the night- 
 time, and to their great misfortune, should 
 thereby make an apology for themselves tc 
 their own people for their revolt from them. 
 So they commanded them, that in case they 
 would confirm their agreement, and demon- 
 strate their fidelity to them, who were of a 
 different nation, they should go out of the 
 city, with their families, to a neighbouring 
 grove : and when they had done as they were 
 commanded, without suspecting any thing, 
 the people of Scythopolis lay still for the in- 
 terval of two days, to tempt them to be se- 
 cure; but on the third night they watched 
 their opportunity, and cut all their throats, 
 some of them as they lay unguarded, and some 
 as they lay asleep. The number that was 
 slain was above thirteen thousand, and then 
 they plundered them of all that they had. 
 
 4. It will deserve our relation what befell 
 Simon : he was the son of one Saul, a man 
 of reputation among the Jews. This man wag 
 distinguished from the rest by the strength of 
 his body, and Ihe boldness of his conduct, 
 although he abused them both to the mis- 
 chieving of his countrymen ; for he came 
 every day and slew a great many of the Jews 
 of Scythopolis, and he frequently put them 
 to flight, and became himself alone the cause 
 of his army's conquering. But a just punish- 
 ment overtook him for the murders he had 
 committed upon those of the same notion 
 with him ; for when the people of Scythopo- 
 lis threw their darts at them in the grove, he 
 drew his sword, but did not attack any of the 
 enemy; for he saw that he could do nothing 
 against such a multitude; but he cried out, 
 after a very moving manner, and said, — " O 
 you people of Scythopolis, I deservedly suffer 
 for what I have done wi.h relation to you, 
 when I pave ycu such security of my fidelity 
 to \ou, by slaying so many of those that were 
 
 i related to me. Wherefore we very justly 
 
638 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 cxperienco tlie peifuJiou^tjess of foreigners, 
 while we a<-tecl yfler a most wicked manner 
 against our own nation. I will therefore 
 die, polluted wretch as I am, by mine own 
 hands ; for it is not lit 1 should die by the 
 hand of our enemies; and let the same action 
 be to me both a putiishment for my great 
 crimes, and a testiniony of my courage to my 
 commendation, that so no one of our enemies 
 may have it to brag of, that he it was that 
 slew me; and no one may insult upon me 
 as I fall." Now when he had said this, he 
 looked round about him upon his family 
 with eves of commiseration and of rage (that 
 family consisted of a wife and children, 
 and his aged parents) ; so, in the first ptece, 
 he caught his father by his grey hairs, and 
 ran his sword through him, — and after him 
 be did the. same to his mother, who willingly 
 received it; and after them he did the like to 
 his wife and children, every one almost offer- 
 ing themselves to his sword, as desirous to 
 prevent being slain by their enemies; so when 
 he had gone over all his family, he stood upon 
 their bodies to be seen by all, and stretching 
 out his right hand, that his action might be 
 observed by all, he sheathed his entire sword 
 into his own bowels. This young man was 
 to be pitied, on account of the strength of bis 
 body and the courage of his soul ; but since 
 be had assured foreigners of his fidelity 
 [against bis own countrymen] be suffered 
 deservedly. 
 
 5. Besides this murder at Scytbopolis, the 
 other cities rose up against the Jews that were 
 among them : those of Askelon slew two thou- 
 sand five hundred, and those of Ptolemais two 
 thousand, and put not a few into bonds; those 
 of Tyre also put a great number to death, but 
 kept a greater number in prison ; moreover, 
 those of Hippos and those of Gadara did the 
 
 . like, while they put to death the boldest of the 
 Jews, but kept those of whom they were most 
 afraid in custody; as did the rest of the cities 
 of Syria, according as they every one either 
 bated them or were afraid of tbem ; only the 
 Antiochians, the Sidonians, and Apamians 
 spared those that dwelt with them, and they 
 would not endure either to kill any of the 
 Jews, or to put them in bonds. And perhaps 
 they spared them, because their own number 
 was so great that they despised their attempts. 
 But I think that the greatest part of this fa- 
 vour was owing to their commiseration of 
 those whom they saw to make no innovations. 
 As for the Gerasens, they did no harm to 
 those that abode with them ; and for those 
 who bad a mind to go away, they conducted 
 them as far as their borders reached. 
 
 6. There was also a plot laid against the 
 Jews in Agrippa's kingdom ; for he was him- 
 nelf gone to Cestius Gallus, to Antioch, but 
 had left one of his companions, whose "ame 
 Was Noarus. to take care of the public h(- 
 fkirs; which Noaru* waa of kin to king 
 
 Sobemus.* Now there came certain men, 
 seventy in number, out of Batanea, who were 
 the most considerable for their families and 
 prudence of the rest of the people ; these 
 desired to have an army put into their hands, 
 that if any tumult should happen, they might 
 have about them a guard sufficient to restrnin 
 such as might rise up against them. This 
 Noarus sent out some of the king's*armed 
 men by night, and slew all those [seventy] 
 men; which bold action he ventured upon 
 without the consent of Agrippa, and was such 
 a lover of money, that be chose to be so w icked 
 to his own countrymen, although he brought 
 ruin on the kingdom thereby; and thus cruelly 
 did he treat that nation, and this contrary to 
 the laws also, until Agrippa was informed 
 of it, who did not indeed dare to put him to 
 death, out of regard to Sobemus ; but still he 
 put an end to his procuratorship immediately. 
 But as to the seditious, they took the citadel 
 which was called Cypres, and was above Jeri- 
 cho, and cut the throats of the garrison, and 
 utterly demolished the fortifications. This 
 was about the same time that the multitude 
 of the Jews that were at Macherus persuaded 
 the Romans who were in garrison to leave the 
 place, and deliver it up to them. These Ro- 
 mfans being in great fear, lest the place should 
 be taken by force, made an agreement with 
 them to depart upon certain conditions ; and 
 when they had obtained the security they de- 
 sired, they delivered up the citadel, into which 
 the people of Macherus put a garrison for 
 their own security, andJield it in their own 
 power. 
 
 7. But for Alexandria, the sedition of the 
 people of the place against the Jews was per- 
 petual, and this from that very time when 
 Alexander [the Great], upon finding the rea- 
 diness of the Jews in assisting him against the 
 Egyptians, and as a reward for such their 
 assistance, gave them equal privileges in this 
 city with the Grecians themselves ; — which 
 honorary reward contimied among them un- 
 der his successors, w ho also set apart for them 
 a particular place that they might live with- 
 out being polluted [by the Gentiles], and were 
 thereby not so much intermixed with foreign- 
 ers as before : they also gave them this far- 
 ther privilege, that they should be called Ma- 
 cedonians. Nay, when the Romans got pos- 
 session of Egypt, neither the first Ca?sar, nor 
 any one that came after him, thought of di- 
 minishing the honours which Alexander had 
 bestowe(i on the Jews. But still conflicts 
 perpetually arose with the Grecians; and 
 although the governors did every day punish 
 many of them, yet did the sedition grow 
 worse; but at this time especially, when there 
 were tumults in other places also, the disor- 
 
 • Of thin Soheiniis wf have mention made by Taciliis. 
 \\<' !»Im) karn from I)io, tliat his father was kinitof lli« 
 ArahiHKii of Hurra, [wliich Ifnif-a is mentioned by St 
 I, like. iii. I,] both whoite teptjmonies are ouoted bore by 
 Or. Huilaon. See Noldius. Nu.37i. 
 
CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 639 
 
 ders among thera were put into a greater 
 n«:ne ; for when the Alexandrians had once a 
 public assembly, to deliberate about an em- 
 bassage they were sending to Nero, a great 
 number of Jews came flocking to the theatre; 
 bat when their adversaries savv them, they 
 immediately cried out, and called them their 
 enemies, and said they came as spies upon 
 them ; upon which they rushed out and laid 
 violent hands upon them; and as for the rest, 
 they were slain as they ran away ; but there 
 »vere three men whom they caught, and haul- 
 ed them along, in order to have them burnt 
 alive ; but all the Jews came in a body to 
 defend them, who at first threw stones at the 
 Grecians; but after that they took lamps, 
 and rushed with violence into the theatre, 
 and threatened that they would burn the peo- 
 ple to a man ; and this they had soon done, 
 unless Tiberius Alexander, the governor of 
 the city, had restrained their passions. How- 
 ever, this man did not begin to teach them 
 wisdom by arms, but sent among them pri- 
 vately some of the principal men, and thereby 
 entreated them to be quiet, and not provoke 
 the Roman army against them ; but the sedi- 
 tious made a jest of the entreaties of Tiberius, 
 and "-eproached him for so doing. 
 
 8- Now when he perceived that those who 
 were for innovations would not be pacified 
 till some great calamity should overtake them, 
 he sent out upon them those two Roman le- 
 gions that were in the city, and together with 
 them five thousand other soldiers, who, by 
 chance, were coma, together out of Libya, to 
 the ruin of the Jews. They were also per- 
 mitted not only to kill them, but to plunder 
 them of what they had, and set fire to their 
 houses. These soldiers rushed violently into 
 that part of the city which was called ^^elta, 
 where the Jewish people lived together, and 
 did as they were bidden, though not without 
 bloodshed on their own side also ; for the 
 Jews got together, and set those that were the 
 best armed among them in the fore-front, 
 and made resistance for a great while ; but 
 when once they gave back, they were de- 
 stroyed unmercifully ; and this their destruc- 
 tion was complete, some being caught in the 
 open field, and others forced into their houses, 
 which houses were first plundered of what 
 was in them, and then set on fire by the Ro- 
 iniris ; wherein no mercy was shown to the 
 infants, and no regard had to the aged ; but 
 they went on in the slaughter of persons of 
 every age, till all the place was overflowed 
 with blood, and fifty thousand of them lay 
 dead upon heaps ; nor had the remainder 
 been preserved, had they not betaken them- 
 selves to supplication. So Alexander com- 
 miserated their condition, and gave orders to 
 the Romans to retire : accordingly, these, 
 being accustomed to obey orders, left off kill- 
 imr at the first intimation ; but the populace 
 of Alexandria bare so very great hatred to 
 
 the Jews, that it was difficult to recall them ; 
 and it was a hard thing to make them leave 
 their dead bodies. 
 
 9. And this was the miserable calamity 
 which at this time befell the Jews at Alexan- 
 dria. Hereupon Cestius thought tit no longer 
 to lie still, while the Jews were everywhere 
 up in arms ; so he took out of Antioch the 
 twelfth legion entire, and out of each of the 
 rest he selected two thousand, with six cohorts 
 of footmen, and four troops of horsemen, be- 
 sides those auxiliaries which were sent by the 
 kings ; of which Antiochus* sent two thou- 
 sand horsemen, and three thousand- footmen, 
 with as many archers ; and Agrippa sent the 
 sa^e number of footmen, and one thousand 
 horsemen ; Sohemus also followed with four 
 thousand, a third part whereof were horsemen, 
 but most part were archers, and thus did he 
 march to Ptolemais. There were also great 
 numbers of auxiliaries gathered together from 
 the [free] cities, who indeed had not the same 
 skill in martial affairs, but made up in their 
 alacrity and in their hatred to the Jews what 
 they wanted in skill. There came also along 
 with Cestius, Agrippa himself, both as a guide 
 in his march over the country, and a director 
 of what was fit to be done ; so Cestius took part 
 of his forces, and marched hastily to Zabulon, 
 a strong city of Galilee, which was called the 
 City of Men, and divides the country of Pto- 
 lemais from our nation ; this he found deserted 
 by its men, the multitude having fled to the 
 mountains, but full of all sorts of good things ; 
 those he gave leave to the soldiers to plunder, 
 and set fire to the city, although it was of ad- 
 mirable beauty, and had its houses built like 
 those in Tyre, and Sidon, and Berytus. Af- 
 ter this he overran all the country, and seized 
 upon whatsoever came in his way, and set 
 fire to the villages that were round about 
 them, and then returned to Ptolemais. But 
 when the Syrians, and especially those of 
 Berytus, were busy in plundering, the Jews 
 plucked up their courage again, for they 
 knew that Cestius was retired, and fell upon 
 those that were left behind unexpectedly, and 
 destroyed about two thousand of them. 
 
 10. And now Cestius himself marched from 
 Ptolemais, and came to Cesarea; but he sent 
 part of his army befdre him to Joppa, and 
 gave orders, that if they could take that city 
 [by surprise] they should keep it; but that in 
 case the citizens should perceive they were 
 coming to attack them, they then should stay 
 for him, and for the rest .of the army. So 
 some of them made a brisk march by the sea- 
 side, and some by land, and so coming upon 
 them on both sides, they took the city with 
 ease; and as the inhabitants had made no pro- 
 vision aforehand for a flight, nor had gotten 
 
 • Spanheim notes on the place, that this latter Anti«\ 
 chiis, who was called Fpipbanes. is mentioned by Dio, 
 !ix. t>. 64.5; and that he is mentioned by Josepbub elfto* 
 wht-r^ twic«' also. V T.chap, xL sect. 3; aod Antiq. b. 
 xix. chap. viii. sect L 
 
640 
 
 WARS OP THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK n. 
 
 any thing ready for fighting, the soldiers fell 
 upon them, and slew them all, with their fa- 
 milies, and then plundered and hurnt the 
 city. The number of the slain Mas eight thou- 
 sand four hundred. In like manner Cestius 
 sent also a considerable body of horsemen to 
 the topaFchy of Narbatene, that adjoined to 
 Cesarea, who destroyed the country, and slew 
 a great multitude of its people ; they also 
 plundered what they had, and burnt their vil- 
 lages. 
 
 1 1. But Cestius sent Gallus, the commander 
 of the twelfth legion into Galilee, and deli- 
 vered to him as many of his forces as he sup- 
 posed sufficient to subdue that nation. _He 
 was received by the strongest city of Gauiee, 
 which was Sepphoris, with acclamations of 
 joy ; which wise conduct of that city occa- 
 sioned the rest of the cities to be in quiet ; 
 while the seditious part and the robbers ran 
 away to that mountain which lies in the very 
 middle of Galilee, and is situated over against 
 Sepphoris; it is called Asamon. So Gallus 
 brought his forces against them; but while 
 those men were in the superior parts above 
 the Romans they easily threw their darts upon 
 the Romans, as they made their approaches, 
 and slew about two hundred of them ; but 
 when the Romans had gone round the moun- 
 tains, and were gotten into the parts above 
 their enemies, the others were soon beaten ; 
 nor could they who had only light armour on 
 sustain the force of them that fought them 
 armed all over ; nor when they were beaten 
 could they escape the enemy's horsemen ; in- 
 somuch that only some few concealed them- 
 selves in certain places hard to be come at, 
 among the mountains, while the rest, above 
 two thousand in number, were slain. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WHAT CESTIUS DID AGAINST THF JEWS; AND 
 HOW, UPON HIS BESIEGING J lli I SA [.EM, HE 
 BETREATED FKOM THE CITY, WITHOUT ANY 
 JUST OCCASION IN THE WORLD. AS ALSO 
 WHAT SEVERE CALAMITIES HE UNDERWENT 
 FROM THE JEWS IN HIS RETREAT. 
 
 § 1. And now Gallus, seeing nothing more 
 that looked towards an innovation in Galilee, 
 retur''-?d with his army to Cesarea: but Ces- 
 tius removed with his whole army, and march- 
 ed to Antipatris; and when he was informed 
 that there was a great body of Jewish forces 
 gotten together in a certain tower called 
 Aphek, he sent a party before to fight them ; 
 but this party dispersed the Jews by affright 
 ing them before it came to a battle: so they 
 came, and finding their camp deserted, they 
 burnt it, as wtU a» the villages that lay about 
 it. But when Cestiu* had marched from An- 
 tipatris to Lydda, be found tb«* city empty 
 
 of its men, for the whole multitude* were 
 gone up to Jerusalem to the feast of taberna- 
 cles; yet did he destroy fifty of those that 
 showed themselves, and burnt the city. ai)d 
 so marched forwards ; and ascending by Beth- 
 oron, he pitched his camp at a certain place 
 called Gabao, fifty furlongs distant from Je- 
 rusalem. 
 
 2. But as for the Jews, when they saw the 
 war approaching to their metropolis, they left 
 the feast, and betook themselves to their arms; 
 and taking courage greatly from their multi- 
 tude, went in a sudden and disorderly man- 
 ner to the fight, with a great noise, and with- 
 out any consideration had of the rest of the 
 seventh day, although the Sabbath ♦was the 
 day to which they had the greatest regard ; 
 but that rage which made them forget the 
 religious observation [of the Sabbath], made 
 them too hard for their enemies in the fight : 
 with such violence, therefore, did they fall 
 upon the Romans, as to break into their ranks, 
 and to march through the midst of them, 
 making a great slaughter as they went, inso- 
 much that unless the horsemen, and such part 
 of the footmen as were not yet tired in the 
 action, had wheeled round, and succoured 
 that part of the army which was not yet bro- 
 ken, Cestius, with his whole army, had been 
 in danger: however, five hundred and fifteen 
 of the Romans were slain, of which number 
 four hundred were footmen, and the rest horse- 
 men, while the Jews lost only twenty-two, of 
 whom the most valiant were the kinsmen of 
 Monobazus, kingof Adiabene, and their names 
 were Monobazus and Kenedeus ; and next to 
 them were Niger of Perea, and Silas of Ba- 
 bylon, who had deserted from king Agrippa 
 to the Jews; for he had formerly served in 
 his army. When the front of the Jewish army 
 had been cut oif, the Jews retired into the 
 city; but still Simon, the son of Giora, fell 
 upon the backs of the Romans as they were 
 ascending up Bethoron, and put the hindmost 
 of the army into disorder, and carried off 
 
 • Here we have an pminent example of that Jewish 
 lancnatce, which Dr. Uall truly observes, we several 
 times dud used in the sacred writings; I mean where 
 the words "all," or "'whole multitude," ficc. are ustd 
 for much the greatest part only ; but not so as to include 
 every person without exception; for when Josephus had 
 said, that the "whole multitude" [all the males] of 
 l.ydda were gone to the feast of tabernacles, lie imme- 
 diately adds, that, however, no fewer than fifty of them 
 appeared, and were slain by the Romans. (.)tlier exam- 
 ples somewhat like this I have observed elsewhere in 
 Josephus; but, as I think, none so remarkable as this. 
 See V\ all's Critical Observations on the Old Testament, 
 p. 41,50. 
 
 \\ e have also in this and the next section, two emi- 
 nent facts to be observed, vie. the fir^t example, that I 
 remember in Josephus, of the onset of the Jews' ene- 
 mies upon their country when their males were gone up 
 to Jerusalem to one of their three sacred (♦■ctivals; which, 
 during the theocracy, God bad promi.^ed to preserv*- them 
 from. Kxod. xxxiv. 24. The srcond fact is this, the 
 breach of the Sabbath by the seditious Jews in an olft-n- 
 sive fight, contrary to the universal doctrine and prao. 
 lire of their nation in these aces, and even contrary to 
 what they themselve' afterward practised in the rest oi 
 this war. bee the cote na Antiq. b. xvi ch. 2, sect. 4. 
 
CHAP. XIX. 
 
 ( UNsv . I 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 641 
 
 many of the beasts that carried the weapons 
 of war, and led them into the city; but as 
 Cestius tarried there three days, the Jews 
 seized upon the elevated parts of the city, and 
 set watches at the entrances into the city, and 
 appeared openly resolved not to rest when once 
 the Romans should begin to march. 
 
 3. And now when Agrippa observed that 
 even the affairs of the Romans were likely to 
 be in danger, while such an immense multi- 
 tude of their enemies had seized upon the 
 mountains round about, he determined to try 
 what the Jews would agree to by words, as 
 thinking that he should either persuade them 
 all to desist from fighting, or, however, that 
 he should cause the sober part of them to 
 separate themselves from the opposite party. 
 So he sent Borceus and Phebus, the per- 
 sons of his party that were the best known 
 to them, and promised them that Cestius 
 should give them his right hand, to secure 
 them of the Romans' entire forgiveness of 
 what they had done amiss, if they would throw 
 away their arms, and come over to them: but 
 the seditious, fearing lest the whole multitude, 
 in hopes of security to themselves, should go 
 over to Agrippa, resolved immediately to fall 
 upon and kill the ambassadors : accordingly 
 they slew Phebus before he said a word, but 
 Borceus was only wounded, and so prevented 
 his fate by flying away. And when the peo- 
 ple were very angry at this, they had the 
 seditious beaten with stones and clubs, and 
 drove them before them into the city. 
 
 4. But now Cestius observing that the dis- 
 turbances that were begun among the Jews 
 afforded him a proper opportunity to attack 
 them, took his whole army along with him, 
 and put the Jews to flight, and pursued them 
 to Jerusalem. He then pitched his camp 
 upon the elevation called Scopus [or watch- 
 tower], which was distant seven furlongs from 
 the city ; yet did he not assault them in three 
 days* time, out of expectation that those with- 
 in might perhaps yield a little ; and in the 
 mean time he sent out a great many of his 
 soldiers into neighbouring villages, to seize 
 upon their corn ; and on the fourth day, 
 which was the thirtieth of the month Hyper- 
 bereteus [Tisri], when he put his army in 
 array, he brought it into the city. Now for 
 the people, they were kept under by the sedi- 
 tious ; but the seditious themselves were great- 
 ly affrighted at the good order of the Romans, 
 and retired from the suburbs, and retreated 
 into the inner part of the city, and into the 
 temple. But when Cestius was come into 
 the city, he set the part called Bezetha, which 
 is also called Cenopolis [or the new city], on 
 fire; as he did also to the timber-market: 
 after which he came into the upper city, and 
 pitched his camp over against the royal 
 palace ; and had he but at this very time 
 attempted to get within the walls by force, he 
 had won the city presently, and the war had 
 
 been put an end to at once ; but Tyrannitis 
 Priscus, the muster-master of the arniy, anu 
 a great number of the officers of the horse, 
 had been corrupted by Florus, and diverted 
 him from that his attempt; and that was the 
 occasion that this war lasted so very long, and 
 thereby the Jews were involved in buch in- 
 curable calamities. 
 
 5. In the mean time, many of the principal 
 men of the city were persuaded by Anamis, 
 the son of Jonathan, and invited Cestius into 
 the city, and were about to open the gates 
 for him ; but he overlooked this offer, partly 
 out of his anger at the Jews, and partly be- 
 cause he did not thoroughly believe they were 
 in earnest ; whence it was that he delayed 
 the matter so long, that the seditious per- 
 ceived the treachery, and threw Ananus and 
 those of his party down from the wall, and, 
 pelting them with stones, drove them into 
 their houses; but they stood themselves at 
 proper distances in the towers, and threw their 
 darts at those that were getting over the wall. 
 Thus did the Romans make their attack 
 against the wall for five days, but to no pur- 
 pose. But on the next day, Cestius took a 
 great many of his choicest men, and with 
 them the archers, and attempted to break 
 into the temple at the northern quarter of it: 
 but the Jews beat them off from the cloisters, 
 and repulsed them several times when they 
 were gotten near to the wall, till at length the 
 multitude of the darts cut them off, and made 
 them retire : but the first rank of the Ro 
 mans rested their shields upon the wall, and 
 so did those that were behind them, and the 
 like did those that were still more backward, 
 and guarded themselves with what they call 
 Testudo, [the back of] a tortoise, upon which 
 the darts that were thrown fell, and slided otf 
 without doing them any harm ; so the soldiers 
 undermined the wall, without being them- 
 selves hurt, and got all things ready for set- 
 ting fire to the gate of the temple. 
 
 6. And now it was that a horrible fear seized 
 upon the seditious, insomuch that many of 
 them ran out of the city, as though it were to 
 be taken immediately ; but the people upon 
 this took courage, and where the wicked part 
 of the city gave ground, thither did .they 
 come, in order to set open the gates, and to 
 admit Cestius as their benrfactor, who, had 
 he but continued the siege a little longer, had 
 certainly taken the city ; but it was, I sup- 
 pose, owing to the aversion God had already 
 at the city and the sanctuary, that he was 
 hindered from putting an end to the war that 
 very day.* 
 
 • There may another very important, and rery pro- 
 videnlial. reas.m be here assigned for this strange and 
 foolish retreat of Cestius ; which, if Josephus had been 
 now a. Christian, he might probably have taken notice 
 of aNo; and that is, the aObrdin? the Jewish Christians 
 in the city an opportunity of calling to mind the prcw 
 dfclion and caution given then* by Christ about thirty- 
 three \ear8 ami a half before, that " when they should 
 kee the abomiuatiun of df solation " Hat idulatrout 
 
 a «5 
 
a42 
 
 WARS OF TUt: JEWS. 
 
 BOOK U. 
 
 7. It then happened that Cestius was not 
 conscious either how the besieged despaired of 
 success, nor how courageous the people were 
 for him ; and so he recalled his soldiers from 
 the place, and by despairing of any expectation 
 of taking it, without having received any dis- 
 grace, he retired from the city, without any 
 reason in the world. That when the robbers 
 perceived this unexpected retreat of his, they 
 resumed their courage, and ran after the hinder 
 parts of his arui^, and destroyed a considerable 
 number of both their horsemen and footmen ; 
 and now Cestius lay all night at the camp, 
 which was at Scopus; and as he went off far- 
 ther next day, he thereby invited the enemy 
 to follow him, who still fell upon the hind- 
 most, and destroyed them ; they also fell upon 
 the flank on each side of the army, and threw 
 darts upon them obliquely, nor durst those that 
 were hindmost turn back upon those who 
 wounded them behind, as imagining that the 
 tnultitude of those that pursued them was 
 immense; nor did they venture to drive away 
 those that pressed upon them on each side, 
 because they were heavy with their arms, and 
 were afraid of breaking their ranks to pieces, 
 and because they saw the Jews were light and 
 ready for making incursions upon them. And 
 this was the reason why the Romans suffered 
 greatly without being able to revenge them- 
 selves upon their enemies; so they were galled 
 all the way, and their ranks were put into dis- 
 order, and those that were thus put out of their 
 ranks were slain ; among whom were Priscus 
 the commander of the sixth legion, and Lon- 
 ginus the tribune, and Emilias Secundus, the 
 commander of a troop of horsemen. So it 
 was not without difficulty that they got to 
 Gabao, their former camp, and that not with- 
 out the loss of a great part of their baggage. 
 There it was that Cestius staid two days; and 
 was in great distress to know what he should 
 do in these circumstances ; but when, on the 
 third day, he saw a still greater number of 
 enemies, and all the parts round about him 
 
 .full of Jews, he understood that his delay was 
 to his own detriment, and that if he staid any 
 longer there, he should have still more ene- 
 mies upon him. 
 
 8. That therefore he might fly the faster, 
 he gave orders to cast away what might hin- 
 der his army's march; so they killed the mules 
 and other creatures, excepting those that car- 
 ried their darts and machines, which they 
 
 Roman armies, with the imaces of thrir idols in their 
 ensigns, ready to lay Jerusalem desolate,] " stand where 
 it oneht not," or. "in the holy place;" or ~ when they 
 should see Jerusalem encomp;isse(l with armies " they 
 should then "flee to the mountains." liy complyini; 
 with which those Jewish Christians fled to the moiin- 
 tains of I'erea, and escaped this destruction. See Lit. 
 Accompl. of Proph page 69. 70. Nor was there, per- 
 h!u>», anyone instance of a more unpoliilc. but more 
 providential conduct than this retreat of Cestius, visible 
 4urini( this whole siege of Jerusalem i which yet was 
 
 finividentially such a •* great tribulation, as had not been 
 rooi the beeinnirff <f the world to that timej oo, nor 
 •vtT should be "—Ibid, pages 7U, 7 1. 
 
 retained for their own use, and this principaDy 
 because they were afraid lest the Jews should 
 seize upon them. He then made bis army 
 march on as far as Bethoron. Now the Jews 
 did not so much press upon them when thi^y 
 were in large open places ; but when they 
 were penned up in their descent through nar- 
 row passages, then did some of them get be- 
 fore, and hindered them from getting out of 
 them ; and others of them thrust the hinder- 
 most down into the lower places; and the 
 whole multitude extended themselves over 
 against the neck of the passage, and covered 
 the Roman army with their darts. In which 
 circumstances, as the footmen knew not how 
 to defend themselves, so the danger pressed 
 the horsemen still more, for they were so pelt- 
 ed, that they could not march along the road 
 in their ranks, and the ascents were so high, 
 that the cavalry were not able to march against 
 the enemy; the precipices also, and valleys 
 into which they frequently fell, and tumbled 
 down, were such on each side of them, that 
 there was neither place for their flight, nor 
 any conlrivance could be thought of for their 
 defence ; till the distress they were at last in 
 was so great that they betook themselves to 
 lamentations, and to such mournful cries as 
 men use in the utmost despair : the joyful 
 acclamations of the Jews also, as they encou- 
 raged one another, echoed the sounds back 
 again, these last composing a noise of those 
 that at once rejoiced and were in a rage. In- 
 deed these things were come to such a pass, 
 that the Jews had almost taken Cestius's 
 entire army prisoners, had not the night corat' 
 on, when the Romans fled to Bethoron, and 
 the Jews seized upon all the places round 
 about them, and watched for their coining out 
 [in the morning]. 
 
 9. And then it was that Cestius, despairing 
 of obtaining room for a public march, contri- 
 ved how he might best run away ; and w htn 
 he had selected four hundred of the mo^t 
 courageous of his soldiers, he placed them at 
 the strongest of their fortifications; and gave 
 order, that when they went up to the morn- 
 ing guard, they should erect their ensigns, tha'„ 
 the Jews might be made to believe that the 
 entire army was there still, while he himself 
 took the rest of his forces with him, arid 
 marched, without any noise, thirty fiirlongs. 
 But when the Jews perceived, in the morur 
 ing, that the camp Was empty, they ran upon 
 those four hundred who had deluded them, 
 and itnmediately threw their 4Mrts at them, 
 and slew them ; and then pursued after Ces- 
 tius. But he had already made use of a great 
 part of the night in his flight, and still marched 
 quicker when it was day ; insomuch that the 
 soldiers, through (he astonishment and fear 
 they were in, left behind them their engines 
 for sieges, and for throwing of stones, and a 
 great part of the instruments of war. So 
 (he Jew» went on pursuing the Romans as 
 
CHAP. XX. 
 
 WARS OF THI'. JEWS. 
 
 643 
 
 far as Antipatris; after which, seeing they 
 could not overtake them, they came back and 
 took the engines, and spoiled the dead bodies; 
 and gathered the prey together which the Ro- 
 mans had left behind them, and came back 
 running and singing to their metropolis ; 
 while they had themselves lost a few only, 
 but had slain of the Romans five thousand and 
 three hundred footmen, and three hundred 
 and eighty horsemen. This defeat happened 
 on the eighth day of the month Dius [Mar- 
 hesvan], in the twelfth year of the reign of 
 Nero. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CtSTIUS SENDS AMBASSADORS TO NERO. THE 
 PEOPLE OF DAMASCUS #LAY THOSE JEWS 
 THAT LIVED WITH THEM. THE PEOPLE OF 
 JERUSALEM, AFTER [THEY HAD LEFT OFF] 
 PURSUING CESTIUS, RETURN TO THE CITY, 
 AND GET THINGS READY FOR ITS DEFENCE, 
 AND MAKE A GREAT MANY GENERALS FOR 
 THEIR ARMIES, AND PARTICULARLY JOSE- 
 PHUS, THE WRITER OF THESE BOOKS. SOME 
 ACCOUNT OF HIS ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 § 1. After this calamity had befallen Ces- 
 tius, many of the most emincfit of the Jews 
 swam away from the city, as from a ship when 
 it was going to sink; Costoburus, therefore, 
 and Saul, who wore brethren", together with 
 Philip, the son of Jaciinus, who was the com- 
 mander of king Agrippa's forces, ran away 
 from the city, and went to Cestius. But then 
 how Antipas, who had been besieged with 
 them in the king's palace, but would not fly 
 away with them, was afterwards slain by the 
 seditious, we shall relate hereafter. However, 
 Cestius sent Saul and his friends, at their own 
 desire, to Achaia, to Nero, to inform him of 
 the great distress they were in; and to lay the 
 blame of their kindling the war upon Florus, 
 as hopnig to alleviate his own danger, by 
 provoking his indignation against Florus. 
 
 2. In the mean time, the people of Damas- 
 cus, when they were informed of the destruc- 
 tion of the Rou>ans, set about the slaughter 
 of those Jev/s that were among them; and 
 as they had them already cooped up together 
 in the place, of public exercises, which they had 
 done, out of the suspicion they had of them, they 
 thought they should meet with no dilficulty in 
 the attempt; yet did they distrust their own 
 wives, which were almost all of them addicted 
 to the Jewish religion ; on which account 
 It was that their greatest concern was, how 
 they might conceal these things from them ; 
 so they came upon the Jews, and cut their 
 throats, as being in a narrow place, in immber 
 ten thousand, and all of them unarmed, and 
 this in one hour's time, wiihuut any body to 
 iiyturb tbeui. . 
 
 3. But as to those who had pursued after 
 
 Cestius, when they were returned back to 
 Jerusalem, they overoore some of those that 
 favoured the Romans by violence, and some 
 they persuaded [by entreaties] to join with 
 them, and got together in great numbers in 
 the temple, and appointed a great many 
 generals for the war. Joseph also, the son of 
 Gorion,* and Ananus the high- priest, were 
 chosen as governors of all affairs within the 
 city, and with a particular charge to repair 
 the walls of the city; for they did not ordain 
 Eleazar, the son of Simon, to that office, 
 although he had gotten into his possession me 
 prey they had taken from the Romans, and 
 the money they had taken from Cestius, to- 
 gether with a great part of the public treasures, 
 because they saw he was of a tyrannical 
 temper; and that his followers were, in their 
 behaviour, like guards about him. However, 
 the want they were in of Eleazar's money, 
 and the subtile tricks used by him, brought all 
 so about, that the people were circumvented, 
 and submitted themselves to his authority 
 in all public affairs. 
 
 4. They also chose other generals for Idu- 
 mea ; Jesus the son of Sapphias, one of the 
 high-priests; and Eleazar the son of Ananias, 
 the high-priest; they also enjoined Niger, the 
 then governor of Idumea,f who was of a 
 family that belonged to Perea, beyond Jordan, 
 and was thence called the Peraite, that he 
 should be obedient to those fore-named com- 
 manders. Nor did they neglect the care of 
 other parts of the country; but Joseph the son 
 of Simon was sent as general to Jericho, as 
 was Manasseh to Perea, and John, the Essene, 
 to the toparchy of Thamna; Lvcidn was also 
 added to his portion, and Joppa and Emmaus. 
 But John, the son of Matthias, was made 
 the governor of the toparchies of Gophnitica 
 and Aorabatene, as was Jo'scphus, the son 
 of Matthias, of both the Galilees. Gamala 
 also, which was the strongest city in those 
 parts, was put under his command. 
 
 5. So every one of the other commanders 
 administered the affairs of his portion with 
 that alacrity and prudence they were masters 
 of; but as to Joseph us, when he came into 
 Galilee, his first care was to gain the good- 
 will of the people of that country, as sensible 
 that he should thereby have in general good 
 success, although he should fail in other 
 points. And being conscious to himself that 
 if he communicated part of his power to the 
 
 • From tliis name of Joseph the son of Gorion, or 
 Gorion the son ol Joseph, as (b. iv. chap. iii. sect U.) 
 one of tlie Kovernors ot Jerusalem, who was slain at the 
 beginning of the tumalts by the zealots (b. iv. ch;ip. vL 
 sect. 1), the much later Jewish author of an history of 
 that nation takes his title, and yet personates our true 
 Josephus. the son of Matthias,- but the cheat is loo gross 
 to he put upon the learned world. 
 
 + We may observe here, that the Iduraeans, as 
 having been proselytes of justice since the days ot John 
 Hyrcaiius, during about 195 years, were now esttemoa 
 as part of the Jewish nation, and here provided wiin a 
 Jewish commander accordingly. See the note upoo 
 Autiq. b. \iii. nhap. ix. sect 1 
 
644 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 «OOK 11. 
 
 great men, he should make them his fast 
 friends; and that he should gain the same 
 favour froo) the multitude, if he executed his 
 commands by persons of their own country, 
 and with whom they were well acquainted; 
 he chose out seventy* of the most prudent 
 men, and those elders in age, and appointed 
 them t(» be rulers of all Galilee, as he chose 
 seven judges in every city to hear the lesser 
 quarrels; for as to the greater causes, and 
 those wherein life and death were concerned, 
 he enjoined they should be brought to him 
 and the seventy elders. 
 
 6. Joseph us also, when he had settled these 
 rules for determining causes by the law, with 
 regard to the people's dealings one with 
 another, betook himself to make provisions for 
 their safety against external violence; and as he 
 knew the Romans would fall upon Galilee, he 
 built walls in proper places about Jotapata, 
 and Bersabee, and Salamis; and besides these 
 about Caphareccho, and Japha, and Sigo, and 
 what they call Mount Tabor, and Tarichese, 
 and Tiberias. Moreover, he built walls about 
 the caves near the lake of Gennessar, which 
 places lay in the Lower Galilee; the same as 
 he did to the places of Upper Galilee, as well 
 as to the rock called the Rock of the Acha- 
 bari, and to Seph, and Jamnith, and Meroth; 
 and in Gaulanitis he fortified Seleucia, and 
 Sogane, and Gamala; but as to those of Sep- 
 phoris, they were the only people to whom he 
 gave leave to build their own walls, and this, 
 because he perceived they were rich and 
 wealthy, and ready to go to war, without stand- 
 ing in need of any injunctions for that purpose. 
 The case was the same with Gischala, which 
 had a wall built about it by John the son of 
 Levi himself, but with the consent of Jose- 
 phus; but for the building of the rest of the 
 fortresses, he laboured together with all the 
 other builders, and was present to give all the 
 
 • We see here, and in Josephus's account of his own 
 life, sect. 14, how exactly he imitated his legislator Moses, 
 or periiaps only obeyed what he took to be his perpetual 
 law, in appointing seven lesser judges, lor smaller causes, 
 in particular cities, and perhaps tor the tirst hearing of 
 greater causes, with the liberty of au appeal to seventy- 
 one bupreme judges, especially in those causes where lile 
 and death is concerned; as Antiq.b.iv.ch. viii. sect. 14; 
 and of bis Life, sect 14. See also Oi the War, b. iv. cli. v 
 sect 4. Moreover, we lind 'sect. 7) that he imitated 
 Moses, as well as the Romans, in the number and distri- 
 bution of the subaltern oliiceis of his army, as Kxod. xviii. 
 25; DeuL Lid; and in bis ctiarge against the ntiences 
 comrnun among soldiers, as Ueut. xxiii. 9; in all which 
 be showed his great wisdum and piety, and skilful con- 
 duct in martial affairs. Yet may we discern in his very 
 high character of Ananus the high-priest, b. iv. ch. v. 
 sect, i, who seems to have been the same that condemned 
 St. James, bishop of Jerusa em, to be stoned, under Albi- 
 Dus the procurator, that when he wrote these books of 
 the War. he was not so mucli as an Lbionite Christian: 
 otherwise be would not have failed, according to his usual 
 custom, to have reckoned this his barbarous murder as a 
 just punishment upon him for that his cruelty to the 
 chief, or rather only Christian bishop of the circumcision. 
 Nor, had he been then a Christian, could he immediately 
 have spoken so movingly of the causes of the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, without one word of either the con- 
 demnation of James, or crucifixion of Christ, as he did 
 wb«u bs was liscomc a ChristiaD aftsrward. 
 
 necessary orders for that purpose. He also got 
 together an army out of Galilee, of more than 
 a hundred thousand young men, all of whom 
 he armed with the old weapons which he had 
 collected together and prepared for them. 
 
 7. And when he had considered that the 
 Roman power became invincible, chiefly by 
 their readiness in obeying orders, and the 
 constant exercise of their arms, he despaired 
 of teaching these his men the use of their 
 arms, which was to be obtained by experience; 
 but observing that their readiness in obeying 
 orders was owing to the multitude of their 
 officers, he made his partitions in his army 
 more after the Roman manner, and appointed 
 a great many subalterns. He also distributed 
 the soldiers into various classes, whom he put 
 under captains of tens, and captains of hun- 
 dreds, and then under captains of thousands; 
 and besides these he had commanders of 
 larger bodies of men. He also taught them 
 to give the signals one to another, and to call 
 and recall the soldiers by the trumpets, how 
 to expand the wings of an army, and make 
 them wheel about; and when one wing hath 
 had success, to turn again and assist those that 
 were hard set, and to join in the defence of 
 what had most suffered. He also contirmally 
 instructed them in what concerned the courage 
 of the soul and the hardiness of the body ; and, 
 above all, he exercised them for war, by decla- 
 ring to them distinctly the good order of the 
 Romans, and that they were to light with men 
 who, both by the strength of their bodies and 
 courage of their souls, had conquered in a man- 
 ner the whole habitable earth. He told tbeni 
 that he should make trial of the good order 
 they would observe in war, even before it 
 came to any battle, in case they would abstain 
 from the crimes they used to indulge them- 
 selves in, such as theft, and robbery, and 
 rapine, and from defrauding their own country- 
 men, and never to esteem the harm done to 
 those that were so near of kin to them to be 
 any advantage to themselves; for that wars 
 are then managed the best when the warriors 
 preserve a good conscience; but that such as 
 are ill men in private life, will not only have 
 those for enemies which attack them, but God 
 himself also for their antagonist. 
 . 8. And thus did he continue to admonish 
 them. 2^ow he chose for the war such an 
 army as was sufficient, i. e. sixty thousand 
 footmen, and two hundred and fifty horse- 
 men;! and besides these, on which he put 
 the greatest trust, there were about four thou- 
 sand five hundred mercenaries: he had also 
 six hundred men as guards of his body. ^Jow 
 the cities easily maintained the rest of his 
 
 + I should think that an army of sixty thousand foot, 
 men should requite n any more than two hundred' and 
 Htty horsemen, and wt> had Josephus bad mure hoise- 
 men under his coinuiand than two hundred and fiity in 
 his future history. 1 siippi)!>e the nuni.ber of the thou-i ] 
 sands is dropped m uur pieKent cwpitH. 
 
CRAP. XXI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 army, excepting the mercenaries; for every 
 one of the cities enumerated before sent out 
 half their men to their army, and retained the 
 other half at home, in order to get provisions 
 for them; insomuch that the one part went to 
 the war, and the other part to their work : 
 and so those that sent out their corn were 
 paid for it by those that were in arms, by that 
 security which they enjoyed from them. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI, 
 
 CONCERNING JOHN OF GISCHALA. JOSEPHUS 
 USES STRATAGEMS AGAINST THE PLOTS JOHN 
 LAID AGAINST HIM, AND RECOVERS CERTAIN 
 CITIES WHICH HAD REVOLTED FROM HIM. 
 
 § 1. Now, as Josephus \vas thus engaged in 
 the administration of the affairs of Galilee, 
 there arose a treacherous person, a man of 
 Gischala, the son of Levi, whose name was 
 John. His character was that of a very cun- 
 ning, and very knavish person, beyond the 
 ordinary rate of the other men of eminence 
 there; and for wicked practices he had not 
 his fellow anywhere. Poor he was at first, 
 and for a long time his wants were a hin- 
 derance to him in his wicked designs. He 
 was a ready liar, and yet very sharp in gain- 
 ing credit to his fictions: he thought it a 
 point of virtue to delude people, and would 
 delude even such as were the dearest to him. 
 He was a hypocritical pretender to humanity, 
 but, where he had hopes of gain, he spared 
 not the shedding of blood: his desires were 
 ever carried to great things, and he encouraged 
 his hopes from those mean \vicked tricks 
 which he was the author of. He had a 
 peculiar knack at thieving; but in some 
 time he got certain companions in his impu- 
 dent practices: at first they were but few, 
 but as he proceeded on in his evil course, they 
 became still more and more numerous. He 
 took care that none of his partners should be 
 easily caught in their rogueries, but chose 
 such out of the rest as had the strongest con- 
 stitutions of body, and the greatest courage 
 of soul, together with great skill in martial 
 afiairs ; so he got together a band of fo#r 
 hundred men, who came principally out of 
 the country of Tyre, and were vagabonds that 
 had run away from its villages; and by the 
 means of these he laid waste all Galilee, and 
 irritated a considerable number, who were in 
 great expectation of a war then suddenly to 
 arise among them. 
 
 2. However, John's want of money had 
 hitherto restrained him in his ambition after 
 command, and in his attempts to advance 
 himself; but when he saw that Josephus was 
 highly pleased with the activity of his temper, 
 be persuaded him, in the first place, to intrust 
 him with the repairing of the walls of his 
 
 645 
 
 native city [Gischala] ; in which work he got 
 a great deal of money from the rich citizens. 
 He after that contrived a very shrewd trick, 
 and pretending that the Jews who dwelt in 
 Syria were obliged to make use of oil that 
 was made by others than those of their own 
 nation, he desired leave of Josephus to send 
 oil to their borders; so he bought four am- 
 phorae with such Tyrian money as was of tht 
 value of four Attic drachmae, and sold every 
 half-amphora at the same price; and as 
 Galilee was very fruitful in oil, and was pecu- 
 liarly so at that time, by sending away great 
 quantities, and having the sole privilege so to 
 do, he gathered an immense sum of money 
 together, which money he immediately use»i 
 to the disadvantage of him who gave him that 
 privilege; and, as he supposed, that if he 
 could once overthrow Josephus, he should 
 himself obtain the government of Galilee; so 
 he gave order to the robbers that were under 
 his command, to be more zealous in their 
 thievish expeditions, that by the rise of many 
 that desired innovations in the country, he 
 might either catch their general in his snares, 
 as he came to the country's assistance, and 
 then kill him; or if he should overlook the 
 robbers, he might accuse him for his negli- 
 gence to the people of the country. He also 
 spread abroad a report far and near, that 
 Josephus was delivering up the adminis- 
 tration of aflfairs to the Romans; — and many 
 such plots did he lay, in order to ruin him. 
 
 3. Now at the same time that certain young 
 men of the village Dabaritta, who kepf guard 
 in the Great Plain, laid snares for Ptolemy, 
 who was Agrippa's and Bernice's steward, 
 and took from him all that he had with him ; 
 among which things there were a great many 
 costly garments, and no small number of sil- 
 ver cups, and six hundred pieces of gold; yet 
 were they not able to conceal what they had 
 stolen, but brought it all to Josephus, to 
 Taricheae. Hereupon he blamed them for the 
 violence they had offered to the king and 
 queen, and deposited what they brought to 
 him with Eneas, the most potent man of Ta- 
 richeae, with an intention of sending the things 
 back to the owners at a proper time; which 
 act of Josephus brought him into the greatest 
 danger; for those that had stolen the things, 
 had an indignation at him, both because they 
 gained no share of it for themselves, and 
 because they perceived beforehand what was 
 Joseph us's intention, and that he would freely 
 deliver up what had cost them so much 
 pains to the king and queen. These, ran 
 away by night to their several villages, and 
 declared to all men that Josephus was going 
 to betray them ; they also raised great disor- 
 ders in all the neighbouring cities, insomuch 
 that in the morning a hundred thousand armec/ 
 men came running together; which multitude 
 was crowded together in the hyppodrome 
 at Taricheae, and made a v^ry p«eTuh 
 
646 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK ir. 
 
 damour a^nst him; while some cried out, 
 that they should depose the traitor; and 
 others, that they should burn bina. Now John 
 irritated a great many, as did also one Jesus, 
 the son of Sapphias, who was then governor 
 of Tiberias. Then it was that Josephus's 
 friends, and the guards of his body, were so 
 affrighted at this violent assault of the multi- 
 tude, that they all fled away but four; and 
 as he was asleep, they awaked hira, as the 
 people were going to set fire to the house; 
 and although those four that remained with 
 him persuaded him to run away, he was nei- 
 ther surprised at his being himself deserted, 
 nor at the great multitude that came against 
 him, but leaped out to them with his clothes 
 rent, and ashes sprinkled on his head, with 
 his hands behind him, and his sword hanging 
 at his neck. At this sight his friends, espe- 
 cially those of Taricheae, commiserated his 
 condition; but those that came out of the 
 country, and those in their neighbourhood, 
 to whom his government seemed burdensome, 
 reproached him, and bade him produce the 
 money which belonged to them all imme- 
 diately, and to confess the agreement he had 
 made to betray them; for they imagined, from 
 the habit in which he appeared, that he could 
 deny nothing of what they suspected concern- 
 'ing him, and that it was in order to obtain 
 pardon, that he had put himself entirely into 
 so pitiable a posture; but this humble appear- 
 ance was only designed as preparatory to a 
 stratagem of his, who thereby contrived to 
 set those that were so angry at him at vari- 
 ance one wdth another about the things they 
 were angry at. However, he promised he 
 would confess all: hereupon he was permit- 
 ted to speak, when he said, " I did neither 
 intend to send this money back to Agrippa, 
 nor to gain it myself; for I did never esteem 
 one that was your enemy to be my friend, nor 
 did I look upon what would tend to your 
 disadvantage, to be my advantage. But, O 
 you people of Taricheae, I saw that your city 
 stood in more need than others of fortification 
 for your Security, and that it wanted money, 
 in order for the building it a wall. I was 
 also afraid lest the people of Tiberias and 
 other cities should lay a plot to seize upon 
 these spoils, and therefore it was that I 
 intended to retain this money privately, that 
 1 might encompass you with' a wall. But if 
 this does not please you, Ijvill produce what 
 was brought me, and leave it tc^you to plun- 
 der it: but if I have conducted myself so well 
 as to please you, you may, if you please, 
 punish your benefactor." 
 
 4. Hereupon the people of Taricheaj loudly 
 commended hira; but those of Tiberias, with 
 the rest of the company, gave him hard names, 
 &ud threatened what they would do to him ; 
 »o both sides left off (juarreUing with Josephus, 
 aud fell to quarrelling with one another. So 
 he grew bold upoa the dependence he had on 
 
 his friends, which were the people of Tariche», 
 and about forty thousand in number, and 
 spake more freely to the whole multitude, and 
 reproached them greatly for their rashness; 
 and told them, that with this money he would 
 build walls, about Taricheae, and would put 
 the other cities in a state of security also; for 
 that they should not want money, if they 
 would but agree for whose benefit it was to 
 be procured, and would not suffer themselves 
 to be irritated against him who had procured 
 it for them. 
 
 5. Hereupon the rest of the multitude that 
 had been deluded retired; but yet so that they 
 went away angry, and two thousand of them 
 made an assault upon him in their armour; 
 and as he was already gone to his own house, 
 they stood without and threatened him. On 
 which occasion Josephus again used a second 
 stratagem to escape them ; for he got upon 
 the top of the house, and with his right hand 
 desired them to be silent, and said to them, 
 " I cannot tell what you would have, nor can 
 hear what you say, for the confused noise you 
 make:" but he said he would comply with all 
 their demands, in case they would but send 
 some of their number in to him that might 
 talk with him about it. And when the prin- 
 cipal of them, with their leaders, heard this, 
 they came into the house. He then drew 
 them to the most retired part of the house, and 
 shut the door of that hall where he put them, 
 and then had them whipped till every one of 
 their inward parts appeared naked. In the 
 mean time the multitude stood round the 
 house, and supposed that he had a long dis- 
 course with those that were gone in, about 
 what they claimed of him. He had then the 
 doors set open immediately, and sent the men 
 out all bloody, which stf terribly affrighted 
 those that had before threatened him, that 
 they threw away their arms and ran away. 
 
 6. But as for John, his envy grew greater 
 [upon this escape of Josephus], and hei'ramed 
 a new plot against him; he pretended to be 
 sick, and by a letter desired that Josephus 
 would give him leave to use the hot baths 
 that were at Tiberias, for the recovery of his 
 health. Hereupon Josephus, who hitherto 
 suspected nothing of John's plots against him, 
 wtote to the governors of the city, that they 
 would provide a lodging and necessaries iht 
 John; which favours, when he- had made use 
 of, in two daysj' time he did what he came 
 about; some he corrupted with delusive frauds, 
 and others with money, and so persuaded them 
 to revolt from Josephus. This Silas, who was 
 appointed guardian of the city hy Josephus, 
 wrote to him immediately, and informed him 
 of the plot against him; which epistle, when 
 Josephus had received, he marched with great 
 diligence all night, and came early in the morn- 
 ing to Tiberias; at which time the rest of the 
 multitude met him. But 'John, who suspected 
 that his coming was not for his advantage, sent 
 
CHAP. XXI. 
 
 WARS OP THE JEWS 
 
 647 
 
 however one of his friends, and pretended that 
 he was sick, and that being confined to his bed 
 he could not come to pay him his respects. But 
 as soon as Josephus had got the people of Ti- 
 berias together in the stradium, and tried to dis- 
 course with them about the letters that he had 
 received, John privately sent some armed men, 
 and gave them orders to slay him. But when 
 the people saw that the armed men were about 
 to draw their swords, they cried out; — at which 
 cry Josephus turned himself about, and when 
 he saw that the swords were just at his throat, 
 he marched away in great haste to the sea- 
 shore, and left off that speech which he was 
 going to make to the people, upon an elevation 
 of six cubits high. He then seized on a ship 
 which lay in the haven, and leaped into it, with 
 two of his guards, and fled away into the 
 raidst of the lake. 
 
 7. But now the soldiers he had mth him 
 took up their arms immediately, and marched 
 against the plotters; but Josephus was afraid 
 lest a civil war should be raised by the envy 
 of a few men, and bring the city to ruin; so 
 he sent some of his party to tell them that they 
 should do no more than provide for their own 
 safety; that they should not kill any body, 
 nor accuse any for the occasion they had 
 afforded [of a disorder]. Accordingly, these 
 men obeyed his orders, and were quiet; but 
 the people of the neighbouring country, when 
 they were informed of this plot, and of the 
 plotter, got together in great multitudes to 
 oppose John. But he prevented their at- 
 tempt, and fled away to Gischala, his native 
 city, while the Galileans came running out of 
 their several cities to Josephus; and as they 
 were now become many ten thousands of 
 armed men, they cried out, that they were 
 come against John the common plotter against 
 their interest, and would at the same time 
 burn him, and that city which had received 
 him. Hereupon Josephus told them that he 
 took their good-will to him kindly, but still 
 he restrained their fury, and intended to sub- 
 due his enemies by prudent conduct, rather 
 than by slaying them; so he excepted those 
 of every city which had joined in this revolt 
 with John, by name, who had readily been 
 shown him by those that came from every 
 city, and caused public proclamation to be 
 made, that he would seize upon the effects of 
 those that did not forsake John within five 
 days' time, and would birn both their houses 
 and their families with fiie. Whereupon three 
 thousand of John's party left him immedi- 
 ately, who came to Josephus, and threw their 
 arms down at his feet. John then betook 
 himself, together with his two thousand Sy- 
 rian runagates, from open attempts, to more 
 secret ways of treachery. Accordingly, he 
 privately sent messengers to Jerusalem, to 
 accuse Josephus, as having too great power, 
 ana to let them know that he would soon 
 comii as a tyrant to thoir metropolis, unless 
 
 they prevented him. This accusation tlw 
 people were aware of beforehand, but had no 
 regard to it. However, some of the gran- 
 dees, out of envy, and some of the rulers 
 also, sent money to John privately, that he 
 might be able to get together mercenary 
 soldiers, in order to fight Josephus; they 
 also made a decree of themselves, and this for 
 recalling him from his government, yet did 
 they not think that decree sufficient; so they ^, 
 sent withal two thousand five hundred armed 
 men, and four persons of the highest rank 
 amongst them ; Joazar the son of Nomicus, 
 and Ananias the son of Sadduk ; as also 
 Simon and Judas, the sons of Jonathan Call 
 very able men in speaking), that these persons 
 might withdraw the good-will of the people 
 from Josephus. These had it in charge, that if 
 he would voluntarily come away, they should 
 permit him to [come and] give an accountof his 
 conduct; but if he obstinately insisted upon 
 continuing in his government, they should treat 
 him as an enemy. Now, Josephus's friends 
 had sent him word that an army was comiHg 
 against him, but they gave him no notice be- 
 forehand what the reason of their coming was, 
 that being only known among some secret 
 councils of his enemies; and by this means 
 it was that four cities revolted from him im- 
 mediately, Sepphoris, and Gamala, and Gis- 
 chala, and Tiberias. Yet did he recover these 
 cities without war; and when he had routed 
 those four commanders by stratagems, and 
 had taken the most potent of their warriors, 
 he sent them to Jerusalem; and the people 
 [of Galilee] had great indignation at them, 
 and were in a zealous disposition to slay, not 
 only these forces, but those that sent them 
 also, had not these forces prevented it by 
 running away. 
 
 8. Now John was detained afterward within 
 the walls of Gischala, by the fear he was in 
 of Josephus; but within a few days Tiberias 
 revolted again, the people within it inviting 
 king Agrippa [to return to the exercise of 
 his authority there]; and when he did not 
 come at the time appointedj and when a few 
 Roman horsemen appeared that day, they ex- 
 pelled Josephus out of the city. Now, this 
 revolt of theirs was presently known at Tari- 
 cheae ; and as Josephus had sent out all the 
 soldiers that were with him to gather corn, he 
 knew not how either to march out alone against 
 the revolters, or to stay where he was, because 
 he was afraid the king's soldiers might prevent 
 him if he tarried, and might get into the city; 
 for he did not intend to do any thing on the 
 next day, because it was the Sabbath-day, and 
 would hinder his proceeding. So he con- 
 trived to circumvent the revolters by a strata- 
 gem; and, in the first place, he ordered the 
 gates of TarichetE to be shut, that nobody 
 might go out and inform [those of Tiberias], 
 for whom it was intended, what stratagem he 
 was about: he then got together all the ships 
 
648 
 
 that were upon the lake, which were found 
 to be two hundred and thirty, and in each of 
 them he put no niore than four mariners. So 
 he sailed to Tiberias with haste, and kept at 
 •uch a distance from the city, that it was 
 not easy for the people to see the vessels, and 
 ordered that the empty vessels should float up 
 and down there, while himself, who had but 
 seven of his guards with him, and those 
 unarmed also, went so near as to be seen ; but 
 when his adversaries, who were still reproach- 
 ing him, saw him from the walls, they were 
 so astonished that they supposed all the ships 
 were full of armed men, and threw down their 
 arms, and by signals of intercession they 
 besought him to spare the city. 
 
 9. Upon this, Josephus threatened them 
 terribly, and reproached them, that when they 
 were the first that took up arms against the 
 Romans, they should spend their force before- 
 hand in civU dissensions, and do what their 
 enemies desired above all things; and that 
 besides, they should endeavour so hastily to 
 seize upon him, who took care of their safety, 
 and had not been ashamed to shut the gates 
 of their city against him that built their walls ; 
 that, however, he would admit of any inter- 
 cessors from them that might make some 
 excuse for them, and with whom he would 
 make such agreements as might be for the 
 city's security. Hereupon ten of the most 
 potent men of Tiberias came down to him pre- 
 sently, and when he had taken them into one 
 of his vessels, he ordered them to be carried 
 a great way off from the city. He then com- 
 manded that fifty others of their senate, such 
 as were men of the greatest eminence, should 
 come to him, that they also might give him 
 some security on their behalf. After which, 
 under one new pretence or another, he called 
 forth others, one after another, to make the 
 leagues between them. He then gave order 
 to the masters of those vessels which he had 
 thus filled, to sail away immediately for Tari- 
 cheae, and to confine those men in the prison 
 there; till at length he took all their senate, 
 consisting of six hundred persons, and about 
 two thousand of the populace, and carried 
 them away to Taricheae. 
 
 10. And when the rest of the people cried 
 out, that it was one Clitus that was the chief 
 author of this revolt, they desired him to 
 spend his anger upon him [only] ; but Jose- 
 phus, whose intention it was to slay nobody, 
 commanded one Levi us, belonging to his 
 guards, to go out of the vessel, in order to 
 cut oflf both Clitus's hands; yet was Levius 
 afraid to go out by himself alone, to such a 
 large body of enemies, and refused to go. 
 Now CUtus saw that Josephus was in a great 
 passion in the ship, and ready to leap out of 
 It, in order to execute the punishment him- 
 self; he begged therefore from the shore, 
 that he would leave him one of his hands, 
 which Josephus agreed to, upon condition 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 that he would himself cut off the other h&ndj 
 accordingly he drew his sword, and with his 
 right hand cut off his left, — so great was the 
 fear he was in of Josephus himself. And 
 thus he took the people of Tiberias prisoners, 
 and recovered the city again with empty 
 ships* and seven of his guard. Moreover, 
 a few days afterward he retook Gischala, 
 which had revolted with the people of Sep- 
 phoris, and gave his soldiers leave to plunder 
 it; yet did he get all the plunder together, 
 and restored it to the inhabitants; and the 
 like he did to the inhabitants of Sepphoris and 
 Tiberias: for when he had subdued those 
 cities, he had a mind, by letting them be 
 plundered, to give them some good instruc- 
 tion, while at the same time he regained their 
 good- will by restoring them their money 
 again. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE JEWS MAKE ALL READY FOR THE WAR; 
 AND SIMON, THE SON OF GIORAS, FALLS 
 TO PLUNDERING. 
 
 § 1. And thus were the disturbances of Gali- 
 lee quieted, when, upon their ceasing to pro- 
 secute their civil dissensions, they betook 
 themselves to make preparations for the war 
 with the Romans. Now in Jerusalem the 
 high-priest Ananus, and as many of the men 
 of power as were not in the interest of the 
 Romans, both repaired the walls, and made a 
 great many warlike instruments, insomuch 
 that, in all parts of the city, darts and all sorts 
 of armour were upon the anvil. Although 
 the multitude of the young men were engaged 
 in exercises, without any regularity, and all 
 places were full of tumultuous doings; yet 
 the moderate sort were exceedingly sad; and 
 a great many there were who, out of the pro- 
 spect they had of the calamities that were 
 coming upon them, made great lameutations. 
 There were also such omens observed as were 
 understood to be forerunners of evils, by such 
 as loved peace, but were by those that kin- 
 dled the war interpreted so as to suit their 
 own inclinations; and the very state of the 
 city, even before the Romans came against it, 
 was that of a place doomed to destruction. 
 However, Ananus's concern was this, to lay 
 aside, for a while, the preparations for the 
 war, and to persuade the seditious to consult 
 their own interest, and to restrain the madness 
 of those that had the name of zealots: but 
 their violence was too hard for him ; and what 
 end he came to we shall relate hereafter. 
 2. But as for the Acrabbene toparchy, 
 
 • I cannot 'but think this ttratansm of Josepbum 
 which is related both here and in his Lite, sect. 32, 'Si, to 
 be one of the finest thitt ever was inveutad and executod 
 by any warrior whiit»oev«r. 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 649 
 
 Simon, the son of Gioras, got a great number 
 of those that were fond onnnovations together, 
 a/!(i betook hiuisult to ravage the country; 
 nor (ii.l he only hara--.s tlie rich men's houses, 
 but tornietited their bodie?;, and appeared 
 <;|»eiily and beforehand to affect tyranny in 
 bi- govcni-.iHMit. And when an army was 
 s »ir itiLj'aiust iiiin by Aiianus, and the other 
 rul..-'<. Ik; aii.i ids hand retired to the robbers 
 thdt vwie at Alisada, and staid there, and 
 
 plundered the country of Idumea with them, 
 till both Ananus and his other adversaries 
 were slain ; and until the rulers of that 
 country were so afflicted with the multitude 
 of those that were slain, and with the 
 continual ravage of what they had, that they 
 raised an army, and put garrisons into the 
 villages, to secure them from those insults. 
 And in this state were the affairs of Judea at 
 that time. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 CONTAININQ THB INTBSVAL OF ABOUT ONB 7BA& • 
 
 FROM VESPASIAN'S COMING TO SUBDUE THE JEWS TO THB 
 TAKING OF GAMALA. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 VtSPASIAN IS SENT INTO SYRIA BY NEXO, TO 
 MAKE WAR WITH THE JEWS. 
 
 § 1. When Nero was informed of the Ro- 
 mans' ill success in Judea, a concealed con- 
 sul cniation' and terror, as is usual in such 
 (a.-es, fdll upon, him; although he openly 
 locked very big, and was very angry, and 
 saiii, that what had happened was rather owing 
 to Liie negligence of the commander than to 
 a.iy valoijr of the enemy: and as he thought 
 it jit i'ov him who bare the burden of the 
 whoie empire, to despise such misfortunes, he 
 no.v pretended so to do, and to have a soul 
 supt-rioi- to all such sad accidents whatsoever. 
 Ye* aid the disturbance that was in his soul 
 plai ;1 y appear by the solicitude he was in 
 [lioA- to reoover his affairs again]. 
 
 2. And as he was deliberating to whom he 
 should cOinuiit the care of the east, now it 
 was ill so great a commotion, and who might 
 be best able to punish the Jews for their re- 
 bellion, and might prevent the same distem- 
 per from seizing upon the neighbouring 
 nations also, — he found no one but Vespasian 
 equal to the task, ^nd able to undergo the 
 great burden of so mighty a war, seeing he 
 was growing an old man already in the camp, 
 and from his youth had been exercised in 
 warlike exploits: be was also a man that had 
 long ago pacified the west, and made it 
 eubject to the Romans, when it had been put 
 into disorder by the Germans: be had also 
 
 recovered to them Britain by his arms, which 
 had been little known before;* whereby he 
 procured to his father Claudius to have a 
 triumph bestowed on him without any sweat 
 or labour of his own. 
 
 3. So Nero esteemed these circumstances 
 as favourable omens, and saw that Vespasian's 
 age gave him sure experience, and great skill, 
 and that he had his sons as hostages for his 
 fidelity to himself, and that the flourishing 
 age they were in would make them fit in- 
 struments under their father's prudence. 
 Perhaps also there was some interposition of 
 Providence, which was paving the way for 
 Vespasian's being himself emperor afterwards. 
 Upon the whole, he sent this man to take upon 
 him the command of the armies that were in 
 Syria; but this not without great encomiums 
 and flattering compellations, such as neces- 
 sity required, and such as might mollify 
 him into complaisance. So Vespasian sent 
 his son Titus from Achaia, where he had been 
 with Nero, to Alexandria, to bring back with 
 him from thence the fifth and tenth legions, 
 while he himself, when he had passed over 
 the Hellespont, came by land into Syria, 
 
 • Take the confirmation of this in the words of Sue- 
 tonius, here produced by Dr. Hudson: — "In the reign 
 of Claudius," says be, *^ Vespasian, for the sake of Nar- 
 cissus, was sent as a lieutenant of a le^on into 3er- 
 niany. Thence he removed into Britain, and 'ought 
 thirty battles with the enemy." In Vesp. sect. 4. We 
 may also here note from Josephus, that Claudius the 
 emperor, who triumphed for the conquest of Britain, 
 was enabled so to do by Vespasian's conduct and 
 bravery, and that be is here styled "the Father of 
 Vespasian." 
 
650 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 wiere he gathered together the Roman forces, 
 with a considerable number of auxiliaries 
 from the kings in that neighbourhood. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A GREAT SLAUGHTER OF THE JEWS ABOUT 
 ASCALON. VESPASIAN COMES TO PTOLE- 
 MAIS. 
 
 8 1. Now the Jews, after they had beaten 
 Cestius, were so much elevated with their 
 unexpected success, that they could not govern 
 their zeal, but, like people blown up into a 
 flame by their good fortune, carried the war 
 to remoter places. Accordingly, they pre- 
 sently got together a great multitude of all 
 their most hardy soldiers, and marched away 
 for Ascalon. This is an ancient city that is 
 distant from Jerusalem five hundred and 
 twenty furlongs, and was always an enemy 
 to the Jews; on which account they deter- 
 mined to make their first efibrt against it, and 
 to make their approaches to it as near as pos- 
 eible. This excursion was led on by three 
 men, who were the chief of them all, both for 
 strength and sagacity: Niger, called the 
 Peraite, Silas of Babylon, and besides them, 
 John the Essene. Now Ascalon was strongly 
 walled about, but had almost no assistance 
 to be relied on [near them], for the garrison 
 consisted of one cohort of footmen, and one 
 troop of horsemen, whose captain was Anto- 
 nius. 
 
 2. These Jews, therefore, out of their 
 anger, marched faster than ordinary, ajid, as if 
 they had come but a little way, approached 
 very near the city, and were come even to 
 it; but Antonius, who was not unapprised of 
 the attack they were going to make upon the 
 city, drew out his horsemen beforehand, and 
 being neither daunted at the multitude nor 
 at the courage of the enemy, received their 
 first attacks with great bravery; and when 
 they crowded to the very walls, he beat them 
 off. Now the Jews were unskilful in war, 
 but were to fight with those who were skilful 
 therein; they were fiDOtmen, to fight with 
 horsemen; they were in disorder, to fight 
 those that were united together; they were 
 poorly armed, to fight those that were com- 
 pletely so; they were to fight more by their 
 rage than by sober counsel, and were exposed 
 to soldiers that were exactly obedient, and 
 did every thing they were bidden upon the 
 least intimation. So they were easily beaten; 
 for as soon as ever their first ranks were once 
 in disorder, they were put to flight by the 
 enemy's cavalry, and those of them that came 
 behind such as crowded to the wall, fell upon 
 their own party's weapons, and became one 
 Viother's enemies; and this so long till they 
 were all forced to give way to the attacks of 
 
 the horsemen, and were dispersed all the plain 
 over, which plain was wide, and all fit for the 
 horsemen ; which circumstance was very com- 
 modious for the Romans, and occasioned the 
 slaughter of the greatest number of the Jews; 
 for such as ran away, they could overrun 
 them, and make them turn back; and when 
 they had brought them back after their flight, 
 and driven them together, they ran them 
 through, and slew a vast number of them, 
 insomuch that others encompassed others of 
 them, and drove them before them whitherso- 
 ever they turned themselves, and slew them 
 easily with their arrows; and the great num- 
 ber there were of the Jews seemed a solitude 
 to themselves, by reason of the distress they 
 were in, while the Romans had such good 
 success with their small number, that they 
 seemed to themselves to be the greater multi- 
 tude; and as the former strove zealously 
 under their misfortunes, out of the shame of a 
 sudden flight, and hopes of the change in 
 their success, so did the latter feel no weari- 
 ness by reason of their good fortune; inso- 
 much that the fight lusted till the evening, till 
 ten thousand men of the Jews' side lay dead, 
 with two of their generals, John and Silas; 
 and the greater part of the remainder were 
 -wounded, with Niger, their remaining gene- 
 ral, who fled away together to a small city of 
 Idumea, called Sallis. Some few also of the 
 Romans were wounded in this battle. 
 
 3. Yet were not the spirits of the Jews 
 broken by so great a calamity, but the losses 
 they had sustained rather quickened their 
 resolution for other attempts; for, overlooking 
 the dead bodies which lay under their feet, 
 ikey were enticed by their former glorious 
 actions to venture on a second destruction; so 
 when they had lain still so little a while that 
 their wounds were not yet thoroughly cured, 
 they got together all their forces, and came 
 with greater fury, and in much greater num- 
 bers, to Ascalon; but their former ill fortune 
 followed them, as the consequence of their 
 unskilfulness, and other deficiencies in war; 
 for Antonius laid ambushes for them in the 
 passages they were to go through, where they 
 fell into snares unexpectedly, and where they 
 were encompassed about with horsemen before 
 they could form themselves into a regular 
 body for fighting, and were above eight thou- 
 sand of them slain: so all the rest of thera 
 ran away, and with them Niger, who still did 
 a great many bold exploits in his flight. How- 
 ever, they were driven along together by the 
 enemy, who pressed hard upon them, into a 
 certain strong tower belonging to a village 
 called Bezedel. However, Antonius and his 
 party, that they might neither spend any con- 
 siderable time about this tower, which was 
 hard to be taken, nor Eu(Fer their commander, 
 and the most courageous man of them all, to 
 escape from them, they set the wall on firej 
 and as the tower was burning, the Romans 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 651 
 
 went away rejoicing, as taking it for granted 
 that Niger was destroyed; but he leaped out 
 of the tower into a subterraneous cave, in the 
 innermost part of it, and was preserved; and 
 on the third day afterward he spake out of the 
 ground to those that with great lamentations 
 were searching for him, in order to give him 
 a decent funeral; and when he was come 
 cut, he filled all the Jews with an unexpected 
 joy, as though he were preserved by God's 
 providence to be their commander for the 
 time to come. 
 
 4. And now Vespasian took along with him 
 his army from Antioch (which is the metro- 
 polis of Syria, and, without dispute, deserves 
 the place of the third city in the habitable 
 earth that was under the Roman empire, * 
 both in magnitude and other marks of pros- 
 perity), where he found king Agrippa, with 
 all his forces, waiting for his coming, and 
 marched to Ptolemais. At this city also the 
 inhabitants of Sepphoris of Galilee met him, 
 who were for peace with the Romans, These 
 citizens had beforehand taken care of their 
 own safety, and being sensible of the power of 
 the Romans, they had been with Cestius Gal- 
 lus before Vespasian came, and had given 
 their faith to him, and received the security 
 of his right hand; and had received a Roman 
 garrison ; and at this time withal they received 
 Vespasian, the Roman general, very kindly, 
 and readily promised that they would assist 
 him against their own countrymen. Now 
 the general delivered them, at their desire, as 
 many horsemen and footmen as he thought 
 sufficient to oppose the incursions of the Jews, 
 if they should happen to come against them ; 
 — and indeed the danger of losing Sepphoris 
 would be no small one, in this war that was 
 now beginning, seeing it was the largest city 
 of Galilee, and built in a place by nature 
 very strong, and might be a security of the 
 whole nation's £fidelity to the Romans]. 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 K DESCBIPTION OF GALILEE, SAMARIA, AND 
 JUDEA. 
 
 § 1. Now Phoenicia and Syria encompass 
 about the Galilees, which are two, and called 
 the Upper Galilee and the Lower. They are 
 bounded towards the sun- setting, with the 
 borders of the territory belonging to Ptolemais, 
 and by Carmel; which mountain had formerly 
 belonged to the Galileans, but now belonged 
 to the Tyrians; to which mountain adjoins 
 Gaba, which is called the City of Horsemen, be- 
 CH'.ne those horsemen that were dismissed by 
 
 • Spanheim and Reland both agree, that the two 
 CTtiea here esteemed greater than Antioch, the metro- 
 polis of Syria, were liome and Alexatidriaj nor U there 
 &aj (Xeawm for doubt in so pl^n a case. 
 
 Herod the king dwelt therein ; they ar6 bound- 
 ed on the south with Samaria and Scythopolis, 
 as far as the river Jordan ; on the east with 
 Hippene and Gadaris, and also with Gaulanitis, 
 and the borders of the kingdom of Agrippa; 
 its northern parts are bounded by Tyre, and 
 the country of the Tyrians. As for that 
 Galilee which is called the Lower, it extends 
 in length from Tiberias to Zabulon, and ol 
 the maritime places, Ptolemais is its neigh- 
 bour; its breadth is from the village called 
 Xaloth, which lies in the great plain, as far as 
 Bersabe, from which beginning also is taken 
 the breadth of the Upper Galilee, m far as the 
 village Baca, which divides the land of the 
 Tyrians from it; Its length is also from Meloth 
 to Thella, a village near to Jordan. 
 
 2. These two Galilees, of so great largeness, 
 and encompassed with so many nations of 
 foreigners, have always been able to make a 
 strong resistance on all occasions of war; for 
 the Galileans are inured to war from their 
 infancy, and have been always very numerous; 
 nor hath the country been ever destitute ot 
 men of courage, or wanted a numerous set of 
 them; for their soil is universally rich and 
 fruitful, and full of the plantations of trees of 
 all sorts, insomuch that it invites the most 
 slothful to take pains in its cultivation, by its 
 fruitfulness; accordingly, it is all cultivated -by 
 its inhabitants, and no part of it lies idle. 
 Moreover, the cities lie here very thick; and 
 the very many villages there are here, are 
 everywhere so full of people, by the richness 
 of their soil, that the very least of them con- 
 tain above fifteen thousand inhabitants. 
 
 3. Li short, if any one \vill suppose that 
 Galilee is inferior to Perea in magnitude, he 
 will be obliged to prefer it before it in its 
 strength: for this is all capable of cultivation, 
 and is everywhere fruitful ; but for Perea, 
 which is indeed much larger in extent, the 
 greater part of it is desert, and rough, and 
 much less disposed for the production of the 
 milder kinds of fruits; yet hath it a moist soil 
 [in other parts], and produces all kinds of 
 fruits, and its plains are planted with trees of 
 all sorts, while yet the olive-tree, the vine, and 
 the palm-tree, are chiefly cultivated there. It is 
 also sufficiently watered with torrents, which 
 issue out of the mountains, and with springs 
 that never fail to run, even when the torrents 
 fail them, as they do in the dog-days. Now 
 the length of Perea is from Macherus to Pella, 
 and its breadth from Philadelphia to Jordan; 
 its northern parts are bounded by Pella, as we 
 have already said, as well as its western with 
 Jordan ; the land of Moab is its southern 
 border, and its eastern limits reach to Arabia, 
 and Silbonitis, and besides to Philadelphene 
 and Gerasa. 
 
 4. Now, as to the country of Samaria, it 
 lies between Judea and Galilee; it begins at 
 a village that is in. the great plain called 
 Glnea, and ends at the Acrabbene toparchy. 
 
652 
 
 WARS OF I HE JKWS. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 »ind is entirely of the same nature with Judea; 
 for both countries are made up of hills and 
 valleys, and are moist enough for agriculture, 
 .t:id are very fruitful. They have abundance 
 of trees, and are full of autumnal fruit, both 
 that which grows wild, and that which is the 
 jt!ect of cultivation. They are not naturally 
 .vatered with many rivers, but derive their 
 •uief moisture from rain-water, of which they 
 lave no want; and for those rivers which 
 they have, all their waters are exceeding 
 »vveet: by reason also of the excellent grass 
 they have, their cattle yield more milk than 
 do those in other places; and, what is the 
 greatest sign of excellency and of abundance, 
 they each of them are very full of people. 
 
 5. In the limits of Samaria and Judea lies 
 the village Anuath, which is also named 
 Borceos. This is the northern boundary of 
 J udea. The southern parts of Judea, if they be 
 uieasured lengthways, are bounded by a village 
 adjoining to the confines of Arabia; the Jews 
 that dwell there call it Jordan. However, 
 its breadth is extended from the river Jordan 
 to Joppa. The dty Jerusalem is situated in 
 the very middle; on which account some have, 
 with sagacity enough, called that city the 
 Navel of the country. Nor indeed is Judea 
 destitute of such delights as come from the sea, 
 since its maritime places extend as far as Pto- 
 Umais: it was parted into eleven portioris, of 
 which the royal city of Jerusalem was the 
 supreme, and presided over all the neighbour- 
 ing country, as the head does over the botl/. 
 As to the other cities that were inferior to it, 
 they presided over their several toparchies; 
 Gophna was the second of those cities, and 
 next to that Acrabatta, after them Thamna, 
 and Lydda, and Emraaus, and Pella, and Idu- 
 niea, and Engaddi, and Herodium, and Jeri- 
 cho; and after them came Jamnia and Joppa, 
 as presiding over the neighbouring people; 
 and besides these there was the region of 
 Gamala, and Gaulanitis, and Batanea, and 
 Trachonitis, which are also parts of the king- 
 dom of Agrippa. This [last] country begins 
 at Mount Libanus, and the fountains of Jor- 
 dan, and reaches breadthways to the lake of 
 Tiberias; and in length is extended from a 
 vilhige called Arpha, as far as Julias. Its 
 inhabitants are a mixture of Jews and Syrians. 
 — And thus have I, with all possible brevity, 
 described the country of Judea, and those that 
 he round about it. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 XOSEPHUS MAKES AN ATTEMPT UPON 8EPPHO- 
 BIS, BUT IS REPELLED. TITUS COMES WITH 
 AOBEAT AUMY TO PTOLEMAIS. 
 
 i 1 Now the auxiliaries who were sent to 
 Mtt»t the people of Sepphoris, being a thousand 
 
 horsemen, and six thousand footntien, under 
 Placidus the tribune, pitched their camp in 
 two bodies in the great plain. The foot werg 
 put into the city to be a guard to it; but the 
 horse lodged abroad in the camp. These last, 
 by marching continually one way or other, 
 and over-running the parts of the adjoining 
 country, were very troublesome to Josephus 
 and his men; they also plundered all the 
 places that were out of the city's liberty, and 
 intercepted such as durst go abroad. On 
 this account it was that Josephus marched 
 against the city, as hoping to take what he 
 had lately encompassed with so strong a wall, 
 before they revolted from the rest of the Gali- 
 leans, that the Romans would have much 
 ado to take it: by which means he proved too 
 weak, and failed of his hopes, both as to 
 forcing the place, and to his prevailing with 
 the people of Sepphoris to deliver it up to 
 him. By this means he provoked the Romans 
 to treat the country according to the law of 
 war; nor did the Romans, out of the anger 
 they bore at this attempt, leave off either by 
 night or by day, burning the places in the 
 plain, or stealing away the cattle that were in 
 the country, and killing whatsoever appeared 
 capable of fighting perpetually, and leading 
 the weaker people as slaves into captivity ; so 
 that Galilee was all over filled with fire and 
 blood, nor was it exempted from any kind of 
 misery or calamity; for the only refuge they 
 Lad AdA this, that when they were pursued, 
 they could retire to the cities which had walls 
 built them by Josephus. 
 
 2. But as to Titus, he sailed over from 
 Achaia to Alexandria, and that sooner than 
 the winter season did usually permit; so he 
 took with him those forces he was sent for, 
 and marching with great expedition, be came 
 suddenly to Ptolemais, and there finding his 
 father, together with the two legions, the fifth 
 and tenth, which were the most eminent legions 
 of all, he joined them to that fifteenth legioii 
 which was with his father: eighteen cohorts 
 followed these legions; there came also five 
 cohorts from Cesarea, with one troop of horse- 
 men, and five other troops of horsemen from 
 Syria. Now these ten cohorts had severally 
 a thousand footmen, but the other thirteen 
 cohorts had no more than six hundred footmen 
 a-piece, with a hundred and twenty horse- 
 men. There were also a considerable num- 
 ber of auxiliaries got together, that came from 
 the kings Antiochus, and Agrippa, and Sohe- 
 mus, each of them contributing one thousand 
 footmen that were archers, and a thousand 
 horsemen. Malchus also, the king of Ara- 
 bia, sent a thousand horsemen, besides five 
 thousand footmen, the greatest part of whom 
 were archers; so that tiie whole army, inclu- 
 ding the auxiliaries sent by the kings, as well 
 horsemen as footmen when all were united 
 together, amounted to sixty thousand, besides 
 the servants, who, »s they followed in vasi 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 653 
 
 numbers, so because they bad been trained up 
 in war with the rest, ought not to be dis- 
 tinguished from the fighting men; for as they 
 were in their masters' service in times of 
 peace, so did they undergo the like dangers 
 with them in times of war, insomuch that 
 they were inferior to none, either in skill or 
 in strength, only they were subject to their 
 masters. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 K DESCRIPTION OF THE ROMAN ARMIES AND 
 ROMAN CAMPS; AND WHAT THE ROMANS 
 ARE COMMENDED FOR. 
 
 §•1. Now here one cannot but admire at the 
 precaution of the Romans, in providing them- 
 selves of such household servants, as might 
 not only serve at other times for the common 
 offices of life, but might also be of advantage 
 to them in their wars; and indeed, if any one 
 does but attend to the other parts of their 
 military discipline, he will be forced to confess 
 that their obtaining so large a dominion, hath 
 been the acquisition of their valour, and not 
 the bare gift of fortune; for they do not begin 
 to use their weapons first in time of war, nor 
 do they then put their hands first into motion, 
 while they avoided so to do in times of peace; 
 but, as if their weapons did always cling to 
 them, they have never any truce from warlike 
 exercises; nor do they stay till times of war 
 admonish them to use them ; for their military 
 exercises differ not at all from the real use of 
 their arms, but every soldier is every day 
 exercised, and that with great diligence, as if 
 it were in time of war, which is the reason 
 why they bear the fatigue of battles so easily; 
 for neither can any disorder remove them 
 from their usual regularity, nor can fear 
 affright them out of it, nor can labour tire 
 them; which firmness of conduct makes them 
 always to overcome those that have not the 
 same firmness ; nor would he be mistaken that 
 should call those their exercises unbloody 
 battles, and their battles bloody exercises. 
 Nor can their enemies easily surprise them 
 with the suddenness of their incursions; for 
 as soon as they have marched into an enemy's 
 land, they do not begin to fight till they have 
 walled their camp about; nor is the fence 
 they raise rashly made, or uneven; nor do 
 they all abide in it, nor do those that are in 
 it take their places at random; but if it hap- 
 pens that the ground is uneven, it is first 
 levelled: their camp is also four-square by i 
 measure, and carpenters are ready, in great 
 numbers, with their tools, to erect their build- 
 ings for them.* 
 
 • This description of the exact symmetry and re^^Ia- 
 rity of the Roman army, and of the Koman encam pments, 
 V'jtli tLe Muuding their trumpets, &c. and uider of war. 
 
 2. As for what is \vithin the camp, it is set 
 apart for tents, but the outward circumference 
 hath the resemblance of a wall, and is adorned 
 with towers at equal distances, where between 
 the towers stand the engines for throwing 
 arrows aqd darts, and for slinging stones, and 
 where they lay all other engines that can 
 annoy the enemy, all ready for their several 
 operations. They also erect four gates, ona 
 at every side of the circumference, and those 
 large enough for the entrance of the beasts, 
 and wide enough for making excursions, if 
 occasion should require. They divide the 
 camp within into streets, very conveniently, 
 and place the tents of the commanders in the 
 middle; but in the very midst of all is the 
 general's own tent, in the nature of a temple, 
 insomuch that it appears to be a city built on 
 the sudden, with its market-place, and place 
 for handicraft trades, and with seats for the 
 officers, superior and inferior; where, if any 
 differences arise, their causes are heard and 
 determined. The camp, and all that is in it, 
 is encompassed with a wall round about, and 
 that sooner than one would imagine, and this 
 by the multitude and the skill of the labour- 
 ers; and, if occasion require, a trench is drawn 
 round the whole, whose depth is four cubits, 
 and its breadth equal. 
 
 3. When they have thus secured themselves, 
 they live together by companies, with quiet^ 
 ness and decency, as are all their other affairs 
 managed with good order and security. Each 
 company hath also their wood, and their corn, 
 and their water, brought them, when they 
 stand in need of them; for they neither sup 
 nor dine as they please themselves singly, but 
 all together. Their times also for sleeping, 
 and watching, and rising, are notified before- 
 hand by the sound of trumpets, nor is any 
 thing done without such a signal; and in the 
 morning the soldiery go every one to their 
 centurions, and these centurions to their tri- 
 bunes, to salute them; with whom all the 
 superior officers go to the general of the whole 
 army, who then gives them of course the watch- 
 word and other orders, to be by them carried 
 to all that are under their command; which 
 is also observed when they go to fight, and 
 thereby they turn themselves about on the sud- 
 den, when there is occasion for making sallies, 
 as they come back when they are recalled, in 
 crowds also. 
 
 4. When they are to go out of their camp, 
 the trumpet gives a sound, at which time 
 nobody lies still, but at the first intimation they 
 
 described in this and the next chapter, is so very like to 
 the symmetry and re<u!arity of the people of Israel in iho 
 wilderness (see Description of the Temples, ch. ix.) that 
 one cannot well avoid the supposal, that the one was tho 
 ultimate pattern of the other, and that the tactics of tho 
 ancients were taken I'.om the rules given by God to 
 iMoses. And it is thought by some skillul in these mat- 
 ters, that these accounts of Josepbus, as to the Roman 
 camp and armour, and conduct in war- are preferable to 
 tboM IB the Roman authors thcmsclvea 
 
654 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK \ZT. 
 
 take down their tents, and all is made ready 
 for their going out; then do the trumpets 
 sound again, to order them to get ready for 
 the march; then do they lay their baggage 
 suddenly upon their mules and other beasts of 
 burden, and stand, at the place for starting, 
 ready to march; when also they set fire to 
 their camp, and this they do because it will 
 be easy for them to erect another camp, and 
 that it may not ever be of use to their ene- 
 mies. Then do the trumpets give a sound 
 the third time, that they are to go out in order 
 to excite those that on any account are a little 
 tardy, that so no one may be out of his rank 
 when the army marches. Then does the crier 
 stand at the general's right hand, and asks 
 them thrice, in their own tongue, whether they 
 be now ready to go out to war or not. To 
 which they reply as often, with a loud and 
 cheerful voice, saying, " We are ready." 
 And this they do almost before the question is 
 asked them ; they do this as filled with a kind 
 of martial fury, and at the time that they so 
 cry out, they lift up their right hands also. 
 
 5. When, after this, they are gone out of 
 their camp, they all march without noise, and 
 in a decent manner, and every one keeps his 
 own rank, as if they were going to war. The 
 footmen are armed with breast-plates and head- 
 pieces, and have swords on each side; but the 
 sword which is upon their left side is much 
 longer than the other; for that on the right side 
 is not longer than a span. Those footmen also 
 that are chosen out from amongst the rest to be 
 about the general himself, have a lance and a 
 buckler; but the rest of the foot-soldiers have a 
 spear and a long buckler, besides a saw and a 
 basket, a pick-axe, and an axe, a thong of 
 leather, and a hook, with provisions for three 
 days ; so that a footman hath no great need of 
 a mule to carry his burdens. The horsemen 
 Lave a long sword on their right sides, and a 
 long pole in their hand: a shield also lies by 
 them obliquely on one side of their horses, 
 with three or more darts that are borne in their 
 quiver, having broad points, and no smaller 
 than spears. They have also head-pieces and 
 breast-plates, in like manner as have all the 
 footmen. And for those that are chosen to 
 be about the general, their armour no way 
 differs from that of the horsemen belonging 
 to other troops; and he always leads the 
 legions forth, to whom the lot assigns that 
 employmer.^. 
 
 6. This is the manner of the marching and 
 resting of the Romans, as also these are the 
 several sorts of weapons they use. But when 
 they are to fight, they leave nothing without 
 forecast, nor to be done off-hand, but counsel 
 ia ever first taken before any work is begun, 
 and what hath been there resolved upon is 
 put in execution presently; for which reason 
 tbey seldom commit any errors; and if they 
 have been mistaken at any time, they easily 
 csorrect those mistakes. Tbey also esteem any 
 
 errors they commit upon taking counsel be- 
 forehand, to be better than such rash success 
 as is owing to fortune only; because such a 
 fortuitous advantage tempts them to be in- 
 considerate, while consultation, though it may 
 sometimes fail of success, hath this good in 
 it, that it makes men more careful hereafter; 
 but for the advantages that arise from chance, 
 they are not owing to him that gains them ; 
 and as to what melancholy accidents happen 
 unexpectedly, there is this comfort in them, 
 that they had however taken the best consul- 
 tations they could to prevent them. 
 
 7. Now they so manage their preparatory 
 exercises of their weapons, that not the bodies 
 of the soldiers only, but their souls, may also 
 become stronger: they are moreover hardened 
 for war by fear; for their laws inflict capital 
 punishments, not only for soldiers ruimfng 
 away from their ranks, but for slothfulness 
 and inactivity, though it be but in a lesser 
 degree; as are their generals more spvere than 
 their laws, for they prevent any imputation of 
 cruelty towards those under condemnation, 
 by the great rewards they bestow on the 
 valiant soldiers ; and the readiness of obeying 
 their commanders is so great, that it is very 
 ornamental in peace; but when they come to 
 a battle, the whole army is but one body, so 
 well coupled together are their ranks, so sud 
 den are their turnings about, so sharp their 
 hearing as to what orders are given them, so 
 quick their sight of the ensigns, and so nim- 
 ble are their hands when they set to work; 
 whereby it came to pass, that what they do 
 is done quickly, and what they suffer they 
 bear with the greatest patience. Nor can we 
 find any examples where they have been con- 
 quered in battle, when they came to a close 
 fight, either by the multitude of the enemies, 
 or by their stratagems, or by the difficulties 
 in the places they were in; no, nor by fortune 
 neither, for their victories have been surer to 
 them than fortune could haVe granted them. 
 In a case, therefore, where counsel still goes 
 before action, and where, after taking the best 
 advice, that advice is followed by so active an 
 army, what wonder is it that Euphrates on 
 the east, the ocean on the west, the most fer- 
 tile regions of Libya on the south, and the 
 Danube and the Rhine on the north, are the 
 limits of this empire. One might well say, 
 that the Roman possessions are not inferior to 
 the Romans themselves. 
 
 8. This account I have given the reader, 
 not so much with the intention of commend- 
 ing the Romans, as of comforting tfiose that 
 have been conquered by them, and for deter- 
 ring others from attempting innovations un- 
 der their government. This discourse of the 
 Roman military conduct may also perhaps be 
 of use to such of the curious as are ignorant 
 of it, and yet have a mind to know it. I 
 return now from this digression. 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 655 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 PLACroUS ATTEMPTS TO TAKE JOTAPATA, 
 AND IS BEATEN OFF. VESPASIAN MARCHES 
 INTO GALILEE. 
 
 § I. And now Vespasian, -with Ms son Titus, 
 bad tarried some time at Ptolemais, and had 
 put his army in order. But when Placidus, 
 who had over-run Galilee, and had besides 
 slain a number of those whom he had caught 
 (which were only the weaker part of the Gali- 
 leans, and such as were of timorous souls), 
 saw that the warriors ran always to those 
 cities whose walls had been built by Josephus, 
 be marched furiously against Jotapata, which 
 was of them all the strongest, as supposing 
 he should easily take it by a sudden surprise, 
 and that he should thereby obtain great honour 
 to himself among the commanders, and bring 
 ft great advantage to them in their future 
 campaign; because, if this strongest place of 
 them all were once taken, the rest would be 
 so affrighted as to surrender themselves. But 
 he was mightily mistaken in his undertaking; 
 for the men of Jotapata were apprised of his 
 coming to attack them, and came out of the 
 city, and expected him there. So they fought 
 the Romans briskly when they least expected 
 it, being both many in number, and prepared 
 for fighting, and of great alacrity, as esteem- 
 ing their country, their wives, and their chil- 
 dren, to be in danger, and easily put the 
 Romans to flight, and wounded many of them, 
 and slew seven of them;* because their 
 retreat was not made in a disorderly manner, 
 because the strokes only touched the surface 
 ^ of their bodies, which were covered with 
 their armour in all parts, and because the 
 Jews did rather throw their weapons upon 
 them from a great distance, than venture to 
 come hand to hand with them, and had only 
 light armour on, while the others were com- 
 pletely armed. However, three men of the 
 Jews* side were slain, and a few wounded; so 
 Placidus, finding himself unable to assault the 
 \ city, ran away. 
 
 2. But as Vespasian had a great mind to 
 fall upon Galilee, he marched out from Ptole- 
 raais, having put his army into that order 
 wherein the Romans used to march. He 
 
 • I cannot but here observe an eastern way of speak- 
 ing, frequent amons? them, but not usual among us, 
 where Uie word "only " or "alone" is not set down, but 
 perhaps some way supplied in the pronunciation. Thus 
 Josephus here says, that those of Jotapata slew seven of 
 the Romans as they were marching off, because the 
 Romans' retreat was regular, their bodies were covered 
 over with their armour, and the Jews (ought at some 
 di'tance; his meaning is clear, that these were the rea- 
 aon» why tbey slew only, or no more than seven. I have 
 nU' witn many the like examples in the Scriptures, in 
 Josephus. &c.; but did not note down the particular 
 places. This observaiiou ought to be borne in mind 
 npoa many occabious. 
 
 ordered those auxiliaries which were lightly 
 armed, and the archers, to march first, 
 that they might prevent any sudden insults 
 from the enemy, and might search out the 
 woods that looked suspiciously, and were 
 capable of ambuscades. Next to these fol- 
 lowed that part of the Romans who were 
 most completely armed, both footmen and 
 horsemen. Next tp these followed ten out 
 of every hundred, carrying along with them 
 their arms, and what was necessary to mea- 
 sure out a camp withal; and after them, 
 such as were to make the road even and 
 straight, and if it were anywhere rough and 
 hard to be passed over, to plane it, and to 
 cut down the woods that hindered their march, 
 that the army might not be in distress, or 
 tired with their march. Behind these he set 
 such carriages of the army as belonged both 
 to himself and to the other commanders, with 
 a considerable number of their horsemen for 
 their security. After these he marched him- 
 self, having with him a select body of foot- 
 men, and horsemen, and pikemen. After 
 these came the peculiar cavalry of his own 
 legion, for there were an hundred and twenty 
 horsemen that peculiarly belonged to every 
 legion. Next to these came the mules that 
 carried the engines for sieges, and the other 
 warlike machines of that nature. After these 
 came the commanders of the cohorts, and tri- 
 bunes, hadng about them soldiers chosen out 
 of the rest. Then came the ensigns encompas- 
 sing the eagle, which is at the head of every 
 Roman legion, the king and the strongest of 
 all birds, which seems to them a signal ot 
 dominion, and an omen that they shall conquer 
 all against whom they march; these sacred 
 ensigns are followed by the trumpeters. Then 
 came the main army in their squadrons and 
 battalions, with six men in depth, which were 
 followed at last by a centurion, who, according 
 to custom, observed the rest. As for the ser- 
 vants of every legion, they all followed the 
 footmen, and led the baggage of the soldiers, 
 v/^hich was borne by the mules and other beasts 
 of burden. But behind all the legions came 
 the whole multitude of the mercenaries; and 
 those that brought up the rear came last of all 
 for the security of the whole army, being both 
 footmen, and those in their armour also, with 
 a great number of horsemen. 
 
 3. And thus did Vespasian march with his 
 army, and came to the bounds of Galilee, 
 where he pitched his camp and restrained his 
 soldiers, who were eager for war; he also 
 showed his army to the enemy, in order to 
 affright them, and to afford them a season for 
 repentance, to see whether they would change 
 their minds before it came to a battle, and at 
 the same time he got things ready for besieg- 
 ing their strongholds. And indeed this signt 
 of the general brought many to repent of their 
 revolt, and put them all into a consternation; 
 for those that were in Josephus's camp, which 
 
650 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 was at the city called Garis, not far from 
 hiepfboris, when they heard that the war was 
 come near them, and that the Romans would 
 suddenly fight them hand to hand, dispersed 
 rnemselves and fled, not only before they 
 rame to a battle, but before the enemy ever 
 came in sight, while Josephus and a few others 
 were left behind ; and as he saw that he had not 
 an army sufficient to engage the enemy, that 
 the spirits of the Jews were sunk, and that the 
 greater part would willingly come to terms, 
 if they might be credited, he already des- 
 paired of the success of the whole war, and 
 determined to get as far as he possibly could, 
 out of danger; so he took those that staid 
 alons; with him, and fled to Tiberias. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 fESPASIAN, WHEN HE HAD TAKEN THE CITY 
 GADA&A, MARCHES TO JOTAFATA. AFTER 
 A LONG SIEGE, THE CITY IS BETRAYED BY A 
 DESERTER, AND TAKEN BY VESPASIAN. 
 
 § 1. So Vespasian marched to the city Gadara, 
 and took it upon the first onset, because he 
 found it destitute of any considerable number 
 of "men grown up and fit fSr war. He came 
 then into it, and slew all the youth, the Ro- 
 mans having no mercy on any age whatso- 
 ever; and this was done out of the hatred 
 they bore the nation, and because of the in- 
 iquity they had been guilty of in the afiair of 
 Cestius. He also set fire, not only to the 
 city itself, but to all the villas and small cities 
 that were round about it; some of them were 
 quite destitute of inhabitants; and out of 
 some of them he carried the inhabitants as 
 slaves into captivity. 
 
 2. As to Josephus, his retiring into that city, 
 which he chose as the most fit for his security, 
 put it into great fear; for the people of Ti- 
 berias did not imagine that he would have 
 run away, unless he had entirely despaired of 
 the success of the war; and, indeed, as to 
 that point, they were not mistaken about his 
 opinion; for he saw whither the affairs of the 
 lews would tend at last, and was sensible 
 that they had but one way of escaping, and 
 that was by repentance. However, although 
 he expected that the Romans would forgive 
 him, yet did he choose to die many times over 
 rather than to betray his country, and to dis- 
 honour that supreme command of the army 
 which had been entrusted with him, or to 
 live happily under those against whom he was 
 sent to fight. He determined, therefore, to 
 give an #cact account of affairs to the princi- 
 pal men at Jerusalem by a letter, that he 
 might not, by too much aggrandizing the 
 power of the enemy, make them too timorous; 
 nor, by relating that their power beneath the 
 truth. »Bigbt encourage them to stand out 
 
 when they were perhaps disposed to repent- 
 ance. He also sent them word, that if they 
 thought of coming to terms, they must sud- 
 denly write him an answer; or if they re- 
 solve upon war, they must send him an army 
 sufficient to fight the Romans. Accordingly, 
 he wrote these things, and sent messengers 
 immediately to carry his letter to Jerusalem. 
 
 3. Now Vespasian was very desirous of 
 demolishing Jotapata, for he had gotten intel- 
 ligence that the greater part of the enemy had 
 retired thither; and that it was, on other ac- 
 counts, a place of great security to them. Ac- 
 cordingly, he sent both footmen and horsemen 
 to level the road, which was mountainous and 
 rocky, not without difficulty to be travelled 
 over by footmen, but absolutely impracticable 
 for horsemen. Now 'these workmen accon> 
 plished what they were about in four days' 
 time, and opened a broad way for the army. 
 On the fifth day, which was the twenty-first oi 
 the month Artemisius (Jyar), Josephus pre- 
 vented him, and came from Tiberias, and 
 went into Jotapata, and raised the drooping 
 spirits of the Jews. And a certain deserter 
 told this good news to Vespasian, that Jose- 
 pbus had removed himself thither, which 
 made him make haste to the city, as suppos- 
 ing, that with taking that he should take all 
 Judea, in case he could but withal get Jose- 
 phus under his power. So he took this news 
 to be of the vastest advantage to him, and be- 
 lieved it to be brought about by the provi- 
 dence of God, that he who appeared to be the 
 most prudent man of all their enemies, had of 
 his own aecord shut himself up in a place of 
 sure custody. Accordingly, he sent Placid us 
 with a thousand horsemen, and Ebutius, a 
 decurion, a person that was of eminency both 
 in council and in action, to encompass the city 
 round, that Josephus might not escape away 
 privately. 
 
 4. Vespasian also, the very next day, took 
 his whole army and followed them, and by 
 marching till late in the evening, arrived then 
 at Jotapata; and bringing bis army to the 
 porthern side of the city, he pitched his camp 
 on a certain small hill which was seven fur- 
 longs from the city, and still greatly endea- 
 voured to be well seen by the enemy, to put 
 them into a consternation, which was indeed 
 so terrible to the Jews immediately, that no 
 one of them durst go out beyond the wall. 
 Yet did the Romans put off the attack at that 
 time, because they had marched all the day, 
 although they placed a double row of batta- 
 lions round the city, with a third row beyond 
 them round the whole, which consisted of 
 cavalry, in order to stop up every way for an 
 exit; which thing, making the Jews despair 
 of escaping, excited them to act more boldly; 
 for nothing makes men fight so desperately in 
 war as neceshitv . 
 
 5. Now when ail assault was n)ade the next 
 day by the Ituuiuiis, the J.. \vs at first staid 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JKWS 
 
 667 
 
 out of the walls, and opposed them ; and met 
 them, as having formed themselves a camp 
 before the city walls. But when Vespasian 
 bad set against them the archers and slingers, 
 and the whole multitude that could throw to 
 9. great distance, he permitted them to go to 
 work, while he himself, with the footmen, 
 jot upon an acclivity, whence the city might 
 easily be taken. Josephus was then in fear 
 For the city, and leaped out, and all the Jew- 
 ish multitude with him; these fell together 
 upon the Romans in great numbers, and drove 
 them away from the wall, and performed a 
 great many glorious and bold actions. Yet 
 did they suffer as much as they made the 
 enemy suffer; for as despair of deliverance 
 encouraged the Jews, so did a sense of shame 
 equally encourage the Romans. These last 
 hud skill as well as strength; the other had 
 oidy courage, which armed them, and made 
 them fight furiously. And when the fight 
 had lasted all day, it was put an end to by the 
 coming on of the night. They had wounded 
 a great many of the Romans, and killed of 
 them thirteen men; of the Jews* side seven- 
 teen were slain, and six hundred wounded. 
 
 6. On the next day the Jews made another 
 attack upon the Romany, and went out of 
 the walls, and fought a much more desperate 
 battle with them than before; for Jhey were 
 now become more courageous than formerly, 
 a!id that on account of the unexpected good 
 opposition they had marie the day before, as 
 they found the Romans also to fight more 
 desperately; for a sense of shame inriamed 
 tliese into a passion, as esteeming their failure 
 of a sudden victory to be a kind of defeat. 
 Thus did the Romans try to make an impres- 
 sion upon the Jews till the fifth day continu- 
 ally, while the people of Jotapata made sallies 
 out, and fought at the walls most desperately; 
 nor were the Jews affrighted at the strength 
 of the enemy, nor were the Romans discou- 
 [ raged at the difficulties they met with in 
 
 (taking the city. 
 7. Now Jotapata is almost all of it built 
 . upon a precipice, having on all the other sides 
 of it every way valleys immensely deep and 
 steep, insomuch that those who would look 
 down would have their sight fail them before 
 it reaches to the bottom. It is only to be 
 come at on the north side, where the utmost 
 part of the city is built on the mountain, as 
 it ends obliquely at a plain. This mountain 
 .Josephus had encompassed with a tvall when 
 ne fortified the eitv, that its top miyht not be 
 capable of being seized* upon by the enemies. 
 The city is covered all round with other 
 mountains, and can no way be seen till a man 
 comes just upon it. And this was the strong 
 situation of Jotapata. 
 
 8. VespHsian, therefore, in order to try how 
 he might overcome the natural strength of 
 tne place, as well as the bohl defence of the 
 Jews, made a reaolulion to prosecute the siege 
 
 with vigour. To that end he called the com- 
 manders that were under him to a council of 
 war, and consulted with them which waj the 
 assault might be managed to the best advan- 
 tage; and when the resolution was there 
 taken to raise a bank against that part of the 
 wall which was practicable, he sent his whole 
 army abroad to get the materials together 
 So when they had cut down all the trees oi 
 the mountains that adjoined to the city, and 
 had gotten together a vast heap of stones, 
 besides the wood they had cut down, some of 
 them brought hurdles, in order to avoid the 
 effects of the darts that were shot from above 
 them. These hurdles they spread over their 
 banks, under cover whereof they formed their 
 bank, and so were little or nothing hurt by 
 the darts that were thrown upon them from 
 the wall, while others pulled the neighbour- 
 ing hillocks to pieces, and perpetually brought 
 earth to them; so that while they were busy 
 three sorts of ways, nobody was idle. How- 
 ever, the Jews cast great stones from the walls 
 upon the hurdles which protected the men, 
 with all sorts of darts also; and the noise 
 of what could not reach them was yet so ter- 
 rible, that it was some impediment to the 
 workmen. 
 
 9. Vespasian then set the engines for throw- 
 ing stones and darts round about the city; 
 the number of the engines was in all a hun- 
 dred and sixty; and bade them fall to work, 
 and dislodge those that were upon the wall. 
 At the same time such engines as were 
 intended for that purpose, threw at once 
 lances upon them with great noise, and stones 
 of the weight of a talent were thrown by the 
 engines that were prepared for that purpore, 
 together with fire, and a vast multitude of 
 arrows, which made the wall so dangerous, 
 that the Jews durst not only not to come upon 
 it, but durst not come to those parts within 
 the walls which were reached by the engines; 
 for the multitude of the Arabian archers, as 
 well also as all those that threw darts and 
 slung stones, fell to work at the same time 
 with the engines. Yet did not the others lie 
 still when they could not throw at the Romans 
 from a higher place; for they then made sal- 
 lies out of the city like private robbers, by 
 parties, and pulled away the hurdles that 
 covered the workmen, and killed them when 
 they were thus naked; and when those work- 
 men gave way, these cast away the earth that 
 composed the bank, and burnt the wooden 
 parts ui" it, together with the hurdles, till at 
 length Vespasian perceived that the intervals 
 there were between the works were of disad- 
 vantage to him; for those spaces of ground 
 afforded the Jews a place for assaulting tCe 
 Romans. So he united the hurdles, and at 
 the same time joined one part of the army to 
 the other, which prevented the private exmir- 
 sions of the Jews. 
 
 10. And when the bank was now raised, 
 
 •2 T- 
 
658 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 and brought nearer than ever to^^he battle- 
 ments that belonged to the walls, Josephus 
 thought it would be entirely wrong in him 
 if he could make no contrivances in opposi- 
 tion to theirs, and that might be for the city's 
 preservation; so he got together his work- 
 men, and ordered them to build the wall 
 higher; and when they said that this was im- 
 possible to be done while so many darts were 
 thrown at them, he invented this sort of cover 
 for them: — He bade them fix piles, and ex- 
 pand before them raw hides of oxen newly 
 killed, that these hides, by yielding and hol- 
 lowing themselves when the stones were 
 thrown at them, might receive them, for that 
 the other darts would slide off them, and the 
 fire that was thrown would be quenched by 
 the moisture that was in them; and these he 
 set before the workmen; and under them 
 these workmen went on with their works in 
 safety, and raised the wall higher, and that 
 both by day and by night, till it was twenty 
 cubits high. He also built a good nuniber 
 of towers upon the wall, and fitted it to strong 
 battlements. This greatly discouraged the 
 Romans, who, in their own opinions, were al- 
 ready gotten within the walls, while they were 
 now at once astonished at Josephus's contri- 
 vance, and at the fortitude of the citizens that 
 were in the city. 
 
 il. And now Vespasian was plainly irri- 
 tated at the great subtilty of this stratagem, 
 and at the boldness of the citizens of Jotapa- 
 ta; for taking heart again upon the building 
 of this wall, they made fresh sallies upon the 
 Romans, and had every day contiicts with 
 them by parties, together with all such con- 
 trivances as robbers make use of, and with the 
 plundering of all that came to hand, as also 
 with the setting fire to all the other works; 
 and this till Vespasian made his army leave 
 off fighting them, and resolved to lie round 
 the ci'ty, and to starve them into a surrender, 
 as supposing that either they would be forced 
 to petition him for mercy by want of provi- 
 sions, or if they should have the courage to 
 hold out till the last they should perish by 
 famine: and he concluded he should conquer 
 them the more easily in fighting, if he gave 
 them an interval, and then fell upon them 
 when they were weakened by famine; but 
 still he gave orders that they should guard 
 ftgainst their coming out of the city. 
 
 12. Now the besieged had plenty of corn 
 within the city, and indeed of all other neces- 
 saries, but they wanted water, because there 
 was no fountain in the city, the people being 
 there usually satisfied with rain water; yet it 
 is a rare thing in that country to have rain in 
 summer, and at this season, during the siege, 
 they were in great distress for some contri- 
 vance to satisfy their thirst; and they were 
 very sad at this time particularly, as if they 
 were already in want of water entirely, for 
 Josepbu* seeing that the city abounded with 
 
 other necessaries, and that the men were of 
 good courage, and being desirous to protract 
 the siege to the Romans longer than they 
 expected, ordered their drink to be given them 
 by measure; but this scanty distribution of 
 water by measure was deemed by them as a 
 thing more hard upon them than the want of 
 it; and their not been able to drink as much 
 as they would, made them more desirous of 
 drinking than they otherwise had been; nay, 
 they were so much disheartened hereby as if 
 they were come to the last degree of thirst. 
 Nor were the Romans unacquainted with the 
 state they were in, for when they stood over 
 against them, beyond the wall, they could see 
 them running together, and taking their water 
 by measure, which made them throw their 
 javelins thither, the place being within their 
 reach, and kill a great many of them. 
 
 13. Hereupon Vespasian hoped that their 
 receptacles of water v^'ould in no long time be 
 emptied, and that they would be forced to de- 
 liver up the city to him; but Josephus being 
 minded to break such his hope, gave command 
 that they should wet a great many of their 
 clothes, and hang them out about the battle- 
 ments, till the entire wall was of a sudden all 
 wet with the running down of the water. At 
 this sight the Romans were discouraged, and 
 under consternation, when they saw them able 
 to throw away in sport so much water, when 
 they supposed them not to have enough to 
 drink themselves. This made the Roman 
 general despair of taking the city by their 
 want of necessaries, and to betake himself 
 again to arms, and to try to force them to 
 surrender, which was what the Jews greatly 
 desired; for as they despaired of either them- 
 selves or their city being able to escape, they 
 preferred a death in battle before one by 
 hunger and thirst. 
 
 14. However, Josephus contrived another 
 stratagem besides the foregoing, to get plenty 
 of what they wanted. — There was a certain 
 rough and uneven place that could hardly be 
 ascended, and on that account was not guarded 
 by the soldiers; so Josephus sent out certain 
 persons along the western parts of the 
 valley, and by them sent letters to whom he 
 pleased of the Jews that were out of the city, 
 and procured from them what necessaries 
 soever they wanted in the city in abundance ,• 
 he enjoined them also to creep generally along' 
 by the watch as they came into the city, and 
 to cover their backs with such sheep-skins as 
 had their wool upon them, that if any one 
 should spy them in thft night-time, they might 
 be believed to be dogs. This was done till 
 the watch perceived their contrivance, and en- 
 compassed that rough place about themselves. 
 
 15. And now it was that Josephus perceived 
 that the city could not hold out long, and 
 that his own life would be in doubt if he con- 
 tinued in it; so be con>ulted how he and the 
 most potent men of the city might fly out of 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 659 
 
 it. When tbe multitude understood this, they 
 came all round about him, and begged of him 
 not to overlook them while they entirely 
 
 ■ depended on him, and him alone; for that 
 there was still hope of the city's deliverance 
 if he would stay with them, because every body 
 would undertake any pains with great cheer- 
 fulness on his account, and in that case there 
 would be some comfort for them also, though 
 they ehould be taken: that it became him nei- 
 ther to fly from his enemies, nor to desert his 
 friends, nor to leap out of that city, as out of 
 a ship that was sinkin^*^ in a storm, into which 
 he came when it was quiet and in a calm; for 
 that by going away he would be the cause of 
 drowning the city, because nobody would then 
 venture to oppose the enemy when he was 
 once gone, upon whom they wholly confided. 
 \6. Hereupon Joseph us avoided letting 
 them know that he was to go away to provide 
 for his own safety, but told them that he would 
 fro out of the city for their sakes; for that if 
 ho staid with them, he should be able to do 
 them little good while they were in a safe 
 c(»!uiition; and that if they were once taken, 
 he should oidy perish with them to no pur- 
 pose; but that if he were once gotten free 
 from this siege, he should be able to bring 
 them very great relief; for that he would then 
 inunediately get the Galileans together, out 
 of the country, in great multitudes, and draw 
 the Romans off their city by another war. 
 That he did not see what advantage he could 
 oring to them now, by staying among them, 
 out only provoke the Romans to besiege them 
 more closely, as esteeming it a most valuable 
 thing to take him ; but that if they were once 
 informed that he was fled out of the city, they 
 would greatly remit of their eagerness against 
 it. Yet did not this plea move the people, 
 but inflamed them the more to hang about 
 him. Accordingly, both the children and the 
 old men, and the women with their infants, 
 came mourning to him, and fell down before 
 him, and all of them caught hold of his feet, 
 and held him fast, and besought him, with 
 great lamentations, that he would take his 
 
 '"tehare with them in their fortune; — and I 
 think they did this, not that they envied his 
 deliverance, but that they, hoped for their 
 own; for they could not think they should 
 suffer any great misfortune, provided Jose- 
 phus would but stay with them. 
 
 17. Now, Josephus thought, that if he 
 resolved to stay, it would be ascribed to their 
 entreaties; and if he resolved to go away by 
 force, he should be put into custody. His 
 commiseration also of the people under their 
 lamentations, had much broken that of his 
 eagerness to leave them; so he resolved tostay, 
 and arming himself with the common despair 
 of the citizens, he said to them, " Now is the 
 time to begin to fight in earnest, when there 
 is no hope of deliverance left. It is a brave 
 thing to prefer glory before life, and to set 
 
 about some such noble undertaking as may 
 be remembered by late posterity." Having 
 said this, he fell to work immediately, and 
 made a sally, and dispersed the enemies' out- 
 guards, and ran as far as the Roman camp 
 itself, and pulled the coverings of their ^ents 
 to pieces, that were upon their banks, and set 
 fire to their works. And this was the man- 
 ner in which he never left off fighting, nei- 
 ther the next day nor the day after it, but 
 went on with it for a considerable number of 
 both days and nights. 
 
 18. Upon this, Vespasian, when he saw the 
 Romans distressed by these sallies (although 
 they were n<?hampd to be made to run away 
 by the Jews; and when at any time they 
 made the Jews run away, their heavy armour 
 would not let them pursue them far; while 
 the Jews, when they had performed any 
 action, and before they could be hurt them- 
 selves, still retired into the city), ordered his 
 armed men to avoid their onset, and not to 
 fight it out with men under desperation, 
 while nothing is more courageous than despair; 
 but that their violence would be quenched 
 when they saw they failed of their purposes, 
 as fire is quenched when it wants fuel; and 
 that it was most proper for the Romans to 
 gain their victories as cheap as they could, 
 since they are not forced to fight, but only to 
 enlarge their own dominions. So he repelled 
 the Jews in great measure by the Arabian 
 archers, and the Syrian slingers, and by those 
 that threw stones at them, nor was there any 
 intermission of the great number of their 
 offensive engines. Now, the Jews suffered 
 greatly by these engines, without being able 
 to escape from them ; and when these engines 
 threw their stones or javelins a great way, and 
 the Jews were within their reach, they pressed 
 hard upon the Romans, and fought desperately, 
 without sparing either soul or body, one part 
 succouring another by turns, when it was tired 
 down. 
 
 1 9. When, therefore, Vespasian looked upon 
 himself as in a manner besieged by these sal- 
 Ues of the Jews, and when his banks were now 
 not far from the walls, he determined to make 
 use of his battering ram. This battering 
 ram is a vast beam of wood like the mast of a 
 ship; its fore-part is armed with a thick piece 
 of iron at the head of it, which is so carved 
 as to be like the head of a ram, whence its 
 name is taken. This ram is slung in the air 
 by ropes passing over its middle, and is hung 
 like the balance in a pair of scales from 
 another beam, and braced by strong beams 
 that pass on both sides of it in the nature of 
 a cross. When this ram is pulled backward 
 by a great number of men with united force, 
 and then thrust forward by the same men, 
 with a mighty noise, it batters the walls with 
 that iron part which is prominent; nor is 
 there any tower so strong, 0/ walls so broad, 
 that can resist any more than its first batteries. 
 
360 WARS OF THE JEWS 
 
 but all are rorced to yield to it nt last. 
 This was the experiment which the Roman 
 general betook himself to when he was eagerly 
 bent upon taking the city, and found lying 
 in the field so long to be to his disadvantage, 
 because the Jews would never let him be 
 quiet. So these Romans brought the several 
 enginesforgallingan enemy nearer to the walls, 
 that they might reach such as were upon the 
 wall, and endeavoured to frustrate their 
 attempts; these threw stones and javelins at 
 them ; in the like manner did the archers and 
 slingers come both together closer to the wall. 
 This brought matters to such a pass that none 
 of the Jews durst mount the walls, and then 
 it was that the other Romans brought the 
 battering ram that was cased with hurdles 
 all over, and in the upper part was secured 
 with skins that covered it, and this both for 
 the security of themselves and of the engine. 
 Now, at the very first stroke of this engine, 
 the wall was shaken, and a terrible clamour 
 was raised by the people within the city, as if 
 they were already taken. 
 
 20. And now, when Josephus saw this ram 
 still battering the same place, and that the 
 wall would quickly be thrown down by it, he 
 resolved to elude for a while the force of the 
 engine. With this design he gave orders to 
 fill sacks with chaff, and to hang them down 
 before that place where they saw the ram al- 
 ways battering, that the stroke might be turn- 
 ed aside, or that the place might feel less of 
 the strokes by the yielding nature of the 
 chaff. This contrivance very much delayed 
 the attempts of the Romans, because let 
 them remove their engine to what part they 
 pleased, those that were above it removed their 
 sacks, and placed them over against the strokes 
 it made, insomuch that the wall was no way 
 hurt, and this by diversion of the strokes, till the 
 Romans made an opposite contrivance of long 
 poles, and by tying hooks at their ends, cut 
 off the sacks. Now, when the battering-ram, 
 thus recovered its force, and the wall having 
 been but newly built, was giving way, Jose- 
 phus and those about him, had afterward im- 
 mediate recourse to lire, to defend themselves 
 withal; whereupon they took what materials 
 soever they had that were but dry, and made 
 a sally three ways, and set fire to the machines, 
 and the hurdles, and the banks of the Ro- 
 mans themselves; nor did the Romans well 
 know how to come to their assistance, being 
 at once under a consternation at the Jews' 
 ooidness, and being prevented by the flames 
 from coming to their assistance; for the ma- 
 terials being dry with the bitumen and pitch 
 mat were among them, as was brimstone also, 
 me tire caught hold of every thing imme- 
 oiateiy; and what cost the Romans a great 
 flea; ot pains, was in one hour consumed. 
 
 'zi. And here a certain Jew appeared worthy 
 of our relation and commendation ; he was 
 toe ton of Satiieas, and was called Eleazar, 
 
 BOO^ Til. 
 
 and was born at Saab, in Galilee. This 
 man took up a stone of vast bigness, and 
 threw it down from the wall upon the ram, 
 and this with so great a force that it broke off 
 the head of the engine. He also leaped down 
 and took up the head of the ram from the 
 midst of them, and without any concern, car- 
 ried it to the top of the wall, and this, while 
 he stood as a fit mark to be pelted by all his 
 enemies. Accordingly, he received the strokes 
 upon his naked body, and was wounded with 
 five darts; nor did he mind any of them while 
 he went up to the top of the wall, where he 
 stood in sight of them all, as an instance of 
 the greatest boldness: after which he threw 
 himself on a heap with his wounds upon him, 
 and fell down, together with the head of the 
 ram. Next to him, two brothers showed their 
 courage; their names were Netir and Philip, 
 both of them of the village Ruma, and both 
 of them Galileans also ; these men leaped 
 upon the soldiers of the tenth legion, and fell 
 upon the Romans with such a noise and force 
 as to disorder their ranks, and put to flight 
 all upon whomsoever they made their as- 
 saults. 
 
 22. After these men's performances, Jose- 
 phus, and the rest of the multitude with him, 
 took a great deal of fire, and burnt both the 
 machines, and their coverings, with the works 
 belonging to the fifth, and to the tenth legion, 
 which they put to flight; when others fol- 
 lowed them immediately, and buried those in- 
 struments and all their materials under ground. 
 However, about the evening the Romans 
 erected the battering ram again, against that 
 part of the wall which had suffered before; 
 where a certain Jew that defended the city 
 from the Romans, hit Vespasian with a dart 
 in his foot, and wounded him a little, the dis- 
 tance being so great, that no mighty impression 
 could be made by the dart thrown so far olf. 
 However, this caused the greatest disorder 
 among the Romans; for when those who 
 stood near him saw his blood, they were dis- 
 turbed at it, and a report went abroad, through 
 the whole army, that the general was wound- 
 ed, while the greatest part left the siege, and 
 came running together with surprise and fear 
 to the general; and before them all came Ti- 
 tus, out of the concern he had for his father, 
 insomuch that the multitude were in great 
 confusion, and this out of the regard they had 
 for their general, and by reason of the agony 
 that the son was in. Yet did the father soon 
 put an end to the son's fear, and to the dis- 
 order the army was under, for being superior 
 to his pains, and endeavouring soon to be 
 seen by all that had been in a fright about 
 him, he excited them to fight the Jews more 
 briskly; for now every body was willing to 
 expose himself to danger iunnediately, iii 
 order to avenge their gen«Tal; and tiien tney 
 encouraged one another with loud voices, aud 
 ran hastily to the walls. 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 WARS OF TfU: .;i;ivfi 
 
 661 
 
 23. But still Josephus and those with him, 
 iltlioiigh they fell down dead one upon 
 uDotfier by the darts and stones v.liich the 
 -Migines threw upon them, yet «.!>: u.t they 
 lie^ert the wnll, but fell upon those who 
 managed the ram, under the protection of the 
 Qui'iles, with fire, and iron weapons, and 
 stones; and these could do little or nothing, 
 out fell themselves perpetually, while they 
 were seen by those whom they could not see, 
 for the light of their own flame shone about 
 tliein, and made them a most visible mark to 
 the enemy, as they were in the day-time, 
 while the engines could not be seen at a great 
 distance, and so what was thro>vn at them 
 was hard to be avoided; for the force with 
 which these engines threw stones and darts 
 made them hurt several at a time, and the 
 violent noise of the stones that were cast by 
 the engines was so great, that they carried 
 away the pinnacles of the wall, and broke off 
 the corners of the towers; for no body of men 
 could be so strong as not to be overthrown to 
 the last rank by the largeness of the stones; 
 and any one may learn the force of the 
 engines by what happened this very night; for 
 as one of those that stood round about Jose- 
 phus was near the wall, his head was carried 
 away by such a stone, and his skull was flung 
 as far as three furlongs. In the day-time also, 
 a woman with child had her belly so violently 
 struck, as she was just come out of her house, 
 that the infant was carried to the distance of 
 halt a furlong; so great was the force of that 
 engine. The r.oise of the instruments them- 
 selves was very terrible, the sound of the 
 darts and stones that were thrown by them, 
 was so also; of the same sort was that noise 
 the dead bodies made, when they were dashed 
 against the wall; and indeed dreadful was the 
 clamour which these things raised in the 
 women within the city, which was echoed 
 back at the same time by the cries of such as 
 were slain; while the whole space of ground 
 whereon they fought ran with blood, and the 
 wall might have been ascended over by the 
 bodies of the dead carcasses; the mountain;; 
 also contributed to increase the noise by their 
 echoes ; nor was there on that night any thing 
 of terror wanting that could either affect the 
 hearing or the sight: yet did a great part of 
 those that fought so hard for Jotapata fall 
 niarifully, as were a great part of them 
 wounded. However, the morning watch was 
 come ere the wall yielded to the machines 
 employed against it, though it had been bat- 
 tered without intermission. However, those 
 within covered their bodies with their armour, 
 and raised works over-against that part which 
 was tlirown down, before those engines were 
 Uid by which the Romans were to ascend into 
 the city. 
 
 •24. in the morning Vespasian got his army 
 together, in order to take the city [by storm], 
 alter a little recreation upon the hard pains 
 
 they hat? *'eeri at the night before; and as he 
 was desirous to draw off those that opposed 
 him from the places where the wall had been 
 thrown down, he made the most courageous 
 of the horsemen get off their horses, and 
 placed them in three ranks over-against those 
 ruins of the walls, but covered with their 
 armour on every side, and with poles in their 
 hands, that so these might begin their ascent 
 as soon as the instruments for such ascent were 
 laid; behind them he placed the flower of the 
 footmen; but for the rest of the horse, he 
 ordered them to extend themselves over- 
 against the wall, upon the whole hilly coun- 
 try, in order to prevent any from escaping out 
 of the city when it should be taken; and 
 behind these he placed the archers round 
 about, and commanded them to have all their 
 darts ready to shoot. The same command he 
 gave to the slingers, and to those that managed 
 the engines, and bade them to take up other 
 ladders and have them ready to lay upon those 
 parts of the wall which were yet untouched, 
 that the besieged might be engaged in trying 
 to hinder their ascent by them, and leave the 
 guard of the parts that were thrown down, 
 while the rest of them should be overborne by 
 the darts cast at them, and might afford his 
 men an entrance into the city. 
 
 25. But Josephus, understanding the raean- 
 ing of Vespasian's contrivance, set the old 
 men, together with those that were tired out, 
 at the sound parts of the wall, as expecting 
 no harm from those quarters, but set the 
 strongest of his men at the place where the 
 wall was broken down, and before them all, 
 six men by themselves, among whom he took 
 his share of the first and greatest danger. 
 He also gave orders, that when the legions 
 made a shout they should stop their ears, that 
 they might not be affrighted at it, and that 
 to avoid the multitude of the enemies' darts, 
 they should bend down on their knees, and 
 cover themselves with their shields, and that 
 they should retreat a little backward for a 
 while, till the archers should have emptied 
 their quivers; but that, when the Romans 
 should lay their instruments for ascending the 
 walls, they should leap out on the sudden, 
 and with their own instruments should meet 
 the enemy, and that every one should strive 
 to do his best, in order not to defend his own 
 city, as if it were possible to be preserved, 
 but in order to revenge it, when it was already 
 destroyed; and that they should set before 
 their eyes how their old men were to be slain, 
 and their chihiren and their wives to be killed 
 immediately by the enemy; and that they 
 would beforehand spend all their fury, on 
 accou4)t of the calamities just coming upon 
 them, and pour it out on the actors. 
 
 26. And thus did Josephus dispose of both 
 his bodies of ujen ; but then for the useless part 
 of the citizens, the women and children, when 
 they saw lUeir city encompassed by a threefold 
 
662 
 
 army (for none of the usual guards that had 
 been fighting before were removed), when 
 they also saw not only the walls thrown down, 
 but their enennes with swords in their hands, 
 us also the hilly country above them shining 
 with their weapons, and the darts in the hands 
 of the Arabian archers, they made a final and 
 lamentable outcry of the destruction, as if the 
 misery were not only threatened, but actually 
 coine upon them already. But Joseph us 
 ordered the women to be shut up in their 
 houses, lest they should render the warlike 
 actions of the men too effen)inate, by making 
 them commiserate their condition, and com- 
 manded thera to hold their peace, and 
 threatened them if they did not, while he came 
 himself before the breach, where his allotment 
 was; for all those who brought ladders to 
 the other places, he took no notice of them, 
 but earnestly waited for the shower of arrows 
 that was coming. 
 
 27. And now the trumpeters of the several 
 Roman legions sounded together, and the 
 army made a terrible shout; and the darts, as 
 by order, flew so fast that they intercepted the 
 light. However, Josephus's men remembered 
 the charges he had given them, they stopped 
 their ears at the sounds, and covered their 
 bodies against the darts; and as to the en- 
 gines that were set ready to go to work, the 
 Jews ran out upon them, before those that 
 should have used them were gotten upon 
 them. And now, on the ascending of the 
 soldiers, there was a great conflict, and many 
 actions of the hands and of the soul were ex- 
 hibited, while the Jews did earnestly endea- 
 vour, in the extreme danger they were in, 
 not to show less courage than those who, 
 without being in danger, fought so stoutly 
 against them; nor did they leave struggling 
 with the Romans^'till they either fell down 
 dead themselves, or killed their antagonists. 
 But the Jews grew weary with defending 
 themselves continually, and had not enow 
 to come in their places to succour them, — 
 while, on the side of the Romans, fresh men 
 stiil succeeded those that were tired ; and 
 still new men soon get upon the machines 
 for ascent, in the room of those that were 
 thrust down; those encouraging one another, 
 and joining side to side with their shields, 
 which were a protection to them, they became 
 a budy of men not to be broken; and as this 
 band thrust away the Jews, as though they 
 were themselves but one body, they began 
 alri'ady to get upon the wall. 
 
 2i<. Then did Josephus take necessity for 
 bis counsellor in this utmost distress (which 
 necessity is very sagacious in invention, when 
 it is irritated by despair), and gave orijers to 
 pour scalding oil upon those whose shields 
 protected them. WhereujUiii lliey soon got 
 it ready, being many that brought it, and 
 what they brou.^ht biiiii,' a ynut quantity 
 al*o, Mud poured it on all &k.cs upon the 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK UI. 
 
 Romans, and threw down upon them their vef*- 
 sels as they were still hissing from the heat 
 of the fire: this so burnt the Romans, that 
 it dispersed that united band, who now tum- 
 bled down from the wall with horrid pain?, 
 for the oil did easily run down the whole 
 body from head to foot, under their entire 
 armour, and fed upon their tiesh like flame 
 itself, its fat and unctuous nature rendering it 
 soon heated and slowly cooled; aiul as the 
 men were cooped up in their head-pieces and 
 breast- plates, they could no way get free 
 from this burning oil; they could only leap 
 and roll about in their pains, as they fell down 
 from the bridges they had laid. And as they 
 were thus beaten back, and retired to their 
 own party, who still pressed them forward, 
 they were easily wounded by those that were 
 behind them. 
 
 29. However, in this ill success of the Ro- 
 mans, their courage did not fail them, nor 
 did the Jews want prudence to oppose them; 
 for the Romans, although they saw their 
 own men thrown down, and in a miserable 
 condition, yet were they vehemently bent 
 against those that poured the oil upon them, 
 while every one reproached the man before 
 him as a coward, and one that hindered him 
 from exerting himself; and while the Jews 
 made use of another stratagem to prevent their 
 ascent, and poured boiling fenugreek upon 
 the boards, in order to make them slip and 
 fall down ; by which means neither could 
 those that were coming up, nor those that 
 were going down, stand on their feet; but 
 some of them fell backward upon the ma- 
 chines on which they ascended, and were 
 trodden upon ; many of them fell down on 
 the bank they had raised, and when they 
 were fallen upon it were slain by the Jews; 
 for when the Romans could not keep thtir 
 feet, the Jews being freed from fighting hanu 
 to hand, had leisure to throw their darts at 
 them. So the general called otf those sol- 
 diers in the evening that had suffered i^o 
 sorely, of whom the number of the slain was 
 not a few, while that of the wounded was 
 still greater; but of the people of Jotapata no 
 more than six men were killed, althouj,h 
 more than three hundred were carried vlf 
 wounded. This fight happened on tlie 
 twentieth day of the tnonth JJesius [SivaiiJ. 
 
 30. Hereupon Vespasian comforted his 
 army on occasion of what had happened, and as 
 he found them angry indeed, but rather waul- 
 ing somewhat to do than any furthL-r exhoria- 
 tions, he gave orders to raise the banks still 
 higher, and to erect three towers, each fifty 
 feet high, and that they should cover them 
 with plates of iron on every side, that they 
 might be both firm by their weight, and not 
 easily liable to be set on fire. These towera 
 he set upon the banks, and placed upon them 
 such as could shoot darts and arrows, with the 
 lighter eu^uies tor turowing stones and darU 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 663 
 
 also; and besides these, he set upon them the 
 
 stoutest men among the slingers, who not 
 being to be seen by reason of the height they 
 stood upon, and the battlements that protected 
 them, might throw their weapons at those 
 that were upon the wall, and were easily seen 
 by them. Hereupon the Jews, not being 
 easily able to escape those darts that were 
 thrown down upon their heads, nor to avenge 
 themselves on those whom they could not see, 
 and perceiving that the height of the towers 
 was so great, that a dart which they threw 
 with their hand could hardly reach it, and that 
 the iron plates about them made it very hard 
 to come at them by fire, they ran away from 
 the walls, and fled hastily out of the city, and 
 fell upon those that shot at them. And thus 
 did the people of Jotapata resist the Romans, 
 v.'hile a great number of them were every day 
 killed, without their being able to retort the 
 evil upon their enemies; nor could they keep 
 them out of the city without danger to them- 
 selves. ^ 
 
 31. About this time it was* that Vespasian 
 sent out Trajan against a city called Japha, 
 that lay near to Jotapata, and that desired inno- 
 vations, and was puffed up with the unex- 
 pected length of the opposition of Jotapata. 
 This Trajan was the commander of the tenth 
 legion, and to him Vespasian committed one 
 thousand horsemen, and two thousand foot- 
 men. When Trajan came to the city, he 
 found it hard to be taken, for besides the 
 natural strength of its situation, it was also 
 secured by a double wall: but when he saw 
 the people of this city coming out of it, and 
 ready to fight him, he joined battle wth 
 them, and after a short resistance which they 
 made, he pursued after them; and as they 
 fled to their first wall, the Romans followed 
 tbem so closely, that they fell in together 
 rt'ith them: but when the Jews were endea- 
 vouring to get again within their second wall, 
 their fellow-citizens shut them out, as being 
 afraid that the Romans would force them- 
 selves in with them. It was certainly God, 
 tlierefore, who brought the Romans to punish 
 the Galileans, and did then expose the people 
 of the city every one of them manifestly to be 
 destroyed by their bloody enemies; for they 
 .fell upon the gates in great crowds, and ear- 
 • oestly calling to those that kept them, and 
 that by their names also, yet had they their 
 throats cut in the very midst of their suppli- 
 cations; for the enemy shut the gates of the 
 first wall, and their own citizens shut the gates 
 »f the second, so they were enclosed between 
 two walls, and were slain in great numbers 
 together; many of tbem were run through 
 by swords of their own men, and many by 
 their own swords, besides an immense num- 
 ber that were slain by the Romans; — nor had 
 they awy courage to revenge themselves; for 
 ttiere was added to the consternation they 
 \Yvrc in troii: the e;ie.uv, tacir being betrayed 
 
 by their own friends, which quit€ broke their 
 spirits: and at last they died, cursing not the 
 Romans, but their own citizens, till they were 
 all destroyed, being in number twelve thou- 
 sand. So Trajan gathered that the city was 
 empty of people that could fight, and although 
 there should a few of them be therein, he 
 supposed that they would be too timorous 
 to venture upon any opposition; so he reserved 
 the taking of the city to the general. Accor- 
 dingly he sent messengers to Vespasian, and 
 desired him to send his son Titus to finish 
 the victory he had gained. Vespasian here- 
 upon imagining there might be some pains 
 still necessary, sent his son with an army of 
 five hundred horsemen, and one thousand 
 footmen. So he came quickly to the city, 
 and put his army in order, and set Trajan 
 over the left wing, while he had the right him- 
 self, and led them to the siege: and when the 
 soldiers brought ladders to be laid against the 
 wall on every side, the Galileans opposed them 
 from above for a while; but soon afterward 
 they left the walls. Then did Titus's men 
 leap into the city, and seized upon it presently; 
 but when those that were in it were gotten 
 together, there was a fierce battle between 
 them; for the men of power fell upon the 
 Romans in the narrow streets, and the women 
 threw whatsoever came next to hand at them, 
 and sustained a fight with them for six hours' 
 time; but when the fighting men were spent, 
 the rest of the multitude had their throats cut, 
 partly in the open air and partly in their own 
 houses, both young and old together. So 
 there were no males no»v remaining, besides 
 infants, who with the women were carried as 
 slaves into captivity; so that the number of 
 the slain, both now in the city and at the for- 
 mer fight, was fifteen thousand, and the cap- 
 tives were two thousand one hundred and 
 thirty. This calamity befel the Galileans on 
 the twenty-fifth day of the month Desius 
 [Sivan]. 
 
 32. Nor did the Samaritans escape their 
 share of misfortunes at this time; for they 
 assembled themselves together upon the moun- 
 tain called Gerizzim, which is with them a 
 holy mountain, and there they remained; 
 which collection of theirs, as well as the cou- 
 rageous minds they showed, could not but 
 threaten somewhat of war; nor were they 
 rendered wiser by the miseries that ha<l come 
 upon their neighbouring cities. They also, 
 notwithstanding the great success the Romans 
 had, marched on in an unreasonable manner, 
 depending on their own weakness, and were 
 disposed for any tumult upon its first appear- 
 ance. Vespasian therefore thought it best to 
 prevent their motions, and to cut off the founda- 
 tion of their attempts; for although all Sama- 
 ria had ever garrisons settled among them, 
 yet did the number of those that were come to 
 mount Gerizzim, and their conspiracy toce" 
 ther, give ^Tound to fear what they wou:i 
 
364 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK in 
 
 be at; he therefore sent thither Cerealis, the 
 commander of the fifth legion, with six hun- 
 dred horsemen and three thousand footmen, 
 who did not think it safe to go up to the 
 mountain and give them battle, because many 
 of the enemy were on the higher part of the 
 ground; so he encompassed all the lower 
 part of the mountain with his army, and 
 watched them all that day. Now it happened 
 that the Samaritans, who were now destitute 
 of water, were indamed with a violent heat 
 (for it was summer-time, and the multitude had 
 not provided themselves with necessaries), in- 
 somuch that some of them died that very day 
 with heat, while others of them preferred sla- 
 very before such a death as that was, and fled 
 to the Romans; by whom Cerealis understood 
 that those who still stayed there were very 
 much broken by their misfortunes. So he 
 went up to the mountain, and having placed 
 his forces round about the enemy, he, in the 
 first place, exhorted them to take the security 
 of his right hand, and come to terms with him, 
 and thereby save themselves ; and assured 
 them, that if they would lay down their arms, 
 be would secure them from any harm ; but 
 when he could not prevail with them, he fell 
 upon them and slew them all, being in number 
 eleven thousand and six hundred. This was 
 done on the twenty-seventh day of the month 
 Desius [Sivan]. And these were the calami- 
 ties that befell the Samaritans at this time. 
 
 33. But as the people of Jotapata still held 
 out manfully, and bore up under their miseries 
 beyond all that could be hoped for, on the forty- 
 seventh day [of the siege] the banks cast up 
 by the Romans were becoa)e higher than the 
 wall; on which day a certain deserter went 
 to Vespasian, and told him how few were left 
 in the city, and how weak they were, and that 
 they had been so worn out with perpetual 
 watching, and also perpetual fighting, that they 
 could not now oppose any force that came 
 against them, and that they might be taken by 
 stratagem, if any one would attack them; for 
 that about the last watch of the night, when 
 they thought they might have some rest from 
 the hardships they were under, and when a 
 morning sleep used to come upon them, as 
 they were thoroughly weary, he said the watch 
 used to fall asleep: accordingly his advice 
 wu3, that they should make their attack at 
 that hour. But Vespasian bad a suspicion 
 about this deserter, as knowing how laithful 
 the Jews were to one another, and how much 
 they despised any punishments that could be 
 inflicted on them ; this last, because one ot 
 the people of Jotapata had undergone all sorts 
 of torujents, and though they made him pass 
 through a fiery trial of his enemies in bis ex- 
 amination, yet would he inform them nothing 
 of the affairs within the city, and as he was 
 cr«icified, smiled at them! llowever, the pro- 
 bability there was in the relation itself did 
 partly confirm the truth of what the deserter 
 
 told them,- and they thought he might pro- 
 bably speak the truth. However, Vespasian 
 thought they should be no great sufferers it 
 the report was a sham ; so he commanded 
 them to keep the man in custody, and pre- 
 pared the army for taking the city. 
 
 34. According to which resolution they 
 marched without noise, at the hour that had 
 been told them, to the wall; and it was Titus 
 himself that first got upon it, with one of his 
 tribunes, Domitius Sabinus, and had a few of 
 the fifteenth legion along with him. So they 
 cut the throats of the watch, and entered the 
 city very quietly. After these came Cerealis 
 the tribune, and Placidus, and led on those 
 that were under them. Now when the cita- 
 del was taken, and the enemy were in the 
 very midst of the city, and when it was already 
 day, yet was not the taking of the city known 
 by those that held it; for a great many of 
 them were fast asleep, and a great mist, which 
 then by chance fell upon the city, hindered 
 those that got up^rom distinctly seehig the 
 case they were in, till the whole Roman army 
 was gotten in, and they were raised up only 
 to find the miseries they were under; and as 
 they were slaying, they perceived the city was 
 taken. And for the Romans, they so well re- 
 membered what they had suffered during the 
 siege, that they spared none, nor pitied any, 
 but drove the people down the precipice 
 from the citadel, and slew them as they drove 
 them down; at which time the difficulties ol 
 the place hindered those that were still able 
 to light from defending themselves ; for as 
 they were distressed in the narrow streets, and 
 could not keep their feet sure along the pre- 
 cipice, they were overpowered with the crowd 
 of those that came fighting them dovra from 
 the citadel. This provoked a great many, 
 even of those chosen men that were about 
 Josephus, to kill themselves with their own 
 hands; for when they saw that they could kill 
 none of the Romans, they resolved to prevent 
 being killed by the Romans, and got together 
 in great numbers, in the utmost parts of the 
 city, and killed themselves. 
 
 35. However, such of the watch as at the 
 first perceived they were taken, and ran away 
 as fast as they could, went up into one ot the 
 towers on the north side of the city, and for 
 a while defended themselves there; but as 
 they were encompassed with a multitude ot 
 enemies, they tried to use their right hands 
 when it was too late, and at length they cheer- 
 fully offered their necks to be cut off by those 
 that stood over them. And the Romans might 
 have boasted that the conclusion of that hiege 
 was without blood [on their side], if there had 
 not been a centurion, Antonius, who was fclaui 
 at the taking of the city. His death was vc 
 casioned by the following treachery: for thcie 
 was one of those that were fled into tliC ca- 
 verns, which were a great number, who Vte- 
 sired that this Antonius would reach hmi Lt6 
 
en A p. viir. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 655 
 
 right hand for his security, and would assure 
 him that he would preserve him, and give him 
 b-s assistance in getting up out of the cavern; 
 accordingly, he incautiously reached him his 
 right hand, when the other man prevented 
 him, c:id stabbed him under his loins with a 
 spear, and killed him immediately. 
 
 36. A* d on this day the Romans slew all 
 the n^ultitude that appeared openly; but on 
 the following days they searched the hiding- 
 places, and fell upon those that were under 
 ground, and in the caverns, and went thus 
 through every age, excepting the Infants and 
 the women, and of ti^M there were gathered 
 together as captives twelve hundred; and as 
 for those that were slain at the taking of the 
 city, and in the former fights, they were num- 
 bered to be forty thousand. So Vespasian 
 gave order that the city should be entirely 
 demolished, and all the fortifications burnt 
 down. And thus was Jotapata taken, in the 
 thirteenth year of the reign of Nero, on the 
 first day of the month Panemus [Tamuz]. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 I IIOWJOSEPHUS WAS DISCOVERED BY A WOMAN, 
 I ^ AND WAS WILLING TO DELIVER HIMSELF UP 
 ' ' TO THE ROMANS; AND WHAT DISCOURSE HE 
 HAD WITH HIS OWN MEN, WHEN THEY 
 ENDEAVOURED TO HINDER HIM; AND WHAT 
 HE SAID TO VESPASIAN, WHEN HE WAS 
 BROUGHT TO HIM; AND AFTER WHAT MAN- 
 NER VESPASIAN USED HIM AFTERWARDS. 
 
 § 1. And now the Romans searched for Jose- 
 phus, both out of the hatred they bore him, 
 and because their general was very desirous 
 to have him taken; for he reckoned that if he 
 were once taken, the greatest part of the war 
 would be oVer. They then searched among 
 the dead, and looked into the most concealed 
 recesses of the city; but as the city was first 
 taken, he was assisted by a certain superna- 
 tural providence; for he withdrevv himself 
 from the enemy when he was in the midst of 
 them, and leaped into a certain deep pit, 
 whereto there adjoined a large den at one side 
 of it, which den could not be seen by those 
 that were above ground; and here he met 
 with forty persons of eminence that had con- 
 cealed themselves, and with provisions enough 
 to satisfy them for not a few days. So in the 
 day-time he hid himself from the enemy, who 
 had seized upon all places; and in the night- 
 time he got up out of the den, and looked 
 about for some way of escaping, and took 
 exact notice of the watch : but as all places were 
 guarded everywhere on his account, that there 
 was no way of getting off unseen, he went 
 down again into the den. Thus he concealed 
 himself two days; but on the third day, when 
 they had taken a woman who had be^.n with 
 
 them, he was discovered. Whereupon Vespa- 
 sian sent immediately and zealously two tri- 
 bunes, Paulinus and Gallicanus, and ordered 
 them to give Josephus their right hands as a 
 security for his life, and to exhort him to 
 come up. 
 
 2. So they came and invited the man to 
 come up, and gave him assurances that his life 
 should be preserved; but they did not prevail 
 with him ; for he gathered suspicions from the 
 probability there was that one who had done 
 so many things against the Romans must suf- 
 fer for it, though not from the mild temper 
 of those that invited him. However, he was 
 afraid that he was invited to come up, in order 
 to be punished, until Vespasian sent besides 
 these a third tribune, Nicanor, to him; he 
 was one that was well known to Josephus, and 
 had been his familiar acquaintance in old 
 time. When he was come, he enlarged upon 
 the natural mildness of the Romans towards 
 those they have once conquered; and told 
 him, that he had behaved himself so valiantly, 
 that the commanders rather admired than 
 hated him; that the general was very desirous 
 to have him brought to him, not in order to 
 punish him, for that he could do though he 
 should not come voluntarily, but that he was 
 determined to preserve a man of his courage. 
 He moreover added this, that Vespasian, had 
 he been resolved to impose upon him, would 
 not have sent to him a friend of his own, nor 
 put the fairest colour upon the vilest action, 
 by pretending friendship and meaning perfi- 
 diousness; nor would he have himself acqui- 
 esced, or come to him, had it been to deceive 
 him. 
 
 3. Now, as Josephus began to hesitate with 
 himself about Nicanor's proposal, the soldiery 
 were so angry, that they ran hastily to set fire 
 to the den ; but the tribune would not permit 
 them so to do, as being very desirous to take 
 the man alive. And now, as Nicanor lay hard 
 at Josephus to comply, and he understood 
 how the multitude of the enemy threatened 
 him, he called to mind the dreams which he 
 had dreamed in the night-time, whereby God 
 had signified to him beforehand both the 
 future calamities of the Jews, and the events 
 that concerned the Roman emperors. Now 
 Josephus was able to give shrewd conjectures 
 about the interpretation of such dreams as 
 have been ambiguously delivered by God. 
 Moreover, he was not unacquainted with the 
 prophecies contained in the sacred books, as 
 being a priest himself, and of the posterity of 
 priests: and just then was he in an ecstacy; 
 and setting before him the tremendous images 
 of the dreams he had lately had, he put up a 
 secret prayer to God, and said, — "Since it 
 pleaseth thee, who hast created the Jewish 
 nation, to depress the same, and since all their 
 good fortune is gone over to the Romans; 
 and since thou bast made choice of this soul 
 of mine to foretel what is t( come to pass 
 
666 
 
 WARS i)l THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK lir. 
 
 hereafter, I willingly give them my hands, 
 and am content to live. And I protest openly, 
 that I do not go over to the Romans as a 
 deserter of the Jews, but as a minister from 
 thee." 
 
 4. When he had said this, he complied with 
 Nicanor's invitation. But when those Jews 
 who had fled with him, understood that he 
 yielded to those that invited him to come up, 
 they came about him in a body, and cried out, 
 "Nay, indeed, now may the laws of our fore- 
 fathers, which God ordained himself, well 
 groan to purpose; that God we mean who 
 hath created the souls of the Jews of such a 
 temper, that they despise death. O Joseph us! 
 art thou still fond of life; and canst thou 
 bear to see the light in a state of slavery? How 
 soon hast thou forgotten thyself! How many 
 hast thou persuaded to lose their lives for 
 liberty ! Thou hast therefore had a false repu- 
 tation for manhood, and a like false repu- 
 tation for wisdom, if thou canst hope for 
 preservation from Ihose against whom thou 
 hast fought so zealously, and art however wil- 
 ling to be preserved by them, if they be in ear- 
 nest. But although the good fortune of the 
 Romans hath made thee forget thyself, we 
 ought to take care that the glory of our fore- 
 fathers may not be tarnished. We will lend 
 thee our right hand and a sword ; and if thou 
 \vilt die willingly, thou wilt die as general of 
 the Jews; but if unwillingly, thou wilt die as 
 a traitor to them." As soon as they said this, 
 they began to thrust their swords at him, and 
 threatened they would kill him, if he thought 
 of yielding himself to the Romans. 
 
 5. Upon this, Joseph us was afrajd of their 
 attacking him, and yet thought he should 
 be a betrayer of the commands of God if he 
 died before they were delivered. So he began 
 to talk like a philosopher to them in the 
 distress he was then in, when he said thus to 
 them: — " O my friends, why are we so ear- 
 nest to kill ourselves? and why do we set our 
 soul and body, which are such dear compa- 
 nions, at such variance? Can any one pretend 
 that I am not the man I w^as formerly? Nay, 
 the Romans are sensible how that matter 
 stands well enough. It is a brave thing to 
 <!ie in war; but so that it be according to the 
 law of war, by the hand of conquerors. If, 
 therefore, I avoid death from the sword of 
 the Romans, I am truly worthy to be killed 
 by my own sword, and my own hand; bftt if 
 they admit of mercy, and would spare their 
 enemy, how much more ought we to have 
 mercy upon ourselves, and to spare ourselves! 
 for it is certainly a foolish thing to do that to 
 ourselves which we quarrel with thetn for 
 doing to us. I confess freely, that it is a brave 
 thing to die for liberty; but still so that it be 
 ill war, and done by those who take that 
 liberty from us; but at present our enemies do 
 neither meet us in buttle, nor do tliey kill us. 
 Now, be is cqimlly u rowurd who will not die 
 
 .'when he is obliged to die, and he who will 
 6ie when he is not obliged so to do. What 
 are we afraid of, when we will not go up to 
 I the Romans? Is it death? If so, what we are 
 j afraid of, when we but suspect our enemies 
 I will inflict it on us, shall we inflict it on our- 
 selves for certain? But it may be said, we 
 ! must be slaves. And are we then in a clear 
 state of liberty at present? It may also be 
 said, that it is a manly act for one to kill him- 
 self. No, certainly, but a most unmanly one; 
 as I should esteem that pilot to be an arrant 
 coward who, out of fear of a storm, should 
 sink his ship of his own accord. Now, self- 
 murder is a crime most remote from the com- 
 mon nature of all animals, and an instance 
 of impiety against God our Creator: nor 
 indeed is there any animal that dies by its 
 own contrivance, or by its own means; for 
 the desire of life is a law engraven in them 
 all; on which account we deem those that 
 openly take it away from us to be our ene- 
 mies, and those that do it by treachery, are 
 punished for so doing. And do not you 
 think that God is very angry when a man 
 does injury to what he hath bestowed on him? 
 for from him it is that we have received our 
 being; and we ought to leave it to his dis- 
 posal to take that being away from us. The 
 bodies of all men are indeed mortal, and are 
 created out of corruptible matter; but the 
 soul is ever immortal, and is a portion of the 
 Divinity that inhabits our bodies. Besides, 
 if any one destroys or abuses a dtpodtum he 
 hath received from a mere man, he is esteemed 
 a wicked and perfidious person; but then 
 if any one cast out of his body this divine 
 (Jeposilum, can we imagine that he who is 
 thereby affronted does not know of it? More- 
 over, our law justlv ordnins tlmt slave-- <' 1^. 
 run away from their master shall be punis.he(l, 
 though the masters they ran away from may 
 have been wicked masters to them. And 
 shall we endeavour to run away from God, 
 who is the best of all masters, and not think 
 ourselves highly guilty of impiety? Do not 
 you know that those who depart out of 
 this life, according to the law of nature, and 
 pay that debt which was received from God 
 when he that lent it us is pleased to require 
 it back, enjoy eternal fame? that their houses 
 and their posterity are sure, that their souls 
 are pure and obedient, and obtain a most holy 
 place in heaven, from whence, in the revolu- 
 tion of ages they are again sent into pure 
 bodies; while the souls of those whose hauls 
 have acted madly against themselves, are 
 received by the darkest place in liades, and 
 while God, who is their father, punishes 
 those that offend against either of them ii 
 their posterity? for which reason God hales 
 such doings, and the crime is punished by 
 our most wise legi.-lator. Accordingly our 
 laws determine, that the bodies of such aa 
 kill thmitelveh »hout(i be exposed till the 
 
6'H \P. VIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 667 
 
 sun be set, without burial, although at the 
 e:tiiie time it be allowed by them to be lawful 
 to bury our enemies [sooner]. The laws of 
 ot'ier nations also enjoin such men's hands 
 to be cut off when they are dead, which had 
 been made use of in destroying themselves 
 when alive, while they reckoned that as 
 the body is alien from the soul, so is the 
 hand alien from the body. It is, thereibre, 
 my friends, a right thing to reason justly, and 
 not add to the calamities which men bring 
 npon us, impiety towards our Creator. If 
 we have a mind to preserve ourselves, let us 
 do it ; for to be preserved by those our 
 enemies, to whom we have given so many 
 demonstrations of our courage, is nu way in* 
 glorious; but if we have a mind to die, it is 
 good to die by the hand of those that have 
 conquered us. For my part, I will not run 
 over to our enemies* quarters, in order to be 
 a traitor to myself; for certainly I should 
 then be much more foolish than those that 
 deserted to the enemy, since they did it, in 
 order to save themselves, and I should do it 
 for my own destruction. However, 1 heartily 
 wish the Romans may prove treacherous in 
 this matter: fftr if, aft^r their offer of their 
 right hand for security, I be slain by them, I 
 shall die cheerfully, and carry away with me 
 the sense of their pertidiousness, as a conso- 
 lation greater than victory itself." 
 
 6. Now these and many tlie like motives 
 did Josephus use to these men, to prevent 
 their murdering themstlves; but desperation 
 had shut their ears, as having long ago devoted 
 themselves to die, and they were irritated at 
 Josephus. They then ran upon him with their 
 swords in their hands, one from one quarter, 
 and another from another, and called hima cow- 
 ard, and every one of them appeared openly 
 as if he were ready to smite him ; but, he 
 calling to one of them by name, and looking 
 like a general to another, and taking a third 
 by the hand, and maki.ig a fourth ashamed of 
 himself, by praying him to forbear, and being 
 in this condition distracted with various pas- 
 sions (as he well might in the great distress 
 he was then in), he kept off every one of their 
 swords from killing him, and was forced to 
 do like such wild beasts as are encompassed 
 about on every side, who always turn them- 
 selves against those that la.>t touched them. 
 Nar, some of their right hands were debili- 
 tated by the reverence they bare to their ge- 
 neral in these his fatal calamities, and their 
 swords dropped oui of their hands; and not 
 a4"ew of them there were, who, when they 
 aimed to smite hiui with their swords, were not 
 
 f thoroughly either willing or able to do it. 
 
 7. However, in this extreme distress, he 
 was not destitute of his usual sagacity; but 
 trusting himself to the providence of God, he 
 put his life into hazard [in ttie manner foi- 
 lo.nng]: — "And now," s,ii;i lie, "since it 
 is restulved amang you luat }uu will die. 
 
 come on, let us commit our mutual deaths to 
 determination by lot. He whom the lot falls 
 to first, let him be killed by him that hath the 
 second lot, and thus fortune shall make its 
 progress through us all; nor shall any of us 
 perish by his own right hand, for it would be 
 unfair if, when the rest are gone, somebody 
 should repent and save himself." This pro- 
 posal appeared to them to be very just; and 
 1 when he had prevailed with them todetermnie 
 I this matter by lots, he drew one of the lots for 
 I himself also. He who had the tirst lot laid 
 I his neck bare to him that had the next, as 
 i supposing that the general would die among 
 j them immediately; for they thought death, 
 ["if Josephus might but die with them, was 
 I sweeter than life: yet was he with another 
 i left to the last, whether we must say it hap- 
 i pened so by chance, or whether by the provi- 
 I dence of God: and as he was very desirous 
 ! neither to be condemned by the lot, nor, if he 
 had been left to the last, to imbrue his right 
 hand in the blood of his Countryman, he per- 
 suaded him to trust his fidelity to him, and to 
 live as well as himself. 
 
 8. Thus Josephus escaped in the war with 
 the Romans, and in this his own war with 
 his friends, and was led by Nicanor to Vespa- 
 sian; but now all the Romans ran together 
 to see him, and as the multitude pressed one 
 upon another about their general, there was 
 a tumult of a various kind ; while some re- 
 joiced that Josephus was taken, and some 
 threatened him, and some crowded to see him 
 very near; but those that were more remote 
 cried out to have this their enemy put to 
 death, while those that were near called to 
 mind the actions he had done, and a d^p 
 concern appeared at the change of his fortune. 
 Nor were there any of the Roman command- 
 ers, how much soever they had been enraged 
 at him before, but relented when they came 
 to the sight of him. Above all the rest, 
 Titus's own valour, and Josephus's own 
 patience under his atfiictions, made him pity 
 him, as did also the commiseration of his age, 
 when he recalled to mind that but a little 
 while ago he wa^ghting, but lay now in the 
 hands of his enemies, whicb made him con- 
 sider the power of fortune, and how quick is 
 the turn of affairs in war, and Low no state 
 of men is sure ; for which reason he then 
 made a great many luuve to be of the same 
 pitiful temper with himself, and induced them 
 to commiserate Josephus. He was also of 
 great wei^^ht in persuading his father to pre- 
 serve him. However, Vespasian gave strict 
 orders that he should be kept witb great cau- 
 tion, as though he would, in a very little time, 
 send him to Nero. 
 
 9. When Josephus heard him giVe those 
 orders, he said that he had somewhat in his 
 miiui that he would willingly say to himself 
 alone. When, therefore, they were all ordered 
 to withuraw, excepting Titus and two of their 
 
668 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK m. 
 
 friends, he said, "Thou, O Vespasian, thinkest I 
 no more than that thou hast taken Josephus 
 himself captive; but I come to thee as a 
 messenger of greater tidings; for had not 1 
 been sent by God to thee, 1 knew what was 
 the law of the Jews in this case,* and how it 
 becomes generals to die. Dost thou send me 
 to AVero? For why? Are Nero's successors 
 till they couie to thee siill alive? Thou, O 
 Vespasian, art Caesar and emperor, thou, and j 
 this thy son. Bind me now still faster, anu 
 keep me for thyself, for thou, O Cajsar, art 
 not only lord over me, but over the land and 
 the sea, and all n^ankind ; and certainly 1 
 deserve to be kept in closer custody than 1 am 
 now in, in order to be punished, if 1 rashly 
 affirm any thing of God." When he had said 
 this, Vespasian at present did not believe him, 
 but supposed that Josephus said this as a cun- 
 ning trick, in order to his own preservation; 
 but in a little time he was convinced, and be- 
 lieved what he said to be true, God himself 
 erecting his expectations, so as to think of 
 obtaiung th j empire, and by other signs fore- 
 s^io-^ 3g hij advancement. He also found 
 Jjaiphus to have spoken truth on other occa- 
 sions; for one of those friends that were 
 present at that secret conference, said to 
 Josephus, " I cannot but wonder how thou 
 ttyulciest not foretell to the people of Jotapata 
 that J^'^y should be taken, nor couldest foretell 
 iiiik t,-a,>tivity which hath happened to thyself, 
 unless what thou now sayest be a vain thing, 
 in order to avoid the rage that is risen against 
 thyself." To which Josephus replied, " I 
 did foretell to the people of Jotapata that they 
 would be taken on the forty-seventh day, and 
 that 1 ihould be caught alive by the Romans." 
 Kow when Vespasian had inquired of the 
 captives privately about these predictions, he 
 found them to be true, and then he began to 
 believe those that concerned himself. Yet 
 did he not set Josephus at liberty from his 
 bands, but bestowed on him suits of clothes, 
 and other precious gifts; he treated him also 
 in a very obliging manner, and continued so 
 to do, Titus still joining his interest in the 
 honours that were done him% 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HDVI lOPPA WAS TAKEN, AND TIBERIAS 
 DELIVERED UP. 
 
 § 1. Now Vespasian returned to Ptolemais 
 on the fourth day of the month Panemus 
 [TamuzJ, and from thence he came to 
 
 * I do not know where to find the law or Muses here 
 mentioned by Josephus, and afterwards hy l,I»-aziir. b. 
 viu ch viii. sect 7, and almost impla-d in ii. i. cn. xm 
 •ecC iU, by Josephus's coiuiuendation of Pbasaeius tur 
 doini(BOi t mean whereby Jewish generals and people 
 were ublixed lu kill themselves, rather than go intu «la- 
 ▼«ry under tieallMroa. 1 doubt tbis wvuld bave been Jo 
 
 Cesarea, which 4ay by the sea-side. This was a 
 very great city of Judea, and for the greatest 
 part inhabited by Greeks; the citizens here 
 received both the Roman army and its gene- 
 ral with all sorts of acclamations and rejoi- 
 cings, and this partly out of the good-will they 
 bore to the Romans, but principally out of the 
 hatred they bore to those that were conquere(i 
 by them ; on which account, they came cia- 
 mouiing against Josephus in crowds, and tie- 
 sired he might be put to death; but Vespasian 
 passed over this petition concerning him, us 
 otfered by the injudicious nmltitude, with a 
 bare silence. Two of the legions also he 
 placed at Cesarta, that they might there take 
 t'heir winter-quarters, as perceiving the city 
 very fit for such a purpose; but he placed the 
 tenth and the fifth at Scythopolis, that he 
 might not distress Cesarea with the entire 
 army. This place was warm, even in winter, 
 as it was suffocating hot in the summer-tinie, 
 by reason of its situation in a plain, and near 
 to the sea [of Galilee]. 
 
 2. In the mean time there were gathered 
 together, as well such as had seditiously got 
 out from among their enemies as those that 
 had escaped out of the denK)lished cities, 
 which were in all a great number, and repaired 
 Joppa, which had been left desolate by 
 Cestius, that it might serve them for a place 
 of refuge; and because the adjoining region 
 had been laid waste in the war, and was not 
 capable of supporting them, they determined 
 to go off to sea. They also built themselves 
 a great many piratical ships, and turned 
 pirates upon the seas near to Syria, and Pha;- 
 nicia, and Egypt, and made those seas onnavi- 
 gable to all men. Now as soon as Vej^pasian 
 knew of their conspiracy, he sent both foot- 
 men and horsemen to Joppa, which was un- 
 guarded in the night-time; however, those 
 that were in it perceived that they should be 
 attacked, and were afraid of it ; yet did they 
 not errdeavour to keep the Romans out, but 
 fled to their ships, and lay at sea all night, 
 out of the reach of their darts. 
 
 3. Now Juppa is not naturally a haven, 
 for it ends in a rough shore, where all the 
 rest of it is straight, but the two ends beiiQ 
 towards each other, where there are deep 
 precipices, and great stones that jut out into 
 the sea, atid where the chains wherewith An- 
 dromeda was bound have left their footsteps, 
 which attest to the antiquity of that fable; 
 but the north wind opposes and beats upon 
 the shore, and dashes mighty waves against 
 the rocks which receive them, and rendets 
 the haven more dangerous than the country 
 they hud deserted. Now as those people of 
 Joppa were tlfiiiing ulji>ut in this sea, in the 
 morning there tell a violent wind U[ on them; 
 
 better than " sell-murder; ' and I believe it was rather 
 some vam di'drine. or inifti. relation, of the riRid Hha» 
 riseei*, or ' t-tri.vs. <>i i n. iI.uiih. than u just CMnbe(|neuMi 
 from aD> law ul (>od it(l.\eird by Atones. 
 
CflAl*. IX, 
 
 WARS OF TFTE JEWS. 
 
 60>) 
 
 tt is railed by those tliat sail there " the black 
 JU)rth wind," and there dashed their ships one 
 «gainst another, and dashed soir.e ef them 
 against the rocks, and carried many of them 
 by force, vvhtle they strove against the oppo- 
 site waves, into the main sea; for the shore 
 was so rocky, -and had so many of the enemy 
 upon it, that they were afraid to come to 
 land; nay, the waves rose se very high, that 
 they drowned them; nor was there any place 
 whither they could fly, nor any way to save 
 themselves: while they were thrust out of the 
 sea, by the violence of the wind, if they staid 
 where they were, and out of the city by the vio- 
 lence of the Romans; and much lamentation 
 there was when the ships were dashed against 
 ■one another, and a terrible noise when they 
 M'ere broken to pieces; and some of the mul- 
 titude that were in them were covered with 
 the waves, a«d so perished, and a great many 
 were embarrassed with shipwrecks; but some 
 of them thought, that to die by their own 
 swords was lighter than by the sea, and so 
 they killed themselves before they were 
 drowned; although the greatest part of them 
 were carried by the waves, and dashed to 
 pieces against tfcie abrupt parts of the rocks, 
 insomuch that the sea was bloody a long way, 
 ap.d the maritime parts were full of dead 
 bodies; for the Romans came upon those that 
 were carried to the shore, and destroyed them ; 
 and the number of the bodies that were thus 
 thrown cat of the sea was four thousand 
 and two hundred. The Romans also took 
 the city without opposition, and utterly 
 destroyed it. 
 
 4. And thus was Joppa taken twice by the 
 Romans in a little time; but Vespasian, in 
 order to prevent these pirates from coming 
 thither any more, erected a camp there, where 
 the citadel of Joppa had been, and left" a body 
 /)t horse in it, with a few footmen; that these 
 last might stay there and guard the camp, 
 and the horsemen might spoil the country 
 that lay round it, and might destroy the neigh- 
 bouring villages and smaller cities. So these 
 troops overran the country, as they were 
 ordered to do, and every day cut to pieces 
 and laid desolate the whole region. 
 
 5. But now, when the fete of Jotapata was 
 related at Jerusalem, a great many at the first 
 disbelieved it, on account of the vastness of 
 the calamity, and because they had no eye- 
 witness to attest the truth of what was related 
 about it; for not one person was saved to be 
 a messenger of that news, but a fame was 
 spread abroad at random that the city was 
 taken, as such fame usually spreads bad news 
 about. However, the truth was known by 
 degrees, from the places near Jotapata, and 
 appeared to all to be too true. Yet were 
 there fictitious stories added to what was 
 really done; for it was reported that Josephus 
 was slain at the taking of the city; which 
 piece of news tilled Jerusalem full of sorrow. 
 
 In eve/y house also, and among all to wbom 
 any of the slain were allied, there was a 
 lamentation for them ; but the mourning lor 
 the commander was a public one; and some 
 mourned for those that had lived with them, 
 others for their kindred, others for their 
 friends, and others for their brethren, but ail 
 mourned for Josephus: insomuch that the 
 lamentation did not cease in the city before 
 the thirtieth day; and a great many hired 
 mourners,* with their pipes, who should 
 begin the melancholy ditties for them. 
 
 6. But as the truth came out in time, it 
 appeared how the affairs of Jotapata really 
 stood ; yet it was found that the death of Jose- 
 phus was a fiction; and when they understood 
 that he was alive, and was among the Romans, 
 and that the commanders treated him at 
 another rate than they treated captives, they 
 were as vehemently angry at him now as they 
 had shown their good-will before, when he 
 appeared to have been dead. He >vas also 
 abused by some as having been a coward, 
 and by others as a deserter; and the city 
 was full of indignation at him, and of 
 reproaches cast upon him; their rage was 
 also aggravated by their afflictions, and more 
 inflamed by their ill success; and what usu- 
 ally becomes an occasion of caution to wise 
 men, I mean affliction, became a spur to them 
 to venture on farther calamities, and the end 
 of one misery became still the beginning of 
 another; they therefore resolved tb fall on 
 the Romans the more vehemently, as resolv- 
 ing to be revenged on him in revenging them- 
 selves on the Romans. And this was the 
 state of Jerusalem as to the troubles which 
 now came upon it. 
 
 7. But Vespasian, in order to see the king- 
 dom of Agrippa, while the king persuaded 
 himself so to do (partly, in order to his treat- 
 ing the general and his army in the best and 
 most splendid manner his private affairs woul^ 
 enable him to do, and partly that he might, 
 by their means, correct such things as were 
 amiss in bis government), he removed from 
 that Cesarea which was by the sea-side, and 
 went to that which is called Cesarea Phi- 
 lippi;t and there he refreshed his army for 
 twenty days, and was himself feasted by king 
 Agrippa, where he also returned public thanks 
 to God for the good success he had had in 
 his undertakings. But as soon as he was 
 informed that Tiberias was fond of innova- 
 tions, and that Turicheae had revolted, both 
 which cities were parts of the kingdom of 
 Agrippa, and was satisfied within himself that 
 the Je ws were every where perverted [from their 
 
 * These ynblic nonrners, hired Bpon the sapposfid 
 death of Josephus, and the real death of many more, 
 llustrate some passages in the Bible, which suppoaa 
 the same custom, as Matt. rii. 17; where the reader Skaj 
 consult the notes of Grotius. 
 
 + Of this Cesarea Philippi. twice mentioned in our 
 New Testament (.Matt.xvi. 13; Mark viii.-27), tb«ic ais 
 coins still extao;, as Spauh«im here iaforou ut. 
 
670 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 obedience to their governors], he thought it sea- 
 so.iable to make an expedition against those 
 cities, and that for the sake of Agrippa, and 
 in order to bring his cities to reason. So he 
 sent away his son Titus to [the other] Cesarea, 
 that be might bring the army that lay there to 
 Scythopolis, which is the largest city of Deca- 
 polls, and in the neighbourhood of Tiberias, 
 whither he came, and where he waited for his 
 son. He then came with three legions, and 
 pitched his camp thirty furlongs off Tiberias, 
 at a certain station easily seen by the innova- 
 tors; it is named Sennabris. He also sent 
 Valerian, a decurion, with fifty horsemen, to 
 speak peaceably to those that were in the city, 
 and to exhort them to give him assurances of 
 their fidelity; for he had heard that the peo- 
 ple were desirous of peace, but were obliged 
 by some of the seditious part to join with 
 them, and so were forced to fight for them. 
 When Valerian had marched up to the place, 
 and was near the wall, he alighted off his 
 horse, and made those that were with him do 
 the same, that they might not be thought to 
 come to skirmish with them; but before they 
 could come to a discourse one with another, 
 the most potent men among the seditious j 
 made a sally upon them armed; their leader j 
 was one whose name was Jesus, the son of 
 Shaphat, the principal head of a band of rob- i 
 bers. Now Valerian, neither thinking it safe 
 to fight contrary to the commands of the ge- I 
 neral, thotigh he were secure of a victory, and ' 
 knowing that it was a very hazardous under- 
 taking for a few to fight with many, for those 
 that were unprovided to fight those that were 
 ready, and being on other accounts surprised 
 at this unexpected onset of the Jews, he ran 
 away on foot, as did five of the rest in like 
 manner, and left their horses behind them; 
 which horses Jesus led away into the city, and 
 rejoiced as if they had taken them in battle, 
 and not by treachery. 
 
 8. Now the seniors of the people, and such 
 as were of principal authority among them, 
 fearing what would be the issue of this 'matter, 
 tied to the camp of the Romans ; they then 
 took their king along with them, and fell 
 down before Vespasian to supplicate his fa- 
 vour, and besought him not to overlook then), 
 nor to impute the madness of a few to the whole 
 city, to spare a people that had been ever civil 
 and obliging to the Romans; but to bring the 
 authors of this revolt to due punishment, who 
 hau hitherto so watched them, that though 
 they were zealous to give them the security of 
 their right hands of a long time, yet could they 
 not accomplish the same. With these suppli- 
 cations the general complied, although he 
 were very angry at the whole city about the 
 carrying off his horses, and this because he 
 saw that Agrippa was 'under a great concern 
 tor them. So when Vespasian and Agrippa had 
 accepted of their right hands by way of secu- 
 rity, J«Mis »Bd his party thought it not sale £or 
 
 them to continue at Tiberias, go they ran away 
 to Taricheae. The next day Vespasian sent 
 Trajan before, with some horsemen to the 
 citadel, to make trial of the multitude, whe- 
 ther they were all disposed for peace; and as 
 soon as he knew that the people were of the 
 same mind with the petitioner, he took hia 
 army, and went to the city; upon which the 
 citizens opened to him their gates, and met 
 him with acclamations of joy, and called him 
 their saviour and benefactor. But as the army 
 was a great while in getting in at the gates,^ 
 they were so narrow, Vespasian commanded 
 the south wall to be broken down, and so 
 made a broad passage for their entrance^ 
 However, he charged them to abstain from 
 rapine and injustice, in order to gratify the 
 king; and on his account spared the rest of 
 the wall, while the king undertook for them 
 that they should continue [faithful to the Ro- 
 mans] for the time to come. And thus did 
 he restore this city to a quiet state, after it 
 had been grievously afiiicted by the sedition. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW TARICHE^ WAS TAKEN. A DESCRIPTION 
 OF THE RIVER JORDAN, AND OF THE 
 COUNTRY OF GENNESARETH. 
 
 § 1. And now Vespasian pitched his camp> 
 between this city and Taricheie, but fortified 
 his camp more strongly, as suspecting that he 
 should be forced to stay there, and have a 
 long war; for all the innovators had gotten 
 together at Tarichete, as relying upon the 
 str^gth of the city, and on the lake that lay 
 by it. This lake is called by the people of 
 the country the Lake of Gennesareth, The 
 city itself is situated like Tiberias, at the bot- 
 tom of a mountain ; and on those sides which 
 are not washed by the sea, had been strongly 
 fortified by Josephus, though not so strojigly « 
 as Tiberias; for the wall of Tiberias had been 
 built at the beginning at the Jews' revolt, 
 when he had great plenty of money, and great 
 power, but Taricheie partook only the remains 
 of that liberality. Yet had they a great num- 
 ber of ships gotten ready upon the lake, that, 
 in case they were beaten at land, they miglit 
 retire to them ; and they were so fitted up, 
 that they might undertake a sea-fight also. 
 But as the Romans were building a wall 
 about their camp, Jesus and his party were 
 neither affrighted at their number nor at the 
 good order they were in, but made a sally 
 upon them ; and at the very first onset the 
 builders of the wall were dispersed; and these 
 pulled what little they had before built to 
 pieces; but as soon as they saw the armed 
 men getting together, and before they had 
 suffered any thing themselves, they retired to 
 their own uieu. But then the Ruuiaiis 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 671 
 
 pursued them, and drove them into their 
 ships, where they launched out as far as might 
 give them an opportunity of reaching the 
 Romans with what they threw at them, and 
 then cast anchor, and brought their ships close, 
 as in a line of battle, and thence fought the 
 enemy from the sea, who were themselves at 
 • land. But Vespasian hearing that a great mul- 
 titmie of them were gotten together in the 
 plain that was before the city, he thereupon 
 pent his son, with six hundred chosen horse- 
 men to disperse them. 
 
 2. But when Titus perceived that the enemy 
 •was very numerous, he sent to his father, and 
 informed him that he should want more 
 forces. But as he saw a great many of the 
 horsemen eager to fight, and that before any 
 succours could come to them, and that yet 
 sonie of them were privately undei; a sort of 
 consternation at the multitude of the Jews, 
 he stood in a place whence he might be heard, 
 and said to them, "My brave Romans! for 
 it is right for me to put you in mind of what 
 nation you are, in the beginning of my speech, 
 that so you may not be ignorant who you are, 
 and who they are against whom we are going 
 to tight. For as to us, Romans, no part of 
 the habitable earth hath been able to escape 
 our hands hitherto; but as for the Jews, that 
 I may speak of them too, though they have 
 been already beaten, yet do they not give up 
 the cause; and a sad thing it would be for us 
 to gro <,v weary under good success, when they 
 bear up under their misfortunes. As to the 
 alacrity which you show publicly, I see it, 
 and rejoice at it; yet am I afraid lest the 
 multitude of the enemy should bring a con- 
 cealed fright upon some of you; let such a 
 one^ consider again, who we are that are to 
 fight; and who those are against whom we are 
 to fight. Now these Jews, though they be very 
 bold and great despisers of death, are but a dis- 
 orderly body, and unskilful in war, and may 
 rather be called a rout than an army; while I 
 need say nothing of our skill and our good 
 order; for this is the reason why we Romans 
 alone are exercised for war in time of peace, 
 that we may not think of number for number 
 when we come to fight with our enemies; for 
 what advantage should we reap by our conti- 
 nual sort of warfare, if we must still be equal 
 in number to such as have not been used to 
 war! Consider farther, that you are to have a 
 coiidict with men in effect unarmed, while you 
 are well armed; with footmen, while you are 
 horsemen; with those that have no good gene- 
 ral, while you have one, and as these advan- 
 'tages make you in effect matnfold more than 
 you are, so do their disadvantages mightily 
 diuiiiiiah their number.' Now it is not the 
 multirude of men, though they be soldiers, that 
 njanage- wars with success, but it is their bra- 
 very itiut doeii it, though they be but a few; for 
 a lew are easily set in battle array, and can 
 eaaiiv assist one another, while ovar-numerous 
 
 armies are more hurt by themselves than by 
 their enemies. It is boldness and rashness, 
 the effects of madness, that conduct of the 
 Jews. Those passions indeed make a great 
 figure when they succeed, but are quite extin- 
 guished upon the least ill success; but we are 
 led on by courage, and obedience, and forti- 
 tode, which shows itself indeed in our good 
 fortune, but still does not for ever desert us 
 in our ill fortune. Nay, indeed, your fighting 
 is to be on greater motives than those of the 
 Jews; for although they run the hazard of wai 
 for liberty, and for their country, yet what can 
 be a greater motive to us than glory? and that 
 it may never be said, that after we have got 
 dominion of the habitable earth, the Jews are 
 able to confront us. We must also reflect 
 upon this, that there is no fear of our suffer- 
 ing any incurable disaster in the present case; 
 for those that are ready to assist us are many, 
 and at hand also; yet it is in our power to 
 seize upon this victory ourselves; and I think 
 we ought to prevent the coming of those my 
 father is sending to us for our assistance, that 
 our success may be peculiar to ourselves, and 
 of greater reputation to us; and I cannot but 
 think this an opportunity wherein my father, 
 and I, and you, shall be all put to the trial, 
 whether he be worthy of his former glorious 
 performances, whether I be his son in reality, 
 and whether you be really my soldiers: for it 
 is usual for my father to conquer; and for 
 myself, I should not bear the thoughts of 
 returning to him if I were once uiken by 
 the enemy; and. how will you be able to avoid 
 being ashamed, if you do not show equal 
 courage with your commander, when he goes 
 before you into danger? For you know 
 very well that I shall go into the danger 
 first, and make the first attack upon the 
 enemy. Do not you therefore desert me, but 
 persuade yourselves that God will be assist- 
 ing to my onset. Know this also before we 
 begin, that we shall now have better success 
 than we should have, if we were to fight at a 
 distance." 
 
 3. As Titus was saying this, an extraordi- 
 nary fury fell upon the men: and as Trajan 
 was already come before the fight began, with 
 four hundred horsemen, they were uneasy at 
 it, because the reputation of the victory would 
 be diminished by being common to so many. 
 Vespasian had also sent both Antonius and 
 Silo, with two thousand archers, and had given 
 it them in charge to seize upon the mountain 
 that was over-against the city, and repel those 
 that were upon the wall; which archers did 
 as they were commanded, and prevented those 
 that attempted to assist them that way; and 
 now Titus made his own horse march first 
 against the enemy, as did the others with a 
 great noise after him, and extended themselves 
 upon the plain as wide as the enemy w ho con- 
 fronted them; by which means they appeared 
 much mbre numerous than they reuiiy were. 
 
^72 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 Now the Jews, although they were surprised 
 at their onset, and at their good order, 
 made resistance against their attacks for a 
 little while; but when they \vere pricked with 
 tbeir long poles, and overborne by the violent 
 noise of the horsemen, they came to be tram- 
 pled under their feet ; many also of them 
 were slain on every side, which made them 
 disperse themselves and run to the city, as 
 fast as every one of them was able. So Titus 
 pressed upon the hindmost, and slew them; 
 and of the rest, some he fell upon as they 
 stood on heaps, and some he prevented, and 
 met them in the mouth, and run them through; 
 many also he leaped upon as they fell one 
 upon another, and trod them down, and cut 
 off all the retreat they had to the wall, and 
 turned them back into the plain, till at last 
 they forced a passage by their multitude, and 
 got away, and ran into the city. 
 
 4. But now there fell out a terrible sedi- 
 tion among them within the city; for the in- 
 habitants themselves, who had possessions 
 there, and to whom the city belonged, were 
 not disposed to tight from the very beginning; 
 and now the less so, because they had been 
 beaten: but the foreigners, who were very 
 numerous, would force them to tight so much 
 the more, insomuch that there was a clamour 
 and a tumult among them, as all mutually 
 angry one at another; and when Titus heard 
 this tumult, for he was not far from the wall, 
 he cried out, " Fellow soldiers, now is the 
 time; and why do we make any delay, when 
 God is giving up the Jews to us? Take the 
 victory which is given you: do not you hear 
 what a noise they make? Those that have 
 escaped our hands are in an uproar against 
 one another. We have the city if we make 
 haste; but besides haste, we must undergo 
 some labour, and use some courage; for no 
 great thing uses to be accomplished without 
 danger; accordingly, we must not only pre- 
 vent their uniting again, which necessity will 
 soon compel them to do, but we must also 
 prevent the coming of our own men to our 
 assistance, that, as tew as we are, we may con- 
 quer so great a multitude, and may ourselves 
 alone take the city. 
 
 5. As soon as ever Titus had said this, he 
 leaped upon his horse, and rode apace down 
 to the lake; by which lake he marched, and 
 entered into the city the first of them all, as 
 did the others soon after him. Hereupon 
 those that were upon the walls were seized 
 with a terror at the boldness of the attempt, 
 nor durst any one venture to fight with hinj, 
 or to hinder him; so they left guarding the 
 city, and some of those that were about Jesus 
 fled over the country, while others of them 
 ran down to the lake, and met the enemy in 
 the teeth, and some were slain as they were 
 getting up into ships, but others of them, 
 M they atttfiupted to overtake those that were 
 •IreaUv Kone aboard. There vvm m1>.o u great 
 
 slaughter made in the city, while those 
 foreigners that had not fied away alreaav, 
 made opposition; but the natural inhabitants 
 were killed without fighting: for in hopes of 
 Titus's giving them his right hand for their se- 
 curity, and out of the consciousness that they 
 had not given any consent to the war, they 
 avoided fighting, till Titus had slain the 
 authors of this revolt, and then put a stop to 
 any further slaughters, out of commiseration 
 of these inhabitants of the place ; but for 
 those that had fled to the lake, upon seeing 
 the city taken, they sailed as far as they 
 possibly could from the enemy. 
 
 6. Hereupon Titus sent one of his horse- 
 men to his father, and let him know the good 
 news of what he had done; at which, as was 
 natural, he was very joyful, both on account 
 of the courage and glorious actions of his 
 son; for he thought that now the greatest part 
 of the war was over. He then came thiiher 
 himself, and set men to guard the city, and 
 gave them command to take care that nobody 
 got privately out of it, but to kill such as 
 attempted so to do; and on the next day he 
 went down to the lake, and commanded that 
 vessels should be fitted up, in order to 
 pursue those that had escaped in the ships. 
 These vessels were quickly gotten ready 
 accordingly, because there was great plenty of 
 materials, and a great number of artihcers 
 also. 
 
 7. Now this lake of Gennesareth is so 
 called from the country adjoining to it. Its 
 breadth is forty furlongs, and its length one 
 hundred and forty; its waters are sweet, and 
 very agreeable for drinking, for they are finer, 
 than the thick waters of other fens; the lake 
 is also pure, and on every side ends direct ly 
 at the shores and at the sand; it is also ot a 
 temperate nature when you draw it up, and of 
 a more gentle nature than river or lountam 
 water, and yet always cooler than one could 
 expect in so diffuse a place as this is. IS'ow 
 when this water is kept in the open air, it is 
 as cold as that snow which the country 
 people are accustomed to make by night in 
 summer. There are several kinds of fish in it, 
 different both to the taste and the sight from , 
 those elsewhere: it is divided into two parts 
 by the river Jordan. Now Panium is thought 
 to be the fountain of Jordan, but in reality it 
 is carried thither after an occult manner from 
 the place called Phiala: this place lies as you 
 go up to Trachonitis, and is a hundred and 
 twenty fuilongs from Cesarea, and is not far 
 out of the road on the right hand; and indeed 
 it hath its name of Phiala [vial or bowl] very 
 justly, from the roundness of its circumfer- 
 ence, as being round like a wheel; its water 
 continues always up to its edges, vvitlmut 
 either sinking or running over; and uh tlii"; 
 origin of Jordan was formerly not kni)w:i, it 
 WHS discovereii ko to be when Philip \vii> t f».. 
 trarch of Traehunitis; for he hau ebatl itirowu 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 678 
 
 info Phiala, and it was found at Panium, 
 w nere the ancients thought the fountain-head 
 of toe river was, whitber it had been there- 
 lore ciirr?e(i [by the waters]. As for Paniura 
 Itself, its natural beauty had been improved 
 hv the royal liberality of Agrippa, and adorned 
 at his expenses. Now Jordan's visible stream 
 arises frcm this cavern, and divides the 
 marshes and fens of the lake Semechonitis: 
 when it hath run another hundred and twenty 
 furlongs, it first passes by the city Julias, and 
 then passes through the middle of the lake 
 Gennesareth; after which it runs a long way 
 over a desert, and then makes its exit into the 
 lake Aspbaltitis. 
 
 8. The country also that lies over-against 
 this lake hath the same name of Gennesareth ; 
 
 ts nature is wonderful as well as its beauty; 
 its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can 
 ^row upon it, and the inhabitants accordingly 
 plant all sorts of trees there; for the temper 
 of the air is so well mixed, that it agrees very 
 vve4l with those several sorts, particularly wal- 
 nuts, which require the coldest air, flourish 
 there in vast plenty; there are palm-trees also, 
 which grow best in hot air; fig-trees also and 
 >lives grow near them, which yet require an 
 air that is more temperate. One may call this 
 place the ambition of nature, where it forces 
 those plants that are naturally ei^emies to one 
 another to agree together: it is a happy con- 
 tention of the seasons, as if every one of thera 
 laid claim to this country; for it not only nou- 
 rishes different sorts of autumnal fruit beyond 
 men's expectation, but preserves them a great 
 while; it supplies men with the principal 
 fruits, with grapes and figs continually, during 
 ten months of the year,* and the rest of the 
 fruits as they become ripe together, through 
 the whole year; for besides the good tempe- 
 rature of the air, it is also watered from a 
 most fertile fountain. The people of the 
 country call it Capharnaum. Some have 
 thought it to be a vein of the Nile, because it 
 produces the Coracin fish as weU as that lake 
 does which is near to Alexandria. The 
 length of this country extends itself along the 
 banks of this lake that bears the same name, 
 for thirty furlongs, and is in breadth twenty; 
 and this is the nature of that place. 
 
 9. But now, when the vessels were gotten 
 ready, Vespasian put upon ship-board as 
 many of his forces as he thought sufficient to 
 be too hard for those that were upon the 
 
 • It may be worth oar while to observe here, that near 
 this lake of Gennesareth grapes and figs hang on the trees 
 ten months of the year. We may observe also, that in 
 Cyril of Jerusalem, CatecheS. xviiL sect. 3. which was 
 delivered not long before Easter, there were no fresh 
 leaves of fig-trees, nor bunches of fresh grapes in Judea; 
 8<i that when -St. Mark says, ch. xi. ver. 13, that our 
 Saviour, soon after the same time of the jear, came and 
 "found leaves" on a fig-tree near Jerusalem, but "no 
 fiss, because the time of" new *• figs " ripening " was not 
 yet," he says very true; nor were they therefore other 
 than v'd leaves which our Saviour saw, and old figs 
 wiiich tie expected, and which even with us commonly 
 oaiu^ a the trees all winter long. 
 
 lake, and set sail after them. Now these 
 which were driven into the lake could neither 
 fly to the land, where all was in their ene- 
 mies' hand, and in war against them, nor 
 could they fight upon the level by sea, for their 
 ships were small and fitted only for piracy; 
 they were too weak to fight with Vespa- 
 sian's vessels, and the mariners that were in 
 them were so few, that they were afraid to 
 come near the Romans, who attacked them in 
 great numbers. However, as they sailed 
 round about the vessels, and sometimes as 
 they came near them, they threw stones at 
 the Romans when they were a good way off, 
 or came closer and fought them; yet did 
 they receive the greatest harm themselves in 
 both cases. As for the stones they threw at 
 the Romans, they only made a sound one 
 after another, for they threw them against such 
 as were in their armour, while the Roman 
 darts could reach the Jews themselves; and 
 when they ventured to come rear the Romans, 
 they became sufferers themselves before they 
 could do any harm to the other, and were 
 drowned, they and their ships together. As 
 for those that endeavoured to come to an 
 actual fight, the Romans ran many of them 
 through with their long poles. Sometimes 
 the Romans leaped into their ships, with 
 swords in their hands, and slew them; but 
 when some of them met the vessels, the 
 Romans caught them by the middle, and 
 destroyed at once their ships and themselves 
 who were taken in them. And for such as 
 were drowning in the sea, if they lifted their 
 heads up above the water they were either 
 killed by darts, or caught by the vessels, 
 but if, in the desperate case they were in, 
 they attempted to swim to their enemies, the 
 Romans cut off either their heads or their 
 hands; and indeed they were destroyed after 
 various manners everywhere, till the rest, 
 being put to flight, were forced to get upon the 
 land, while the vessels encompassed them 
 about [on the sea]: but as many of these 
 were repulsed when they were getting ashore, 
 they were killed by the darts upon the lake; 
 and the Romans leaped out of their vessels, 
 and destroyed a great many more upon the 
 land : o.ne might then see the lake all bloody, 
 and full of dead bodies, for not one of thera 
 escaped. And a terrible stink, and a very 
 sad sight there was on the following days 
 over that country; for as for the shores, they 
 were full of shipwrecks, and of dead bodies 
 all swelled; and as the dead bodies were , 
 inflamed by the sun, and putrefied, they cor- 
 rupted the air, insomuch that the misery was 
 not only the object of commiseration to the 
 Jews, but to those that hated them, and had 
 been the authors of that misery. This was 
 the upshot of the sea-fight. The number o* 
 the slain, including those that were killed in 
 the city before, was six thousand and five 
 hundred. 
 
674 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 10. After this fight was over, Vespasian 
 sat upon his tribunal at Taricheae, in order 
 to distinguish the foreigners from the old in- 
 habitants ; for those foreigners appear to have 
 begun the war, 80 he deliberated with the 
 Other commanders, whether he ought to save 
 those old inhabitants or not. And when 
 those commanders alleged that the dismission 
 of them would be to his own disadvantage, 
 because, when they were once set at liberty, 
 they would not be at rest, since they would 
 be people destitute of proper habitations, and 
 woulci be able to compel such as they fled to, 
 to fight against us, Vespasian acknowledged 
 that they did not deserve to be saved, and 
 that if they had leave given them to fly away, 
 they would make use of it against those that 
 gave them that leave. But still he considered 
 with himself after what manner they should 
 be slain;* for if he had them slain there, he 
 suspected the people of the country would 
 thereby become his enemies; for that to be 
 Eure they would never bear it, that so many 
 that had been supplicants to him should be 
 killed; and to otier violence to them, after 
 he had given them assurances of their lives, 
 he could not himself bear to do it. How- 
 ever, his friends were too hard for him, and 
 pretended that nothing agahist Jews could be 
 any imp'ety, and that he ought to prefer what 
 was profitable before what was fit to be done, 
 where both could not be made consistent. 
 
 So he gave them an ambiguous liberty to do 
 IS they advised, and permitted the prisoners 
 tc go along no other road than that which 
 leti to Tiberias only. So they readily be 
 lieved what they desired to be true, and went 
 along securely, with their effects, the way 
 which was allowed them, while the Romans 
 seized upon all the road that led to Tiberias, 
 that none of them might go out of it, and 
 shut them up in the city. Then came Ves- 
 pasian, and ordered them all to stand in the 
 stadium, and commanded them to kill the 
 old men, together with the others that were 
 useless, who were in number a thousand and 
 two hundred. Out of the young men he 
 chose six thousand of the strongest, and sent 
 them to Nero, to dig through the Isthmus, 
 and sold the remainder for slaves, being thirty 
 thousand and four hundred, besides such as 
 he made a present of to Agrippa ; for as to 
 those that belonged to his kingdom, he gave 
 him leave to do what he pleased with them; 
 however, the king *old these also for sla^s; 
 but for the rest of the multitude, who were 
 Trachonites, and Gaulanites, and of Hippos, 
 and some of Gadara, the greatest part of 
 them were seditious persons and fugitives, 
 who were of such shameful characters that 
 they preferred war before peace. These pri- 
 soners were taken on the eighth day of the 
 month Gorpiseus [Elul]. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 OONTAININQ THE INTERVAL OF ABOUT ONB TBAX. 
 
 FROM THE SIEGE OF GAMALA TO THE COMING OF TITUS TO 
 BESIEGE JERUSALEM. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 THE SIEGE AND TAKING OF GAMALA. 
 
 § 1. Now all those Galileans who, after the 
 taking of Jotapata, had revolted from the Ro- 
 did, upon the conquest of Taricheaj, 
 
 • ThU is the most cruel and barbarous action that 
 Vespasian ever did in this whole war, as he did it wish 
 great reluctance also. It was done both after public 
 assurance Kiven of sparing the prisoners' lives, and 
 when all knew and conlessed that these prisoners were 
 no way Kuilt^ of any sedition against the Itonians. Nor 
 iiid«rd did 1 iius now give ^i<t ci<nseut, so fur as apt>ears, 
 
 deliver themselves up to them again. And th* 
 Romans received all the fortresses and the 
 cities, excepting Gischala and those that had 
 seized upon mount Tabor; Gamala also 
 
 nor ever act of himself so barbarously j nay. soon arte 
 this, Titus grew quite weary oi shedding blood and o- 
 punishing the innocent with the K"il»i'' a"'' K^ve iht 
 people of Gischala leave to keep the Jewish iSabhath 
 b. iv. ch ii sect 3.6. in the midst of their siese. Noi 
 was Vespasian disposed to du what he did. till his officer 
 pi^rsuaded hiui, and that from two principal topic* 
 viz that noJhinn could he uiijnst that was done a<ains 
 Jews; and tliat when both cunnot he consistent, advan 
 taKe must prevail over justice.— Aduirahle court duo 
 triues these' 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 675 
 
 whicb is a city over against Taricheae, but on 
 the other side of the lake, conspired vfith 
 thera. This city lay upon the borders of 
 Agrippa's kingdom, as also did Sogana and 
 Seleucia. And these were both parts of Gau- 
 lanitis: for Sogana was a part of that called 
 the Upper Gaulanitis, as was Gamala of the 
 Lower; while Seleucia was situated at the 
 lake Semechonitis, which lake is thirty furlongs 
 in breadth, and sixty in length; its marshes 
 reach as far as the place Daphne, which in 
 other respects, is a delicious place, and hath 
 such fountains as supply water to what is 
 called Little Jordan, under the temple of the 
 golden calf,* where it is sent into Great Jor- 
 dan. Now Agrippa had united Sogana and 
 Seleucia by leagues to himself, at the very 
 beginning of the revolt from the Romans; 
 yet did not Gamala accede to them, but relied 
 upon the difficulty of the place, which was 
 greater than that of Jotapata, for it was situ- 
 ated upon a rough ridge of a high mountain, 
 with a kind of neck in the middle: where it 
 begins to ascend, it lengthens itself, and 
 declines as much downward before as behind, 
 insomuch that it is like a camel in figure, 
 from whence it is so named, although the peo- 
 ple of the country do not pronounce it accu- 
 rately. Both on the side and the face there 
 are abrupt parts divided from the rest, and 
 ending in vast deep valleys; yet are the parts 
 behind, where they are joined to the moun- 
 tain, somewhat easier of ascent than the other; 
 but then the people belonging to the place 
 have cut an oblique ditch there, and made that 
 hard to be ascended also. On its acclivity, 
 which is straight, houses are built, and those 
 very thick and close to one another. The 
 city also hangs so strangely, that it looks as if 
 it would fall down upon itself, so sharp is it 
 at the top. It is exposed t^the south; and 
 its ■ southern mount, which reaches to an 
 immense height, was in the nature of a cita- 
 del to the city; and above that was a preci- 
 pice, not walled about, but extending itjeif to 
 an immense depth. There was also a spring 
 of water within the wall, at the utmost limits 
 of the city. 
 
 2. As this city was naturally hard to be 
 taken, so had Josephus, by building a wall 
 about it, made it still stronger, as also by 
 ditches and mines under ground. The peo- 
 ple that were in it were made more bold by 
 the nature of the place than the people of 
 Jotapata had been, but it had much fewer 
 fighting men in it; and they had such a confi- 
 dence in the situation of the place, that they 
 thought the enemy could not be too many for 
 them; for the city had been filled with those 
 
 • Here w< have the exact situation of one of Jerobo- 
 am's "golden calves," at the exit of Little Jordan, into 
 <Treat Jordan, near a place culled Daphne, but of old 
 Dan. "iee the note on Antiq.b. viii.ch.viii.8ect.4 But 
 Kelaiid suspects that even here we should read Dan 
 ii5tead of Daphne, there being nowheie else any men- 
 tion ufa. pliux called Daphne hereahouU. 
 
 that had fled to it for safety, on aceoiint of its 
 strength; on which account they had been 
 able to resist those whom Agrippa sent to 
 besiege it for seven months together. 
 
 3. But Vespasian removed from Eramaus, 
 where he had last pitched his camp before the 
 city Tiberias (now Emmaus, if it be inter- 
 preted, may be rendered "a warm bath," for 
 therein is a spring of warm water, useful for 
 healing), and came to Gamala; yet was its 
 situation such that he was not able to encom- 
 pass it all round with soldiers to watch it; but 
 where the places were practicable, he set men to 
 watch it, and seized upon the mountain which 
 was over it. And as the legions, according to 
 their usual custom, were fortifying their camp 
 upon that mountain, he began to cast up 
 banks at the bottom, at the part towards the 
 east, where the highest tower of the whole 
 city was, and where the fifteenth legion pitched 
 their camp; while the fifth legion did duty 
 over-against the midst of the city, and whilst 
 the tenth legion filled up the ditches and val- 
 leys. Now at this time it was that as king 
 Agrippa was come nigh the walls, and was 
 endeavouring to speak to those that were on 
 the walls about a surrender, he was hit with 
 a stone on his right elbow by one of the sling- 
 ers; he was then immediately surrounded 
 with his own men. But the Romans v^re 
 excited to set about the siege, by their indig- 
 nation on the king's account, and by their fear 
 on their own account, as concluding that 
 those men would omit no kinds of barb?irity 
 against foreigners and enemies, who were so 
 enraged against one of their own nation, and 
 one that advised them to nothing but what 
 was for their own advantage. 
 
 4. Now when the banks were finished, 
 which was done on the sudden, both by the 
 multitude of hands, and by their being accus- 
 tomed to such work, they broughtthe machines ; 
 but Chares and Joseph, who were the most 
 potent men of the city, set their armed men 
 in order, though already in a fright, because 
 they did not suppose that the city could hold 
 out long, since they had not a sufficient 
 quantity either of water, or of other neces- 
 saries. However, these their leaders encou- 
 raged them, and brought them out upon the 
 wall, and for a while indeed they drove away 
 those that were bringing the machines; but 
 when those machines threw darts and stones 
 at them, they retired into the city; then 
 did the Romans bring battering rams to 
 three several places, and made the wall shake 
 [and fall]. They then poured in over the 
 parts of the wall that were thrown down, with 
 a mighty sound of trumpets and noise of 
 armour, and with a shout of the soldiers, and 
 brake in by force upon those that were in the 
 city; but these men fell upon the Romans 
 for some time, at their first entrance, and pre- 
 vented their going any farther, and with great 
 courage beat them back; and the Romans 
 
676 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK ir. 
 
 wete so overpowered by the greater multi- 1 
 tude of the people, who beat them on every 
 side, that they were obliged to run into the 
 upper parts of the city. Whereupon the peo- 
 ple turned about, and fell upon their enemies, 
 who had attacked th^m and thrust them down 
 to the lower parts,, and as they were distressed 
 by the narrowness and difficulty of the place, 
 slew them; and as these Romans could neither 
 beat those back that were above them, nor 
 escape the force of their own men that were 
 forcing their way forward, they were com- 
 pelled to fly into their enemies' bouses, which 
 were low; but these houses being thus full of 
 soldiers, whose weight they could not bear, fell 
 down suddenly ; and when one house fell, it 
 shook down a great many of those that were 
 under it, as did those do to such as were un- 
 der them. By this mealis a vast number of 
 the Romans perished; for they were so ter- 
 ribly distressed, that, although they saw the 
 houses subsiding, they were compelled to leap 
 upon the tops of them; so that a great many 
 were ground to powder by these ruins, and a 
 great many of those that got from under, them 
 lost some of their liinbs, but still a greater 
 number were suffocated by. the dust that arose 
 from those ruins. The people of Gaxcala 
 supposed this to be an assistance afforded them 
 by^God, and without regarding, what damage 
 they suffered themselves, they pressed forward, 
 and thrust the enemy upon the tops of their 
 houses ; and when they stumbled in the sharp 
 and narrow streets, and were perpetually 
 tumbling down, they threw their stones or 
 darts at them, and slew them. Now the very 
 ruins afforded them stones enow; and for iron 
 weapons, the dead men of the enemy's side 
 afforded them what they wanted; for drawing 
 the swords of those that were dead, they made 
 use of them to despatch such as were only half 
 dead; nay, there were a great number who, 
 upon their falling down from the tops of the 
 houses, stabbed themselves, aad died after 
 that maiuier: nor indeed was it easy for those 
 that were beaten back to fly away; for they 
 were so unacquainted with the ways, and the 
 dust was so thick, that they wandered about 
 without knowing one another, and fell down 
 dead among the crawd. 
 
 5. Those therefore that wece able to find 
 the ways out of the city retired. But now 
 Vespasian always staid among those that were 
 bard set; for he was deeply affected with 
 seeing the ruins of the city falling upon bis 
 army, and forgot to take care of his own pre- 
 wjrvation. He went up gradually towards 
 the highest parts of the city before he was 
 aware, and was left in the midst of dai:gers, 
 having only a very few with him; for even 
 bis son Titus was not with him at that time, 
 having: been then sent into Syria to Muciauus. 
 However, he thought it not safe to fly, nor 
 did be esteem it a fit thing for him to do; 
 Uit calling to mind the actions he had done 
 
 from his youth, and recollecting bhj couruije, 
 as if he had been excited by a divine turv, ue 
 covered hiin«elf and those that were wilu iiii>* 
 with their shields, and formed a tt'stuu(.i« ovc» 
 both their bodies and their armour, and boies 
 up against the enemy's attacks, who cainc 
 running down froriQ the top of the city; aijd 
 without showing any dread at the niuhitudt: 
 of the men or of their darts, he endured all, 
 until the enemy took notice of that (liviue 
 courage that was within him, a<»d remitted of 
 their attacks; and when they pressed les* 
 aiealously upon him,, he retired, though with- 
 out showing his back to them, till he was 
 gotten out of the walls of the city. ISow a 
 great number of the Romans fell in this bat- 
 tle, among whom was Ebutius, the decurion, 
 a man who appeared not only in this engage- 
 ment, wherein he fell, but everywhere, and 
 in former engagements, to be of the truest 
 courage, and one that had done very great 
 mischief to the Jews. But there was a cen- 
 turion, whose- name was Gallus, who, during 
 this disorder, being eneompassed about, he 
 and ten other soldiers privately crept into the 
 house of a certain person, where he heard 
 them talking at supper wha-t the people in- 
 tended to do against the Ronaans, or about 
 themselves (for both the man himself and 
 those with hiuj were Syrians). So he got up 
 in the night-time, and cut all their throats, 
 and escaped^ together with his soldiers, to the 
 Romans. 
 
 C. And now Vespasian comforted his army^ 
 which was iiiuch dejected, by reflecting 
 ou their ill success, and because they had 
 never before fallen into such a calamity, and, 
 besides this, because they were greatly 
 ashamed that they had left their general alone 
 in great dangers. As to what concerned him- 
 self, he avoided tjgssay any thing, that he nnght 
 by no means seem to complain of it; but he 
 said that " we ought to bear manfully what 
 usually falls out in war, and tld,<, by consi- 
 dering what the luiture of war is, and how it 
 can never be that we must conquer without 
 bloodshed ou our own side; for there stands 
 about us that fortune which is of its owi> 
 nature mutable; that while they had killed so 
 many ten thousands of the Jews, they had 
 now paid their small share of the reokoning 
 to fate;, and as it is the part of weak people 
 to be too much pnffed up with good siu-cess, 
 so is it the part of cowards to be too luur.ix 
 affrighted at that whicli is ill; for the change 
 from the one to the otber is sudden on both 
 aides ; ami he is the best warrior who is of 
 a sober mind under misfortunes, that he may 
 continue in that temper, and eheerfully 
 recover what hath Ix'eii lo.-^t loiuu'rly; and as 
 for what had now happi ued, it was neither 
 owing to their ouii riU.uiU)aey, nor to tho 
 valour of the .U\\~, iml the (lUiieully of tha 
 place was tlie oecaaion ul their uuvuntage, and 
 of our disappoiutmtint. Uyou reflecting ogf> 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 677 
 
 wbich matter one might blame your zeal as 
 pertertly ungovernable; for when the enemy 
 had ref.ired to their highest fastnesses, you 
 ought to have restrained yourselves, and not, 
 by presenting yourselves at the top of the 
 city, to be exposed to dangers; but upon 
 vojr having obtained the lower parts of the 
 city, you ought to have provoked those that 
 had retired thither to a safe and settled bat- 
 tle; whereas, in rushing so hastily upon vic- 
 tory, you took no care of your own safety. 
 But this incautiousness in war, and this mad- 
 ness of zeal, is not a R^an maxim. While 
 we perform all that we attempt by skill and 
 good order, that procedure is only the part of 
 barbarians, and is what the Jews chiefly sup- 
 port themselves by. We ought therefore to 
 return to our own virtue, and to be rather 
 angry than any longer dejected at this unlucky 
 misfortune; and let every one seek for his 
 own consolation from his own hand; for by 
 this "means he will avenge those that have 
 been destroyed, and punish those that have 
 killed them. For myself, I will endeavour, 
 as I have now done, to go first before you 
 against your enemies in every engagr.ment, 
 and to be the Irist that retires from it." 
 
 7. So Vespasiart encouraged his army by 
 this speech; but for the people of Gamaia. it 
 happened that they took courag'i ^br a little 
 while, upon such great and unaccountable 
 success as they had had. But when thny con- 
 sidered with themselves that they had now no 
 hopes of any terms of accommodation, and 
 reflecting uppn it that they could not get 
 away, and that their provisions began already 
 to be short, they were exceedingly mst down, 
 and their courage tailed them; yet d;d they 
 not neglect what might be for their D'"eserv3- 
 tion, so far as they were able, but the most 
 courageous among them guarded those parts 
 of the wail that were beaten down, while the 
 more ii'firm did the same to the rest of the 
 wall that stili remained round the city. 
 And as the Romans raised their banks, and 
 attempted to get into the city a second time, 
 a great many of them fled out of the city 
 through impracticable valleys, where no guards 
 were placed, as also through subterraneous 
 caverns; while those that were afraid of being 
 caught, and for that reason staid in the city, 
 perished for want of food ; for what food they 
 had was b.'ought together from all quarters, 
 and reserved for. the fighting men. 
 
 8. And these were the hard circumstances 
 the people of Gamala were in. But now 
 Vespasian went about other work by the by, 
 during this siege, and that was to subdue 
 those that had seized upon Mount Tabor, a 
 
 I place that lies in the middle between the great 
 1 plain and Scythopolis, whose top is elevated 
 I 0.6 high as thirty furlongs,* and is hardly to 
 
 I * Thrs« nnml>»Ts in Josephiis of thirty furlongs' 
 
 i ASCtrni to tiie top oi' Muunt I abur. wliciiier we estimate 
 I it by y*iuding and graiaial, or by per euili ar altitude, 
 
 be ascended on its north side ; its top is a plain 
 of twenty-six furlongs, and all encompassed 
 with a wall. Now, Josephus erected this so 
 long a wall in forty days' time, and furnished 
 it with other materials, and with water from 
 below, for the inhabitants only made use of 
 rain water; as therefore there was a great 
 multitude of people gotten together upon this 
 mountain, Vespasian sent Placidus, with six 
 hundred horsemen, thither. Now, as it was 
 impossible for him to ascend the mountain, 
 he invited many of them to peace, by thS 
 offer of his right hand for their security, and 
 of his intercession for them. Accordingly 
 they came down, but with a treacherous 
 design, as well as he had the like treacherous 
 design upon them on the other side; for Pla- 
 cidus spoke mildly to them, as aiming to take 
 them when he got them into the plain; they 
 also came down, as complying with his pro- 
 posals, but it was in order to fall upon him 
 
 ' when he was not aware of it: however, Pla- 
 cidus's stratagem was too hard for theirs; for 
 when the Jews began to tight, he pretended 
 to run away, and when they were in pursuit 
 of the Romans, he enticed them a great way 
 
 j along the plain, and then made his horsemen 
 turn hack; whereupon he beat them, and slew 
 
 ' a .i^rnat number of them, and cut off the 
 retreat of the rest of the multitude, and hin- 
 
 '■ dered their return. So they left Tabor, and 
 iitrd to Jerusalem, while the people of the 
 ••ountrv came to terms with him, for their 
 water tailed them, and so they delivered up 
 the ioountain and themselves to Placidus. 
 
 y. But of the people of Gamala, those that 
 were of the bolder sort fled away and hid 
 incmselves, while the more infirm perished by 
 
 iiaraine; but the men of war sustained the 
 siege till the two-and-twentieth day of the 
 month Hyperberetaeus [Tisri], when three sol- 
 diers of the fifteenth legion, about the morn- 
 'jQg-watch, got under a high tower that was 
 near, and undermined it without making any 
 noise ; nor when they either came to it, which 
 vraa in the night-time, nor when they were under 
 It, did those that guarded it perceive them, 
 rnese soldiers then, upon their coming, avoided 
 maKiiig a noise, and when they had rolled 
 
 and of twenty-six furlongs' circumference upon the top,| 
 as also fifteen lurloujjs for this ascent in Folybius, with 
 Geiainus's perpendicular altitude of almost fuurteenfur- 
 'on^s here noted by Dr. Hudson, do none of tiiem agree 
 with the authentic testimony of Mr. Maundrel, an eye- 
 witness (pasje il:^), who says he *as not an iionr iu jjet- 
 tin;; up to tiie tup of this Mount Tabor, and that tliearea 
 3*" the top is an oval of about two turlongs in length, and 
 i one in breadth. >o I rather suppose Josephus wrote 
 CAree furlongs lor the ascent or altitude, instead of thirty ; 
 and six furlongs for ttie circumference at the top, instead 
 of twenty-six.— since a ntountain of only three furlongs' 
 perpendicular altitude may easily require near an hour'a 
 iMent ; and the ci-cnmference ot an oval of the foregoing 
 quantity, Ik tear SIX turlongs. Nor certainly cou:d such 
 a va>t circumference as twenty-six furlongs, or tbreo 
 mi'es aad a qii.irter, at that height be encompassed with 
 a wall, including a trench and other fortifications (per 
 baps those still remaining ibid), in the small interval <>■ 
 forty days, as Josephus bore savs tbey were by hiwae'L 
 
678 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK IT 
 
 away five of its strongest stones, they went 
 away hastily; whereupon the tower fell down 
 on a sudden, with a great noise, and its guard 
 fell headlong with it; so that those that kept 
 guard at other places, were under such dis- 
 turbance, that they ran away ; the Romans 
 also slew many of those that ventured to op- 
 pose them, among whom was Joseph, who was 
 slain by a dart, as he was running away over 
 that part of the wall that was broken down : 
 but as those that were in the city were greatly af- 
 frighted at the noise, they ran hither and thither, 
 and a great consternation fell upon them, as 
 though all the enemy had fallen in at once upon 
 them. Then it was that Chares, who was ill, and 
 under the physicians' hands, gave up the ghost, 
 the fear he was in greatly contributing to make 
 his distemper fatal to him. But the Romans 
 so well remembered their former ill success, 
 that they did not enter the city till the three 
 and twentieth day of the fore-mentioned month. 
 10. At which time Titus, who was now re- 
 turned, out of the indignation he had at the 
 destruction the Romans had undergone while 
 he was absent, took two hundred chosen horse- 
 men, and some footmen with him, and entered 
 vi^ithout noise into the city. Now, as the 
 watch perceived that he was coming, they 
 made a noise, and betook themselves to their 
 arms; and as this his entrance was presently 
 known to tl^ose that were in the city, some of 
 them caught hold of their children and their 
 wives, and drew them after them, and fled 
 away to the citadel, with lamentations and cries, 
 while others of them went to meet Titus, and 
 were killed perpetually; but so many of them 
 as were hindered from running up to the cita- 
 del, not knowing what in the world to do, fell 
 among the Roman guards, while the groans 
 of those that were killed were prodigiously 
 great everywhere, and blood ran down over 
 all the lower parts of the city, from the 
 upper. But then Vespasian himself came to 
 his assistance against those that had fled to the 
 citadel, and brought his whole army with 
 bim; now this upper part of the city was every 
 way rocky, and difficult of ascent, and ele- 
 vated to a vast altitude, and very full of people 
 on all sides, and encompassed with precipices, 
 whereby the Jews cut oiF those that came up 
 to them, and did much mischief to others by 
 their darts, and the large stones which they 
 rolled down upon them, while they were them- 
 selves so high that the enemy's darts could 
 hunjly reach them. However, there arose 
 such a divine storm against them as was instru- 
 mental to their destruction; this carried the 
 Roman darts upon thern, and made those 
 which they threw return back, and drove them 
 obliquely away from them : nor could the 
 Jews indeed stand, upon their precipices, by 
 reason of the violence of the wind, having no- 
 thing that was stable to statu! upon, nor cuuld 
 they see those that were a^cenchng up to them; 
 •o the Roicanii gut up and mrrounded them, 
 
 and some they slew Wfore they could defend 
 themselves, and others as they were delivering 
 up themselves; and the remembrance of those 
 that were slain at theii former entrance into 
 the city increased their rage against them now; 
 a great number also of those that were 
 surrounded on every side, and despaired o£ 
 escaping, threw their children and their wives, 
 and themselves also, down the precipices, into 
 the valley beneath, which, near the citadel, 
 had been dug hollow to a vast depth; but so 
 it happened, that the anger of the Romans 
 appeared not to be so extravagant as was the 
 madness of those that were now taken, while 
 the Romans slew but four thousand, whereas 
 the number of those that had throwm them- 
 selves down was found to be five thousand: 
 nor did any one escape except two women, 
 who were the daughters of Philip, and Philip 
 himself was the son of a certain eminent man 
 called Jacimus, who had been general of king 
 Agrippa's army; and these did therefore 
 escape, because they lay concealed from the 
 sight of the Romans when the city was taken; 
 for otherwise they spared not so much as the 
 infants, of whom many were flung down by 
 them from the citadel. And thus was Ga- 
 mala taken on the three and twentieth d-jy of 
 the month Hyperberetaeus [Tisri], whereias the 
 city had first revolted on the four and twen- 
 tieth day of the month Gorpiieus [Elul], 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SURRENDER OF THE SMALL CITY 07 
 GISCHALA; JOHN FLIES FROM IT TO JERU- 
 SALEM. 
 
 § 1. Now, no place of Galilee remained t' 
 be taken but the small city of Gischala, whos^ 
 inhabitants yet were desirous of peace; few 
 they were generally husbandmen, and ahvayi 
 applied themselves to cultivate the fruits o\ 
 the earth. However, there were a great 
 number that belonged to a band of robbers, 
 that were already corrupted, and had crept in 
 among them, and some of the governing part 
 of the citizens were sick of the same distem- 
 per. It was John, the son of a certain man 
 whose name was Levi, that drew them into 
 this rebellion, and encouraged them in it. 
 He was a cunning knave, and of a temper 
 that could put. on various shapes; very rash 
 in expecting great things, and very sagacious 
 in bringing about what he hoped for. It was 
 known to every body that he was fond of war, 
 in order to thrust himself into authority; and 
 the seditious part of the people of Gischala 
 were under his management, by whose means 
 the populace, who seemed ready to send am- 
 bassadors in order to a surrender, waited for 
 tlie coming of tl?e Romans in battle array. 
 Vespasian sent agiiinst them Titus, with a 
 thousand horsemen, but withdrew the tenth 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 679 
 
 legion to Scytbopolis, while he returned to 
 Cesarea, with the two other legions, that he 
 might allow them to refresh themselves after 
 their long and hard campaign, thinking withal 
 that the plenty which was in those cities would 
 improve their bodies and their spirits, against 
 the difficulties they were to go through after- 
 wards; for he saw there would be occasion 
 for great pains about Jerusalem, which was 
 not yet taken, because it was the royal city, 
 and the principal city of the whole nation; 
 OJid because those that had run away from the 
 war in other places got all together thither. 
 It was also naturally strong, and the walls 
 that were built round it made him not a little 
 concerned about it. Moreover, he esteemed 
 the men that were in it to be so courageous 
 and bold, that even without the consideration 
 of the walls, it would be hard to subdue them; 
 for which reason he took care of and exer- 
 cised his soldiers beforehand for the work, as 
 they do wrestlers before they begin their 
 undertaking. 
 
 2. Now Titus, as he rode up to Gischala, 
 found it would be easy for him to take the 
 city upon the first onset; but knew mthal, 
 that if he took it by force, the multitude 
 would be destroyed by the soldiers without 
 mercy. (Now he was already satiated with 
 the shedding of blood, and pitied the major 
 piu-t, who would then perish, without distinc- 
 tion, together with the guilty.) So he was 
 rather desirous the city might be surrendered 
 up to him on terms. Accordingly, when he 
 fiHW the wall full of those men that were of 
 the corrupted party, he said to them, — That 
 ho* could not but wonder what it wa? they 
 depended on, when they alone staid to fight 
 the iloiuans, after every other city was taken 
 by thein? especially when they have seen 
 cities much better fortified than theirs is, 
 overthrown by a single attack upon them; 
 while as many as have intrusted themselves 
 to the security of the Romans' right hands, 
 which he now offers to them, without regard- 
 ing their former insolence, do enjoy their own 
 possessions in safety; for that while they had 
 hopes of recovering their liberty, they might 
 be pardoned; but that their continuance still 
 in their opposition, when they saw that to be 
 impossible, was inexcusable; for that, if they 
 will not comply with such humane offers, and 
 right hands for security, they should have 
 experience of such a war as would spare 
 nobody, and should soon be made sensible 
 that their wall would be but a tride, when 
 battered by the Roman machines; in depend- 
 ing on which, they demonstrate themselves to 
 be the only Galileans that were no better 
 tlan arrogant slaves and captives. 
 
 3. Now none of the populace durst not 
 only make a reply, but durst not so much as 
 get upon the wall, for it was all taken up by 
 the robbers, who were ako the guard at the 
 gates, in order to prevent any of the rest from 
 
 going out, in order to propose terms of sub- 
 mission, and from receiving any of the horse- 
 men into the city. But John returned Titus 
 this answer, — That for himself he was content 
 to hearken to his proposals, and that he would 
 either persuade or force those that refused 
 them. Yet he said, that Titus ought to have 
 such regard to the Jewish law, as to gran 
 them leave to celebrate that day, which wa. 
 the seventh day of the week, on which it wa* 
 unlawful not only to remove their arms, but 
 even to treat of peace also; and that even the 
 Romans were not ignorant how the period of 
 the seventh day was among them a cessation 
 from all labours; and that he who should 
 compel them to transgress the law about that 
 day, would be equally guilty with those that 
 were compelled to transgress it: and that 
 this delay could beof no disadvantage to him; 
 for why should any body think of doing any 
 thing in the night, unless it was to fly away? 
 which he might prevent by placing his camp 
 round about them: and that they should 
 think it a great point gained, if they might 
 not be obliged to transgress the laws of their 
 country; and that it would be a right thing 
 for him, who designed to grant them peace, 
 without their expectation of such a favour, to 
 preserve the laws of those they saved invio- 
 lable. Thus did this man put a trick upon 
 Titus, not so much out of regard to the 
 seventh day as to his own preservation, for he 
 was afraid lest he should be quite deserted if 
 the city should be taken, and had his hopes 
 of life in that night, and in his flight therein. 
 Now this was the work of God, who there- 
 fore preserved this John, that he might bring 
 on the destruction of Jerusalem ; as also it 
 was his work that Titus was prevailed with 
 by this pretence for ^ delay, and that he 
 pitched his camp farther off the city at 
 Cydessa. This Cydessa was a strong medi- 
 terranean village of the Tyrians, which always 
 ffated and made war against the Jews; it had 
 also a great number of inhabitants, and was 
 well fortified; which made it a proper place 
 for such as were enemies to the Jewish 
 nation. 
 
 4. Now, in the night time, when John saw 
 that there was no Roman guard about the 
 city, he seized the opportunity directly, and, 
 taking with him not only the armed men that 
 were about him, but a considerable number 
 of those that had little to do, together with 
 their families, he fled to Jerusalem. And 
 indeed, though the man was making haste to 
 get away, and was tormented with fears of 
 being a captive, or of losing his life, yet did 
 he prevail with himself to take out of the 
 city along with him a multitude of women and 
 children, as far as twenty furlongs;* biH there 
 he left them as he proceeded farther on his 
 journey, where those that were left behind 
 made sad lamentations; for the farther every 
 one was come from his own people, the nearer 
 
680 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IT. 
 
 they thought themselves to be to their ene- 
 mies. They also affrighted themselves with 
 this thought, that those who would carry them 
 into captivity were just at hand, and still 
 turned themselves back at the mere noise they 
 made themselves in this their hasty flight, as 
 if those from whom they fled were just upon 
 them. Many also of them missed their ways ; 
 and the earnestness of such as aimed to outgo 
 the rest, threw down many of them. And 
 mdeed there was a miserable destruction made 
 of the women and children; while some of 
 them took courage to call their husbands and 
 kinsmen back, and to beseech them, with the 
 bitterest lamentations, to stay for them; but 
 John's exhortation, who cried out to them to 
 save themselves, and fly away, prevailed. He 
 said also, that if the Romans should seize 
 upon those whom they left behind, they would 
 be revenged on them for it. So this multi- 
 tude that run thus away was dispersed abroad, 
 according as each of them was aile to run, 
 one faster or slower than another. 
 
 5. Now on the next day Titus came to the 
 wall, to make the agreement; whereupon the 
 people opened their gates to him, and came 
 out to him, with their children and wives, and 
 made acclamations of joy to him, as to one 
 that had been their benefactor, and had deli- 
 vered the city out of custody; they also 
 informed him of John's flight, and besought 
 him to spare them, and to com« in and bring 
 the rest of those that were for innovations to 
 punishment; but Titus, not so much regard- 
 ing the supplications of the people, sent part 
 of his horsemen to pursue after John, but 
 they could not overtake him, for he was got- 
 ten to Jerusalem before; they also slew six 
 thousand of the women and children who 
 went out with him, but returned back and 
 Drought with them almost three thousand. 
 However, Titus wa« greatly displeased that 
 he had not been able to bring this John, who 
 had deluded him, to punishment ; yet he hai 
 captives enough, as well as the corrupted part 
 of th«» city, to satisfy his anger, when it 
 missed of John. So he entered the city in the 
 midst of acclamations of joy ; and when he 
 had given orders to the soldiers to pull^ down 
 a small part of the wall, as of a city taken in 
 War, he repressed those that hatt disturbed the 
 city rather by threatenings than by executions ; 
 for he thought that many would accuse inno- 
 cent persons, out of their own animosities and 
 quarrels, if he should attempt to distinguish 
 those that were worthy of punishment from 
 the rest ; and that it was better to let a guilty 
 person alone in his fears, than to destroy with 
 him any one that did not deserve it ; for that 
 probably such a one might be taught pru- 
 dence, by the fear of the punishment he had 
 deservfd, and have a shame upon him for his 
 former offences, when he had been forgiven ; 
 but that the punishment of such as have been 
 mice put to death could never be retrieved. 
 
 However, he placed a garrison in the city for 
 its security, by which means he should restrain 
 those that were for innovations, and should 
 leave those that were peaceably disposed iu 
 greater security. And thus was ail Galileir 
 taken ; but this not till after it had cost the 
 Romans much pains before it could be take» 
 by them. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 concerning john op gischala. concern- 
 in« the zealots, and the high-priest 
 ananus ; as also how the jews raised 
 seditions one against another [in je- 
 rusalemJ. 
 
 § I. Now, upon John's entry into Jerusa- 
 lem, the whole body of the people were in an 
 uproar, and 'ten thousand of them crowded 
 about every one of the fugitives that were 
 come to them, and inquired of them what 
 miseries had happened abroad, when their 
 breath was so short, and hot, and quick, that 
 of itself it declared the great distress they 
 were in; yet did they talk big under their 
 misfortunes, and pretended to say that they 
 had not fled away from the Romans, but 
 came thither in order to fight them with less 
 hazard ; for that it would be an unreasonable 
 and a fruitless thing for them to expose them^ 
 selves to desperate hazards about GischaFa, 
 and such weak cities, whereas they ought to 
 lay up their weapons and their zeal, and re- 
 serve it for their metropolis. But when they 
 related to them the taking of Gischala, and 
 their decent departure, as they pretended, 
 from that place, many of the people under- 
 stood it to be no better than a flight; and 
 especially when the people were told of those' 
 that were made captives, they were in great 
 confusion, and guessed those things to be 
 plain indications that they should be taken 
 also ; but for John, he was very little con- 
 cerned for those whom he had left behind him,, 
 but went about among all the people, and 
 persuaded them to go to war, by the hopes 
 he gave them. He afiirmed that the affairs 
 of the Romans were in a weak condition, and 
 extolled his own power. He also jested upon 
 the ignorance of the unskilful, as if those 
 Romans, although they should take to them- 
 selves wings, could never fly over the wall of 
 Jerusatem, who found such great difficulties 
 in taking the villages of Galilee, and had 
 broken their engines of war against their 
 walls. , 
 
 2. These harangues of Jol)n's corrupted a 
 great part of the young men, and pnflod them 
 up for the war; but as to the most prudent 
 part, and those in y«'ars, th«'rc was not a man 
 of them but forc-iw wli it \\ •>; coming, and 
 made lamentation on that atvount, as if the 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 681 
 
 ra*.v was already undone, and in this confu- 
 sion were the people; but then it must be 
 nhserved, that the multitude that came out of 
 the country were at discord before the Jeru- 
 salem sedition began; for Titus went from 
 Gischala to Cesarea; and Vespasian from 
 Cesarea to Jamnia and Azotus, and took them 
 both; and when he had put garrisons into 
 them be came back with a great number of 
 the people, who were come over to him, upon 
 his giving them his right hand for their pre- 
 servation. There were besides disorders and 
 civil wars in every city; and all those that 
 were at quiet from the Romans turned their 
 hands one against another. There was also 
 a bitter contest between those that were 
 fond of war, and those that were desirous of 
 piace. At the first this quarrelsome temper 
 ciught hold of private families, who could not 
 J glee among themselves; after which those 
 people that were the dearest to one another, 
 biiike through all restraints with regard to 
 each other, and every one associated with 
 those of his own opinion, and began already 
 to stand in opposition one to another; so that 
 seditions arose everywhere, while those that 
 were for innovations, aiid were desirous of 
 war, by their youth and boldness, were too 
 hard for the aged and the prudent men; and, 
 in the first place, all the people of every 
 place betook themselves to rapine; after 
 which they got together in bodies, in order to 
 rob the people of the country, insomuch that 
 for barbarity and iniquity those of the same 
 nation did no way differ from the Romans; 
 nay, it seemed to be a much lighter thing to 
 be ruined by the Romans than by themselves. 
 
 3. Now the Roman garrisons, which guarded 
 the cities, partly out of their uneasiness to 
 take such trouble upon them, and partly out 
 of the hatred they bare to the Jewish nation, 
 did little or nothing towards relieving the 
 miserable, till the captains of these troops of 
 robbers, being satiated with rapines in the 
 country, got all together from all parts, and 
 became a band of wickedness, and all toge- 
 ther crept into Jerusalem, which was now 
 become a city without a governor, and, as the 
 ancient custom was, received without distinc- 
 tion all that belonged to their nation; and 
 these they then received, because all men 
 supposed that those who came so fast into the 
 city, came out of kindness, and for their assist- 
 ance, although these very men, besides the 
 seditions they raised, were otherwise the direct 
 cause of the city's destruction also; for as they 
 were an unprofitable and a useless multitude, 
 they spent those provisions beforehand, which 
 might otherwise have been sufficient for the 
 fighting men. Moreover, besides the bring- 
 ing on of the war, they were the occasion of 
 sedition and famine therein. 
 
 4. There were, besides these, other robbers 
 that came out of the country, and came into 
 the city, and joining to them those that were 
 
 [worse than themselves, omitted no kind of 
 I barbarity ; for they did not measure their 
 courage by their rapines and plunderings only, 
 but proceeded as far as murdering men; and 
 this not in the night-time or privately, or with 
 regard to ordinary men, but did it openly in 
 the day-time, and began with the most emi- 
 nent persons in the city; for the first man 
 they meddled with was Antipas, one of th 
 royal lineage, and the most potent man in th 
 whole city, insomuch that the public trea- 
 sures were committed to his care; him they 
 took and confined, as they did in the next 
 ; place to Levias, a person of great note, with 
 I Sophas, the son of Raguel ; both of whom 
 , were of royal lineage also. And besides these, 
 they did the same to the principal men of the 
 country. This caused a terrible consterna- 
 tion among the people; and every one con- 
 tented himself with taking care of his own 
 safety, as they would do if the city had been 
 taken in war. 
 
 5. But these were not satisfied with the 
 bonds into which they had put the men fore- 
 mentioned ; nor did they think it safe for 
 them to keep them thus in custody long, since 
 they were men very powerful, and had nume- 
 rous families of their own that were able to 
 avenge them. Nay, they thought the very 
 people would perhaps be so moved at these 
 unjust proceedings, as to rise in a body against 
 them : it was therefore resolved to have them 
 slain. Accordingly, they sent one John, who 
 was the most bloody-minded of them all, to 
 do that execution : this man was also called 
 "the son of Dorcas,"* in the language of 
 our country. Ten more men went along 
 with him into the prison, with their swords 
 drawn, and so they cut the throats of those 
 that were in custody there. The grand lying 
 pretence these men made for so flagrant an 
 enormity was this, that these men had had 
 conferences with the Romans for a surrender 
 of Jerusalem to them ; and so they said they 
 had slain only such as were traitors to their 
 common liberty. Upon the whole, they grew 
 the more insolent upon this bold prank of 
 theirs, as though they had been the benefac- 
 tors and saviours of the city. 
 
 6. Now, the people were come to that degree 
 of meanness and fear, and these robbers to tha 
 degree of madness, that these last took upon 
 them to appoint high-priests.f So when they 
 
 * This name Dorcas in Greek, -was Tabitha in Hebrew 
 or Sjriac, a* Acts ix. S6. A c-oordingl}', some of the manu- 
 ficriptp Fet it clown here Tabetha or Tabeta. Nor can 
 the context in Josephus be made out but by supposing 
 the reading to have been this : " The son of Tabitha ; 
 which in the language of our country, denotes Dorca^ 
 [or a doe]. 
 
 t Here we may discorer the utter disgrace and ruin 
 of the high-priesthood among the Jews, when unde- 
 serring. ignoble, and vile persons were advanced to t^t 
 office by the seditious ; which sort of high-priests, as 
 Jo?ephus well remarks here, were thereupon obliged to 
 comply with and assist thore that advanced them in 
 their impious practices. The names of these higb- 
 priests, or rather ridiculous and profane persons, were 
 Jesus the son of Damneus, Jesus the son of Gamaliel, 
 
652 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 htu\ disannulled the succession, according to 
 lijose tamilies out of whom the high-priests 
 used to be made, tbey ordained certain un- 
 known and ignoble persons for that office, that 
 they mighthave tbeir assistance in their wicked 
 undertakings; for such as obtained this highest 
 of all honours, without any desert, were forced 
 to comply with those that bestowed it on 
 them. They also set the principal men at va- 
 riance one with another, by several sorts of 
 contrivances and tricks, and gained the oppor- 
 tunity of doing what they pleased, by the 
 mutual quarrels of those who might have 
 obstructed their measures; till at length, when 
 they wfc.-^ satiated with the unjust actions 
 they had doii»i towards men, they transferred 
 their contumelious behaviour to God himself, 
 and came into the sanctuary with polluted feet. 
 
 7. And now the multitude were going to 
 rise against them already; for Ananus, the 
 ancientest of the high-priests, persuaded them 
 to it. He was a very prudent man, and had 
 perhaps saved the city if he could but have es- 
 caped the hands of those that plotted against 
 him. Those men made the temple of God 
 a strong hold for them, and a place whither 
 they might resort, in order to avoid the trou- 
 bles they feared from the people; the sanctu- 
 ary was now become a refuge, and a shop of 
 tyranny. They also mixed jesting among the 
 luiseries they introduced, which was more in- 
 tolerable than what they did; for, in order to 
 try what surprise the people would be under, 
 and how far their own power extended, they 
 undertook to dispose of the high-priesthood 
 by casting lots for it, whereas, as we have said 
 already, it was to descend by succession in a 
 family. The pretence they made for this 
 strange attempt was an ancient practice, while 
 they said that of old it was determined by lot; 
 but in truth, it was no better than a dissolu- 
 tion of an undeniable law, and a cunning con- 
 trivance to seize upon the government, derived 
 from those that presumed to appoint govern- 
 ors as they themselves pleased. 
 
 8. Hereupon they sent for one of the pon- 
 tilical tribes, which is called Eniachim,* and 
 cast lots which of it should be the high-priest. 
 By fortune, the lot so fell as to demonstrate 
 their iniquity after the plainest manner, for it 
 fell upon one whose name was Phannias, the 
 son of Samuel, of the village Aphtha. He 
 was a man not only unworthy of the high- 
 priesthood, but that did not well know what 
 the high-priesthood was; such a mere rustic 
 
 Matthias the son of Theophilim, and that prodigious 
 ignoramus Phannias, the sun of Samuel; all whom we 
 shall meet with in Josephus's future history of this war; 
 nur do we meet with any other so much as pretended 
 high-priests alter Phannias, till Jerusalem was taken and 
 deiWoyed. 
 
 * This tiihe or course of the hi^h-pricats, or priests 
 here called i:niachim, seems to the learned Mr Lowlh, 
 one well versed in Josephus, Ut be that in 1 Chron.xxiv. 
 1£, *• the course of Jakim," w'«?re some c >pies have 
 • the course of tliatim;" and I think this to be by no 
 oicaus au improbable conjecture. 
 
 was he 1 yet did they hale this man, withoufJ 
 his own consent, out of the country, as if they 
 were acting a play upon the stage, and 
 adorned him with a counterfeit face; they 
 also put upon him the sacred garments, and 
 upon every occasion instructed him what he 
 was to do. This horrid piece of wickedness 
 was spoft and pastime with them, but occa- 
 sioned the other priests, who at a distance 
 saw their law made a jest of, to shed tears, 
 and sorely lament the dissolution of such a 
 sacred dignity. 
 
 9. And now the people could no longer 
 bear the insolence of this procedure, but did 
 altogether run zealously, in order to over- 
 throw that tyranny; and indeed they were 
 Gorian the son of Josephus, and Symeon the 
 son of Gamaliel,! who encouraged them, by 
 going up and down when they were assem- 
 bled together in crowds, and as they saw them 
 alone, to bear no longer, but to inflict punish- 
 ment upon these pests and plagues of their 
 freedom, and to purge the temple of these 
 bloody polluters of it. The best esteemed 
 also of the high- priests, Jesus the son of 
 Gamala, and Ananus the son of Ananus, when 
 they were at their assemblies, bitterly reproach- 
 ed the people for their sloth, and excited them 
 against the zealots; for that was the name 
 they went by, as if they were zealous in good 
 luidertakings, and were not rather zealous in 
 the worst actions, and extravagant in them 
 beyond the example of others. 
 
 10. And now, when the multitude were 
 gotten together to an assembly, and every one 
 was in indignation at these men's seizing upon 
 the sanctuary, at their rapine and murders, 
 but had not yet begun their attacks upon them 
 (the reason of which was this, that they ima- 
 gined it to be a difficult thing to suppress 
 these zealots, as indeed the case was), Anauus 
 stood in the midst of them, and casting his 
 eyes frequently at the temple, and having a 
 flood of tears in his eyes, he said, — "Cer- 
 tainly it had been good for me to die before 
 I had seen the house of God full of so many 
 abominations, or these sacred places that ought 
 not to be trodden upon at random, tilled with 
 the feet of these blood-shedding villains; yet 
 do I, who am clothed with the vestments of 
 the high-priesthood, and am called by that 
 most venerable name [of high-priest], still 
 live, and am but too fond of living, and can- 
 not endure to undergo a death which would 
 be the glory of my old age; and if I were the 
 only person concerned, and, as it were, in a 
 desert, I would give up my life, and that alone 
 
 + This Symeon, the son of Gamaliel, is mentioned 
 as the president of the Jewish sanhedrim, and one that 
 perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, by the Jewish 
 rohbins, as Keland obserres on this place. He also tells 
 us t!iut those rabbins mention one Jesus the sun of (ia- 
 niala, as once a hij.'h-priest, — but this long before the 
 destruction of Jerusalem; so that if he were the same 
 person with this Jesus the son of (iamala, in Josephus, 
 he must have lived to be very old, or thty have been 
 very bad chronologers. 
 
CHAP. Til. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 688 
 
 for God's sake; for to what purpose is it to 
 live among a people insensible of their calami- 
 ties, and where there is no notion remaining 
 of any remedy for the miseries that are upon 
 them? for when you rse seized upon, you 
 bear itl and when you are beaten, you are 
 silent 1 and when the people are murdered, 
 nobody dare so much as send out a groan 
 openly! O bitter tyranny that we are under! 
 But why do I complain of the tyrants? Was 
 it not you, and your sufferance of them, that 
 nave nourished them? Was it not you that 
 overlooked those that first of all got together, 
 for they were then but a few, and by your 
 silence made them grow to be many; and by 
 conniving at them when they took arms, in 
 effect armed them against yourselves? You 
 ought to have then prevented their first 
 attempts, when they fell a reproaching your 
 relations; but by neglecting that care in time, 
 you have encouraged these wretches to plun- 
 der men. When houses were pillaged, nobody 
 said a word, which was the occasion why 
 they carried off the owners of those houses; 
 and when they were drawn through the midst 
 of the city, nobody came to their assistance. 
 They then proceeded to put those whom you 
 had betrayed into their hands, into bonds, I 
 do not say how many, and of what characters 
 those men were whom they thus served, but 
 certaiidy they were such as were accused by 
 none, and condemned by none; and since 
 nobody succoured them when they were in 
 bonds, the consequence was, that you saw the 
 same persons slain. We have seen this also; 
 so that still the best of the herd of brute ani- 
 mals, as it were, have been still led to be 
 sacrificed, when yet nobody said one word, or 
 moved his right hand for their preservation. 
 Will you. bear, therefore, — will you bear to 
 see your sanctuary trampled on? and will 
 you lay steps for these profane wretches, upon 
 which they may mount to higher degrees of 
 insolence? Will not you pluck them down 
 from their exaltation? for even by this time, 
 they had proceeded to higher enormities, if 
 they had been able to overthrow any thing 
 greater tjian the sanctuary. They have seized 
 upon the strongest place of the whole city; 
 you may call it the temple, if you please, 
 though it be like a citadel or fortress. Now, 
 while you have tyranny in so great a degree 
 walled in, and see your enemies over your 
 heads, to what purpose is it to take counsel? 
 and what have you to support your minds 
 withal? Perhaps you wait for the Romans, 
 that they may protect our holy places: are 
 our matters then brought to that pass? and 
 are we come to that degree of misery, that our 
 enemies themselves are expected to pity us? 
 O wretched creatures! will not you rise up, 
 and turn upon those that strike you? which 
 you may observe in wild beasts themselves, 
 llmt they will avenge themselves on those that 
 strike them. Will not you cull to mind, evt-ry 
 
 one of you, the calamities you yourselves have 
 suffered? nor lay before your eyes whai 
 afflictions you yourselves have undergone? 
 and will not such things sharpen your souls 
 to revenge? Is therefore that most honour- 
 able and most natural of our passions utterly 
 lost, I mean the desire of liberty? Truly, 
 we are in love with slavery, and in love wit!i 
 those that lord it over us, as if we had receive*^ 
 that principle of subjection from our ances 
 tors! yet did they undergo many and great 
 wars for the sake of liberty, nor were they so 
 far overcome by the power of the Egyptian^, 
 or the Medes, but that they still did what 
 they thought lit. notwithstanding their com- 
 mands to the contrary. And what occasion 
 is there now for a war with the Romans? (I 
 meddle not with determining whether it be 
 an advantageous and profitable war or not.) 
 What pretence is there for it? Is it not that 
 we may enjoy our liberty? Besides, shall we 
 not bear the lords of the habitable earth to be 
 lords over us, and yet bear tyrants of our 
 own country? Although I must say that sub- 
 mission to foreigners may be borne, because 
 fortune hath already doomed us to it, while 
 submission to wicked people of our own 
 nation is too unmanly, and brought upon us 
 by our own consent. However, since I have 
 had occasion to mention the Romans, I will 
 not conceal a thing that, as I am speaking, 
 comes into my mind, and affects me consider- 
 ably; — it is this, that though we should be 
 taken by them (God forbid the event should 
 be so!) yet can we undergo nothing that will 
 be harder to be borne than what these men 
 have already brought upon us. How then can 
 we avoid shedding of tears, when we see the 
 Roman donations in our temples, while we 
 withal see those of our own nation taking our 
 spoils, and plundering our glorious metropolis, 
 and slaughtering our men, from which enor- 
 mities those Romans themselves would have 
 abstained? to see those Romans never going 
 beyond the bounds allotted to profane f>er- 
 sons, nor venturing to break in upon any of 
 our sacred customs; nay, having horror on 
 their minds when they view at a distance 
 those sacred walls, while some that have been 
 born in this very country, and brought up in 
 our customs, and called Jews, do walk about 
 in the midst of the holy places, at the very 
 time when their hands are still warm with the 
 slaughter of their own countrymen. Besides, 
 can any one be afraid of a war abroad, and 
 that with such as will have comparatively much 
 greater moderation than our own people have? 
 For truly, if we may suit our words to the 
 things they represent, it is probable one may 
 hereafter find the Romans to be the suppH^rters 
 of our laws, and those within ourselves the sub- 
 verters of them. And now I am persuaded 
 that everyone of you herecomes satisfied before 
 1 speak, that these overthrowers of our liber- 
 ties deserve to be destroyed, and that nobody 
 
CS4 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 can so much as devise a punishment that 
 iney have not deserved by what they have 
 Oone, and that you are all provoked against 
 tnem by those their wicked actions, whence 
 you have suffered so greatly. But perhaps 
 niaay ot you are affrighted at the multitude 
 Dl those zealots, and at their audaciousness, 
 us well as at the advantage they have over us 
 in their being higher in place than we are; 
 tor these circumstances, as they have been 
 occasioned by your negligence, so will they 
 become still greater by being still longer 
 neglected; for their multitude is every day 
 augmented, by every ill man's running away 
 to those that are like to themselves, and their 
 audaciousness is therefore inflamed, because 
 they meet with no obstruction to their designs. 
 And for their higher place, they will make 
 use of it for engines also, if we give them time 
 to do so; but be assured of this, that if we 
 go np to fight them, they will be made tamer by 
 their own consciences, and what advantages 
 they have in the height of their situation, they 
 will lose by the opposition of their reason; 
 perhaps also God himself, who hath been 
 iffronted by them, will make what they throw 
 it us return against themselves, and these 
 .mpious wretches will be killed by their ovra 
 darts: let us but make our appearance be- 
 fore them, and they will come to nothing. 
 However, it is a right thing, if there should be 
 any danger in the attempt, to die before these 
 holy gates, and to spend our very lives, if not 
 for the sake of our children and wives, yet for 
 God's sake, and for the sake of his sanctuary. 
 I will assist you, both with my counsel and 
 with my hand; nor shall any sagacity of ours 
 be wanting for your support; nor shall you 
 Bee that I will be sparing of my body neither." 
 
 11. By these motives Ananus encouraged 
 the multitude to go against the zealots, 
 although he knew how difficult it would be to 
 disperse them, because of their multitude, and 
 their youth, and the courage of their souls; 
 but chiefly because of their consciousness of 
 what they had done, since they would not 
 yield, as not so much as hoping for pardon 
 at the last for those their enormities. How- 
 ever, Ananus resolved to undergo whatever 
 sufferings might come upon him, rather than 
 overlook things, now they were in such great 
 confusion. So the multitude cried out to 
 iiim to lead them on against those whom be 
 Had described in his exhortation to them ; 
 and every one of them was most readily dis- 
 posed to run any hazard whatsoever on that 
 account. 
 
 12. Now while Ananus was choosing out 
 his men, and putting those that were proper 
 for his purpose in array for fighting, the lea- ! 
 lots got information of his undertaking (for 
 there were some who went to them, and told 
 them all that the people were doing) and were 
 irritated at it; and leapiiig out of the temple 
 in crowds, mu\ by parties, spared none whom 
 
 they met with. Upon this, Ananus got the 
 populace together on the sudden, who were 
 more numerous indeed than the zealots, but 
 inferior to them in arms, because they had 
 not been regularly put into array for fighting: 
 but the alacrity that every body showed, sup- 
 plied all their defects on both sides, the citi- 
 zens taking up so great a passion as was 
 stronger than arms, and deriving a degree of 
 courage from the temple, more forcible than 
 any multitude whatsoever; and indeed these 
 citizens thought it was not possible for them 
 to dwell in the city, unless they could cut off 
 the robbers that were in it. The zealots also 
 thought that unless they prevailed, there 
 would be no punishment so bad, but it would 
 be inflicted on them. So their conflicts were 
 conducted by their passions ; and at the first 
 they only cast stones at each other in the city, 
 and before the temple, and threw their jave- 
 lins at a distance; but v.hen either of them 
 were too hard for the other, they made use ot 
 their swords; and great slaughter was made 
 on both sides, and a great number were 
 wounded. As for the dead bodies of the 
 people, their relations carried them out to 
 their own houses; but when any of the zeal- 
 ots were wounded, he went up into the tern- 
 pie, and defiled that sacred floor with his 
 blood, insomuch that one may say it was their 
 blood alone that polluted our sanctuary. Now 
 in these conflicts the robbers always sallied 
 out of the temple, and were too hard for theii 
 enemies ; but the populace grew very angry 
 and became more and more numerous, and 
 reproached those that gave back, and those 
 behind would not afford room to those that 
 were going off, but forced them on again, till 
 at length they made their whole body to turn 
 against their adversaries, and the robbery 
 could no longer oppose them, but were forced 
 gradually to retire into the temple ; when 
 Ananus and his party fell into it at the same 
 time together with them.* This horribly af- 
 frighted the robbers, because it deprived them 
 of the first court; so they fled into the inner 
 court immediately, and shut the gates. Now, 
 Ananus did not think fit to make any attack 
 against the holy gates, although the other 
 throw their stones and darts at them fronj 
 above. He also deemed it unlawful to intro- 
 duce the multitude into that court before they 
 were purified; he therefore chose out of them 
 all by lot, six thousand armed men, and 
 placed them as guards in the cloisters; so 
 there was a succession of such guards one after 
 
 * It is worth noting here, that this Ananus, ib.e best 
 ot the Jews at this time, and the higli-priest, who was 
 80 very uneasy at the profanation ol the Jewisu couna 
 ol the temple hy the zealots, did not however scruple 
 the profanation of the "court <if the (Jentiies;" as in 
 our Saviour's days it was very niucti profaned hy the 
 Jews, and made a market-place, nay, a "den of thieve*. " 
 without scruple, Mat. xxi. 12 13; iMark xi. i.>, lo, 17. 
 Accordiii)(iy, Jusephu.<t hiuiAelf, when he speaks of tho 
 two inner courts, calls them hoth mym. »r lioiy pitnei: / 
 'tut. Ko far as 1 reineuiher, never K'^es^tliat character bi[ 
 itie court of the UeuUlea. See b. v. cb. ix. sect. i. 
 
CHAP. 17. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 685 
 
 another, and every one was forced to attend 
 in his course; although many of the chief of 
 the city were dismis.-ed by those that then 
 took on them the j.overnment, upon their 
 hiring some of the poorer sort, and sending 
 them to- keep the giwrd in their stead. 
 
 13. Now it was John who, as we told you, 
 ran away from Gischala, and was the occa- 
 sion of all these being destroyed. He was a 
 man of great craft, and bore about him in his 
 soul a strong passion after tyranny, and at a 
 distance was the adviser in these actions; and 
 indeed at this time he pretended to be of the 
 people's opinion, and went all about with 
 Ananus when he consulted the great men 
 every day, and in the night-time also when he 
 went round the watch; but he divulged their 
 secrets to the zealots; and every thing that the 
 people deliberated about was by his means 
 known to their enemies, even before it had been 
 well agreed upon by themselves; and by way of 
 contrivance how he might not be brought 
 into suspicion, he cultivated the greatest 
 friendship possible with Ananus, and with the 
 chief of the people; yet did this overdoing 
 of his turn against him, for he flattered 
 them so extravagantly, that he was but the 
 more suspected; and his constant attendance 
 everywhere, even when he was not invited to 
 be present, made him strongly suspected of 
 betraying their secrets to the enemy; for they 
 plainly perceived that they understood all the 
 resolutions taken against them at their con- 
 sultations. Nor was there any one whom 
 they had so much reason to suspect of that 
 discovery as this John; yet was it not easy 
 to get quit of him, so potent was he grown 
 by his wicked practices. He was also sup- 
 ported by many of those eminent men, who 
 were to be consulted upon all considerable 
 affairs; it was therefore thought reasonable 
 to oblige him to give them assurance of his 
 good- will upon oath; accordingly John took 
 such an oath readily, that he would be on the 
 people's side, and would not betray any of 
 their counsels or practices to their enemies, 
 and would assist them in overthrowing those 
 that attacked them, and that both by his hand 
 and his advice. So Ananus and his party 
 believed his oath, and did now receive him to 
 their consultations without farther suspicion; 
 nay, so far did they believe him, that they 
 sent him as their ambassador into the temple 
 to the zealots, with proposals of accommoda- 
 tion; for they were very desirous to avoid the 
 pollution of the temple as much as they pos- 
 sibly could, and that no one of their nation 
 should be slain therein. 
 
 14. But now this John, as if his oath had 
 been made to the zealots, and for confirmation 
 of his good-will to them, and not against 
 them, went into the temple, and stood in the 
 ihidsi, of them, and spake as follows: that he 
 had run many hazards on their account, 
 and m order to let them know of every 
 
 thing tb°t was secretly contrived against them 
 by Ananus and his party ; but that both he 
 and they should be cast into the most immi- 
 nent danger, iniless some providential assist- 
 ance were afforded them; for that Ananus 
 made no longer delay, but had prevailed with 
 the people to send ambassadors to Vespasian 
 to invite him to come presently and take the 
 city ; and that he had appointed a fast for the 
 next day against them, that they might obtain 
 admission into the temple on a religious 
 account, or gain it by force, and fight with 
 them there ; that he did not see how long they 
 could either endure a siege, or how they could 
 fight against so many enemies. He added 
 farther, that it was by the providence of God 
 he was himself sent as an ambassador to them 
 for an accommodation; for that Ananus did 
 therefore offer them such proposals, that he 
 might come upon them when they - were 
 unarmed ; that they ought to choose one of 
 these two methods; either to intercede with 
 those that guarded them, to save their lives, 
 or to provide some foreign assistance for 
 themselves; that if they fostered themselves 
 with the hopes of pardon, in case they were 
 subdued, they had forgotten what desperate 
 things they had done, or could suppose, that as 
 soon as the actors repented, those that had 
 suffered by them must be presently reconciled 
 to them ; while those that have done injuries, 
 though they pretend to repent of them, are 
 frequently hated by the others for that sort of 
 repentance; and that the sufferers, when they 
 get the power into their hands, are usually 
 still more severe upon the actors; that the 
 friends and kindred of those that had been 
 destroyed would alway be laying plots against 
 them, and that a large body of people were 
 very angry on account of their gross breaches 
 of their laws and [illegal] judicatures, inso- 
 much that although some part might commi- 
 serate them, those would be quite overborne 
 by the majority. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 m 
 
 THE IDUMEAN8 BEtXG SENT FOR BY THE ZTEA 
 LOTS, CAME IMMEDIATELY TO JERUSALEM 
 AND WHEN THEY WERE EXCLUDED OUT OF 
 THE CITY, THEY LAY ALL NIGHT THERE. 
 JESUS, ONE OP THE HIGH-PRIESTS, MAKES A 
 SPEECH TO them; AND SIMON THE IDUMEAN 
 MAKES A REPLY TO IT 
 
 § 1. Now, by this crafty speecn, John made 
 the zealots afraid ; yet durst not he directly 
 name what foreign assistance he meant, but 
 in a covert way only intimated* at the 
 Idumeans; but now that he might particu- 
 larly irritate the leaders of the zealots, he 
 calumniated Ananus, that ,he was about a 
 
686 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 piece of barbarity, and did in a special man- 
 uer threaten them. These leaders were Ele- 
 azar, the son of Simon, who seemed the most 
 plansible man of them all, both in considering 
 what was fit to be done, and in the execution 
 of what he had determined upon, and Zacha- 
 rias, the son of Phalek; both of whom derived 
 their families from the priests; Now, when 
 these two men had heard, not only the 
 common threatenings which belonged to them 
 all, but those peculiarly levelled against 
 themselves; and besides, how Ananus and 
 his party, in order to secure their own domi- 
 nion, had invited the Romans to come to 
 them, for that also was part of John's lie, 
 they hesitated a great while what they should 
 do, considering the shortness of the time by 
 which they were straitened; because the peo- 
 ple were prepared to attack them very soon, 
 and because the suddenness of the plot laid 
 against them had almost cut off their hopes 
 of getting any foreign assistance; for they 
 might be under the height of their afflictions 
 before any of their confederates could be 
 informed of it. However, it was resolved to 
 call in the Idumeans; so they wrote a short 
 letter to this effect: — That Ananus had 
 imposed on the people, and was betraying their 
 metropolis to the Romans; that they them- 
 selves iiud revolted from the rest, and were in 
 custody in the temple, on account of the pre- 
 servation of their liberty; that there was but 
 a small time left, wherein they might hope 
 for their deliverance; and that unless they 
 would come immediately to their assistance, 
 they should themselves be soon in the power 
 of Ananus, and the city would be in the 
 power of the Romans. They also charged 
 the messengers to tell many more circum- 
 stances to the rulers of the Idumeans. Now, 
 there were two active men proposed for the 
 carrying of this message, and such as were well 
 able to speak, and to persuade them that 
 things were in this posture, and, what was a 
 qualification still more necessary than the 
 former, they were very swift of foot; for 
 they knew well enough that these would 
 /inmediately comply with their desires, as 
 being ever a tumultuous and disorderly nation, 
 always on the watch upon every niotioi^ 
 delighting in mutations; and upon your flat- 
 tering them ever so little, and petitioning 
 them, they soon take their arms, and put 
 themselves into motion, and make haste to a 
 battle, as if it were to a feast. There was 
 indeed occiision for quick dispatch in the 
 carrying of this message; in which point the 
 messengers were no way defective. Both 
 their names were Ananias; and they soon 
 came to the rulers of the Idumeans. 
 
 2. Now, these rulers were greatly surprised 
 at the contents of tlie letter, and at what those 
 that frame with it further told them; where- 
 upon they ran about the nation like madmen, 
 vui made proclantation that the people should 
 
 come to war; so a multitude was suddenly 
 got together, sooner indeed than the time 
 appointed in the proclamation, and every 
 body caught up their arms, in order to main- 
 tain the liberty of their metropolis; and 
 twenty thousand of them were put into 
 battle-array, and came to Jerusalem, under 
 four commanders, John, and Jacob the son 
 of Sosas; and besides these were Simon, the 
 son of Cathlas, and Phineas, the son of 
 Clusothus. 
 
 3. Now this exit of the messengers was 
 not known either to Ananus, or to the guards; 
 but the approach of the Idumeans was known 
 to him; for as he knew of it before they 
 came, he ordered the gates to be shut against 
 them, and that the walls should be guarded. 
 Yet did not he by any means think of fight- 
 ing against them, but, before they came to 
 blows, to try what persuasions would do. 
 Accordingly, Jesus, the eldest of the high- 
 priests next to Anarms, stood upon the tower 
 that was over-against them, ami said thus: — 
 " Many troubles indeed, and those of various 
 kinds, have fallen upon this city, yet in none 
 of them have I so much wondered at her for- 
 tune as now, v»hen you are come to assist 
 wicked men, ajid this after a manner very 
 extraordinary; for 1 see that you are come 
 to support the vilest of men against us, and 
 this with so great alacrity, as you could hardly 
 put on the like, in case our metropolis had 
 called you to her assistance against barba- 
 rians; and if I had perceived that your army 
 was composed of men like unto those who 
 invited tiiem, I had not deemed your attempt 
 so absurd; for nothing does so much cement 
 the minds of men together as the alliance 
 there is between their manners; but now for 
 these men who have invited you, if you were 
 to examine them one by one, every one of 
 them would be found to have deserved ten 
 thousand deaths; for the very rascality and 
 ofiscouring of the whole country, who have 
 spent in debauchery their own substance, and, 
 by way of trial beforehand, have madly plun- 
 dered the neighbouring villages and cities, in 
 the upshot of all, have privately run together 
 into this holy city. They are robbers, who 
 by their prodigious wickedness have profaned 
 this most sacred floor, and who are to be now 
 seen drinking themselves drunk in the sanc- 
 tuary, and expending the spoils of those whom 
 they have slaughtered upon their unsatiable 
 bellies. As for the multitude that is with 
 you, one may see them so decently adorned 
 in their armour, as it would become them to 
 be, had their metropolis called them to her 
 assistance against foreigners. What can a 
 man call this procedure of yours but the sport 
 of fortune, when he sees a whole nation com- 
 ing to protect a sink of wicked wretches? I 
 have for a good while been in doubt what it 
 could possibly be that should move you to do 
 this so suddenly; becuuhe certainly you would 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 687 
 
 not take on your armour on the behalf of 
 robbers, and against a people of kin to you, 
 without some very great cause for your so 
 doing; but we have an item that the Romans 
 are pretended, and that we are supposed to 
 be going to betray this city to them; for 
 some of your men have lately make a clamour 
 about those matters, and have said they are 
 come to set their metropolis free. Now, we 
 cannot but admire at these wretches in their 
 devising such a lie as this against us; for they 
 knew there was no other way to irritate against 
 us men that were naturally desirous of liberty, 
 and on that account the best disposed to 
 fight against foreign enemies, but by framing 
 a tale as if we were going to betray that most 
 desirable thing, liberty. But you ought to 
 consider what sort of people they are that 
 raise this calumny, and against what sort of 
 people that cajumny is raised, and to gather 
 the truth of things, not by fictitious speeches, 
 but out of the actions of both parties; — for 
 what occasion is there for us to sell ourselves 
 to the Romans, while it was in our power not 
 lo have revolted from them at the first, or, 
 when we had once revolted, to have returned 
 under their dominion again, and this while 
 the neighbouring countries were not yet laid 
 waste? whereas it is not an easy thing to be 
 reconciled to the Romans, if we were desirous 
 of it, now they have subdued Galilee, and 
 are thereby become proud and insolent ; and 
 to endeavour to please them at the time when 
 they are so near us, would bring such a reproach 
 upon us as were worse than death. As for 
 myself indeed, I should have preferred peace 
 with them before death; but now we have 
 once made war upon them, and fought with 
 them, I prefer death with reputation, before 
 living in captivity under them. But farther, 
 whether do they pretend that we, who are the 
 rulers of the people, have sent thus privately 
 to the Romans, or hath it been done by the 
 common suffrages of the people? If it be 
 ourselves only that have done it, let them 
 name those friends of ours that have been 
 sent, as our servants to manage this treachery. 
 HUth any one been caught as he went out on 
 this errand, or seized upon as he came back? 
 Are they in possession of our letters? How 
 could we be concealed from such a vast num- 
 ber of our fellow citizens, among whom we 
 are conversant every hour, while what is done 
 •privately in the country is, it seems, known 
 by the zealots, who are but few in number, and 
 under confinement also, and are not able to 
 come out of the temple into the city? Is this 
 the first time t^iat they are become sensible 
 how they ought to be punished for their in- 
 solent actions? For while these men were 
 freo from the fear they are now under, there 
 w'J5 no suspicion raised that any of us were 
 traitors. But if they lay this charge against 
 th»; people, this must have been done at a 
 pu;ui'^ cuueultation, and nut one uf the people 
 
 must have dissented from the rest of the as- 
 sembly: in which case the public fame of this 
 matter would have come to you sooner tha.j 
 any particular indication. But how couiJ 
 that be? Must there not then have been 
 ambassadors sent to confirm the agreements? 
 And let them tell us who this ambassador was, 
 that was ordained for that purpose. But this 
 is no other than a pretence of such men as are 
 loath to die, and are labouring to escape those 
 punishments that hang over them ; for if fate 
 had determined that this city was to be betray- 
 ed into its enemies' hands, no other than these 
 men that accuse us falsely could have the im- 
 pudence to do it, there being no wickedness 
 wanting to complete their impudent practices 
 but this only that they become traitors. And 
 now you Idumeans are come hither already 
 with your arms; it is your duty, in the first 
 place, to be assisting to your metropolis, and 
 to join with us in cutthig off those tyrants 
 that have infringed the rules of our regular 
 tribunals, that have trampled upon our laws, 
 and made their swords the arbitrators of 
 right and wrong ; for they have seized up- 
 on men of great eminence, and under no 
 accusation, as they stood in the midst of the 
 market-place, and tortured them with putting 
 them into bonds, and, without bearing to hear 
 what they had to say, or what supplications 
 they made, they destroyed them. You may, 
 if you please, come into this city, though not 
 in the way of war, and take a view of the 
 marks still remaining of what I now say, and 
 may see the houses that have been depopulated 
 by their rapacious hands, with those wives and 
 families that are in black, mourning for their 
 slaughtered relations; as also you may hear 
 their groans and lamentations all the city over; 
 for there is nobody but hath tasted of the in- 
 cursions of these profane wretches, who have 
 proceeded to that degree of madness, as not 
 only to have transferred their impudent rob- 
 beries out of the country, and the remote 
 cities, into this city, the very face and head of 
 the whole nation, but out of the city into the 
 temple also; for that is now made their re- 
 ceptacle and refuge, and the fountain-head 
 whence their preparations are made against 
 us. And this place, which is adored by the 
 habitable world, and honoured by such as only 
 know it by report, as far as the ends of the 
 earth, is trampled upon by these wild beasts 
 born among ourselves. They now triumph 
 in the desperate condition they are already in, 
 when they hear that one people is going to 
 fight against another people, and one city 
 against another city, and that your nation 
 hath gotten an army together against its own 
 bowels. Instead of which procedure, it were 
 highly fit and reasonable, as I said before, for 
 you to join with us in cutting off these 
 wretches, and in particular to be revenged on 
 them for putting this very cheat upon you; 
 1 mean, for having the impudence to invite 
 
688 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV 
 
 you to assist tbem, of whom they ought to 
 have stood in fear, as ready to punish them. 
 But if you have some regard to these men's 
 invitation of you, yet may you lay aside your 
 arms, and come into the city under the notion 
 of our kindred, and take upon you a middle 
 name between that of auxiliaries and of ene- 
 mies, and so become judges in this case. How- 
 ever, consider what these men will gain by 
 being called into judgment before you, for 
 such undeniable and such flagrant crimes, who 
 would not vouchsafe to hear such as had no 
 accusations laid against them to speak a word 
 for themselves. However, let them gain this 
 advantage by your coming. But still, if you 
 will neither take our part in that indignation 
 we have at these men, nor judge between us, 
 the third thing I have to propose is this, that 
 you let us both alone, and neither insult upon 
 our calamities, nor abide with these plotters 
 against their metropolis: for though you should 
 have ever so great a suspicion that some of us 
 have discoursed with the Romans, it is in your 
 power to watch the passages into the city; and 
 in case any thing that we have been accused 
 of is brought to light, then to come and defend 
 your metropolis, and to inflict punishment on 
 those that are found guilty; for the enemy 
 cannot prevent you who are so near to the 
 city. But if, after all, none of these propo- 
 sals seem acceptable and moderate, do not you 
 wonder that the gates are shut against you, 
 while you bear your arms about you." 
 
 4. Thus spake Jesus; yet did not the mul- 
 titude of the Idumeans give any attention to 
 what he said, but were in a rage, because they 
 did not meet with a ready entrance into the 
 city. The generals also had indignation at 
 the offer of laying down their arms, and 
 looked upon it as equal to a captivity to throw 
 them away at any man's injunction whomso- 
 ever. But Simon, the son of Cathlas, one of 
 their commanders, with much ado quieted the 
 tumult of his own men, and sstood so that *he 
 high-priests might hear him, and said as fol- 
 lows: — "I can no longer wonder that the 
 patrons of liberty are under custody in the 
 temple, since there are those that shut the gates 
 of our common city* to their own nation, and 
 at the same time are prepared to admit the 
 Romans into it; nay, perhaps, are disposed 
 to crown the gates with garlands at their 
 coming, while they speak to the Idumeans 
 from their own towers, and enjoin them to 
 throw down their arms which they ha^e taken 
 op for the preservation of its libejly; and 
 while they will not intrust the guard of our 
 
 * Tbis appellation of Jerusalem given it \^T9 by 
 SinaoD, the general of the Iduineani, "the common 
 city" of the Idumeanii, who were proselytesuf justice, as 
 Well as of the oriiiiial native .lews, Kieatly coniirms that 
 nuxim of the rabhins, here set down by Keland, that 
 * Jerusalem was not asHigried, or appropriated, to the 
 tribe of Ueiijaniin or Judali, but every tribe hud equal 
 right to it [at their comitiK to worship tliere at the seve- 
 aU fc»Uv*lsJ." See a lilUe belore, ch.iJi. sect. 3. 
 
 metropolis to their kindred, profess to make 
 them judges of the^ditferences that are among 
 them; nay, while they accuse some men of 
 having slain others without a legal trial, they 
 do themselves condemn a whole nation, after 
 an ignominious manner, and have now walled 
 up that city from their own nation, which used 
 to be open even to all foreigners that came to 
 worship there. We have indeed come in great 
 Laste to you, and to a war against our own 
 countrymen ; and the reason why we have made 
 such haste is this, that we may preserve that 
 freedom which you are so unhappy as to 
 betray. You have probably been guilty of the 
 like crimes against those whom you keep in 
 custody, and have, I suppose, collected toge- 
 ther the like plausible pretences against them 
 also that you make use of against us: after 
 which you have gotten the mastery of those 
 within the temple, and keep them in custody, 
 while they are only taking care of the public 
 affairs. You have also shut the gates of the 
 city in general against nations that are the 
 most nearly related to you; and while you 
 give such injurious commands to others, you 
 complain that you have been tyrannized over 
 by them, and tix the name of unjust gover- 
 nors upon such as are tyrannized over by 
 yourselves. Who can bear this, your abuse 
 of words, while they have a regard to the 
 contrariety of your actions, unless you mean 
 this, that those Idumeans do now exclude you 
 out of our metropolis, whom you exclude from 
 the sacred offices of your own country? One 
 may indeed justly complain of those that are 
 besieged in the temple, that when they had 
 courage enough to punish those tyrants, whom 
 you call eminent men, and free from any 
 accusations, because of their being your com- 
 panions in wickedness, they did not begin 
 with you, and thereby cut off beforehand the 
 most dangerous parts of this treason. But if 
 these men have been more merciful than the 
 public necessity required, we that are Idu- 
 means will preserve £his house of God, and 
 will fight for our common country, and will 
 oppose by war as well those that attack them 
 from abroad, as those that betray them from 
 within. Here will we abide before the walls 
 in our armour, until either the Romans grow 
 weary in waiting for you, or you becon)e 
 friends to Uberty, and repent of what you 
 have done against it." 
 
 5. And now did the Idumeans make an 
 acclamation to what Simon had said; but 
 Jesus went away sorrowful, as seeing that 
 the Idumeans were against all moderalo 
 counsels, and that the city .was besieged on 
 both sides; nor indeed were the minds of the 
 Idumeans at rest; for they were in a rage at 
 the injury that had been offered them by their 
 exclusion out of the city; and when tliey 
 thought the zealots had been strong, but saw 
 nothing of theirs to support them, they were 
 iu doubt about the mutter, and many of them 
 
CHAP. y. 
 
 "WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 689 
 
 repented that they had come thither. But the 
 shame that would attend them in case they 
 r«!turned without doing any thing at all, so 
 far overcome that their repentance, that they 
 ?ay all night before the wall, though in a very 
 bad encampment; for there broke out a pro- 
 digious storm in the night, with the utmost 
 violence, and very strong winds, with the 
 largest showers of rain, with continual light- 
 nings, terrible thunderings, and amazing con- 
 cussions and bellowings of the earth, that was 
 in an earthquake. These things were a 
 manifest indication that some destruction was 
 coming upon men, when the system of the 
 world was put into this disorder ; and any one 
 would guess that these wonders foreshowed 
 some grand calamities that were coming. 
 
 6. Now the opinion of the Idumeans and 
 of the citizens was one and the same. The 
 Idumeans thought that God was angry at their 
 taking arms, and that they would not escape 
 punishment for their making war upon their 
 metropolis. Ananus and his party thought 
 that they had conquered without fighting, 
 and that God acted as a general for them ; 
 but truly they proved both ill conjectures at 
 what was to come, and made those events to 
 be ominous to their enemies, while they were 
 themselves to undergo the ill effects of them ; 
 for the Idumeans fenced one another by unit- 
 ing their bodies into one band, and thereby 
 kept themselves warm, and connecting their 
 shields over their heads, were not so much 
 hurt by the rain. But the zealots were more 
 deeply concerned for the danger these men 
 were in than they were for themselves, and 
 got together, and looked about them, to see 
 whether they could devise any means of as- 
 sisting them. The hotter sort of them thought 
 it best to force their guards with their arms, 
 and after that to fall into the midst of the 
 city, and publicly open the gates to those that 
 came to their assistance ; as supposing the 
 guards would be in disorder, and give way at 
 such an unexpected attempt of theirs, espe- 
 cially as the greater part of them were un- 
 armed and unskilled in the affairs of war ; and 
 that besides, the multitude of the citizens 
 would not be easily gathered together, but 
 confined to their houses by the storm; and 
 that if there were any hazard in their under- 
 taking, it became them to suffer any thing 
 whatsoever themselves, rather than to over- 
 look so g^eat a multitude as were miserably 
 perishing on their account. But the more 
 prudent part of them disapproved of this for- 
 cible method, because they saw not only the 
 guards about them very numerous, but the 
 walls of the city itself carefully watched, by 
 reason of the Idumeans. They also supposed 
 that Ananus would be everywhere, and visit 
 the guards every hour; which indeed was 
 done upon other nights, but was omitted that 
 night, not by reason of any slothfulncss of 
 Ananug, but by the overbearing appointment 
 
 of fate, that so both he himself might perish, 
 and the multitude of the guards might perish 
 with him; for truly, as the night was far 
 gone, and the storm very terrible, Ananus 
 gave the guards in the cloisters leave to go to 
 sleep; while it came into the heads of the 
 zealots to make use of the saws belonging to 
 the temple, and to cut the bars of the gates 
 to pieces. The noise of the w'jid, and that 
 not inferior sound of the thunder, did here 
 also conspire with their desTgns, that the noise 
 of the saws was not heard by the others. 
 
 7. So they secretly went out of the temple 
 to the wall of the city, and made use of their 
 saws, and opened that gate which was over 
 against the Idumeans. Now at first there 
 came a fear upon the Idumeans themselves, 
 which disturbed them, as imagining that 
 Ananus and his party were coming to attack 
 them, so that every one of them had his right 
 hand upon his sword, in order to defend him- 
 self; but they soon came to know who they 
 were that came to them, and were entered the 
 city. And had the Idumeans then fallen upon 
 the city, nothing could have hindered them 
 from destroying the people, every man of 
 them, such was the rage they were in at that 
 time ; but they first of all made haste to get 
 the zealots out of custody, which those that 
 brought them in earnestly desired them to do, 
 and not overlook those for whose sake they 
 were come, in the midst of their distresses, 
 nor to bring them into a still greater danger ; 
 for that when they had once seized upon the 
 guards, it would be easy for them to fall upon 
 the city ; but that if the city were once alarmed, 
 they would not then be able to overcome 
 those guards, because as soon as they should 
 perceivB they were there, they would put 
 themselves in order to fight them, and would 
 hinder their coming into the temple. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE CRUELTY OP THE IDUMEANS, WHEN THEY 
 WERE GOTTEN INTO THE TEMPLE, DURING 
 THE storm; and op THE ZEALOTS. CON- 
 CERNING THE SLAUGHTER OP ANANUS, AND 
 JESUS, AND ZACHARIAS; and HOW TEE 
 IDUMEANS RETIRED HOME. 
 
 § 1. This advice pleased the Idumeans, and 
 they ascended through the city to the temple. 
 The zealots were also in great expectation of 
 their coming, and earnestly waited for them. 
 When therefore these were entering, they 
 also came boldly out of the inner temple, and 
 mixing themselves with the Idumeans, they 
 attacked the guards; and some of those that 
 were upon the watch, but were fallen asleep, 
 they killed as they were asleep ; but as those 
 that were now awakened made a cry, the whole 
 multitude arose, and in the amazement they 
 were in caught hold of their arms immediately 
 2X 
 
690 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 and betook themselves to their own defence ; 
 and so long as they thought they were only 
 the zealots who attacked them, they went on 
 boldly, as hoping to overpower them by their 
 numbers; but when they saw others pressing 
 in upon them also, they perceived the Idume- 
 ans were got in; and the greatest part of them 
 laid aside their arms, together with their cou- 
 rage, and betook themselves to lamentations. 
 But some few of the younger sort covered 
 themselves with tHSir armour, and valiantly 
 received the Idumeans, and for a while pro- 
 tected the multitude of old men. Others, 
 indeed, gave a signal to those that were in 
 the city of the calamities they were in ; but 
 when these were also made sensible that the 
 Idumeans were come in, none of them durst 
 come to their assistance; only they returned 
 the terrible echo of wailing, and lamented 
 their misfortunes. A great howling of the 
 women was excited also, and every one of the 
 guai^ds were in danger of being killed. The 
 zealots also joined in the shouts raised by the 
 Idumeans; and the storm itself rendered the 
 cry more terrible; nor did the Idumeans spare 
 any body; for as they are naturally a most 
 barbarous and bloody nation, and had been 
 distressed by the tempest, they made use of 
 their weapons against those that had shut the 
 gates against them, and acted in the same 
 manner as to those that supplicated for their 
 lives, and to those that fought them, inso- 
 much that they ran through those with their 
 swords who desired them to remember the 
 relation there was between them, and begged 
 of them to have regard to their common tem- 
 ple. Now there was at present neither any 
 place for flight nor any hope for preservation; 
 but as they were driven one upon another in 
 heaps, so were they slain. Thus the greater 
 part were driven together by force, as there 
 was now no place of retirement, and the mur- 
 derers were upon them; and, having no other 
 way, threw themselves down headlong into 
 the city; whereby, in my opinion, they under- 
 went a more miserable destruction than that 
 which they avoided, because that was a volun- 
 tary one. And now the outer temple was all 
 of it overflowed with blood; and that day, as 
 H came on, saw eight thousand five hundred 
 dead bodies there. 
 
 2. But the rage of the Idumeans was not 
 satiated by these slaughters; but they now 
 betook themselves to the city, and plundered 
 every house, and slew every one they met; and 
 for the other multitude, they esteemed it 
 needless to go on with killing them, but they 
 sought for the high-priests, and the generality 
 went with the greatest zeal against them ; and 
 as soon as they caught them they slew them, 
 and then standing upon their dead bodies, in 
 way of jest,^upbraided Ananus with his kind- 
 neMi to the people, and Jesus with his speech 
 ntndc to them from the wail. Nay, they pro- 
 evwded to that degree of impiety, as to ouHt 
 
 away their dead bodies without burial, althougti 
 the Jews used to take so much care of the 
 burial of men, that they took down those that 
 were condemned and crucified, and buried 
 them before the going down of the sun. I 
 should not mistake if I said that the death of 
 Ananus was the beginning of the destruction 
 of the city, and that from this very day may 
 be dated the overthrow of her wall, and the 
 ruin of her affairs, whereon they saw their 
 high-priest, and the procurer of their preser- 
 vation, slain in the midst of their city. He 
 was on other accounts also a venerable, and a 
 very just man; and besides the grandeur of 
 that nobility, and dignity, and honour, of 
 which he was possessed, he had been a lover 
 of a kind of parity, even with regard to the 
 meanest of the people; he was a prodigious 
 lover of liberty, and an admirer of a demo- 
 cracy in government; and did ever prefer the 
 public welfare before his own advantage, and 
 preferred peace above all things; for he was 
 thoroughly sensible that the Romans were 
 not to be conquered. He also foresaw that 
 of necessity a war would follow, and that 
 unless the Jews made up matters with them 
 very dexterously, they would be destroyed: 
 to say all in a word, if Ananus had survived 
 they had certainly compounded matters; for 
 be was a shrewd man in speaking and per- 
 suading the people, and had already gotten the 
 mastery of those that opposed his designs, or 
 were for the war. And the Jews had then 
 put abundance of delays in the way of the 
 Romans, if they had had such a general as 
 he was. Jesus was also joined with him; 
 and although he was inferior to him upon the 
 comparison, he was superior to the rest; and 
 1 cannot but think that it was because God 
 had doomed this city to destruction, as a pol- 
 luted city, and was resolved to purge his 
 sanctuary by fire, that he cut off these their 
 great defenders and well-wishers, while those 
 that a little before had worn the sacred gar- 
 ments, and had presided over the public wor- 
 ship,* and had been esteemed venerable by 
 those that dwelt on the whole habitable earth 
 when they came into our city, were cast out 
 naked, and seen to be the food of dogs and 
 wild beasts. And I cannot but imagine that 
 virtue herselfgroaned at these men's case, and 
 lamented that she was here so terribly con- 
 quered by wickedness. And this at last was 
 the end of Ananus and Jesus. 
 
 3. Now after the*e were slain, the zealots 
 and the multitude of the Idumeans fell u[)on 
 the people as upon a flock of profane animals, 
 and cut their throats; and, for the ordinary 
 sort, they were destroyed in what place soever 
 they caught them. But for the noblemen 
 and the youth, they first caught them and 
 bound them, and shut them up in prison, and 
 
 • Ko<rf*4»ti S-c»irzti»., or "worldly worship," ae tao 
 :ii;lhoi lo tlie Hebrews calls the katkctuary myiT »»«>*>*' 
 Mc», "A wotldly saDctuaiy.*' 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 put off their slaughter, in hopes that some of 
 them would turn over to their party; but not 
 one of them would comply with their desires, 
 but all of them preferred death before being 
 enrolled among such wicked wretches as acted 
 against their own country. But this refusal 
 of theirs brought upon them terrible torments; 
 for they were so scourged and tortured, that 
 their bodies were not able to sustain their 
 torments, till at length, and with difficulty, 
 they had the favour to be slain. Those whom 
 they caught in the day-time, were slain in the 
 night, and then their bodies were carried out 
 and thrown away, that there might be room 
 for other prisoners; and the terror that was 
 upon the people was so great, that no one had 
 courage enough either to weep openly for the 
 dead man that was related to him, or bury 
 him; but those that were shut up in their own 
 bouses, could only shed tears in secret, and 
 durst not even groan without great caution, 
 lest any of their enemies should hear them; 
 for if they did, those that mourned for others 
 soon underwent the same death with those 
 whom they mourned for. Only in the night- 
 time they would take up a little dust and 
 throw it upon their bodies; and even some 
 that were the most ready to expose them- 
 selves to danger, would do it in the day-time: 
 and there were twelve thousand of the better 
 sort who perished in this manner. 
 
 4. And now these zealots and Idumeans 
 were quite weary of barely killing men, so 
 they had the impudence of setting up licti'- 
 tious tribunals and judicatures for that pur- 
 pose; and as they intended to have Zacharias,* 
 the son of Baruch, one of the most eminent 
 of the citizens, slain, — so what provoked them 
 against him was, that hatred of wickedness 
 and love of liberty which were so eminent in 
 him: he was also a rich man, so that by taking 
 him off, they did not only hope to seize 
 his effects, but also to get rid of a man that 
 had great power to destroy them. So they 
 
 * Some commentators are ready to suppose that this 
 "Zacharias, the son ot Uaruch." here most unjustly 
 slain by the Jews in the temple, was the very same per- 
 son with '• Zacharias, the son of Barachias." whom our 
 Saviour says the Jews " slew between the temple and the 
 altar," Malt xxiii.3-j. This is a somewhat strange expo- 
 sition: since Zechariah the prophet was really "the son 
 of Barachiah," and '-grandson ot Iddo" (Zecb.i. I); and 
 how he died, we have no other account, than that before 
 us in St Matthew: while this '• Zacharias" was "trie 
 son of Baruch." Since the slaughter was p:\st when our 
 Saviour spake those words, the Jwws then had already 
 slain him, whereas tliis slaughter of " Zacharias, the son 
 Baruch," in Josephus. was then*about thirty-four years 
 future. And since that slau^jhter was "between the 
 temple and the altar," in the court of the priests, one of 
 the most sacred and remote parts of the whole temple; 
 I while this was, in Josephus's own words, in the middle 
 
 f of the temple, and mucii tiie most probable in the court 
 
 « of Israel only (for we have no intimation that the zealots 
 
 ' had at this time profaned the court ot the priests. See 
 
 b. V. ch. i. secti). Nor do I believe that our Josephus. 
 wii-j always insists on the peculiar sacreilness 'if the 
 inmost court, and of the holy house that was in it, would 
 hn' f omitted so material an a4({»avalion of this barbarous 
 r'urile-, fis perprtratc-d in a plae s ■ vt r> holy, had that 
 hceii the true place of it See Antiq b. xi cb. vii. sect i. 
 aad tbfc note here on h. v. cW i. .>ect i. 
 
 called together, by a public proclamation, 
 seventy of the principal men of the populace, 
 for a show, as if they were real judges, while 
 they had no proper authority. Before these 
 was Zacharias accused of a design to betray 
 their polity to the Romans, and having trai- 
 torously sent to Vespasian for that purpose. 
 Now there appeared no proof or sign of what 
 he was accused; but they affn-med them- 
 selves that they were well persuaded that so 
 it was, and desired that sifth their affirmation 
 might be taken for sufficient evidence. Now 
 when Zacharias clearly saw that there was no 
 way remaining for his escape from them, as 
 having been treacherously called before them, 
 and then put in prison, but not with any 
 intention of a legal trial, he took great liberty 
 of speech in that despair of life he was under. 
 Accordingly he stood up, and laughed at their 
 pretended accusation, and in a few words 
 confuted the crimes laid to his charge; after 
 which he turned his speech to his accusers, 
 and went over distinctly all their transgressions 
 of the law, and made heavy lamentations 
 upon the confusion they had brought public 
 affairs to: in the mean time the zealots grew 
 tumultuous, and had much ado to abstain 
 from drawing their swords, although they 
 designed to preserve the appearance and show 
 of judicature to the end. They were also desi- 
 rous, on other accounts, to try the judges, 
 whether they would be mindful of what was 
 just at their own peril. Now the seventy 
 judges brought in their verdict, that the per- 
 son accused was not guilty, — as choosing 
 rather to die themselves with him, than to 
 have his death laid at their doors; hereupon 
 there arose a great clamour of the zealots 
 upon his acquittal, and they all had indigna- 
 tion at the judges, for not understanding that 
 the authority that was given them was but in 
 jest. So two of the boldest of them fell upon 
 Zacharias in the middle of the temple, and 
 slew him; and as he fell down dead they 
 bantered him, and said, " Thou hast al»o 
 our verdict, and this will prove a more sure 
 acquittal to thee than the other." Tiiey also 
 threw him down out of the temple immt-di- 
 ately into the valley beneath it. Mu. cover, 
 they struck the judges with the hacks of tbeir 
 swords, by way of abuse, and thru.sc them 
 out of the court of the temple, and spared 
 their lives with no other design than tiiat, 
 when they were dispersed among the peo|)lt 
 in the city, they might become their messen- 
 gers, to let them know they were no better 
 than slaves. 
 
 5. But by this time the Idumeans repented 
 of their coming, and were displeased at what 
 had been done; and when they were assem- 
 bled together by one of the zealots, who had 
 come privately to them, he declared to them 
 what a number of wicked pranks they had 
 themselves done in conjunction with those that 
 invittfd them, and gave a particular accoua« 
 
692 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IT. 
 
 of what mischiefs had been done against their 
 metropolis. — He said, that they had taken 
 arms, as though the high-priests were betray- 
 ing their metropolis to the Romans, but 
 had found no indication of any such trea- 
 chery; but that they had succoured those 
 that had pretended to believe such a thing, 
 while they did themselves the works of waj 
 and tyranny, after an insolent manner. It 
 had been indeed their business to have hin- 
 dered them from such their proceedings at 
 the first, but seeing they had once been 
 partners with them in shedding the blood of 
 their own countrymen, it was high time to put 
 a stop to such crimes, and not continue to 
 afford any more assistance to such as are sub- 
 verting the laws of their forefathers ; for that 
 if any had taken it ill that the gates had been 
 shut against them, and they had not been 
 permitted to come into the city, yet that those 
 who had excluded them have been punished, 
 and Ananus is dead, and that almost all those 
 people had been destroyed in one night's 
 time. That one may perceive many of them- 
 selves now repenting for what they had done, 
 and might . see the horrid barbarity of those 
 that had invited them, and that they had no 
 regard to such as had saved them ; that they 
 were so impudent as to perpetrate the vilest 
 things, under the eyes of those who had sup- 
 ported them, and that their wicked actions 
 would be laid to the charge of the Idumeans, 
 and would be so laid to their charge, till 
 somebody obstructs their proceedings, or sepa- 
 rates himself from the same wicked action ; 
 that they therefore ought to retire home, since 
 the imputation of treason appears to be a 
 calumny, and that there was no expectation 
 of the coming of the Romans at this time, 
 and that the government of the city was se- 
 cured by such walls as cannot easily be thrown 
 down; and, by avoiding any further fellow- 
 ship with these bad men, to make some ex- 
 cuse for themselves, as to what they had been 
 so far deluded, as to have been partners with 
 them hitherto. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW THE ZEALOTS, WHEN THEY WERE FREE 
 FROM THE IDUMEANS, SLEW A GREAT MANY 
 MORE OF THE CITIZENS ; AJID HOW VESPA- 
 SIAN DISSUADED THE ROMANS, WHEN THEY 
 WERE VERY EARNEST TO MARCH AGAINST 
 THE JEWS, FROM PROCEEDING IN THE WAR 
 AT THAT TIME. 
 
 § 1. The Idumeans complied with these 
 persuasions; and in the first place, they set 
 those that were in the prison at liberty, being 
 about two thousand of the populace, who 
 thereupon fled away immediately to Simon, 
 on« whom we shaP tipeak of presently. After 
 
 which these Idumeans retired from Jerusalem, 
 and went home ; which departure of theirs was 
 a great surprise to both parties ; for the peo- 
 ple, not knowing of their repentance, pulled 
 up their courage for a while, as eased of so 
 many of their enemies, while the zealots grew 
 more insolent, not as deserted • y their confe- 
 derates, I'tit as freed from such men as might 
 hinder their designs, and put some stop to 
 their wickedness. Accordingly, they made no 
 longer any delay, nor took any deliberation 
 in their enormous practices, but made use of 
 the shortest methods for all their executions ; 
 and what they had once resolved upon, they 
 put in practice sooner than any one could 
 imagine ; but their thirst was chiefly after the 
 blood of valiant men, and men of good fami- 
 lies ; the one sort of whom they destroyed out 
 of envy, the other out of fear; for they thought 
 their whole security lay in leaving no potent 
 men alive; on which account they slew 
 Gorion, a person eminent in dignity, and on 
 account of his family also ; he was also for 
 democracy, and of as great boldness and free- 
 dom of spirit as were any of the Jews who- 
 soever; the principal thing that ruined him, 
 added to his other advantages, was his free- 
 speaking. Nor did Niger of Perea escape their 
 hands ; he had been a man of great valour in 
 their war with the Romans, but was now 
 drawn through the middle of the city, and, 
 as he went, he frequently cried out, and showed 
 the scars of his wounds ; and when he was 
 drawn out of the gates, and despaired of his 
 preservation, he besought them to grant him 
 a burial ; but as they had threatened him 
 beforehand not to grant him any spot of earth 
 for a grave, which he chiefly desired of them, 
 so did they slay him [without permitting him 
 to be buried]. Now when they were slaying 
 him, he made this imprecation upon them, 
 that they might undergo both famine and 
 pestilence in this war, and besides all that, 
 they might come to the mutual slaughter of 
 one another; all which imprecations God 
 confirmed against these impious men, and was 
 what came most justly upon them, when not 
 long afterward they tasted of their own mad 
 ness in their mutual seditions one against ano 
 ther. So when this Niger was killed, thcii 
 fears of being overturned were diminished, 
 and indeed there was no part of *the people 
 but they found out some pretence to destroy 
 them ; for some were therefore slain, because 
 they had had diflerences with some of them ; 
 and as to those that "had not opposed them in 
 times of peace, they watched seasonable op- 
 portunities to gain some accusation against 
 them ; and if any one did not come near them 
 at all, he was under their suspicion as a proud 
 man; if any one came with boldness, he was 
 esteemed a contemner of them; and if any 
 one came as aiming to oblige them, he was 
 supposed to have some treacherous plot 
 against them ; while the only punishment of 
 
CHAP. YI» 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 693 
 
 crimes, whether they were of the greatest or 
 smallest sort, was death. Nor could any one 
 escape, unless he were very inconsiderable, 
 either on account of the meanness of his 
 birth, or on account of his fortune. 
 
 2. And now ail the rest of the commanders 
 of the Romans deemed this sedition among 
 their enemies to be of great advantage to them, 
 and were very earnest to march to the city ; 
 and they urged Vespasian as their lord and 
 general in all cases, to make haste, and said 
 to him, That " the providence of God is on our 
 side, by setting our enemies at variance against 
 one another : that still the change in such cases 
 may be sudden, and the Jews may quickly 
 be at one again, either because they may be 
 tired out with their civil miseries, or repent 
 them of such doings." But Vespasian replied, 
 that they were greatly mistaken in what they 
 thought fit to be done, as tliose that, upon the 
 theatre, love to make a show of their hands, 
 and of their weapons, but do it at their own 
 hazard, without considering what was for their 
 advantage, and for their security ; for that if 
 they now go and attack the city immediately, 
 they shall but occasion their enemies to unite 
 together, and shall convert their force, now it 
 is in its height, against themselves ; but if they 
 stay a while they shall have fewer enemies, 
 because they will be consumed in this sedition : 
 that God acts as a general of the Romans 
 better than he can do, and is giving the Jews 
 up to them without any pains of their own, 
 and granting their army a victory without any 
 danger; that therefore it is their best way, 
 while their enemies are destroying each other 
 with their own hands, and falling into the 
 greatest of misfortunes, which is that of sedi- 
 tion, to sit still as spectators of the dangers 
 they run into, rather than to fight hand to 
 hand with men that love murdering, and are 
 mad one against another. " But if any one 
 imagines that the glory of victory, when it is 
 gotten without fighting, will be more insipid, 
 let him know this much, that a glorious suc- 
 cess, quietly obtained, is more profitable than 
 the dangers of a battle; for we ought "to 
 esteem those that "do what is agreeable to tem- 
 perance and prudence, no less glorious than 
 those that have gained great reputation by 
 their actions in war: that he shall lead on 
 his army with greater force when their enemies 
 are diminished, and his own army refreshed 
 after the continual labours they had under- 
 gone. However, that this is not a proper time 
 to propose to ourselves the glory of victory ; 
 for that the Jew^s are not now employed in 
 making of armour or building of walls, nor 
 indeed in getting together auxiliaries, while 
 the advantage will be on their side who 
 give them such opportunity of delay ; but that 
 the Jews are vexed to pieces every day by 
 their civil wars and dissensions, and are under 
 greater misfortunes than, if they were once 
 taken, eould be inflicted on them by us. 
 
 Whether, therefore, any one hath regard to 
 what is for our safety, he ought to suffer these 
 Jews to destroy one another ; or whether he 
 hath regard to the greater glory of the action, 
 we ought by no means to meddle with these 
 men, now they are afflicted with a distemper 
 at home; for should we now conquer them, it 
 would be said the conquest was not owing to 
 our bravery, but to their sedition." 
 
 3. And now the commanders joined in 
 their approbation of what Vespasian had said, 
 and it was soon discovered how wise an opi- 
 nion he had given; and indeed many there 
 were of the Jews that deserted every day, and 
 fled away from the zealots, although their 
 flight was very diflicult, since they had guarded 
 every passage out of the city, and slew every 
 one that was caught at them, as taking 
 it for granted they were going over to the 
 Romans ; yet did he who gave them money 
 get clear off, while he only that gave them 
 none was voted a traitor. So the upshot was 
 this, that the rich purchased their flight by 
 money, while none but the poor were slain. 
 Along all the roads also vast numbers of dead 
 bodies lay in heaps, and even many of those 
 that were so zealous in deserting, at length 
 chose rather to perish within the city ; for the 
 hopes of burial made death in their own city 
 appear of the two less terrible to them. But 
 these zealots came at last to that degree of 
 barbarity, as not to bestow a burial either on 
 those slain in the city, or on those that lay 
 along the roads ; but as if they had made an 
 agreement to cancel both the laws of their 
 country and the laws of nature, and, at the 
 same time that they defiled men with their 
 wicked actions, they would pollute the Divi- 
 nity itself also, they left the dead bodies to 
 putrefy under the sun : and the same punish- 
 ment was allotted to such as buried any, as 
 to those that deserted, which was no other 
 than death ; while he that granted the favour 
 of a grave to another, would presently stand 
 in need of a grave himself. To say all in a 
 word, no other gentle passion was so entirely 
 lost among them as mercy ; for what were the 
 greatest objects of pity did most of all irritate 
 these wretches, and they transferred their 
 rage from the living to those that had been 
 slain, and fi-om the dead to the living. Nay, 
 the terror was so very great, that he who sur- 
 vived called them that were first dead happy, 
 as being at rest already ; as did those that 
 were under torture in the prisons, declare, 
 that, upon this comparison, those that lay 
 unburied were the happiest. These men, there- 
 fore, trampled upon all the laws of man, and 
 laughed at the laws of God : and for the ora- 
 cles of the prophets, they ridiculed them as 
 the tricks of jugglers ; yet did these prophets 
 foretell many things concerning [the rewards 
 of] virtue, and [punishments of] vice, which 
 when these zealots violated, they occasioned the 
 fulfilling ©f those very propheciea belomgiwg 
 
694 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 to their own country: for there was a certain 
 ancient oracle of those men, that the city 
 should then be taken and the sanctuary burnt, 
 by right of war, when a sedition should 
 invade the Jews, and their own hand should 
 pollute the temple of God.* Now, while 
 these zealots did not [quite] disbelieve these 
 predictions, they made themselves the instru- 
 ments of their accomphshment. 
 
 CHAPTER YIL 
 
 HOW JOHN TYRANNIZED OVER THE REST ; 
 AND WHAT MISCHIEFS THE ZEALOTS DID 
 AT MASADA. HOW ALSO VESPASIAN TOOK 
 GADARA; AND WHAT ACTIONS WERE PER- 
 FORMED BY PLACID us. 
 
 § 1. By this time John was beginning to 
 tyrannize, and thought it beneath him to 
 accept of barely the same honours that others 
 had ; and joining to himself by degrees a 
 party of the most wicked of them all, he 
 broke off from the rest of the faction. This 
 was brought about by his still disagreeing 
 with the opinions of others, and giving out 
 injunctions of his own, iit a very imperious 
 manner; so that it was evident he was setting 
 up a monarchical power. Now some sub- 
 mitted to him out of their fear of him, and 
 others out of their good- will to him; for he 
 was a shrewd man to entice men to him, both 
 iby deluding them and putting cheats upon 
 them. Nay, many there were that thought 
 the^' should be safer themselves, if the causes 
 of their past insolent actions should now be 
 reduced to one head, and not to a great many. 
 His activity was so great, and that both in 
 action and counsel, that he had not a few 
 guards about him; yet was there a great party 
 of his antagonists that left him; among whom 
 envy at him weighed a great deal, while they 
 thought it a very heavy thing to be in sub- 
 jection to one that was formerly their equal. 
 But the main reason that moved men against 
 him was the dread of monarchy, for they 
 could not hope easily to put an end to his 
 power, if he had once obtained it; and yet 
 they knew that he would have this pretence 
 
 • This prediction, that the citv (Jerusalem) should 
 then '- DC taken, and the sanctuary burnt by rit;ht of war, 
 wiif I. a Bcdiliun should invade the Jews, and their oah 
 hands should pollute that temple;" or as it is, b. vi. ch. 
 II. sect 1, "when any one bhuuld begin to slay his 
 ci^untrymen in the city," is wanting in our present copies 
 oi the Old Testament. See Essay on Hik Old 1 esta- 
 nicnl, p. 104— li;;i. But this prediction, as Josephus 
 well remarks heie, thuugW^ with other predictions of 
 the prophets, it was now laughed at by the seditious. 
 «ras by their very means soon exactly tullilled. How- 
 ever, 1 cannot but ht re take notice of Grutius's positive 
 asM-rtion upon Mat xxvi y, here quotea by Dr. Hud- 
 son, that •• it ought to he taken lor granted, as a certain 
 truth, that many predictions ot the Jewish prophets 
 Vftn preserved, nut in writing, but by iuein.>ry." VVhere- 
 M, it M«oit to me so far from certain, that 1 think it has 
 > Dor pr*l -*Mlity at all. 
 
 always against them^ that they had opposed 
 him when he was first advanced; while every 
 one chose rather to suffer any thii^g whatso- 
 ever in war, than that, when they had been 
 in a voluntary slavery for some time, they 
 should afterward perish. So the sedition was 
 divided into two parts, and John reigned 
 in opposition to his adversaries over one of 
 them: but for their leaders, they watched one 
 another, nor did they at all, or at least very lit- 
 tle, meddle with arins in their quarrels ; but they 
 fought earnestly agauist the people, and con- • 
 tended one with another which of them should 
 bring home the greatest prey. But because 
 the city had to struggle with three of the 
 greatest misfortunes, war, and tyranny, and 
 sedition, it appeared, upon the comparison,' 
 that the war was the least troublesome to the 
 populace of them all. Accordingly, they ran 
 away from their own houses to foreigners, and 
 obtained that preservation from the Romans, 
 which they despaired to obtain among their 
 own people. 
 
 2. And now a fourth misfortune arose, in 
 order to bring our nation to destruction. 
 There was a fortress of very great strength 
 not far from Jerusalem, which had been built 
 by our ancient kings, both as a repository for 
 their effects in the hazards of war, ana for the 
 preservation of their bodies at the same time. 
 It is called Masada. Those that were called 
 SicariihBd taken possession of it formerly; 
 but at this time they overran the neighbour- 
 ing countries, aiming only to procure to them- 
 selves necessaries; for the fear they were then 
 in prevented their further ravages; but when 
 once they were informed that the lioinan army 
 lay still,andthattheJewsweredivided betwee»i 
 sedition and tyranny, they boldly undertook 
 greater matters; and at the feast of unleavened 
 bread, which the Jews celebrate in meniory 
 of their deliverance from the Egyptian bond- 
 age, when they were sent back into the couiu 
 try of their forefathers, they came down by 
 night, without being discovered by those that 
 could have prevented them, and overran a 
 certain small city called Engaddi: — in which 
 ei^pedition they prevented those citizens that 
 could have stopped them, before they could 
 arm themselves and light them. They also 
 dispersed them, and cast them out of the city, , 
 As for such as could not run away, being 
 women and children, they slew of them above 
 seven hundred. Afterward, when they had 
 carried every thing out of their houses, and 
 had seized upon all the fruits that were in a 
 nourishing condition, they brought them into 
 Alasada. And indeed these men laid all the 
 villages that were about the fortress waste, and 
 made the whole country desolate; while there 
 came to them every day from all parts, not a 
 few men as corrupt as themselves. At this 
 time all the other region» of Juiiea that had 
 hitherto been at rebt were ni mutton, by nte«ii9 
 of the robbtiiii. Now uk u is m a Lumuit oo<iy, 
 
CH\P. VII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 695 
 
 if the principal part be inflamed, all the mem- 
 bers are subject to the same distemper, so by 
 means of the sedition and disorder that was in 
 the metropolis had the wicked men that were 
 in the country opportunity to ravage the same. 
 Accordingly, when every one of them had 
 plundered their own villages, they then retired 
 into the desert; yet were these men that now 
 got together and joined in the conspiracy by 
 parties, too small for an army, and too many 
 for a gang of thieves: and thus did they fall 
 upon the holy places* and the cities; yet did 
 it now so happen that they were sometimes 
 very ill treated by those upon whom they fell 
 with such violence, and were taken by them 
 as men are taken in war: but still they pre- 
 vented any farther punishment as do robbers, 
 who as soon as their ravages [are discovered], 
 run their way. Nor was there now any part 
 of Judea that was not in a miserable condi- 
 tion, as well as its most eminent city also. 
 
 3. These things were told Vespasian by 
 deserters; for although the seditious watched 
 all the passages out of the city, and destroyed 
 all, whosoever they were, that came thither, 
 yet were there some that had concealed them- 
 selves, and, when they had fled to the Romans, 
 persuaded their general to come to their city's 
 assistance, and save the remainder of the peo- 
 ple; informing him withal, that it was upon 
 account of the people's good- will to the Romans 
 thdt many of them were already slain, and the 
 Burvivors in danger of the same treatment. 
 Ve-spaaian did indeed already pity the calami- 
 ties tiiese men were in, and arose, in appear- 
 mce, as though he was going to besiege 
 Jerusalem, — but in reality to deliver them 
 Vom a [worse] siege they were already under. 
 However he was obliged at first to overthrow 
 what remained elsewhere, and to leave nothing 
 out of Jerusalem behind him that might 
 interrupt him in that siege. Accordingly 
 he marched against Gadara, the metropolis of 
 Perea, which was a place of strength, and 
 2ntered that city on the fourth day of the 
 .ijonth Dystrus [Adar]; for the men of 
 power had sent an en)bassage to him, without 
 the knowledge of the seditious, to treat about 
 i surrender; which they did out of the desire 
 they had of peace, and for saving their effects, 
 Dccause many of the citizens of Gadara were 
 rich men. This embassy the opposite party 
 Knew nothing of, but discovered it as Vespa- 
 sian was approaching near the city. How- 
 ever, they despaired of keeping possession 
 "i)f the city, as being inferior in number to 
 
 • By these Ji;-*, or "holy places." as distinct from 
 cities, must be meant '* prosfuci.ie." or •■ tiouses ot 
 |;inyiT" out of cities: of wtiicii we tiiid mention made in 
 the New i'estament and other auih »rs. !See Lu-.e vi. 12; 
 Arts xvi l.'J, l(i; ->ntiq.b.xiv.ch.x. sectiJ; Josephiis's 
 L.tt. !>ert. o4. "In qua te quajro prosencha," Juvenal 
 t-if. in. ver 896. They were siiiiated sometimes by the 
 6"d»» ot riTei*, Acts xvi. \i, or by tlie sea-side, Antiij 
 L. XIV. ch X. sect. 'i3. So did the seveiitv-two interpreter'* 
 gv> ; I pray every murnint; by the sea-siiie, i>efure ihe> 
 went to their work, b. xil oh. ii. sect lat 
 
 their enemies who vrere wthm the city, and 
 seeing the Romans very near to the city; so 
 they resolved to fly, but thought it dishonour- 
 able to do it without shedding some blood, 
 and revenging themselves on the a^ithors of 
 this surrender; so they seized upon Dolesus (a 
 person not only the first in rank and family in 
 that city, but one that seemed the occasion of 
 sending such an embassy) and slew him, and 
 trea*^ed his dead body after a barbarous man- 
 ner, so very violent was their anger at him, 
 and then ran out of the city. And as now 
 the Roman army was just upon them, the 
 people of Gadara admitted Vespasian with 
 joyful acclamations, and received from him 
 the security of his right hand, as also a garri- 
 son of horsemen and footmen, to guard them 
 against the excursions of the runagates; for 
 as to their wall, they had pulled it down- 
 before the Rotnans desired them so to do, 
 that they might thereby give them assurance 
 that they were lovers of peace, and that, if 
 they had a mind, they could not now make 
 war against them. 
 
 4. And now Vespasian sent Placidus against 
 those that had fled from Gadara, with five 
 hundred horsemen, and three thousand foot- 
 men, while he returned himself to Cesarea, 
 with the rest of the army. But as soon as 
 these fugitives saw the horsemen that pursued 
 them just upon their backs, and before they 
 came to a close fight, they ran together to a 
 certain village, which was called Btthnnna- 
 bris, where finding a great multitude of young 
 men, and arming them, partly by their own 
 consent and partly by force, they .""ashly and 
 suddenly assaulted Placidus and the troops 
 that were with him. These horsemen at the 
 first onset gave way a little, as contriving to 
 entice them farther off the wall; and when 
 they had drawn them into a place lit for their 
 purpose, they made their horse encompass 
 them round, and threw their darts at them. 
 So the horsemen cut off the flight of the fugi- 
 tives, while the foot terribly destroyed those 
 that fought against theiTi; for those Jews did 
 no more than show their courage, and then 
 were destroyed; for as they fell upon the 
 Romans when they were joined close together, 
 and, as it were, walled about with their entire 
 armour, they were not able to find any place 
 where the darts could enter, nor were they 
 any way able to break their ranks, while they 
 were themselves run through by the Roman 
 darts, and, like the wildest of wild beasts, 
 rushed upon the points of the others' swords; 
 so some of them were destroyed, as cut with 
 their enemies' sworijp upon their faces, and 
 others were dispersed by the horsemen. 
 
 o. Now Placidus's concern was to exclude 
 them in their flight from getting into the vil- 
 lage; and causing his horse to march coiiti- 
 nucilly on that side of thetn, he then turned 
 short upon the(n, and at the satne time hiti 
 men made use of thtiir darts, and easily took 
 
696 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV 
 
 their aim at t'nose that were the nearest to them, 
 as they made those that were farther off turn 
 6ack by the terror they were in, till at last 
 the most courageous of them brake through 
 those horsemen, and fled to the wall of the 
 village. And now those that guarded the 
 wall were in great doubt what to do ; for 
 they could not bear the thoughts of excluding 
 those that came from Gadara, because of their 
 own people that were among them ; and yet, 
 if they should admit them, they expected to 
 perish with them, which came to pass accord- 
 ingly ; for as they were crowding together at 
 the wall, the Roman horsemen were just ready 
 to fall in with them. However, the guards 
 prevented them, and shut the gates, when 
 Placidus made an assault upon them, and, 
 fighting courageously till it was dark, he 
 got possession of the wall, and of the peo- 
 ple that were in the city, when the useless 
 multitude were destroyed ; but those that 
 were more potent ran away ; and the soldiers 
 plundered the houses, and set the village on 
 fire. As for those that ran out of the village, 
 they stirred up such as were in the country, 
 and exaggerating their own calamities, and 
 telling them that the whole army of the Ro- 
 mans were upon them, they put them into 
 great fear on every side ; so they got in great 
 numbers together, and fled to Jericho, for 
 they knew no other place that could afford 
 them any hope of escaping, it being a city 
 that had a strong wall, and a great multitude 
 of inhabitants. But Placidus, relying much 
 upon his horsemen and his former good suc- 
 cess, followed them, and slew all that he over- 
 took, as far as Jordan; and when he had 
 driven the whole multitude to the river side, 
 where they were stopped by the current (for 
 it had been augmented lately by rains, and 
 was not fordable), he put his soldiers in array 
 over against them ; so the necessity the others 
 were in, provoked them to hazard a battle, 
 because there was no place whither they 
 could flee. They then extended themselves 
 a very great way along the bank of the 
 river, and sustained the darts that were thrown 
 at them as well as the attacks of the horse- 
 men who beat many of them, and pushed 
 them into the current. At which fight, hand 
 to hand, fifteen thousand of them were slain, 
 while the number of those that were unwil- 
 lingly forced to leap into Jordan was prodi- 
 gious. There wiere besides, two thousand 
 and two hundred taken prisoners. A mighty 
 prey was taken also, consisting of astes, and 
 sheep, and camels, and oxen. 
 
 6. Now this destruction that fell upon the 
 Jews, as it was not inlvrior to any of the rest 
 in itself, so did it still appear great* r than it 
 really was ; and this, because not only the 
 whole of the country through which they fled 
 was filled with slaughter, and Jordan could 
 not be passed over, by reason of the dead 
 podiei that were in it, but because the lake 
 
 Asphaltitis was also full of dead bodies, that 
 were carried down into it by the river. And now 
 placidus, after this good success that he had, 
 fell violently upon the neighbouring smaller 
 cities and villages ; when he took Abila, and 
 Julias, and Bezemoth, and all those that lay 
 as far as the lake Asphaltitis, and put such 
 of the deserters into each of them as he 
 thought proper. He then put his soldiers on 
 board the ships, and slew such as had fled to 
 the lake, insomuch that all Perea had either 
 surrendered themselves, or were taken by the 
 Romans, as far as Macherus. 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 HOW VESPASIAN, UPON HEARING OF SOME 
 COMMOTIONS IN GALL,* MADE HASTE TO 
 FINISH THE JEWISH WAR. A DESCRIPTION 
 OF JERICHO, AND OF THE GREAT PLAIN : 
 WITH AN ACCOUNT BESIDES OF THE LAKE 
 ASPHALTITIS. 
 
 § 1. In the mean time, an account came that 
 there were commotions in Gall, and that Vin- 
 dex, together with the men of power in that 
 country, had revolted from Nero ; which affair 
 is more accurately described elsewhere. This 
 report thus, related to Vespasian, excited him 
 to go on briskly with the war ; for he foresaw 
 already the civil wars which were coming upon 
 them, nay, that the very government was in 
 danger ; and he thought, if he could first re- 
 duce the eastern parts of the empire to peace, 
 he should make the fears for Italy the lighter; 
 while therefore the winter was his hinderance 
 [from going into the field], he put garrisons 
 into the villages and smaller cities for their 
 security ; he put decurions also into the villa- 
 ges, and centurions into the cities ; he besides 
 this rebuilt many of the cities that had bec'n 
 laid waste ; but at the beginning of the spring 
 he took the greatest part of his army, and led 
 it from Cesarea to Antipatris, where he spent 
 two days in settling the affairs of that city, 
 and then, on the third day, he marched on, 
 laying waste and burning all the neighbour- 
 ing villages. And when he had laid waste 
 all the places about the toparchy of Thaninas, 
 he passed on to Lydda and Jamnia; and 
 when both those cities had come over to him, 
 he placed a great many of those that had 
 come over to him [from other places] as in- 
 habitants therein, and then came to Emmans, 
 where he seized upon the passages which 
 led thence to their metropolis, and fortified 
 his camp, and leaving the fifth legion therein, 
 he came to the toparchy of Bethletcphon. 
 He then destroyed that place, and the neiph- 
 bouring places, by fire, and fortified, nt proper 
 places, the strong holds all about Idumoa; 
 
 * Gr.GaI»tia, and so •Ttrywbere. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 "WAES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 697 
 
 and when he had seized upon two villages, 
 which were in the very midst of Idumea, 
 Betaris and Caphartobas, he slew above ten 
 thousand of the people, and carried into ca|>- 
 tivity above a thousand, and drove away the 
 rest of the multitude, and placed no small 
 part of his own forces in them, who over-ran 
 and laid waste the whole mountainous coun- 
 try; while, he with the rest of his forces, 
 returned to Emmaus, whence he came down 
 through the country of Samaria, and hard by 
 the city by others called Neapolis (or Sichem), 
 but by the people of that country Mabortha, 
 to Corea, where he pitched his camp, on the 
 second day of the month Daesius [Sivan]; and 
 on the day following he came to Jericho ; on 
 which day Trajan, one of his commanders, 
 joined him with the forces he brought out of 
 Perea, all the places beyond Jordan being 
 subdued already. 
 
 2. Hereupon a great multitude prevented 
 their approach, and came out of Jericho, and 
 fled to those mountainous parts that lay over- 
 against Jerusalena, while that part which was 
 left behind was in a great measure destroyed : 
 they also found the city desolate. It is situ- 
 ated in a plain; but a naked and barren 
 mountain, of a great length, hangs over it, 
 which extends itself to the land about Scytho- 
 polis northward, but as far as the country of 
 Sodom and the utmost limits of the lake 
 Asphaltitis southward. This mountain is all of 
 it very uneaven and uninhabited, by reason of 
 its barrenness : there is an opposite mountain 
 that is situated over-against it, on the other 
 side of Jordan : this last begins at Julias and 
 the northern quarters, and extends itself 
 southward as far as Somorrhon,* which is the 
 * bounds of Petra, in Arabia. In this ridge of 
 mountains there is one called the Iron Moun- 
 tain, that runs in length as far as Moab. Now 
 the region that lies in the middle between these 
 ridges of mountains, is called the Great Plain ; 
 it reaches from the village Ginnabris, as far 
 as the lake Asphaltitis ; its length is two hun- 
 dred and thirty furlongs, and its breadth a 
 hundred arid twenty, and it is divided in the 
 midst by Jordan. It hath two lakes in it; 
 that of Asphaltitis, and that of Tiberias, whose 
 natures are opposite to each other; for the 
 former is salt and unfruitful ; but that of Tibe- 
 rias is sweet and fruitful. This plain is much 
 burnt up in summer-time, and, by reason of 
 the extraordinary heat, contains a very 
 unwholesome air ; it is all destitute of water 
 excepting the river Jordan, which water of 
 Jordan is the occasion why those plantations 
 of palm-trees that are near its banks, are more 
 flourishing, and much more fruitful, as are those 
 
 * Whether this Somorrhon, or Somorrha, ought 
 not to be here written Gomorrha, as some MSS. in a 
 manner have it (for the place meant by Josephus seems 
 to be near Segor, or Zoar, at the very south of the Dead 
 Sea, hard by which stood Sodom and Gomorrha), can- 
 not now be certainly determined; but seems by no 
 means improbable. 
 
 that are remote from it not so flourishing, or 
 fruitful. 
 
 3. Notwithstanding which, there is a foun- 
 tain by Jericho, that runs plentifully, and is 
 very fit for watering the ground: it arises 
 near the old city, which Joshua, the son of 
 Nun, the general of the Hebrews, took the 
 first of all the cities of the land of Canaan, 
 by right of war. The report is, that this 
 fountain, at the beginning, caused not only 
 the blasting of the earth and the trees, but of 
 the children born of women ; and that it was 
 entirely of a sickly and corruptive nature to 
 all things whatsoever, but that it was made 
 gentle, and very wholesome and fruitful, by 
 the prophet Elisha. This prophet was fami- 
 liar with Elijah, and was his successor, who 
 when he once was the guest of the people of 
 Jericho, and the men of the place had treated 
 him very kindly, he both made them amends 
 as well as the country, by a lasting favour; 
 for he went out of the city to this fountain, 
 and threw into the current an earthen vessel 
 full of salt ; after which he stretched out his 
 righteous hand unto heaven, and, pouring 
 out a mild drink-ofiering, he made this sup- 
 plication, — That the current might be molli 
 fied, and that the veins of fresh water might 
 be opened : that God also would bring into 
 the place a more temperate and fertile air for 
 the current, and would bestow upon the peo 
 pie of that country plenty of the fruits of the 
 earth, and a succession of children ; and tha* 
 this prolific water might never fail them 
 while they continued to be righteous.f To 
 these prayers EUsha joined proper operation 
 of his hands, after a skilful manner, and 
 changed the fountain ; and that water, which 
 had been the occasion of barrenness and 
 famine before, from that time did supply a 
 numerous posterity, and afforded great abun 
 dance to the country. Accordingly, the power 
 of it is so great in watering the ground, tha* 
 if it do but once touch a country, it affords a 
 sweeter nourishment than other waters do 
 when they lie so long upon them, till they are 
 satiated with them. For which reason, the 
 advantage gained from other waters, when 
 they flow in great plenty, is but small, while 
 that of this water is great when it flows even 
 in little quantities. Accordingly, it water 
 a larger space of ground than any other waters 
 do, and passes along a plain of seventy fur 
 longs long, and twenty broad ; wherein i* 
 affords nourishment to those most excellen 
 gardens that are thick set with trees. There 
 are in it many sorts of palm-trees that are 
 watered by it, different from each other in 
 taste and name ; the better sort of them, when 
 they are pressed, yield an excellent kind of 
 honey, not much inferior in sweetness to other 
 
 t This excellent prayer of Elisha is wanting in our 
 copies, 2 Kings ii. 21, 22, though it be referred to alsf 
 in the Apostolical Constitutions, b. vii. ch. 37 ; and tJl 
 succofis of it is mentioned in them all. 
 
VJ " 
 
 (598 
 
 WARS OF THL JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 honey. This country withal produces honey 
 from bees: it also bears that balsam which is 
 the most precious of all the fruits in that 
 place, cypress-trees also, and those that bear 
 myrobalanuin; so that he who should pro- 
 nounce this place to be divine would not be 
 mistaken, wherein is such plenty of trees pro- 
 duced as are very rare, and of the most excel- 
 lent sort. And indeed, if we speak of those 
 other fruits, it will not be easy to light on any 
 climate in the habitable earth that can well be 
 compared to it, — what is here sown comes up 
 in such clusters: the cause of which seems 
 to me to be the warmth of the air ajid the fer- 
 tility of the waters; the warmth calling forth 
 the sprouts, and making them spread, and the 
 moisture making every one of them take root 
 firmly, and supplying that virtue which it 
 stands in need of in summer-time. Now this 
 country is then so sadly burnt up, that no- 
 body cares to come at it; and if the water be 
 drawn up before sun-rising, and after that ex- 
 posed to the air, it becomes exceeding cold, 
 and becomes of a nature quite contrary to the 
 ambient air: as in winter again it becomes 
 warm; and if you go into it, it appears very 
 gentle. The ambient air is here also of so 
 good a temperature, that the people of the 
 country are clothed in linen only, even when 
 enow covers the rest of Judea. This place is 
 one hundred and fifty furlongs from Jerusa- 
 lem, and sixty from Jordan. The country, 
 as far as Jerusalem, is desert and stony; but 
 that as far as Jordan and the lake Asphal- 
 titis lies lower indeed, though it be equally 
 desert and barren. But so much shall suffice 
 to have been said about Jericho, and of the 
 great happiness of its situation. 
 
 4. The nature of the lake Asphaltitis is 
 also worth describing. It is, as I have said 
 already, bitter and unfruitful. It is so light 
 [or thick] that it bears up the heaviest things 
 that are thrown into it; nor is it easy for any 
 one to make things sink therein to the bottom, 
 if he had a mind so to do. Accordingly, 
 when Vespasian went to see it, he commanded 
 that some who could not swim, should have 
 their hands tied behind them, and be thrown 
 into the deep, when it so happened that they 
 all swam as if a wind had forced them up- 
 wards. Moreover, the chang* of the colour 
 of this lake is wonderful, for it changes its 
 appearance thrice every day; and as the rays, 
 of the sun fall differently upon it, the light is 
 variously reflected. However, it casts up 
 black clods of bitumen in many parts of it; 
 these swiru at the lop of tlie water, and re- 
 Bemble both in shape and bigness headless 
 bulls: and when the labourers that belong to 
 the lake come to it, and catch hold of it as it 
 bangs together, they draw it into their ships; 
 but when the ship is full, it is not easy to cut 
 off the rest, for it is so tenacious as to make 
 the ship hang upon its clods till they set it 
 looM with the menstrual blood of women, and 
 
 vvith urine, to which alone it yields. This 
 bitumen is not only useful for the caulkir.g of 
 ships, but for the cure of men's bodies: ac- 
 cordingly, it is mixed in a great many medi- 
 cines. The length of this lake is live hundred 
 and eighty furlongs, where it is extended 
 as far as Zoar, in Arabia ; and its breadth 
 is a hundred and fifty. The country of Sodom 
 borders upon it.* It was of old a most 
 happy land, both for the fruits it bore and the 
 riches of its cities, although it be now all 
 burnt up. It is related how, for the impiety 
 of its inhabitants, it was burnt by lightning; 
 in consequence of which there are still the 
 remainders of that divine fire; and the traces 
 [or shadows] of the five cities are still to be 
 seen, as well as the ashes growing in their 
 fruits, which fruits have a colour as if they 
 were fit to be eaten; but if you pluck them 
 with your hands, they dissolve into smoke and 
 ashes. And thus what is related of this land 
 of Sodom hath these marks of credibility 
 which our very sight dfibrds us. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THAT VESPASIAN, AFTER HE HAD TATIEN 
 GADARA, MADE PREPARATION FOR THK 
 SIEGE OF JERUSALEM; BUT THAT, UPON 
 HIS HEARING OF THE DEATH OF NERO, HJC 
 CHANGED HIS INTENTIONS: AS ALSO, CON- 
 CERNING SIMON OF GERASA. 
 
 § 1. And now Vespasian had fortified all the 
 places round about Jerusalem, and erected 
 citadels at Jericho and Adida, and placed gar- 
 risons in them both, partly out of his own 
 Romans, and partly out of the body of bin 
 auxiliaries. He also sent Lucius Annius t# 
 Gerasa, and delivered to him a body of horse- 
 men, and a considerable number of footmea 
 So when he had taken the city, which he di/ 
 at the first onset, he slew a thousand of thos» 
 young men who had not prevented him bj 
 flying away; but he took their families cap- 
 tive, and permitted his soldiers to plundei 
 them of their etfects; after which he set fire 
 to their houses, and went away to the adjoin- 
 ing villages, while the men of power fled 
 away, and the weaker part were destroyed, 
 and what was remaining was all burnt down. 
 And now the war having gone through all 
 the mountainous country, and all the plain 
 country also, those tl)at were at Jerusalem 
 were deprived of the liberty of going out of 
 the city ; for as to such as had a mind to de- 
 sert, tiiey were watclied by the zealots; and 
 as to such as were not yet on the side of the 
 Romans, their army kept them in, by encom^ 
 passing the city round about on all sides. 
 2. 2^ow us Vespasian was returned io 
 
 I • See Uio note on b t. ch xiii. sect, d. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 699 
 
 Cesarea, and was getting ready with all his 
 army to march directly to Jerusalem, he w^as 
 Informed that Nero was dead, after he had 
 reigned thirteen years and eight days. But as 
 to any narration after what manner he abused 
 his power in the government, and committed 
 the management of affairs to those vile wretches, 
 Nymphidius and Tigellinus, his unworthy 
 ireedmen; and how he had a plot laid against 
 him by them, and was deserted by all his 
 guards, and ran away with four of his most 
 trusty freedmen, and slew himself in the sub- 
 urbs of Rome; and how those that occasioned 
 his death were, in no long time, brought 
 themselves to punishment; how also the war 
 in Gall ended; and how Galba was made 
 emperor,* and returned out of Spain to Rome; 
 and how he was accused by the soldiers as a 
 pusillanimous person, and slain by treachery 
 in the middle of the market-place at Rome, 
 Rnd Otho was made emperor; with his expedi- 
 tion against the commanders of Vitellius, and 
 his destruction thereupon; and besides what 
 troubles there were under Vitellius, and the 
 fight that was about the Capitol; as also how 
 Antonius Primus and Mucianus slew Vitel- 
 lius, and his German legions, and thereby put 
 an end to that civil war, — I have omitted to 
 give an exact account of them, because they 
 are well known by all, and they are described 
 by a great number of Greek and Roman 
 authors; yet for the sake of the connection 
 of matters, and that my history may not 
 be incoherent, I have just touched upon 
 every thing briefly. Wherefore Vespasian 
 put off at first his expedition against Jeru- 
 salem, and stood waiting whither the empire 
 would be transferred after the death of Nero. 
 Moreover, when he heard that Galba was 
 made emperor, he attempted nothing till he 
 also should send him some directions about 
 the war: however, he sent his son Titus to 
 him, to salute him, and to receive his com- 
 mands about the Jews. Upon the very same 
 errand did king Agrippa sail along with 
 Titus to Galba; but as they were sailing 
 in their long ships by the coasts of Achaia, 
 for it was winter-time, they heard that 
 Galba was slain, before they could get to 
 him, after he had reigned geven mi/nths and 
 a? :nany days. After whom Otho took the 
 government, and undertook the management 
 of public affairs. So Agrippa resolved to go 
 on to Rome without any terror on account of 
 the change in the government; but Titus, by 
 a divine impulse, sailed back from Greece to 
 Syria, and came in great haste to Cesarea, to 
 his father. And now they were both in sus- 
 pense about the public affairs, the Roman 
 
 • Of these Roman affairs and tumults under Galba. 
 Ot.uO,and Viteljiu*, here only touched upon by Josephus. 
 flee Tacitus, Suetonius, and Dio. more largely. How- 
 i "r. we may observe with Ottius, that Jusephus writes 
 tiie name ot the second of them not Otto, with mai.y 
 oU:ers. but Utho, with the coins. See also the note on 
 tt \i.iect ^ 
 
 empire being then in a fluctuating condition, 
 and did not go on with their expedition against 
 the Jews, but thought that to make any attack 
 upon foreigners was now unseasonable, on 
 account of the solicitude they were in for 
 their own country. 
 
 3. And now there arose another war at 
 Jerusalem. There was a son of Giora, one 
 Simon, by birth of Gerasa, a young man, not 
 so cunning indeed as John [of Gischala], who 
 had already seized upon the city, but superior 
 in strength of body and courage; on which 
 account, when he had been driven away from 
 that Acrabattene toparchy, which he once had, 
 by Ananus the high-priest, he came to those 
 robbers who had seized upon Masada. At 
 first they suspected him, and only permitted 
 him to come with the women he brought with 
 him into the lower part of the fortress, while 
 they dwelt in the upper part of it themselves. 
 However, his manner so well agreed with 
 theirs, and he seemed so trusty a man, that he 
 went out with them, and ravaged and destroyed 
 the country with them about Masada; yet 
 when he persuaded them to undertake greater 
 things, he could not prevail with them so to 
 do; for as they were accustomed to dwell in 
 that citadel, they were afraid of going far from 
 that which was their hiding-place; but he 
 affecting to tyrannize, and being fond of great- 
 ness, when he had heard of the death of 
 Ananus, left them, and went into the moun- 
 tainous part of the country. So he proclaimed 
 liberty to those in slavery, and a reward to 
 those already free, and got together a set oJ 
 wicked men from all quarters. 
 
 4. And as he had now a strong body of 
 men about him, he over-ran the villages that 
 lay in the mountainous country, and when 
 there were still more and more that came to 
 him, he ventured to go down into the lower 
 parts of the country, and since he was now 
 become formidable to the cities, many of the 
 men of power were corrupted by him; so that 
 his army was no longer composed of slaves 
 and robbers, but a great many of the populace 
 were obedient to him as to their king. He 
 then over-ran the Acrabattene toparchy, and 
 ♦he places that reached as far as the Great 
 Idumea; for he built a wall at a certain 
 village called Nain, and made use of that as a 
 fortress for his own party's security; and at 
 
 te valley called Paran, he enlarged many ot 
 e caves, and many others he found readv for 
 his purpose; these he made use of as r'.posi- 
 tories for his treasures, and receptacles for his 
 prey, and therein he laid up the fruito that he 
 had got by rapine; and many of b'.s partisans 
 had their dwelling in them; and he made no 
 secret of it that he was exercising his men 
 beforehand, and making prefiarations for the 
 assault of Jerusalem. 
 
 5. Whereupon the zealots, out of the dread 
 they were in of his attacking them, and being 
 willing to prevent one that was growing up lo 
 
700 
 
 WAES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK ir 
 
 oppose them, went out against him with their 
 weapons. Simon met them, and joining bat- 
 tle with them, slew a considerable number of 
 them, and drove the rest before him into the 
 city: but durst not trust so much upon his 
 forces as to make an assault upon the walls ; 
 but he resoived first to subdue Idumea, and 
 as he had now twenty thousand armed men, 
 he marched to the borders of their country. 
 Hereupon the rulers of the Idumeans got toge- 
 ther on the sudden the most warlike part of 
 their people, about 'twenty-five thousand in 
 number, and permitted the rest to be a guard 
 to their own country, by reason of the incur- 
 sions that were made by the Sicarii that were 
 at Masada. Thus they received Simon at their 
 botders, where they fought him and conti- 
 nued the battle all that day; and the dispute 
 lay whether they had conquered him or been 
 conquered by him. So he went back to Nain, 
 as did the Idumeans return home. Nor was it 
 long ere Simon came violently again upon their 
 country ; when he pitched his camp at a cer- 
 tain village called Thecoe, and sent Eleazar, 
 one of his companions, to those that kept gar- 
 rison at Herodium, and in order to persuade 
 them to surrender that fortress to him. The 
 garrison received this man readily, while they 
 knew nothing of what he came about; but as 
 soon as he talked of the surrender of the place, 
 they fell upon him with their drawn swords, 
 till he found he had no place for flight, when 
 he threw himself down from the wall into the 
 valley beneath ; so he died immediately: but 
 the Idumeans, who were already much afraid 
 of Simon^s power, thought fit to take a view 
 of the enemy's army before Uiey hazarded a 
 battle with him. 
 
 6. Now, there was one of their comman- 
 ders, named Jacob, who offered to serve them 
 readily upon that occasion, but had it in his 
 mind to betray them. He went therefore 
 from the village Alurus, wherein the army of 
 the Idumeans were gotten together, and came 
 to Simon, and at the very first he agreed to 
 betray his country to him, and took assurances 
 upon oath from him that he should always 
 have him in esteem, and then promised him 
 that he would assist him in subduing all 
 Idumea under him ; upon which account he 
 was feasted after an obliging manner by 
 Simon, and elevated by his mighty promises ; 
 and when he was returned to hiis own men, 
 he at first belied the army of Simon, and sa^ 
 it was manifold more in number than what 
 it was; after which, he dexterously persuaded 
 the commanders, and by degrees the whole 
 multitude, to receive Simon, and to surrender 
 the whole government up to him wit*iout 
 fighting ; and as he was doing this, he invited 
 Simon by his messengers, and promised him 
 to disperse the Idumeans, which he performed 
 also ; for as soon as their army was nigh them, 
 he first of all got upon his horse, and fled, 
 togetb«r with those whom he had corrupted ; 
 
 hereupon a terror fell upon the whole multf 
 tude; and before it came to a close fight, 
 they broke their ranks, and every one retired 
 to his own home. 
 
 7. Thus did Simon unexpectedly march 
 into Idumea, without bloodshed, and made a 
 sudden attack upon the city Hebron, and 
 took it ; wherein he got possession of a great 
 deal of prey, and plundered it of a vast quan- 
 tity of fruit. Now, the people of the coun- 
 try say, that it is an ancienter city, not only 
 than any in that country, but than Memphis 
 in Egypt, and accordingly its age is reckoned 
 at two thousand and three hundred years. 
 They also relate that it had been the habita- 
 tion of Abram, the progenitor of the Jews> 
 after he had removed out of Mesopotamia ; 
 and they say that his posterity descended from 
 thence into Egypt, whose monuments are to 
 this very time shown in that small city t the 
 fabric of which monuments are of the most 
 excellent marble, and wrought after the most 
 elegant manner. There is also there shown, 
 at the distance of six furlongs from the city, 
 a very large turpentine-tree ;* and the report 
 goes, that this tree has continued ever since 
 the creation of the world.^ Thence did Simon 
 make his progress over all Idumea, and did 
 not only ravage the cities and villages, but 
 laid waste the whole country; for, besides 
 those that were completely armed, he had 
 forty thousand men that followed him, inso- 
 much that he had not provisions enough to 
 suffice such a multitude. Now, besides this 
 want of provisions that he was in, he was of 
 a barbarous disposition, and bore great anger 
 at this nation, by which means it came to pasa 
 that Idumea was greatly depopulated ; and 
 as one may see all the woods behind despoiled 
 of their leaves by locusts, after they have been 
 there, so was there nothing left behind 
 Simon's army but a desert. Some places they 
 burnt down, some they utterly demolished, 
 and whatsoever grew in the country, they 
 either trod it down or fed upon it, and by 
 their marches they made the ground that was 
 cultivated, harder and more untractable than 
 that which was barren. In short, there was 
 no sign remaining of those places that had 
 been laid waste, that ever they had had a 
 being. 
 
 8. This success of Simon excited the zea- 
 lots afresh ; and though they were afraid to 
 fight him openly in a fair battle, yet did they 
 lay ambushes in the passes, and seized upon 
 his wife, with a considerable number of her 
 attendants ; whereupon they came back to 
 the city rejoicing, as if they had taken Simon 
 himself captive, and were in present expecta- 
 tion that he would lay down his arms, and 
 
 * Some of the nncients mil this famous tree, or grovej. 
 an oak; ollierR, a turpentine-tree, or grove. It Las 
 been very famous In kU tlie i^apt nges, and is fo, I sup- 
 poHc, at this dny, nn<l that particularly for an eminent 
 mart, or meeting of merchants Ujore every year, m th* 
 travellcrB lnfi>rm uk 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 701 
 
 make supplication to them for his wife ; but 
 instead of indulging any merciful affections, 
 he grew very angry at them for seizing his 
 beloved wife ; so he came to the wall of Jeru- 
 salem, and, like wild beasts when they are 
 wounded, and cannot overtake those that 
 wounded them, he vented his spleen upon all 
 persons that he met with. Accordingly, he 
 caught all those that were come out of the 
 city-gates, either to gather herbs or sticks, 
 who were unarmed and in years; he then 
 tormented them and destroyed them, out of 
 the immense rage he was in, and was almost 
 ready to taste the very flesh of their dead 
 bodies. He also cut off the hands of a great 
 many, and sent them into the city to astonish 
 his enemies, and in order to make the people 
 fall into a sedition, and desert those that had 
 been the authors of his wife's seizure. He 
 also enjoined them to tell the people that Si- 
 mon swore by the God of the universe, who 
 sees all things, that unless they will restore 
 him his wife, he will break down their wall, 
 and inflict the like punishment upon all the 
 citizens, without sparing any age, and with- 
 out making any distinction between the guilty 
 and the innocent. These threatenings so 
 greatly affrighted, not the people only, but 
 the zealots themselves also, that they sent his 
 wife back to him, — when he becerae a little 
 milder, and left off his perpetual blood-shed- 
 ding. 
 
 9. But now sedition and civil war prevailed, 
 not only over Judea, but in Italy also; for 
 now Galba was slain in the midst of the 
 Roman market-place ; then was Otho made 
 emperor, and fought against Vitellius, who 
 set up for emperor also; for the legions in 
 Germany had chosen him : but when he gave 
 battle to Valens and Cicinna, who were 
 Vitellius's generals, at Betriacum, in Gall, 
 Otho gained the advantage on the first day ; 
 but on the second day Vitellius's soldiers had 
 the victory: and after much slaughter, Otho 
 slew himself, when he had heard of this 
 defeat at Brixia, and after he had managed 
 the public affairs three months and two 
 days.* Otho's army also came over to Vitel- 
 lius's generals, and he came himself down 
 to Rome with his army; but in the mean 
 time Vespasian removed from Cesarea, on 
 the fifth day of the month Daesius [Sivan], 
 and marched against those places of Judea 
 which were not yet overthrown. So he went 
 up to the mountainous county, and took 
 those two toparchies that were called the 
 Gophnitick and Acrabattene toparchies. After 
 which he took Bethel and Ephraim, two small 
 cities ; and when he had put garrisons into 
 them, he rode as far as Jerusalem, in which 
 march he took many prisoners, and many 
 captives. But Cerealis, one of his commanders, 
 
 * Suetonius differs harJly three days from Josephus, 
 and says Otho perished on the ninety-fifth day of his 
 Teisn. In Othon. See the note, ch. xi. sect. 1. 
 
 took a body of horsemen and footmen, and 
 laid waste that part of Idumea which was 
 called the Upper Idumea, and attacked 
 Caphethra, which pretended to be a small city, 
 and took it at the first onset, and burnt it 
 down. He also attacked Capharabim, and 
 laid siege to it, for it had a very strong wall/ 
 and when he expected to spend a long tim 
 in that siege, those that were within opened ^ 
 their gates on the sudden, and came to beg ' 
 pardon, and surrendered themselves up to 
 him. When CereaHs had conquered them he 
 went to Hebron, another very ancient city. I 
 have told you already, that this city is situated 
 in a mountainous country not far off Jerusa- 
 lem ; and when he had broken into the city 
 by force, what multitude and young men were 
 left therein he slew, and burnt down the city ; 
 so that as now all the places were taken, 
 excepting Herodium, and Masada, and Mache- 
 rus, which where in the possession of the 
 robbers, so Jerusalem was what the Romans 
 at present aimed at. 
 
 10. And now, as soon as Simon had set 
 his wife free, and recovered her from the zea- 
 lots, he returned back to the remainders of 
 Idumea, and driving the nation all before 
 him from all quarters, he compelled a great 
 number of them to retire to Jerusalem ; he 
 followed them himself also to the city, and 
 encompassed the wall all round again ; and 
 when he lighted upon any labourers that were 
 coming thither out of the country, he slew 
 them. Now this Simon, who was without the 
 wall, was a greater terror to the people than 
 the Romans themselves, as were the zealots 
 who were within it more heavy upon them 
 than both of the other; and during this time 
 did the mischievous contrivances and courage 
 [of John] corrupt the body of the Galileans; 
 for these Galileans had advanced this John, 
 and made him very potent, who made them a 
 suitable requital from the authority he had 
 obtained by their means ; for he permitted 
 them to do all things that any of them desired 
 to do, while their inclination to plunder was 
 insatiable, as was their zeal in searching the 
 houses of the rich ; and for the murdering of 
 the men, and abusing of the women, it was 
 sport to them. They also devoured what 
 spoils they had taken, together with their 
 blood, and indulged themselves in feminine 
 wantonness, without any disturbance, till they 
 were satiated therewith : while they decked 
 their hair, and put on women's' garments, and 
 were besmeared over with ointments ; and 
 that they might appear very comely, they had 
 paints under their eyes, and imitated, not 
 only the ornaments, but also the lusts of 
 women, and were guilty of such intolerable . 
 uncleanness, that they invented unlawful plea- 
 sures of that sort. And thus did they roll 
 themselves up and down the city, as in a bro- 
 thel-house, and defiled it entirely with their 
 impure actions : nay, while their faces lookad 
 
702 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV, 
 
 like the faces of women, they killed with their 
 right hands; and when their gait was eflfe- 
 ' minate, they presently attacked men, and 
 ^ became warriors, and drew their swords from 
 under their finely- dyed cloaks, and ran every 
 body through whom they alighted upon. 
 However, Simon waited for such as ran 
 away from John, and was the more bloody 
 tf the two: and he who had escaped the 
 tyrant within the wall, was destroyed by the 
 other that lay before the gates. So that all 
 attempts of flying and deserting to the 
 Romans were cut oflf, if any had a mind so 
 to do. 
 
 11. Yet did the army that was under 
 John raise a sedition against him; and all the 
 Idumeans separated themselves from the 
 tyrant, and attempted to destroy him, and this 
 out of their envy at his power and hatred of 
 his cruelty; so they got together, and slew 
 many of the zealots, and drove the rest before 
 them into that royal palace that was built by 
 Grapte, who was a relation of Izates, the king 
 of Adiabene ; the Idumeans fell in with them 
 and drove the zealots out thence into the tem- 
 ple, and betook themselves to plunder John's 
 elfects; for both he himself was in that palace, 
 and therein had he laid up the spoils he 
 had acquired by his tyranny. In the mean 
 time, the multitude of those zealots that were 
 dispersed over the city ran together to the 
 temple unto those that had fled thither, and 
 John prepared to bring them down against 
 the people and the Idumeans, who vi^ere not 
 so much afraid of being attacked by them, 
 (because they were themselves better soldiers 
 than they), as at their madness, lest they should 
 privately sally out of the temple and get 
 among them, and not only destroy them, but 
 set the city on fire also. So they assembled 
 themselves together, and the high-ppests with 
 them, and took counsel after what manner 
 they should avoid their assault. Now it was 
 God who turned their opinions to the worst 
 advice, and thence they devised such a remedy 
 to get themselves free, as was worse than 
 the disease itself. Accordingly, in order to 
 overthrow John, they determined to admit 
 Simon, and earnestly to desire the introduction 
 of a second tyrant into the city; which reso- 
 lution they brought to perfection, and sent 
 Matthias, the hij^h priest, to beseech this Si- 
 mon to come in to them, of whom they had 
 so often been afraid. Those also that had 
 fled trom the -zealots in Jerusalem joined in 
 this request to him, out of the desire they hac 
 of preserving their houses and their effects. 
 Accordingly, he, in an arrogant manner, grant- 
 ed them tiis lordly protection, and came into 
 the city, in order to deliver it from the zealots. 
 The people also made jovlul acclamations to 
 him, as their saviour and tlieir preserver; but 
 when he was come in with his army, he took 
 caic to secure his own authority, and looked 
 U|M>u those that bad inviteU biiii to be no less 
 
 his enemies than those against whom the invi- 
 tation was intended. 
 
 12. And thus did Simon get possession of 
 Jerusalem, in the third year of the war, in the 
 month Xanthicus [Nisa!)]; whereupon John, 
 with hjs multitude of zealots, as being both 
 prohibited from coming out of the temple, 
 and having lost their power in the city (for 
 Simon and his party had plundered them of 
 what they had), were in despair of deliverance. 
 Simon also made an assault upon the temple, 
 with the assistance of the people, while the 
 others stood upon the cloisters and the battle- 
 ments, and defended themselves from their 
 assaults. However, a considerable number 
 of Simon's party fell, and many were carried 
 off wounded ; for the zealots threw their darts 
 easily from a superior place, and seldom failed 
 of hitting their enemies ; but having the advan- 
 tage of situation, and having withal erected 
 four very large towers aforehand, that their 
 darts might come from higher places, one at the 
 north-east corner of tl.e court, one above the 
 XystuSjthe third at another corner over against 
 the lower city, and the last was erected above 
 the top of the Pastophoria, where one of the 
 priests stood of course, and gave a signal be- 
 forehand, with a trumpet,* at the beginning of 
 every seventh day, in the evening twilight, as 
 also at the evening when the day was finished, 
 as giving notice to the people when they 
 were to leave olf work, and when they were 
 to go to work again. These men also set 
 their engines to cast darts and stones withal, 
 upon those towers, with their archers and 
 slingers. And now Simon made his assault 
 upon the temple more fai'.tly, by reason that 
 the greatest part of his men grew weary of 
 that work; yet did he not leave off his oppo- 
 sition, because his army was superior to the 
 others, although the darts which were thrown 
 by the engines were carried a great way, and 
 slew many of those that fought for him. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW THE SOLDIERS, BOTH IN JUDKA AND 
 EGYPT, PROCLAIMED VESPASIAN EMPEROR; 
 AND HOW VESPASIAN RELEASED J0SEPHU8 
 FROM HIS BONDS. 
 
 § 1. Now, about this very time it was that 
 heavy calamities came about Rome on all 
 sides; for Vitellius wa§ come from Germany 
 with his soldiery, and drew along with him a 
 
 • This beginning and cndinR the observation of the 
 Jewish (ieventh L>ay,ur iiabhath, with a priest's blowing 
 of a trumpet, is reinarKable, and nowhtre elso men- 
 tioned, that 1 know of. Nor is tteland's conjecture tem 
 improbable, that tliis was the very placr, that had pux> 
 zled our commentators so Ion?, called '• Mu.sach Sub- 
 bati," the "■ divert ol the ^abltath," it that be the truo 
 reading, a Kin^s xvi. IS; brcaiise here llie pri'iiwr priest 
 stoud dry, unler a ''covniii;:." to pmcUuii the begins 
 ning and ending of every Jewish !«abbalh. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 703 
 
 g^eat multitude of other men besides. And 
 when the spaces allotted for soldiers could not 
 contain them, he made all Rome itself his 
 camp, and filled all the houses with armed 
 men; which men, when they saw the riches 
 of Rome with those eyes which had never 
 seen such riches before, and found themselves 
 shone rouncfc about on all sides with silver 
 and gold, they had much ado to contain their 
 covetous desires, and were ready to betake 
 themselves to plunder, and to the slaughter 
 of such as should stand in their way. And 
 this was tbe state of affairs in Italy at that 
 time. 
 
 2. But when Vespasian had overthrown 
 all the places that were near to Jerusalem, he 
 returned to Cesarea, and heard of the troubles 
 that were at Rome, and that Vitellius was 
 emperor. This produced indignation in him, 
 although he well knew how to be governed, 
 «s well as to govern, and could not with any 
 satisfaction own him for his lord who acted 
 so madly, and seized upon the government 
 as if it were absolutely destitute of a gover- 
 nor. And as this sorrow of his was violent, 
 he was not able to support the torments he 
 was under, nor to apply himself farther in 
 other wars when his native country was laid 
 waste; but then, as much as his passion exci- 
 ted him to avenge his country, so much was 
 he restrained by the consideration of his dis- 
 tance therefrom; because fortune might pre- 
 vent him, and do a world of mischief before 
 he could himself sail over the sea to Italy, 
 especially as it was still the winter season; 
 so he restrained his anger, how vehement 
 soever it was, at this time. 
 
 3. But now his commanders and soldiers 
 met in several companies, and consulted 
 openly about changing the public affairs; — 
 and, out of their indignation, cried out, how 
 "at Rome there are soldiers that live deli- 
 cately, and when they have not ventured so 
 much as to hear the fame of war, they ordain 
 whom they please for our governors, and in 
 hopes of gain make them emperors; while you, 
 who have gone through so many labours, and 
 are grown into years under your helmets, 
 give leave to others to use such a power, 
 when yet you have among yourselves one 
 more worthy to rule than any whom they 
 have set up. Now what juster opportunity 
 shall they ever have of requiting their gene- 
 rals, if they do not make use of this that is 
 now before them? while there is so much 
 Juster reason for Vespasian's being emperor 
 than for Vitellius; as they are themselves 
 more deserving than those that made the other 
 emperors; for that they have undergone as 
 great wars as have the troops that come from 
 Germany; nor are they inferior in war to those 
 that have brought that tyrant to Rome, nor 
 have they undergone smaller labours than 
 they; for that neither will the Roman senate, 
 Dor people, bear such a lascivious emperor as 
 
 Vitellius, if he be compared with their chaste 
 Vespasian; nor will they endure a most bar- 
 barous tyrant, instead of a good governor, nor 
 choose one that hath no child,* to preside 
 over them, instead of him that is a father, 
 because the advancement of men's own chil- 
 dren to dignities is certainly the greatest 
 security kings can have for tbemselve?. 
 Whether, therefore, we estimate the capacity 
 of governing from the skill of a person in years, 
 we ought to have Vespasian, — or whether from 
 the strength of a young man, we ought to have 
 Titus; for by this means we shall have ilie 
 advantage of both their ages, for that they 
 will afford strength to those that shall be 
 made emperors, they having already three 
 legions, besides other auxiliaries from the 
 neighbouring kings, and will have farther all 
 the armies in the east to support them, as 
 also those in Europe, so far as they are out 
 of the distance and dread of Vitellius, besides 
 such auxiliaries as they may have in Italy 
 itself; that is, Vespasian's brother,f and his 
 other son [Domitian]; the one of whom will 
 bring in a great many of those young men 
 that are of dignity, while the other is intrusted 
 with the government of the city, which office 
 of his will be no small means of Vespasian's 
 obtaining the government. Upon the whole, 
 the case may be such, that if we ourselves 
 make farmer delays, the senate may choose 
 an emperor, whom the soldiers, who are the 
 saviours of the empire, will have in contempt." 
 4. These were the discourses the soldiers 
 had in their several companies; after which 
 they got together in a great body, and, encou- 
 raging one another, they declared Vespasian 
 einperor,J and exhorted him to save the 
 government which was now in danger. Now 
 Vespasian's concern had been for a consider- 
 able time about the public, yet did not he 
 intend to set up for governor himself, though 
 his actions showed him to deserve it, while 
 he preferred that safety which is in a private 
 life before the dangers in a state of such dig- 
 nity; but when he refused the empire, the 
 
 • The Roman authors that now remain, say Vitellius 
 bad children; whereas Josephus introduces here ttie 
 Raman soldiers in Judea saying he had none. Which of 
 these assertions was the truth I know not Spanbeim 
 thinks \\e has s;iven a peculiar reason for calling Vitel- 
 lius "childless," though he really had children. Oiss. de 
 Num. p. 649, 6.30; to which it appears very difficult Ui 
 give our assent- 
 
 + This brother of Vespasian was Flavins Sabinus. as 
 Suetonius informs as, in Vitell.8.15; and in Vespa8.s.2. 
 He is also named by Josephus presently, ch.xL8 4. 
 
 t It is plain by the nature of the thing, as well as by 
 Josephus and Eutropius, that Vespasian was first of all 
 saluted emperor in Judea, and not till some time after- 
 ward in I' gypt Whence Tacitus's and Suetonius's pre- 
 sent copies must be corrected, when they both say that 
 be was first proclaimed in i-gypt, and that on the 
 kalends of July, while they still say it was the filth erf 
 the Nones or Ides of the same July before he was pro- 
 claimed in Judea. I suppose the month they tUm 
 intended was June, and not July, as thr copies now b^ra 
 it; nor does Tacitus's coherence imply less. See Essay 
 oa the Uevelation, page 13Q 
 
704 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IT 
 
 commanders insisted the more earnestly upon 
 his acceptance ; and the soldiers came about 
 him, tvith their drawn swords in their hands, 
 and threatened to kill him, unless he would 
 now hve according to his dignity. And when 
 he had shown his reluctance a great while, 
 and had endeavoured to thrust away this 
 dominion from him, he at length, being not 
 able to persuade them, yielded to their solici- 
 tations that would salute him emperor. 
 
 5. So upon the exhortations of Mucianus 
 and the other commanders, that he would 
 accept of the empire, and upon that of the rest 
 of the army, who cried out that they were 
 wilUng to be led against all his opposers, he 
 was in the first place intent upon gaining the 
 dominion over Alexandria, as knowing that 
 Egypt was of the greatest consequence, in 
 order to obtain the entire government, because 
 of its supplying corn [to Romejl; which corn, 
 if he could be master of, he hoped to dethrone 
 Vitellius, supposing he should aim to keep 
 the empire by force (for he would not be able 
 to support himself, if the multitude at Rome 
 should once be in want of food) ; and because 
 he was desirous to join the two legions that 
 were at Alexandria to the other legions that 
 were with him. He also considered with 
 himself, that he should then have that coun- 
 try for a defence to himself against the uncer- 
 tainty of fortune; for Egypt* is hferd to be 
 entered by land, and hath no good havens by 
 sea. It hath on the west the dry deserts of 
 Libya; and on the south Syene, that divides 
 it from Ethiopia, as well as the cataracts of 
 the Nile, that cannot be sailed over ; and on 
 the east the Red Sea, extending as far as 
 Coptus ; and it is fortified on the north by the 
 land that reaches to Syria, together with that 
 called the Egyptian Sea, having no havens in 
 it for ships. And thus is Egypt walled about 
 on every side. Its length between Pelusium 
 and Syene is two thousand furlongs, and the 
 passage by sea from Plinthine to Pelusium, is 
 three thousand six hundred furlongs. Its 
 river Nile is navigable as far as the city called 
 Elephantine, the forenamed cataracts hinder- 
 ing ships from going any farther. The haven 
 ;iIso of Alexandria is not entered by the mari- 
 ners without difficulty, even in times of peace ; 
 for the passage inward is narrow, and full of 
 rocks, that lie under the water, which oblige 
 the mariners to turn from a straight direction : 
 its left side is blocked up by works made by 
 man's hands on both sides ; on its right side 
 lies the island called Pharus, which is situated 
 just before the entrance, and supports a very 
 great tower, that affords the sight of a fire to 
 such as sail within three hundred furlongs of 
 it, that ships may cast anchor a great way off 
 in the night-time, by reason of the diflSculty 
 of sailing nearer. About this island are built 
 
 B* Here we haro Jin tnthentic description of the 
 bounds and circiimstoncea of Egypt in the days of 
 Tanpasian and Titus. 
 
 very great piers, the handywork of men, 
 against which when tlie sea dashes itself, 
 and its waves are broken against those boun- 
 daries, the navigation becomes very trouble- 
 some, and the entrance through so narrow a 
 passage is rendered dangerous: yet is the 
 haven itself, when you are got into it, a very 
 safe one, and of thirty furlongs in largeness ; 
 into which is brought what the country 
 wants, in order to its happiness ; as also what 
 abundance the country affords more than it 
 wants itself, is hence distributed into all the 
 habitable earth. 
 
 6. Justly, therefore, did Vespasian desire 
 to obtain that government, in order to corro- 
 borate his attempts upon the whole of the 
 empire; so he immediately sent to Tiberius 
 Alexander, who was then governor of Egypt 
 and of Alexandria, and informed him what 
 the army had put him upon, and how he, 
 being forced to accept of the burden of the 
 government, was desirous to have him for his 
 confederate and supporter. Now as soon a» 
 ever Alexander had read this letter, he readily 
 obliged the legions and the multitude to take 
 the oath of fidelity to Vespasian, both whom 
 willingly complied with him, as already 
 acquainted with the courage of the man, 
 from that his conduct in their neighbourhood. 
 Accordingly Vespasian, looking upon himself 
 as already intrusted with the government, 
 got all things ready for his journey [to 
 Rome]. Now fame carried this news abroad 
 more suddenly than one could have tnought, 
 that he was emperor over the east, upon 
 which every city kept festivals, and cele- 
 brated sacrifices and oblations for such good 
 news; the legions also that were in Mysia 
 and Pannonia, who had been in commotion a 
 little before, on account of this insolent 
 attempt of Vitellius, were very glad to take 
 the oath of fidelity to Vespasian, upon his 
 coming to the empire. Vespasian then removed 
 from Cesarea to Berytus, where many embas- 
 sages came to him from Syria, and many from 
 other provinces, bringing with them from 
 every city crowns, and the congratulations of 
 the people. Mucianus came also, who was 
 the president of the province, and told him 
 with what alacrity the people [received the 
 news of his advancement], and how the peo- 
 ple of every city had taken the oath of fidelity 
 to him. 
 
 7. So Vespasian*s good fortune succeeded 
 to his wishes everywhere, and the public 
 affairs were, for the greatest part, already in his 
 hands; upon which he considered that he had 
 not arrived at the government without Divine 
 Providence, but that a righteous kind of fate 
 had brought the empire under his power ; for 
 as he called to mind the other sigt>nls, which 
 had been a great many everywhere, that fore- 
 told he should obtain the government, so did 
 he remember what Josrphus had said to him 
 when he ventured to foretel his coming to the 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 WAIt^ Of THE JF.VVS. 
 
 705 
 
 empire while Nero was alive; so hfe was much 
 concerned that this man was still in bonds 
 with him. He then called for Mucianus, to- 
 gether with his other commanders and friends, 
 and, in the first place, he informed them what 
 a valiant man Joseph us had been, and what 
 great hardships he had made him undergo in 
 the siege of Jotapata. After that he related 
 those predictions of his* which he bad then 
 suspected as fictions, suggested out of the 
 fear he was in, but which had by time been 
 demonstrated to be divine. " It is a shame- 
 ful thing (said he) that this man who hath 
 foretold my coming to the empire beforehand, 
 and been the minister of a divine message 
 to me, should still be retained in the condition 
 of a captive or prisoner." So he called for 
 Josephus, and commanded that be should be 
 set at liberty ; whereupon the commanders 
 promised themselves glorious things, from this 
 requital Vespasian made to a stranger. Titus 
 was then present with his father, and said, 
 " O father, it is but just that the scandal [of 
 a prisoner] should be taken otf Josephus, to- 
 gether with his iron chain; for if we do not 
 barely loose his bonds, but cut them to pieces, 
 he will be like a man that had never been 
 bound at all." For that is the usual method 
 as to such as have been bouniJ without a cause. 
 This advice was agreed to by Vespasian also; 
 so there came a man in, and cut the chain to 
 pieces; while Josephus received this testimony 
 of his integrity for a reward, and was more- 
 over esteemed a person of credit as to futu- 
 rities also. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THAT tJPON THE CONQUEST AND SLAUGHTER 
 OF VITELLIUS, VESPASIAN HASTENED HIS 
 JOURNKY TO ROMIi; BUT TITUS HIS SON 
 RETURNED TO JERUSALEM. 
 
 § 1. And now, when Vespasian bad given 
 
 aiifiwers to the embassages, and had disposed 
 
 * of the places of power justly,! and according 
 
 • As Daniel was preferred by Darius and Cyrus, on 
 account of his having foretold the destruction of the Ba- 
 bylonian monarchy by theii means, and the consequent 
 exaltation of the Vledes and Persians, Uan v. vi.; or 
 rather, as Jeremiah, when tie was a prisoner, was set at 
 liberty, and honourably treated by Nebuzaradan, at the 
 command of Nehuchadnezzar. on account of liis having 
 foretold the d»-structiou of Jerusalem l>v the Babylo- 
 iiiiins,Jer. xl. 1—7; so was <mr J osepiius set ai liberty and 
 bonouraOly treated, on ui-e..u;il of iii> liaviii;; loieiold 
 tl>e advanceii.ersi of Vt-spa^ia;. an'l Titus to tt»e Roman 
 empire. All these are m<i«t eminent instances of tne 
 interposition of Divine Providence, and of the certainty 
 of diriB» predictions in the great revolutions of the four 
 monarchies. Several sucU-like examples, there are, both 
 JD the sacred and other hi tones; as in t le case of Jo- 
 ecph in Kpyot. and of Jaldua ihe his'b - priest, in the 
 days of Alexander lUe Gieat. tScc. 
 
 ■♦ This is well oh .erved by Josephus. that Vespasian, 
 
 In ordtr to secnr»* his success. aiHi esiah isn his ^overn- 
 
 iTPPt at lirsi, Misriboifii n^otfio-s aii't plairs upon the 
 
 fot,t of jii.>Ui-<?. a.«l i>e»l<»wl Jiieiu on -"Uch *.t m nt .i. . 
 
 I cerT<<d them, and were brtfi ht lor lueni. V\ hicb wise 
 
 to every one's deserts, he came to Antioch, 
 and consulting which way he had best take, 
 he preferred to go to Rome, rather tha:i to 
 march to Alexandria, because he saw that 
 Alexandria was sure to him already, but that 
 the atfairs at Rome were put into disorder by 
 Vitellius; so he sent Mucianus to Italy, and 
 committed a considerable army both of horse- 
 men and footmen to him; yet was Mucianr;* 
 afraid of going by sea, because it was the 
 middle of winter; so he led his army on foot 
 through Cappadocia and Phrygia. 
 
 2. In the mean time Antoiiius Primus took 
 the third of the legions that were in Mysia, 
 for he was president of that province, and 
 made haste, in order to fight Vitellius; where- 
 upon Vitellius sent away Cecinna, with a great 
 army, having a mighty confidence in him, 
 because of his having beaten Otho. Thid 
 Cecinna marched out of Rome in great haste, 
 and found Antonius about Cremona in Gall, 
 which city is in the holders of Italy; but 
 when he saw there that the enemy were nu- 
 merous and in good order, he durst not fight 
 them ; and as he thought a retreat dangerous, 
 so he began to think of betraying his army to 
 Antonius. Accordingly, he assembled the 
 centurions and tiibimes that were under his 
 command, and persuaded them to go over to 
 Antonius, and thi.s by diminishing the repu- 
 tation of Vitellius, and by exaggerating the 
 power of Vespasian. He also told them, that 
 with the one there was no more than the bare 
 name of dominion; but with the other was 
 the power of it; and that it was better for 
 them to prevent necessity, and gain favour, 
 and, while they were likely to be overcon)e in 
 battle, to avoid the danger beforehand, and go 
 over to Atitonius willingly; that Vespasian 
 was able of himself to subdue what had not 
 yet submitted, without their a.ssijt^:ice, while 
 Vitellius could not preserve what he had 
 already with it. 
 
 3. Cecinna said this, and much more to the 
 same purpose, and persuaded them To com^ 
 ply with him ; and both he and bis army 
 deserted; but still the very same night the 
 soldiers repented of what they had done, and a 
 fear seized on them, lest perhaps Vitellius who 
 sent them should get the better; ,ai>d drawing 
 their swords, they assaulted Cecinna, in order 
 to kill him; and the thing had been done 
 by them, if the tribunes had not fallen upon 
 their knees, and besought them not to do it: 
 so the soldiers did nut kill him, but put him 
 in bonds, as a trait«)r, and were about to send 
 him to Vitellius. When [Antonius] Primus 
 heard of this, he raised up his men immedi- 
 ately, and made them put on their armour, 
 and led them against those that had revolted ; 
 hereupon they put themselves in order of battle, 
 
 conduct in a mere heathen, ought to put those rulers "* 
 and ministers of state to shame, who professing Chris- 
 tianity, act otherwise, and thereby expose themselTea 
 uid their kingdoms to vice and destruction. 
 2Y 
 
706 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 and made resistance for a while, but were 
 soon beaten, and fled to Cremona; then did 
 Primus take his horsemen, and cut off their 
 entrance into the city, and encompassed and 
 destroyed a great multitude of them before 
 the city, and fell into the city together with the 
 rest, and gave leave to his soldiers to plunder 
 it. And here it was that many strangers, 
 who were merchants, as well as many of the 
 people of that country, perished, and among 
 them Vitellius's whole army, being thirty 
 thousand and two hundred, while Antonius 
 lost no more of those that came with him from 
 Mysia than four thousand and five hundred ; 
 he then loosed Cecinna, and sent him to Ves- 
 pasian, to tell him the good news. So he 
 came, and was received by him ; and covered 
 the scandal of his treachery by the unexpected 
 honours he received from Vespasian. 
 
 4. And now, upon the news that Antonius 
 was approaching, Sabinus took courage at 
 Rome, and assembled 'those cohorts of soldiers 
 that kept watch by night, and in the night- 
 time seized upon the capitol ; and as the day 
 came on, many men of character came over 
 to him, with Domitian, his brother's son. 
 whose encouragement was of very great 
 weight for the compassing the government. 
 Now, Vitellius was not much concerned at 
 this Primus, but was very angry with those 
 that had revolted with Sabinus; and thirsting, 
 out of his natural barbarity, after noble blood, 
 he sent out that part of the army which came 
 along with him to fight against the capitol; 
 and many bold actions were done on this side 
 and on the side of those that held the temple. 
 But at last, the soldiers that came from Ger- 
 many, being too numerous for the others, got 
 the hill into their possession, where Domitian, 
 with many other of the principal Romans, 
 providentially escaped, while the rest of the 
 multitude were entirely cut to pieces, and 
 Sabinus himself was brought to Vitellius and 
 then slain: the soldiers also plundered the 
 temple of its ornaments, and set it on fire. 
 But now within a day's time came Antonius, 
 with his army, and were met by Vitellius 
 and bis army; and having had a battle in 
 three several places, the last were all destroyed. 
 Then did Vitellius come out of the palace, in 
 his cups, and satiated with an extravagant 
 and luxurious meal, as in the last extremity, 
 and being drawn along through the multitude, 
 and abused with all sorts of torments, had 
 bis head cut off in the midst of Rome, having 
 retained the government eight months and 
 five days;* and had he lived much longer, 
 I cannot but think the empire would not 
 
 • Tne numbers in Josephus, ch. ix. sect. 2, 9, for 
 Galba 7 months 7 days, for Otho 3 months 2 days, and 
 here for Vitellius 8 months 5 days, do not a^ree with any 
 Roman historians; who also disai^ree amont; themselves. 
 Aud. indeed, ScaliKer justly complains, as Dr. Hudson 
 observes on chap, ix.sect.2. that this period Is very con- 
 fnsed stMl uncertain in the ancient authors. They were 
 probably some of them 2onte<nporary together fur som« 
 
 have been 'sufficient for his lust. Of the 
 others that were slain, were numbered abova 
 fifty thousand. This battle was fought on the 
 third day of the month Apelleus [Casleu]; 
 on the next Mucianus came into the city 
 with his army, and ordered Antonius and his 
 men to leave off killing; for they were still 
 searching the houses, and killed many of 
 Vitellius's soldiers and many of the populace, 
 as supposing them to be of his party, prevent- 
 ing by their rage any accurate distinction 
 between them and others. He then produced 
 Domitian, and recommended him to the mul- 
 titude, until his father should come himself: so 
 the people being now freed from their fears, 
 made acclamations of joy for Vespasian, as for 
 their emperor, and kept festival-days for bis 
 confirmation, and for the destruction of 
 Vitellius. 
 
 5. And now, as Vespasian was cotne to 
 Alexandria, this good news came from Rome, 
 and at the same time came embassies from aU 
 his own habitable earth, to congratulate him 
 upon his advancement; and though this Alex- 
 andria was the greatest of all cities next tc 
 Rome, it proved too narrow to contain tiie 
 multitude that then came to it. So upon tiis 
 confirmation of Vespasian's entire govern- 
 ment, which was now settled, and upon the 
 unexpected deliverance of the public alFairs 
 of the Romans from ruin, Vespasian turned 
 bis thoughts to what remained unsubdued i.-i 
 Judea. However, he himself made haste to 
 go to Rome, as the winter was uow alrno>t 
 over, and soon set the affairs of AIexan<iri;» in 
 order, but sent his son Titus, with a select 
 part of his army, to destroy Jerusalem So 
 Titus marched on foot as far as Nicopoiis, 
 which is distant twenty furlongs from Alex- 
 andria; there he put his army on board some 
 long ships, and sailed upon the river along 
 the Mendesian Nomus, as far as the city 
 Thrauis; there he got out of the ships, and 
 walked on foot, and lodged all night at a small 
 city called Tanis. His second station was Hera- 
 cleopolis, and his third Pelusium; he then 
 refreshed his army at that place for two days; 
 and on the third passed over the mouths of 
 the Nile at Pelusium; he then proceeded one 
 station over the desert, and pitched his camp 
 at the temple of the Casian Jupiter,f and on 
 the next day at Ostracine. This station had 
 no water; but the people of the country 
 make use of water brought from other places. 
 After this he rested at Rbinocolura, and from 
 thence he went to Raphia, which was bis 
 fourth station. This city is the beginning of 
 
 time; one of tha best evidences we have, I mean 
 Ptolemy's Canon, omits them all, as if they did not all 
 together reign one whole year, nor had a siuKle Thoth, 
 
 I or New Year's Day (which then fell upon August 6K in 
 their entire reiRns. Dio, also, who Siiys that Vitellius 
 reigned a year within ten days, does yet estimate all their 
 reigns tot;ether at no more than one year, one month, 
 
 j and two (lays. 
 
 I + There are coins of this Casian Jupiter still 
 
 I as Spanhttim h«re informs us. 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 707 
 
 Syria. For his fifth station he pitched his 
 camp at Gaza; after which he came to As- 
 caion, and thence to Jamnia, and alter that 
 
 to Joppa, and from Joppa to Cesarea, having 
 taken a resolution to gather all his othei 
 forces together at that place. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 CONTAIXIXG THE INTERVAL OP NEAR SIX MONTHS. 
 
 FROM THE COMING OF TITUS TO BESIEGE JERUSALEM, TO THE 
 GREAT EXTREMITY TO WHICH THE JEWS WERE REDUCED. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CONCERNING THE SEDITIONS AT JERUSALEM, 
 AND WHAT TERRIBLE MISERIES AFFLICTED 
 THE CITY BY THEIR MEANS. 
 
 § 1. When therefore Titus had marched over 
 that desert which lies between Egypt and 
 Syria, in the manner forementioned, he came 
 to Cesarea, baring resolved to set his forces 
 in order at that place, before he began the 
 war. Nay, indeed, while he was assisting his 
 father at Alexandria, in settling that govern- 
 ment which had been newly conferred upon 
 them by God, it so happened that the sedition 
 at Jerusalem was revived, and parted into 
 three factions, and that one faction fought 
 against the other; which partition in such 
 evil cases may be said to be a good thing, and 
 the effect of divine justice. Now as to the 
 attack the zealots made upon the people, and 
 which I esteem the beginning of the city's 
 destruction, it hath been already explained 
 after an accurate manner; as also whence it 
 arose, and to how great a mischief it was in- 
 creased ; but for the present sedition, one 
 should not mistake if be called it a sedition 
 begotten by another sedition, and to be like a 
 wild beast grown mad, which, for want of food 
 from abroad, fell now upon eating its own flesh. 
 2. For Eleazar, the son of Simon, who 
 made the first separation of the zealots from 
 the people, and made them retire inty the 
 temple, appeared very angry at John's inso- 
 lent attempts, which he made every day upon 
 the people; for this man never left off mur- 
 dering: but the truth was, that he could not 
 bear to submit to a tyrant who set up after 
 bini. So he being desirous of gaining the 
 entire power and dominion to himself, revolte(i 
 from John, and took to hia assistance Judas 
 tiic son of Cbeldas, und Simon the ion of 
 
 Ezron, who were among the men of greatest 
 power. There was also with him Hezekiah 
 the son of Chobar, a person of eminence. 
 Each of these were followed by a great many 
 of the zealots; these seized upon the inner 
 court of the temple,* and laid their arms upon 
 the holy gates, and over the holy fronts of 
 that court; and because they had plenty of 
 provisions, they were of good courage, for 
 there was a great abundance of what was con- 
 gecraied to sacred uses, and they scrupled not 
 the making use of them; yet were they afraid, 
 on account of theip small number; and when 
 they bad laid up their arms there, they did 
 not stir from the place they were in. Now 
 as to John, what advantage he had above 
 Eleazar in the multitude of his followers, the 
 like disadvantage he had in the situation he 
 was in, since he had his enemies over his 
 bead; and as he could not make any assault 
 upon them without some terror, so was his 
 anger too great to let them be at rest; nay, 
 although he suffered more mischief from Elea- 
 zar aiid bis party than he could inflict upon 
 them, yet would he not leave off assaulting 
 them, insomuch that there were continual sal- 
 lies made one against another, as well as darts 
 thrown at one another, and the temple was 
 defiled everywhere with murders. 
 
 3. But now the tyrant Simon, the son of 
 Gioras, whom the people had invited in, out of 
 the hopes they had of his assistance in the great 
 distresses they were in, having in his power the 
 upper city, and a great part of the lower, did 
 now make more vehement assaults upon John 
 
 • This app«an to be the first time that the zealots 
 ventured to pollute this most sacred court of the temple, 
 which was the court of the pritsls, wherein the t^m^ie 
 itself and the altar stood. So that the conj»-ctur»; of 
 those that would interpret that Zacbarias, who wab 
 slain " between the temple and the altar" several montbs 
 before, b. iv. ch. v. sect 4. as if be were slain there Ijy 
 these zealots, is groundless, as I have noted oq tluU 
 place already. 
 
708 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK T. 
 
 and his party, because they were fought against 
 from above also; yet was he beneath their 
 situation, when he attacked them, as they were 
 b^;neath the attacks of the others above them. 
 Whereby it came to pass, that John did both 
 receive and inflict great damage, and that 
 easily, as he was fought against on both sides; 
 and the same advantage that Eleazar and his 
 party had over him, since he was beneath them, 
 the same advantage had he, by his higher 
 situation, over Simon. On which account he 
 easily repelled the attacks that were made from 
 beneath, by the weapons thrown from their 
 hands only , but was obliged to repel those 
 that threw darts from the temple above him, 
 by his engines of war; for he had such engines 
 as threw darts, and javelins, and stones, and 
 that in no small number, by which he did 
 not only defend himself from such as fought 
 against him, but slew moreover many of the 
 priests, as they were about their sacred minis- 
 tratioqs; for notwithstanding these men were 
 mad with all sorts of impiety, yet did they still 
 admit those that desired to offer their sacri- 
 fices, although they took care to search the 
 people of their own country beforehand, and 
 both suspected and watched them; while they 
 were not so much afraid of strangers, who, 
 although they had gotten leave of them, how 
 cruel soever they were, to come into that 
 court, were yet often destroyed by this sedi- 
 tion : for those darts that were thrown by the 
 engines came with that force, that they went 
 all over the buildings, and reached as far as 
 the altar, and the temple itself, and fell upon 
 the priests, and those* that were about the 
 sacred offices; insomuch that many persons 
 who came thither with great zeal from the ends 
 of the earth, to offer sacrifices at this cele- 
 brated place, which was esteemed holy by all 
 mankind, fell down before their own sacrifices 
 themselves, and sprinkled that altar which was 
 venerable among all men, both Greeks and 
 Barbarians, with their own blood ; till the 
 dead bodies of strangers were mingled to- 
 gether with those of their own country, and 
 those of profane persons with those of the 
 priests, and the blood of all sorts of dead car- 
 casses stood in lakes in the holy courts them- 
 selves. And now, " O most wretched city, 
 what misery so great as this didst thou suffer 
 from the Romans, when they came to purify 
 thee from thy intestine hatred! For thou 
 couldst be no longer a place .tit for God, nor 
 couldst thou longer continue in being, after 
 thou hadst been a sepulchre for the bodies of 
 thine own people, and hadst made the holy house 
 ilsfcU'a burying-place in this civil war of thine! 
 \ ct Wittyst thou again grow better, if perchance 
 thou wilt hereafter appease the anger of that 
 Gwu who lit tiie author of thy destruction."f 
 
 • TheLeritefc 
 
 4 Thu Vtt au excellent rr fleet ion of JoKrphiiit, inchid- 
 ioy Mt4 iiupe» of the restorutiun of th«* Jfws .upon tiicir 
 npeutanc*. S«e Autiq. b. iv. cli. viii. sect. 4b, wmch 
 
 But I must restrain myself from these pas- 
 sions by the rules of history, since this is net 
 a proper time for domestic lamentations, but 
 for historical narrations; I therefore return 
 to the operations that follow in this sedition. 
 
 4. And now there were three treacherous 
 factions in the city, the on* parted from the 
 other. Eleazar and his party, that kept the 
 sacred first-fruits, came against John in their 
 cups. Those that were with John plundered 
 the populace, and went out with zeal against 
 Simon. This Simon had his supply of pro- 
 visions from the city, in opposition to the se- 
 ditious. When, therefore, John was assaulted 
 on both sides, he made his men turn about, 
 throwing his darts upon those citizens that 
 came up against him, from the cloisters he 
 had in his possession, while he opposed those 
 that attacked him from the temple by his en- 
 gines of war; and if at any time he was freed 
 from those that were above him, which hap- 
 pened frequently, from their being drunk 
 and tired, he sallied out with a great number 
 upon Simon and his party; and this he <iid 
 always in such parts of the city as he could 
 come at, till he set on fire those houses that 
 were full of corn, and of all other provisions. J 
 The same thing was done by Simon, whtu, 
 upon the other's retreat, he attacked the city 
 also; as if they had, on purpose, done it to 
 serve the Romans, by destroying what the 
 city had laid up against the siege, and by thus 
 cutting off the nerves of their own power. 
 Accordingly, it so came to pass, that all the 
 places that were about the temple were burnt 
 down, and were become an intermediate de- 
 sert space, ready for fighting on both sides; 
 and that almost all the corn was burnt, which 
 would have been sufficient for a siege of many 
 years. So they were taken by the means of 
 the famine, which it was impossible they 
 should have been, unless they had thus pre- 
 pared the way for it by this procedure. 
 
 5. And now, as the city was engaged in a 
 war on all sides, from these treacherous crowds 
 of wicked men, the people of the city, be- 
 tween them, were like a great l>ody torn in 
 pieces. The aged men and the women were 
 in such distress by their internal calamities, 
 that they wished for the Romans, and earnestly 
 hoped for an external war, in order to their 
 delivery from their domestic miseries. The 
 citizens themselves were under a terrible 
 consternation and fear; nor had they any 
 
 is the grand " Hope of Israel," as Manasseh-ben-lsrael, 
 the tamous Jewish rabbi, styles it. iu his small but re- 
 markable treatise on that subject ot which the JewisU 
 prophets are everywhere full. See the principal ot those 
 prophecies collected together at the end of the Essay on 
 the Revelation, pa^e 322, &c. 
 
 t This destruction of such a vast quantity of com 
 and other provisiun.*, as was suflicient tor many year*, 
 was the direct occasion of that terrible famine, wuicQ 
 consumed incredibli; number<of Jews in Jeiiisalem dur- 
 ing its siege. Nor probably could the llumans h<i%ft 
 taken this city, after all, had not these seditious Jew* 
 been so infatuated as thus madly to destroy, wnai Jo- 
 •epbus here Justly styles " The nerves of their powei.* 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 709 
 
 ORHorturity of taking counsel, and of chang- 
 JMtr their conduct; nor were there any hopes 
 of coming to un agreement with their ene- 
 mies; nor could such as had a mind flee 
 a nay; for guards were set at all places, and 
 ihc heads of the rpl)bers, although they were 
 seditious one against another in other respects, 
 yet did they agree in killing those that were 
 for peace with the Romans, or were suspected 
 of an inclination to desert to them, as their 
 common enemies. They agreed in nothing but 
 this, to kill those that were innocent. The 
 noise also of those that were lighting was 
 incessant, both by day and by night; but the 
 lamentations of those that njourned exceeded 
 the otiier; nor was there ever any occasion 
 for them to leave off their lamentations, 
 because their calamities came perpetually one 
 upon another, although the deep consterna- 
 tion they were in prevented their outward 
 wailing; but being constrained by their fear to 
 conceal their inward passions, they were 
 inwardly tormented, without daring to open 
 Iheir lips in groans. Nor was any regard paid 
 to those that were still alive, by their rela- 
 Sions; nor was there any care taken of burial 
 for those that were dead; the occasion of both 
 which was this, that every one despaired of 
 hinjself; for those that were not among the 
 seditious had no "great desires of any thing, as 
 expecting for certain that they should very 
 soon be destroyed; but for the seditious them- 
 selves, they fought against each other, whiJe 
 they trod upon the dead bodies as they lay 
 heaped one upon another, and taking up a mad 
 rage from those dead bodies that were under 
 their feet, became the fiercer thereupon. They, 
 moreover, were still inventing somewhat or 
 other that was pernicious against themselves', 
 and when they had resolved upon any thing, 
 they executed it without mercy, and omitted 
 no method of torment or of barbarity. Nay, 
 John abused the sacred materials,* and 
 employed them in the construction of his 
 engines of war; for the people and the priests 
 had formerly determined to support the tem- 
 ple, and raise the holy bouse twenty cubits 
 higher; for king Agrippa had at a very great 
 expense, and with very great pains, brought 
 thither such materials as were proper for that 
 purpose, being pieces of timber very well 
 worth seeing, both for their straightness and 
 their largeness: but the war coming on, and 
 interrupting the work, John had them cut, 
 and prepared for the building him towers, he 
 iinding them long enough to oppose from 
 them those his adversaries that fought him 
 from the temple that was above him. He also 
 bad them brought and erected bthind the 
 inner court over-against the west end of the 
 
 ^is timber, we see. was designed for the rebuildini; 
 -* twenty additiunal cubits of the h.ly house above 
 ♦fltired. which bad fallen down some years belore. 
 r 0t* cote on Aatic| b. xv. cb. zi. sect 3 
 
 cloisters 'vhere alone he could erect them ;t 
 whereas, the other sides ot that court had so 
 many steps as would not let them come nigh 
 enough the cloisters. 
 
 6. Thus did John hope to be too hard for 
 his enemies by these engines constructed by 
 his impiety; but God himself demonstrated 
 that his pains would prove pf no use to him, 
 by bringing 'the Romans upon him before he 
 had reared any of his towers; for Titus, 
 when he had gotten together part of his forces 
 about him, and had ordered the rest to meet 
 him at Jerusalem, marched out of Cesarea. 
 He had with him those three legions that had 
 accompanied his father when he laid Judea 
 waste, together with that twelfth legion which 
 had been formerly beaten with Cestius ; which 
 legion, as it was otherwise remarkable for its 
 valour, so did it march on now with greater 
 alacrity to avenge themselves on the Jews, as 
 remembering what they had formerly suffered 
 from them. Of these legions he ordered the 
 fifth to meet him, by going through Emmaus, 
 and the tenth to go up by Jericho ; he also 
 moved himself, together with the rest ; besides 
 whom marched those auxiliaries that came from 
 the kings, being now more in number than 
 before, together with a considerable number 
 that came to his assistance from Syria. Those 
 also that had been selected out of these four 
 legions, and sent with Mucianus to Italy, 
 had their places filled up out of these soldiers 
 that came out of Egypt with Titus, who were 
 two thousand men, chosen out of the armies 
 at Alexandria. There followed him also three 
 thousand drawn from those that guarded the 
 river Euphrates; as also, there came Tiberius 
 Alexander, who was a friend of his, most 
 valuable, both for his good-will to him and 
 for his prudence. He had formerly been 
 governor of Alexandria, but was now thought 
 worthy to be general of the army [under 
 Titus]. The reason of this was, that he had 
 been the first who encouraged Vespasian very 
 lately to accept this his new dominion, and 
 joined himself t» him with great fidelity, when 
 things were uncertain, and fortune had not 
 yet declared for him. He also followed Titus 
 as a counsellor, very useful to him in this war, 
 both by his age and skill in such affairs. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 HOW TITUS MARCHED TO JERUSALEM, AND HOW 
 HE WAS IN DANGER AS HE WAS TAKING A 
 VIEW 'of the CITY. OP THE PLACE ALSO 
 WHERE HE PITCHED HIS CAMP. 
 
 § 1. Now, as Titus was upon his march 
 into the enemy's country, the auxiliaries that 
 
 f There being no g^ate on the ■west, and only on the 
 west sid'* of the court of the priests, and fo no steps 
 there, this was the only side that the seditious, under 
 this John of Gischala, could bring their engines close 
 
710 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK V- 
 
 were sent by the kings marched first, having 
 all the other auxiliaries with them ; after whom 
 followed those that were to prepare the roads 
 and measure out the camp; then came the 
 cosumander's baggage, and after that the other 
 soldiers, who were completely armed to sup- 
 port them; then came Titus himself, having 
 with him another select body; and then came 
 the pikemen; after whom came the horse 
 belonging to that legion. All these came 
 before the engines; and after these engines, 
 followed the tribunes and the leaders of the 
 cohorts, with their select bodies; after these 
 came the ensigns, with the eagle; and before 
 those ensigns came the trumpeters belonging 
 to them; next these came the main body of 
 the army in their ranks, every rank being six 
 deep; the servants belonging to every legion 
 came after these; and before these last their 
 baggage; the mercenaries came last, and those 
 that guarded them brought up the rear. Now 
 Titus, according to the Roman usage, went 
 in the tront of the army after a decent man- 
 ner, and marched through Samaria to Gophna, 
 a city that had been formerly taken by his 
 father, and was then garrisoued by Roman 
 soldiers: and when he had lodged there one 
 night, he marched on in the morning; and 
 when he had gone as far as a day's march, he 
 pitched his camp at that valiey which the 
 Jews, in their own tongue, caii "the Vailey 
 of Thorns," near a certain village eaiied 
 Gabaothsaul, which signilies "the Hill of 
 Saul," beiiig dislaJit from Jerusalem about 
 thirty fui longs. There it was that he chose 
 out six hundred select horsemen, and went to 
 take a view of the city, to observe what 
 strength it was of, and how courageous the 
 Jews were; whether, when they saw him, and 
 before they cajne to a direct battle, they 
 would be affrighted and submit; for he had 
 been informed, what was really true, that the 
 people who were fallen under the power of 
 the seditious and the robbers, were greatly 
 desirous of peace; but being too weak to rise 
 up against the rest, they lay still. 
 
 2. Now, so long as he rode along the 
 straight road which Ld to the wall of the 
 city, nobody appeared out of the gates; but 
 when be went out of that road, and declined 
 towards the tower Psephinus, and led the 
 band of horsemen obliquely, an immense 
 number of the Jews leaped out suddenly at' 
 the towers called the " Women's Towers," 
 through that gate which was over-against the 
 monuments of queen Helena, and intercepted 
 his horse; and standing directly opposite to 
 those that still ran along the road, hindered 
 them from joining those that had declined 
 out of it. They intercepted Titus also, with 
 a few others. Now it was here impossible for 
 
 to the cloisters of that court end-ways, though upon 
 the floor of the court of Iflmel. fee the ochcme of 
 that temple, in the description of the temples hereto 
 beloDgiujf. 
 
 him to go forward, because all the places had 
 trenches dug in them from the wall, to pre- 
 serve the gardens round about, and were full 
 of gardens obliquely situated, and of many 
 hedges; and to return back to his own men, 
 he saw it was also impossible, by reason of 
 the multitude of the enemies that lay between 
 them; many of whom did not so much as 
 know that the king* was in any danger, but 
 supposed him still among them. So he per- 
 ceived, that his preservation must be wholly 
 owing to his own courage, and turned his 
 horse about, and cried out aloud to those that 
 were about him to follow him, and ran with 
 violence into the midst of his enemies, in order 
 to force his way through them to his own 
 men. And hence we may principally learn, 
 that both the success of wars, and the dangers 
 that kings f are in, are under the providence 
 of God; for while such a number of darts 
 were thrown at Titus, when he had neither 
 his head-piece on, nor his breast-plate (for, as 
 I told you, he went out not to fight, but to 
 view the city), none of them touched his body, 
 but went aside without hurting him; as if all 
 of them missed him on purpose, and only 
 made a noise as they passed by him. So he 
 diverted those perpetually with his sword that 
 came on his side, and overturned many of 
 those that directly met him, and made his 
 horse ride over those that were overthrown. 
 The enemy indeed made a great shout at the 
 boldness of Caesar,f and exhorted one another 
 to rush upon him. Yet did these against 
 whom he marched fly away, and go off from 
 him in great numbers; while those that were 
 in the same danger with him kept up close to 
 him, though they were wounded both on their 
 backs and on their sides; for they had each 
 of them but this one hope of escaping, if they 
 could assist Titus in opening himself a way, 
 that he might not be encompassed round by 
 his enemies before he got away from them. 
 Now, there were two of those that were with 
 him, but at some distance; the one of whom 
 the enemy encompassed round, and slew him 
 with their darts, and his horse also; but the 
 other they slew as he leaped down from his 
 horse, and carried off his horse with them. 
 But Titus escaped with the rest, and came 
 
 • We may here note, that Titus is here called " a kin^," 
 and " Cojsar," by Josephus, even wliile he was no nu')ie 
 than the emperor's son, and general ot the Roman uriiiy, 
 and his father Vespasian was still ahve; just as the New 
 Testaiuent says " Archelaus reigned," or "was kinj;" 
 (Matt iL 22), though he was properly no more tt'au eili- 
 narch, as Jost-phus assures us, AnUq. b. xviii. ch. xi. 
 sect 4. Of the U'ar. b. ii. ch vi. sect 3. Thus also the 
 Jews called the emperors " Kings," though they neve» 
 took that title to thetuseives: " VVe have no kiuk; buV 
 C'Ksar," John xix. 16. *' Submit to the king as supreme,'* 
 1 Pet. ii. 1:1, 17; which is also the lantiua^e of the Apos< 
 tulical Constitutions, ii. 11, M; iv. 13; v. ii); vi. '2, Uo; 
 vii. 16; viii 2, i-ii and elsewhere in the New Testa- 
 ment, IVIatt. X. IH; xvti ioi 1 I'uu.ii. 2; and in Josephus 
 al>o; thouffh I suspect Josephus particularly esteemed 
 I itus as joint.i.iuK wi.h his fatlit-r ever since his ditiua 
 (Irt-uniH that df dared them both such, h.iii.ch. viii. sect Vf. 
 + Se^ tue above note. 
 
CHAP. n. 
 
 "WARS OP THE JEWS. 
 
 711 
 
 «afe to the camp. So this success of the 
 Jews' first attack raised their minds, and gave 
 them an ill-grounded hope; and this ^ort 
 inclination of fortune, on their side, made them 
 very courageous for the future. 
 
 S. But now, as soon as that legion that had 
 been at Emmaus was joined to Caesar at night, 
 he removed thence, when it was day, and came 
 to a place called Scopus; from whence the 
 city began already to be seen, and a plain 
 view might be taken of the great temple. 
 Accordingly, this place, on the north quarter 
 of the city, and adjoining thereto, was a plain, 
 and very properly named Scopus [the pro- 
 spect]; and was no more than seven furlongs 
 distant from it. And here it was that Titus 
 ordered a camp to be fortified for two legions 
 that were to be together; but ordered another 
 camp to be fortified, at three furlongs* farther 
 distance behind them, for the fifth legion ; for 
 he thought that, by marching in the night, 
 they might be tired, and might deserve to be 
 covered from the enemy, and with less fear 
 might fortify themselves: and, as these were 
 now beginning to build, the tenth legion, who 
 came through Jericho, was already come to 
 the place, where a certain part of armed men 
 had formerly lain, to guard that pass into the 
 city, and had been taken before by Vespasian. 
 These legions had orders to encamp at the 
 distance of six furlongs from Jerusalem, at 
 the mount called the mount of Olives,* which 
 ^ves over-against the city on the east side, and 
 IS parted from it by a deep valley, interposed 
 between them, which is named Cedron. 
 
 4. Now, when hitherto the several parties 
 in the city had been dashing one against 
 another perpetually, this foreign war, now 
 suddenly come upon them after a violent man- 
 ner, put the first stop to their contentions one 
 against another; and, as the seditious now 
 saw with astonishment the Romans pitching 
 three several camps, they began to think of 
 an awkward sort of concord, and said one to 
 another, — "What do we here, and what do 
 we mean, when we suffer three fortified walls 
 to be built to coop usin, that we shall not be 
 able to breathe freely? while the enemy is 
 securely building a kind of city in opposition 
 to us, and while we sit still within our own 
 walls, and become spectators only of what they 
 are doing, with our hands idle, and our armour 
 laid by, as if they were about somewhat that 
 was for our good and advantage. We are, it 
 eeeins," so did they cry out, "only coura- 
 geous against ourselves, while the Romans 
 are likely to gain the city without bloodshed 
 by our sedition." Thus did they encourage 
 one another when they were gotten together, 
 
 • This situation of the Mount of Olives, on the east 
 )f Jerusalem, at about the distance of five or six furlonj;s, 
 with the valley of Cedron interposed between that moun- 
 tain and the city, are tbini^s well known butli in the Old 
 ini] New Testament, in Josepbus elsewhere, and in all 
 ^)ccUfscriptiou» of Fal< stine. 
 
 and took their armour immediately, and 
 ran out upon the tenth legion, and fell 
 upon the Romans with great eagerness, and 
 with a prodigious shout, as they were fortify- 
 ing their camp. These Romans were caujsht 
 in different parties, and this in order to per- 
 form their several works, and on that account 
 had in great measure laid aside their arms; 
 for they thought the Jews would not have 
 ventured to make a sally upon them ; and had 
 they been disposed so to do they supposed their 
 edition would have distracted them. So they 
 were put into disorder unexpectedly; when 
 some of them left their works they were about, 
 and immediately marched off, while many ran 
 to their arms, but were smitten and slain 
 before they could turn" back upon the enemy. 
 The Jews became still more and more in num- 
 ber, as encouraged by the good success of 
 those that first made the attack; and, while 
 they had such good fortune, they seemed, 
 both to themselves and to the enemy, to be 
 many more than they really were. The dis- 
 orderly way of their fighting at first put the 
 Romans also to a stand, who had been con- 
 stantly used to fight skilfully in good order, 
 and with keeping their ranks, and obeying 
 the orders that were given them; for which 
 reason the Romans were caught unexpectedly, 
 and were obliged to give way to the assnults 
 that were made upon them. Now when these 
 Romans were overtaken, and turned back upon 
 the Jews, they put a stop to their career; yet, 
 when they did not take care enough of them- 
 selves through the vehemency of their pursuit, 
 they were wounded by them; but, as still 
 more and more Jews sallied out of the city, 
 the Romans were at length brought into con- 
 fusion, and put to flight, and ran away from 
 their camp. Nay, things looked as though 
 the entire legion would have been in danger, 
 unless Titus had been informed of the case 
 they were in, and had sent them succours 
 immediately. So he reproached them for their 
 cowardice, and brought those back that were 
 running away, and fell himself upon the Jews 
 on their flank, with those select troops that 
 were with him, and slew a considerable num- 
 ber, and wounded more of them, and put them 
 all to flight, and made them run away hastily 
 down the valley. Now as these Jews suffered 
 greatly in the declivity of the valley, so, when 
 they were gotten over it, they turned about, 
 and stood over-against the Romans, having the 
 valley between them, and there fought with 
 them. Thus did they continife the fight till 
 noon ; but, when it was already a little after 
 noon, Titus set those that came to the assist- 
 ance of the Romans with him, and those that 
 belonged to the cohorts, to prevent the Jews 
 from making any more sallies, and then sent 
 the rest of the legion to the upper part of the 
 mountain, to fortify their camp. 
 
 5. This march of the Romans seemed tO 
 the Jews to be a flight; and as the watcbmao, 
 
712 
 
 "WARS OP THE JETVS. 
 
 BOOK y. 
 
 ■who was placed upon the wall, gave a 
 signal by shaking his garment, there came 
 out a fresh multitude of Jews, and that with 
 such mighty violence, that one might compare 
 it to the running of the most terrible wild 
 beasts. To say the truth, none of those that 
 opposed them could sustain the fury with 
 which they made their attacks; but, as if 
 they had been cast out of an engine, they 
 Drake the enemies' ranks to pieces, who were 
 put to flight, and ran away to the mountain ; 
 none, but Titus himself, and a few others 
 with him, being left in the midst of the accli- 
 vity. Now these others, who were his friends, 
 despised the danger they were in, and were 
 ashamed to leave their general, earnestly 
 exhorting him to give way to these Jews that 
 are fond of dying, and not to run into such 
 dangers before those that ought to stay before 
 him; to consider what his fortune was, and 
 not, by supplying the place of a common 
 soldier, to venture to turn back upon the ene- 
 my so suddenly; and this because he was 
 general in the war, and lord of the habitable 
 earth, on whose preservation the public affairs 
 do all depend. These persuasions Titus 
 seemed not so much as to hear, but opposed 
 those that ran upon him, and smote them on 
 the face; and, when he had forced them to 
 go back, he slew them; he also fell upon 
 great numbers as they marched down the 
 hill, and thrust them forward; while those 
 men were so amazed at his courage and his 
 strength, that they could not fly directly to 
 the city, but declined from him on both sides, 
 and pressed after those that fled up the hill; 
 yet did he still fall upon their flank, and put 
 a stop to their fury. In the mean time, a 
 disorder and a terror fell again upon those 
 that were fortifying their camp at the top of 
 the hill, upon their seeing those beneath thetn 
 running away, insomuch that the whole legion 
 was dispersed, while they thought that the 
 sallies of the Jews upon them were plainly 
 insupportable, and that Titus was himself put 
 to flight; because they took it for granted 
 that, if he had staid, the rest would never 
 have fled for it. Thus were they encompassed 
 on every side by a kind of panic fear, and 
 some disj)ersed themselves one way, and some 
 another, till certain of them saw their general 
 in the very midst of an action, and, being 
 under great concern for him, they loudly pro- 
 claimed the danger he was in to the entire 
 legion ; and now shame made them turn 
 back, and they reproached one another, that 
 they did worse than run away, by deserting 
 Caesar. So they used their utmost force 
 against the Jews, and declining from the 
 straight declivity, they drove them in heaps 
 mto the bottom of the valley. Then did the 
 Jews turn about and fight them ; but as they 
 were themselves retiring, and now, because 
 the Romans had the advantage of the ground, 
 and were above the Jews, they drove them 
 
 all into the valley. Titus also pressed upon 
 those that were near him, and sent the legion 
 again to fortify their camp; while he, and 
 those that were with him before, opposed the 
 enemy, and kept them from doing farther 
 mischief; insomuch that, if I may be allowed 
 neither to add any thing out of flattery, 
 nor to diminish any thing out of envy, but 
 to speak the plain truth, Caesar did twice 
 deliver that entire legion when it was in jeo- 
 pardy, and gave them a quiet opportunity of 
 fortifying their camp. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 HOW THE SEDITION WAS AGAIN REVIVED WITHIN 
 JERUSALEM, AND YET THE JEWS CONTRIVED 
 SNARES FOR THE ROMANS. HOW TITUS ALSO 
 THREATENED HIS SOLDIERS FOR TH3IR UNGO- 
 VERNABLE RASHNESS. 
 
 § 1. As now the war abroad ceased for a 
 while, the sedition within was revived ; and 
 on the feast of unleavened bread, which was 
 now come, it being the fourteenth day of the 
 month Xanthicus [Nisan], when it is believed 
 the Jews were first freed -from the Egyp- 
 tians, Eleazar and his party opened the gates 
 of this [inmost court of the temple, and ad- 
 mitted such of the people as were desirous to 
 worship God into it.* But John made use 
 of this festival as a cloak for his treacherous 
 designs, and armed the most inconsiderable 
 of his own party, the greater part of whom 
 were not purified, with weapons concealed 
 under their garments, and sent them with 
 great zeal into the temple, in order to seize 
 upon it ; which armed men, when they were 
 gotten in, threw their garments away, and 
 presently appeared in their armour. Upon 
 which there was a very great disorder and 
 disturbance about the holy house ; while the 
 people who had no concern in the sedition, 
 supposed that this assault was made against 
 all without distinction, as the zealots thought 
 * Here we see the true occasion of those vast num- 
 bers of Jews that were in Jerusalem during this siege 
 by Titus, and perished therein; that the siege began at 
 the feast of the passover, when such prodigious multi- 
 tudes of Jews and proselytes of the gate were come 
 from all parts of Judea, and from other countries, in 
 order to celebrate that great festival. See the note. b. 
 vi. ch. ix. sect. 3. Tacitus himself informs us, that the 
 number of men, women, and children, in Jerusalem, 
 when it was besieged by the Romans, as he had been 
 informed, was 600,000. This information must have 
 been taken from the Romans; for Josephus never men- 
 tions the numbers of those that were Iwsiegod, only he 
 lets us know, that of the vulvar, carried dead out of the 
 gates, and buried at the public charges, was the like 
 number of 600,000, ch. xiii. sect. 7. However, when 
 Cestius Gallus came trsit to the siege, thnt sum in Taci- 
 tus is no way disagreeable to Josephus's history, though 
 they were become much more numerous when Titus 
 encompa.'<sed the city at the passover. As to the num- 
 ber that perished during the siege. Josephus ns«ures us, 
 as wo shall see hereafter, they were 1,100,000. he^idca 
 97,000, captives. But Tacltus's history of the last part 
 of this siege is not now extant: so we cannot compar* 
 his parallel numbers with those of Josephus. 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 WARS OP THE JEWS. 
 
 713 
 
 H W.S9 made against themselves only. So 
 tbese left off guarding the gates any longer, 
 and leijped down from their battlements 
 netbre they came to an engagement, and fled 
 away into the subterranean caverns of the 
 temple; while the people that stood trem- 
 hliiig at the altar, and about the holy house, 
 were rolled on heaps together, and trampled 
 upon, and were beaten both with wooden and 
 with iron weapons without mercy. Such, 
 ti\-o, as had differences with others, slew 
 many persons that were quiet, out of their 
 own private enmity and hatred, as if they 
 were opposite to the seditious; and all those 
 that bad formerly offended any of these plot- 
 ters, were now known, and were now led away 
 to the slaughter; and, when they had done 
 abundance of horrid mischief to the guiltless, 
 they granted a truce to the guilty, and let 
 those go off that came out of the caverns. 
 These followers of John also did now seize 
 upon this inner temple, and upon all the war- 
 like engines therein, and then ventured to 
 oppose Simon. And thus that sedition, which 
 had been divided into three factious, was 
 now reduced to two. 
 
 2. But Titus, intending to pitch his camp 
 nearer to the citythan Scopus, placed as many 
 of his choice horsemen and footmen as he 
 thought sulRcient, opposite to the Jews, to 
 prevent their sallying out upon them, while ne 
 gave orders for the whole army to level tne 
 distance, as far as the wall of the city, so 
 they threw down all the hedges and walls 
 which the inhabitants had made about their 
 gardens and groves of trees, and cut down ail 
 the fruit-trees that lay between them and the 
 wall of the city, and tilled up all the hollow 
 places and the chasms, and demolished the 
 rocky precipices with iron instruments; and 
 thereby made all the place level from Se(4)us 
 to Herod's monuments, which adjoined to 
 the pool called the Serpent's Pool. 
 
 3. Now at this very time, the Jews con- 
 trived the following stratagem against the 
 Romans. The bolder sort of the seditious went 
 out at the towers, called the Women's Towers, 
 as if they had been ejected out of the city by 
 those who were for peace, and rambled about 
 as if they were afraid of being assaulted by 
 tbe Romans, and were in fear of one another; 
 while those that stood upon the wall, and 
 se.Mued to be of the people's side, cried out 
 aloud for peace, and entreated they might 
 have security for their lives given them, and 
 called for tbe Romans, promising to open the 
 gates to them ; and as they cried out after 
 that manner, they threw stones at their own 
 people, as though they would drive them 
 away from the gates. These also pretended 
 tiiat they were excluded by force, and that 
 thcv petitioned those that were within to let 
 t: 11 in, and rushing upon the Romans per- 
 p^ccally, with violence, they then cai';e back, 
 %ua Mcmed to be in great disorder. Now 
 
 the Roman soldiers thought this cunnitjg 
 stratagem of theirs was to be believed real, 
 and thinking they had the one party under 
 their power, rfnd could punish them as they 
 pleased, and hoping that the other party would 
 open their gates to them, set to the execution 
 of their designs accordingly. But for Titus 
 himself, he had this surprising conduct of the 
 Jews in suspicion; for whereas he had invited 
 thera to come to terms of accommodation, by 
 Josephus, but one day before, he could then 
 receive no civil answer from them; so he 
 ordered the soldiers to stay where they were. 
 However, some of them that were set in the 
 front of the works prevented him, and catch- 
 ing up their arms ran to the gates; where- 
 upon those that seemed to have been ejected 
 at the first retired; but as soon as the soldiers 
 were gotten between the towers on each side 
 of the gate, the Jews ran out and encompassed 
 thera round, and fell upon them behind, 
 while that multitude which stood upon the 
 wall, threw a heap of stones and darts of all 
 kinds at them, insomuch that they slew a con- 
 siderable number, and wounded many more; 
 for it was not easy for the Romans to e?cape, 
 by reason those behind them pressed them 
 forward; besides which, the shame they were 
 under for being mistaken, and the fear they 
 were in of their commanders, engaged them 
 to persevere in their mistake; wherefore they 
 fought with tbeir spears a great whi.'e, and 
 rerei'.^ed many blows from the Jews, though 
 in'ieed they gave tiiem as many blows again, 
 ana at last repelled those that had encom- 
 passed tbem about, while the Jews pursued 
 them as they retired, and followed thera. and 
 tnrew darts at them as far as ttie monuments 
 of queen Heierta. 
 
 4. After this these Jews, without keeping 
 any decorum, grew insolent upon their good 
 fortune, and jested upon the Romans, for 
 being deluded by the trick "they had put upon 
 them, and making a noise with beating their 
 shields, leaping for gladness, and made joyful 
 exclamations; while these soldiers were re- 
 ceived with threatenings by their officers, and 
 with indignation by Caesar himself [who spake 
 to them thus] : These Jews, who are only 
 conducted by their madness, do every thing 
 with care and circumspection ; they contrive 
 stratagems, and lay ambushes, and fortune 
 gives success to their stratagems, because they 
 are obedient, and preserve their good-will and 
 fidelity to one another ; while the Romans, to 
 whom fortune uses to be ever subservient, by 
 reason of their good order, and ready sub- 
 mission to their commanders, have now had 
 Ul success by their contrary behaviour, and 
 by not being able to restrain their hands firom 
 action, theyJiave been caught; and that which 
 is the most to their reproach, they have gone 
 on without their commanders, in the very pre- 
 sence of CsEsar. "Truly," says Titus, " the 
 laws of war cannot but groan heavily, as will 
 
714 
 
 WAKS OP THE JEWS, 
 
 «OOK V. 
 
 my father also himself, when he shall be 
 informed of this wound that hath been given 
 us, since he, who is grown old in wars, did 
 never make so great a mistake. Our laws of 
 war do also ever inflict capital punishment on 
 those that in the least break into good order, 
 while at this time they have seen an entire 
 army run into disorder. However, those that 
 have been so insolent shall be made imme- 
 diately sensible, that even they who conquer 
 among the Romans without orders for fight- 
 ing, are to be under disgrace." When Titus 
 had enlarged upon this matter before the 
 commanders, it appeared evident that he 
 would execute the law against all those that 
 were concerned ; so these soldiers' minds sunk 
 down in despair, as expecting to be put to 
 death, and that justly and quickly. However, 
 the other legions came round about Titus, 
 and entreated his favour to these their fellow 
 soldiers, and made supplication to him, that 
 he would pardon the rashness of a few, on 
 account of the better obedience of all the 
 rest; and promised for them that they should 
 make amends for their present fault, by their 
 more virtuous behaviour for the time to come. 
 6. So Caesar complied with their desires, 
 and with what prudence dictated to him also ; 
 for he esteemed it fit to punish single persons 
 by real executions, but that the punishment 
 of great multitudes should proceed no farther 
 than reproofs; so he was reconciled to the 
 soldiers, but gave them a special charge to 
 act more wisely for the future; and he con- 
 sidered with himself how he might be even 
 with the Jews for their stratagem. And now 
 when the space between the Romans and the 
 wall had been levelled, which was done in 
 four days; and as he was desirous to bring 
 the baggage of the army, with the rest of the 
 multitude that followed him, safely to the 
 camp, he set the strongest part of his army 
 over-against that wall which lay on the north 
 quarter of the city, and over-against the west- 
 em part of it, and made his army seven deep, 
 with the footmen placed before them, and the 
 horsemen behind them, each of the last in 
 three ranks, whilst the archers stood in the 
 midst in seven ranks. And now as the Jews 
 were prohibited by so great a body of men, 
 from making sallies upon the Romans, both 
 the beasts that bare the burdens, and belonged 
 to the three legions, and the rest of the mul- 
 titude, marched on without any fear. But as 
 for Titus himself, he was but about two 
 furlongs distant from the wall, at that part of 
 it where was the comer,* and over-against 
 that tower which was called Psephinus, at 
 which tower the compass of the wall belonging 
 to the north bended, and extended itself over- 
 against the west; but the other part of the 
 army fortified themselves at the tower called 
 
 • Perhapn, says Dr. Hudson, here was that gate, 
 Mlled the " Gate of the Corner," in 2 Chron. xxvi. 9 
 ■m eh. It. Mot. 2. 
 
 Hippicus, and was distant, in like manner, 
 but two furlongs from the city. However, 
 the tenth legion continued in its own place, 
 upon the Mount of Olives. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DESCRIPTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 § 1. The city of Jerusalem was fortified with 
 three walls, on such parts as were not encom- 
 passed with unpassable valleys; for in such 
 places it bad but one wall. The city was 
 built upon two hills which are opposite to one 
 another, and have a valley to divide them 
 asunder; at which valley the corresponding 
 rows of houses on both hills end. Of these 
 hills, that which contains the upper city is 
 much higher, and in length more direct. 
 Accordingly, it was called the " Citadel," by 
 king David; he was the father of that Solo- 
 mon who built this temple at the first; but it 
 is by us called the " Upper Market-place." 
 But the other hill, which was called " Acra," 
 and sustains the lower city, is of the shape 
 of a moon when she is horned; over-against 
 this was a third hill, but naturally lower than 
 Acra, and parted formerly from the other by 
 a broad valley. However in those times when 
 the Asamoneans reigned, they filled up that 
 valley with earth, and had a mind to join the 
 city to the temple. They then took off part 
 of the height of Acra, and reduced it to he 
 of less elevation than it was before, that the 
 temple might be superior to it. Now the 
 Valley of the Cheese-mongers, as it was called, 
 and was that which we told you before distin- 
 guished the hill of the upper city from that of 
 theiower, extended as far as Siloam; for that 
 is the name of a fountain which hath sweet 
 water in it, and this in great plenty also. But 
 on the outsides, these hills are surrounded 
 by deep valleys, and by reason of the preci- 
 pices to them belonging on both sides, they 
 are everywhere unpassable. 
 
 2. Now, of these three walls, the old one 
 was hard to be taken, both by reason of the 
 valleys, and of that hill on which it was built, 
 and which was above them. But besides that 
 great advantage, as to the place where they 
 were situated, it was also built very strong; 
 because Bavid and Solomon, and the follow- 
 ing kings, were very zealous about this work. 
 Now that wall began on the north, at the 
 tower called " Hi{)picu8," and extended at 
 far as the " Xistus," a place so called, and 
 then, joinifig to the council-house, ended at 
 the west cloister of the temple, liut if we 
 go the or her way westward, it began at the 
 same place, and extended through a place 
 called "Beth>o," to the gate of tne Essens; 
 and after that it went southward, having its 
 bending ui>uvt: thu luuntuin Silutiui, wh«re it 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 715 
 
 aisc bends again towards the east at Solomon's 
 pool, and reaches as for as a certain place 
 uhich they called " Ophlas," where it was 
 joined to the eastern cloister of the temple. 
 The second wall took its beginning from that 
 gate which they called " Gennath," which 
 belonged to the first wall; it only encompassed 
 the northern quarter of the city, and reached 
 as far as the tower Antonia. The beginning 
 of the third wall was at the tower Hippicus, 
 whence it reached as far as the north quarter 
 of the city, and the tower Psephinus, and 
 then was so far extended till it came over- 
 against the monuments of Helena, which 
 Helena was queen of Adiabene, the daughter 
 of Izates: it then extended farther to a great 
 length, and passed by the sepulchral caverns 
 of the kings, and bent again at the tower of 
 the corner, at the monument which is called 
 the "Monument of the Fuller," and joined 
 to the old wall at the valley called the " Val- 
 ley of Cedron." It was Agrippa who encom- 
 passed the parts added to the old city with 
 this wall, which had been all naked before; 
 for as the city grew more populous, it gradu- 
 ally crept beyond its old limits, and those 
 parts of it that stood northward of the temple, 
 and joined that hill to the city, made it con- 
 siderably larger, and occasioned that hill, 
 which is in number the fourth, and is called 
 " Bezetha," to be inhabited also. It lies over- 
 against the tower Antonia, but is divided from 
 it by a deep valley, which was dug on pur- 
 pose, and that in order to hinder the founda- 
 tions of the tower of Antonia from joining to 
 this hill, and thereby affording an opportunity 
 for getting to it with ease, and hindering the 
 security that arose from its superior eleva- 
 tion; for which reason also that depth of the 
 ditch made the elevation of the towers more 
 remarkable. This new-built part of the city 
 was called " Bezetha," in our language, which, 
 if interpreted in the Grecian language, may 
 be called "the New City." Since, therefore, 
 its inhabitants stood in need of a covering, the 
 father of the present king, and of the same 
 name with him, Agrippa, began that wall we 
 spoke of; but he left off building it when he 
 had only laid the foundation, out of the fear 
 he was in of Claudius Caesar, lest he should 
 suspect that so strong a wall was built in 
 order to make some innovation in public 
 affairs; for the city could no way have been 
 taken if that wall had been finished in the 
 manner it was begun ; as its parts were con- 
 nected together by stones twenty cubits long, 
 and ten cubits broad, which could never have 
 either been easily undermined by any iron tools, 
 or shaken by any engines. The wall was, 
 however, ten cubits wide, and it would pro- 
 Dably have had a height greater than that, had 
 not his zeal who began it been hindered from 
 exerting itself. After this it was erected with 
 fjreat diligence by t-he Jews, as high as twent\ 
 cubits, above which it bad batilemeuto of two 
 
 cubits, and turrets of three cubits' altitude, 
 insomuch that the entire altitude extended as 
 far as twenty-five cubits. 
 
 3. Now the towers that were upon it were 
 twenty cubits in breadth and twenty cubits 
 in height; they were square and solid, as 
 was the wall itself, wherein the niceness of 
 the joints and the beauty of the stones were 
 no way inferior to those of the holy house 
 itself. Above this solid altitude of the towers, 
 which was twenty cubits, there were rooms 
 of great magnificence, and over them upper 
 rooms, and cisterns to receive rain-water. 
 They were many in number, and the steps 
 by which you ascended up to them were every 
 one broad ; of these towers then the third 
 wall had ninety, and the spaces between them 
 were each two hundred cubits; but in the 
 middle wall were forty towers, and the old 
 wall was parted into sixty, while the whole 
 compass of the city was thirty-three furlongs. 
 Now the third wall was all of it wonderful; 
 yet was the tower Psephinus elevated above 
 it at the north-west comer, and there Titus 
 pitched his own tent ; for being seventy cubits 
 high, it both afforded a prospect of Arabia at 
 sun-rising, as well as it did of the utmost 
 limits of the Hebrew possessions at the sea 
 westward. Moreover it was an octagon, and 
 over-against it was the tower Hippicus ; and 
 hard by two others were erected by king 
 Herod, in the old wall. These were for 
 largeness, beauty, and strength, beyond all 
 that were in the habitable earth ; for besides 
 the magnanimity of his nature, and his mag- 
 nificence towards the city on other occasions, 
 he built these after such an extraordinary 
 manner, to gratify his own private affections, 
 and dedicated these towers to the memory of 
 those three persons who had been the dearest 
 to him, and from whom he named them. 
 They were his brother, his friend, and his 
 wife. This wife he had slain, out of his 
 love [and jealousy], as we have already rela- 
 ted ; the other two he lost in war, as they were 
 courageously fighting. Hippicus, so named 
 from his friend, was square ; its length and 
 breadth were each twenty-five cubits, and its 
 height thirty, and it had no vacuity in it. 
 Over this solid building, which was composed 
 of great stones united together, there was a 
 reservoir twenty cubits deep, over which there 
 was a house of two stories, whose height was 
 twenty-five cubits, and divided into several 
 parts ; over which were battlements of jtwo 
 cubits, and turrets all round of three cubits 
 high, insomuch that the entire height added 
 together amounted to fourscore cubits. The 
 second tower, which he named from his bro- 
 ther Phasaelus, had Its breadth and its height 
 equal, each of them forty cubits; over which 
 was its solid height of forty cubits; over 
 which a cloister went round about, whose 
 height was ten cubits, and it was covered 
 from enemies by ]»r«ast-work8 and bulwarks. 
 
716 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 There was also built over that cloister another 
 tower, parted into magniticent rooms and a 
 place for bathing; so that this tower wanted 
 nothing that might make it appear to be a 
 royal palace. It was also adorned with 
 battlements and turrets, more than was the 
 foregoing, and the entire altitude was about 
 ninety cubits; the appearance of it resembled 
 the tower of Pharus, which exhibited a fire to 
 such as sailed to Alexandria, but was much 
 larger than it in compass. This was now 
 converted to a house, wherein Simon exer- 
 cised his tyratniical authority. The third tower 
 was Mariamne, for that was his queen's 
 name; it was solid as high as twenty cubits; 
 its breadth and its length were twenty cubits, 
 and were equal to each other ; its upper 
 buildings were more magniticent, and had 
 greater variety than the other towers had ; 
 for the king thought it most proper for him 
 to adorn that which was denominated from his 
 wife, better than those denominated from 
 men, as those were built stronger than this 
 that bore his wife's name. The entire height 
 of this tower was fifty cubits. 
 
 4. Now as these towers were so very tall, 
 they appeared much taller by the p'lace on 
 which they stood: for that very old wall 
 wherein they were, was built on a high hii'i, 
 and was itseif a kind of elevation that; was stih 
 thirty cubits taller; over which were the towers 
 situated, and iheieby were made mucn higaer 
 to appearance. The largeness aiso ot the 
 stones was wonderml, for they were not made 
 of common on.all stones, nor of such large 
 ones only as men couid carry, but they were 
 oi while marb'e, cut out of the rock ; eacn 
 stone was twenty cuoits in iengtb, and ten in 
 breadth, and five in depth. They were so 
 ecacuy urutea to one another, that each tower 
 loosed nice one entn-e rock of stone, so grow- 
 intr naturally, and afterwards cut by the hands 
 ot tiie arfincers into their present shape and 
 coDuers ; so little or not at all did their 
 joints or connexion appear. Now as these 
 towers were themselves on the north side of 
 tne wall, the king had a palace inwardly 
 thereto adjoined, which exceeds all my ability 
 to describe it ; for it was so -^^ curious as to 
 want no cost or skill iqp^ construction, but 
 was entirely walled about to the height of 
 thirty cubits, and was adorned with towers- at 
 equal distances, and with large bed-chambers, 
 that would contain beds for a hundred guests 
 a-pioce, in which the variety of the stones is 
 not to be expressed ; for a large quantity of 
 those that were rare of that kind was collected 
 together. Their roofs were also wonderful, 
 both for the length of the beams and the splen- 
 dour of their ornaments, ^he number of the 
 rooms was also very great, and the variety of 
 the figures that were about them was prodi- 
 gious ; their furniture was complete, and the 
 greatest part of the vessels that were put in 
 thtm wa> of silver tmi gold. There were 
 
 besides many porticoes, one beyond another, 
 round about, and in each of those portiCoesj 
 curious pillars; yet were all the courts tnttt 
 were exposed to the air everywhere greeii. 
 There were moreover several groves of trees, 
 and long walks through them, with deep 
 canals, and cisterns, that in several parts were 
 filled with brazen statues, throiigh which the 
 water ran out. There were withal many 
 dove-courts* of tame pigeons about the ca- 
 nals; but, indeed, it is not possible to give a 
 complete description of these palaces; and the 
 very remembrance of them is a torment to one, 
 as putting one in mind what vastly rich build- 
 ings that fire which was kindled by the rob- 
 bers hath consumed; for these were not burnt 
 by the Romans, but by these internal plotters, 
 as we have already related, in the beginning 
 of their rebellion. That fire began at the 
 tower of Antonia, and went en to the palaces, 
 and consumed the upper parts of the three 
 towers themselves. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPIE. 
 
 § 1. Now this temple, as I have already said, 
 was built upon a strong hill. At first the 
 plain at the top was hardly Buflicient for the 
 holy house and the altar, for the ground about 
 it was very uneven, and like a precipice; but 
 when king SoJomon, who was the person that 
 built the temple, had built a wall to it on its 
 east side, there was then added one cloister 
 founded on a bank cast up for it, and on the 
 other parts the holy house stood naked; hue 
 in future ages the people added new banks,f 
 and the hill became a larger plain. They 
 then broke down the wall on the north side, 
 and tooK in as much as suiliced afterward for 
 the compass of the entire teniple; and when 
 they had built walls oh three sides of the tem- 
 ple round about, from the bottom of the hill, 
 and had performed a work that was greater 
 than could be hoped for (ir, which work long 
 
 * These dove-courts in Joseplius, built by Herod the 
 Great, are, in the opinion of Keland, the very i5r.me that 
 are mentioned by the Talmudists, and named by them 
 "Herod's dove-oourts." Nor is there any reason to 
 suppose otherwise, since in both accounts they wwre 
 expressly tame pigeons which were kept in them. 
 
 t ^ee the depcription of the temples horcto belong- 
 ing, ch. XV. But note, that what Josephua here says 
 of the original scantiness of this Mount Jloriah, that it 
 was quite too little for the temple, and that at first it 
 held only one cloister, or court of Solomon's building, 
 and that the foundations were forced to he added long 
 afterwards by degrees, to render it capable of the clois- 
 ters for the other courts, 4c., is without all foundation in 
 the Scriptures, and not at all confirmed by his exacter 
 account in the Antiquities. All that in, or can be true, 
 is this : — That wlien the court of the Gentiles was lon^ 
 afterwards to be enccmpassetl with doisters. the south- 
 ern foundation for those cloisters Vas found not to be 
 large or firm ejiough, and was raised, and that additional 
 foundat'-jn supported by great pillars and arches under 
 ground, which Josephus speaks of elsewhere, Antiq. 
 b. XV. ch. xi. sect. 3, and which Mr. Maundrel saw, and 
 AModbM, p. 100, M •xUuX undwr ground «t Hum Uny. 
 
^, 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 717 
 
 a^es were spent by them, as well as all their 
 sacred treasure? were exhausted, which were 
 still replenished by those tributes which were 
 Bent to God from the whole habitable eartb), 
 they then encompassed their upper courts with 
 cloisters, as well as they [afterward] did the 
 lowest [court of the] temple. The lowest 
 part of this was erected to the height of three 
 hundred cubits, and in some places more; yet 
 did not the entire depth of the foundations 
 appear, for they brought earth, and tilled up 
 the valleys, as being desirous to make them 
 on a level with the narrow streets of the city; 
 whereia they made use (rf stones of forty 
 cubits in magnitude; for the great plenty of 
 money they then had, and the liberality of the 
 people, made this attempt of theirs to succeed 
 to an incredible degree; and what could not 
 be so much as hoped for as ever to be accom- 
 plished, was, by perseverance and length of 
 time, brought to perfection, 
 
 2. Now, for the works that were above 
 these foundations, these were not unworthy 
 of such foundations; for all the cloisters were 
 double, and the pillars to them belonging were 
 twenty-five cubits in height, and supported 
 the cloisters. These pillars were of one 
 entire stone each of them, and that stone was 
 white marble; and the .roofs were adorned 
 with cedar, curiously graven. The natural 
 magnificence, and excellent polish, and the 
 harmony of the joints in these cloisters, 
 afforded a prospect that was very remarkable; 
 nor was it on the outside adorned with any 
 work of the painter or engraver. The clois- 
 ters [of the outmost court] were in breadth 
 thirty cubits, while the entire compass of ii 
 was, by measure, six furlongs, including the 
 tower of Antonia; those entire courts that 
 were exposed to the air were laid with stones 
 of all sorts. When you go through these 
 [first] cloisters, unto the second [court of the] 
 temple, there was a partition made of stone 
 all round, whose height was three cubits: its 
 ^construction was very elegant; upon it stood 
 pillars, at equal distances from one another, 
 declaring the law of purity, some in Greek, 
 and some in Roman letters, that " no foreigner 
 should go within that sanctuary;" for that 
 lecond [court of the] temple was called " the 
 Sanctuary," and was ascended to by fourteen 
 iteps from the first court. This court was four- 
 'quare, and had a wall about it peculiar to itself; 
 he height of its buildings, although it was on 
 *he outside forty cubits,* was hidden by the 
 
 • What J osephus seems here to mean is this:— That 
 thene pillars, supporting the cloisters in the second court, 
 had '■'»^ir foundations or lowest parts as deep as the floor 
 of ibe first Of lowest court; but that so far of those low- 
 est parts as were equal to the elevation of the upper 
 floor above the lowest, were, and must be, hidden on 
 the inride by the Krouiid or rock itself, on which that 
 upper court was buiit; so tliat forty cubits visible below, 
 were; iLJuced to twenty-tive visible above, and implies 
 th« 'ttrrrrace of tbetr heights to he filtt-cn cubits. The 
 m«>n diHiciilty lies here, how fourteen or tiitetn steps 
 •iioa^a (iTv ad &*«cut uf tilteaa vubiti, ba.f a «ubit 
 
 steps, and on the inside that height was but 
 twenty-five cubits; for it being built over- 
 against a higher part of the hill with steps, it 
 was no farther to be entirely discerned within, 
 being covered by the hill itself. Beyond these 
 fourteen steps there was the distance of ten 
 cubits : this was all plain, whence there were 
 other steps, each of five cubits a-piece^ thai 
 led to the gates, which gates on the north and 
 south sides were eight, on each of those sides 
 four, and of necessity two on the east; for 
 since there was a partition built for the women 
 on that side, as the proper place wherein they 
 were to worship, there was a necessity of a 
 second gate for them ; this gate was cut out 
 of its wall, over-against the first gate. There 
 was also on the other sides one southern and 
 one northern gate, through which was a pas- 
 sage into the court of the women ; for as to 
 the other gates, the women were not allowed 
 to pass through them ; nor when they went 
 through their own gate could they go beyond 
 their own wall. This place was allotted to 
 the women of our own country, and of other 
 countries, provided they were of the same 
 nation, and that equally ; the western part of 
 this court had no gate at all, but the wall was 
 built entire on that side ; but then the clois- 
 ters which were betwixt the gates, extended 
 from the wall inward, before the chambers; 
 for they were supported by very fine and 
 large pillars. These cloisters were single, 
 and, excepting their magnitude, were no way 
 inferior to those of the lower court. 
 
 3. Now nine of these gates were on every 
 side covered over with gold and silver, as were 
 the jambs of their doors and their lintels; 
 but there was one gate that was without [the 
 inward court of] the holy house, which was 
 of Corinthian. brass, and greatly excelled those 
 that were only covered over with silver and 
 gold. Each gate had two doors, whose height 
 was severally thirty cubits, and their breadth 
 fifteen. However, they had large spaces within 
 of thirty cubits, and had on each side rooms, 
 and those, both in breadth and in length, 
 built Uke towers, and their height was above 
 forty cubits. Two pillars did also support 
 these rooms, and were in circumference 
 twelve cubits. Now the magnitudes of the 
 other gates were equal one to another; but 
 that over the Corinthian gate, which opened 
 on the east over-against the gate of the holy 
 house itself, was much larger ; for its height 
 was fifty cubits ; and its doors were forty 
 cubits ; and it was adorned after a most costly 
 manner, as having much richer and thicker 
 plates of silver and gold upon them than the 
 other. These nine gates had that silver and 
 gold poured upon them by Alexander, the 
 
 seeminis: sufficient for a single step. Possibly there 
 were fourteen or fifteen steps at the partition- wall, and 
 fourteen or fifteen more thence into the court itself^ 
 which would bring the whole near to the just pro- 
 portioo. S«« B«ct. 3, in/ra. But X d«t«rmin« sstiilnc. 
 
718 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK Ts 
 
 father of Tiberius. Now there were fifteen 
 steps, which led away from the wall of the 
 court of the women to this greater gate; 
 whereas those that led thither from the other 
 gates were five steps shorter. 
 
 4. As to the holy house itself, which was 
 placed in the midst [of the inmost court], 
 that most sacred part of the temple, it was 
 ascended to by twelve steps; and in front its 
 height and its breadth were equal, and each a 
 hundred cubits, though it was behind forty 
 cubits narrower; for on its front it had what 
 n)ay be styled shoulders on each side, that 
 passed twenty cubits farther. Its first gate 
 was seventy cubits high, and twenty-five cu- 
 bits broad; but this gate had no doors; for it 
 represented the universal visibility of heaven, 
 and that it cannot be excluded from any place. 
 Its front was covered with gold all over, and 
 through it the first part of the house, that was 
 more inward, did all of it appear; which, as it 
 was very large, so did all the parts about the 
 more inward gate appear to shine to those that 
 saw them; but then, as the entire house was 
 divided into two parts within, it was only the 
 first part of it that was open to our view. Its 
 height extended all along to ninety cubits in 
 height, and its length was fifty cubits, and 
 its breadth twenty; but that gate which was 
 at this end of the first part of the house was, 
 as we have already observed, all over covered 
 with gold, as was its whole wall about it: it 
 had also golden vines above it, from which 
 clusters of grapes hung as tall as a man's 
 height; but then this house, as it was divided 
 into two parts, the inner part was lower than 
 the appearance of the outer, and had golden 
 doors of fifty-five cubits altitude, and sixteen 
 in breadth ; but before these doors there was 
 a veil of equal largeness with the doors. It 
 was a Babylonian curtain, embroidered with 
 blue, and fine linen, and scarlet, and purple, 
 and of a contextut^ that was truly wonderful. 
 Nor was this mixture of colours without its 
 mystical interpretation, but was a kind of 
 image of the universe; for by the scarlet there 
 seeujed to be enigmatically signified fire, by the 
 fine flax the earth, by the blue the air, and by 
 the purple the sea; two of them having their 
 colours the foundation of this resemblance; 
 but the fine flax and the purple have their own 
 origin for that foundation, the earth producing 
 tbe one, and the sea the other. This cur- 
 tain had also embroidered upon it all that was 
 nj>«tical in the heavens, excepting that of the 
 [twelve] signs, representing living creatures. 
 •C 5. When any persons entered into the tem- 
 
 ple, its floor received them. This part of the 
 temple therefore was in height sLxty cubits, 
 ■nd its length the same; whereas its breadth 
 was but twenty cubits; but still that sixty 
 C'ibits in length was divided again, and the 
 fir»t part of it cut oif at forty cubits, und ha(i 
 U it three things that were very woiiderlu! 
 i4|d &ia«u« anong all naukind; the uanti]^- 
 
 stick, the table [of shew-bread], and the altar 
 of incense. Now, the seven lamps signified 
 the seven planets ; for so many there were 
 springing out of the candlestick. Now, the 
 twelve loaves that were upon tbe table signi- 
 fied the circle of the zodiac and the year; but 
 the altar of incense, by its thirteen kinds of 
 sweet-smelling spices with which the sea re- 
 plenished it, signified that God is the possessor 
 of all things that are both in the uninhabitable 
 and habitable parts of the earth, and that they 
 are all to be dedicated to his use. But the 
 inmost part of the temple of all was of twenty 
 cubits. This was also separated from the 
 outer part by a veil. In this there was no- 
 thing at all. It was inaccessible and invio- 
 lable, and not to be seen by any; and was 
 called the Holy of Holies. Now, about the 
 sides of the lower part of the temple there were 
 little houses, with passages out of one into 
 another; there were a great many of them, 
 and they were of three stories high ; there 
 were also entrances on each side into them 
 from the gate of the temple. But the supe- 
 rior part of the temple had no such little 
 houses any farther, because the temple was 
 there narrower, and forty cubits higher, and of 
 a smaller body than the lower parts of it. 
 Thus we collect that the whole height, in- 
 cluding the sixty cubits from the floor, 
 amounted to a hundred cubits. 
 
 6. Now the outward face of the temple in 
 its front wanted nothing that was likely to 
 surprise either men's minds or their eyes: for 
 it was covered all over with plates of gold of 
 great weight, and, at the first rising of the sun, 
 reflected back a very fiery splendour, and 
 made those who forced themselves to lock 
 upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they 
 would have done at the sun's own rays. But 
 this temple appeared to strangers, when they 
 were at a distance, like a mountain covered 
 with snow; for, as to those parts of it that 
 were not gilt, they were exceeding white. On :^ 
 its top it had spikes with sharp points, to pre-^ 
 vent any pollution' of it by birds sitting upon 
 it. Of its stones, some of them were forty- 
 five cubits in length, five in height, and six in 
 breadth. Before this temple stood the altar, 
 fifteen cubits high, and equal both in length 
 and breadth; each of which dimensions was 
 fifty cubits. The figure it was built in was 
 a square, and it had corners like horns ; and 
 the passage up to it was by an insensible ac- 
 clivity. It was formed without any iron tool, 
 nor did any such iron tool so much as 
 touch it at any time. There was a wall of 
 partition, about a cubit in height, made of 
 fine stones, and so as to be grateful to the 
 sight; this encompassed the holy house and 
 the altar, and kept the people that were on 
 the outside off from the priests. Moreover, 
 those that had the gonorrha'a and the leprosy 
 were excluded out of the city entirely; wo- 
 man also, when tbi:ir owursea weru upon them. 
 
^^w^ 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 719 
 
 were shut out of the temple: nor when they 
 were free from that impurity, were they 
 allovA'ed to go beyond the limit before- 
 mentioned; men also, that were not thoroughly 
 pure, were prohibited to come into the inner 
 [court of the] temple: nay, the priests them- 
 selves that were not pure, were prohibited to 
 «ome into it also. 
 
 7. Now all those of the stock of the priests 
 that could not minister by reason of some 
 defect in their bodies, came within the partition 
 together with those that had no such imperfec- 
 tion, and had their share with them by reason 
 of their stock, but still made use of none 
 except their own private garments; for nobody 
 but he that officiated had on his sacred gar- 
 ments; but then these priests that were with- 
 out any blemish upon theni, went up to the 
 altar clothed in fine linen. They abstained 
 chiefly from wine, out of this fear, lest other- 
 wise they should transgress some rules of their 
 ministration. The high-priest did also go 
 up with them; not always indeed, but on 
 the seventh days and new moons, and if any 
 festivals belonging to our nation, which we 
 celebrate every year, happened. When he 
 officiated, he had on a pair of bj^eeches that 
 reached beneath his privy parts to his thighs, 
 and bad on an inner garment of linen, together 
 with a blue garment, round, without seam, 
 with fringe-work, and reaching to the feet. 
 There were also golden bells that hung upon 
 the fringes, and pomegranates intermixed 
 among them. The bells signified thunder, 
 and the pomegranates lightning. But that 
 girdle that tied the garment to the breast, 
 was embroidered with five rows of various 
 rolours of gold, and purple, and scarlet, as also 
 if fine linen and blue ; with which colours, 
 ve told you before, the veils of the temple 
 vere embroidered also. The like embroidery 
 ivas upon the ephod; but the quantity of gold 
 (herein was greater. Its figure was that of a 
 stoinacher for the breast. There were upon it 
 two golden buttons like small shields, which 
 buttoned the ephod to the garment: in these 
 buttons were enclosed two very large and 
 very excellent sardonyxes, having the names 
 )f the tribes of that nation engraved upon 
 them; on the other part were hung twelve 
 ttones, three in a row one way, and four 
 uj the other; a sardius, a topaz, and an eme- 
 rald: a carbuncle, a jasper, and a sapphire; 
 m agate, an amethyst, and a ligure; an onyx, 
 I beryl, and a chrysolite; upon every one of 
 which was again engraved one of the fore- 
 raentioned names of the tribes. A mitre 
 ilso of fine linen encompassed his head, 
 which was tied by a blue riband, about 
 which there was another golden crown, in 
 which was engraven the sacred name [of 
 GodJ: it consists of four vowels. However, the 
 high-priest did not wear these garments at 
 orl.t'f lines, but a more plain huhit; he only 
 dc. .. >'. ;. ■) !4e went into the most saorud part 
 
 of the temple, which he did but once u-yenf, 
 on that day when our custom is for all of ua 
 to keep a fast to Goc. And thus much con- 
 cerning the city and the temple; but for the 
 customs and laws hereto relating, we shall 
 speak more accurately another time; for 
 there remain a great many things thereto 
 relating, which have not been here touched 
 upon. 
 
 8. Now, as to the tower of Antonia, it was 
 situated at the corner of two cloisters of the 
 court of the temple; of that on the west, and 
 that on the north; it was erected upon a rock 
 of fifty cubits in height, and was on a gitat 
 precipice; it was the work of king Herod,, 
 wherein he demonstrated his natural magna- 
 nimity. In the first place, the rock itself was 
 covered over with smooth pieces of stone, from 
 its foundation, both for ornament, and that 
 any one who would either try to get up or to 
 go down it, might not be able to hold Lis feet 
 upon it. Next to this, and before you come 
 to the edifice of the tower itself, there was a 
 wall three cubits high; but within that wall 
 all the space of the tower of Antonia itself 
 was built upon, to the height of forty cubits. 
 The inward parts had the largeness and form 
 of a palace, it being parted into all kinds of 
 rooms and other conveniences, such as courts, 
 and places for bathing, and broad spaces for 
 camps; insomuch that, by having all conve- 
 niences that cities wanted, it might seem to 
 be composed of several cities, but by its mag- 
 nificence, it seemed a palace; and as the 
 entire structure resembled that of a tower, it 
 contained also four other distinct towers at its 
 four corners; whereof the others were but 
 fifty cubits high ; whereas that which lay upon 
 the south-east corner was seventy cubits high, 
 that from thence the whole temple might be 
 viewed; but on the corner where it joined to 
 the two cloisters of the temple, it bad passages 
 down to them both, through which the guard 
 (for there always lay in this tower a Roman 
 legion) went several ways among the cloisters, 
 with their arms, on the Jewish festivals, in 
 order to watch the people, that they might not 
 there attempt to make any innovations; for 
 the temple was a fortress that guarded the 
 city, as was the tower of Antonia a guard to 
 the temple; and in that tower were the guards 
 of those three.* There was also a peculiar 
 fortress belonging to the upper city, which was 
 Herod's palace; but for the hill Bezetha, it 
 was divided from the tower of Antonia, as we 
 have already told you; and as that hill on 
 which the tower of Antonia stood, was the 
 highest of these three, so did it adjoin to the 
 new city, and was the only place that hindered 
 the sight of the temple on the north. And 
 this shall suffice at present to have spokan 
 about the city and the walls about it, because 
 
 • These three guards that lay in the fewer of AntODf» 
 must be those that guarded the cir,, \\y<f t«<!i(^Ie, and t^ 
 tower of Aiitouu 
 
720 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 I haTC proposed to myself to make a more 
 accurate description of it elsewhere. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONCERNING THB TYRANTS SIMON AND JOHN. 
 HOW ALSO, AS TITUS WAS GOING ROUND THE 
 WALL OP THB CITY, NICANOR WAS WOUNDED 
 BY A DART ; WHICH ACCIDENT PROVOKED 
 TITUS TO PRESS ON THE SIEGE. 
 
 § 1. Now the warlike men that were in the 
 ,city, and the multitude of the seditious that 
 were with Simon, were ten thousand, besides 
 the Idumeans. Those ten thousand had fifty 
 commanders, over whom this Simon was su- 
 preme. The Idumeans that paid him homage 
 were five thousand, and had eight commanders, 
 among whom those of greatest fame were 
 Jacob, the son of Sosas, and Simon, the son 
 of Cathlas. John, who had seized upon the 
 temple, had six thousand armed men, under 
 twenty, commanders ; the zealots also that had 
 come over to him, and left off their opposition, 
 were two thousand four hundred, and had the 
 same commander that they had formerly, 
 Eleazar, together with Simon, the son of 
 Arinus. Now, while these factions fought one 
 against another, the people were their prey on 
 both sides, as we have said already ; and that 
 part of the people who would not join with 
 them in their wicked practices, were plunder- 
 ed by both factions. Simon held the upper 
 city, and the great wall as far as Cedron, and 
 as much of the old wall as bent from Siloam 
 to the east, and which went down to the 
 palace of Monobazus, who was king of the 
 Adiabeni, beyond Euphrates; he also held 
 that fountain, and the Acra, which was no 
 other than the lower city ; he also held all that 
 reached to the palace of queen Helena, the 
 mother of Monobazus: but John held the 
 temple, and the parts thereto adjoining, for a 
 great way, as also Ophla, and the valley 
 called " the Valley of Cedron ;" and when the 
 parts that were interposed between their pos- 
 sessions were burnt by them, they left a space 
 wherein they might fight with each other ; for 
 this internal sedition did not cease even when 
 the Romans were encamped near their very 
 walls. But although they had gjrown wiser 
 at the first onset the Romans made upon 
 them, this lasted but a while; for they return- 
 ed to their former madness, and separated one 
 from another, and fought it out, and did every 
 thing that the besiegers could desire them to 
 do; for they never suffered any thing that 
 was worse from the Romans than they made 
 each other suffer; nor was there any misery 
 endured by the city after these men's actions 
 that could be esteemed new. But it was most 
 of all unhappy before it was overthrown, 
 while those that took it did it a gn'^ater kind- 
 
 ness; for I venture to afiirm, that the sedition 
 destroyed the city, and the Romans destroyed 
 the sedition, which it was a much harder thing 
 to do than to destroy the walls ; so that we 
 may justly ascribe our misfortunes to our own 
 people, and the just vengeance taken on them 
 to the Romans ; as to which matter let every 
 one determine by the actions on both sides. 
 
 3. Now, when affairs within the city were 
 in this posture, Titus went round the city on 
 the outside with some chosen horsemen, and 
 looked about for a proper place where he 
 might make an impression upon the walls; 
 but as he was in doubt where he could pos- 
 sibly make an attack on any side (for the 
 place was no way accessible where the valleys 
 were, and on the other side the first wall ap- 
 peared too strong to be shaken by the engines), 
 he thereupon thought it best to make his as- 
 sault upon the monument of John the high- 
 priest; for there it was that the first fortifi- 
 cation was lower, and the second was not 
 joined to it, the builders neglecting to build 
 the wall strong where the new city was not 
 much inhabited ; here also was an easy pas- 
 sage to the third wall, through which he 
 thought to take the upper city, and, through 
 the tower of* Antonia, the temple itself. But 
 at this time, as he was going round about the 
 city, one of his friends, whose name was Ni- 
 canor, was wounded with a dart on his left 
 shoulder, as he approached, together with Jo- 
 sephus, too near the wall, and attempted to 
 discourse to those that were upon the wall, 
 about terms of peace; for he was a person 
 known by them. On this account it was 
 that Caesar, as soon as he knew their vehe- 
 mence, that they would not bear even such 
 as approached them to persuade them to what 
 tended to their own preservation, was pro- 
 voked to press on the siege. He also at the 
 same time gave his soldiers leave to set the 
 suburbs on fire, and ordered that they should 
 bring timber together, and raise banks against 
 the city ; and when he had parted his army 
 into three parts, in order to set about those 
 works, he placed those that shot darts 
 and the archers in the midst of the banks 
 that were then raising ; before whom he 
 placed those engines that threw javelins, and 
 darts, and stones, that he might prevent the 
 enemy from sallying out upon their works, 
 and might hinder those that were upon the 
 wall from being able to obstruct them. So 
 the trees were now cut down immediately, 
 and the suburbs left naked. But now while 
 the timber was carrying to raise the banks, 
 and the whole army was earnestly engaged in 
 their works, the Jews were not, however, 
 quiet ; and it happened that the people of 
 Jerusalem, who had been hitherto plundered 
 and murdered, were now of good courage, 
 and supposed they should have a breathing- 
 time, while the others were very busy in 
 opposing their enemi«s without the city, and 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 721 
 
 that they should now be avenged on those 
 that had been the authors of their miseries, 
 in case the Romans did but get the victory. 
 
 3. However, John staid behind, out of his 
 fear of Simon, even while his own men were 
 earnest in making a sally upon their enemies 
 without. Yet did not Simon lie still, for he 
 lay near the place of the siege; he brought 
 his engines of war, and disposed -of them at 
 due distances upon tlie wall, both those which 
 they took from Cestius formerly, and those 
 which they got when they seized the garrison 
 that lay in the tower of Antonia. But 
 though they had these engines in their pos- 
 session, they had so little skill in using them, 
 that they were in a great measure useles? to 
 them; but a few there were who bad beev 
 taught by deserters how to use them, wb'^h 
 they did use, though after an awkward man- 
 ner. So they cast stones and arrows at those 
 that were making the banks; they also ran 
 out upon them by companies, and fought 
 with them. Now those that were at work 
 covered themselves with hurdles spread over 
 their bank?, and their engines were opposed to 
 them when they made their excursions. The 
 engines, that all th^ legions had ready pre- 
 pared for them, were admirably contrived; 
 but still more extraordinary ones belonged to 
 the tenth legion: those that threw darts and 
 those that threw stones, were more forcible and 
 larger than the rest, by which they not only 
 repelled the excursions of the Jews, but drove 
 those away that were upon the walls also. 
 Now, the stones that were cast were of the 
 weight of a talent, and were carried two fur- 
 longs and farther. The blow they gave was 
 no way to be sustained, not only by those that 
 stood tirst in the way, but by those that were 
 beyond them for a great space. As for the 
 Jews, they at first watched the coming of the 
 stone, for it was of a white colour, and could 
 therefore not only be perceived by the great 
 noise it made, but could be seen also before 
 it came by its brightness; accordingly tb*» 
 watchmen that sat upon the towers gave them 
 notice when the engine was let go, and tee 
 stone came from it, and cried out aloud, in 
 their own country language, "the son 
 COMETH;"* so those that were in its way 
 
 • What should be the meaning of this signal or watch- 
 word, when the watchnicn saw a stone coming Irom the 
 ei)j!;ine, -THK son COMETH," or what mistake there is 
 in tiie reading, 1 cannot tell. The MSS. both Greek 
 and Latin, all a^ree in this reading: and I cannot approve 
 ol any froundlcss conjectural alteration of the text from 
 v'to; to lot- that not tiie son or a stone, but that the arrow 
 or dart cometh; as hath been made by Dr. Hudson, and 
 cot corrected by Havercamp. Had Josephus written 
 cyeo his 6rst edition of these books of the war in prre 
 Hebrew, or had the Jews then used the pure Hebrew at 
 Jerusalem, ,.be Hebrew word fur a son is so like that lor 
 a stone, ben and eben. that such a correction might have 
 been more easily admitted But Josephus wrote his for- 
 mer edition for the use of the Jews beyimd 1 uphrates. 
 and so in the Ctialdee lansjuage, as he did this second 
 edition in the Greek lant;uage; and bar wae the Chaldee 
 woiu (or £on, instead of the Hebrew ben, and was used, not 
 nrjy in Chaldea, &c. but in Judca also, as the New 
 Testaaitat informs us. Dio alsa lets us know, that the 
 
 stood off, and threw themselves down 'ipon 
 the ground; by which means, and by *heir 
 thus guarding themselves, the stone feH down 
 ■ and did them no harm. But the Fomai's 
 contrived how to prevent that by blacking the 
 stone, -who then could aim at them w?th suc- 
 cess, when the stone was not discerned before- 
 hand, as it had been till then; and so tbey 
 destroyed many of them at one blow. Yet 
 did not the Jews, under all this distress, per- 
 mit the Romans to raise their banks in qniet; 
 but they shrewdly and boldly exerted them- 
 selves, and repelled them both by night and 
 by day. 
 
 4. And now, upon the finishing the Roman 
 works, the workmen measured the distance 
 there was from the wall, and this by lead and 
 a line, which they threw to it from their 
 banks; for they could not measure it any 
 otherwise, because the Jews would shoot at 
 them, if they came to measure it themselves; 
 and when they found that the engines could 
 reach the wall, they brought them thither. 
 Then did Titus set his engines at proper dis- 
 tances, so much nearer to the wall, that the 
 Jews might not be able to repel them, and 
 gave orders that they should go to work; and 
 when thereupon a prodigious noise echoed 
 round about from three places, and that on 
 the sudden, there was a great noise made by 
 the citizens that were within the city, and no 
 less n terror fell upon the seditious themselves ; 
 whereupon both sorts, seeing the common 
 danger they were in, contrived to make a like 
 defence. So those of different factions cried 
 out one to another, that they acted entirely as 
 in concert with their enemies; whereas they 
 ought however, notwithstanding God did not 
 grant them a lasting concord, in their present 
 circumstances, to lay aside their enmities one 
 against another, and to unite together against 
 the Romans. Accordingly, Simon gave those 
 that came from the temple leave, by procla- 
 mation, to go upon the wall ; John also him- 
 self, though he could not believe Simon was 
 in earnest, gave them the same leave. So on 
 both sides they laid aside their hatred and 
 their peculiar quarrels, and formed theuv- 
 selves into one body; they then ran round 
 the walls, and having a vast number of torches 
 
 very Romans at Rome pronounce*! the name of Simon the 
 son of Gioras. liar Poras for Bar Ginrm, as we leaia 
 from Xiphiline, page 217, Re. and takes notice, "that 
 many will here look for a mystery, as tlioug>i the uiean- 
 ing were, that the Son of God came now to take ven- 
 geance on the sins of the Jewish nation;" which is 
 indeed the truth of the fact, but hardly what the Jews 
 could now mean; unless possibly by way ol' derision of 
 'Jhrist's threatening so often that be would corTift at the 
 head of the Roman army for their destruction But f ven 
 this interpretation has but a very small decree of proba- 
 bility. If 1 were to make an emepdation by vazrx cuu- 
 jecture, I would read o-tTjof instead of w'f, thougt. the 
 likeness he not so great as in i«;; because that is the 
 word used by Josephus just before, as has beeu aiready 
 noted on this very occasion, while }«f. an arr-j*- q: cars, 
 is only a poetical word, and never used by Joscp'JUi? 
 elsewhere, and is indeed no way suitable to the occasion, 
 this engine not throwing arrows or diiru. but great 
 tto lies, at this time. 
 
722 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK V 
 
 witb thejc, they threw them at the machines, 
 auJ shot darts perpetually upon those that 
 iaipelled those engines which battered the 
 wall; nay, the bolder sort leaped out by troops 
 upon the hurdles that covered the machines, 
 and pulled them to pieces, and fell upon those 
 that belonged to them, and beat them, not so 
 much by any skill they had, as principally by 
 the boldness of their attacks. However, Ti- 
 tus himself sent assistance to those that were 
 the hardest set, and placed both horsemen and 
 archers on the several sides of the engines, and 
 thereby beat off those that brought the tire to 
 them; he also thereby repelled those that shot 
 stones or darts from the towers, and then set 
 the engines to work in good earnest; yet did 
 not the wall yield to these blows, excepting 
 where the battering-ram of the fifteenth 
 legion moved the corner of a tower, while the 
 wall itself continued unhurt; for the wall 
 was not presently in the same danger with 
 the tower, which was extant far above it; nor 
 could the fall of that part of the tower easily 
 break down any part of the wall itself toge- 
 ther with it. 
 
 5. -Ajid now the Jews intermitted their sal- 
 lies for a while; but when they observed the 
 Romans dispersed all abroad at their works, 
 and in their several camps (for they thought 
 the Jews had retired out of weariness and 
 i'li-dx), they all at once made a sally at the tower 
 HinpJcus, through an obscure gate, and at the 
 fame time brought fire to burn the works, and 
 went boldly up to the Romans, aud to their 
 very fortifications themselves, where, at the 
 cry they made, those that were near them came 
 % presently to their assistance, and those farther 
 ott came running after them; and here the 
 boldness of tbe Jews was too hard for the 
 good order of the Romans; and as they beat 
 tnose whom they first fell upon, so they press- 
 ed upon tiiose tbat were now gotten together. 
 So tbis fight about the machines was very hot, 
 while the one side tried hard to set them on 
 fire, ann the other side to prevent it; on both 
 sides there was a confused cry made, and many 
 of idose in the rore-tront of the battle were 
 slain. However, the Jews were now too hard 
 for the Romans, by the furious assaults they 
 made like madmen; and the fire caught hold 
 vi the works, and both all those works and 
 the engines themselves, had been in danger 
 of oeing burnt, had not many of th"se select 
 Kuluiers that came from Alexandria opposed 
 themselves to prevent it, and had they not 
 behaved themselves with greater courage than 
 Ihey themselves supposed they could have 
 dune; for they outdid those in this fight that 
 Lad greater reputation than themselves before. 
 '1 li'ia was the state of things till Cajsar took 
 the stoutest of his horsemen and attacked the 
 eucu\y, while he himself slew twelve of those 
 that were in the fore-front of the Jews; which 
 Ccuth of these men, when the rest of the mul- 
 titude saw, they gave way, and he pursued 
 
 them, and drove them all into the city, ai'J 
 saved the works from the fire. Now it hai> 
 pened at this fight, that a certain Jew was 
 taken alive, who, by Titus's orders, was cru- 
 cified before the wall, to see whether the rest 
 of them would be affrighted, and abate of 
 their obstinacy. But after the Jews were 
 retired, John, who was commander of the Idu- 
 means, and was talking to a certain soldier ol 
 his acquaintance before the wall, was wounded 
 by a dart shot at him by an Arabian, and 
 died immediately, leaving the greatest lamen- 
 tation to the Jews, and sorrow to the sedi- 
 tious; for he was a man of great eminence, 
 both for his actions and his conduct also 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 HOW ONE OF THE TOWERS ERECTED BV THE 
 ROMANS FELL DOWN OF ITS OWN ACCORD; 
 AND HOW THE ROMANS, AFTER GREAT 
 SLAUGHTER HAD BEEN MADE, GOT POSSES- 
 SION OF THE FIRST WALL. HOW ALSO TITUS 
 MADE HIS ASSAULTS UPON THE SECOND 
 WALL; AS ALSO, CONCERNING LONGINUS 
 THE ROMAN, AND CASTOR THE JEW. 
 
 § 1. Now, on the next night, a most sur- 
 prising disturbance fell upon the Romans ; 
 for whereas Titus had given orders for the 
 erection of three towers of fifty cubits high, i 
 that by setting men upon them at every bank, 
 he might from thence drive those away who 
 were upon the wall, it so happened that one 
 of these towers fell down about midnight; 
 and as its fall made a very great noise, fear 
 fell upon the army, and they, supposing that 
 the enemy was coming to attack them, ran 
 all to their arms. Whereupon a disturbance 
 and a tumult arose among the legions, and as | 
 nobody could tell what had happened, they | 
 went on after a disconsolate manner; and see- 
 ing no enemy, appear, they were afraid one 
 of another, and every one demanded of his 
 neighbour the watch-word with great earnest- 
 ness, as though the Jews had invaded their 1 
 camp. And now they were like people under j 
 a panic fear, till Titus was informed of what 
 had happened, and gave orders that all should 
 be acquainted with it; and then, though with 
 some ditticulty, they got clear of the disturb- 
 ance they had been uncier. 
 
 2. Now, these towers were very trouble- 
 some to the Jews, who otherwise opposed the 
 Romans very courageously: for they shot at 
 them out of their lighter engines from those 
 towers, as they did also by those that threw 
 darts, and the archers, and those that slung 
 stones. For neither could the Jews reach those 
 that were over tnem, by reason of their height; 
 and it was nut practicable to take them, nor 
 to overturn them, they were so heavy, nor to 
 set them on fire, because they were covered 
 with plates of iron. So they retired out of 
 
CHAP. VIT. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 723 
 
 the reach of the darts, and did no longer ' 
 endeavour to hinder the impression of their 
 rams, which, by continually beating upon the 
 wall, did gradually previiil against it; so that 
 the wall already gave way to the Nico, for by 
 that name dnl the Jews themselves call the 
 greatest of their engines, because it conqueretl 
 all things. And now, they were for a long 
 while grown weary of lighting, and of keeping 
 guards, and were retired to lodge in the night- 
 time at a distance from the wall. It was on 
 other accounts also thought by them to be 
 superfluous to guard the wall, there being, 
 besides that, two other fortifications still 
 remaining, and they being slothful, and their 
 counsels having been ill-coiicertcd on all 
 occasions; so a great many grew lazy, and 
 retired. Then the Romans mounted the 
 breach, where Nico had made one, and all the 
 Jews left the guarding that wall, and retreated 
 to the second wall; so those that had gotten 
 over that wall opened the gates, and received 
 all the army within it. And thus did the 
 Romans get possession of this lirst wall, on 
 the fifteenth day of the siege, which was the 
 seventh day of the month Artemisius [Jyar], 
 when they demolished a great part of it, as 
 well as they did of the northern parts of the 
 city, which had be*;n demolished aiso by 
 Cestius formerly. 
 
 3. And now Titus pitched his camp within 
 the city, at that place which was called " the 
 Camp of the Assyrians," having seized upon 
 all that lay as far as Cedron, but took care 
 to be out of the reach of the Jews* darts. 
 He then presently began his attacks, upon 
 which the Jews divided themselves into seve- 
 ral bodies, and courageously defended that 
 wall; while John and his faction did it from 
 the tower of Antonia, and from the northern 
 cloister of the temple, and fought the Romans 
 before the monument of king Alexander; and 
 Simon's army also took for their share the 
 spot of groui'd that was near John's monu- 
 tnent, and fortified it as far as to that gate 
 where water was brought in to the tower 
 Hippicus. However, the Jews made violent 
 sallies, and that frequently also, and in bodies 
 together out of the gates, and there fought 
 the Romans; and when they were pursued 
 altogetlier to the wall, they were beaten 
 in those fights, as wanting the skill of 
 the Romans. But when they fought them 
 from the walls, they were too hard for them, 
 the Roman? being encouraged by their power, 
 joined to their skill, as were the Jews by their 
 boldness, which was nourished by the fear 
 they were in, and that hardiness which is 
 natural to our nation under calamities; they 
 were also encouraged still by the hope of 
 deliverance, as were the Romans by the hopes 
 of subduing them in a little time. Nor did 
 either side grow weary; but attacks and 
 fifrbtings upon the wall, and perpetual sallies 
 out in bodieii, were practised ail the day loog; 
 
 nor were there any sort of warlike eng«tg3- 
 ments that were not then put in use. And 
 the night itself had much ado to part them, 
 when they began to fight in the morning; 
 nay, the night itself was passed without gle»'j> 
 on both sides, and was more uneasy than the 
 day to them, while the one was afraid lest the 
 wall should be taken, and the other lest the 
 Jews should make sallies upon their camps-; 
 both sides also lay in their armour during the 
 night-time, and thereby were ready at the 
 first appearance of light to go to the battle 
 Now, among the Jews the ambition was who 
 should undergo the first dangers, and thereby 
 gratify their commanders. Above all, they 
 had a great veneration and dread of Simon; 
 and to that degree was he regarded by every 
 one of those that were under him, that at his 
 command they were very ready to kill them- 
 selves with their own hands. What made the 
 Romans so courageous, was their usual cus- 
 tom of conquering and disuse of bei.;g 
 defeated, their constant wars, and perpetual 
 warlike exercises, and the grandeur of their 
 dominion; and what was now their chief 
 encouragement, — Titus, who was present 
 everywhere with them all; for it appeared a 
 terrible thing to grow weary while Cuisar uas 
 there, and fought bravely as well as they uiu, 
 and was himself at once an eye-witness of 
 such as behaved themselves vjiliantiy, and he 
 who was to reward them also. It was, 
 besides, esteemed an advantage at present to 
 have any one's valour known by Ca;sar; on 
 which account many of them appeared to 
 have more alacrity than strength to answer it. 
 And now, as the Jews were about this tui.e 
 standing in array before the wall, and tnat in 
 a strong body, and while both parties were 
 throwing their darts at each other, Longinn-:, 
 one of the equestrian order, leaped out or 
 the army of the Romans, and leaped into the 
 very midst of the army of the Jews; and hs 
 they dispersed" themselves upon this attac«c, 
 he slew two of their men of the greatest cou- 
 rage; one of them he struck in his mouth, as 
 he was coming to meet him; the otber was 
 slain by him with that very dart that he drew 
 out of the body of the other, with which he 
 ran this man through his side as he was run- 
 ning away from him; and when he had done 
 this, he first of all ran out of the midst ot his 
 enemies to his own side. So this man sijrna- 
 lized himself for his valour, and many there 
 were who were ambitious of gaining the like 
 reputation. And now the Jews were uncon- 
 cerned at what they suffered themselves from 
 the Romans, and were only solicitous aboi\t 
 what mischief they could do them: and death 
 itself seemed a small matter to them, if c 
 the same time they could but kill any one 
 of their enemies. But Titus took care to 
 secure his own soldiers from harm, as well 
 as to have them overcome their enemies. 
 He also said that inconsiderate violeace waa 
 
'724 
 
 WARS (TF THE JKWS^ 
 
 BOOK V 
 
 maii:ie«3; and that this alone was the true 
 ';ou;ugf that was joined with good conduct. 
 He vQcrcfore commanded bis men to take 
 caro, v/neu they fought their enemies, that 
 'tjyy ;ecei/ed no harm from them at the same 
 tit.'ie ; and thereby show themselves to be 
 tfulv valiant men. 
 
 4. A.id now Titus brought one of his en- 
 gines to the middle tower of the north part 
 ut Liie wail, in which a certain crafty Jew, 
 v.'hooe liame was Castor, lay in ambush, with 
 len others like himself, the rest being fled 
 away by reason of the archers. These men 
 lay still for a while, as in great fear, under 
 their breast-plates; but when the tower was 
 shaken, they arose; and Castor did then stretch 
 out his hand, as a petitioner, and called for 
 Caesar, and by his voice moved his compas- 
 sion, and begged of him to have mercy upon 
 them ; and Titus, in the innocency of his 
 heart, believing him to be in earnest, and hop- 
 ing that the Jews did now repent, stopped 
 the working of the battering-ram, and for- 
 bade them to shoot at the petitioners, and 
 bade Castor say what he had a mind to say to 
 him. He said that he would come down, if he 
 would give him his right hand for his secu- 
 rity. To which Titus replied, that he was 
 well pleased with su£h his agreeable conduct, 
 and would be well pleased if all the Jews 
 would be of his ujind ; and that he was ready 
 to give the like security to the city. Now 
 five of the ten dissembled with him, and pre- 
 tended to beg for mercy ; while the rest 
 cried out aloud, that they would never be 
 slaves to the Romans, while it was in their 
 power to die in a state of freedom. Now 
 while these n;en were quarrelling for a long 
 while, the attack was delayed ; Castor also 
 sent to Simon, and told him that they might 
 take some time for consultation about what 
 was to be done, because he would elude the 
 power of the Romans for a considerable time. 
 And at the same time that he sent thus to 
 hun, he appeared openly to exhort those that 
 were obstinate to accept of Titus's hand for 
 their security; but they seemed very angry 
 at it, and brandished their naked swords upon 
 the breast-works, and struck themselves upon 
 ttieir breast, and fell down as if they had 
 Oeen slain. Hereupon Titus, and those with 
 nun, were amazed at the courage of the men; 
 and as they were not able to see exactly what 
 was done, they admired at their great fortitude, 
 and pitied their calamity. During this inter- 
 vaU a certain person shot a dart at Castor, and 
 wounded biin in bis nose; whereupon he pre- 
 sently pulled out the dart, and showed it to Ti- 
 tuii; and complained that this was untair treat- 
 Uiunt »oCjesar reproved him that shot the dart, 
 and sent Joaephus, who then stood by him, to 
 giv< bis ri^ht hand to Castor. But Josephus 
 B<»ld t.hat be would not go to hiu), because 
 fn»>«. oretended petitioners meant nothing 
 tiuit was good; be also restrained those friends 
 
 of his who were zealous to go to him. But 
 still there was one iEneas, a deserter, who 
 said he would go to him. Castor also called 
 to them, that somebody should come and re- 
 ceive tfie money which he had with him; tliis 
 made ^neas the more earnestly to run to him 
 with his bosom open. Then did Castor take 
 up a great stoi»e and threw it at hiu), which 
 missed him, because he guarded himself 
 against it; but still it wounded another suhiieif 
 that was coming to him. When Casar under- 
 stood that this was a delusion, he perceived 
 that mercy in war is a pernicious thing, 
 because such cuiuiing tricks have less place 
 under the exercise of greater severity. So 
 he caused the engine to work more strongly 
 than before, on account of his anger at the 
 deceit put upon him. But Castor and hi* 
 companions set the tower on lire when it began. 
 to give way, and leaped through the flame into 
 a hidden vault that was under it; which made 
 the Romans farther suppose that they were 
 men of great courage, as having cast them- 
 selves into the fire. 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 HOW THE ROMANS TOOK THE ;SECOND V7ALt 
 TWICE, AND GOT ALL READY FOR TAKING 
 THE THIRD WALL. 
 
 § 1. Now Ciesar took this wall there on the 
 fifth day after he had taken the lirst ; and 
 when the Jews had fled from him, be entered 
 into it with a thousand armed men, and those 
 of his choice troops, and this at a place where 
 were the merchants of wool, the braziers, and 
 the market for cloth, and where the narrow 
 streets led obliquely to the wall. Wherefore,, 
 if Titus had either demolished a larger part ot 
 the wall immediately, or had come in, and ac- 
 cording to the law of war, had laid waste v.hafe 
 was left, his victory would not, 1 s\j|)puse, have 
 been mixed with any loss to hiuistrlt; but 
 now, out of the hope he had that he should 
 make the Jews ashamed of their obstinacy, by 
 not being willing, when he was able to atHict 
 them more than he needed to do, he did not 
 widen the breach of the wall in order to mak',* 
 a safer retreat upon occasion; tor he <iid not 
 think they would lay snares for him that liit^W^ 
 them such a kindness. When, thereloie, ha 
 came in, he did not permit his soldiers to kill 
 any of those they caught, nor to set tire to 
 their houses neither; nay, he gave leave to 
 the seditious, if they bad a mind, to light 
 without any harm to the p«:ople, and promised 
 to restore the [jeople's etiects to them; lor he 
 was very desirous to preserve the city for his 
 own sake, and tiie temple for lue sake of the 
 city. As to the peo[»le, he had them of a 
 long time ready to comply with his propofais; 
 but as to tite lighting men, this hum n ity oi 
 his seemed u mark ot his weakness; and they 
 
CHAP. IX, 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 725 
 
 iaiagijieJ that he made these proposals because 
 he vvas not able to take the rest of the city. 
 They also threatened death to the people, if 
 they should any one of them say a word about 
 a surrender. They moreover cut the throats 
 of such as talked of a peace, and then attacked 
 those Romans that were come within the 
 wall. Some of them they met in the narrow 
 streets, and some they fought against from 
 their houses, while they made a sudden sally 
 out at the upper gates, and assaulted such 
 Romans as were beyond the wall, till those 
 that guarded the wall were so affrighted, that 
 they leaped down from their towers, and 
 retired to their several camps: upon which a 
 great noise was made by the Romans that 
 were within, because they were encompassed 
 round on every side by their enemies; as also 
 by them that were without, because they were 
 in fear for those that were left in the city. 
 Thus did the Jews grow more numerous per- 
 petually, and had great advantages over the 
 Romans, by their full knowledge of those 
 narrow lanes; and they wounded a great 
 many of them, and fell upon them, and drove 
 them out of the city. Now these Romans 
 were at present forced to make the best resis- 
 tance they could; for they were not able, in 
 great numbers, to get out at the breach in the 
 wall, it was so narrow. It is also probable 
 that all those that were gotten within had 
 been cut to pieces, if Titus had not sent them 
 succours; for he ordered the archers to stand 
 at the upper ends of these narrow lanes, and 
 he stood himself where was the greatest mul- 
 titude of his enemies, and with his darts he 
 put a stop to them; as with him did Domi- 
 tius Sabiims also, a valiant man, and one 
 that in this battle appeared so to be. Thus 
 did Caesar continue to shoot darts at the Jews 
 continually, and to hinder them from coming 
 upon his men, and this until all his soldiers 
 had retreated out of the city. 
 
 2. And thus were the Romans driven out, 
 after they had possessed themselves of the 
 second wall. Whereupon the fighting men 
 that were in the city were lifted up in their 
 minds, and were elevated upon this their good 
 success, and began to think that the Romans 
 would never venture to come into the city any 
 more; and that, if they kept within it them- 
 selves, they should not be any more con- 
 quered; for God had blinded their minds for 
 ttie transgressions they had been guilty of, 
 nor could they see how much greater forces 
 the Romans had than those that were now 
 expelled, no more than they could discern 
 how a famine was creeping upon them; for 
 hitherto they had fed themselves out of the 
 public miseries, and drank the blood of the 
 city. But now poverty had for a long time 
 seized upon the better part, and a great many 
 had died already for want of necessaries; 
 although the seditious indeed supposed the 
 destruction of the peoi;le to be un easement to 
 
 themselves; for they desired that none others 
 might be preserved but such as were against 
 a peace with the Romans, and were resolved 
 to live in opposition to them, and they were 
 pleased when the multitude of those of a con- 
 trary opinion were consumed, as being then 
 freed from a heavy burden: and this was their 
 disposition of mind with regard to those that 
 were within the city, while they covered them- 
 selves with their armour, and prevented the 
 Romans, when they were trying to get into 
 the city again, and made a wall of their own 
 bodies over-against that part of the wall that 
 was cast down. Thus did they valiantly 
 defend themselves for three days; but on the 
 fourth day they could not support themselves 
 against the vehement assaults of Titus, but 
 were compelled by force to fly whither they 
 had {led before; so he quietly possessed him- 
 self again of that wall, and demolished it 
 entirely; and when he had put a garrisoQ 
 into the towers that were on the so;ith parts 
 of the city, he contrived how he might assault 
 the third wall. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TITUS, WHEN THE JEWS WERE NOT AT ALL 
 MOLLIFIED BY HIS LEAVING OFF THE 
 SIEGE FOR A WHILE, SET HIMSELF AGAIN 
 TO PROSECUTE THE SAME; BUT SOON SENT 
 JOSEPHUS TO DISCOURSE WITH HIS OWN 
 COUNTRYMEN ABOUT PEACE. 
 
 § 1. A RESOLUTION was now taken by Titus 
 to relax the siege for a little while, and to 
 afford the seditious an interval for considera- 
 tion, and to see whether the demolishing of 
 their second wall would not make them a little 
 more compliant, or whether they were not 
 somewhat afraid of a famine, because the 
 spoils they had gotten by rapine would not be 
 sufficient for them long; so he made use of 
 this relaxation, in order to compass his ov.'n 
 designs. Accordingly, as the usual appointed 
 time when he must distribute subsistence- 
 money to the soldiers was now come, he gave 
 orders that the commanders should put the 
 army into battle array, in the face of tHo 
 enemy, and then give every one of the soldiers 
 their pay. So the soldiers, according to cus- 
 tom, opened the cases wherein their arms 
 before lay covered, and marched with their 
 breat-t-plates on; as did the horsemen lead 
 their horses in their tine trappings. Then 
 did the places that were before the city shine 
 very splendidly for a great way; nor was there 
 any thing so grateful to Titus's own men, or 
 so terrible to the enemy, as that sight; for the 
 whole old wall nnd the north side of the tem- 
 ple were full of spectators, and one might see 
 tbe houses full of such as looked at them; noi 
 was there any part of the city which was rot 
 
75>C 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK V, 
 
 covered over wth their multitudes; nay, a 
 very great consternation seized upon the har- 
 diest t}( tbe Jews themselves, when they saw 
 ^1 tiu> armv in the same place, together with 
 Ihe oneness of their arms, and the good 
 f»rner ut their men ; and I cannot but think 
 that the seditious would have changed their 
 ni:nds at that sight, unless the crimes they 
 had committed against the people had been 
 so horrid, that they despaired of forgiveness 
 from the Romans; but as they believed death 
 with torments must be their punishment, if 
 they did not go on in the defence of the city, 
 they thought it much better to die in war. 
 Fate also prevailed so far over them, that the 
 in'iocent were to perish with the guilty, and 
 the city was to be destroyed with the seditious 
 that were in it. 
 
 2. Thus did the Romans spend four days 
 in -bringing this subsistence-money to the 
 several legions; but on the fifth day, when 
 no s'gns of peace appeared to come from the 
 Jews, Titus divided his legions, and began to 
 raise banks, both at the tower of Antonia and 
 at John's monument. Now his designs were 
 to take the upper city at that monument, and 
 the temple at the tower of Antoiiia; for if 
 the temple were not taken it would be dan- 
 gerous to keep the city itself; so at each of 
 these parts he raised him banks, each legion 
 raiding one. As for those that wroMght at 
 John's monument, the Iduraeans, and those 
 that were in arms with Simon, made sallies 
 upon them, and put some stop to them ; while 
 John's party, and the multitude of zealots with 
 thera, did the like to those that were before 
 the tower of Antonia. These Jews were now 
 too hard for the Romans, not only in direct 
 fighting, because they stood upon the higher 
 ground, but because they had now learned to 
 use their own engines; for their continual use 
 of them, one day after another, did by degrees 
 improve their skill about them ; for of one 
 sort of engines for darts they had three hun- 
 dred, and forty for atones; by the means of 
 which they made it more tedious for the Ro- 
 mans to raise their banks ; but then Titus, 
 knowiTJg that the city would be either saved 
 or destroyed for himself, did not only proceed 
 earnestly in the siege, but did not omit to have 
 the Jews exhorted to repentance; so he mixed 
 good counsel with his works for the siege; 
 and being sensible that exhortations are 
 frequently more effectual than arms, he per- 
 suaded theui to surrender the city, now in a 
 manner already taken, and thereby to save 
 tben)seives, and sent Johephus to speak to 
 them in their own language ; for he imaginec 
 they might }ield to the persuasion of a coun- 
 tryman of their own. 
 
 3. So Joseph us went round about the wall, 
 and tried to find a place that was out of the 
 rBOchof their duits.and yet within their hearing, 
 andbef'ought iht niin ujany words to spare them- 
 •clvejj, to Sparc their country and thtir temple, 
 
 and not to he reore ohdurate in these cases 
 than foreigners themselves; for that the Ro- 
 mans, who had no relation to those things, had 
 a reverence for their sacred rites and places, 
 although they belonged to their enemies, and 
 had till now kept their hands off from med- 
 dhng with them ; while such as were brought 
 up under them, and, if they be preserved, 
 will be the only people that will reap the bene- 
 fit of them, hurry on to have them destroyed. 
 That certainly they have seen their strongest 
 walls demolished, and that the wall still 
 remaining was weaker than those that were 
 already taken. That they must know the Ro- 
 man power was invincible, and that they had 
 been used to serve them ; for, that in case it 
 be allowed a right thing to fight for liberty, 
 that ought to have been done at first; but for 
 them that have once fallen under the power of 
 the Romans, and have now submitted to them 
 for so many long years, to pretend to shake off 
 that yoke afterward, was the work of such as 
 had a mind to die miserably, not of such as were 
 lovers of liberty. JJesides, men may well 
 enough grudge at the dishonour of owning ig- 
 noble masters over them, but ought not to do 
 so to those who have all things under their com- 
 mand: for what part of the world is there tliat 
 hath escaped the Romans, unless it be such as 
 are of no use, for violent heat or violent cold? 
 And evident it is, that fortune is on all hands 
 gone over to them; and that God, when he 
 had gone round the nations with this domi- 
 nion, is now settled in Italy. That, moreover, 
 it is a strong and fixed law, even among brute 
 beasts, as well as among men, to yield to those 
 that are too strong for them; and to suffer 
 those to have dominion who are too hard for 
 the rest in war; for which reason it was that 
 their forefathers, who were far superior lo 
 them both in their souls and bodies, and other 
 advantages, did yet submit to the Romans; 
 which they would not have suffered, had tliey 
 not known that God was with them. As for 
 themselves, what can they depe:id on in this 
 their opposition, when the greatest part of 
 their city is already taken? and when those 
 that are within it are under greater miseries 
 than if they were taken, although their walla 
 be still standing? For that the Romans 
 are not unacquainted with that famine which 
 is in the city, whereby the people are already 
 consumed, and the fighting men will in a 
 little time be so too; for although the Ro- 
 mans should leave off the siege, and not 
 fall upon the city with their swords in their 
 hands, yet was there an insirperable war that 
 beset them withiii^ and was augmented every 
 hour, unless they were able to wage war with 
 famine, and fight against it, or could alone 
 conquer their natural appetites. He added 
 this farther. How right a thing it was to 
 change their conduct before their calamities 
 were btx'ome incurable, and to have recourse 
 lo bucb advice as might preserve them, wink 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 "WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 727 
 
 opportunity was offered them for so doing; 
 for that the Romans would not be mindful of 
 their past actions to their disadvantage, unless 
 they persevered in their insolent behaviour to 
 the end ; because they were naturally mild in 
 their conquests, and preferred what was pro- 
 fitable, before what their passions dictated to 
 them ; which profit of theirs lay not in leaving 
 the city empty. of inhabitants^ nor the country 
 a desert; oh which account Caesar did now 
 otfer them his right hand for their security. 
 Whereas, if he took the city by force, ha 
 would not save any one of them, and this 
 especially, if they rejected his offers in these 
 their utmost distresses; for the wails that 
 were already taken, could not but assure theni 
 that the third wall would quickly be taker 
 also; and though their fortifications should 
 prove too strong for the Romans to break 
 through them, yet would the famine fi^ht for 
 the Romans against them. 
 
 4. While Josephus was making this exhor- 
 tation to the Jews, many of them jested upon 
 him from the wall, and many reproached him; 
 nay, some threw their darts at him; but when 
 he could not himself persuade them by such 
 open good advice, he betook himself to the 
 histories belonging to their own nation; and 
 cried out aloud, " O miserable creatures 1 are 
 you so unmindful of those that used to assist 
 you, that you will fight by your weapons and 
 by your hands against the Romans? When 
 did we ever conquer any other nation by such 
 means? and when was it that God, who is 
 the Creator of the Jewish people, did not 
 avenge them when they had beeh injured? 
 Will not you turn again, and look back, and 
 consider whence it is that you fight with such 
 violence, and how great a Supporter you have 
 profanely abused? Will not you recall to 
 mind the prodigious things done for your 
 forefathers and this holy place, and how great 
 enemies of yours were by him subdued under 
 you? I even tremble myself in declaring the 
 works of God before your ears, that are 
 unworthy to hear them: however, hearken to 
 me, that you may be informed how you fight, 
 not only against the Romans but against God 
 himself. In old times there was one Necao, 
 king of Egypt, who was also called Pharaoh: 
 he came with a prodigious army of soldiers, 
 and seized queen Sarah, the mother of our 
 nation. What did Abraham our progenitor 
 then do? Did he defend himself from this 
 injurious person by war, although he had 
 three hundred and eighteen captains under 
 him, and an immense army under each of 
 them? Indeed, he deemed them to be no 
 number at all without God's assistance, and 
 only spread out his hands towards this holy 
 place,' which you have now polluted, and 
 
 • Joiephns supposes, in this his admirable speech to 
 t*W' .'-W8, that not Ahraliam only, hut Pharauh kin^ of 
 t'.ii^ pt. pra\e<l towards a teaiple at .lernsalem, or towards 
 JIt:iu«jil.-ia iiMfH. ill wiiiiili were IVJouDt Sion and iMouut 
 
 reckoned upon him as upon his invisible sup- 
 porter, instead of his own army. Was not 
 our queen sent back, without any defilement, 
 to her husband, the very next evening 1 — 
 while the king of Egypt fled away, adorning 
 this place which you have defiled by shedding 
 thereon the blood of your countrymen ; and 
 he also trembled at those visions which h 
 saw in the night-season, and bestowed botl 
 silver and gold on the Hebrews, as on a peo- 
 ple beloved of God. Shall I say nothing, oi 
 shall I mention the removal of our fathers 
 into Egypt, who, when they were used tyran- 
 nically, and were fallen under the power oi 
 toreign kings for four hundred years toge- 
 ther, and might have defended themselves by 
 war and by fighting, did yet do nothing but 
 commit themselves to God? Who is there 
 that does not know that Egypt was o\er- run 
 with all sorts of wild beasts, and ccnsumeti 
 by all sorts of distempers? how their lanu 
 did not bring forth its fruit; how the Nile 
 failed of water; how the ten plagues of 
 Egypt followed one upon another? and ho .v. 
 by those means, our fathers were sent away, 
 under a guard, without any bloodshed, ai.d 
 without running any dangers, becaiise God 
 conducted them as his peculiar seivanisV 
 Moreover, did not Palestine groan uude/ the 
 ravage the Assyrians f made, when they car- 
 ried away our sacred ark? as did the:i i(io] 
 Dagon, aiid as also did that entire iidtion of 
 those that carried it away, how they weie 
 smitten with a loafhsome distemper in the 
 secret parts of their bodies, when their very 
 bowels came down together with what they 
 had eaten, till those hands that stole it away 
 were obUged to bring it back again, and that 
 with the sound of cymbals and timbrels, aud 
 other oblations,^ in order to appease the anger 
 of God for their violation of his holy ark. 
 It was God who then became our general, 
 and accomplished these great things for our 
 fathers, and this because they did not meddle 
 with war and fighting, but committed it to 
 him to judge about their affairs. When Sen- 
 nacherib, king of Assyria, brought along with 
 him all Asia, and encompassed this city 
 round with his army, did he fall by the hands 
 of men? were not those hands lifted up 
 
 ftloriah, on which the tabernacle and temple did aftt- 1- 
 wards stand; and this long before either tb«; Jeni:,'- 
 tabernacle or temple were built; nor is the famous okd 
 mand given by God to Abraham, to go two or three aa>s; 
 juurney, on purpose to offer up bis son Isaac vhere, ii...'a. 
 vourable to such a notion. 
 
 + Note here, that Josephus, in this his same admiraliir- 
 speech, calls the Syrians, nay, even the Phihslines. ji- 
 the most south part of Syria, Assyrians; wU.ch tt.'lu.'.c. 
 observes as what was common among the ancient wti 
 ters. Note also, that Josephus nii4ht well put tlie Jew^ 
 in mind, as he does here more than once, ot iheii >v<>i<. 
 derful and truly miraculous deliverance from Scnna.'lie. 
 rib, king of Assyria, while the Koman anny. and inii-s-lf 
 with tbem. were now encamped upon and beyond loai 
 Viry spot of ground where the Assj^rian ar«>j lay .'bt. 
 years before, and which retained the very name rl f ' 
 Camp of the Assyrians to that very day. See chap, fii 
 sect 3; and chap. xii. sect. 2. 
 
728 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK ▼ 
 
 to God in prayers, without meddling with 
 th«nr arms, when the angel of God destroyed 
 that prodigious army in one night? when 
 'he Assyrian king, as he rose next day, 
 t'omd a hundred fourscore and five thousand 
 liead bodies, and when he, with the remain- 
 dc.r of his army, fled away from the Hebrews, 
 tl'ough they were unarmed, and did not pur- 
 
 ue them! You are also acquainted with the 
 fill very we were under at Babylon, where the 
 p<j0ple were captives for seventy years; yet 
 .vere they not delivered into freedom again 
 ijtifore God made Cyrus his gracious instru- 
 uient in bringing it about; accordingly, they 
 »vere set free by him, and did again restore 
 the, worship of their Deliverer at his temple. 
 And, to speak in general, we ean produce no 
 example wherein our fathers got any success 
 
 ■y war, or failed of success, when without 
 war they committed themselves to God. When 
 ihey staid at home they conquered, as pleased 
 their Judge; but when they went out to fight 
 they were always disappointed: for example, 
 when the king of Babylon besieged this very 
 city, and our king Zedekiah fought against 
 him, contrary to what predictions were made 
 to him by Jeremiah the prophet, he was at 
 oiice taken prisr.ner, and saw the city and the 
 temple demolished. Yet how much greater 
 was the moderation of that king, than is that 
 of your present governors, and that of the 
 people then under him, than is that of you at 
 this timet for when Jeremiah cried out aloud, 
 bow very angry God was at them, because of 
 their transgressions, and told them that they 
 should be taken prisoners, unless they would 
 surrender up their city, neither did the king 
 nor the people put him to death; but for you 
 (to pass over what you have done within the 
 city, which I am not able to describe, as your 
 wickedness deserves), you abuse me, and 
 throw darts at me, who only exhort you to 
 save your8elve8,as being provoked when you 
 are put in mind of your sins, and cannot bear 
 t'le very mention of those crimes which you 
 eyery day perpetrate. For another example, 
 wben Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, 
 lay before this city, and had been guilty of 
 many indignities against God, and our fore- 
 fathers met him in arms, they then were slain 
 in the battle, this city was plundered by our 
 enemies, and our sanctuary made desolate for 
 three years and six months. And what need 
 <; bring any more examples! Indeed, what 
 tan it be that hath stirred up an army of the 
 Romans against our nation? Is it not the 
 impiety of the inhabitants? Whence did our 
 nervitude commence? Was it not derived 
 Dora the seditions that were among our fore- 
 fathers, when the madness of Aristobulus and 
 Ilyrcanus, and our mutual quarrek, brought 
 Poaipey upon this city, and wben God re- 
 duced those under subjection to the Romans, 
 who were unworthy of ihe liberty ihey had en- 
 joyed? Aft«ra8iege,therefore» of three mouths. 
 
 they were forced to sarrcnder therose1v<»« 
 although they had not been guilty of siir^ 
 otfences with regard to our sanctuary and 
 our laws, as you have; and this while' they 
 had much greater advantages to go to war 
 than you have. Do not we know what 
 end Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, came 
 to, under whose reign God provided that 
 this city should be taken again upon account 
 of the people's offences? When Herod, the 
 son of Antipater, brought upon us Sosius, and 
 Sosius brought upon us the Roman army, 
 they were then encompassed and besieged for 
 six months, till, as a punishment for their sins, 
 they were taken, and the city was plundered 
 by the enemy. Thus it appears, that arms 
 were never given to our nation ; but that we 
 are always given up to be fought against, and 
 to be taken; for I suppose, that sueh as in- 
 habit this holy place ought to commit the 
 disposal of all things to God, and then only 
 to disregard the assistance of men when they 
 resign themselves up to their arbitrator, who 
 is above. As for you, what have you done of 
 those things that are recommended by our 
 legislator! and what have you not done of 
 those things that he hath condemned! How 
 much more impious are you than those who 
 were so quickly taken! You have not avoided 
 so much as those sins which are usually done 
 in secret; I mean thefts, and treacherous plots 
 against men, and adulteries. You are quar- 
 relling about rapines and murders, and invent 
 strange ways of wickedness. Nay, the tem- 
 ple itself is become the receptacle of all, and 
 this divine place is polluted by the hands of 
 those of our own country; which place hath 
 yet been reverenced by the Roujaus when it was 
 at a distance from them, when they have suf- 
 fered many of their own customs to give 
 place to our law. And, after all this, do you 
 expect Him whom you have so impiously 
 abused to be your supporter? To be sure 
 then you have a right to be petitioners, and 
 to call upon him to assist you, so pure are 
 your hands I Did your king [Hezekiahj 
 lift up such hands in prayer to God agriiust 
 the king of Assyria, when he destroyed that 
 great army in one night? And do the Ro- 
 
 I mans commit such wickedness as did the king 
 of Assyria, that you u)ay have reason to hope 
 for the like vengeance upon them? Did not 
 that king accept of money from our king upon 
 this condition, that he should not destroy 
 the city, and yet, contrary to the oath he ^tld 
 taken, he came down to burn the temple? 
 while the Romans do demand no more than 
 
 , that accustomed tribute which our fathers 
 paid to their fathers; and if they may but 
 
 I once obtain that, they neither ai.i. to destroy 
 this city, nor to touch this sanctuary; nay^ 
 they will grant you besi<les, that your poste- 
 
 j rity shall be free, and your po!^ses^^ons &ecute«! 
 to you, and will pre^erve y<Ki tu>ly laws 
 mviolate to you. And it la ()iiiiii luaiiiiutfs 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 729 
 
 to expect that God should appear as well 
 disposed towards the wicked as towards the 
 rjgbteocis, since he knows when it is proper 
 to punish men for their sins immediately; 
 accordingly he brake the power of the Assy- 
 rians the very first night that they pitched 
 their camp. Wherefore, had he judged that 
 our nation was worthy of freedom, or the 
 Romans of punishment, he had immediately 
 inflicted punishment upon those Romans, as 
 he did upon the Assyrians, when Pompey 
 began to meddle with our nation, or when 
 after him Sosius came up against us, or when 
 Vespasian laid waste Galilee, or, lastly, when 
 Titus came first of all near to this city; 
 although Magnus and Sosius did not only suf- 
 fer nothing, but took the city by force; as did 
 Vespasian go from the war he made against 
 you to receive the empire; and as for Titus, 
 those springs that were formerly almost dried 
 up when they were under your power,* since 
 be is come, run more plentifully than they 
 did before; accordingly, you know that 
 Siloam, as well as all the other springs that 
 were without the city, did so far fail, that 
 water was sold by distinct measures; whereas 
 they now have such a great quantity of water 
 for your enemies, as is sutiicient not only 
 for drink both for themselves and tbeir 
 cattle, but for watering their gardens aiso. 
 The same wonderful sign you had also exD«- 
 rience of formerly, when the fore-mentioned 
 king of Babylon made war against us, and 
 when he took the city and burnt the temnle; 
 while yet I believe the Jews of that aee were 
 not so impious as you are. Wherefore I 
 cannot but suppose that God is ded out 
 of his sanctuary, and stands on the side of 
 those against whom you fight. Now, even a 
 man, if he be but a good man, will fly from 
 an impure house, and will hate those that are 
 iu it; and do you persuade yourselves that 
 God will abide with you in your iniquities, 
 who sees all secret things, and hears what 
 is kept most private! Now, what crime is 
 there, I pray you, that is so much as kept 
 secret among you, or is concealed by youl 
 nay, what is there that is not open to your 
 very enemies! for you show your transgres- 
 sions after a pompous manner, and contend 
 one with another which of you shall be more 
 wicked than another; and you make a public 
 demonstration of your injustice, as if it were 
 virtue! However, there is a place left for 
 your preservation, if you be willing to accept 
 of it; and God is easily reconciled to those 
 that confess their faults, and repent of 
 
 • This drying up of the Jerusalem fountain of Siloam. 
 when the Jews wanted it, and its flawing abundantly 
 when the enemies of the Jews wanted it, and these both 
 in the days of Z«dekiab and of Titus (and this last as a 
 3f rtalu event well known by the J«ws at that time, as 
 }(>sephu8 here telU uiem openly to their faces), are very 
 Tniarkable iuktances of a Divine I'roviieuce lor the 
 ounishiuent ol toe Jewish nation, when ttiey were )<ro*n 
 ffery wicked, at both those times of tlie desfuction of 
 JeJUHLlein. 
 
 them. O hard-hearted wretches as you are! 
 cast away all your arms, and take pity of your 
 country already going to ruin ; return from 
 your wicked ways, and have regard to the 
 excellency of that city which you are going 
 to betray, to that excellent temple with the 
 donations of so many countries in it. Who 
 could bear to be the first to set that temple 
 on fire ! who could be willing that these thing 
 should be no more ! and what is there tha 
 can better deserve to be preserved ! O insen- 
 sible creatures, and more stupid than are the 
 stones themselves ! And if you cannot look 
 at these things with discerning eyes, yet, 
 however, have pity upon your families, and 
 «et before every one of your eyes your chil 
 dren, and wdves and parents, who will be 
 gradually consumed either by famine or by 
 war. I am sensible that this danger will 
 extend to my mother, and wife, and to that 
 family of mine who have been by no means 
 ignoble, and indeed to one that hath been very 
 eminent in old times ; and perhaps you may 
 imagine that it is on their account only that 
 I give you this ad^nce : if that be all, kill 
 them; nay, take my own blood as a reward, 
 if it may but procure your preservation ; foi 
 I am ready to die in case you will but return 
 to a sound mind after my death. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW A GREAT MANY OP THE PEOPLE EAR- 
 NESTLY ENDEAVOURED TO DESERT TO THE 
 ROMANS ; AS ALSO WHAT INTOLERABLE 
 THINGS THOSE THAT STAID BEHIND SUF- 
 FERED BY FAMINE, AND THE SAD CONSB 
 QUENCES THEREOF. 
 
 § 1. As Josephus was speaking thus with a 
 loud voice, the seditious would neither yield 
 to what he said, nor did they deem it safe for 
 them to alter their conduct ; but as for the 
 people, they had a great inclination to desert 
 to the Romans; accordingly, some of them 
 sold what they had, and even the most pre- 
 cious things that had been laid up as treasures 
 by them, for a very small matter, and swal- 
 lowed down pieces of gold, that they might 
 not be found out by the robbers ; and when 
 they had escaped to the Romans, went to stool, 
 and had wherewithal to provide plentifully 
 for themselves ; for Titus let a great number 
 of them go away into the country, whither 
 they pleased ; and the main reasons why they 
 were so ready to desert were these : That now 
 they should be freed from those miseries 
 which they had endured in that city, and yet 
 should not be in slavery to the Romans: how- 
 ever, John and Simon, with their factions, did 
 more carefully watch these men's going out 
 than they did the coming in of the Romans ; 
 and, if any one did but afford the least 
 
739 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 bhatiow of suspicion of such an intention, his 
 tliroat was cut immediately. 
 
 2. But as for the richer sort, it proved all 
 one to them whether they staid in the city or 
 attempted to get out of it, for they were 
 equally destroyed in both cases ; for every 
 such person was put to death under this pre- 
 tence, that they were going to desert, — but in 
 reality that the robbers might get what they 
 had. The madness of the seditious did also 
 increase together with their famine, and both 
 those miseries were every day inflamed more 
 and more; for there was no corn which any- 
 where appeared publicly, but the robbers came 
 running into, and searched men's private 
 bouses ; and then, if they found any, they 
 tormented them, because they had denied they 
 had any ; and if they found none, they tor- 
 mented them worse, because they supposed 
 they had more carefully concealed it. The 
 indication they made use of whether they had 
 any or not, was taken from the bodies of these 
 miserable wretches; which, if they were in 
 jood case, they supposed they were in no want 
 at all of food; but if they were wasted away, 
 Ihey walked off without searching any far- 
 Lher: nor did they think it proper to kill such 
 18 these, because they saw they would very 
 >oon die of themselves for want of food. 
 Many there were indeed who sold what they 
 Sad for one measure; it was of wheat, if they 
 were of the richer sort; but of barley, if they 
 were poorer. When these had so done, they 
 jhut themselves up in the inmost rooms of 
 iheir houses, and ate the corn they had gotten; 
 jome did it without grinding it, by reason of 
 »he extremity of the want they were in, and 
 others baked bread of it, according as neces- 
 rity and fear dictated to them : a table was 
 nowhere laid for a distinct meal, but they 
 matched the bread out of the fire, half baked, 
 and ate it very hastily. 
 
 3. It was now a miserable case, and a 
 sight <.hat would justly bring tears into -our 
 eyes, how men stood as to their food, while 
 the more powerful had more than enough, 
 and the weaker were lamenting [for want of 
 it]. But the famine was too hard for all other 
 passions, and it is destructive to nothing so 
 much as to modesty; for what was otherwise 
 worthy of reverence was in this case despised; 
 insomuch that children pulled the very mor- 
 sels that their fathers were eating out of their 
 very mouths, and what was stiil more to be 
 pitied, so did the mothers do as to their in- 
 iants; and when those that were most dear 
 were perishing under iheir hands, they were 
 not ashamed to take from them the very last 
 drops that might preserve their lives; and 
 while they ate after this manner, yet were they 
 not concealed in so doing ; but the seditious 
 every v/here came upon them immediately, and 
 snatched away from them what they had got- 
 ten from others; for when they saw any house 
 skit up, this was to them a signal ibut the 
 
 people within had gotten some food; where- 
 upon they broke open the doors, and ran in, 
 and took pieces of what they vverfe eating, 
 almost up out of their very throats, and this 
 by force : the old men, who held their 
 food fast, were beaten ; and if the women, 
 hid what they had within their hands, their 
 hair^was torn for so doing; nor was there 
 any commiseration shown either to the aged 
 or to infants, but they lifted up children from 
 the ground as they hung upon the morsels 
 they had gotten, and shook them down upon 
 the floor; but still were they more barba- 
 rously cruel to those that had prevented their 
 coming in, and had actually swallowed down 
 what they were going to seize upon, as if they 
 had been unjustly defrauded of their right. ;| 
 They also invented terrible methods of tor- 
 ment to discover where any food was, and 
 they were these: to stop up the passages of 
 the privy parts of the miserable wretches, and 
 to drive sharp stakes up their fundaments 1 
 and a man was forced to bear what it is terri- ^^ 
 ble even to hear, in order to make him con- ^ 
 fess that he had but one loaf of bread, or that 
 he might discover a handful of barley -meal ^ 
 that was concealed; and this was done when 
 these tormentors were not themselves hungry; 
 for the thing had been less barbarous had 
 necessity forced them to it; but this was done 
 to keep their madness in exercise, and as mak- 
 ing preparation of provisions for themselves 
 for the following days. These men went also 
 to meet those that bad crept out of the city 
 by night, as far as the Roman guards, to ga- 
 ther some plants and herbs that grew wild; 
 and when those people thought they had got 
 clear of the enemy, these snatched from them 
 what they had brought with them, even while 
 they had frequently entreated them, and that 
 by calling upon the tremendous name of God, 
 to give them back some part of what they bad 
 brought; though these would not give them 
 the least crumb; and they were to be well 
 contented that they were only spoiled, and 
 not slain at the same time. 
 
 4. These were the afflictions which the 
 lower sort of people suffered from these ty- 
 rants' guards; but for the men that were in 
 dignity, and withal were rich, they were car- 
 ried before the tyrants themselves; some of 
 whom were falsely accused of laying treache- 
 rous plots, and so were destroyed; others of 
 them were charged with designs of betraying 
 the city to the Romans: but the readiest way 
 of all was this, to suborn somebody to affii ni 
 that they were resolved to desert to the 
 enemy; and he who was utterly despoiled of 
 what he had by Simon, was sent back again 
 to John, as of those who had been already 
 plundered by John, Simon got what remained; 
 inaomuch that they drank the blood of the 
 populace to one another, and divided the 
 (iead bodies of the poor creatures between 
 them* so that although, on account, of thur 
 

:'i^- 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 731 
 
 ETrbition after dominion, they contended with 
 each other, yet did they very well agree in 
 their wicked practices; for he that did not 
 communicate what he had got by the miseries 
 of others 1o the other tyrant, seemed to be too 
 little guilty, and in one respect only; and he 
 that did not partake of what was so communi- 
 cated to him, grieved at this, as at the loss of 
 what was a valuable thing, that he had no 
 share in such barbarity. 
 
 5. It is therefore impossible to go distinctly 
 over every instance of these men's iniquity. 
 I shall therefore speak my mind here at once 
 briefly: — That neither did any other city ever 
 suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever 
 breed a generation more fruitful in wicked- 
 ness than this was, from the beginning of the 
 world. Finally, they brought the Hebrew 
 nation into contempt, that they might them- 
 selves appear comparatively less impious with 
 regard to strangers. They confessed what 
 was true, that they were the slaves, the scum, 
 and the spurious and abortive offspring of our 
 nation, while they overthrew the city them- 
 selves, and forced the Romans, whether they 
 would or no, to gain a melancholy reputation, 
 by acting gloriously against them, and did 
 almost draw that tire upon the temple, which 
 they seemed to think came too slowly; and, 
 indeed, when they saw that temple burning 
 from the upper city, they were neither trou- 
 bled at it, nor did they shed any tears on 
 that account, while yet these passions were 
 discovered among the Romans themselves: 
 which circumstances we shall speak of here- 
 after in their proper place, when we come to 
 treat of such matters. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 HOW THE JEWS WERE CRUCIFIED BEFORE 
 THE W\LLS OF THE CITY. COXCERNING 
 ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES; AND HOW THE 
 JEWS OVERTHREW THE BANKS THAT HAD 
 BEEN RAISED BY THE ROMANS. 
 
 § 1. So now Titus's banks were advanced 
 a great way, notwithstanding his soldiers had 
 been very much distressed from the wall. He 
 then sent a party of horsemen, and ordered 
 they should lay ambushes for those that went 
 out into the valleys to gather food. Some of 
 these were indeed fighting men, who were not 
 contented with what they got by rapine; but 
 the greater part of them were poor people, 
 who were deterred from deserting by the con- 
 cern they were under for their own relations: 
 for they could not hope to escape away, toge- 
 ther with their wives and children, without 
 the knowledge of the seditious; nor could 
 they think of leaving these relations to be 
 slain by the robbers on their account; nay, 
 the severity of the famine made them bold in 
 
 thus going out: so nothing remained but that, 
 when they were concealed from the rcbbcTF, 
 they should be taken by the eneraj*; and 
 when they were going to be taken, they were 
 forced to defend themselves, for fear of being 
 punished: as after they had fought, they 
 thought it too late to make any supplications 
 for mercy: so they were first whipped, and 
 then tormented with all sorts of torture 
 before they died, and were then crucifiei 
 before the wall of the city. This miserable 
 procedure made Titus greatly to pity them, 
 while they caught every day five hundred 
 Jews; nay, some days they caught more; yet 
 did it not appear to be safe for him to let those 
 that were taken by force go their way; and 
 to set a guard over so many, he saw would 
 be to make such as guarded them useless to 
 him. The main reason why be did not forbid 
 that cruelty was this, that he hoped the Jews 
 might perhaps yield at that sight, out of fear 
 lest they might themselves afterwards be liable 
 to the same cruel treatment. So the soldiers, 
 out of the wrath and hatred they bore the 
 Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one 
 way, and another after another, to the crossts, 
 by way of jest; when their multitude was so 
 great that room was wanting for the crosses, 
 and crosses wanting for the bodies.* 
 
 2. Bet so far were the seditious from repent- 
 ing at this sad sight, that, on the contrary, 
 they made the rest of the multitude believe 
 otherwise; for they brought the relations of 
 those that had deserted upon the wall, with 
 such of the populace as were very eager to 
 go over upon the security offered them, and 
 showed them what miseries those underwent 
 who fled to the Romans; and told them that 
 those who were caught were supplicants to 
 them, and not such as were taken prisoners. 
 This sight kept many«of those within the city 
 who were so eager to desert, till the truth was 
 known; yet did some of them run away imme- 
 diately as unto certain punishment, esteeming 
 death from their enemies to be a quiet depar- 
 ture, if compared with that by famine. So Titus 
 commanded that the hands of many of those 
 that were caught should be cut off, that they 
 might not be thought deserters, and might be 
 credited on account of the calamity they were 
 under, and sent them in to John and Simon, 
 with this exhortation, that they would now 
 at length leave off [their madness], and not 
 force him to destroy the city, whereby they 
 would have those advantages of repentance, 
 even in their utmost distress, that they would 
 preserve their own lives, and so fine a city 
 of their own, and that temple which was 
 their peculiar. He then went round about 
 the banks that were cast up, and hastened 
 
 * Reland very properly takes notice liere, how justly 
 this judj;ment came upon the Jews, when they weie cru- 
 cified in such multitudes tuj^ether, that the Kowani 
 A a II ted room ior the crosses, and crosses for the bodies 
 of ttiese Jews, since they liad brou^lit ttiis judgiUBQi on 
 themselves by Uie crucifixiua of their Messiah. 
 
732 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK 
 
 them, in order to show that his words should 
 in no long time be followed by his deeds. 
 In answer to which, the seditious cast re- 
 proaches upon Csfisar himself, and upon his 
 father also, and cried out with a loud voice, 
 that they contemned death, and did well in 
 preferring it before slavery; that they would 
 do all the mischief to the Romans they could 
 while they had breath in them; and that for 
 their own city, since they were, as he said, to 
 be destroyed, they had no concern about it, 
 and that the world itself was a better temple to 
 God than this. That yet this temple would 
 be preserved by him that inhabited therein, 
 whom they still had for their assistant in this 
 war, and did therefore ^laugh at all his 
 threatenings, which would'come to nothing; 
 because the conclusion of the whole depended 
 upon God only. These words were mixed 
 with reproaches, and with them they made a 
 mighty clamour. 
 
 3. In the mean time Antiochus Epiphanes 
 came to the city, having with him a conside- 
 rable number of other armed men, and a band 
 called the Macedonian Band about him, all 
 of the same age, tall, and just past their child- 
 hood, armed, and instructed after the Mace- 
 donian manner, whence it was that they took 
 that name. Yet were many of them un- 
 worthy of so famous a nation; for it had so 
 happened, that the king of Commagene had 
 flourished more than other kings that were 
 under the power of the Romans, till a change 
 happened in his condition ; and when he was 
 become an old man, he declared plainly that 
 we ought not to call any man happy before 
 he is dead. But this son of his, who was 
 then come thither before his father was de- 
 caying, said that he could not but wonder 
 what made the Romans so tardy in making 
 their attacks upon the wall. Now he was a 
 warlike man, and natiJrally bold in exposing 
 himself to dangers; he was also so strong a 
 man, that his boldness seldom failed of hav- 
 ing success. Upon this, Titus smiled, and 
 said he would share the pains of an attack 
 with him. However, Antiochus went as he 
 then was, and with bis Macedonians made a 
 sudden assault upon the wall; and, indeed, 
 for his own part, his strength and skill were 
 80 great, that he guarded himself from the 
 Jewish darts, and yet shot his darts at them, 
 while yet the young men with him were 
 almost all sorely galled; for they had so great 
 a regard to the promises that had been made 
 of their courage, that they would needs per- 
 severe in their fighting, and at length many 
 of them retired, but not till they were 
 wounded; and then they perceived that true 
 Macedonians, if they were to be conquerors, 
 mudt have Alexander's good fortune also. 
 
 4. Now, as the Romans began to raise their 
 banks on the twelfth day of the month Arte- 
 rnikia« [Jyuc'], so had they much ado to tiui.sl. 
 tbera by the twenty-ninth day of the >>aui' 
 
 month, after they had laboured hard for seven- 
 teen days continually ; for there were now 
 four great banks raised, one of which was at 
 the tower of Antonia ; this was raised by the 
 fifth legion, over against the middle of that 
 pool which was called Struthius. Another 
 was cast up by the twelfth legion, at the dis- 
 tance of about twenty cubits from the other. 
 But the labours of the tenth legion, which lay 
 a great way off these, were on the north quar- 
 ter, and at the pool called Amygdalon ; as 
 was that of the fifteenth legion about thirty 
 cubits from it, and at the high-priest's monu- 
 ment. And now, when the engines were 
 brought, John had from within undermined 
 the space that was over-against the tower of 
 Antonia, as far as the banks themselves, ahd 
 had supported the ground over the mine with 
 beams laid across one another, whereby the 
 Roman works stood upon an uncertain foun- 
 dation. Then did he order such materials, to 
 be brought in as were daubed over with pitch 
 and bitumen, and set them on fire; and as 
 the cross-beams that supported the banks were 
 burning, the ditch yielded on the sudden, 
 and the banks were shaken down, and fell 
 into the ditch with a prodigious noise. Now 
 at the first there arose a very thick smoke and 
 dust, as the fire was choked with the fall of 
 the bank ; but as the suffocated materials were 
 now gradually consumed, a plain flame brake 
 out; on which sudden appearance of the 
 flame a consternation fell upon the Romans, 
 and the shrewdness of the contrivance dis- 
 couraged them ; and, indeed, this accident com- 
 ing upon them at a time when they thought 
 they had already gained their point, cooled 
 their hopes for the time to come. They 
 also thought it would be to no purpose to 
 take the pains to extinguish the fire, since, 
 if it were extinguished, the banks were 
 swallowed up already [and become useless 
 to them]. 
 
 5. Two days after this, Simon and his party 
 made an attempt to destroy the other banks ; 
 for the Romans had brought their engines to 
 bear there, and began already to make the 
 wall shake. And here one Tephtheus, of 
 Garsis, a city of Galilee, and Megassarus, 
 one who was derived from some of queen 
 Mariamne's servants, and with them one from 
 Adiabene, he wa? the son of Nabateus, and 
 called by the name of Chagiras, from the ill 
 fortune he had, the word signifying " a lame 
 man," snatched some torches and ran sud- 
 denly upon the engines. Nor were there, dur- 
 ing this war, any men that ever sallied out of 
 the city who were their superiors, either in 
 their own boldness, or in the terror they struck 
 into their enemies ; for they ran out upon the 
 Romans, not as if they were enemies, but 
 friends, without fear or delay; nor did they 
 leave their enemies till they had rushed vio. 
 lently through the midst of them, and set their 
 machines on fire ; and though they had darts 
 
CHAP. XIT. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 733 
 
 thrown at them on every side, and were on 
 evtry side assaulted with their enemies' swords, 
 yet liid they not withdraw Themselves out of 
 the dangers they were in, till the fire had 
 caugijt hold of the instruments; but when the 
 fliine went up, the Rwnans came running 
 from their camp to save their engines. Then 
 did the Jews hinder their succours from the 
 wall, and fought with those that endeavoured 
 to quench the tire, without any regard to the 
 danger their bodies were in. So the Romans 
 pulled the engines out of the fire, while 
 the hurdles that covered them were on fire; 
 but the Jews caught hold of the battering- 
 rams through the flame itself, and held them 
 fast, although the iron upon them was 
 become red hot; and now the fire spread 
 itself from the engines to the banks, and 
 prevented those that came to defend them; 
 and all this while the Romans were encom- 
 passed round about with the flame; and, 
 despairing of saving their works from it, 
 they retired to their camp. Then did the 
 Jeiv.a become still more and more in number 
 by the coming of those that were within 
 the city to their assistance; and as they were 
 very bold upon the good success they had 
 had, their violent assaults were almost irre- 
 sistible; nay, they proceeded as far as t'ue 
 fortifications of the enemy's camp, and fought 
 with their guards. Now there stood a boQv 
 of soldiers in array before that caniD, whic'a 
 succeeded one another by turns in tieir 
 armour; and as to those, the law of the 
 Romans was terrible, that he who left his 
 post there, le*. the occasion be whatsoever it 
 might, he was to die for it; so that body of 
 soldiers, preferring rather to die in fightine 
 courageously, than as a punishment for their 
 cowardice, stood firm; and at the necessity 
 these men were in of standing to it, many ot 
 the others that had run away, out of shame, 
 turned back again; and when they had set 
 their engines against the wall, they kept the 
 multitude from coming more of them out of 
 the city; [which they could the more easily 
 do] because they had made no provision for 
 preserving or guarding their bodies at this 
 time; for the Jews fought now hand to hand 
 with all that came in their way, and, without 
 any caution, fell against the points of their 
 enemy's spears, and attacked them bodies 
 against bodies; for they were now too hard 
 for the Romans, not so much by their other 
 warlike actions, as by these courageous 
 assaults they made upon them; and the 
 Romans gave way more to their boldness 
 than they did to the sense of the harm they 
 had received from them. 
 
 0. And now Titus was come from the 
 tower ot Antonia, whither he was gone to 
 loniic out tor a place for raising other banks, 
 ann reproached the soldiers greatly for per- 
 rnitt^jig iheir own walls to be in danger, when 
 thry bad taken the walls of their enemies, and 
 
 sustains' the fortune of men besieged, while 
 the Jews were allowed to sally out against 
 them, though they were already in a sort of 
 prison. He then went round about the 
 enemy with some chosen troops, and fell upon 
 their flank himself; so the Jews, who had 
 been before assaulted in their faces, wheeled 
 about to Titus, and continued the fight. 
 The armies also were how mixed one among 
 another, and the dust that was raised so far 
 hindered them from seeing one another, and 
 the noise that was made so far hindered them 
 from hearing one another, that neither side 
 could discern an enemy from a friend. How- 
 ever, the Jews did not flinch, though not so 
 much from their reil strength, as from their 
 despair of deliverance. The Romans also 
 would not yield, by reason of the regard they 
 had to glory, and to their reputation in war, 
 and because Csesar himself went into the 
 danger before them ; insomuch that I cannot 
 but think the Romans would in the conclu- 
 sion have now taken even the whole multi- 
 tude of the Jews, so very angry were they at 
 them, had these not prevented the upshot of 
 the battle, and retired into the city. How- 
 ever, seeing the banks of the Romans were 
 demolished, these Romans were very much 
 cast down upon the loss of what had cost 
 them so long pains, and this in one hour's 
 time ; and many indeed despaired of taking 
 the city with their usual engines of war only. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 TITUS THOUGHT FIT TO ENCOMPASS THE CITY 
 ROUND WITH A WALL^ AFTER WHICH THB 
 FAMINE CONSUMED THB PEOPLE BY WHOLB 
 . HOUSES AND FAMILIES TOGETHER. 
 
 § 1. And now did Titus consult with his 
 commanders what was to be done. Those 
 that were of the warmest tempers, thought 
 he should bring the whole army against the 
 city, and storm the wall ; for that hitherto no 
 more than a part of their army had fought 
 with the Jews; but that in case the entire 
 army was to come at once, they yvould not be 
 able to sustain their attacks, but would be 
 overwhelmed by their darts : but of those that 
 were for a more cautious management, some 
 were for raising their banks again ; and others 
 advised to let the banks alone, but to lie still 
 before the city, to guard against the coming 
 out of the Jews, and against their carrying pro- 
 visions into the city, and so to leave the enemy 
 to the famine, and this without direct fight- 
 ing with them ; for that despair was not to be 
 conquered, especially as to those who are desi- 
 rous to die by the sword, while a more terri- 
 ble misery than that is reserved for them 
 However, Titus did not think it fit for so 
 
m 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 gr'?R*. in arrr.y to lie entirely idle, and that yet 
 ff wsL? in vain to fight with those that would 
 !>p destroyed one by another; he also showed 
 thmi tow impracticable it was to cast up any 
 more batiks, for want of materials, and to 
 guard against the Jews' coming out, still more 
 impracticable; as also, that to encompass the 
 whole city round with his army was not very 
 easy, by reason of its raagnitMde, and the dif- 
 ficulty of the situation; and on other accounts 
 dangerous, upon the sallies the Jews miglit 
 make out of the city; for although they might 
 guard the known passages out of the place, 
 yet would they, when they found themselves 
 under the greatest distress, contrive secret 
 passages out, as being well acquainted with 
 all such places; and if any provisions were 
 carried in by stealth, the siege would thereby 
 be longer delayed. He also owned, that he 
 was afraid that the length of time thus to be 
 spent would diminish the glory of his suc- 
 cess; for though it be true, that length of 
 time will perfect every thing, yet, that to do 
 what we do in a little time, is still necessary 
 to the gaining reputation : that therefore his 
 opinion was, that if they aimed at quickness 
 joined with security, they must build a wall 
 roundabout the whole city; which was, he 
 thought, the only way to prevent the Jews 
 from coming out any way, and that then they 
 would either entirely despair of saving the 
 city, and so would surrender it up to him, or 
 be still the more easily conquered when the 
 famine had farther weakened them; for that 
 besides this wall, he would not lie entirely at 
 rest afterward, but would take care then to 
 have banks raised again, when those that 
 would oppose them were become weaker: but 
 that if any one should think such a work to 
 be too great, and not to be finished without 
 much difficulty, he ought to consider that it 
 is not tit for Romans to undertake any small 
 work, and that none but God himself could 
 with ease accomplish any great thing what- 
 soever. 
 
 2. These arguments prevailed with the 
 commanders. So Titus gave orders that the 
 army should be distributed to their several 
 shares of this work; and indeed there now 
 came upon the soldiers a certain divine fury, 
 60 that they did not only part the whole wall 
 that was to be built among them, nor did 
 only oiw. legion strive with another, but the 
 lesser dlvi^ion3of the army did the same; inso- 
 much that each soldier was ambitious to please 
 his decjirion, each decurion his centurion, 
 each centiirion his tribune, and the ambition 
 of the tribunes was to please their superior 
 commanders, while Cuesar himself took notice 
 of and rewarded the like contention in those 
 cominar)ders; for he went round about the 
 work* many times every day, and took a view 
 of what was done. Titus begat) the wall frotn 
 th«; CJ^rap of the Assyrians, where his own 
 was pitched, ana drew it down to the 
 
 lower parts of Cenopolis ; thence it' went 
 along the valley of Cedron to the Mount of 
 Olives; it then bent toward the south, and 
 encompassed the mountain as far as the rock 
 called Peristereon, and that other hill which 
 lies next it, and is ov^r the valley which reaches 
 to Siloam ; whence it bended again to the west, 
 and went down to the valley of the Fountain, 
 beyond which it went up again at the monu- 
 tnent of Ananus the high-priest, and encom- 
 passing that mountain where Pompey had 
 formerly pitched his camp, it returned back to 
 the north side of the city, and was carried on 
 as far as a certain village called " The House 
 of the Erebinthi;" after which it encompassed 
 Herod's monument, and there, on the east, 
 was joined to Titus's own camp, where it 
 began. Now the length of this wall was forty 
 furlongs, one only abated. Now on this wall 
 without were erected thirteen places to keep 
 garrisons in, the circumference of which, put 
 together, amounted to ten furlongs; the whole 
 was completed in three days: sothat what would 
 naturally have required some months, was 
 done in so short an interval as is incredible. 
 When Titus had therefore encompassed the 
 city with this wall, and put garrisons into pro- 
 per places, he went round the wall, at the first 
 watch of the night, and observed how the guard 
 was kept ; the second watch he allotted to 
 Alexander; the commanders of legions took 
 the third watch. They also cast lots among 
 themselves who should be upon the watch in 
 the night-time, and who should go all night 
 long round the spaces that were interposed 
 between the garrisons. 
 
 3. So all hope of escaping was now cut off 
 from the Jews, together with their liberty of 
 going out of the city. Then did the famine 
 widen its progress, and devoured the people 
 by whole houses and families; the upper 
 rooms were full of women and children that 
 were dying by famine; and the lanes of the 
 city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; 
 the children also and the young men wandered 
 about the market-places like shadows, all 
 swelled with the famine, and fell down dead 
 wheresoever their misery seized them. As 
 for burying them, those that were sick them- 
 selves were not able to do it; and those that 
 were hearty and well, were deterred fronj 
 doing it by the great multitude of those dead 
 bodies, and by the uncertainty there was how 
 soon they shouhl die themselves; for many 
 died as they were burying others, and many 
 went to their coffins before that fatal hour 
 was comel Nor was there atiy lanieoiLaliou 
 made under these calatnities, nor were heard 
 any mournful complaints; but the famine 
 confounded all natural passions ; for those 
 who were just going to die, looked upon those 
 that were gone to their rest before them with 
 dry eyes and open mouths. A deep silence 
 also, and a kind of deadly night, had seued 
 upon the city; while vet the robbers w€ie 
 
CHAP. XIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 73d 
 
 still more terrible than these miseries were 
 tberaselves; for they brake open those houses 
 which were no other than graves of dead 
 bodies, and plundered them of what they had; 
 and carrying otf the coverings of their bodies, 
 went out laughing, and tried the points of 
 their swords on their dead bodies; and, in 
 order to prove what mettle they were made 
 of, they thrust some of those through that 
 still lay alive upon the ground; but for those 
 that entreated thera to lend them their right 
 hand, and their sword to dispatch them, they 
 were too proud to grant their requests, and 
 left them to be consumed by the famine. 
 Now every one of these died with their eyes 
 fixed upon the temple, and left the seditious 
 alive behind them. Now the seditious at 
 first gave orders that the dead should be 
 buried out of the public treasury, as not endu- 
 ring the stench of their dead bodies. But 
 afterwards, when they could not do that, they 
 had them cast down from the walls into the 
 valleys beneath. 
 
 4. However, when Titus, in going his 
 rounds along those valleys, saw them full 
 of dead bodies, and the thick putrefaction 
 running about them, he gave a groan; and, 
 spreading out his hands to heaven, called 
 God to witness that this was not his doing: 
 and such was the sad case of the city itself. 
 But the Romans were very joyful, since none 
 of the seditious could now make sallies out 
 of the city, because they were themselves dis- 
 consolate; and the famine already touched 
 them also. These Romans besides had great 
 plenty of corn and other necessaries out of 
 Syria, and out of the neighbouring provinces; 
 many of whom would stand near to the wall 
 of the city, and show the people what great 
 quantities of provisions they had, and so make 
 the enemy more sensible of their famine, by 
 the great plenty, even to satiety, which they 
 had themselves. However, when the sedi- 
 tious still showed no inclination of yielding, 
 Titus, out of his commiseration of the people 
 that remained, and out of his earnest desire 
 of rescuing what was still left out of these 
 miseries, began to raise his banks again, 
 although materials for them were bard to be 
 come at; for all the trees that were about the 
 city had been already cut down for the n.aking 
 of the former banks. Yet did the soldiers 
 bring with them other materials from the dis- 
 tance of ninety furlongs, and thereby raised 
 banks in four parts, much greater than the 
 former, though this was done only at the 
 tower of Antonia. So Ctesar went his 
 rounds through the legions, and hastened on 
 the works, and showed the robbers that they 
 were novv in his hands. But these men, and 
 these only, were incapable of repenting of 
 the wickedness they had been guilty of; and 
 separating their souls from their bodies, 
 they used them both as if they belonged to 
 ' Uier folks and no' to themselves. For no 
 
 gentle affection could touch their souls, nor 
 could any pain affect their bodies, since they 
 could still tear the dead bodies of the people 
 as dogs do, and fill the prisons with those 
 that were sick. 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 THE GREAT SLAUGHTERS AND 8ACRILE0S 
 THAT WERE IN JERUSALEM. 
 
 § 1. Accordingly Simon would not suffer 
 Matthias, by whose means he got possession 
 of the city, to go off without torment. This 
 Matthias was the son of Boethus, and was 
 one of the high-priests, one that had been 
 very faithful to the people, and in great 
 esteem with them: he, when the multitude 
 were distressed by the zealots among whom 
 John was numbered, persuaded the people to 
 admit this Simon to come in to assist them, 
 while he had made no terms with him, nor 
 expected any thing that was evil from him. 
 But when Simon was come in, and had gotten 
 the city under his power, he esteemed him 
 that had advised them to admit him as his 
 enemy equally with the rest, as looking upon 
 that advice as a piece of his simplicity only: 
 so he had him then brought before 'him, and 
 condemned to die for being on the side of the 
 Romans, without giving him leave to make 
 his defence. He condemned also his three 
 sons to die with him; for as to the fourth, he 
 prevented him, by running away to Titus 
 before. And when he begged for this, that 
 he might be slain before his sons, and that as 
 a favour, on account that he had procured 
 the gates of the city to be opened to him, he 
 gave order that he should be slain the last of 
 them all; so he was not slain till he had seen 
 his sons slain before his eyes, and that by 
 being produced over-against the Romans; for 
 such a charge had Simon given to Ananus, 
 the son of Bamadus, who was the most bar- 
 barous of all his guards. He also jested upon 
 him, and told him that he might now see 
 whether those to whom he intended to go 
 over, would send him any succours or not; 
 but still he forbade their dead bodies should be 
 buried. After the slaughter of these, a cer- 
 tain priest, Ananias, the son of Masambulus, 
 a person of eminency, as also Aristeus, the 
 scribe of the sanhedrim, and born at Emmaas, 
 ai:<a with them fifteen men of figure among 
 the people, were slain. They also kept 
 Joseph us's father in prison, and made public 
 proclamation, that no citizen whosoever should 
 either speak to him himself, or go into his 
 company among others, 4br fear he sLoald ■ 
 betray them. They also slew such as joined 
 in lamenting these men, without any fartlifcf 
 examination. 
 
736 
 
 •2i. Now when Judas, the son of Judas, who 
 wa? one ot Simon's under officers, and a per- 
 son intrusted by him to keep one of the towers, 
 saw tdis procedure of Simon, he called toge- 
 tiicr ten of those under him, that were most 
 faithful to him (perhaps, this was done partly 
 out of pity to those that had so barbarously 
 been put to death; but, principally, in order 
 to provide for his own safety), and spoke thus 
 to them: — " How long shall we bear these 
 miseries; or, what hopeS have we of deliver- 
 ance by thus continuing faithful to such 
 wicked wrevches? Is not the famine already 
 come against us? Are not the Romans in a 
 manner gotten within the city? Is not Simon 
 become unfaithful to his benefactors? And 
 is there not reason to fear he will very soon 
 bring us to the like punishment, while the 
 security the Romans offer us is sure? Come 
 on, let us surrender up this wall, and save 
 ourselves and the city. Nor will Simon be 
 very much hurt, if, now he despairs of deliver- 
 ance, he be brought to justice a little sooner 
 than he thinks on." Now these ten were 
 prevailed upon by those arguments; so he 
 sent the rest of those that were under hina, 
 some one way, and some another, that no dis- 
 covery might be made of what they had 
 resolved upon. Accordingly he called to the 
 Romans from the tower, about the third hour; 
 but they, some of them out of pride, despised 
 what he said, and others of them did not 
 believe him to be in earnest, thougH the 
 greatest number delayed the matter, as believ- 
 ing they should get possession of the city in 
 a little time, without any hazard: but when 
 Titus was just coming thither with his armed 
 men, Simon was acquainted with the matter 
 before he came, and presently took the tower 
 into his own custody, before it was surren- 
 dered, and seized upon these men, and put 
 them to death in the sight of the Romans 
 themselves; and when he had mangled then- 
 dead bodies, he threw them down before the 
 wall of the city. 
 
 3. In the mean time, Josephus, as he was 
 going round the city, had his head wounded 
 by a stone that was thrown at him; upon 
 which he fell down as giddy. Upon which 
 fall of his the Jews made a sally, and he had 
 been hurried away into the city, if Caesar had 
 not sent men to protect him immediately; 
 and, as these men were fighting, Josephus was 
 taken up, though he heard little of what was 
 done. So the seditious supposed they had 
 now slain that man whom they were the most 
 desirous of killing, and made thereupon a 
 great noise, in way of rejoicing. This acci- 
 dent was told in the city ; and the multitude 
 that remained became very disconsolate at 
 the news, as being persuaded that he was 
 really dead, on whose account alone they could 
 venture to desert to the Romans; but when 
 Josephus's mother heard in prison that her 
 ■on was dead, she said to those that watched 
 
 \VARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK V 
 
 about her. That she had always been c*^ opi- 
 nion, since the siege of Jotapata [that hewry.ld 
 be slain,] and she should never et\ioy him 
 alive any more. She also made groat l.iitenta- 
 tion privately to the maid-servants that wtre 
 about her, and said, That this was all the 
 advantage she had of bringing so exnii()r:li- 
 nary a person as this son into the world ; that 
 she should not be able even to bury that son 
 of hers, by whom she expected to have been 
 buried herself. However, this false report did 
 not put his mother to pain, nor aiford merri- 
 ment to the robbers long; for Josephus soon 
 recovered of his wound, and eame out, and 
 cried out aloud. That it would not be long ere 
 they should be punished for this wound they 
 had given him. He also made a fresh exhor- 
 tatioM to the people to come out, upon the 
 security that would be given them. This 
 sight of Josephus encouraged the people 
 greatly, and brought a great consternation 
 upon the seditious. 
 
 4. Hereupon some of the deserters, having 
 no other way, leaoed down from the whU 
 immediately, vvniie others of them went out 
 of the city with stones, as it they would tight 
 them; but thereuoon. they fled away to the 
 Romans: — hue heie a wor&e late accompanied 
 these than what thev had found withni the 
 city; and they met with a quicker dispatch 
 from the too great abundance they had among 
 the Romans, than they could hswe done from 
 
 j the famine among the Jews: tor when they 
 I came lirst to the Romans, they were puffe<l up 
 by the famine, and swelled hke men in a 
 I dropsy; after which they all on the sudden 
 over-filled those bouies that were before empty, 
 and so burst asunder, excepting such only as 
 were skilful enough to restrain their appetites, 
 and, by degrees, took in their food into bodies 
 unaccustomed thereto. Yet did another nlat,'ue 
 seize upon those that were thus preserved; tor 
 there was found among the Syrian deserters 
 a certain person who was caught gathering 
 pieces of gold out of the excrements of the 
 Jews' bellies; for the deserters used to swal- 
 low such pieces of gold, as we told you before, 
 when they came out; and for these did the 
 seditious search them all; for tnere was a 
 great quantity of gold in the city, insomuch 
 that as much was now sold [in the Roman 
 camp] for twelve Attic [drams], as was sold 
 before for twenty-five; but when this con 
 trivance was discovered in one instance, the 
 fame of it filled their several camps, that the 
 deserters came to them full of gold. So the 
 multitude of the Arabians, with the Syrians, 
 cut up those that came as supplicants, and 
 searched their bellies. Nor does it seem to 
 me that any misery befel the Jews that was 
 more terrible than this, since in one night's 
 time about two thousand of these deserters 
 were thus dissected. 
 
 5. When Titus came to the knowledge oi 
 this wicked practice, he had liked to have su • 
 
 
 
CHAP. XIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 737 
 
 rounded those that had been guilty of it with 
 bis horse, and have shot them dead ; and he 
 had done it, had not their number been so 
 very great, and those that were liable to this 
 punishment would have been manifold more 
 than those whom they had slain. However, 
 he called together the commanders of the auxi- 
 liary troops he had with him, as well as the 
 commanders of the Roman legions (for some 
 of his own soldiers had been also guilty here- 
 in, as he had been informed) anr' bad ^reat 
 indignation against both sorts of them, and 
 spoke to them as follows : — " What ! have 
 any of my ovvn soldiers done such things as 
 this out of the uncertain hope of gain, with- 
 out regarding their own weapons, which are 
 made of silver and gold? Aloreover, do the 
 Arabians and Syrians now first of all begin to 
 govern themselves as they please, and to in- 
 dulge their appetites in a foreign war, and 
 then, oat of their barbarity in murdering men, 
 and out of their hatred to the Jews, get it 
 ascribed to the Romans?" — for this infamous 
 {)ractice was said to be spread among some of 
 his own soldiers also. Titus then threatened 
 tjiat he would put such men to death, if any 
 of them were discovered to be so insolent as 
 to do so again : moreover, be gave it in charge 
 to the legions, that they should make a search 
 after such as were suspected, and should bring 
 them to him ; but it appeared that the love 
 of money was too hard for all their dread of 
 punishment, and a vehement desire of gain is 
 natural to men, and no passion is so ventupe- 
 eome as covetousness ; otherwise such pas- 
 sions have certain bounds, and are subordi- 
 nate to fear ; but in reality it was God who 
 condemned the whole nation, and turned 
 every course that was taken for their preser- 
 vation to their destruction. This, therefore, 
 which was forbidden by Caesar under such a 
 threatening, was ventured upon privately 
 against the deserters, and these barbarians 
 would go out still, and meet those that ran 
 away before any saw them, and looking about 
 them to see that no Romans spied them, they 
 dissected them, and pulled this polluted money 
 out of their bowels; which money was still 
 found in a few of them, while yet a great 
 many were destroyed by the bare hope there 
 was of thus getting by them, which miserable 
 treatment made many that were deserting to 
 return back again into the city. 
 
 6. But as for John, when he could no 
 longer plunder the people, he betook himself 
 to sacrilege, and melted down many of the 
 sacred utensils which had been given to the 
 temple ; as also many of those vessels which 
 were necessary for such as ministered about 
 holy things, the caldrons, the dishes, and the 
 tables; nay, he did not abstain from those 
 pouring-vessels that were sent them by Au- 
 gustus and his wife ; for the Roman empe- 
 rors did ever both honour mid julorn this 
 tcn;plr" whereas tb'.s man, who vias a Jew, 
 
 seized upon what were the donations of fo- 
 reigners; and said to those that were with 
 him, that it was proper for them to use divine 
 things while they were fighting for the Divi- 
 nity, without fear, and that such whose war- 
 fare is for the temple should live of the temple , 
 on which account he emptied the vessels of that 
 sacred wine and oil which the priests kept to 
 be poured on the burnt-offerings, and which 
 lay in the inner court of the temple, and dis- 
 tributed it among the multitude, who, in their 
 anointing themselves and drinking, used [each 
 of them] above an hin of them: and here I 
 cannot but speak my mind, and what the con- 
 cern I am under dictates to me, and it is this: 
 I suppose, that had the Romans made any 
 longer delay in coming against these villains, 
 the city would either have been swallowed 
 up by the ground opening upon them, or been 
 overflowed by water, or else been destroyed 
 by such thunder as the country of Sodom* 
 perished by, for it bad brought forth a gene 
 ration of men much more atheistical than 
 were those that suffered such punishments ; 
 for by their madness it was that all the peo- 
 ple came to be destroyed. 
 
 7. And indeed, why do I relate these par- 
 ticular calamities ? — while Manneus, the son 
 of Lazarus, came running to Titus at this 
 very time, and told him that there had been 
 carried out through that one gate, which was 
 entrusted to his care, no fewer than a hun- 
 dred and fifteen thousand eight hundred and 
 eighty dead bodies, in the interval between 
 the fourteenth day of the month Xanthicus 
 [Nisan], when the Romans pitched their camp 
 by the city, and the first day of the month 
 Panemus [Tamuz]. This was itself a prodi- 
 gious multitude ; and though this man was 
 not himself set as a governor at that gate, yet 
 was he appointed to pay the public stipend 
 for carrying these bodies out, and so was 
 obliged of necessity to number them, while 
 the rest were buried by their relations, though 
 all their burial was but this, to bring them 
 away, and cast them out of the city. After 
 this man there ran away to Titus many of the 
 eminent citizens, and told him the entire num- 
 ber of the poor that were dead ; and that no 
 fewer than six hundred thousand were thrown 
 out at the gates, though still the number ot 
 the rest could not be discovered ; and they 
 told him farther, that when they were no 
 longer able to carry out the dead bodies of 
 the poor, they laid their corpses on heaps in 
 very large houses, and shut them up therein ; 
 as also that a medimnus of wheat was sold 
 for a tajent ; and that when, a while after- 
 
 ♦ Josephns, both here and before (b. iv. ch. yiii. sect 
 i) esteems the land of Sodom, not as part of the lake 
 Asplialtitis. or under its waters; but near it only, aa 
 Taritns alio took the same notion from him (Hist v. 6, 
 7). whirh the ^oat Heland tales to be the very truth, 
 both in his t^ole on tl.is phire.and in bis Palestina (torn, 
 i. n aS-l — 2.'j8). thonch I rather suppose part of that ro. 
 g;i.n «if I'entapoiis to benr,\» nn'Jer tVe waters ol tliesHUl" 
 i>a:t uf !bai tea.; hut pcrlapit nv>t tU- whole country. 
 
 3 A 
 
738 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 ward, it was not possible to gather herbs, by 
 reason the city was all walled about, some 
 persons were driven to that terrible distress as 
 to search the common sewers and old dung- 
 hills of cattle, and to eat the dung which they 
 got there ; and what they of old could not 
 endure so much as to see, they now used for 
 
 food. When the Romans barely heard all 
 this, they commiserated their case; while the 
 seditious, who saw it also, did not repent, b'lt 
 suffered the same distress to come upon them- 
 selves; for they were blinded bv that fate 
 which was already coming upon tae city» and 
 upon themselves also. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OP ABOUT ONE MONTH. 
 
 FROM THE GREAT EXTREMITY TO WHICH THE JEWS WERE 
 REDUCED. TO THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 THAT THE MISERIES OF THE JEWS STILL GEEW 
 WOESE ; AND HOW THE ROMANS MADE AN 
 ASSAULT UPON THE TOWER OF ANTONIA. 
 
 § 1. Thus did the miseries of Jerusalem 
 grow worse and worse every day, and the se- 
 ditious were .still more irritated by the cala- 
 mities they were under, even while the famine 
 preyed upon themselves, after it had preyed 
 upon the people. And indeed the multitude 
 of carcases that lay in heaps one upon ano- 
 ther, was a horrible sight, and produced a 
 pestilential stench, which was a hinderance to 
 those that would make sallies out of the city 
 and fight the enemy: but as those were to go 
 in battle array, who had been already used to 
 ten thousand murders, and must tread upon 
 those dead bodies as they marched along, so 
 were not they terrified, nor did they pity men 
 as they marched over them ; nor did they 
 deem this affront offered to the deceased to 
 be any ill omen to themselves; but as they* 
 had their right hands already polluted with 
 the murders of their own countrymen, and in 
 that condition ran out to fight with foreigners, 
 they seem to me to have cast a reproach upon 
 God himself, as if he were too slow in pun- 
 ishing them ; for the war was not now gone 
 on with as if they had any hope of victory ; 
 for they gloried after a brutish manner in that 
 despair of deliverance they were already in. 
 And now the Romans, although they were 
 greatly distressed in getting together their ma- 
 terials, raised their banks in one-and-twenty 
 days, after they had cut down h11 the trees 
 tiiHt ^rre in the cour.try that adjoined to th« 
 
 city, and that for ninety furlongs round about, 
 as I have already related. And truly, the very 
 view itself of the country was a melancholy 
 thing; for those places which were before 
 adorned with trees and pleasant gardens, were 
 now become a desolate country every way, 
 and its trees were all cut down : nor could 
 any foreigner that had formerly seen Judea 
 and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, 
 and now saw it as a desert, but lament and 
 mourn sadly at so great a change ; for the 
 war bad laid all signs of beauty quite waste : 
 nor, if any one that had known the place be- 
 fore, had come on a sudden to it now, would 
 he have known it again ; but though he were 
 at the city itself, yet would he have inquired 
 for it notwithstanding. 
 
 2. And now the banks were finished, they 
 afforded a foundation for fear both to the 
 Romans and to the Jews ; for the Jews 
 expected that the city would be taken, unless 
 they could burn those banks, as did the Ro- 
 mans expect that, if these were once burnt 
 down, they should never be able to take it ; 
 for there was a mighty scarcity of materials, 
 and the bodies of the soldiers began to fail 
 with such bard labours, as did their souls 
 faint with so many instances of ill success* 
 nay, the very calamities themselves that were 
 in the city proved a greater discouragement to 
 the Romans than to those within the city; for 
 they found the fighting men of the Jews to 
 be not at all mollified among such their sore 
 afflictions, while they had themselves perpetu- 
 ally less and less hopes of success, and their 
 hanks were forced to yield to the stratagems 
 of the entniy, their engines to the firmness of 
 their wall, and their iloseiit lighti to the bold- 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 730^ 
 
 ness of their attack; and what was their 
 greatest discouragement of all, they found the 
 Jews' courageous souls to be superior to the 
 multitude of the miseries they were under by 
 their sedition, their famine, and the war itself; 
 insomuch that they were ready to imagine that 
 the violence of their attacks was invincible, 
 and that the alacrity they showed would not 
 be discouraged by their calamities ; for what 
 would not those be able to bear if they should 
 be fortunate, who turned their very misfor- 
 tunes to the improvement of their valour ! — 
 These considerations made the Romans keep 
 a stronger guard about their banks than they 
 formerly had done. 
 
 3. But now John and his party took care 
 for securing themselves afterward, even in 
 case this wall should be thrown down, and 
 fell to their work before the battering-rams 
 were brought against them. Yet did they 
 not compass what they endeavoured to do, 
 but as they were gone out with their torches, 
 they came back under great discouragement, 
 before they came near to the banks ; and the 
 reasons were these: that in the first place, 
 ♦heir conduct did not seem to be unanimous, 
 but they went out in distinct parties, and at 
 distinct intervals, and after a slow manner, 
 and timorously, and, U) say all in a word, 
 without a Jewish courage; for they were now 
 defective in what is peculiar to our nation, 
 that is, in boldness, in violence of assault, and 
 in running upon the enemy all together, and 
 in persevering in what they go about, though 
 they do not at first succeed in it ; but they 
 now went out in a more languid manner than 
 uiiial, and at the same time found the Ro- 
 mans set in array, and more courageous than 
 ordinary, and that they guarded their banks 
 both with their bodies and their entire armour, 
 and this to such a degree on all sides, that 
 they left no room for the fire to get among 
 them, and that every one of their souls was 
 in such good courage, that they would sooner 
 die than desert their ranks ; for besides their 
 notion that all their hopes were cut off, in 
 case their works were once burnt, the soldiers 
 were greatly ashamed that subtilty should be 
 quite too hard for courage, madness for ar- 
 mour, multitude for skill, and Jews for Ro- 
 mans. The Romans had now also another 
 advantage, in that their engines for sieges 
 co-operated with them in throwing darts and 
 Btones as far as the Jews, when they were 
 -oming out of the city ; whereby the man 
 that fell became an impediment to him that 
 was next to him, as did the danger of going 
 feirther make them less zealous in their at- 
 tempts ; and for th')se that had run under the 
 daits, some of them were terrified by the good 
 order and closeness of the eiieniies' ranks 
 belore they came fo a close Hght, afid others 
 wtre pricked with their spears, and turned 
 b* k ajpiin; at length they reproached one 
 aitothttr tor their '■ wnrdicK. and retired with- 
 
 out doing any thing. This attack was made 
 upon the first day of the month Panemus 
 [Tamuz]. So, when the Jews were retreated, 
 the Romans brought their engines, although 
 they had all the while stones thrown at them 
 from the tower of Antonia, and were assaulted 
 by fire and sword, and by all sorts of darts, 
 which necessity afforded the Jews to make 
 use of; for although these had great depen- 
 dence on their own wall, and a contempt of 
 the Roman engines, yet did they endeavour to 
 hinder the Romans from "bringing them. Now 
 these Romans struggled bard, on the contrary, 
 to bring them, as deeming that this zeal of 
 the Jews was in order to avoid any impres- 
 sion to be made on the tower of Antonia, be- 
 cause its wall was but weak, and its founda- 
 tions rotten. However, that tower did not 
 yield to the blows given it from the engines ; 
 yet did the Romans bear the impressions made 
 by the enemies' darts which were perpetually 
 cast at them, and did not give way to any of 
 those dangers that came upon them frona 
 above, and so they brought their engines to 
 bear ; but then, as they were beneath the other, 
 and were sadly wounded by the stones thrown 
 down upon them, some of them threw their 
 shields over their bodies, and partly with their 
 hands, and partly with their bodies, and partly 
 with crows, they undermined its foundations, 
 and with great pains they removed four of 
 its stones. Then night came upon both sides, 
 and put an end to this struggle for the pre- 
 sent ; however, that night the wall was so 
 shaken by the battering-rams in that place 
 where John had used his stratagem before, 
 and had undermined their banks, that the 
 ground then gave way, and the wall ft 11 down 
 suddenly. 
 
 4. When this accident had unexpectedly 
 happened, the minds of both partiis were 
 variously affected : for though one would 
 expect that the Jews would be discoi raged, 
 because this fall of their wall was unexpected 
 by them, and they had made no provi^ion in 
 that case, yet did they pull up their courage, 
 because the tower of Antonia itself was still 
 standing; as was the unexpected joy of the 
 Romans at this fall of the wall soon quenched 
 by the sight they had of another wall, which 
 John and his party had built within it. How- 
 ever, the attack of this second wall appeared 
 to be easier than that of the former, because 
 it seemed n ihing of greater facility to get up 
 to it through the parts of the former wall that 
 were now thrown down. This new wall ap- 
 peared also to be much weaker than the tower 
 of Antonia, and accordingly the Romans ima- 
 gined that it had been erected so much on the 
 sudden, that they should soon overthrow it: 
 yet did not any body venture now to go up to 
 this wall : for that such as first ventured so 
 to do must certainly be killed. 
 
 5. And now Titus, upon consideration 
 that the alaority of iioldiers in war l« chietty 
 
740 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 excited by Lopes and by good words, and that 
 exhortations and promises do frequently make 
 men to forget the hazards they run, nay, and 
 sometimes to despise death itself, got together 
 the most courageous part of his army, and 
 tried what he could do with his men by these 
 methods: — ' fellow-soldiers," said he, "to 
 make sm exhortation to men to do what hath 
 no peril in it, is on that very account inglorious 
 to such to whom that exhortation is made; and 
 indeed so it is in him that makes the exhorta- 
 tion, an argument of his own cowardice also. 
 I therefore think, that such exhortations ought 
 then only to be made use of when affairs are 
 in a dangerous condition, and yet are worthy 
 of being attempted by every one themselves; 
 accordingly, I am fully of the same opinion 
 with you, that it is a ditticult task to go up 
 this wall ; but that it is proper for those that 
 desire reputation for their valour to struggle 
 v/ith ditliculties in such cases, will then ap- 
 pear, when I have particularly shown that it 
 is a brave thing to die with glory, and that 
 the courage here necessary shall not go un- 
 rewarded in those that iirst begin the attempt ; 
 and let my first argument to move you to it 
 be taken from what probably some woidd 
 think reasonable to dissuade you, 1 mean the 
 constancy and patience of these Jews, even 
 under their ill successes ; for it is unbecom- 
 ing you, who are Romans and my soldiers, 
 who have in peace been tauifht how to make 
 wars, and who have also been used to con- 
 quer in those wars, to be inferior to Jews, 
 either in action of the hand or in courage of 
 tl.e soul, and this especially when you are at 
 the conclusion of your victory, and are as- 
 sisted by God himself; for as to our misfor- 
 tunes, they have been owing to the madness 
 of the Jew!", while their sufferings have been 
 owing to }Our valour, and to the assistance 
 GoG hath affoided you; for a*; to the sedi- 
 tions they have been in, and the famine they 
 are undrr, and the siege thoy now endure, 
 arid the fall ol thfir walls without our engines, 
 ',vhat can they all be but demonstrations of 
 God's anger against them, a-id of his assis- 
 tance alfonlcd u«? It will not therefore be 
 projter for you, either to show yourselves infe- 
 rior to those to wh(nn you are n-ally superior, 
 v to betray that divine assistance which is 
 afforded you ; atul indeed, how can it be 
 esteemed otherwise than a base and unworthy 
 thing, that while the Jews, v\ho need not be 
 much ashamed if they be deserted, because 
 they liave long learned to be slaves to otheis, 
 do yet despise death, that tliey may be so 
 no longer, — and do make sallies into the 
 very midst of us frequently, not in hopes of 
 conquering us, but merely for a demonstra- 
 tion of their courage; we, who have gotten 
 possession of almost all the worlil that belongs 
 to either land or sea, to whom it will be a 
 great >bamc if we dt» not conquer thorn, do 
 not •»»« undertake any atteinpl nguirut cur 
 
 enemies wherein there is much danger, bn: 
 sit still idle, with such brave arms as we have, 
 and only wait till the famine and fortime do 
 our business themselves, and this when we 
 have it in our power, with some small hazard, 
 to gain all that we desire ! For if we go up 
 to this tower of Antonia, we gain the city; 
 for if there should be any more occasion for 
 fighting against those within the city, which 
 I do not suppose there will, since we shall 
 then be upon the top of the hill,* and be up- 
 on our enemies before they can have taken 
 breath, these advantages promise us no less 
 than a certain and sudden victory. As for 
 myself, I shall at present waive any commen- 
 dations of those who die in war,t and omit to 
 speak of the immortality of those men who 
 are slain in the midst of their martial bra- 
 very ; yet coimot 1 forbear to imprecate upon 
 those who are of a contrary disposition, that 
 they may die in time of peace, by some dis- 
 temper or other, since their souls are alrcdy 
 condemned to the grave, together with their 
 bodies; for what man of virtue is there who 
 does not know that those souls whi(;h are 
 severed from their fleshly bodies in battles 
 by the sword, are received by the ether, that 
 purest of elements, and joined to that com- 
 pany which are place(i among the stars; that 
 they becon e good demons, and propitious 
 heroes, and show themselves as such to their 
 posterity afterwards? while upon those souls 
 that wear away in and with their distempertd 
 bodies, couies a subterranean night to dissolve 
 them to nothing, and a deep oblivion to take 
 away all the remembraiice of them, and this, 
 notwithstanding they be clean from all spots 
 and defilements of this world ; so that, in this 
 case, the soul at the same time conies to the 
 utmost bounds of its life, and of its body, and 
 of its memorial also ; but since fate hath de- 
 termined that death is to come of necessity 
 upon all men, a sword is a better instrimict 
 for that purpose than any disease whatsoever 
 Why, is it not then a very mean thing for ns 
 not to yield up that to the public benefit, 
 which we nuist yield up to fate? And this 
 discourse have I made, upon the supposition 
 that those who at first attempt to go upon 
 this wall must needs be killed in the attempt, 
 though still men of true courage have a chance 
 to escape even in the most hazardous uiuler- 
 takings ; for, in the first place, that part 
 
 • Roland notws here, very pprtint'ntly, that the tower 
 of Antonia slo<xl hicher than the floor of the temple or 
 court ndpoininji to it; and that arfordin»jly they descended 
 thence into the temple, as Josephus elsewhere speaks 
 also. Seeb. vi.ch.ii sect. 5. 
 
 + In this speech of Titns, We may clearly see the no- 
 tions which the Uoinans tlien had of tle.ith. and of the 
 happy state cif those who died hra^ely in war, and the 
 cimtrary estate of thone whodird mnohly in liieit heds by 
 sickness. Heland here hNo pioiliin » lw«» parallel pan. 
 5ai;e«. the one out »( Aiiiinianns Mar.«l!nint, cotirerninu 
 the Alani. lib ;ji.ilittt " \\<r\ jmU-.-d ih.it nmn huppv who 
 lai.l down his Lfe iiiballlv,*' ih'- oil er of V'ai. riiis Slaxw 
 mm, hb. xi. r. i . v ho »a\«. " ihul llu { iinjjri and (Viti 
 l)«ri exiilii il r r j. } in tic- <> i!i\, a» b« lUf (• ^ u wut uf ttM 
 world Klori*u»4v m-i happily.* 
 
CHAP. I. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 741 
 
 of the former wall tliat is thrown down, is 
 easily to be ascended; and for the new-built 
 wall, it is easily destroyed. Do you, there- 
 fore, many of you, pull up your courage, and 
 set about this work, and do you mutually en- 
 courage and assist one another; and this your 
 bravery will soon break the hearts of your 
 enemies ; and perhaps such a glorious under- 
 taking as yours is may be accomplished with- 
 out bloodshed ; for although it be justly to he 
 supposed that the Jews will try to hinder you 
 at your first beginning to go up to them, yet 
 when you have once concealed yourselves 
 from them, and driven them away by force, 
 they will not be able to sustain your efforts 
 against them any longer, though but a few 
 of you prevent them, and get over the wall. 
 As for that person who first mounts the wall, 
 I should blush for shame if I did not make 
 him to be envied of others, by those rewards 
 I would bestow upon him. If such a one 
 escape with his life, he shall have the com- 
 mand of others that are now but his equals ; 
 although it be true also, that the greatest 
 rewards will accrue to such as die in the 
 attempt."* 
 
 6. Upon this speech ef Titus, the rest of 
 the multitude were affrighted at so great a 
 danger. But there was one whose name was 
 Sabinus, a soldier that served among the co- 
 horts, and a Syrian by birth, who appeared to 
 be of very great fortitude, both in the actions 
 he had done and the courage of his soul he 
 had shown ; although any body would have 
 thought, before he came to his work, that he 
 was of such a weak constitution of body, that 
 he was not fit to be a soldier ; for his colour 
 was black, his flesh was lean and thin, and lay 
 close together; but there was a certain heroic 
 soul that dwelt in this small body, which body 
 was indeed much too narrow for that peculiar 
 courage which was in him. Accordingly he 
 was the first that rose up ; when he thus 
 spake : — *' I readily surrender myself to thee, 
 O Caesar : I first ascend the wall, and I 
 heartily wish that my fortune may follow my 
 courage and my resolution. And if some ill- 
 fortune grudge me the success of my under- 
 taking, take notice that my ill-success will not 
 be unexpected, but that I choose death volun- 
 tarily for thy sake." When he had said this, 
 and had spread out his shield over his head 
 with his left hand, and had with his right 
 hand drawn his sword, he marched up to the 
 wall just about the sixth hour of the day. 
 There followed him eleven others, and no 
 more, that resolved to imitate his bravery; 
 but still this was the principal person of them 
 »\ll, and went first as excited by a divine fury. 
 Now those that guarded the wall shot at them 
 from thence, and cast innumerable darts upon 
 •Jiem from every side ; they also rolled very 
 large stones upon them which overthrew some 
 
 * See the not* + on page 746. 
 
 of those eleven that were with him. But as 
 for Sabinus himself he met the darts that were 
 cast at him, and though he was overwhelmed 
 with them, yet did he not leave oflF the vio- 
 lence of his attack before he had gotten up an 
 the top of the wall, and had put the enemy to 
 flight. For as the Jews were astonished at 
 his great strength, and the bravery of his sotil ; 
 and as, withal, they imagined more of them 
 had got upon the wall than really had, they 
 were put to flight. And now one cannot 
 but complain here of fortune, as still envious 
 of virtue, and always 'lindering the perform- 
 ance of glorious achievements: this was the 
 case of the man before us, when he had just 
 obtained his purpose ; for he then stumble'd 
 at a certain large stone, and fell down upon 
 it headlong, with a very great noise. Upon 
 which the Jews turned back, and when they 
 saw him to be alone, and fallen down also, 
 they threw darts at him from every side. 
 However, he got upon his knee, and covered 
 himself with his shield, and at the first de- 
 fended himself against them, and wounded 
 many of those that came near him ; but he 
 was soon forced to relax his right hand, by 
 the multitude of the wounds that had been 
 given him, till at length he was quite covered 
 over with darts before he gave up the ghost. 
 He was one who deserved a better fate, by 
 reason of his bravery ; but, as might be ex- 
 pected, he fell under so vast an attempt. As 
 for the rest of his partners, the Jews dashed 
 three of them to pieces with stones, and slew 
 them as they were gotten up to the top of the 
 wall ; the other eight being wounded, were 
 pulled down and carried back to the camp. 
 These things were done upon the third day 
 of the month Panemus [Tamuz]. 
 
 7. Now two days afterward, twelve of those 
 men that were on the fore-front, and kept 
 watch upon the banks, got together, and called 
 to them the standard-bearer of the fifth legion, 
 and two others of a troop of horsemen, and 
 one trumpeter ; these went without noise, 
 about the ninth hour of the night, through the 
 ruins, to the tower of Antonia; and when they 
 had cut the throats of the first guards of the 
 place, as they were asleep, they got possession 
 of the wall, and ordered the trumpeter ta 
 sound his trumpet.- Upon which the rest of 
 the guard got up on the sudden, and ran away 
 before any body could see how many they were 
 that were gotten up ; for partly from the fear 
 they were in, and partly from the sound of 
 the trumpet which they heard, they imagined 
 a great number of the enemy were gotten up. 
 But as. soon as Caesar heard the signal, he 
 ordered the army to put on their armour im- 
 mediately, and came thither with his com- 
 manders, and first of all ascended, as did the 
 chosen men that were with him. And as the 
 Jews were flying away to the temple, they fell 
 into that mine which John had dug under tae 
 Roman banks. Then did the seditious of 
 
 V 
 
742 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK Vi. 
 
 both the bodies of the Jewish army, as well 
 that belonging to John, as that belonging to 
 Simon, drive them away ; and indeed were no 
 v»y wanting as to the highest degree of force 
 and alacrity; for they esteemed themselves 
 entirely ruined if once the Romans got into 
 the temple, as did the Romans look upon the 
 same thing as the beginning of their entire 
 conquest. So a terrible battle was fought at 
 the entrance of the temple, while the Romans 
 were forcing their way, in order to get pos- 
 session of that temple, and the Jews were 
 driving them back to the tower of Antonia; 
 in which battle the darts were on both sides 
 useless, as well as the spears, and both sides 
 drew their swords, and fought it out hand to 
 hand. Now, during this struggle, the posi- 
 tions of the men were undistinguished on both 
 sides, and they fought at random, the men 
 being intermixed one with another, and con- 
 founded by reason of the narrowness of the 
 place ; while the noise that was made fell on 
 the ear after an indistinct manner, because it 
 was so very loud. Great slaughter was now 
 made on both sides, and the combatants trod 
 upon the bodies and the armour of those that 
 were dead, and dashed them to pieces. Ac- 
 cordingly, to which side soever the battle in- 
 clined those that had the advantage exhorted 
 one another to go on, as did those that were 
 beaten make great lamentation. But still 
 there was no room for flight, nor for pursuit, 
 but disorderly revolutions and retreats, while 
 the armies were intermixed one with another; 
 but those that were in the first ranks were 
 under the necessity of killing or being killed, 
 without any way for escaping ; for those on 
 both sides that came behind, forced those be- 
 fore them to go on without leaving any space 
 between the armies. At length the Jews' 
 violent zeal was too hard for the Romans' 
 skill, and the battle already inclined entirely 
 that way; for the fight bad lasted from the 
 ninth hour of the night till the seventh hour 
 of the day, while the Jews came on in crowds, 
 and had the danger the temple was in for their 
 motive; the Romans having no more here 
 than a part of their army ; for those legions, 
 on which the soldiers on that side depended, 
 were not come up to them. So it was at pre- 
 sent thought sufficient by the Romans to take 
 possession of the tower of Antonia. 
 
 8. But there was one Julian, a centurion, 
 that came from Bithynia ; a man he was of 
 great reputation, whom I had formerly seen 
 ill that war, and one of the highest fame, 
 both for his skill in war, his strength of body, 
 and the courage of his soul. Tbia man see- 
 ing the Romans giving ground, and in a sad 
 condition (for he stood by Titus at the tower 
 of Antonia), leaped out, and of himself alone 
 put the Jews to flight when they were already 
 concjuerors, and made them retire as far as 
 the corner of the inner court of the temple : 
 from him the multitude fled away in crowds, 
 
 as supposing that neither his strength nor his 
 violent attacks could be those of a mere man. 
 Accordingly he rushed through the midst oi 
 the Jews, as they were dispersed all abroad, 
 and killed those that he caught. JNor, iiideeu, 
 was there any sight that appeared more won- 
 derful in the eyes of Caesar, or more terrible 
 to others, than this. However, he was him- 
 self pursued by fate, which if was not possi- 
 ble that he who was but a mortal man should 
 escape ; for as he had shoes all full of thick 
 and sharp nails,* as had every one of the 
 other soldiers, so when he ran on the pave- 
 ment of the temple, he slipped, and fell down 
 upon his back with a very great noise, which 
 was made by his armour. This made those 
 that were running away to turn back ; where- 
 upon those Romans that were in the tower of 
 Antonia set up a great shout, as they were in 
 fear for the man. But the Jews got about 
 him in crowds, and struck at him with their 
 
 spears, and with their swords on all sides 
 
 Now he received a great many of the strokes 
 of these iron weapons upon his shield, and 
 often attempted to get up again, but Mas 
 thrown down by those that struck at him ; 
 yet did he, as he lay along stab many of them 
 with his sword. Nor was he soon killed, as 
 being covered with his helmet and his breast- 
 plate in all those parts of his body where he 
 might be mortally- wounded ; he also pulled 
 his neck close to his body, till all his other 
 limbs were shattered, and nobody durst come 
 to defend him, and then he yielded to his fate. 
 Now Caesar was deeply affected on account of 
 this man of so great fortitude, and especially 
 as he was killed in the sight of so many peo- 
 ple ; he was desirous himself to come to his 
 assistance, but the place would not give him 
 leave, while such as could have done it were 
 loo much terrified to attempt it. Thus wheu 
 Julian had struggled with death a great while, 
 and had let but few of those that had given 
 him his mortal vvound go off unhurt, he had 
 at last his throat cut, though not without 
 some difficulty ; and left behind him a very 
 great fame, not only among the Romans and 
 with Caesar himself, but among his enemies 
 also ; then did the Jews catch up his dead 
 body, and put the Romans to flight again, and 
 shut them up in the tower of Antonia. Now 
 those that most signalized themselves, and 
 fought most zealously in this battle of the 
 Jewish side, were one Alexas and Gyphtheus, 
 of John's party ; and of Simon's party were 
 Malachias, and Judas the son of Merto, and 
 James the son of Sosas, the commander ol 
 the Idumeans; and of the zealots, two bre- 
 thren, Simon and Judas, the sons of Jairus. 
 
 • No wonder that this Julian, who had so many naii> 
 in his shoes, slipped upon tlve pav»;tfient of the t«nini« 
 which was smooth, and laid with marble of dlfforeik' 
 colours. 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 743 
 
 CHAPTfiR II. 
 
 HOW TITUS GAVE ORDERS TO DEMOUSH THE 
 TOWER OF ANTONIA, AND THEN PERSUADED 
 JOSEPHUS TO EXHORT THE JEWS AGAIN 
 j^TO A surrender]. 
 
 § I. And now Titus gave orders to his sol- 
 diers that were with him to dig up the foun- 
 dations of the tower of Antonia, and make 
 him a ready passage for his army to come up ; 
 while he himself had Josephus brought to him 
 (for he had been informed that on that very 
 day, which was the seventeenth day* of Pane- 
 mus [Tamuz], the sacrifice called "the Daily 
 Sacrifice" had failed, and had not been offered 
 to God for want of men to offer it, and that 
 the people were grievously troubled at it) and 
 commanded him to say the same things to 
 John that he had said before, that if he had 
 any malicious inclination for fighting, he might 
 come out with as many of his men as he 
 pleased, in order to fight, without the danger 
 of destroying either his city or temple ; but 
 that he desired he would not defile the tem- 
 ple, nor thereby offend against God. That he 
 might, if he pleased, offer the sacrifices which 
 were now discontinued, by any of the Jews 
 whom he should pitch upon. Upon this, 
 Josephus stood in such a place where he 
 might be heard, not by John only, but by 
 many more, and then declared to them what 
 Cie<ar had given him in charge, and this in the 
 Hebrew language.t So he earnestly prayed 
 them to spare their own city, and to prevent 
 that fire which was just ready to seize upon 
 the temple, and to offer their usual sacrifices 
 to God therein. At these words of his a great 
 s;idness and silence were observed among the 
 people. But the tyrant himself cast many 
 reproaches upon Josephus, with imprecations 
 besides ; and at last added this withal that he 
 did never fear the taking of the city, because 
 »t was God's own city. In answer to which, 
 Josephus said thus, with a loud voice: — "To 
 be sure, thou hast kept this city wonderfully 
 pure for God's sake ! the temple also conti- 
 nues entirely unpolluted! Nor hast thou been 
 guilty of any impiety against him, for whose 
 assistance thou hopest ! He still receives his 
 accustomed sacrifices ! Vile wretch that thou 
 art! if any one should deprive thee of thy 
 daily food, thou wouldst esteem him to be an 
 
 • This was a very remarkable day indeed, the seven- 
 teenth of Panemus [Tamuz], a.d. 70, when, according 
 to Daniel's prediction 600 years before, the Romans "in 
 half a week caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease," 
 Dan. ix. 27; for from the month of February, a.d. 66, 
 about which time Vespasian entered on this war, to this 
 ver» time, was just three years and a half. See Bishop 
 Lloyd's Tables of Chronology, published by Mr. Mar- 
 shall, on this year. Nor is it to be omitted, what very 
 neariv confirms this durafion of the war, that four years 
 be<oie fie war began, was somewhat above seven years 
 five montos before the destruction of Jerusalem, chap. v. 
 
 + The same that in the New Testament is always so 
 call*^. and Wi.« then the common language of the Jews 
 ill Jiidea, which was the Syriac dialect 
 
 enemy to thee ; but thou hopest to have that 
 God for thy supporter in this war whom thou 
 hast deprived of his everlasting worship! and 
 thou imputest those sins to the Romans, who 
 to this very time take care to have our laws 
 observed, and almost compel these sacrifices 
 to be still offered to God, which have by thy 
 means been intermitted ! Who is there that 
 can avoid groans and lamentations at the 
 amazing change that is made in this city! since 
 very foreigners and enemies do now correct 
 that impiety which thou hast occasioned , 
 while thou, who art a Jew, and wast edu- 
 cated in our laws, art become a greater enemy 
 to them than the others! But still, John, it 
 is never dishonourable to repent, and amend 
 what hath been done amiss, even at the last 
 extremity. Thou hast an instance before thee 
 in JechoniahjJ the king of the Jews, if thou 
 hast a mind to save the city, who, when the 
 king of Babylon made war against him, did, 
 of his own accord, go out of this city before 
 it was taken, and did undergo a voluntary 
 captivity with his family, that the sanctuary 
 might not be delivered up to the enemy, and 
 that he might not see the house of God set 
 on fire : on which account he is celebrated 
 among all the Jews, in their sacred memorials, 
 and his memory is become immortal, and will 
 be conveyed fresh down to our posterity 
 through ail ages. This, John, is an excellent 
 example in such a time of danger; and I dare 
 venture to promise that the Romans shall 
 still forgive thee. And take notice, that I, 
 who make this exhortation to thee, am one 
 of thine own nation ; I, who am a Jew, do 
 make this promise to thee. And it will be- 
 come thee to consider who I am that give thee 
 this counsel, and whence lam derived; for 
 while I am alive I shall never be in such sla- 
 very as to forego my own kindred, or forget 
 the laws of our forefathers. Thou hast in- 
 dignation at me again, and makest a clamour 
 at me, and reproachest me; indeed, I cannot 
 deny but I am worthy of worse treatment 
 than all this amounts to, because, in opposi- 
 tion to fate, I make this kind invitation to 
 thee, and endeavour to force deliverance upon 
 those whom God hath condemned. And who 
 is there that does not know what the writings 
 of the ancient prophets contain in them, — and 
 particularly that oracle § which is just now 
 going to be fulfilled upon this miserable city 1 
 — for they foretold that this city should be 
 then taken when somebody shall begin the 
 slaughter of his own countrymen ! and are 
 not both the city and the entire temple now 
 full of the dead bodies of your countrymen ? 
 It is God therefore, it is God himself who is 
 bringing on this fire, to purge that city and 
 
 t Oar present copies of the Old Testament want this 
 encomium upon king Jechoniah or Jehoiachim, which it 
 seems was in Josephus's copy. 
 
 ; Of this oracle, see the note on book iv. ahap. vi 
 serL 3. 
 
744 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI, 
 
 temple by means of the Romans,* and is going 
 to pluck up this city, which is full of your 
 pollutions." 
 
 2. As Josephus spoke these words with 
 groans, and tears in his eyes, his voice was 
 intercepted by sobs. However, the Romans 
 could not but pity the affliction he was under, 
 and wonder at his conduct. But for John, 
 and those that were with him, they were but 
 the more exasperated against the Romans on 
 this account, and were desirous to get Jose- 
 phus also into their power : yet did that dis- 
 course influence a great many of the better 
 iort; and truly some of them were so afraid 
 of the guards set by the seditious, that they 
 tarried where they were, but still were satis- 
 fied that both they and the city were doomed 
 to destruction. Some also there were who, 
 watching for a proper opportunity when they 
 might quietly get away, fled to the Romans, 
 jf whom were the high-priests Joseph and 
 Jesus, and of the sons of high^priests three, 
 whose father was Ishmael, who was beheaded 
 in Cyrene, and four sons of Matthias, as also 
 one son of the other Matthias, who ran away 
 after his father's death, f and whose father was 
 slain by Simon, the son of Gioras, with three 
 of his sons, as I have already related: many 
 also of the other nobility went over to the 
 Romans, together with the high-priests. Now 
 Caesar not only received these men very kindly 
 in other respects, but, knowing they would 
 not willingly live after the customs of other 
 nations, he sent them to Gophna, and desired 
 them to remain there for the present, and told 
 them that when he was gotten clear of this 
 war, he would restore each of them to their 
 possessions again : so they cheerfully retired 
 to that small city which was allotted them, 
 without fear of any danger. But as they did 
 not appear, the seditious gave out again, that 
 these deserters were slain by the Romans, — 
 which was done, in order to deter the rest 
 from running away by fear of the like-treat- 
 ment. This trick of theirs succeeded now for 
 a while, as did the like trick before ; for the 
 rest were hereby deterred from deserting, by 
 fear of the like treatment. 
 
 3. However, when Titus had recalled those 
 men from Gophna, he gave orders that they 
 should go round the wall, together with Jo- 
 sephus, and show themselves' to the people; 
 
 • Josephus, both here and in many places elsewhere, 
 speaks so, that it is most evident he was fully satisfied 
 that God was on the Romans' side, and made use of 
 them now for the destruction of that wicked nation of 
 the Jews, which was for certain the true state of this 
 matter, as the prophet Oaniel first, and our Saviour 
 himself afterwards had clearly foretold. See Lit 'Ac- 
 compl. of Proph. p 6-1, &c. 
 
 + Josephus had before told ns, book v. ch. xiii. sect. 
 1, that this fourth son of Matthias ran away to the Ro- 
 mans "before" his father's and brethren's slauf^hter, and 
 not "after" it. as here. The former account is, in all 
 probability, the truest; for had not that fourth son 
 escaped hefere the others were cauKbt and put to death, 
 he had been caufht and put to death with them. This 
 last nrroiint. llu-rrfore. looks Ike an instarce of a smnll 
 loiulTertence ot Jusepbus in the place before uo. 
 
 upon which a great many fled to the Romans. 
 These men also got in a great number together, 
 and stood before the Romans and besought 
 the seditious with groans and tears in their 
 eyes, in the first place to receive the Romans 
 entirely into the city, and save that their own 
 place of residence again ; but that, if they 
 would not agree to such a proposal, they 
 would at least depart out of the temple, and 
 save the holy house for their own use ; for 
 that the Romans would not venture to set the 
 sanctuary on fire, but under the most pressing 
 necessity. Yet did the seditious still more 
 and more contradict them ; and while they 
 cast loud and bitter reproaches upon these 
 deserters, they also set their engines for 
 throwing of darts and javelins, and stones, 
 upon the sacred gates of the temple, at due 
 distances from on^ another, insomuch that all 
 the space round about within the temple 
 might be compared to a burying-ground, so 
 great was the number of the dead bodies 
 therein ; a* might the holy house itself be 
 compared to a citadel. Accordingly , these 
 men rushed upon these holy places in their 
 armour, that were otherwise unapproachable, 
 and that while their hands were yet warm 
 with the blood of their own people which 
 they had shed ; nay, they proceeded to such 
 great transgressions that the very same in- 
 dignation which Jews would naturally have 
 against Romans, had they been guilty of such 
 abuses against them, the Romans now had 
 against Jews, for their impiety in regard to 
 their own religious customs. Nay, indeed, 
 there were none of the Roman soldiers who 
 did not look with a sacred horror upon the 
 holy house, and adored it, and wished that 
 the robbers would repent before their miseries 
 became incurable. 
 
 4, Now Titus was deeply affected with this 
 state of things and reproached John and his 
 party, and said to them, " Have not you, vile 
 wretches that you are, by our permission, put 
 up this partition- wall J before your sanctuary? 
 Have not you been allowed to put up the 
 pillars thereto belonging, at due distauces, 
 and on it to engrave in Greek, and in your 
 own letters, this prohibition, that no foreigner 
 should go beyond that wall? Have not we 
 given you leave to kill such as go beyond it, 
 though he were a Roman? And what do you 
 do now, you pernicious villains? Why do you 
 trample upon dead bodies in this temple? 
 and why do you pollute this holy house with 
 the blood both of foreigners and Jews them- 
 selves? I appeal to the gods of my own coun- 
 try, and to every god that ever had any re- 
 gard to this place (for I do not suppose it to 
 be now regarded by any of them) ; I also ap- 
 peal to my own army, and to those Jews that 
 are now with me, and even to you yourselves, 
 
 t Of this partition-wall separatinj; Jews and Gentiles, 
 w'tli its pillars and inscription, see the description of the 
 temples, chap xv 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 746 
 
 that I do not force you to defile this your 
 yinctuary; and if you will but change the 
 place whereon you will fight, no Roman shall 
 either come near your sanctuary, or offer any 
 affront to it ; nay, I will endeavour to pre- 
 serve you your holy house, whether you will 
 or not."* 
 
 5. As Josephus explained these things 
 from the mouth of Caesac, both the robbers 
 and the tyrant thought that these exhortations 
 proceeded from Titus's fear, and not from his 
 jood-will to them, and grew insolent upon it; 
 but when Titus saw that these men were nei- 
 ther to be moved by commiseration towards 
 themselves, nor had any concern upon them 
 to have the holy house spared, he proceeded, 
 unwillingly, to go on again with the war 
 against them. He could not indeed bring all 
 his army against them, the place was so nar- 
 row; but choosing thirty soldiers of the most 
 valiant out of every hundred, and committing 
 a thousand to each tribune, and making Ce- 
 realis their commander-in-chief, he gave or- 
 ders that they should attack the guards of the 
 temple about the ninth hour of that night ; 
 but as he was now in his armour, and pre- 
 paring to go down with them, his friends 
 would not let him go, by reason of the great- 
 ness of the danger, and what the commanders 
 suggested to them ; for they said, that he 
 would do more by sitting above in the tower 
 of Antonia, as a dispenser of rewards to those 
 soldiers that signalized themselves in the fight, 
 than by coming down and hazarding his own 
 person in the fore-front of them ; for that 
 tliey would all fight stoutly while Caesar 
 looked upon them. With this advice Caesar 
 complied, and said, that the only reason he 
 had for such compliance with the soldiers was 
 this, that he might be able to judge of their 
 courageous actions, and that no valiant soldier 
 might lie concealed, and miss of his reward ; 
 and no cowardly soldier might go unpunished; 
 but that he might himself be an eye-witness, 
 and able to give evidence of all that was done, 
 who was to be the disposer of punishments 
 and rewards to them. So be sent the soldiers 
 about their work at the hour forementioned, 
 while he went out himself to a higher place 
 m the tower of Antonia, whence he might see 
 what was done, and th^re waited with impa- 
 tience to see the event. 
 
 6. However, the soldiers that were sent did 
 not find the guards of the temple asleep, as they 
 hoped to have done ; but were obliged to fight 
 with them immediately hand to hand, as they 
 rushed with violence upon them with a great 
 shout. Now, as soon as the rest within the 
 temple heard that shout of those that were 
 upon the watch, they ran out in troops upon 
 
 • That these seditions Jews were the direct occasions 
 erth«ir own destruction, and of the conflagration of their 
 city and temple; and that Titus earnestly and constantly 
 laboured to save both, is here and everywhere most evi- 
 dent in loscphua. 
 
 them. Then did the Romans receive the 
 onset of those that came first upon tlfem; but 
 those that followed them fell upon their awn 
 troops, and many of them treated their own 
 soldiers as if they had been enemies ; for the 
 great confused noise that was made on both 
 sides, hindered them from distinguishing one 
 another's voices, as did the darkness of the 
 night hinder them from the like distinction 
 by the sight, besides that blindness which arose 
 otherwise also from the passion and the fear 
 they were in at the same time ; for which rea- 
 son, it was all one to the soldiers who it was 
 they struck at. However, this ignorance did 
 less harm to the Romans than to the Jews, 
 because they were joined together under their 
 shields, and made their sallies more regularly 
 than the others did, and each of them remem- 
 bered their watch- word ; while the Jews were 
 perpetually dispersed abroad, and made their 
 attacks and retreats at random, and so did fre- 
 quently seem to one another to be enemies; for 
 every one of them received those of their own 
 men that came back in the dark as Romans and 
 made an assault upon them ; so that more ot 
 them were wounded by their own men than by 
 the enemy, till, upon the coming on of the day, 
 the nature of the fight was discerned by the 
 eye afterward. Then did they stand in battle- 
 array in distinct bodies, and cast their darts 
 regularly, and regularly defended themselves ; 
 nor did either side yield or grow weary. The 
 Romans contended with each other who should 
 fight the most strenuously, both single men 
 and entire regiments, as being under the eye 
 of Titus; and every one concUuled that this 
 day would begin his promotion if he fought 
 bravely. The great encouragements which 
 the Jews had in view to act vigorously were 
 their fear for themselves and for the temple, 
 and the presence of their tyrant, who exhorted 
 some, and beat and threatened others to act 
 courageously. Now, it so happened, that 
 this fight was for the most part a stationary 
 one, wherein the soldiers went on and came 
 back in a short time, and suddenly ; for there 
 was no long space of ground for either of 
 their flights or pursuits ; but still there was a 
 tumultuous noise among the Romans from 
 the tower of Antonia, who loudly cried out 
 upon all occasions for their own men to press 
 on courageously, when they were too hard for 
 the Jews, and to stay when they were retire- 
 ing backward ; so that here was a kind of 
 theatre of war ; for what was done in this 
 fight could not be concealed either from Ti- 
 tus or from those that were about him. At 
 length, it appeared that this fight, which be- 
 gan at the ninth hour of the night, was not 
 over till past the fifth hour of the day; and 
 that, in the same place where the battle be- 
 gan, neither party could say they had made 
 the other to retire ; but both the armies left 
 the victory almost in uncertainty between 
 them r wherein those that signalized them- 
 
746 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 selves on the Roman side were a great many; 
 but on the Jewish side, and of those that 
 were with Simon, Judas the son of Merto, 
 and Simon the son of Josias ; of the Idu- 
 means, James and Simon, the latter of whom 
 was the son of Cathlas, and James was the 
 son of Sosas ; of those that were with John 
 Cyphtheus and Alexas ; and, of the zealots, 
 Simon, the son of Jairus. 
 
 7. In the mean time, the rest of the Ro- 
 man army had, in seven days' time over- 
 thrown [some] foundations of the tower of 
 Antonia, and had made a ready and broad 
 way to the temple. Then did the legions 
 come near the first court,* and began to raise 
 their banks. The one bank was over-against 
 the north-west corner of the inner temple ;f 
 another was at that northern edifice which was 
 between the two gates; andof the other two, 
 one was at the western cloister of the outer 
 court* of the temple ; the other against its 
 northern cloister. However these works were 
 thus far advanced by the Romans, not without 
 great pains and difficulty, and particularly 
 by being obliged to bring their materials from 
 the distance of a hundred furlongs. They 
 had farther difficulties also upon them: some- 
 times, by the over-great security they were in 
 that they should overcome the Jewish snares 
 laid for them, and by that boldness of the Jews 
 which their despair of escaping had inspired 
 them withal ; for some of their horsemen 
 when they went out to gather wood or hay, 
 let their horses feed, without having their bri- 
 dles on during the time of foraging; upon 
 which horses the Jews sallied out in whole 
 bodies, and seized them ; and when this was 
 continually done, and Caesar believed, what 
 the truth was, that the horses were stolen 
 more by the negligence of his own men than 
 by the valour of the Jews, he determined to 
 use greater severity to oblige the rest to take 
 care of their horses ; so he commanded that 
 one of those soldiers who had lost their horses 
 should be capitally punished ; whereby he so 
 terrified the rest that they preserved their 
 horses for the time to come ; for they did not 
 any longer let them go from them to feed 
 by themselves, but, as if they had grown to 
 them, they went always along with them 
 when they wanted necessaries. Thus did the 
 Romans still continue to make war against 
 the temple, and to raise their banks against it. 
 
 8. Now, after one day had been interposed 
 since the Romans ascended the breach, many 
 
 ^ of the seditious were so pressed by the famine, 
 upon the present failure of their ravages, that 
 they got together, and made an attack on 
 those Roman guards that were upon the 
 Mount of Olives, and this about the eleventh 
 hour of the day, as supposing first, that they 
 would not expect such an onset, ^f^d in the 
 next place, that they were then taking care 
 
 • The Court of the Gentiles, i The Court of Israel 
 
 of their bodies, and that therefore they should 
 very easily beat them; — but the Romans 
 were apprised of their coming to attack them 
 beforehand, and running together from the 
 neighbouring camps on the sudden, prevented 
 them from getting over their fortification, or 
 forcing the wall that was built about them 
 Upon this came on a sharp fight, and here 
 many great actions, were performed on both 
 sides ; while the Romans showed both their 
 courage and their skill in war, as did the 
 Jews come on them with immoderate violence 
 and intolerable passion. The one party 
 were urged on by shame, and the other by 
 necessity ; for it seemed a very shameful 
 thing to the Romans to let the Jews go, now 
 they were taken in a kind of net ; while thi- 
 Jews had but one hope of saving themselves, 
 and that was, in case they could by violence 
 break through the Roman wall : — and one, 
 whose name was Pedanius, belonging to a 
 party of horsemen, when the Jews were al- 
 ready beaten and forced down into the valley 
 together, spurred his horse on their flank 
 with great vehemence, and caught up a cer- 
 tain young man belonging to the enemy by 
 his ancle, as he was running away. The 
 man was, however, of a robust body, and in 
 his armour ; so low did Pedanius bend him- 
 self downward from his horse, even as he was 
 galloping away, and so great was the strength 
 of his right hand, and of the rest of his body, 
 as also such skill had he in horsemanship. 
 So this man seized upon that his prey, as 
 upon a precious treasure, and carried him as 
 his captive to Caesar: whereupon Titus ad- 
 mired the man that had seized the other 
 for his great strength, and ordered the man 
 that was caught to be punished [with death] 
 for his attempt against the Roman wall, 
 but betook himself to the siege of the tem- 
 ple, and to pressing on the raising of the 
 banks. 
 
 9. In the mean time, the Jews were so dis- 
 tressed by the fights they had been in, as the 
 war advanced higher and higher, and creep- 
 ing up to the holy house itself, that they, as 
 it were, cut off those limbs of their body 
 which were infected, in order to prevent the 
 distemper's spreading farther; for they set 
 the north-west cloister, which was joined to 
 the tower of Antonia, on fire, and after that 
 brake off about twenty cubits of that cloister, 
 and thereby made a beginning in burning the 
 sanctuary : two days after which, or on the 
 twenty-fourth day of the forenamed month 
 [Panemus or Tamuz], the Romans set fire to 
 the cloister that joined to the other, when tne 
 fire went fifteen cubits farther. The Jews, 
 in like manner, cut off its roof; nor nui tney 
 entirely leave off what they were about till 
 the tower of Antonia was parted from the 
 temple, even when it was in their power to 
 have stopped the fire; nay, they lay still 
 while the temple wns first set on fire, and 
 
CHAP. III. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 747 
 
 deemed this spreading of the fire to be for 
 their own advantage. However, the armies 
 were still fighting one against another about 
 the temple: and the war was managed by 
 continual sallies of particular parties against 
 one another. 
 
 10. Now there was at this time a man 
 among the Jews; low of stature he was, and 
 of a despicable appearance; of no character 
 either as to his family, or in other respects : 
 his name was Jonathan. He went out at the 
 high-priest John's monument, and uttered 
 many other insolent things to the Romans, 
 and challenged the best of them all to a 
 single combat: but many of those that stood 
 there in the army huffed him, and many of 
 them (as they might well be) were afraid of 
 him. Some of them also reasoned thus, and 
 that justly enough: that it was not fit to fight 
 with a man that desired to die, because those 
 that utterly despaired of deliverance had, 
 besides other passions, a violence in attacking 
 men that could not be opposed, and had no 
 regard to God himself; and that to hazard 
 one's self with a person, whom if you over- 
 come, you do no great matter, and by whom 
 it is hazardous that you may be taken pri- 
 soner, would be an instance not of manly 
 courage, but of unmanly rashness. So tnere 
 being nobody that came out to accept the 
 man's challenge, and the Jew cutting them 
 with a great number of reproaches, as cow- 
 ards (for he was a very haughty man in him- 
 self, and a great despiser of the Romans), one 
 whose name was Pudens, of the body of horse- 
 men, out of his abomination of the other's 
 words, and of his impudence withal, and per- 
 haps out of an inconsiderate arrogance, on 
 account of the other's lowness of stature, ran 
 out to him, and was too hard for him in other 
 respects, but was betrayed by his ill-fortune; 
 for he fell down, and as he was down, Jona- 
 than came running to him, and cut his throat, 
 and then standing upon his dead body, he 
 brandished his sword, bloody as it was, and 
 shook his shield with his left hand, and made 
 many acclamations to the Roman army,- and 
 exulted over the dead man, and jested upon 
 the Romans; till at length one Priscus, a cen- 
 turion, shot a dart at him as he was leaping 
 and playing the fool with himself, and thereby 
 pierced him through: upon which a shout 
 was set up both by the Jews and the Romans, 
 though on different accounts. So Jonathan 
 grew giddy by the pain of his wounds, and 
 fell down upon the body of his adversary — a 
 piam instance how suddenly vengeance may 
 come upqp men that have success in war, 
 without aiiy just deserving of the same. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONCERNING A STRATAGEM THAT WAS DE- 
 VISED BY THE JEWSj BY WHICH THEY 
 BURNT MANY OF THE ROMANS; WITH AN- 
 OTHER DESCRIPTION OF THE TERRIBLE 
 FAMINE THAT WAS IN THE CITY. 
 
 § 1. But now the seditious that were in the 
 temple did every day openly endeavour to 
 beat off the soldiers that were upon the banks, 
 and on the twenty-seventh day of the fore- 
 named month [Panemus, or Tamuz], contrived 
 such a stratagem as this: — They filled that 
 part of the western cloister * which was be- 
 tween the beams, and the roof under them, 
 with dry materials, as also with bitumen and 
 pitch, aiwl then retired from that place as 
 though they were tired with the pains they 
 had taken; at which procedure of theirs, many 
 of the most inconsiderate among the Romans, 
 who were carried away with violent passions, 
 followed hard after them as they were retiring, 
 and applied ladders to the cloister, and got 
 up to it suddenly; but the prudent part of 
 them, when they understood this unaccount- 
 able retreat of the Jews, stood <^till where they 
 were before. However, the cloister was full 
 of those that were gone up the ladders; at 
 which time the Jews set it all on fire; and us 
 the flafhes burst out everywhere on the sud- 
 den, the Romans that were out of the danger 
 were seized with a very great consternation, 
 as were those that were in the midst of the 
 danger in the utmost distress. So when they 
 perceived themselves surrounded with the 
 flames, some of them threw themselves down 
 backwards into the city, and some among their 
 enemies [in the temple]; as did many leap 
 down to their own men, and broke their limbs 
 to pieces; but a great number of those that 
 were going to take these violent methods, were 
 prevented by the fire; though some prevented 
 the fire by their own swords. However, the 
 fire was on the sudden carried so far as to 
 surround those who would have otherwise 
 perished. As for Caesar himself, he could 
 not, however, but commiserate those that thus 
 perished, although they got up thither with- 
 out any order for so doing, since there was no 
 way of giving them any relief. Yet was this 
 some comfort to those that were destroyed, 
 that every body might see that person grieve, 
 for whose sake they came to their end; for 
 he cried out openly to them, and leaped up, 
 and exhorted those that were about him to 
 do their utmost to relieve them. So everj 
 one of them died cheerfully, as carrying 
 along with him these words and this intention 
 of Caesar as a sepulchral monument. Some 
 there were, indeed, who retired into the wall 
 
 • Of the Court of the Geudlea. 
 
748 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 :book T1 
 
 of the cloister, which was hroad, and were 
 preserved out of the fire, but were then sur- 
 rounded by the Jews; and although they 
 made resistance against the Jews for a long 
 time, yet were they wounded by them, and at 
 length they all fell down dead. 
 
 2. At the last, a young man among them, 
 whose name was Longus, became a decoration 
 to this sad affair, and while every one of them 
 that perished were worthy of a memorial, this 
 man appeared to deserve it beyond all the rest. 
 Now the Jews admired this man for hiscourage, 
 and were farther desirous of having him slain; 
 so they persuaded him to come down to them, 
 upon security given him for his life. But Cor- 
 nelius, his brother, persuaded him, on the con- 
 trary, not to tarnish his own glory nor that of 
 the Roman army. He complied with this last 
 advice, and lifting up his sword before both 
 armies, he slew himself. Yet was there one 
 Artorius among those surrounded with the 
 fire, who escaped by his subtilty ; for when he 
 nad with a loud voice called to him Lucius, 
 one of his fellow soldiers that lay with him in 
 the same tent, and said to him, " I do leave 
 thee heir of all I have, if thou wilt come and 
 
 eceive me." Upon this he came running to 
 .eceive him readily.; Artorius then threw him- 
 self down upon him, and saved his own life, 
 while he that received him was dashed so ve- 
 hemently against the stone pavement by the 
 other's weight, that he died- immediately. 
 This melancholy accident made the Romans 
 sad for a while, but still it made them more 
 upon their guard for the future, and was of ad- 
 vantage to them against the delusions of the 
 Jews, by which they were greatly damaged 
 through their imacquaintedness w ith the places, 
 and with the nature of the inhabitants. Now 
 this cloister was burnt down as far as John's to w- 
 er, which he built in the war he made against 
 Simon over the gates that led to the Xystus. 
 The Jews also cut off the rest of that cloister 
 from the temple, after they had destroyed 
 those that got up to it. But the next day the 
 Romans burnt down the northern cloister en- 
 tirely, as far as the east cloister, whose com- 
 mon angle joined to the valley that was called 
 Cedron, and was built over it; on which ac- 
 count the depth was frightful. And this was 
 the state of the temple at that time. 
 
 3. Now of those that perished by famine 
 in the city, the number was prodigious, and 
 the miseries they underwent were unspeak- 
 able; for if so much as the shadow of any 
 kind of food did anywhere appear, a war was 
 commenced presently; and the dtarest friends 
 fell a fighting one with another about it, 
 snatching from each other the most miserable 
 supports of life. Nor would wen believe that 
 those who were dying had no food ; but the 
 robbers would search them when they were 
 expiring, lest any one should have concealed 
 food in their bosoms, and counterfeited d\ing: 
 nay, these robbers gaped for want, and ran 
 
 about stumbling and staggering along like mad 
 
 dogs, and reeling against the doors of the 
 houses like drunken men; they would also, in 
 the great distress they were in, rush into the 
 very same houses two or three times in one 
 and the same day. Moreover, their hunger 
 was so intolerable, that it obliged them to 
 chew every thing, while they gathered such 
 things as the most sordid animals would not 
 touch, and endured to eat them; nor did they 
 at length abstain from girdles and shoes; anJ 
 the very leather which belonged to their shields- 
 they pulled off and gnawed: the very wisps of 
 old hay became food to some ; and some 
 gathered up fibres, and sold a very small- 
 weight of them for four Attic [drachmae]. 
 But why do 1 describe the shameless impu- 
 dence that the famine brought on men in their 
 eating inanimate things, while 1 am going 
 to relate a matter of fact, the like to which no 
 history relates,* either among the Greeks of 
 Barbarians! It is horrible to speak of it, and 
 incredible when heard. I had indeed willingly 
 omitted this calamity of ouis, that I might 
 not seem to deliver what is so portentous to 
 posterity, but that i have innumerable wit- 
 nesses to it in my own age; and besides, my 
 country would have had little reason to thank 
 me for suppressing the miseries that she under- 
 went at this time. 
 
 4. There was a certain woman that dwelt 
 beyond Jordan, her name was Wary; her 
 father was Eleazar, of the village Betbczub, 
 which signifies the House of Hyssop. She 
 was eminent for her family and her wealth, 
 and had fled away to Jerusalem with the rest 
 of the multitude, and was with them besieged 
 therein at this time. The other effecis of 
 this woman had been already seized upon ; 
 such I mean as she had brought with her out 
 of Perea, and removed to the city. -What she 
 had treasured up besides, as also what food 
 she had contrived to save, had been also carried 
 off by the rapacious guards, who came every 
 day running into her house for that purpose. 
 This put the poor won)an into a very great 
 passion, and by the frequent reproaches and 
 
 ♦ What Jospphiis obscrvps here, that no parallel ex- 
 amples had been recorded before bis time of sncli sieges, 
 wherein motliers were Ibrced by extremity of (amine to 
 eat their own children, as had been threatened to th» 
 Jews in tte law of Moses, upon obstinate disobedience, 
 and more than once 111 filled (see my Boyle's Lectures, 
 p. i!lO— -214), is by Dr. EUidson supposed to have had 
 two or three parallel examples in later a>;es. He might 
 have had more exiin)i)le8. 1 suppose, of P' rsons on ship- 
 hoard, or in a desert island casting lots for each other's 
 bodies; bnt all this was only in cases where they knew 
 of no possible way to avoid death themselves, but by 
 killins and eating others. V hether such e:|«mpU-s come* 
 up to the present case mav be doubltd. The I^oniana 
 were not only willing, but very desirons. to grant those 
 Jews in JerusaUm both their livt-s m>A thi-ir liht- rtius, 
 and to save both their citN and theii i»nivle. But tho 
 zealots, the robbers, and the seditious, would beurkea 
 to no terms of submiision. They TolMnturily chose to 
 reduce the citizens to Uiat extremity, as to force mo. 
 tbers to this untiatural buibanty. which, in all its ci» 
 cumstiinces. has not, I Ktill suppose. Ucn Uiilttrlo P* 
 r«>W»«l anroug tb« r«si uf uiankuid.. 
 
CHAP. IT. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 749 
 
 imprecations she cast at these rapacious vil- 
 lains, she had provoked them to anger against 
 her; but none of them, either out of the in- 
 dignation she had raised against herself, or out 
 of the commiseration of her case, would take 
 away her life ; aitd if she found any food, she 
 perctuved her labours were for others, and not 
 for herself; and it was now become impossible 
 for her any way to find any more food, while 
 the famine pierced through her very bowels 
 and marrow, when also her passion was fired to 
 a degree beyond the famine itself: nor did she 
 consult with any thing but with her passion 
 and the necessity she was in. She then at- 
 tempted a most unnatural thing; and snatch- 
 ing up her son, who was a child sucking at her 
 breast, she said, " O thou miserable infant ! for 
 whom shall I preserve thee in this war, this 
 famine, and this sedition? As to the wifr with 
 the Romans, if they preserve our lives, we 
 must be slaves! This famine also will de- 
 stroy us, even before that slavery comes upon 
 us; — yet are these seditious rogues more ter- 
 rible than both the other. Come on; be thou 
 my food, and be thou a fury to these seditious 
 varlets and a by- word to the world, which is 
 all that is now wanting to complete the cala- 
 mities of us Jews." As soon as she had said 
 this she slew her son; and then roasted him, 
 and ate the one half of him, and kept the other 
 half by her concealed. Upon this the sedi- 
 tious came in presently, and smelling the hor- 
 rid scent of this food, they threatened her, 
 that they would cut her throat immediately if 
 she did not show them what food she had got- 
 ten ready. She replied, that she bad saved a 
 very fine portion of it for them ; and withal 
 uncovered what was left of her son. Here- 
 upon they were seized with a horror and amaze- 
 ment of mind, and stood astonished at the 
 sight; when she said to them, " This is mine 
 own son; and what hath been done was mine 
 own doing! Come, eat of this food; for I 
 have eaten of it myself! Do not you pretend 
 to be either more tender than a woman, or 
 more compassionate than a mother; but if you 
 be so scrupulous, and do abominate this my 
 facrifice, as I have eaten the one half, let the 
 rest be reserved for me also." After which, 
 those men went out trembling, being never so 
 much affrighted at any thing as they were at 
 this, and with some difficulty they left the rest 
 of that meat to the mother. Upon which the 
 whole city was full of this horrid action im- 
 mediately; and while every body laid this 
 miserable case before their own eyes, they 
 trembled, as if this unheard-of action had 
 been done by themselves. So those that were 
 thus distressed by the famine were very de- 
 sirous to die; and those already dead were 
 esteemed happy, because they had not lived 
 long enough either to hear or to see such 
 miseries. 
 
 5. This sad instance was quickly told tp 
 the Romans, some of whom could not be- 
 
 lieve it, and others pitied the distress which 
 the Jews were under; but there were many 
 of them who were hereby induced to a more 
 bitter hatred than ordinary against our na- 
 tion; — but for Caesar he excused himself 
 before God as to this matter, and said that he 
 had proposed peace and liberty to the Jews, 
 as well as an oblivion of all their former in^ 
 Solent practices; but that they, instead ofcou-*i 
 cord, had chosen sedition; instead of peace*' 
 war; and before satiety and abundance, a fa- 
 mine. That they had begun with their own 
 hands to burn down that temple, which we 
 have preserved hitherto; and that therefore 
 they deserved to eat such food as this was. 
 That, however, this horrid action of eating 
 one's own child, ought to be covered with the 
 overthrow of their very country itself; and 
 men ought not to leave such a city upon the 
 habitable earth to be seen by the sun, wherein 
 mothers are thus fed, although such food be 
 fitter for the fathers than for the mothers to 
 eat of, since it is they that continue still in a 
 state of war against us, after they have un- 
 dergone such miseries as these. And at the 
 same time that he said this, he reflected on the 
 desperate condition these men must be in; 
 nor could he expect that such men could be 
 recovered to sobriety of mind, after they had 
 endured those very sufferings, for the avoid- 
 ing whereof it only was probable they might 
 have repented. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ■WHEN THE BANKS WERE COMPLETED, AND 
 THE BATTERING-RAMS BROUGHT, AND 
 COULD DO NOTHING, TITUS GAVE ORDERS 
 TO SET FIRE TO THE GATES OFTHE TEMPLE; 
 IN NO LONG TIME AFTER WHICH, THE HOLY 
 HOUSE ITSELF WAS BURNT DOWN, EVEN 
 AGAINST HIS CONSENT. 
 
 § I. And now two of the legions had com- 
 pleted their banks on the eighth day of the 
 month Lous [Ab]. Whereupon Titus gave or- 
 ders that the battering-rams should be brought 
 and set over-against the western edifice of the 
 inner temple; for before these were brought, 
 the firmest of all the other engines had bat- 
 tered the wall for six days together without 
 ceasing, without making any impression 
 upon.it; but the vast largeness and strong 
 connexion of the stones were superior to that 
 engine, and to the other battering-rams also. 
 Other Romans did indeed undermine the 
 foundations of the northern gate, and, after a 
 world of pains, ren)Oved the outermost stones, 
 i yet was the gate still upheld by the inner 
 i stones, and stood still unhurt; till the work- 
 I n)en, despairing of all such attempts by en- 
 j gines and crows, brought their ladders to the 
 I cloisters. Now the Jews did not interrupt 
 
760 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 them in so doing; but when they were gotten 
 up, they fell upon them and fought with them ; 
 some of them they tbrust down, and threw 
 them backwards headlong; others of them they 
 met and slew; they also beat many of those 
 that went down the ladders again, and slew 
 them with their swords before they could 
 bring their shields to protect them ; nay, some 
 of the ladders they threw down from above 
 when they were full of armed men ; a great 
 Slaughter was made of the Jews also at the 
 same time, while those that bare the ensigns 
 fought hard for them, as deeming it a terrible 
 thing, and what would tend to their great 
 shame, if they permitted them to be stolen 
 away. Yet did the Jews at length get pos- 
 session of these engines, and destroyed those 
 
 ~ that had gone up the ladders, while the rest 
 were so intimidated by what those suffered 
 who were slain, that they retired; although 
 none of the Romans died without having done 
 good service before his death. Of the sedi- 
 tious, those that had fought bravely in the 
 former battles, did the like now; as besides 
 them did Eleazar, the brother's son of Simon 
 the tyrant. But when Titus perceived that 
 his endeavours to spare a foreign temple 
 turned to the damage of his soldiers and 
 made them be killed, he gave order to set the 
 gates on fire. 
 
 2, In the mean time there deserted to him 
 Ananus, who came from Emmaus, the most 
 bloody of all Simon's guards, and Archelaus, 
 the son of Magadatus, they hoping to be still 
 forgiven, because they left the Jews at a time 
 when they were the conquerors. Titus ob- 
 jected this to these men, as a cunning trick 
 of theirs; and as he had been informed of 
 their other barbarities toward the Jews, he 
 was going in all haste to have them both 
 slain. He told them that they were only 
 driven to this desertion because of the utmost 
 distress they were in, and did not come avvay 
 of their own good disposition; and that those 
 did not deserve to be preserved, by whom 
 their own city was already set on fire, out of 
 V hich fire they now hurried themselves away. 
 However, the security he had promised de- 
 serters overcame his resentments, and he dis- 
 misssed them accordingly, though he did not 
 give them the same privileges that he had 
 afforded to others; and now the soldiers had 
 
 ^ already put fire to the gates, and the silver 
 thai v\as over them quickly carried the flames 
 to the wood that was within it, whence it 
 spretid itself all on the sudden, and canghl 
 hold of (he cloisters. Upon the Jews' seeing 
 this fire all about them, their spirits snnk, 
 to^'ether with their bodies, and they were un- 
 der t-uch astonif-hinent, that not one of them 
 made any haste, either to defend himself or 
 to quench the fire, but they stood as mute 
 ■pectators of it only. Ilo« ever, they did not 
 W) grieve at the loss vf what was now burn- 
 ing us to grow wisei thert- by lor the time to 
 
 come; but as though the holy house itself 
 had been on fire already, they whetted their 
 passions against the Romans.* This fire pre- 
 vailed during that day and the next also; for 
 the soldiers were not able to burn all the 
 cloisters that were round about together at 
 one time, but only by pieces. 
 
 3. But then, on the next day, Titus com- 
 manded part of his army to quench the fire, 
 and to make a road for the more easy march- 
 ing up of the legions, while he himself ga- 
 thered the commanders together. Of those 
 there were assembled the six principal per- 
 sons: Tiberius Alexander, the commander 
 [under the general] of the whole army; with 
 Sextus Cerealis, the commander ox the fifth 
 legion; and Larcius Lepidus, the commander 
 of the tenth legion; and Titus Frigius, the 
 commander of the fifteenth legion : there w as 
 also with them Eternius, the leader of the 
 two legions that came from Alexandria; and 
 Marcus Antonius Julianus, procurator of 
 Judea: after these came togethsr all the 
 rest of the procurators and tribunes. Titus 
 proposed to these that they should give bin. 
 their advice what should be done about the 
 holy house. Now, some of these thought it 
 would be the best way to act according to the 
 rules of war [and demolish it] ; because the 
 Jews would never leave oflT rebelling while 
 that house was standing; at which bouse it 
 wasthat they used to get all together. Others 
 of them were of opinion, that in case the 
 Jews would leave it, and none of them would 
 lay their arms up in it, he might save it; but 
 that in case they got upon it, and fought any 
 more, he might burn it; because it must then 
 be looked upon not as a holy house, but as a 
 citadel; and that the impiety of burning it 
 would then belong to those that forced tli: 
 to be done, and not to them. But Titus 
 said, that *' although the Jews should >jet 
 upon that holy house, and fight us thence, 
 yet ought we not to revenge onrselves on 
 things that are inanimate, instead cf the men 
 themselves;" and that he was not in any cjise 
 for burning down so vast a work as that Wiis, 
 because this would be a mischief to the Ro- 
 mans themselves, as it would be an ornamt i.t 
 to their government \\hile it continued. So 
 Fronto, and Alexander, and Ceicjilis, grtu' 
 bold upon that declaration, and agreed to the 
 opinion of Titus. Then was this asj^enihly 
 dissolved, when Titus had given orders (O 
 the commanders that the rest of their force*: 
 should lie still; but that they should make 
 use of such as were most courageous in this 
 attack. So he commanded that the chosen 
 men that were taken out of the cohorts should 
 make their way through the ruins, and quench 
 the fire. 
 
 4. Now it is true, that on this ''a^' fh(- 
 Jews were so wearv, and under such consier- 
 nation, that they refrained from any attacKs; 
 but on the next day they gathered thei»- whole 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 751 
 
 force together, and ran upon those that 
 guarded the outward court of the temple, 
 very boldly, through the east gate, and this 
 about the second hour of the day. These 
 guards received that their attack with great 
 bravery, and by covering themselves with 
 their shields before, as if it were with a wall, 
 they drew their squadron close together; yet 
 was it evident that they could not abide there 
 very long, but would be overborne by the 
 multitude of those that sallied out upon them, 
 and by the heat of their passion. However, 
 Caesar seeing, from the tower of Antonia, that 
 this squadron was likely to give way, he sent 
 some chosen horsemen to support them. 
 Hereupon the Jews found themselves not 
 able to sustain their onset, and upon the 
 slaughter of those in the fore-front, many of 
 the rest were put to flight ; but as the Ro- 
 mans were going off, the Jews turned upon 
 them and fought them ; and as those Romans 
 came back upon them, they retreated again, 
 until about the fifth hour of the day they were 
 overborne, and shut themselves up in the inner 
 [court of the] temple. 
 
 5, So Titus retired into the tower of 
 Antonia, and resolved to storm the temple 
 the next day, early in the morning, with his 
 svhole army, and to encamp round about the 
 holy house ; but, as for that house, God had 
 for certain long ago doomed it to the fire ; 
 and now. that fatal day was come, according 
 to the revolution of ages : it was the tenth 
 day of the month Lous [Ab], upon which it 
 was formerly burnt by the king of Babylon ; 
 although these flames took their rise from the 
 Jews themselves, and were occasioned by 
 them ; for upon Titus's retiring, the seditious 
 lay still for a little while, and then attacked the 
 Romans again, when those that guarded the 
 holy house fought with those that quenched 
 the fire that was burning in the inner [court 
 of the] temple; but these Romans put the 
 Jews to flight, and proceeded as far as the 
 holy house itself. At which time one of the 
 soldiers without staying for any orders, and 
 withojit any concern or dread upon him at so 
 great an undertaking, and being hurried on by 
 a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat out 
 of the materials that were on fire, and being 
 lifted up by another soldier, be set fire to a 
 golden window, through which there was a 
 passage to the rooms that were round about 
 the holy house, on the north side of it. As 
 the flames went upward the Jews made a great 
 clamour, such as so mighty an afl^iction re- 
 quired, and ran together to prevent it; and 
 now they spared not their lives any longer, 
 ■jor suffered any thing to restrain their force, 
 <jnce that holy house was perishing, for 
 whose sake it was that they kept such a guard 
 about it. 
 
 fi. And now a certain por?nn came running 
 to Titus, and told hiu; t)f this fire as he was 
 reetiiig himself in his tent after the last bat- 
 
 tle ; whereupon he rose up in great haste, 
 and, as he was, ran to the holy house, in 
 order to have a stop put to the fire; after him 
 followed all his commanders, and after them 
 followed the several legions, in great astonish- 
 ment; so there was a great clamour and tu- 
 mult raised, as was natural upon the disor- 
 derly motion of so great an army. Then did 
 Caesar, both by calling to the soldiers tha 
 were fighting, with a loud voice, and by giv 
 ing a signal to them with his right hand, or- 
 der them to quench the fire; but they did not 
 hear what he said, though he spake so loud, 
 having their ears already dinned by a greater 
 noise another way ; nor did they attend to the 
 signal he made with his hand neither, as still 
 some of them were distracted with fighting, 
 and others with passion ; but as for the le- 
 gions that came running thither, neither any 
 persuasions nor any threatenings could re- 
 strain their violence, but each one's own pas- 
 sion was his commander at this time ; and m 
 they were crowding into the temple together, 
 many of them were trampled on by one ano- 
 ther, while a great number fell among the 
 ruins of the cloisters, which were still hot and 
 smoking, and were destroyed in the same 
 miserable way w'ith those whom they had con- 
 quered : and when they were come near the 
 holy house, they made as if they did not ^o 
 much as hear Caesar's orders to the contrar\ ; 
 but they encouraged those that were before 
 them to set it on fire. As for the seditious, 
 they were in too great distress already to af- 
 ford their assistance [towards quenching the 
 fire]; they were everywhere slain, and every- 
 where beaten ; and as for a great part of the 
 people, they were weak and without arms, 
 and ha<l their throats cut wherever they were 
 caught. Now, round about the altar lay dead 
 bodies heaped one upon another; as at the 
 steps* going up to it ran a great quantity of 
 their blood, whither also the dead bodies that 
 were slain above [on the altar] fell down. 
 
 7. And now, since Caesar was no way able 
 to restrain the enthusiastic fury of the soldiers, 
 and the fire proceeded on more and more, he 
 went into the holy place of the temple, with 
 his commanders, and saw it, with what was in 
 it, which he found to be far superior to what 
 the relations of foreigners contained, and not 
 inferior to what we ourselves boasted of and 
 believed about it; but as the flame had not 
 as yet reached to its inward parts, but was still 
 consuming the rooms that were about the holy 
 house, and Titus supposing what the fact was 
 that the house itself might yet be saved, he 
 came in haste and endeavoured to persuade 
 
 • These steps to the altar of burnt-offering seem here 
 either an improper and inaccurate ej pression of Jose- 
 phus. since it was unlawful to make ladder-steps tsee 
 [>escription of tlie Temples, chap. xiii. and note on An- 
 tiq. b iv. chap. viii. sect o); or else those s'eps or siaii- 
 we now use were invented before the days of Hen d the 
 Great, and had been here built by hini; thouffli the lafii 
 Jews always deny it, and say iliat even Herod'BalUr *a 
 abCtnded to by au acclivity onJy. 
 
 \ 
 
753 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI 
 
 the soldiers to quench the fire, and gave order 
 to Liberalius the centurion, and one of those 
 spearmen that were about him, to beat the 
 soldiers that were refractory with their staves, 
 and to restrain them ; yet were their passions 
 too hard for the regards they had for Caesar, 
 and the dread they had of him who forbade 
 them, as was their hatred of the Jews, and a 
 certain vehement inclination to fight them, 
 too hard for them also. Moreover, the hope 
 of plunder induced many to go on, as having 
 this opinion, that all the places within were 
 fill of money, and as seeing that all round 
 about it was made of gold ; and besides, one 
 of those that went into the place prevented 
 Coesar when be ran so hastily out to restrain 
 the soldiers, and threw the fire upon the hinges 
 of the gate in the dark ; whereby the flame 
 burst out from within the holy house itself 
 immediately when the commanders retired, 
 arid Ceesar with them, and when nobody any 
 longer forbade those that were without to set 
 fire to it ; and thus was the holy house burnt 
 down, without Caesar*^ approbation. 
 
 8. Now, although any one would justly 
 lament the destruction of such a work as this 
 was, since it was the most admirable of all the 
 works that we have seen or heard of, both for 
 its curious structure and its magnitude, and 
 also for the vast wealth bestowed upon it, as 
 well as for the glorious reputation it had for 
 its holiness ; yet might such a one comfort 
 himself with this thought that it was fate that 
 decreed it so to be, which is inevitable, both 
 as to living creatures and as to works and 
 places also. However, one cannot but wonder 
 at the accuracy of this period thereto relating; 
 for the same month and day were now observ- 
 ed, as I said before, wherein the holy bouse 
 was burnt formerly by the Babylonians. Now 
 the number of years that passed from its first 
 foundation, which was laid by king Solomon, 
 till this its destruction, which happened in the 
 second year of the reign of Vespasian, are col- 
 lected to be one thousand one hundred and 
 thirty, besides seven months and fifteen days; 
 and from the second building of it, which was 
 done by Haggai. in the second year of Cyrus 
 the king, till its destruction under Vespasian, 
 there were six hundred and thirty-nine years 
 and forty-five days. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THEGREAT DISTRESS THE JEWS WERE IN UPON 
 THE CONFLAGRATIOIHor THE HOLV IloUSF. 
 CONCERNING A FALSE PROPIIKT, AND THE 
 8ION8 THAT PUKCEDKD THIS DKSTRUCTIOV. 
 
 § 1. While the holy house was on fire, every 
 thuig WHS plundered th:it mine to hand, and 
 ten thousand of those that were cawirht were 
 slam, nor wa& there a rominnpration of any 
 •ge, or an> reverence of gravity , but children. 
 
 and old nrven, and profane persons, and priests, 
 were all slain in the same manner ; so that 
 this war went round all sorts of men, and 
 brought them to destruction, and as well those 
 that made supplication for their lives, as those 
 that defended themselves by fighting. The 
 flame was also carried a long way, and made an 
 echo, together with the groans of those that 
 were slain ; and because this hill was high, 
 and the works at the temple were very great, 
 one would have thought the whole city had 
 been on fire. Nor can one imagine any thingj 
 either greater or more terrible than this noise; 
 for there was at once a shout of the Roman 
 legions, who *vere marching all together, and 
 a sad clamour of the seditious, who were now 
 surrounded with fire and sword. The people 
 also that were left above were beaten back upon 
 the enemy, and under a great consternation, 
 and made sad moans at the calamity they were 
 under; the multitude also that was in the i^ty 
 joined in this outcry with those that were upon 
 the hill ; and besides, many of those that were 
 worn away by the famine, and their mouths 
 almost closed, when they saw the fire of the 
 holy house, they exerted their utmost strength, 
 and brake out into groans and outcries again: 
 Perea* did also return the echo, as well as 
 the mountains round about [the city], and 
 augmented the force of the entire noise. Yet 
 was the misery itself more terrible than this 
 disorder; for one would have thought that 
 the hill itself, on which the temple stood, 
 was seething-hot, as full of fire on every part 
 of it, that the blood was larger in quantity 
 than the fire, and those that were slain more 
 in number than those that slew them ; . for the 
 ground did nowhere appear visible, for the 
 dead bodies that lay on it ; but the soldiers 
 went over heaps of these bodies, as they ran 
 upon such as fled from them. And now it 
 was that the multitude of the robbers were 
 thrust out [of the inner court of the temple} 
 by the Romans, and had much ado to get into 
 the outer court, and from thence into the city, 
 while the remainder of the populace fled into 
 the cloister of that outer court. As for the 
 j>riests, some of them plucked up from the 
 holy house the spikcsf that were upon it, 
 with their bases, wiiich were made of lead, 
 and shot them at the Romans instead of darts. 
 .But then as they gained nothing by so doing, 
 
 • This Pcrra, if the word he not 
 copies, cannot well he that l*irej\ whicli 
 dan, the mountains of which were at a c 
 tance from Jordan, ."ftid nmrii too remole 
 to join in this fclio at the confla>;r-ition 
 t)iil F'crca t:uist he ratlier some mount; 
 hrook Ccdioii, as was the Mount of • 
 others alioiit such a distatKC from .M-r 
 ol)servrition is so ot)vioii>. that it ii u w. 
 mentators li>re take no m.tuT of it. 
 
 ♦ He and, I tiiiiiL hne ji..(i,'.s well. 
 pr'-ts lhe«e >p.k»-« (of tho-e Itiat ?.loo(l d 
 l.oly tion-e) Willi shMrp l..ll;lt^; they \' en 
 t'. p. event the IiirN rr..iii Mlliiit: t»ieM-. : 
 t...l\ hdil-e. f.t -II. h >j.ikes Iht-ic v\ric 
 l>i«cp' iif, iijiujcl/ luvlh already assured 
 
 wrt 1 
 
 nistaken in the 
 
 was heyoiid .lor- 
 
 'oiisiderahlr dis- 
 
 froiiv Jeni.>aletr» 
 
 I of the trmple; 
 
 iin!< lieyond the 
 
 ivts. or some 
 
 ilem; which 
 
 lier our com- 
 
 hfu he inter- 
 till- top of tho 
 M.) into lend, 
 •\ itrtilins; thi> 
 iw upon it. at 
 «, [\, V. tlu V, 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 WARS OF THE JlCWS* 
 
 753 
 
 and as the fire burst out upon them, they re- 
 tired to the wall that was eight cubits broad, 
 and there they tarried; yet did two of these 
 of eminence among them, who might have 
 saved themselves by going over to the Romans, 
 or have borne up with courage, and taken their 
 fortune with the others, throw themselves into 
 the fire, and were burnt together with the holy 
 house; their names were Meirus the son of 
 Belgas, and Joseph the son of Daleus. 
 
 2. And now the Romans, judging that it 
 was in vain to spare what was round about the 
 holy house, burnt all those places, as also the 
 remains of the cloisters and the gates, two ex- 
 cepted; the one on the east side, and the other 
 on the south; both which, however, they burnt 
 afterward. They also burnt down the treasury- 
 chambers, in which was an immense quantity 
 of money, and an immense number of gar- 
 ments, and other precious goods, there repo- 
 sited ; and, to speak all in a few words, there 
 it was that the entire riches of the Jews were 
 heaped up together, while the rich people had 
 there built themselves chambers [to contain 
 such furniture]. The soldiers also came to 
 the rest of the cloisters that were in the outer 
 [court of the] temple, whither the women and 
 children, and a great mixed multitude of the 
 people fled, in number about six thousand. 
 But before Caesar had determined any thing 
 about these people, or given the commanders 
 Any orders relating to them, the soldiers were 
 in such a rage, that they set the cloister on 
 fire; by which means it came to pass that 
 some . of these were destroyed by throwing 
 themselves down headlong, and some were 
 burnt in the cloisters themselves. Nor did 
 any one of them escape with his life. A false 
 prophet * was the occasion of these people's 
 destruction, who had made a public procla- 
 mation in the city that very day, that God 
 commanded them to get up upon the temple, 
 and that there they should receive miracu- 
 lous signs of their deliverance. Now, there 
 was then a great number of false prophets sub- 
 orned by the tyrants to impose upon the peo- 
 ple, who denounced this to them, that they 
 should wait for deliverance from God; and this 
 was in order to keep them from deserting, and 
 that they might be buoyed up above fear and 
 care by such hopes. Now, a man that is in 
 adversity does easily comply with such pro- 
 mises; for when such a seducer makes him 
 believe that he shall be delivered from those 
 miseries which oppress him, then it is that the 
 patient is full of hopes of such deliveiance. 
 
 3. Thus were the miserable people persuaded 
 by these deceivers, and such as belied God 
 himself; while they did not attend, nor give 
 credit, to the signs that were so evident, and 
 did so plainly foretell their future desolation; 
 but, like men infatuated, without either eyes 
 
 • Reland here jitMly tnkes notice Hiat these .lews 
 •< ■-• had (Jesp s- H the true Propliet. were deservedly 
 ■Dusetl urd deluded by tin se false ones. 
 
 to see, or minds to consider, did not regard 
 the denunciations that God made to them. 
 Thus there was a star resembling a sword, 
 which stood over the city, and a comet that 
 continued a whole year.f Thus also, before 
 the Jews' rebellion, and before those commo- 
 tions which preceded the war, when the peo- 
 ple were come in great crowds to the feast of 
 unleavened bread, on the eighth day of tha 
 month Xanthicus J [Nisan], and at the ninth 
 hour of the night, so great a light shone round 
 the altar and the holy house, that it appeared 
 to be bright day-time ; which light lasted for 
 half an hour. This light seemed to be a good 
 sign to the unskilful, but was so interpreted 
 by the sacred scribes, as to portend those 
 events that followed immediately upon it. At 
 the same festival also, a heifer, as she was led 
 by the high-priest to be sacrificed, brought 
 forth a lamb in the midst of the temple. 
 Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner [court 
 of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly 
 heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by 
 twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed 
 with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep 
 into the firm floor, which was there made of 
 one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its 
 own accord about the sixth hour of the night. 
 Now, those that kept watch in the temple 
 came hereupon running to the captain of the 
 temple, and told him of it; who then came 
 up thither, and not without great difficulty, 
 was able to shut the gate again. This also 
 appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy 
 prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the 
 gate of happiness. But the men of learning 
 understood it, that the security of their holy 
 house was dissolved of its own accord, and 
 that the gate was opened for the advantage of 
 their enemies. So these publicly declared, 
 that this signal foreshowed the desolation that 
 was coming upon them. Besides these, a few 
 days after that feast, on the one-and-twen- 
 tieth day of the month Artemisius [Jyar], a 
 certain prodigious and incredible phenome- 
 non appeared ; I suppose the account of it 
 1 would seem to be a fable, were it not related 
 by those that saw it, and were not the event? 
 that followed it of so considerable a nature as 
 to deserve such signals ; for, before sun-set- 
 ting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their 
 armour were seen running about among the 
 clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, ^^ 
 at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the 
 
 + WVp'herJosepbns means that this star was differ- 
 ent from the comet which lasted a w"hole year, I cannot 
 certainly determine. His words most favour their be- 
 ing different one from another. 
 
 t Since .losephiis still nses the Syro-Macedonian 
 month Xanthicns for the Jewish month Nisan. thi^ 
 eighth, or. as Nicephoriis reads it. this ninth of Xanthi 
 ciKH, or Nisan. was almost a week before the Passover, 
 on the fourteenth : about which time we learn from St. 
 John that many used to ?o "out of the country to Je- 
 rusalem, to purify themselves," John xi. 55, with xii. 
 1 ; in asrreement with Josephus also, hook v. ch. iii. sect 
 I. And ;t might well he. that in the sight of these this 
 extraordinary light might apnear. 
 
 3B 
 
754 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI 
 
 priests were going hy m'gbt into the inner* 
 [court of the] temple, as their custom was, to 
 perform their sacred ministrations, they said 
 that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, 
 and heard a great noise, and after that they 
 heard a sound as of a great multitude, say- 
 ing, " Let us remove hence." But, what is 
 still more terrible, there was one Jesus, the 
 son of Ananus, a plebeian and a husbandman, 
 who, four years before the war began, and at 
 a time when the city was in very great peace 
 and prosperity, came to that feast whereon 
 it is our custom for every one to make taber- 
 nacles to God in the temple.f began on a 
 sudden to cry aloud, " A voice from the 
 east, a voice from the west, a voice from the 
 four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the 
 holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms 
 and the brides, and a voice against this 
 whole people !" This was his cry, as he 
 went about by day and by night, in all the 
 lanes of the city. However, certain of the 
 most eminent among the populace had great 
 indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up 
 the man, and gave him a great number of 
 severe stripes; yet did he not either say any 
 thing for himself, or any thing peculiar to 
 those that chastised him, but still he went on 
 with the same words which he cried before. 
 Hereupon our rulers supposing, as the case 
 proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury 
 in the man, brought him to the Roman pro- 
 curator; where he was whipped till his bones 
 were laid bare ; yet did he not make any sup- 
 plication for himself, nor shed any tears, but 
 turning his voice to the most lamentable tone 
 possible, at every stroke of the whip his an- 
 swer was, " Wo, wo to Jerusalem!" And 
 when Albinus (for he was then our procura- 
 tor) asked him. Who he was? and whence he 
 came? and why he uttered such words? he 
 made no manner of reply to what he said, but 
 
 . still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till 
 Albinus took him to be a madman, and dis- 
 missed him. Now, during all the time that 
 passed before the war began, this man did 
 not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen 
 by them while he said so; but he every day 
 uttered these lamentable words, as if it were 
 his premeditated vow, *' Wo, wo to Jeru- 
 salem!" Nor did he give ill words to any 
 of those that beat him every day, nor good 
 words to those that gave him food; but this 
 
 ♦ Aas his reply to all men, and indeed no other 
 than a melancholy presage of what was to 
 
 ♦ This here seems to be Ihe court of the priests. 
 
 + Both Keland and Havercamp in this place alter the 
 oatural pnnctuafion and sense of Josephus, and this 
 contrary to the opinion of Vale^'iins and Dr. Hudson, lest 
 Joivphus should say 'hat the J.-ws built booths or tents 
 within the temple at the feast of tabernacles: which the 
 later rabbins will not allow to have been the ancient 
 practice: but then. since it is expressly told us in Nelie- 
 rniah, ch. viii 16, that In still elder times "the Jews 
 made booths fn the courts of the house of Ood " at that 
 festival, Josephus may well be permilttd to siiy Mic 
 Mme. And indeed, the modern rabbins are of V('r> 
 email authority in all such maUers of remote ant quit>. 
 
 come. This cry of his was the loudest at the 
 festivals; and he continued this ditty for 
 seven years and five months, without growing 
 hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the 
 very time that he saw his presage in earnest 
 fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased ; for as 
 he was going round upon the wall, he cried 
 out with his utmost force, "Wo, wo to the city 
 again, and to the people, and to the holy 
 house 1" And just as he added at the last, — 
 *' Wo, wo to myself also!" there came a stone 
 out of one of the engines, and smote him, 
 and killed him immediately: and as he was 
 uttering the very same presages, he gave up 
 the ghost. 
 
 4. Now, if any one consider these things, 
 he will find that God takes care of mankind, 
 and by all ways possible foreshows to our 
 race what is for their preservation; but thit 
 men perish by those miseries which tbey madly 
 and voluntarily bring upon themselves; for 
 the Jews by demolishing the tower of Anto- 
 nia, had made their temple four-square, whi e 
 at the same time they had it written in their 
 sacred oracles, — " That then should their 
 city be taken, as well as their holy house, 
 when once their temple should become four- 
 square." But now, whkt did most elevate 
 them in undertaking this war, was an am- 
 biguous oracle that was also found in- their 
 sacred writings, how, " about that time, one 
 from their country should become governor of 
 the habitable earth." The Jews took this pre- 
 diction to belong to themselves in particular; 
 and many of the wise men were thereby de- 
 ceived in their determination. Now, this 
 oracle certainly denoted the government of 
 Vespasian, who was appointed emperor in 
 Judea. However, it is not possible for men 
 to avoid fate, although they see it beforehand. 
 But these men interpreted some of these sig- 
 nals according to their own pleasure; and 
 some of them they utterly despised, until their 
 madness was demonstrated, both by the taking 
 of their city and their own destruction. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW THE ROMANS CARRIED THEIR ENfelGNS 
 TO THE TEMPLE, AND MADE JOYFUL AC- 
 CLAMATIONS TO TITUS. THE SPEECH THAT 
 TITUS MADE TO THE JEWS WHEN THEY 
 MADE SUPPLICATION FOR MERCY. WHAT 
 REPLY THEY MADE THERETO; AND HOW 
 THAT REPLY MOVED TITUS's INDIGNATION 
 AGAINST THEM. 
 
 § 1. And now the Romans, upon the flight of 
 the seditious into the city, and upon the burn- 
 ing of the holy house itself, and of all the 
 buildings round about it, brought their en- 
 signs to the temple,* and set them over-against 
 
 * Take Ilavercnmp's note here. " This (says he) is a 
 leroarkable place; and I'ertulffun truly says in bis Apo* 
 
CHAP. VI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 its eastern gate ; and there did they offer 
 sacrifices to them, and there did they make 
 Titus imperator,* with the greatest acclama- 
 tions of joy. And now all the soldiers had 
 such vast quantities of the spoils which they 
 had gotten hy plunder, that in Syria a pound 
 weight of gold was sold for half its former 
 value. But as for those priests that kept 
 ^hemselves still upon the wall of the holy 
 house,t there was a boy that out of the thirst 
 he was in, desired some of the Roman guards 
 to give him their right hands as a security for 
 his life, and confessed be was very thirsty. 
 These guards commiserated his age. and the 
 distress he was in, and gave him their right 
 Bands accordingly. So he came down him- 
 self, and drank some water, and filled the ves- 
 sel he had with him when he came to them 
 with water, and then went off, and fled away 
 to his own friends; nor could any of those 
 guards overtake him ; but still they reproach- 
 ed him for his perfidiousness. To which he 
 made this answer : — " I have not broken the 
 agreement; for the security I had given me 
 was not in order to my staying with you, but 
 only in order to ray coming down safely, and 
 taking up some water ; both which things I 
 have performed, and thereupon think myself 
 to have been faithful to my engagement." 
 Hereupon those whom the child had imposed 
 upon admired at his cunning, and that on 
 account of his age. On the fifth day after- 
 ward, the priests that were pined with the 
 famine came down,and when they were brought 
 to Titus by the guards, they begged for their 
 lives : but he replied, that the time of pardon 
 was over as to them ; and that this very holy 
 house, on whose account only they could 
 iustly hope to be preserved, was destroyed ; 
 and that it was agreeable to their office that 
 priests should perish with the house itself to 
 which they belonged. So he ordered them 
 to bo put to death. 
 
 2. But as for the tyrants themselves, and 
 those that were with them, when they found 
 that they were encompassed on every side, 
 and, as it were, walled round, without any 
 method of escaping, they desired to treat with 
 Titus by word of mouth. Accordingly, such 
 was the kindness of his nature, and his desire 
 of preserving the city from destruction, join- 
 ed to the advice of his friends, who now 
 thought the robbers were come to a temper, 
 that he placed himself on the western side of 
 
 Apologetic, ch. xvi. p. 162, that the entire relJKionof the 
 Roman camp almost consisted in worshipping the en- 
 signs, in swearing by the ensigns, and in preferrinR the 
 ensigns before all the [other] gods " See what Haver- 
 camp says upon that place of T«rtullian. 
 
 « This declaring Titus imperator by the soldiers upon 
 snch sisinal success, and the slaughter of sm-h a viist 
 number of enemies, was according to the usual practice 
 of the ivomans in like cases, as Reland assures us on 
 this place. 
 
 + The Jews of later times agree with Josephus, that 
 there were hiding-places or secret chambers about the 
 holy house, as Reland here int'Drnis ns. ■>. here he thinks 
 he las found these very walls described t>y Iheiu 
 
 ^m(^ 
 
 the outer [court of the] temple ; for there 
 were gates on that side above the Xystus, and 
 a bridge that connected the upper city to the 
 temple. This bridge it was that lay between 
 the tyrants and Caesar, and parted them ; 
 while the multitude stood on each side ; those 
 of the Jewish nation about Simon and John, 
 with great hope of pardon ; and the Roman 
 about Csesar, in great expectation how Titu 
 would receive their supplication. So Titu 
 charged his soldiers to restrain their rage, 
 and to let their darts alone, and appointed an 
 interpreter between them, which was a sign 
 that he was the conqueror, and first began 
 the discourse, and ?aid, " I hope you, sirs, 
 are now satiated with the miseries of your 
 country, who have not had any just notions, 
 either of our great power, or of your own 
 great weakness ; but have, like madmen, af- 
 ter a violent and inconsiderate manner, made 
 such attempts, as have brought your people, 
 your city, and your holy house to destruc- 
 tion. You have been the men that have 
 never left off rebelling since Pompey first 
 conquered you ; and have, since that time, 
 made open war with the Romans. Have 
 you depended on your multitude, while a 
 very small part of the Roman soldiery have 
 been strong enough for you ? Have you 
 relied on the fidelity of your confederates? 
 and what nations are there, out of the limits 
 of our dominion, that would choose to assist 
 the Jews before the Romans? Are your bo- 
 dies stronger than ours ? nay, you know that 
 the [strong] Germans themselves are our 
 servants. Have you stronger walls than we 
 have? Pray, what greater obstacle is there 
 than the wall of the ocean, with which the 
 Britons are encompassed, and yet do adore 
 the arms of the Romans? Do you exceed 
 us in courage of soul, and in the sagacity of 
 your commanders ? Nay, indeed, you cannot 
 but know that the very Carthaginians have 
 been conquered by us. It can therefore be 
 nothing certainly but the kindness of us Ro- 
 mans which hath excited you against us ; 
 who, in the first place, have given you this 
 land to possess ; and, in the next place, have 
 set over you kings of your own nation ; and 
 in the third place, have preserved the laws of 
 your forefathers to you, and have withal per- 
 mitted you to live, either by yourselves or 
 among others, as it should please you ? and, 
 what is our chief favour of all, we have given 
 you leave to gather up that tribute which is 
 paid to God, J with such other gifts that are 
 dedicated to him ; nor have we called those 
 that carried these donations to account, nor 
 prohibited them ; till at length you became 
 richer than we ourselves, even when you were 
 our enemies ; and you made preparations for 
 
 t Spanheim notes here, that the Romans used to per- 
 mit the Jews to collect their sacred tribute, and s«ud it 
 to Jr-rusalrm; of which we have had abundant evidence 
 in Jusepbus already on other occasions. 
 
756 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 Var against us with our own money : nay, 
 after all, when you were in the enjoyment of 
 all these advantages, you turned your too 
 great plenty against those that gave it you, ancf 
 like merciless serpents, have thrown out your 
 poison against those that treated you kindly. 
 I suppose, therefore, that you might despise 
 the slothfulness of Nero, and, like limbs of 
 the body that are broken or dislocated, you 
 did then lie quiet, waiting for some other 
 time, though still with a malicious intention, 
 and have now shown your distemper to be 
 greater than ever, and have extended your 
 desires as far as your impudent and immense 
 hopes would enable you to do it. At this 
 time my father came into this country, not 
 with a design to punish you for what you 
 had done under Cestius, but to admonish 
 you ; for, had he eome to overthrow your 
 nation, he had run directly to your fountain- 
 head, and had immediately laid this city 
 waste ; whereas he went and burnt Galilee 
 and the neighbouring parts, and thereby gave 
 you time for repentance ; which instance of 
 humanity you took for an argument of his 
 weakness, and nourished up your impudence 
 by our mildness. When Nero was gone out 
 of the world, you did as the wickedest 
 wretches would have done, and encouraged 
 yourselves to act against us by our civil dis- 
 sensions, and abused that time, when both I 
 and my father were gone away to Egypt, 
 to make preparations for this war. Nor 
 were you ashamed to raise disturbances 
 against us when we were made emperors, and 
 this while you had experienced how mild we 
 had been, when we were no more than gene- 
 rals of the army ; but when the government 
 was devolved upon us, and all other people 
 did thereupon lie quiet, and even foreign na- 
 tions sent embassies, and congratulated our 
 access to the government, then did you Jews 
 show yourselves to be our enemies. You 
 sent embassies to those of your nation that are 
 beyond Euphrates, to assist you in your rais- 
 ing disturbances; new walls were built by 
 you round your city, seditions arose,^ and one 
 tvrant contended against another, and a civil 
 war broke out among you ; such, indeed, as 
 became none but so wicked a people as you 
 are. I then came to this city, as unwillingly 
 sent by my father, and received melancholy 
 injunctions from him. When I heard that 
 the people were disposed to peace, I rejoiced 
 at it: I exhorted you to leave off these pro- 
 ceedings before I began this war ; I spared 
 you even when you had fought against me a 
 groat while ; I gave my right hand as security 
 to the deserters; I observed what I had pro- 
 mised faithfully. When they fled to me, I 
 had compassion on many of those that I had 
 tnken captive ; I tortured those that were 
 eaper for war, in order to restrain them. It 
 was unwillingly that I brought my engines of 
 war againgt your walls; I always prohibited 
 
 my soldiers, when they were set upon your 
 slaughter, from their severity against you. 
 After every victory I persuaded you to peace, 
 as though I had been myself conquered. 
 Whan I came near your temple I again de- 
 parted from the laws of war, and exhorted you 
 to spare your own sanctuary, and to preserve 
 your holy house to yourselves. I allowed you 
 a quiet exit out of it, and security for your 
 preservation : nay, if you had a mind, I gave 
 you leave to fight in another place. Yet have 
 you still despised every one of my proposals, 
 and have set fire to your holy house with your 
 own hands. And now, vile wretches, do you 
 desire to treat with me by word of mouth ? To 
 what purpose is it that you would save such 
 a holy house as this was, which is now destroy- 
 ed? What preservation can you now desire 
 after the destruction of your temple? Yet 
 do you stand still at this very time in your 
 armour; nor can you bring yourselves so 
 much as to pretend to be supplicants even in 
 this your utmost extremity ! O miserable crea- 
 tures! what is it you depend on? Are not 
 your people dead ? is not your holy house 
 gone? is not your city in my power? and 
 are not your own very lives in my hands? 
 And do you still deem it a part of valour to 
 die? However, I will not imitate your mad- 
 ness. If you throw down your arms, and de- 
 liver up your bodies to me, I grant you your 
 lives ; and I will act like a mild master of a 
 family ; what cannot be healed shall be pun- 
 ished, and the rest I will preserve for my own 
 use." 
 
 3. To that offer of Titus they made this 
 reply: — That they could not accept of it, 
 because they had sworn never to do so ; but 
 they desired they might have leave to go 
 through the wall that had been made about 
 them, with their wives and children ; for that 
 they would go into the desert, and leave the 
 city to him. At this Titus had great indig- 
 nation ; that, when they were in the case of 
 men already taken captives, they should pre- 
 tend to make their own terms with him as if 
 they had been conquerors ! So he ordered this 
 proclamation to be made to them. That they 
 should no more come out to him as deserters, 
 nor hope for any farther security ; for that he 
 would henceforth spare nobody, but fight them 
 with his whole army ; and that they must save 
 themselves as well as they could ; for that he 
 would from henceforth treat them according 
 to the laws of war. So he gave orders to the 
 soldiers both to burn and to plunder the city ; 
 who did nothing indeed that day; but on the 
 next day they set fire to the repository of the 
 archives, to Acra, to the council-house, and to 
 the place called Ophlas; at which time the 
 fire proceeded as far as the palace of queen 
 Helena; which was in the middle of Acra; 
 the lanes also were burnt down, as were also 
 those houses that were full of the dead bodlo8 
 of such as were destroyed by famine. 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 WARS OF THf. JKWS. 
 
 757 
 
 4. On the same day it was that the sons 
 and brethren of Izates the king, together with 
 many others of the eminent men of the popu- 
 lace, got together there and besought Cjesar 
 to give them his right hand for their security. 
 Upon which, though he was very angry at all 
 that were now remaining, yet did he not lay 
 aside his old moderation, but received these 
 men. At that time, indeed, he kept them all 
 in custody, but still bound the king's sons and 
 kinsmen, and led them with him to Rome, in 
 order to make them hostages for their coun- 
 try's fidelity to the Romans. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WHAT AFTERWARDS BEFELL THE SEDITIOUS, 
 WHEN THEY HAD DONE A GREAT DEAL OF 
 MISCHIEF, AND SUFFERED MANY MISFOR- 
 TUNES: AS ALSO HOW C.5:SAR BECAME 
 MASTER OF THE UPPER CITY. 
 
 § 1. And now the seditious rushed into the 
 royal palace, into which many had put their 
 effects, because it was so strong, and drove 
 the Romans away from it. They also slew 
 all the people that had crowded into it, who 
 were in number about eight thousand four 
 hundred, and plundered them of what they 
 had. They also took two of the Romans, 
 alive • the one was a horseman, and the other 
 a footman. They then cut the throat of the 
 footman, and immediately had him drawn 
 through the whole city, as revenging them- 
 selves upon the whole body of the Romans 
 by this one instance. Rut the horseman said 
 he had somewhat to suggest to them, in or- 
 der to their preservation ; whereupon he was 
 brought before Simon; but he having nothing 
 to say when he was there, he was delivered to 
 Ardalas, one of his commanders, to be pun- 
 ished, who bound his hands behind him, and 
 put a riband over his eyes, and then brought 
 him out over against the Romans, as intend- 
 ing to cut off his head. But the man pre- 
 vented that execution, and ran away to the 
 Romans, and this while the Jewish executioner 
 was drawing out his sword. Now when he 
 was gotten away from the enemy, Titus could 
 not think of putting him to death ; but be- 
 cause he deemed him unworthy of being a 
 Roman soldier any longer, on account that he 
 had been taken alive by the enemy, he took 
 away his arms, and ejected him out of the 
 letrion whereto he had belonged; which, to one 
 that had a sense of shame, was a penalty se- 
 verer than death itself. 
 
 2. On the next day the Romans drove the 
 rohbers out of the lower city, and set all on 
 tire as far as Siloam. These soldiers were 
 indeed glad to see the city destroyed. But 
 they missed the plunder, because the seditious 
 liad c^irried off all their effects, and were re- 
 
 tired iii*o the upper city; for they did not vet 
 at all repent of the mischiefs they had done, 
 hut were insolent, as if they had done well; 
 for, as they saw the city on fire, they appeared 
 cheerful, and put on joyful countenabces, in 
 expectation, as they said, of death to end their 
 miseries. Accordingly, as the people were 
 now slain, the holy house was burnt down, 
 and the city was on fire, there was nothing 
 farther Ipft for the enemy to do. Yet did not 
 Josephus grow weary, even in this utmost ex- 
 tremity, to beg of them to spare what was left 
 of the city ;' he spake largely to them about 
 their barbarity and impiety, and gave them his 
 advice, in order to their escape, though he 
 gained nothing thereby more than to be laugh- 
 ed at by them ; and as they could not think 
 of surrendering themselves up, because of the 
 oath they had taken, nor were strong enough 
 to fight with the Romans any longer upon the 
 square, as being surrounded on all sides, and 
 a kind of prisoners already, yet were they so 
 accustomed to kill people, that they could not 
 restrain their right hands from acting accord- 
 ingly. So they dispersed themselves before 
 the city, and laid themselves in ambush 
 among its ruins, to catch those that attempted 
 to desert to the Romans ; accordingly many 
 such deserters wete caught by them, and were 
 all slain ; for these were too weak, by reason 
 of their want of food, to fly away from them; 
 so their dead bodies were thrown to the dogs. 
 Now every sort of death was thought more io- 
 lerable than the famine, insomuch that, though 
 the Jews despaired now of mercy, yet would 
 they fly to the Romans, and would themselves, 
 even of their own accord, fall among the mur- 
 derous rebels also. Nor was there any place 
 in the city that had no dead bodies in it, but 
 what was entirely covered with those that 
 were killed either by the famine or the rehel- 
 lion; and all was full of the dead bodies of 
 such as had perished, either by that sedition 
 or by that famine. 
 
 3. So now the last hope which supported 
 the tyrants and that crew of robbers who were 
 with them, vvas in the caves and caverns under 
 ground ; whither, if they could once fly, they 
 did not expect to be searched for ; but endea- 
 voured, that after the whole city should be 
 destroyed, and the Romans gone away, they 
 might come out again, and escape from them. 
 This was no better than a dream of theirs; for 
 they were not able to lie hid either from God 
 or from the Romans. However, they depended 
 on these under-ground subterfuges, and set 
 more places on fire than did the Romans them- 
 selves; and those that fled out of their houses 
 thus set on fire, .into ditches, they killed 
 without mercy, and pillaged them also; and 
 if they discovered food belonging to any one, 
 they seized upon it and swallowed it down, 
 together with their blood also ; nay, they 
 were now come to fight one with anothe; 
 about their plunder; and I cannot but think 
 
758 
 
 WARS OF I'Hl-; JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI, 
 
 that, had not their destruction prevented it, 
 their barbarity would have made them taste 
 of even the dead bodies themselves. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HOW CESAR RAISED BANKS ROUND ABOUT THE 
 UPPER CITY,* AND WHEN THEY WERE COM- 
 PLETED, GAVE ORDERS FOR THE MACHINES 
 TO BE BROUGHT. HE THEN POSSESSED HIM- 
 SELF OF THE WHOLE CITY. 
 
 § 1. Now, when Caesar perceived that the 
 upper city was so steep, that it could not pos- 
 sibly be taken without raising banks against 
 it, he distributed the several parts of that work 
 among his army, and this on the twentieth 
 day of the month Lous [Ab]. Now, the car- 
 riage of the materials was a difficult task, 
 since all the trees, as I have already told you, 
 that were about the city, within the distance 
 of a hundred furlongs, had their branches cut 
 off already, in order to make the fornner banks. 
 The works that belonged to the four legions 
 were erected on the west side of the city, 
 over against the royal palace ; but the whole 
 body of the auxiliary troo|l8, with the rest of 
 the multitude that were with them, [erected 
 their banks] at the Xystus, whence they 
 reached to the bridge, and that tower of Si- 
 mon, which he had built as a citadel for him- 
 self against John, when they were at war one 
 with another. 
 
 2. It was at this time that the commanders 
 of the Idumeans got together privately, and 
 took counsel about surrendering up them- 
 selves to the Romans. Accordingly, they 
 sent five men to Titus, and entreated him to 
 give them his right hand for their security. 
 So Titus thinking that the tyrants would 
 yield, if the Idumeans, upon whom a great 
 part of the war depended, were once with- 
 drawn from them, after some reluctance and 
 delay, complied with them, and gave them 
 security for their lives, and sent the five men 
 back; but as these Idumeans were preparing 
 to march out, Simon perceived it, and im- 
 mediately slew the five men that had gone to 
 Titus, and took their commanders, and put 
 them in prison, of whom the most eminent 
 was Jacob, the son of Sosas ; but as for the 
 multitude of the Idumeans, who did not at all 
 know what to do, now their comman<lers 
 were taken from them, he had them watched, 
 and secured the walls by a more numerous 
 garrison. Yet could not that garrison resist 
 those that were deserting; for although a great 
 number of them were slain, yet were the de- 
 serters many more in number. These were 
 nil received by the Romans, because Titus 
 himself grew negligent as to his former orders 
 for killing them and because the very soldiers 
 • That ia, Mount Siuo. 
 
 grew weary of kdling them, and because they 
 hoped to get some money by sparing them ; 
 for they left only the populace, and sold the rest 
 of the multitude,t with their wives and chil- 
 dren, and every one of them at a very low price, 
 and that because such as were sold were verv 
 many, and the buyers very few; and althoujjh 
 Titus had made proclamation beforenana. 
 that no deserter should come alone by hiui- 
 self, that so they might bring out their tami- 
 lies with them, yet did he receive such as these 
 also. However, he set over them such as 
 were to distinguish some from others, in or- 
 der to see if any of them deserved to be pun- 
 ished ; and indeed the number of those that 
 were sold was immense ; but of the populace 
 above forty thousand were saved, whom Cae- 
 sar let go whither every one of them pleased. 
 3. But now at this time it was that one of 
 the priests, the son of Thebuthus, whose name 
 was Jesus, upon his having security given 
 him, by the oath of Caesar, that he should be 
 preserved, upon condition that he should de^ 
 liver to him certain of the precious things that 
 had been reposited in the temple,^ came out 
 of it, and delivered him from the wall of the 
 holy house two candlesticks like to those that 
 lay in the holy house, with tables, and cis- 
 terns, and vials, all made of solid gold, and 
 very heavy. He also delivered to him the 
 veils and the garments, with tho precious 
 stones, and a great number of other precious 
 vessels that belonged to their sacred worship. 
 The treasurer of the temple also, whose name 
 was Phineas, was seized on, and showed Ti- 
 tus the coats and girdles of the priests, with a 
 great quantity of purple and scarlet, which 
 were there reposited for the uses of the veil, 
 as also a great deal of cinnamon and cassia, 
 with a large quantity of other sweet spices,§ 
 which used to be mixed together, and offered as 
 incense to God every day. A great many other 
 treasures were also delivered to him, with 
 sacred ornaments of the temple not a few; 
 which things thus delivered to Titus, obtain- 
 ed of him for this man the same pardon that 
 
 + This innumerable multitade of Jews that were 
 "sold" by the Romans, were an eminent coni|jlelion o( 
 God's ancient threatening by IMoses, that itthey aposta- 
 tized from the obedience to his laws, they should bo 
 "sold unto their enemies for bondmen and bond- 
 women," Dent, xxviii. 08. See more especially the note 
 on ch, ix. sect. 2. Kut one thin? here is peculiarly re- 
 markable, that Moses adds. — Though they should be 
 "sold" for slaves, yet "no man should buy them;" t n. 
 either they should have none to redeem them from this 
 s:»ie into slavery; or rather that the slaves to be sold 
 should be more than were the purchasers for them, and 
 so they should be sold for little or nothiu!;; which is 
 what Josephus here aflirms to have been the case at this 
 time. 
 
 i VVhat became of these spoils of the temple that es- 
 caped the fire, see Josephus himself hereafter, b. vii. ch. 
 v.spct. ij, and Reland rfe Spoliis Tiinpli, p. 129— 138. 
 
 i These various sorts of spice", even more than those 
 four which Moses prescribed (Exod. xxxi. 34), wc see 
 were used in their public worship under Herod's temple, 
 particularly cinnamon and cassia; which Keland takes 
 particular notice of, as a^^eeing with the latter testimony 
 at the Tatmudists. 
 
T?HAP. VIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 769 
 
 he had allowed *o such as deserted of their 
 own accord. 
 
 4. And now were the banks finished on the 
 seventh day of the month Gorpieus [Elul], in 
 efghteen days' time, when the Romans brought 
 their machines against the wall ; but for the 
 seditious, some of them, as despairing of sav- 
 ing the city, retired from the wall to the cita- 
 del ; others of them went dorwn into the sub- 
 terranean vaults, though still a great many of 
 them defended themselves against those that 
 brought the engines for the battery ; yet did 
 the Romans overcome them by their number 
 and by their strength ; and, what was the 
 principal thing of all, by going cheerfully 
 about their work, while the Jews were quite 
 dejected and become weak. Now, as soon as 
 a part of the wall was battered down, and cer- 
 tain of the towers yielded to the impression 
 of the battering-rams, those that opposed 
 themselves fled away, and such a terror fell 
 upon the tyrants, as was much greater than 
 the occasion required ; for before the enemy 
 got over the breach they were quite stunned, 
 and were immediately for flying away ; and 
 now one might see these men, who had hi- 
 therto been so insolent and arrogant in their 
 wicked practices, to be cast down and to 
 tremble, insomuch that it would pity one's 
 heart to observe the change that was made in 
 those vile persons. Accordingly they ran with 
 great violence upon the Roman wall that en- 
 compassed them, in order to force away those 
 that guarded it, a^nd to break through it, and 
 get away ; but when they saw that those who 
 had formerly been* faithful to them, had gone 
 away (as indeed they were fled whithersoever 
 the great distress they were in persuaded 
 them to flee) as also when those that came 
 running before the rest told them that the 
 western wall was entirely overthrown, while 
 others said the Romans were gotten in, and 
 others that they were near, and looking out 
 for them, which were only the dictates of 
 their fear which imposed upon their sight, 
 they fell upon their faces, and greatly lament- 
 ed their own mad conduct ; and their nerves 
 were so terribly loosed, that they could not flee 
 away ; and here one may chiefly reflect on the 
 power of God exercised upon these wicked 
 wretches, and on the good fortune of the Ro- 
 mans; for these tyrants did now wholly de- 
 prive themselves of the security they had in 
 their own power, and came down from those 
 very towers of their own accord, wherein they 
 30uld have never been taken by force, nor in- 
 deed by any other way than by famine. And 
 thus did the Romans, when they had taken 
 such great pains about weaker walls, get by 
 good fortune what they could never have got- 
 ten by their engines; for three of these tow- 
 ers were too strong for all mechanical engines 
 wfiatsoever; concerning which we have treat- 
 ed of before. 
 
 i). So they now left these towers of them- 
 
 selves, or rather they were ejected out of 
 them by God himself, and fled immediately 
 to that valley which was under Siloam, where 
 they again recovered themselves out of th 
 dread they were in foE a while, and ran vio 
 lently against that part of the Roman wal 
 which lay on that side ; but as their courag 
 was too much depressed to make their attacks 
 with sufficient force, and their power was now 
 broken with fear and aflfliction, they were re- 
 pulsed by the guards, and dispersing them- 
 selves at distances from each other, went down 
 into the subterranean caverns. So the Ro- 
 mans being now become masters of the walls, 
 they both placed their ensigns upon the tow- 
 ers, and made joyful acclamations for the vic- 
 tory they had gained, as having found the end 
 of this war much lighter than its beginning ; 
 for when they had gotten upon the last wall, 
 without any bloodshed, they could hardly be- 
 lieve what they found to be true ; but seeing 
 nobody to oppose them, they stood in doubt 
 what such an unusual solitude could mean. 
 But when they went in numbers into the lanes 
 of the city, with their swords drawn, they slew 
 those whom they overtook, without mercy, 
 and set fire to the houses whither the Jews 
 were fled, and bujpt every soul in them, and 
 laid waste a great many of the rest ; and when 
 they were come to the houses to plunder 
 them, they found in them entire families of 
 dead men, and the upper rooms full of dead 
 corpses, that is of such as died by the famine; 
 they then stood in a horror at this sight, and 
 went out without touching any thing. But 
 although they had this commiseration for 
 such as were destroyed in that manner, yet 
 had they not the same for those that were 
 still alive, but they ran every one through 
 whom they met with, and obstructed the very 
 lanes with their dead bodies, and made the 
 whole city run down with blood, to such a 
 degree indeed that the fire of many of the 
 houses was quenched with these men's blood. 
 And truly so it happened, that though the 
 slayers left off at the evening, yet did the fire 
 greatly prevail in the night ; and as all was 
 burning, came that eighth day of the month 
 Gorpieus [Elul] upon Jerusalem ; a city that 
 had been liable to so many miseries during 
 this siege, that, had it always enjoyed as much 
 happiness from its first foundation, it would 
 certainly have been the envy of the world. 
 Nor did it on any other account so much de- 
 serve these sore misfortunes, as by producing 
 such a generation of men as were the ocoa- 
 sions of this its overthrow. 
 
760 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WHAT INJUNCTIONS C-<ES\ll GAVE WHEN HE 
 WAS COME WITHIN THE CITY. THE NUM- 
 BER OF THE CAPTIVES, AND OF THOSE THAT 
 PERISHED IN THE SIEGE; AS ALSO CONCERN- 
 ING THOSE THAT ESCAPED INTO THE SUB- 
 TERRANEAN CAVERNS, AMONG WHOM WERE 
 THE TYRANTS SIMON AND JOHN THEM- 
 SELVES. 
 
 § 1. Now, when Titus was come into this 
 [upper] city, he admired not only some other 
 places of strength in it, but particularly those 
 strong towers which the tyrants, in their mad 
 conduct, had relinquished ; for when he saw 
 their solid altitude, and the largeness of their 
 several stones,andthe exactness of their joints, 
 as also how great was their breadth, and how 
 extensive their length, he expressed himself 
 after the manner following- — " We have cer- 
 tainly had God for our assistant in this war, 
 and it was no other than God who ejected the 
 Jews out of these fortifications ; for what 
 could the hands of men, or any machines, do to- 
 wards overthrowing these towers!" At which 
 time he had many such discourses to his 
 friends ; he also let such go free as had been 
 bound by the tyrants and were left in the 
 prisons. To conclude, when he entirely demo- 
 lished the rest of the city, and overthrew its 
 walls, he left these towers as a monument of j 
 his good fortune, which had proved his auxi- 
 liaries, and enabled him to take what could 
 not otherwise have been taken by him. 
 
 2. And now, since his soldiers were already 
 quite tired with killing men, and yet there 
 appeared to be a vast multitude still remain- 
 ing alive, Caesar gave orders that they should 
 kill none but those that were in arms, and 
 opposed them, but should take the rest alive. 
 But, together with those whom they had 
 orders to slay, they slew the aged and the in- 
 firm; but for those that were in their flourish- 
 ing age, and who might be useful to them, 
 they drove them together into the temple, and 
 shut them up within the walls of the court of 
 the women ; over which Caesar set one of his 
 freed men, as also Fronto, one of his own 
 friends ; which last was to determine ev^ery 
 one's fate, according to his merits. So this 
 Fronto slew all those that had been seditious 
 and robbers, who were impeached one by 
 another ; but of the young men he chose out 
 the tallest and most beautiful, and reserved 
 them for the triumph ; and as for the rest of 
 the multitude that were above seventeen 
 years old, he put them into bonds, and sent 
 them to the Egyptian mines.* Titus also sent 
 a great number into the provinces as a present 
 to them, that t^ey might be destroyed upon 
 
 • See the several predictions that the Jews, if tlipy 
 became obstinate in their idolatry and wickedness, nhould 
 b«! kunt attain, or sold into Ei;ypt. for their punishment, 
 iJeut.xxviii.fi8! Jer, xliv 7j Hos. viii. 13; ix. 3; xi 
 35; 2 Ksd. xv. IO~M, with Authentic uerords, part i.p. 
 40, 121, aod Reland Falaesti a, torn. \i. p. 71A. 
 
 their theatres, by the sword and by the wild 
 beasts ; but those that were under seventeen 
 years of age were sold for slaves. Now dur- 
 ing the days wherein Fronto was distinguish- 
 ing these men, there perished, for want of 
 food, eleven thousand; some of whom did not 
 taste any food, through the hatred their guards 
 bore to them ; and others would not take in 
 any when it was given them. The multitude 
 also was so very great, that they were in want 
 even of corn for their sustenance. 
 
 3. Now the number! of those that were 
 carried captive during this whole war was 
 collected to be ninety-seven thousand ; as was 
 the number of those that perished during the 
 whole siege eleven hundred thousand, the 
 greater part of whom were indeed of the same 
 nation [with the citizens of Jerusalem], but 
 not belonging to the city itself; for they were 
 come up from all the country to the feast o; 
 unleavened bread, and were on a sudden shut 
 up by an army, which, at the very first, occa- 
 sioned- so great a straitness among them that 
 there came a pestilential destruction Upon 
 them, and soon afterward such a famine, as 
 destroyed them more suddenly. And that 
 this city could contain so many people in it. 
 is manifest by that number of them which was 
 taken under Cestius, who being desirous of 
 informing Nero of the power of the city, who 
 otherwise was disposed to contemn that na- 
 tion, entreated the high-priests, if the thing 
 were possible, to take the number of their 
 whole multitude. So these high-priests, upon 
 the coming of their feast which is called the 
 Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from 
 the ninth h«ur till the eleventh, but so that 
 a company not less than tenij: belong to every 
 sacrifice (for it is not lawful for them to feast 
 singly by themselves), and many of us are 
 
 + The whole multitude of the Jews that were de- 
 stroyed during the entire seven years before this time, 
 in ail the countries of and bordering on Judea, is sum- 
 med up by Archbishop Usher, from Lipsius, out of Jose- 
 phus, at the year of Christ 70, and amounts to l,3.37,19n. 
 Nor could there have been that number of Jews in Jeni- 
 salem to be destroyed in this sieee, as will be presently 
 set down by Josephus, but that both Jews and proselytes 
 of justice were just then come up out of the other coun- 
 tries of Galilee, Samaria, Judea, and Perea, and other 
 remoter regions, to the Passover, in vast numbers, and 
 therein cooped up, as in a prison, by the Roman army, 
 as Josephus himself well observes, in this and the next 
 section, and as is exactly related elsewhere, b. v. ch. iii. 
 sect. 1 ; and ch. xiii sect.*. 
 
 t This number of a company for one paschal lamb, 
 between ten and twenty, agrees exactly with the number 
 thirteen at our Saviour's last passover. As to the whole 
 number of the Jews that used to come up to the Pass- 
 over, and eat of it at Jerusalem, see the note on b. ii. ch. 
 xiv. sect. 3. This number ought to be here indeed just 
 ten times the number of the lambs, or just 2..'j65,()00. by 
 Josephus's own reasonintr; whereas it is. In his present 
 copies, no less than 2,700,000, which last number is, 
 however, nearest the other numl)er in the place now ci- 
 ted, which is 3.000,00a I»ut what is here chiefly remnrk.. 
 able is this, that no foreign nation ever came thus to 
 destroy the Jews at any of their solemn festivals, from 
 the days of Moses till this time, but came now upon their 
 apostacy from God, and from obedience to him. Nor is 
 it possible. In the nature of things, that in any other 
 nation such vast numbers should be gotten together, and 
 perish in tlie siege of any one city whalsue.ver as now 
 happened ia Jerusaleo). 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 761 
 
 twenty in a company, found the number of 
 sacrifices was two hundred and fifty-six thou- 
 sand five hundred; which, upon the allow- 
 ance of no more than ten that feast together, 
 amounts to two millions seven hundred thou- 
 sand and two hundred persons that were pure 
 and holy ; for as to those that have the leprosy, 
 or the gonorrhoea, or women that have their 
 monthly courses, or such as are otherwise pol- 
 luted, it is not lawful for them to be partakers 
 of this sacrifice; nor indeed for any foreign- 
 ers neither, who come hither to worship. 
 
 4. Now this vast multitude is indeed col- 
 lected out of remote places, but the entire na- 
 tion was now shut up by fate as in a prison, and 
 1^ the Roman army encompassed the city when 
 it was crowded with inhabitants. Accordingly 
 tiie multitude of those that therein perished, 
 exceeded all the destructions that .either 
 men or God ever brought upOn the world ; 
 for, to speak only of what was publicly known, 
 the Romans slew some of them, some they 
 carried captives, and others they made search 
 for under ground, and when they found where 
 they were, they broke up the ground and 
 slew all they met with. There were also 
 found slain there above two thousand persons, 
 partly by their own hands, and partly by one 
 another, but chiefly destroyed by the famine; 
 but then, the ill savour of the dead bodies 
 was most oflTensive to those that lighted upon 
 them, insomuch that some were obliged to 
 get away immediately, while others were so 
 greedy of gain, that they would go in among 
 the dead bodies that lay in heaps, and tread 
 upon them; for a great deal of treasure was 
 found in these caverns, and the hope of gain 
 made every way of getting it to be esteemed 
 lawful. Many also of those that had been put 
 in prison by the tyrants were now brought out; 
 for they did not leave ofFthei r barbarous cruelty 
 at the very last: yet did God avenge himself 
 upon them both, in a manner agreeable to jus- 
 tice. As for John, he wanted food, together 
 with his brethren, in these caverns, and beg- 
 ged that the Romans would now give him their 
 right hand for his security, which he had often 
 proudly rejected before; but for Simon, he 
 struggled hard with the distress he was in, 
 till he was forced to surrender himself, as we 
 shall relate hereafter; so he was reserved for 
 the triumph, and to be then slain: as was 
 John condemned to perpetual imprisonment: 
 and now the Romans set fire to the extreme 
 parts of the city, and burnt them down, and 
 entirely demolished its walls. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THAT WHEREAS THE CITY OF JERUSALEM 
 HA1> BEEN FIVE TIMES TAKEN FORMERLY, 
 THIS WAS THE SECOND TIME OF ITS DESOLA- 
 TION. A BrtlEF ACCOUNT OF ITS HISTORY. 
 
 § 1. And thus was Jerusulcaj taken, in the 
 
 second year of the reign of Vespasian, on the 
 eighth day of the month Gorpieus [Elul]. It 
 had been taken five * times before, though 
 this was the second time of its desolation; for 
 Shishak, the king of Egypt, and after him 
 Antiochus, and after him Pompey, and after 
 them Sosius and Herod took the city, but 
 still preserved it; but before all these, the 
 king of Babylon conquered it, and made it 
 desolate, one thousan )ur hundred and sixty- 
 eight years and six months after it was built. 
 But he who first built it f was a potent man 
 among the Canaanites, and is in our tongue 
 called [Melchisedek], the Righteous King, for 
 such he really was; on which account he was 
 [there] the first priest of God, and first built 
 a temple [there], and called the city Jerusalem, 
 which was formerly called Salem. However, 
 David, the king of the Jews, ejected the Ca- 
 naanites, and settled his own people therein. 
 It was demolished entirely by the Babylo- 
 nians, four hundred and seventy-seven years 
 and six months after him. And from king 
 David, who was the first of the Jews who 
 reigned therein, to this destruction under 
 Titus, were one thousand one hundred and 
 seventy-nine years; but from its first build- 
 ing, till this last destruction, were two thou- 
 sand one hundred and seventy-seven years; yet 
 hath not its great antiquity, nor its vast riches, 
 nor the diffusion of its nation over all the ha- 
 bitable earth, nor the greatness of the vene- 
 ration paid to it on a religious account, been 
 sufficient to preserve it from being destroyed. 
 And thus ended the siege of Jerusalem. 
 
 * Besides these five here enumerated, who had takec 
 Jerusalem of old, Josephus, upon farther recollection, 
 reckons a sixth, Antiq. b. xii. ch. i. sect. 1, who should 
 have been here inserted in the second place; I mean 
 Ptolemy, the son of La?us. 
 
 + Why the great Bochart should say (De Phoenic. 
 Coloii. b. ii. ch ir.), that '• There are in this clause of 
 Josephus as many mistakes as words," I do by no means 
 understand. Josephus tliought Melchisedek first built, 
 or ratner rebuilt and adorned this city, and that it was 
 then called Salem, as Psal. Ixxvi. 2: that it afterwards 
 came to be called Jerusalem: and that IMelchisedek, be- 
 ing a priest as well as a kinjf, built to the true God 
 therein a temple, or place for public divine worship and 
 sacrifice; all which things may be very true for aui;ht 
 we know to the contrarj-; and for the word Jse«», or 
 Temple, as if it must needs belong to the great temple 
 built by Solomon long afterward, Josephus himself uses 
 i;aof,for the small tabernacle of Moses, Antiq. b. iii. ch.vi. 
 sect. 4. See also Antiq. b. iii. ch.vi. sect. 1, as he here 
 presently uses 'u^ct for a large and splendid synagogue of 
 the Jews at AnUocb only, b. vii-cB. iii. sect. 3. 
 
 *♦» This is the proper place for such as have closely 
 attended to these latter books of the War, to peruse, and 
 that with equal attention, those distinct and plain pre- 
 dictions of Jesus of Nazareth, in the gospels thereto re- 
 lating, as compared with their exact completions in Jo- 
 sephus's history; upon which completions, as Dr.Whilby 
 well observes, Annot on Matt. xxiv. 2, no small part ot 
 the evidence for the truth of the Christian religion does 
 depend; and as I have, step by step, compared them toge- 
 ther in my Literal Accomplishment of Scripture Prophe- 
 cies. The reader is to observe farther, that the true 
 /^ason why 1 have so seldom taken notice of those com- 
 pletions in the course of these notes, notwithstanding 
 their being so very remarkable, and frt- quently so very 
 obvious, is thi.s, that I had entirely prevented myself in 
 that treatise beforehtind ; to which, tlierefore. T must here, 
 once for all, seriouhly n fcr every inquisitive reader. 
 
702 
 
 BOOK VIl. 
 
 CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ABOUT THREE TEAHS. 
 
 FROM THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS, TO THE SEMTION 
 OF THE JEWS AT CYRENE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW THE ENTIRE CITY OF JERUSALEM WAS 
 PEMOLISHED, EXCEPTING THREE TOWERS; 
 AND HOW TITUS COMMENDED HIS SOL- 
 DIERS, IN A SPEECH MADE TO THEM, AND 
 DISTRIBUTED REWARDS TO THEM, AND 
 THEN DISMISSED MANY OF THEM. 
 
 § 1. NoW, as soon as the army had no more 
 people to slay or to plunder, because there 
 remained none to be the objects of their fury 
 (for they would not have spared any, had there 
 remained any other such work to be done), Cas- 
 sar gave orders that they should now demolish 
 the entire city and. temple, but should leave 
 as many of the towers standing as were of the 
 greatest eminency; that is, Phasaelus, and 
 Hippicus, and Mariamne, and so much of the 
 wall as enclosed the city ou the west side. 
 This wall was spared, in order to afford a 
 camp for such as were to lie in garrison ; as 
 were the towers also spared, in order to de- 
 monstrate to posterity what kind of city it 
 was, and how well fortified, which the Roman 
 valour had subdued; but for all the rest of 
 the wall, it was so thoroughly laid even with 
 the ground by those that dug it up to the foun- 
 dation, that there was left nothing to make 
 those that came thither believe it had ever 
 been inhabited. This was the end which Je- 
 rusalem came to by the madness of those that 
 were for innovations ; a city otherwise of great 
 magnificence, and of mighty fume among all 
 mankind. 
 
 2. But Csesar resolved to leave' there as a 
 j^ruard the tenth legion, with certain troops of 
 horsemen, and companies of footmen. So, 
 having entirely completed this war, he was 
 desirous to commend his whole army, on ac- 
 count of the great exploits they had performed, 
 and to bestow proper rewards on such as 
 bad signalized themselves therein. He had 
 therefore a great tribunal made for him in the 
 midst of the place where be bad formerly en- 
 
 camped, and stood upon it with his principal 
 commanders about him, and spake so as to be 
 heard by the whole army in the manner fol- 
 lowing: — That he returned them abundance 
 of thanks for their good-will which they had 
 shown to him; he commended them for that 
 ready obedience they had exhibited in this 
 whole war; — which obedience had appeared in 
 the many and great dangers they had coura- 
 geously undergone; as also, for that courage 
 they had shown, and had thereby augmented 
 of themselves their country's power, and had 
 made it evident to all men, that neither the 
 multitude of their enemies, nor the strength of 
 their places, nor the largeness of their cities, 
 nor the rash boldness and brutish rage of their 
 antagonists, were sufficient at any time to get 
 clear of the Roman valour, although some of 
 them may have fortune in many respects on 
 their side. He said farther, that it was but 
 reasonable for them to put an end to this 
 war, now it had lasted so long, for they had 
 nothing better to wish for when they en- 
 tered into it; and that this happened more 
 favourably for them and more for thwr glory, 
 that all the Romans had willingly acc^-ptfed 
 of those for their governors, and the curh-tors 
 of their dominions, whom they had chosen for 
 them, and had sent into their own country 
 for that purpose, which still continued under 
 the management of those whom they bar 
 pitched on, and were thankful to them foi 
 pitching upon them. That accordingly, al- 
 though he did both admire and tenderly re- 
 gard them all, because he knew that every 
 one of them had gone as cheerfully about 
 their work as their abilities and opportunities 
 would give them leave, yet, he said, that he 
 would immediately bestow rewards and digni- 
 ties on those that had fought the most bravely, 
 and with greater force, and had signalized 
 their conduct in the most glorious manner, 
 and had made his army more famous by their 
 noble exploits: and that no one who had been 
 willing to take more pains than another, 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 766 
 
 should miss of a just retribution for the same; 
 for that he had been exceedingly careful about 
 this matter, and that the more, because he 
 had much rather reward the virtues of his fel- 
 low-soldiers than punish such as had offended. 
 3. Hereupon Trtus ordered those whose 
 business it was, to read the list of all that had 
 performed great exploits in this war, whom 
 he called to him by their names, and com- 
 mended them before the company, and re- 
 joiced in them in the same manner as a man 
 would have rejoiced in his own exploits. He 
 also put on their heads crowns of gold, and 
 golden ornaments about their necks, and gave 
 them long spears of gold, and ensigns that 
 were made of silver, and removed every one 
 of them to a higher rank : and besides this, 
 he plentifully distributed among them, out of 
 the spoils and the other prey they had taken, 
 silver, and gold, and garments. So when 
 they had all these honours bestowed on them, 
 according to his own appointment made to 
 every one, and he had wished all soits of hap- 
 piness to the whole army, he came down, 
 among the great acclamations which were 
 made to him, and then betook himself to of- 
 fer thank-offerings [to the gods], and at once 
 s<icriiiced a vast number of oxen, that stood 
 ready at the altars, and distributed them among 
 the army to feast on ; and vvhen he had staid 
 three days among the principal commanders, 
 and so long feasted with them, he sent away 
 the rest of his army to the several places where 
 they would be every one best situated; but 
 permitted the tenth legion to stay, as a guard 
 at Jerusalem, and did not send them away 
 beyond Euphrates, where they had been be- 
 fore ; and as be remembered that the twelfth 
 legion had given way to the Jews, under Ces- 
 tiu9 their general, he expelled them out of all 
 Syria, for they had lain formerly at Raphanea, 
 and sent them away to a place called Mele- 
 tine, near Euphrates, which is in the limits of 
 Armenia and Cappadocia ; he also thought 
 fit that two of the legions should stay with 
 him till he should go to Egypt. He then 
 went down with his army to that Cesarea 
 which lay by the sea-side, and there laid up 
 the rest of his spoils in great quantities, and 
 gave order that the captives should be kept 
 there; for the winter-season hindered him then 
 from sailing into Italy. 
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 HOW TITUS EXHIBITED ALL SORTS OF SHOWS 
 AT CESAREA PHILIPPI. CONCERNING SIMON 
 THE TYRANT, HOW HE WAS TAKEN, AND 
 RESERVED FOR THE TRIUMPH. 
 
 § 1. Now, at the same timo that Titus Caesar 
 lay at the siege of Jerusalem, did Vespasian 
 go on board a merchant-ship, and sailed from 
 Alexandria to Rhodes; vvhenire he AUittd awa\ 
 
 in ships with three rows of oars ; and as he 
 touched at several cities that lay in his road, 
 he was joyfully received by them all, and so 
 passed over from Ionia into Greece ; whence 
 he set sail frojn Corcyra to the promontory of 
 lapyx, whence he took his journey by land. 
 But as for Titus, he marched from that Cesa- 
 rea which lay by the sea-side, and came to that 
 which is named Cesarea Pbilippi, and staid 
 there a considerable time, and exhibited all sorts 
 of shows there; and here a great number of 
 the captives were destroyed, somebeing thrown 
 to wild beasts, and others in multitudes forced 
 to kill one another, as if they were enemies. 
 And here it was that Titus was info'-oied of 
 the seizure of Simon, the son of Gioras, unich 
 was made after the manner following: — This 
 Simon, during the siege of Jerusalem, was in 
 the upper city; but when the Roman army 
 were gotten within the walls, and were laying 
 the city waste, he then took the most faithful 
 of his friends with him, and among them some 
 that were stone-cutters, with those iron tools 
 which belonged to their occupation, and as 
 great a quantity of provisions as would suf- 
 fice them for a long time, and let himself 
 and them all down into a certain subterrane- 
 ous cavern that was not visible above ground. 
 Now, so far as had been digged of old, they 
 went onward along it without disturbance ; 
 but where they met with solid earth, they dug 
 a mine under ground, and this in hopes that 
 they should be able to proceed so far as to 
 rise from under ground, in a safe place, and 
 by that means escape; but when they came to 
 make the experiment, they were disappointed 
 of their hope; for the miners could make but 
 small progress, and that with difficulty also ; 
 insomuch that their provisions, though they 
 distributed them by measure, began to fail 
 them. And nosv^imon, thinking he might 
 be able to astonish and delude the Romans, 
 put on a white frock, and buttoned upon him 
 a purple cloak, and appeared out of the ground 
 in the place where the temple had formerly 
 been. At the first, indeed, those that saw 
 him were greatly astonished, and stood still 
 where they were ; but afterward they came 
 nearer to him, and asked him who he was. — 
 Now Simon would not tell them, but bade 
 them call for their captain ; and when they ran 
 to call him, Terentius Rufus,* who was left to 
 command the army there, otme to Simon, and 
 learned of him the whole truth, and kept him 
 in bonds,, and let Caesar know that he wa? 
 taken. Thus did God bring this man to be 
 punished for what bitter and savage tyranny 
 he had exercised against his countrymen, by 
 
 • This Terentiiis Rufns, as Rel^ind in part observes 
 here, is the same person whom tlfe Talmudists call Twr- 
 niis Rii/us; of whom they relate, that " he ploughed up 
 Sion as a fieM, and made Jerusalem become as heaps, 
 and the motinfain of the house as the high places oi.a 
 (ojest," whicli was long before foretold by the propjjet 
 Mifah (iii. Ill), and quoted from him in the prophecies 
 of Jeremiah {^xvL 18). 
 
764 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VU 
 
 those who were his worst enemies ; and 
 this while he was not subdued by violence, 
 but voluntarily delivered himself up to 
 them to be punished, and that .on the very 
 same account that he had laid false accusa- 
 tions against many Jews, as if they were fall- 
 ing away to the Romans, and had barbarously 
 slain them ; for wicked actions do not escape 
 the divine anger, nor is justice too weak to 
 punish offenders, but in time overtakes those 
 that transgress its laws, and inflicts its punish- 
 ments upon the wicked irv a manner so much 
 more severe, as they expected to escape it on 
 account of their not being punished immedi- 
 "ately.* Simon was made sensible of this, by 
 falling under the indignation of the Romans. 
 This rise of his out of the ground did also 
 occasion the discovery of a great number of 
 others of the seditious at that time, who had 
 hidden themselves under ground; but for 
 Simon, he was brought to Caesar in bonds, 
 when he was come back to that Cesarea which 
 was on the sea-side ; who gave orders that he 
 should be kept against that triumph which he 
 was to celebrate at Rome upon this occasion. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 how titus, upon the celebration of his 
 brother's and father's birth-days, had 
 
 MANY OF the JEWS SLAIN. CONCERNING 
 THE DANGER THE JEWS WERE IN AT ANTI- 
 OCH, BY MEANS OF THE TRANSGRESSION 
 AND IMPIETY OF ONE ANTIOCHUS, A JEW. 
 
 § 1. While Titus was at Cesarea, he solem- 
 nized the birth-day of his brother [Domitian] 
 after a splendid manner, and inflicted a great 
 deal of the punishment intended for the Jews 
 in honour of him : for the number of those 
 that were now slain in fighting with the 
 beasts, and were burnt, and fought with one 
 another, exceeded two thousand five hundred. 
 Yet did all this seem to the Romans, when 
 they were thus destroying ten thousand seve- 
 ral ways, to be a punishment beneath their 
 deserts. After this Caesar came to Berytus,f 
 which is a city of Phoenicia, and a Roman co- 
 lony, and staid there a long time, and exhi- 
 bited a still more pompous solemnity about 
 his father's birth-dsar, both in the magnificence 
 of the shows, and in the other vast expenses 
 he was at in his devices thereto belonging ; so 
 that a great multitude of the captives were 
 here destroyed after the same manner as be- 
 fore. 
 
 2. It happened also about this time, that 
 the Jews who remained at Antioch were un- 
 
 • R*eErcles.Tiil. 11. 
 
 + This B»rytu8 was certainlv a Roman colony, and 
 has coins extant that witness the same, as fhidson <ind 
 £panh«!ira infono os. See th« oote, Antiq. b. xvi. ch. 
 
 der accusations, and in danger of perishing, 
 from the disturbances that were raised against 
 them by the Antiochians, and this both oii 
 account of the slanders spread abroad at this 
 time against them, and on account of what 
 pranks they had played not long before ; which 
 I am obliged to describe without^ail, though 
 briefly, that I may the better connect my nar- 
 ration of future actions with those that went 
 before. 
 
 3. For as the Jewish nation is widely dis- 
 persed over all the habitable earth among its 
 inhabitants, so it is very much intermingled 
 with Syria by reason of its neighbourhood, 
 and had the greatest multitudes in Antioch 
 by reason of the largeness of the city, where- 
 in the kings, after Antiochus, had afforded 
 them a habitation with the most undisturbed 
 tranquillity ; for though Antiochus, who was 
 called Epiphanes, laid Jerusalem waste, and 
 spoiled the temple, yet did those that succeed- 
 ed him in the kingdom restore all the dona- 
 tions that were made of brass to the Jews of 
 Antioch, and dedicated tbem to their syna- 
 gogue ; and granted them the enjoyment of 
 equal privileges of citizens with the Greeks 
 themselves ; and as the succeeding kings 
 treated them after the same manner, they 
 both multiplied to a great number, and adorned 
 their templef gloriously by fine ornaments, 
 and \vith great magnificence, in the use of 
 what had been given them. They also made 
 proselytes of a great many of the Greeks per- 
 petually, and thereby, after a sort, brought 
 them to be a portion of their own body. But 
 about this time when the present war began, 
 and Vespasian was newly sailed to Syria, and 
 all men had taken up a great hatred against 
 the Jews, then it was that a certain person, 
 whose name was Antiochus, being one of the 
 Jewish nation, and greatly respected on ac- 
 count of his father, who was governor of the 
 Jews at Antioch, § came upon the theatre at 
 a time when the people of Antioch were as- 
 sembled together, and became an informer 
 against his father; and accused both him and 
 others, that they had resolved to burn the 
 whole city in one night ; he also delivered 
 up to them some Jews that were foreigners, 
 as partners in their resolutions. 'When the 
 people heard this, they could not refrain their 
 passion, but commanded that those who were 
 delivered up to them should have fire brought 
 to burn them ; who were accordingly all* 
 
 t t e. Their synagogue. See the note on b. Ti. ch. x. 
 sect 1. 
 
 J The Jews at Antioch and Alexandria, the two prin- 
 cipal cities in all the east, had allowed them, both by 
 the Macedonians, and afterwards by the Romans, a go- 
 vernor of tlieir own. who was exempt from the jiir;»<ii«i- 
 tion of the otht-r civil governors. He was called some- 
 times barely "governor," sometimes "ethnarch," and 
 [at Alexandria! ••alal)arch." a* I >r. Hudson takes notice 
 on this place, out of Fuller's Miscellanies. Thf y had 
 the like governor or gMvertu/rs nllowed them at HHbyion 
 under their capl vity tlnre, as the History of SusaiiQS 
 implies. 
 
< lAP. IT. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 765 
 
 b rnt upon fhe theatre immediately. They 
 <[\ 3 also fall violently upon the multitude of 
 til Jews, as supposing, ttat by punishing 
 tk-iui suddenly they should save tieir own 
 city. As for Antiochus, he aggravated the 
 rage they were in, and thought to give them 
 a demonstration of bis own conversion, and 
 of his hatred of the Jewish customs, by sacri-. 
 ficing after the raaiuier of the Grteks: he 
 persuaded the rest also to compel them to do 
 the same, because they would by that means 
 discover who they were that had plotted 
 against them, since they would not do so: 
 and when the people of Antioch tried tJhe ex- 
 periment, some few complied; but those that 
 would not do so were slain. As for Antio- 
 chus himself, he obtained soldiers from the 
 Roman commander, and "became a severe 
 master over his own citizens, not permitting 
 them to rest on the seventh day, but forcing 
 them to do all that they usually did on other 
 days; and to that degree of distress did he 
 reduce them in this matter, that the rest of 
 the seventh day was dissolved not only at 
 Antioch, but the same thing which took 
 thence its rise, was done in other cities also, 
 in like manner, for some small time. 
 
 4. Now, after these misfortunes had hap- 
 pened to the Jews at Antioch, a second cala- 
 mity befel them, the description of which 
 when we were going about, we premised the 
 account foregoing: for upon this accident, 
 whereby the four-square mai-ket- place was 
 burnt down, as well as the archives, and 'the 
 place where the public records were preserved, 
 and the royal palaces (and it was not with- 
 out difficulty that the fire was then put a 
 stop to, which was likely, by the fury where- 
 with it was carried along, to have gone over 
 the whole city), Antiochus accused the Jews 
 as the occasion of all the mischief that was 
 done. Now this induced the people of An- 
 tioch, who were now under the immediate 
 persuasion, by reason of the disorder they 
 were in, that this calumny was true; and 
 would have been under the same persuasion, 
 even though they had not borne an ill-will at 
 the Jews before, to believe this man's accu- 
 sation, especially when they considered what 
 had been done before ; and this to such a de- 
 gree, that tl^y all fell violently upon those 
 that were accused; and this, like madmen, 
 in a very furious rage also, even as if they 
 had seen the Jevvs in a manner setting, fire 
 themselves to the city; nor was it without 
 difficulty that one Cneius Collegas, the le- 
 gate, could prevail with them to permit the 
 affairs to be kid before Caesar; for as to Ce- 
 senniusPetus, the president of Syria, Vespasian 
 had already sent him away; and so it hap- 
 pened, that he was not yet come back thither. 
 But when Collegas had made a careful in- 
 quiry into the matter, he found out the truth, 
 and that not one of those Jews that were ac- 
 cused by Antiochuk had any hand in It; but 
 
 that all was done by some vile persons greatly 
 in debt, who supposed, that if they could once 
 set fire to the market-place, and burn the 
 public records, they should have no further 
 demands made upon them. So th€ Jewa 
 were under great disorder and terror, in the 
 uncertain expectations of wha^, would be 
 the upshot of those accusations against theui 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW VESPASIAN WAS RECEIVED AT ROME; AS 
 ALSO HOW THE GERMANS REVOLTED FROM 
 THE ROMANS, BUT WERE SUBDUED. THAT 
 THE SARMATIANS OVER-RAN MYSIA, BUT 
 WERE COMPELLED TO RETURN TO THEIR 
 OWN COUNTRY AGAIN. 
 
 § 1. And now Titus C«sar, upon the news 
 that was brought him concerning his father, 
 that his coming was much desired by all the 
 Italian cities, and that Rome especially re- 
 ceived him with great alacrity and splendor, 
 betook himself to rejoicing and pleasures to a 
 great degree, as now freed from the solicitude 
 he had been under, after the most agreeable 
 manner. For all men that were in Italy 
 showed their respects to him in their minds, 
 before he came thither, as if he were already 
 come, as esteeming the very expectation they 
 had of him to be his real presence on account 
 of the great desires they had to see him, and 
 because the good -will they bore him was en- 
 tirely free and unconstrained; for it was a 
 desirable thing to the senate, who well re- 
 membered the calamities they had undergone 
 in the late changes of their governors, tc 
 receive a governor who was adorned with the 
 gravity of old age, and with the highest skill 
 in the actions of war, whose advancement 
 would be, as they knew, for nothing else but 
 for the preservation of those that were to he 
 governed. Moreover, the people had been 
 so harassed by their civil miseries, that 
 they were still more earnest for his coming 
 immediately, as supposing they should then 
 be firmly delivered from their calamities, 
 and believed they should then recover their 
 secure tranquillity and prosperity: and for 
 the soldiery, they had the principal regard 
 to him, for they were chiefly apprised of 
 his great exploits in war; and since they 
 had experienced the want of skill and want 
 of courage in other commanders, they were 
 very desirous to be freed from that great 
 shame they had undergone by their means, 
 and heartily wished to receive such a prince 
 as might be a security and an ornameht to 
 them; and as this good- will to Vespasian 
 was universal, those that enjoyed any remark- 
 able dignities could not hav% patience enough 
 to stay in Rome, but made haste to meet hiixi 
 at a T«ry gkeat diatanc« from it; nay, indeed. 
 
766 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 none of the Test could endure the delpy of 
 seeing him, but did 611 pour out of the city in 
 such crowds, and were so universally possess- 
 ed with the opinion that it was easier and 
 better for them to go out than to stay there, 
 that this was the very first time that the city 
 joyfully perceived itself almost empty of its 
 citizens; for those that staid within were fewer 
 than those that went out; but as soon as the 
 news was come that he was hard by, and those 
 that had met him at first related with what 
 good humour he received every one that came 
 to him, then it was that the whole multitude 
 that had remained in the city, with their wives 
 and children, came into the road, and waited for 
 him there ; and for those whom he passed by, 
 they made all sorts of acclamations on account 
 of the joy they had to see hira» and the plea- 
 santness of his countenance, and styled him 
 their Benefactor and Saviour, and the only 
 person who was worthy to be ruler of the city 
 of Rome; and now the city was like a temple, 
 full of garlands and sweet odours; nor was 
 it easy for him to come to the royal palace for 
 the multitude of people that stood about him, 
 where yet at last he performed his sacrifices 
 of thanksgivings to his household gods, for 
 his safe return to the city. The multitude 
 did also betake themselves to feasting; which 
 feasts and drink-offerings they celebrated by 
 their tribes, and their families, and their neigh- 
 bourhoods, and still prayed God to grant that 
 Vespasian, his sons, and all their posterity, 
 might continue in the Roman government for 
 a very long time, and that his dominion might 
 be preserved from all opposition. And that 
 was the manner in which Rome so joyfully 
 received Vespasian, and thence grew im- 
 mediately into a state of great prosperity. 
 
 2. But before this time, and while Vespa- 
 sian was about Alexandria, and Titus was 
 lying at the siege of Jerusalem, a great multi- 
 tude of the Germans were in commotion, and 
 tended to rebellion; and as the Gauls in their 
 neighbourhood joined with them, they con- 
 spired together, and had thereby great hopes 
 of success, and that they should free them- 
 selves from the dominion of the Romans. 
 The motives that induced the Germans to this 
 attempt for a revolt, and for beginning the 
 war, were these : — In the first place, the nature 
 [of the people}, which was destitute of just 
 reasonings, and ready to throw themselves 
 rashly into danger upon small hopes: in the 
 itt>t place, the hatred they bore to those that 
 were their governors, while their nation had 
 never been conscious of subjection to any but 
 to the Romans, and that by compulsion only. 
 Besides these motives, it was the opportunity 
 that now oflfered itself, which above all the 
 rest prevailed with them so to do; for when 
 they saw the Roman government in a great 
 internal disorder, by the continual changes of 
 its rulers, and understood that every part of 
 tbe habitable aartb und«r tbeoa was in an un 
 
 settled and tottering condition, they thought 
 this was the best opportunity that could aflbrd 
 itself for themselves to make a sedition, when 
 the state of the Romans w as so ill. Clas>icus* 
 also, and Vitellius.f two of their commanders, 
 puffed them up with such hopes. These bad 
 for a long time been openly desirous of such 
 an innovation, and were induced by the pre- 
 sent opportunity to venture upon the declara- 
 tion of their sentiments; the multitude was 
 also ready ; and when these men told them of 
 what they intended to attempt, that news was 
 gladly received by them. So when a great 
 part of the Germans had agreed to rebel, and 
 the rest were no better disposed, Vespasiao, 
 as guided by divine Providence, sent letters 
 to Petilius Cerealis, who had formerly had 
 the command of Germany, whereby he de- 
 clared him to have the dignity of consul, and 
 commanded him to take upon him the govern- 
 ment of Britain; so he went whither he was 
 ordered to go, and when he was informed of 
 the revolt of the Germans, he fell upon them 
 as soon as they were gotten together, and put 
 his army in battle-array, and slew a great 
 multitude of them in the fight, and forced 
 them to leave off their madness, and to grow 
 wiser; nay, had he not fallen thus suddenly 
 upon them on the place, it had not been long 
 ere they would however have been brought to 
 punishment; for as soon as ever the news of 
 their revolt was come to Rome, and Ca?sar 
 Domitian was made acquainted with it, be 
 made no delay even at that bis age, when he 
 was 'exceeding young, but undertook this 
 weighty aflTair. He had a courageous mind, 
 from his father, and had made greater improve- 
 ments than belonged to such an age: accord- 
 ingly he marched against the barbarians im- 
 mediately; whereupon their hearts failed 
 them at the rumour of his approach, and they 
 submitted themselves to him with fear, and 
 thought itahappy thing that they were brought 
 under their old yoke again without suflfering 
 any farther mischiefs. When therefore Do- 
 mitian had settled all the affairs of Gaul io 
 such good order, that it would not be easily 
 put into disorder any more, he returned to 
 Rome with honour and glory, as having per- 
 
 * 'Hiis Classicus, and Civilis, and Cfrealis,are names 
 well known in Tacitus; the two lormer «l moving sedi- 
 tion af;ainst the Romans, and the last as sent to repress 
 them by Vespasian, jnst as they are here described by 
 Josepl.iis; which is the case also of Konteius Ajfrippa 
 and Uiibrins Galhis, in sect. 3; but as to tlie very fa- 
 vouriible acr.ount presently given of Domitinn, parti- 
 cularly as to his desi>;n8 in this his Gallic and'Germanic 
 expedition, it is not a little contrary to that in Suetonius, 
 Vesp. sect.?. Nor are the reasons iinobvious that n ight 
 occasion this great diversity: Domitian was one of Jo- 
 sephus's patrons, and when he publ'shed these books of 
 the Jewish war, was very young, and had hardly begun 
 those wicked practices which rendered him so infamous 
 afterward; while Suetonius seems so have been too 
 young and too low in life to receive any rem nrk able 
 favours from him; as Domitian was certainly very lewd 
 and cruel, nud generally hated, when buelonlus wrote 
 about him. 
 
 f CiviJis.— 7«cff. 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 767 
 
 formed such exploits as were above his own 
 age, and worthy of such a father. 
 
 3. At the very same time with the fore- 
 tnentioned revolt of the Germans, did the 
 bold attempt of the Scythians against the 
 Romans occur ; for those Scythians who are 
 called Sarmatians, being a very numerous 
 people, transported themselves over the 
 Danube into Mysia, without being perceived; 
 after which, by their violence, and entirely 
 unexpected assault, they slew a great many 
 of the Romans that guarded the frontiers ; 
 and as the consular legate Fonteius Agrippa 
 came to meet tbem, and fought courageously 
 against them, he was slaiir by them. They 
 then overran all the region that had been 
 subject to him, tearing and rending every 
 thing that fell in their way ; but when Ves- 
 pasian was informed of what had happened, 
 arhd how Mysia was laid waste, he sent away 
 Rubrius Gallus to punish these Sarmatians ; 
 by whose means many of them perished in 
 the battles he fought against them, and that 
 part which escaped fled with fear to their 
 own country. So when this general had put 
 an end to the war, he provided for the future 
 security of the country also ; for he placed 
 more and more numerous garrisons in the 
 place, till he made it altogether impossible for 
 the barbarians to pass over the river any 
 more ; and thus had this war in Mysia a sud- 
 den conclusion. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONCERNING THE SABBATIC RIVER WHICH TI- 
 TUS SAW AS HE WAS JOURNEYING THROUGH 
 SYRIA ; AND HOW THE PEOFLE OF aNTI- 
 OCH CAME WITH A PETITION TO TITUS 
 AGAINST THE JEWS, BUT WERE REJECTED 
 BV HIM : AS ALSO CONCERNING TITUs's 
 
 AND Vespasian's triumph. 
 
 § 1. Now Titus Caesar tarried some time at 
 IJerytus, as we told you before. He thence 
 removed, and exhibited magnificent shows in 
 all those cities of Syria through which he 
 went, and made use of the captive Jews as 
 public instances of the destruction of that na- 
 tion. He then saw a river as he went along, 
 of such a nature as deserves to be recorded in 
 history; it runs in the middle between Ar- 
 cea, belonging to Agrippa's kingdom, and 
 Raphanea- It hath somewhat very peculiar 
 in it ; for when it runs, its current is strong, 
 and has plenty of water; after which its 
 spiincji fail for six days together, and leave 
 its chi.iMiel dry, as any one may see; after 
 which days it runs on the seventh day as it 
 did before, and as though- it had undergone 
 no change at all : it hath also been observed 
 to krep this order perpetually wnd exactly ; 
 whence it ia that ihev call it the Sabbatic 
 
 River,* — that name being taken from the sa* 
 cred seventh day among the Jews. 
 
 2. But when the people of Antioch were 
 informed that Titus was approaching, they 
 were so glad at it, that they could not keep 
 within their walls, but hasted away to give 
 him the meeting ; nay, they proceeded as far 
 as thirty furlongs, and more, with that inten- 
 tion. These were not the men only, but a 
 multitude of women also with their children 
 did the same ; and when they saw him com- 
 ing up to them, they stood on both sides of 
 the way, and stretched out their right hands, 
 saluting him, and making all sorts of accla- 
 mations to him, and turned back together 
 with him. They also among all the accla- 
 mations they made to him, besought him all 
 the way they went, to eject the Jews out of 
 their city ; yet did not Titus at all yield to 
 this their petition, but gave them the bare 
 hearing of it quietly. However, the Jews 
 were in a great deal of terrible fear, under 
 the uncertainty they were in what his opinion 
 was, and what he would do to them ; for Ti- 
 tus did not stay at Antioch, but continued his 
 progress immediately to Zeugma, which lies 
 upon the Euphrates, whither came to him 
 messengers from Vologeses, king of Parthia, 
 and brought him a crown of gold upon the 
 victory he had gained over the Jews; which he 
 accepted of, and feasted the king's messen- 
 gers, and then came back to Antioch. And 
 when the senate and people of Antioch ear- 
 nestly entreated him to come upon their the- 
 atre, where their whole multitude was assem- 
 bled, and expected him, he complied with 
 great humanity ; but when they pressed him 
 with much earnestness, and continually beg- 
 ged of him, that he would eject the Jews out 
 of their city, he gave them this very pertinent 
 answer : — " How can this be done, since that 
 country of theirs, whither the Jews must be 
 obliged then to retire, is destroyed, and no 
 place will receive them besides?" Where- 
 upon the people of Antioch, when they had 
 failed of success in tnis their first request, 
 made him a second ; for they desired that he 
 would order those tables of brass to be re- 
 moved, on which the Jews' privileges were 
 engraven. However, Titus would not grant 
 that neither, but permitted the Jews of An- 
 tioch to continue to enjoy the very same pri- 
 vileges in that city which they had before, 
 and then departed for Egypt; and as he came 
 to Jerusalem in his progress, and compared 
 the melancholy condition he saw it then in, 
 
 * Since in these later aces this Sabbatic River, once 
 80 famous, which, by Josephus's acrount here, ran every 
 seventh day. and rest»-d on six, but accordinff to Plioy, 
 Nat Hist xxxi 11, ran perpetually on six days, and 
 rested on the seventh (though it no way appears by ei- 
 thfi of their accounts that the seventh day of this riTer 
 was the Jewish seventh day or Sabbath), is quite vanish- 
 ed, I shall add bo more about it: only see Dr. Mndson^s 
 fiole. In Varenius's GeoRraphy. i. i7. the reader will 
 find several instances of such periodical fountains and 
 rivt-rs, thuuich non>- of their periods were that of a Just 
 week, as of uld tliik apptars to ha\c beeii. 
 
76\ 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII, 
 
 WJ^li the ancient glory of the city, and called 
 to mind the greatness of its present ruins, as 
 w^^ll as its ancient splendoi", he could not but 
 pity the destruction of the city, — so far was 
 he from boasting that so great and goodly a 
 city as that was, had been by him taken by 
 force ; nay, he frequently cursed those that 
 had been the authors of their revolt, and had 
 brought such a punishment upon the city ; in- 
 somuchthatitopeiilyappeared that he did not 
 desire that such a calamity as this punishment 
 of theirs amounted to, should be a demonstra- 
 tion of his courage. Yet was there no small 
 quantity of the riches that had been in that 
 city still found among its ruins, a great deal 
 of which the Romans dug up ; but the greatest 
 part was discovered by those who were cap- 
 tives, and so they carried it away, I mean the 
 gold and the silver, and the rest of that most 
 precious furniture which the Jews had, and 
 which the owners had treasured up under 
 ground, against the uncertain fortunes of war. 
 
 3. So Titus took the journey he intended 
 into Egypt, and passed over the desert very 
 suddenly, and came to Alexandria, and took 
 up a resolution to go to Rome by sea. And 
 as he was accompanied by two legions, he 
 sent each of them again to the places whence 
 they had before come ; the fifth he sent to 
 Mysia ; and the fifteenth to Pannonia ; as 
 for the leaders of the captives, Simon and 
 John, with the other seven hundred men, 
 whom he had selected out of the rest as be- 
 ing eminently tall and handsome of body, he 
 gave order that they should be soon carried 
 to Italy, as resolving to produce them in his 
 triumph. So when he had had a prosperous 
 voyage to his mind, the city of Rome behaved 
 itself in his reception, and their meeting 
 him at a distance, as it did in the case of his 
 father. But what made the most splendid 
 appearance in Titus's opinion was, when his 
 father met him, arid received him ; but still 
 the multitude of the citizens conceived the 
 greatest joy when they saw them all three 
 together, as they did at this time : nor were 
 many days overpast when they determined to 
 have but one triumph, that should be common 
 to both of them, on account of the glorious 
 exploits they had performed, although the 
 senate had decreed each of them a separate 
 triumph by himself. So when notice had been 
 piven beforehand of the day appointed for 
 this pompous solemnity to be made, on ac- 
 count of their victories, not one of the im- 
 mense multitude was left in the city, but 
 everybody went out so far as to gain only a 
 station where they might stand, and left only 
 such a passage as was necessary for those 
 that were to be seen to go along it. 
 
 4. Now all the soldiery marched out be- 
 forehand by companies, and ir) their severHl 
 tanks, under their sevc-ral coiiuiriniiers, in the 
 
 ♦ fetpMlan and Lis two iK.i.>, ItUis .ml liomilian. 
 
 night-time, and were about the gates, not of 
 the upper palaces, but those near the temple 
 of Isis; for there it was that the emperors 
 had rested the foregoing night. And as soon 
 as ever it was day, Vespasian and Titus came 
 out crowned with laurel, and clothed in those 
 ancient purple habits which were proper to 
 their family, and then went as far as Octa- 
 vian's Walks ; for there it was that the se- 
 nate, and the principal rulers, and those thai- 
 had been recorded as of the equestrian order, 
 waited for them. Now a tribunal had been 
 erected before the cloisters, and ivory chairs 
 had been set upon it, when they came and 
 sat down upon them. Whereupon the sol- 
 diery made an acclamation of joy to them 
 immediately, and all gave them attestations 
 of their valour; while they were themselves 
 without their arms, and only in their silken 
 garments, and crowned with laurel : . then 
 Vespasian accepted of these shouts of theirs ; 
 but while they were still disposed to go on in 
 such acclamations, he gave them a signal of si- 
 lence. And when every body entirely held their 
 peace, he stood up, and covering the greatest 
 part of his hgad with his cloak, he put up the 
 accustomed solemn prayers ; the like pra\ers 
 did Titus put up also ; after which prayers 
 Vespasian made a short speech to all the peo- 
 ple, and then sent away the soldiers to a din- 
 ner prepared for them by the emperors. — 
 Then did he retire to that gate which was 
 called the Gate of the Pomp, because pom- 
 pous shows do always go through that gate; 
 there it was that they tasted some food, and 
 when they had put on their triumphal gar- 
 ments, and had ofiered sacrifices to the gods 
 that were placed at the gate, they sent the 
 triumph forward, and marched through the 
 theatres, that they might be the more easily 
 seen by the multitude. 
 
 5. Now it is impossible to describe the 
 multitude of the shows as they deserve, and 
 the magnificence of them all ; such indeed as 
 a man could not easily think of as performed 
 either by the labour of woikmen, or the va- 
 riety of riches, or the larities of nature ; for 
 almost all such curiosities as the most happy 
 men ever get by piece-rtieal were here heaptd 
 one upon ajiother, and those both admirable 
 and costly in their nature; and all bioujiht 
 together on that day, demonstrated the vastntss 
 of the dominions of the Romans; for there 
 was here to be seen a mighty quantity of sil- 
 ver, andgold,aiid ivory, contrived into all sorts 
 of things, and did not appear as carried along 
 in pompous show only, but, as n man may say, 
 running along like a river. Some parts were 
 composed of the rarest purple hangings, and 
 80 carried along ; and others accurately re- 
 presented to the life what was embroidered by 
 the arts of the Halnlonians. There were aKo 
 precious stones flint were transparent, sonte 
 set in rrowns o(po](\. at-ri s(;me in other otifKes, 
 Hs ihf workmen pleased ; and of these s..eh 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 765? 
 
 a vast number were brought, that we could 
 nos but thence learn how vainly we imagined 
 any of them to be rarities. The images of 
 the gods were also carried, being as well 
 wonderful for their largeness, as made very 
 artificially, and with great skill of the work- 
 men ; nor were any of these images of any 
 other than very costly materials ; and many 
 species of animals were brought, every one in 
 their own natural ornaments. The men also 
 who brought every one of these shows were 
 great multitudes, and adorned with purple 
 garments, all over interwoven with gold ; those 
 that were chosen for carrying these pompous 
 shows, having also about them such magnifi- 
 cent ornaments as were both extraordinary 
 and surprising. Besides these, one might see 
 that even the great number of the captives 
 was notunadorned, while the variety that was 
 in their garments, and their fine texture, con- 
 cealed from the sight the deformity of their 
 bodies. But what afforded the greatest sur- 
 prise of all, was the structure of the pageants 
 that were borne along ; for indeed he that 
 met them could not but be afraid that the 
 bearers would not be able firmly enough to 
 support them, such was their magnitude ; for 
 many of them were so made, that they were 
 on three or even four stories, one above ano- 
 ther. The magnificence also of their struc- 
 ture afforded one both pleasure and surprise; 
 for upon many of them were laid carpets of gold. 
 There was also wrought gold and ivory fas- 
 tened about them all ; and many resemblances 
 of the war, ^nd those in several ways, and 
 variety of contrivances, affording a most lively 
 portraiture of itself ; for there was to be seen 
 a happy country laid waste, and entire squad- 
 rons of enemies slain ; while some of them ran 
 away, and some were carried into captivity; 
 with walls of great altitude and magnitude 
 overthrown, and ruined by machines; with 
 the strongest fortifications taken, and the walls 
 of most populous cities upon the tops of hills 
 seized on, and an army pouring itself within 
 the walls; as also every place full of slaughter, 
 and supplications of the enemies, when they 
 were no longer able to lift up their hands in 
 way of opposition. Fire also seut upon temples 
 was here represented, and houses overthrown 
 and falling upon their owners: rivers also, 
 after they came out of a large and melancholy 
 desert, ran down, not into a land cultivated, 
 nor as drink for men, or for cattle, but through 
 a land still on fire upon every side ; for the 
 Jews related that such a thing they had un- 
 dergone during this war. Now the work- 
 marisbip of these representations was so mag- 
 nificent and lively in the construction of the 
 things, that it exhibited what had been done 
 t'" such as did not see it, as if they had been 
 there really present. On the top of every 
 one of these pageants was placed the com- 
 mander of the city that was taken, and the 
 manner wherein he was taken iVloreover, 
 
 there followed these pageants a great number 
 of ships ; and for the other spoils, they were 
 carried in great plenty. But for those that 
 were taken in the temple of Jerusalem,* they 
 made the greatest figure of them all ; that is 
 the golden table of the weight of many ta- 
 lents ; the candlestick also, that was made 
 of gold, though its construction were now 
 changed from that which we made use of: 
 for its middle shaft was fixed upon a basis, 
 and the small branches were produced out 
 of it to a great length, having the likeness of 
 a trident in their position, and had every one 
 a socket made of brass for a lamp at the tops 
 of them. These lamps were in number seven, 
 and represented the dignity of the number se- 
 ven among the Jews ; and the last of all the 
 spoils, was carried the Law of the Jews. After 
 these spoils passed by a great many men, car- 
 rying the images of Victory, whose structure 
 was entirely either of ivory, or of gold. Af- 
 ter which Vespasian marched in the first place, 
 and Titus followed him ; Domitian also rode 
 along with them, and made a glorious appear- 
 ance, and rode on a horse that was worthy of 
 admiration. 
 
 6. Now the last part of this pompous show 
 was at the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, 
 whither when they were come, they stood 
 still ; for it was the Romans* ancient custom 
 to stay till somebody brought the news that 
 the general of the enemy was slain» This 
 genera_ was Simon, the son of Gioras, who 
 had then been led in this triumph among 
 the captives ; a rope had also been put upon 
 his head, and he had been drawn into a pro- 
 per place in the forum, and had withal been 
 tormented by those that drew him along ; and 
 the law of the Romans required, that male- 
 factors condemned to die should be slain there. 
 Accordingly, when it was related that there 
 was an end of him, and all the people had set 
 up a shout for joy, they then began to offer 
 those sacrifices which they had consecrated, 
 in the prayers used in such solemnities ; vehicb 
 when they had finished, they went away to 
 the palace. And as for some of the specta- 
 tors, the emperors entertained them at their 
 own feast; and for all the rest there were 
 noble preparations made for their feasting 
 at home ; for this was a festival-day to the 
 city of Rome, as celebrated for the victory 
 obtained by their army over their enemies, 
 
 * See the representations of these Jewish vessels as 
 they still stand on Titus's triumphal arch at Kome, in 
 Reland's very curious book de Spoliis Templi, through, 
 out. But what things are chiefly to be noted are these. 
 (1.) That Josephus says, the candlestick here carried in 
 this triumph was not thoroughly like that which was 
 used in the temple, which appears in the number of the 
 little knobs and flowers in that on the triumphal arch, 
 not well agreeing with Moses's description, Exod. xxv. 
 31 — 36. (2.) The smallness of the branches in Jose- 
 phus, compared with the thickness of those on that arch- 
 (3.) That the Law or Pentateuch does not appear en 
 that arch at all, though Josephus, an eye-witness, 
 assures us that it was carried in this procession. Ail 
 which things deserve the consideration of the inquisitive 
 reader. 
 
 3 C 
 
770 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VIT 
 
 for the end that was now put to their civil 
 miseries and for the commencement of their 
 hopes of future prosperity and happiness. 
 
 7. After these triumphs were over, and 
 after the affairs of the Romans were settled 
 on the surest foundations, Vespasian resolved 
 to build a temple to Peace, which he finished 
 in so 'short a time, and in so glorious a man- 
 ner, as was beyond all human expectation and 
 opinion : for he having now by Providence a 
 vast quantity of wealth, besides what he had 
 formerly gained in his other exploits, he had 
 this temple adorned with pictures and statues ; 
 for in this temple were collected and deposit- 
 ed all such rarities as men aforetime used to 
 wander all over the habitable world to see, 
 when they had a desire to see them one after 
 another : he also laid up therein, as ensigns 
 of his glory, those golden vessels and instru- 
 ments that were taken out of the Jewish tem- 
 ple. But still he gave order that they should 
 lay up their law, and the purple veils of the 
 holy place, in the royal palace itself, and keep 
 them there. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONCERNING THE CITY CALLED MACHERUS ; 
 AND HOW LUCIHUS BASSUS TOOK THE CITA- 
 DEL, AND OTHER PLACES. 
 
 § 1. Now Lucilius Bassus was sent as legate 
 into Judea, and there he received the army 
 from Cerealis Vitellius, and took that cita- 
 del which was in Herodium, together with 
 the garrison that was in it ; after which he got 
 together all the soldiery that was there (which 
 was a large body, but dispersed into several 
 parties), with the tenth legion, and resolved 
 to make war upon Macherus ; for it was high- 
 ly necessary that this citadel should be demo- 
 lished, lest it might be a means of drawing 
 away many into a rebellion, by reason of its 
 strength ; for the nature of the place was very 
 capable of affording the surest hopes of safety 
 to those that possessed it, as well as delay and 
 fear to those that should attack it ; for what 
 was walled in was itself a very rocky hill, 
 elevated to a very great height ; which cir- 
 cumstance alone made it very hard to be sub- 
 dued. It was also so contrived by nature, 
 that it could not be easily ascended ; for it is, 
 as it were, ditched about with such valleys on 
 all sides, and to such a depth that the eye 
 cannot reach their bottoms, and such as are 
 ■not easily to be passed over, and even such as 
 it is impossible to fill up with earth ; for that 
 valley which cuts it on the west, extends to 
 threescore furlongs, and did not end till it 
 came to the lake Asphaltitis; on the same 
 side it was also that Macherus bad the tallest 
 top of its hill elevated above the rest. But 
 then for the valleys that lay on the north and 
 80ttth lides, although they are not so large as 
 
 that already described, yet is it in like man- 
 ner an impracticable thing to think of getting 
 over them ; and for the valley that lies on the 
 east side, its depth is found to be no less than 
 a hundred cubits. It extends as far as a moun- 
 tain that lies over against Macherus with 
 which it is bounded. 
 
 2. Now when Alexander [Janneus], the 
 king of the Jews, observed the nature of this 
 place, he was the first who built a citadel 
 here, which afterwards was demolished by 
 Gabinius, when he made war against Aristo- 
 bulus ; but when Herod came to be king, he 
 thought the place to be worthy of the utmost 
 regard, and of being built upon in the firmest 
 manner, and this especially because it lay so 
 near to Arabia; for it is seated in a conve- 
 nient place on that account, and hath a pro- 
 spect toward that country ; he therefore sur- 
 rounded a large space of ground with walls 
 and towers, and built a city there, out of 
 which city there was a way that led up to the 
 very citadel itself on the top of the mountain; 
 nay, more than this, he built a wall round 
 that top of the hill, and erected towers at the 
 corners, of a hundred and sixty cubits high ; 
 in the middle of which place he built a pa- 
 lace, after a magnificent manner, wherein 
 were large and beautiful edifices. He also 
 made a great many reservoirs for the recep- 
 tion of water, that there might be plenty of 
 it ready for all uses, and those in the proper- 
 est places that were afforded him there. — 
 Thus did he, as it were, contend with the 
 nature of the place, that he might exceed its 
 natural strength and security (which yet itself 
 rendered it hard to be taken) by those forti- 
 fications which were made by the hands of 
 men. Moreover, he put a large quantity 
 of darts and other machines of war into it, 
 and contrived to get every thing thither that 
 might any way contribute to its inhabitants' 
 security, under the longest siege possible. 
 
 3. Now within this place there grew a sort 
 of rue,* that deserves our wonder on account 
 of its largeness, for it was no way inferior to 
 any fig-tree whatsoever, either in height or 
 in thickness ; and the report is, that it had 
 lasted ever since the times of Herod, and 
 would probably have lasted much longer, had 
 it not been cut down by those Jews who 
 took possession of the place afterward : but 
 still in that valley which encompasses the 
 city on the north side, there is a certain place 
 called Baaras, which produces a root of the 
 same name with itself ;f its colour is like to that 
 
 • Spanheim observes here, that in Gnecia Major and 
 Sicily they had rue prodigiously great and duk-kbje, like 
 thin rue at Macherus. 
 
 + This strangf account of the place and rooi Baaras; 
 seems to have been taken from the maKiciai f , and the 
 root to have been made tise of in the days of Josep'..i)8, 
 in that superstitious way of casting out deniuns, su|>- 
 posed by hini to have been derived from ivini; Solomon; 
 of which we Jiave already seen he had a ijrea< opinion, 
 Antiq. b. viii. ch. ii. sect. 5. We also may learn tba 
 
CHAP. VI, 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 771 
 
 of flame, and towards the evening it sends 
 out a certain ray like lightning: it is not easily 
 taken by such as would do it, but recedes 
 from their hands, nor will yield itself to be 
 taken quietly, until either the urine of a wo- 
 man, or her menstrual blood, be poured upon 
 it; nay, even then it is certain death to those 
 that touch it, unless any one take and hang 
 the root itself down from bis hand, and so 
 carry it away. It may also be taken another 
 way, without danger, which is this: they dig a 
 trench quite round about it, till the hidden 
 part of the root be very small, they then tie a 
 dog to it, and when the dog tries hard to fol- 
 low him that tied him, this root is easily 
 plucked up, but the dog dies immediately, as 
 if it were instead of the man that would take 
 the plant away; nor after this need any one 
 be afraid of taking it into their hands. 
 Yet, after all this pains in getting, it is only 
 valuable on account of one virtue it hath, 
 that if it be only brought to sick persons, it 
 quickly drives away those called Demons, 
 which are no other than the spirits of the 
 wicked, that enter into men that are alive and 
 kill them, unless they can obtain some help 
 against them. Here are also fountains of 
 hot water, that flow out of this place, which 
 have a very different taste one from the other; 
 for some of them are bitter, and others of 
 them are plainly sweet. Here are also many 
 eruptions of cold waters, and this not only in 
 the places that lie lower, and have their foun- 
 tains near one another, but, what is still more 
 wonderful, here is to be seen a certam cave 
 bard by, whose cavity is not deep, but it is 
 covered over by a rock that is prominent: 
 above this rock there stand up two [hills or] 
 breasts, as it were, but a little distant one 
 from another, the one of which sends out a 
 fountain that is very cold, and the other sends 
 out one that is very hot ; which waters, when 
 they are mingled together, compose a most 
 pleasant bath; they are medicinal indeed for 
 other maladies, but especially good for 
 strengthening the nerves. This place has in 
 it also mines of sulphur and alum. 
 
 4. Now when Bassus had taken a full view 
 of this place, he resolved to besiege it by fill- 
 ing up the valley that lay on the east side; so 
 he fell hard to work, and took great pains to 
 raise his banks as sodll as possible, and by that 
 means to render the siege easy. As for the 
 Jews that were caught in this place, they 
 separated themselves from the strangers that 
 were with them, and they forced those stran- 
 gers, as an otherwise useless multitude, to 
 €tay in the lower part of the city, and undergo 
 the principal dangers, while they themselves 
 seized on the upper citadel, and held it, and 
 this both on account of its strength, and to 
 
 true notion Jos^phus had of demons and demoniacs, ex~ 
 sctiy like that of the Jews and Christians in the New 
 1'cstam^nt. and the Srst four centuries. See Aotiq. b.Tt. 
 eh riii sect 2; h. xi. cb. ii. sect. 3. 
 
 provide for their own safety. They also sup- 
 posed they might obtain their pardon, in case 
 they should at last surrender the citadel. 
 However, they were willing to make trial, ir 
 the first place, whether the hopes they had of 
 avoiding a siege would come to any thing; 
 with which intention they made sallies every 
 day, and fought with those that met them ; 
 in which conflicts they were many of them 
 slain, as they therein slew many of the Ro- 
 mans; but still it was the opportunities that 
 presented themselves which chiefly gained both 
 sides their victories; these were gained by the 
 Jews, when they fell upon the Romans as they 
 were off their guard; but by the Romans, 
 when, upon the others' sallies against their 
 banks, they foresaw their coming, and were 
 upon their guard when they received them; 
 but the conclusion of this siege did not de- 
 pend upon these bickerings, but a certain sur- 
 prising accident, relating to what was done in 
 this siege, forced the Jews to surrender the 
 citadel. There was a certain young man 
 among the besieged, of great boldness, and 
 very active of his hand, his name was Eleazar; 
 he greatly signalized himself in those sallies, 
 and encouraged the Jews to go out in great 
 numbers, in order to hinder the raising of the 
 banks, ar>d did the Romans a vast deal of mis- 
 chief when they came to fighting: he so man- 
 aged matters, that those who sallied out, made 
 their attacks easily, and returned back without 
 danger, and this by still bringing up the rear 
 himselt Now it happened, that on a cer- 
 tain time when the fight was over, and both 
 sides were parted, and retired home, he, in 
 way of contemp^of the enemy, and thinking 
 that none of them would begin the fight again 
 at that time, staid without the gates, and talked 
 with those that were upon the wall, and his 
 mind was wholly intent upon what they said. 
 Now a certain person belonging to the Roman 
 camp, whose name was Rufus, by birth an 
 Egyptian, ran upon him suddenly, when no- 
 body expected such a thing, and carried him 
 off, with his armour itself; while, in the 
 mean time, those that saw it from the wall 
 were under such an amazement, that Rufus 
 prevented their assistance, and carried Eleazar 
 to the Roman camp. So the general of the 
 Romans ordered that he should be taken up 
 naked, set before the city to be seen, and sore- 
 ly whipped before their eyes. Upon this sad 
 accident that befel the young man, the Jews 
 were terribly confounded, and the city, with 
 one voice, sorely lamented him, and the 
 mourning proved greater than could well be 
 supposed upon the calamity of a single person. 
 When Bassus perceived that, he began to 
 think of using a stratagem against the enemy, 
 and was desirous to aggravate their grief, in 
 order to prevail with them to surrender the 
 city for the preservation of that man. Nor 
 did he fail of his hope; for he commanded 
 them to set up a cross, as if he were just go- 
 
772 
 
 WARS OF THE JEVVS. 
 
 BOOK TIX* 
 
 Wg to bang Eleazar upon it immediately : | 
 the sight of this occasioned a sore grief among i 
 those that were in the citadel, and the v groaned I 
 vehemently, and cried out that they could I 
 not bear to see him thus destroyed. Where- j 
 Tipon Eleazar besought them not to disregard 
 him, now be was going to suffer a most miser- 
 able death, and exhorted them to save them- 
 selves, by yielding to the Roman power and 
 good fortune, since all other people were 
 now conquered by them. These men were 
 p^reatly moved with what he said, there being 
 also many within the cify that interceded for 
 him, because he was of an eminent and very 
 numerous family: so they now yielded to their 
 passion of commiseration, contrary to their 
 usual custom. Accordingly they sent out 
 immediately certain messengers, and treated 
 with the Romans, in order to a surrender of 
 the citadel to them, and desired that they 
 might be permitted to go away, and take 
 Eleazar along with them. Then did the Ro- 
 mans and their general accept of these terms; 
 while the multitude of strangers that were in 
 the lower part of the city, hearing of the 
 agreement that was made by the Jews for 
 themselves alone, were resolved to fly away 
 privately, in the night time; but as soon as 
 they had opened their gates,- those that had 
 come to terms with Bassus told him of it ; 
 whether it were that they envied the others' 
 deliverance, or whether it were done out of 
 fear, lest an occasion should be taken against 
 them upon their escape, is uncertain. The 
 most courageous, therefore, of tho'e men that 
 went out prevented the enemy, and got away^ 
 and fled for it; but for thq^ men that were 
 caught within, they were sTain, to the num- 
 ber of one thousand seven hundred, as were 
 the women and. the children made slaves: but 
 as Bassus thought he must perform the cove- 
 nant he had made with those that had surren- 
 dered the citadel, he let them go, and restored 
 Eleazar to them. 
 
 5. When Bassus had settled these affairs, 
 he marched hastily to the forest of Jarden, as 
 it is called; for he bad heard that a great 
 many of those that had fled from Jerusalem 
 and Macherus formerly, were there gotten 
 together. When be was therefore come to 
 the place, and understood that the former 
 news was no mistake, he, in the first place, 
 surrounded the whole place with his horse- 
 men, that such of the Jews as had boldness 
 eiiough to try to break through, might have 
 no way possible for escaping, by reason of 
 the situation of these horsemen; and for the 
 tootmen, he ordered them to cut down the 
 trees that were in the wood whither they were 
 fled. So the Jews were under a necessity of 
 performing some glorious exploit, and of 
 greatly exposing themselves in a battle, since 
 tney might perhaps thereby escape. So they 
 made a general attack, and with a great shout 
 fiell upon those that surrounded them, who 
 
 received them with great courage; and sov 
 while the oiie side fought desperately, and 
 the others would not yields the %ht was pro- 
 longed on that account. But the event o^ 
 the battle did not answer the expectation ot 
 the assailants; for so it happened, that no 
 more than twelve fell on the Roman side, 
 with a few that were wounded; but not one 
 of the Jews escaped out of this battle, for 
 they were all killefl, being in the whole not 
 fewer in number than three thousand, toge- 
 ther with Judas, the son of Jairus, their gene- 
 ral; concerning whom we have before spoken,, 
 that he had been captain of a certain band at 
 the siege of Jerusalem, and by going dowri- 
 into a certain vault under ground, had pri- 
 vately made his e>cape. 
 
 6. About the same time it was that Cassaf 
 sent a letter to Bassus, and to Liberius Max- 
 imus, who was the procurator [of Judea],. 
 and gave order that all Judea should be ex- 
 posed to sale; * for he did not found any 
 city there, but reserved the country for him- 
 self. However, he assigned a place for eight 
 hundred men only, whom he had dismissed 
 from his army, which he gave them for theif 
 habitation; it is called Emmaus,f and is dis- 
 tant from Jerusalem threescore furlongs. He 
 also laid a tribute upon the Jews wheresoevcE 
 they were, and enjoined every one of them to 
 bring two drachmae every year into the 
 Capitol, as they used to pay the same to the 
 temple at Jerusalem. And this was th* statft 
 of the Jewish affairs at this time. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CONCEENING THE CALAMITY THAT BEFKE. 
 ANTloeHUS, KING OF COMMAGENE. AS 
 ALSO CONCKHMNG THE ALANS, AND WHAT 
 GREAT MlSt'HIErs THEY DID TO THE MEDE3 
 AND ARMENIANS. 
 
 § 1. And now, in the fourth year of the 
 reign of Vespasian, it came to pass that An- 
 tiochus, the king of Commagene, with all hi* 
 
 * It is very remarkable that Titus did not people this 
 now desolate country ot Judea, but ordered it to be all 
 sold ; nor indt-ed is it proj erly peopljed at tbi> day. but 
 lies rea^y for its old inhabitants the Jews, at their future 
 restoration. St-e Literal Accomplishment of Ihophecies, 
 pajje 77. 
 
 + That the city Emmaus, or Ammaus, in Josephas 
 andoHiers, which was the place of tlie government of 
 Julius Africanns, in the heRJuning: of the third centui-y 
 aid which he then procured to l)e rebuilt, and alter which 
 r»bu>idii:g it was called Mcopolit". is entirely ditttrent 
 from that F.nimans which is mentioned by St. I uke 
 (xxiv. 13), see Reland's ralaestina, lib. ii. pate 4--9. and 
 under the name Ammaus also. But he justly thinks 
 that that in St. I.uke may ^^ell be the fame with this 
 Ammaus before ns, especinllv since the (Jretk copiea 
 heie usually make it sixty furUmKS distiiut Irom Jerusa- 
 lem, as does ;»t. lAike. thoiieh the I^tin copn's say only 
 thirty. The place also allotied for these PiM) imldirr% 
 as for a Roman Knrriiton. tB this nlace. would mosi na- 
 turally not he so remote from Jerusalem oa wa& tkr* 
 other Emm au>, flc Nicopolift. * 
 
CHAP. VII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS, 
 
 773 
 
 (amiJy, fell into very great calamities. The 
 occasion was this : — Cesennius Petus, who 
 was president of Syria at this time, whether 
 it were done out of regard to truth, or whe- 
 ther out of hatred to Antiochus Ctor which 
 was the real motive was never thoroughly 
 discovered), sent an epistle to Cajsar, and 
 therein told him that Antiochus, with his son 
 Epiphanes, had resolved to rebel against the 
 Romans, and had made a league with the king 
 of Partbia to that purpose: that it was there- 
 fore fit to prevent them, lest they prevent us, 
 and begin such a war as may cause a general 
 disturbance in the Roman empire. Now 
 Caesar was disposed to take some care about 
 the matter since this discovery was made; 
 for the neighbourhood of the kingdoms made 
 this atftiir worthy of greater regard ; for Sa- 
 mosata, the capital of Commagene, lies upon 
 Euphrates, an(i, upon any such design, could 
 afford an easy passage over to the Parthians, 
 and could also afford them a secure reception. 
 Petus was accordingly believed, and had autho- 
 rity given him of doing what he should think 
 proper in the case; so he set about it with- 
 out delay, and fell upon Commagene before 
 Antiochus and his people had the least ex- 
 pectation of his coming : he had with him 
 the tenth legion, as also some cohorts and 
 troops of horsemen. These kings also came 
 to his assistance : — Aristobulus king of the 
 country called Chalcidene, and Sohemus, who 
 was called king of Emesa : nor was there 
 any opposition made to bis forces when they 
 entered the kingdom ; for no one of that 
 country would so much as lift up his hand 
 against them. When Antiochus heard this 
 unexpected news, he could not think in the 
 least of making war with the Romans, but 
 determined to leave his whole kingdom in the 
 state wherein it no-v was, and to retire pri- 
 vately, with bis wife and children, as think- 
 ing thereby to demonstrate himself to the 
 Romans to be innocent as to the accusation 
 laid against him. So he went away from that 
 city as far as a hundred and twenty furlongs, 
 into a plain, and there pitched his tents. 
 
 2. Petus then sent some of his men to 
 seize upon S;imosata, and by their means took 
 possession of that city, while he went himself 
 to attack Antiochus with the rest of his army. 
 However, the king was not prevailed upon by 
 the distress he was in to do any thing in the 
 way of war against the Romans, but bemoaned 
 his own hard fate, and endured with patience 
 what he was not able to prevent. But his 
 sons, who were young and unexperienced in 
 war, but of strong bodies, were not easily in- 
 duced to bear this calamity without fighting. 
 Epiphanes, therefore, and Callinicus betook 
 themselves to military force; and as the bat- 
 tle was a sore one, and lasted all the day long, 
 thjy showed their own valour in a remarkable 
 manner; and no hing but the approach of 
 night put a period thereto, and that without 
 
 any diminution of their forces; yet would 
 not Antiochus, upon this conclusion of the 
 fight, continue there by any means, but took 
 his wife and his daughters, and fled away with 
 them to Cilicia ; and, by so doing, quite dis- 
 couraged the minds of his own soldiers. Ac- 
 cordingly, they revolted, and went over to the 
 i Romans, out of the despair they were in ot. 
 his keeping the kingdom ; and his case wa f 
 looked upon by all as quite desperate. It was 
 therefore necessary that Epiphanes and his 
 soldiers should get clear of their enemies be- 
 fore they became entirely destitute of any con- 
 federates ; nor were there any more than ten 
 horsemen with him, who passed with him over 
 Euphrates, whence they went undisturbed to 
 Vologeses, the king of Pai-thia, where they 
 were not disregarded as fugitives ; but had 
 the same respect paid them as if they had re- 
 tained their ancient prosperity. 
 
 3. Now when Antiochus was come to Tar- 
 sus in Cilicia, Petus ordered a centurion to 
 go to him, and send him in bonds to Rome. 
 However, Vespasian could not endure to have 
 a king brought to him in that manner, but 
 thought it fit rather to have a regard to the 
 ancient friendship that had been between them, 
 than to preserve an inexorable anger upon 
 pretence of this war. Accc rdingly, he gave 
 orders that they should take oflf his bonds, 
 while he was still upon the road, and that he 
 should not come to Rome, but should now go 
 and live at Lacedemon ; he also gave him 
 large revenues, that he might not only live in 
 plenty, but like a king also. When Epiphanes, 
 who before was in great fear for his father, 
 was informed of this, their minds were freed 
 from that great and almost incurable concern 
 they had been under. He also hoped that 
 Ca?sar would be reconciled to them, upon the 
 intercession of Vologeses ; for although he 
 lived in plenty, he knew not how to bear liv- 
 ing out of the Roman empire. So -Caesar 
 gave him leave, after an obliging manner, and 
 he came to Rome ; and as his father came 
 quickly to him from Lacedemon, he had all 
 sorts of respect paid him therfe, and there he 
 remained. 
 
 4. Now there was a nation of the Alans, 
 which we have formerly mentioned somewhere 
 as being Scythians,* and inhabiting at the 
 Lake Meotis. This nation about this time 
 laid a design of falling upon Media and the 
 parts beyond it, in order to plunder them ; 
 with which intention they treated with the 
 king of Hyrcania; for he was master of that 
 passage which king Alexander [the Great] 
 shut up with iron gates. This king gave 
 them leave to come through them ; so they 
 came in great multitudes, and fell upon the 
 Medes unexpectedly, and plundered their 
 country, wbich they found full of people, and 
 replenished with abundance of cattle, while 
 
 • This if oow wantiaff. 
 
774 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII, 
 
 nobody durst make any resistance against them; 
 for Pacorus, the king of the country, had fled 
 favvay for fear, into places where they could 
 not easily come at him, and had yielded up 
 every thing he had to them, and had only 
 saved his wife and his concubines from them, 
 and that with difficulty also, after they had 
 been made captives, by giving them a hun- 
 dred talents for their ransom. These Alans 
 therefore plundered the country without op- 
 position, and with great ease, and then pro- 
 ceeded as far as Armenia, laying all waste be- 
 fore them. Now Tiridates was king of that 
 country, who met them, and fought them, but 
 had like to have been taken alive in the bat- 
 tle ; for a certain man threw a net over him 
 from a great distance, and had soon drawn 
 him to him, unless he had immediately cut 
 the cord with his sword, and ran away, and 
 prevented it. So the Alans, being still more 
 provoked by this sight, laid waste the coun- 
 try, and drove a great multitude of the men, 
 and a great quantity of the other prey they had 
 gotten out of both kingdoms, along with them, 
 and then retreated back to their own country. 
 
 CHAPTER Vm. 
 
 CONCERNING MASADA AND THOSE SICARIIWHO 
 KEPT IT; AND HOW SILVA BETOOK HIMSELF 
 TO FORM THE SIEGE OF THAT CITADEL. 
 ELEAZAR's SPEECHES TO THE BESIEGED. 
 
 § 1. When Bassus was dead in Judea, Fla- 
 vins Silva succeeded him as procurator there; 
 who, when he saw that all the rest of the 
 country was subdued in this war, and that 
 there was but one only strong hold that was 
 still in rebellion, he got all his army together 
 that lay in different places, and made an ex- 
 pedition against it. This fortress was called 
 Masada. It was one Eleazar, a potent man, 
 and the commander of these Sicarii, that had 
 seized upon it. He was a descendant from that 
 Judas who had persuaded abundance of the 
 Jews, as we have formerly related, not to sub- 
 mit to the taxation when Cyrenius was sent 
 into Judea to make one ; for then it was that 
 the Sicarii got together against those that were 
 willing to submit to the Romans, and treated 
 them in all respects as if they had been their 
 enemies, both by plundering them of what 
 they had, by driving away their cattle, and by 
 setting fire to their houses: for they said that 
 they differed not at all from foreigners, b\ 
 betraying, in so cowardly a manner, that 
 freetlom which Jews thought worthy to be 
 contended for to the utmost, and by own- 
 itig that they preferred slavery under the 
 Romans before such a contention. Now this 
 was in reality no better than a pretence, and 
 a cloak for the barbarity which was made upe 
 vt by them, and to colour over their own 
 
 avarice, which they afterwards made evident 
 by their own actions ; for those that were 
 partners with them in their rebellion, joined 
 also with them in the war against the Ro- 
 mans, and went farther lengths with them in 
 their impudent undertakings against them ; 
 and when they were again convicted of dis- 
 sembling in such their pretences, they still 
 more abused those that justly reproached them 
 for their wickedness ; and indeed that was a 
 time most fertile in all manner of wicked 
 practices, insomuch that no kind of evil deeds 
 were then left undone ; nor could any one so 
 much as devise any bad thing that was new, 
 so deeply were they all infected, and strove 
 with one another in their single capacity, and 
 in their communities, who should run the 
 greatest lengths in impiety towards God, and 
 in unjust actions towards their neighbours; 
 the men of power oppressing the multitude, 
 and the multitude earnestly labouring to de- 
 stroy the men of power. The one part were 
 desirous of tyrannizing over others; and the 
 rest of offering violence to others, and of plun- 
 dering such as were richer than themselves. 
 They were the Sicarii who first began these 
 transgressions, and first became barbarous to- 
 wards those allied to them, and left no words 
 of reproach unsaid, and no works of perdition 
 untried, in order to destroy those whom their 
 contrivances affected. Yet did John demon- 
 strate by his actions, that these Sicarii were 
 more moderate than he was himself, for he 
 not only slew such as gave him good counsel 
 to do what was right, but treated them worst 
 of all, as the most bitter enemies that he had 
 among all the citizens ; nay, he filled his en- 
 tire country with ten thousand instances ot 
 wickedness, such as a man who was already 
 hardened sufficiently in his impiety towards 
 God, would naturally do ; for the food was 
 unlawful that was set upon his table, and he 
 rejected those purifications that the law of his 
 country had ordained ; so that it was no lon- 
 ger a wonder if he, who was so mad in his 
 impiety towards God, did not observe any 
 rules of gentleness and common affection to- 
 wards men. Again, therefore, what mischief 
 was there which Simon the son of Gioras did 
 not do? or what kind of abuses did he ab- 
 stain from as to those very free men who bad 
 set him up for a tyrant? What friendship or 
 kindred were there that did not make him 
 more bold in his daily murders? for they 
 looked upon the doing of mischief to stran- 
 gers only, as a work beneath their courage, 
 but thought their barbarity towards their near- 
 est relations would be a glorious demonstra- 
 tion thereof. The Idumeans also strove with 
 these men who should be guilty of the great- 
 est madness ! for they [all], vile wretches as 
 they were, cut the throats of the high-priests, 
 that so no part of a religious regard to God 
 might be preserved ; they thence proceeded to 
 destroy utterly the least remains of a political 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE jfiVVS. 
 
 775 
 
 government, and introduced the most com- 
 plete scene of iniquity in all instances that 
 were practicable; under which scene, that 
 sort of people that were called Zealots grew 
 up, and who indeed corresponded to the name; 
 for they imitated every wicked work; nor, if 
 their memory suggested any evil thing that 
 bad formerly been done, did they avoid zea- 
 lously to pursue the same; and although they 
 gave themselves that name from their zeal for 
 what was good, yet did it agree to them only 
 by way of irony, on account of those they had 
 unjustly treated by their wild and brutish dis- 
 position, or as thinking the greatest mischiefs 
 to be the greatest good. Accordingly, they 
 all met with such ends as God deservedly 
 brought upon them in way of punishment ; 
 for all such miseries have been sent upon 
 them as mans nature is capable of undergo- 
 ing, till the utmost period of their lives, and 
 till death came upon them in various ways of 
 torment: yet might one say justly that they 
 suffered less than they had done, because it 
 was impossible they could be punished accord- 
 ing to their deserving: but to make a lamen- 
 tation according to the deserts of those who 
 fell under these men's barbarity, this is not a 
 proper place for it : — I therefore now return 
 .again to the remaining part of the present nar- 
 ration. 
 
 2 For now it was that tlie Roman gene- 
 ra' ca/ne, and led his army against Eleazar 
 and those Sicarii who held the fortress Ma- 
 sada together with him; and for the whole 
 country adjoining, he presently gained it, and 
 (lut garrisons into the most proper places of 
 it: he also built a wall quite round the entire 
 fortress, that none of the besieged might easi- 
 ly escape : be also set his men to guard the 
 several parts of it: be also pitched his camp 
 in such an agreeable place as he had chosen 
 for tlie siege, and at which place the rock be- 
 longing to the fortress did make the nearest 
 approach to the neighbouring mountain, 
 which yet was a place of difficulty for getting 
 plenty of provisions; for it was not only food 
 that was to be brought from a great distajice 
 J]to the army], and this with a great deal of 
 pain to those Jews who were appointed for 
 that purpose, but water was also to be brought 
 to the camp, because the place afforded no 
 fountain that was near it. When therefore 
 Silva had ordered these affairs beforehand, he 
 fell to besieging the place; which siege was 
 likely to stand in need of a great deal of skill 
 and pains, by reason of the strength of the 
 fortress, the nature of which I will now de- 
 scribe. 
 
 3. There was a rock not small in circum- 
 ference, and very high. It was encompassed 
 with valleys of such vast depth downward, 
 that the eye could not reach their bottoms ; 
 they were abrupt, and such as no animal 
 rouJd walk tipoii, exceptiiig at two places of 
 the' rock, where it subsides, in ord*"- to afford 
 
 a passage for ascent, though not without dif- 
 ficulty. Now, of the ways that lead to it, 
 one is that from the lake Asphaltitis, towards 
 the sun-rising, and another on the west, where 
 the as<"ent is easier: the one of these ways is 
 called the Serpent, as resembling that animal 
 in its narrowness, and its perpetual windings: 
 for it is broken off at the prominent precipices- 
 of the rock, and returns frequently into it- 
 self, and lengthening again by little and little, 
 hath much ado to proceed forward; and he 
 that would walk along it must first go on one 
 leg, and then on the other; there is also no- 
 thing but destruction, in case your feet slip; 
 for on each side there is a vastly deep chasm 
 and precipice, sufficient to quell the courage 
 of every body by the terror it infuses into 
 the mind. When, therefore, a man hath 
 gone along this way for thirty furlongs, the 
 rest is the top of the hill, — not ending at a 
 small point, but is no other than a plain upon 
 the highest part of the mountain. Upon this 
 fop of the hill, Jonathan the high-priest first 
 of all built a fortress, and called it Masada; 
 after which the rebuilding of this place em- 
 ployed the care of king Herod to a great de- 
 gree; he also built a wall round about the 
 entire top of the hill, seven furlongs long; 
 it was composed of white stone; its height 
 was twelve, and its breadth eight cubits; 
 there were also erected upon that wall thirty- 
 eight towers, each of them fifty cubits high; 
 out of which yoti might pass into lesser edi- 
 fices, which were built on the inside, round 
 the entire wall; for the king reserved the 
 top of the hill, which was of a fat soil and 
 better mould than any valley for agriculture, 
 that such as committed themselves to this 
 fortress for their preservation, might not even 
 therefore be quite destitute of food, in case 
 they should ever be in want of it from abroad. 
 Moreover, he built a palace therein at the 
 western ascent: it was within and beneath 
 the walls of the citadel, but inclined to its 
 north side. Now the wall of this palace was 
 very high and strong, and had at its four cor- 
 ners towers sixty cubits high. The furniture 
 also of the edifices, and of the cloisters, and of 
 the baths, was of great variety, and very 
 costly; and these buildings were supported 
 by pillars of single stones on every side : the 
 walls als> and the floors of the edifices were 
 paved with stones of several colours. He aL<o 
 had cut many and great pits, as reservoirs for 
 water, out of the rocks, at every one of the 
 places that were inhabited, both above and 
 round about the palace, and before the wall; 
 and by this contrivai)ce he endeavoured to 
 have water for several uses, as if there had 
 been fountains there- Here was also a read 
 digged from the palace, and leading to the very 
 top of the mountain, which yet could not be 
 seen by such as were without [the walls]; nor 
 indeed could enemies easily make use of the 
 plain roads; for the road on the east side, as 
 
776 
 
 WAfes OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 we have already taken notice, could not be 
 walked upon, by reason of its nature; and for 
 the western road, he built a large tower at its 
 narrowest place, at no less a distance from the 
 top of the hill than a thousand cubits; which 
 tower could not possibly be passed by, nor 
 could it be easily taken; nor indeed could 
 Those that walked along it without any fear 
 (such was its contrivance) easily get to the 
 end of it; and after such a manner was this 
 citadel fortified, both by nature and by the 
 hands of men, in order to frustrate the attacks 
 of enemies. 
 
 4. As for the furniture that was within this 
 fortress, it was still more wonderful on account 
 of its splendour and long contiiniance ; for 
 here was laid up corn in large quantities, and 
 such as would subsist men for a long time; 
 here was also wine and oil in abundance, with 
 all kinds of pulse and dates heaped up to- 
 gether; all which Eleazar found there, when 
 be and his Sicarii got possession of the fortress 
 by treachery. These fruits were also fresh 
 and full ripe, and no way inferior to such 
 fruits newly laid in,^ although they were little 
 short of a hundred years * from the laying in 
 these provisions [by Herod], till the place was 
 taken by the Romans; nay, indeed, when the 
 Romans got possession of those fruits that 
 were left, they found them not corrupted all 
 that \^ hile : nor should we be mistaken, if we 
 supposed that the air was here the cause of 
 their enduring so long, this fortress being so 
 high, and so free from the mixture of all 
 terrene and muddy particles of matter. There 
 was also found here a large quantity of all 
 sorts of weapons of war, which had been trea- 
 sured up by that king, and were sufficient for 
 ten thousand men: there was cast iron, and 
 brass, and tin, which show that he had taken 
 much pains to have all things here ready for 
 the greatest occasions; for the report goes 
 how Herod thus prepared this fortress on 
 his own account, as a refuge against two 
 kinds of danger; the one for fear of the mul- 
 titude of the Jews, lest they should depose 
 him and restore their former kings to the go- 
 vernment; the other danger was greater and 
 more terrible, which arose from Cleopatra, 
 queen of Egypt, who did not conceal her 
 intentions, but spoke often to Antony, and 
 desired him to cut off Herod, and entreated 
 him to bestow the kingdom of Judea upon 
 her. And certainly it is a great wonder 
 that Antony did never comply with her com- 
 mands in this point, as he was so miserably 
 enslaved to his passion for her; nor should 
 any one have been surprised if she had been 
 gratified in such her request. So the fear of 
 these dangers made Herod rebuild Masada, 
 and thereby leave it for the finishing-stroke 
 of the Romans in this Jewish war. 
 
 • Pliny and others con flrtn thin stranpe paradox, that 
 proTifliont laid up axuinst sieKes will continue ijood for 
 • buDdred ycari, at 8panbeim notes apen Ibis plac«. 
 
 5. Since therefore the Roman commander 
 Silva had now built a wall on the outside, 
 round about this whole place, as we have said 
 already, and had thereby ma<le a most accu- 
 rate provision to prevent any one of the be- 
 sieged running away, he undertook the siege 
 itself, though he found but one single place 
 that would admit of the banks he was to raise ;, 
 for beBind that tower which secured the road 
 that led to the palace, and to the top of the 
 hill from the west, there was a certain emi- 
 neney of the rock, very broad and very pro- 
 minent, but three hundred cubits beneath the 
 highest part of Masada; it was called the 
 White Promontory. Accordingly he got up- 
 on that part of the rock, and ordered the army 
 to bring earth; and when they fell to that 
 work with alacrity, and abundance of them 
 together, the bank was raised, and became 
 solid for two hundred cubits in height. Yet 
 was not this bank thought sufficiently high for 
 the use of the engines that wfcre to be set upon 
 it; but still' another elevated work of great 
 stones compacted together was raised upon 
 that bank: this was fifty cubits, both in 
 breadth and height. The other machines 
 that were now got ready were like to tho?© 
 that had been first devised by Vespasian, and 
 afterwards by Titus, for sieges. There was, 
 also a tower made of the height of sixty 
 cubits, and all over plated with iron, out 
 of which the Romans threw darts and stonesj 
 from the engines, and soon made those that 
 fought from the walls of the place to retire,, 
 and would not let them lift up their heads 
 above the works. At the same time Silva 
 ordered that great battering-ram \\hich he 
 had made, to be brought thither, and to be 
 set against the wall, and to make frequent 
 batteries against it, which with some diffi- 
 culty, broke down a part of the vvall^ ami 
 quite overthrew it. However the Sicarii 
 made haste, and presently built another wall 
 within that, which should not be liable to th& 
 same misfortune from the machines with the 
 other: it was made soft and yielding, and 
 so was capable of avoiding the terrible blows 
 that aflfected the other. It was framed afte* 
 the following manner: — They laid together 
 great beams of wood lengthways, one close to 
 the end of another, and the same way in 
 which they were cut: there were two of these 
 rows parallel to one another, and laid at such 
 a distance from each other as the breadth of 
 the wall required, and earth was put into the 
 space between those rows. Now, that the 
 earth might not fall away upon the elevation 
 of this bank to a greater height, they farther 
 laid other beams over across them, and 
 thereby bound those beams together that 
 lay lengthways. This work of thcirt» was like 
 a real edifice; and when the macliiiifs were 
 applied, the blows were weakened by its yield- 
 ing; and as the matt rials by Piirh concussion 
 were shaken closer together, tlie pile by that 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JtVVS, 
 
 777 
 
 means became firmer than before. When 
 Sjlva saw this, he thought it best to endeavour 
 the taking of this wall by setting fire to it; 
 80 he gave order that the soldiers should throw 
 a great number of burning torches upon it; 
 accordingly, as it was chiefly rMde of wood, 
 it soon took fire ; and when it was once set 
 on fire, its hollowness made that fire spread 
 to a mighty flame. Now, at the very begin- 
 ning of this fire, a north wind that then blew 
 proved terrible to the Romans ; for by bring- 
 ing the flame downward, it drove it upon 
 them, and they were almost in despair of suc- 
 cess, as fearing their machines woirid be 
 burnt: but after this, on a sudden the wind 
 changed into the south, as if it were done by 
 Divine Providence; and blew strongly the 
 contrary way, and carried the flame, and 
 drove it against the wall, which was now on 
 fire through its entire thickness. So the 
 Romans, having now assistance from God, re- 
 turned to their camp with joy, and resolved 
 to attack their enemies the very next day; on 
 which occasion they set their watch more care- 
 fully that night, lest any of the Jews should 
 run away from them without being disco- 
 vered. 
 
 6. However, neither did Eleazar once think 
 of flying away, nor would he permit any one 
 else to do so ; but when he saw their wall 
 burnt down by the fire, and could devise no 
 other way of escaping, or room for their far- 
 ther courage, and setting before their eyes 
 what the Romans would do to them, their 
 children, and their wives, if they got them 
 into their power, he consulted about having 
 them all slain. Now, as he judged this to be 
 the best thing they could do in their present 
 circumstances, he gathered the most courage- 
 ous of his companions together, and encou- 
 raged them to take that course by a speech* 
 which he made to them in the manner fol- 
 lowmg: — " Smce we, long ago, my generous 
 friends, resolved never to be servants to the 
 Romans, nor to any other than to God him- 
 self, who alone is the true and just Lord of 
 mankind, the time is now come that obliges 
 US to make that resolution true in practice. 
 And let us not at this time bring a reproach 
 upon ourselves for self-contradiction, while we 
 formerly would not undergo slavery, though 
 it were then without danger, but must now, 
 together with slavery, choose such punish- 
 ments also as are intolerable ; I mean thi)!, 
 upon the supposition that the Romans once 
 
 • ~':«? spf»<^cb«?s in this and the next section, as intro- 
 diici-' "inler the person of this Rleaear. are exceeding 
 remurktible. and on the noblest subjects, the contempt o( 
 deat... aiid the ditjnity and immortality of the soul; and 
 that ''t only among the Jews, but amons the Indians 
 •temselves also; and »ire his:hly worthy the penisal of all 
 the i.'urious. It seems as if that philosophic lady who 
 iarr;\ ctl. c!i ix. s^^ct- I. 2. remembered the substance of 
 thes* d*yrcHrse<«. as spoken bv F.leazar. and so Josephus 
 clothed them in his own words: at the lowest they con- 
 taiti ifiO .(fwisli noliuns on these head.*, as nnderstoixi 
 then by our Josephus, and cannot but deserve a suitable 
 reganl from as. 
 
 reduce us under their power while we are 
 alive. We were the very first that revolted 
 from them, and we are the last that fight 
 against them ; and I cannot but esteem it as 
 a favour that God hath granted us, that it is 
 still in our power to die bravely, and in a state 
 of freedom, which hath not been the case of 
 others, who were conquered unexpectedly. If; 
 is very plain that we shall be taken within a 
 day's time ; but it is still an eligible thing to 
 die after a glorious manner, together with our 
 dearest friends. This is what our enemies 
 themselves cannot by any means hinder, al- 
 though they be very desirous to take us alive 
 Nor can we propose to ourselves any more to 
 fight them and beat them. It had been pro- 
 per indeed for us to have conjectured at the 
 purpose of God much sooner, and at the very 
 first, when we were so desirous of defending 
 our liberty, and when we received such sore 
 treatment from one another, and worse treat- 
 ment from our enemies, and to have been sen- 
 sible that the same God, who had of old taken 
 the Jewish nation into his favour, had now con- 
 demned them to destruction ; for had he either 
 continued favourable, or been but in a lesset 
 degree displeased with us, he had not overlook- 
 ed the destruction of so many men, or delivered 
 his most holy city to be burnt and demolished 
 by our enemies. To be sure, we weakly hoped 
 to have preserved ourselves, and ourselves 
 alone, still in a state of freedom, as if we had 
 been guilty of no sins ourselves against God, 
 nor been partners with those of others; we also 
 taught other men to preserve their liberty. 
 Wherefore, consider how God hath convinced 
 us that our hopes were in vain, by bringing 
 such distress upon us in the desperate state 
 we are now in, and which is beyond all our 
 expectations ; for the nature of this fortress, 
 which was in itself unconquerable, hath not 
 proved a means of our deliverance ; and even 
 while we have still great abundance of food, 
 and a great quantity of arms, and other ne- 
 cessaries more than we want, we are openly 
 deprived by God himself of all hopes of deli- 
 verance ; for that fire which was driven upon 
 our enemies did not of its own accord turn 
 back upon the wall which we had built : this 
 was the effect of God's anger against us for 
 our manifold sins, which we have been guilty 
 of in a most insolent and extravagant manner 
 with regard to our own countrymen; the pu- 
 nishments of which let us not receive from 
 the Romans but from God himself, as exe- 
 cuted by our own hands, for these wiu be 
 more moderate than the otner. Let our wives 
 die before they are aoused, and our children 
 before they have tastea of slavery : and after 
 we have slain them, let us bestow that glori- 
 ous benefit upon one another mutually, and 
 preserve ourselves in freedom, as an excellent 
 funeral monument for us. But first let us de- 
 stroy our money and the fortress by fire; for 
 I am well assured that this w}ll be a great grief 
 
778 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 to the Romans, that they shall not be able to 
 seize upon our bodies, and shall fail of our 
 wealth also : and let us spare nothing but our 
 provisions; for they will be a testimonial 
 when we are dead that we were not subdued 
 for want of necessaries ; but that, according 
 to our original resolution, we have preferred 
 death before slavery." 
 
 7. This was Eleazar's speech to them. Yet 
 did not the opinions of all the auditors acqui- 
 esce therein; but although some of them were 
 very zealous to put his advice in practice, and 
 were in a manner filled with pleasure at it, 
 and thought death to be a good thing, yet had 
 those that were most effeminate a commisera- 
 tion for their wives and families; and when 
 these men were especially moved by the pros- 
 pect of their own certain death, they looked 
 wistfully at one another, and by the tears that 
 were in their eyes, declared their dissent from 
 his opinion. When Eleazar saw these peo- 
 ple in such fear, and that their souls were de- 
 jected at so prodigious a proposal, he was afraid 
 lest perhaps these effeminate persons should, 
 by their lamentations and tears, enfeeble those 
 that heard what he had said courageously ; 
 so he did not leave off exhorting them, but 
 stirred up himself, and recollecting proper 
 arguments for raising their courage, he un- 
 dertook to speak more briskly and fully to 
 them, and that concerning the immortality of 
 the soul. So he made a lamentable groan, 
 and fixing his eyes intently on those that wept, 
 he spake thus: — "Truly, I was greatly mis- 
 taken when I thought to be assisting to brave 
 men who struggled hard for their liberty, and 
 to such as were resolved either to live with 
 honour, or else to die : but I find that you 
 are such people as are no better than others, 
 either in virtue or in courage, and are afraid 
 of dying, though you be delivered thereby 
 from the greatest miseries, while you ought 
 to make no delay in this matter, nor to await 
 any one to give you good advice; for the laws 
 of our country, and of God himself, have, 
 from ancient times, and as soon as ever we 
 ?ould use our reason, continually taught us, 
 and our forefathers have corroborated the 
 same doctrine by their actions and by their 
 bravery of mind, that it is life that is a cala- 
 mity to men, and not death; for this last af- 
 fords our souls their liberty, and sends them 
 by a removal into their own place of purity, 
 where they are to be insensible of all sorts of 
 misery ; for while souls are tied down to a 
 mortal body, they are partakers of its mise- 
 ries ; and really, to speak the truth, they are 
 themselves dead ; for the union of what is di- 
 vine to what is mortal, is disagreeable. It is 
 true, the power of the soul is great, even when 
 it is imprisoned in a mortal body ; for by 
 moving it after a way that is invisible, it makes 
 the body a sensible instrument, and causes it 
 to advance farther in its actions than mortal na- 
 ture could other^yise do. However, when it is 
 
 freed from that weight which draws it dovm to 
 the earth and is connected with it, it obtains 
 its own proper place, and does then become 
 a partaker of that blessed power, and those 
 abilities, which are then every way incapable 
 of being hindtted in their operations. It con- 
 tinues invisible, indeed, to the eyes of men, as 
 does God himself; for certainly it is not it- 
 self seen, while it is in the body ; for it is 
 there after an invisible manner, and when it 
 is freed from it, it is still not seen. It is this 
 soul which hath one nature, and that an in- 
 corruptible one also ; but yet is it the cause 
 of the change that is made in the body ; for 
 whatsoever it be which the soul touches, that 
 lives and flourishes; and from whatsoever it 
 is removed, that withers away and dies: such 
 a degree is there in it of immortality. Let 
 me produce the state of sleep as a mo&t; evi- 
 dent demonstration of the truth of what I say; 
 wherein souls, when the body does not dis- 
 tract them, have the sweetest rest depending 
 on themselves, and conversing with God, by 
 their alliance to him ; they then go every- 
 vi'here, and foretell many futurities <)efore- 
 hand ; and why are we afraid of death, while 
 we are pleased with the rest that we have jn 
 sleep ? and how absurd a thing is it to pur- 
 sue after liberty while we are alive, and yet 
 to envy it to ourselves where it will be eter- 
 nal 1 We, therefore, who have been brought 
 up in a discipline of our own, ought to become 
 an example to others of our readiness to die ; 
 yet if we do stand in need of foreigners 
 to support us in this matter, let us regard 
 those Indians who profess the exercise of |)hi- 
 losophy ; for these good men do but unwillingly 
 undergo the time of life, and look upon it as 
 a necessary servitude, and make haste to let 
 their souls loose from their bodies ; nay, 
 when no misfortune presses them to it, nor 
 drives them upon it, these have such a desire 
 of a life of immortality, that they tell other 
 men beforehand that they are about to de- 
 part; and nobody hinders them, but every 
 one thinks them happy men, and gives them 
 letters to be carried to their familiar friends 
 [',hat are dead] ; so firmly and certainly do 
 they believe that souls converse with one 
 another [in the other world]. So when these 
 men have heard all such commands that were 
 to be given them, they deliver their body to 
 the fire ; and, in order to their getting their 
 soul a separation from the body, in the great- 
 est purity, they die in the midst of hymns of 
 commendations made to them ; for their 
 dearest friends conduct them to their death 
 more readily than do any of the rest of man- 
 kind conduct their fellow-citizens when they 
 are going a very long journey, who, at the 
 same time, weep on their own account, but 
 look upon the others as happy persons, as so 
 soon to be made partakers of the immortal 
 order of beings. Aie not uc, therefore, 
 ashamed to have lower notions than the Indi- 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 779 
 
 ans? and by our own cowardice to lay a base 
 reproach upon the laws of our country, which 
 are so much desired and imitated by all man- 
 kind? But put the case that we had been 
 brought up under another persuasion, and 
 taught that life is the greatest good which 
 men are capable of, and that death is a calami- 
 ty; however, the circumstances we are now 
 iu ought to be an inducement to us to bear 
 such calamity courageously, since it is- by the 
 will of God, and by neces^ity, that we are to 
 die; for it now appears that God hath made 
 such a decree against the whole Jewish na- 
 tion, that we are to be deprived of this life 
 which [he knew] we would not make » due 
 use of; for do not you ascribe the occasion j 
 of your present condition to yourselves, nor 
 think the Romans are the true occasion that 
 this war we have had with them is become so 
 destructive to us all: these things have not 
 come to pass by their power, but a more 
 powerful cause hath intervened, and made us 
 afford them an occasion of their appearing to 
 be conquerors over us. What Roman wea- 
 pons, I pray you, were those, by which the 
 Jews of Cesarea were slain? On the con- 
 trary, when they were no way disposed to 
 rebel, but were all the while keeping their 
 seventh day festival, and did not so much as 
 lift up their hands against the citizens of Ce- 
 sarea, yet did those citizens run upon them in 
 great crowds, and cut their throats, and the 
 throats of thjeir wives and children, and this 
 without any regard to the Romans themselves, 
 who never took us for their enemies till we re- 
 volted from them. But som? may be ready to 
 say, that truly the people of Cesarea had always 
 a quarrel against tjiose that lived among them, 
 and that when an opportunity offered itself, 
 they only satisfied the old rancour they had 
 agamst them. What then shall we say to those 
 of Scythopolis,who ventured towage war with 
 us on account of the Greeks? Nor did they 
 do it by way of revenge upon the Romans, 
 when they acted in concert with our country- 
 men. Wherefore you see how little our 
 good-will and fidelity to them profited us, 
 while they were slain, they and their whole 
 families after the most inhuman manner, 
 which was all the requital that was made 
 them for the assistance they had afforded the 
 others; for that very same destruction which 
 they had prevented from falling upon the 
 others, did they suffer themselves from them, 
 as if they bad been ready to be the actors 
 against them. It would be too long for me 
 to speak at this time of every destruction 
 brought upon us: for you cannot but know, 
 that there was not any one Syrian city which 
 did not slay their Jewish inhabitants, and 
 were not more bitter enemies to us than were 
 the Romans themselves: nay, even those of 
 l>amascus,* when they were able to allege 
 
 • See b. ii. ch. xx sect. 2, whert the number of the 
 bJjtij' is but 10.(>00 
 
 no tolerable pretence against us, filled their 
 city with the most barbarous slaughter of our 
 people, and cut the throats of eighteen thou- 
 sand Jews, with their wives and children. 
 And as to the multitude of those that were 
 slain in Egypt, and that with torments also, 
 we have been informed they were more than 
 sixty thousand ; those indeed being in a fo- 
 reign country, and so naturally meeting with 
 nothing to oppose against their enemies, were 
 killed in the manner forementioned. As for 
 all those of us who have waged war against 
 the Romans in our own country, had we not 
 sufficient reason to have sure hopes of victory? 
 For we had arms, and walls, and fortresses 
 so prepared as not to be easily taken, and 
 courage not to be moved by any dangers in 
 the cause of liberty, which encouraged us all 
 to revolt from the Romans. But then, these 
 advantages sufficed us but for a short time, 
 and only raised our hopes, while they really 
 appeared to be the origin of our miseries ; 
 for all we had hath been taken from us, and 
 all hath fallen under our enemies, as if these 
 advantages were only to render their victory 
 over us the more glorious, and were not 
 disposed for the preservation of those by 
 whom these preparations were made. And 
 as for those that are already dead in the war, 
 it is reasonable we should esteem them 
 blessed, for they are dead in defending, and 
 not in betraying their liberty ; but as to the 
 multitude of those that are now under the Ro- 
 mans, who would not pity their condition? and 
 who would not make haste to die, before he 
 would suffer the same miseries with them ' 
 Some of them have been put upon the rack, 
 and tortured with fire and whippings, and so 
 died. Some have been half- devoured by 
 wild beasts, and yet have been reserved alive 
 to be devoured by them a second time, in or- 
 der to afford laughter and sport to our ene- 
 mies ; and such of those as are alive still, are 
 to be looked on as the most miserable, who, 
 being so desirous of death, could not come 
 at it. And where is now that great city, the 
 metropolis of the Jewish nation, which was 
 fortified by so many walls round about, which 
 had so many fortresses and large towers to 
 defend it, which could hardly contain the in- 
 struments prepared for the war, and which 
 had so many ten thousands of men to fight 
 for it? Where is this city that was believed 
 to have God himself inhabiting therein? It 
 is now demolished to the very foundations : 
 and hath nothing but that monument of it pre- 
 served, I mean the camp of those that have de- 
 stroyed it which still dwells upon its ruins; 
 some unfortunate old men also lie upon the 
 ashes of the temple, and a few women are 
 there preserved alive by the enemy, for our 
 bitter shame and reproach. Now, who is 
 there that revolves these things in his mind, 
 and yet is able to bear the sight of the sun, 
 though he might live out of danger ? Who 
 
780 
 
 WARS OF IHE JEWS, 
 
 BOOir VU. 
 
 ib there so much his country's enemy, or so 
 unmanly, and so desirous of living, as not to 
 repent that he is still alive ? And 1 cannot 
 out wish that we had all died hefore we had 
 seen that holy city demolished by the' hands 
 of our enemies, or the foundations of our 
 holy temple dug up after so profane a man- 
 rcT. But since we had a generous hope that 
 deluded us, as if we might perhaps have been 
 able to avenge ourselves on our enemies on 
 that account, though it be now become 
 vanity, and hath left us alone in this distress, 
 let us make haste to die bravely. Let us pity 
 ourselves, our children, and our wives, while 
 it is in our power to show pity to them ; for 
 we are born to die,* as well as those were 
 whom we have begotten ; nor is it in the 
 power of the most happy of our race to avoid 
 it. But for abuses and slavery, and the 
 sight of our wives led away after an ignomi- 
 nious manner, with their children, these are 
 not such evils as are natural and necessary 
 among men ; although such as do not prefer 
 death before those miseries, when it is in 
 their power so to do, must undergo even them, 
 on -account of their own cowardice. We re- 
 volted from the Romans with great preten- 
 sions to courage ; and when, at the very last, 
 they invited us to preserve ourselves, we 
 would not comply with them. Who will 
 not, therefore, believe that they will certainly 
 be in a rage at us, in case they can take us 
 alive? Miserable will then be the young 
 men, who will be strong enough in their 
 bodies to sustain many torments ! miserable 
 also will be those of elder years who will not 
 be able to bear those calamities which young 
 men might sustain ! One man will be obliged 
 to hear the voice of his son imploring help of 
 his father, when his hands are bound 1 But 
 certainly our hands are still at liberty, and 
 have a sword in them : let them then be sub- 
 servient to us in our glorious design ; let us 
 die before we become slaves under our ene- 
 mies, and let us go out of the world, together 
 with our children and our wives, in a state of 
 freedom. This it is that our laws command 
 us to do ; this it is that our wives and chil- 
 dren crave at our hands ; nay, God himself 
 hath brought this necessity upon us while the 
 Romans desire the contrary, and are afraid 
 lest any of us should die before we are taken. 
 Let us therefore make haste, and instead of 
 affording them so much pleasure as they hope 
 for in getting us under their power, let us 
 leave them an example which shall at once 
 cause their astonishment at our death, and 
 their admiration of our hardiness therein." 
 
 • RHand here sets down a parallel aphorism of one of 
 tho Jewish rabbins. '* We are born that we may die, 
 •nd die that we may live." 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW THE" PEOPLE THAT WERE IN THK FOtt- 
 TRESS WERE PREVAILED ON BY THK WORDS 
 OF ELEAZAR, TWO WOMEN AND FIVE CHIL- 
 DREN ONLY EXCEPTED, AND ALL SCBMIT- 
 TED TO BE KILLED BY ONE ANOTHER. 
 
 • 
 
 § 1. Now as Eleazar was proceeding on in 
 this exhortation, they ail cut him off short, and 
 made haste to do the work, as full of an un- 
 conquerable ardour of mind, and moved vnth 
 a demoniacal fury. So they went their ways, 
 as one still endeavouring to be before another, 
 and as thinking that this eagerness would be 
 a demonstration of their courage and good 
 conduct, if they could avoid appearing in the 
 last class : so great was the zeal they were in 
 to slay their wives and children, and them- 
 selves also! Nor indeed, when they came to 
 the work itself, did their courage fail them, 
 as one might imagine it would have done . 
 but they then held fast the same resolution, 
 without wavering, which they had upon the 
 hearing of Eleazar's speech, while yet every 
 one of them still retained the natural passion 
 of'love to themselves and their families, be- 
 cause the reasoning they went upon appeared 
 to them to be very just, even with regard to 
 those that were dearest to them ; for the hus- 
 bands tenderly embraced their wives, and 
 took their children into their arms, and gave 
 the longest parting kisses to them, with tears 
 in their eyes. Yet at the same time did they 
 complete what they had resolved on, as if they 
 had been executed by the hands of strangers, 
 and they had nothing else for their comfort 
 but the necessity they were in of doing this 
 execution, to avoid that prospect they hjid of 
 the miseries they were to suffer from their 
 enemies. Nor was there at length any one 
 of these men found that scrupled to act their 
 part in this terrible execution, but every one ot 
 them dispatched his dearest relations. Miser- 
 able men indeed were they ! whose distress 
 forced them to slay their own wives and chil- 
 dren with their own hands, as the lightest of 
 those evils that were before them. So they 
 being not able to bear the grief they were 
 under for what they had done any longer, and 
 esteeming it an injury to those they had slain, 
 to live even the shortest space of time after 
 them, — they presently laid all they had in a 
 heap, and set fire to it. They then chose ten 
 men by lot out of them, to slay all the rest ; 
 every one of whom laid himself down by his 
 wife and children on the ground, and threw 
 his arms about them, and they offered their 
 necl<8 to the stroke of thos^e who by lot exe- 
 cuted that melancholy office : and when these 
 ten had, without fear, slain them all, they 
 made the same rule for casting lots for them- 
 gelves, that he whose lot it was should fiibi 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 WARS OF rill;. JhWS. 
 
 781 
 
 kill tbe other nine, and after all, should kill 
 himself. Accordingly, all these had courage 
 sufficient to he no way behind one another in 
 doing or suffering; so, for a conclusion, the 
 nine offered their necks to the executioner, 
 and he who was the last of all took a view of all 
 the other bodies, lest perchance some or other 
 among so many that were slain should want 
 his assii:ta:ice to he quite dispatched ; and 
 when h.- e^-'^i^ed that they were all slain, he 
 set fire to tbe palace, and with the great force 
 of his hand ran his sword entirely through 
 himself, and fell down dead near to bis own 
 relations. So these people died with this in- 
 tention, that they would leave not so much 
 as one soul among them all alive to be sub- 
 ject to the Romans. Yet was there an an- 
 cient woman, and another who was of kin to 
 Eleazar, and superior to most women in pru- 
 dence and learning, with five children, who 
 had concealed themselves in caverns under 
 ground, and had carried water thither for 
 their drink, and were hidden there when the 
 rest were intent upon the slaughter of one 
 another. Those others were nine hundred 
 and sixty in number, the women and children 
 being withal included in that computation — 
 This calamitous slaughter was made on the 
 fifteenth day of the month Xanthicus [Nisan], 
 "1. Now for the Romans, they expected 
 ;hal they should be fought in the morning, 
 ■wheii accordingly they put on their armour, 
 and laid bridges of planks upon their ladders 
 iToni their banks, to make an assault upon 
 \.he fortress, which they did ; but saw nobody 
 f.s ai; enemy, but a terrible solitude on every 
 side, with a fire within the place, as well as a 
 perfect silence. So they were at a loss to 
 gue--s at what had happened. At length they 
 made a shout, as if it had been at a blow 
 given by the battering-ram, to try whether 
 they could bring any one out that was within ; 
 the women heard this noise, and came out of 
 theij underground cavern, and informed the 
 Ronrans what had been done, as it was done; 
 and the second of them clearly described all 
 both what was said and what was done, and 
 t le manner of it ; yet did they not easily give 
 t iei ' attention to such a desperate undertak- 
 iiig. ard -did not believe it could »be as they 
 s-iid they also attempted to put the fire out, 
 a id ru:>kly cutting themselves a wi^ through 
 it, tbry came within the palace, and so met 
 with the multitude of the slain, but could 
 t:;k: -o pleasure in the fact, though it were 
 djne to their enemies. Nor could they do 
 o*Ker than wonder at the courage of their re- 
 siilution, and the immovable contempt of 
 d?ath which so great a number of them had 
 shown, when they went through with such an 
 action as that was. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THAT MANY OF THE SICARII FLED TO ALEX- 
 ANDRIA ALSO, AND WHAT DANGERS THEY 
 WERE IN THERE; ON WHICH ACCOUNT 
 THAT TEMPLE WHICH HAD FORMERLY 
 BEEN BUILT BY ONTAS- THE HIGH-PRlEfT, 
 WAS DESTROYED. 
 
 § I. When iSIasada was thus taken, the ge- 
 neral left a garrison in the fortress to keep 
 it, and he himself went away to Ceserea; for 
 there were now no enemies left in the country, 
 it being all overthrown by so long a war. Yet 
 did this war afford disturbances and danger- 
 ous disorders even in places very far remote 
 from Judea; for still it came to pass that 
 many Jews were slain at Alexandriain Egypt; 
 for as many of the Sicarii as were able to fly 
 thither, out of the seditious wars in Judea, 
 were not content to have saved themselves, 
 but must needs be undertaking to make new 
 disturbances, and persuaded many of those 
 that entertained them to assert their liberty, 
 to esteem the Romans to be no better than 
 themselves, and to look upon God as their 
 only Lord and Master. But when part of 
 the Jews of reputation opposed them, ihey 
 slew some of them, and with the others they 
 were very pressing in their exhortations to 
 revolt from the Romans; but when the prin- 
 cipal men of the senate saw what madness 
 they were come to, they thought it no longer 
 safe for themselves to overlook them. So they 
 got all the Jews together to an assembly, and 
 accused the madness of the Sicarii, and de- 
 monstrated that they had been the authors of 
 all the evils that had come upon them. They 
 said also, that "these men, now they were 
 run away from Judea, having no sure hope 
 of escaping, because as soon as ever they shall 
 be known, they will be soon destroyed by the 
 Romans, they come hither and fill us full of 
 those calamities which belong to them, while 
 we have not been partakers with them in any 
 of their sins." Accordingly they exhorted 
 the multitude to have a care, lest they should 
 be brought to destruction by their means, and 
 to make their apology to the Romans for what 
 had been done, by delivering these men up to 
 them; who being thus apprized of the great- 
 ness of the danger they were in, complied with 
 what was proposed, and ran with great vio- 
 lence upon the Sicarii, and seized upon them; 
 and, indeed, six hundred of them were caught 
 immediately : but as to all those that fled in- 
 to Egypt,* and to the Egyptian Thebes, it 
 
 • Since Josephus here informs us that some of these 
 Sicarii, or ruffians, went from Alexandria (which wa« 
 itself in Egypt, in a larce sense) into Ecypt, and Thel«es 
 there situated. Reland well observes, from Vossius. tiiat 
 V.eypt sometimes denotes Proper or Upper Ejfvpt, as 
 distinct from the Helta, and the lower parts near Pales- 
 tine. AccordiogU. as he aJds, those that say it ncwi 
 
7^2 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 was not long ere they were caught also, and 
 brought back, — whose courage, or whether 
 we ought to call it madness, or hardiness in 
 their opinions, everybody was amazed at; for 
 when all sorts of torments and vexations of 
 their bodies that could be devised were made 
 use of to them, they could not get any one 
 of them to comply so far as to confess, or 
 seem to confess, that Csesar was their lord ; 
 but they preserved their own opinion, in spite 
 of all the distress they were bro'ight to, as if 
 they received these torrrients and the fire itself 
 with bodies insensible of pain, and with a 
 soul that in a manner rejoiced under them. 
 But what was most of all astonishing to the 
 beholders, was the courage of the children ; 
 for not one of these children was so far over- 
 come by these torments, as to name Caesar for 
 their lord. So far does the strength of the 
 courage [of the soul] prevail over the weak- 
 ness of the body. 
 
 2. Now Lupus did then govern Alexan- 
 dria, who presently sent Caesar word of this 
 commotion; who having in suspicion the rest- 
 less temper of the Jews for innovation, and 
 
 eing afraid lest they should get together again 
 and persuade some others to join with them, 
 gave orders to Lupus to demolish that Jewish 
 temple which was in the region called Onion,* 
 and was in Egypt, which was built and had 
 its denomination from the occasion follow- 
 ing: — Onias, the son of Simon, one of the 
 Jewish high-priests, fled from Antiochus the 
 king of Syria, when he made war with the 
 Jewsi and came to Alexandria ; and as Pto- 
 lemy received him very kindly on account of 
 his hatred to Antiochus, he assured him, that 
 if he would comply with his proposal, he 
 would bring all the Jews to his assistance ; 
 and when the king agreed to do it so far as 
 he was able, he desired him to give him leave 
 to build a temple somewhere in Egypt, and 
 to worship God according to the customs of 
 b'.s own country; for that the Jews would 
 then be so much readier to fight against An- 
 tiochus, who had laid waste the temple at Je- 
 rusalem, and that they would then come to 
 him with greater good-will ; and that, by 
 granting them liberty of conscience, vary 
 many of them would come over to him. 
 
 3. So Ptolemy complied with his proposals, 
 and gave him a place one hundred and eighty 
 furlongs distant from Memphis.! That No- 
 
 rninK in Ffjypt, must mean the f'roper or Upper Egypt 
 because it does son.etimes rain in llie other parts. See 
 Uie not<i on Antiq. b. ii. ch. vii. sect. 7; and b. iii. cb. 
 L ftci. C. 
 
 • Of this temple of Onias's buildinj; in Fprypt. see the 
 notes on Antia. b. xiii. ch. iii. sect. I , but whereas it is 
 elsewhere, both of the War. b. i. ch. i. sec'. I, and in the 
 Antiq. as now quoted, said that this temple was like to 
 that at Jerusalem, and here that it was not like it, but 
 like a tower, wet. 3. there is some reason to inspect the 
 rradint; here, and that either the negative particle is here 
 to be blotted out. or the word entirely added. 
 
 •f We must observe, that .lo»iP|i"liii8 here speaks of 
 Antiochus, who profaned the tMnntl-, as now alive 
 •Then f)niaB had l«'«v« given him by I'hiluiuetur to build 
 
 mos was called the Nomos of Heliopolis, 
 where Onias built a fortress and a temple, 
 not like to that at Jerusalem, but such as 
 resembled a tower. He built it of" large 
 stones to the height of sixty cubits ; he made 
 the structure of the altar in imitation of that 
 in our own country, and in like manner 
 adorned with gifts, excepting the make of the 
 candlestick, for he did not make a candle- 
 stick, but had a [single] lamp hammered out 
 of a piece of gold, which illuminated the place 
 with its rays, and which he hung by a chain 
 of gold ; but the entire temple was encom- 
 passed with a wall of burnt brick, though it 
 had gates of stone. The king also gave him 
 a large country for a revenue in money, that 
 both the priests might have a plentiful pro- 
 vision made for them, and that God might 
 have great abundance of what things were ne- 
 cessary for his worship. Yet did not Onias 
 do this out of a sober disposition, but he had 
 a mind to contend with the Jews at Jerusalem, 
 and could not forget the indignation he had 
 for being banished thence. Accordingly, he 
 thought that by building this temple he should 
 draw away a great number from them to him- 
 self. There had been also a certain ancient 
 prediction made by a [prophet] whose name 
 was Lsaiah, about six hundred years before, 
 that this temple should be built by a man that 
 was a Jew in Egypt. J And this is the history 
 of the building of that temple. 
 
 4. And now Lupus, the governor of Alex- 
 andria, upon the receipt of Caesar's letter, 
 came to the temple, and carried out of it some 
 of the donations dedicated thereto, and shut 
 up the temple it«elf ; and as Lupus died a 
 little afterward, Paulinus succeeded him. — 
 This man left none of these donations there, 
 and threatened the priests severely if they did 
 not bring them all out ; nor did he permit 
 any who were desirous of worshipping God 
 there, so much as to come near the whole 
 sacred place ; but when he had shut up the 
 gates, he made it entirely inaccessible, inso- 
 much that there remained no longer the least 
 footsteps of any divine worship that had been 
 in that place. Now the duration of the time 
 from the building of this temple till it was 
 shut up again, was three hundred and forty- 
 three years. 
 
 his temple; whereas it seems not to have been actually 
 built till about fifteen years afterwards. Yet, because it 
 is said in the Antiq. that Onias went to Philometor. b. 
 xii. ch. ix sect. 7, durintc the life-time of that Antiochus, 
 it is probable he petitioned, ai.d perhaps obtained his 
 leave them, though it were not actually built or fioisbed 
 till fifteen years afterward. 
 t Isa. xix. 18— aa 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 WARS OF THE JEWS. 
 
 783 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 COiy^ERNING JONATHAN, ONE OF THE SICARII, 
 THAT STIRRED UP A SEDITION IN CYRENE, 
 AND WAS A FALSE ACCUSER [oF THE INNO- 
 CENT.] 
 
 § 1. And now did the madness of the Sicarii, 
 like a disease, reach as far as the cities of Gy- 
 rene ; for one Jonathan, a vile person, and by 
 trade a weaver, came thither and prevailed 
 with no small number of the poorer sort to 
 give ear to him ; he also led them into the 
 desert, upon promising them that he would 
 show them signs and apparitions ; and as for 
 the other Jews of Cyrene, he concealed his 
 knavery from them, and put tricks upon them; 
 but those of the greatest dignity among them 
 informed Catullus, the governor of the Libyan 
 Pentapolis, of his march into the desert, and 
 of the preparations he had made for it. So 
 he sent out after him both horsemen and foot- 
 men, and easily overcame them, because they 
 were unarmed men : of these, many were 
 slain in the fight, but some were taken alive, 
 and brought to Catullus. As for Jonathan, 
 the head of this plot, he fled away at that 
 time ; but upon a great and very diligent 
 search which was made all the country over for 
 him, he was at last taken ; and when he was 
 brought to Catullus, he devised a way where- 
 by he both escaped punishment himself, and 
 afforded an occasion to Catullus of doing 
 much mischief; for he falsely accused the 
 richest men among the Jews, and said that 
 they had put him upon what he did. 
 
 2. Now Catullus easily admitted of these 
 his calumnies, and aggravated matters greatly, 
 and made tragical exclamations that he might 
 also be supposed to have had a hand in the 
 finishing of the Jewish war ; but what was 
 still harder, he did not only give a too easy 
 belief to his stories, but he taught the Sicarii 
 to accuse men falsely. He bade this Jona- 
 nathan, therefore, name one Alexander, a Jew 
 (with whom he had formerly had a quarrel, 
 and openly professed that he hated him); he 
 also got him to name his wife^JBeriiice, as 
 concerned with him. These two Catullus 
 ordered to be slain in the first place; nay, 
 after them he caused all the rich and wealthy 
 Jews to be slain, being no fewer in all than 
 three thousand. This, he thought, he might 
 do safely, because he confiscated their effects, 
 and added them to Caesar's revenues. 
 
 Sk Nay, indeed, lest any Jews that lived 
 
 elsewhere should convict him of his villany, 
 he extended his false accusations farther, and 
 persuaded Jonathan, and certain others that 
 were caught with him, to bring an accusation 
 of attempts for innovation against the Jews 
 that were of the best character both at Alex- 
 andria and at Rome. One of these, against 
 whom this treacherous accusation was laid, 
 was Josephus, the writer of these books. — ^ 
 However, this plot, thus contrived by Catul- 
 lus did not succeed according to his hopes; 
 for though he came himself to Rome, and 
 brought Jonathan and his companions along 
 with him in bonds, and thought he should 
 have had no farther inquisition made as to 
 those lies that were forged under his govern- 
 ment, or by his means, yet did Vespasian sus- 
 pect the matter, and make an inquiry how 
 far it was true; and when he understood that 
 the accusation laid against the Jews was an 
 unjust one, he cleared them of the crimes 
 charged upon them ; and this, on account of 
 Titus's concern about the matter, and brought 
 a deserved punishment upon Jonathan ; for he 
 was first tormented, and then burnt alive. 
 
 4. But as to Catullus, the emperors were 
 so gentle to him, that he underwent no severe 
 condemnation at this time; yet was it not 
 long before he fell into a complicated and al- 
 most incurable distemper, and died miserably. 
 He was not only afflicted in body, but the 
 distemper in his mind was more heavy upon 
 him than the other ; for he was terribly dis- 
 turbed, and continually cried out, that he saw 
 the ghosts of those whom he had slain stand- 
 ing before him. Whereupon he was not able 
 to contain himself, but leaped out of his bed, 
 as if both torments and fire were brought to 
 him. This his distemper grew still a great 
 deal worse and worse continually, and his 
 very entrails were so corroded, that they fell 
 out of his body, and in that condition he died. 
 Thus he became as great an instance of divine 
 providence as ever was, and demonstrated 
 that God punishes wicked men. 
 
 3. And here we shall put an end to this 
 our history ; wherein we formerly promised 
 to deliver the same with all accuracy, to such 
 as should be desirous of understanding after 
 what manner this war of the Romans with 
 the Jews was managed. Of which history, 
 how good the style is, must be left to the 
 determination of the readers ; but for the 
 agreement with the facts, I shall not scruple 
 to say, and that boldly, that truth hath been 
 what' I have alone aimed at through its entire 
 composition. 
 
A.NTIQUITY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS 
 
 APION.* 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 §1.1 SUPPOSE tbat, by my books of the An- 
 tiquhies of the Jews, most excellent Epaphro- 
 ditus.t I have made it evident to those who 
 peruse them, that our Jewish nation is of very 
 great antiquity, and had a distinct subsistence 
 of its own originally ; as also, I have therein 
 
 • This first book has a wrong title. It is not written 
 against Apion, as is the first part of the second book, 
 but against those Greeks in general who would not be- 
 lieve Josephus's former accounts of the very ancient 
 Btateof the Jewish nation, in his xx books of Antiqui- 
 ties; and particularly asrainst Agatharchides, Manetho, 
 Cheremon, and Lysimachus. It is on* of the most 
 learned, excellent,' and useful books of all antiquity; 
 and upon Jerome's perusal of this, and the following 
 books, be declares, that it seems to him a miraculous 
 thing "how one that was a Hebrew, who had been 
 from his infancy instructed in sacred learning, should 
 oe able to produce such a number of testimonies out of 
 
 f»rofane authors, as if he had read over all the Grecian 
 ibraries," Epist. 84, ad Magnum ,• and the learned Jew, 
 Mana8s<>h-Ben-lsrael, esteemed these two books so ex- 
 cellent, as to translate them into the Hebrew; this we 
 learn from his own catalogue of his works, which I have 
 seen. As to the time and place, when and where these 
 two books were written, the learned have not hitherto 
 been able to determine them any farther than that they 
 were written some time after his Antiquities, or some 
 time after A.n.93: which indeed is too obvious at their 
 entrance to be overlooked by even a careless peruser, 
 they being directly intended against those that would 
 not believe what he had advanced in those books con- 
 c«rning the great antiquity of the Jewish nation. As 
 to the place, they all imagine that these two books were 
 written where the former were, I mean at Rome; and 
 I confess, that 1 myself believed b»th those determina- 
 tions, till I came to finish tfiy notes upon these books, 
 when I met with plain indications that they were writ- 
 ten not at Rome, but in Judea, and this after the third 
 year of Trajan, or a.d. 100. 
 
 ♦ Take Dr. Hudson's note here, which, as it justly 
 :ontradiclt the common opinions that Josephus either 
 died under Domitian, or at least wrote nothing later 
 than bit days, so does it perfectly agree to my own de- 
 termination, from Justus of Tiberias, that he wrote or 
 fiBisbcd bis own Life after the third of Trajan, or a o. 
 
 declared how we came to inhabit this country 
 wherein we now live. Those Antiquities 
 contain the history of five thousand years, 
 and are taken out of our sacred books ; but 
 are translated by me into the Greek tongue ^ 
 However, since I observe a considerable num 
 ber of people giving ear to the reproaches that 
 are laid against us by those who bear ill-will 
 to us, and will not believe what I have written 
 concerning the antiquity of our nation, while 
 they take it for a plain sign that our nation 
 is of a late date, because they are not so muck 
 as vouchsafed a bare mention by the most fa- 
 mous historiographers among the Grecians, I 
 therefore have thought myself under an obliga- 
 tion to write somewhat briefly about these sub- 
 jects in order to convict those that reproach us 
 of spite and voluntary falsehood, and to correct 
 the ignorance of others, and withal to instruct 
 all those who are desirous of knowing the 
 truth of what great antiquity we really are. 
 As for the witnesses whom I shall produce for 
 the proof of what I say, they shall be such as 
 are esteemed to be of the greatest reputation 
 for truth, and the most skilful in the know- 
 ledge of all antiquity, by the Greeks them- 
 100. To which Noldius also agrees, de Herod, No. 383. 
 lEpaphroditus.] "Since Flavius Josephus (says Dr. 
 Iludson) wrote [or finished] bis books of Antiquities 
 on the thirteenth of Domitian [a. d. 93], and after that 
 wrote the Memoirs of his own Life, as an appendix to 
 the lx)ok8 of Antiquities, and at last his two l)ooks 
 against Apion, and yet dedicated all those writings to 
 Epaphroditus, he can hardly be that Epaphroditus who 
 was formerly secretary to Nero, and was slain on th» 
 fourteenth for fifteenth] of Domitian, after ho had been 
 for a good while In banishment ; but another Epaphro- 
 ditus, a ft-eed-man, and procurator of Trajan, as saya 
 Qrotius on Luke L 3." 
 
BOOK 1. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUd A-GAINST APION. 
 
 785 
 
 Helves. T will also show, that those who 
 nave written so reproachfully and falsely about 
 U9, are to be convicted by what they have 
 written themselvestotbe contrary. I shall also 
 endeavour to give an account of the reasons 
 why it hath so happened, that there hath not 
 been a great number of Greeks who have made 
 mention of our nation in their histories. I will 
 however bring those Grecians to light who 
 have not omitted such our history, for the sake 
 of those that either do not know them, or pre- 
 tend not to know them already. 
 
 2. Arid now, in the first place, I cannot 
 but greatly wonder at those men, who sup- 
 pose that we must attend to none but Gre- 
 cians, when we are inquiring about the most 
 ancient facts, and must inform ourselves of 
 their truth from them only, while we must 
 not believe ourselves nor other men; for I 
 am convinced that the very reverse is the 
 truth of the case. I mean this, — if we will 
 not be led by vain opinions, but will make in- 
 quiry after truth from facts themselves; for 
 they will find, that almost all which concerns 
 the Greeks happened not long ago ; nay, one 
 may say, is of yesterday only. I speak of 
 the building of their cities, the invention of 
 their arts, and the description of their laws ; 
 and as for their care about the writing down 
 of their histories, it is very near the last thing 
 they set about. However, they acknowledge 
 themselves so far, that they were the Egyp- 
 tians, the Chaldeans, and the Phcenicians (for 
 I will not now reckon ourselves among them) 
 that have preserved the memorials of the most 
 ancient and most lasting traditions of man- 
 kind ; for almost all these nations inhabit 
 such countries as are least subject to destruc- 
 tion from the world about them ; and these 
 also have taken especial care to have nothing 
 omitted of what was [remarkably] done 
 among them ; but their history was esteemed 
 sacred, and put into public tables, as written 
 by men of the greatest wisdom they had 
 among them ; but as for the place where the 
 Grecians inhabit, ten thousand destructions 
 have overtaken it, and blotted out the memo- 
 ry of former actions ; so that they were ever 
 beginning a new way of living, and supposed 
 that every one of them was the origin of their 
 new state. It was also late, and with diffi- 
 culty, that they came to know the letters 
 they now use ; for those who would advance 
 their use of these letters to the greatest anti- 
 quity, pretend that they learned them from 
 the Phoenicians and from Cadmus ; yet is 
 nobody able to demonstrate that they have 
 any writing preserved from that time, neither 
 in their temples, nor in any other public mo- 
 numents. This appears, because the time 
 when those lived who went to the Trojan war, 
 
 fRO many years afterward, is in great doubt, 
 and great inquiry is made whether the Greeks 
 used their letters at that time ; and the most 
 prevailing opinion, and that nearest the truth. 
 
 is, that their present way of using those letters 
 was unknown at that time. However, tdere 
 is not any writing which the Greeks agree to 
 be genuine among them ancienter than Ho> 
 mer's Poems, who must plainly be confessnd 
 later than the Siege of Troy: nay, the report 
 goes, that even he did not leave his poems in 
 writing, but that their memory was preserved 
 in songs, and they were put together after- 
 ward ; and this is the reason of such a num- 
 ber of variations as aie found in them.* As for 
 those who set themselves about writing their 
 histories, I mean such as Cadmus of Miletus, 
 and Acusilaus of Argos, and any others that 
 may be mentioned as succeeding Acusilaus, 
 they lived but a little while before the Per- 
 sian expedition into Greece. But then for 
 those that first introduced philosophy, and the 
 consideration of things celestial and divine 
 among them, such as Pherecydes the Syrian, 
 and Pythagoras, and Thales, all with one con- 
 sent agree, that they learned what they knew 
 of the Egyptians and Chaldeans, and wrote 
 but little. And these are the things which are 
 supposed to be the oldest of all among the 
 Greeks ; and they have much ado to believe 
 that the writings ascribed to those men are 
 genuine. 
 
 3. How can it then be other than an ab- 
 surd thing for the Greeks to be so proud, and 
 to vaunt themselves to be the only people that 
 are acquainted with antiquity, and that have 
 delivered the true accounts of those earJy 
 times after an accurate manner ! Nay, who 
 is there that cannot easily gather from the 
 Greek viTiters themselves, that they knew but 
 little on any good foundation when they set 
 to write, but rather wrote their histories from 
 their own conjectures ! Accordingly, they 
 confute one another in their own books to 
 purpose, and are not ashamed to give us tha 
 most contradictory accounts of the sama 
 things: and I should spend my time to littl' 
 purpose, if I should pretend to teach the 
 Greeks that which they know better t"han I 
 already, what a great disagreement there i» 
 between Hellanicus and Acusilaus about theii 
 genealogies ; in how many cases Acusilauf 
 corrects Hesiod : or after what manner Epho 
 rus demonstrates Hellanicus to have told lies 
 in the greatest part of his history; as does 
 Timeus in like manner as to Ephorus, and 
 the succeeding writers do to Timeus, and all 
 the later writers do to Herodotus -^ nor could 
 
 * This preservation of Homer's Poems by memory, 
 and not by his own writing them down, and that thence 
 they were styled Rhapsodies, as sung by him, like bal- 
 lads, by parts, and not composed and connected together 
 in complete works, are opinions well known from the 
 ancient commentators, though such supposal seems 
 to myself, as well as to Fabricius, Biblioth. Graec. l p. 
 269, and to others, highly improbable. Nor does Jose- 
 phus say there were no ancienter writings among the 
 Greeks than Homer's Poems, but that they did not 
 fully own any ancienter writings pretending to such 
 antiquity ; which is true. 
 
 t It well deserves to be considered, that Josephus here 
 says, how all the following Greek historians looked on 
 Uerodotuji as a fabuloua author, and presently, sect. 14, 
 
 SD 
 
786 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Timeus agree with Antiochus and Philistius, 
 or with Callias, about the Sicilian History, no 
 more than do the several writers of the At- 
 thidae follow one another about the Athenian 
 affairs ; nor do the historians the like, that 
 wrote the Argolics about the affairs of the 
 Argives. And now what need I say any more 
 about particular cities and smaller places, 
 while in the most approved writers of the ex- 
 pedition of the Persians, and of the actions 
 which were therein performed, there are so 
 great differences ! Nay, Thucydides himself 
 is accused by some as writing what is false, 
 although he seems to have given us the ex- 
 actest history of the affairs of his own time. 
 
 4. As for the occasions of this so great dis- 
 agreement of theirs, there may be assigned 
 many that are very probable, if any have a 
 mind to make an inquiry about them ; but I 
 ascribe these contradictions chiefly to two 
 causes, which I will now mention, and still 
 think what I shall mention in the first place, 
 to be the prinfcipal of all ; for if we remem- 
 ber, that in the beginning the Greeks had 
 taken no care to have public records of their 
 several transactions preserved, this must for 
 certain have afforded those that would after- 
 ward write about those ancient transactions, 
 the opportunity of making mistakes, and the 
 power of making lies also ; for this original 
 recording of such ancient transactions hath 
 not only been neglected by the other states of 
 Greece, but even among the Athenians them- 
 selves also, who pretend to be Aborigines, 
 and to have applied themselves to learning, 
 there are no such records extant; nav,-jf-'fy 
 say themselves, that the laws of Draco \f^ 
 cerning murders, which are now extaijy[;^ 
 writing, are the most ancient of their ft'i^jtljiv 
 records; which Draco yet lived but a liiSp.^ 
 time before the tyrant Pisistratus.* For as 
 to the Arcadians, who make such boastf of 
 their antiquity, what need I speak of them in 
 particular, since it was still later before they 
 got their letters, and learned them, and tha^ 
 with difficulty also. 
 
 5. There must therefore Naturally arise 
 great differences among writers, when they 
 
 how Manetho, the most authentic writer of the Egyp- 
 tian History, greatly complains of his mistakes in the 
 I'cyptian aflairs; as also that Strabo. b. xi p 507, the 
 most accurate peographer and historian, esteemed him 
 such; that Xenophon, the much mote accurate histo- 
 rian in the alTairs of Cyrus, implies, that Herodotus's 
 Account of that great man is almost entirely romantic 
 See the notes on Antiq. b. xi. ch. ii. spct. I, and Hutch- 
 inson's 'Prolegomena to his edition of Xenophon's Kvfi 
 tlc«)(i««that we have already seen in the note on An- 
 tiq. b. viii. ch. x. sect- 3, how very little Herodotus knew 
 about the Jewish aflairs and country, and tliat he greatly 
 atfected what we call the Marvellous, as Monsieur Kol- 
 lin has lately and justly determined; whence we are not 
 always to depend on the authority of Herodotus, where 
 it is unsupported by other evidt-nce, but ought to com- 
 pare the other evidence with his. and. if it preponderate, 
 lo prefer it before his. I do not mean by this, that Hero, 
 dotus wilfully related what he Itelieved to be false (as 
 riisias aef ms to have done), but that be often wanted 
 f vifiencp. and oonietimes preferred what wa« niarveilous 
 Ic wh»t w:is lt«>iti a'.iestf') as really mie. 
 * Ahttul iheda)* of ('\rur and l>uni>*l. 
 
 had no original records to lay for their foun- 
 dation, which might at once inform those who 
 had an inclination to learn, and contradict 
 those that would tell lies. However, we are 
 to suppose a second occasion besides the for- 
 mer of these contradictions ; it is this : That 
 those vt'ho were the most zealous to write his- 
 tory, were not solicitous for the discovery of 
 truth,f although it was very easy for them 
 always to make such a profession ; but their 
 business was to demonstrate that they could, 
 write well, and make an impression upon 
 mankind thereby ; and in what mariner of 
 writing they thought they were able to exceed 
 
 others, to that did they apply themselves 
 
 Some of them betook themselves to the writ- 
 ing of fabulous narrations ; some of them en- 
 deavoured to please the cities or the kings, 
 by writing in their commendation; others of 
 them fell to finding faults with transactioxis, 
 or with the writers of such transactions, and 
 thought to make a great figure by so doing ; 
 and indeed these do what is of all things the 
 most contrary to true history ; for it is the 
 great character of true history that all con- 
 cerned therein both speak and write the same 
 things; while these men, by writing different- 
 ly about the same things, think they shall be 
 believed to write with the greatest regard to 
 truth. We therefore [who are Jews] must 
 yield to the Grecian writers as to language 
 and eloquence of composition ; but then we 
 shall give them no such preference as to the 
 verity of ancient history ; and least of all as 
 to that part which cor>cerns the affairs of our 
 own several countries. 
 
 6. As to the care of writing down the re- 
 cords from the earliest antiquity among the 
 Egyptians and Babylonians ; that the priests 
 were intrusted therewith, and employed a 
 philosophical concern about it; that they were 
 the Chaldean priests that did so among the 
 Babylonians ; and that the Phoenicians, who 
 were mingled among the Greeks, did espe- 
 cially make use of their letters, both for the 
 common affairs of life, and for the delivering 
 down the history of common transactions, T 
 think I may omit any proof, because all men 
 
 + It is here well worth our observation, what the rea- 
 son's are that such ancient authors as Herodotus, Jo- 
 sephus, and others, have been read to so little pur- 
 pose by many learned critics; viz. that their main aim 
 has not been chronology or history, but philology, to 
 know words, and not things, they not much entering 
 oftentimes into the real contents of their authors, and 
 judging which were the most accurate discoverers of 
 truth, and most to be depended on in the several histo- 
 ries, hut rather inquiring who wrote the finest style, and 
 had the greatest elegance in their expressions, which 
 are things of small consequence in comparison with the 
 other. Thus you will sometimes find great debates 
 among the learned, whether Herodotus or Thucydides 
 were the finest historian in the Ionic and Attic ways of 
 writing; which signily little as to the real value of each 
 of their histories; while it would be of much more ino- 
 ■nent to let the rewder know, that as the consequence of 
 Herodotus's history, winch begins so much e.arlier. and 
 reaches so much « id'.-r than that of Thucydides, is 
 therefore vastly greater; so is the most part of Thucy- 
 dides, which belongs to his own times, and fell undAr 
 Sis OM-i '.bservati m. much th« most cpitaiii 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAIxNST APION. 
 
 787 
 
 allow it 80 to be: but now as to uur fore- 
 fathers, that they took no less care about 
 writing such records (for I will not say they 
 took greater care than the others I spoke of) 
 and that they committed that matter to their 
 high-priests and to their prophets, and that 
 these records have been written all along 
 down to our own times with the utmost ac- 
 curacy; nay, if it be not too bold for me to say 
 it, our history will be so written hereafter; — 
 I shall endeavour briefly to inform you. 
 
 7. For our forefathers did not only appoint 
 the best of these priests, and those that attended 
 upon the divine worship, for that design 
 from the beginning, but made provision that 
 the stock of the priests should continue un- 
 mixed and pure; for he who is partaker of 
 the priesthood must propagate of a wife of the 
 same nation, without having any regard to 
 money, or any other dignities ; but he is to 
 make a scrutiny, and take his wife's gene- 
 alogy from the ancient tables, and procure 
 many witnesses to it;* and this is our prac- 
 tice not only in Judea, but wheresoever any 
 body of men of our nation do live; and even 
 there, an exact catalogue of our priests* mar- 
 riages is kept; I mean at Egypt and at Ba- 
 bylon, or in any other place of the rest of the 
 habitable earth, whithersoever our priests are 
 scattered; for they seiui to Jerusalem the an- 
 cient names of their parents in writing, as well 
 as those of their remoter ancestors, and signify 
 who are the witnesses also; but if any war 
 falls out, such as have fallen out, a great many 
 of them already, when Antiochus Epiphanes 
 made an invasion upon our country, as also 
 »vhen Pompey the Great and Quintilius Varus 
 did so also, and principally in the wars that 
 have happened in our own times, those priests 
 that survive them compose new tables of gene- 
 alogy out of the old records, and examine 
 the circumstances of the women that remain; 
 for still they do not admit of those that have 
 been captives, as suspecting that they had con- 
 versation with some foreigners ; but what is 
 the strongest argument of our exact manage- 
 ment in this matter is what 1 am now going 
 to say, that we have the names of our high- 
 priests, from father to son, set down in our 
 records, for the interval of two thousand 
 years ; and if any of these have been trans- 
 gressors of these rules, they are prohibited 
 to present themselves at the altar, or to 
 be partakers of any other of our purifications; 
 und this is justly, or rather necessarily done, 
 because every one is not permitted of his own 
 iccord to be a writer, nor is there any disagree- 
 ment in what is written; they being only 
 prophets that have written the original and 
 earliest accounts of things as they learned them 
 
 • Of this accuracy of the Jews, before ami in our 
 Saviour's time, in carefuly preservinif itieir genealovjies 
 k!1 tloug, parttciilarty those oi the urieststsee jws<*p:ius's 
 L'te. sfct L This accuracy Sfems to have t-ntied at 
 U.e d<-struciian of Jemsalcin by T.tus, or, however, at 
 Umi by Adriao. 
 
 of God himself by inspiration ; and others 
 have written what hath happened in their own 
 times, and that in a very distinct manner also. 
 8. For we have not an innumerable mul- 
 titude of books among us, disagreeing from 
 and contradicting one another [as the Greeks 
 have], but only twenty-two books, "I which 
 contain the records of all the past times ; 
 which are justly believed to be divine; and of 
 the^l, five belong to Moses, which contain his 
 laws and the traditions of the origin of man- 
 kind till his death. This interval of time 
 was little short of three thousand years; but 
 as to the time from the death of Moses till the 
 reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, who reign- 
 ed after Xerxes, the prophets, who were after 
 Moses, wrote down what was done in their 
 times in thirteen books. The remaining four 
 books contain hymns to God, and precepts 
 for the conduct of human life. It is true, our 
 history hath been written since Artaxerxes 
 very particularly, but hath not been esteemed 
 of the like authority with the former by our 
 forefathers, because there hath not been an 
 exact succession of prophets since that time, 
 and how firmly we have given credit to those 
 books of our own nation, is evident by what 
 we do; for during so many ages as have 
 already passed, no one has been so bold as 
 either to add any thing to them, to take any 
 thing from them, or to make any change in 
 them ; but it becomes natural to all Jews, im- 
 mediately and from their very birth, to esteem 
 those books to contain divine doctrines, and to 
 persist in them, and, if occasion be, willingly 
 to die for them. For it is no new thing foi 
 ou aptives, many of them in number, and 
 fr lently in time, to be seen to endure racks 
 ai. Jeaths of all kinds upon the theatres, that 
 tl nay not be obliged to say one word 
 aj,.-^nst our laws, and the records that contain 
 them ; whereas, there are none at all among 
 the Greeks who would undergo the least harm 
 on that account, no, nor in case all the writ- 
 ings that are among them were to be destroy- 
 ed; for they take them to be such discourses 
 as are framed agreeably to the inclinations of 
 those that write them; and they have justly 
 the same opinion of the ancient writers, since 
 they see some of the present generation bold 
 enough to write about such affairs, wherein 
 they were not present, nor had concern enough 
 to inform themselves about them from those 
 that knew them; examples of which may be 
 had in this late war of ours, where some per- 
 sons have written histories, and published 
 them, without having been in the places con- 
 cerned, or having been near them when the 
 
 + Which were these twenty-two sacred books of the 
 ( )ld Testament, see the Supplement to the Essay on the 
 Old Testament, p. 25—89, viz. those we call canonical^ 
 all excepting the Canticles; but still with this farther 
 exception, that the first book of apocryphal Esdras be 
 taken into the number, instead of our canonxcal Ezra; 
 wh.ch seems lo be no more than a later epitome of the 
 otiier; whicii two books of Cantrcles and Ezra, it no way 
 ap(>ears that our Josephus ever sa«. 
 
788 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APlON. 
 
 BOOK 1. 
 
 actions were done; but these men put a few 
 things together by hearsay, and insolently 
 abuse the world, and call these writings by 
 the name of Histories. 
 
 y 9. As for myself, I have composed a true 
 history of that whole war, and all the parti- 
 culars that occurred therein, as having been 
 
 contained in those writings: and as for the 
 History of the War, I wrote it as having 
 been an actor myself in many of its transac- 
 tions, an eye-witness in the greatest part of 
 the rest, and was not unacquainted with any 
 thing whatsoever that was either said or done 
 in it. How impudent then must those deserve 
 
 concerned in all its transactions; for 1 acted! to be esteemed, who undertake to contradict 
 as general of those among us that are named j me about the true state of those affairs ! who, 
 Galileans, as long as it was possible for us to ! although they pretend to have made use of 
 nmke any opposition. I was then seized on . both the emperors' own memoirs, yet they 
 
 by the Romans, and became a captive. Ves- 
 ' pasian also and Titus had me kept under a 
 guard, and forced me to attend them con- 
 tinually. At the first I v^'as put into bonds; 
 but was set at liberty afterward, and sent to 
 accompany Titus when he came from Alex- 
 andria to the siege of Jerusalem; during which 
 time there was nothing done which escaped 
 my knowledge; for what happened in the 
 Roman camp I saw, and wrote down care- 
 fully; and what informations the deserters 
 brought [out of the city], I was the only man 
 that understood them. Afterward I got lei- 
 sure at Rome; and when all my materials 
 were prepared for that work, I made use of 
 some persons to assist me in learning the 
 
 could not be acquainted with our affairs who 
 fought against them. 
 
 11. This digression I have been obliged to 
 make, out of necessity, as being desirous to 
 expose the vanity of those that profess to 
 write histories; and I suppose I have suffi- 
 ciently declared that this custom of transmit- 
 ting down the histories of ancient times hath 
 been better preserved by those nations which 
 are called Barbarians, than by the Greeks 
 themselves. I am now willing, in the next 
 place, to say a few things to those who endea- 
 vour to prove that our constitution is but of 
 late time, for this reason, as they pretend 
 that the Greek writers have said nothing 
 about us ; after which I shall produce testi- 
 
 Greek tongue, and by these means I composed j monies for our antiquity out of the writings 
 the history of those trajisactions; and I was of foreigners: I shall also demonstrate that 
 so well assured of the truth of what I related, such as cast reproaches upon our nation do it 
 that I first of all appealed to those that had jvery unjustly. 
 
 the supreme command in that war, Vespasian W 12. As for ourselvfes, therefore, we neither 
 and Titus, as witnesses for me, for to them I f inhabit a maritime country, nor do we delight 
 presented those books first of all, and after in merchandise, nor in such a mixture with 
 them to many of the Romans who had been i other men as arises from it; but the cities 
 in the war. I also sold them to many of I we dwell in are remote from the sea, and hav- 
 our own men who understood the Greek i ing a fruitful country for our habitation, we 
 philosophy; among whom were Julius Arche- , take pains in cultivating that only. Our 
 laus, Herod [king of Chalcis], a person of principal care of all is this, to educate our 
 
 great gravity, and king Agrippa himself, a 
 person that deserved the greatest admiration. 
 Now all these men bore their testimony to 
 me, that I had the strictest regard to truth; 
 who yet would not have dissembleu the 
 matter, nor been silent, if I, out of ignorance, 
 or out of favour to any side, either had given 
 false colours to actions, or omitted any of 
 them. 
 
 10. There have been indeed some bad 
 men, who have attempted to calumniate my 
 history, and took it to be a kind of scholastic 
 performance for the exercise of young men. 
 A strange sort of accusation and calumny 
 this! since every one that undertakes to 
 deliver fhe history of actions truly, ought to 
 know them accurately hitnself in the first 
 place, as either having been concerned in 
 them himself, or been informed of them by 
 such as knew them. Now, both these methods 
 of knowledge I may very properly pretend 
 to in the composition of both my works; 
 for, as I said, I have translated the Antiqui- 
 ties out of our sacreJ books; which I easily 
 could do, since I was a priest by my birth, 
 ^«^d have studied that [ihilosopliy which is 
 
 children well; and we think it to be the most 
 necessary business of our whole life, to 
 observe the laws that have been given us. and 
 to keep those rules of piety that have been i 
 delivered down to us. Since, therefore^ 
 besides what we have already taken notice 
 of, we have had a [)eculiar way of living of 
 our owii> there was no occasion offered us in 
 ancient ages for intera.:xing among the Greeks, 
 as they had for mixing among the Egyptians, 
 by their intercourse of exporting and import- 
 ing their several goods; as they also mixed 
 with the Phceiiicians, who lived by the sea- 
 side, by means of their love of lucre in trade 
 and merchandise. Mor did our forefathers 
 betake themselves, as did some others, to rob- 
 bery; nor did they, in order to gain more 
 wealth, fall into foreign wars, although our 
 country contained many ten thousands of 
 men of courage siifiicient for that purpose; 
 for this reason it was that the Phoenicians 
 themselves came soon by trading and naviga- 
 tion to be known to the Grecians, and by. 
 their means the Egyptians became kno»vn to 
 the Grecians aU<j, as did all those pBople 
 whence tl)r Plia-iucJu/ts in long voyages o^er 
 
HOOK I, 
 
 FT^AVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 789 
 
 the seas carried wares to the Grecians. The 
 Medes also and the Persia<is, when they were 
 ■lor«3s of Asia, became well known to them; 
 and this was especially true of the Persians, 
 who led their armies as far as the other con- 
 silient [Europe]. The Thracians were also 
 known to them by the nearness of their coun- 
 tries, and Scythians by the means of those 
 that sailed to Pontus ; for it was so in gene- 
 ral that all maritime nations, and those that 
 inhabited near the eastern or western seas, be- 
 came most known to those that were desirous 
 to be writers; but such as had their habita- 
 tions farther from the sea were for the most 
 part unknown to them : which things appear 
 to have happened as to Europe also, where 
 the city of Rome, that hath this long time 
 been possessed of so much power, and hath 
 performed such great actions in war, is never 
 yet mentioned by Herodotus, nor by Thucy- 
 dides, nor by any one of their contemporaries; j 
 and it was very late, and with great difficulty, 
 that the Romans became known to the Greeks. 
 Nay, those that were reckoned the most 
 exact historians (and Ephorus for one) were 
 so very ignorant of the Gauls and the Span- 
 iards, that he supposed the Spaniards, who 
 inhabit so great a part of the western regions 
 of the earth, to be no more than one city. 
 Those historians also" have ventured to de- 
 scribe such customs as were made use of by 
 
 them, which they never had either done or 
 said; ar.<d the reason why these writers did 
 not know the truth of their affairs, was this, 
 that they had not any commerce totjether; — 
 but the reason why they wrote such falsities 
 was this, that they had a mind to appear to 
 know things which others had not known, 
 U)\Y can it then be any wonder, if our 
 nation was no more known to many of the 
 Greeks, nor had given them any occasion 
 to mention them in their writing^, while 
 they were so remote from the sea, and had a 
 conduct of life so peculiar to themselves? 
 
 13. Let us now put the case, therefore, 
 that we made use of this argument concerning 
 the Grecians, in order to prove that their na- 
 tion was not ancient, because nothing is said 
 of them in our'records; would not they laugh 
 at us all, and probably give the same reasons 
 for our silence that I have now alleged, and 
 would produce their neighbouring nations as 
 witnesses to their own antiquity? Now, the 
 very same tbir^ will I endeavour to do; for 
 I will bring the Egyptians and the Phoenicians 
 as my principal witnesses, because nobody 
 can cou)plain of their testimony as false, on 
 account that they are known to have borne 
 the greatest* ill-will towards us; I mean this 
 as to the Egyptians, in general all of them, 
 while of the Phoenicians, it is known the 
 Tyrians have been most of all in the same ill 
 disposition towards us: yet do I confess that I 
 cannot say the same of the Chaldeans, since, 
 our tirst baders and ancestors W9re derived 
 
 from them ; and they do make mention of us 
 Jews in their records, on account of the kin- 
 dred there is between us. Now, when I shall 
 have made my assertions good, so far as con- 
 cerns the others, I will demonstrate that some 
 of the Greek writers have made mention of us 
 Jews also, that those who envy us may not 
 have even this pretence for contradicting what 
 I have said about our nation. 
 
 14. I shall begin with the writings of the 
 Egyptians ; not indeed of those that have 
 written in the Egyptian language, which it 
 is impossible for me to do.- But Manetho 
 was a man who was by birth an Egyptian, 
 yet had he made himself master of the Greek 
 learning, as is very evident; for he wrote the 
 history of his own country in the Greek 
 tongue, by translating it, as he saith himself 
 out of their sacred records : he also finds 
 great fault with Herodotus for his ignorance 
 and false relations of Egyptian affairs. Now, 
 this Mi^nethp, in the second book of his 
 Egyptian History, writes concernitig us in 
 the following manner. I will set down his 
 very words, as if I were to bring the very 
 man himself into a court for a witness;-^ 
 " There was a king of ours, whose name was 
 Timaus. Under him it came to pass, 1 know 
 not how, that God was averse to us, and there 
 came, after a surprising manner, men of 
 ignoble birth out of the eastern parts, and had 
 boldness enough to make an expedition into 
 our country, and with ease subdued it by 
 force, yet without our hazarding a battle with 
 them. So when they had gotten those that 
 governed us under their power, they after- 
 wards burnt down our cities, and demolished 
 the temples of the gods, and used all the in- 
 habitants after a most barbarous manner: nay, 
 some they slew, and led their children and 
 their wives into slavery. At length they 
 made one of themselves king, whose name was 
 Salatis; he also lived at Memphis, and made 
 both the upper and lower regions pay tribute, 
 and left garrisons in places that were the most 
 proper for them. He chiefly aimed to secure 
 the eastern parts, as foreseeing that the Assy- 
 rians, who had then the greatest power, would 
 be desirous of that kingdom and invade there.; 
 and as he found in the Saite Nomos [Seth- 
 roite], a city very proper for his purpose, and 
 which lay upon the Bubastic channel, b'jt 
 witTi regard to a certain tbeologic notion was 
 called Avaris, this be rebuilt, and made very 
 strong by the walls he built about it, and hv 
 a most numerous garrison of two hundred 
 and forty thousand armed men whom he put 
 into it to keep it. Thither Salatis came in 
 summer-time, partly to gather his com, a\^d 
 pay his soldiers their wages, and partly to 
 exercise his armed men, and thereby to terr^f*; 
 foreigners. When this man had reigrpfl 
 thirteen years, after him reigned another 
 whose name was Beon, for forty-four yea-s* 
 after him reigned another, called Aprchnaa 
 
790 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 thirty-six years and seven months ; after hira 
 Apophis reigned sixty-one years, and then 
 Jonias fifty years and one month; after all 
 these reigned Assis forty-nine years and two 
 months. And these six were the first rulers 
 imong them, who were all along making war 
 with the Egyptians, and were very desirous gra- 
 dually to destroy them to the very roots. This 
 whole nation Was styled Hycsos, that is, Shep- 
 herd-kings; for the first syllable Hyc, according 
 to the sacred dialect denotes a king, as is Sos 
 a shepherd — but this according to the ordinary 
 dialect; and of these is compounded Hycsos: 
 but some say that these people were Arabians." 
 JSow, in another copy it is said, that this word 
 does not denote Kings, but, on the contrary, 
 denotes Captive Shepherds, and this on account 
 of the particle Hyc ; for that Hyc, with the aspi- 
 ration, in the Egyptian tongue again denotes 
 • Shepherds, and that expressly also; and this 
 to me seems the more probable opinion, and 
 more agreeable to ancient history. [But 
 Manetho goes on}: — " These people, whom we 
 have before named kings, and called shepherds 
 also, and their descendants," as he says, "kept 
 possession of Egypt five hundred and eleven 
 years." After these he says, " That the kings 
 of Thebais and of the other parts of Egypt 
 made an insurrection against the shepherds, 
 and that there a terrible and long war was 
 made between them." He says farther, " That 
 under a king, whose name was Alisphragmu- 
 thosis, the shepherds were subdued by him, 
 and were indeed driven out of other parts of 
 Egypt, but were shut up in a place that con- 
 tained ten thousand acres: this place was 
 named Avaris. Manetho says, " That the shep- 
 herds built a wall round all this place, which 
 was a large and strong wall, and this in order to 
 keep all their possessions and their prey 
 within a place of strength, but that Thummosis 
 the son of Alisphragmuthosis made an attempt 
 to take them by force and by siege, with 
 four hundred and eighty thousand men to 
 he round about them; but that, upon his 
 despair of taking the place by that siege, they 
 came to a composition with them, that they 
 should leave Egypt, and go without any harm 
 to be done them, whithersoever they would; 
 and Jhat, after this composition was made, 
 .hey went away with their whole families and 
 / f tFects, not fewer in number than two hundred 
 .iiid tbrty thousand, and took their journey 
 from Egypt, through the wilderness, for 
 S)iia: but that, as they were in fear of the 
 Astjyriaos, who had then the dominion over 
 Asia, they built a city in that country 
 which is now called Judea, and that large 
 enough to contain this great number of men, 
 and called it Jerusalem."* Now Manetho, in 
 another book of his, says, " That this nation, 
 
 • Here we have an account of the first buildini; of the 
 city o( J erusaletn, according to iMunetho, when the i'hce- 
 ntcUQ abepbtfrd* were expellrd out of l-gypt, about 
 tklrtx*MTta year»b«(ore Abraham cume out ot (laraii. 
 
 thus called Shepherds, were also called Cap- 
 tives, in their sacred books." And this 
 account of his is the truth; for feeding of 
 sheep was the employment of our forefathers 
 in the most ancient agesjf and as they led 
 such a wandering life in feeding sheep, they 
 were called Shepherds. Nor was it without 
 reason that they were called Captives by the 
 Egyptians, since one of our ancestors, Joseph, 
 told the king of Egypt that he was a captive.^ 
 and afterward sent for his brethren into 
 Egypt by the king's permission; but as for 
 these matters, I shall make a more exact 
 inquiry about them elsevvhere.§ 
 
 15. But now I shall produce the Egyptians 
 as witnesses to the antiquity of our nation. I 
 shall therefore here bring in Manetho again, 
 and what he writes as to the order of the times 
 in this case, and thus he speaks: — "When 
 this people or shepherds were gone out of 
 Egypt to Jerusalem, Tethmosis the king of 
 Egypt, who drove them out, reigned after- 
 ward twenty-five years and four months, and 
 then died; after him his. son Chebron took 
 the kingdom for thirteen years; after whom 
 came Amenophis, for twenty years and seven 
 months: then came bis sister Amesses, foi 
 twenty-one years and nine months; after hes 
 came Mephres, for twelve years and nine 
 months; after him was Mephramuthosis, for 
 twenty-five years and ten months; after hiiu 
 was Tethmosis, for nine years and eight 
 months; after him came Amenophis, for 
 thirty years and ten months; after him came 
 Orus, for thirty-six years and five months; 
 then came his daughter Acenchres, for twelve 
 years and one month; then was her brother 
 Kathotis, for nine years; then was Acen- 
 cheres, for twelve years and five months; 
 then came another Aeencheres, for twelve 
 years and three months; after him Armais, 
 for four years and one month ; after him was 
 Harnesses, for one year and four months* 
 after him came Armesses Miammoun, foi 
 sixty-six years and two months; after him 
 Amenophis, for nineteen years and six months; 
 after him came Sethosis, and Harnesses, who 
 had an army of horse, and a naval force. This 
 king appointed his brother Armais, to be his 
 deputy oyer Egypt." [In another copy it 
 stood thus: — After him came Sethosis, and 
 Harnesses, two brethren, the former of whona 
 had a naval force, and in a hostile manner 
 destroyed those that met hira upon the sea; 
 but as he slew Ramesses in no long time after- 
 ward, so he appointed another of his brethren 
 to be his deputy over Egypt.] He also gave 
 him all the other authority of a kiii^, but with 
 
 + Gen. xlvi. 32,34; xlvii.3,4. 
 
 t In our copies of the book of Genesis and of Josephus, 
 this Joseph never calls himself "a captive," wbe 
 was with the king of EKypt, thoni;h he does call himself 
 "a servant," "a slave,"' or "captive," many times io 
 the 'lestanient of the Twelve I'atiiunihs, under Joseph, 
 secU 1, II, 13, 14. ].'>, 16. 
 
 i This is now wantins;. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 791 
 
 these only injunctions, that he should not 
 wear the diadem, nor be injurious to the queen, 
 the mother of his children, and that he should 
 not meddle with the other concubines of the 
 king; while he made an expedition against 
 Cyprus, and Phoenicia, and besides against the 
 Assyrians and the Medes. He then subdued 
 'hem all, sonae by his arms, some without 
 i{,'liting, and some by the terror of his great 
 irmy ; and being puffed up by the great 
 successes he had had, he went on still the 
 wore boldly, and overthrew the cities and 
 louiitries that lay in the eastern parts ; but 
 *fter some considerable time, Armais, who 
 was left in Egypt, did all those very things, 
 )y way of opposition, which his brother bad 
 forbidden him to do, without fear; for he 
 jsed violence to the queen, and continued to 
 tiake use of the rest of the concubines, with- ! 
 >ut sparing any of them ; nay, at the persua- i 
 ^ioH of his friends he put on the diadem, and I 
 .et up to oppose his brother; but then, he i 
 who was set over the priests of Egypt, wrote I 
 *etters to Sethosis, and informed him of all that i 
 ^ xjad happened, and how his brother had set up | 
 to oppose him; he therefore returned back I 
 to Pelusium immediately, and recovered his I 
 Kingdom again. The country also was called I 
 from his name Egypt; for Manetho' says 
 that Sethosis himself was called Egyptus, as 
 was his brother Armais called Danaus."* 
 
 16. This is Manetho's account; and evi- 
 dent it is from the number of years by him set 
 <io\vn belongingto this interval, if they be sum- 
 med up together, that these shepherds, as they 
 are here called, who were no other than our 
 forefathers, were delivered out of Egypt, and 
 c;iine thence, and inhabited this country three 
 hu!)dred and ninety-three years before Danaus 
 -ame to Argos ; although the Argives look 
 upon himf as their most ancient king. Ma- 
 iietho, therefore, bears this testimony to two 
 points of the greatest consequence to our pur- 
 pose, and those from the Egyptian records 
 hemselves. In the first place, that we came 
 mt ot another country into Egypt ; and that 
 withal our deliverance out of it was so an- 
 ient in time, as to have preceded the siege of 
 Troy almost a thousand years; but then, as 
 
 • Of this Egyptian chronology of Manetho, as mis- 
 take. i by Josephus, and of these Phcenician shepherds, 
 as f.ilsely supposed by him, and others after him, to 
 hdVf been the Israelites in Kgypt, see Essay on the Old 
 1 t-siaiuent. Appendix, p. 182 — 188. And note here, that 
 wuen J.>sephus tells us that the Greeks or Argives looked 
 on tills Danaus as a<;((Xi«rsroc, ''a most ancient," or 
 "ilie most ancient" king of Argos. he need not be 
 suppjsed Jo mean, in the strictest sense, that they had 
 no one kins so ancient as he; for it is certain that they 
 owne<l nine kings belore him, and Inachus at the head 
 of theiii See Authentic Kecords, part ii. page 983, 
 as Jo-if|)liiis could not but know very well; hut that he 
 was esteemed as very ancient by them, and that they 
 knew they had been drst of all denominated ■' Danai" 
 iroiu this verj ancient Wing Danaus. Nor does this su- 
 ptTlative digree always imply the •• most ancient " o( nil 
 W!t;:«int exteption, but is sometimes to be remlered 
 '•very ancient" only, as is tfe. 'ase in the like superla- 
 U»e dearies Ot Other woi Js »' 
 
 ♦ se«* Uif prtcediog du* 
 
 to those things which Manetho adds, not from 
 the Egyptian records, but, as he confesses 
 himself, from some stories of an uncertain 
 original, I will disprove them hereafter par- 
 ticularly, and shall demonstrate that they are 
 no better than incredible fables. 
 
 17. I will now, therefore, pass from these 
 records, and come to those that belong to the 
 Phoenicians, and concern our nation, and shall 
 prodiice attestations to what I have said out of 
 them. There are then records among the Ty- 
 rians that take in the history for many years, 
 and these are public writings, and are kept 
 with great exactness, and inciude accounts of 
 the facts done among them, and such as con- 
 cern their transactions with other nations also, 
 those I mean which were worthy of remem- 
 bering. Therein it was recorded that the 
 temple was built by king Solomon at Jerusa- 
 lem, one hundred forty-three years and eight 
 months before the Tyrians built Carthage; 
 and in their annals the building of our tempie 
 is related: for Hirom, the king of Tyre, was 
 the friend of Solomon our king, and had such 
 friendship transmitted down to him from his 
 forefathers. He thereupon was ambitious to 
 contribute to the splendour of this edifice of 
 Solomon, and made him a present of one hun- 
 dred and twenty talents of gold. He also 
 cut down the most excellent timber out of 
 that mountain which is called Libanus. and 
 sent it to him for adorning its roof. Solomon 
 also not only made him many other presents, 
 by way of requital, but gave him a countrv^ 
 in Galilee also, that was cailed Chabulon:J 
 but there was another passion, a philosophic 
 inclination of theirs, which cemented the 
 friendship that was betwixt them; for they 
 sent mutual problems to one another, with a 
 desire to have them unriddled by each other; 
 wherein Solomon was superior to Hirom, as 
 he was wiser that he in other respects; and 
 many of the epistles that passed between them 
 are still preserved among the Tyrians. Now 
 that this may not depend on my bare word, 
 1 will produce for a witness, Dius, one that 
 is believed to have written the Phcenician His- 
 tory after an accurate manner. This^ius, 
 therefore, writes thus, in his Histories of the 
 Phoenicians: — " Upon the death of Abibalus, 
 his soiTSirom took the kingdom. This king 
 raised banks at the eastern parts of the city, 
 and enlarged it; he also joined the temple of 
 Jupiter Olympius, which stood before in an 
 island by itself, to the city, by raising a causey 
 between them, and adorned that temple with 
 donations of gold. He moreover went up to 
 Libanus, and had timber cut down for the 
 building of temples. They say farther, that 
 Solomon, when he was king of Jerusalem, 
 sent problems to Hirom to be solved, and 
 desired he would send others back for him to 
 solve, and that he who could not solve the 
 problems proposed to him, should pay money 
 
 X i Kings ix. 13. 
 
70? 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST AFION, 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 to him that solved them ; and when EUrora 
 nad agreed to the proposals, but was not able 
 to solve the problems, he was obliged to pay 
 a great deal of money, as a penalty for the 
 same. As also they relate, that one Abde- 
 mon, a man of Tyre, did solve the problems, 
 and proposed others which Solomon could not 
 solve upon which he was obliged to repay a 
 great aeal of money to Hirora." These things 
 are attested to by Dius, and confirm what we 
 have said upon the same subjects before. 
 
 18. And now I shall add Menander the 
 Eghesiagj as an additional witness. This 
 MenanHer wrote the Acts that were done both 
 by the Greeks and Barbarians, under every 
 one of the Tyrian kings; and had taken much 
 pains to learn their history out of their own 
 records. Now, when he was writing about 
 those kings that had reigned at Tyre, he came 
 to Hirom, and says thus: — " Ugon the death 
 of Abibalus, his son Hirom tooE^tFe "king- 
 dom; he lived fifty-three years, and reigned 
 thirty-four. He raised a bank on that called 
 the 13road place, and dedicated that golden 
 pillar which is in Jupiter's temple; he also 
 went and cut down timber from the moun- 
 tain called Libanus, and got timber of cedar 
 for the roofs of the temples. He also pulled 
 down the old temples, and built new ones: 
 besides this, he consecrated the temples of Her- 
 cules and Astarte. He first built Hercules's 
 temple, in the month Peritus, and that of 
 Astarte when he made his expedition against 
 the Tityans, who would not pay him their 
 tribute; and when he had subdued them to 
 himself, he returned home. Under this king 
 there was a younger son of Abdemon, who 
 mastered the problems which Solomon, king 
 of Jerusalem, had recommended to be solved." 
 Now the time from this king to the building 
 of Carthage, is thus calculated: — " Upon the 
 death of Hirom, Baleazarus his son took the 
 kingdom; he lived forty-three years, and 
 reigned seven years: after him succeeded his 
 son Abdastartus; he lived twenty-nine years, 
 and reigned nine years. Now four sons of 
 his nurse plotted against him and slew him, 
 the eldest of whom reigned twelve years: 
 after them came Astartus the son of Deleas- 
 tartui..- he lived fifty-four years, and reigned 
 twelve years; after him came bis brother 
 Asery.xus: he lived fifty-four years, and 
 re'igiivd nine years: he was slain by bis 
 brotltr Pheles. who took the kingdom and 
 reigr.cd but eight months, though he lived 
 fifty }tars: he was slain by Ithobalus, the 
 priefii, of AsHtrte, who reigned thirty-two 
 yeaffe, a.'^J lived sixtj^eight years: he was 
 BucceL'ded by his son Badezorus, who lived 
 fortj-five years, and reigned six years; he was 
 succeeded by Matgenus his son: he lived 
 thirty-trto years, and reigned nine years; 
 PygituLon succeeded him: he lived fifty-six 
 yean, u.xi reigned forty-seven years. Now, 
 in the ..<(Vt-mh ^tiir vi hiii reign, is biiter lied 
 
 away frona him, and built the city of Carthage 
 in Libya." So the whole time from the 
 reign of Hirom till the building of Carthage, 
 amounts to the sum of one hundred and fifty- 
 five years and eight months. Since then the 
 temple was built at Jerusalem in the twelfth 
 year of the reign of Hirom, there were from the 
 building of the temple until the building of 
 Carthage, one hundred forty-three years and 
 eight months. Wherefore, what occasion is 
 there for alleging any more testimonies out of 
 the Phoenician histories [on the behalf of our 
 nation], since what I have said is so tho- 
 roughly confirmed already? and to\)e sure 
 our ancestors came into this country long 
 before the building of the temple; for it was 
 not till we had gotten possession of the whole 
 land by war that we built our temple. And 
 that is the point that I have clearly proved out 
 of our sacred writings in my Antiquities. 
 
 .19. I will now relate what hath be»in writ- 
 ten concerning us in the C^EddeanJbdstories; 
 which records have a great agr"eemenrintU 
 our books in other things also. Berosi^s_ 
 shall be witness to what I say: he was by 
 birth a Chaldean, well known by the learned, 
 on account of his publication of the Chaldean 
 books of astronomy and philosophy among 
 the Greeks. This Berosus, therefore, follow- 
 ing the most ancient records of that nation, 
 i gives us a history of the deluge of water* 
 that then happened, and of the destruction of 
 I mankind thereby, and agrees with Moses's 
 narration thereof. He also gives us an 
 account of that ark wherein Noah, the origin 
 of our race, was preserved, when it was 
 brought to the highest part of the Armenian 
 mountains: after which he gives us a cata- 
 logue of the posterity of Noah, and adds the 
 years of their chronology, and at length comcw 
 down to Nabolassar, who was king of Baby- 
 lon, and of the Chaldeans. And when he 
 was relating the acts of this king, he describes 
 to us how he sent his son Nabuchodonosur 
 against Egypt, and against our land, with a 
 great army, upon his being informed that 
 they had revolted from him; and how, by 
 that means, he subdued them all, and set our 
 temple that was at Jerusalem on fire; nay, 
 and removed our people entirely out of their 
 own country, and transferred them to Baby- 
 lon; when it so happened that our city was 
 I desolate during the interval of seventy years, 
 I until the days of Cyrus king of Persia. He 
 j then says, " That this Babylonian king con- 
 quered Egypt, and Syria, and Phoenicia, and 
 Arabia; and exceeded in his exploits all tliut 
 had reigned before him in Babylon and Cliul- 
 dea." A little after which, Berosus subjoins 
 what follows in his History of Ancient 
 Times. I will set down Berosus's own 
 accounts, which are these: — "When >ial;c)- 
 lassar. father of Nabuchodonosor, Ueard that 
 the governor whom ho had set over Ki;\ pt 
 and over the parts of Celesyria and Pba.'iiicia, 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 793 
 
 had revolted from him, he was not able to 
 bear it any longer; but committing certain 
 parts of his army to his son Nabuchodonosor, 
 who was then but young, he sent him against 
 the rebel: Nabuchodonosor joined battle with 
 h:in, and conquered him, and reduced the 
 country under his dominion again. Now it 
 so fell out, that his father Nabolassar fell into 
 a distemper at this time, and died in the city 
 of Babylon, after he had reigned twenty- 
 iiine years. But as he understood, in a little 
 time, that his father Nabolassar was dead, he 
 set the affairs of Egypt and the other coun- 
 tries in order, and committed the captives he 
 had taken from the Jews, and Phoenicians, 
 and Syrians, and of the nations belonging to 
 Egypt, to some of bis friends, that they might 
 conduct that part of the forces that had on 
 heavy armour, with the rest of his baggage, 
 to Babylonia; while he went in haste, having 
 but a few with him, over the desert to Baby- 
 lon; whither when he was come, he found 
 the public affairs had been managed by the 
 Chaldeans, and that the principal persons 
 among them had preserved the kingdom for 
 him. Accordingly, he now entirely obtained 
 all his father's dominions. He then came, 
 and ordered the captives to be placed as colo- 
 nies in the most proper places of Babylonia : 
 but for himself, he adorned the temple of 
 Belus, and the other temples, after an elegant 
 nianner, out of the spoils he had taken in this 
 war. He also rebuilt the old city, and added 
 another to it on the outside, and so tar re- 
 istored Babylon, that none who should besiege 
 it afterwards might have it in their power to 
 divert the river, so as to facilitate an entrance 
 into it ; and this he did by building three 
 walls about the inner city, and three about 
 the outer. Some of these walls he built of 
 burnt brick and bitumen, and some of brick 
 only. So when he had thus fortified the city 
 with walls, after an excellent manner, and 
 had adorned the gates magnificently, he added 
 a new palace to that which his father had 
 dwelt in, and this close by it also, and that 
 more eminent in its height, and in its great 
 splendour. It would perhaps require too long 
 a narration, if any one were to describe it. 
 However, as prodigiously large and magnifi- 
 cent as it was, it was finished in fifteen days. 
 Now in this palace he erected very high 
 walks, supported by stone pillars, and by 
 planting what was called a peyisile paradise, 
 and replenishing it with all sorts of trees, he 
 rendered the prospect of an exact resemblance 
 of a mountainous country. This he did to 
 please his queen, because she had been brought 
 
 / up in Media, and was fond of a mountainous 
 
 Xjgtuaiion." 
 
 20. This is what Berosus relates concern- 
 ing the fore- mentioned king, as he relates 
 manyothter things about him also in the third 
 book of his Chaldean History; wherein he 
 complains of the Grecian writers for suppos- 
 
 ing, without any foundation, that Babylon 
 was built by Semiramis,* queen of Assyria, 
 and for her false pretence to those wonderful 
 edifices thereto relating, as if they were her 
 own workmanship; as indeed in these affairs 
 the Chaldean History cannot but be the most 
 credible. Moreover, we meet with a confir- 
 mation of what Berosus says, in the archives 
 of the Phoenicians, concerning this king Na- 
 buchodonosor, that he conquered all Syria and 
 Phoenicia; in which case Philostratus agrees 
 with the others in that history which he com- 
 posed, where he mentions the siege of Tyre; 
 as does Megasthenes also, in the fourth book 
 of his Indian History, wherein he pretends to 
 prove that the fore-mentioned king of the Ba- 
 bylonians was superior to Hercules in strength 
 and the greatness of his exploits; for he says 
 that he conquered a great part of Libya, and 
 conquered Iberia also. Now, as to what I 
 have said before about the temple at Jerusa- 
 lem, that it was fought against by the Baby- 
 lonians, and burnt by them, but was opened 
 again when Cyrus had taken the kingdom of 
 Asia, shall now be demonstrated from what 
 Berosus adds farther upon that head; for thus 
 he says in his third book; — "Nabuchodono- 
 sor, after he had begun to build the fore- 
 mentioned wall, fell sick, and departed this 
 life, when he had reigned forty-three years ; 
 whereupon his son Eviimerodach obtained 
 the kingdom. He governed public affairs 
 after an illegal and impure manner, and had 
 a plot laid against him by Neriglissoor, his 
 sister's husband, and was slain by him when 
 he had reigned but two years. After he was 
 slain, Neriglissoor, the person who plotted 
 against him, succeeded him in the kingdom, 
 and reigned four years; his son Laborosoar- 
 chod obtained the kingdom, though he was 
 but a child, and kept it nine months; hut by 
 reason of the very ill-temper and ill practices 
 he exhibited to the world, a plot was laid 
 against him also by his friends, and he was 
 tormented to death. After his death, the 
 conspirators got together, and by common 
 consent put the crown upon the head of Na- 
 bonnedus, a man of Babylon, and one who 
 belonged to that insurrection. In his reign 
 it was that the walls of the city of Babylon 
 were curiously built with burnt brick and 
 bitumen; but when he was come to the sever- 
 teenth year of his reign, Cyrus came out cf 
 Persia with a great army; and having alreat'y 
 conquered all the rest of Asia, he came hasti'y 
 to Babylonia. When Nabonnedus perceivet! 
 he was coming to attack him, he met him 
 with his forces, and, joining battle with him, 
 was beaten; and fled away with a few of h".? 
 troops with him, and was shut up within tV^ 
 city Borsippus. Hereupon Cyrus took Ba- 
 
 • The great improvements that NebuchadneL-<>a. 
 made in the buildings at Babylon, do no way contradiu' 
 those ancient and authentic testimonies which a«or.b«; 
 its first building to Nimrod, and its first rriuildmg lo 
 Scmiramis. as Berosus seems here to suppose. 
 
794 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 bylon, and gave order that the outer walls of 
 the city should be demolished, because the city 
 had proved very troublesome to him, and cost 
 him a great deal of pains to take it. He then 
 marched away to Borsippus, to besiege Nabon- 
 nedus; but as Nabonnedus did not sustain the 
 fciege, but delivered himself into his hands, he 
 was at first kindly used by Cyrus, who gave 
 him Carmania, as a place for him to inhabit 
 in, but sent him out of Babylonia. Accor- 
 dingly Nabonnedus spent the rest of his time 
 m that country, and there died." 
 
 21. TJiese_accounts agreewitb^ietrue 
 history in our bootcsTHCor" irPtEenTlin'rwl^- 
 ten that Ne buchadnezzar , in the eighteenth 
 year of his reign,* laid our temple desolate, 
 and so it lay in that state of obscurity for 
 fifty years; but that in the second year of the 
 reign of Cyrus, its foundations were laid, and 
 it was finished again in the second f year of 
 Darius. I will now add the records of the 
 Ph(£niciari5; for it will not be altogether 
 superfluous to give the reader demonstrations 
 more than enow on this occasion. In them 
 we have this enumeration of the times of their 
 several kings: — " Nabuchodonosor besieged 
 Tyre for thirteen years in the days of Ithobal, 
 their king; after him reigned Baal, ten years; 
 after him were judges appointed, who judged 
 the people: Ecnibalus, the son of Balsacus, 
 two months; Chelbes, the son of Abdeus, 
 ten months; Abhar, the high-priest, three 
 months; Mitgonus and Gerastratus, the sons 
 of Abdelemus, were judges six years; after 
 whom Balatorus reigned one year; after his 
 death they sent and fetched Merbalus from 
 Babylon, who reigned four years; after his 
 death they sent for his brother Hirom, who 
 reigned twenty years. Under his reign Cyrus 
 became king of Persia." So that the whole 
 interval is fifty-four years besides three 
 months ; for in the seventh year of the reign 
 of Nebuchadnezzar he began to besiege Tyre; 
 and Cyrus the Persian took the kingdom in 
 the fourteenth year of Hirom. So that the 
 records of the Chaldeans and Tyrians agree 
 with our writings about this temple; and the 
 testimonies here produced are an indisputable 
 and undeniable attestation to the aratiquity of 
 oar nation; and I suppose that what I have 
 already said may be sufficient to such as are 
 not very contentious. 
 
 22. But now it is proper to satisfy the 
 inquiry of those that disbelieve the records of 
 
 * This number in Josephus, that Nebuchadnezzar 
 destroyed the temple iu the eighteenth year of his rei^n, 
 is a mistake in the nicety of chronology ; for it was in tlie 
 nineteenth. 
 
 + The true number here for tlie year of Darius, in 
 which the second temple was tinished, whether the 
 second with ourpresent copies, or the sixth with that of 
 Syncellus, or the tenth with that of Euschius, is very 
 uocertain ; so we had best lollow Josephus's own account 
 ckewhere, Antiq. b. xi. ch. iiL sect. 4, which Khows us, 
 that according to his copy of the Old Testament, alter 
 tbe second of Cyrus, that work was interrupted till the 
 ■etx>nd of Uariun, when in seven years it was tioished in 
 the uiuth of Darius. 
 
 barbarians, and think none but Greeks to be 
 worthy of credit, and to produce many of 
 these very Greeks who were acquainted with 
 our nation, and to set before them such 
 as upon occasion have made mention of u» 
 in their own writings. Pyt^goras, therefore, 
 of Samos, lived in very ancient times, and was 
 esteemed a person superior to all philosophers, 
 in wisdom and piety towards God. Now it 
 is plain that he did not only know our doc- 
 trines, but was in very great measure a fol- 
 lower and admirer of them. There is not 
 indeed extant any writing that is owned fop 
 his;J but many there are who have written 
 his history, of whom Hermippus is the most 
 celebrated, who was a person very inquisitive 
 in all sorts of history. Now this Hermippus, 
 in his first book concerning Pythagoras, speaks 
 thus: — "That Pythagoras, upon the death of 
 one of his associates, whose name was Cal- 
 liphon, a Crotoniate by birth, affirmed that 
 this man's soul conversed with him both night 
 and day, and enjoined him not to pass over a 
 place where an ass had fallen down; as also 
 not to drink of such waters as caused thirst 
 again; and to abstain from all sorts of 
 reproaches." After which he adds thus: — 
 " This he did and said in imitation of the 
 doctrines of the Jews and Thracians, whict 
 he transferred into his own philosophy." For 
 it is very truly affirmed of this Pythagoras, 
 that he took a great many of the laws of the 
 Jews into his own philosophy. Nor was our 
 nation unknown of old to several of the Gre- 
 cian cities, and indeed was thought worthy of 
 imitation by some of them. This is declared 
 by Theophrastus, in his writings concerning 
 laws; for he says that "the laws of the 
 Tyrians forbid men to swear foreign oaths." 
 Among which he enumerates some others, 
 and particularly that called Cor ban; which 
 oath can only be found among the Jews, and 
 declares what a man may call " A thing 
 devoted to God." Nor indeed was Herodotus, 
 of Halicarnassus, unacquainted with our nation, 
 but mentions it after a way of his own, 
 when he saith thus, in the second book con- 
 cerning the Colchians. His words are these: 
 — " The only people who were circumcised in 
 their privy members originally, were the Col- 
 chians, the Egyptians, and the Ethiopians; 
 but the Phoenicians and those Syrians that are 
 in Palestine, confess that they learned it from 
 the Egyptians; and as for those Syrians who 
 live about the rivers Thermodon and Parthe- 
 nius, and their neighbours the Macrones, they 
 say they have lately learned it from the Col- 
 chians; for these are the only people that are 
 circumcised among mankind, and appear to have 
 done the very same thing with the Egyptians; 
 
 X This is a thing well known by the learned, that w« 
 are not secure that we have any >;enuine writini^s of 
 P)thagorasj those (ioldcn Vci8»;s, which are bis best 
 remains, iMjine K*^'"e'»''y SUPP"**"** *" ^^'^^ been written 
 not by biiukell. but by some of his scholars only, in 
 aj^reeweut wUli what Josepbus beie affirms u'hun. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 795 
 
 but as for the Egyptians and Ethiopians them- 
 aehes, I am not able to say which of them 
 received it from the other." This there- 
 fore is what HeroiJotus says, that "the Sy- 
 rians that are in Palestine are circumcised." 
 But there are no inhabitants of Palestine that 
 are circumcised excepting the Jews ; and 
 therefore it must be his knowledge of them 
 that enabled him to speak so much concern- 
 ing them. Chej^lus* also, a still ancienter 
 writer, and a poet, makes mention pf our 
 nation, and informs us that it came to the 
 assistance of king Xerxes, in his expedition 
 against Greece ; for in his enumeration of all 
 those nations, be last of all inserts ours among 
 the rest, when he says : — " At the last there 
 passed over a people, wonderful to be beheld; 
 for they spake the Phoenician tongue with 
 their mouths; they dwelt in the Solymean 
 mountains, near a broad lake; their heads were 
 sooty; they had round rasures on them : their- 
 heads and faces were like nasty horse-heads 
 also, that had been hardened in the sn>oke," I 
 think, therefore, that it is evident to everybody 
 that Cherilus means us, because the Soly- 
 mean mountains are in our country, wherein 
 we inhabit, as is also the lake called Asphal- 
 titis ; for this is a broader and larger lake than 
 any other that is in Syria : and thus does 
 Cherilus make ifiention of us. But now that 
 not only the lowest sort of the Grecians, but 
 those that are held in the greatest admiration 
 for their philosophic improvements among 
 them, did not only know the Jews, but, when 
 they lighted upon any of them admired them 
 alao, it is easy for any one to know; for Clear- 
 
 • Whether tnese verses of Cherilus, the heathen 
 |)oef. in the days of Xerxes, belong to the Solymi in 
 Fisidia, that were near a small lake, or to the Jews that 
 dwelt on the Solymean or Jerusalem mountains, near 
 the )?reat and broad lake Asphaltitis, that were a strange 
 people, and spake the Phoenician tonji'ie. is not agreed 
 on by the learned. It is yet certain that Josephas here, 
 and Easehiiis (Praep. ix. 9, p. 412) took them to %e 
 lews; and 1 confess I cannot but very much incline to 
 the same of inion. The other Solymi were not a strange 
 people, but heathen idolators, like the other parts of 
 Xerxes's army; and that these spake the Phoenician 
 ♦ontrue, is next to impossible, as the Jews certainly did; 
 nor is there the least evidence for it elsewhere. Nor 
 was the lake adjoining to the mountains of the Solymi 
 at all laree or broad, in comparison of the Jewish lake 
 Asphaltitis; noi indeed were these so considerable a 
 people as the Jews, nor se likely to be desiFed by Xerxes 
 ^or his army as the Jews, to whom he was always very 
 favourable. As for the rest of Cherilus's description, 
 that " their heads were sooty; that they had round ra- 
 •ures on their heads; that their heads and faces were 
 like nasty horse-heads, wfeich had been hardened in the 
 amoke;" these awkward characters probably fitted the 
 Solymi of Pisidia no better than they did the Jews in 
 Judea: and indeed tlris reproachful language, here given 
 these people, is to me a strong indication that they were 
 the poor despicable Jews, and not the Pisidian Solymi 
 celebrated in Honier, whom Cherilus here describes ; 
 nor are we to expect tliat either Cherilus or Hecateus, 
 er any other Pagan writers cited by Josephtis and Fuse- 
 bius, made no mistakes in the Jewish iustory. If by 
 coniparin:; their testiaionies with the more autlientic re- 
 cords of that naton, we find them for the main to con- 
 firm the same, as we a'most always do. we outfit to be 
 Satisfied, and not to expect that they ever had an exact 
 niinwiedce of all the circumstances -^f the Jewish af- 
 fairs, wh'ch indeed it was almost alwais impossible for 
 them ta bar ■-. —See sect ^ 
 
 chus, who was the scholar of Aristotle, and 
 inferior to no one of the Peripatetics whomso- 
 ever, in his first book concerning sleep, says 
 that *' Aristotle, his master, related what fol- 
 lows of a Jew," and sets down Aristotle's own 
 diecourse with him. The account is this, as 
 written down by him : ** Now, for a great 
 part of what this Jew said, it would be too 
 long to recite it; butwhat includes in it both 
 wonder and philosophy, it may not be amiss 
 to discourse of. * Now, that I may be plain 
 with thee, Hyperochides, I shall herein seem 
 to thee to relate wonders, and what will re- 
 semble dreams themselves. Hereupon Hype- 
 rochides answered modestly, and said. For 
 that very reason it is that all of us are very 
 desirous of bearing what thou art going to say. 
 Then replied Aristotle, For this cause it will 
 be the best way to imitate that rule of the 
 Rhetoricians, which requires us first to give 
 an account of the man, and of whit nation he 
 was, that so we may not contradict our mas- 
 ter's directions. Then said Hyperochides, 
 Go on, if it so pleases thee. This man then 
 [answered Aristotle], was by birth a Jew, and 
 came from Celesyria; these Jews are derived 
 from the Indian philosophers; they are named 
 by the Indians Calami, and by the Syrians 
 JudcEi, and took their name from the country 
 they inhabit, which is called Judea; but for 
 the name of their city it is a very awkward 
 one, for they call it Jerusalem. Now this man, 
 when he was hospitably treated by a great 
 many, came down from the upper country to 
 the places near the sea, and became a Grecian, 
 not only in his language, but in his soul also; 
 insomuch that when we ourselves happened 
 to be in Asia about the same places whither 
 he came, he conversed with us and with other 
 philosophical persons, and made a trial of our 
 skill in philosophy ; and as he had lived with 
 many karned men, he communicated to us 
 more information than he received from us." 
 This is Aristotle's account of the matter, as 
 given us by Clearchus ; which Aristotle dis- 
 coursed also particularly of the great ami won- 
 derful fortitude of this Jew in his diet, and con- 
 tinent way of living, as those that please may 
 learn more about him from Clearchus's book 
 itself; for I avoid setting down any more than 
 is sufficient for my purpose. Now Clearchus 
 said this by way of digression for his main de- 
 sign was of another nature ; but for Hecateus of 
 Abdera, who was both a philosopher, and one 
 very useful in an active life, he was contempo- 
 rary with king Alexander in his youth, and af- 
 terward was with Ptolemy, the son of Lagus ; 
 he did not write about the Jewish aflfairs by the 
 byeonly, but composed an entire book concern- 
 ing the Jews themselves; out of which book I 
 am willing to run over a few things, of which 
 I have been treating, by way of epitome. And 
 in the first place I will demonstrate the time 
 when this Hecateus lived, for he mentions the 
 fight that was between Ptolemy and DemetriuB 
 
06 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK 1 
 
 about Gaztt, which was fovight in the eleventh 
 year after the death of Alexander, and in the 
 hundred and seventeenth olympiad, as Castor 
 says in his history. For when he had set down 
 this olympiad, he says farther, that " on this 
 olympiad Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, beat 
 in battle Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, who 
 was named Poliorcetes, at Gaza." Now it is 
 agreed by all, that Alexander died in the hun- 
 dred and fourteenth olympiad; it is therefore 
 evident, that our nation flourished in his time, 
 and in the time of Alexander. Again, Hecateus 
 says to the same purpose, as follows : — " Pto- 
 lemy got possession of the places in Syria after 
 the battle at Gaza ; and many, when they 
 heard of Ptolemy's moderation and humanity, 
 went along with him to Egypt, and were wil- 
 ling to assist him in his affairs ; one of whom 
 (Hecateus says) was Hezekiah* the high- 
 priest of the Jews; a man of about sixty-six 
 years of age, and in great dignity among his 
 own people. He was a very sensible man, 
 and could speak very movingly, and was very 
 skilful in the management of affairs, if any 
 other man ever were so ; although, as he says, 
 all the priests of the Jews took tithes of the 
 products of the earth, and managed public 
 affairs, and were in number not above fifteen 
 hundred at the most." Hecateus mentions this 
 Hezekiah a second time, and says, that "as be 
 was possessed of so great a dignity, and was 
 become familiar with us, so did he take certain 
 of those that were with him, and explained to 
 them all the circumstances of their people ; 
 for he had all their habitations and polity down 
 in writing." Moreover, Hecateus declares 
 again, " what regard we have for our laws, 
 apd that we resolve to endure any thing ra- 
 ther than trangress them, because we think 
 it right for us to do so." Whereupon he 
 adds, that " although they are in a bad repu- 
 tation among their neighbours, and among all 
 those that come to them, and have been often 
 treated injuriously by the kings and gover- 
 nors of Persia, yet can they not be dissuaded 
 from acting what they think best ; but that 
 when they are stripped on this account, and 
 have torments inflicted upon them, and they 
 are brought to the most terrible kinds of 
 death, they meet them after a most extraor- 
 dinary manner, beyond all other people, and 
 will not renounce the religion of their fore- 
 fathers." Hecateus also produces demonstra- 
 tions not a few of this their resolute tena- 
 ciousness of their laws, when he speaks thus : 
 •• Alexander w?8 once at Babylon, and had 
 an intention to rebuild the temple of Belus 
 that was fallen to decay, and in order thereto, 
 he commanded all his soldiers in general to 
 ^ring earth thither. But the Jews, and they 
 
 • This Hezekiah, who is here caHed a h'jrh-priest, is 
 not named in Josephiis's cataloKiie; the real hii^h-priest 
 at Inat time heinjt rather Onins. as Archbishop Usher 
 •opposes. However, Josephus often uses the word high. 
 
 SfacM in the plural niiniber, as livinR many at the saine 
 «. S«e the note on Antiq, b. xx> ch. viii.^seot 8. 
 
 only, would not comply with that command 
 nay, they underwent stripes ai;d great losse* 
 of what they had on this at-count, till the King 
 forgave them and permitted them to ^i"e in- 
 quiet." He adds farther, that " when the 
 Macedonians came to there into that co;;ntry, 
 and demolished the [old] temples and tbe al- 
 tars, they assisted tliem iu deuiolishing /.henv 
 all;f but [for not assisting them in rebr.t?. Jing 
 them] they either underwent losses, or so Tie- 
 times obtained forgiveness," He adds fartlier, 
 that ""these men des-erve to be admired on-! hat 
 account." He also speaks of the mig'.ity po- 
 pulousness of our nation, and says, tbtit " the 
 Persians formerly carried away many ten thou- 
 sands of our people to Babylon, as also that 
 not a few ten thousands were removed after 
 Alexander's death into Egypt and Pho.viicia,. 
 by reason of the sedition that was arisen in 
 Syria." The same person takes notice in 
 history, how large the country is which we 
 inhabit, as well as of its excellervt character,. 
 and says, that "the land in which the Jews 
 inhabit contains three millions of arourae,:Jl 
 and is generally of a most excellent and most 
 fruitful soil ; nor is Judea of lesser dimen- 
 sions." The same man describes our city 
 Jerusalem also itself as of a most excellent 
 structure, and very large, and inhabited from 
 the most ancient times. He also discourses 
 of the multitude of men in it, and of the 
 construction of our temple, after the follow- 
 ing manner : — " There are many, strong places 
 and villages (says he) in the country of Ju- 
 dea; but one strong city there is, out fifty 
 furlongs in circumference, which abited" 
 
 by a hundred and twenty thousand men,, 
 or thereabouts :§ they call it Jerusalem. — 
 
 + Se I read the text with Havercamp, though the 
 place be difficult. 
 
 t This number of arourae or Egyptian acres, JJ.OOO.O'JOy 
 each aroura containitic; a square of one hundred I's;y):i- 
 tian cubits (being ataoHt three quarters of an llngli^hv 
 acre, and just twice the area of the court nf the Jewisn 
 tabernacle), as contained in the country of Judea, will 
 be about one-third of the entire number of arourse in 
 the whole land of Judea; supposing it one hundred and 
 sixty measured n:iles long, and seventy siieh mile* 
 broad; whi'-h estimation, for the fruitful parts of it, a» 
 perhaps here in Htcatens. is not therefore very wide 
 from the truth. The fifty furlongs in compass for the 
 city Jerusalem jjrrsently are not very wide trom tjio 
 truth also, as Josephus himself describes it. who, of th^ 
 War, b. V. rh. iv. sect. 3, makes its wall thirty-three 
 furlongs, besides the suburbs and gardens;, nay. he says^ 
 b. V. ch. xii. sect. 2. that Titus's wall about it at some 
 small distance, after the gardens and suburbs were de- 
 stroyed, was not less than thirty-nine f\irlongs. iNor 
 perhaps were its constant inhabitants, in the days of 
 Hecateus, many more than these li'O.OOO. hfcause roon> 
 was always to be left (or vasily Kicaifr nniii'.itis which 
 came up at the three great festivai.i; to say nothini; of th» 
 
 Frobable increase in their iiuiiilur liftw rcii theda>sofc 
 lecateus and J(>.sephns, which was at least three hun- 
 dred years; hut see a nuirc auihi iilic arcuint of some 
 of these measures in my t)(scnpiion of the Jewish 
 Temples. However, we are not to expect that suclv 
 heathens as Cherilus or Hecateus. or the rest that are' 
 cited by .fosephns and Fiisehiiis, rouid avoid making 
 many mistakes in the Jewish history, while yet they 
 strongly confirm the same history in tl)e i;enera!. ana 
 are most valuabfe atte.>(fations to those more aullienlfa 
 accounts we have in the Scriptures and J.usepbub ooi> 
 cernini; them. 
 i Ste the above natoi 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APlON 
 
 797 
 
 There is about the middle of the city, a wall 
 of stone, the length of which is five hundred 
 feet, and the breadth a hundred cubits, with 
 double cloisters; wherein there is a square 
 aitar, not made of hewn stone, but composed 
 of white stones gathered together, having each 
 side twenty cubits long, and its altitude ten 
 cubits. Hard by it is a large edifice, wherein 
 there is an altar and a candlestick, both of 
 gold, and in weight two talents; upon these 
 there is a light that is never extinguished nei- 
 ther by night nor by day. There is no image, 
 nor any thing, nor any donations therein; 
 nothing at all is there planted, neither grove, 
 nor any thing of that sort. The priests abide 
 therein both nights and days, performing cer- 
 tain purifications, and drinking not the least 
 drop of wine while they are in the temple." 
 ^loreover, he at4;ests that we Jews went as 
 auxiliaries along with king Alexander, and 
 after him with his successors. I will add 
 farther what he says he learned when he was 
 himself with the same army, concerning the 
 actions of a man that was a Jew. His words 
 are these* — "As I was myself going to the 
 Red Sea, there followed us a man, whose 
 name was Mosollam; he was one of the 
 Jewish horsemen who conducted us; he was a 
 person of great courage, of a strong body, 
 and by all allowed to be the most skilful 
 archer that was either among the Greeks or 
 barbarians. Now this man, as people were in 
 great numbers passing along the road, and a 
 certain augur was observing an augury by a 
 bird, and requiring them all to stand still, 
 inquired what they staid for. Hereupon the 
 augur showed him the bird from whence he 
 took his augury, and told him that if the bird 
 staid where he was, they ought all to stand 
 still; but that if he got up, and flew onward, 
 thev must go forward; but that if he flew 
 bacKward, tney must retire again. Mosollam 
 made no reply, but drew his bow, and shot at 
 tlie bird, and hit him, and killed him; and as 
 the augur and some others were very angry, 
 and wished imprecations upon him, he 
 answered them thus: — Why are you so mad 
 as to take this most unhappy bird into your 
 hands? for how can this bird give us any true 
 information concerning our march, which 
 could not foresee how to save himself? for 
 had he been able to foreknow what was 
 future, he would not have come to this place, 
 but would have been afraid lest Mosollam the 
 Jew would shoot at him, and kill him." But 
 of Hecateus's testimonies we have said 
 enough; for as to such as desire to know more 
 of them, they may easily obtain them from 
 his book itself. However, I shall not think 
 it tcc^ much for me to name Agatharchides, as 
 hnvirg made mention of us Jews, though in 
 way of derision at our simplicity, as he sup- 
 poses it to be; for when he was discoursing 
 of the alfairs of Stratotiice, "how she came 
 out o^" Macedonia into Syria, and left her 
 
 husband Demetrius, while yet Seleucus would 
 not marry her as she expected, but during the 
 time of his raising an army at Babylon, stirred 
 up a sedition about Antiock; and how after 
 that the king came back, and upon his taking 
 of Antiocb, she fled to Seleucia, and had it in 
 her power to sail away immediately, yet did 
 she comply with a dream which forbade he, 
 so to do, and so was caught and put to death, f 
 When Agatharchides had premised this story 
 ind had jested upon Stratonice for her 
 superstition, he gives a like example of 
 what was reported concerning us, and writes 
 thus: — "There are a people called Jews, 
 who dwell in a city the strongest of all 
 other cities, which the inhabitants call Jeru- 
 salem, and are accustomed to rest on every 
 seventh day;* on which times they make no 
 use of their arms, nor meddle with bus- 
 bandry, nor take care of any afiairs of life, 
 but spread out their hands in their holr 
 I places, and pray till the evening. Now it 
 I came to pass, that when Ptolemy, the son of 
 I Lagus, came into this city with his army, 
 I these men, in observing this mad custom of 
 I theirs, instead of guarding the city, suffered 
 I their country to submit itself to a bitter lord; 
 ' and their law was openly proved to have 
 i commanded a foolish practice. f This acci- 
 I dent taught all other men but the Jews 
 I to disregard such dreams as these were, and 
 i not to follow the like idle suggestions deli- 
 vered as a law, when, in such uncertainty 
 of human reasonings, they are at a loss what 
 they should do." Now this our procedure 
 seems a ridiculous thing to Agatharchides, 
 I but will appear to such as consider it without 
 {prejudice a great thing, and what deserved a 
 j great many encomiums; I mean, when certain 
 i men constantly prefer the observation of 
 I their laws, and their religion towards God, 
 I before the preservation of themselves and 
 I their country. 
 I 23^ Now, that some writers have omitted 
 i to mention our nation, not because they knew 
 I nothing of us, but because they envied us, or 
 I for some other unjustifiable reasons, I think 
 I I can demonstrate by particular instances; for 
 j Hj gronymu s, who wrote the ffistory Qf [A^lex- 
 I ander's] Successors, lived at the same time 
 i with Hecateus, and was a friend of king 
 i Antigonus, and president of Syria. Now, 
 I it is plain that H ecate us wrote an entire book 
 I concerning us, while llieronymus never men- 
 I tions us in his history, although he was bred 
 j up very near to the places where we live. 
 1 Thus different from one another are the 
 'inclinations of men; while the one thought 
 ! we deserved to be carefully remembered, 
 
 I • A glorious testimony this of the obseryation of the 
 I Sabbatii by (be Jews. See Antiq. o. xvi. cb. ii, »ec(. 
 
 4; and ch vi. sect U; the Life, sect CA; acd War, h.'.v. 
 I cii. IX. sect 12. 
 
 + iNot their law, but the superstitious interpretation 
 
 of their leaders, which neither the ftiaccnbees nui- ou/ 
 
 bleastd ^aviour did ever approve of. 
 
798 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 as some ill-disposed passion blinded the 
 other's mind so entirely, that he could not 
 discern the truth. And now certainly the 
 foregoing records of the Egyptians, and 
 Chaldeans, and Phoenicians, together with so 
 many of the Greek writers, will be sufficient 
 for the demonstration of our antiquity. More- 
 over, besides those fore-mentioned, Theophi- 
 lus, and Theodotus, and Mnaseas, and Aris- 
 tophanes, and Hermogenes, Euhemerus also, 
 and Conon, and Zopyrion, and perhaps many 
 others (for I have not lighted upon all the 
 Greek books) have made distinct mention of us. 
 It is true, many of the men before-mentioned 
 have made great mistakes about the true 
 accounts of our nation in the earliest times, 
 because they had not perused our sacred books; 
 yet have they all of them afforded their testi- 
 mony to our antiquity, concerning which I 
 am now treating. However, Demetrius 
 Phalereus, and the elder Philo, with Eupo- 
 lemus, have not greatly missed the truth 
 about our affairs ; whose lesser mistakes ought 
 therefore to be forgiven them; for it was not 
 in their power to understand our writings 
 with the utmost accuracy. 
 
 24. One particular there is still remaining 
 behind of what I at first proposed to speak 
 to, and that is to demonstrate that, those 
 dlumnies and reproaches, which some have 
 throvvn upon our nation, are lieSj and to make 
 use of those writers' own testimonies against 
 themselves: and that in general this self- 
 contradiction hath happened to many other 
 authors by reason of their ill-will to some 
 people, I conclude, is not unknown to such 
 as have read histories with sufficient care; 
 for some of them have endeavoured to dis- 
 grace the nobility of certain nations, and 
 of some of the most glorious cities, and have 
 cast reproaches upon certain forms of govern- 
 ment. Thus hath Theopompus abused the 
 city of Athens, Polycrates that of Lacede- 
 mon, as hath he that wrote the Tripoliticus 
 (for he is not Theopompus, as is supposed by 
 some) done by the city of Thebes. Timeus 
 also hath greatly abused the foregoing people 
 and others also ; and this ill-treat»nent they 
 use chiefly when they have a contest with 
 men of the greatest reputation ; some, out of 
 envy and malice, — and others, as supposing 
 that, by this foolish talking of theirs, they 
 may be thought worthy of being remembered 
 themselves ; and indeed they do by no means 
 fail of their hopes, with regard to the foolish 
 part of mankind, but men of sober judgment 
 still condemn them of great malignity. 
 
 25. Now the Eg ^tian s were the first that 
 ca«t reproaches upon us; in order to please 
 which nation, some others undertook to per- 
 vert the truth, while they would neither own 
 tiiat our forefathers tame into Egypt from 
 auother country, as tlic lact was, nor give a 
 tiue account of our ileparture thence; and 
 ivdvtii the Egyptians took many occadons to 
 
 hate us and envy us: in the first place, 
 because our ancestors had had the dominion 
 over their country,* and when they were 
 delivered from them, and gone to their own 
 country again, they lived there in prosperity. 
 In the next place, the difference of our 
 religion from theirs hath occasioned great 
 enmity between us, while our way of divine 
 worship did as much exceed that which their 
 laws appointed, as does the nature of God 
 exceed that of brute beasts; for so far they all 
 agree through the whole country, to esteem 
 such animals as gods, although they differ 
 from one another in the peculiar worship they 
 severally pay to them; and certainly men they 
 are entirely of vain and foolish minds, who have 
 thus accustomed themselves from the begin- 
 ning to have such bad notions concerning 
 their gods, and could not think of imitating 
 that decent form of divine worship which we 
 made use of, though, when they saw our in- 
 stitutions approved of by many others, they 
 could not but envy us on that account; for 
 some of them have proceeded to that degree 
 of folly and meanness in their conduct, as not 
 to scruple to contradict their own ancient re- 
 cords, nay, to contradict themselves also in 
 their writings, and yet were so blinded by 
 their passions as not to discern it. 
 
 26. And now I will turn my discourse to 
 one of their principal writers, whom I have a 
 little before made use of as a witness to our 
 antiquity; I mean MaUfiikgJ" He promised 
 to interpret the Egyptian history out of their 
 sacred writings, and premised this: that" Our 
 people had come into Egypt, many ten thou- 
 sands in number, and subdued its inhabi- 
 tants;" and when he had farther confessed, 
 that " We went out of that country afterward, 
 and settled in that country which is now called 
 Judea, and there built Jerusalem and its tern-, 
 pie." Now thus far he followed his ancient 
 records; but after this he permits himself, in 
 order to appear to have written what rumours 
 and reports passed abroad about the Jews, 
 and introduces incredible narrations, as if he 
 would have the Egyptian multitude, that had 
 the leprosy and other distempers, to have 
 been mixed with us, as he says they were, and 
 that they were condemned to fly out of Egypt 
 
 « The Phoenician shepherds, whom Josephus niistuok 
 for the Israelites. See the note on sect. 16. 
 
 + In reading tliis and the remaining sections of this 
 book, and some parts of the next, one may easily per- 
 ceive that our usually cool and candid author, Joseptius, 
 was too highly oti'ended with the impudent calumnies of 
 Rlanetho, and the other bitter enemies of the Jews, with 
 whom he had now to deal, and was thereby betrayed into 
 a greater heat and passion than ordinary, ^nd that by 
 consequence he does not hear reason with his usual fairness 
 and impartiality; beseems to depart sometimes from ihe 
 brevity and sincerity of a faithful historian, which is his 
 grand character, and indulges the prolixity and colours 
 of a pleader and a disputant: accordingly, 1 confess, 1 
 always read these sections with le^8 pleasure than 1 do 
 the rest of his writings, though I lully believe the re- 
 proaches cast on the Jews, which he here endeavours 
 to cunlule and expuw, Wfre wliully groundless and uq< 
 j re.i8uuabl«^ 
 
BOOK I, 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 799 
 
 together; for he mentions Amenophis, a 
 tictitious king's name, though on that account 
 he durst not set down the number of years of 
 his reign, which yet he had accurately done 
 as to the other kings he mentions; he then 
 ascribes certain fabulous stories to this king, 
 as havirjg in a manner forgotten how he had 
 already related that the departure of the shep- 
 herds for Jerusalem had been five hundred 
 and eighteen years before; for Tethmosis 
 was king when they went away. Now, from 
 his days, the reigns of the intermediate kings, 
 according to Manetho, amounted to three 
 hundred and ninety-three years, as he says 
 himself, till the two brothers, Sethos and Her- 
 meus; the one of whom, Sethos, was called by 
 that other name of Egyptus ; and the other, 
 Hermeus, by that of Danaus, He also says, 
 that Sethos cast the other out of Egypt, and 
 reigned fifty-nine years, as did his eldest son 
 Rhampses reign after him sixty- six years. 
 When Manetho therefore had acknowledged 
 that our forefathers were gone out of Egypt so 
 many years ago he introduces his fictitious king 
 Amenophis, and says thus: — " This king was 
 desirous to become a spectator of the gods, as 
 had Orus, one of his predecessors in that 
 kingdom, desired the same before him ; he 
 also communicated that his desire to his name- 
 sake Amenophis, who was the son of Papis, 
 and one that seemed to partake of a divine 
 ziature, both as to wisdom and the knowledge 
 of futurities." Manetho adds, " How this 
 namesake of his told him that he might see 
 the gods, if he would clear the whole country 
 of the lepers and of the other impure people; 
 that the king was pleased with this injunction, 
 and got together all that had any defect in 
 their bodies out of Egypt, And that their 
 number was eighty thousand; whom he sent 
 to those quarries which are on the east side 
 of the Nile, that they might work in them, 
 4nd might be separated from the rest of the 
 Egyptians." He says farther, that " There 
 were some o£ the learned priests that were 
 polluted with the leprosy; but that still this 
 Amenophis, the wise man and the prophet, 
 was afraid that the gods would be angry at 
 him and at the king, if there should appear 
 to have been violence offered them; who also 
 added this farther £out of his sagacity about 
 futurities], that certain people would come to 
 the assistance of these polluted wretches, and 
 would conquer Egypt, and keep it in their pos- . 
 se.s:-ion thirteen years: that, however, he durst 
 not tell the king of these things, but that he 
 left a writing behind him about all those mat- 
 ters, and then slew himself, which made the 
 king disconsolate." After which he writes 
 1 1U3, verbatim : — *' After those that were sent 
 to work in the quarries had continued in that 
 miserable btate for a long while, the king was 
 desired that he would set apart thecity Avaris, 
 which was then left desolate of the shepherds, 
 for their habitation and protection; which 
 
 desire he granted them. Now this city, accord- 
 ing to the ancient theology, was Trypho's city. 
 But when these men were gotten into it, 
 and found the place fit for a revolt, they ap- 
 pointed themselves a ruler out of the priests 
 of Heliopolis, whose name was Osarsvph, and 
 they took their oaths that they woulo be obe- 
 dient to him in all things. He then, in th 
 first place, made this law for them. That the_ 
 should neither worship the Egyptian gods 
 nor should abstain from any one of those 
 sacred animals which they have in the highest 
 esteem, but kill and destroy them all; thai 
 they should join themselves to nobody but to 
 
 those that were of this confederacy When 
 
 he had made such laws as these, and many 
 more such as were mainly opposite to the 
 customs of the Egyptians,* he gave order that 
 they should use the multitude of the hand- 
 they had in building walls about their city. 
 and make themselves ready for a war witi. 
 king Amenophis, while he did himself take 
 .into his friendship the other priests and those 
 that were polluted with them, and sent am- 
 bassadors to those shepherds who had beeii 
 driven out of the land by Tethmosis to the city 
 called Jerusalem ; whereby he informed them 
 of his own affairs, and of the state of those 
 others that had been treated after such an 
 ignominious manner, and desired that they 
 would come with one consent to his assistance 
 in this war against Egypt. He also promised 
 that he would, in the first place, bring them 
 back to their ancient city and country Avaris, 
 and provide a plentiful maintenance for their 
 multitude ; that he would protect them and 
 fight for them as occasion should require, aiui 
 would easily reduce the country under their 
 dominion. These shepherds were all very 
 glad of this message, and came away with 
 alacrity all together, being in number two 
 hundred thousand men; and in a little time 
 they came to Avaris. And now Amenophis 
 the king of Egypt, upon his being informed 
 of their invasion, was in great confusion, as 
 calling to mind what Amenophis, the son of 
 Papis, had foretold him ; and, in the first 
 place, he assembled the multitude of the Egyp- 
 tians, and took counsel with their leaders, and 
 sent for their sacred animals to him, especially 
 for those that were principally worshipped in 
 the temples, and gave a particular charge to 
 the priests distinctly, that they should hide 
 the images of their gods with the utmost 
 care. He also sent his son Sethos, who was 
 also named Ramesses from his father Rhamp- 
 ses, being but five years old, to a friend of 
 his. He then passed on with the rest of the 
 Egyptians, being three hundred thousand of 
 the most .warlike of them, against the ene- 
 my, who met them. Yet did he not join 
 
 • This is a very valuable testimony of IVIanetho, 
 that the laws of Osarsiph, or Moses, were not made in 
 compliance with, but in op) ositiun to. the customs ot 
 the Ejfjptians. See the uote ou Auuq. b. iii. cti. viii. 
 sect 9. 
 
800 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSeAiUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK f. 
 
 battle with them; but thinking that would 
 be to fight against the gods, he returned back 
 and came to Memphis, where be took Apis 
 and the other sacred animals which he had 
 sent for to him, and presently marched into 
 Ethiopia, together with his whole army and 
 jnultitude of Egyptians ; for the king of 
 Ethiopia was under an obligation to him, on 
 which account he received him, and took care 
 of all the multitude that was with him, while 
 the country supplied all that was necessary for 
 the food of the men. He also allotted cities 
 and villages for this exile, that was to be from 
 its beginning during those fatally-determined 
 thirteen years. Moreover, he pitched a camp 
 for his Ethiopian army, as a guard to king 
 Amenophis, upon the borders of Egypt. And 
 this was the state of things in Ethiopia. But 
 for the people of Jerusalem, when they came 
 down together with the polluted Egyptians, 
 they treated the men in such a barbarous 
 manner, that those who saw how they subdued 
 the fore -mentioned country, and the horrid 
 Vi^-'ckedness they were guilty of, thought it a 
 most dreadful thing; for they did not only 
 set the cities and villages on fire, but were not 
 satisfied till they had been guilty of sacrilege, 
 and destroyed the images of the gods, and 
 used them in roasting those sacred animals 
 that used to be worshipped, and forced the 
 priests and prophets to be the executioners and 
 murderers of those animals, and then ejected 
 them naked out of the country. It was also 
 reported that the priest, who ordained their 
 polity and their laws, was by birth of Helio- 
 polis ; and his name Osarsiph, from Osiris, 
 who was the god of Heliopolis; but that when 
 he was gone over to these people, his name 
 was changed, and he was called Moses." 
 
 27. This is what the Egyptians relate about 
 the Jews, with much more, which I omit 
 for the sake of brevity. But still Manetho 
 goes on, that "After this, Amenophis returned 
 from Ethiopia with a great army, as did 
 his son Rhampses with another army also, 
 and that both of them joined battle with 
 the shepherds and the polluted people, and 
 beat them, and slew a great many of them, 
 and pursued them to the bounds of Syria." 
 These and the like accounts are written by 
 Manetho. But I will demonstrate that he 
 trides, and tells arrant lies, after I have made 
 a distinction which will relate to what 1 am 
 going to say about bini; for this Manetho had 
 graiited and confessed that this nation was 
 not originally Egyptian, but that they had 
 cou;e from another country, and subdued 
 Egypt, and then went away again outof it. But 
 thai those Egyptians who were thus diseased 
 in their bodies were not mingled with us 
 afterward, and that Muses whu brought the 
 pecph; out was not one of that company, but 
 lived many generations earber, 1 shall endea- 
 vour 10 (ItuionRfate Iroui Munetlio's own 
 ■ccounts themselves. 
 
 28. Now, for the first occasion of this fic- 
 tion, Manetho supposes what is no better than 
 a ridiculous thing; for he says that "King 
 Amenophis desired to see the^^ods." What 
 gods, T pray, ard~lie~"ffesife to see ? If he 
 meant the gods whom their laws ordained to 
 Jae worshipped, the ox, the goat, the crocodile, 
 and the baboon, he saw them already; but for 
 the heavenly gods, how could he see them, 
 and what should occasion this his desire? To 
 be sure,* it was because another king before 
 him had already seen them. He had then been 
 informed what sort of gods they were, and 
 after what manner they had been seen, inso- 
 much that he did not stand in need of any 
 new artifice*for obtaining this sight. How- 
 ever, the prophet by whose means the king 
 thought to compass his design was a wise man. 
 If so, how came he not to know that such his* 
 desire was impossible to be accomplished ? 
 for the event did not succeed. And what 
 pretence could there be to suppose that the 
 gods would not be seen by reason of the peo- 
 ple's maims in their bodies, or leprosy? for the 
 gods are not angry at the imperfection of bodies, 
 but at wicked practices; and as to eighty 
 thousand lepers, and those in an ill state also, 
 how is it possible to have them gathered to- 
 gether in one day? nay, how came the king 
 not to comply with the prophet? for his in- 
 junction was, that those that were maimed 
 should be expelled out of Egypt, while the 
 king only sent them to work in the quarries, 
 as if he were rather in want of labourers, than 
 intended to purge his country. He says 
 farther, that " This {)rophet slew himself, as 
 foreseeing the anger of the gods, and those 
 events which were to coaie upon Egyp* 
 afterward; and that he left this prediction tor 
 the king in writing." Besides, how came it 
 to pass that this prophet did not foreknow 
 his own death at the first ? nay, how came 
 he not to contradict the king in his desire to 
 see the gods immediately ? how came that 
 unreasonable dread upon him of judgnjents 
 that were not to happen in his lile-tiuie; or 
 what worse thing could he sutler, out of the 
 fear of which he made haste to kill himself? 
 But now let us see the silliest thing of all; 
 — the king, although he had been informed 
 of these things, and terrified with the fear of 
 what was to come, yet did not he even theu 
 eject these maimed people out of his cuuntrs, 
 when it had been foretold him that he was to 
 clear Egypt of then); but, as Manetho sa\s, 
 " He then, upon their request, gave theui 
 j that city to inhabit, which had formerly 
 belonged to the shepherds, and was called 
 Avaris ; whither when they were gone in 
 crowds (he says) they chose one that tad 
 formerly been priest of Heliopolis; and iJ.at 
 this priest lirst ordained that thwy should nei- 
 ther woi&hi|; iLe gods, nor abstain frou. those 
 
 « Or. Uy J neuter. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 801 
 
 animals that were worshipped by the Egyp- 
 tians, but should kill and eat them all, and 
 should associate with nobody but those that 
 had consph-ed with them ; and that he bound 
 the multitude by oaths to be sure to continue 
 in those laws ; and that when he had built a wall 
 about Avaris, he made war against the king." 
 Manetho adds also, that "this priest sent 
 to Jerusalem to invite that people to come to 
 his assistance, and promised to give them 
 Avaris; for that it had belonged to the fore- 
 fathers of those that were coming from Jeru- 
 salem, and that when they were come, they 
 made a war immediately against the king, 
 and got possession of all Egypt." He says 
 also, that "the Egyptians came with an army 
 of two hundred thousand men, and that Ame- 
 nophis, the king of Egypt, not thinking that 
 he ought to fight against the gods, ran away 
 presently into Ethiopia, and committed Apis 
 and certain other of their sacred animals to 
 the priests, and commanded them to take 
 care of preserving them." He says further, 
 that " the people of Jerusalem came accord- 
 ingly upon the Egyptians, and overthrew 
 their cities, and burnt their temples, and 
 slew their horsemen, and in short abstained 
 from no sort of wickedness nor barbarity, 
 and for that priest who settled their polity 
 and their laws," he says, " he was by birth of 
 Heliopolis, and his name was Osarsiph, from 
 Osiris the god of Heliopolis; but that he 
 changed his name, and called himself Moses." 
 He then says, that "on the thirteenth year 
 afterward, Amenophis, according to the fa- 
 tal time of the duration of his misfortunes, 
 came upon them out of Ethiopia with a great 
 army, and joining battle with the shepherds 
 and with the polluted people, overcame them 
 in battle, and slew a great many of them, 
 and pursued them as far as the bounds of 
 Syria." 
 
 29. Now Manetho does not reflect upon 
 the improbability of his lie ; for the leprous 
 people, and the multitude that was with them, 
 although they might formerly have been an- 
 gry at the king, and at those that had treated 
 them so coarsely, and this according to the 
 prediction of the prophet ; yet certainly, 
 when they were come out of the mines, and 
 had received of the king a city, and a coun- 
 try, they would have grown milder towards 
 him. However, had they ever so much hated 
 him in particular, they might have laid a 
 private plot against himself, but would hardly 
 have made war against all the Egyptians ; 1 
 mean this on the account of the great kindred 
 they who were so numerous must have had 
 among them. Nay still, if they had resolved 
 to fight with the men, they would not have 
 had impudence enough to fight with their 
 gods; nor would they have ordained laws 
 quite contrary to those of their .own country, 
 and to those in which they had been bred up 
 themselves. Yet arc we beholden to Mane- 
 
 tho, that he does not lay the principal charge 
 of this horrid transgression upon those that 
 came from Jerusalem, but says that the 
 Egyptians themselves were the most guilty, 
 and that they were their priests that contrived 
 these things, and made the multitude take 
 their oaths for doing so ; but still how absurd 
 is it to suppose that none of these people' 
 own relations or friends should be prevaile 
 with to revolt, nor to undergo the hazards ol 
 war with them ; while these polluted people 
 were forced to send to Jerusalem, and bring 
 their auxiliaries from thence 1 What friend- 
 ship, I pray, or what relation was there for- 
 merly between them that required this assist- 
 ance? On the contrary, these people were 
 enemies, and greatly differed from them in 
 their customs. He says, indeed, that they 
 complied immediately, upon their promising 
 them that they should conquer Egypt ; as if 
 they did not themselves very well know that 
 country out of which they had been driven 
 by force. Now, had these men been in want, 
 or lived miserably, perhaps they might have 
 undertaken so hazardous an enterprise ; but 
 as they dwelt in a happy city, and had a large 
 country, and one better than Egypt itself, 
 how came it about, that for the sake of those 
 that had of old been their enemies, of those 
 that were maimed in their bodies, and of those 
 whom none of their own relations would en- 
 dure, they should run such hazards in assist- 
 ing them ? For they could not foresee that 
 the king would run away from them : on the 
 contrary, he saith himself, that " Ameno- 
 phis's son had three hundred thousand men 
 with him, and met them at Pelusium." Now, 
 to be sure, those that came could not be ig- 
 norant of this ; but for the king's repentance 
 and flight, how could they possibly guess at 
 it? He then says, that "those who came from 
 Jerusalem, and made this invasion, got the 
 granaries of Egypt into their possession, and 
 perpetrated many of the most horrid actions 
 there." And thence he reproaches them, as 
 though he had not himself introduced them 
 as enemies, or as though he might accuse 
 such as were invited from another place for 
 so doing, when the natural Egyptians them 
 selves had done the same things before their 
 coming, and had taken oaths so to do. How 
 ever, " Amenophis, some time afterward, 
 came upon them, and conquered them in a 
 battle, and slew his enemies, and drove them 
 before him as far as Syria." As if Egypt 
 were so easily taken by people that came 
 from any place whatsoever ; and as if those 
 that had conquered it by war, when they 
 were informed that Amenophis was alive, did 
 neither fortify the avenues out of Ethiopia 
 into it, although they bad great advantages 
 for doing it, nor did get their other forces 
 ready for their defence ! but that he followed 
 them over the sandy dei^ert, and slew them as 
 far aa Syria; uhile yet it is not an easy thing 
 
802 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 for an army to pass over that country, e n 
 without fighting. 
 
 30. Our nation, therefore, according to a- 
 netho, was not derived from Egypt, nor were 
 any of the Egyptians mingled with us ; for it 
 IS to be supposed that many of the lepro s 
 and distempered people were dead in the 
 mines, since they had been there a long time, 
 and in so ill a condition ; many others must 
 be dead in the battles that happened after- 
 ward, and more still in the last battle am 
 flight after it. • 
 
 31 . It Jiow remains -that I-debate-vvith Ma- 
 netho about Moses. Now the Egyptians 
 acknowledge him to have been a wonderful, 
 and a divine person ; nay, they would wil- 
 lingly lay claim to him themselves, though 
 after a most abusive and incredible manner; 
 and pretend that he was of Heliopolis, and 
 one of the priests of that place, and was eject- 
 ed out of it among the rest, on account of his 
 leprosy ; although it had been demonstrated 
 out of their records, that he lived five hundred 
 and eighteen years earlier, and then brought 
 our forefathers out of Egypt into the country 
 that is now inhabited by us. But now, that 
 he was not subject in his body to any such 
 calamity, is evident from what he himself tells 
 us : for he forbade those that had the leprosy 
 either to continue in a city or to inhabit a 
 village, but commanded that they should go 
 about by themselves with their clothes rent ; 
 and declares that such as either touch them, 
 or live under the same roof with them, should 
 be esteemed unclean ; nay, more, if any one 
 of their diseases be healed, and he recover his 
 natural constitution again, he appointed them 
 certain purifications, and washings with 
 spring- water, and the shaving oflf all their hair, 
 and enjoins that they shall offer many sacri- 
 fices, and those of several kinds, and then at 
 length to be admitted into the holy city ; al- 
 though it were to be expected that, on the 
 contrary, if he had been under the same cala- 
 mity, he should have taken care of such per- 
 sons beforehand, and have had them treated 
 after a kinder manner, as affected .with a con- 
 cern for those that were to be under the like 
 misfortunes with himself. Nor was it only 
 those leprous people for whose sake he made 
 these laws ; but also for such as should be 
 maimed in the smallest part of their body, 
 who yet are not permitted by him to officiate a 
 priests; nay, although any priest, already initi- 
 ated, should have such a calamity fall upon him 
 afterward, he ordered him to be deprived of 
 his honour of officiating. How can it then 
 be supposed that Moses should ordain such 
 laws against himself, to his own reproach and 
 damage who so ordained them ? Nor indeed 
 is that other notion of Manetho at all pro- 
 bable, wherein he relate* the change of his 
 name, and says, that *' he whs formerly called 
 Osarsiph ;" and this a nnme no way agree- 
 kble to the other, whi'i*. his true name wai 
 
 Moiises, and signifies a person who "is pre- 
 served out of the water, for the Egyptians 
 call water Moil. I think, therefore, I have 
 made it sufficiently evident that Manetho, 
 while he followed his ancient records, did not 
 much mistake the truth of the history ; but 
 that when he had recourse to fabulous stories, 
 without any certain author, he either forged 
 them himself, without any probability, or else 
 gave credit to some men who spake so, out of 
 their ill-will to us. 
 
 32. And now I have done with Manetho, 
 I will inquire into what Cheremon says ; for 
 he also, when he pretended to write the Egyp- 
 tian history, sets down the same name for 
 this king that Manetho did, Amenophis, as 
 also of his son Ramesses, and then goes on 
 thus : — " The goddess Isis appeared to Ame- 
 nophis in his sleep, and blamed him that her 
 temple had been demolished in the war : but 
 that Phritiphantes, the sacred scribe, said to 
 him, that in case he would purge Egypt of 
 the men that had pollutions upon them, he 
 should be no longer troubled with such fright- 
 ful apparitions. That Amenophis according- 
 ly chose out two hundred and fifty thousand 
 of those that were tKus diseased, and cast 
 them out of the country : that Moses and Jo- 
 seph were scribes, and Joseph was a sacred 
 scribe ; that their names were Egyptian ori- 
 ginally; that of Moses had been Tisithen, 
 and that of Joseph, Peteseph : that these two 
 came to Pelusium, and lighted upon three 
 hundred and eighty thousand that had been 
 left there by Amenophis, he not being willing 
 to carry them into Egypt ; that these scribes 
 made a league of friendship with them, and 
 made with them an expedition against Egypt : 
 that Amenophis could not sustain their at- 
 tacks, but immediately fled into Ethiopia, 
 and left his wife with child behind him, who 
 lay concealed in certain caverns, and there 
 brought forth a son, whose name was Messe- 
 ne, knd who, when he was grown up to man's 
 estate, pursued the Jews into Syria, being 
 about two hundred thousand men, and then 
 received his father Amenophis out of Ethio- 
 pia." 
 
 33. This is the account Chcremon gives! 
 us. Now, I take it for granted, that what 1 1 
 have said already hath plainly proved the fal-/ 
 sity of both these narrations ; for had there! 
 been any real truth at the bottom, it was im- 
 possible that they should so greatly disagree 
 about the particulars ; but for those that in- 
 vent lies, what they write will easily give us 
 very different accounts, while they forge what 
 they please, out of their own heads. New, 
 Manetho says that the king's desire of seeing 
 the gods was the origin of the ejection of the 
 polluted people; but Cheremon feigns that it 
 was a dream of his own, sent upon him by 
 Isis, thfit was the occjision of it. Manetho 
 saysthiit the person who foreshowed this pur- 
 gation of Egypt to the king, was Amenophis; 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 803 
 
 bnt this man says it was Phritiphantes. As 
 to the numbers of the multitude that were ex- 
 pelled, they agree exceedingly well,* the for- 
 mer reckoning thera eighty thousand, and the 
 latter about two hundred and fifty thousand ! 
 Now, for Manetho, he describes these polluted 
 persons as sent first to work in the quarries, 
 and says, that after that the city Avaris was 
 given them for their habitation. As also, he 
 relates that it was not till after they had made 
 war with the rest of the Egyptians that they 
 invited the people of Jerusalem to come to 
 their assistance; while Cheremon says only, 
 that they were gone out of Ejj'vpt, and lighted 
 uponttbree hundred and eighty thousand men 
 about Pelusium, who had been left there 
 by Amenophis, and so they invaded Egypt 
 with them again; that thereupon Amenophis 
 fled into Ethiopia; but then, this Cheremon 
 commits a most ridiculous blunder in not 
 informing us who this army of so many ten 
 thousands were, or whence they came ; whe- 
 ther they were native Egyptians, or whether 
 they came from a foreign country. Nor 
 indeed has this man, who forged a dream from 
 Isis about the leprous people, assigned the 
 reason why the king would not bring them 
 into Egypt. Moreover, Cheremon sets down 
 Joseph as driven away at the same time with 
 Moses, who yet died four generations f before 
 Moses ; which four generations make almost 
 one hundred and seventy years. Besides all 
 this, Ramesses, the son of Amenophis, by 
 Manetho's account, was a young man, and 
 assisted his father in his war, and left the 
 country at the same time with him, and fled 
 into Ethiopia: but Cheremon makes him to 
 have been born in a certain cave, after his fa- 
 ther was dead, and that he then overcame the 
 Jews in battle, and drove them into Syria, 
 being in number about two hundred thousand. 
 O the levity of the manl for he neither told 
 us who these three hundred and eighty thou- 
 sand were, nor how the four hundred and 
 thirty thousand perished; whether they fell in 
 war, or went over to Ramesses; and, what is 
 the strangest of all, it is not possible to learn 
 jut of him, who they were whom he calls 
 Jews, or to which of these two parties he 
 .pplies that denomination, whether to the two 
 hundred and fifty thousand leprous people, or 
 to the three hundred and eighty thousand that 
 were about Pelusium. But perhaps it will 
 De looked upon as a silly thing in me to make 
 any larger confutation of such writers as suf- 
 ficiently confute themselves ; for had they 
 been only confuted by other men, it had been 
 more tolerable. 
 
 34. I siaall now add to these accounts 
 about IManetho and Cheremon, somewhat 
 
 " • By way of irony, I suppose. 
 
 + Here we see that Jusephus esteemed a generation 
 between Joseph and Moses tu be about 42 or 4.3 ye.irs; 
 which, if taken between the earlier chii.iren, well agrees 
 v'th the duration of hutiian l:fe in those ages. See 
 AotBeut. hec. part li. pages 9»i6, 1019, iOitt 
 
 about Lysimachus, who bath taken the 
 topic ofTalsehood with those fore-mentioped, 
 but hath gone far beyond them in the incre- 
 dible nature of his forgeries ; which plainly 
 demonstrates that he contrived them out of 
 his virulent hatred of our nation. His words 
 are these: — " The people of the Jews hebg 
 leprous and scabby, and subject to certaii 
 other kinds of distempers, in the days of Boc 
 choris, king of Egypt, they fled to the tem 
 pies, and got their food there by begging , 
 and as the numbers were very great that were 
 fallen under these diseases, there arose a scar- 
 city in Egypt. Hereupon Bocchoris, the king 
 of Egypt, sent some to consult the oracle of 
 [Jupiter] Hatuniuii about this scarcity. The 
 god's answer was this, that he must purge his 
 temples of impure and impious men, by ex- 
 pelling them out of those temples into desert 
 places; but as to the scabby and leprous peo- 
 ple, he must drowTi them, and purge his tem 
 pies, the sun having an indignation at these 
 men being suflfered to live; and by this moans 
 the land will bring forth its fruits. Upon 
 Bocchoris's having received these oracles, he 
 called for their priests, and the attendants 
 upon their altars, and ordered them to make 
 a collection of the impure people, and to de- 
 liver them to the soldiers, to carry them away 
 into the desert; but to take the leprous peo- 
 ple, and wrap them in sheets of lead, and let 
 them down into the sea. Hereupon the 
 scabby and leprous people were drowned, and 
 the rest were gotten together, and sent into 
 desert places, in order to be exposed to de- 
 struction. In this case they assembled them- 
 selves together, and took counsel what they 
 should do; and determined, that, as the night 
 was coming on, they should kindle fires and 
 lamps, and keep watch; that they also should 
 fast the next night, and propitiate the gods, 
 in order to obtain deliverance from them. 
 That on the next day there was one Moses, 
 who advised them that they should venture 
 upon a journey, and go along one road till 
 they should come to places fit for habitation : 
 that he charged them to have no kind regards 
 for any man, nor give good counsel to any, 
 but always to advise them for the worst; and 
 to overturn all those temples and altars of the 
 gods they should meet With : that the rest 
 commended what he had said with one con- 
 sent, and did what they had resolved on, and 
 so travelled over the desert. But that the 
 difficulties of the journey being over, thfey 
 came to a country inhabited, and that there 
 they abused the men, and plundered and burnt 
 their temples, and then came into that ]and 
 which is called Judea, and there they built a 
 city, and dwelt therein, and that their aty 
 was named Hierosyla, from 'this their robbing 
 of the temples; but that still, upon tLe suc- 
 cess they had afterwards, they through course 
 of time changed its denomination, that it 
 might not be a reproach to them, and called 
 
804 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK n. 
 
 the city Hierosolyma^ and themselves Hiero- . toms of their country ; and in case they had 
 
 solymUes. 
 
 3o. Now this man did not discover and 
 mention the same king with the others, but 
 feigned a newer name, and passing by the 
 dream and the Egyptian prophet, he brings 
 him to [Jupiter] Hammon, in order to gain 
 oracles about the scabby and leprous people; 
 for he says that the multitude of Jews were 
 gathered together at the temples. Now, it is 
 uncertain whether he ascribes this name to 
 these lepers, or to those that were subject to 
 such diseases among the Jews only; for he 
 describes them as a people of the Jews. What 
 people does he mean? foreigners, or those of 
 that country? Why then dost thou call them 
 Jews, if they were Egyptians? But if they 
 were foreigners, why dost thou not tell us 
 whence they came? And how could it be 
 that, after the king had thrown many of them 
 into the sea, and ejected the rest into desert 
 places, there should be still so great a multi- 
 tude remaining? Or after what manner did 
 they pass over the desert, and get the land 
 which we now dwell in, and build our city, 
 and that temple which hath been so famous 
 among all mankind? And besides, he ought 
 to have spoken more about our legislator than 
 by giving us his bare name ; and to have in- 
 formed us of what nation he was, and what 
 parents he was derived from; and to have 
 assigned the reasons why he undertook to make 
 such laws concerning the gods, and concern- 
 ing matters of injustice with regard to men 
 during that journey. For, in case the people 
 were by birth Egyptians, they would not on 
 the sudden have so easily changed the cus- 
 
 been foreigners, they had for certain some laws 
 or other which had been kept by them from 
 long custom. It is true, that with regard to 
 those who had ejected them, they might have 
 sworn never to bear good-will to them, and 
 might have had a plausible reason for so doing. 
 But if these men resolved to wage an impla- 
 cable war against all men, in case they had 
 acted as vdckedly as he relates of them,j and 
 this while they wanted the assistance of all 
 men, this demonstrates a kind of mad con- 
 duct indeed ; but not of the men themselves, 
 but very greatly so of him that tells such lies 
 about them. He hath also impudence enough 
 to say that a name, implying " Robbers of the 
 temples,"* was given to their city, and that 
 this name was afterward changed. The rea- 
 son of which is plain, that the former name 
 brought reproach and hatred upon them in the 
 times of their posterity, while, it seems, those 
 that built the city thought they did honour to 
 the city by giving it such a name. So we see 
 that this fine fellow had such an unbounded 
 inclination to reproach us, that he did not 
 understand that robbery of temples is not 
 expressed by the same word and name among 
 the Jews as it is among the Greeks. But 
 why should a man say any more to a person 
 who tells such impudent lies ! However, since 
 this book is arisen to a competent length, I 
 will make another beginning, and endeavour 
 to add what still remains to perfect my design 
 in the following book. 
 
 * That is the meaning of Hierosyla in Greek, not in 
 Hebrew. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 § 1. In the former book, most honoured Epa- 
 phroditus, I have demonstrated our antiquity, 
 and confirmed the truth of what I have said, 
 from the writings of the Phoenicians, and 
 Chaldeans, and Egyptians. I have, more- 
 over, produced many of the Grecian writers, 
 as witnesses thereto. I have also made a 
 refutation of Manetho and Cheremon, and of 
 certain others of our enemies. I shall nowf 
 therefore begin a confutation of the remaining 
 authors who have written any thing against 
 us; although I confess I have had a doubt 
 
 + The former part of this second book is written 
 •gainst the calutnnie* of Apion, and then more briefly 
 acainit the like calumnies of Apullonius Molo. But 
 after that, Josephiis leaves otf any mure particular re- 
 ply to thu8<? adversaries of the Jews, and ^ives us a larf(e 
 and excellent descriplion and vindicati»n of that theo- 
 cracy which was settled for the Jewish uatiou by Moses, 
 Uicir great lcgi*U«or. 
 
 upon me about ApipnJ the grammarian, 
 whether I ought to take the trouble of con- 
 futing him or not; for some of his writings 
 contain much the same accusations which the 
 others have laid against us, some things that 
 he hath added are very frigid and contemp- 
 tible, and for the greatest part of what he 
 says, it is very scurrilous, and, to speak no 
 more than the plain truth, it shows him to 
 be a very unlearned person, and what he lays 
 together, looks like the work of a man of very 
 bad morals, and of one no better in his whole 
 life than a mountebank. Yet, because there 
 are a great many men so very foolish, that 
 they are rather caught by such orations than 
 by what is written with care, and take plea- 
 
 X Called by Tiberlua Cj/vibalumMundi, The drum 
 of the world. 
 
BOOK n. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 805 
 
 S'lre in repro! rhiiig other men, and cannot 
 aMde to hear them commended, I thought it 
 tc l»c i'.ecessaiy not to let this man go off 
 wTthout examination, who had written such 
 an aerusation against us, as if he would hring 
 u? to make an answer in open court. For 1 
 al«o have observed, that many men are very 
 much delighted when they see a man who 
 first began to reproach another, to be himself 
 exposed to contempt on account of the vices 
 he hath himself been guilty of However, it 
 is not a very easy thing to go over this man's 
 discourse, nor to know plainly what he means; 
 yet does^Jbe seem, amidst a great confusion 
 and disorder in his falsehoods, toprodiice, in 
 the first place, Such things as resemble what 
 we have examined already, and telate tojthe 
 dej-avture of our forefathers out oriEgypt; 
 and, In the second place, he accuses those 
 JewiJijjgit are inhabitants of Alexandria; as, 
 in the third place, he mixes with these things 
 such accusations as concern the sacred puri- 
 fications, with the other legal rites used in the 
 ttiiip-le, 
 
 2. New, although I cannot but think that 
 I have already demonstrated, and that abun- 
 du.'.tly, more than was necessary, that our 
 fathers were not originally Egyptians, nor 
 were thence expelled, either on account of 
 be-tilly diseases, or any other calamities of 
 ttat scrt, yet will I briefly take notice of w-bat 
 A uLu adds up on that subject ; for in his third 
 bcek, wbieh relates to the affairs of Egypt, 
 he speaks thus ^---•' 1 have heard of the an- 
 cie.it m(nroTT!gyptrthar3Toses was of Helio- 
 pcl's, ar.d that he thought himself obliged to 
 fclicw the customs of his forefathers, and 
 offered his prayers in the open air, towards 
 the city walls ; but that he reduced them all 
 to be dijectc<l towards the sun-rising, which 
 was agreeable to t e situation of Heliopolis : 
 that he also set up pillars instead of gnomons,* 
 ur.der which was represented a cavity like that 
 of a boat, and the shadow that fell from their 
 tops fell down upon that cavity, that it might 
 go lound about tl e like course as the sun 
 itself goes round ij the other." This is that 
 wo.'idcrful relation which we have given us by 
 thi'j grei;t grammarian. But that it is a false 
 one is so plain, that it stands in need of few 
 words to prove it, but is manifest from the 
 wn:ks of Moses : for when he erected the first 
 ta'jernacle to God, he did himself neither give 
 oi.ler for any such kind of representation to 
 be ma.ie at it, nor ordain that those who came 
 
 dd make such a one. Moreover, 
 
 after him s 
 
 wi.t:. '.M a future age Solomon built his tem- 
 plt i:j Jcri;s;dem,he avoided all such needless 
 de^-'urations as Apion hath here devised. He 
 sa.tjfarther, "How we had heard of the ancient 
 me:., iLat Moses was of Heliopolis." To be 
 
 « This setms to have been the first dial that liad been 
 mule .r. Leyp/. and was a little before the time that Ah 
 in:d«« hit- [first] dii»l inJiidea.and about anno 7V5, in 
 the first year of the seventh olympiad, as we shall see 
 ptnoeittiy. See '2 Kin^s xx. 11} isa xxxviiu A 
 
 sure th»<'- was, because being a younger man 
 himself, he believed those that by their elder 
 age were acquainted and conversed with him. 
 Now, this [man], grammarian as he was, could 
 not certainly tell which was the poet Homer's 
 country, no more than he could which was the 
 country of Pythasfoias, who lived comparative- 
 ly but a little while ago; yet does he thus easily 
 (ietermine the age of Moses, who preceded them 
 such a vast number of years, as depending on 
 his ancient men's relation, which shows how 
 notorious a liar he was. But then as to this 
 chronological determination of the time when 
 he says he brought the leprous people, the 
 blind, and the lame, out of Egypt, see how 
 well this most accurate grammarian of ours 
 agrees with those that have written before him ! 
 Manetho says that the Jews departed out of 
 Egypt, in the reign of Tethmosis, three hun- 
 dred and ninety-three years before Danaus fled 
 to Argos ; Lysimachus savs it was under king 
 Bocchoris, that is, one thousand seven hun- 
 dred years ago ; Molo and some others deter- 
 mined it as every one pleased : but this Apion 
 of ours, as deserving to be believed before 
 them, hath determined it exactly to have been 
 in the seventh olyinpiad, and the first year of 
 tliat olympiad; the very same year in which he 
 says that Carthage was built by the Phoeni- 
 cians. The reason why he added this build- 
 ing of Carthage was, to be sure, in order, as 
 -be thought, to strengthen his assertion by so 
 evident a character of chronology. But he 
 was not aware that this character confutes his 
 assertion ; for if we may give credit to the 
 Phoenician records as to the time of the first 
 coming of their colony to Carthage, they re- 
 late that Hirom their king was above one 
 hundred and fifty years earlier than the build- 
 ing of Carthage ; concerning whom I have 
 formerly produced testimonials out of those 
 Phcenician records, as also that this Hirom 
 was a friend of Solomon when he was build- 
 ing the temple of Jerusalem, and gave him 
 great assistance in his building that temple ; 
 while still Solomon himself built that temple 
 six hundred and twelve years after the Jews 
 came out of Egypt. As for the number of 
 those that were expelled out of Egypt, he hath 
 contrived to have the very same number with 
 Lysimachus, and says they were a hundred and 
 ten thousand. He then assigns a certain 
 wonderful and plausible occasion for the 
 name of Sabbath ; for he says, that " when the 
 Jews had travelled a six days' journey, they 
 had buboes in their groins : and that on this 
 account it was that they rested on the seventh 
 day, as having got safely to that country which 
 is now called Judea; that then they preserved 
 the language of the Egyptians, and called 
 that day the Sabbath, for that malady of bu- 
 boes in their groin was named Sabbatosis by 
 the Egyptians." And would not a man now 
 laugh at this fellow's trifling, or rather hate 
 his impudence in writing thus? We must, Jl 
 
806 
 
 FLAVItJS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APTON. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 seems, take it for granted, that all these hun- 
 dred and ten thousand men must have these 
 buboes ! But, for certain, if those men had 
 been blind and lame, and had all sorts of dis- 
 tempers upon them, as Apion says they had, 
 they could not have gone one single day's 
 journey; but if they had been all able to 
 travel over a large desert, and, besides that, to 
 fight and conquer those that opposed them, 
 they had not all of them had buboes in their 
 groins after the sixth day was over ; for no 
 such distemper comes naturally and of neces- 
 sity upon those that travel ; but still, when 
 there are many ten thousands in a camp to- 
 gether, they constantly march a settled space 
 [in a day]. Nor is it at all probable that 
 such a thing should happen by chance ; this 
 would be prodigiously absurd to be supposed. 
 However, our admirable author Apion hath 
 before told us, that "they came to Judea 
 in six days' time ;" and again, that " Moses 
 went up to a mountain that lay between Egypt 
 and Arabia, which was called Sinai, and was 
 concealed there forty days, and that when 
 he came down from thence he gave laws to 
 the Jews." But then, how was it possible for 
 them to tarry forty days in a desert place 
 where there was no water, and at the same 
 time to pass all over the country between 
 that and Judea in the six days ? And as for 
 this grammatical translation of the word Sab- 
 bath, it either contains an instance of his great 
 impudence or gross ignorance ; for the words 
 Sabbo and Sabbath are widely different from 
 one another; for the word Sabbath in the 
 Jewish language denotes rest from all sorts of 
 work ; but the word Sabbo, as he affirms, de- 
 notes among the Egyptians the malady of a 
 bubo in the groin. 
 
 3. This is that novel account which the 
 Egyptian Apion gives us concerning the Jews' 
 departure oyt of Egypt, and is no better than 
 a contrivance of his own. But why should we 
 •wonder at the lies he tells us about our fore- 
 fathers, when he affirms them to be of Egyp- 
 tian original, when he lies also about himself? 
 for although he was born at Oasis in Egypt, 
 he pretends to be, as a man may say, the to[i 
 man of all the Egyptians ; yet does he for- 
 swear his real country and progenitors, and 
 by falsely pretending to be born at Alexan- 
 dria, cannot deny the pravity of his family ; 
 for you see how justly he cjills those Egyp- 
 tians whom he hates, and endeavours to re- 
 proach ; for had he not deemed Egyptians 
 to be a name of great reproach, he would not 
 have avoided the name of an Egyptian him- 
 self; as we know that those who brag of their 
 own countries, value themselves upon the de- 
 nomination they acquire thereby, and reprove 
 such as ui?justly lay claim tlu-reto. As for 
 the Egy|)tiiina' claim to he of our kindred, 
 they do it on one of the following accounts; 
 I mean, either as they value themselves upon 
 It, and pretend to bear that "elation to us; or 
 
 else as they would draw us in to be partakers 
 of their own infamy. But this fine fellow 
 Apion seems to broach this reproachful ap- 
 pellation against us [that we were origituilly 
 Egyptians], in order to bestow it on the Alex- 
 andrians as a reward for the privilege they had 
 given him of being a fellow-citizen with 
 them ; he also is apprised of the ill-will the 
 Alexandrians bear to those Jews who are 
 their fellow-citizens, and so proposes to him- 
 self to reproach them, although he must there- 
 by include all the other Egyptians also ; while 
 in both cases he is no better than an impu- 
 dent liar. 
 
 4. But let us now see what those heavy 
 and wicked crimes are which Apion charges 
 upon the" Alexandrian Jews. " They came 
 (says he) out of Syria, aiul inhabited near thS 
 tempestuous sea, and were in the neighbour^ 
 hood of the dashing of the waves." Now, if 
 the place of habitation includes any thii<g 
 that is reproachful, this man reproaches not 
 his own real country [Egypt], but what he 
 pretends to be his own country, Alexandria ; 
 for all are agreed in this, that the part of that 
 city which is near the sea, is the best part of 
 all for habitation. Now, if the Jews gained 
 that part of the city by force, and have kept 
 it hitherto without impeachment, this is a mark 
 of their valour; but in reality it was Alexan- 
 d&r himself that gave them that place for their 
 habitation, when they obtained equal privi- 
 leges there with the Macedonians. Nor can 
 I devise what Apion would have said, had 
 their habitation been at Necropolis,* and not 
 been fixed hard by the royal palace [as it is]; 
 nor had their nation had the denomination of 
 Macedonians given them till this very day [as 
 they have]. Had this man now read the epis- 
 tles of king Alexander, or those of Ptolemy the 
 son of Lagus, or met with the writings of the 
 succeeding kings, or that pillar which is still 
 standing at Alexandria, and contains the pri. 
 vileges which the great [Julius] Caesar be- 
 stowed upon the Jews ; had this man, I say, 
 known these records, and yet hath the impu- 
 dence to write in contradiction to them, he 
 hath shown himself to be a wicked man: but 
 if he knew nothing of these records, he hath 
 shown himself to be a man very ignorant; 
 nay, when he appears to wonder how Jews 
 could be called Alexandrians, this is another 
 like instance of his ignorance ; for all such 
 as are called oul to be colonies, although 
 they be ever so far remote from one another 
 in their original, receive their names from 
 those that bring them to their new habitations. 
 And what occasion is there to speak of others, 
 when those of us Jews that dwell at Antioch 
 are named Antiochians, because Seleucift the 
 founder of that city gave them the privileges 
 belonging thereto? After the like manner do 
 those Jews that inhabit Ephesus and the other 
 
 • The burial-place ^ir dead bodirs, as I supposfli 
 
BOOK ir. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 807 
 
 cities of Ionia enjoy the same name with those 
 that were originally born there, by the grant of 
 the succeeding princes; nay, the kindness and 
 humanity of the Romans hath been so great, 
 that it hath granted leave to almost all others 
 to take tiie same name of Romans upon them; 
 I mean not particular men only, but entire 
 and large nations themselves also; for those 
 • anciently named Iberi, and Tyrrheni, and 
 Sabini, are now called Romani: and if Apion 
 reject this way of obtaining the privilege of a 
 ritizen of Alexandria, let him abstain from 
 calling himself an Alexandrian hereafter ; for 
 otherwise, how can he who was born in the 
 ji'ery heart of Egypt be an Alexandrian, if 
 thi« way of accepting such a privilege, of which 
 he would have us deprived, be once abro- 
 gated' Although indeed these Romans, who 
 arc now the lords of the habitable earth, have 
 forbidden the Egyptians to have the privileges 
 of any city whatsoever, while this fine fellow, 
 who is willing to partake of such a privilege 
 himself as he is forbidden to make use of, 
 endeavours by calumnies to deprive those of it 
 that have justly received it; for Alexander 
 did not therefore get some of our nation to 
 Alexandria, because he wanted inhabitants 
 for this his city, on whose building he had 
 bestowed so much pains; but this was given 
 to our people as a reward; because he had 
 
 upon a careful trial, found them all to hav^iand were in danger of being utterly ruined, 
 
 been men of virtue and fidelity to him ; for, 
 as Ilecateus says concerning us, " Alexander 
 honoured our nation to such a degree, that, 
 for the equity and the fidelity which the Jews 
 had exhibited *to him, he permitted them to 
 hold the country of Samaria free from tribute. 
 Of the same mind also was Ptolemy the son 
 of Lagus, as to those Jews who dwelt at 
 Alexandria." For he intrusted the fortresses 
 of Egypt into their hands, as believing they 
 would keep them faithfully and valiantly for 
 him; and when he was desirous to secure the 
 government of Cyrene, and the other cities of 
 Libya to himself, he sent a party of Jews to 
 inhabit them. And for his successor Ptolemy, 
 who was called Philadelphus, he did not only 
 set all those of our nation free, who were 
 captives under him, but did frequently* give 
 moiiey [for their ransom]; and, what was his 
 greatest work of all, he had a great desire of 
 knowing our laws, and of obtaining the books 
 of our sacred scriptures; accordingly, he 
 desired that such men might be sent him as 
 might interpret our law to him ; and in order 
 to have them well compiled, he committed 
 that care to no ordinary persons, but ordained 
 that Demetrius Pbalereus, and Andreas, and 
 Aristeas ; the first, Demetrius, the mosf 
 
 • for TiXXciins, or frequently, I would here read 
 »»AJLi. a or«-a/ iJea( o-*' jni'ney ; tor we indeed read, both 
 in /^n-Uas and J >sephus. that this Ptolemy Philadel- 
 phus onre gave a very ^reat sum of mmiey to redeem 
 aW-'Ve lOU.OiJU Jewish capu.es ; hut not of any sums 
 *f money which he disuur:>ed ou their account at other 
 Umes, Ibjl t ^ ni'W of. 
 
 learned person of his age, and the others, such 
 as were intru-ited with the guard of his body, 
 should take the care of this matter: nor would 
 he certainly have been so desirous of learning 
 our law, and the philosophy of our nation, 
 had he despised the men that made use of it, 
 or had he not indeed had them in great 
 admiration. . 
 
 5. Now this Apion was unacquainted with 
 almost all tbe kings of those Macedonians 
 whom he pretends t^o have been his progeni- 
 tors, — who were yet very well atfected towards 
 us ; for the third of those Ptolemies, who 
 was called Euergetcs, when he had gotten 
 possession of all Syria by force, did not offer 
 his thank-offerings to the Egyptian gods for 
 his victory, but came to Jerusalem, and, 
 according to our own laws, offered many sacri- 
 fices to God, and dedicated to him such gifts 
 as were suitable to such a victory: and as for 
 Ptolemy Philometor, and his wife Cleopatra, 
 they committed their whole kingdom ta Jews, 
 when Onias and Dositheus, both Jews, whose 
 names are laughed at by Apion, were the 
 generals of their whole army; but certainly 
 instead of reproaching them, he ought to 
 admire their actions, and return them thanks 
 for saving Alexandria, whose citizen he pre- 
 tends to be ; for when these Alexandrians 
 were making war with Cleopatra the queen. 
 
 these Jews brought them to terms of agree- 
 ment, and freed them from the miseries of a 
 civil war. "But then (says Apion) Onias 
 brought a small afniy afterward upon the city 
 at the time when Thermus the Roman ambas- 
 sador was there present." Yes, do I venture 
 to say, and that he did rightly and very 
 justly in so doing; for that Ptolemy, who was 
 called Physco, upon the death of his brother 
 Philometor, came from Cyrene, and would 
 have ejected Cleopatra as well as her sons out 
 of their kingdom, that he might obtain it for 
 himself unjustly.f For this cause then it was 
 that Onias undertook a war against him on 
 Cleopatra's account; nor would he desert 
 that trust the royal family had reposed in hira 
 in their distress. Accordingly, God gave a 
 remarkable attestation to his righteous proce- 
 dure ; for when Ptolemy Physco % had tbe 
 presumption to fight against Onias 's army, 
 and had caught all the Jews that were in the 
 city [Alexandria], with their children and 
 wives, and exposed them naked and in bonds 
 to his elephants, that they might be trodden 
 upon and destroyed, and when he had made 
 
 + Here begins a great defect in the Greek copy; 
 but the old Latin version fully supplies that defect. 
 
 X V\ hat error is here generally believed to have been 
 committed by our Josephus in ascribing a deliverance 
 of the Jews to tlie reign of Ptolemy Physco, the seventh 
 of those Ptolemies, which has been universally »up» 
 posed to have happened under Ptolemy Philopator, the 
 lourih of tiiem, is no better than a gross error of tbe 
 moderns, and not of Joseplms, as I have fully proved 
 in the Anthent. Rec. part i. p. 200 — 2W, whUher 1 
 refer the inquisitive reader. 
 
808 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 those elephants drunk for that purpose, the 
 event proved contrary to his preparations; for 
 these elephants left the Jews who were exposed 
 to them, and fell violently upon Physeo's 
 friends, and slew a great number of them; 
 nay, after this, Ptolemy saw a terrible ghost, 
 which prohibited his hurting those men; his 
 very concubine, whom he loved so well (some 
 call her Ithaca, and others Irene), making 
 supplication to him, that he would not per- 
 petrate so great a wickedness. So he com- 
 plied with her request, and repented of what 
 he either had already done, or was about to 
 do; whence it is well known that the Alexan- 
 drian Jews do with good reason celebrate this 
 day, on the account that they had thereon 
 been vouchsafed such an evident deliverance 
 from God. However, Apion, the common 
 V calumniator of men, hath the presumption to 
 . accuse the Jews for making this war against 
 [ Physco, when he ought to have commended 
 them for the same. This man also makes 
 mention of Cleopatra, the last queen of Alex- 
 andria, and abuses us, because she was un- 
 grateful to us ; whereas he ought to have 
 reproved her, who indulged herself in all kinds 
 of injustice and wicked practices, both with 
 regard to her nearest relations, and husbands 
 who had loved her, and indeed in general 
 with regard to all the Romans, and those 
 
 had her sister Arsinoe slain in a temple, 
 when she had done her no harm : moreover, 
 she had her brother slain by private treachery, 
 and she destroyed the gods of her country 
 and the sepulchres of her progenitors; and 
 while she had received her kingdom from the 
 first Caesar, she had the impudence to rebel 
 against his son* and successor; nay, she cor- 
 rupted Antony with her love-tricks, and ren- 
 dered him an enemy to his country, and made 
 him treacherous to his friends, and [by his 
 means} despoiled some of their royal authority, 
 and forced others in her madness to act 
 wickedly; but what need I enlarge upon this 
 head any farther, when she left Antony in 
 his fight at sea, though he were her husband, 
 and the father of their common children, and 
 compelled him to resign up his government, 
 with the army, and to follow her [into 
 Egypt]; nay, when last of all Cjesar had taken 
 Alexandria, she came to that pitch of cruelty, 
 that she declared she had some hope of pre- 
 serving her affairs still, in case she could kill 
 the Jews, though it were with her own hand; 
 to such a degree of barbarity and perfidious- 
 ness had she arrived; and doth any one think 
 that we cannot boast ourselves of any thing, 
 if, as Apion says, this queen did not at a timesa>rupted. 
 of famine distribute wheat among us? How 
 ever, she at length met with the punishment 
 ahe deserved. As for us Jews, we appeal to 
 the great Caesar what assistance we brought 
 
 him, and what fidelity we showed to h'lAx 
 against the Egyptians; as also to the senate 
 and its decrees, and the epistles of Augustus 
 Caesar, whereby our merits [to the Romansj ' 
 are justified. Apion ought to have looked 
 upon those epistles, and in particular to have 
 examined the testimonies given on our belialf, 
 under Alexander and all the Ptolemies, and 
 the decrees of the senate and of the greatest- 
 Roman emperors ; and if Germanicus was 
 not able to make a distribution of corn to aii 
 the inhabitants of Alexandria, that only show s 
 what a barren time it was, and how great a 
 want there was then of corn, but tends no- 
 thing to the accusation of the Jews; for whaj^ 
 all the emperors have thought of the Alex- 
 andrian Jews is well known, for this distribu- 
 tion of wheat was no otherwise omitted with 
 regard to the Jews, than it was with legard 
 to the other inhabitants of Alexandria; but 
 they still were desirous to preserve Avhat the 
 kings had formerly intrusted to their ca:o, 
 I mean the custody of the river: nor did 
 those kings think them unworthy of having 
 the entire custody thereof upon all occa?ioi.s. 
 6. But besides this, Apion objects to r.s 
 thus: — "If the Jews (says he) be citizens oi; 
 Alexandria, why do they not wot ship the same 
 gods with the Alexandrians?" To which T 
 give this answer : Since you are yourselves 
 
 emperors that were her benefactors; who als{^^ Egyptians, why do you fight it out one agair.? 
 
 ' ' ' ' ■ * ' ' ' ' ^ ^ another, and have implacable wars aboiAt your 
 
 religion? At this rate we must not (a,!! ycu 
 all Egyptians, nor indeed in general nvjn, 
 because you breed up with great care beasts ci 
 a nature quite contrary to thate^men, although 
 the nature of all men se^ms to be one and the 
 sailfte. Now if there -be such differences in 
 opinion among* you Egyptians, why are you 
 surprised that those who came to Alexandria 
 from another courtry, and had original laws 
 of their own before, should persevere in the 
 observance of those laws? But still he charges 
 us with being the authors of sedition : which 
 accusation, if it be a just one, why is it not 
 laid against us all, since we are known to be 
 all of one mind? Moreover, those that search 
 into such matters will soon discover that the 
 authors of sedition have been such citizens of 
 Alexandria as Apion is; for while they were 
 the Grecians and Macedonians who were in 
 possession of this city, there was no sedit'oa 
 raised against us, and we were permitted to 
 observe our ancient solemnities; but whtn tV.c 
 number of the Egyptians therein came to !te 
 considerable, the times grew confused, urd 
 then these seditions brake out still more and 
 more, while our people continued \ttu"t)r' 
 These Egyptians therefore were the 
 authors of these troubles, who not havir.^he 
 constancy of Macedonians, nor the pruJunfo 
 of Grecians, indulged all of them the evil 
 manners of the Egyptians, and ccntiru-'^. 
 their ancient hatred against us; for what xS 
 here so presumptuously charged upon u^', if 
 
 • Suter'8 ion, and adopted son. 
 
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 809 
 
 owing to the differences that ar6 amongst 
 themselves ; while many of them have not ob- 
 tained the privileges of citizens in proper times, 
 but style those who are well known to have had 
 that privilege extended to them all, no other 
 than foreigners ; for it does not appear that any 
 of the kings have ever formerly bestowed those 
 privileges of citizens upon Egyptians, no more 
 than have the emperors done it more lately; 
 while it was Alexander who introduced us 
 into this city at first, the kings augmented our 
 privileges therein, and the Romans have been 
 pleased to preser\'e them always inviolable. 
 Moreover, Apion would laj^ a plot upon us, 
 because we do not erect images to our em- 
 perors, as if those emperors did not know 
 this before, or stood in need of Apion as their 
 defender ; whereas he ought rather to have 
 admired the magnanimity and modesty of the 
 Romans^ whereby they do not compel those 
 that are subject to them to transgress the laws 
 of their countries, but are willing to receive 
 the honours due to them after such a manner 
 as those who are to pay them esteem consistent 
 with piety and with their own laws; for they 
 do not thank people for conferring honours 
 upon them, when they are compelled by vio- 
 lence so to do. Accordingly, since the Gre- 
 cians and some other nations think it a right 
 thing to make images, nay, when they have 
 painted tne pictures of their parents, and 
 wives, and children, they exult for joy: and 
 some there are who take pictures for them- 
 selves of such persons as were no way related 
 to them : nay, some take the pictures of such 
 servants as they were fond of. What wonder 
 is it then if such as these appear willing to pay 
 the same respect to their princes and lords ■? 
 But then our legislator hath forbidden us to 
 make images not by way of denunciation be- 
 forehand, that the Roman authority was not to for Antiochus [Epiphanes], he had no just 
 be honoured, but as despising a thing that was q^^^q for that ravage in our temple that he 
 neither necessary nor useful for either God or ^ade ; he only came to it when he wanted 
 
 sUch his materials; I mean I^sidonius and 
 Apollonius [the son of^-Mo lo ,* who while 
 they accuse us for not worshipping the same 
 gods whom others worship, they think them- 
 selves not guilty of impiety when they tell 
 lies of us, and frame absurd and reproachful 
 stories about our temple ; whereas it is a most 
 shameful thing for freemen to forge lies on 
 any occasion, and much more so to forge them 
 about our temple, which was so famous over 
 all the world, and was preserved so sacred by 
 us ; for Apion hath the impudence to pretend, 
 that " the Jews placed an ass's head in their 
 holy place ;" and he affirms that this was dis- 
 covered when Antiochus Epiphanes spoiled 
 our temple, and found that ass's head there 
 made of gold, and worth a great deal of mo- 
 ney. To this my first answer shall be this, 
 that had there been any such thing among us, 
 an Egyptian ought by no means to have 
 thrown it in our teeth, since an .ass is not a 
 more contemptible animal than * * *,f and 
 goats, and other such creatures, which among 
 them are gods. But besides this answer, I 
 say farther, how comes it about that Apion 
 does not understand this to be no other than 
 a palpable lie, and to be confuted by the thing 
 itself as utterly incredible? For we Jews 
 are always governed by the same laws, in 
 which we constantly persevere ; and although 
 many misfortunes have befallen our city, as 
 the like have befallen others, and althoug^^ 
 Theos [Epiphanes], and Pompey the Great, 
 and Licinius Crassus, and last of all Titus 
 Caesar, have conquered us in war, and gotten 
 possession of our temple, yet has none ot 
 them found any such thing there, nor indeed 
 any thing but what was agreeable to the strict- 
 est piety ; although what they found we are 
 not at liberty to reveal to other nations. But 
 
 man ; and he forbade them, as we shall prove 
 hereafter, to make these images for any part 
 of the animal creation, and much less for God 
 himself, who is no part of such animal crea- 
 tion. Yet hath our legislator nowhere forbid- 
 den us to pay honours to worthy men, pro- 
 vided they be of another kind, and inferior to 
 those we pay to God ; with which honours we 
 willingly testify our respect to our emperors, 
 and to the people of Rome; we also offer 
 perpetual sacrifices for them ; nor do we only 
 offer them every day at the common expenses 
 of all the Jews, but although we offer no other 
 such sacrifices out of our common expenses, no 
 not for our own children, yet do we this as a 
 peculiar honour to the emperors, and to them 
 alone, while we do the same to no other per 
 son whomsoever. And let this suflSce for an 
 ans\#r in general to Apion as to what he sayj 
 with relation to the Alexandrian Jews. 
 
 7. However, I cannot but admire those 
 other authors who furnished this man with 
 
 money, without declaring himself our enemy, 
 and attacked us while we were his associates 
 and his friends : nor did he find any thing 
 there that was ridiculous. This is attested by 
 many worthy writers ; Polybius of Megalo- 
 polis, Strabo of Cappadocia, Nicolaus of Da- 
 mascus, Timagenes, Castor the chronologer, 
 and Apollodorus, J who all say that it was out 
 of Antiochus's want of money that He broke 
 his league with the Jews, and despoiled their 
 temple when it was full of gold and silver. 
 Apion ought to have had a regard to these 
 facts, unless he had himself had either an 
 ass's heart or a dog's impudence ; of such a 
 
 • Called more properly Molo, or Apollonius Molo, as 
 hereafter; for Apollonius, the son of Molo, was another 
 person, as Strabo informs us, lib. xiv. 
 
 4- Furones in the Latin, which what animal it denotes, 
 does not now appear. 
 
 t It is great pity that these six Pa^n authors her» 
 njentioned to have described the famous profanation of 
 ths Jewish temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, should be 
 all lost; I mean so far of their writings as contained that 
 description; though it is plain Josephus perused then 
 all, as exant in his time 
 
810 
 
 FLAVltJS JOSEPHtIS AGAINST APlON. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 Aog, I mean, as they worship ; for he had no 
 
 othe* external reason for the lies he tells of 
 u«. As for us Jews, we ascribe no honour 
 or power to asses, as do the Egyptians to cro- 
 codiles and asps, when they esteem such as 
 are seized upon by the former, or bitten by 
 the latter, to be happy persons, and persons 
 ^v'o^thy of God. Asses are the same with us 
 which they are with other wise men, viz. crea- 
 tures that bear the burdens that we lay upon 
 them; but if they come to our threshing- 
 floors and eat our corn, or do not perform 
 what we impose upon them, we beat them 
 with a great many stripes; because it is their 
 business to minister to us in our husbandry 
 affairs. But this Apion of ours was either 
 perfectly unskilful in the composition of such 
 fallacious discourses, or however, when he 
 began [somewhat better], he was not able to 
 persevere in what he had undertaken, since 
 he hath no manner of success in those re- 
 proaches he casts upon us. 
 
 8. He adds another Grecian fable, in order 
 to reproach us. In reply to which it would 
 be enough to say that they who presume to 
 speak about divine worship, ought not to be 
 ignorant of this plain truth, that it is a de- 
 gree of less impurity to pass through temples, 
 than to forge wicked calumnies of its priests. 
 Now such men as he are more zealous to jus- 
 tify a sacrilegious king than to write what is 
 j«st and what is true about us, and about ouf 
 temple ; for when they are desirous of grati- 
 fying Antiochus, and of concealing that per- 
 fidiousness and sacrilege which he was guilty 
 of, with regard to our nation, when he wanted 
 money, they endeavour to disgrace us, and 
 tell lies even relating to futurities. Apion 
 becomes other men's prophet upon this occa- 
 sion, and says, that " Antiochus found in our 
 temple a bed and a man lying upon it, with a 
 small table before him, full of dainties, from 
 the [fishes of the] sea, and the fowls of the 
 dry land ; that this man was amazed at these 
 dainties thus set before him ; that he imme- 
 diately adored the king, upon his coming in, 
 as hoping that he would afford him all possi- 
 ble assistance ; that he fell down upon his 
 knees, and stretched out to him his right hand, 
 and begged to be released: and that when the 
 king badb him sit down, and tell him who he 
 was, ana why he dwelt there, and what was 
 the meaning of those various sorts of food 
 that were set before him, the man made a la- 
 mentable complaint, and with sighs, and tears 
 in his eyes, gave him this account of the dis- 
 tress he was in ; and said that he was a Greek, 
 and that as be went over this province, in or- 
 der to get his living, he was seized upon by 
 foreigners, on a sudden, and brought to this 
 temple, and shut up therein, and was seen by 
 nobody, but was fattened by these curious I 
 provisions thus set before him : and that truly j 
 at the first such unexpected advantages seem- 
 ed tu bim iuattec of great jo> ; that, after a 
 
 while they brought a suspicion upon him, and 
 at length astonishment, what their meaning 
 should be; that at last he inquired of the ser 
 vants that came to him, and was by them in- 
 formed that it was in order to the fulfillir.^r a 
 law of the Jews, which they must not tell 
 him, that he was thus fed : and that they did 
 the same at a set time every year : that they 
 used to catch a Greek foreigner, and fatten 
 him thus up every year, and then lead him to a 
 certain wood, and kill him, and sacrifice with 
 their accustomed solemnities, and taste of his 
 entrails, and take an oath upon this sacrifi- 
 cing a Greek, that they would ever be at en- 
 mity with the Greeks ; and that then they 
 threw the remaining parts of the miserable 
 wretch into a certain pit." Apion adds far- 
 ther, that " the man said there were but a few 
 days to come ere he was to be slain, and im- 
 plored Antiochus that, out of the rw erence 
 he bore to the Grecian gods, he would disap- 
 point the snares the Jews laid for his blood, 
 and would deliver him from the miseries with 
 which he was encompassed." Now this is 
 such a most tragical fable, as is full of nothing 
 but cruelty and impudence ; yet does it not 
 excuse Antiochus of his sacrilegious attempts, 
 as those who wrote it in his vindication are 
 willing to suppose ; for he could not presume 
 beforehand that he should meet with any such 
 thing in coming to the temple, but must have 
 found it unexpectedly. He was therefore 
 still an impious person, that was given to un- 
 lawful pleasures, and had no regard to God 
 in his actions. But [as for Apion] he hath 
 done whatever his extravagant love of lying 
 hath dictated to him, as it is most easy to dis- 
 cover by a consideration of his writings ; for 
 the difference of our laws is known not to 
 regard the Grecians only, but they are prin- 
 cipally opposite to the Egyptians, and to some 
 other nations also : for while it so falls out, 
 that men of all countries come sometimes and 
 sojourn among us, how comes it about that 
 we take an oath, and conspire only against the 
 Grecians, and that by the effusion of their 
 blood also? Or how is it possible that all the 
 Jews should get together to these sacrifices, 
 and the entrails of one man should be suffi- 
 cient for so many thousands to taste of them, 
 as Apion pretends? Or why did not the kiiig 
 carry this man, whosoever he was, and what- 
 soever was his name (which is not set down 
 in Apion's book), with great pomp back into 
 his own country ? when he might thereby ha\ e 
 been esteemed a religious person himself, and 
 a mighty lover of the Greeks, and might there- 
 by have procured himself great assistance from 
 all men against that hatred the Jews bore to 
 him. But I leave this matter; for the proper 
 way of confuting fools is not to use bare words, 
 but to appeal to the things themselves that 
 make Jigainst them. Now then, all such as over 
 saw the construction of our temple, of what na- 
 turu it was, know well enough how the purity 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHtS AGAINST APION. 
 
 811 
 
 of it was never to be profaned; for it had four 
 several courts,* encompassed with cloisters 
 round about, every one of which had by our 
 Jaw a peculiar degree of separation from the 
 rest. Into the first court every body was 
 allowed to go, even foreigners ; and none but 
 women, during their courses, were prohibited 
 to pass through it; all the Jews went into the 
 second court, as well as their wives, when they 
 were free from all uncleanness; into the third 
 went the Jewish men when they were clean 
 niid purified; into the fourth went the priests, 
 having on their sacerdotal garments ; but for 
 the most sacred place, none went in but the 
 high.priests, clothed in their peculiar gar- 
 ments. Now there is so great caution used 
 about these offices of religion, that the priests 
 are appointed to go into the temple but at 
 certain hours: for, in the morning, at the 
 opening of the inner temple, those that are to 
 officiate receive the sacrifices, as they do again 
 at noon, till the doors are shut. Lastly, it is 
 not so much as lawful to carry any vessel 
 into the holy house ; nor is there any thing 
 therein, but the altar [of incense], the table 
 [of shew-bread], the censer, and the candle- 
 stick, which are all written in th* law: for 
 there is nothing farther there, nor are there 
 any mysteries performed that may not be 
 spoken of; nor is there any feasting within 
 the place. For what I have now said is pub- 
 licly known, and supported by the testimony 
 of the whole people, and their operations are 
 very manifest; for although there be four 
 courses of the priests, ajid every one of them 
 have above five thousand men in them, yet do 
 they officiate on certain days only ; and when 
 those days are over, other priests succeed in 
 the performance of their sacrifices, and assem- 
 ble together at mid-day, and receive the keys 
 of the temple, and the vessels by tale, without 
 any thing relating to food or drink being 
 carried into the temple ; nay, we are not al- 
 lowed to offer such things at the altar, except- 
 ing what is prepared for the sacrifices. 
 1 9. What then can we say of Apion, but 
 Ithat he examined nothing that concerned 
 {these things, while still he uttered incredible 
 jwords about them ! But it is a great shame 
 !for a grammarian not to be able to write 
 krue history. Now, if he knew the purity of 
 bur temple, he hath entirely omitted to take 
 notice of it ; but he forges a story about the 
 seizing of a Grecian, about ineffable food, 
 and the most delicious preparation of dainties; 
 and pretends that strangers could go into a 
 place whereinto the noblest men among the 
 Jews are not allowed to enter, unless they be 
 
 • It is remarkable that Josep'ms here, and I think, 
 nowhere else, reckons up four distinct courts of the tem- 
 ple: that of the Gentiles, that of the women of Israel, 
 that of the men of Israel, and that of the priests.- as also 
 that the court of the women admitted of the men (I sup- 
 pose only of the husbands of tlmse wives thit were there- 
 iii). while tbei^u-^ of the men did not admit any wo»en 
 lotu it at all 
 
 priests. This, therefore, is the utmost de- 
 gree of impiety, and a voluntary lie, in order 
 to the delusion of those who will not examine 
 into the truth of matters. Whereas, such 
 unspeakable mischiefs as are above related, 
 have been occasioned by such calumnies that 
 are raised upon us. 
 
 10. Nay, this miracle of piety derides us 
 farther, and adds the following pretended 
 facts to his former fable; for he says that this 
 man related how, " while the Jews were once 
 in a long war with the Idumeans, there came 
 a man out of one of the cities of the Idume 
 ans who there had worshipped Apollo. This' 
 man, whose name is said to have been Zabi- 
 dus, came to the Jews, and promised that h'' 
 would deliver Apollo, the god of Dora, intc 
 their hands, and that he would come to oui 
 temple, if they would all come up with him, 
 and bring the whole multitude of the Jews 
 with them; that Zabidus made him a certain 
 wooden instrument, and put it round about 
 him, and set three rows of lamps therein, and 
 walked after such a manner, that he appeared 
 to those that stood a great way off him, to be 
 a kind of star walking upon the earth : that 
 the Jews were terribly frighted at so surpri- 
 sing an appearance, and stood very quiet at 
 a distance ; and that Zabidus, while they con- 
 tinued so very quiet, went into the holy house, 
 and carried off that golden head o( an ass (for 
 so facetiously does he write^, and then went 
 his way back again to Dora in great haste." 
 And say you so, sir ! as I may reply ; then 
 does Apion load the ass, that is himself, and 
 lays on him a burden of fooleries and lies ; 
 for he writes of places that have no being ; 
 and not knowing the cities he speaks of, he 
 changes their situation ; for Idumea bordeiT" 
 upon our country, and is near to Gaza, in 
 which there is no such city as Dora, although 
 there be, it is true, a city named Dora in 
 Phoenicia, near Mount Carmel, but it is four 
 days' journey from Idumea.f Now, then, 
 why does this man accuse us, because we 
 have not gods in common with other nations? 
 If our forefathers were so easily prevailed 
 upon to have Apollo come to them, and 
 thought they saw him walking upon the 
 earth, and the stars with him ; for certainly 
 those who have so many festivals, wherein 
 they light lamps, must yet, at this rfte, have 
 never seen a candlestick! But still it seems 
 that while Zabidus took his journey over the 
 country, wtioie were so many ten thousands 
 of people, nobody met him. He also, it 
 seems, even in a time of war, found the walls 
 of Jerusalem destitute of guards. I omit the 
 rest. Now the doors of the holy house were 
 seventy:!: cubits high, and twenty cubits broad, 
 they were all plated over with gold, and 
 
 + Jndea. in the Greek, by a gross mistake of the tran- 
 scribers. 
 
 t Seven in the Greek, by a like gross mistake of tha 
 transcribers, ^cc of tbe War, b. v. cb. ▼. sect. 4. 
 
/ 
 
 A2 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK 11. 
 
 r 
 
 almost of solid gold itself^ and there were 
 no fewer than twenty* men required to shut 
 tLem every day; nor was it lawful ever to 
 *eave them open, though it seems this lamp- 
 bearer of ours opened them easily, or thought 
 he opened them, as he thought he had the 
 ass's head in his hand. Whether, therefore, 
 be returned it to us again, or whether Apion 
 took it and brought it into the temple again, 
 that Antiochus might find it, and afford a 
 handle for a seconci fable of Apion, is uncer- 
 tain. 
 
 1 1 . Apion also tells a false^story, when he 
 mentions an oath of ours, as if we " swore by 
 God, the maker of the heaven, and earth, and 
 sea, to bear no good-will to any foreigner, 
 and particularly to none of the Greeks." — 
 Now this liar ought to have said directly that 
 *' we would bear no good- will to any fo- 
 reigner, and particularly to none of the Egyp- 
 tians." For then his story about the oath 
 would have squared M'ith the rest of his ori- 
 ginal forgeries, in case our forefathers had 
 been driven away by their kinsmen the Egyp- 
 tians, not on account of any wickedness they 
 had been guilty of, but on account of the 
 calamities they were under ; for as to the 
 Grecians, we are rather remote from them in 
 place than different from them in our institu- 
 tions, insomuch that we have no enmity with 
 them, nor any jealousy of them. On the con- 
 trary, it hath so happened, that many of them 
 have come over to our laws, and some of 
 them have continued in their observation, 
 although others of them had not courage 
 enough to persevere, and so departed from 
 them again ; nor did any body ever hear this 
 oath sworn by us: Apion, it seems, was the 
 oidy person that heard it, for be indeed was 
 the first composer of it. 
 
 12. However, Apion deserves to be admir- 
 ed for his great prudence, as to what I am 
 going to say, which is this, " That there is 
 a plain mark among us, that we neither have 
 just laws, nor worship God as we ought to 
 do, because we are not governors, but are ra- 
 ther in subjection to Gentiles, sometimes to 
 one nation, and sometimes to another; and 
 that our city bath been liable to several cala- 
 mities, while their city [Alexandria] hath 
 been of old time an imperial city, and not 
 used toffe in subjection to the Romans." But 
 now this man had better leave off his brag- 
 ging; for everybody but himself would think 
 that Apion said what he hath said against him- 
 self; for there are very few nations that have 
 bad the good fortune to continue many gene- 
 rations in the principality, but still the muta- 
 tions in human affairs have put them into sub- 
 jection under others ; and most nations have 
 been often subdued ; and brought into sub- 
 jection by others. Now for the Egyptians, 
 perhaps they are the only nation that have bad 
 
 • Two liiindrFd in the Greek, contrary to the twenty 
 the War, b. vii. cb. v. wet. 3 
 
 this extraordinary privilege, to have never 
 served any of those monarchs who subdued 
 Asia and Europe, and this on account, as they 
 pretend, that the gods fled into their country 
 and saved themselves, by being changed into 
 the shapes of wild beasts. Whereas these 
 Egyptianst are the very people that appear 
 to have never, in all the past ages, had one 
 day of freedom, no not so much as from their 
 own lords. For I will not reproach them 
 with relating the manner how the Persians 
 used them, and this not once only, but many 
 times, when they laid their cities waste, de- 
 molished their temples, and cut the throats of 
 those animals whom they esteemed to be gods ; 
 for it is not reasonable to imitate the clownish 
 ignorance of Apion, who hath no regard to 
 the misfortunes of the Athenians, or of the 
 Lacedemonians, the latter of whom were sty- 
 led by all men the most courageous, and the 
 former the most religious, of the Grecians. I 
 say nothing of such kings as have been fa- 
 mous for piety, particularly of one of them 
 whose name was Cresus, nor what calamities 
 he met with in his life ; I say nothing of the 
 citadel of Athens, of the temple at Ephesus, 
 of that at Delphi, nor of ten thousand others 
 which have been burnt down, while nobody 
 cast reproaches on those that were the suffer- 
 ers, but on those that were the actors therein. 
 But now we have met with Apion, an accu- 
 ser of our nation, through one that still forgets 
 the miseries of his own people, the Egyptians ; 
 but it is that Sesostris, who was once so cele- 
 brated a king of Egypt, that hath blinded him. 
 Now we will not boast of our kings, David 
 and Solomon, though they conquered many 
 nations ; accordingly we will let them alone. 
 However, Apion is ignorant of what every 
 Dody knows, that the Egyptians were servants 
 to the Persians, and afterwards to the Mace- 
 Jouians, when they were lords of Asia, and 
 were no better than slaves, while we have en- 
 joyed liberty formerly ; nay, more than that, 
 have had the dominion of the cities that lie 
 round about us, and this nearly for a hundred 
 and twenty years together, until Pompeius 
 Magnus. And when all the kings everywhere 
 were conquered by the Romans, our ancestors 
 were the only people who continued to bo 
 esteemed their confederates and friends, on 
 account of their fidelity to them. • 
 
 t This notorious disgrace belonging peculiarly to the 
 people of Egypt, ever since the times of the old prophets 
 of the Jews, noted both sect. 4, already and here, may be 
 confirmed by the testimony of Isidbrua, an Egyptian of 
 Pelusium, Kpist. lib. i. Ep. 480. And tins is a remark- 
 able completion of the ancient prediction of (lod, by 
 Ezekiel (xxix. 14, 15), that the Egyptians should " be a 
 base kingdom, the basest of the kingdoms," and that 
 " it should not exalt itself any more above the nations." 
 The truth of which still farther appears by the present 
 observation of Joseplnis, that these Egyptians had 
 never, in all the past ages since Sesostris, had one day 
 of liberty, no not so much as to have been free from 
 despotic power under any of the monarchs of that day. 
 And all this has been fjund equally true in the latter 
 ages, under the Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and 
 Turka, fi om the duyH of JoeophuB till the present age oLso. 
 
:^\ 
 
 bt OK 11. 
 
 FLAVICS JOSKPIIUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 813 
 
 ^?i. "But," says Apiori, "we Jews have 
 act Lad any wonderful men araongst us, not 
 any inventors of arts, nor any eminent for 
 w\-fiom," *He then enumerates Socrates, and 
 ^.'?no, and Cleanthes, and some others of the 
 same sort ; and, after all, he adds himself to 
 them, which is the most wonderful thing of 
 ail that he says, and pronounces Alexandria 
 to be happy, because it hath such a citizen 
 as re is in it; for he was the fittest man to 
 DP D witness to his own deserts, although he 
 ha'li appeared to all others no better than 
 a wicked mountebank, of a corrupt life, and 
 ill discourses ; on which account one may 
 iu-Tly pity Alexandria, if it should value 
 ii?olf upon such a citizen as he is. But as to 
 our own men, we have had those who have 
 be'^n as deserving of commendation as any 
 other whosoever; and such as have perused our 
 Antiquities cannot be ignorant of them. 
 
 14. As to the other things which he sets 
 <io-vn as blame- worthy, it may perhaps be the 
 be it way to let them pass without apology, 
 th-4t, he may be allowed to be his own accuser, 
 and the accuser of the rest of the Egyptians. 
 However, he accuses us for sacrificing animals, 
 and for abstaining from swine's liesh, and 
 laughs at us for the circumcision of our privy 
 members. Now, as for our slaughter of tame 
 animals for sacrifices, it is common to us and 
 to all other men; but this Apion, by making 
 it T crime to sacrifice them, demonstrates him- 
 s.jlf to be an Egyptian; for had he beei%either 
 a Grecian or a Macedonian [as he pretends 
 to I e], he had not shown an uneasiness at it; 
 for those people glory in sacrificing whole 
 be?atombs to the gods, and make use of those 
 sacrifices for feasting; and yet is not the world 
 thpieby rendered destitute of cattle, as Apion 
 was afraid would come to pass. Yet, if all 
 men had followed the manners of the Egyp- 
 tia'^s, the world had certainly been made 
 desolate as to mankind, but had been filled full 
 of the wildest sort of brute beasts, which, 
 because they suppose them to be gods, they 
 carefully nourish. However, if any one 
 should ask Apion which of the Egyptians he 
 thinks to be the most wise, and most pious of 
 thetn all, he would certainly acknowledge the 
 priests to.be so; for the histories say that two 
 things were originally committed to their care 
 by their kings' injunctions, the worship of the 
 gods, and the support of wisdom and philoso- 
 phy. Accordingly, these priests are all cir- 
 cu.xcised, and abstain from swine's flesh; nor 
 dop.«- any one of the other Egyptians assist 
 tht:T» in slaying those sacrifices they offer to 
 the cods. Apion was therefore quite blinded 
 in *;is mind when, for the sake of the Egyp- 
 tian*, he contrived to reproach us, and to ac- 
 cuse sMch others as not only make use of that 
 coiHnct of life which he so much abuses, but 
 hav° also taught other men to be circumcised, 
 as =ays Herodotus; which makes me think 
 tb&t Apion is hereby justly punished for bis 
 
 casting such reproaches on the laws of his own 
 country ; for he was circumcised himself of 
 necessity, on account of an ulcer in his privy 
 member ; and when he received no benefit 
 by such circumcision, but his member became 
 putrid, he died in great torment. Now, men 
 of good te/npers ought to observe their own 
 laws concerning religion accurately, and to 
 persevere therein, but not presently to abuse 
 the laws of other nations, while this Apion 
 deserted his own laws, and told lies <»ibout 
 ours; and this was the end of Apion's life, 
 and this shall be the conclusion of our dis- 
 course about him. 
 
 15. But now, sinoe ApfiiLiQiusLJilolo, and 
 Lysimachus, and some others, write treatises 
 about our lawgiver Moses, and about our laws, 
 which are neither just nor true, and this partly 
 out of ignorance, but chiefly out of ill-will to 
 us, while they calumniate Moses as an im- 
 postor and deceiver, and pretend that our 
 laws teach us wickedness, but nothing that 
 is virtuous, I have a mind to discourse 
 briefly, accordingly to my ability, about our 
 whole constitution of government, and about 
 the particular branches of it; for I suppose 
 it will thence become evident that the laws 
 we have given us are disposed after the best 
 manner for the advancement of piety, for 
 mutual communion with one another, for a 
 general love of mankind, as also for justice, 
 and for sustaining labours with fortitude, and 
 for a contempt of death; and I beg of those 
 that shall peruse this writing of mine, to read 
 it without partiality; for it is not my purpose 
 to write an encomium upon ourselves, but I 
 shall esteem this as a most just apology for us, 
 and taken from those our laws, according to 
 which we lead our lives, against the many and 
 the lying objections that have been made 
 against us. Moreover, since this Apollonius 
 does not do like Apion, and lay a continued 
 accusation against us, but does it only by 
 starts, and up and down his discourse, while 
 he sometimes reproaches us as atheists, and 
 man-haters, and sometimes hits us in the teeth 
 with our want of courage, and yet sometimes, 
 on the country, accuses us of too great bold- 
 ness, and madness in our conduct; nay, he says 
 that we are the weakest of all the barbarians, 
 and that this is the reason why we are the only 
 people who have made no improvOT:ients in 
 human life; now I think I shall have then 
 sufficiently disproved all these his allegations, 
 when it shall appear that our laws enjoiu 
 the very reverse of what he says, and that we 
 very carefully observe those laws ourselves; 
 and if I be compelled to make mention of the 
 laws of other nations, that are contrary to 
 our«, those ought deservedly to thank them- 
 selves for it, who have pretended to depreciate 
 our laws in comparison of their own; nor will 
 there, I think, be any room afiter that for tiera 
 to pretend, either that we have no such laws 
 ourselves, an epiteme (»f whieb I will prwcnt 
 
814 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 to the reader, or that we do not, above all 
 men, continue in the observation of them. 
 
 16. To begin then a good way backward, 
 I would advance this, in the first place, that 
 those who have been admirers of good order, 
 and of living under common laws, and who 
 began to introduce them, may welf have this 
 testimony that they are better than other men, 
 both for moderation, and such virtue as is 
 agreeable to nature. Indeed, their endeavour 
 was to have every thing they ordained believed 
 to be very ancient, that they ujight not be 
 thought to imitate others, but might appear 
 to have delivered a regular way of living to 
 others after them. Since then this is the case, 
 the excellency of a legislator is seen in pro- 
 viding for the peoples living after the best 
 manner, and in prevailing with those that are 
 to use the laws he ordains for them, to have 
 a good opinion of them, and in obliging the 
 multitude to persevere in them, and to make 
 no changes in them, neither in prosperity nor 
 adversity. Now, I venture to say, that our 
 legislator is the most ancient of all the legis- 
 lators whom we have anywhere heard of; for 
 / as for the Lycurguses, and Solons, and Za- 
 \ leucus Locrensis, and all those legislators who 
 ' are so admired by the Greeks, they seem to 
 be of yesterday, if compared with our legis- 
 lator, insomuch as the very name of a law 
 was not so much as known in old times 
 among the Grecians. Homer is a witness to 
 the truth of this observation, who never uses 
 that term in all his poems; for indeed there 
 was then no such thing among them, but the 
 multitude was governed by wise maxims, and 
 by the injunctions of their king. It was also 
 a long time* that they continued in the use of 
 these unwritten customs, although they were 
 always changing them upon several occasions; 
 but for our legislator, who was of so much 
 greater antiquity than the rest (as even those 
 that speak against us upon all occasions do 
 always confess), he exhibited himself to th^ 
 people as their/ best governor and counsellor, 
 and included in his legislation the entire con- 
 duet of their lives, and prevailed with them 
 to receive it, and brought it so to pass, that 
 those that were made acquainted with his 
 laws did most carefully observe them. 
 
 17. B^t let us consider his first and great- 
 est work; for when it was resolved on by our 
 foreluthers to leave Egypt and return to their 
 own country, this Moses took the many ten 
 thousands that were of the people, and baved 
 tliem out of many desperate distresses, and 
 brought them home in safety. And certaiidy 
 It was here necessary to travel over a country 
 without water, and full of sand, to overuome 
 their enemies, and, during these battles, to 
 preserve their children and their wives, and 
 their prey; on uU which occasions be became 
 
 • Vim. After the ^Tftntnt pi^rt of the world had left 
 Ofl* their obedience to God, ib»ir orii(iuat iegislulor. 
 
 an excellent general of an army, and a moaft 
 prudent counsellor, and one that took the 
 truest care of them all: he also so brought ii 
 about, that the whole multitude depended 
 upon him; and while he had tbem always 
 obedient to what he enjoined, be made no 
 manner of use of bis authority for his ow» 
 private ad vantage, which is the usual time when 
 governors gain great powers to themselves, 
 and pave the way for tyranny, and accustom 
 the multitude to live very dissolutely; where- 
 as, when our legislator was in so great autho- 
 rity, he, on the contrary, thought he ought to 
 have regard to piety, and to show his great 
 good- will to the people; and by this means 
 he thought he might show the great degree of 
 virtue that was in him, and might procure the 
 most lasting security to those who had made 
 him tbeir governor. When he had therefore 
 come to such a good resolution, and Lad per- 
 formed such wonderful exploits, we had just 
 reason to look upon ourselves as having him 
 for a divine governor and counsellor ; and 
 when he had first persuaded himselff that 
 his actions and designs were agreeable to 
 God's will, he thought it his duty to impress, 
 above all things, that notion upon the multi- 
 tude; for those who have once believed that 
 God is the inspector of their lives, will not 
 permit themselves in any sin; and this is the 
 character of our legislator: he was no impos- 
 tor, nf deceiver, as his revilers say, though 
 unjustly, but such a one as they brag Minos J 
 to iiave been among the Greeks, and other 
 legislators after hijn; for some of them sup- 
 pose that they had their laws from Jupiter, 
 while Minos said that the revelation of his 
 laws was to be referred to Apollo, and his 
 oracle at Delphi, whethei; they really thought 
 they were so derived, or supposed, however, 
 that they could persuade the people easily 
 that so it was; but which of these it was who 
 made the best' laws, and which had the 
 greatest reason to believe that God was their 
 author, it will be easy, upon comparing those 
 
 + This language, that Moses iriiTccs tatrroy, " persuaded 
 himsell " that what he did was according to God'» 
 will, can mean nu more, by Jusephus's own constant no« 
 tions elsewhere, than that he was ♦• tirmly persuaded," 
 that he had *' fully salistied hmiself," tl>at »o H was, \'va. 
 by the many revelations he had received from (iod, and 
 the numerous miracles Gud had enabled him to work, 
 as he both in these very two books against Apion, and 
 in his Antiquities, most clearly and frequently assures 
 us. J his i.-> farther evident Irom several passages lower, 
 where he alFirms that IMoses was no impi>8tor nor de- 
 ceiver, and where he assures us that Moses's constitution 
 of ^overniiient was no other than a theocracy; and 
 where he says they are to. hope for deliverance out oi 
 their distresses by prayer to God, and that withal it was 
 iiwing in part to this prophetic spirit of :>loses that the 
 Jews expected a resuriection trom the dead. See almost 
 as stranjje a use of the like words, ntOu* «> 04«», " to 
 persuade God." Antiq. b. vi. ch. v. sect. G. 
 
 t J'hat is, Moses really was, what the heathen legisla- 
 tors pretended to be, under a divine direction; nor does 
 it yet appear that these pretensions to a supernatural 
 conduct, either in these legislators or orachs, were mere 
 delusions of men witiiuiii ai<y demoniacal impressions, 
 nor that JuseplHis took them so to be; us the ttiit'leute&t 
 and c(iiileiiipor.iry uuthurs did still believe tbeiu to bt 
 suptMuatuial. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION, 
 
 815 
 
 laws themselves together, to determine ; for 
 it is time that we come to that point. Now* 
 there are innumerable differences in the par- 
 ticular customs and laws that are among all 
 mankind, which a man may briefly reduce 
 under the following heads: — Some legislators 
 have permitted their governments to be under 
 inffnarchies, others put them under oligar- 
 chies, and others under a republican form; 
 but our legislator had no regard to any of 
 these forms, but he ordained our government 
 to be what, by a strained expression, may be 
 termed a Theocracy,^ by ascribing the autho- 
 rity and the power to God, and by persuading 
 a^I the people to have a regard to him, as the 
 author of all the good things enjoyed either 
 in common by all mankind, or by each one 
 ir. particular, and of all that they themselves 
 obtained by praying to him in their greatest 
 dilBculties, He informed them that it was 
 iinpcssible to escape God's observation, either 
 in any of our outward actions, or in any of 
 o«r inward thoughts. Moreover, he repre- 
 sented God as unbegottenf and immutable, 
 through all eternity, superior to all mortal 
 concef tions in pulchritude ; and, though 
 knowf. to us by his power, yet unknown to 
 us as to his essence. I do not now explain 
 how these notions of God are the sentiments 
 
 * This whole very large passage is corrected by Dr. 
 Huuson. from Eusebius's citation ol it. Prjep. Evansel. 
 viii. I?, which is here not a little different from the pre- 
 sent MSS. ot Josephus. 
 
 ■t- This expression itself, Otcxiarixi etniuli «« TcXt- 
 x-'j.iat. that '* Moses ordained the Jewish government 
 to he a Theocracy," may l^ illustrated by that parallel 
 expression in the Antiq b. iii. ch. viiL sect 9, that 
 •• \l(ises left it to God to be present at his sacrifices when 
 lie pleased ; and, when he pleased, to be absent." Both 
 wavs ol speaking sound harsh in the ears of Jews and 
 < liristians, as do several others which Josephus uses to 
 the Heathens; but Still they were not very improper in 
 liiiii. when he ail along thought fit to accommodate him- 
 selt. both in his Antiquities, and in these his books 
 ;ti<:iiiist Apion, all written for the use of the Greeks and 
 ItKUians. to their notions and language, and this as far 
 a> ever truth would give him leave; thoui;h it is very 
 «)l>,sei vahle withal, that he never uses such expressions 
 ill iiis books of the War, written originally for the Jews 
 beyond t.uphrates. and in their language, in all these 
 case*. However, Josephus directly supposes the Jewish 
 setilenient, under Moses, to be a divine settlement, and 
 in !e.d no other than a real Theocracy. 
 
 ♦ These excellent accounts of the divine attributes, 
 ami that God is not to be at all known in bis essence, as 
 al^ii some other clear expressions about the resurrection 
 of the dead, and the state of departed souls, &c. in this 
 la'e work of Josephus, look more like the exalted no- 
 t oils of the i-.ssenes, or rather Lbionite Christians, than 
 limse of a mere Jew or Pharisee. The following large ac- 
 r.oiiiits also of the laws of Moses, seem to me to show 
 a I'eysrd to the higher interpretations and improviments 
 ol .\Io!M-8's laws, derived from Jesus Christ, than to the 
 b.iie letter of them in the Old Test;iment, whence alone 
 J.isepbus took them when he wrote his Antiquities; 
 nor, as I think, can some of these laws, though g'-ne- 
 ruiiy excellent in their kind, be properly now tound 
 cither in ttie copies of the Jewish Pentateuch, or in 
 Philo, or in Josephus himself, before he became a 
 Nazareiie or Ebioiiite Christian; nor even all of thera« 
 among the laws of Catholic Christianity themselves. 1 
 dewise, therefore, the learned reader to consider, whe- 
 ther some of these improvements or interpretations 
 i:iuht not be (>eculiar to the i sseues among t;ie Jew?. i>r 
 r.iiher lo the Nazarenes or Kbionites amon.' the Curis- 
 ti .H». though we have indeed but imper eel am unts ol 
 f'-ose .Nnzarenes or Kbioiuie Christian.- iraasu.iiteit 
 down to u> ut thi> dny. 
 
 of the wisest among the Grecians, and how 
 they were taught them upon the principles 
 that he afforded them. However, they testify, 
 with great assurance, that these notions are 
 just, and agreeable to the nature of God, 
 and to his majesty; for Pythagoras, and An- 
 axagoras, and Plato, and the Stoic philoso- 
 phers that succeeded them, and almost all the 
 rest, are of the same sentiments, and had the 
 same notions of the nature of God; yet durst 
 not these men disclose those true notions tc 
 more than a few, because the body of the peo- 
 ple were prejudiced with other opinions be- 
 forAand. But our legislator, who made bis 
 actions agree to his laws, did not only prevail 
 with those that were his contemporaries to 
 agree with these his notions, but so firmly 
 imprinted this faith in God upon all their 
 posterity, that it never could be removed. 
 The reason why the constitution of this legis- 
 lation was ever better directed to the utility 
 of all than other legislations were, is this, 
 that Moses did not make religion a part of 
 virtue, but he saw and he ordained other 
 virtues to be parts of religion; I mean justice, 
 and fortitude, and temperance, and a univer- 
 sal agreement of the members of the commu- 
 nity with one another ; for all our actions and 
 studies, and all our words [in Moses's settle- 
 ment] have a reference to piety towards God; 
 for he hath left none of these in suspense, or 
 undetermined; for there are two ways of 
 coming at any sort of learning and a moral 
 conduct of life; the one is by instruction in 
 words, the other by practical exercises. Now, 
 other lawgivers have separated these two ways 
 in their opinions, and choosing one of those 
 ways of instruction, or that which best pleased 
 every one of them, neglected the other. 
 Thus did the Lacedemonians and the Cre- 
 tans teach by practical exercises, but hot by 
 words; while the Athenians, and almost all 
 the other Grecians, made laws about what was 
 to be done, or left undone, but had no regard 
 to the exercising them thereto in practice. 
 
 18. But for our legislator, he very care- 
 fully joined these two methods of instruction 
 together ; for he neither left these practical 
 exercises to go on without verbal instruction, 
 nor did he permit the hearing of the law to 
 proceed without the exercises for practice; 
 but beginning immediately from the earliest 
 infancy, and the appointment of every one's 
 diet, he left nothing of the very smallest 
 consequence to be done at the pleasure and 
 disposal of the person himself. Accordingly, he 
 made a fixed rule of law what sorts of food they 
 should abstain from, and what sorts they should 
 use; as also, what communion theyshould have 
 with others, what great diligence they should 
 use in their occupations, and what times of 
 rest should be interposed, that, by living- 
 ufider that law as under a father and a 
 inH>ter, we might be guilty of no sin, neither 
 voiu!itar\ nor out of ignorance; tur he did 
 
81G 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK 71 
 
 not suflfer the guilt of ignorance to go on 
 without punishment, but demonstrated the 
 jaw to be the best and the most necessary 
 instruction of all others, permitting the people 
 to leave off their other employments, and to 
 assemble together for the bearing of the law, 
 and learning it exactly, and this not once or 
 twice, or oftener, but e very week ; which thing 
 all the other legislators seem to have neglected. 
 
 19. And indeed, the greatest partof mankind 
 are so far from living according to their own 
 laws, that they hardly know them; but when 
 they havesinned they learnfromothers that they 
 have transgressed the law. Those also who are 
 in the highest and principal posts of the govern- 
 ment, confess they are not acquainted with those 
 laws, and are obliged to take such persons for 
 their assessors in public administrations as 
 profess to have skill in those laws; but for our 
 people, if any body do but ask any one of them 
 about our laws, he will more readily tell them all 
 than he will tell his own name, and this in 
 consequence of our having learned them im- 
 mediately, as soon as ever we became sensible 
 of any thing, and of our having them, as it 
 were, engraven on our souls. Our transgres- 
 sors of them are but few ; and it is impossible, 
 when any do offend, to escape punishment. 
 
 20. And this very thing it is that principally 
 creates such a wonderful agreement of minds 
 amongst us all; for this entire agreement of 
 ours in all our notions concerning God, and 
 our having no difference in our course of life 
 and manners, procures among us the most 
 excellent concord of these our manners that 
 is anywhere among mankind ; for no other 
 people but we Jews have avoided all dis- 
 courses about God that any way contradict 
 one another, which yet are frequent among 
 other nations ; and this is true not only 
 among ordinary persons, according as every 
 one is affected, but some of the philosophers 
 have been insolent enough to indulge such 
 contradictions, while some of them have 
 undertaken to use such words as entirely take 
 away the nature of God, as others of them 
 have taken away his providence over mankind. 
 Nor can any one perceive amongst us any 
 difference in the conduct of our lives; but all 
 our works are common to us all. We have 
 one sort of discourse concerning God, which 
 is conformable to our law, and affirms that 
 he sees all things ; as also, we have but one 
 way of speaking concerning the conduct of 
 our lives, that all other things ought to have 
 piety for their end; and this any body may 
 hear from our women, and servants themselves. 
 
 21. Hence hath arisen that accusation 
 which some make against us, that we have 
 not produced men that have been the inven- 
 tors of new operations, or of new ways of 
 speaking; for others think it a line thing to 
 persevere in nothing that has been delivered 
 dow:i from their forefathers, and these testify 
 it to bfi au ii)»titi>ce of the »h<ii ptst vvi.-.uoiii 
 
 when these men venture to ttansgress those 
 traditions; whereas we, on the contrary, sup- 
 pose it to be our only wisdom and virtue tc 
 admit no actions nor supposals that are con- 
 trary to our original laws; which proced-'ic; 
 of ours is a just and sure sign that our law li 
 admirably constituted; for such laws as aJL 
 not thus well made, are convicted upon trial 
 to want amendment. 
 
 22. But while we are ourselves persuadtu- 
 that our law was made agreeably to the will 
 of God, it would be impious for us not :;v' 
 observe the same; for what is there in it lu^t 
 any body would change I and what can be 
 invented better I or what can we take out of 
 other people's laws that will exceed it! Perbajjis 
 some would have the entire settlement of oui 
 government altered. And where shall we liniU 
 better or more righteous constitution than ouii,,. 
 while this makes usesteem God to be the govej •• 
 nor of the universe, and permits the priests in 
 general to be the administrators of the principal 
 affairs, and withal intrusts the government o ve * 
 the other priests to the chief high-priest hiu; • 
 self! which priests, our legislator, at their firil 
 appointment, did not advance to that dignity 
 for their riches, or any abundance of other pot- 
 sessions, or any plenty they had as the gifts of 
 fortune; but he entrusted the principal maij- 
 agement of divine worship to those that ex- 
 ceeded others in an ability to persuade men, uj.ii 
 in prudence of conduct. These men had tha 
 main care of the law, and of the other pa."iu 
 of the people's conduct, committed to theru, 
 for they were the priests who were ordained it> 
 be the inspectors of all, and the judges ii. 
 doubtful cases, and the punishers of tncsc 
 that were condemned to suffer punishment. 
 
 23. What form of government then can bo 
 more holy than thisl what more worthy kind 
 of worship can be paid to God than we pay, 
 where the entire body of the people art 
 prepared for religion, where an extraordiiiujy 
 degree of care is required in the priests, and 
 where the whole polity is so ordered as it it 
 were a certain religious solemnity! For \vhi.i 
 things foreigners, when they solemnize such 
 festivals, are not able to observe for a f-\v 
 days' time, and call them Mysteries and Sa- 
 cred Ceremonies, we observe with great plea- 
 sure and an unshaken resolution during (.ui 
 whole lives. What are the things then thi.t 
 we are commanded or forbidden ? They ji.-;; 
 simply and easily known. The first com- 
 mand is concerning God, and affira)s tS.-: 
 God contains all things, and is a being eve*> 
 way perfect and happy, self-sufficient, and 
 supplying all other beings; the beginn„>^, 
 the middle, and the end of all things, lit is 
 mar-.ifest in his works and benefits, and more 
 conspicuous than any other being w^;:sv>. 
 ever; but as to his form and magiu(c.i;c, 
 he is most obscure. All materials, let Ct^ 
 lie ever so contly, are unworthy to cuii.y;cd 
 tilt un.>^«: for biuii and ail art« arv uiidufu. 
 
BC OK II. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUSAOAINST APIOR 
 
 817 
 
 tc f.vDress the notion we ought to have of 
 hii'.. We can neither see nor think of any 
 thlr.g like him, nor is it agreeable to piety to 
 form a resemblance of him. We see his 
 works, the light, the heaven, the earth, the 
 sun and the moon, the waters, the generations 
 cf animals, the productions of fruits. These 
 (hings hath God made, not with hands, not 
 <vith labour, nor as wanting the assistance of 
 any to co-operate with him ; but as his will 
 resolved they should be made, and be good 
 also, they were made and became good im- 
 mediately. All men ought to follow this 
 Be:ng, and to worship him in the exercise of 
 virtue; for this way of worship of God is the 
 oiost holy of all others. 
 
 24. There ought also to be but one temple 
 for one God ; for likeness is the constant 
 foundation of agreement. This temple ought 
 to be common to all men, because he is the 
 common God of all men. His priests are to 
 be continually about his W'orship, over whom 
 he that is the first by his birth, is to be their 
 ruler perpetually. H'.s business must be to 
 offer sacrifices to GoJ, together with those 
 priests that are joined with him, to see that 
 the laws be observed, to determine controver- 
 sies, and to punish those that are convicted of 
 injustice; while he that does not submit to 
 hl;r. shall be subject to the same punishment, ' 
 as if he had been guiity of impiety towards 
 God himself. When we offer sacrifices to 
 him, we do it not in order to surfeit ourselves, 
 or to be drunken ; for such excesses are 
 against the will of God, and would be an oc- 
 casion of injuries and of luxury; but by keep- 
 ing ourselves sober, orderly, and ready for our 
 other occupations, and being more temperate 
 than others. And for our duty at the sacri- 
 fices themselves, we ought in the first place 
 to pray* for the common welfare of all, 
 and after that our own; for we are made for 
 fellowship one with another; and he who pre- 
 fers the common good before what is peculiar 
 to himself, is above all acceptable to God. 
 And let our prayers and supplications be 
 made humbly to God, not [so much] that he 
 wouid give us what is good (for he hath al- 
 ready given that of his own accord, and hath 
 proposed the same publicly to all), as that we 
 may duiy receive it, and when we have re- 
 ceived it, may preserve it. Now the law has 
 appointed several purifications at our sacri- 
 
 • We may here observe, how known a thin^ it was 
 among the Jews and heathens in this and many other 
 instances, 'hat sacrifices were still accompamied with 
 prajeis; wlicnce most probably cariie those phrases of 
 "the sar.ritice of prayer, the sacrifice of praise, the sacri- 
 fice of thanivSijJVing.'» However, those ancient forms 
 used at sacritices are now generally lost, to the no small 
 daaa^;e of true religion. It is here also exceeding 
 remarkable, that although the temple at Jerusalem was 
 built as the only place wLere the whole nation of the 
 Jews were to offer their sacrifices, yet is there no men- 
 ticn of the "sacrifices" themselves, but of "prayers" 
 only, in Solomon's long and tamous form of devotion 
 at its dedication, I Kings viii. 2 Chron. vi. Sire also 
 tnany passages cited in the Apostolical Constitutions, 
 viL 37, and of the Wax abov*, b. vii. chap. v. sect. 6, 
 
 fices, whereby we are cleansed after a funeral, 
 after what sometimes happens to us in bed, 
 and after accompanying with our wives, and 
 upon many other occasions, too long now to 
 set downi. And this is our doctrine concern- 
 ing God and his worship, and is the same 
 that the law appoints for our practice. 
 
 25. But then, what are our laws about 
 marriage? That law owns no other mixture 
 of sexes but that which nature hath appointed, 
 of a man with his wife, and that this be used 
 only for the procreation of children. But it 
 abhors the mixture of a male with a male 
 and if any one do that, death is his punish- 
 ment. It commands us also, when we marry, 
 not to have regard to portion, nor to take 
 a woman by violence, nor to persuade her 
 deceitfully and knavishly; but demand her in 
 marriage of him who hath power to dispose 
 of her, and is fit to give her away by the 
 nearness of his kindred; for, saith the Scrip- 
 ture, "A woman is inferior to her husband in 
 all things.f" Let her, therefore, be obedient 
 to him; not so, that he should abuse her, but 
 that she may acknowledge her duty to her 
 husband; for God hath given the authority 
 to the husband. A husband, therefore, is t-j 
 lie only with his wife whom he hath married; 
 but to have to do with another man's wife is 
 a wicked thing; which, if any one venture 
 upon, death is inevitably his punishment : no 
 more can he avoid the same who forces a 
 virgin betrothed to another man, or entices 
 another man's wife. The law, moreover, 
 enjoins us to bring up all our ofispring, avd 
 forbids women to cause abortion of what is 
 begotten, or to destroy it afterward; and if 
 any woman appears to have so done, she will 
 be a murderer of her child, by destroying a 
 living creature, and diminishing human kind; 
 if any one, therefore, proceeds to such forni- 
 cation or murder, he cannot be clean. More- 
 over, the law enjoins, that after the man and 
 wife have lain together in a regular way, they 
 shall bathe themselves; for there is a defile- 
 ment contracted thereliy, both in soul and 
 body, as if they had gone into another coun- 
 try; for indeed the soul, by being united to 
 the body, is subject to miseries, and is not 
 freed therefrom again but by death ; on which 
 account the law requires this purification to be 
 entirely performed. 
 
 26. Nay, indeed, the law does not permit 
 us to make festivals at the births of our child- 
 ren, and thereby afford occasion of drinking 
 to excess; but it ordains that the very begin- 
 ning of our education should be immediately 
 directed to sobriety. It also commands us to 
 i bring those children up in learning, and to 
 exercise them in the laws, and make them 
 acquainted with the acts of their predecessors, 
 in order to their imitation of them, and that 
 they may be nourished up in the laws from their 
 
 •f This text is nowhere in our present copies of Uf 
 Old Testament 
 
818 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST AFION. 
 
 BOOK 11. 
 
 infency, and might neither transgress them, 
 nor yet have any pretence for their ignorance 
 of tbem. • 
 
 27. Our law hath also taken care of the 
 dicent burial of the dead, but without any ex- 
 travagant expenses for their funerals, and with- 
 out the erection of any illustrious monuments 
 for them; but hath ordered that their nearest 
 relations should perform their obsequies; and 
 bath shown it to be regular, that all who pass 
 by when any one is buried, should accompany 
 the funeral, and join in the lamentation. It 
 also ordains, that the house and its inhabitants 
 should be purified after the funeral is over, 
 that every one may thence learn to keep at a 
 g^reat distance from the thoughts of being 
 pure, if he hath been once guilty of murder. 
 
 28. The law ordains also, that parents 
 should be honoured immediately after God 
 aimself, and delivers that son who does not 
 requite them for the benefits he hath received 
 Tom them, but is deficient on any such occa- 
 jion, to be stoned. It also says, that the 
 foung men should pay due respect to every 
 alder, since God is the eldest of all beings. 
 [t does not give leave to conceal any thing 
 trom our friends, because that is not true 
 friendship which will not commit all things to 
 their fidelity: it also forbids the revelation of 
 jecrets, even though an enmity arise between 
 Ihem. If any judge takes bribes, his punish- 
 ooent is death ; he that overlooks one that 
 oflfers him a petition, and this when he is able 
 ;o relieve him, he is a guilty person. What 
 is not by any one intrusted to another, ought 
 flot to be required back again. No one is to 
 'iouch another's goods. He that lends money 
 QQUst not demand usury for its loan. These, 
 4nd many more of the like sort, are the rules 
 that unite us in the bands of society one with 
 Miother. 
 
 29. It will be also worth our while to see 
 what equity our legislator would have us ex- 
 ercise in our intercourse with strangers; for it 
 will thence appear that he made the best pro- 
 vision he possibly could, both that we should 
 not dissolve our own constitution, nor show 
 any envious mind towards those that would 
 cultivate a friendship with us. Accordingly, 
 Dur legislator admits all those that have a 
 mind to observe our laws, so to do; and this 
 after a friendly manner, as esteeming that 
 a true union, which not only extends to our 
 own stock, but to those that would live after 
 the same manner with us; yet does he not 
 allow those that come to us by accident only 
 to be admitted into communion with us. 
 
 30. However there are other things which 
 our legislator ordained for us beforehand, 
 which of necessity we ought to do in common 
 to all men; as to afi'ord tire, and water, and 
 food to such as want it; to show tbem the 
 roads; and not to let any one lie unburied. 
 He also would have us treat those that are 
 esteemed our enemies with moderation ; for he 
 
 doth not allow us to set their country on fire, 
 nor permit us to cut down those trees that bear 
 fruit: nay, farther, he forbids us to spoil those 
 that have been slain in war. He hath aUo 
 provided for such as are taken captive, that 
 they may not be injured, and especially that the 
 women may not be abused. Indeed he bath 
 taught us gentleness and humanity so eifec- 
 tually, that he hath not despised the care of 
 brute beasts, by permitting no other than a 
 regular use of them, and forbidding any 
 other; and if any of them come to our houses, 
 like supplicants, we are forbidden to slay 
 them : nor may we kill the dams, together 
 with their young ones; but we are obliged, 
 even in an enemy's country, to spare and not 
 kill those creatures that labour for mankind. 
 Thus hath our lawgiver contrived to teach us 
 an equitable conduct every way, by using u» 
 to such laws as instruct us therein; while at 
 the same time he hath ordained, that such as 
 break these laws should be punished, without 
 the allowance of any excuse whatsoever. 
 
 31. Now the greatest part of offences with 
 us are capital; as if any one be guilty of 
 adultery ; if any one force a virgin ; if any 
 one be so impudent as to attempt sodomy 
 with a male; or if, upon another's making an 
 attempt upon him, he submits to be so used. 
 There is also a law for slaves of the like 
 nature, that can never be avoided. Moreover, 
 if any one cheats another in measures or 
 weights, or makes a knavish bargain and sale, 
 in order to cheat another; if any one steal what 
 belongs to another and takes what he never 
 deposited; all these have punishments allotted 
 them, not such as are met with among other 
 nations, but more severe ones. And as for at- 
 tempts of unjust behaviour towards parents, or 
 impiety against God, though they be not actu- 
 ally accomplished, the oflfenders are destroyed 
 immediately. However, the reward of such as 
 live exactly acording to the laws, is not silver 
 or gold; it is not a garland of olive-branches 
 or of smallage, nor any such public sign of 
 commendation; but every good man hath his 
 own conscience bearing witness to himself, and, 
 by virtue of our legislator's prophetic spirit, and 
 of the firm security God himself affords such 
 a one, he believes that God hath made thb 
 grant to those that observe these laws, even 
 though they be obliged readily to die for them, 
 that they shall come into being again, and at 
 a certain revolution of things receive a better 
 life than they had enjoyed before. Nor would 
 I venture to write thus at this' time, were it 
 not well known to all by our actions that 
 many of our people have many a time bravely 
 resolved to endure any sufferings, rather tbaxi 
 speak one word against our law. 
 
 32. Nay, indeed, in case it had so fallen 
 out, that our nation had not been so thor- 
 oughly known among all men as they are 
 and our voluntary submission to our laws hart 
 not been so opeii and maxufes* as it is, but 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 819 
 
 that somebody had pretended to have written 
 these laws himself, and had read them to the 
 Greeks, or had pretended that he had met with 
 men out of the limits of the known world, 
 that had such reverend notions of God, and 
 had continued for a long time in the firm 
 observance of such laws as ours, I cannot but 
 suppose that all men would admire them on a 
 redection upon the frequent changes they had 
 therein been themselves subject to; and this 
 while those that have attempted to write some- 
 what of the same kind for politic government, 
 and for laws, are accused as composing mon- 
 strous things, and are said to have undertaken 
 an impossible task upon them. And here I 
 will say nothing of those other philosophers 
 who have undertaken any thing of this nature 
 in their writings. But even Plato himself, 
 who is so admired by the Greeks on account 
 of that gravity in his manner and force in his 
 words, and that ability he had to persuade 
 men beyond all other philosophers, is little 
 better than laughed at and exposed to ridicule 
 on that account, by those that pretend to 
 sagacity in political affairs; although he that 
 shall diligently peruse his writings, will find 
 his precepts to be somewhat gentle, and pretty 
 near to the customs of the generality of man- 
 kind. Nay, Plato himself confesseth that it 
 is not safe to publish the true notion concern- 
 ing God among the ignorant multitude. Yet 
 do some men look upon Plato's discourses as 
 no better than certain idle words set oflF with 
 great artifice. However, they admire Lycur- 
 gus as the principal lawgiver; and all men 
 celebrate Sparta for having continued in the 
 firm observance of his laws for a very long 
 time. So far then we have gained, that it is 
 to be confessed a mark of virtue to submit to 
 laws.* But then let such as admire this in 
 the Lacedemonians compare that duration of 
 theirs with more than two thousand years 
 which our political government hath conti- 
 nued ; and let them farther consider, that 
 though the Lacedemonians did seem to ob- 
 serve their laws exactly while they enjoyed 
 their liberty, yet that when they underwent a 
 change iu their fortune, they forgot almost all 
 those laws; while we, having been under ten 
 thousand changes in our fortune by the changes 
 that happened among the kings of Asia, have 
 never betrayed our laws uuder the most press- 
 ing distresses we have been in ; nor have we 
 neglected them either out of sloth or for a 
 Uvelihood.f Nay, if any one will consider 
 it. the difficulties and labours laid upon us 
 have been greater thac what appears to have 
 
 * It may not be amiss to set down here a very 
 nemarkablt. testimony of the great philosopher Cicero, as 
 to the pretv rence of ''laws to philosophy:" "1 will 
 {says he) boldly declare my opiaion, thou|rh the whole 
 world l»c utfeiided at it. I prefer this little book of the 
 Twelve Tables alone to all the vulumes of the philoso- 
 phers I tind it to b^ not only of more weight, but also 
 much taore useful." — De Oratore. 
 
 ♦ Or. .» e have observed our times of rest, and sortJ of 
 
 owed us CJunuU our disuessesi 
 
 been borne by the Lacedemonian fortitude, 
 while they neither ploughed their land nor ex- 
 ercised any trades, but lived in their own city, 
 free from all such pains-taking, in the enjoy- 
 ment of plenty, and using such exercises as 
 might improve their bodies, while they made 
 use of other men as their servants for all the 
 necessaries of life, and had their food prepared 
 for thetn by the others: and these good and 
 humane actions they do for no other purpose 
 but this, that by their actions and their suffer- 
 ings they may be able to conquer all those 
 against whom they make war. I need not 
 add this, that they have not been fully able to 
 observe their laws; for not only a tew single 
 persons, but multitudes of them, have in 
 heaps neglected those laws, and have deli- 
 vered themselves, together with their arms, 
 into the hands of their enemies. 
 
 33. Now as for ourselves, Iventure to say, 
 that no one can tell of so many; nay, not of 
 more than one or two that have betrayed our 
 laws, no not out of fear of death itself; I do 
 not mean such an easy death as happens in 
 battles, but that which comes with bodily 
 torments, and seems to be the severest kind 
 of death of all others. Now I think, those that 
 have conquered us have put us to such deaths, 
 not out of their hatred to us when they had 
 subdued us, but rather out of their desire of 
 seeing a surprising sight, which is this, 
 whether there be such men in the world who 
 believe that no evil is to them so great as to be 
 compelled to do or to speak any thing contrary 
 to their own laws. Nor ought men to won- 
 der at us, if we are more courageous in dying 
 for our laws than all other men aro^ for other 
 men do not easily submit to the easier things 
 in which we are instituted ; I mean working 
 with our hands, and eating but little, and 
 being contented to eat and drink, not at 
 random, or at every one's pleasure, or being 
 under inviolable rules in lying with our wives, 
 in magnificent furniture, and again in the 
 observation of our times of rest; while those 
 that can use their swords in war, and can put 
 their enemies to flight when they attack them, 
 cannot bear to submit to such laws about their 
 way of living: whereas our being accustomed 
 willingly to submit to laws in these instances, 
 renders us fit to show our fortitude upon other 
 occasions also. 
 
 34. Yet do the Lysimachi and the Molones, 
 and some other writers (unskilful sophists as 
 they are, and the deceivers of young men) re- 
 proach us as the vilest of all mankind. Now I 
 have no mind to make an inquiry into the laws 
 of other nations ; for the custom of our country 
 is to keep our own laws, but not to accuse the 
 laws of others. And indeed, our legislator hath 
 expressly forbidden us to laugh at and revile 
 those that are esteemed gods by other people, J 
 on account of the very name of God ascribed 
 
 { See Antiq. b. iv. ch. viii. sect 10, »nd its Dota. 
 
820 
 
 FLAVIUS J()8fc:PHU« AGALNsT APON, 
 
 BOOK 11, 
 
 to them. But since our antagonists think to 
 run us down upon the comparison of their 
 religion and ours, it is not possible to keep 
 silence here, especially while what I shall say 
 to confute these men will not be now first 
 said, but hath been already said by many, and 
 these of the highest reputation also; for who 
 is there among those that have been admired 
 among the Greeks for wisdom, who hath 
 not greatly blamed both the most famous 
 poets and most celebrated legislators, for 
 spreading such notions originally among the 
 body of the people concerning the gods? such 
 as these, that they may be allowed to be as 
 numerous as they have a mind to have themj 
 that they are begotten one by another, and 
 that after all the kinds of generation you can 
 imagine. They also distinguish them in their 
 places and ways of living,^ as they would dis- 
 tinguish several sorts of animals; as some to 
 De under the earth ; some to be in the sea; and 
 the ancientest of them all to be bound in hell; 
 and for those to whom they have allotted 
 heaven, they have set over them one, who in 
 title is their father, but in his actions a tyrant 
 and a lord ; whence it came to pass that his wife, 
 ■ and brother, and (daughter, which daughter 
 he brought forth from his own head), made a 
 conspiracy against him to seize upon him and 
 confine him, as he had himself seized upon 
 and confined his own father before. 
 
 35. And justly have the wisest men thought 
 these notions deserved severe rebukes; they also 
 laugh at them for determining that we ought 
 to believe some of the gods to be beardless and 
 young, au^ others of them to be old, and to 
 have beards accordingly; that some are set to 
 trades; that one god is a smith, and another 
 goddess is a weaver; that one god is a war- 
 rior, and fights with men; that some of them 
 are harpers, or delight in archery; and be- 
 sides, that mutual seditions arise among them, 
 and that they quarrel about men, and this so 
 far, that they not only lay hands upon one 
 another, but that they are wounded by men, and 
 lament, and take on for such their afflictions ; 
 but what is the grossest of all in point of lasci- 
 viousness, are those unbounded lusts ascribed 
 to almost all of them, and their amours; which 
 how can it beotherthan a most absurd supposal, 
 especially when it reaches to the male gods, 
 and to the female goddesses also? More- 
 over, the chief of all their gods, and their 
 first father himself, overlooks those goddesses 
 whom be bath deluded and begotten with 
 child, and suffers them to be kept in prison, 
 or drowned in the sea. He is also so bound 
 up by fate, that he cannot save his own off- 
 spring; nor can be bear their deaths without 
 shedding of tears. — These are fine things in- 
 deed I as are the rest that follow. Adulteries 
 truly are so impudently looked on in heaven 
 by the gods^ that some of them have con- 
 fessed they envied those that were found in the 
 very act} aud wby should they not do so. 
 
 when the eldest of them, who is their kirg 
 also, bath not been able to restrain himself k 
 the violence of his lust, from lying with his 
 I wife, so long as they might get into their 
 I bed-chamber? isow, some of the gods are 
 j servants to men, and will sometimes be 
 I builders for a reward, and sometimes will be 
 shepherds; while others of them, like male- 
 factors, are bound in a prison of brass; and 
 what sober person is there who would not be 
 provoked at such stories, and rebuke those that 
 forged them, and condemn the great silliness 
 of those that admit them for true I x<»y, 
 others there are that have advanced a certaui 
 ' timorousness and fear, as also madness and 
 fraud, and any other of the vilest passions, into 
 the nature and form of g'ods, and have per- 
 suaded whole cities to otfer sacrifices to the 
 better sort of them; on which account they 
 have been absolutely forced to esteem some 
 gods as the givers of good things, and to call 
 others of them averters of evil. They also en- 
 , deavour to move them, as they would the vilest 
 I of men, by gifts and presents, as looking for 
 ' nothing else than to receive some great mischief 
 I from them, unless they pay them such wages. 
 I 36. Wherefore it deserves our inquiry what 
 ) should be the occasion of this unjust man- 
 i agement, and of these scandals about the 
 I Deity. And truly I suppose it to be derived 
 I from the imperfect knowledge the heathen le- 
 '. gislators had at first of the true nature of God; 
 f nor did they explain to the people even se 
 1 far as they did comprehend cf it: nor did 
 I they compose the other parts of their political 
 ( settlements according to it, but omitted it aa 
 I a thing of very little consequence, and gave 
 I leave both to the poets to introduce what gods 
 [ they pleased, and those subject to all sorts of 
 passions, and to the orators to procure poli- 
 tical decrees from the people for the admission 
 of such foreign gods as they thought proper. 
 The painters also, and statuaries of Greece, 
 had herein great power, as each of them could 
 contrive a shape [proper for a god}; the one 
 to be formed out of clay, and the other by 
 making a bare picture of sech a one ; but 
 those workmen that were principally admired, 
 had the use of ivory and of gold as the con- 
 stant materials for their new statues-, [vvnere- 
 by it comes to pass that some temples are 
 quite deserted, while others are in great esteent, 
 and adorned with a'il the rites of all kinds 
 of purification.] Besides this, the first gods, 
 who have long flourished in the Loi.ours 
 done them, are now grown old [while those 
 that flourished after them are come in their 
 room as a second rank, that I may s^peuk the 
 most honourably of them that 1 canj; ray, cer- 
 tain other gods there are who are newly intro- 
 duced, atul newly worsiiipped [as we, by way 
 of digression have said already, and yet have 
 left their places of worship desolate]; and fcr 
 their temples, some of them are already left 
 desolate, and others are built auew according 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 821 
 
 to the pleasure of men ; whereas they ought 
 to have preserved their opinion about God, 
 and that worship which is due to him, always 
 and immutably the same. 
 
 37. But now, this Apollonius Molo was 
 one of those foolish and proud men. How- 
 ever, nothing that I have said was unknown 
 to those that were real philosophers among 
 the Greeks, nor were they unacquainted with 
 those frigid pretences of allegories [which 
 had been alleged for such things] : on which 
 account they justly despised them, but have 
 still agreed with us as to the true and be- 
 coming notions of God; whence it was that 
 Plato would not have poUtical settlements 
 to admit of any one of the other poets, and 
 dismisses even Homer himself, with a garland 
 on his head, and with ointment poured upon 
 him, and this because he should not destroy 
 
 ', \the right notions of God with his fables. Nay, 
 [ jPlato principally imitated our legislator in this 
 point that he enjoined his citizens to have the 
 main regard to this precept, " That every one 
 of them should learn their laws accurately." 
 He also ordained, that they should not admit 
 of foreigners intermixing with their own peo- 
 ple at random ; and provided that the com- 
 monwealth should keep itself pure, and con- 
 sist of such only as persevered in their own 
 "laws. Apollonius Molo did no way consider 
 this, when he made it one branch of his accu- 
 sation against us, that we do not admit of 
 such as have different notions about God, 
 nor will we have fellowsliip with those that 
 choose to observe a way of living different 
 from ourselves ; yet is not this method pecu- 
 liar to us, but common to all other men ; not 
 among the ordinary Grecians only, but among 
 such of those Grecians as are of the greatest 
 reputation among them. Moreover, the 
 Lacedemonians continued in their way of 
 expelling foreigners, and would not, indeed, 
 give leave to their own people to travel 
 abroad, as suspecting that those two things 
 would introduce a dissolution of their own 
 laws : and perhaps there may be some reason 
 to blame the rigid severity of the Lacede- 
 monians, for they bestowed the privilege of 
 their city on no foreigners, nor would give 
 leave to them to stay among them : whereas 
 we, though we do not think fit to imitate 
 other institutions, yet do we willingly admit 
 of those that desire to partake of ours, which 
 I think I may reckon to be a plain indication 
 of our humanity, and at the same time of our 
 magnanimity also. 
 
 38. But I shall say no more of the Lace- 
 demonians. As for the Athenians, who glory 
 in having made their city to be common to all 
 men, what their behaviour was, Apollonius 
 did not know, while they punished those that 
 spoke contrary to their laws about the gods, 
 without mercy ; for on what other account 
 was it that Socrates was put to death by them ! 
 Certainly, he neither betrayed their city to its 
 
 enemies, nor was he guilty of sacrilege with 
 regard to their temples ; but on this account, 
 that he swore certain new oaths,* and that 
 he affirmed, either in earnest, or, as soma 
 say, only in jest, that a certain demon used 
 to make signs to him [what he should not 
 do]. For these reasons he was condemned 
 to drink poison, and kill himself. His accuse 
 also complained that he corrupted the young 
 men, by inducing them to despise the political 
 settlement and laws of their city : and thus 
 was Socrates, the citizen of Athens, punished. 
 There was also Anaxagoras, who although 
 he was of Clazomenae, was within a few suf- 
 frages of being condemned to die, because he 
 said the sun, which the Athenians thought to 
 be a god, was a ball of fire. They also made 
 this public proclamation, " That i'cey would 
 give a talent to any one who would kill Dia- 
 goras of Melos," because it was reported that 
 he laughed at their mysteries: Portagoras also, 
 who was thought to have written somewhat 
 that was not owned for truth by the Athe- 
 nians about the gods, had been seized upon, 
 and put to death, if he had not fled immedi- 
 ately. Nor need we wonder that they thus 
 treated such considerable men, when they 
 did not even spare women ; for they very 
 lately slew a certain priestess, because she 
 was accused by somebody that she initiated 
 people into the worship of strange gods, it 
 having been forbidden so to do by one of their 
 laws ; and a capital punishment had been de- 
 cieed to such as introduced a strange god; it 
 being manifest, that they who make use of 
 such a law, do not believe those of other na- 
 tions to be really gods, otherwise they had 
 not envied themselves the advantage of more 
 gods than they already had ; and this was the 
 happy administration of the affairs of the 
 Athenians! Now, as to the Scythians, they 
 take a pleasure in killing men, and differ lit- 
 tle from brute beasts ; yet do they think it 
 reasonable to have their institutions observed. 
 They also slew Anacharsis, a person greatly 
 admired for his wisdom among the Greeks, 
 when he returned to them, because he ap- 
 peared to come fraught with Grecian customs, 
 ^^e find many punished among the Persians, 
 on the same account. Apollonius was greatly 
 pleased with the laws of the Persians, and 
 was an admirer of them, because the Greeks 
 enjoyed the advantage of their courage, and 
 nad the very same opinion about the gods 
 which they had. This last was exemplified 
 in the temples they burnt, and their courage 
 in coming, and almost entirely enslaving the 
 Grecians. However, Apollonius has imi- 
 tated all the Persian institutions, and that 
 by his offering violence to other men's wives, 
 ■and castrating his own sons. Now, with 
 
 • See what those novel oaths were in Dr. Hudsoc's 
 note, viz. to swear by an oak, by a goat, and by a doe, as 
 aLso by a (janHer, as say Philostratns and others This 
 swearin!! strange oaths was also forbidden by the Tyr-ani, 
 b. i. sect 22, as Spanhcim here notes. 
 
622 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 UB, it is a capital crime, if any one does thus 
 abuse even a brute beast ; and as for us, nei- 
 ther hath the fear of our g^overnors, nor a de- 
 sire of following what other nations have in 
 80 great esteem, been able to withdraw us from 
 our laws ; nor have we exerted our courage 
 in raising up wars to increase our wealth, but 
 only for the observation of our laws; and 
 when we with patience bear other losses; yet 
 when any persons would compel us to break 
 our laws, then it is that we choose to go to 
 war, though it be beyond our ability to pur- 
 sue it, and bear the greatest calamities to the 
 last with much fortitude ; and indeed, what 
 reason can there be why we should desire 
 to imitate the laws of other nations, while 
 we see t|iey are not observed by their own 
 legislators? And why do not the Lacedemo- 
 nians think of abolishing that form of their 
 government which suffers them not to associ- 
 ate with any others, as well as their contempt 
 of matrimony? And why do not the Eleans 
 and Thebans abolish that unnatural and impu- 
 dent lust, which makes them lie with males? 
 For they will not show a sufficient sign of their 
 repentance of what they of old thought to be 
 very excellent, and very advantageous in their 
 practices, unless they entirely avoid all such 
 actions for the time to come : nay, such things 
 are inserted into the body of their laws, and 
 had once such a power among the Greeks, that 
 they ascribed these sodomitical practices to the 
 gods themselves, as part of their good charac- 
 ter ; and indeed it was according to the same 
 manner that the gods married their own sisters. 
 This the Greeks contrived as an apology for 
 their own absurd and unnatural pleasures. 
 
 39. I omit to speak concerning punish- 
 ments, and how many ways of escaping them 
 the greatest part of legislators have afforded 
 malefactors, by ordaining that, for adulteries, 
 fines in money should be allowed, and for 
 corrupting* [virgins] they need only marry 
 them;t as also what excuses they may have 
 in denying the facts, if any one should attempt 
 to inquire into them ; for amongst most other 
 nations it is a studied art how men may trans- 
 gress their laws ; but no such thing is permit- 
 ted amongst us; for though we be deprived 
 f our wealth, of our cities, or of other ad- 
 vantages we have, our law continues immor- 
 .,al ; nor can any Jew go so far from his own 
 country, nor be so affrighted at the severest 
 lord, as not to be more affrighted at the law 
 than at him. If, therefore, this be the dis- 
 
 • Why JoKpphus here should blame some heathen 
 1e(ri.<ilntors, when they allowed so easy a composition for 
 simple fornication, as an ohiiir.-ition to marry the virfjin 
 that was corrupted, is hard to say, seeing he had himself 
 tnily informed us, that it was a law of the Jews, Antiq. 
 h. iv. chap. Tiii. sect 2:J, as it is the law of Christianity 
 also; nee lioreh (ovenant, p. Hi I am almost ready to 
 inspect, that for yctfu^jf. we should her- read yafMnti 
 •nd that corniptitm wedlock, or other men's wives, is tie 
 cnme for which th.-se heathens wickedly allowed this 
 eompiisition in money. 
 
 ♦ Or "for corruptintr other men's wives, the same 
 allowance." 
 
 position we are under, with regard to the ex- 
 cellency of our laws, let our enemies make us 
 this concession, that our laws are most excel- 
 lent; and if still they imagine that though we 
 so firmly adhere to them, yet are they bad 
 laws notwithstanding, what penalties then do 
 they deserve to undergo who do not observe 
 their own laws, which they esteem superior? 
 Whereas, therefore, length of time is esteemed 
 to be the truest touchstone in all cases, I 
 would make that a testimonial of the excel- 
 lency of our laws, and of that belief thereby 
 delivered to us concerning God ; for as there 
 hath been a very long time for this compari- 
 son, if any one will but compare its duration 
 with the duration of the laws made by other 
 legislators, he will find our legislator to have 
 been the most ancient of them all. 
 
 40. We have already demonstrated that our 
 laws have been such as have always inspired 
 admication and imitation into all other men ; 
 nay, the earliest Grecian philosophers, though 
 in appearance they observed the laws of their 
 own countries, yet did they, in their actions 
 and their philosophic doctrines, follow our le- 
 gislator, and instructed men to live sparingly, 
 and to have friendly communication one with 
 another. Nay, farther, the multitude of man- 
 kind itself have had a great inclination of a 
 long time to follow our religious observances; 
 for there is not any city of the Grecians, nor 
 any of the barbarians, nor any nation whatso- 
 ever, whither our custom of resting on the se- 
 venth day hath not come, and by which our 
 fasts and lighting up lamps, and many of our 
 prohibitions as to our food, are not observed; 
 they also endeavour to imitate our mutual con- 
 cord with one another, and the charitable dis- 
 tribution of our goods, and our diligence in our 
 trades, and our fortitude in undergoing the dis- 
 tresses we are in, on account of our laws ; and, 
 what is here matter of the greatest admiration, 
 our law hath no bait of pleasure to allure men 
 to it, but it prevails by its own force ; and as 
 God himself pervades all the world, so hath 
 our law passed through all the world also.- 
 So that if any one will but reflect on his own 
 country and his own family, he will have rea- 
 son to give credit to what I say. It is there- 
 fore but just, either to condemn all mankind 
 of indulging a wicked disposition, when they 
 have been so desirous of imitating laws that 
 are to them foreign and evil in themselves, 
 rather than following laws of their own that 
 are of a better character, or else our accusers 
 must leave off their spite against us ; nor are 
 \Ve guilty of any envious behaviour towards 
 them, when we honour our own legislator, 
 and believe what he, by his prophetic autho- 
 rity, hath taught us concerning God ; for 
 though we should not be able ourselves to 
 understand the excellency of otir own laws, 
 yet would the great multitude of those that 
 desire to imitate them, justify us, in greatly 
 valuing ourselves upon them. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AGAINST APION. 
 
 823 
 
 41. But as for the [distinct] political laws 
 by wLich we are governed, I have delivered 
 them accurately in ray books of Antiquities ; 
 and have only mentioned them now, so far as 
 was necessary to ray present purpose, without 
 proposing to myself either to blame the laws 
 of other nations, or to make an encomium 
 upon our own, — but in order to convict those 
 ttat have written about us unjustly, and in 
 an impudent affectation of disguising the 
 truth : — and now I think I have sufficiently 
 completed what I proposed in writing these 
 books ; for whereas our accusers have pre- 
 tended that our nation are a people of very 
 late original, I have demonstrated that they 
 are exceeding ancient ; for I have produced 
 as witnesses thereto many ancient writers, 
 who have made mention of us in their books, 
 while they had said no such writer had so 
 done. Moreover, they had said that we were 
 sprung from the Egyptians, while I have 
 proved that we came from another country 
 into Egypt, while they had told lies of us, 
 as if we were expelled thence on account of 
 diseases on our bodies, it has appeared on the 
 contrary that we returned to our country by 
 our own choice, and with sound and strong 
 bodies. Those accusers reproached our legis- 
 lator as a vile fellow, whereas God in old time 
 bare witness to his virtuous conduct; and since 
 thattestimony ofGod, time itself hath been dis- 
 co vered to have borne witness to the same thing. 
 
 42. As to the laws themselves, more words 
 are unnecessary, for they are visible in their 
 own nature, and appear to teach not impiety, 
 but the truest piety in the world. They do 
 not make men hate one another, but encou- 
 rage people to communicate what they have 
 to one another freely ; they are enemies to 
 injustice, they take care of righteousness, they 
 bankh idleness and expensive living, and in- 
 
 struct men to be content with what they have, 
 and to be laborious in their callings; they 
 forbid men to make war from a desire of get< 
 ting more, but make men courageous in de- 
 fending the laws : they are inexorable in pu 
 nishing malefactors : they admit no sophistry 
 of words, but are always established by ac- 
 tions themselves, which actions we ever pro 
 pose as surer demonstrations than wha 
 contained in writing only ; on which accou. 
 I am so bold as to say that we are becon 
 the teachers of other men, in the greates 
 number of things, and those of the most ex- 
 cellent nature only ; for what is more excel- 
 lent than inviolable piety? what is more jusi 
 than submission to laws? and what is more 
 advantageous than mutual love and concord? 
 and this so far that we are to be neither divided 
 by calamities, nor to become injurious and 
 seditious in prosperity; but to contemn death 
 when we are in war, and in peace to applv 
 ourselves to our mechanical occupations, or 
 to our tillage of the ground ; while we in all 
 things and all ways are satisfied that God is 
 the inspector and governor of our actions. 
 If these precepts had either been written at 
 first, or more exactly kept by any others be- 
 fore us, we should have owed them thanks as 
 disciples owe to their masters ; but if it be 
 visible that we have made use of them more 
 than any other men, and if we have demon- 
 strated that the original invention of them is 
 our own, let the Apions, and the Molones, 
 with all the rest of those that delight in lies 
 and reproaches, stand confuted ; but let this 
 and the foregoing book be dedicated to thee, 
 Epaphroditus, vv^o art so great a lover of 
 truth, and by thy means to those that have 
 been in like manner desirous to be ac^^uainted 
 with the afiairg of our nation. 
 
EXTEACT 
 
 OUT OF 
 
 JOSEPHUS'S DISCOURSE TO THE GREEKS 
 
 CONCERNING 
 
 HADES. 
 
 € 1. Now as to Hades, wberein the souls of 
 tiie righteous and unrighteous are detained, 
 it is necessary to speak of it. Hades is a place 
 n the world not regularly finished ; a subter- 
 aneovs region wherein the light of this world 
 does not shine; from which circumstance, that 
 lU this region the light does not shine, it can- 
 not be but there must be in it perpetual dark- 
 less. This region is allotted as a place of 
 custody for souls, in vvhich.angels are appoint- 
 ed as guardians to them, who distribute to 
 them temporary punishments, agreeable to 
 every one's behaviour and manners. 
 
 2. In this region there is a certain place 
 set apart as a lake of unquenchable fire, 
 whereinto we suppose no one hath hitherto 
 been cast ; but it is prepared for a day afore- 
 determined by God, in which one righteous 
 sentence shall deservedly be passed upon all 
 men; when the unjust and those that have 
 been disobedient to God, and have given ho- 
 nour to such idols as have been the vain ope- 
 rations of the hands of men, as to God him- 
 self, shall be adjudged to this everlasting pu- 
 nishment, as having been the causes of defile- 
 ment; while the just shall obtain an incorrup- 
 tible and never-fading kingdom. These are 
 now indeed confined in Hades, but not in the 
 same place wherein the unjust are confined. 
 
 3. For there is one descent into this re- 
 gion, at whose gate we believe there stands an 
 archangel with an host; which gate when 
 those pass through that are conducted down 
 by the angels appointed over souls, they do 
 not go the same way; but the just are guided 
 .o toe right hand, and are led with hymns, 
 ■ung by the angels appointed over that place, 
 unto a region of light, in which the just have 
 iwelt from the beginning of the world ; net 
 
 constrained by necessity, but ever enjoying 
 the prospect of the good things they see, and 
 rejoice in the expectation of those new enjoy- 
 ments which will be peculiar to every one of 
 them, and esteeming those things beyond 
 what we have here ; with whom there is no 
 place of toil, no burning heat, no piercing 
 cold, nor are any briers there ; but the coun- 
 tenance of the fathers and of the just, which 
 they see, always smiles upon them, while they 
 wait for that rest and eternal new life in hea- 
 ven, which is to succeed this region. This 
 place we call The Bosom of Abraham. 
 
 4. But as to the unjust, they are dragged 
 by force to the left hand by the angels allotted 
 for punishment, no longer going with a good- 
 will, but as prisoners driven by violence ; to 
 whom are sent the angels appointed over 
 them to reproach them and threaten them 
 with their terrible looks, and to thrust them 
 still downwards. Now those angels that are 
 set over these souls, drag them into the neigh- 
 bourhood of hell itself; who, when they are 
 hard by it, continually hear the noise of it, 
 and do not stand clear of the hot vapour it- 
 self; but when they have a nearer view of this 
 spectacle, as of a terrible and exceeding great 
 prospect of fire, they are struck with a fear- 
 ful expectation of a future judgment, and in 
 effect punished thereby; and not only so, but 
 where they see the place [or choir] of the fa- 
 thers and of the just, even hereby are they 
 punished ; for a chaos deep and large is fixed 
 between them ; insomuch that a just man that 
 hath compassion upon them cannot be admit- 
 ted, nor can one that is unjust, if he were 
 bold enough to attempt it, pass over it. 
 
 6. This is the discourse concerning Hades, 
 wherein the souls of all men aire confined 
 
JOSEIHUS'S DISCOURSE CONCERNING HADES. 
 
 825 
 
 until a proper season, which God hath deter- 
 mined, when he will make a resurrection of 
 all men from the dead, not procuring a trans- 
 migration of souls from one body to another, 
 but raising again those very bodies, which you 
 Greeks, seeing to be dissolved, do not believe 
 [their resurrection] : but learn not to disbe- 
 lieve it; for while you believe that the soul is 
 created, and yet is made immortal by God, 
 according to the doctrine pf Plato, and this 
 in time, be not incrednlocs; but believe that 
 God is able, when he hath raised to life that 
 body which was made as a compound of the 
 same elements, to make it immortal; for it 
 must never be said of God that he is able to 
 do some things, and unable to do others. We 
 have therefore believed th t the body will be 
 raised again; for although it be dissolved, it 
 is not perished; for the earth receives its re- 
 mains, and preserves the ; and while they 
 are like seed, and are mixed among the more 
 fruitful soil, they flourish, and what is sown 
 is indeed sown bare grain; but at the mighty 
 sound of God the Creator, it will sprout up, 
 and be raised in a clothed and glorious condi- 
 tion, though not before it has been dissolved, 
 oi-d mixed [with the earth]. So that we have 
 not rashly believed the resurrection of the 
 body; for' although it be dissolved for a time 
 on account of the original transgression, it 
 exists still, and is cast into the earth as into a 
 potter's furnace, in order to be formed again, 
 not in order to rise again such as it was be- 
 fore, but in a state of purity, nd so as never 
 to be destroyed any more; and to every body 
 shall its own soul be restored ; and when it 
 hath clothed itself with that body, it will not 
 be subject to misery, but, being itself pure, 
 it will continue with its pure body, and re- 
 joice with it, with which it having walked 
 righteously now in this world, and never hav- 
 ing had it as a snare, it will receive it again 
 with great gladness: but as for the unjust, 
 they will receive their bodies not changed, not 
 fieed from diseases or distempers, nor made 
 glorious, but with the same diseases wherein 
 they died; and such as they ere in their un- 
 belief, the same shall they be when they shall 
 be faithfully judged. 
 
 6. For ail men, the just as well as the un- 
 m*t, shall be brought before God the word; 
 for to him hath the Father committed all 
 iudgment; and he, in order to fidjil the will 
 ■if his Father, shall come as judge, whom we 
 call Christ. For Minos and Rhadarnaiithus 
 ire not the juf'gi's. a- ;, on Greek.< do sup;-()>e. 
 bwt he whom God even the Fatk r hath glo- 
 'ified; concfrnisg whom we have else- 
 
 / VIIERE GIVEN A MOKE PARTICULAR ACCOUNT, 
 lOR THE SAKE OF THOSE '^^HO SEEK AFTER 
 
 TRUTH, This person, exercising the righte- 
 nis judgment of the Fathf t towards all men, 
 Wath prepart'il ;i jimt sentence for every one. 
 accolding to his works; at whose judo-rncnt- 
 «eat wbe:j all men. and angels, and demons 
 
 shall stand, they will send forth one voice, 
 and say, just is thy judgment; the rejoin- 
 der to which will bring a just sentence upon 
 both parties, by giving justly to those that 
 have done well an everlasting fruition ; but 
 allotting to the lovers of wicked works eternal 
 punishment. To these belong the unquench- 
 able fire, and that without end, and a certain 
 fiery worm never dying, and not destroying 
 the body, but continuing its eruption out o» 
 the body with never-ceasing grief; neither 
 will sleep give ease to these men, nor will the 
 night afford them comfort; death will not 
 free them from their punishment, nor will 
 the interceding prayers of their kindred pro- 
 fit them; for the just are no longer seen by 
 them, nor are they thought worthy of remem- 
 brance; but the just shall remember only 
 their righteous actions, whereby they have 
 attained the heavenly kingdom, in which there 
 is no sleep, no sorrow, no corruption, nc 
 care, no night, no day measured by time, no 
 sun driven in his course along the circle of 
 heaven by necessity, and measuring out the 
 bounds and conversions of the seasons, for 
 the better illumination of the life of men; no 
 moon decreasing and increasing, or introdu- 
 cing a variety of seasons, nor will she then 
 moisten the earth; no burning sun, no Bear 
 turning round [the pole], no Orion to rise, 
 no wandering of innumerable stars. The 
 earth will not then be difficult to be passed 
 over, nor will it be hard to find out the 
 court of Paradise, nor will there be any fear- 
 ful roaring of the sea, forbidding the passen- 
 gers to walk on it: even that will be made 
 easily passable to the just, though it will not 
 be void of moisture. Heaven will not then 
 be uninhabitable by men: and it will not be 
 impossible to discover the way of ascending 
 thither. The earth will not be unculti- 
 vated, nor require too much labour of men, 
 but will bring forth its fruits of its own ac- 
 cord, and will be well adorned with them. 
 There will be no more generations of wild 
 beasts, nor will the substance of the rest of 
 the animals shoot out any more; for it will 
 not produce men, but the number of the righte- 
 ous will continue, and never fail, together 
 with righteous angels, and spirits [of Gofi], 
 and with his word, as a choir of righteous 
 men and women that never grow old, and 
 continue in an incorruptible state, singing 
 hymns to God, who hath advanced them to 
 tiiHt h ippiness. by the means of a regular in- 
 stitution of life: with whom the whole crea- 
 tion also will lift up a perpetual hymn from 
 corruption to incorruption, as glorified by 8 
 splendid and pure spirit. It will not then be 
 restrained by a bond of necessity, but with a 
 lively freedom shall oiFer up a voluntary 
 hymn, and shall praise him that made them, 
 tofetjier with the anpels, and spirits, and 
 men wow freed from all Ixmdage. 
 
 7. And now, if you Gentiles will be per 
 
826 
 
 JOSEPHUS S DISCOURSE CONCERNING HADES. 
 
 iuaded by these motives, and leave your vain 
 imaginations about your pedigrees, and gain- 
 ing of ricbes and philosophy, and will not 
 spend your time about subtilties of words, 
 and thereby lead your minds into error, and 
 if you will apply your ears to the hearing of 
 the inspired prophets, the interpreters both 
 of God and of his word, and will believe in 
 God, you shall both be partakers of these 
 things, and obtain the good things that are 
 to come ; you shall see the ascent into the 
 immense heaven plainly, and that kingdom 
 which is there ; for what God hath now con- 
 cealed in silence [will be then made mani- 
 fest], what neither eye hath seen, nor ear hath 
 heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of 
 man, the things that God hath prepared for 
 them that love him. 
 
 8. In whatsoever ways I shall find you, in 
 them shall I judge you entirely; so cries the 
 END of all things. And he who hath at 
 first lived a virtuous life, but towards the lat- 
 ter end falls into vice, these labours by kim 
 
 before ei/dured, shall be altogether vain and 
 unprofitable, even as in a play, brought to at? 
 ill catastrophe. "Whosoever shall have livp,^ 
 wickedly and luxuriously may repent ; how- 
 ever, there will be need of much time to con- 
 quer an evil habit, and even after repentance 
 his whole life must be guarded with great care 
 and diligence, after the manner of a bod" 
 which, after it hath been a long time affiicted 
 with a distemper, requires a stricter diet and 
 method of living, for though it may be pos- 
 sible, perhaps, to break off the chain of our 
 irregular affections at once, — yet our amena- 
 ment cannot be secured without the grace of 
 God, the prayers of good men, the help of 
 the brethren, and our own sincere repentaiJCu 
 and constant care. It is a good thing not to 
 sin at all ; it is also good, having sinned, to 
 -repent, — as it is best to have health alwavs : 
 but it is a good thing to recover from a dis- 
 temper. To God be glory and domnion for 
 ever cmd ever. Amen, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 THE TESTIMONIES OF JOSEPHUS CONCERNING JESUS CHRIST, JOHN 
 THE BAPTIST, AND JAMES THE JUST, VINDICATED. 
 
 SiN'CE we meet mth several important testi- 
 monies in Joseph us, the Jewish historian, con- 
 cerning John the Baptist, the forerunner of 
 Jesus of Nazareth, concerning Jesus of Naza- 
 reth himself, and concerning James the Just 
 the brother of Jesus of Nazareth ; and since 
 the principal testimony, which is that con- 
 cerning Jesus of Nazareth himself, has of late 
 been greatly questioned by many, and rejected 
 by some of the learned as spurious, it will be 
 fit for me, who have ever declared my firm 
 belief that these testimonies were genuine, to 
 set down fairly some of the original evidence 
 and citations I have met with in the first fif- 
 teen centuries concerning them; and then to 
 make proper observations upon that evidence, 
 for the reader's more complete satisfaction. 
 
 But before I produce the citations them- 
 selves out of Josephus, give me leave to pre- 
 pare the reader's attention, by setting dcwn 
 the sentiments of perhaps the most learned 
 person, and the most competent judge, that 
 ever was, as to the authority of Josephus, I 
 mean of Joseph Scaliger, in the Prolegomena 
 to his book De Emendatione Temporum, p. 17. 
 "Josephus is the most diligent and the great- 
 est lover of truth of all writers; nor are we 
 afraid to affirm of him, that it is more safe to 
 believe him, not only as to the affairs of the 
 Jews, but also as to those that are foreign to 
 them, than all the Greek and Latin writers; 
 and this^ because his fidelity and his compass 
 of learning are everywhere conspicuous." 
 
 THE ANCIENT CITATIONS OF THE TESTIMO- 
 NIES OF JOSEPHUS, FROM HIS OWN TIME 
 TILL THE END OFTHE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 About A.D. 110. Tacit. Annal. lib. xv. cap. 
 44 — Nero in order to stifle the rumour [as 
 
 if he himself had set Rome on fire], ascribed 
 it to those people who were hated for their 
 wicked practices, and called by the vulgar 
 Christians: these he punished exquisitely. 
 TTie author of this name was Christ, who, in the 
 reign of Tiberius, was brought to punishment 
 by Pontius Pilate the procurator. 
 
 About A. D. 147. Just. Mart. Dialog, cum 
 
 Tnjph. p. 230 You [Jews] knew that 
 
 Jesus was risen from the dead, and ascended 
 into heaven, as the prophecies did foretell was 
 to happen. 
 
 About A. D. 230. Origen. Comment, in 
 Matth. p. 234 This James was of so shi- 
 ning a character among the people, on account 
 of his righteousness, that Flavius Josephus, 
 when, in his twentieth book of the Jewish 
 Anti^'iitJes, he bad a mind to set down what 
 was the cause why the pfonle suffered s*ich 
 miseries, till the very holy house was denio- 
 lished, he said, that these things betel them 
 by the anger of God, on account of what they 
 had dared to do to James, the brother of 
 Jesus, who was called Christ; and wonderful 
 it ij, that while he did not receive Jesus for 
 Christ, he did nevertheless bear witness that 
 James was so righteous a man. He says 
 farther, that the people thought they had suf* 
 fered these things for the sake of James. 
 
 About A. D. 250. Id. Contr. Cels. lib. i. p. 
 35, 36. — I would say to Celsus, who perso- 
 nates a Jew, that admitted of John the Bap- 
 tist, and how he baptized Jesus, that, one who 
 lived but a little while after John and Jesus, 
 wrote, how that John was a baptizer unto tHe 
 remission of sins; for Josephus testifies, in 
 the eighteenth book of his Jewish Xntiqui- 
 ties, that John was the Baptist; and that be 
 proniised purification to those that were bap. 
 tized. The same Josephus also.although he did 
 not bel'eve in Jesus as Christ, when he was 
 
828 
 
 lylSSERTA^TION I. 
 
 inquiring after the cause of the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, and of the demolition of the tem- 
 ple, and ought to have said that their machi- 
 nations against Jesus were the cause of those 
 miseries coming on the people, because they 
 had slain that Christ who was foretold by the 
 prophets, he, though as it were unwillingly, 
 and yet as one not remote from the truth, 
 says, " these miseries befel the Jews by way 
 of revenge for James the Just, who was the 
 brother of Jesus that was called Christ; 
 because they had slain him who was a most 
 righteous person." Now this James was he 
 wnom that genuine disciple of Jesus, Paul, 
 Baid he had seen as the Lord's brother [Gal. i. 
 19] ; which relation implies not so much 
 nearness of blood, or the sameness of educa- 
 tion, as it does the agreement of manners and 
 preaching. If therefore he says the desola- 
 tion of Jerusalem befel the Jews for the sake 
 of James, with how much greater reason 
 might he have said that it happened for the 
 sake of Jesus? &c. 
 
 About A.D. 324. Euseb. Demonstr. Evan. 
 lib. iii. p. 124. Certainly, the attestation of 
 those I have already produced concerning 
 our Saviour may be sufficient. However, it 
 may not be amiss, if, over and above, we 
 reake use of Josephus the Jew for a farther 
 witness; who, in the eighteenth book of his 
 Antiquities, when he was writing the history 
 of what happened under Pilate, makes men- 
 tion of our Saviour in these words: — "Now 
 there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, 
 if it be lawful to call hira a man ; for he was a 
 doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such 
 men as had a veneration for truth. He drew 
 over to him both many of the Jews and many 
 of the Gentiles: he was the Christ. And 
 when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal 
 men among us, had condemned him to the 
 cross, those that loved him at first did not for- 
 sake him; for he appeared unto them alive 
 again the third day, as the divine prophets had 
 spoken of these, and teft thousand other won- 
 derful things concerning him: whence the 
 tribe of Christians, so'named from him, are 
 not extinct at this day." If therefore we 
 have this historian's testimony, that he not 
 only brought over to himself the twelve apos- 
 tles, with the seventy disciples, but many of 
 the Jews and many of the Gentiles also, he 
 must manifestly have had somewhat in him 
 extraordinary, above the rest of mankind; 
 for how otherwise could he draw over so 
 many of the Jews and of the Gentiles, unless 
 he performed admirable and amazing works, 
 and used a method of teaching that was not 
 common? Moreover, the scripture of ths 
 Acts o/the Apostles (xxi. '20) bears witness, 
 that there were many ten thousands of Jews, 
 who were persuaded that he was the Christ 
 of God, who was foretold by the prophets. 
 
 About A.D. 330. Id. Hist. Eccles. lib. i. 
 cap. 11. Now the divine scripture of the 
 
 Gospels makes mention of John the Baptist 
 as having his head eut off by the younger 
 Herod. Josephus also concurs in this history, 
 and makes mention of Herodias by name, as the 
 wife of his brother, whom Herod had married, 
 upon divorcing his former lawful wife. She 
 was the daughter of Aretas, king of the Petrean 
 Arabians ; and which Herodias he had parted 
 from her husband while he was alive; on 
 which account also, when he had slain John, 
 he made war with Aretas [Aretas made war 
 with him], because his daughter had been 
 used dishonourably: in which war, when it 
 came to a battle, he says, that all Herod's 
 army was destroyed; and that he suffered 
 this because of his wicked contrivance against 
 John. Moreover, the same Josephus, by 
 acknowledging John to have been a most 
 righteous man, and the Baptist, conspires in 
 his testimony with what is written in the Gos- 
 pels. He also relates, that Herod lost his 
 kingdom for the sake of the same Herodias, 
 togetherwith whomhe was himself condemned 
 to be banished to Vienna, a city of Gaul ; and 
 this is his account in the eighteenth book of 
 the Antiquities, where he writes this of John 
 verbatim : — " Some of the Jews thought that 
 the destruction of Herod's army came from 
 God, and that very justly, as a punishment 
 for what he did against John that was called 
 the Baptist ,• for Herod slew him, who was a 
 good man, and one that commanded the 
 Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteous- 
 ness towards one another, and piety towards 
 God, and so to come to baptism, for that by 
 this means the washing [with water] would 
 appear acceptable to him, when they made 
 use of it, not in order to the putting away 
 [or the remissiop] of some sins [only], — but 
 for the . purification of the body, supposing 
 still that the soul was thoroughly purified 
 beforehand by righteousness. Now when 
 [many] others came in crowds about him, for 
 they were greatly delighted in hearing his 
 words, Herod was afraid that this so great power 
 of persuading men might tend to some sedi- 
 tion or other, for they seemed to be disposed 
 to do every thing he should advise them to, so 
 he supposed it better to prevent any attempt 
 for a mutation from him, by cutting him off, 
 than after any such mutation should be 
 brought about, and the public should suffer, 
 to repent [of such negligence]. Accordingly 
 he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspi- 
 cious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before 
 mentioned, and was there put to death." 
 — When Josephus had said this of <John, he 
 makes mention also of our Saviour in the same 
 history after this manner : — " Now there was 
 about this time one Jesus, a wise man, if it 
 be lawful to call him a man ; for he was a doer 
 of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as 
 receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over 
 to him both many of the Jews and many of 
 the Gentiles also :— he was the Christ. And 
 
DISSERTATION I. 
 
 829 
 
 when Pilate, at the suggestion of the princi- 
 pal men among us, had condemned him to 
 the cross, those that loved him at the first did 
 not forsake him; for he appeared to them 
 alive again the third day, as the divine pro- 
 phets had foretold these, arid ten thousand 
 other wonderful things concerning him ; and 
 still the tribe of Christians, so named from 
 him, are not extinct at this day." And sinct 
 this writer, sprung from the Hebrews them- 
 selves, hath delivered these things above in 
 his own work, concerning John the Baptist 
 and our Saviour, what room is there for any 
 farther evasion ? &c. 
 
 Now James was so wonderful a person, 
 and was so celebrated by all others for righ- 
 teousness, that the judicious Jews thought 
 this to have been the occasion of that siege of 
 Jerusalem, which came on presently after hi& 
 martyrdom; and that it befel them for no 
 other reason than that impious fact they were 
 guilty of against him. Josephus therefore 
 did not refuse to attest thereto in writing, by 
 the words following : — " These miseries befel 
 the Jews by way of revenge for James the 
 Just, who was the brother of Jesus that was 
 called Christ, on account that they had sladn 
 him who was a most righteous person." 
 
 The same Josephus declares the manner of 
 his death in the twentieth book of the Anti- 
 quities, in these words: — "Caesar sent Albi- 
 nus into Judea to be procurator, when he had 
 heard that Festus was dead. Now A nanus, 
 junior, who, as we said, had been admitted 
 to the high-priesthood, was in his temper bold 
 and daring in an extraordinary manner. He 
 was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who 
 are more savage in judgment than any of the 
 other Jews, as we have already signified. 
 Since therefore this was the character of 
 Ananus, he thought he had now a propei 
 opportunity [to exercise his authority], because 
 Festus was dead, and Albinus was but upon 
 the road ; so he assembles the sanhedrim ot 
 judges, and brings before them James, the 
 brother of Jesus who was called Christ, and 
 some others [of his companions] ; and when 
 he had formed an accusation against them, as 
 breakers of the law, he delivered them to be 
 stoned : but as for those who seemed the most 
 equitable of the citizens, and those who were 
 the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, 
 they disliked what was done. They also sent 
 to the king [Agrippa], desiring him to send 
 to Ananus that he should act so no more, for 
 that what he had already done could not be 
 justified," &c. 
 
 ^bout A. D. 360. Ambrose, or Hegesippus 
 de Exdd. Urb. Hierosolym. lib. ii. cap. 12. — 
 We have discovered that it was the opinion 
 and belief of the Jews, as Josephus affirms 
 (who is an author not to be rejected, when he 
 writes against himself), that Herod lost his 
 army, not by the deceit of men, but by the 
 anger of God, and that justly, as an effect of | 
 
 revenge '^r what be did to John the Baptist, 
 a just man, who had said to him, It is not 
 lawful for thee to have thy orothtr's wife. 
 
 The Jews themselves also bear witness to 
 Christ, as appears by Josephus, the writer ol 
 their history, who says thus: — "That there 
 was at that time a wise man, if (says he) it be 
 lawful to have him called a man, a doer of 
 wonderful works, who appeared to his disci- 
 ples after the third day from his death alive 
 again, according to the writings of the pro- 
 phets, who foretold these and innumerable 
 other miraculous evehts concerning him; from 
 whom began the congregation of Christians, 
 and hath penetrated among all sorts of men : 
 nor does there remain any nation in the 
 Roman world which continues strangers to 
 his religion." If the Jews do not believe us, 
 let them at least believe their own writers. 
 Josephus, whom they esteem a very great 
 man, hath said this, and yet hath he spoken 
 truth after such a manner; and so far was 
 his mind wandered from the right way, that 
 even he was not a beUever as to what he 
 himself said; but thus he spake, in order to 
 deliver historical truth, because he thought it 
 not lawful for him to deceive while yet he 
 was no believer, because of the hardness of 
 his heart and his perfidious intention. How- 
 ever, it was no prejudice to the truth that he 
 was not a believer; but this adds more weight 
 to his testimony, that while he was an unbe- 
 liever, and unwilling this should be true, he 
 has not denied it to be so. 
 
 About A. D. 400. Hieronym. de Vir. lllustr. 
 
 in Josepho Josephus in the eighteenth book 
 
 of Antiquities, most expressly acknowledges 
 that Christ was slain by the Pharisees, on 
 account of the greatness of his miracles; and 
 that John the Baptist was truly a prophet; 
 and that Jerusalem was demolished on account 
 of the slaughter of James the apostle. Now, 
 he wrote concerning our Lord after this man- 
 ner: — " At the same time there was Jesus, 
 a wise man, if yet it be lawful to call him 
 a man; for he was a doer of wonderful 
 works, a teacher of those who willingly 
 receive the truth. He had many followers, 
 both of th'i Jews and of the Gentiles: — he 
 was believed to be Christ. And when by the 
 envy of our principal men, Pilate had con- 
 demned him to the cross^ yet notwithstanding, 
 those who had loved him at first persevered, 
 for he appeared to them alive on the third 
 day, as the oracles of the prophets had fore- 
 told many of these and other wonderful things 
 concerning him: and the sect of Christians, 
 so named from him, are not extinct at this 
 day." 
 
 About A. D. 410. Isidorus Pelusiota, the 
 
 Scholar of Chry^ostom, lib. iv. epist. ±15 
 
 There was one Josephus, a Jew of the great- 
 est reputation, and one that was zealous of 
 the law; one also that paraphrased the Old 
 Testament with truth, and acted valiantly for 
 
830 
 
 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 the Jews, and had showed that their settle- 
 ment was nobler than can be described by 
 words. Now since he made their interest 
 give place to truth, for he would not support 
 the opinion of impious men, I think it neces- 
 sary to set down his words. What then 
 does he say? "Now there was about that 
 time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call 
 him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful 
 works, a teacher of such men as receive the 
 truth with pleasure. He drew over to him 
 both many of the Jews and many of the Gen- 
 tiles: — he was the Christ. And when Pilate, 
 at the suggestion of the principal men among 
 us, had condemned him to the cross, those 
 that loved him at first did not forsake him; 
 for he appeared to them the third day alive 
 again, as the divine prophets had said these, 
 and a vast number of other wonderful things 
 concerning him: and the tribe of Christians, 
 so named from him, are not extinct at this 
 day." Now 1 cannot but wonder greatly at 
 this great man's love of truth in many 
 respects, but chiefly where he says, "Jesus 
 was a teacher of men who received the truth 
 with pleasure." 
 
 About A. D. 440. Sozomen. Hist. Eccles. 
 lib. i. cap. 1. — Now Josephus, the son of 
 Matthias, a priest, a man of very great note, 
 both among the Jews and the Romans, may 
 well be a witness of credit as to the truth 
 of Christ's history; for he scruples to call 
 him a man, as being a doer of wonderful 
 works, and a teacher of the words of truth. 
 He names him Christ openly; and is not 
 ignorant that he was condemned to the cross, 
 and appeared on the third day alive, and 
 that ten thousand other wonderful things 
 W^ere foretold of him by the divine prophets. 
 He testifies also, that those whom he drew 
 over to him, being many of the Gentiles, as 
 well as of the Jews, continued to love him; 
 and that the tribe named from him was not 
 then extinct. Now he seems to me by this 
 his relation, almost to proclaim that Christ is 
 God. However, he appears to have been so 
 affected with the strangeness of the thing, as 
 to run, as it were, in a sort of middle way, 
 so as not to put any indignity upon believers 
 in him, but rather to afford his suffrage to 
 them. 
 
 About A. D. 510. Cassiodorus Hist. Tri- 
 partit. e Sozomeno. — Now Josephus, the son 
 of Matthias, and a priest, a man of great 
 nobility among the Jews, and of great dignity 
 among the Romans, shall be a truth of Christ's 
 history: for he dares not call him a man, 
 as a doer of famous works, and a teacher 
 of true doctrines: be names him Christ 
 openly; and is not ignorant that he was con- 
 demned to the crohs, and appeared on the 
 third day alive, and that an infinite nu(nber 
 of other wonderful things were foretohl of 
 bim by the holy prophets. Moreover, he 
 testifieii also, that there were then alive 
 
 many whom he had chosen, both Greeks 
 and Jews, and that they continued to love 
 him; and that the sect which was named 
 from him was by no means extinct at that 
 time. 
 
 About A. D. 640. Chron. Alex. p. 514 — 
 Now Josephus also relates in his eighteenth 
 book of Antiquities, how John the Baptist, 
 that holy man, was beheaded, on account ol 
 Herodias, the wife, of Philip, the brother ol 
 Herod himself; for Herod had divorced his 
 former wife, who was still alive, and had been 
 his lawful wife: she was the daughter of 
 Aretas, king of the Petreans. When there- 
 fore Herod had taken Herodias away from 
 her husband, while he was yet alive (on whose 
 account he slew John also), Aretas made war 
 against Herod, because his daughter had 
 been dishonourably treated. In which war, 
 he says, that all Herod's army was destroyed, 
 and that he suffered that calamity because 
 of the wickedness he had been guilty of 
 against John. The same Josephus relates, 
 that Herod lost his kingdom on account of 
 Herodias, and that with her he was banished 
 to Lyons, &c. 
 
 P. 526, 527.] Now that our Saviour 
 taught his preaching three years, is demon- 
 strated both by other necessary reasonings, as 
 also out of the holy Gospels, and out of 
 Josephus's writings, who was a wise man 
 among the Hebrews, &c. 
 
 P. 584, 586.] Josephus relates, in the 
 fifth book of the [Jewish] war, that Jerusa- 
 lem was taken in the third [second] year o' 
 Vespasian, as after forty years since they had 
 dared to put Jesus to death: in which time 
 he says, that James, the brother of our Lord, 
 and bishop of Jerusalem, was. thrown down 
 [from the temple] and slain of them, by 
 stoning. 
 
 About A. D. 740. Anastasius Abbas contr. 
 Jud. — Now Josephus, an author and writer 
 of your own, says of Christ, that he was a 
 just and good man, showed and declared so 
 to be by divine grace, who gave aid to many 
 by signs and miracles. 
 
 About A. D. 790. Georgiua Syncellut 
 Chron. p. 339. — These miseries befel the 
 Jews by way of revenge for James the Just, 
 who was the brother of Jesus that was called 
 Christ, on the account that they had slain 
 him who was a most righteous person. Now 
 I as Ananus, a person of that character, thought 
 he had a proper opportunity, because Festus 
 was dead, and Albinus was but upon the 
 road, so he assembles the sanhedrim of judges 
 and brings before them James, the brother of 
 Jesus, who was called Christ, and some of 
 bis companions; and when he had forujed 
 an accusation against them, as breakers of 
 the law, he delivered them to be stoned; hut 
 as for those that seemed the most equitable 
 of the citizens, and those that were the most 
 i uneasy at the breach of the laws, tbev disliked 
 
DISSERTATION I. 
 
 831 
 
 what was done. They also sent to the 
 king [Agrippa] desiring him to send to Ana- 
 nus that he should act so no more, for that 
 what he had aheady done could not be justi- 
 fied, &c. 
 
 About A. D. 850. Johan Malela Chron. 
 lib. X — From that time began the destruction 
 of the Jews, as Josephus, the philosopher of 
 the Jews, hath written; who also said this, 
 That from the time the Jews crucified Christ, 
 who was a good and a righteous man (that 
 is, if it be fit to call such a one a man, and 
 not God), the land of Judea was never free 
 from trouble. These things the same Jose- 
 phus the Jew has related in his writings. 
 
 About A. D. 860. Photius Cod. Ub. xlviii. 
 — I have read the treatise of Josephus About 
 the Universe, whose title I have elsewhere read 
 to be. Of the Substance of the Universe. It is 
 contained in two very small treatises. He 
 treats of the origin of the world in a brief 
 manner. However, he speaks of the divinity 
 of Christ, who is our true God, in a way very 
 like to what we use, declaring chat the same 
 name of Christ belongs to him, and writes of 
 his ineffable generation of the Father after 
 such a manner as cannot be blamed ; which 
 thing may perhaps raise a doubt in some, whe- 
 ther Josephus was the author of the work, 
 though the phraseology does riot at all differ 
 from this man's other works. However, I 
 have found in some papers, that this discourse 
 was not written by Josephus, but by one Caius, 
 a presbyter. 
 
 Cod. ccxxxviii.] Herod, the tetrarch of 
 Gahlee and of Perea, the son of Herod the 
 Great, fell in love, as Josephus says, with the 
 wife of his brother Philip, vi^Jiose name was 
 Herodias, who was the grand-daughter of He- 
 rod the Great, by his son Aristobulus, whom 
 he had slain. Agrippa was also her brother. 
 Now Herod took her away from her husband, 
 and married her. This is he that slew John 
 the Baptist, that great man, the forerunner 
 [of Christ], being afraid (as Josephus says) 
 lest he should raise a sedition among his peo- 
 ple ; for they all followed" the directions of 
 John, on account of the excellency of his 
 virtue. In his time was the passion of our 
 Saviour. ^ 
 
 Cod. xxxiii.] I have read the Chronicle of 
 Justus of Tiberias. He omits the greatest 
 part of what was most necessary to be related; 
 but, as infected with Jewish prejudices, being 
 also himself a Jew by birth, he makes no 
 mention at all of the advent, oi of the acts 
 done, or of the miracles wrought, by Christ. 
 
 The time uncertain. Macarius tnActis Sane- 
 torarti, tom. v. p. 149, ap. Fabric. Joseph, p. 
 
 61 Josephus, a priest of Jerusalem, and one 
 
 that wrote with truth the history of the Jewish 
 affairs, bears witness that Christ, the true God, 
 was incarnate, and crucitied, and the third 
 day rose agam ; whose writings are reposited 
 
 tiie public library. Tnus he says: — "Now 
 
 there was about this time Jesus, a wise man; 
 if it be lawful to call him a man ; for he was 
 a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such 
 men as receive the truth with pleasure. He 
 drew over to him both many of the Jews and 
 many of the Gentiles also ; this was the Christ. 
 And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the 
 principal men among us, had condemned him 
 to the cross, those that loved him at the first, 
 did not forsake him; for he appeared to them 
 alive again on the third day, as the divine 
 prophets had foretold these and ten thousand 
 other wonderful things concerning him :' and 
 still the tribe of Christians, so named from 
 him, are not extinct at this day." Since, 
 therefore, the writer of the Hebrews has en- 
 graven" this testimony concerning our Lord 
 and Saviour in his own books, what defence 
 can there remain for the unbelievers? 
 
 About A. D. 980. Suidas in voce 'u<r9v{^- 
 "We have found Josephus, who hath written 
 aboutthe taking of Jerusalem (of whom Eu- 
 sebius Pamphilii makes frequent mention in 
 his Ecclesiastical History), saying openly in 
 his Memoirs of the Captivity, that Jesus offi- 
 ciated in the temple with the priests. Thus 
 have we found Josephus saying, a man of 
 ancient times, and not very long after the 
 apostles, &c. 
 
 About A. D. 1060. Cedrenus Compend. 
 Histor. p. 196. — Josephus does indeed write 
 concerning John the Baptist as follows:—. 
 Some of the Jews thought that the destruc- 
 tion of Herod's army came from God, and that 
 he was punished very justly for' what punish- 
 ment he had inflicted on John, that was called 
 the Baptist; for Herod slew him, who was a 
 good man, and commanded the Jews to ex- 
 ercise virtue, both by righteousness towards 
 one another, and piety towards God, and so 
 to come to baptism. But as concerning Christ, 
 the same Josephus says, that about that time 
 there was Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful 
 to call him a man ; for he was a doer of won- 
 derful works, and a teacher of such men as 
 receive the truth with pleasure: for that Christ 
 drew over many even from the Gentiles, 
 whom, when Pilate had crucified, those who 
 at first had loved him did not leave off to 
 preach concerning him; for he appeared to 
 them tlje third day alive again, as the divine 
 prophets had testified, and spoke these and 
 other wonderful things concerning him. 
 
 About A. D. 1080. Theophylact. in Joan. 
 lib. xiii. — The city of the Jews was taken, 
 and the wrath of God was kindled against 
 them; as also Josephus witnesses, that this 
 came upon them on account of the death of 
 Jesus. 
 
 About A. D. 1120. Zonaras Annal. tom. i. 
 p. 267. — Josephus, in the eighteenth book of 
 Antiquities, writes thus concerning our Lord 
 and God Jesus Christ: Now there was about 
 this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful 
 to call him a man; for he was a doer of 
 
832 
 
 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 wonderful works, a teacher of such men as 
 receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over 
 to him many of the Jews, and many of the 
 
 Gentiles: he was the Christ. And when 
 
 Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men 
 among us, had condemned him to the cross, 
 those that loved him at first did not forsake 
 him ; for he appeared to them the third day 
 alive again, as the divine prophets had said 
 these and ten thousand other wonderful things 
 concerning him : and the tribe of Christians, so 
 named from him, are not extinct at this day. 
 
 About A.D.I 120. Glycus Annal. p. 234. 
 —Then did Philo, that wise man, and Jose- 
 phus, flourish. This last was styled The 
 Lover of Truth, because he commended 
 John, who baptized our Lord; and because 
 be bore witness that Christ, in like manner, 
 was a wise man, and the doer of great mira- 
 cles; and that, when he was crucified, he 
 Appeared the third day. 
 
 About A. D. 1170. Gotfridus Viterbiensis 
 Chron. p. 366, e Vers. Rufini. — Josephus 
 relates that a very great war arose between 
 Aretas, king of the Arabians, and Herod, on 
 account of the sin which Herod had committed 
 against John. Moreover, the same Josephus 
 writes thus concerning Christ: There was 
 at this time Jesus, a wise man, if at least it 
 be lawful to call him a man; for he was a 
 doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such 
 men as willingly hear truth. He also drew 
 over to him many of the Jews and many of 
 the Gentiles: — he was Christ. And when 
 Pilate, at the accusation of the principal men 
 of our nation, had decreed that he should be 
 crucified, those that had loved him from the 
 beginning did not forsake him; for he appeared 
 to them the third day alive again, according 
 to what the divinely inspired prophets had 
 foretold, that these and innumerable other 
 miracles should come to pass about him. 
 Moreover, both the name and sect of Chris- 
 tians, who were named from him, continue in 
 being unto this day. 
 
 About A. D. 1360. Nicephorus Callistus 
 Hist. Eccles. lib. i. p. 90, 91. — Now this 
 [concerning Herod the tetrarch] is attested 
 to, not only by the book of the holy Gospels, 
 but by Josephus, that lover of truth; who 
 also makes mention of Herodias his brother's 
 wife, whom Herod had taken away from him 
 while he was alive, and married her; having 
 divorced his former lawful wife, who was the 
 daughter of Aretas, king of the Petrean 
 Arabians. This Herodias he had married, 
 ftnd lived with her: on which account also, 
 when he had slain John, he made war with 
 Aretas, because his daughter had been dis- 
 honourably used; in which war he relates 
 that all Herod's army was destroyed, and that 
 ae Buflfered this on account of the most unjust 
 slaughter of John. He al?o adds, that John 
 was a most righteous man. Moreover, he makes 
 aention of hia baptism, agreeing 'n all points 
 
 thereto relating with the Gospel. He also 
 mforms us, that Herod lost his kingdom on 
 account of Herodias, with whom also he was 
 condemned to be banished to Vienna, which 
 was their place of exile, and a city bordering 
 upon Gaul, and lying near the utmost bounds 
 of the west. 
 
 About A. D. 1450. Hardmannus Schede- 
 lius Chron. p. 110. — Josephus the Jew, who 
 was called Flavins, a priest, and the son of 
 Matthias, a priest of that nation, a most cele- 
 brated historian, and very skilful in many 
 things: he was certainly a good man, and of 
 an excellent character, who had the highest 
 opinion of Christ. 
 
 About A. D. 1480. Platina de Yitis Ponti- 
 Jicum, in Christo. — I shall avoid mentioning 
 what Christ did until the 30th year of his 
 age, when he was baptized by John, the son of 
 Zacharias, because not only the Gospels and 
 Epistles are full of those acts of his, which 
 he did in the most excellent and most holy 
 manner, but the books of such as were quite 
 remote from his way of living, and acting, 
 and ordaining, are also full of the same. 
 Flavius Josephus himself, who wrote twenty 
 books of Jewish Antiquities in the Greek 
 tongue, when he had proceeded as far as the 
 government of the emperor Tiberius, says, 
 There was in those days Jesus, a certain wise 
 man, if at least it be lawful to call him a man ; 
 for he was a doer of wonderful works, and a 
 teacher of men, of such especially as willingly 
 hear the truth. On this account he drew 
 over to him many, both of the Jews and 
 Gentiles: — he was Christ. But when Pilate, 
 instigated by the principal men of our nation, 
 had decreed th|it he should be crucified, yet 
 did not those that had loved him from the 
 beginning forsake him; and besides, he 
 appeared to them the third day after his 
 death alive, as the divinely inspired prophets 
 had foretold, that these and innumerable 
 other miracles should come to pass about 
 him: and the famous name of Christians, 
 taken from him, as well as their sect, do still 
 continue in being. 
 
 The same Josephus also affirms. That John 
 the Baptist, a true prophet, and on that 
 account one that was had in esteem by all 
 men, was slain by Herod, the son of Herod 
 ' the Great, a little before the death of Christ, 
 ■ in the castle of Macherus, — not because he 
 'was afraid for himself and his kingdom, as the 
 same author says, — but because he had inces- 
 tuously married Herodias, the sister of 
 Agrippa, and the wife of that excellent per- 
 son his brother Philip. 
 
 About A. D. 1480. Trithemius Abbas de 
 Scriptor. Eccles. — Josephus the Jew, although 
 he continued to be a Jew, did frequently 
 commend the Christians; and in the eigh- 
 teenth book of his Antiquities, wrote down 
 an eminent testimony concerning our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
DISSERTATION I. 
 
 833 
 
 OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FOREGOING 
 E\^DE^'CE AND CITATIONS. 
 
 I. The style of all these original testi- 
 monies belonging to Josephus is exactly the 
 style of the same Josephus, and especially the 
 style about those parts of his Antiquities 
 wherein we find these testimonies. This is 
 denied by nobody as to the other concerning 
 John the Baptist and James the Just, and is 
 now becoming equally undeniable as to that 
 concerning Christ. 
 
 II. These testimonies therefore being con- 
 fessedly and undeniably written by Josephus 
 himself, it is next to impossible that he should 
 wholly omit some testimony concerning Jesus 
 Christ; nay, while his testimonies of John the 
 Baptist and of James the Just are so honour- 
 able, and gave them so great characters, it is 
 also impossible that this testimony concerning 
 Christ should be other than very honourable, 
 or such as afforded him a still greater char- 
 acter also. Could the very same author, who 
 gave such a full and advantageous character 
 of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus 
 of Nazareth, all whose disciples were by him 
 directed to Jesus of Nazareth as to the trne 
 Messias, and all whose disciples became after- 
 wards the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, say 
 nothing honourable of that Jesus of Nazareth 
 himself? — and this in a history of those very 
 times in which he was born, and lived, and 
 ilied, and that while the writer lived but a 
 little after him in the same country in which be 
 was born, and lived, and died. This is almost 
 incredible. And further, could the very same 
 author, who gave such an advantageous char- 
 acter of James the Just, and this under the 
 very appellation of James the brother of Jesus, 
 loho was called Christ, which James was one of 
 the principal disciples or apostles of this Jesus 
 Christ, and had been many years the only 
 Christian bishop of the believing Jews of Ju- 
 dea and Jerusalem, in the very days and in 
 the very country of this writer;— could he, I 
 say, wholly omit any, nay, a very honourable 
 account of Jesus Christ himself, whose disciple 
 and bishop this James most certainly was? 
 This is also almost incredible. Hear what 
 Ittigius, one of the wisest and learnedst of all 
 those who have lately inclined to give up the 
 testimony concerning Christ, as it stands in 
 our copies, for spurious, says upon this occa- 
 sion : — " If any one object to me, that Jose- 
 phus hath not omitted John the Baptist, the 
 forerunner of Christ, nor James the disciple 
 of Christ, and that therefore he could not 
 nave done the part of a good historian, if he 
 had been entirely silent concerning Christ, I 
 shall freely grant that Josephus was not en- 
 tirely silent concerning Christ; nay, I shall 
 further grant, that when Josephus was speak- 
 ing of Christ,- he did not abstain from his 
 comiuendHtion: for we are not to determine 
 
 from that inveterate hatred which the modern 
 Jews bear to Christ, what was the behaviour 
 of 'those Jews, upon whom the miracles that 
 were daily wrought by the apostles in the 
 name of Christ imprinted a sacred horror." 
 
 III. The famous clause in this testimony 
 of Josephus concerning Christ, This was Christ, 
 or the Christ, does not mean that this Jesus was 
 the Christ of God, or the true Messiah of the 
 Jews; but that this Jesus was distinguished 
 from all others of that name, of which there 
 were not a few, as mentioned by Josephus 
 himself, by the addition of the other name of 
 Christ; or that this person was no other than 
 he whom all the world knew by the name of 
 Jesus Christ, and his followers by the name of 
 Christians. This I esteem to be a clear case, 
 and that from the arguments following: — 
 
 (1.) The Greeks and Romans, for whose 
 use Josephus wrote his Antiquities, could no 
 otherwise understand these words. The Jews 
 indeed, and afterwards the Christians, who 
 knew that a great Messias, a person that was 
 to be Christ, the anointed of God, and that 
 was to perform the office of a King, a Priest, 
 and a Prophet, to God's people, might readily 
 so understand this expression; but Josephus, 
 as I have already noted, wrote here not to 
 Jews or Christians, but to Greeks and Ro- 
 mans, who knew nothing of this: but knew 
 very well that an eminent person, living in 
 Judea, whose name was Jesus Chrest, or Jeszis 
 Christ, had founded a new and numerous sect, 
 which took the latter of these names, and 
 were everywhere, from him, called Chrestians, 
 or Christians; in which sense alone., they 
 conld understand these words of Josephus, 
 and in which sense I believe he desired they 
 should understand them; nor does Josephus 
 ever use the Hebrew term Messiah in any of 
 of bis writings, nor the Greek term Christ in 
 any such acceptation elsewhere. 
 
 (2.) Josephus himself as good as explains 
 his own meaning, and that by the last clause 
 of this very passage, where he says the Chris- 
 tians were named from this Christ, without a 
 syllable as though he really meant he was 
 the true Messiah, or Christ of God. He far- 
 ther seems to me to explain this his meaning 
 in that other place, where alone he elsewhere 
 mentions this name of Christ; that is, when 
 upon occasion of the mention of James, when 
 he was condemned by Ananus, he calls him 
 the Brother of Jesus, not that was the tnie 
 Messiah, or the true Christ, but only that waa 
 called Christ. 
 
 (3.) It was (\m^ beside the purpose of 
 Josephus to declare himself here to be a Chris- 
 tian, or a believer in Jesus as the true Mes- 
 siah. Had he intended so to do, he would 
 surely have explained the meaning of the word 
 Christ to his Greek and Roman readers; he 
 would surely have been a great deal fuller 
 ft'jid larger i:i his accounts of Christ, and ol 
 8Q 
 
&34 
 
 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 the Christian religion; nor would such a de- 
 clarat'^on at that time have recommended him, 
 or bis nation, or his writings, to either the 
 Greeks or the Romans; of his reputation with 
 both which people he is known to have been, 
 m tbe writing of these Antiquities, very greatly 
 solicitous. 
 
 (4.) Josephus's usual way of writing is 
 historical and declarative of facts, and of the 
 opinions of others, and but rarely such as di- 
 rectly informs us of his own opinion, unless 
 we prudently gather it from what he says his- 
 torically, or as the opinions of others. This 
 is very observable in the writings of Joseph us, 
 and in particular as to what he says of John 
 the Baptist and of James the Just; so that 
 this interpretation is most probable, as most 
 agreeable to Josephus's way of writing in 
 parallel cases. 
 
 (5.) This seems to be the universal sense 
 of all the ancients, without "exception, who 
 cite this testimony from him; and though they 
 almost everywhere own this to be the true 
 reading, yet do they everywhere suppose Jo- 
 sephus to be still an unbelieving Jew, and not 
 a believing Christian; nay, Jerome appears 
 so well assured of this interpretation, and that 
 Josephus did not mean to declare any more 
 by these words, than a common opinion, that, 
 according to -his usual way of interpreting 
 authors, not to the words but to tbe sense (of 
 which we have, I think, two more instances in 
 Lis accounts out of Josephus now before us), 
 be rendersthis clause, Crerfe6a<Mr esse Christus, 
 i.e. He was believed to be Christ. Nor is the 
 paraHel expression of Pilate to be otherwise 
 understood, when he made that inscription up- 
 on the cross, Thisis Jesus, the King of the Jews 
 (Matt, xxvii. 37); which is well explained 
 by himself elsewhere, and corresponds to the 
 import of the present clause, What shall I do 
 with Jesus, who is called Christ (Matt, xxvii. 
 17, 22)? And we may full as well prove 
 from Pilate's inscription upon the cross, that 
 he hereby declared himself a believer in Christ, 
 for the real King of the Jews, as we can from 
 these words of Josephus, that he thereby de- 
 clared himself to be a real believer in him, as 
 the true Mes^ah. 
 
 IV. Though Josephus did not design here 
 to declare himself openly to be a Christian, 
 yet could he not possibiy believe all that he 
 here asserts concerning Jesus Christ, unless 
 be were so far a Christian as the Jewish Na- 
 zarenes or Ebionites then were, who believed 
 Jesus of Nazareth to be the true Messiah, 
 without believing be was more than a man; 
 who also believed the necessity of the obser- 
 vation of tbe ceremonial law of Moses in or- 
 der to salration for all mankind, which were 
 the two main articles of those Jewish Chris- 
 tians' faith, though in opposition to all the 
 thirteen apostles of Jesus Christ in the tirst 
 century, and in 0[)position to the whole 
 1/atbuiic Church of Christ in the following 
 
 centuries also. Accordingly, I have elsewhere 
 proved, that Josephus was no other in his 
 own mind and conscience than a Nazarene or 
 Ebionite Jewish Christian; and have observ- 
 ed, that this entire testimony, and all that Jo- 
 sephus says of John the Baptist and of James, 
 as well as his absolute silence about all tbe 
 rest of the apostles and their companions, ex- 
 actly agree to him under that character and 
 no other; and indeed to me it is most aston- 
 ishing, that all our learned men, who have of 
 late considered these testimonies of Josephus, 
 except the converted Jew Galatinus, should 
 miss such an obvious and natural observation. 
 We all know this from St. James's own words 
 (Acts xxi. 20), that so many ten thousands of 
 Jews as believed in Christ, in the first century, 
 were all zealous of the ceremonial law, or were no 
 other than Nazarene or Ebionite Christians; 
 and, by consequence, if there were any reason 
 to think our Josephus to be in any sense a 
 believer or a Christian,. as from all these tes- 
 timonies there were very great ones, all those, 
 and many other reasons, could not but con- 
 spire to assure us, he was no other than a 
 Nazarene or Ebionite Christian; and this I 
 take to be the plain and evident key of this 
 whole matter. 
 
 V. Since therefore Josephus appears to 
 have been, in his own heart and conscience, 
 no other than a Nazarene or Ebionite Chris- 
 tian, and, by consequence, with them rejected 
 all our Greek Gospels and Greek Books of 
 the New Testament, and received only the 
 Hebrew Gospels of the Nazarenes or Ebio- 
 nites, styled by them, the Gospel according to 
 the Hebrews, or according to the Twelve Apos- 
 tics, or even according to Matthew, we ought 
 always to have that Nazarene or Ebionite 
 Gospel, with the other Nazarene or Ebionite 
 fragments, in view, when we consider any 
 passage of Josephus relating to Christ or 
 to Christianity. Thus, since that Gospel 
 omitted all that is in the beginning of our St. 
 Matthew's and St. Luke's Gospels, and be- 
 gan with the ministry of John the Baptist; 
 in which first parts of the Gospel History are 
 the accounts of the slaughter of the infants, 
 and of the enrolment or taxation under 
 Augustus Cijesar and Herod, it is no great 
 wonder that Josephus has not taken care parti- 
 cularly and clearly to preserve those histories 
 to us. Thus when we find that Josephus 
 calls James, the brother of Christ, by the name 
 of James the Just, and describes him as a 
 mod Just or righteous man, in an especial man- 
 ner, we are to remember that such is his name 
 and character in the Gospel according to the 
 Hebrews, and tbe other Ebionite remains of 
 Hegesippus, but nowhere else, that 1 remem- 
 ber, in the earliest antiquity; nor are we to 
 suppose they herein referred to any oth<-r 
 than that righttousness which was by the Jewish 
 law, wherein St. Paul (Philip, iii. 4, 5, 6.). 
 before be euibra.*cd Christianity) protcbhvd 
 
DISSERTATION 1. 
 
 S25 
 
 Mmself to have been blameless. Thus when 
 Josephus, with other Jews, ascribed the mise- 
 ries of that nation under Vespasian and Titus, 
 with the destruction of Jerusalem, to the bar- 
 barous murder of James the Just, we must 
 remember what we learn from the Ebionite 
 fragments of Hegesippus, that these Ebionites 
 interpreted a prophecy of Isaiah as foretelling 
 this very murder, and those consequent mise- 
 ries: — Let us take away the just one, for he is 
 unprofitable to us: therefore shall they eat the 
 fruit of their own ways (Isaiah iii. 10;. Thus 
 when Josephus says, as we have seen, that 
 the most equitable citizens of Jerusalem, and 
 those that were most zealous of the law, 
 were very uneasy at the condemnation of this 
 James, and some of his friends and fellow- 
 Christians, by the high-priest and sanhedrim, 
 about A. D. 62, and declares that he himself 
 was one of those Jews who thought the terri- 
 ble miseries of that nation effects of the ven- 
 geance of God for their murder of this James, 
 about A. D. 68, we may easily see those opi- 
 nions could only be the opinions of converted 
 Jews or Ebionites. The high-priest and 
 sanhedrim, who always persecuted the Chris- 
 tians, and now condemned these Christians, 
 and the body of these unbelieving Jews, who 
 are supposed to suffer for murdering this 
 James, the head of the Nazarene or Ebionite 
 Christians in Judea, could not, to be sure, be 
 of that opinion; nor could Josephus himself 
 be of the same opinion, as he declares he was 
 without the strongest inclinations to the 
 Christian religion, or without being secretly 
 a Christian Jew, i. e. a Nazarene or Ebionite; 
 which thing is, by the way, a very great addi- 
 tional argument that such he was, and no 
 other. Thus, lastly, when Josephus is cited 
 in Suidas, as affirming that Jesus officiated 
 with the priests in the temple, this account 
 is by no means disagreeable to the pretensions 
 of the Ebionites. Hegesippus affirms the 
 very same of James the Just also. 
 
 VI. In the first citation of the famous tes- 
 tia\ony concerning our Saviour from Tacitus, 
 almost all that was true of the Jews is directly 
 taken by him out of Josephus, as will be demon- 
 sWated under the Third Dissertation hereafter. 
 
 YU. The second author I have alleged- for 
 it is Justin Martyr, one so nearly coeval with 
 Josephus, that he might be born about the 
 time when he wrote his Antiquities: he appeals 
 to the same Antiquities by that very name; 
 and though he does not here directly quote 
 them, yet does he seem to me to allude to this 
 very testimony in them concerning our Saviour, 
 when he affirms, in this place, to Trypho the 
 Jew, that his nation oriyinally knew that 
 Jesus was risen fooin the dead, and ascended 
 into heaven, as the prophecies did foretell 
 uius to happen. Since there neither now is, 
 nor probably in the days of Justin was, 
 diiy other Jewish testimony exfunt which is 
 Ko airreeable to what Justjn here atfinns of 
 
 those Jews, as is this of Josephus the Zew.' 
 before us; nor indeed does he seem to me 
 to have had any thing else particularly in his 
 view here, but this very testimony, where 
 Josephus says, " That Jesus appeared to his 
 followers alive the third day after his cruci- 
 fixion, as the divine prophets had foretold 
 these and ten thousand other wonderful 
 things concerning him." 
 
 VIII. The third author I have quoted for 
 Josephus's testimonies of John the Baptist, 
 of Jeeus of Nazareth, and of James the Just, 
 is Origen, who is indeed allowed on all hands 
 to have quoted him for the excellent character 
 of John the Baptist, and of James the Just; 
 but whose supposed entire silence about this 
 testimony concerning Christ is usually alleged 
 as the principal argument against its being 
 genuine, and particularly as to the clause. 
 This was the Christ: and that, as we have 
 seen, because he twice assures us that, in his 
 o'pinion, Josephus himself did not acknowledye 
 Jesus for Christ. Now, as to this, latter 
 clause, I have already shown that Josephus 
 did not here, in writing to Greeks and 
 Romans, mean any such thing by those words 
 as Jews and Christians naturally understand 
 by them: I have also observed, that all the 
 ancients allow still, with Origen, that Jose- 
 phus did not, in the Jewish and Christian 
 ' sense, acknowledge Jesus for the true Mes- 
 ! siah, or the true Christ of God, notwithstanding 
 I their express quotation of that clause in Jose- 
 Jphusas genuine; so that unless we suppose 
 \ Origen to have had a different notion of these 
 
 words from all the other ancients, we cannot 
 
 ' conclude from this assertion of Origen, that 
 
 ' he had not those words in his copy, not to say 
 
 ' that it is, after all, much more likely that his 
 
 ' copy a little differed from the other copies in 
 
 this clause, or indeed omitted it entirely, than 
 
 that he, on its account, must be supposed not 
 
 to have had the rest of this testimony therein, 
 
 though indeed I see no necessity of making 
 
 any such supposal at all. However, it seems 
 
 to me that Origen affords us four several 
 
 indications that the main parts at least of this 
 
 testimony itself were in his copy: — 
 
 (1.) When Origen introduces Josephus's 
 testimony concerning James the Just, that ho 
 thought the miseries of the Jews were an 
 instance of the divine vengeance on that nation 
 for putting James to death instead of Jesus 
 he uses aq expression no way necessary to his 
 purpose, nor occasioned by any words of Jose- 
 phus there, That they had slain that Christ 
 which was foretold in the prophecies. Whence 
 could this expression come here into Origen's 
 mind, when he' was quoting a testimony of 
 Josephus concerning a brother of Christ, 
 but from his remembrance of a clause in the 
 testimony of the same Josephus concerning 
 Christ himself, that the prophets had foretold 
 his death and resurrection, and ten thousand 
 oth<'r wonderful things concerning himf 
 
836 
 
 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 (2.) How came Origen to be so surprised 
 at Josephus's ascribing the destruction of 
 Jerusalem to the Jews' murdering of James 
 the Just, and not to their murdering of Jesus, 
 as we have seen he was, if he had not known 
 that Josephus had spoken of Jesus and his 
 death before, and that he had a very good 
 opinion of Jesus, which yet he could learn no 
 way so authentically as from this testimony? 
 rJor do the words he here uses, that Josephus 
 was not remote from the truth, perhaps allude 
 • o any thing else but to this very testimony 
 efore us. 
 
 (3.) How can the same Origen, upon 
 .nother slight occasion, when he had just set 
 lovvn that testimony of Josephus concerning 
 Tames the Just, the brother of Jesus, who was 
 .ailed Christ, say that "it may be questioned 
 whether the Jews thought Jesus to be a man, 
 or whether they did not suppose him to be a 
 Deing of a diviner kind?" This looks so very 
 like the fifth and sixth clauses of this testi- 
 mony in Josephus, that Jesus was a wise man, 
 if it be lawful to call him a man, that it is 
 highly probable Origen thereby alluded to 
 them; and this is the more to be depended on, 
 oecause all the unbelieving Jews, and all the 
 est of the Nazarene Jews, esteemed Jesus 
 with one consent, as a mere man, the son of 
 ^oseph and Mary; and it is not, I think, 
 j^ossible to produce any one Jew but Josephus, 
 who in a sort of compliance with the Romans 
 nd the Catholic Christians, who thought him 
 God, would say any thing like his being a 
 God. 
 
 (4.) How came Origen to affirm twice, so 
 expressly, that Josephus did not himself own, 
 n the Jewish and Christian sense, that Jesus 
 jas Christ, notwithstanding his quotations of 
 ^uch eminent testimonies out of him for John 
 the Baptist his forerunner, and for James the 
 Just, his brother, and one of his principal dis- 
 ciples? There is no passage in all Josephus 
 so likely to persuade Origen of this as is the 
 famous testimony before us, wherein, as he 
 and all the ancients understood it, he was 
 generally called Christ indeed, but not any 
 otherwise than as the common name whence 
 the sect of Christians was derived, and where 
 he all afong speaks of those Christians as a 
 sect then in being, whose author was a won- 
 derful person, and his followers great lovers 
 of him and of the truth, yet as such a sect as 
 he had not joined himself to ; which exposition, 
 as it is a very natural one, so was jt, I doubt, [ 
 but too true of our Josephus at that time; nor 
 can I devise any other reason but this, and 
 the parallel language of Josephus elsewhere, I 
 when he speaks of James as the brother, not ' 
 of Jesus who was Christ, but of Jesus who was • 
 called Christ, that could so naturally induce! 
 Origen and others to be of that opinion. , 
 
 IX. Thefe are two remarkable passages in I 
 Suidas and Theophylact, already set down, I 
 as citing Josephus; tb« f(<:mer that Jetus', 
 
 officiated with the priests in the temple; tLvi 
 the latter, that the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 and miseries of the Jews, were owing to their 
 putting Jesus to death, which are in none of 
 our present copies, nor cited thence by any 
 ancienter authors, nor indeed do they seem 
 altogether consistent with the other most 
 authentic testimonies. However, since Suidas 
 cites his passage from a treatise of Josephus, 
 called Memoirs of the Jews' Captivity, a book 
 never heard of elsewhere, and since both cita- 
 tions are not at all disagreeable to Josephus's 
 character as a Nazarene or Ebionite, I dare 
 not positively conclude they are spurious, but 
 must leave them in suspense, for the farther 
 consideration of the learned. 
 
 X. As to that great critic Photius, in the 
 ninth century, who is supposed not to have 
 had this testimony in his copy of Josephus, or 
 else to have esteemed it spurious; because, in 
 his extracts out of Josephus's Antiquities, it 
 is not expressly mentioned, — this is a strange 
 thing indeed 1 — that a section, which had been 
 cited out of Josephus's copies all along before 
 the days of Photius, as well as it has been all 
 along cited out of them since his days, should 
 be supposed not to be in his copy, because he 
 does not directly mention it in certain short 
 and imperfect extracts, no way particularly 
 relating to such matters. Those who lay a 
 stress on this silence of Photius, seem little to 
 have attended to the nature and brevity of 
 those extracts. They contain little or nothing, 
 as he in effect professes at their entrance, but 
 what concerns Antipater, Herod the (Jreat, 
 and his brethren and family, with their 
 exploits, till the days of Agrippa junior, and 
 Cumanus, the governor of Judea, fifteen years 
 after the death of our Saviour, without one 
 word of Pilate, or what happened under his 
 government, which yet was the only proper 
 place in which this testimony could come to 
 be mentioned. However, since Photius seems 
 therefore, as we have seen, to suspect the 
 treatise ascribed by some to Josephus, Of the 
 Universe, because it speaks very high things of 
 the eternal generation and divinity of Christ, 
 this looks very like his knowledge and belief of 
 somewhat really in the same Josephus, which 
 spake in a lower manner of him, which codld 
 be hardly any other passage than this testimony 
 before us; and since, as we have also seen, 
 when he speaks of the Jewish History of Jus- 
 tus of Tiberias, as infected with the prejudices 
 of the Jews in taking no manner of notice of 
 the advent, of the acts, and of the miracles of 
 Jesus Christ, while yet he never speaks so of 
 Josephus himself, this most naturally implies 
 also, that there was not the like occasion here 
 as there; but that Jgsephus had not wholly 
 omitted that advent, those acts, or miracles, 
 whicn yet he has done everywhere else, in the 
 books seen by Photius, as well as Justus of 
 Tiberias, but in this famous testimony before 
 us, so thut it is niortt probuble, Pbotias 
 
DISSERTATION II. 
 
 837 
 
 ucyt onlf iiad ttis testimony in his copy, but 
 believed it to be genuine also. 
 
 XL As to the silence of Clement of Alex- 
 •ndria. who cites the Antiquities of Josephus, 
 but never cites any of the testimonies now be- 
 fore us, it is no strange thing at all, since he 
 never cites Josephus but once, and that for a 
 point of chronology only, to determine how 
 many years had passed from the days of 
 Moses to the days of Josephus, — so that his 
 silence may almost as well be alleged 
 against a hundred other remarkable passages 
 in Josepbus's works as agaiust these before 
 us. 
 
 XII. Nor does the like silence of Tertul- 
 Han impl.y that these testimonies, or any of 
 them, were not in the copies of his age. Ter- 
 tuUian never once hints at any treatises of 
 Josephus but those against Apion, and that 
 in general only, for a point of chronology; 
 nor does it any way appear that Tertullian 
 
 ever saw any of Josepfeus's writings besides 
 and far from being certain that he saw even 
 those. He had particular occasion in his dis- 
 pute against the Jews -to quote Josephus, 
 aboveany other writer, toprove the completioTi 
 of the prophecies of the Old Testament in the 
 destruction of Jerusalem and miseries of the 
 Jews at that time, of which he there discour- 
 ses, yet does he never once quote him upon 
 that solemn occasion; so that it seems to me 
 that Tertullian never read either the Greek 
 Antiquities of Josephus, or his Greek books 
 of the Jewish wars: nor is this at all strange 
 in Tertullian, a Latin writer, that lived in 
 Africa, by none of which African writers is 
 there any one clause, that I know of, cited 
 out of any of Josepbus's writings; nor is it 
 worth my while, in such numbers of positive 
 citations of these clauses, to mention the 
 silence of other later ^\Titers as being here of 
 very small consequence. 
 
 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 CONCERNING GOD'S COMMAND TO ABRAHAM TO OFFER UP ISAAC. 
 HIS SON, FOR A SACRIFICE. 
 
 Since this command of God to Abrajam 
 (Gen. xxii.) has of late been greatly mistaken 
 by some, who venture to reason about very 
 ancient facts from very modern notions, and 
 this without a due regard to either the cus- 
 toms, or opinions, or circumstances of the 
 times whereto those facts belong, or indeed 
 to the true reasons of the facts themselves; 
 since the mistakes about those customs, opi- 
 nions, circumstances, and reasons, have of late 
 so far prevailed, that the very same action of 
 Abraham, which was so celebrated by St. 
 Paul (Rom. iv. 16—25), St. James (chap. ii. 
 21^ 22), the author to the Hebrews (chap. 
 xi. 17 — 19j, Philo,* and Josephus,t in the 
 first century, and by* innumerable others 
 since, as an uncommon instance of signal vir- 
 tue, of heroic faith in God, and piety towards 
 him; nay, is in the sacred history (Gen. xxii. 
 15 — 18) highly commended by the divine 
 Angel of the Covenant, in the name of God 
 himself, and promised to be plentifully re- 
 warded; since this command, I say, is now 
 at last, in the eighteenth century, become a 
 stone of stumbling and a rock of offence among 
 us, and that sometimes to persons of otherwise 
 good sense, and of a religious disposition of 
 mind also, I shall endeavour to set this mat- 
 ter in its true, i. e. in its ancient and original 
 * Pbii. de Gi^aaU p. ^^ + Antiq. b. i. ch. xiiL 
 
 light, for the satisfaction of the inquisitive 
 In order whereto we are to consider, 
 
 1. That till this very profane age, it has 
 been, I think, universally allowed by all so- 
 ber persons, who owned themselves the crea- 
 tures of God, that the Creator has a just 
 right over all his rational creatures, to pro- 
 tract their lives to what length he pleases, — 
 to cut them oiF when and by what instru- 
 ments he pleases, — to afflict them with what 
 sicknesses he pleases, — and to remove them 
 from one state or place in this his great pa- 
 lace of the universe to another, as he pleases; 
 and that all those rational creatures are bound 
 in duty and interest to acquiesce under the 
 divine disposal, and to resign themselves up 
 to the good providence of God in all such 
 his dispensations towards them. I do not 
 mean to intimate, that God may, or ever 
 does, act in these cases after a mere arbitrary 
 manner, or without sufficient reason, believ- 
 ing, according to the whole tenor of natural 
 and revealed religion, that he hateth hotntng 
 that he hath made (Wisdom, xi. 14); tnat 
 whatsoever he does, how melancholy soerer 
 it may appear at first sight to us, is really in- 
 tended for the good of his creatures, and, at 
 the upshot of things, will fully appear so to 
 be : but that still he is not obliged, nor does 
 in general give hia creaturtfs an Qec9>u)t Qt 
 
838 
 
 DISSERTATION 11. 
 
 the particular reasons of such his dispensations 
 towards them immediately, but usually tries 
 and exercises their faith and patience, their 
 rtsignation and obedience, in their present 
 -late of probation, and reserves those reasons 
 to the last (fay. the day «f the revelation of the 
 righteous Judgment of God. (Rom. ii. 5.) 
 
 2. That the entire histories of the past 
 ages, from the days of Adam till now, show 
 that Almighty God has ever exercised his 
 power over mankind, and that without giving 
 'hem an immediate account of the reasons of 
 such his conduct; and that withal, the best 
 and wisest men of all ages. Heathens as well 
 as Jews and Christians, — Marcus Antoninus, 
 H?! well as the patriarch Abraham and St. 
 Paul, have ever humbly submitted themselves 
 to this conduct of the Divine Providence, 
 nnd always confessed that they were obliged 
 ♦o the undeserved goodness and mercy of 
 God for every jenjoyment, but could not de- 
 nand any of them of his justice; — no, not so 
 much as the continuance of that life whereto 
 those enjoyments do appertain. When God 
 was pleased to sweep the wicked race of men 
 away by a flood, the young innocent infants, 
 as well as the guilty old sinners; \vhen he 
 was pleased to shorten the lives of men after 
 the Flood, and still downward till the days 
 of David and Solomon; when he was pleased j 
 to destroy impure Sodom and Gomorrah I 
 by fire and brimstone from heaven, and to j 
 axtirpate the main body of the Amorites out | 
 of the land of Canaan, as soon as their iniqui- 
 ties were full (Gen. xv. 16), and in these in- 
 stances included the young innocent infants, 
 together with the old hardened sinners ; 
 when God was pleased to send an angel, and 
 by him to destroy 185,000 Assyrians (the 
 number attested to by Berosus the Chaldean, 
 as well as by our own Bibles) in the days of 
 Hezekiah, most of whom seem to have had 
 no othtr peculiar guilt upon them than that 
 common to soldiers in war, of obeying with- 
 out reserve their king Sennacherib, his ge- 
 nerals and captains; and when at the plague 
 of Athens, Loudon, Marseilles, &c. so many 
 thousand righteous men and women, with 
 innocent bates, were swept' away on a sud- 
 den, by a fatal contagion, — I do not remem- 
 ber that sober men have complained that God 
 deu-h unjustly with such his creatures, in 
 tlju<e to us seemingly severe dispensations. 
 Nor are we certain when any such seemingly 
 iif'vere dispensations are really such, nor do 
 we know but shortening the lives of men may 
 suir.etime8 be the greatest blessing to them, 
 iifMt prevent or put a stop to those courses of 
 KrosB wickedness which might bring them to 
 a greater misery in the world to come ; nor 
 is it fit for such poor, weak, and ignorant 
 creatures as we are, in the present state, to 
 call our almighty, and all- wise, and all-good 
 Creator and Benefactor to an account upon 
 an/ M(h oeonaiong— •inc8 we cannot but 
 
 acknowledge that it is He that hath made u», 
 and not we ourselves (Psalm c. 3), that we 
 are nothing, and have nothing of ourselves 
 independent of him, but that all we are, all 
 we have, and all we hope for, is derived frono 
 him, from his free and undeserved bounty, 
 which therefore he may justly take from us ii» 
 what way soever and whensoever he pleases; 
 all wise and good men still saving in such 
 cases with the pious Psalmist (Ps, xxxix. 9), J 
 was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou 
 didst it; and with patient Job (ch. i. 21 ; ii, 
 10), Shall we receive good at the hand of Gody 
 and shall hot we receive evil? The Lord yave, 
 andtheZardhathtukenaway,blesscdbelhetiame 
 oj the Lord. If thereiore this shortening of 
 taking away the lives of men be an objection- 
 against any divine command for that purpose, 
 it is full as strong against the present system 
 of the world, against the conduct of Divine 
 Providence in general, and against natural 
 religion, which is founded on the justice of 
 that Providence, and is no way peculiar 
 to revealed religion, or to the fact of Abra- 
 ham now before us; nor in this case much 
 different from what was soon after the days 
 of Abraham thoroughly settled, after Job's 
 and his friends' debates, by the inspiration of 
 Elihu, and the determination of God himself, 
 where the Divine Providence was at length 
 thoroughly cleared and justified before all 
 the world, as it will be, no question, more 
 generally cleared and justified at the final 
 judgment. 
 
 3. That till this profane age, it has also, I 
 think, been unive»sally allowed by all sober 
 men, that a command of God, when suf- 
 ficiently made known to be so, is abundant 
 authority for the taking away the life of any 
 person whomsoever. I doubt both ancient 
 and modern princes, generals of armies, and 
 judges, even those of the best reputation also^ 
 have ventured to take many men's lives away 
 upon much less authority; nor indeed do the 
 most sceptical of the moderns care to deny 
 this authority directly; they rather take a 
 method of objecting somewhat more plausilde, 
 though it amounts to much the same: they 
 say that the apparent disagreement of any 
 command to the moral attributes of God, such 
 as this of the slaughter'of an only child seems 
 plainly to be, will be a greater evidence that 
 such a command does not come from God, 
 than any pretended revelation can be that it 
 does; but as to this matter, although divine 
 revelations have now so long ceased, that we 
 are not well acquainted with the manner of 
 con.veying such revelations with certainty to 
 men, and by consequence the apparent disa- 
 greement of a command with the moral attri- 
 butes of God, ought ^at present, generally, if 
 not constantly, to deter men from acting upon 
 such a pretended revelation, yet v\as there no 
 such nnceriumty in the dnvs of the oh' pro- 
 phets of Go<i, or i>f Abraham, the friend of 
 
DISSERTATION II. 
 
 830 
 
 God (Isa. xli. 8), who are trer found to 
 have had an entire certainty of those their 
 revelations ; and what evidently shows they 
 were not deceived, is this, that the events and 
 consequences of things afterwards always cor- 
 responded, and secured them of the truth of 
 SUCH divine revelations. Thus the first mira- 
 ciilous voice from heaven (Gen. xxii. 11, 
 12) calling to Al)rahatn not to execute this 
 command, and the performance of those emi- 
 nent promises made by the second voice 
 (Gen. xxii. 17, 18), on account of his obe- 
 dience to that command, are demonstrations 
 that Abraham's commission for what he did 
 was truly divine, and are an entire justifica- 
 tion of his conduct in this matter. The 
 words of the first voice from heaven will 
 come hereafter to be*set down i; a fitter place ; 
 out the glorious promises made to Abraham's 
 obedience by the second voice, must here be 
 produced from verse 15 — 18. "And the 
 angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out 
 of heaven the secolTd time, and said. By my- 
 self have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because 
 thou hast done this thing, and hast not with- 
 held thy son, thine or>ly son from me, that in 
 blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying 
 I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, 
 and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore, 
 and thy seed shall possess the gate of his ene- 
 mies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of 
 the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeved 
 uiy voice." Every one of which promises have 
 been eminently fulfilled; and, what is chiefly 
 reiiiarkable, the last and principal of thezn, 
 that ill Abraham's SEED all the nations of the 
 earth should be blessed, was never promised till 
 this time. It had been twice promised him 
 (chap. xii. 3; and xviii. 18), that in himself 
 should all the families oftheearth be blessed; but 
 that this blessing was to belong to future times, 
 and to be bestowed by the means of one of his 
 Idte posterity, the Messias, that great son and 
 seed of Abraham only, was never revealed be- 
 fore, but on such an amazing instance of his 
 faith and obedience as was this his readi- 
 ness to offer up his only-begotten son Isaac, 
 was now first promised, and has been long 
 ago performed in the. birth of Jesus of Nazar- 
 eth, the son of David, the son of Abraham 
 (Matt. i. 1), which highly deserves our obser- 
 vation in this place; nor can we suppose that 
 any thing else than clear conviction that this 
 command came from God could induce so 
 good a man and so tender a father as Abraham 
 ^vas, to sacrifice his own beloved son, and 
 to lose thereby all the comfort he received 
 from him at present, and all the expectation 
 he had of a numerous and happy posterity 
 from hiin hereafter. 
 
 4. That long before the days of Abraham, 
 the (ieinons or heathen gods had required and 
 received human sacrifices, and particularly 
 that of the offerer's own children, and this 
 borii before and after the Deluge. This prac- 
 
 tice had been indeed so long left off" in Egypt, 
 and the custom of sacrificing animals there was 
 confined to so few kinds in the days of Hero- 
 dotus, that he would not believe they had ever 
 offered human sacrifices at all; for he says,* 
 that "the fable, as if Hercules was sacrificed to 
 Jupiter in Egypt, was feigned by the Greek?, 
 who were entirely unacquainted with the na- 
 ture of the Egyptians and their laws; for how 
 should they sacrifice men, with whom it is 
 unlawful to sacrifice any brute beast, boars 
 and bulls, and pure calves and ganders ordy 
 excepted?" However, it is evident, from 
 Sanchoniatho, Manetho, Pausanias, Diodorus 
 Siculus, Philo, Plutarch, and Porphyry, that 
 such sacrifices were frequent both in Phoe- 
 nicia and Egypt, and that long before the 
 days of Abraham, as Sir John Marsham and 
 Bishop Cumberland have fully proved: nay, 
 that in other places (though not in Egypt) 
 this cruel practice continued long after Abra- 
 ham, and this till the very third, if not also 
 to the fifth century of Christianity, before it 
 was quite abolished. Take the words of Ihe 
 original authors in English, as most of them 
 occur in their originals, in Sir John Mar- 
 sham's Chronicon, p. 76—78, 300—304. 
 
 " Chronus offered up his only -begotten 
 son as a burnt-offering to his father Uranus, 
 when there was a famine and a pestilence, "f 
 
 " Chronus, whom the Phoenicians name 
 Israel [it should be II], and who was, after 
 his death, consecrated into the star Saturn, 
 when he was king of the country, and had, 
 by a nymph of that country, named Ano- 
 bret, an only- begotten son, whom, on that 
 account, they called Jeud (the Phoenicians to 
 this day calling an only-begotten son by that 
 name), he in bis dread of very great dangers 
 that lay upon the country from war, adorned 
 his son with royal apparel, and built an altar, 
 and offered him in sacrifice."]: 
 
 "The Phoenicians, when they were in great 
 dangers by war, by famine, or by pestilence, 
 sacrifict;d to Saturn one of the dearest of their 
 people, whom they chose by public suffrage for 
 that purpose; and Sanchoniatho's PtiaMiician 
 history is full of such sacrifices." [These 
 hitherto I take to have been before the 
 Flood.] § 
 
 " In Arabia, the Dumatii sacrificed a child 
 every year."|j 
 
 " They relate, that of old the [Egyptian"] 
 kings sacrificed such men as were of the same 
 colour with Typho, at the sepulchre ot Osi- 
 ris."^ 
 
 " Manetho relates, that they burnt Ty- 
 phonean men alive in the city Idithyia !cr 
 Ilithyia], and scattered their ashes like cnalt 
 that is winnowed ; and this was done 
 
 * Apud IVlarsh. Chron. p. 303. 
 + F^hil. Bib. ex Sanchon. p. 76. 
 t Phil. Bib ex Sanchon. p. 77. 
 i Purphyry, p. 77. 
 'I I'orphyry, p. 77 
 ^i l»iod. SiC p. "8. 
 
S40 
 
 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 publicly, and at an appointed season in the 
 dog-days."* 
 
 " The barbarous nations did a long time 
 admit of the slaughter of children, as of a 
 holy practice, and acceptable to the gods; 
 and this thing, both private persons, and 
 kings, and entire nations, practise at proper 
 seasons."! 
 
 •' The human sacrifices that were enjomea 
 by the Dodonean oracle, mentioned in Pau- 
 sanias's Acbaics, in the tragical story of 
 Coresus and Callirrhoe, sufficiently intimate 
 that the Phoenician and Egyptian priests had 
 set up this Dodonean oracle before the time 
 of Amosis, who destroyed that barbarous 
 practice in Egypt." J 
 
 • Isque adylis haec tristia dicta reportat : 
 
 Sanguine placas lis ventos, et virgine ccesa, 
 Cumprinium Itiacas Danai venistis ad oras ; 
 Sanguine qiuerendi reditus, animaque Ittandum 
 
 Aryolica 
 
 ViRO. JEn. ii. 115. 
 
 He from the gods this dreadful answer brought: 
 O Grecians, when the Trojan shores you sought. 
 Your passage with a virgin's blood v^s bought! 
 So must your safe return be bought again, 
 And Grecian blood once more atone the main. 
 
 These bloody sacrifices were, for certain, 
 instances of the greatest degree of impiety, 
 tyranny, and cruelty in the world : that either 
 wicked demons or wicked men, who neither 
 made nor preserved mankind, who had there- 
 fore no right over them, nor were they aole 
 to make them amends in the next world for 
 what they thus lost or suffered in this, should, 
 after so inhuman a manner, command the tak- 
 ing away the lives of men, and particularly 
 of the offerer's own children, without the 
 commission of any crime; this was, I think, 
 an abomination derived from him who was a 
 murderer from the beginning (John viii. 44); 
 a crime truly and properly diabolical. 
 
 5. That, accordingly, Almighty God him- 
 self, under the Jewish dispensation, vehe- 
 mently condemned the Pagans, and sometimes 
 the Jews themselves, for this crime; and for 
 this, among other heinous sins, cast the idola- 
 trousnations(nay,sometimesthe Jews too) out 
 of Palestine. Take the pruicipal texts hereto 
 relating, as they lie in order in the Old 
 Testament: — 
 
 '* Thou Shalt not let any of thy seed pass 
 through the fire to Molech. Defile not your- 
 selves in any of these things, for in all these 
 the nations are defiled, which I cast out be- 
 fore yuu," &c. (Lev. xviii. 21.) 
 
 " Whosoever he be of the children of Is- 
 rael, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, 
 that giveth any of his seed unto Molech, he 
 snail surely be put to death; the people of 
 the land shall stone him with stones." (Lev. 
 XX. 2.) 
 
 *' Take 'heed to thyself, that thou be not 
 
 • Plutarch, p. 78. -f Nonnulli apiid Phil. p. 7G 
 } Cnmb>Tl. Sanuhun. p 37(4, 
 
 snared by following the nations, after that 
 they be destroyed from before thee; and that 
 thou inquire not after their gods, saying, 
 How did these nations serve their gods, even 
 so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so 
 unto the Lord thy God; for every abomina- 
 tion of the Lord, which he hateth, have they 
 done unto their gods ; for even their sons 
 and their daughters have they burnt in the 
 tire to their gods." (Deut. xii. 30, 31. See 
 chap, xviii. 10, and 2 Kings xvii. 17.) 
 
 " And Ahaz made his son to pass through 
 the fire, according to the abominations of the 
 heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the 
 children of Israel." (2 Kings xvi. 3.) 
 
 "Moreover, Ahaz burnt incense in the 
 valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his 
 children (his son, in Josephus) in the fire, 
 after the abominations of the heathen, whom 
 the Lord had cast out before the children of 
 Israel." (2 Chron. xxviii. 3.) - • 
 
 " And the Sepharvites burnt their children 
 in the fire to Adrammelech and Anamelech, 
 the gods of Sepharvaim," &c. (2 Kings xvii. 
 31.) 
 
 "And Josiah defiled Tophet, which is m 
 the valley of the children of Hinnom, that 
 no man might make his son or his daughter 
 to pass through the fire unto Molech." 
 (2 Kings xxiii. 10.) 
 
 " Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their 
 daughters unto demons; and shed innocent 
 blood, the blood of their sons and of their 
 daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the 
 idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted 
 with blood." (Psal. cvi. 37, 38. See Isa. 
 Ivii. 5.) 
 
 " The children of Judah have done evil in 
 my sight, saith the Lord; they have set 
 their abominations in the house which is call- 
 ed by my name to pollute it; and they have 
 built the high places of Tophet, which is Ui 
 the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burii 
 their sons and their daughters in the tire, 
 which I commanded them not, nor camt 
 it into my heart." (Jer. vii. 30—32.) 
 
 " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the Goc 
 of Israel, Behold I will bring evil upon this 
 place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears 
 shall tingle, because they have forsaken me 
 and have estranged this place, and have burnt 
 incense unto other gods, whom neither 
 they nor their fathers have known, nor tlie 
 kings of Judah, and have tilled this phice 
 with the blood of innocents. They have 
 built also the high places of Baal, to burn 
 their sons with tire for burnt-offerings unto 
 Baal, which 1 commanded not, nor spake it, 
 neither came it into my mind," &c. (Jer. xix. 
 3—^.) 
 
 " They built the high places of Baal, which 
 are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to 
 cause their sons and their daughters to pads 
 through the tire unto Molech, which 1 co. ii- 
 manded them nut, neither came it iiUu aiy 
 
DISSERFATION !!• 
 
 841 
 
 mind that they should do this abomination, 
 to cause Judah to sin." (Jer. xxxii. 33.) 
 
 " Moreover, thou hast taken thy sons and 
 thy daughters, whom thou hast born unto 
 me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them 
 to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms 
 a small matter, that thou bast slain my chil- 
 dren, and delivered them to cause them to 
 pass through the tire for them?" (Ezek. xvi. 
 20, 21. See chap. xx. 26; 1 Cor. x. 20.) 
 
 '* Thou hatest the old inhabitants of thy 
 holy land, for doing most odious works of 
 witchcraft and wicked sacrifices; and also 
 those merciless murderers of children, and 
 devourers of man's flesh, and feasts of blood, 
 with their priests, out of the midst of their 
 idolatrous crew, and the parents that killed 
 with their own hands souls destitute of help." 
 (Wisd. xii. 4—6.) 
 
 6. That Almighty God never permitted, in 
 any one instance, that such a human sacrifice 
 should actually be offered to himself (though 
 he had a right to have required it, if he had 
 so pleased) under the whole Jewish dispensa- 
 tion, which yet was full of many other kinds 
 cf sacrifices, and this at a time when mankind 
 generally thought such sacrifices of the great- 
 est virtue for the procuring pardon of sin and 
 the divine favour. This the ancient records of 
 the heathen world attest. Take their notion 
 in the words of Philo Biblius,* the translator 
 of Sanchoniatho: — " It was the custom of the 
 ancients, in the greatest calamities and dan- 
 gers, for the governors of the city or nation, 
 in order to advert the destruction of all, to 
 devote their beloved son to be slain, as a price 
 of redemption to the punishing [or avenging] 
 demons; and those so devoted were killed after 
 a mystical manner." This the history of the 
 king of Moab (2 Kings iii. 27), when he was 
 in great distress in his war against Israel and 
 Judah, informs us of; who then "took his 
 eldest son, that should have reigned in his 
 stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering 
 upon the city-wall." This also the Jewish 
 prophet Micah (chap. vi. 6 — 8) implies, when 
 he inquires, " Wherewith shall I come before 
 the Lord, and bow myself before the High 
 God? Shall I come before him with burnt- 
 offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the 
 Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, and 
 ten thousands of fat kids of the goats? 
 Shall I give my first-born for my transgres- 
 sion, the fruit of my body for the sin of my 
 soul?" No, certainly; "For he hath showed 
 thee, O man, what is good; and what doth 
 the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and 
 to love mercy, and to humble thyself to walk 
 with thy God?" 
 
 It is true, God did here try the faith and 
 obedience of Abraham to himself, whether 
 they were as strong as the Pagans exhibited 
 to their demons or idols, yet did he withal 
 
 • Apud Marsh, p. ?& 
 
 take effectual care, and that by a miraculous 
 interposition also, to prevent the execution, 
 and provided himself a ram, as a vicarious 
 substitute, to supply the place of Isaac imme- 
 diately: — "And the angel of the Lord called 
 Uiito Abraham, and said, Abraham, Abra- 
 ham 1 — and he said, Here am I: — and he 
 said. Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither 
 do thou any thing unto him; for now I know 
 that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not 
 withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. 
 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, 
 and behold a ram caught in a thicket by his 
 horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, 
 and offered him up for a burnt-offering in 
 the stead of his son." (Gen. xxii. II — 13.) 
 Thus though Jephtha (Judg. xi. 36—39) 
 has, by many, been thought to have vowed to 
 offer up his daughter and only child for a 
 sacrifice, and that as bound on him, upon sup- 
 position of his vow, by a divine law (Levit. 
 xxvii. 28, 29), of which opinion I was once 
 myself; yet upon more mature consideration, 
 I have, for some time, thought this to be a mis- * 
 take, and that his vow extended only to her 
 being devoted to serve God at the tabernacle, 
 or elsewhere, in a state of perpetual virginity; 
 and that neither that law did enjoin any human 
 sacrifices, nor do we meet with any example 
 of its execution in this sense afterwards. Philo 
 never mentions any such law, no more than 
 Josephus; and when Josephus thought that 
 Jephtha had made such a vow, and executed 
 it, he is so far from hinting at its being done 
 in compliance with any lav>f of God, that he 
 expressly condemns him for it, as having acted 
 contrary thereto; or, in his own words,f "as 
 having offered an oblation neither conformable 
 to the law, nor acceptable to God, nor weigh- 
 ing with himself what opinion the hearers 
 would have of such a practice." 
 
 7. That Isaac being at this time, according 
 to Josephus, J who is herein justly followed by 
 Archbishop Usher,§ no less than twenty-five 
 years of age, and Abraham being, by conse- 
 quence, one hundred and twenty-five, it is 
 not to be supposed that Abraham could bind 
 Isaac, in order to offer him in sacrifice, but by 
 his own free consent; which free consent of 
 the party who is to suffer, seems absolutely 
 necessary in all such cases; and which free 
 consent St. Clement, as well as Josephus, dis- 
 tinctly takes notice of on this occasion. St. 
 Clement! describes it thus: — "Isaac, being 
 fully persuaded of what he knew was to come, 
 cheerfully yielded himself up for a sacrifice." 
 And for Josephus, after introducing Abraham 
 in a pathetic speech, laying before Isaac the 
 divine command, and exhorting him patiently 
 and joyfully to submit to it, he tells us\ that 
 
 + Antiq. b. v. ch. vii. sect 10. 
 
 t Antiq. b. i. ch iL 
 
 i Ush. Annal. ad A.M. 213a. 
 
 II S. Clem, sect 31. 
 
 ¥ Antiq. b. i. ch. xiii. sect 3^ 
 
84? 
 
 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 *' Isaac very cheerfully consented;" and then 
 introduces him in a short, but very pious an- 
 swer, acquiescing in the proposal; and adds, 
 that " be then immediately, and readily, went 
 to the altar to be sacrificed." Nor did Jeph- 
 tha (Judges xi. 36, 37) perform his rash vow, 
 whatever it were, till his daughter had given 
 her consent to it. 
 
 8. It appears to me that Abraham never 
 despaired entirely of the interposition of 
 Providence for the preservation of Isaac, 
 although in obedience to the command he 
 prepared to sacrifice him to God. This seems 
 to me intimated in Abraham's words to his 
 servants, on the third day, when he was in 
 sight of the mountain on which he was to 
 offer his son Isaac: " We will go and worship, 
 and we will come again to you." As also in 
 his answer to his son, when he inquired, 
 "Behold the fire and the wood; but where 
 is the lamb for a burnt-offering? — and Abra- 
 ham said. My son, God will provide himself 
 a lamb for a burnt-offering." (Gen. xxii. 
 5 — 7.) Both these passages look to me some- 
 
 ' what like such an expectation. However, 
 
 9. It appears most evident that Abraham, 
 and I suppose Isaac also, firmly believed, 
 that if God should permit Isaac to be actually 
 slain as a sacrifice, he would certainly and 
 speedily raise him again from the dead. 
 This, to be sure, is supposed in the words 
 already quoted, that both " he and his son 
 would go and worship, and come again to 
 the servants;" and is clearly and justly col- 
 lected from this history by the author to the 
 Hebrews (chap. xi. 17, 18, 19); "By faith 
 Abraham, when he was tried, offered up 
 Isaac; and he that had received the promises 
 offered up his only-begotten, of whom it was 
 said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called, 
 accounting [or reasoning] that God was able 
 to raise him from the dead." And this rea- 
 soning was at once very obvious and wholly 
 undeniable, that since God was truth itself, 
 and had over and over promised that he 
 would " multiply Abraham exceedingly ; 
 that he should be a father of many nations; 
 that his name should be no longer Abram, 
 but Abraham,, because a father of many na- 
 tions God had made him," &c.; that " Sarai 
 his wife should be called Sarah; that he 
 would bless her, and give Abraham a son also 
 of her;" and that " he would bless him; and 
 she should become nations ; and kings of 
 people should be of her," &c. (Gen. xvii. 
 2, 4, 6, 6, 16); and that "in Isaac should his 
 seed be called" (Gen. xxi. 12): — and since 
 withal it is here supposed that Isaac was to 
 be slain as a sacrifice before he was married, 
 or had any seed, God was, for certain, obliged 
 by bis promises, in these circumstances, to 
 raise Isaac again from the dead ; and this 
 was an eminent instance of that faith whereby 
 "Abraham believed God, and it was ini- 
 
 o him for righteousness" (Gen. xv. 6), 
 
 viz. that if God should permit Isaac to be sa- 
 crificed, he would certainly and quickly raise 
 him up again from the dead, "from whence 
 also he received him in a figure," as the 
 author to the Hebrews (chap. xi. 19) here 
 justly observes. 
 
 10. That the firm and just foundation of 
 Abraham's faith and assurance in God for 
 such a resurrection was this, besides the gene- 
 ral consideration of the divine veracity, that 
 during the whole time .of his sojourning in 
 strange countries, in Canaan and Egypt, ever 
 since he had been called out of Chaldea or 
 Mesopotamia at seventy -five years of age 
 (Gen. xii. 4), he had had constant experience 
 of a special, of an over-ruling, of a kind 
 and gracious Providence over him, till his 
 125th year, which, against all human views, 
 had continually blessed him and enriched 
 him, and, in his elder age, had given him 
 first Ishmael by Hagar, and afterward promised 
 him Isaac to " spring from his own body 
 now dead, and from the deadness of Sarah's 
 womb (Rom. iv. 19), when she was past age 
 (Heb. xi. 11), and when it ceased to be 
 with Sarah after the manner of women (Gen. 
 xviii. 11), and had actually performed that 
 and every other promise, how improbable so- 
 ever that performance had appeared, he had 
 ever made to him, and this during fifty en- 
 tire years together; so that although, at his 
 first exit out. of Chaldea or Mesopotamia, he 
 might have been tempted to staygtr at 
 such a promise of God, through unbeliefs 
 yet might he now, after fifty years' constant 
 experience, be justly strong in Jaith, giving 
 glory to God, as being fully persuaded, that 
 what God had promised (the resurrection of 
 Isaac) he was both able and willing to perform. 
 (Rom. iv. 20, 21.) 
 
 11. That this assurance, therefore, that 
 God, if he permitted Isaac to be slain, would 
 infallibly raise him again from the dead, en- 
 tirely alters the state of the case of Abraham's 
 sacrificing Isaac to the true God, from that 
 of all other human sacrifices whatsoever 
 offered to false ones, all those others being 
 done without the least promise or prospect 
 of such a resurrection; and this indeed takes 
 away all pretence of injustice in the divine 
 command, as well as of all inhumanity or 
 cruelty in Abraham's obedience to it. 
 
 12. That upon the whole, this command 
 to Abraham, and what followed upon it, 
 looks so very like an intention of God to 
 typify or represent 'beforehand, in Isaac, 
 a beloved or only -begotten son, what was 
 to happen long afterwards to the great Son 
 and seed of Abraham, the Messiah, the be- 
 loved and the only -begotten of the Father 
 whose day Abraham saw by faith beforehand, 
 and rejoiced to see it." (John viii. 56), viz 
 that he, by the di terminate counsel and 
 
 fori knowledge of God, should be crucified ana 
 blain, as a sacrifice, and should be raided 
 
BISSERTATION II, 
 
 843 
 
 mffom the third dag (Acts ii. 22— 32), and 
 this at Jerusalem also; and that in the mean 
 time, God would accept of the sacrifices of 
 ram? and the like animals, at the same city 
 Jeiusalem, that one cannot easily avoid the 
 application. This seems the reason why 
 Abraham was obliged to go to the land of 
 Moriah, or Jerusalem, and why it is noted that 
 it was the third day (Gen. xxii. 2, 4) that he 
 came to the place, which implies that the 
 return back, after the slaying of the sacrifice, 
 would naturally be the third day also; and 
 why this sacrifice was not Ishmael the son 
 after thejiesh only, but Isaac the son by pro- 
 ruisey the beloved son of Abraham; and why 
 Isaac was styled the only son, or only begotten 
 son of Abraham (Heb. xi. 17), though he had 
 Ishmael besides; and why Isaac himself was 
 to bear the wood on which he was to be sacri- 
 ficed (Gen. xxii. 6; John xix. 17); and why 
 the place was no other than the land of Moriak, 
 or vision, i. e. most probably a place where 
 the Shechinah or Messiah had been seen, and 
 God by him worshipped, even before the days 
 of Abraham, and where lately lived, and per- 
 haps now lived, Melchisedeck, the grand type 
 of the Messiah (who might then possibly be 
 present at the sacrifice); and why this sacri- 
 fice was to be offered either on the mountain 
 called afterwards distinctly Moriah, where 
 the temple stood, and where all the Mosaic 
 sacrifices were afterwards to be offered, as 
 Josephus* and the generality suppose, or per- 
 haps, as others suppose, that where the Mes- 
 siah himself was to be offered, — its neighbour 
 mount Calvary. This seems also the reasoa 
 why the ram was substituted as a vicarious 
 sacrifice instead of Isaac. These circumstances 
 seem to me ver\ peculiar and extraordinary, 
 and to render the present hypothesis extremely 
 probable. Nor perhaps did St. Clement mean 
 any thing else, when, in his fore-cited passage, 
 he says, that *' Isaac was fully persuaded of 
 what he knew was to come," and therefore 
 *' cheerfully yielded himself up for a sacrifice." 
 Nor indeed does that name <rf" this place, 
 Jehovah'Jireh, which continued till the days 
 of Moses, and signified God will see, or rather, 
 God will provide, seem to be given it by Abra- 
 ham, on any other account, than that God 
 would there, in the fulness of time, provide 
 biinselj a lamb (that Lamb of God, John i. 29, 
 which was to take away the sin of the world) 
 tor a burnt-offeriny. 
 
 But now, if after all it be objected, that 
 how peculiar and how typical soever the cir- 
 cumstances of Abraham and Isaac might be 
 in themselves, of which the heathens about 
 them could have little notion, yet such a 
 divine command to Abraham for slaying his 
 beloved son Isaac, must however be of very 
 ill example to the Gentile world, and that 
 it probably did either first occasion, or at 
 \e&&t greatly encourage, their wicked practices, 
 * Antiq. b. L cb. xiiu sect 2. 
 
 in offering their children for sacrifices to 
 their idols, I answer by the next considera- 
 tion: — 
 
 13. That this objection is so far from truth, 
 that God's public and miraculous prohibition 
 of the execution of this command to Abra- 
 ham (which command itself the Gentile*, 
 would not then at all be surprised at, because 
 it was so like to their own usual practices), a> 
 well as God's substitution of a vicarious obla- 
 tion, seems to have been the very occasion 
 of the immediate abolition of those impiou.- 
 sacrifices by Tethmosis or Amosis, among tht- 
 neighbouring Egyptians, and of the substitu- 
 tion of more inoffensive ones there instead ot 
 them. Take the account of this abolition, 
 which we shall presently prove was about the 
 time of Abraham's offering up his son Isaac, 
 as it is preserved by Porphyry, from Manetho, 
 the famous Egyptian historian and chronolo- 
 ger, which is also cited from Porphyry by 
 Eusebius and Theodoret: — "Amosis," says 
 Porphyry,! "abolished the law for slaying ot 
 men at Heliopolis in Egypt, as Manetho bears 
 witness in his book of Antiquity and Piety. 
 They were sacrificed to Juno, and were exa- 
 mined^as were the pure calves, that were also 
 sealed with them: they were sacrificed three 
 in a day. In whose stead Amosis commanded 
 that men of wax, of the same number, should 
 be substituted." 
 
 Now 1 have lately shown that these Egyp- 
 tians had Abraham in great veneration, and 
 that all the wisdom of those Egyptians, in which 
 Moses was afterwards learned, was derived 
 from no other than from Abraham. Now it 
 appears evidently by the fore-cited passage, 
 that the first abolition of these human sacri- 
 fices, and the substitution of waxen images in 
 their stead, and particularly at Heliopolis, in 
 the north-east part of Egypt, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Beersheba, in the south of Pales- 
 tine, where Abraham now lived, at the 
 distance of about a hundred and twenty miles 
 only, was in the days, and by the order ot 
 Tethmosis or Amosis, who was the first ot 
 the Egyptian kings, after the expulsion of the 
 Phoenician shepherds. Now therefore we are 
 to inquire when this Tethmosis or Amosis 
 live(.', and compare his time with the time ut 
 the sacrifice of Isa^c. Now, if we look into 
 my Chronological Table, published a. D. 1721, 
 we shall find that the hundred and twenty- 
 fifth year of Abraham, or, which is all one, 
 the twenty-fifth year of Isaac, falls icto 
 A. M. 2573, or into the thirteenth year of Teth- 
 mosis or Amosis, which is the very middle of 
 his twenty-five years' reign; so that this abo- 
 lition of human sacrifices in Egypt, and sub- 
 stitution of others in their room, seems to have 
 been occasioned by the solemn prohibition 
 of such a sacrifice in the case of Abraham, 
 and by the following substitution of a ram 
 in its stead: which account of this raatternot 
 ■f A pud AJarsb. p. 3UL 
 
844 
 
 DISSERTATION HI. 
 
 only takes avray the groundless suspicions of direct occasion of putting a stop to the bar- 
 tr.e moderns, but shows the great seasonable- barity of the Egyptians in offering humio 
 ness of the divine prohibition of the execution j sacrifices, and that for many, if not ior all 
 01 tois command to Abraham, as probably the | generations afterwards. 
 
 DISSERTATION III. 
 
 TACITUS'S ACCOUNTS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE JEWISH NATION, AN1> 
 OF THE PARTICULARS OF THE LAST JEWISH WAR; THAT THE 
 FORMER WAS PROBABLY WRITTEN IN OPPOSITION TO JOSE- 
 PHUS'S ANTIQUITIES, AND THAT THE LATTER WAS FOR CER- 
 TAIN ALMOST ALL DIRECTLY TAKEN FROM JOSEPHUS'S HISTORY 
 OF THE JEWISH WAR. 
 
 Since Tacitus, the famous Roman historian, 
 has written more largely and professedly 
 about the origin of the Jewish nation, about 
 the chorography of Judea, and the last Jewish 
 war under Cestius, Vespasian, and Titus, than 
 any other old Roman historian : and since 
 both Josephus and Tacitus were in favour 
 with the same Roman emperors, — Vespasian, 
 Titus, and Domitian; and since Tacitus was 
 Hn eminent pleader and writer of history at 
 Home during the time, or not long after, our 
 Josephus had been there studying the Greek 
 language, reading the Greek books, and 
 writing his own works in the same Greek lan- 
 guage, which language was almost univer- 
 sally known at Rome in that age; and since 
 therefore it is next to impossible to suppose 
 that Tacitus could be unacquainted with the 
 writings of Josephus, it cannot but be highly 
 proper to compare their accounts of Judea, of 
 the Jews, and Jewish affairs, together. Nor is 
 it other than a very surprising paradox to me, 
 how it has been possible for learned men, 
 particularly for the several learned editors of 
 Josephus and .Tacitus, to be so very silent 
 about this matter as they have hitherto been, 
 especially when not only the correspondence 
 ot the authors as to time and place, but the 
 likeness of the subject matter and circum- 
 stances, is so often so very remarkable: nay, 
 indeed, since many of the particular facts be- 
 longed peculiarly to the region of Judea, and 
 to the Jewish nation, and are such as could 
 hardly be taken by a foreigner from any other 
 author than from our Josephus, — this strange 
 Kiler.ce is almost unaccountable, if not inex- 
 cusable. The tv\ooiiiy other writers vvhou) we 
 know of, from whom Jewish affairs might be 
 supposed to be taken by Tacitus, who never 
 appears to have been in Judea himself, are 
 Justus of Tiberias, a Jewish historian, cootsm- 
 
 porary with Josephus, and one Antonius Julia- 
 nus, once mentioned by Minutius Felix, in hi* 
 Octavius (sect. 33), as having written on the 
 same subject with Josephus, and both already 
 mentioned by me on another occasion (Dis- 
 sert. I.) As to Justus of Tiberias, he could 
 not be the historian whence Tacitus took his 
 Jewish affairs; because, as we have seen in 
 the place just* cited, the principal passage in 
 Tacitus of that nature, concerning Christ and 
 his sufferings, under the emperor Tiberius, 
 and by his procurator Pontius Pilate, was not 
 there, as we know from the testimony of Pho- 
 tius (Cod. xxx); — and as to Antonius Juli- 
 anus, his very name shows him to have been 
 not a Jew, but a Roman. He is never men- 
 tioned by Josephus; and so probably knew 
 no more of the country or affairs of Judea 
 than Tacitus himself. He was, I suppose, 
 rather an epitomizer of Josephus, and not so 
 early as Tacitus, than an original historian 
 himself before him. Nor could so exact a 
 writer as Tacitus ever take up with such poor 
 and almost unknown historians as these were, 
 while Josephus's seven books of the Jewish 
 War were then so common ; were in such 
 great reputation at Rome; were attested to, 
 and recommended, by Vespasian and Titus, 
 the emperors, by king Agrippa, and king 
 Archelaus, and Herod king of Cbalcis; and 
 he was there honoured with a statue; and 
 these his books were reposited in the public 
 library at Rome, as we know from Josephus 
 himself, from Eusebius, and Jerome, while we 
 never hear of any other history of the Jews 
 that had then and there any such attestationa 
 or recommendations. Some things intieed 
 Tacitus wight take tioiu the Rouiun records 
 of this war. 1 mean from the Cuuinientaries 
 of Ves{)asian, which are mentioned by Jose- 
 phus himself, in biii own Lite (ticct. 65> 
 
DISSERTATION III. 
 
 845 
 
 and some others from the relations of Roman 
 people, where the affairs of Rome were con- 
 cerned: as also other affairs might be remem- 
 bered by old officers and soldiers that had been 
 in the Jewish war. Accordingly I still suppose 
 that Tacitus had some part of his information 
 these ways, and particularly where he a little 
 differs from or makes additions to Josephus: 
 but then as this will all reach no farther than 
 three or four years during this war, so will it 
 by no means account for that abridgment of 
 the geography of the country, and entire 
 series of the principal facts of history thereto 
 relating, which are in Tacitus, from the days 
 of Antiochus Epiphanes, two hundred and 
 forty years before that war, with which Anti- 
 ochus both Josephus and Tacitus begin their 
 distinct histories oi the Jews, preparatory to 
 the hisitory of this last war. Nor could Taci- 
 tus take the greatest part of those earlier 
 tacts belonging to the Jewish nation from the 
 days of Moses, or to Christ and the Christians 
 in the days of Tiberius, from Roman authors; 
 of which Jewish and Christian affairs those 
 authors had usually very little knowledge, and 
 which the heathen generally did grossly per- 
 vert and shamefully falsify; and this is so 
 true as to Tacitus's own accounts of the ori- 
 gin of the Jewish nation, that the reader may 
 almost take it for a constant rule, that when 
 Tacitus contradicts Josephus's Jewish Anti- 
 quities, he either tells direct falsehoods, or 
 truths so miserably disguised as renders them 
 little better than falsehoods, and hardly ever 
 lights upon any thing relating to them that 
 is true and solid, but when the same is in 
 those Antiquities at this day: — of which 
 matters more will be said in the notes on this 
 history immediately following. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 BOOK V. CHAP, II. 
 
 Since we are now going to relate the final 
 period of this famous city [Jerusalem], it 
 seems proper to give an account of its origi- 
 nal.* — The tradition is, that the Jews ran 
 away from the island of Crete, and settled 
 themselves on the coast of Xibya, and this at 
 the time when Saturn was driven out of his 
 kingdom by the power of Jupiter: an argu- 
 ment for it is fetched from their name. The 
 mountain Ida is famous in Crete; and the 
 neighbouring inhabitants are named Idcei, 
 which, with a barbarous augment, becomes 
 the name of Judai [Jews]. Some say they 
 were a people that were very nunierous in 
 Egypt, under the reign of Isis; and that the 
 Egyptians got free from that burden, by 
 
 • Most of these stories are so entirely e:roundle8Si and 
 no contradictory to one another, that tliey do ii .f (iest-rw 
 a serious ct.ni'.itdUon. It is stranjce Tacitus could \\<-<- 
 fc^ade bim.seif ihus cmdely to set tht-m down. 
 
 sending them into the adjacent countries, under 
 their captains Hierosolymus and Judas. The 
 greatest part say they were those Ethiopians 
 whom fear and hatred obliged to change their 
 habitationsjin the reign of king Cepheus.'' There 
 are those who report that they wtfre Assyrians, 
 who, wanting lands, got together, and obtained 
 part of Egypt, and soon afterward settled 
 themselves in cities of their own, in the land 
 of the Hebrews, and the parts of Syria that 
 lay nearest to them.° Others pretend their 
 origin to be more eminent, and that the 
 Solymi, a people celebrated in Homer's poems, 
 were the founders of this nation, and gave, 
 this their own name Hierosolyma to the city 
 which they built there."* 
 
 Chap. III.] Many authors agree, that 
 when once an infectious distemper was arisen 
 in Egypt, and made men's bodies impure, 
 Bocchoris, their king, went to the oracle of 
 [Jupiter] Hammon, and begged he would 
 grant him some relief against this evil, and 
 that he was enjoined to purge his nation of 
 them, and to banish this kind of men into 
 other countries, as hateful to the gods.« That 
 when he had sought for, and gotten them all 
 together, they were left in a vast desert: that 
 hereupon the rest devoted themselves to weep- 
 ing and inactivity; but one of those exiles, 
 Moses by name, advised them to look for no 
 assistance from any of the gods, or from any 
 of mankind, since they had been abandoned by 
 both, hut bade them believe in him, as in a 
 celestial leader,* by whose help they had 
 already gotten clear of their present miseries. 
 They agreed to it; and though they were unac- 
 quainted with every thing, they began their 
 journey at random; but nothing tired them 
 so much as the want of water; and now they 
 laid themselves down on the ground to a great 
 extent, as just ready to perish, when a herd 
 of wild asses came from feeding, and went 
 to a rock overshadowed by a grove of trees. 
 Moses followed them, as conjecturing that 
 there was [thereabouts] some grassy soil, and 
 so he opened large sources of water for 
 them.8 That was an ease to them; and when 
 they had journeyed continually six*^ entire 
 
 b One would wonder how Tacitus, or any heathen, 
 could suppose the African Ethiopians under Cepheus, 
 who are known to be blacks, could be the parents ol the 
 Jews, w6o are known to be whites. 
 
 e 'I'his account comes nearest the truth, and this 
 Tacitus might have from Josephus, only disguised by 
 himself. 
 
 ^ This Tacitus might have out of Josephus, Antiq. 
 b. vii ch. iii sect. 2, 
 
 • Strange doctrine to Josephus .' who truly obser'^'-s on 
 this occasion, that the gods are angry, not at bodily imper- 
 fections, but at wicked practices. Apion, b. i. sect. •iH. 
 
 f This believing in nloses as in a celestial Uader, 
 seem!> a blind coiilession of Tacitus that Moses processed 
 to have his laws Iroin ftod. 
 
 B Tliis looks also like a plain confession of 7-citus, 
 that Moses brought the Jews water out of a rock in great 
 plenty, whicb he might have from Josephus, Antiq. b. iii. 
 ch i. stcL 7. 
 
 o Strange indeed.' that 600,000 men should travel 
 ab ve iOO miles, over the deserts of Arabia, in six days, 
 and cui.quer Judea on the seventh. 
 
846 
 
 DISSERTATION III. 
 
 days, on the seventh day they drove out the 
 inhabitants, and obtained those lands wherein 
 their city and temple were dedicated. 
 
 Chap. IV.] As for Moses, in order to se- 
 cure the nation firmly to himself, be ordained 
 new rites, and such as were contrary to those 
 o^ otner men. AH things are with them pro- 
 fane which with us are sacred : and, again, 
 those practices are allowed among them which 
 are by us esteemed most abominable.* 
 
 They place the image of that animal in 
 their most holy place, by whose indication it 
 was that they had escaped their wandering 
 coodition and their thirst.'' 
 
 They sacrifice rams by way of reproach to 
 [Jupiter] Hammon. An ox is also sacrificed, 
 which the Egyptians worship under the name 
 of Apifi^ 
 
 They abstain from swine's flesh, as a me- 
 morial of that miserable destruction which the 
 mange, to which that creature is liable, 
 brought on them, and with which they 'had 
 been defiled."" 
 
 That they had endured a long famine 
 they attest still by their frequent fastings:" 
 and that they stole the fruits of the earth, we 
 have an argument from the bread of the 
 Jews, which is unleavened.® 
 
 It is generally supposed that they rest on 
 the seventh day;P because that day gave them 
 [the first] rest from their labours. Besides 
 which, they are idle on every seventh year,<i 
 IS being pleased with a lazy life. Others say 
 that they do honour thereby to Saturn ; ' or 
 perhaps the Idiei gave them this part of their 
 religion, who [as we said above] were expell- 
 ed, together with Saturn, and who, as we 
 have been informed, were the founders of this 
 nation; or else it was because the star Saturn 
 moves in the highest orb, and of the seven 
 planets exerts the principal part of that energy 
 
 ' 'I'his is not true in general, but only so far, that the 
 Israelites were by circurnci:sion and other rites to be 
 kept separate Irom the wicked and idolatrous nations 
 about tiieiu 
 
 k I his strange story contradicts what the same Taci- 
 tus wiil tell us presently, that when Ponipey went into 
 the holy of holies he tound no image there. 
 
 > Thetie are only guesses of Tacitus, or of bis heathen 
 authors, but no more. 
 
 ■n Such memorials of what must have been very re- 
 proachlul, are straiiG;ers to the rest of mankind, and 
 witliuut amy probability. 
 
 n Tlie Jews had but one solemn fast of old in t>>e 
 whole year, — the threat day oi expintioo. 
 
 Unleavened bread was only used at the Passover. 
 
 p It is very strange thai Tacitus should not know or 
 confess that the Jews' seventh day and severilh year ot 
 rent were in memory of the seventh or Sabbath dayte 
 resi, aitrr the six days of creation. Lveiy Jew, as well 
 as rvery Cbrisliau, could have informed him of those 
 matters. 
 
 <* A strange hypothesia of the origin of the Sabbatic 
 year, and withuut all KU(>d foundation. Tacitus pio- 
 baoiy hud never heard ol the Jews' year oj Jubilee; so 
 Oe says uothint; ol it. 
 
 ' As if the Jews in the days of Moses, or long before, 
 knew that the Greeks and Honians would long after- 
 ward call the sevenih day ot the week Saturn't day; 
 wfiich l)io observes was not so called in old tim»'j and 
 it «k a qursaou, whether, before the Jews felt into ido- 
 latry, tticy ever heard ot such a »lpr ' god as ^aturn. 
 V. a6j ActsviL -a. 
 
 whereby mankind are governed; and indeed 
 the most of the heavenly bodies exert their 
 power and perform their courses according 
 to the number Seven.* 
 
 Chap. V.] These writes, by what manner 
 soever they were first begun, are supported 
 by their antiquity.* The rest of their institu- 
 tions are awkward," impure, and got ground 
 by their pravity ; for every vile fellow, des- 
 pising the rites of his forefathers, brought 
 thither their tribute and contributions, by 
 which means the Jewish commonwealth was 
 augmented ; and because among themselves 
 there is an unalterable fidelity and kindness 
 always ready at hand, but bitter enmity to- 
 wards all others;" they are a people separated 
 from all others in their food and in their 
 beds; though they be the lewdest nation 
 upon earth, yet will they not corrupt foreign 
 women,y though nothing be esteemed unlaw- 
 ful among themselves.' ; 
 
 They have ordained circumcision of the 
 part used in generation, that they may there- 
 by be distinguished from other people. The 
 proselytes to their religion have the same 
 usage.* 
 
 They are taught nothing sooner than to 
 despise the gods, to renounce their country, 
 and to have their parents, children, and bre- 
 thren in the utmost contempt;** but still they 
 take care to increase and multiply, for it ia 
 esteemed utterly unlawful to kill any of theii 
 children. 
 
 They all look on the souls of those that 
 die in battl^, or are put to death for their 
 crimes, as eternal. Hence comes their love 
 of posterity and contempt of death. 
 
 They derive their custom of burying," 
 instead of burning their dead, from the Egyp- 
 tians; they have also the same care of the 
 dead with them, and the same persuasion 
 about the invisible world below; but of the 
 gods above, their opinion is contrary to theirs. 
 The Egyptians worship abundance of animals, 
 and images of various sorts. 
 
 • That the sun, moon, and stars rule over the aflairs 
 pf mankind, was a heathen, and not a Jewish notion; 
 neither Jews nor Christians were permitted to deal in 
 astrolop, though Tacitus seems to have been deep ii. it. 
 
 t This acknoMlediiment of the antiquity of IVloses, and 
 of his Jewish settlement, was what the heathen cared 
 not always to own. 
 
 " VV hilt these pretended awkward and impure institu- 
 tions were, 'I'acitus does not inform us. 
 
 * Josephus shows the contrary, as to the laws of 
 Moses, Apion, b. ii. sect. 22. 
 
 y A high, and, I doubt,a false commendation of the Jews. 
 
 » An entirely false character, and contrary to their 
 many laws against uncleanness. bee Josephus, Antiq. 
 b iii. ch. xi. sect. I'i. 
 
 •The proselytes of justice only, not the proselytes of 
 the gate. 
 
 >> How does this agree with that unalterable fidelity 
 and kindness which Tacitus told us the Jews had 
 towards one another t* — unless he only means that they 
 preferred the divioe commands betbre their nearest 
 relations, which is the highest degree of Jewish and 
 (Jhiistian piety. 
 
 c This custom is at least as old among the Hebrews 
 as the days of Abraham and the cave of Machphela, long 
 i>efore the Israelites went into tgypt. Gen. xxiii. l— 
 l«i: aud XXV. U— 10. 
 
DISSERTATION III. 
 
 847 
 
 The Jews have no notion of any more than 
 one Diviije Being;'* and that known only by 
 the mind. They esteem such to be profane 
 who frame images of gods out of perishable 
 matter, and in the shape of men; that this 
 Being is supreme and eternal, immutable 
 and unperishable, is their doctrine. Accord- 
 itigly, they have no images in their cities, 
 «nuch less in their temples: they never grant 
 this piece of flattery to kings, or this kind of 
 honour to emperors.* But because their 
 priests, when they play on the pipe and the 
 timbrels, wear ivy round their head, and a 
 golden vine has been found in their tem- 
 ple,' ipme have thought that they worshipped 
 our father Bacchus, the conqueror of the 
 East; whereas the ceremonies of the Jews do 
 not at all agree with those of Bacchus, for he 
 appointed rites that were of a jovial nature, 
 and fit for festivals, while the practices of the 
 Jews are absurd and sordid. 
 
 Chap. VL] The limits of Judea easterly 
 are bounded by Arabia; Egypt lies on the 
 south; on the west are Phajnicia and the 
 [Great] Sea. They have a prospect of Syria 
 on their north quarter, as at some distance 
 from them.ff 
 
 The bodies of the men are healthy, and 
 such as will bear great labours. 
 
 They have not many showers of rain: their 
 soil is very fruitful; the produce of their 
 land is like ours, in great plenty.** 
 
 They have also, besides ours, two trees pecu- 
 liar to themselves, the balsam-tree and the 
 palm-tree. Thtir groves of palms are tall 
 and beautifuL The balsam-tree is not very 
 large. As soon as any branch is swelled, 
 the veins quake as for fear, if you bring an 
 iron knife to cut them. They are to be 
 opened with the broken piece of a stone, or 
 with the shell of a fish. The juice is useful 
 in physic. 
 
 Libanus is their principal mountain, and 
 is very high; and yet, what is very strange 
 to be related, it is always shadowed with trees, 
 and never free fvom snow. The same moun- 
 tain supplies the river Jordan with water, 
 and affords it its fountains also. Nor is this 
 
 <• These are very valuable concessions which Tacitus 
 bere makes as to the unspotted piety of the Jewish 
 nation, in the worship of o[i« intinite invisible God, and 
 absolute rejectiaa of all idolatry, and of ali worship of 
 iinaues; nay. of the ima^e of the em^>eror Caius hiaiself, 
 or of attording it a place in their temple. 
 
 • All these concessions were to be learned from Jose- 
 phus, and almost ooiy from him; out of whom, there- 
 fore, i conclude Tacitus took the tinest part of his cha- 
 racter of the Jews. 
 
 ' This particular fact, that there was a G;olden vine in 
 the front of the Jewish temple, wa.", in all probability, 
 taken by Tacitus out of Jusephus; but as th« Jewish 
 priests were never adorned with icy, the siini&l of Bac- 
 chus,— bow Tacitus came to imatjipie this I cannot tell. 
 
 « "See the chorography of Judea in J< sephus. Of th*- 
 War, biii.ch.iiL whence most probably Tacitus framed 
 this short abridkcment of it. It comes in both authors 
 UHturaliV before Vespasian's Hrst campaign. 
 
 •« The latter brancli o: this, lacitus mit^ht have from 
 Jow'phus ((»f the War, k^ iii. < ti. iiu sect. 2, 3, 4}} the 
 •t.'ier ii aol m the preseni copies. 
 
 Jordan carried into the sea: it passes thronrV 
 one and a second lake undiminished; hut : 
 is stopped by the third.* 
 
 This third lake is vastly great in cironni- 
 ference, as if it were a sea.'' It is ot an tl 
 taste; and is pernicious to the adjoining jni 
 bitants by its strong smell. The wind riu 
 no waves there, nor will it maiutaUi en i 
 fishes or such birds as use the water. 1' 
 reason is uncertain, but the fact i^ thus, tli 
 bodies cast into it are borne up as by st'i' 
 what solid. Those who can, and those wi. 
 cannot swim, are equally borne up \> 
 it.' At a certain time of the year" it ca ■ 
 out bitumen; the manner of gathering i 
 like other arts, has been tauj^ht by experieji.- 
 The liquor is of its own nature, of a bU 
 colour; and, if you pour vinegar upon it, , 
 clings together, and swim? on the top. Tho 
 whose business it lb, take it in their haii< 
 and pull it into the upper parts of the sh 
 after which it follows, without farther atn . 
 tion, and tills the ship full, till you cut it off, .;• 
 
 I can you cut it off either with a brass or an n . 
 
 j instrument; but it canruit bear the toucL 
 
 i blood, or of a cloth wet with the menstiu. 
 
 I purgations of women, as the ancient autuoi 
 say; but those that are acqu.^inted with th 
 place assure us that these waves of bitudic. 
 are driven along, and by the hand drawn t 
 the shore, and that when they are dried by th 
 warm steams from the earth, and the foie 
 of the sun, they are cut in pieces with a\. 
 and wedges, as timber and stones are cut i 
 pieces. 
 
 Chap. VII.] Not far from this lake ai. 
 those plains, which are related to have been « 
 old fertile, and to have had many cities" fu. 
 of people, but to have been burnt up by 
 stroke of lightning: it is also said tfiat t 
 footsteps of that destruction still remain; ,.•. 
 that the earth itself appears as burnt ear 
 and has lost its natural fertility; and tha' 
 an argument thereof, all the plants that gi! 
 of their own accord, or are planted by i 
 hand, whether they arrive at the degree ni 
 herb, or of a flower, or at complete matun 
 become black and empty, and, as it wei 
 vanish into ashes. As for myself, as 
 am willing to allow that these once famoit 
 
 1 These accounts of Jordan, <^ the fountains derivt-o 
 fro(U mount Liiiauus, and of the two lakes it runs thronnu. 
 ai.d its stoppai;e by the th.rd, are exactly agreeabte t 
 Josephiis, Of the War, b, iiu ch x. sect. 7, 8. 
 
 k No less than five hundred and eiguty furlongs Ion 
 and one hunored and titty broad, in Josepbus, Ot ih> 
 War, b. V. ch. viiL sect 4. 
 
 1 *>trabo sajs, that a man could not sink into t^t- 
 water of tnis lake so deep as the navel. 
 
 <» Josephu never says t.iat this bitumen was ca^t ur 
 at a certain time of the year only; and Strabo says tft 
 direct contrary; but Piiny aurees with lacitus. 
 
 ° Tliis is exactly according to Josepbus, and mu«< 
 have been taken rom iii:u in the place fore-citedt a«i<' 
 thiit, particularly, because it is peculiar t» him, so tar a- 
 I know, in alt antiquity. The rest thought the citif 
 were in the very same i^lace where now the lake is; hi" 
 Ju!«plius aid Facitus Ka> they were in its neighbuut 
 bouu only; which is .>lr. Kelaad's upinioa also. 
 
848 
 
 DISSERTATION III, 
 
 cities were burnt by fire from heaven, so 
 vould I suppose that the earth is infected 
 •vith the vapour of the lake, and the spirit 
 j_or air] that is over it thereby corrupted, 
 and that by this means the fruits of the 
 earth, both corn and grapes, rot away, both 
 the soil and the air being equally unwhole- 
 -.orae. 
 
 The river Belus does also run into the sea 
 ot Judea; and the sands that are collected 
 • oout its mouth, when you mix nitre with 
 iiem, are melted into glass : this sort of 
 ■ jore is but small, but its sand, for the use 
 t those that carry it off, is inexhaustible. 
 
 Chap. VIIL] A great part of Judea is 
 
 oinposed of scattered villages; it also has 
 
 irger towns; Jerusalem is the capital city of 
 
 he whole nation. In that city there was a 
 
 .'inple of immense wealth ; in the first parts 
 
 nat are fortified is the city itself; next it the 
 
 .)yal palace. The temple is enclosed in its 
 
 most inward recesses. A Jew can come no 
 
 f jrther than the gates; all but the priests are 
 
 excluded by their threshold. While the East 
 
 was under the dominion of the Assyrians, 
 
 the Medes, and the Persians, the Jews were 
 
 of all slaves the most despicable.** 
 
 After the dominion p of the Macedonians 
 prevailed, king Antiochus tried to conquer 
 their superstition, and to introduce the cus- 
 toms of the Greeks; but he was disappointed 
 of his design, which was to give this most 
 profligate nation a change for the better ; and 
 that was by his war with the Parthians, for 
 at this time Arsaces had fallen off [from the 
 Macedonians]. Then it was that the Jews 
 set kings over them, because the Macedonians 
 were become weak, the Parthians were not 
 yet very powerful, and the Ronians were very 
 remote ; which kings, when they had been 
 expelled by the mobility of the vulgar, and 
 had recovered their dominion by war, at- 
 tempted the same things that kings used to do, 
 I mean they introduced the destruction of 
 cities, the slaughter of brethren, of wives, and 
 parents, but still went on in their supersti- 
 tion: for they took upon them withal the 
 honourable dignity of the high-priesthood, as 
 
 firm security to their power and authority. 
 
 Chap. IX.] The first of the Romans that 
 conquered the Jews was Cneius Pompeius, 
 who entered the temple by right of victory. 
 Thence the report was everywhere divulged, 
 that therein was no image of a god, but an 
 empty place, and mysteries, most secret 
 ulaces that have nothing in them. The 
 walls of Jerusalem were then destroyed, but the 
 *«eniple continued still. Soon afterward arose 
 A civil war among us; and when therein 
 tJnese provinces were reduced under Marcus 
 
 • A great slander against the Jews, without any just 
 ^udatiun. Josephus would liave iiilormed him better. 
 
 • Here begin Josrphus's and 'J'acitus's true accuinits 
 at tiie Jews preliminary to the last war. 8e« uf Uie War, 
 
 9ia, sect 7. 
 
 Antonius, Pacorus, king of the Parthians, 
 got possession of Judea, but was himself slain 
 by Paulus Ventidius, and the Parthians were 
 driven beyond Euphrates ; and for the Jews, 
 Caius Sosius subdued them. Antonius 
 gave the kingdom to Herod ; and when 
 Augustus conquered Antonius he still aug 
 mented it. 
 
 After Herod's death, one Simon, withou 
 waiting for the disposition of Caesar, too 
 upon him the title of Kiny, who was brough 
 to punishment by [or under] Quinctilius Va 
 rus, when he was president of S>ria. After- 
 ward the nation was reduced, and the children 
 of Herod governed it in three partition&;' 
 
 Under Tiberius the Jews had rest. After 
 some time, they were enjoined to place Caius 
 Caesar's statue in the temple ; but rathei 
 than permit that they took up arms;'! which 
 sedition was put an end to by the death of 
 Caesar. f 
 
 Claudius, after the kings were either dead 
 or reduced to smaller dominions, gave the 
 province of Judea to Roman knights, or to 
 freed-men, to be governed by them ; among 
 whom was Antonius Felix, one that exercised 
 all kind of barbarity and extravagance, as 
 if he had royal authority, but with the dis- 
 position of a slave. He had married Dru- 
 silla, the grand -daughter of Antonius: so 
 that Felix was the grand-daughter's husband, 
 and Claudius the grand- son of the same 
 Antonius. 
 
 ANNALS, BOOK XII. 
 
 But he that was the brother of PalLis, whose 
 surname was Felix, did not act with the same 
 moderation [as did Pallas himself]. He had 
 been a good while ago set over Judea, and 
 thought he might be guilty of all sorts of 
 wickedness with impunity while he relied on 
 so sure an authority. 
 
 The Jews had almost given a specimen of 
 sedition; and even after the death of Caius 
 was known, and they bad not obeyed his 
 command, there remained a degree of fear 
 lest some future' prince should renew that 
 command [for the settitig up the prince's 
 statue in their temple]; and in the mean time, 
 Felix, by the use of unseasonable ren)edies, 
 blew up the coals of sedition into a flame, 
 and was imitated by bis partner in the govern- 
 ment, Ventidius Cumanus, the country being 
 thus divided between them; that the nation 
 of the Galileans were under Cumanus, and 
 the Samaritans under Felix; which two na- 
 tions were of old at variance, but now, out of 
 
 q They came to I'etroniuo, the president of Syria, in 
 vast numbers; but without arms, and as humble sup- 
 plicants only. See Tacitus presfotly, » hf re he alier- 
 wartU sets tins matter almost riijiit, iUcoiiiiuK to Jose- 
 phus, and by wiiy ol ooireuiiou; lui iiml uccuiirit is \n 
 his AnoaW, wliicti viktk wriitt-n atlei this which is m 
 \x'u |tisu>rifs« 
 
DISSERTATION III. 
 
 849 
 
 contempt of their governors, did less restrain 
 their hatred; they then began to plunder one 
 another, to send in parties of robbers to lie in 
 wair, and sometimes to fight battles, and 
 withal to bring spoils and prey to the procu- 
 rators [Cumanus and Felix]. Whereupon 
 these procurators began to rejoice; yet when 
 the mischief grew considerable, sohliers were 
 sent to quiet them, but the soldiers were 
 killed; and the province had been in a flame 
 of war, had not Quadratus, the president of 
 Syria, afforded his assistance. Nor was it long 
 in dispute whether the Jews, who had killed 
 the soldiers in the mutiny, should be put to 
 death; it was agreed they should die, — only 
 Cuuianus and Felix occasioned a delay; for 
 Claudius, upon hearing the causes as to this 
 rebellion, had given [Quadratus] authority to 
 determine the case, even as to the procurators 
 themselves; but Quadratus showed Felix 
 among the judges, and took him into his seat 
 of judgment, on purpose that he might dis- 
 courage his accusers. So Cumanus was con- 
 demned for those flagitious actions,, of which 
 both he and Felix had been guilty, and peace 
 was restored to the province.'' 
 
 HISTOR. BOOK V. CHAP. X. 
 
 However, the Jews had patience till Ges- 
 sius Florus was made procurator. Under him 
 it was that the war began. Then Cestius 
 Callus, the president of Syria, attempted to 
 appease it, and tried several battles, but gene- 
 rally with ill success. 
 
 Upon his death,* whether it came by fate, 
 or that he was weary of his life, is uncertain, 
 Vespasian had the good fortune, by his repu- 
 tation, and excellent officers, and a victorious 
 army, in the space of two summers, to make 
 himself master of all the open country and 
 of all the cities, Jerusalem excepted. 
 
 [Flavius Vespasianus, whom Nero had 
 chosen for his general, managed the Jewish 
 war with three legions. Histor. b. i. ch. x.] 
 
 The next year, which was employed in a 
 civil war [at home], so far as the Jews were 
 concerned, passed over in peace. When Italy 
 was pacified, the care of foreign parts was 
 revived. The Jews were the only people that 
 stood out; which increased the rage of [the 
 Romans]. It was also thought most proper 
 that Titus should stay with the army, to pre- 
 vent any accident or misfortune which the new 
 government might be liable to. 
 
 [Vespasian had put an end to the Jewish 
 war; the siege of Jerusalem was the only 
 enterprise remaining, which was a work hard 
 and difficult; but rather from the nature of 
 
 r Here seems to be a great mistake about the Jewish 
 affairs in Tacitus. See of the W ar, book ii. chap. xii. 
 sect. 8. 
 
 • Josephus ?aj8 nothing of the death of Cestius; so 
 Ti'"itus seems to have koown uettuui^ in particuiar 
 toout it 
 
 the mountain and the obstinacy of tbe Jewish 
 superstition, than because the besieged had 
 strength enough to undergo the distresses [of a 
 siege]. We have already informed [the reader] 
 that Vespasian bad with him three legions, 
 well exercised in war. Histor. b. ii. ch. v.] 
 
 When Vespasian was a very young man, 
 it was promised him that he should arrive a 
 the very highest pitch of fame: but what di 
 first of all seem to confirm the omen, was hi 
 triumphs, and consulship, and the glory of 
 his victories over the Jews. When he had 
 once obtained these, he oelieved it was por- 
 tended that he should come to the empire.' 
 
 There is between Judea and Syria a moui»- 
 tain and a god, both called by the same name of 
 Carme/, though our predecessors have informed 
 us that this god had no image, and no temple, 
 and indeed no more than an altar and solemn 
 worship. Vespasian was once offering a sacri- 
 fice there, at a time when he had some secret 
 thought in his mind; the priest, whose name 
 was Basihdes, when he, over and over, looked 
 at the entrails, said, " Vespasian, whatever 
 thou art about, whether the building of thy 
 house or enlargement of thy lands, or augmen- 
 tation of thy slaves, thou art granted a mighty 
 seat, very large bounds, and a huge number of 
 men." These doubtful answers were soon 
 spread abroad by fame, and at the time were 
 explained; nor was any thing so much in pub- 
 lic vogue, and very many discourses of that 
 nature were made before him, and the more, 
 because they foretold what he expected. 
 
 Mucianus and Vespasian went away, hav- 
 ing fuliy agreed on their designs; the former 
 to Antiochj the latter to Cesarea. Antioch 
 is the capital of Syria, and Cesarea the capi- 
 tal of Judea. The commencement of Ves- 
 pasian's advancement to the empire was at 
 Alexandria, where Tiberius Alexander made 
 such haste, that he obliged the legions to take 
 the oath of fidelity to him on the kalends of 
 July, which was ever after celebrated as the 
 day of his inauguration, although" the army 
 in Judea had taken that oath on the fifth of 
 the Nones of July, with that eagerness, that 
 they would not stay for his son Titus, who 
 was then on the road, returning out of Syria, 
 chap. Ixxix. Vespasian delivered over the 
 strongest part of his forces to Titus, to enable 
 him to finish what remained of the Jewish 
 war. Histor. b. iv. ch. Ii. 
 
 During these months in which Vespasian 
 
 t Josephus takes notice in general of these many 
 omens ot Vespasian's advancement to the empire, and 
 distinctly adds his own remarkable prediction of it also. 
 Of the War, b. iii. ch. viii. sect. 3—9. 
 
 u This although seems to imply that V'spasiaa wa» 
 proclaimed emperor in Judea before he was proclaimed 
 at Alexandria, as the whole history of Josephus implies, 
 and the place where now Vespasian was, which was no 
 other than Judea, rt-quires also, though the inaugura- 
 tion-day might be celebrated a.'terward from his first 
 proclamation at the great city Alexandriai only then the 
 Nones or Ides in I'acitus and isuetonius mukL be of 
 J uue, and out of J uly. 
 
 a u 
 
850 
 
 DISSERTATION III, 
 
 ocTJttnued at Alexandria, waiting for the usual 
 set time of the summer gales of wind, and 
 staid for settled fair weather at sea, many 
 miraculous events happened; by which the 
 good- will of Heaven, and a kind of inclination 
 of the Deity in his favour was declared. 
 
 A certain man of the vulgar sort at Alex- 
 andria, vvell known for the decay of his eyes, 
 kneeled dovvn by him and greaned and beg- 
 ged of him the cure of his blindness, as by the 
 admonition of Serapis, the god which this su- 
 perstitious n »tion worships above others. He 
 also desired that the emperor would be pleased 
 to put so«ne of his spittle upon the balls of 
 his eyes. Another infirm man there, who 
 was lame of his hand, prayed Csesar, as by 
 the same god's suggestion, to tread upott him 
 with his foot. Vespasian at first began to 
 laugh at them and to reject them; and whei 
 they were instant with him, he sometimes 
 feared he should have the reputation of a vain 
 person, and sometimes, upon the solicitation 
 of the infirm, he flattered himself, and other: 
 flattered him, with the hopes of succeeding. 
 At last he ordered the physicians to give their 
 opinion, whether this sort of blindness and 
 lameness were curable by the art of man or 
 not? The physicians answered uncertainly, 
 that the one had not the visual faculty utterly 
 destroyed, and that it might be restored, if 
 the obstacles were removed: that the other's 
 limbs were disordered, but if a healing virtue 
 were made use of, they were capable of being 
 made whole. Perhaps, said thev, the gods 
 are willing to assist, and that the emperor is 
 chosen by divine interposition. However, 
 they said at last, that if the cureS succeeded, 
 Caesar would have the glory; if not, the. poor 
 miserable objects would only be laughed at. 
 "Whereupon Vespasian imagined that his good 
 fortune would be universal, and that nothing 
 on that account could be incredible; so he 
 looked cheerfully, and in the sight of the 
 multitude, who stood in great expectation, he 
 did what they desired him; upon which the 
 lame hand was recovered, and the blind man 
 saw immediately. Both these curts" are re- 
 lated to this day by those that were present, 
 and when speaking falsely will get no reward. 
 
 * The miraculoiiii cures done by Vespasian are attested 
 to both by Suetonius in Vespasian (sect. 7) and by Dio 
 (p. 217), and seem to me well attested. Our Sariour 
 seems to have overruled the heathen oracle itt Serapis 
 to procure the divine approbation to Vespasian's ad- 
 
 /ancpment to the empire of Rome, as he sui;E»»sted the 
 like approbation to the advancement both of Vespasian 
 and Titus to Josephus; which two were to be his 
 chosen instruments in brim^in^ on that terrible de- 
 struction upon the Jewish nation, which he ha<^ 
 Hireatened to execute by these Roman armies. Nor 
 could any other Roman generals than Vespasian and 
 Titus, at that time, in human probability, have pre- 
 vailel over the Jews, and destroyed Jerusalem, as this 
 whole history in Josephus implies. Josephus also 
 everywhere supposes Vespasian and Titus raised up to 
 command attains! Judea and .lernsalem. and t" govern 
 the Riimnn empire l»y Divine Providence, and nnt in 
 the ordinary wav; as also he always supfoten this de- 
 
 truction a diviue Judjfment on the Jews lor thf ir sins.; 
 
 BOOK v. CHAP. I. 
 
 At the beginning of the same year, Titus 
 Caesar, who was pitched upon by his father 
 to finish the conquest cf Judea, and. while 
 both he and bis father were private persons, 
 was celebrated for his martial conduct, acted 
 now with greater vigour and hopes of repu- 
 tation, the kind inclinations both of the 
 provinces and of the armies striving one with 
 another who should most encourage him. He 
 was also himself in a disposition to show that 
 he was more than equal to his fortune; atid 
 when he appeared in arms, he did all things 
 after such a ready and graceful way, treating- 
 all after such an affable manner, and with 
 such kind words, as invited the good- will 
 and good wishes of all. He appeared also in 
 his actions and in his place in the troops; he 
 mixed with the common soluiers, yet without 
 any stain to his honour as a general. y He 
 was received in Judea by three legions, the 
 fifth, and the tenth, and the fifteenth, who 
 were Vespasian's old soldiers. Syria also 
 aflforded him the twelfth, and Alexandria 
 soldiers out of the twenty-second and twenty- 
 third legions. Twenty cohorts of auxiliaries 
 accompanied, as also eight troops of horse.* 
 
 King Agrippa also was there, and king 
 Sohemus, and the auxiliaries of king Antio- 
 chus, and a strong body of Arabians, who, as 
 is usual in nations that are neighbours to one 
 another, went with their accustomed hatred 
 against the Jews, with many others out of the 
 city of Rome, as every one's hopes led him, ot 
 getting early into the general's favour, before 
 others should prevent them. 
 
 He entered into the borders of the enemy's 
 country with these forces, in exact order ol 
 war; and looking carefully about biro, and 
 being ready for battle, he pitched his camp 
 not far from Jerusalem. 
 
 Chap. X.] When therefore he had pitched 
 his camp, as we said just now, before the 
 walls of Jerusalem, he pompously showed his 
 legions ready for an engagement.* 
 
 Chap. XL] The Jews formed their camp 
 under the very walls'* [of the city]; and il 
 they succeeded, they resolved to venture far- 
 ther; but if they were beaten back, that was 
 their place of refuge. When a body of ca- 
 valry were sent against them,*' and with them 
 
 J This character of Titus afi;rees exactly with the 
 History of Josephus upon all occasions. 
 
 » These twenty cohorts and eij;ht troops of horse, are 
 not directly enumerated by Josephus, of the War, b. v. 
 ch. i. sect. 6. 
 
 » This word in Tacitus, pompously showed his legions, 
 looks as if that pompous show which was some months 
 afterward, in Josephus, ran in bis mind. Of the War, 
 il. V. ch. ix. sect. I. 
 
 b These first bickerings and battles near the walls of 
 Jerusalem, are at large in Josephus, of the War, b. v. 
 .-.h. 11 
 
 e Josephus disljnclly mentions these horsemen oi ca- 
 <-airy, six hundied in number, uinuiig whom I itus had 
 (.ke to have bien slaiu or taken prisoner, of the War, 
 b v. ch ii sect. I. U H 
 
Dissertation hi. 
 
 851 
 
 cohorts that weVe expedite and nimble, the 
 tight was doabtful; but soon afterwards the 
 enemies gave ground, and on the following 
 days there were frequent skirmishes before 
 the gates, till after many losses they were 
 driven into the city. The Romans then 
 betook themselves to the siege, for it did not 
 seem honourable to stay till the enemies 
 were reduced by famine.** The soldiers were 
 very eager to expose themselves to dangers; 
 part of them out of true valour, and many 
 out of a brutish fierceness, and out of a desire 
 of reward. 
 
 Titus had Rome, and the riches and plea- 
 sures of it, before his eyes; all which seemed 
 to be too long delayed, unless Jerusalem 
 could be soon destroyed. 
 
 The city stood on a high elevation,* and it 
 had great works and ramparts to secure it, 
 such indeed as were sufficientfor its fortification, 
 had it been on plain ground; for there were 
 two hills, of a vast height, which were enclosed 
 by walls made crooked by art, or [naturally] 
 bending inwards, that they might flank the 
 besiegers, and cast darts on them sideways. 
 The extreme parts of the rock were craggy, 
 and the towers, when they had the advantage 
 of the ground, were sixty feet high; when 
 they were built on the plain ground they 
 were not built lower than one hundred and 
 twenty feet: they were of uncommon beauty, 
 and to those who looked at them at a great 
 distance, they seemed equal. Other walls 
 there were beneath the royal palace, besides 
 the tower of Antonia, with its top particu- 
 larly conspicuous. It was called so by Herod, 
 in honour of Marcus Antonius. 
 
 Chap. XII.] The temple was like a cita- 
 del, having walls of its own, which had more ' 
 labour and pains bestowed on them than the 
 rest. The cloisters wherewith the temple 
 was enclosed were an excellent fortification, j 
 
 They had a fountain of water that ran per- 
 petually, and the mountains were hollowed | 
 under ground; they had moreover pools^ and 
 cisterns for the preservation of the rain-water. 
 
 They that built this city foresaw, that from 
 the difference of their conduct of life from 
 their neighbours, they should have frequent 
 wars; thence it came to pass that they had pro- 
 vision for a long siege. After Pompey's con- 
 quest also, their fear. and experience had taught 
 them generally what they should want.* 
 
 Moreover, the covetous temper that pre- 
 
 * Such a delib«ration and resolution, with this very 
 reason, that it would be dishonourable to stay till the 
 Jews were starved out by famine, is in Josephus, of the 
 War, b V. ch. xii. sect. 1. 
 
 • This description of the city Jerusalena, its two hills, 
 its three walls, and four towers, &c. are in this place at 
 lari;e 'u Josephus, of the W:ir, b.v. ch. iv. See also Pom- 
 pey's Siege, Antiq. b. xiv. ch. iv. sect. 2. 
 
 t Of these pools, see Joseptius, of the War, b. v. ch. xi. 
 •ect- 4. The cisterns are not mentioned by him here, 
 though they be mentioned by travellers. See Kelaud's: 
 Palestine, torn i. p -VH 
 
 f 1 his is Tacitus's or the Romans' own hypothesis, 
 ontjpDortPd by Josephus. 
 
 vailed under Claudius, gave the Jews an 
 opportunity of purchasing for money'' leave to 
 fortify Jerusalem; so they built walls in time 
 of peace, as if they were going to war, they 
 being augmented in number by those rude 
 multitudes of people that retired thither on 
 the ruin of the other cities; for every obsti- 
 nate fellow r'an away thither, and there becam 
 more seditious than before. 
 
 There were three captains, and as manjr 
 armies. Simon had the remotest and largest 
 parts of the walls under him. John, who was 
 also called Bar Gioras (the son of Gioras), had 
 the middle parts of the city under him: and 
 Eleazar had fortified the temple itself. John 
 and Simon were superior in multitude and 
 strength of arms, Eleazar was superior by his 
 situation, but battles, factions, and burnings, 
 were common to them all; and a great quan- 
 tity of corn was consumed by fire. After a 
 while, John sent some, who, under the pre- 
 tence of offering sacrifice, might slay Eleazar 
 and his body of troops, which they did, and 
 got the temple under their power. So the 
 city was now parted into two factions, until, 
 upon the coming of the Romans, this war 
 abroad produced peace between these that 
 were at home. 
 
 Chap. XIII.] Such prodigies' had hap- 
 pened, as this nation, which is superstitious 
 enough in its own way, would not agree to 
 expiate by the ceremonies of the Roman reli- 
 gion, nor would they atone the gods by sacri- 
 fices and vows, as these used to do on the like 
 occasions. Armies were seen to fight in the 
 sky, and their armour looked of a bright light 
 colour, and the temple shone with sudden 
 flashes of fire out of *the clouds. The doors 
 of the temple were opened on a sudden, and 
 a voice greater than human was heard, that 
 the gods were retiring, and at the same time 
 there was a great motion perceived, as if they 
 were going out of it, which some esteemed to 
 be causes of terror. The greater part had a 
 firm belief that it was contained in the old 
 sacerdotal books, that at this very time the 
 east would prevail, and that some that came 
 out of Judea should obtain the empire of the 
 world, which obscure oracle foretold Vespa- 
 sian and Titus; but the generality of tlie 
 common people, as usual, indulged their own 
 inclinations, and when they had once inter 
 preted all to forebode grandeur to themselves, 
 adversity itself could not persuade them 
 
 h This sale of leave for the Jews to build the walls ol 
 Jerusalem for money is also Tacitus's or the Romans' 
 own hypiilhesis, unsupported by Josephus. Nor is 
 Josephus's character of Claudius near so bad, as to other 
 thin<;s also, as it is in Tacitus and Suetonius. Dio says 
 he was far from covetousness in particular. The others 
 seem lo have misrepresented his meek and qviet temper 
 and learnin^r, but without ambition, and his tireat kind- 
 ness to the Jews as the most cotiteuiptible folly. See 
 Antiq. b xix. ch. iv. 8«»ct. 4. He was indeed much ruled 
 , at first by a very bad minister, Pall;iS; and at last w&k 
 I ruled and pois.ned by a very bad wife. A|;r<ppina 
 
 • These prod igiis and more are at large m Juaepbus, 
 of lh« War. b. vi. ch. t. sect 3. 
 
852 
 
 DISSERTATION III. 
 
 to cbange their minds, tbough it were from 
 falsehood to truth.'' 
 
 We have been informed, that the number 
 of the besieged, of every age and of both sexes, 
 male and female, was six hundred thousan(i.' 
 There were weapons for all that could carry 
 them; and more than could be expected, for 
 thfir number were bold enough to do so. 
 The men and the women were equally obsti- 
 nate; and when they supposed they were to 
 be carried away captive, they were more afraid 
 of life than of death. 
 
 Against this city and nation Titus Caesar 
 resolved to fight, by ramparts and ditches, 
 since the situation of the place did not admit 
 of taking it by storm or surprise. He parted 
 the duty among the legions; and there were 
 no fartbe engagements, until whatever had 
 been invented for the taking of cities by the 
 ancients, or by the ingenuity of the moderns, 
 was got ready. 
 
 ANNALS, BOOK XV. 
 
 Nero, in order to stifle the rumour [as if 
 he had himself set Rome on fire], ascribed it to 
 those people who were hated for their wicked 
 practices, and called by the vulgar Christians; 
 these he punished exquisitely. The author of 
 this name was Christ, who, in the reign of Ti- 
 oerius, was brought to punishment by Pontius 
 Pilate, the procurator.™ For the present 
 this pernicious superstition was in part sup- 
 pressed; but it brake out again, not only over 
 Judea, whence this mischief first sprang, but 
 in the city of Rome also, whither do run from 
 every quarter and make a noise, all the fla- 
 grant and shameful enormities. At first, 
 therefore, those were seized who confessed; 
 afterward a vast multitude were detected by 
 them, and were convicted, not so much as 
 really guilty of setting the city on fire, but 
 as bating all mankind ; nay, they made a 
 mock of them as they perished, and destroyed 
 them by putting them into the skins of wild 
 beasts, and setting dogs upon them to tear 
 them to pieces: some were nailed to crosses, 
 and others flamed to death; they were also 
 used in the night-time instead of torches for 
 illumination. Nero had offered his own gar- 
 dens for this spectacle. He also gave them 
 Circensian games, and dressed himself like 
 the driver of a chariot, sometimes appearing 
 among the common people, sometimes in the 
 
 k This interpretation, and the reflections upon it, are 
 in Josephus, of tbe War, b. vi. ch. v. sect 4. 
 
 I The number (iOO,(XX) for the besieged is nowhere in 
 Josephus, but is there for the poor buried at the public 
 charge, of the War, b. v. ch. xiii. ttect 7, which niii;ht 
 be about Ihe number of the besieged, under Cestius 
 Oallus, thmigh there were many more afterward at Ti- 
 tus's siege, as Josephus implies, of the War, b. vi. ch. ix. 
 sect -.i. 
 
 ■This passage seems to hare been directly taken 
 from JuseptiUH's famous testimony concerniiii; Christ 
 and the Cltri!itian>), Anti*]. b, xviii. ch. iii. sect. 3, of 
 Wbicb see Dissert I, before. 
 
 circle itself; whence a commiseration arose, 
 though the punishments were levelled at 
 guilty persons, and such as de!?erved to be 
 made the most flagrant examples, as if these 
 people were destroyed,— ^not for the publ:-; 
 advantage, but to satisfy the barbarous 
 humour of one man. 
 
 *J* Since I have set down all the vile 
 calumnies of Tacitus upon the Christians as 
 well as the Jews, it will be proper befo'-e I 
 come to my Observations, to set down two 
 heathen records in their, favour, and those 
 hardly inferior in antiquity, and ot nmch 
 greater authority than Tacitus; I mean Phny's 
 Epistle to Trajan when he was pro-consul of 
 Bithynia; with Trajan's Answer or rescript 
 to PUny, cited by Tertullian. Eusebius, and 
 Jerome. These are records ot so great esteem 
 with Havercamp, the last editor of Josephus, 
 that he thinks they not only deserve to be 
 read, but almost to be learned by heart ale<». 
 
 PLINY'S EPISTLE TO TRAJAN. 
 
 ABOUT A.D. 112. 
 SiB, 
 
 It is my constant method to apply 
 myself to you for the resoliition of all my 
 doubts; for who can bettef govern my dilatory 
 way of proceeding, or instruct my ignorance? 
 I have never been present at the examination 
 of the Christians [by others], on which ac- 
 count I am unacquainted with what uses to 
 be inquired into, and what, and how far 
 they used to be punished; nor are my doubts 
 small, whether there be not a distinetion to 
 be made between the ages [of the accused]? 
 and whether tender youth ought to have tbe 
 same punishment with strong men? Whether 
 there be not room for pardon upon repent- 
 ance?" or whether it may not be an advan- 
 tage to one that had been a Christian, that 
 he has forsaken Christianity? Whether the 
 bare name," without any crimes besides, or 
 the crimes adhering to that name, be to be 
 punished ? In the mean time, 1 have taken 
 this course about those who have been brought 
 before me as Christians. I asked them whe- 
 ther they were Christians or not ? If they 
 confessed that they were Christians, I asked 
 them again, and a third time, intermixing 
 threatenings with the questions. If they per- 
 severed in their confession, I ordered theia 
 to be executed ;P for I did not doubt but, lei 
 
 n Till now, it seems, repentance was not commonly 
 allowed those that had been once Christians ; t>ut, 
 thouG;b they recanted and returned to idolatry, yet were 
 they commonly put to death. This was persecution in 
 pertection .' 
 
 o This was the just and heavy complaint of the an- 
 cient Christians, that they commonly suffered (or that 
 bare name, without the pretence ot any crimes they 
 could prove against them, ibis was aUo persecuiiun 
 in perfection .' 
 
 p Amazing doctrine.' that a Arm and fixed resolation 
 of keeping a g<Mjd conscience should be thought without 
 dispute to deserve death, and this by such comparatively 
 excellent heathens as Pliny and Trajan 
 
DISSERTATION III. 
 
 80 
 
 their confession be of any sort whatsoever, 
 this positiveness and inflexible obstinacy 
 ♦Jeserved to be punished. There have been 
 some of this cnad sect whom I took notice of 
 in particular as Roman citizens, that they 
 might be sent to that city.^ After some 
 time, as is usual in such examinations, the 
 crime spread itself, and many more cases 
 came before me. A libel was sent to me, 
 though without an author, containing many 
 names [of persons accused]. These denied 
 that they were Christians now, or ever had 
 been. They called upon the gods, and sup- 
 plicated to your image,' which I caused to be 
 brought to me for that purpose, with frankin- 
 cense and wine; they also cursed Christ;' none 
 of which things, it is said, can any of those 
 that are really Christians be compelled to do 
 so I thought fit to let them go. Others of 
 them that were named in the libel, said they 
 were Christians, but presently denied it again; 
 that indeed they had been Christians, but had 
 ceased to be so, some three years, some many 
 more; and one there was that said he had 
 not been so these twenty years. All these 
 worshipped your image, and the images 
 of our gods; these also cursed Christ. How- 
 ever, they assured me that the main of 
 their fault, or of their mistake, was this: — 
 That they were wont, on a stated day, 
 to meet together before it was light, and to 
 sing a hymn to Christ, as to a god, alter- 
 nately; and to oblige themselves by a sacra- 
 ment [or oath], not to do any thing that was 
 ill; but that they would commit no theft, or 
 pilfering, or adultery; that they would not 
 break their promises, or deny what was 
 deposited with them, when it was required 
 back again; after which it was their custom i 
 to depart, arid to iiicei agdi:i at a. -jb.r.... 
 but innocent meal,* which they had ieft off 
 upon that edict which I published at your 
 command, and wherein I had forbidden any 
 such conventicles. These examinations made 
 nne think it necessary to inquire by torments 
 what the truth was; which I did of two 
 servant-maids, who were called Deaconesses: 
 but still I discovered no more than that 
 they were addicted to a bad and to an extra- 
 vagant superstition. Hereupon I have put off 
 any further examinations, and have recourse 
 to you, for the affair seems to be well 
 worth consultation, especially on account of 
 
 q This was the case of St. Paul, who, beinsf a citizen 
 of Rome, was allowed to "appeal unto Caesar;" and was 
 "sent to Rome" accordingly. Acts xxii. i5— i9; xxv. 
 23; xxvi. 3!>; xxvii. r 
 
 ' Amazing stupidity .' that the emperor's ima?e, even 
 whilt^ he waf alive, should be allowed capable of divine 
 worship, o\fi'. by such comparatively excellent heathens 
 as Pliny and Trajan. 
 
 • Take here a parallel arcount out of the Martyrdom 
 of Polycarp, sect 9. Th* proconsul said, " Keproach 
 Christ" Polycarp replied, " Kighty and six years have 
 1 now served Christ, and he has never done me the 
 least wroni;, how then can I blaspheme my Kint; and 
 my Saviour?" 
 
 I 1 his, most probably, must be some (eait of Charity, i 
 
 the number" of those that are in danger; for 
 there are many of every age, of every rank, 
 and of both sexes, who are now and hereafter 
 likely to be called to account, and to be in 
 danger; for this superstition is spread like a 
 contagion, not only into cities and towns, but 
 into country villages also, which yet there is 
 reason to hope may be stopped and corrected. 
 To be sure, the temples, which were altuost 
 forsaken, begin already to be frequented; and 
 the holy solemnities, which were long inter- 
 mitted, begin to be revived. The sacrifices 
 begin to sell well everywhere, of which very 
 few purchasers had of late appeared; whereby 
 it is easy to suppose ]iow great a multitude 
 of men may be amendai if place for repentance 
 be admitted. Jtt^ 
 
 TRAJAN'S EPISTLE TO PLINY. 
 
 My Pliny, 
 
 You have taken the method 
 which you ought in examining the causes of 
 those that had been accused as Christians, 
 for indeed no certain and general form of 
 judging can be ordained in this case. These 
 people are not to be sought for; but if they 
 be accused and convicted, they are to be 
 punished; but with this caution, that he who 
 denies himself to be a Christian, and makes 
 it plain that he is not so by supplicating to 
 our gods, although he had been so tormerly, 
 may be allowed pardon, upon his repentance. 
 As for libels sent without an author, they 
 ought to have no place in any accusation 
 whatsoever, for that would be a thing of very 
 ill' example, and not agreeable to my reign. 
 
 OBSSRYATIONS 
 
 UPON THE PASSAGES TAKEN OUT OF TACITUS, 
 
 I. We see here what a great regard the 
 best of the Roman historians of that age, 
 Tacitus, had to the history of Josephus, while 
 though he never names him, as he very rarely 
 names any of those Roman authors whence 
 he derives other parts of his history, yet does 
 it appear that he refers to his seven books of 
 the Jewish Wars several times in a very few 
 pages, and almost always depends on his 
 accounts of the affairs of the Romans and Par- 
 thians, as well as of the Jews, during no fewer 
 than 240 years, to which those books extend. 
 
 II. Yet does it appear that 'vhen he now 
 and then followed other historan." •>'■ '•eports 
 concerning the Romans, the Partnians, or the 
 
 o Some of late are very loth to believe that the Chris- 
 tians were numerous in the second century; but this is 
 such an evidence that they were very numerous, at least 
 in Bithynia, even in th« beginning of that century, as is 
 wholly undeniable. 
 
d&4 
 
 DISSERTATION III. 
 
 Jews, during that long interval, he was com- 
 monly mistaken in them, and had better have 
 kept dose to Josephus than hearken to any of 
 his other authors or informers. 
 
 III. It also appears highly probablp that 
 Tacitus had seen the Antiquities of Josephus, 
 and knew that the most part of the accounts 
 he produced of the origin of the Jewish na- 
 tion entirely contradicted those Antiquities. 
 He also could hardly avoid seeing that those 
 accounts contradicted one another also, and 
 were childish, absurd, and supported by no 
 good evidence whatsoever: as also, he could 
 hardly avoid seeing that Joseph us's accounts 
 in those Antiquities \^;ere authentic, substan- 
 tial, and thoroughly attested to by the ancient 
 records of that nation, and of the neighbour- 
 ing nations also, which indeed no one can 
 now avoid seeing, that carefully peruses and 
 considers them. 
 
 IV. Tacitus, therefore, in concealing the 
 greatest part of the true ancient history of the 
 Jewish nation, which lay before him in Jose- 
 phus, and producing such fabulous, ill-ground- 
 ed, and partial histories, which he had from 
 the heathens, acted a most unfair part; and 
 this procedure of his is here the more gross, 
 in regard he professes such great impartiality 
 (Hist. b. i. cb. i.), and is alloved indeed to 
 have observed that impartiality as to the 
 Roman affairs. 
 
 V. Tacitus's hatred and contempt of God's 
 peculiar people, the Jews, and his attachment 
 to the grossest idolatry, superstition, and 
 astral fatality of the Romans, were therefore 
 so strong in him, as to overbear all restraints 
 of sober reason and equity in the case of those 
 Jews, though he be allowed so exactly to have 
 followed them on other occasions relating to 
 the Romans. 
 
 VI. Since, therefore, Tacitus was so bitter 
 against the Jews, and since he knew that 
 Christ was a Jew himself, and that his apos- 
 tles, and first followers were Jews, and also 
 knew that the Christian religion was derived 
 into the Roman provinces from Judea, — it is 
 no wonder that his hatred and contempt of 
 the Jews extended itself to the Christians also, 
 whom the Romans usually confounded with 
 the Jews; as therefore his hard words of the 
 Jews appear to have been generally ground- 
 less, arid hurt his own reputation instead of 
 theirs, so ought we to esteem his alike hard 
 words of the Christians to be blots upon his 
 own ri.&'-ii:ter, and not upon theirs. 
 
 VJl. J«ince therefore Tacitus, soon after 
 the t;ufciication of Joseph us's Antiquities, 
 
 and in contradiction to them, was determined 
 to produce such idle stories about the Jews, 
 and since one of those idle stories is much 
 the same with that published in Josephus, 
 against Apion, from Maiiethoand Lysimachus, 
 and nowhere else met with so fully in all an- 
 tiquity, it is most probable that those Antiqui- 
 ties of Josephus were the very occasion of 
 Tacitus giving us these stories; as we know 
 from Josephus himself, against Apion, b. i. 
 sect. 1, that the same Antiqjities were the 
 very occasion of Apion's publication of his 
 equally scandalous stories about them, and 
 which Josephus so thoroughly confuted in 
 these two books, written against him; and if 
 Tacitus, as I suppose, had also read these two 
 books, his procedure in publishing such stories 
 after he had seen so thorough a confutation 
 of them, was still more highly criminal. Nor 
 will Tacitus's fault be much less, though we 
 suppose he neither saw the Antiquities, nor 
 the books against Apion: because it was very 
 easy for him, then at Rome, to have had more 
 authentic accounts, of the origin of the Jewish 
 nation, and of the nature of the Jewish and 
 Christian religions, from the Jews and 
 Christians themselves, who he owns were 
 very numerous there in his days; so that his 
 publication of such idle stories is still utterl)) 
 inexcusable. 
 
 VIII. It is therefore very plain, after all, 
 that notwithstanding the enconjiums of several 
 of our learned critics upon Tacitus, and hard 
 suspicions upon Josephus, all the (involun- 
 tary) mistakes of Josephus, in all his large 
 works put together, their quality as well as 
 quahtitif considtied, do not amount to near so 
 great a sum as do these gross errors and mis- 
 representations of Tacitus about the Jews 
 amount to in a few pages; so little reason 
 have some of our later and lesser critics to 
 prefer the Greek and Roman historians and 
 writers to the Jewish, and particularly to 
 Josephus. Such later and lesser critics shoidd 
 have learned more judgment and modesty 
 from their great father Joseph Scaliger, wiien, 
 as wehaveseen, afterallhisdeeper inquiries \h- 
 solemnly pronounces {^De Emend. Temp. Pro- 
 Icyom. p. 17), that "Josephus was the must 
 diligent and the greatest lover of truth of all 
 writers;" and is not afraid to affirm, that 
 " it is more safe to believe him not only as to 
 the affairs of the Jews, but also as to those that 
 are foreign to them, than all the Greek and 
 Latin writers; and this because his fidelit\ 
 and compass of learning are everywhere 
 conspicuous." 
 
TABLE 
 
 OVTfiB 
 
 JEWISH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 PaTticularly of those mentioned in Josephus s Woris, 
 
 OF THE J£WISH MEASURES OF LENGTH. 
 
 Oubit, the standard , 
 Zereth or large span 
 Small span 
 
 Palm of hand's breadth 
 Inch or thumb's breadth 
 Digit or finger's breadth 
 Orgyia or fathom 
 Ezekiel's Canneh or reed 
 Arabian Cannah or pole 
 Schcenus, line or chain 
 Sabbath-day's journey . 
 Jewish mile 
 Stadium or furlong 
 Parasang 
 
 Inchek 
 
 21 
 10.5 
 
 7 
 
 3.5 
 
 1.16 
 
 .875 
 
 84 
 
 126 
 
 168 
 
 1680 
 
 42000 
 
 84000 
 
 8400 
 
 252000 
 
 re«t. 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 14 
 
 140 
 
 3500 
 
 7000 
 
 700 
 
 21000 
 
 9 
 lOi 
 
 7 
 
 ^ 
 
 1.16 
 
 .87.^ 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 OF THE JEWISH MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 
 
 Bath or Epha . • . 
 
 Corns or Chomer 
 
 Seah or Saton . 
 
 Ditto, according to Josephus 
 
 Hin .... 
 
 Ditto, according to Josephus 
 
 Omer or Assaron 
 
 Cab 
 
 Log .... 
 
 Metretes or Syrian firkin 
 
 Cub. Inches. 
 
 807.274 
 8072.74 
 269.091 
 828.28 
 134.54 
 414.12 
 80.722 
 44.859 
 11.21 
 207 
 
 Pint* or Pounds. 
 
 27.83 
 278.3 
 
 9.266 
 28.3 
 
 4.4633 
 14.3 
 
 2.78 
 
 1.544 
 .39 
 
 7.125 
 
 OF THE JEWISH WEIGHTS AND COINS. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 Stater, Siclus, or shekel of the sanctuary, the standard . • • . 2 6 
 
 Tyrian coin, equal to the shekel , 2 6 
 
 Bekah, half of the shekel . . .' 13 
 
 Drachma Attica, one-fourth , , OO^-J 
 
 Drachma Alexandrina, or Darchon, or Adarchon, one-half , . , ,013 
 
 Gerah or Obolus, one-twentieth , , 1| 
 
 Maneh or Mna — 100 shekels in weight — 21,900 grains, Troy, 
 
 Maneh, Mna or Mina, as a coin, — 60 shekels . . , , • , 7 10 
 
 Talent of silver,— 3000 shekels 375 
 
 Drachma of gold, not more than , . . ,'. , » , ,011 
 
 Shekel of gold, not more than .'.»•••, 044 
 
 Daric of gold .,«.104 
 
 Talent of gold, not more than . . • • • • 648 
 
860 
 
 TABLE OF THE JEWISH MONTHS 
 
 IN JOS PHUS AND OTHERS, WITH THE SYEO-MACEDONIAN NAMES 
 
 JOSiiPHUS GIVES THEM, AND THE NAMES OF THE JULUN 
 
 OR ROMAN MONTHS CORRESPONDING 
 
 TO THEM. 
 
 Hebrew NameOb 
 
 1. Nisan 
 
 2. Jyar 
 
 3. Si van 
 
 4. Tamuz 
 
 5. Ab 
 
 6. Elul 
 
 7. Tisri 
 
 8. Marchesvan 
 
 9. Casleu 
 
 10. Tebeth 
 
 11. Shebat 
 
 12. Adar 
 Yeadar, or tht 
 
 Syro-Macedonian Names. 
 Xanthicus 
 Artemisius 
 Daesius 
 Panemus 
 Lous 
 Gorpiaeus 
 Hyperberetaeus 
 Dius 
 Apellaeus 
 Audynaeus 
 Peritius 
 Dystni8 
 ^^ond Adar J intercalated. 
 
 Roman Names. 
 March and April 
 April and May 
 May and June 
 June and July 
 July and August 
 August and Septenrter 
 September and October 
 October and November 
 November and Decembw 
 December and January 
 January and February 
 February and March 
 
INDEX. 
 
 N.B. — THE FIKST NUMBER IN ORDEB IS THAT OP THE BOOK; THE SECOND^ 
 OF THE CHAPTER; AND THE THIRD, OF THE SECTION, OR SECTIONS. 
 
 Aarox, Antiq. b. ii. ch. xiii. sect 1 ; b. xx. cb. x. ; is 
 made hi?h-priest, b. iii. ch. riit sect. 1; bis sons, 
 ib; his death, b. ir. ch. iv. sect. 7, 
 
 Abassar, of Sanabassar, Antiq. b. xi. c. iv. sect 6. 
 
 Abbarus, king of the Tyrians, Against Apion, b. i. sect. 
 21. 
 
 Abdastartas, king of the Tyrians, Against Apion, b. i. 
 sect. 18. 
 
 AbdemoD, a Tyrian, Antiq. b. viii. c. v. 3; Against 
 Apion, b. i. sect. 17, 18. 
 
 Abdenago, or Abednego, Antiq. b. x. c. X. 1. 
 
 Abdon succeeds Elon as judfre, Antiq. b. v. c. vii. 15. 
 
 Abel, Antiq. b. i. c. ii. 1; his sacrifice, ib. 
 
 Abenari?, kingof Charax Spasini, Antiq. b. xx. c ii. 1. 
 
 Abia, or Abijah, the son of Rehoboam. Antiq. b. vii. c. 
 X. 3 b. viii. ex. 1; succeeds his father, sect 4; con- 
 quers the ten tribes, b. viii. c. xi. 2, 3 
 
 Abia, king of the Arabians, Antiq. b. xx. c. iv. 1. 
 
 Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, Antiq. b. vi. c. xiv. 6; 
 saves his life and flies to David, sect. 8; is high-priest, 
 b. vi. c xir 6; and b. vii.c. v. 4; and c. ix. 2; and c. 
 xi.8; and c. xiv. 4; is deprived of the high-priesthood, 
 
 b. viii. c. i. 3. 
 
 Abibalus, king of the Tyrians, Against Apion, b. 1, sect 
 17. 
 
 Abigail, Antiq. b. vi. c. xiii. 7; married to David, sect 
 8. 
 
 Abigail, Amasa's mother, Antiq. b. vii. c. x. I- 
 
 Abihu, the son of Aaron, Antiq. b. iiL c. viii. 1 
 
 Abijah, or Abia, tlie son of Rehoboam, Antiq. b. vii. c. 
 X. 3; and b viiL c. x. 1; succeeds his father, sect 4; 
 conquers the ten tribes, b. vii. c. xi. 2, 3. 
 
 Abilamaradochus. or Evil Merodacb, Antiq. b. x. c xi. 
 
 Ab mael, Antiq. b. i c. vi. 4. 
 
 Abimelech tyrannizes over the Shechemites, Antiq. b. v. 
 c.viu 1; is' expelled, sect 3; he destroys them all, sect 
 4; is killed by a piece of a mill-stone, sect 5. 
 
 Abinadab, Antiq. b. vi. n. i. 4; b. viii. c. ii. 3. 
 
 ^biram, Antiq. b. iv. c. ii. 2. 
 
 Abisha?, a virgin, David's nurse, Antiq. b. vlL c xiv. 3. 
 
 Abishai, Antiq. b vi. c. xiii. 9. 
 
 Abner, Antiq. b. viL c. i. 4; son of Ner, c. xiii. sect 1 ; 
 Saul's kinsman, b. vi. c iv. 3; general of his array, b. 
 vii. c. i. 3; reconciles the Israelites to David, b. vii. c 
 L 4; {skilled, sect 5. 
 
 Abram, or Abraham, the son of Terah, Antiq. b. i. c. vi. 
 fi; leaves Chaldea, and goes to ' Canaan, c. vii. sect 
 1 ; lives at Damascus, sect. 2; advises his sons to plant 
 colonies, c xv. ; instructs the Egyptians in the mathe- 
 matical sciences, c. viii. sect 2; divides the country 
 between himself and Lot sect 3; God promises him a 
 son, c. X. sect 3 ; be beats the Assyrians, c x. ; dies, 
 
 c. xviL 
 
 Absalom, Antiq. b. vii. c. iii. 3; flies to (iesbur, c. viii. 
 sect. 3; is recalled by a stratagem of Joab, sect. 4. 5; 
 rebels against David, b. vii. c. ix. ; pursues after bun, 
 c X. sect. 1 ; his army is put to flight sect. 2; hangs 
 on i\ tree by his hair, ib. ; is stabbed by Joab, and 
 dies, ib. 
 
 Acencheres, king of Rgj'pt Against Apion, b. i. 8«ct liV 
 
 Attcncbres, queen of Egypt, ib. 
 
 Achar, or Achan, is guilty of theft, Antiq. b. t. 10; >s 
 
 punished, sect 14. 
 Achitophel, or AhitopheK Absalom's favourite, Antiq. 
 
 b. vii. c. ix. 2; gives evil counsel, sect 5; bangs him- 
 self, sect 8. 
 Achonius, Antiq. b. xi. c. v. 4. 
 Acme, War, b. i. c. xxxii. 6; her letters to Antipater and 
 
 Herod, Antiq. b. xviL c. v. 7; her death, c. vii. 
 Acmon, son of Araph, or ishbi, the son of Ob, of the race 
 
 of the giants, attacks David, Antiq. b. vii. c. xiL 1 j is 
 
 killed by Abishai, ib. 
 Acratheus, or Hatach, Antiq. b. xi. c. vi 7. 
 Actium, battle at, Antiq. b. xv. c v. 1; and c. vi. 1; 
 
 War, b. i. c. xix. 1 ,- in the seventh year of Herod's 
 
 reign, Antiq. b. xv. c, r. 2. 
 Ada, the wife of Lamech, Antiq. b. L c, ii. 2. 
 Adad, a king of Damascus, Antiq. b. vii. c v. 2, &c. 
 Adam created, Antiq. b. i. c. i. 2; his fall, ib. 
 Ader, or Hadad, an Idumean, Antiq. b. viii. c. vii. 6. 
 Adonias, or Adonijah, pretends to the crown, Antiq. b. 
 
 vii. c. xiv. 4; takes sanctuary at the altar, sect 6, 9; 
 
 demands Abishag to wife, b. viiL c. i. 1, 2; is refused, 
 
 sect 3. 
 Adonibezek, king of Jerusalem, Antiq. b. v. c. ii. 2; is 
 
 made a prisoner, and has his hands and feet cut off, 
 
 and dies at Jerusalem, ib. 
 Adoram, Antiq. b. vii. c.v. 4; and b. viii. c. iL 9. 
 Adrammelech, Antiq. b. x. c. i. 5. 
 
 Adrasar, or Hadadezer, king of Sophene, or Zoba, An- 
 tiq. b. viii. c. V. 1. ; b. viii, c. vii. d, 
 ./Ebutius, a decurion. Life, sect 24. 
 .£gypt named from a king. Against Apioti, b. i. sect 
 
 ^Egyptian kings called Pharaohs for 1300 years, till the 
 reign of Solomon, Antiq. b. viiL c. vi. 2. 
 
 .Egyptians, famous before all other nations for wisdom, 
 Antiq. b. viii. c. iL 5; learned mathematios of Abra- 
 ham, Antiq. b. i. c viii. 2; their sacred scribes or 
 priests, b. ii. c. ix. 2; they held it unlawful to feed 
 cattle, b. ii. c. vii. 5. 
 
 .^Egyptians' false prophet put to flight by Felix, Antiq. 
 b. XX. c. viii. 6; War, b. ii. c. xiiL & 
 
 .^iius Gallus, Antiq. b. xv. c. ix. 3. 
 
 iEmilius Regulus, Antiq. b. xix. c. i. 3. 
 
 .^neas, surnamed Aretas, succeeds Obodas in Arabia, 
 Antiq. b. xvL c. ix. 4. 
 
 ^sopus, a servant, Antiq. b. xv. c. iiL 2. 
 
 iEthiopian commodities were slaves and mookeys, An> 
 tiq. b. viiL c. vL 5, &c. ; and c. viL 2. 
 
 .Stbiopians bordering on the Arabians, Antiq. b ix. c 
 V.3. 
 
 A gag, king of the Amalekites, Antiq. b. vL c viL 2; is 
 killed, sect. 5. 
 
 Agar, or Hagar, and Ishmael, are sent away by Abra- 
 ham, Antiq. b. i. c. xiiL 3. 
 
 Aggeus, or Haggai the prophet, Antiq. b. xi. c, iv. 5, 
 7; he prophecies at the rebuilding of the temple, ih. 
 
 Agones, or ^Ames every fifth year, in honour of Cae-iar, 
 instituted by Herod, Antiq.' b. xv. c, viiL I; War. b. 
 L c xxL 8; at the fiHishiuj{ Cesarea, Antiq. b. xvL o. 
 V. L 
 
858 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Agrippa't (Marcus the Roman) boanty towards the Jews, 
 Anbo. xii. iii. 2; is splendidly entertained by Herod, 
 X»L ii. 1; makes equal returns to him at Synope, 
 sect. 2; his expedition to the Bosphorus, ib. ; his 
 speech to the Jews at Jerusalem, War, iL xvi. 3, 4; he 
 Confirms their privileges, Antiq. xvi. ii. 5; his letter to 
 the Ephesians, in favour of the Jews, c. vi. sect. 4; 
 and to those of Cyrene, sect. 5. 
 
 Agrippa the Great, or Elder, Herod's grandson, Antiq. 
 xvii. ii. 2f and xviii. v 4; War, i. xxviii. 1; his va- 
 rious adventures, Antiq. xviii. 5, 4, &c.; is manacled 
 and imprisoned, c. vi sect. 6; his future liberty and 
 happiness foretold, sect. 7 ; is released and made lord 
 of two.tetrarchies, with the title of king, sect. 10; 
 gives Caius a sumptuous entertainment at Rome, c. 
 xviii. sect. 7; is sent by the senate to Claudius, xix. 
 iv. 1, 2; his advice to Claudius, ib. &c.; is sent back 
 to the kiugdom,c. iv. sect, 1; Claudius bestows on 
 him almost all the dominions of his grandfather, c. 
 V. sect. 1; his eulogium, c. vii. sect. 3; his bounty 
 towards those of Berytus, sect 5; he treats several 
 kings splendidly, c. viii, sect. 1; entertains Cesarea 
 with shows, and appears himself upon the stage io a 
 magnificent dress, and is applauded as a god, sect. 2; 
 dies soon after an unnatural death, ib. ; his death and 
 children, War, ii. xi. 5, 6. 
 
 Agrippa, his son by Cypres, War, ii. xi. 6; did not im- 
 mediately succeed in his father's kingdom, Antiq. xix. 
 JC 2; Claudius gave him that of his uncle Herod [of 
 Chalcis], XX. v. 2; War, ii. xii. 1; to which he added 
 the tetrarchies of Philip and Lysanias, c. vii. sect. 1 ; 
 he is hurt by a sling-stone at the siege of Gamala, iv. 
 i 3; his letters to Josephus, Life, sect. 64; his famous 
 speech to the Jews, to dissuade them from a war with 
 the Romans, War, ii. xvi. 4, 5. 
 
 Agnppa, son of Felix and Drusilla, Antiq. xx. vii. 2. 
 
 Agrippa Ponteus slain. War, vii. iv. 3. 
 
 Ahab, king of Israel, Antiq, vii. xiii. 1; is reproved by 
 Elijah, sect. 8; fights with Henhadad. and beats him, 
 C xiv. sect I, &c. ; pardons him, sect 4; is afterwards 
 killed himself by the Syrians, c. xv. sect 5.) his sons, 
 ix. 6, S. 
 
 Ahaziah, his son, Antiq. viii. xv. 6; and ix. ii. 2; tu 
 sect 3. » 
 
 Ahaziah, kingof Judah, Antiq. ix. vi, 3. 
 
 Ahaz, king of Judah, Antiq. ix. xii. 2. 
 
 Ahijab, the prophet, Antiq. viii. vii. 7; his prophecy, x. 
 iv. 4. 
 
 Ahikam, Antiq. x. ix. 1. 
 
 Ahimaaz, the son of Zudok, Antiq. vii. ix. 2: c x. sect 
 4, 5; high-priest, x. viii. <j. 
 
 Ahimelech, or Achimelech, the priest, or high-priest, slain 
 by the order of Saul, Antiq. vi. xiii. 4, &c 
 
 Ahitub, Antiq. viii. i. 3. 
 
 Ahitophel, or Achitophel, Antiq. vii. ix. ; gives evil 
 counsel, s^ct. 5; liangs himself, sect 8. 
 
 Ai besieged, Antiq. v. i. 12; taken, sect 15. 
 
 Aizel, or Uzal, Antiq. i. vi. 4. 
 
 Alans, War, vii. vii. 4. 
 
 Albinus, procuratoV of Judea, Antiq, xx. iv. 1. 
 
 Alcimus, or Jacimus, the wicked high-priest, Antiq. xiii. 
 ix. 7; calumniates Judas before Demetrius, c. x. sect 
 1; dies, sect. 6. 
 
 Alcyon, a physirian, Antiq. xix. i. 20 
 
 Alexander, Lysimachiis, the alabarch, Antiq. xviii. vi. 
 3; and xix. v. 1 ; and xx. v. 2. 
 
 Alexander, the son of Alexander by Glaphyra, War, i. 
 xxviii. 1. 
 
 Alexander, the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiq. 
 xiii. ii. 1; surnamed Balas, ib. in note; king of Sy- 
 ria, sect 2; his letter to Jonathan, ib.; engages in a 
 battle with Demetrius, sect. 4; demands Ptolemy 
 Philometer's daughter in marriage, c. iv, sect, 1 ; is 
 killed in Arabia, and his head sent to Ptolemy, sect. 
 & 
 
 Alexander and Aristobulus, Herod's sons, put in prison, 
 Antiq. xvi. x. 6; strangled by their father's order, c, 
 xi. sect 6; War, i. xxvii. 6. 
 
 Alexander, the son of Aristobulns. Antiq, xiv. iv. a- 
 War, i. viii. 7; troubles Syria, Antiq. xiv. iv. 2; makes 
 war upon the Romans. War i. viii, 6; is conquered by 
 Gabinus, ib.; killed by Pompey's order, Antiq. xiv. 
 vii. 4; War, i. ix. 2. 
 
 Alexander Janneus succeeds his brother Aristobulns, 
 War, i. iv. 1; a sedition raised acainst him. Antiq, 
 xiii, xiv. 2. &c. ; his excedilion aKainnt Ploleinais. c. 
 xii. sect 2; he is called Thnicidav lor his bariiaroim 
 enielty. c. xiv. tect. 2; dies o»' a quartan airiie. afier 
 ttiiwr years' sickness, c, xv. s«ct 5; W ar, i. iv. 8; his 
 
 sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, Antiq, xiii, xvi; 
 War, i, V. 1. 
 Alexander the Great, succeeds his father Philip, Antiq. 
 xi. xiii, 10; conquers Darius, sert. 3; pursues his vc- 
 tories through Asia, ib. &c.; sends a let»er to the high 
 priest at Jerusalem, ib.; goe.* himself to Jerusalem 
 sect, 5; his dream, ib, ; he adores the name of (lod on 
 the high-priest's forehead, ib.; enters the temple, ib. ; 
 grants privileges to the Jews, ib. ; the Pamphylian sea 
 gives way to his army, Antiq. ii. xvi. 5; his arras and 
 armour kept in the temple of Diana, at Elymais, xii. 
 ix. 1; his empire divided alter his death, c. i. 
 Alexander, the son of Phasaelus and Salampsio, Antiq. 
 
 xviii. V. 4. 
 Alexander (Tiberius) succeeds Caspius Fadus as procu- 
 rator of Judea, Antiq. xx. v. 2; War, ii. xi, 6; is made 
 procurator of Egypt, ii, xv. I; c, xviii, sect. 7; is made 
 chief commander of the Roman army under Vespasian, 
 iv. X. 6; and vi. iv. 3. 
 Alexander Zebina, king of Syria, is conquered by An- 
 tiochus Grypus, and dies, Antiq, xiii, ix, 3. 
 Alexandra, Alexander .(anneus's widow, holds the admi- 
 nistration, after his death, Antiq. xiii, xvi, 1 ; falls sick 
 and dies. sect. 3, 6; her eulogium, ib. 
 Alexandra, daughter of Hyrcanus wife of Alexander, the 
 son of Aristobulus, Hyrcanus's brother, and mother 
 of another Aristobulns and Mariamne, Antiq, xv, ii. 5, 
 writes a letter to Cleopatra, il>, ; sends the pictures of 
 her son and daughter to Antonius, by the advice of 
 Dellius, sect. 6; is feignediy reconciled to Herod, sect 
 7; is suspected by Herod, c, iii, sect, 2; prepares to 
 fly into Egypt, ib, ; bemoans the death of Aristobulus, 
 sect. 4 J acquaints Cleopatra with the snares of Herod, 
 and the death of her son. sect. 5; is put into prison, 
 I sect 9; her indecent behaviour towards her daughter 
 ' IMariamne, c. vii. sect. 4; is killed by Herod's order, 
 I sect, a . 
 
 Alexandra, daughter of Phasaelus and Ralampsio, Antiq 
 I xviii. v. 4; is married to 'I'iniius Cyprius, ib. 
 j Alexandria's cau.seway to the i.sland Pharos, seven fur- 
 ' longs long, Antiq. xii. ii. 12; a great part of that city 
 I assigned to the Jews, xiv. vii. 2; the Jews declared 
 ' its citizens on a brazen pillar by Julius Ca;sar, c. x. 
 j sect 1,2 
 
 Alexas, Salome's husband, Antiq. xvii. i. 1; War, L 
 ' xxviii (i. 
 Alexas Seicias, Aleyas's son, Antiq. xviii. v. 4. 
 Alisphragmuthosis, or Halisphragmuthosis, king of 
 
 Egypt, Ai,'ainst Apion, i. sect 14. 
 Aliturus. a Jew, Life, sect 3, 
 Alliance between Ptolemy and Antiochus, Antiq. xii. iv 
 
 Altar of incense, Antiq. iii. vi. 8; of burnt-offeriuc- made 
 of unhewn stone. War, v. v, 6; Against Apion, i, sect, 
 22. 
 
 Amadetha, or Hammadetba, Antiq. xi. vi. .5, 12. 
 
 Anjalekites attack the Israelites, ,\ntiq. iii. ii. I ; arc 
 conquered and plundered, sect. 4, 3. 
 
 Aman, or Haman, the enemy of the Jews, Antiq. xi, vi. 
 1.5; his edict against the .'ews, sect, (i; he orders a 
 gallows to he erected fcir iMordecai, sect 10; is obliged 
 to htmour Mordecai, ib. ; his malicious design is laid 
 before the kinu', ject. 11, his edict countermanded, 
 sect. 12; he is himself hanged on the callows, sect, 13. 
 
 Amarinus, or Umri, king oif the Israelites, Antiq. viii, 
 xii. 5. 
 
 Amasa, general of the army, Antiq. vi. x. 1; and xi. 1; - 
 the son of Jether, c. xv. sect. 1 ; killed by Joab, ib. c. ^ 
 xi. sect 7. 
 
 Amasias, or Amaziah, king of Judah, Antiq. ix. viii. 4; 
 c. ix. sect 1; makes war on Jehoash, kins; of Israel, 
 sect 3; is beaten, ih. ; and murdered in a conspiracy, 
 ib. 
 
 Amasias, or Maaseiah, king Aliaz's son, slain in battle. 
 Antiq, ix. xii. 1. 
 
 Amasias, or Maaseiah, governor of the city, Antiq. x. 17 
 
 Amathius, Antiq. i. vi. 2. 
 
 Ambassadors sent with presents to Hezekiah, Antiq. x. 
 
 ii. 2; ambassadors of the Jews slain by the Arabs, xv 
 
 V. 2; this a violation of t. e law of lations, hrct >, c 
 
 vii, sect. 9; ambassirtlcrs had a rig' t to sit anions ih« 
 
 Konian senators in the tlieatre, xiv. x. (i. 
 AmbassHge sent by Jonathan to the Lacedemonians, An 
 
 tiq. xiii. V. b; sent by the Jews to Home, xii. x. (i. 
 Ambition and avarice causes of many mischiefs, Antiq 
 
 vii. i. 5. 
 Ambivius, (Marcus) procurator of Judea, Antiq. xvilt 
 
 ii. 2. 
 
TNT>EX. 
 
 859 
 
 lincnop^ is, king of Egypt, Against Apion, i. sect 16, 
 
 Amcises, queen of Egypt, Aejfiinst Apion, i. sect. 15. 
 
 Aminaiiab, Antiq. vi. i. 4; and xi. iv. 1. 
 
 Ainmonius, Antiq. xiii. iv. 6; killed, ib. 
 
 Amnon, David's son, Antiq. vii. iii. 3; falls in love with 
 iiis sister Tamar, c. viii. sect. 1; is slain by Absalom's 
 order, sect. 2. 
 
 Amorites ^iven to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and 
 the half tribe of Manasseh, Antiq. iv. vii. 3. 
 
 Amphitheatre built at Jerusalem, and another in the ad- 
 joining plain, by Herod the Great, Antiq. xv. viii. 1; 
 another at Jericho, xvii. viii. 2. 
 
 Amrara, Moses's father, Antiq. iL ix. 3. 
 
 Amram, Antiq. xx. i. 1. 
 
 Aniraphel, Antiq. i. ix. 
 
 Amutal, or Hamutal, Antiq. x. v. 2. 
 
 Anacharias, or Rabsaris, a general of Senacherib, Antiq. 
 X. i. 1. 
 
 Aiianclus made hi?h-priest, Antiq xv. ii. 4; deprived of 
 it, c. iii. sect. I : restored to it, sect. 3. 
 
 Ananias, »on ot Nebedius, made hiKh-priest, Antiq. xx. 
 v. -2; War, ii. xii. 6; c. xvii. sect. 2; his son Ananus, 
 c. xii. sect. 6; both sent in fetters to Rome, Antiq. xx. 
 vi. 2; slain, together with his brother lizekias. War, 
 ii. xvii. 9. 
 
 Ananias (different from the former), Antiq. xi. iv. 6; son 
 of Onias, xiii. x. 4; c. xii. sect. 2. 
 
 Ananias, the son of Masambalus, high-priest, War, v. 
 xiii. 1. 
 
 Ananus senior, made high-priest, Antiq. xx. ix. 1; his 
 eulogium. War, iv. iii. 7. 
 
 Ananus junior, the son of Ananus, made high-priest, An- 
 tiq. xx. ix. 1; Life, sect 38, War, iv. iii. 9; his speech 
 to the people, .sect. 10; accused of the murder of James 
 the Bishop. Antiq. xx ix. I ; deprived of the high- 
 priesthood, ib,; his death, War, iv. v. 2. 
 
 Ananus [or Annas], son of Seth, made high-priest, An- 
 tiq. xviii. ii. I ; deposed, sect. 2. 
 
 Ananus, son of Bamadus, one of Simon's life-guard^ 
 War. V. xiii. 1 ; flies to Titus, vi. iv. 2. 
 
 Ananus, governor of the temple, Antiq. xx. vu 2. 
 
 Ananus, son of Jonathan, War, ii. xix. 5. 
 
 Anchus, or Achish, kin? of Gath, Antiq. vi. xiv. 1. 
 
 Andreas, captain of Ptiilaflelphu-s's lite-guard, Antiq. xii. 
 ii. 2, 3, 4; Against Apion, ii. sect 4. 
 
 Anilromachus expelled the court of Herod, Antiq. xvi. 
 viii. 3. 
 
 Andronicus, son of Mesalamus, Antiq. xiii. iiL4. 
 
 Aner, Abraham's confederate, Antiq. i. v. 2. 
 
 Ayya.^viirA'iie.i, or forcible pressure taken oflT the Jews by 
 Demetrius, Antiq. xiii. ii. 3. 
 
 Anarels of God become familiar with women, Antiq. L 
 iii. 1. 
 
 Anelius. Antiq. xviii. ix. 1,4,5; killed by the Babylo- 
 nians, sect. 7 
 
 Anna, or Hannah, the wife of Elcanah, Antiq. v. x. 2. 
 
 Annibas, put to death by Fadus, for a mutiny, Antiq. xx. 
 i. 1. 
 
 Annius (Lucius) takes Grerasa, War, iv. ix. 1. 
 
 Aniiius Minucianus, Antiq. xix. i. 3. 
 
 Annius Rufus, procurator of Judea, Antiq. xviii. ii. 2. 
 
 Anoch, or Knoch, Ant q. i. ii. 2. 
 
 Anteius killed, Antiq. xix. i. 15. 
 
 Antigsnus governs Asia, after Alexander's death, An- 
 tiq. xii. Ij his fleet beaten by Piolemy, c. xi. sect 10. 
 
 Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, Antiq. xiv. iv. 5; c 
 vii. sect 1; impeaches Hyrcanus and Antipater, c. 
 viii. sect. 4; War, i. x. 1; is conquered by Herod, 
 Antiq. xiv. xii. 1; invades Judea, by the help of the 
 Parthians, c. xiii. sect 3; is re-es'ablished in the 
 g.ivernment, sect 10; War, I. xiii. 9; cuts off Hyr- 
 canus's ears, and causes the death of Phasaelus, ib. ; 
 surrenders himself to Sosius. Antiq. xiv. xvi. 2; 
 War, i. xviii. 2; is sent in fetters to Marcus Anto- 
 nius, ib. ; was the first king whose head was cut off by 
 the Romans, Antiq. xv. L 2; reigned before Herod, 
 xvii. v. 2. 
 Untiiconus, son of Hyrcanus I., and brother of king Aris- 
 tohulus, made commander at the siege of .*<araaria, 
 Antiq. xiii. x. 2; is l)eloved by his brother, c. xi. sect 
 1 ; is watched by the qneen and her favourites, and by 
 their calumnies slain, sect 2; War, i. iii. 2, .3, 4. 
 Antioch is the chief city in Syria, and the third city in 
 the Roman empire. War, iii ii. 4; the Jews made citi- 
 zens thereof by Seleiicu.t Nicator, .4ntiq- xii. iii. 1; it 
 is burnt down. War, viii. iii. 4 
 
 ntioclius rebels against Denietriii*, Antiq. xiii iv. 7 
 Vieir envy against the Jews, xii. liu 1. 
 
 .\ntiochu8, king of Commagene, Antiq. xviii. ii. 6; and 
 xix. V. i; c. viii. sect 1; War, v. xi. 3; and vii. cii. 
 1 ; a part of Cilicia, together with Commai;ene, grantt.^ 
 him by Claudius, Antiq. xix. v. I. 
 
 Antiochns Cyzicenus, Antiq. xiii. x. 1; assists the Sa- 
 maritans, but is put to flight, sect 2; War, i. ii. 2; is 
 taken prisoner, and put to death by Seleucus, Antiq. 
 xiii. xiii. 4. 
 
 Antiochus Dionysins, fourth son of Antiochus Grypus, 
 king of Syria, makes an expedition against the Jews, 
 Antiq. xiii. xv. 1 ; War, i. iv. 7. 
 
 Antiochus the Great Antiq. xii. iii. 3; his letters in 
 favour of the Jews. ib. &c. ; his wars with Ptolemy 
 Philopater and Physcon, ib. ; marries his daughter 
 Cleopatra to Ptolemy, c. iv. sect. 1. 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanes makes an expedition into Egypt, 
 Antiq. xii. v. 2; takes Jerusalem, and plunders tie 
 temple, sect 3, &c.; War, i. i. 1, &c.; and vi. x. • 
 goes into Persia, Antiq. xfii. Vii. 2; desif^ns to destjoy 
 the Jews upon his return, ib. ; his answers to the Sa- 
 maritans, c. V. sect. 5; his impiety, xiii. viii. 2; he 
 dies, and leaves the administration to Philip, xii. ix, 
 1,2. 
 
 Antiochus Eupator, his son, invades Judea, Antiq. xii. 
 ix. 4; ficchts with Judas, ro.; War, i. i. 5; makes 
 peace with the Jews. Antiq. xii. ix. 7; breaks itib.; 
 is killed by Demetrius, c. x. sect. 1. 
 
 Antiochus Grypus, son of Demetrius Soter, Antiq. xiii. 
 X. 1 ; his death, c. xiii. sect. 4. 
 
 Antiochus Philometer, Antiq. xiii. xii. 2. 
 
 Antiochus Pius, son of Antiochus Cyzicenus, makes waf 
 with Seleucus, Antiq. xiii. xiii. 4; is slain in battle, ib. 
 
 Antiochus Eusebius, or Pius, the brother of Demetrius 
 besieges Jerusalem. Antiq. xiii. viii. 2; raises the siege 
 sect. 4; makes an expedition against the Parthians, is 
 defeated and killed, ib. 
 
 Antiochus, the grandson of Seleucus, and son of Alexan« 
 der, is commonly called The God, Antiq xii. iii. 2; is 
 crowned in his jouth, xiii. v. 3; enters into alliance 
 with Jonathan the high-priest sect. 4; is slain^y Try- 
 phon, his tutor, c. vii. sect I; War, i. ii. 1. 
 
 ADtiochus,the brother of s^eleucus, slain in battle, Antiq. 
 xiii. xiii. 4. 
 
 Antiochus Soter, brother of Demetrius, father of Grypus, 
 Antiq. xiii. x. 1 j makes war with Trypho, c. vii. sect 
 2. 
 
 Antipas, Herod's son by Malthace, a Samaritan. Antiq. 
 xvii. 1. b; War, i. xxviii. 4; is tetrarch of Galilee, c. 
 viii. sect. 1; c. xi. sect 4; and i. xxxiii. 7; ijoes to 
 Rome to get to be a king, Antiq. xvii. ix. 4; War, ii. 
 ii. 3; what was left him by Herod, Antiq. xvii. viii. I ; 
 what was given him by Caesar, c. xi. sect 4; once 
 declared king by Heral, War. i. xxxii. 7. 
 
 Antipas, one of the royal lineage, is put in prison and 
 slain, War, iv. iii. 4, 5. 
 
 Antipater, the Idumean, Herod's father, called Antipas, 
 excites troubles. Antiq. xiv. i. 3; is sent ambassador 
 to Aretas, by Scaurus. c. v. sect 1 ; his wife Cyprus, 
 the Arabian, and his children, c. vii. sect. 3; his val. 
 our, c. viii. sect. 1; he advises Hyrcanus to put him- 
 self under the protection of Aretas, War, i. vi. 2; 
 makes his son Phasaelus governor of Jerusalem, and 
 Herod of Galilee, Antiq. xiv. ix. 2, War, i. x. 4; 
 endeavours to deserve Caesar's favour, c. viii sect 1; 
 and i. ix. 3; is honoured by Cajsar, and made citizen 
 of Rome, Antiq. xiv. viii. 3; War, i. ix. o; his de- 
 fence against Antigonus, Antiq. xiv. viii. 4; \^'n, L 
 X. 2; is made governor of Judea, Antiq. xiv. viii. 5; 
 War, i. X. :j; is greatly esteemed among the .l.-ws, 
 Antiq. xiv. ix. 2; is poisoned, c xi. sect 4; War, L 
 xi. 4. 
 
 Antipater, son of Phasaelus nnd Salampsio, grandson of 
 Herod the Great, Antiq. xviii. v. 4. 
 
 Antipater, son of Salome, impeaches Archelaus before 
 Csesar, Antiq xvii- ix. 5 
 
 ntipater, son of Herod, Antiq. xiv. xii. 1; is sent to 
 Rome to Caesar, xvi. iii. 3; War, L xxix. 2; c. xxxL 
 sect. 2; while he is there, he, by letters, sets his la- 
 ther against his brethren, Antiq xvi. iv. 1; War. i. 
 xxiii. 1 ; c. xxiv. sect 1 ; his subtilty, Antiq. xvi. vii. 
 2; is recalled by Hercd, c. iii. sect. 3; and xvii. v. 1; 
 he leigns jointly with his father, c. i. sect. 1 ; is hated 
 by everybody after the slaughter of his brethren, ib.; 
 attempts hi^ father's life, ib.; is concerned for him- 
 self ib. ; War, i. xxxi. 3; appears before Varus's 
 tribunal. Antiq. xvii. v. 3; War. i. xxxii 1 ; his plea 
 for himself, ib. ; is put in irons, Antiq xvii. v. 7; 
 War. i. xxxii. 5; is put to death, Antiq. xvii. vii.s 
 War, i. xxxiii. 7. 
 
860 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Antipater, a Samaritan, Antiq. xriu ir. 3; War, L xxx. 
 6 
 
 Antipater, Herod's sister's son, Antiq. xvii. i. 3. 
 
 Antipatns, taken by Vespasian, War, iv. rii. 1. 
 
 Actiihiliis, Antiq. xvii. iv. 2; War. i. xxx. 3; his letter 
 to Antipater, H roA's son, Antiq. xvii. v. 7. 
 
 Antonia. Claudius's daughter by I»etina, War, ii. xii. 8. 
 
 Antonia, Claudius's mother, and Drusus's wife, lends 
 money to Agrippa the elder, Antiq. xviii. vi. 4; her 
 en Ionium, sect. 6. 
 
 Antonia, the towr, called Baris before. War, i, iii. 3; is 
 taken by Titus, vi. i. 7, &c 
 
 Antony, a captain, VN ar, iii. ii. I, &c. 
 
 Antony, a centurion, c. vii. sect. 35. 
 
 Antony (Mark;, his valour, Antiq. xiv. ^ 3^ War, i. viii, 
 4; his and I'olahella's decree in favour of the Jews, 
 Antiq. xiv. x. 9, &c.; he marches into Asia after Cas- 
 sius's defeat, c. xji. sect. 2; bis letter to Hyrcanus, sect. 
 3; to the Tyffans, sect? 4, ••'he falls in love with Cleo- 
 patra, c. xiii. sect. 4; makes Phasaelus and Herod te- 
 trarchs, ib. ; orders their accusers to be put to death, 
 sect. 5; confers signal favours on Herod, c. xiv. sect. 
 5; sojourns at Athens, c. xv. sect 5; War, i. xvi. 4; 
 *•}? i'jvijry, Antiq. xv. ii. 6. 
 
 Antonins ^Luctus), MarkTiintony's son, sends a letter to 
 the Sardians, in favour of the Jews, Antiq. xiv, x. 17. 
 
 Antonttts Primus, War, iv. xi. 5J. 
 
 Anubis. a god, Antiq. xviii. iii. 4. 
 
 Apachnas, king of Egypt, Against Apion, i. sect. 14. 
 
 Apame, Darius's concubine, Antiq. xi. iii. 5. 
 
 Apion, ambassador for the Alexandrians to Caius, Antiq. 
 xviii. viii. 1. 
 
 Apollo's temple at Gaza, Antiq. xiii. xiii. 3. 
 
 Apollo's temple in the palace at Rome, War, i. ii. 6. 
 
 Apollodotus, captain of\he Gazeans, .Antiq. xiii. xiii. 3; 
 killed, ib. 
 
 Apollonius, son of Alexander, Antiq. xiii. ix. 2. 
 
 Apollonius Daus. governor of Coelesyria, Antiq. xiii. iv. 
 3,- challenges Jonathan to an engagement, and is de- 
 feated* ib. 
 
 Apollonius, governor of Samaria, Antiq. xii. v. 5; c. vii. 
 sect 
 
 Aponius, Antiq. xix. iv. 5. 
 
 Apophis, king of Egypt Against Apion, i. sect 14. 
 
 Apsalom, War, ii. xvii. 9. 
 
 Apsan, or Ibzan, judge after Jephtha, Antiq. v. vii. 13, 
 14. 
 
 Aquila, the murderer of Caius, Antiq. xix. i. 14. 
 
 Arabians circumcise their children when thirteen years 
 old, Antiq. i. xii. 2; ten towns taken from them by 
 Alexander, king of the Jews, xiv. i. 4; Ethiopians are 
 their neighbours, ix. v. 3. 
 
 Arabia borders on Judea, Antiq xiv. 5. 4; Petra the 
 king's residence, ib. ; Zabdiel their lord,c. iv. sect. 8; 
 Arabians are defeated, xv. v. 5; their women are great 
 poisoners, xvii. iv. 1. 
 
 Aarani, Antiq. i. vi. 4. 
 
 Am, or Haran, the father of Lot, Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 Arasca, or Nisioch, a temple, Antiq x. L 3. 
 
 Arases. or Resin, king oi the Syrians, Antiq. ix. xii. 1. 
 
 Aranna, or Orona. the Jebusite, Antiq, viii. xiii. 4: his 
 thrashing-floor, ib.; the place where Isaac was to have 
 been sacrificed, and where the temple was afterwards 
 built, ib. 
 
 Archelaus, king of Cappadocia. comes to Herod, Antiq. 
 xvi. viii. 6; c. x. sect. 7; War, i. xxv. 1. &c.; goes 
 with him to Antioch, ib. ; reconciles Herod to his son 
 Alexander, and to his brother Pheroras, ib. ; War, i. 
 xxv. 3, 4. 
 
 ArcSelaus, son of Herod the Great, Antiq. xvii. i. 3; c. 
 iv. sect. 3; War, i. xxvii. 4; c. xxxi. sect, 1 ; is made 
 ethnarch, Antiq. xvii. xi. 4; War, ii, vii. 3; marries 
 Glaphyra, Antiq. xvii, xiii. 1; War. ii. vii. 4; is pro- 
 "slaimed king after Herod's death, Antiq. xvii, viii. 2; 
 War. i. xxxiii. 9; his speech to the people, Antiq. 
 xvii. viii. 4; War, ii. i. 1; he endeavours to appease 
 the people, Antiq. xvii. ix. 1, &c. ; goes to Rome, sect 
 3; War, ii. ii. 1; is accu.sed there by the deputies of 
 the people, Antiq. xvii. xi. 2; War, ii. vi I, &c. ; is 
 banished to Vienna in Gaul, c. vii. sect 3; his dieams 
 and Glaphyra'8, Antiq. xvii. xiii. 3, 4; War, ii. vii. 
 3,4. 
 
 Archelaus, son of Chelcis, Antiq, xix. ix. 1. 
 
 Archelaus, son of Magadatus, VVar, vi. iv. 2. 
 
 Aremmantus, Antiq. x. viii. 2. 
 
 Aretas, king of the Arabians, Antiq. xiii. xiii. 3; and 
 xiv. i. 4i andxvi. X. 9; War. i. vi. 2; r. x xix. sect 
 3; makes an expedition against Aristobuhis, Antiq. 
 aiv. ii. 1 ; succeed* Obodaa, xvi. ix. 4{ afTords suc- 
 
 cours to Hyrcantis, War, i. VI. 2; impeaches Sy Ileus, 
 jointly with Antipater, before Caesar, Antiq. xvii. iii. 
 2. 
 
 Aretas, king of Coelesyria, makes an expedition into Ju- 
 dea, Antiq. xiii. xv. 3. 
 
 Aretas, of Petra, Antiq. xvii. x. 9: and xviii. v. 1. 
 
 Arioch, captain of Nebuchadnezzar's life-guards, Antq. 
 X. X. 3. 
 
 Arion. treasurer of Alexandria. Antiq, xii. iv. 7, &c. 
 
 Aristeus, or Aristeeus» one of Ptolemy Philadelphus's 
 life-guards, Antiq. xii. ii. 4; Against Apion, ii. sect. 2, 
 
 Aristobulus. son of Hyrcanus I., Antiq. xiii. x. 2; the 
 first high-priest who assumed the title of Kiuit of the 
 Jews. c. xi. sect 1; called Fhillelen, or lover of the 
 Greeks, sect. 3. 
 
 Aristobulus, son of Alexander Janneus, an enterprising 
 and bold man, Antiq. xiii. xvi. 1; complains of the 
 Pharisees, sect. 2; reproaches his mother Alexandra, 
 sect. 3; endeavours to take possessicm of the kingdom 
 during his mother's life, sect. 5; fights with his elder 
 brother Hyrcanus for the crown, xiv. 1, 2; brings him 
 to an accommodation, ib. ; War, i. vi. I; sends a gol- 
 den vine to Pompey, Antiq. xiv. iii. 1: is, witb his 
 children, brought captive to Rome, by i^ompey, c. iv 
 sect 3; escapes out of prison, but is retaken and sent 
 back again to Rome by Gabinus, c. vi, sect. I ; VVar, i. 
 vii. 7; c. viii. sect. 6; his firmness in adversity, Antiq. 
 xiv. vi. sect. 1 ; is poisoned by the partizans of Pom- 
 pey, c. vii. sect 4; his children, ib. 
 Aristobulus, son of Herod the Great, Antiq. xv. x. 1 ; 
 marries Bernice, Salome's daughter, xvi. i, 2; is j)ut 
 in prison, c. x. sect 5; is accused by his father in an 
 assembly at Berytus, and condemned, c. xi. sect 2; is 
 strangled, sect 6; Wf xxvii. 6; his children, An- 
 tiq. xvii. 1, 2; War, i. iii. 1. 
 
 Aristobulus, son of Hen, king of Chalcis, Antiq. xx. 
 viii. 4; VVar, vii. vii. 4. 
 
 Aristobulus, son of Joseph and JWariamne, Antiq. xviii. 
 v. 4. 
 
 Aristobulus, son of Aristobulus. and brother to the fa- 
 mous Mariamne, a beautiful youth, is made high- 
 priest by Herod, Antiq. xv. iii. 1,3; is drowned by 
 the secret order of the same Herod, ib. ; War, i. xxii. 
 2. 
 
 Aristobulus, son of Aristobulus and Bernice, and grand- 
 son of Herod the Great. Antiq. xviii. v. 4. 
 
 Aristocracy the best form of government, Antiq. iv. viiL 
 17. 
 
 Aristocracy instituted in Judea by Gabinus, War, i. viii. 
 3. 
 
 Arithmetic and astronomy came from Chaldea to Egypt, 
 and thence into Greece, Antiq. i. viii. 2. 
 
 Arius, king of the Lacedemonians, sends a letter to Onias 
 tte bi^h-priest, Antiq. xii. iv. 10; c. v. s«ct. 8. 
 
 Ark of God, its description, Antiq. iii. vi. 3; taken by the 
 Philistines, vi. i. 1 ; restored to the Israelites, sect. 2, 
 &c. ; carried to Jerusalem, and lodged in the house of 
 Obed-edom, after it had been with Aminadab, Antiq. 
 vii. iv. 2. 
 
 Ark of Noah, where it rested, Antiq. i. iii. 6; mentioned by 
 all barbarian historians, ib. ; its remains long preserved, 
 XX. ii. 3. 
 
 Armais, king of Fgynt Against Apion, i. sect 15. 
 
 Armenia conquered by A titonius, Antiq. xv. iv. 3; Cotyi, 
 king of the Lesser Armenia. Antiq xix. viii. 1. 
 
 Armesses, king of I'gypt, Against Apion, i, sect 15. 
 
 Armory of David in the temple, Antiq ix. vii. 2. 
 
 Aropheus, or Armariah, Antiq. viii. i. 3. 
 
 Arphaxed, Antij. i. vi. 4. 
 
 Aruntius (Euaristus), Antiq. xix. i. 18. 
 
 Aruntius (Paulus), Antiq. xix, i. 14. 
 
 Arsaces, king of the Parthians, Antiq. xiii. v. 11; c. viii. 
 sect. 4. 
 
 Artabanus, king of Media, Antiq. xviii. ii. 4. 
 
 Artabanus, king of the Parthians, Antiq. xviii. iv. 4, 5; 
 c. ix. sect .3, 4; he flies to Izates, xx. iii. I ; ii kindly 
 received by him, and restored to his kingdom, sect. 1, 
 2; dies, sect 3. 
 
 Artabazes, or Artavasdes, son of Tigranes. is given as a 
 present to Cleopatra by Antonins, War, i. xviii. 3. 
 
 Artaxerxes. king of the Persians. Antiq. xi. vi. 1; hit 
 edict agHinst the Jews, sect, rt; contradicted, sect 1:2* 
 
 Artaxias, king of Armenia, Antiq. xv. v. .3. 
 
 Artorius cunninaly saves his own life, War, vi. ii. 2. 
 
 Arucas, Antiq. i. vi, i'. 
 
 Arudeus, Aniiq i vi. 2. 
 
 Ata, king of .IrroRalem. Anti(|. viii. xii. 1; makes na 
 alliance with the kingot Damascus, stct 4. 
 
II1DEX. 861 
 
 Asahel'kllka by Abner, \ntiq. tR. i. 3. 
 
 Asamoneus, Antiq. xii. vi. 1. 
 
 Asamoneans, the end of their reign, Antiq. xir. xvi, 4. 
 
 Ascalonites, punished for their itubbornness, Antiq. xiu 
 
 iv. o. 
 Asermoth, or Hazermaveth, Antiq. i. vi. 14. 
 Aserymua, king of the Tyrians, Against Apion, L sect. 
 
 18. 
 Ashdod, or Azotus, taken by Jonathan, Antiq. xiii. iv. 
 
 its inhabitants plagued on account of the aik of God, 
 
 Ti. L I. 
 Ashkenaz, Antiq. i. \u 1. 
 Ashpenaz, an eunuch, Antiq. x, x. 2. 
 Ashur, Antiq. i. vi. 4. 
 
 Asia, its convention at Ancyra, Antiq. xvi. vi. 8, Vale- 
 rius proconsul of Asia, xix. U 20; five hundred towns 
 
 of Asia, W ar, ii. xvi. 4. 
 Asineus and Anileus, two brethren, Antiq. xviii. ix. I, 
 
 &c 
 Asocheus. or Shisliek, king of Egypt. War, vi. x. 
 Asprenas. Antiq. xix. i. 13; cut in pieces, sect. 15. 
 Assemblies forbidden to all at Rome, but to the Jews 
 
 only, by Julius Caesar, Antiq. xiv. x. 3. 
 Ass's head falsely reported by Apion as an object of wor- 
 ship amoni; the Jews. Against Apion, iu sect. 7. 
 Asms, king of Kgypt, Against Apion, i. sect. 14. 
 Assyrian empire overthrown, Antiq. x. ii. 2. 
 Astarte's temple, Antiq. vi. xiv. 8; Against Apion, i. 
 
 sect 18. 
 Astartus, kine of the Tyrians, Against Apion, L sect 18. 
 Astionomy; for its improvement the first men lived near 
 
 a thousand years, Antiq. i. iii. 2; came outof Chaldea 
 
 into Egy pt, and thence into (^reece, i, vii. 2. 
 Asylum, or right of sanctuary, belonging to seme towns 
 
 m Judea, \ntiq. iv. vii. 4. 
 Athenians decree honours tc^ rcanus, Antiq. xiv. viii, 
 
 6. 
 Athenio, Antiq. xii. iv. 3. 
 Athenio, a general of Cleopatra, War, i. xix, 2 ; his per- 
 
 fidiousness, Antiq. xv. v. 1. 
 Athronges, a shepherd, crowns himself king of Judea, 
 
 Antiq. xvii. x. 7; War, iu iv. 3; is conquered with his 
 
 brethren, ib. 
 Atratinus, Herod's advocate, Antiq. xiv. xiv. 4. 
 Augustus' arrival in Syria, Antiq. xv. x. 3; his letter to 
 
 Herod, xvu xi. I; holds a council .about the affairs of 
 
 Judea, xvii. ix. 5; his edict and letter in fdvour of the 
 
 Jews, xvi, vi. I, &c.; is angry with Herod, c. ix. sect. 
 
 3; is reconciled to him by the means of Nicolaus of 
 
 Damascus, c. x. sect. 8; divides Herod's dominions. 
 
 War, iu vi. 3; his death, Antiq. xviiL iii, 2; War, ii. 
 
 ix. 1. 
 Axioranins, high-priest, Antiq. x. vii. 6. 
 Azariah, the prophet. Antiq. viii. xiu 2. 
 Azarias, high-priest, Antiq. x. viii, 6. 
 Azarias, one of David's companions, Antiq. x. x. 1. 
 Azaria<<. a commander under Judas, is defeated by Gor- 
 
 gias at Jamnia, Antiq. xii. viii. 6. 
 Azaa, or Hazo, Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 Azizus. king of Eruesa, Antiq. xx. vii. 1; is circumcised, 
 
 and marries Drusilla, the sister of Agrippa junior, ib.; 
 
 dies, c viii. sect. 4. 
 Azotus. or Ashdod, its inhabitants plagued on account of 
 
 the Ark of God, Antiq. vi. u 1 ; takes by J onathan, xiiu 
 
 iv. 4- 
 Azricam, Antiq. ix. xii. 1. 
 
 • Baal, king of the Tyrians, Against Apion, vi. sect. 21. 
 Baal, god of the Tyrians, Antiq. ix. vi. 6. 
 Baalis, king of the Ammonites, Antiq. x. ix. 2,3. 
 Baanah, the son of Rimmon, Antiq. viii. ii. 1. 
 Baaras, a place and a plant there growing. War, viu vu 
 
 1 ■ Baasha, king of Israel, Antiq. viiu xiu 3; kills Nadab his 
 pre<leces.sor, c. xi. sect 4 ; dies, c. xii. sect 4. 
 
 Baba's children preserved by Costobarus, Antiq. XT. vii. 
 lOj afterwards killed by Herod, ib. 
 
 Babylon, derived from Babel (confusion of languages), 
 ' Antiq, L iv. 3; taken by Cyrus under the reign of Bal- 
 
 tazar, x. xi. 4; the great number of Jews who lived 
 there, XV. ii. 2; and xviiu ix. 1. Nebuchadnezzar's 
 building at Babylon, X. xu 1 ; its wall was not built by 
 Semiramis; but by Nebuchadnezzar, according to the 
 testimony of Berosus, Against Apion, u sect 19, 20; its 
 walls curiously built by Nabonnedus. of brick and bi- 
 tumen, according to the same Berosus. ib.; its pensile 
 fardens erected by Nebuchadnezzar, in imitation of the 
 mountain* of Media, ib.; Antiq. x.xi. 1. 
 
 ■••cWd**, Antiq. xii. x. 2; c xL s«Gt 1 1 b* attMks ih» 
 
 Jews, xiiu i. 2, 3; he rages against them, and !• slain. 
 War, •■. i. 2, 3. 
 Baderotus, king of the Tyrians, Against Apion, i. seet 
 
 Badus, or Bath, a Jewish measure, Antiq. viiu ii. 9. 
 
 Bagoa.s an eunuch, Antiq. xvii. ii. 4. 
 
 Bagoses, an enemy of the Jews, Antiq. xu nu 1. 
 
 Balak, king of Moab, Antiq. iv. vi.2, &c 
 
 Baladan, king of Babylon, Antiq. x. ii. 2. 
 
 Balaam, the prophet, 4ntiq. iv. vu2,&c.; his ass speaks, 
 
 ib. 
 Balatorus, king of the Tyrians, Against Apion, i. sect 
 
 Baleazarus, king of the Tynans, Against Apion, i. sect 
 
 Bahis, or Barea, king of Sodom, Antiq. i. ix. 1. 
 
 Balm, or Bal.sam, near Jericho, Antiq. xiv. ir. 1; and 
 
 XV. iv. 2; War, i. vl 6. 
 Baltasar [Belshazzar, or Naboandel, or NabonadiusJ, 
 
 king of Babylon, Antiq. x. xi. 2; his terrible vision, 
 
 and its intt^rpretation, ib.; his death, ib. 
 Balthasar [Belteshazzarj, Daniel's name, Antiq. x. x. 
 
 Banacates, Antiq. viii. ii. 4. 
 
 Banus, an hermit, Josephus's master, Life, sect 2. 
 
 Barachias, Antiq. ix. xii. 2. 
 
 Bjirak, excited by Deborah, encounters Sisera, Antiq. t. 
 
 v. 2. &c. 
 Barbarians, their riches formeriy consisted in cattle. An- 
 
 tiq. iu xi. 2. 
 Bardanes, king of the Parthians, Antiq. xi. iii. 3; he is 
 
 slain, ib. 
 Baris, a tower built a:t E<;batana, by Daniel, Antiq. x. 
 
 xi. 7. 
 Barnabazus, Antiq. xi. vi. 4. 
 Barsas, king of Gomorrah, Antiq. i. ix. 1. 
 Baruch, well skilled in the Hebrew tongue, and left with 
 
 Jeremiah the prophet in Judea at the Babylonian Cap- 
 tivity, Antiq. x. ix. 1, 2. 
 Barzaphemes, governor in Parthia, War, i. xiii. 1. 
 Barzillai, Antiq. vii. ix. 8. 
 Basan, or Baasha, king of Israel, Antiq. viii. xiu 3; slays 
 
 Nadab his predecessor, c. xi. sect 4. 
 Basima, or Basmath, Solomon's daughter, Antiq. viii. ii, 
 
 a 
 
 Baskets carried upon the head, Antiq. ii. r. 3. 
 
 Bassus (Venditius), See Venditius. 
 
 Bassus (Cecilius, murderer of 8extus Csesar), Antiq. xir. 
 
 xi. 1; \^r. i. X. 10. 
 Bassus (Lucillius), is sent with an army into Judea; h» 
 
 besieges and takes IVIacherus, War, vii. vii. 1, 6. 
 Baths, hot bathsatCallirrhoebeyoud Jordan, Antiq. xvii. 
 
 vi.3. 
 Bathsheba, Antiq. viu vii. 1, 2, 4. ^ 
 
 Bath, or Badus, a Jewish measure, Antiq. vii. iu w 
 Bathyllus, War, i. xxxi. 1. 
 
 bdthyllus, Antipater's freedman, Antiq. xvii. iv. X 
 Batteriag-raro, its description. War, iii. viiu 19. 
 Battle at Tarrichese, upon the Lake of Gennesaretb, War, 
 
 iii. X. 1. 
 Beeltethmus, Antiq. xu ii. 2. 
 Bela, or Zoar, the king of it, Antiq. i. ix. 1. 
 Belshazzar (or Baltasar, or Naboandel, or Nabonadlos), 
 
 king of Babylon, Antiq. x. xi. 2; his terribl* vision, 
 
 and its interpretation, ib. ; his death, ib. 
 Belteshazzar, Daniel's name, Antiq. x. x. I. 
 Bel us, the god of the Tyrians, Antiq. viii. xiiu 1. 
 Belus, the god of the Babylonians, Antiq. x. xu 1; his 
 
 temple there, ib. 
 Benaiah, a priest by birth, a man of valour, Antiq. viu 
 
 xii. 4; son of Jehoiada, c. v. sect 4j made commander 
 
 of some troops of Solomon, viii. i. 4; son of Achillus, 
 
 c. ii. sect 3. 
 Beneticence, its commendation and reward, Antiq. ri. 
 
 xiv. 4. 
 Benhadad (or the son of Hadad), king of Syria, besieges 
 
 Samaria the first time, Antiq. viiu xiv. 1, &c. th« 
 
 second time, ix. iv. 3; falls sick, and is smothered, by 
 
 Hazael, sect 6. 
 Benjamites are attacked for their enormous crimes at 
 
 Gibea, and at last terriBly defeated and cut oH AAti^ 
 
 V. ii. 8—11; their tribe restered, sect 13. 
 Beon, Against Apion, i. sect 14. 
 Bernice, daughter of Agrippa senior, Antiq. rvlIL r. 4| 
 
 she is married to Herod, Agrippa's brother, xix. v. 
 
 2. 
 Bernice, Agrippa's mother, dies, Antiq. xviiu vL 1. 
 Bcrnic*, Archclaa ' and Mariamne's daoshtor, 4nti> 
 
 «b vfl. 11. 
 
862 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Brrnie«, tbe widow of Herod, marrioB Polemon, Antiq. 
 XX. vii. 3; leaves him, ib. 
 
 Bernice, Salome's daagbter, Aristobalus's wife, Antiq, 
 xvL I. 2. 
 
 Bemicf, Agrippa senior's daughter, and junior's sister, 
 in danRer of her life. War, ii. xv. 2. 
 
 Bernicianus, Herod of Chaleis's son by Bernice, his bro- 
 ther Agrippa's dauRhter, War, ii. xi. 6. 
 
 Berytus, where the cause between Herod and his sons 
 was debated in a- council or cjurt, Antiq, xvi, xi. 2, 
 &c.; Komans living at Berytus, xvi. x. 8. 
 
 Bethtiel, Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 Bezaleel and Aholiah, sacred architects, Antiq. iii. vi. 
 
 Biglhan, Antiq. xi. vi. 4. 
 
 Birth-day of Ptolemy's son kept by the Syrians, Antiq. 
 
 xii.^v. 7; presents made thereupon, sect. 9. 
 Bobelo, Antiq. xi iv. 9. 
 
 Bocchorns, king of Egypt, Against Apion, i. 33. 
 Book of the law found) Antiq. x. iv 2. 
 Books composed by tSolomon, Antiq. viii. li. 5; twenty- 
 two most sacred books among the Jews, Against Apion, 
 
 1.8. 
 Booz, of Elimelech's family, Antiq. v. x. 2; his kindness 
 
 towards Ruth, ib>; he marries her, sect. 4. 
 Brazen vessels more valuable than gold, Antiq. xi. v. 
 
 2. 
 Bride, how she was to part from one that refused to 
 
 marry her, according to the law of Moses, Antiq. v. 
 
 ix. 4. 
 Britons, War, vi. vi. 2, 
 Britannicus, son of Claudins by Messalina, War, ii. xii. 
 
 & 
 Brocchus, a tribune, Antiq. xix. iii. 4. 
 Brother, a title which Alexander Balas gave to Jonathan 
 
 the high-priest, Antiq. xiii. ii. 2; the same title was 
 
 also given him by Demetrius Soter, e. iv. 9. 
 Buckle, or button (a golden one), sent to Jonathan by 
 
 Alexander, king of Syria, Antiq. xiii. iv. 4; and by 
 
 Demetrius, c. v. 4. 
 Bnkki, son of Abishua, high-priest, Antiq. viii. i. 3. 
 Barthus, Nero's Greek secretary, Antiq. XX. viii, 9l 
 Buz, Nahor's son, Autiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 Cecilius Basstis, the murderer of Sextus Caesar, Antk. 
 xiv. xi. I ; War, i. x. 10. 
 
 Cesinna, War. iv. xi. 3; sent to Vespasian, ib, 
 """•K^aesar (Julius^, makes war in Egypt, Antiq. xiv, viii. 1? 
 his decrees m favour of the Jews, o. x. sect.*5, &c. ; u 
 murdered by Brutus and Cassius, c. xi. sect. 1. 
 
 Ceaarea built by Herod, Antiq. xv. ix. 6; it was GOO far- 
 longs from Jerusalem, xiii. xi. 2; War, i. iii. 5. 
 
 Cajsarean -games instituted by Herod, Antiq xv. viii. 1; 
 VV|^i. xxi. 8; begun at the finishing of Csesarea Au- 
 gusta, Antiq. xvi. v. 1. 
 
 Cabsennius Petus, president of Syria, War, vii. vii. 1. 
 
 Ceesonia, wife of Caius, killed by Lupus, Antiq. xix. IL 
 4. 
 
 Cain murders his brother Abel, Antiq. i.ii. 1; his punish- 
 ment, ib. ; he peoples the land of Nod. sect. 2. 
 
 Caius, the son of Germanicus, is made Emperor, Antiq. 
 xviii. vi. 9; War, ii. ix. ,% 6; puts T berias, the grand- 
 son of Tiberias the emperor, to death, Antiq. xviii. vi, 
 9; his cruelty, c. vii. ; his behaviour in the government. 
 c vii. sect. 2; he orders his statue to be erected in the 
 temple at Jerusalem, c. viii. sect. 2; gratifies Agrippa, 
 and forbids its erection, sect. 8; his letter to Petronius. 
 lb.; he rages aeainst the Jews, xix. i. 1; calls himself 
 the brother of Jupiter, ib. ; a conspiracy formed against 
 Lim, sect, 2; the conspirators increase in number, sect. 
 Til; his death, c. i. sect. 14; his threatening letter to 
 Petronius retarded till he was dead, xviii. viii. 9; War, 
 i'. X. 5; his character, Antiq. xix. ii. 5. 
 
 (Ifllpb, one that searched the land of Canaan, Antiq. iii. 
 xiv. 4; and v. ii. 3. 
 
 Calf (golden) near Dapbane, Of Dan, War, i. ii. 
 
 rnlleas, Antiq, xvii. I. 
 
 fallimander, Antiq. xiii. x. 2, 3. 
 
 Callinicns, son of Antiochus, king of Commagena, War, 
 vii. vii. 2. 
 
 Callistns, afreed-man of Caius) Antiq. xiv. i. 10. 
 
 Oambysen succeeds Cyrus, Antiq. xi. it. 2; dies after a 
 reign of six years, sect. 2. 
 
 Camp of the Jews, Antiq. iii. xii. 6; of the Assyrians, 
 War, V. vii. 3; c. xii. sect. 2. 
 
 < amnel, or Kemnel, Nahor's son, Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 Canaan, land of, its description and division, Antiq. v. i. 
 ^1, ^j CanaanitesdittraiB tb« tribe of Pan, c. ill. sect. 
 
 sect 5; war denotmeed against tbetn by the txibts ol 
 
 Judea and Simeon, sect. I. 
 Candlestick in the tabernacle, Antiq. iii. vi. 7. 
 Cantheras removed from the high-priesthood, Antiq. xx« 
 
 Capellus, son of Antyllus, Life, sect. 13, 
 
 Capito, a centuriou, or captain of an hundred soldiers, 
 War,,vii. v. 6. 
 
 Capitol, the end of the triumphant shows. War, vii, v. 6, 
 
 Captives of the Jews, how many killed, and bow man} 
 kept alive, War, vi. ix. 2, 3; captives carried in th« 
 triumph, c. v. sect. 3. 
 
 Captivities of the ten, and of the two tribes, Antiq. x, 
 ix. 7. 
 
 Careas (Kareah), Antiq. x. ix. 2. 
 
 Carus, Herod's Catamite, Antiq. xvii. ii. 4. 
 
 Cassander governs Macedonia, after Alexander's deativ 
 Antiq. xii. i. L 
 
 Cassius Longinus, president of Syria, Antiq. xiv. xi. 2; 
 and XV. xi. 4; and xx. i, I; favours Antipater and He- 
 rod, xiv. )ri. 2, &c.; repels the Parthian.s, and then 
 retirto to Judea, c. vii. sect. 3; War, i, viiir9; is de- 
 feated at Philippi, Antiq. xiv. xii. 2. 
 
 Castles, or citadels, two at Jerusalem, one in the city, 
 and the other by the temple, Autiq. xii. i. 3; and xv. 
 vii. 8; c. viii. sect. 6. 
 
 Castor, the Jew, his cunning trick. War, v. vii. 4. 
 
 Castration of man or beast lorbidden by the law of Mosesy 
 Antiq. iv. viii. 40; young men of ro\al blood castrated 
 by Nebuchadnezzar's order, and among others Daniel 
 the prophet, x. x. 1. 
 
 Catullu*, governor of Lybia Pentapolitana, War, vii. xL 
 1. j his calumny against the Jews, sect. 2; Lis death 
 and the divine vengeance on him, sect. 3, 4. 
 
 Celadus, Antiq. xvii. xii. 2; War, ii. vii. 2. 
 
 Celenderis, War, i. xxxi. 3. 
 
 Celer, a tribune, Antiq. xx. vi. 2; he is put to death, 
 sect. 3. 
 
 Celtic legien, Antiq. xix. i. 15. 
 
 Cendebeus, commander of Antioehus's troops, Antiq, 
 x'.ii vii. 3; War, i. ii. 2. 
 
 Cerealis (Petelius), sent against the Samaritans, War, 
 iii. vii. 32; marches towards Hebron, iv, ix. 9; is or- 
 dered to attack the temple, vi. ii. 5; called to a coun- 
 cil of war about the temple, c. iv, sect. 3. 
 
 Cestius Gallcs, president of Syria, Life, sect. 43, War, ii. 
 xiv. 3; he gathers an army a^ain.st the Jews, War. ii. 
 xvi",'. 9; enters Jerusalem, c. xix. sect. 4; is beaten, 
 sect. 7. &c. 
 
 Chereas (Cassius), is stirred up against Caius, Antiq. 
 xix. i. 3. 4; draws others into the conspiracy, se(;t. 5; 
 gives Caius the first blow, sect. 14; is beheaded, c. xiv. 
 sect. 5. 
 
 Chagiras, son of Nabateus, War, v. xi. 5. 
 
 Chalaman, king of the Syrians, Antiq. vii, vi, 3- 
 
 Chalool, Antiq. viii. ii. 5. 
 
 Cham, or Ham, the son of Noah, Antiq. i. iv. 1; hi* 
 posterity, c. vi. sect. 2. 
 
 Chanaan,' or Canaan, the son of Ham, Antiq. i. vi. 2j 
 his posterity, ib. 
 
 Charan, or Haran, Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 Chares, War. iv. i. 4; dies, sect. 9. 
 
 Chatura, or Keturah, Abraham's last wife, Antiq. i. xi. 
 I. 
 
 Chebron, king of Egypt, Against Apion, i, sect, 13. 
 
 Chebron, or Hebron.' older than Memphis (Tanis), Wir, 
 ^v. ix. 7; taken by the Israelites, Antiq. v. ii. 3. 
 
 Chedorlaomer, Antiq. i. iv. 
 
 Chelbes, king of the Tyrians, Aeainst Apion, i. sect 2L 
 
 Chelcias, Antiq. xiii. x. 4; c. xiii. sect. 1. 
 
 Chellio, or Chilio. Antiq. v. ix. 1. 
 
 Cherubim, their shape not known, Antiq. viii. iii. 3. 
 
 Ch»«ed, Nahor's son. Antiq, i. vi. 3. 
 
 Chetim, or Kittim, Antiq. i. vi. 1. 
 
 Children not always like their parents, Antiq. vi. iii. 3. 
 
 Christ and Christians. Antiq. xviiL iii. 3. 
 
 Chiisarthes. or Chusan, the king of Assyria, oppresses 
 the Israelites, Antiq. v. iii. 2. 
 
 rhnsi, or Hushai, Antiq. vii. ix. 2. 
 
 Cbntheans (people ot Cutha), who they were and whence 
 they came, .Antiq. ix. xiv. 3; go to Samaria, x. ix. 7; 
 hinder the rebuilding of the temple, xi. ii, 1. 
 
 Cinnamus, Antiq. xx. iii. 2. 
 
 Circumcision is received in Palestine by the Jews, 
 Against Apion, i. sect 22; its institution, Antiq. t x. 
 The Arabians circumcise tl)eir children nftrr tlw'^bir- 
 teenth year of their age, c. xii. sect. 3; the Syri9na 
 in Palestine received cirrumci«i<»D from the Kgyr^tians. 
 ^foordiog to Hi-rodotus, viLL *> 3, not to tgie fwroe^ 
 
INDEX. 
 
 863 
 
 Qpon any body, in the opinion of Josepbaa, Life, sect, 
 ay; the Idumeans forced to be circumcised, or leave 
 their country, by John Hyrcanas, xiii. ix. 1 ; the Itu- 
 rcans torced to be circumcised by Aristobulus, c xi. 
 sect 3. 
 
 Classirus, War, vii. iv. 2. 
 
 Claudius Ccesar, Antiq. xix. ii. 1; c. iii. sect. 1 ,- be is 
 dragfited out of a corner to the imperial dignity, ib. ,- 
 War, li. XI. 1 ; he is favoured by the army, Antiq. xix. 
 IV. .3. his liberality to Ajtrippa, c. ▼. sect 1; his edict 
 in favour of the Jews, sect. 3; his letter to the Jews, 
 Antiq. xx. i. 2; he dies. c. viii. sect 1; War, iL xii. 8; 
 his wile and children, ib. 
 
 Clement, Antiq. xix. 1. 6. 
 
 Cleopatra, daut^hter of Antiochus, married to Ptolemy, 
 Antiq. xii. iv. 1. 
 
 Cleopatra, wileol Philometer. Antiq. xiii. iii. 1,2; Against 
 Apion, ii. sect 5; she takes up arms against Ptolemy 
 Lathynis, Antiq. xiii. xiii. 1; makes an alliance with 
 Alexander, sect. 2; takes Ptolemais, ib. 
 
 Cleopatra, wife of Demetrius II., Antiq. xiii. viL 1; mar- 
 ried to Antiuchns Soter, sect 2 
 
 Cleopatra, queen of Kgypt, meets Antony in Cilicia, An- 
 tiq. xiv. xiii. 1 ; her cruelty and avarice, xv. iv. I ; 
 .War, i. xviii. 4; kills her sister .Arsinoe, Antiq. xv. iv. 
 1; obtains from Antony apart of Arabia and Judea, 
 ib. ; tempts Herod to lie with her, sect 2; -Herod con- 
 ducts her towards Egypt, ib. 
 
 Cleopatra (Selene) besieged by Tigranes, Antiq. xiii. 
 xvi. 4; War. i. v 3. 
 
 Cleopatra of Jerusalem, the wife of Herod, Antiq. xvii. 
 i. 3; War, i. xxviii. 4. 
 
 Cleopatra,-wife of Florus, Antiq. xx. xi. 1. 
 
 Clitus, author of a rebellion at Tiberias, Life, sect. 34; 
 cuts off his left hand by the order of Jose^.'aus, ib.; W ar, 
 ii. xxi. 10 
 
 Clevins, Antiq. xix. i. 13. 
 
 Coligna (Cneus). War, vii. iii. 4. 
 
 Colonies within and without Italy, Antiq. xix. v. 3. 
 
 Columns, or pillars in the land of Siriad, Antiq. L h. 3; 
 of the Corintiiian order in Solomon's palace, viii. v.S; 
 in Herod's temple. War. v. v. 2. 
 
 Commandments written upon two tables, Antiq. iiu v. 
 4; written by the hand of '^od, sectS; not to Lave 
 their very words published, sect. 4. 
 
 Conquests easier gotten than maintained, Antiq. viiL iv. 
 4 
 
 Conscience of good actions is safer to be relied on, than 
 on the concealment of evil ones, Antiq. ii. iv. 4. 
 
 Conspiracy against Herod. Antiq. xv. viii. 3, &c. 
 
 Convention, of Asia at Ancyra. Antiq. xvL vi. 2; conven- 
 tion at Jerusalem. Life, sect 13. 
 
 Coponius, procurator of Judea, Antiq. xviii. L I; c. ii. 
 sect. 2; War, ii. viii. 1. 
 
 Coracinus, a fish. War, iii. X. 8. _ 
 
 Corban. or secret treasure, War, ii. ix. 4. 
 
 Cores, or Korah, raises a sedition against Moses, Antiq. 
 iv. ii. 2; perishes with his faction, c. iii. sect 3. 
 
 Corinthus, one of Herod's life-guards. Antiq. xvii. iiu 2; 
 an Arabian by birth. War, L xxix. 3. 
 
 Cornelius, Faustus, son of Sylla, Antiq. xiv. iv. 4; War, 
 i. vii. 5. 
 
 Cornelius, the brother of Longus, War, vi. iii. 2. 
 
 Corns, a Jewish measure of 10 Attic medumni, Antiq. 
 iiL XV. 3. 
 
 Costobarus, an Idumean, Salome's husband, Antiq. xv. 
 viii. 9. 
 
 Costobarus, a ringleader of the robbers, Antiq. xx. ix. 
 4. 
 
 Cotylas. or Zeno, Antiq. xiii. viii. 1; War, i. ii. 4. 
 
 Cotys, king of lesser Armenia, Antiq. xix. viii. 1. 
 
 Cow, the red cow for purification, Antiq. iv. iv. 6. 
 
 Cozbi, a Midianitish woman, Antiq. iv. vi. 10 
 Coze, or Kose, an idol of the Idumeans before they 
 turned Jews, Antiq. xv. vii. 9. 
 
 Crassus, governor of the east, succeeds Gabinus, Antiq. 
 xiv. vi. 4; arrives in Judea and plunders the temple 
 of its treasurers, c. vii. sect 1; War, i. viiL 8; perishes 
 in an expedition against the Parthians, ib. 
 Creation of the world, Antiq. i. ii. i. 
 Crimes are encouraged by indulgence to those that com- 
 mit them, Antiq. vi. vii. 4. 
 Crown, or mitre of the high-priest, Antiq. iiL viL 7. 
 C^manus, procurator of Judea, Antiq. xx. ▼. 2; War, ii. 
 
 xii. 1. 
 Curses denounced from mount F.bal. Antiq. iv. viii. 44; 
 
 and V. i. 19. 
 Cnspius Fadus, procomtor of Juden, .Antiq. xv. xi. 4; 
 and xix. iv. 8; xx. \ kc; War. ii. xi. C 
 
 Customs, or taxes of Syria, Phsenicia^ Judta, asd 
 
 ria, 8000 talents, Antiq. xii. iv. 4. 
 Cypres, king Agrippa's wife. War, ii. xi. 6. 
 Cypros, Antipater senior's wife, by whom he had foor 
 
 children, Antiq. xiv. vii. 3; War, L viii. 9. 
 Cypros, Antipater's daughter by Cyprus, Antiq. xviii. T. 
 
 4; married to Alexas Selcias. ib. 
 Cypres, Herod's daughter, married to Aotipater, Salome^ 
 
 son, Antiq. xviii. v. 5. 
 Cypros, daughter of Phasaelus and Salampsio, married 
 
 to Agrippa senior. Antiq. xviii. v. 4; c. vi. sect 2, 3. 
 Cyrenius, or Quirinius, Antiq. xviL xiii. 5; and xviiL i. 
 
 1; War, vii. viii. 1. • 
 
 Cyn-ueansderived from the Lacedemonians, War, iL xvi.4. 
 Cyrus, king of Persia, Antiq. x. xi. 2, &c.; purposes to 
 
 rebuild the Jewish temple, xi. L 1, &c. ; releases the 
 
 Jews from their captivity by an edict, sect 2, 3; his 
 
 death, c. ii. sect 1. 
 Cyrus, the son of Xerxes, called by the Greeks Artaxer- 
 
 xes, made king, Antiq. xL vL I, &c.; his letter re- 
 scinding the edict of Uamao, sect 12. 
 
 Demons, War, vi. vi. 3. 
 
 Dagon, the god of Ashdod, Antiq. vi. 1 ; his temple burnt, 
 xiii. iv. 4. 
 
 Damascene colonies transported into Higher Media, An- 
 tiq. ix. xii. 3. 
 
 Damascus taken by Tiglathpileser, Antiq. ix. xiL 3; 
 taken by the Romans, xiv. iL 3. 
 
 Dan built by the Danites. Antiq. v. iii 1. 
 
 Danaus, or Hermeus, king of Egypt, Against Apion, L 
 sect 20. 
 
 Daniel the prophet, Antiq. x. x. 1, &c. ; is castrated with 
 his companions, ib.; their austerity of life, sect 2; 
 Daniel foretells the times of future events, ib. ; tells 
 Nebuchadnezzar his dream, and interprets it to hen, 
 sect 3, 4; is honoured for it, sect 5; his companions 
 are cast into a fiery furnace, ib.; Daniel explains the 
 hand-writine upon the wall. c. xL sect 2; is carried 
 into Media by Darius, sect 4; is made one of the pre- 
 sidents of the kingdom, ib. ; a conspiracy against him, 
 sect £, 6, is thrown into the lion's den, sect 6; builds 
 a tower at Ecbatana, sect 7, the manner and certainty 
 of his prophecies, ib. ; his vision of the ram and the 
 he-goat, ib. ; his prophecy of the destruction of the 
 Jews by the Romans, ib. ; of the profanation of the 
 temple by Antiochus Epipbanes, xiL viL 6. 
 
 Danaa, Ant.q. viii. ii. 5. 
 
 D&rius, the son of Astyges, called by another name among 
 the Greeks, Antiq.x. xi. 2, 4. 
 
 Darius, the son of Hystaspes, made king, Antiq. xL iii. 
 1; makes a splendid entertainment sect 2; proposes 
 questions to be resolved, ib. ; his letters in favour of 
 Zerobabel, for rebuilding the temple, sect 8; has Cy- 
 rus's records searched about that temple, Antiq. xL iv. 
 6; gives orders for its rebuilding, !b.; bis edict again«t 
 the Samaritans, sect 9. 
 
 Dathan, Antiq. iv. iL 1. 
 
 David's genealogy, Antiq«T. ix. 4; is anointed by Sa- 
 muel, vi. viii. 1 ; pliys upon the harp before Saul, sect 
 2; fights Goliah. vL ix. 10; c. xL sect 4; his and Jo- 
 nathan's friendship, c. xL sect 1. 6, &c. ; is reconciled 
 to >iaul by Jonathan, sect 2; is in danger of being 
 killed by Saul, sect 3; his flight, vL xiL 1; c. xiiL 
 sect 10; he spares Saul's life twice, c. xiiL sect 4, 9; 
 promises to assist the king of Gath, c. xiv. sect 1; 
 pursues after the Amalekites, and puts them to flight, 
 sect. 6; makes a funeral oration for Saul and Jonathan, 
 vii. LI; is made king of Judah, sect 2; and of the 
 Israelites, vii. iL 2; takes Jerusalem, c iiL sect 1; 
 casts the Jebusites out of it, sect 2; marries several 
 wives, and begets eleven children, sect 3; conquers 
 the Philistines, c. 4, sect. 1 ; has the ark carried to 
 Jerusalem, sect. 2; is reproached by Michal, sect 3; 
 purposes to build the temple, sect 4; his victories, c 
 V. sect 1; his liberality to Mephibosheth, sect 5; he 
 falls in love with Bathsheba, c. viL sect 1; caases 
 Uriah to be slain, ib.; marries Bathsheba, viL vii. 1; 
 is reproved for all by Nathan the prophet c vii. sect 
 3; his son by Bathsheba dies, sect 4; he mourns for 
 Absalom's death, c. x. sect 5; orders the people to be 
 numbered, c. xiiL sect 1; chooses the pestilence ra- 
 ther than famine or the sword, sect 2; mak«>s great 
 preparations for the building of the temple, c. xiv sect 
 1; exhorts .Solomon to build it, sect 2, 9; divides the 
 priests into twenty-four courses, sect. 7; he dies, c. xv, 
 sect 2: is buried with great pomp, sect 3; the tr»a- 
 sures hidden in his monumcjjt, ib. xiii. viii. 4) and 
 xvL vii. I ; War, i. iL 5. 
 
864 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Day unusaaUy lengthened, Antiq. ▼. L 17. 
 
 Debora, Antiq. v. v. 3. 
 
 Deceased, what care was taken of them by the Jews, 
 Against Apion, ii. sect 26. 
 
 Decrees of the Romans, &c., in favour of the Jews, 
 Antiq. xiv. viii. 5; ex. sect 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 
 12, 13, 14, 1.5, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 
 2& 
 
 Dedan, Antiq. i. vi. 2. 
 
 Dellius the wicked, Antiq. xiv. xv. 1; and xv. ii. 6; 
 M ar, i. XV. 3. 
 
 Deluge, Antiq. i. iii. 3, &c. 
 
 Demetiius, alaba,rch at Alexandria, Antiq. xx. vii. 3. 
 
 Demetrius, the son of Demetrius, joins with Jonathan 
 and Ptolemy his father-in-law, and conquers Alexan- 
 der; Antiq. xiii. iv. 7, 8; called Nicator, sect 9; his 
 letter in favour of the Jews, ib.; is hated by Antiochus, 
 c. v. sect. 3; breaks friendship with Jonathan, ib. ; is 
 coiquered by Antiochus, and flies into Cilicia, sect. 4; 
 is made prisoner by Arsaces, and released, sect. 11 ; 
 Trypho rebels against him, c. vii. sect. I ; is hated by 
 the army, c. ix. sect. 3; is defeated ^^nd flies in vain to 
 Cleopatra his wife, ib. ; goes thence to Tyre, is made 
 prisoner and dies, ib. 
 
 Demetrius Eurerus, fourth son of Antiochus Grypus, is 
 made kins? of Syria, Damascena, Antiq. xiii. xiii. 4; 
 his assistance desired by the Jews, sect. 5; he makes 
 war upon Alexander, and conquers him, c. xiv. sect. 
 1, War, i. iv. 4, 5; he makes war with his brother 
 Philip, is carried prisoner into Parthia, and dies there, 
 Antiq. xiii. xiv. 3. 
 
 Demetrius of Gadara, Pompey's freed man, obtains the 
 rebuilt! insr of that city, Antiq. xiv. 4. 
 
 Demetrius Phalereus, keeper of the Alexandrian library, 
 Antiq. xii. ii. 1; Against Apion, ii. sect. 4; his peti- 
 tion to king Philadelphus, Antiq. xii. ii. 3; he places 
 the seventy-two interpreters near the sea-side, sect 
 2. 
 
 Demetrius Soter, son of Seleucus, made king of Syria, 
 Antiq. xii. x. 1; puts king Antiochus to death, ib. ; 
 sends Bacchides and Nicanor against the Jews, sect 
 2,4; his charafcter, xiii. ii. 1; his letter to Jonathan, 
 sect 3; is killed in the war against Alexander, sect 
 4. 
 
 Demoteless, Antiq. xiii. v. 8. 
 
 Diana's temple at Elymais in Persia, Antiq. xiu ix. 1 ; 
 Diana's temple in Egypt, xiii. iii. I. 
 
 Dido, queen of the Tyrians, Against Apion, i. sect 
 18. 
 
 Diklath, Antiq. i. vi. 4. 
 
 Dinah, Jacob's daughter, Antiq. i. xxi. 1. 
 
 Dioclerus, Antiq. viii. ii. 3. 
 
 Diodorus, son of Jason, Antiq. xiii.ix. 2. 
 
 Diodorus. or Trypho, Antiq. xiii. v. 1. 
 
 Dionysius, tyrant of Tripoli, Antiq. xiv. iiu 2. 
 
 Diophantus, a forger of letters, Antiq. xvi. x. 4 
 
 Divorce, what are the causes of it, Antiq. iv. viii. 28; 
 whether it be lawful for a wife to send a bill of divorce 
 to her husband, Antiq. xv. viii. 10. 
 
 Doeg the Syrian, Antiq. vi. xii. 4. 
 
 Dogs, it is not natural for ttem to devour the bones with 
 the flesh, Antiq. xi. iv. 9. 
 
 Dolabella's letter to the Ephesians in favour of the Jews, 
 Antiq. xiv. x. 12. 
 
 Dolesus, War, iv. vii. 2. 
 
 Domitian kind to Josephus, Lifft, sect 75. 
 
 Domitian, the son of Vespasian, is made regent in his 
 father's absence, War, iv. xi. 4; is kind to Josephus, 
 Life, sect 75; hi., expedition against the Germans, 
 War, vii. iv. 2. 
 
 Domitius Sabinus, War, v, viii. 1. 
 
 Doris, Herod's first wife, Antiq. xiv. xii. 1; is mother 
 of Anti pater, ib. xvii. i. 3; War, i. xxviiu 4; is expelled 
 the court, L xxx. 4. 
 
 Dorians erect CKsar's statue in a Jewish synagogue, 
 Antiq. xix. vi. 3; Petrontus's edict against them, ib. 
 
 Dorotheus, Antiq. xii. ii. 11. 
 
 Dortus, Antiq. xx. vi. 2. 
 
 Dositheus, a Jew, his perfldionsness, Antiq. xv. yi. 3. 
 
 Dositbeus, a general of the Jews, Against Apion, iL sect 
 S. 
 
 Dove sent out of the Ark, Antiq. L iii. 6. 
 
 Draco's laws, Against Apion, i. sect. 4. 
 
 Drusilla, daughter of Agrippa senior, by Cypros, Antiq. 
 xviii. v. 4; married to Azizus, king of Emesa, xx. vii. 
 i ; afterwards to Felix, procurator of Judea, sect 2. 
 
 Dru»u< her brother, Antiq. xviii- v. 4. 
 
 DnisuB, brntlier of Tiberius, Antiq. xviii. vi. 8. 
 
 Duration ot the Jewish law, Aguinst Apion, ii. sect 31. 
 
 Eagle, golden eagle pulled down from the front of tiM 
 
 temple, Antiq. xvii. vi. 3 ; holding a dragon in his claws 
 
 in the seal of Lacedemonians, xii. iv. 10. 
 Earthquake, wherein the followers of Dathan and Abi- 
 
 ram were swallowed up, Antiq. iv. iii. 1. 
 Earthquake, a very great one in Judea, Antiq. xv. v. 2. 
 Eating the sinew upon the hip, why refused by the Jews, 
 
 Antiq. i. xx. 2. 
 Ebal, Antiq, i. vi. 4. 
 Eban, David's son, Antiq. vii. iii. 3. 
 Ebutius, a decurion. War, iii. vii. 3; slain in battle. It 
 
 i.5. 
 Eclipse of the moon, Antiq. xvii. vi. 4. 
 Ecnibalus, king of Tyre, Against Apion, i. sect 21. 
 Eglon, king of Moab. oppresses the Israelites, Antiq. t. 
 
 iv. 1 ; is made a judge, ib. 
 Elab succeeds Baasha in the kingdom of Israel, Antiq. 
 
 viii. xii. 4. 
 Elam, Antiq. i. vi. 4. 
 Elcanah, or Elkanah, Antiq. ix. xii. 1. 
 Elcanah, or Elkanah, Samuel's father, Antiq. T. x. 2. 
 Elcias, the high-priest, Antiq. x. viii. 6. 
 Eleazar's house, Antiq. vii. xv. 7. 
 Eleazar's commendation. War, v. vi. 1. 
 Eleazar, the son of Aaron, Antiq. iii. viii. 1. 
 Eleazar, the son of Ananias, high-priest, Antiq. xviii. iL 
 
 2; War, ii. xvii. 2. 
 Eleazar, the son of Dineus, Antiq. xx. vi. 1 ; c. viii. sect. 
 
 5; War, ii. xii. 4. 
 Eleazar, the son of Dodo, Antiq. vii. xii. 4. 
 Eleaxar cast out a demon, Antiq. viii. ii. 4. 
 Eleazar, brother of Joazar, made high-priest, Antiq. xvii. 
 
 xiii. 1; deprived, ib. 
 Eleazar. brother of Judas Maccabeus, called Auran, An- 
 tiq. xii. vi. 1; c. ix. sect 4; is crushed to death by an 
 
 elephant, ib. ; War. i. i. 5. 
 Eleazar, a ring-leader of the robbers, Antiq. xx. i. 1| 
 
 War, vii. viii. 1; is taken prisoner and sent to Rome, 
 
 Antiq. xx. viii. 5; War, ii. xiii. 2. 
 Eleazar, of Masada's speech to his garrison, War, vii. 
 
 viii. 6. 
 Eleazar, the son of Moses, Antiq. ii. xiii. 1. 
 Eleazar, the hi^h-priest in the days of Joshua, Antiq. 
 
 iv iv. 7 ; he dies, v. i. 29. 
 Eleazar, the high-priest in the days of Philadelphus, 
 
 Antiq. Pref. sect 3; and xii. ii. 4; and xvii. xiii. 1; 
 
 his letter to Philadelphus, xiL ii. 7; he dies, c. iv. 
 
 sect 1. 
 Eleazar, treasurer of the temple, Antiq. xiv. vii. 1. 
 Eleazar, the son of Sameas's valour. War, iii. vii. 21. 
 Eleazar, the son of Simon, War, ii. xx. 3; and iv. iv. Ij 
 
 and v. i. 2; c. iii. sect 1; and vi. iv. 1. 
 Eleazar, the companion of Simon, dies. War, iv. ix. 
 
 5. 
 Eleazar, commander of the temple, Antiq. xx. ix. 3j 
 
 War, ii . xvii. 2. 
 Eleazar taken prisoner by Rufus, War, vii. vi. 4. 
 Eleutheri, horsemen so called. War, i. xiii. 3. 
 Elhanan, Antiq. vii. xii. 2. 
 Eli, the high-priest, Antiq. viii. i. 3; is judge in Lsrael 
 
 after Samson, Antiq. v. ix. 1; his profligate sons, c. x. 
 
 sect 1. 
 Eliakim, Antiq. X. i. 2. 
 Eliashib, the high-priest, Antiq. xi.v. 4, &c. ; dies, c. vii. 
 
 sect. 1. 
 Elien, David's son, Antiq. vii. iii. 3. 
 Elijah the prophet Antiq. viii. xiii. 2, &c. ; his miracles 
 
 wrought tor the widow of Serepta, ib. ; he presents 
 
 himself to Ahab, sect 4; foretells rain, ib. ; the false 
 
 prophets are killed by his order, sect 6; calls for lire 
 
 from heaven, ix. ii. 1; is taken up, sect 2; his letter 
 
 to king Jelioram, c. v, sect 2. 
 Elimelich, Antiq. v. ix. 1. 
 
 Elioncus. the son of Cantharus, is made high-priest, An- 
 tiq. xix. viii. 1. 
 Eliphale, or Elipholet, David's son, Antiq. vii. iii. 3, 
 Elisa, Antiq. i. vi. 1. 
 Elisha, the prophet, the son of Shaphat Antiq. viii. xiii 
 
 7; and ix. ii. 2; c. iii. sect 1 ; bis miracles, i. x. iv. 1, 
 
 &c. ; his death and eulogium, c. viii. sect Oj his curs 
 
 of the barren fountain, War, iv. viii. 3. 
 Elkanah, or i-.lcanah, Antiq. ix. xii. I. 
 Elkanah, or Elcanah, Samuel's father, Antiq. v. X. 2. 
 Elmodad, Antiq. i. vi. 4. 
 
 Elon succeeds Ibson as judge, Antiq. v. vii. 14. 
 Elpis, Herod's wife, Antiq. xvu. i. 3; War, i. xxv^ 
 
 4. 
 Elthemus, ecnrral of the Arabians, War, i. xix. Qi, 
 Elultus, king of the Tyrians, Antiq i. xiv. 2. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 865 
 
 ^ 
 
 Bmnos, David's son, Antiq. rii. iii. 
 
 Ennaphen, Darid's son, Antiq. vii. iff. 3. 
 
 Enemies, when conquered, may be lawfully killed, Aatiq. 
 iK. iv 3. 
 
 Entich, Aiiliq. i. ij, 2; c. iii. sect. 2. 
 
 Enoch and Elijah transhitt-d, Antiq. ix. ii. 2. 
 
 Enos, the son of Seth, Antiq, i. iii. 2. 
 
 Ensigns of the Romans, with Csesar's image, Antiq.xviiL 
 iii. 2; sacritices offered to them. War, vL vu 1. 
 
 Epaphroditus, his character, Antiq. Pref. sect. 2; a great 
 friend of Josephus, Life, sect. 75. 
 
 Ephesians, their decree in favour of the Jews, Antiq. xiv. 
 X. 25. 
 
 Rphod, Antiq. iii. vii. 3. 
 
 Kpicrates, Antiq. xiii. x. 2, 3. 
 
 'Epicureans, tlieir error concerning providence confuted, 
 Antiq. x. xi. 7. 
 
 Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus, king of Commagena, 
 Antiq xix. ix 1. 
 
 Epistle of Jonathan the high-priest to the Lacedemonians, 
 Antiq. xiii. v. 8; of Philadelphus for freeing the cap. 
 tive Jews, Antiq. xii. ii. 3: to Eieazar the high-priest, 
 sect. 4; of Solomon, and Hiram king of the Tyrians, 
 viii, ii. 6, 7; of Xerxes to Esdras, xi. v. I; of Arta- 
 xerxes to the governors near Judea. c, vi. sect. 12; of 
 Antiochus the Great, to Ptolemy Epinhanes, xii. iii. 
 3; of the Samaritins to Antiochus Theus, c. v. sect. 
 5; of Alexander Balas to Jonathan, xiii. ii. 2; of Onias 
 to Ptolemy and Cleopatra, c. iii. sect. 1; of Demetrius 
 to Jonathan and the Jews, c. iv. sect 9; of Julius Coe- 
 sar to.the Koman magistrates, xiv. x. 2, &c.; of Mark 
 Antony to the Tyrians, c. xii. sect. 4. 
 
 Esaiah the prophet Antiq. ix. xiii. 3; and X. i. 3, 4; c. 
 ii. sect 1. 2; his eulogium, sect 2; his prophecy con- 
 cerning the Assyrians, x xiv.; concerning Cyrus, 210 
 years before his" reign, xi. i. 2; the same read by Cyrus, 
 lb.; his prophecy concerning tne temple of Onias, War, 
 vii. X. 3. 
 
 Esau, or Edom, Antiq. ii. L 1; his birth, i. xviii. L 
 
 Escol, Antiq. i. x. i, 
 
 Esdras. Antiq. xi. v. 1, &c. ; his grief for the foreign mar- 
 riages, sect 3; he reads the law of Moses to the peo- 
 ple, sect. 6; he dies, ib. 
 
 Essen, or high-priest's breast-plate, Antiq. iii. viii. 5; 
 when its shining ceased, sect 9. 
 
 Essens honoured by Herod, Antiq. xv. x. 5; are against 
 swearing, War, ii. viii. 6: tbeir manners, rites, and 
 doctrines described, Antiq. xiii. v. 9, and xviii. i. 5; 
 War, iu viii. 2, &c. ; they abstain from anointing them- 
 selves with oil, sect 3; their diligence in reading their 
 sacred book.s, sect 6; Simon the Essen an interpreter 
 of dreams, Antiq. xvii. xiii. 3. 
 
 Esther, Antiq. xi. vi. 2 ; is married to the king, ib. ; is 
 , concerned for the Jews, sect. 7, &c. ; invites the king 
 -' and Haman to an entertainment, sect 9. 
 
 Ethan, Antiq. viii. ii. 5. 
 
 Ethbaal, or Ithobalus, king of Tyre, Antiq. viii. xiii. 1, 2; 
 Against Apion, i. sect 18, 21. 
 
 Ethi, or Ittai the Gittite, Antiq. vii. ix. 2. 
 
 Ethnarch (Simon), Antiq. xiiL vi. 6; contracts thence 
 dated, ib. 
 
 Ethnarch fArchelaus), Antiq. xvii. xi. 4; War, ii. vi. 3. 
 
 Euartns Cous, Antiq. xvi. x. 2; War, i. xxvi. 5. 
 
 Euaristis AiTuntius, Antiq. xix. i. 10. 
 
 Fve created, Antiq. i. i. 2; her fall, sect 4; 
 
 Evi, king of the IMidianites, Antiq. iv. vii. 1. 
 
 Evil-Merodach, Antiq. x. xL 2; Against Apion, i. sect 
 10. 
 
 Euodus, freed-man of Tiberias, Antiq. xviii. vi. 8. 
 
 Enpolemus's son John, Antiq. xii. x. 6. 
 
 Enrycles slanders the sons of Herod, Antiq. xii. x. 6; 
 War, i. xxvi. I, &c. ; he returns to bis own country, 
 sect 4. ■• 
 
 Eutychus, Agrippa's freed-man and charioteer, Antiq. 
 xviii. vi. 5. 
 
 r.utychus. Caius Caesar's coachman, Antiq. xix. iv. 4. 
 
 Exempt from military service, who, Antiq. iv. viii. 41. 
 
 Exorcisms, or forms' of casting out demons, composed by 
 Solomon, Antiq. viii ii. 6. 
 
 Ezekias. a rincleader for the robbers, Antiq. xiv. ix, 2. 
 
 Ezekiel the prophet, Antiq. x. v. 1; c. viii. sect 2; is 
 carried captive into Babylon, c. vi.sect 3; bis prophecy 
 concerning the destruction of the Jews, c. vii. sect 2; 
 bis prophecy reconciled to that of Jeremiah, ib. 
 
 Fabatus, Caesar's servant Antiq. xvii. iii. 2; Herod's 
 
 steward, W ar, i. xxix. 3. 
 Fabiud, governor of Damascus, Antiq. xiv. xi. 7; War, 
 
 i. xiL 1. 
 
 Fabinns, a centnrion, Antiq. nv. tr. 4; War, i. xii. 1. 
 
 Factions, three in Jerusalem, Antiq. v. u 4. 
 
 Fadus (Cuspins), procurator of Judea, Antiq. xv. xL 4{ 
 and xix. ix. 2; and xx. 1. &c.; War, ii. xi. 6. 
 
 Famine in Judea in the 13th year of Herod's reign, An- 
 tiq. XV. ix. I; another in the reignof Claudius, iii. xv. 
 3: and xx ii. 6; c. v. sect 2; a dismal famine in 
 Jerusalem, War, v. x. 2; c. xii. sect 3; vi. 3; for 
 Saul's cruelty to the (iibeonites, Antiq. viii. xii. 1; at 
 Samaria, xiii. x. 2; famine and pestilence, two of the 
 greatest evils, x. vii. 4. 
 
 Fannius the consul's decree in favour of the Jews, Antiq. 
 xiv. X. 15. 
 
 Fannius, a Roman prgafor, Antiq. xiii. ix. 10. 
 
 Fast, observed at Jerusalem, Antiq. xiv. xvL; on the 
 day on which Pompey took Jerusalem, ib. c. iv. sect 
 4. 
 
 Fate unavoidable, Antiq. viii. xv. 6; War, v. xiii. 7; and 
 vi. i. 8; c. ii sect 1; c. iv. sect 8; and c v. sect 4. 
 
 Feastof unleavened bread. See pasinover. Guests placed 
 at feasts according to their condition, Antiq. xii. iv. 9; 
 funeral feasts among the Jews, War. ii. L. .. 
 
 Felicity too great, the cause of many evils, Antiq. viii. x. 
 7. 
 
 Felix. Antiq. xiv. xi. 7 ; War, i. xii. 1 ; brother of Pallas, 
 and procurator of Judea, Antiq. xx. vii. 1; c viii. sect. 
 5. War, ii. xii. 8; c, xiii. sect 7; he punishes the mu- 
 tineers, Antiq. xx. viii. 7; is accused at Rome, sect. 9. 
 
 Festivals of the Hebrews, Antiq. iii. x. 1, &c. ; three 
 great ones, ib. xviii. iv. 3; at those festivals Roman 
 guards were posted at the temple. War, ii. xii. 1; im- 
 munity granted them at those festivals by Demetrius 
 Soter, Antiq. xiii. ii. 3; celebrated by the Jews in shin- 
 ing garments, c. xi. sect, i ; and on them did no man- 
 ner of work, iii. x. 6; celebrated by the Gentiles in 
 idleness and pleasure, L xxi. 1; no mousing arooni; 
 the Jews at such times, xi. v. 5; nor did they then 
 travel far, xiii. viii. 4; Egyptian women appeared at 
 such times in public, ii. iv. 3; wood carried on a festi- 
 val day for the altar. War, ii. xvii. t); festival at de- 
 dication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus, Antiq. xiu 
 vii. 7. 
 
 Festus (Porcius), procurator of Judea, Antiq. xx. viiL 9; 
 he dies, c. ix. sect 1. 
 
 Flaccus (Norbanus), proconsul, Antiq. xri.vi.; president 
 of Syria, xviii. vi. 2. 
 
 Flesh of horses, mules, &c., forbidden to be brought 
 within the walls of Jerusalem, Antiq. xii. iii. 4. 
 
 Flies (the god of), le. Beelzebub, the god of Ekron, An- 
 tiq. ix. ii. 1. , 
 
 Florus (Gessius), procurator of Judea, Antiq. xviii. i. 6; 
 and xi. xix. 2; and xx. ix..5; is the cause of the Jew- 
 ish war, c. xi. sect 1; Life, sect. 6; War, ii. xiv. 3, 6; 
 c. XV. sect 1, &c. ; he is derided by the people, ii. xiv. 
 6; he plunders the city, sect 9; he calumniates the 
 Jews before Cestius, War. ii. xvi. 1. 
 
 Fonteius Agrippa, killed by the Scythians, W'ar, vii. iv. 
 3. 
 
 Fountain near Jericho, War, iv. viii. 3; is cured by Eli- 
 sha, ib. ; its wonderful virtue, ib. 
 
 Friends never free irom envy, Antiq. vi iv 3 
 
 Frigius (Titus), War, vL iv. 3. 
 
 Fronto, War, vi. iv. 3. 
 
 Fulvia, a lady defrauded of her money by a Jew, Antiq. 
 xviii. iiL 5. 
 
 Furtus, a centurion, Antiq. xiv. iv. 4; War, i. vii. 4. 
 
 Gaal protects the Shechemites against Abimelech, An 
 
 tiq. V. vii. 3. 
 Gaam, Antiq. i. vi. 6. 
 Oabris, or Gabares, Antiq viii. ii. 3. 
 Gabinus, Antiq. xiv. iii. 2; c. iv. sect 1; War, L vi. 6; 
 
 is made president of Syria, Antiq. xiv. T. 2j War, i. 
 
 viii. 2. 
 Gad, the prophet, Antiq.'Vii. xiii. 2, &c. 
 Gadara, taken by Vespasian, War, iv. vii. 3; the Gada- 
 
 rens made prisoners, and killed, iii. vii. 1. 
 Gaddis (John), Antiq. xiii. i. 2. 
 Galadens, their queen Laodice, Antiq. xiii. xiiL 4. 
 Galba. Antiq. xviii. 6, 9; succeeds Nero, War, iv. ix. 2; 
 
 is murdered in a conspiracy, ib. 
 Galilee, comes all under the Roman dominion. War, iv. 
 
 i, 1 ; c. it sect 5 
 Galli, eunuchs so called, Antiq. iv. viii. 40. 
 Gallicanos, War, iii. viii. 1. 
 Gallus (iElius), Antiq. xv. ix. 3. 
 Gallus (Cestius), president of Syria, Life, sect 4{ Waff 
 
 ii. xiv. 3. 
 Gallus, a centurion. War, iv. i. 5. 
 
 3 I 
 
866 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Callus (Ruhrias), War, yii. ir. 3. 
 
 Oamala besieged. War, iv. i. 1, &c. 
 
 Games ot: the circus, Antiq. xix. i. 4; Olympic games 
 restored by Herod, xvi. v. 3; Caesarean games insti- 
 tuted by Herod, xv. viii, 1 ; and xvi. v. 1 ; War, i. xxi. 
 b; ordained by Titus on the birth-days of his father and 
 brother, vii. iii. 1. 
 
 Gerrizzim, its temple demolished, Antiq. xiii. ix. 1. 
 
 Gauls, War, ii. xvi. 4; possess at home the source of hap- 
 piness, ib. ; became Herod's life-guards, i. xx. 3. 
 
 Gaza taken and demolished, Antiq. xiii. xiii. 3. 
 
 Gazeans, grievously punished by Jonathan, Antiq. xiii. 
 V. 5. 
 
 Gamelhis (Tiberius), Antiq. xviii. vi. 8. 
 
 Gamellus, Herod's friend, expelled his court, Antiq. xvi. 
 ▼iiu 3. 
 
 Gentile gods, not to be derided, in the opinion of Jose- 
 phus, Antiq. iv. viii. 10; Against Apion, ii. sect. 34. 
 
 Geometry, invented by the long-lived patriarchs, Antiq. 
 i. iii. 9. 
 
 Gera, the father of Ehud, Antiq. v. iv. 2. 
 
 Gerastratus, king of the Tyrians, Against Apion, i. sect 
 21. 
 
 Germanicus's bouse, Antiq. xix. i. lb; the father of 
 Caius, xviii. vi. 8; is sent into the east, c. ii. sect. 3; 
 is poisoned by Piso, ib. 
 
 Germans described, V\ ar, ii. xvi. 4; are enslaved by the 
 Romans. vL vi. 2; they mutiny, vii. iv. 2; a German's 
 predictions concerning Agrippa, Antiq. xviii. vi. 7; 
 Germ;in guard, xix. i. 1. 
 
 Gessius Florus, procurator of Judea. See Florus above. 
 
 Grether, Antiq. i. vi. 4. 
 
 Giants, Antiq. v. ii. 3; and vii. xii. 1, &c.; their re- 
 mains in Hebron, Antiq. iii. xiv. 2; and v. ii. 
 
 Gibeah, its inhabitants guilty of a rape, Antiq. v. ii. 8. 
 
 Gibeonites, ky a vpiJe, make a covenant with Joshua, An- 
 tiq. v. i. 16; their fraud detected and punished, ib.; 
 they are satisfied for the attempt of Saul to slay them, 
 ▼ii xii. 1. 
 
 Gibeon's stratagem, Antiq. v. vi. 5; he dies, sect 7. 
 
 Glaphyra, daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, 
 is married to Alexander the son of Herod, Antiq. xvi. 
 i. 2; c vii. sect 2; her enmity with Salome, c. 1, sect 
 2, &c. ; War, i. xxiv. 2, &c.; her pride, ib.; her lamen- 
 tation vrhen ber husband was put in chains, Antiq. 
 xvi. X. 7; she is sent back a widow to her father, xvii. 
 i. 1 ; she is afterwards married to Juba, king of Libya, 
 and afterwards to Archelaus, elhnarch of Judea, c. 
 xiii. sect 4; her dream, and death, ib. 
 
 God (the true God), his presence in Uie tabernacle, Antiq. 
 iiL viii. 5; his wisdom, and that he cannot be bribed, 
 c. xi. sect. 3; his mercy only obtained by religion, v. i. 
 S8; his foreknowledge, and that his decrees cannot be 
 avoided, iv. iii. 2; bis will is irresistible, ii. ix. 2; with- 
 out his will nothing can happen, c. vi. sect 5; bis pro- 
 vidence asserted against the Fpicureans, x. xi. 7; that 
 nothing is concealed from him, ii. iii. I ; it is dangerous 
 to disobey him, vi. vii. 2; whether it is easier to serve 
 God or man, viii. x. 3; he uses beasts to punish the 
 wicked, x. xi. 6: judged to be only the god of the hills 
 by the Syrians, viii. xiv. 3; is not ft be imposed on by 
 the wicked, iv. viii. 38; delights not in sacrifices, but 
 in good men, vi. vii. 4; is called on in time of danger, 
 by even bad men, xvii. v. 6; foretells futurities, that 
 men may provide against them, ii. v. 6; affords assis- 
 tance only when the case is desperate, c. xv. sect 5: 
 delights in those that promote his worship, xvi. ii. 4; 
 discovers his ineffable name to Moses, ii. xii 4; is by 
 nature merciful to the poor, iv. viii. 26; is omnipresent, 
 it iii. 1 ; and vi. xi. 8; his bounty the cause of all men's 
 happiness, iv. viii. 2. 
 
 Gods (false gods) of Laban stolen, Antiq. i. xix. 9, &c. ; 
 of Cutha in Persia, brought to Samaria, ix. xiv. 3; of 
 the conquered Amalekites, wt^rshipped by Amaziah,c. 
 ix, sect 2; of the heathen not to be cursed or blas- 
 phemed, in the opinion of Jo8ephu.s,iv. viii. 10; Against 
 Apion, ii. sect 24; Beelzebub, the god of flies at Ek- 
 ron. Antiq. ix. ii. 1. 
 
 Goliath of Gath, a giant. Antiq. vi. ix. 1, &c. ; challenges 
 the Jews to a single combat, ib.{ is slain by David, 
 ■ect &, 
 
 Oomer, and Gomerites, Antiq. vi. L 
 
 Oori^ias, governor of Jamnia, is put to flight. Antiq xii. 
 ▼ii. 4; has b«*tter success afterwards, c. viii. sect. 6. 
 
 Gorion, the son of Josephus, and Simeon the son of Ga- 
 maliel, exhort the people to attack the mutineers, An- 
 tiq. iv. iii. 9; is put to death, c. vi. sect 1. 
 
 GratOA, procurator of Judea, Antiq. xviii. vi. H; puts 
 "'" u, Herod's old slave to death, xvii. x. 6{ meets 
 
 Varus coming to Jerusalem, War, Ii. v. 2; one Grata 
 
 discovers Claudius, and brings him out to be emperor, 
 
 Antiq. xix. iii. 1. 
 Greeks call old nations by names of their own, Antiq 
 
 i. V. and put the Hebrew names into their own form. 
 
 c. vi. 
 Guards placed about the temple by the Romans, Antiq 
 
 XX. V. 3. 
 
 Hadad, king of Syria, Antiq. vii. v. 2, &c. 
 
 Hadad. or Hadar, an Edomite, becomes Solomon's ene. 
 my, Antiq. viii. vii. 6. 
 
 Hadadezer, or Hadarezer, king of Sophane, or Zobah, 
 Antiq. viii. vii. 6. 
 
 Hagar, and Ishmael, are sent away by Abraham, Antiq. 
 i. xiii. 3. 
 
 Haggai, a prophet after the captivity, Antiq. xi. iv. 5, 7j 
 he and Zechariah encourage the Jews to rebuild their 
 temple, ib. 
 
 Hagijith. David's wife, Antiq. vii. xiv. 4. 
 
 Halicarnasseans' decree in tavour of the Jews, Antiq. 
 xiv. X. 23. 
 
 Haman, an enemy of the Jews, Antiq. xi. vi. 5; his edict 
 against the Jews in the name of Artaxerxes. sect 6; 
 he orders a gibbet to be erected for iMordecai, sett. 10; 
 is obliged to honour Mordecai, ib. ; the edict is contra 
 dieted, sect 12; he is hanged on his own gibbet, sect 
 13. 
 
 Hannah, the wife ofEIkanab, Antiq. v. x. 2. 
 
 Haran, the father of Lot, Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 Haran, or Charran, a city of Mesopatamia, Antiq. i. vi. 
 5. 
 
 Harlots (common ones), excluded from marriage, Antiq. 
 iv. viii. 23. 
 
 Hatach, or Acratheus. Antiq. xi. vi. 7. 
 
 Havilah, the son of Cusb, Antiq. i. vi. 2; his country 
 Havilah, sect 4. 
 
 Hazael, kinjc of Syria, Antiq. viii. xiii. 7; and ix. iv. 6; 
 he plunders Judea, c. viii. sect 4j he dies, sect. 7. 
 
 Hazermaveth, Antiq. i. vi. 4. 
 
 Hazo. or Azau, Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 Heber, Antiq. i. vi. 4. 
 
 Hebrews, twice carried captives beyond Euphrates, An- 
 tiq. X. ix. 7; thought by some to have come oriijinaUy 
 from Euypt. and not from Chaldea, ii. vii. 4; not put 
 to servile labour, in the days of ^^^)Iomon, viii. vi. 3; 
 of those Hebrews that came to offijr their sacrifices 
 from beyond Euphrates, iii. xiv. 3; they have peculiar 
 rules about meats and drinks, iv. vi. 8; they fight the 
 Cnnaanites against Moses' order, c. i. sect. 1 ; ten tribes 
 lived beyond Euphrates, and out of the bounds of the 
 Roman empire, xi. v. 2; their languace and charactei 
 came near to the Syriac, xii. ii. 1 ; their nouns have 
 all the same formation and termination, i. vi. 2; they 
 have but one temple and altar, iv. viii. 5; met at .*»hi- 
 loh thrice in a year, v. ii. 12; only the two tribes under 
 the dominion of the Romans, xi. v. 2; an unexampled 
 sedition among them, iv. ii. 1; their wise men in the 
 days of Solomon, viii. ii. ,\ 
 
 Hecatontomachi, Antiq. xiii. xii. 5. 
 
 Helcias the Great, Antiq. xviii. viii. 4. 
 
 Helcias, treasurer of the temple, Antiq. xx. viii. 11. 
 
 Helena, queen of Adiabene, embraces the Jewish religion, 
 Antiq. xx. ii. I; goes to Jerusalem, sect 6; is buried 
 there, c. iv. sect 3. 
 
 Hephizhah, Antiq. x. iii. I. 
 
 Hercules' temple. Against Apion, i. sect 18. 
 
 Herennius Capito, governor of Jamnia, Antiq. xviii. vi. 
 3. 
 
 Hermeus, or Danans, king of Egypt, Against Apion, I. 
 8>'ct 26. 
 
 Herod, the son of Antipater, Antiq. xiv. vii. 3; War, i. 
 viii. 9; began to rule in Galilee in the 15th and | 25th] 
 year of his ago, Antiq. xiv. ix. 2; puts Ezechias and 
 other robbers to death, ib. ; War, i. x. 5; being accused 
 for it. he takes his trial. Antiq. xiv. ix. 3; makes hi* 
 escape, sect 4; goes to Sextus Ceesar. and is by him 
 made governor of Coelosyria, sect. 5: is in favour with 
 Cassius and the Romans, c. xi. sect. 2, ) , made a go- 
 vernor of Syria by him, sect 4; War, i. xi. 4; puts 
 Malichus to death, sect 6; beats Antigonus out of 
 Jndca, Antiq. xiv. xii. I ; bribes Mark Antony, sect 2; 
 is impeached by the Jews, but is notwithstanding 
 made a tetrach by Antony, c. xiii. sect 1; gets tho 
 better of the Jews that oppose him, sect 2; escapes 
 the snares of the Parthians, sect 6,7; the accidents 
 of his flight. Kect. 8; W ar, i. xiii.7; goes to Egvptand 
 thence to Rhodes, and thence to Rome, Antiq. xiv 
 Xiv. 2, 3- N^ ar. i. xiv. 2, 3; made king by the Roman 
 
INDEX. 
 
 86T 
 
 senate, h\ the desire of Antony, Antiq. xiv. xir. 4; 
 War, ii. xiv. 4; sails bacic to Judea, and fights ai;aiD8t 
 Antigonus, Antiq xiv. xv. I; takes Joppa and be- 
 «ieges Jerusalem, sect. 1, 2; War, i. xv. 4; takes Sep- 
 phoris, Antiq. xiv.xv. 4; conquers his enemies, and the 
 robbers of Judea, sect. 4, 5; joins his troops with An- 
 tony's at the siesje of Samnsata, and is received there 
 with great honour, sent. 6.9; is providentially delivered 
 from prreat dangers, sect. 1 1 13; defeats Pappus, sect, 
 12; besieges Jerusalem, takes it. makes Antigonuspri- 
 soner, and sends him in chains to Antony, xiv.xvi. 1. 
 4; War. i. xvii. 9, *cc.: promotes his friends, and de- 
 stroys those of Antigonus, Antiq. xv. i. ; marries the 
 (aiiious Mariamne, tne daughter of Alexandra, c. ii, 
 sect 5; War, i. xvii. 8; complains of Alexandra, his 
 inother-in.law, Antiq. xv. ii 7; causes his wile's bro- 
 ther, Aristobulus, to be cuntiingly drowned at Jeiicho, 
 c. iii. sect 3; is summoned by Antony to take bis trial 
 for it, sect 5; brings Antony over to his interest by 
 bribes, sect. 8; puts Joseph to death, sect 9; is soli- 
 cited to adultery by Cleopatra, c iv, sect 2; makes 
 war against the Arabians by Antony's order, c. v. sect 
 1; War. L six. 1, &c.; his speech to the army in dis- 
 • tress, after he had been beaten, Antiq. xv. 3: War, i. 
 xix. 7; he beats the Arabians in battle. Antiq. xv. v. 
 4; W ar, i, xix. 6; he puts Hyrcanus to death, Antiq. 
 
 XV. vL 2; Herod's commentaries, sect 3; orders Ma- 
 riamne to be put to death, if he himself come to an ill 
 «nd, sect. 5; his presence of mind before Augustus 
 Cassar, sect 6; he is confirmed in his kingdom by Cae- 
 sar, sect. 7; War. L xx. 2. &c; he entertains Cajsar 
 magnificently, ih.; he receives more favours from Cae- 
 sar, and has hi* dominions enlarged, Antiq. xv. xi. 3; 
 War. i. XX. 3; he puts Mariamne his wife to death. 
 Antiq. xv, vii. 4, 3: War, i. xxii. 5; he is very uneasy 
 at her death, Antiq. xv. vii. 7; War, L xxii. ft; he is 
 afflic'ed with a kind of madness by divine vengeance, 
 Autiq. xviu vi. 5; War. i. xxxiii. 5; departs from the 
 manners and customs of the Jews, Antiq. xv, viii. 1 ; 
 builds theatres and exhibits shows to the people, ib.; a 
 conspiracy against him, sect 3. &c; builds a temple 
 at Samaria, sect 5; a palace at Jerusalem, c. ix. sect 
 -3; and a citadel six furlongs from Jerusalem, sect. 4; 
 relieves the people in a great famine, sect i; marries 
 Simon's daughter, sect 3; his policy, sect O; he builds 
 Cjesarea, s«s t 6; he sends his sons to Kome, c x. sect. 
 1 ; builds a temple to Caesar, sect 3; eases the people 
 of a third part of their taxes, sect 4; (oibids the people 
 to meet together privately, ib ; keeps his spies and be- 
 comes one himself, ib. ; honours the Essens. sect. 5; 
 rebuilds the temple at Jerusalem, c. xi. sect. 1 ; War, i. 
 xxi. l; makes a new law concerning thieves, Antiq. 
 
 XVI. i. 1, &c. ; goes to Ctcsar, brings home his sons, and 
 marries them, sect 2; entertains Marcus A grippa, c. 
 si. sect 1; is in great favour with Agrippa. r. ii. sect 
 1; eases bis subjects .of the fourth part of their taxes, 
 sect 5; the quarreJs in his family, c. iii. sect 1; he 
 favours Antipater in opposition to ttie sons of Mari- 
 amne, sect 3; goes to Aquileia. and imjeaches his 
 sons, at Home, before Caesar, c. iv. sect 1 ; is recon- 
 «iled to them, sect 4 ; War, L xxiii. 3 ; celebrates games 
 in honour of Cajsar, Antiq. xvi. v. I ; builds towns and 
 castles, sect 2, builds ApoHo's temple, and renews the 
 Olympic games, sect 3; War, i. xxi. 12; his temper 
 described, Antiq. xvL v. 4; he opens David's sepul- 
 chre, c. vii. sect 1 ; he snsptcts his kindred, sect. 3; he 
 is accused by Sylleus before Caesar, c ix, sect 3; his 
 cruelty to hi.s' sons, c. xL sect 1 ; he accuses them in 
 a council at Berytos. sect 2; inquires, of Nicolaus of 
 Damascus, what they think of him and his sons at 
 Rome, sect 3; he orders them both to be strangled, 
 sect. 6; provides for their children, xvii. i. 2; his wives 
 and children, sect 3; xviii. v. 4; he contracts mar- 
 rinees for M.jriamne's children, xvii. i. 2; War, i. 
 sxviiL 6; alters those contracts, sect 6; sends Anti- 
 pater to Caesar, Antiq. xvii. iii. 2; War. i. xxix. 2; is 
 made to believe that his brother Pheroras was poisoned. 
 Antiq xvii. iv. 1; War, l.xxx. 1; finds the poison was 
 for himself, Antiq xvii. iv. 2; War, i. xxx. 2: tries 
 Antipater. and puts him in chains, Antiq xvii. v. 7; 
 bis bitterness in his old age, c. vi. sect. 1 ; he makes 
 bis will, ib. ; his »€rrihle sickness, sect 5; War, i 
 xxxiii 1. 5; his barbarous order for mnrderi tig the 
 prmcipai of the Jew.s, Antiq. xvii. vi. 5; he attempts 
 to murder himself, sect 7; he alters his will, c. viii. 
 «ect. 1; his character, ib. ; his death and burial, sect 
 1, 3; War i. xxxiii. t*, 9. his will opened and read, 
 Ant-q. xvii viii. 2; not to take place till confirmed by 
 Cesar, e. xL sect 4. 
 
 Herod, the son of Herod, made tetrach, Antiq. xviii. ii. 1 ; 
 
 c. vii. sect 1; War, ii. ix 1; he builds towns in honour 
 
 of Caesar, ib,; sends a letter to Cassar, Antiq. xviiL iv. 
 
 5; makes war upunAretas, king of Arabia, c. v. sect 1, 
 
 &o.; is banished, ib.; War. ii. ix. 6. 
 Herod, half brother to the tetrach, Antiq. xviii. v. I. 
 Herod, son of Aristobu4us, by Salome, sect 4. 
 Herod, son of Aristobulus, by Bermice, Salome's daugh- 
 
 ter, Antiq. xvii. I. 2; War, i. xxviii. 1. 
 Herod, Herod's son by Mariamne, Simon's dauehter, 
 
 Antiq. xvii. i. 2; c. iii, sect 2; and xviii. v. 1; U ar, i. 
 
 xxviii. 4; c. xxix. sect 2; he is blotted out of Herod's" 
 
 will, U ar. i. xxx. 7, 
 Herod, Herod's son 4)y Cleopatra of Jerusalem, Antiq. 
 
 xvii. i. 3; War, i. xxviii. 4. 
 Herod, Agrippa senior's brother, king of Chalcis Antiq. 
 
 XIX. V. i; he marries Mariamne, daui;hter of Joseplius 
 by Olympias, king Herod's daughter, xviii v. 4; be 
 has the power over the temple given him by Claudius, 
 
 XX. i. 3; bis death and children, c v. sect 2; War, ii. 
 xi. a 
 
 Herod, son of Phasaelus and Salampsio, Antiq. xviii. v. 
 
 4. 
 Herod, Polemo's brother, kingof Cbalcis, Antiq. xix. viii. 
 
 Herodias. daughter of Aristobulus, by Berenice, Salome's 
 daughter. Antiq. xviii. v. 1; War, i. xX' iii. 1; Agrippi 
 senior's sister, and wife of Herod the tetrarch, and en- 
 vies Agrippa the royal dignity, Antiq. xviii. viii. 1; 
 V^ar, ii. ix. 6; follows her husband in his banishment. 
 Anliq. xviii. vii. 2; married to Herod, son of Herod 
 the Great, by Mariamne, Simon's daughter, c. v. sect 
 2; c. vL sect 2; afterward marned to Herod, the for- 
 mer husband's brother, while her former husband was 
 alive, c. v. sect 4. 
 Hezekiah, king of Judah. Antiq. ix. xiii. 2; his religions 
 speech to the people, ib. ; his lustration of tlje temple 
 and solemn celebration of the passover, sect 2, 3; he 
 makes war upon the Philistines, sect. 3; defends him- 
 self from Sennacherib, x. i 1 ; recovers from sickness, 
 c. ii. sect 1 ; dies, c. iii, sect I. 
 Hin. an Hebrew measure, Antiq. iii. viii. 5. 
 Hilkiah. the high-priest, Antiq. x. v. 1; c. viii. sect 6. 
 Hiram, king of Tyre, David's friend, Antiq. viL iii. 2. 
 Hiram, king of I'yre, sends ambassadors to Solomon, 
 
 Antiq. vii. ii. 6. 
 Hiram, king of Tyre, Against Apion, i. sect 17, 18, 21. 
 Historians, their duty. Antiq. i. i. 
 Hophni. son of Eli, Antiq. v. x. 1; he is slain in battle, 
 
 c xi. .'ect. 2. 
 House of the forest of I^banon, Antiq. viii. vi, 5. 
 Hoshea, king of Israel, Antiq. ix. xiii, 1; he is made a 
 
 prisoner, c. xiv. sect. i. 
 Huldah, the prophetess. Antiq. x. iv. 2. 
 Human sacrifice, Antiq. ix. iii. 2. 
 Hur, a prince of the Midianites, Antiq. iv. viL !{ an 
 
 head of the Ephraimiies, Antiq. viii ii. 3. 
 Htishai, Antiq. vii. ix. 2, 6, 7; c. X. sect. 4, a. 
 Hnz Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 Hymns, composed by David in various sorts of metre, 
 
 Antiq. vii. xii. 3. 
 Hyrcanus, son of Joseph Tobias. Antiq. xii. iv. 6; his 
 artful invention, ih. ; he is sent to Ptolemy, atid kindly 
 received by him, sect 7, 9; his actions and death, sect 
 10. 
 Hyrcanus (John), son of Simon the Maccabee, escapes 
 being slain, Antiq. xiii, vii. 4; attacks Ptolemy, c. viii. 
 sect 4; War, i. ii. 3; is made high-priest, Antiq xiii. 
 vHi. I; War, i. ii. 3; is besieged by Antiochus, Antiq. 
 xiii. viii. 2; buys a peace with 300 talents taken <;ut 
 of David's sepulchre, sect 3, 4, 5; marches into Syri.i 
 and recovers the towns that had been taken away, and 
 renews the alliance with t'le Romans, Antiq xiii. ix. 
 1, 2; besieges Samaria, takes it and demolishes it, c 
 X. sect 2, 3; his intercourse with God, ib. ; his dream 
 concerning his sons, c, xii, sect I ; he was ethnarch, 
 high-priest, and prophet. War, L ii, 8; bis death and 
 eulogium, Antiq. xiii. x. 7, 8. 
 Hyrcanus II. son of Alexander J annens, made high-priest, 
 Antiq. xiii. xvi. 1, 2; War, L v. I ; agrees to leave the 
 civil government to his brother, Antiq. xiv. i. 1; hia 
 inactive genius, and why he fled to Aretas, ib.; ho in 
 vain tries to hribe ^caurus to be for him, c. ii sect 3; 
 pleads against his brother before Pompey, c. iii. sect 2; 
 recovers the high-priesthood, c. iv sect 4; is confirmed 
 therein by Ca-sar, c viii. sect 6; War, i x. 3; is ha- 
 nourco by the Romans and Athenian.^, Antiq. xiv. viii. 
 5; and by Julius Caesar, x. ii.; is taken prisoner, and 
 has his cars cut off by Antigonus, c xiii. sect 10; is 
 
868 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 released by the ParthiatJS, and returns to Herod, xv. ii. 
 2; he is perfidiously treated,, and put to death by him, 
 ib., the various adventures of his life^ sect 4» 
 Hystaspes, father of Darius, Antiq. xi. iiu 1. 
 
 Jnbal, Antiq. i. i. 2. 
 
 Jabfsh, father of Shallum, Antiq. ix. xi. 1. 
 
 Jabesh Gilead demolished, Antiq. v. ii. 11. 
 
 Jabin, king of Canaan, enslaves the Israelites, Antiq. v. 
 
 ii. 11. 
 Jaciiuus, or Alcimus, the wieked high-priest, Antiq. xii. 
 
 ix. 7. 
 Jacob born, Antiq. L xviii. 1; contracts with Laban for 
 
 Rachel, c. xix. sect. 7 ; he wrestles with an angel, c. 
 
 XX. sect 2; his sons, sect 8; c. xx. sect. 3; he pri- 
 vately departs from I .aban, sect. 9 ; his posterity, when 
 
 they went down into Egypt, ii. vii. 4; he weeps upon 
 
 sending away his son Benjamin itito Egypt, c. vi. sect. 
 
 5; be meets with h's brother Ksau, i. xx. 3. 
 Jacob, son of Sossas, War, iv. iv. 2; and v. vi. I ; and vi. 
 
 viii. 2. 
 Jacob, an Idumean, betrays his country. War, iv. ix. 6. 
 Jadus, or Jaddua. son of John, high-priest, Antiq. xi. vii. 
 
 2; he meets Alexander in his pontifical garments, c. 
 
 viii. sect. 5; he dies, sect 7. 
 Jadon, the prophet Antiq. viii. viii. 5; is killed by a lion, 
 
 c. ix sect. 3. 
 Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, kills Sisera, Antiq- v. v. 
 
 4. 
 Jehaziel, the prophet, Antiq. ix, i. 2. 
 Jamblicus, the Syrian ruler, Antiq. xiv. viii^lj War,.i. 
 
 ix. 3. 
 James, the brother of Jesus Christ, stoned, Antiq. xx. 
 
 ix. 1. 
 Janias, king of Egypt, Against Apion, 1. sect. 14. 
 J.iphet, Ant q. i. iv. 1 ; what countries his soBS possessed, 
 
 c. vi. sect 1. 
 Jarden, a woodland, surrounded by Bassus, War, vii.vi. 
 
 5. 
 lared, Antiq. i. i. 2; c. iii. sect 2. 
 lason, or Jesus, Antiq. xii. v. 1. 
 lason, son of Eleazar, Antiq. xiu x. 6. 
 lavan, Antiq. i. vi. I. 
 
 I >har. or Jehan, son of David, Antiq. vii. iii. 3. 
 Ibis, an animal in Egypt that destroys serpents, Antiq. 
 
 ii. X. 2. 
 Ihzan, a judge of Israel, after Jephthah, Antiq. v. vii. 
 
 13, 14. 
 Ifle, a freed woman, Antiq. xviii. iii. 4; is hanged, ib. 
 Idumeans, Antiq. x-i. viii. 1; War. iv. iv. 1, 4, 5, H, 7; 
 
 and vii viii 1; refuse to give the Israelites passage, 
 
 Antiq. iv. iv. 5; turn Jews. xiii. ix. 1; are but half 
 
 Jews, xiv. XV. 2; Coze their former idol, xv. viL9; 
 
 celebrate the Jewish festivals, xvii. x. 2. 
 leban. or Ibhar, David's son, Antiq. vii. iii. 3. 
 lebosthus, or Ishbosheih, Saul's son, is made Jcing, An- 
 
 iiq vii. L3; he is tieacherously murdered, c. ii. sect 
 
 (.-cnliah, Antiq. ix. x. 3i 
 
 Ifdidiah, king Josiah's mother, Antiq. x. iv. 4. 
 
 IfUM, one of the posterity of Moses, Autiq. viL xiv. 10^ 
 
 leiioabaz, king of Jodah, Antiq. x. v. 2; he die* in 
 
 Egypt lb. 
 Ichoaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel. Antiq. ix. viii. 1. 
 lebuash, son of Ahaziah, saved, Antiq. ix. vii. 1; !« 
 
 made king. sect. 2; murdered, c. viii. sect 4. 
 <e oiachin. or Jeconiah, king of Judah, Antiq. x. v. 3. 
 J hoiada, Antiq. vii. ii 2. 
 l>-h'»iada. the liigh-priest, Antiq. x. viii. 6. 
 •ehoiakim, king of Judah, Antiq. x. v. 2; c. vi. ; he re- 
 
 IwU Hgainst the Babylonians, c. vi. sect. 2; he is slain 
 
 bv Nebuchadnezzar, and cast out of the gate of J^eru- 
 
 salem, sect 3. 
 Jehonadab, an old friend of Jehn, Antiq. ix. vi. 5, 
 Jehoram, king of Jnduh, Antiq. ix. iv 1, ice. 
 leboram, king of Israel. Antiq. ix. ii. 2, his expedition 
 
 asrainst the Moabites, c. iii. sect I ; bis distemper and 
 
 death, c. V. sect. 2, 3; c. vi. sect 1. 
 Jebosapbat, th« son of Aliitiib, Antiq. vii. v. 4. 
 Jehosaphat a pious king of Judah, Antiq. viii. xv. Tj and 
 
 ix. i. 1; pardoned for makint; an alliance with Ahab, 
 
 ib. ; his fleet broken to pieces, c. i. sect 4; his death, 
 
 c iii. seet 2. 
 Jebothebah, sister of Abaziab, king of Judah, Antiq. ix. 
 
 vii. 1. 
 Jrbu, son of Nimshi. Antiq. viii. xiii. 7; is made king of 
 
 Israel, Ix. vi. 1, &c.; hia actions, sect 3. &c ; he puts 
 
 Baal't priaiU to death, ecct 0; be diM • viii. sect 1. 
 
 Jehu the prophet, the son of Hannsi, Antiq. viii xif. 31. 
 
 Jenae, David's son, Antiq vii. iii. ,3. 
 
 Jephtha puts the Ammonites to flight Antiq. v. vii. 9^ 
 10; sacrifices his daughter (according to the opinion of 
 Josephus), ib.; makes a great slaughter among the 
 Ephraimites, sect. 11. 
 
 Jeremiah, the prophet Antiq. x. v. 1; his lamentation, 
 upon the death of Josiah, ib. ; his prophecy against 
 Jerusalem, c. vi. sect 2; c. vii. sect 2, 3. tj; his scribe- 
 Baruch, c. vi. sect 2; he is accused and di.scbarged 
 ib.; his prophecy read in the temple, and his roll biirnt^ 
 ib.; bis prophecy of the Jews' release from captivity, 
 c. vii. sect 3; he" is put in prison, and thrown into the 
 dungeon, sect 3. 5; is left with Bariich in Judca, alter 
 Zedekiah's captivity, Antiq. x. ix. I. 
 
 Jericho taken, Antiq. v. i. 5; its rebuilder cursed, sect 
 8; it is plundered by the Romans, xiv. xv. 3. 
 
 Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, conspires against Solomon^ 
 Antiq. viii, vii. 7; he is made king of the b-n tribes c 
 viii. sect. 3. &c.; erects goiden calves, sect 4; his hand 
 withered, sect 5j his expedition against Abij^ih, c. xL 
 sect. 2: he dies, sect. 4. 
 
 Jeroboam II. the son uf Joash king of Israel, Antiq. ix> 
 X. 1; he makes war against the >yrians, ib. ; he uieSy 
 sect 3. 
 
 Jerusalem taken by David. Antiq. vii. iii. 1, &c.; whence 
 that name was derived, sect. 2; besieg^d and taken b> 
 the Bab\lonians, X. xii. 4, &c. ; c. viii. .sect 2* be- 
 sieged and laken by Pompey, xiv. iv 2, &c. ; by Heri)d, 
 and Sosius, c. xvi. sect. 2, 4; by Ptolemy, the son of 
 Lagus, xii I ; how many times taken, \* ar. vi. x. 6; 
 made tributary to the Ifomans, Antiq. xiv. iv. 4; level- 
 led with the ground. War, vii. i. 1 j declared holy, in- 
 violable, and free, b> Demetrius, king of Syria, Antiq. 
 xiii. "i 3; two citadels therein, xv. vii. 8; who fiisi 
 built it. War, vi. x; situated in the middle of Judeaj. 
 iii iii. 5; set on fire by the Romans, vi. viii. 5: a fast 
 kept there yearly, Antiq. xiv. xvi 4; as also when it 
 was taken b> Pompey, and b> Herod, and >osius, c. iv, 
 sect. 5; c. iv. sect 3; c. xvi. sect. 4; a Jebusite king 
 of Jerusalem, with lour others, make war on the Gi- 
 beonites, V. i. 27; they are put to flight by Joshua, ib.^ 
 Jerusalem described. War, v. iv. ; Against Apion, i. 
 seet. 22. 
 
 Jerushah, Jotham's mother. Antiq. ix. xi. 2. 
 
 Jessai, the son of Achimaaz, Antiq. vii. xii. 2. 
 
 Jesse, the son of Ohed, and father of David, Antiq. vu 
 viii. I. 
 
 Jesns Christ, a testimony to him, Antiq. xviii. iii. 
 
 Jesus the son of Phabet deprived of the high-priesthoofli. 
 Antiq. vi. v 8. 
 
 Jesus, son of Ananus^his ominous clamour, and deaths 
 War, vi v. 3. 
 
 Jesus, or Jason, Antiq. xii. v. 1, 
 
 Jesus, the son of .Sapphias, governor of Tiberias, Life» 
 sect. 12, 27 ; War. ii. xx. 4. • 
 
 Jesus, brother of Unias, deprived of the high-priesthood 
 by Antiochus I'piphanes, .Antiq. xv. iii. 1. 
 
 Jesus, son of Gamaliel, made high-priest, Antiq. xx. ix. 
 4. 
 
 Jesus, the eldest priest after Ananus, War, iv. iv, 3; c. 
 V. sect. 2; his speech to the Idutneans, c iv. sect 3. 
 
 Jesus, son ol Damneus, made high-priest, Antiq. xx. ix- 
 
 Jesus, son of Gamala, Life, sect. 38, 41. 
 
 Jesus, or Joshua, the son of Nun, Aniiq. iii. xiv. 4; be- 
 comes the accessor of I\1o.ses,,iv. vii. 2; commands the 
 Israelites against the Amalt kites,^ iii. ii. 3; propheries. 
 in the liietinie of Mose.s. iv. viii. 4(5; leads the Israel- 
 ites to the river Jordan, v. i. 1 ; consults about the 
 partition ol the land, sect. 20, &c. ; his speech to the^ 
 two tribes and half, sect 25; his death, sect. 29. 
 
 Jesus, son of >aphat ringleader of the robbers, Lif»,^ 
 sect 22; War, iii. ix. 7. ' 
 
 Je.«us, son ot rhcbuthiis, a priest. War, vi. viii. 3. 
 
 Jesus, son of Jozedek. Antiq. xi. iii. 10, 
 
 Jethro the Midianite, Autiq. v. ii. 3. 
 
 Jews Koverned of old by an aristocracy, Antiq. xiv. v. ♦; 
 War, i. viii. S; Jewish priests carelul to marry accord, 
 ing to their law. Against Apion, i. sect. 7; at Alexan- 
 d'ia had equal privileges with the Greeks, War, ii» 
 xviii. 7; are in great danger at Antioch, vii. iii. 3; at 
 Ecbatuna, near Galilee, Lil'e^ sect II; are cut ofl" at 
 Cesiirea, War, ii. xviii. 1; at Sc^tbopolix, seet 3; are 
 in factions on account of the hmh-priesthood, Antiq. 
 xii. v. I; are killed on the Sabbath-day, c. vi. sect. 2; 
 Jews beyond Euphrates, xv. iii. I; at Alexandria i» 
 Egypt and Cyprus, xiii. x. 4; go to war under Alex, 
 ander tb« Great, v viii, 6; ar« carried ioto Egypt bf 
 
INDEX. 
 
 869 
 
 Ptolemy Lafi, xii. i. 1; are banished Rome, xviii. iil. 
 O; bfesii'« to be a Roman province, xvii. xi. 2; are 
 favoured by Seleucus Nicator, xii. iii. I ; by Vespasian 
 and Titus ser*. 1, 2; by Marcus Agrippa. sect. 2; by 
 Amiochus, the Great, ib.; are shut up in the Hippo- 
 ilrom<r, but afterwards released, xvii. viii. 2; pray for 
 the welfare of the Spartans, xiii. v. «; Antiochus, a 
 'ew, accuses his own father at Antioch, War, vii. iii.- 
 3; Jews have privileges granted them by the kings of 
 ^sia, Antiq. xv. vl 1 ; Egyptians and Tyrians chiefly 
 kated the Jews, Against Apion, L sect 13j Demetrius 
 remits them part of their tribute, Antiq. xiii. iL3; Jews 
 at Alexandria are allowed an ethnarcb, or alabarcb, 
 xiv. vii. 2; are allowed to gather their sacred collec- 
 tions at Rome, c. x. sect. 8; enjoy their liberty under 
 the Romans, only are to pay their taxes, xviii. ii. 2; 
 are derived from the same orii;in with the Spartans, 
 xii. iv. 10; have their own laws under Alexander the 
 Great, xi. viii. 5; ar» prohibited to meddle with foreign 
 women, xii iv. 6; are very tenacious of their own laws. 
 Against Apion, i. sect. 22; their ambassadors' place 
 tt Rome in the theatre, Antiq. xiv. x. 6; are numerous 
 at Alexandria, c. vii sect 2; at Babylon, xv. ii. 2; the 
 form of their government, xi. iv. 8; their quarrel with 
 the Syrians at Cesarea about their privileges, xx. viii. 
 9; their marriages, Against Apion, ii. sect. 24; they 
 had a synagogue at Antioch, War, vii. iii. 3; their pri- 
 vileges under the Romans, Antiq. xvi, ii. 4; they send 
 «n embassy to Caesar, against Archelaus, xvii. xi. 1; 
 the Asiatic J^-ws send an embassy to Caesar, xvi. vL 1 ; 
 t great slaughter of Jews, xviii. ix. 9; War, i. xviii. 3, 
 &c. ; and vii. viii. 6: their calamities in Mesopotamia 
 »nd Babylonia, Antiq. xviii. ix. 1: beginning of the 
 Jewish war, xx. xi. 1; antiquity of the Jewish rites, 
 XV. ii. 4; towns in Syria. Phoenicia, and Idumea, be- 
 tonging to the Jews. xiii. xv. 4. 
 
 •cabcl, Ahab's wife. Antiq. viiL xiii. 4; is torn to 
 pieces by dogs, ix. vL 4. 
 
 Jezaniah, Antl(^. x. ix. 2. 
 
 Jidlaph, Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 Ima&ies. or brazen oxea, were not lawful to be made by 
 Solomon, in the opinion of Josephus, Antiq. viii. vii. 
 5; images of aaimals are against the Jewish law, xv. 
 viii; c. ix. sect. 6; War, i. xxxiii. 2; to set them up, 
 or consecrate them, was forbidden the Jews, Antiq. 
 iii. vi. 2; and xvi. vi. 2. 
 
 Impostors throughout Jud^a, Antiq. xx. viii. 5. 
 
 Incense only to be offered by tho posterity of AaroD, An- 
 tiq. ix. X. 4. 
 
 I f.. to m„r^B,f>H in F.gyp^' Anti;}. i;. is. 2. 
 
 Innocence makes men courageous. AnUq. xii vi;. 1. 
 Joab. general of David's army. Antiq vii. i. 3; takes the 
 citadel of Jerusalem, c. iii. sect. I; conspires with 
 Adonj.ah, r. xiv. s«Tt. 4. &c. 
 
 Joathan, or Jotbam, high-piiest, Antiq. viii. L 3rand X, 
 viii. 6. 
 
 Joazor, son of Boethus, high-priest, Antiq. y vii vL4; 
 and xviii. i. 1 ; c. iii. sect. 1 ; is deprived by At<bcAb<, 
 xvii. xiii. 1; and xviii. 2, 1. 
 
 Johanan. the son of Kaieah, Antiq. x. ix. 2; be pnrwjeB 
 after IsKmael, sect. 5. 
 
 John Hvrcanus. See Hyrcanus. 
 
 !john the Baptist, put to death by Herod, Antiq. xvilt v. 
 * 2. 
 
 John, the son of Dorcas, W ar, iv. iii. 5. 
 
 John, called Gaddis, Jonathan's brother, is kitled, Antiq. 
 xiii. 1. 2. 
 
 John, son of Levi, rebuilds Gischala, Life, sect. 10; War, 
 ii. XX. 6; and vii. viii. 1 ; an enemy to Jo.-iephus, Life, 
 .lect 13, &c.; sect 23; War, ii. xxi. 1; aims at abso- 
 lute dominion, iv. iii. 13; c vii. sect 1. 
 
 John, son of Sosas, War, iv. iv. 2. 
 
 John the Essen, War, ii. xx. 4; and iii. iL L 
 
 John, son of Judas, high-priest, Antiq. xi. vii. 1; mur- 
 ders bis brother in the temple, sect 2. 
 
 John, captain of the Idumeans, killed. War, v. vu 6. 
 
 John, son of Eliasib, Antiq. xi. v. 4. 
 
 John, or Johannan, son of Kareah, Antiq. x. xi. 2; pur- 
 sues after Ishmael, sect 6. 
 
 Joktan. > ntiq. L vu 4. 
 
 Jonadab. Ammon's kinsman, Antiq. vii. viii. 1; son of 
 Samea.«, sect iii; he kills a giant, c. xii. sect. 2. 
 
 Jonas, the prophet Antiq. ix x. 1. &c 
 
 Jonathan, son of Ananus, Antiq. xix. vi. 4; refuses the 
 high-priesthood, ib. ; his actions \\ ar. ii. xii. 5, &c.; 
 he is murdered by the Sicari', c. xiii. sect 3. 
 
 Jonathan, called Apphu%thc \laccabee. A iiliq. xii. vi. 1 .- 
 h- maVrs a league with Anii<K:hus Rnj-atur, War, i. ii. 
 Ij is surprised by Trypho, aud killed, lb. 
 
 { Jonathan, son of Saul, beats a garrison of the Philistines 
 Antiq. vi. si. 2; reconciles Saul to David, c. xi. seel 
 2; his conference with David, sect, 27; is slain in bat- 
 tle by the Philistines, Antiq. vi. xiv. 7. 
 
 Jonathan, a .sadducee, provokes Hyrcanus against the 
 Pharisees, Antiq. xiii. x. (3. 
 
 Jonathan, a Jew, challenges the Romans to a single com 
 bat War, vu ii. 1; be is killed by Priscus, ib. 
 
 Jonathan, the son of Abiather, Antiq. vii. ix. 2. 
 
 Jonathan, ringleader of the Sicarii, War, vii. xi. L 
 
 Jonathan, the high-priest, murdered by the order of Ft 
 iix, Antiq. XX. viii. ^ -» 
 
 Jonathan the Maccabee, made commander of the Jews* 
 after Judas, Antiq. xiiL i. 1; with bis brother Simon ■" 
 defeats the Nabateans, sect 4; makes peace with Bac- 
 chides, sect. 6; restores the divine worship, c ii. sect 
 1, &c.; defeats Demetrius's captains, sect 7; renews 
 the league with the Romans and Spartans, c. v. sect 
 8; his letter to the Spartans, ib.; he is killed by Try- 
 i^ho, c vi. sect. 5. 
 
 Joppa, taken by the Romans, War, ii. xviii. 10; demo- 
 lished, iii. ix. 2. 
 
 Joram, high-priest, Antiq. X. viii. 6. 
 
 Jordan, the Israelites pass over it, Antiq. i. 3. 
 
 Jozedek, high-priest at the captivity, Antiq. x. viii. 6. 
 
 Joseph, son of Zaocharias, Antiq. xii. viii. 6. 
 
 Joseph, son of Antipater, Antiq. xiv. viu 2; War, i. viii. 
 9. 
 
 Joseph Cabi, son of Simon the high-priest, Antiq. xx. 
 viii. 11; he is deprived, c. ix. sect 1. 
 
 Joseph, son of Gamus, is made high-priest, Antiq. xx. 
 3; he is deprived, c v sect 2. 
 
 Joseph, called Caiaphas, is made high-priest, Antiq. 
 xviii. ii. 2; c. iv. sect 6, 
 
 Joseph, the son of a female physician, stirs up a sedition 
 at Gamala, Life, sect. 37. 
 
 Joseph, son of Daleu.% War, vi. v. 1. 
 
 Joseph, the son of Eilemus, o(!i iates for Matthias the 
 high-priest, Antiq. xvii. vi. 4. 
 
 Joseph, a relation of Archelaus. War, ii. v. 2. 
 
 Joseph, a treasurer, Antiq. xv. vi. o. 
 
 Joseph, son of Gorion, War. ii. xx. 3. 
 
 Joseph, Herod's uncle, Antiq. xv. iii. 5; he marries Sa- 
 lome, Herod's sister. War, i. xx. 4; he discovers his 
 injunction to kill Mariamne, and is put to death, An- 
 tiq. XV, iii. 3; War, i. xxii. 4. 
 
 Joseph, Herod's brother, Antiq. xiv. xv. 4; and xviii. v. 
 4; he is sent into Idumea, xiv. xv. 4; War, i. xvi. Ij 
 his death, Antiq. xiv. xv. 10; War, i, xvii 1, 2. 
 
 Joseph, son of Joseph, Herod's brother, Antiq. xviii. t. 
 4. 
 
 Joseph, son ofTobia.s reproaches his uncle Onias, An- 
 tiq. xii. iv. 2; goes on an embassy to Ptolemy, ib.; 
 becomes his tax-gatherer, sect 4; goes to Syria to 
 gather the taxes, sect. 3; his wealth and children, sect 
 6; begets Hyrcanus on bis brother's daughter, ib. ; 
 dies, sect 10. 
 
 Joseph, son of Jacob, bis dreams, Antiq. iu ii. 1, &c.; he 
 is sold to the Ishmaelites.c. iii. sect 3; his chastity, c. 
 iv. sect 4 ; he is put iu prison, c. v. sect 1 ; he is re- 
 leased, sect 4; he discovers his brethren, c vi. sect. 
 2; he tries them, c. v sect "; he discovers himself to 
 them, sect. 10; his death, c. viii. sect. 1. 
 
 Jo^ephus, son of Mattathius, made governor of Galilee, 
 War, ii. xx. 4; his danger at Tariche^e, c. xxi. sect. 3; 
 he reduces Tiberias by a stratagem, sect 8, 9; is in 
 great danger again, v. xiii. 3; his mother laments him 
 as dead. ib. ; his speech to the Taricheans, Life, sect 
 29; his stratagems, sect. 30, 32, 44, 43, 51, 38, 63 ; War, 
 Iii. vii. 13; he escapes a great danger, sect 29, 30; he 
 goes to 1 ioerias. sect 33; his wonderful dream, sect 42; 
 he goes to Taricheae, sect. 34, 39; his father put in 
 chains, v. xiii. 1; his love to his country, vL vii. 2; be 
 is betrayed by a woman, iii. vii. 1 ; he surrenders him- 
 seit to Nicanor, sect 4; his speech to his companions, 
 sect 5, he is in danger of bis-life, sect. 6; be advises 
 the casting ol lots, sect?; he is carried to Vespasian, 
 >ect 8; tiis speech to Vespasian, sect. 9; he is honoured 
 by Vespasian and 'litus, ib. ; Life, sect. 73; by Domi- 
 tian and I loinitia, sect 73; he is set at liberty, War, iv. 
 X. 7; his speeches to the Jews, advising them to sar- 
 renrler. v. ix. 2; and vi. ii 1; he is accused of a con- 
 spiracy, vii. xi. 1; Titus gives him lands in, Judea. 
 Life, sect 73; be had in all three wive.t, sect 73; bis 
 children, sect. 7.j; he was greatly skilled ib Hebrew 
 and Greek learning, Antiq. xx. xi. 2; of the sect of the 
 Pharisees, Life, sect. 2; he gies to Rome, sect 3; be 
 is made governor of Galilee, sect 7; frees the Seppbor- 
 itec from lear, sect 8; stays in Galilee, sect ii; bi» 
 
870 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 moderafion, sect. 15; his desiijn in writing the Anti- 
 quities, Aritiq. xiv. i. 1; his diligence in writing his- 
 tory, ib. ,- he promises other works, Antiq. Pref, sect. 
 4; and XX. xi. ; and a book of Jewish customs and 
 their reasons, iv. viii. 4; when he finished the Anti- 
 quities, XX. xi. i; when he was born, Life, sect. Ij 
 his conduct to Galilee, sect. 8, &c. ; he appeals to Ves- 
 pasian. Titus, and others, for the truth of his history, 
 Against Apion, i. sect. 9. 
 
 Joshua, the son of Nun. See Jesus. 
 
 Joshua, sou of Sie, high-priest, Antiq. xvii. xiii. 1. 
 
 Josiah, klngof Judah, his piety, Antiq. x. iv. 1; his death, 
 c. V. sect. 1. 
 
 iotapata besieged, taken and demolished. War, iii. vii. 
 3-36. 
 
 Jotham, son of Gideon, his parable to the Shechemites, 
 Antiq. v. vii. 2. 
 
 Jotham, king of Judah, Antiq. ix. xi. 2; his death, c. xii. 
 sect. 1. 
 
 Ireneus the pleader, Antiq. xvii. ix. 4. 
 
 Iron, harder than gold, or silver, or brass, Antiq. x. x.4; 
 blunted by slaughter, xiii. xii. 5. 
 
 Isaac, Antiq. i. x. 5. 
 
 Isaiah. See Esaiah. 
 
 Ishbosheth, son of Saul, is made king, Antiq. vii. i. 3; he 
 is murdered by treachery, c. ii. sect. 1. 
 
 Ishmaei, Antiq. i. x. 4. 
 
 Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, murders Gedaliah, the son of 
 Ahikam, Antiq. x. ix. 3, 4. 
 
 Isis, her temple polluted and demolished, Antiq. xviii. 
 iii. 4. 
 
 Israel. See Jacob. 
 
 Israelites, numbered, Antiq. iii. xii. 4; and vii. xiii. 1; 
 their religious zeal slackened, v. ii. 7; they are carried 
 captive into Media and Persia, Antiq. ix. xiv. 1. 
 
 Istob, or Ishtob, king, Antiq. vii. vi. 1. 
 
 Isus, high-priest, Antiq. x. viii. 6. 
 
 Ithamar, son of Aaron, Antiq. iii. viii. 1; his family, vii. 
 XIV. 7; it loses ttie high-priesthood, Antiq. viii. i. 3. 
 
 Ithobalus, or Eihbaal, king of Tyre, Antiq. viii. xiii. 1, 
 2; Against Apion, i. sect. 8, 21. 
 
 Juba, king of Lybia, Antiq. xvii. xiii. 4. 
 
 Juhal, Antiq. i. ii. 2. 
 
 Jubilee, Antiq. iii. xii. 3. 
 
 Jucundus, one of Herod's life-guards, raises a calumny 
 against Alexander, Antiq. xvi. x. 3. 
 
 Jucundus (iEmilius), War, ii. xix. 7. 
 
 Jucundus. captain of horse. War, ii. xiv. 5. 
 
 Judadas, or Dedan, Antiq. i. vi. 2. 
 
 Judea, it begins at Coreae, Antiq. xiv. iii. 4; a great 
 eaithquake in Judea, xv. v. 2; its fertility, Against 
 Apion, i. sect. 22; contains 3,000.000 of acres of good 
 land, ib. ; its description. War, iii. iii. ; length, breadth, 
 and limits, sect. 5; but lately known to the Greeks, 
 Against Apion, i. sect. 12; when first so called, Antiq. 
 ix. V. 7; abounding with pasture, xv. v. 1; War, iii. 
 iii. 2; taken from Archelaus, and annexed to Syria, 
 Antiq. xviii. i. 1 ; parted by Gabinius into five jurisdic- 
 tions, xiv. V. 4; entirely subdued and pacified by Titus, 
 War, vii. x. 1 ; made tributary to the Romans, Antiq. 
 xiv. iv. 5. 
 
 Judas, the Essen, a prophet, Antiq. xiii. xi. 2; War, i. 
 iii. 4. 
 
 Jndas, a Galilean or Gaulonite, the author of a fourth 
 sect among the Jews, Antiq. xviii. i. 1, 2, 6; and xx. 
 V. 2; N\ ar, ii. viii. I. 
 
 Judas, son of Jairus, is slain, War, vii. vi. 5. 
 
 Judas, son of Aminadah, Antiq. xi. iv. 2. 
 
 Judas the Maccabee, Antiq. xii. vi. 1; succeeds Matthias 
 his father, sect. 4; War, i. I, 3; his speech to his men 
 before a battle, Antiq xii. vii. 3; he is victor, sect. 4; 
 he comes to. Jerusalem, and restores the temple wor- 
 ship, sect R, &c. ; takes vengeance on thr Idumeans 
 and others, xii. viii. 1; besieges the citadel at Jerusa- 
 lem, c ix. sect. 3; is made high-priest, c. x, sect. <i; 
 makes an alliance With the Romans, ib, ; fights Bac- 
 cliides. c. xi. sect. 1 ; is killed in the battle, sect. 2. 
 
 Judas, sjn of Cha»)seus, Antiq xiii. v, 7. 
 
 'udas. son of Sariphus, or Sepphoreus, Antiq. xviii. x. 
 
 6{ War, i. xxxiii. 2. 
 Jndas, son of H anih, high-priest, Antiq. xi. vii. 1. 
 Jodas, son of F.zechias, ringleader of the robbers, Antiq 
 xvii. X. 4; War, ii. iv. 1. 
 
 Judiie* of the Hebrews, single governors, Antiq. ix. iv. 8. 
 
 Judtrcft at Jenisalem, the Sanhedrim, r nliq. xi, i. 1. 
 
 udees of the council in Syria and Phoenicia. Antiq. xi. 
 
 ii, I i seven inferior judges in every city, but an app<>al 
 
 from them to the great Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, Aotiq. 
 
 It. viii. 14. 
 
 Juclus, high-priest, Antiq. x. viii. 5. 
 
 Julia, or Livia, Augustus Casar's wife, Antiq. xvt V. 1 
 and xvii. L I. 
 
 Julia, Cains' sister, Antiq. xix. iv. 3. 
 
 Julian of Bithynia, a valiant captain, War, vL i. 8. 
 
 Julius Caesar's letter to the Sidouians, with his and other 
 decrees in favour of the Jews, See Decrees. 
 
 Julius Lupus, Antiq. xix. ii. 4. 
 
 Julias, commander of a Roman legion, Antiq, xv. iii. 7. 
 
 Jupiter Hellenius' temple upon Mount Gerizzim, Autiq. 
 xii. v. 5. 
 
 Jupiter the conqueror's temple, Antiq. xiv, iv. 3. 
 
 Jupiter Olympius' temple. Against Apion, i. sect 17j 
 his statue, Antiq. xix. i. 1. 
 
 Justus, son of Josephus, Life, 75. 
 
 Justus of Tiberias, the historian, Life, sect 65; when 
 they published his history, ib. ; he is condemned by 
 Vespasian, but saved by king Aurippa, Life, sect. 74. 
 
 Justus, son of Pistus, stirs up sedition. Life, sect 9; his 
 character, ib. 
 
 Izates, son of Queen Helena, embraces the Jewish reli- 
 gion, Antiq. xx. ii. 1, 4; is circumcised, sect 5; con- 
 quers his enemies, c. iv. sect 1, 2; succeeds Monoba- 
 zus, c. ii. sect 3; he dies, c. iv. sect. 3; his childien 
 and brethren are besieged in Jerusalem, War, vL vi. 1. 
 
 Kareah, Antiq. x. ix. 1. 
 
 Kemuel, son of Nahor, Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 Keturah, Abraham's last wife, Antiq. i. xv. 1. 
 
 King, his principal qualifications, Antiq. vii. xv.2; three 
 duties of a good king, piety towards God, justice to- 
 wards his subjects, and care of the public welfare, ix, 
 xi. 2; need not give an account of his actions in the 
 opinion of Antony, xv. iii. 8; should be eminently 
 good, vi. xiv. 4. 
 
 King Solomon's palace, Antiq. vii. v. 1. 
 
 Kings of David's race, how many, Antiq. x. viii. 4. 
 
 Kingdom, a reward of virtue, Antiq. vi. viii. I. 
 
 Kitim, Antiq. i. vi. 1. 
 
 Korah, raises a sedition, Antiq. iv. ii. 2j perishes with 
 his followers, c. iii. sect. 3. 
 
 Laban, son of Bethuel, Antiq. i. vi. 5; his fraud, c. xix. 
 sect 7. 
 
 Labour, nothing gotten without it, Antiq. iii. ii. 4. 
 
 Laborosoarchod, or Labosordacus, Antiq. x. xi. 2; 
 Against Apion, i. sect. 20. 
 
 Lacedemonians derived from Abraham, as well as the 
 Jews, Antiq. xii. iv. 10; and xiii. v. 8. 
 
 Lamech, Antiq. i. ii. 2. 
 
 Language (abusive) not to he punished with death, An- 
 tiq. xiii. X. 6. 
 
 I-anguages confounded, Antiq. i. iv. .3. 
 
 Laodice, queen of the Gileadites, Antiq. xiii. xiii. 4. 
 
 Laodiceans, their letter to Caius Ruhilius, in favour o( 
 the Jews, Antiq. xiv. x. 20. 
 
 Lasthenesj a Cretian, Antiq. xiii. iv. 3, 9. 
 
 Laws given the Israelites by Moses upon Mount Sinai, 
 Antiq. iii. &c. ; and iv. viii. 2, &c ; to be read on tiie 
 feast of tabernai;le.s iv. viii. 12; to be learned by chil- 
 dren before all things, ib. ; to be written in the mind 
 and memory, ib. ; forbid the punishment of childrep 
 for their parents' crimes, ix. ix. 1; for a rebellious son 
 to be stoned, xvi. xi. 2; martial laws. Against Apion, 
 ii. sect. 29; the tables of the law, or ten commandments, 
 Antiq. iii. v. 4; law of Moses translated into Greek 
 under Ptolemy Philadelphus, Antiq. Pref sect 3; and 
 xii. ii. 2, &c. ; law made by Herod to sell thieves to 
 foreigners, xvi. i. 1 ; law carried in triumph at Rome, 
 War, vii. v. 5. 
 
 Laws among the Persians left to the interpretation of 
 seven persons, Antiq. xi. vi. 1. 
 
 Lentulus' decree in favour of the Jews, Antiq. xiv. x, 
 13. 
 
 I.epidus, killed by Caius, Antiq. xix. i. 6. 
 
 Lepidus (Larcius), War, vi. iv. 3. 
 
 Leprous persons obtain places of honour among several 
 nations, Antiq. iii. xi. 4; are to live out of cities, by 
 the Samaritan and Jewish laws, ix. iv. 5; they resolve 
 in a famine to go over to the enemy, ib. 
 
 Letters of the Alphabet, whether brought into Greece by 
 Cadmus and the Phoenicians, Against Apion, i. sect 
 2. 
 
 l.etters of Solomon, and Hiram and the Tyrians, Antiq. 
 viii. ii. 6,7; of Xerxes king of the Persians to Ezra, 
 xi. V. 1 5 of Artaxerxes to the Rovernors near Juden, c. 
 ▼i. sect 12; of .\ntiochus the Great to Ptolemy Fpi- 
 phanes, xii. iii. 3j of the Sarnaritans to Antiochuj 
 Theoa. o v. sect 5; of Alexander B«lus to Jonathan, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 xS. ii 2; of OniM to Ptolemy and Cleopatra, c, iii. 
 
 sect. 1 1 o/ Ptolemy and Cleopatra to Onias, sect. 2; of 
 
 Uemetrius to Jonathan and the Jews, c. iv. sect. 9: of 
 
 Julius Cassar to the Koman mainstrates, xiv. x. 2, &c.; 
 
 asd to the Sidonians. ib.; of Mark Antony to th« I'y- 
 
 rians, c. xii. sect. 4, o. 
 Lcrites exempted from military functions, Antiq. iii. 
 
 xii. 4. 
 Invite's concubine abused by the inhabitants of Gibeah, 
 
 Amiq v. xi. 8. 
 Levitical tribe consecrated by Moses, Antiq. iii. xi. 1; 
 
 their allowance, iv. iv. 3, &c; how many cities he- 
 
 lonsjed to theni, ib. 
 I.iberins Maximus, Kovemor of J udea. War, vi. vi. 6. 
 Liberty granted the Jews by Demetrius, Antiq. xiiL ii. 
 
 Libyos, Antiq. L vi 2. 
 
 Longinus, a tribune. War, ii. xix, 7. 
 
 I-ontjinus' bravery. War, v. vii. 3. 
 
 Lonpus a violent Roman, kills himself War, vl. iii. 2. 
 
 Lot. Antiq. i. vi. o; c ix. 
 
 Lot's wife, Antiq. i. xi. 4. 
 
 Lucilius Kassus takes Macherus, War, vii, vi. 1 — 6. 
 
 Lucullus, Antiq. xiii. xv. 4. 
 
 Lupus, governor of Alexandria, War, viu x. 2. 
 
 Lupus, Julius, a conspirator, is put to death, Antiq. xix. 
 
 ii. 4, 5. 
 Lycurgus, Against Apion, ii. sect 31, 
 Lydda burnt, War, ii. xix. 1. 
 Lysanias, son of Ptolemy, is pat to death, Antiq. xv, iv. 
 
 1; War. i. xiii. 1. 
 Lysias, commander of Antiochus' army, Antiq. xiL vii. 
 
 2, &c. 
 Lysimijchus obtains the government of the Helkspont, 
 
 after the death of Alexander, Antiq. xiu L 
 
 Maacah, Rehoboam's wife, Antiq. viii. x. 1. 
 
 Maacahah, son of N'ahor, by his concubine Reuma, An- 
 tiq. u vi. .5. 
 
 Maaseiah, son of Ahaz, slain in battle, Antiq. ix, xii. 1. 
 
 Maaseiah, governor of the city, Antiq. x. iv. 1. 
 
 Rlaccahees, their history, Antiq. xii. vL I, &c. 
 
 Macedonians, governed by a Roman proconsul. War, ii. 
 xvi. 4. 
 
 Macheras, Anliq, xiv. xv. 7, 10; War, i. xvi. 6, 7; c. 
 xvii. sect 1, &c. 
 
 Wacberus surrenders to Bassus, in order to set Eleaiar 
 at liberty, \^ ar, viu vL 4- 
 
 Machines, or engines of the Romans, War, r. vL 2; for 
 CMSting stones, of how great force, Wat, iiL viu 23. 
 
 Machir, Antiq. vii. v. 5. 
 
 Madai. or Medes, Antiq. i. vi. 1. 
 
 Madianites, or Midianites, bring Israel into subjection, 
 Antiq. v, vi. 1; Moses makes war upon them and beats 
 them, iv. vii. 1; their women seduce the laraelites, c 
 vii. sect. 6. 
 
 IVTagician, War, it xiiL 5. 
 
 Wagi>g, Antiq. L vL 1- 
 
 Mahalaleel, Antiq i. iii 2. 
 
 Mahlon, son of EUmelech, Antiq. v. ix. I. 
 
 Malaleel, Antiq. i iii. 4. 
 
 Malchishua, son of Saul, Antiq. vi. xiv. 7. 
 
 Malchtis, or Malichus, kin? of the Arabians, Antiq. xiii. 
 V. 1; xiv. xiv. I, &c; War, i. xiv. 1. 
 
 Malichus. a Jewish commander, Antiq. xiv. v. 2; War, 
 ;. viii. 3: c xt sect 'J, &c. ; he poisons Antipater, An- 
 tiq. xiv. xi. 4 : he is a gr'*af dissembler, sect. 4, 5,- he is 
 killed by a device of Merod, sect. 6. 
 
 MalthacA Archelaws' mother, dies, Antiq. xvii. x, 1; she 
 was a Samaritan, and Herod's wife. War, L xxviii. 4. 
 
 Mambres, or Mamre, Antiq. i. x- 2. 
 
 Manaem, or Manahem, Antiq. ix. xi. I. 
 
 Manaheni, an Essen, Antiq. xv x. 5. 
 
 Manahem, son of Judas the Galilean, Life, sect. 5; War, 
 ii. xvii. 8, &c. 
 
 Manasses. king of Judah, Antiq. X- iii. 4, &c.; he is car- 
 ried into captivity, sect 2; he is sent back to his king- 
 dom, and dies, ib 
 
 Manasses, brother of Jadus, marries the daughter of San- 
 ballet Antiq. xi. vii, 2, &c.! he is made high-priest 
 among the Samaritans, xii. iv, L 
 
 Manlius (Locius), son of Lucius, Antiq. xiii. ix. 2. 
 
 Manna rained from heaven, Antiq. iii. i.6; the signifi- 
 cation of the woid, ib. ; a sort of manna fell in Arabia 
 in the days of Jo«phus, ih. 
 
 Manneus, son of l.aKarus, War, v. xiii- 7. 
 
 Manoach, Antiq. v. viii. 2. 
 
 Manslaiighter, suspected, how purged among the Jews, 
 Autiq. iv viii. lb. 
 
 mi 
 
 Marcellus, Antiq. xviii. iv. 2. 
 
 Marcus, or .Murcus, president of Syria, after Sextus Cse 
 
 sar, Antiq xiv. xi, 1, &c,; War, i. x, 10, &c. 
 Maria, a noble woman, eaU her own child, V\ ar, vi iii. 
 
 4, 
 Mariamne, Agripffi senior's daughter by Cypros, Anliq. 
 
 xviii, V. 4; War, ii. xi. a 
 Mariamne, or Miriam. Moses' sister, dies, Antiq iv. iv. C 
 Mariamne, is married to Herod, War. i. xii. 3; she gruw 
 
 angiy with Herod, Antiq. xr. viii, I, &c,; V'U!, 
 
 xxii 2; her temper, Anti^. xv. vii. 4; slit is put t* 
 
 death, sect 4, 5; her eulogium, sect 6: her sons stran 
 
 gled, War, i. xxvii. 6. 
 Mariamne, daughter of Josephus and Olympias, Antiq. 
 
 xviii. V, 4. 
 Mariamne, daughter of Simon the high-priest. War, i. 
 
 xxviii, 4, 
 Mariamne. daughter of Agrippa senior, married to Ar- 
 
 chelaus, Antiq. xx. vii. 1; divorced. V» ar, ii. vii. 4; 
 
 afterwards married to Demetrius, Antiq. xx. viu 3. 
 Marion, tyrant of the Tyrians, Antiq, xiv. xii, I. 
 Marriage of tree men with staves unlawful among t*-e 
 
 Jews, Antiq, iv. viii. 2:1. 
 Marriage contracts, altered by Herod at Antipater's de- 
 sire, Antiq xvii. i. 2. 
 Marsus. president of Syria, Antiq. xix. vu 4; c vii. sccc 
 
 2; and c. viiL sect I. 
 Mars>as, freedman of Agrippa, Antiq. xviiu vi. 3, 7, 10. 
 Marullus. master of the hor.«e, Antiq. xviiu vu 10. 
 Margenus, king of the Tyrians, Against Apion, i. sect 
 
 Mattathias. great grandson of Asamonens. the father ol 
 the Maccabees, Antiq. xii. vu 1 ; refuses to ofier sacri- 
 fice to an idol, sect 2; persuades the Jews to fight on 
 the Sabbath day. ib. ; exhorts his sons to defend the 
 law, sect. 3i he dies, secu 4. 
 
 Mattathias, son of Absalom, Antiq, xiii. v. 7. 
 
 Matthias made high-priest Antiq. xix vi. 4. 
 
 Matthias Curtus, one of J osephus's ancestoi-s. Life, sect, 
 
 Matthias, son of Margalothus or Margahis, Antiq. xvii, 
 vu 2; War, i, xxxiii 2; he and his {Tartners are burn* 
 alive, Antiq. xvii. vi. 4. 
 
 Matthias, son of Theophilus, made bigh-priest, Anliq 
 xvii- iv. 2; and xx. ix. 7; he is deprived, xvii vi. 4. 
 
 Matthias, Josephus's father, 1-ife, sect 1 
 
 Matthias, son of Boethius, calls in Simon to his assis- 
 tance, and is afterwards put to death by him, War, v 
 xiii. L 
 
 Mathusala, Antiq. i. iii. 4. 
 
 Maximus (I.iberins). governor of J udea. War, vii. vi. 6. 
 
 Maximus (Trvbelffus), Antiq. xix. ii. 3. 
 
 Meal, the purest used in the Jewish oblations, Antiq. iii. 
 ix, 4. 
 
 Megassarus, War, v. xi, 5. 
 
 Meirus, son of Belgas, War, vi. v, 1. 
 
 Mela, an anibass;idor of Archelaus. Antiq. xvi. x. 6. 
 
 Melchisedec, entertains Abram, Antiq. i. x. 2. 
 
 Memucan, one of the seven princes of Persia. Antiq. x; 
 vi, 1. 
 
 Menedemus, the philosopher, Antiq. xiu ii. 12, 
 
 Menelaus, or Onias, Antiq. xii. vi. 1. 
 
 Menes, or Mineus, built Memphis, Antiq. viii. vi. 2. 
 
 Men's lives had been happy, if Adam had not sinned. A i 
 liq. i. i. 4. 
 
 Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, is highly favoured h 
 Oavid, Antiq. vii, v. 5; c xi. sect. 3. 
 
 Mephramuthosis, king of Egypt Against Apion, u seit 
 
 Mephres, king of Egypt Against Apion, i, sect 15. 
 
 Meraioth, son of Joatham. Antiq, viii, i. 3. 
 
 Merbalus. king of the Tyrians, Against Apion, u sect 21 
 
 Mesa, or Mash, Antiq. u vu 4. 
 
 Mesha, king of Moab, Antiq. ix. iii. 1. 
 
 Meshech, or Mosocb, Antiq, u vi. 1. 
 
 Meshech, one of the three holy children, Antiq. X. x. I. 
 
 Messalus, Antiq. xiv. xiv. 4. 
 
 Messalina, wife of Claudius, Antiq. xx. viii, 1 ; War, ii 
 
 xii. & 
 Mestrasi, or Mitzraim, Egyptians. Antiq. i, vL 2. 
 Metilius, a Roman commander. War. ii. xvii. 10. 
 Micah the prophet, quoted in Jeremiah. Antiq. x. vi. 2, 
 Micaiah, the prophet, Aniiq. viii, xiv. 5; he is pat to 
 
 prison, ib. 
 Mice spoil the cquntry of Ashdod, Antiq. vi, L 1{ fire 
 
 golden mice, sect. 2. 
 Mica, son of Mephibosheth, Antiq. viii. v. 5. 
 Michal, Satirs danahler, married to David, Antiq. vu x. 
 
 3j she save4 David's life, c xi sect 4 
 
872 
 
 DTDEX. 
 
 Midlanites. See Madlanitea. 
 
 Milcah, wife of Nahor, Antiq. i. t1. 5. 
 
 Milk with the firstlings of the flock, offered by Abel, 
 
 Antiq. L iL I. 
 MinucianuB (Annins), Antiq. xix. i.^B, 8, Ac 
 MinucianuB (Marcus), Antiq. xix. It. 3. 
 .Miracles, a foundation of credibility, Antiq. x. ii. 1. 
 JILsael, one of the three holy children, Antiq. x. x. 1. 
 Mithridates Antiq. «. i. 3. 
 Mithridates, king of Pergamus, Antiq. xiv. vui. 1 ; briugs 
 
 succours to Caesar in F.gy pt, ib. ; War. i. ix. 3. 
 Mithridates Sinax, king of Parthia, Antiq. xiii. xiv. 3. 
 Mittiridates, king of Pontiis, dies, Ant;q. xiv. iii. 4. 
 Mithridates, a Parthian, niarries king Artabanus' daugh- 
 ter, Antiq. xviii. ix. 6; lie is taken prisoner by Anileus, 
 ib. ; and set at liberty, ib. ; his expedition against the 
 Jews, sect 7; be routs Anileus, ib. 
 Mitsraim, Antiq. i. vi. 2. 
 Mudius. ^quiculus. Life. sect. II, 24, 3S, 
 Miinnbazus, king of Adiabene, Antiq. xx. iL I; War,ii. 
 
 xix. i; his death, Aniiq. xx. ii. 3. 
 Moon eclipsed,. Antiq. xvii. vi. 4. 
 
 Muses, his character, Antiq Pref sect. 4; his birth fore- 
 told, iu ix. 2, 3; bow born, and saved alive, sect. 4 ; 
 why called illoi/scs, or Afos**-, sect, ri; Against Apion, 
 i. sect. 31; adopted by Vhermuthis. Antiq ii. ix 7; 
 brought up to succeed her father, ib.; tramples the 
 crown under his feet, ib.; he is made general of the 
 Rgyptian array, and beats the Ethiopians, c. x. sect. 1, 
 8cc.: he marries Tharbis, the king ol Ethiopia's daugh- 
 ter, sect. 2; he flies ont of Egypt, c. xi. sect. 1; he as- 
 sists Raguel's daughters against the sheptierds, sect. 2; 
 sees the burning bush at >inai, c. xii. sect. 1 ; is ap- 
 pointed to be the deliverer of the Israelites, sect. 3; he 
 does miracles, and bears the most sacred name of God, 
 sect. 3, 4; he returns to E^ypt, c. xiii. sert. I ; he works 
 miracles before Pharaoh, sect. 2, &c.; he leads the Is- 
 raelites out of Egypt, c. xv. sect. 1; how many were 
 their numbers, ib.; how old he was at that time, sect. 
 2j his prayer to God, c. xvi. sect. 1; he leads the Is- 
 raelites throuRh the Red Sea, sect. 2; he makes the 
 bitter water sweet, iii. i. 2; he procures the Israelites 
 quails and manna, sect. 5, 6; c xiii.; he brings water 
 out of the rock, c. L sect 7 ; he beats the Amalekites, 
 c. iii. sect. 4; be brings to the people the tables of the 
 covenant, c. v. sect 8; he stays forty days upon Mount 
 Sinai, ib. ; bis so long stay causes great doubts and 
 uneasiness among the people, sect. 7 ; he conlieis the 
 priesthood on Aaron, c. viii. sect 1; o8ers sacrifices at 
 the tabernacle, sect 6, 10; receWes laws and com- 
 mands at the tabernacle, sect. 10; consecrates to God 
 the tribe of Levi, c. xi. sect 1, &c. ; numbers the peo- 
 ple, c. xii. sect 4 ; gives orders for their marching, ib. 
 &c. ; sends spies to search the land of Canaan, c. xiv. 
 sect. I, &c.; quells the faction of Corah, iv. ii. 3, &c. ; 
 his justice, c. iii. sect 1 ; his prayer to God, sect. 2; he 
 cleanses the people, c. iv. sect G ; be destroys sihon 
 and Og. c. t. sect 3; he defeats the kings of Midian, 
 c vii. sect. 1; be appoints Joshua to be his successor, 
 sect 2; his pred ctions before his death, c. viii. sect. 2; 
 bis song in hexameter verse, sect. 44; a recapitulation 
 of his laws, c. vii.; he binds the Israelites by an oath 
 to observe them, sect 45; he blesses Joshua, and ex- 
 horts him to leawl the Israelites courageously into the 
 land of Canaan, sect 47; he is surrounded with a cloud 
 and disappears, sect 48; bis death greatly lamented 
 by thrt people for thirty days, sect 49; he is scandal- 
 ized, as afflicted with the leprosy, iii. xi. 4; his great 
 authority, c. xv. sect 3; his books laid up in the tem- 
 ple, X. Iv. 2; what they contain. Against Apion, i.sect 
 6; called by Manetho, Charsiph, priest of Osiris of 
 Heliopolis, sect. 26; allowed by tbe Egyptians to be a 
 divine man, sect 51 ; the ages in which he lived, ii. 
 sect 15; bis virtue and great actions, sect. 15, 16; bis 
 posterity honoured by Oavid, Antiq. vii. xv. 7. 
 Mosoch, or Mesech, Antiq. i. vi. I. 
 Mucianus, president of Syria, Antiq. xii. iii. 1 ; War, iv. 
 
 i. 5; c. ix. sectk 2; c. x. sect 6, 7; and c. xi. sect 1. 
 Mule, the king's mule, Antiq. vii. xiv. 5. 
 Mundui (Decius), ravishes Paulina, tbe wife of Satur- 
 
 nina?, Antiq. xviii. iii. 4^ 
 M ureas. See Marcus. 
 Mus cal instruments of the Jews, the Cynara ?)a»l8,and 
 
 Cymbalnm. described, Antiq. vii. xii. 3. 
 Mysian war. War, vii. iv. 3. 
 Mytijonus, king of Tyre, Against Apion, i. sect 21. 
 
 Saamah, an AmraonttMa, tb« m«th«ti of lUhoboam, An- 
 tla. vHL viii 1. 
 
 Naamah, daughter of Lamech, Antiq. i. ii. 2. 
 
 Naash, or Nahash, king of th^ Ammonites, Antfq. tS. 
 
 vi. 1 ; his war against the Israelites, vi. v. 1. 
 Nabal, a foolLsh man, Antiq. vi. xiii. 6. 
 Naboandelus, or Nabonadius, or Balta^ar, king of Ba- 
 bylon, Antiq. x. xi. 2; Against Apion. i. sect. 20. 
 Nabolassar, or NabopoUassar, king of Babylon, Against 
 
 Apion, i. sect. 19. 
 ftabutik, Antiq. viii. xiii. 8. 
 
 Nebuchodonosor, or Nebuchadnezaar, king of Baby!on, 
 Against Apion, i. sect. 19; he conquers a great partuf 
 Syria, Antiq. x. vi. 1; he lays a tax upon the Jews, ib.; 
 he takes and sacks Jerusalem, c. vi, sect :i; and c. viii. 
 sect 1, &c. ; his famous dream or vision, c. 10, sect 3, 
 Acc: his golden image, sect 5; he lives among tbe 
 beasts of the field, sect 6; he dies. c. xi. sect 1. 
 Nabuzardan, or Nebuzurdan, plunders and burns the 
 temple, Antiq. x. viii. 5; his other memorable actionsy 
 c. ix. sect 1. 
 Nacebus, captain of the Arabians, Antiq. xtL ix. 2; e. 
 
 X sect a 
 Nachor, or Nahor, Antiq. i. vi 3. 
 Nadab. son of Aaron, Antiq. iii. viii. 1,7. 
 Nadab, king of Israel, alter Jeroboam, Antiq. viii. xi. 4. 
 Nahum the prophet, Antiq. ix. xi. 3; bis prophecy coa~ 
 
 cerning Aineveh, ib. 
 Naomi, Elimelech's wife, Antiq. v. ix. I. 
 Nathan, David's son, Antiq. vii iii, 3. 
 Nathan, the prophet, Antiq. vii. iv. 4; c. vii, sect 3; c 
 
 xiv. sect. 4. 
 Nations dispersed, Antiq. i. v. 1 ; called by new names 
 
 by the Greeks, ib. 
 Nazarites, Antiq. iv. iv. 4; and xix. vi. 1. 
 Neapolitans, Life, sect 24; War, ii. xvi. 2. 
 Nechao, or Necho, king of Egypt, Antiq. x. vi. 1; he it 
 
 conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, ib. 
 Nehemiah, Antiq. xi. v. 6; his love to his country, ib.; 
 he exhorts the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem^ 
 sect 7; his deatli and eulotjium, sect. 8. 
 Nehushta, mother of Jehoiachin. Antiq. x. vi, 3. 
 Nephan, or Elhanan, Antiq. vii. xii. 2. 
 Nergal-sharezer, Antiq. x. viii. 2. 
 Neriah, high-priest, Antiq. x. viii. & 
 Neriglissor, king of Babylon. Against Apion, i. sect 20. 
 Nero made emperor. Antiq. xx, viii. 2; War, ii. xii. 8; 
 a most cruel tyrant, Antiq. xx. viii. 2; his violent 
 death. War, iv. ix. 2. 
 Netir, a Galilean, War, iii. vii. 21. 
 
 Nicanor. Antiq. xii. ii. 11 ; c. v. sect. 5; War, iii. viii. 2, 
 &c. ; sent by Demetrius, against Judas. Antiq. xii. x, 
 4; defeated and killed, sect. 5. 
 Nicanor, a friend of Titus, wounded with an arrow, War, 
 
 V. vi. 2, 
 Nicaso, married to Manasses. Antiq. xi. vii. 2. 
 Nicause. or Nitocris, queen of F.gypt, Antiq. viii. vi. 2. 
 Niceteria, or festival for the victory over Nicanor, Antiq. 
 
 xii. X. 5. 
 Nico (the conqueror), the name of tbe principal Romaa 
 
 battering-ram. War. v. vii. 2. 
 Nicolaus of Damascus, the Jews* advocate, Antiq. xii. 
 iii. 2; and xvi. ii. 2; he is sent to Herod by Augustus, 
 c. ix. sect. 4; his speech before Augustus in favour of 
 Archel.ius, xvii. ix. (i; c. xi. sect. 3; War. ji. ii. tt; he 
 exaggerates Antipater's crimes, xvii. v. 4; War, i. 
 xxxii. 4; his brother Ptolemy, ii. ii. 3. 
 Niger of Perea, War, ii. xix. 2; c. xx. sect. 4; and iii. 
 
 ii. 1; and iv. vi. 5; his wonderful escape, iii. ii, 3. 
 Niglissar, Antiq. x. xi. 2. 
 Nimrod, or Nebrodes Antiq. i. iv. 2, &c. 
 Nisroch, or Araske, a temple at Nineveh, Antiq. x. i. 6, 
 Noe, or Noah, Antiq i. iii. 1; he is saved in the ark, 
 sect. 2; invocates God after the deluge, sect. 7; (iod 
 answers his prayer, sect. 8; laws given to him, ib. ; he 
 is overtaken with wine.,c. vi. sect. 3; his genealogy, 
 c. iii. sect. 2; his death, sect 9. 
 Norous, of Heliopolis, 180 furlongs from Memphis, War, 
 
 vii. X. a 
 Norbanus Flaccus's letter to the Sardinians, in behalf of 
 
 the Jews, Antjq. xvi. vi. G. 
 Norbanus (another person) slain, Antiq. xix. i. 15. 
 Numenius, son of Antiochus. Antiq. xiii. v. 8. 
 
 Oaths prevail with Saul above natural aft'ection, Antiq. 
 
 vi. vi. 4. 
 Obadiah. a protector of the true prophets, Antiq. viii. 
 
 xiii. 4, &c. 
 Obedience to be leBrned before men nndcrULe goveru* 
 
 metit, Antiq. iv viii. J. 
 I Obodas, king of th* Araliiaoa, kvXvi. xiii. xiiL & 
 
INDEX. 
 
 873 
 
 OctaTio, danghter of Claudius, War, ii, xiL 8, 
 
 Odeas, hiKh-priest. Antiq. x. viii. 3. 
 
 Oded the propliet, Antiq. ix. xii. i, 
 
 O?. kinjr of Bashan, Aniiq. iv. v. :); his iron b«^, ib. 
 
 Oil us<*d in the .Fewisi) oblations, Antiq. iii. ix. 4; oil 
 
 consumed by the seditious. War, ii. xiii. 6; oil pre- 
 
 pkied by foreigners not used by the Jews, Antiq. xii. 
 
 iil I : War, iu xxi. 2. 
 Olympias, Herod's daughter by Malthace, a Samaritan, 
 
 Antiq. xvii. L 3; she is married to Joseph, the son of 
 
 Herod's brother. War, i. xxriiL 1, 
 Olvmpius Jupiter's image, Antiq. xix. L 1, 2. 
 Olympu:i sent to Home, Antiq. xvL x. 7, 9; War, L 
 
 xxvii. I. * 
 
 Omri, king of Israel. Antiq. viii. xiL 5. 
 Oo, the son of Peleth, Antiq. iv. ii. 1. 
 Onias, son of J add us, succeeds in the bigh-priesthood, 
 
 Antiq, xu viii 7. 
 Onias, the son of Simon, made high-priest, Antiq. xiL 
 
 iv. I ; causes great troubles, sect. 1 1. 
 Onias. brother of Jesus, or Jason, made high-priest, An- 
 tiq. xii iv. I. 
 Onias and Dositheus, two Jewisb captains, saved Egypt 
 
 from ruin. Against Apion, ii, sect. a. 
 Onia*, son of Onias. flies into Egypt, and there desires 
 
 to build a J«-v?ish temple, Antiq. xiii. iii. 1, 3; War, i. 
 
 i, 1; and vii. x, 3; bis letter to Ptolemy and Cleopa- 
 
 tia, Antiq. xii'. iii. I; their answer, sect. 2; he builds 
 
 the temple, tJnian, sect 3; that temple is shut up, W'ar, 
 
 ▼ii. X. 4. 
 Onias, a just man, procures rain in a famine by his 
 
 prayers, Antiq. xiv. ii. 1 ; he is stoned to death, ib, 
 Ophelius, Antiq. xiv. xiii. 5; War, i. xiii. 5. 
 Ophir. Antiq. i. vi. 4. 
 
 Opobalsamum, Antiq, viii, vi. 6; and xiv. iv. 1. 
 Oracles of the prophets, concerning the destruction of 
 
 Jerusalem, War, iv. vL 3; c. x. sect. 7; and vi. ii. 1; 
 
 concerning a great prince to arise in Judea, c, v. sect 
 
 4. 
 Oreb, a king of Madian, Antiq. v. vi. 5. 
 Orodes, Antiq. xviii ii. 4. 
 Oronna. or Aruanah, the Jebusite, Antiq. vii. iii, 3; his 
 
 thrashing floor, c. xiii. sect 4; where Isaac was to b« 
 
 offered, and the temple was afterwards built, ib. 
 Orpah, Antiq. v. ix. I. 
 
 Orus, king of Egypt, Against Apion, j. sect 15. 
 Osarsiph (tor Moses), a priest at Heliopo'is, Against 
 
 Apion, i. sect 28, 31. 
 Otho made emperor. War, iv. ix. 2; be kills himself, sect. 
 
 9. 
 Oxen, brazen, the Jews forbidden to make them, Antiq. 
 viii. vii. 5. 
 
 Pacorus, king of Media. Antiq. xx. iii. 4; redeems his 
 wife and concubines from the Alans, War, vii. vii. 4. 
 
 Paroms, the kinn of Parthia's son, gets possession of 
 Syria, Antiq. xiv. Tsm\. 3, lays a plot to catch Hyrca- 
 niis and Phasaelus. sec*. 5; marches against the Jews, 
 War, i. xiii. 1; he is admitted into Jerusalem, sect 3; 
 is slain in battle, Antiq. xiv. xv. 7. 
 
 Psetus (Caesennius), president of Syria, War, vii. vii. 1 ; 
 his expedition into Commagena, ib. 
 
 Pageants, or Pegmata, at Titus' triumph. War, vii. v. 5. 
 
 Palace at Rome, Antiq. xix. iii. 2. 
 
 Pallas, Herod's wife, Antiq. xvii. i. 3; War. L xxviii. 4. 
 
 Pallas, Felix's brother, Antiq. xx, viiu 9; War, ii, xii. 8. 
 
 Palm trees at Jericho, very famous, Antiq. ix. i. 2; and 
 riv. iv. 1. 
 
 Pannychis. the concubine of Archelaus, War. i. xxv. 6. 
 
 Papiiiius, Antiq. xix. i. vi. 4. 
 
 Pappus is sent into Samaria, by Antigonus, Antiq. xiv. 
 XV. 12; War, i. xvii. o. 
 
 Paradise described, Antiq. i. i. 3: a pensile paradise, or 
 garden at Babylon, Acainst Apion, i. sect 19. 
 
 Parents' go'.d deeds are advantageous to their children, 
 Antiq. ^iii. ix. 2; hi>w to be honoured hy th«! law <il 
 Moses. Against Apion, sect. 27. 
 
 Parthians jiossess themselves of Syria, and endeavour to 
 ■ettle Antieonus in Judea, War. i. xiii. I, &c. ; their 
 expedition into Judea, Antiq. xiv. xiii. 3; they be- 
 sieged Jerusalem, ib. ; th"y take the city and temple, 
 sect 4; their perfidiousness, sect 4, H; War, i x.ii. 3, 
 *c 
 
 Pa.-8over, a Jewish festival, Antiq. ii. xiv. 6; and iii. x. 
 1; and xiv. ii. 1; and xiv. ix. 3; the manner of its 
 celebration. War. vi. ix. 3; called the fea.«t of unlea- 
 vened bead, A tiq. xiv. ii. 1 ; and xvii ix. 3; War, v. 
 iii. 1; on the fourteenth d:iy of Ni<nn, Antiq. xi. 4, H; 
 W*r, V. iiL I ; very nuiueroas iacritin(>* *' «• nflered. 
 
 and vast numbers come np to it, Antiq. xriL ix. 3f 
 War, ii. i. 2; from the ninth hour to the eleveutb, and 
 not less than ten to one pa»chal lamb, vi. ix. 3; num- 
 ber of paschal lambs in the days of Cestius, 2.t0, i/JO, 
 ib. 
 
 Paulina ravished by Mundus, Antiq. xviii. iiL 4. 
 
 Paulinus, a tribune. War, iu. vii. 1. 
 
 Paiilinus succeeds Lupus as governor of Alexandria, War, 
 vii. X. 5; be plunders and shuts up the temple Onion, 
 ib. 
 
 Pausanias. son of Cerastes, murders Philip king of Mace 
 don, Antiq. i. viii. 1. 
 
 Peace and good laws the greatest blessings, Antiq. Tii 
 Xiv, 2. 
 
 Peace, as a goddess, has a temple at Rome, War, vii. v. 
 7, 3; c. vi. sect 24. 
 
 Pedanius. War, i. xxvii. 2; and vL ii. 8. 
 
 Pekah slays Pekahiah, and succeeds him, Antiq. ix. xi. 
 1 ; he defeats the king of Judah, c xiL sect 1; he is 
 slain by Hoshea, c xiii. sect I. 
 
 Pekaiah, king of Israel, Antiq. ix. xL 1. 
 
 Peleg, Antiq. L vi. 4. 
 
 Penmnah, Antiq. v. x. 2. 
 
 Pentecost, a Jewish festival, Antiq. iiL x. 6: and xviL 
 X. 2; whence it had that name. War. iL iii. 1; vast 
 numbers came to it ib. ; the priests then attended the 
 temple in the night, vL v. 3: the Jews did not then 
 take journeys, Antiq. xiii. viiL 4. 
 
 Perea entirely subdued by the Romans, War, iv. vii. 3, 
 
 Pet^amen's decree iu favour of the Jews, Antiq. xiv. x. 
 22. 
 
 Perjury supposed by some not dangerous, if done by 
 necessity, Antiq. v. ii. 12: dreaded by Joshua and the 
 elders, c. i. sect 16; dreaded also by the people, c. ii. 
 sect xii. 
 
 Persians, their seven principal families, Antiq xL iii. 1; 
 their king is watched during bis sleep, sect. 4; theii 
 law forbade strangers to see their king's wives, c. vj. 
 sect. 1 ; seven men were the interpreters of their laws, 
 ib. ; their royal robes, sect 9. 
 
 Pestilence .'^ee Plas;ue. 
 
 Pestilius Cerealis, the proconsul, reduces the Germans, 
 War, vii. iv. 2. 
 
 Petina, the wife of Claudius, Antiq. xx. viiL 1; War, ii 
 xiL a 
 
 Peironin.% governor of Fgypt Antiq. xv. ix. 2; he sup- 
 plies Herod with corn in time of 'amine, ib. 
 
 Petronius (Piiblius) is made president of Syria, Ant'q. 
 xviii. viL 2; is sent with an army to Jerusalem by 
 Caius, to set up his statues in the temple, c. ix. sect 2, 
 &c.; War, iL X. 1; his endeavours to prevent it and 
 to save the Jews, with his and their wonderful deli- 
 verance, ib. ; his edict against the Dorites, Antiq. xix. 
 vi. 3. 
 
 Phaedra, Herod's xife. Antiq. xvii, 1, 3. 
 
 Phalian, Autipater's brother, Antiq. xiv. iL 3; War, L 
 vi. 3. 
 
 Phalan, David's son, Antiq. viL iiL 3. 
 
 Phalli, son of l.aish, Antiq. vi, xiiL 8; and vii, L 4. 
 
 Pbanniu j, son of Samuel, made higb-priest War, iv. iiL 
 8 
 
 Pharaoh, denoted king in the Egyptian tongue, Antiq. vL 
 viiL 2. 
 
 Pharisees, a sect among the Jews, Antiq. xiiL x. 5; and 
 xviiL i. 2; War, L v. 2; they envy Hyrcanus, Antiq. 
 xiii. X. 5; were opposite to the Sadd'uc»-es in their 
 principles, sect 6; their great authority, xvii. iL 4; 
 especially in the reien of qneen Alexandra, xiii. xvi. 
 2; War, i, V, 2; which lasted nine years, seot. 4; they 
 refuse the oaths of allet^iance to Ctesar and Herod, 
 Antiq. xvii. ii. 4; they are fined for it, ib. ; their un- 
 written traditions, xiii. v. 9; c. x. sect, n; their mode- 
 ration in inflicting punishments, the common people 
 side with them, ib,; they are most skilful in tb» know* 
 ledvre of he ^aw, I ife, sect 38, 
 
 Pharnaces, son i)t Mithridates. Antiq. xiv. iii. 4. 
 
 Phasaelus, son of Antipater, Antiq xiv, viL 3; and xviL 
 i 3; War, L viiL 8; his death, Antiq. xiv. xiiL 10; and 
 jtv, iL 1; War, L xiiL 10. 
 
 Phasaelus, v»n of Heri>d, Antiq. xvii. L3. 
 
 Pheldas. Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 F'helfs, kin? of the Ixi an.s,"S';jainft Apirn, L sect 18. 
 
 Pl-eroras, Antipater's son by Cypros, Antiq. xiv. viu 3; 
 War. i. viii. 9; hat*>s Salome's cliildren, Antiq. xvi.,viL 
 3; \^ ar, i. xxiv. 5: nakes Alexander jealous of his 
 wife tilaphyra, <*ith Henxl bis lather, Antiq. xvL vi.. 
 4: provotej Merod t«i a^ger, c, viL sect. 3; lays the 
 blame upon Salome, c. viL sect 5; enters into Iriend- 
 
874 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ship with Antipafer, xtu. ii. 4; is hated by Herod, c. 
 iii. sect 1 ; is ordered to retire to his tetrarchy, sect. 
 3. 
 
 Pheroras' wife pays tlie fine laid upon the Pharisees, An- 
 tiq. xvii. ii. 4 ; she associates with the other court la- 
 dies, ib.; War, i- xxix. I; Pheroras' freed-men charge 
 her with getting poison, Antiq. xvii. iv. 1; she throws 
 herself down stairs, sect. 2j War, i. xxx. 5; her con- 
 fession, Antiq. xviL iv. 2. 
 
 Phideas, the high-priest, Antiq. x. viii. 6. 
 
 Philadeiphus (Ptolemy), his skill and industry about 
 mechanic arts, Antiq xiii. ii. 7; he proposes problems 
 to the seventy-two interpreters, sect. 11; he procures 
 the seventy -two interpreters to translate the law, c. ii. 
 sect 1—14. 
 
 Philip, Herod's son by Cleopatra, Antiq. xvii. i. 3; c. ii. 
 sect. 2; c. iv. sect. 3; War, i. xxviii. 4; c. xxxii. sect. 
 1; brother of Archelaus, ii. vi. 3; what Herod left him 
 by his will, Antiq. xvii. viii. 1; what Cajsar gave him, 
 c xi. sect. 4; tetrarch of Gaulanitis, and Trachonitis, 
 and Paneas, c. viii. sect 1; c ix. se|J. 1; he dies, 
 xviii. iv. 6; his eulogium, ib. 
 
 Philip, a Galilean, War. iii. vii. 21. 
 
 Philip, son of Jacimus, Antiq. xvii. iu 3; Life, sect 11, 
 30 ; War, ii. xvii. 4; c. xx. sect 1. 
 
 Philip made regent of Syria during the minority of Eu- 
 pator, Antiq. xii. ix. 2. 
 
 Philip, king of Syria, Antiq. xiii. iii. 4; c. xiv. sect 3. 
 
 Philip, king of IVIacedon, is slain. Antiq. xi. viii. 1. 
 
 Philipion, son of Ptolemy, marries Alexandra, the daugh- 
 ter of Aristobulus. Antiq. xiv. vii. 4; he is killed by 
 his father, ib.; War, i. ix. 2. 
 
 Philistines, their chief towns Gaza. Accaron, or Ekron, 
 Askelon, Gath, and Azotus, or Ashdod, Antiq. vi. i. 2; 
 c. xiii. sect. 10. 
 
 Philo, chief deputy of the Jews, to Caius, Antiq. xviii. 
 viii- 1. 
 
 Philosophy of the Jews, contained in the books of their 
 law. Against Apion, ii. sect 4. 
 
 Philostephanus, Antiq. xiii. xii. 5. 
 
 Phineas, son of Cliisothus, V\ ar, iv. iv. % 
 
 Phineas, son of Eleazar, slays Zimri and Coshi, Antiq. 
 iv. vi. 12; leads the Israelites against the Midianites, 
 c. vii. sect. I; his speech to the Jews beyond Jordan, 
 V. i. 26; he is made high-priest, sect 29; the high- 
 priesthood returns to his family, Antiq. viii. i. 3. 
 
 Phineas, son of Kli, Antiq. v. x. 1 ; he officiates as high 
 priest, c. xi. sect 2; he is slain, ib. 
 
 Phraates, king of the Parthians, Antiq. xv. ii. 2; his 
 death, xviii. ii. 4. 
 
 Phraataces, the son of Phraates, Antiq. xviii. ii. 4. 
 
 Phul. or Pnl, king of Assyria, Antiq. ix. xi..l. 
 
 Phurim, or Purim, a Jewish festival, Antiq. xi. vi. 13. 
 
 Phut the planter of Libya, Antiq. i. vi. 2. 
 
 Pilate (Pontius), the procurator of Judea, occasions tu- 
 mults among the Jews, Antiq. xviii. iii. 1; causes a 
 great slaughter of them, sect 1 ; War, ii. ix. 4; and of 
 the Samaritans, Antiq. xViii. iv. 1; he is accused for 
 it. and sent to Rome, sect. 2. 
 
 Pildash, Antiq. i. vi. 5, 
 
 Pillars erected by the children of Seth in the land of 
 Seriao, Antiq. i. ii. 3; pillars of the Corinthian order 
 in Solomon's palace, viii. v. 2; in Herod's temple. 
 War, v. v. 2. 
 
 Piso. governor of Rome, Antiq. xviii vi. 5. 
 
 Pifholans, Antiq. xiv. vi. I; c. vii. sect 3; War, i. viii. 
 3, 6, 9. 
 
 Placidus's skirmishes with Josephus, Life, sect 43, 74; 
 his other actions. War, iii. vi. 1; c. vii. sect 3, 34; and 
 iv i. 3; c vii. sect. 4. 
 
 Plague, or pestilence, rages among the Israelites, Anticj. 
 xii. xi. i; it ceases upon David's repentance, c. xiii. 
 sect 4; another pestilence in Judea, xv. vii. 7. 
 
 Plato. Agitinst Apion,' ii. sect 31; he excludes the poets 
 from his commonwealth, sect 36. 
 
 Polemo. kingof Cilicia, Antiq. xx. vii. 5. 
 
 Polemo, king of Pontus, Antiq. xix. viii. 1. 
 
 Polity ot the Jews after the captivity, Antiq. xi. iv. B. 
 
 Pollio. a Pharisee, Antiq. xv. i. 1. 
 
 Pollio, a Roman, Antiq. xv. x. 1. 
 Pompedius, Antiq. xix. i. Ii. 
 
 Pompey tht* Great, goes through Syria to Damascus, An. 
 tiq. xiv. iii. 1 ; Wai;, i. v i. 4; and to Jerusalem, Antiq, 
 xiv. iv. I ; War}*!, vij. 1; the city delivered «ip to him, 
 Antiq. xiv. iv. 7; "he takes the temple by force, and kills 
 abundance of the Jews, c. iv. sect 2, 3, 4; War, i. vii. 
 4u &c ; the Jewr Kend him a gulden vine. Antiq. xiv. 
 lit. 1| he goes i«to the holy ol holifd, c. iv. sect. 4; 
 War, i. Tli. 6; meddles with nothing iq the temple, ib. ; 
 
 he hears the cause between Hyrcanas and Aristobultw, 
 Antiq. xiv. iii. 2; determines it in favour of Hyrca' ua, 
 and makes war upon Aristobulus, sect 3, Btc ; he fli«-i 
 into Epirus, c. viii. sect 4. 
 
 Pontius Pilate, hee Pilate. 
 
 Poplas, War, ii. ii. 1. 
 
 Popea, Nero's wife, Antiq. xx. vii. 11 j c. xi. sect Ij 
 Life, sect 3; a religious lady, and favourer of the Jews, 
 Antiq. xx. viii. 11. 
 
 Porcius Festus. See Festns. 
 
 Present things, queen Alexandra's care, more tlian fu- 
 ture, Antiq. xiii. xvi. 6. 
 
 Presents sent to Joseph in Egypt, Antiq. ii. vi. 5. 
 
 Priests, if maimed, are excluded from the altar and tem. 
 pie, Antiq. iii. xii. 2; Against Apion, i. sect 31; are 
 not to marry several sorts of women, Antiq. iii. xii. 2; 
 Against Apion, i. sect 7; washed their hands and feet 
 before they went to minister, iii. 6, 2; succ-ed one 
 another according to their courses. Against Apion, ii. 
 sect 8; their allowances, Antiq. iii. ix; and iv. iv. 3; 
 their courses in number twenty-four,vii. xiv 7; Against 
 Apion, ii. sect. 7; are very numerous, ib. ; two families 
 from Aaron's two sons. Antiq. v. vi. 5; tiieir ollices 
 and employments, Against Apion, ii. sect. 7, 21, 22, 23; 
 their sacred garments, Antiq. iii. vii. 1, &c. ; War, v. 
 v. 7; priests and Levites exempted from taxes by 
 Xerxes, Antiq. xi. v. 1 ; have places of the greatest 
 trust committed to them. Against Apion, ii. sect. 18; 
 none but priests of the posterity of Aaron, might burn 
 incense at the temple, Antiq. ix. x. 4; not to drink 
 wine in their sacred garments, iii. xii. 2; priesthood a 
 mark of nobility among the Jews, Life, sect. 1. 
 
 Priests among the Egyptians, only kept their lands in 
 the days of Joseph, Antiq. ii. vii. 1. 
 
 Priesthood, high, translated from one family to another, 
 Antiq. v. xi. 5; of Onias, at Heliopolis, xii. ix. 7; and 
 xiii. X. 4; and xx. x. 1; vacant at Jerusalem for four 
 years, xiii. ii. 3; during life, excepting under Antio- 
 chus Epiphanes, Aristobulus and Herod, xv. iii. 1; 
 taken from Jesus, and given to Simon by Herod, c. ix. 
 sect 5; settled upon the family of Aaron, originally, 
 
 XX. X. 1. 
 
 Priest, high, not to be the son of a captive woman, Antiq. 
 xiii. X. 6; high-priests went into the temple to officiate 
 on Sabbath-days, new moons, and festivals, War, xii. 
 vii. 3; were to marry a virgin, and not to touch a dead 
 body, Antiq. iii. xii. 2; the high-priest desired by Saul 
 to prophecy for him. vi. vi. 4; high-priests, with the 
 prophets and sanhedrim, were to determine difficult 
 causes, iv. viii. 14; several high-priests at the same time 
 in latter ages, W a:', iv. iii. 7; and v. xiii. 1; and vi. ii. 
 2; to succeed by birth. Against Apion, ii. sect. 23; 
 elected by lot among the seditious, Antiq. iv. iii. 8; 
 they abolish the regular succession, sect. 6; Herod, 
 king of Chalcis, made the high-priest till his death, 
 XX. 1. 3; a series of the high-priests from Aaron to the 
 destruction of the temple by Titus, xx. x. : another 
 series from the building vt the^etnple to the caprivity, 
 X. viii 6; high-priest's robes kept by the Romans, xx. 
 i. I ; where they were laid up, xv. xi. 4; and xviii. iv. 
 3 ; and xx. i. 1 ; high-priest's ornaments described, iii. 
 vii. 4; War, v. v. 7. 
 
 Primogeniture, its privileges sold by Esau, Antiq. ii. i. 
 
 Primus (Antonius), War, iv. ix. 2; he marches against 
 
 Virellius. c. xi. sect 2. 
 Priscus ( lyraniiis). War, ii. xix. 4. 
 Priscus shoots Jonathan dead with a dart, War, vi. ii. 10. 
 Piivileges granted the Jews by Alexander the Great, 
 
 Against Apion, ii. sect 4. 
 Problems, or riddles, proposed by Sampson at his wed- 
 ding, Antiq. v viii. 6. 
 Proculus (Vitellius), Antiq. xix. vi. 3. 
 Prophecies concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 
 War, iv. vi. 3; and vi. v. 4. 
 Prophecy of Isaiah accomplished, Antiq. xiii. iii. 1. 
 Prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel reconciled, Antiq. 
 
 X V. 1. 
 Prophecies could not agree to the events, if the world 
 
 were governed by char.ce, Antiq. x. xi. 2. 
 Prophets, excepting Daniel, chiefly foretold calamities, 
 
 Antiq. x. xi. 7; how greatly to be esteLmed, viii. xv. 
 
 6. 
 Prophets (false ones), suborned by the Jewish tyrants. 
 
 War. vi. v. 2. 
 Proseuchae, or houses of jirayer among the Jews, Lifi^ 
 
 sect 54. 
 Prns»';ntion of the body, a most heinous crime, Antiq. 
 
 i\lr Q , 
 
INDEX. 
 
 875 
 
 froTidence aaserted s^^ainst ibo Epicureans, Antiq. x. 
 xi. 7. 
 
 Prudence requires us to prevent the growing power ot 
 an enemy, Antiq. iii. ii. 1. 
 
 Pseudalexander, Antiq. xviL xiL I, &c.; War, ii. vii. 1, 
 &c. 
 
 Ftolemy, the administrator of Herod's kingdom, Antiq. 
 xvL vii. 2, &c.; c viii. sect 5; c. x. sect 3; life, sect. 
 26. 
 
 Ptolemy, the brother of Cleopatra, poisoned by her, An- 
 tiq. XV. iv. 1. 
 
 Ptolemy, the brother of Njcolaus of Damascus, Antiq. 
 xvii. ix. :> 
 
 Ptolemy Epiphanes, Antiq. xii. iii. 3; he dies, c iv. sect. 
 II. 
 
 Ptolemy, Euergetes, Philopator, or Eiipator, Antiq. xiL 
 iii. 3; c. iv. sect. 1; Ap:«inst Apion, ii. sect. 5. 
 
 Ptolemy, the son of Jamblicus, Antiq. xiv. viiL 1; War, 
 L ix. -i. 
 
 Ptolemy Lathyrus, Antiq. xiii. x. 2; War, i. iv. 2; he is 
 driven out of his kingdom, Antiq. xiii. xii. 1, &c. ; he 
 makes an alliance with Alexander, and breaks it, c. 
 xii. sect 4; his hold soldiers called Hecatontomachi, 
 sect 3; he defeats Alexander's army, ib. ; his barbar- 
 ous cruelty, sect. 6. 
 
 Ptolemy, son of LaRUS, called Sotor, obtains Egypt, after 
 the death of Alexander the Great, Antiq. xii. 1; takes 
 Jerusalem, and carries many Jews into Ea:ypt, ib. 
 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus, the second king of Egypt of that 
 race, Antiq. i. Pref. sect 3; Antiq. xii. ii. l; Against 
 Apion, ii. sect 4; he procures a translation of the law 
 of Moses, by the advice of Demetrius Phalems, Antiq. 
 xii. ii. 1, &c. ; sets a vast number of Jews free, sect 3; 
 sends a letter to Eleazar the high-priest sect 4; his 
 liberal oblations and presents, sect 7, 14. 
 
 Ptolemy Philometer, Antiq. xii. iv. 11; c. v. sect 2; xiii. 
 iii. 1; Against Apion, ii. sect 5; he and his queen 
 Cleopatra permit Onias to build the temple Onion, 
 Antiq. xiii. iii. 1, &c. ; he makes an expedition into 
 Syria, c. iv. sect 3; discovers Alexander and Ammo- 
 nius' plot against him, sect 6; takes his daughter from 
 Alexander, and gives her to Demetrius, sect 7; he 
 might have put two crowns upon his head, that of 
 Asia, and that of Egypt, ib.; he is wounded, and dies 
 of his wounds, sect. 8. 
 
 Ptolemy, son of Menneus, Antiq. xiii. xvi. 3; and xiv. 
 iii. 2; c. xii. sect I; War, i. iv. 8; c. xiii. sect I; 
 prince of Chalcis, Antiq. xiv. vii. 4; he marries Alex- 
 andra, ib. 
 
 Ptolemy, the murderer of Simon, the Maccabee, Antiq. 
 xiii. vii. 4; he murders John Hyrcanus's mother and 
 brother, c. viii. sect. 1; War, i. ii. 4. 
 
 Ptolemy Physcon, Antiq. xii. iv. 11; and xiiL ix.; 
 Aeainst Apion, ii. sect 5. 
 
 Ptolemy, War, i. i. 1. 
 
 Pudens engages in a duel with Jonathan, and is killed. 
 War, vi. ii. 10. • 
 
 Punishment of the wicked, a joyful sight to good men, 
 Antiq. ix. vi. 6. 
 
 Purple robes worn by the Chaldean kings, Antiq. x. xi. 
 2; by the Persian kings, xi. iii. 2; c vi. sect. 10; Jo- 
 seph is clothed in purple by Pharaoh, ii. v. 7. 
 
 Pygmalion, king of Tyre, Against Apion. i. sect lA 
 
 Pythian, or Apollo's temple, built by Herod, Antiq. xvi. 
 V.3. 
 
 Qnadratus (Umraidius), president of Syria, Antiq. xx. 
 vi 2. 
 
 Quails are nnmerons in the Arabian gulf, and fall upon 
 the camp of Israel. Antiq. iii. i 3. 13. 
 
 Queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, comes to king Solomon 
 Antiq. viiL vi. 3; she returns to her own country, sect 
 6. 
 
 Quintillios Varus, president of Syria. See Varus. 
 
 Quirinius, or Cyrenius, sent by Caesar to tax Syria, An- 
 tiq. xviL 
 
 Rabsaces ^Themasi^s). Antiq. xi. iii. 5. 
 
 Rachel, La-han's daughter, Antiq. i. xix. 7; she steals 
 
 away, and conceals her father's idols, sect 9, 11. 
 Ragau, or Reu, son of Phaleg, Antiq. L vi. 3. 
 Ragmus, or Ua^mah, Antiq. i. vi. 2. 
 Raguel, Moses' father-in-law, Antiq. iii. iii. 1; his advice 
 
 to Moses for the aovernment of the Israelites, c. iv, 
 Rahab, an inn-keeper at Jericho, Antiq. v. L 2,7; her 
 
 life saved, sect 7. 
 Rainbow, Antiq. i iii. 8. 
 
 Ramesses, king of Kgypt Against Aplqji, i. sect 15. 
 Bapsaces, or Rabsbaketb, captain of the Assyrian array, 
 
 Antiq. x. i. 1 ; his speech to the people of Jerusalem 
 
 sect 2. 
 Rathotis, king of Egypt, Against Apion, i. sect. 15. 
 Rathymus, or Rheum, Antiq. xi. ii. 1. 
 Rationale, or breast-plate of judgment of the high-pries^ 
 
 Antiq. iii. v. 7; c viii. sect 9. 
 Raven sent out of the ark, Antiq. i. iii. 5. 
 Reha, king of the (Vfidianites, Antiq. iv. viL 1. 
 Rebeka, daughter of Bethuel, Antiq. L vi. 3; demanded 
 
 for a wife to Isaac, c. xvi. sect 1, &c. ; she bears 
 
 twins, c. xviiL sect 1; imposes upon her husband 
 
 sect 6. 
 Recem, or Rekem, king of the Midianites, Antiq. iv. viii 
 
 Records of the Tynans, Against Apion, i. sect 17. 
 
 Regulus (Emilius), Antiq. xix. i. 3. 
 
 Kehoboam succeeds Solomon, Antiq viii. viii. 1 ; he gives 
 the people a rough answer, sect 2; ten tribes revolt 
 from him, sect 3; he builds and fortifies several towns, 
 c. X. sect I ; he has eighteen wives, and thirty concu* 
 bines, ib. ; he dies, sect 4. 
 
 Remaliah, Antiq. ix. xi. 1. 
 
 Repentance cannot revoke past crimes, Antiq. ii. iv. 4. 
 
 Reu, or Ragau, the son of Phaleg, or Peleg, Antiq. i. vi. 
 5. 7. 
 
 Revenues of Coelesyria, Phoenicia, Judea, and Samaria, 
 amounted to 8000 talents, Antiq. xii. iv. 4. 
 
 Rezen, king of Syria, Antiq. ix. xii. 1. 
 
 Rezon, Solomon's enemy, Antiq. viii. vii. 6. 
 
 Rhodes, relieved by Herod, Antiq. xiv. xiv. S. 
 
 Riches, great riches laid up in David's monument, An- 
 tiq. vii. XV. 3. 
 
 Riddles, or problems between Solomon and Hiram, An- 
 tiq. viiL V. 3; a riddle proposed by Samson at his 
 wedding, v. viii. 6. 
 
 Riphath, Antiq. i. vL 1. 
 
 Rod of Aaron, Antiq. iv, iv. 2. 
 
 Roman army described. War, iii. v. 
 
 Roman senate's decree in favour of the Jews, Antiq. xiiu 
 ix. 2; and xiv. viii. .5. 
 
 Roxana, Herod's daughter by Phtedra, Antiq. xviL i. 3; 
 War, i. xxviii. 4. 
 
 Rubrius Gallus, Antiq. vii. iv. 3. 
 
 Rue of a prodigious magnitude. War, vii. vi. 3. 
 
 Rufus, Antiq, xvii. x. 3; War, ii, iii. 4; c. v. sect 2. 
 
 Rufus (an Egyptian), takes Eleazer piisoner. War, viL 
 vi. 4. 
 
 Rufus (Terentius, or Turnus), takes Simon the son of 
 Gioras, War, vii. ii. ; he is left with an army at Jeru- 
 salem, after it was taken, ib. 
 
 Rumah. or Reumah, Nahor's concubine, Antiq. i. vi. 3. 
 
 Ruth gleans in Boaz's field, Antiq. v. ix, 2; is married 
 by Boaz, and becomes the mother of Obed, the father 
 of Jesse, sect 4. 
 
 Sabactas, or Subtecha, Antiq. i. vi. 2. 
 
 Sabas, or Seba, Antiq. i, vi. 2. 
 
 Sabathes, or Sabrah, .Antiq. i. vi. 2. 
 
 Sabbath-day kept very strictly by the Essens, War, ii, 
 viii. ix. ; Sabbath according to Apion, so called from 
 the Egyptian word Sabo, Against Apion, ii. sect 2, 
 Sabbath-day so snperstitiouslj observed by the Jews 
 that they came to great mischiefs thereby, Antiq. xii. 
 vi. 2; War, i. vii. 3; and ii. xvi. 4; they are advised 
 by Matthias to defend themselves on the .Sabbath-day, 
 Antiq. xii. vi. 2; and by Jonathan, xiii. i. 3; allowed 
 to ypel, but not to attack an enemy on that day, xiv. 
 vi. 2; and xviii. ix. 2; War. ii. xvi. 4; Antiochus a 
 Jew, forces the Jews to break the Sabbath-day at An- 
 tioch, vii. iii. 3: Sabhath-day spent in reading the law, 
 Antiq. xvi. ii. 4; ushered in, and ended with the sound 
 of a trumpet, War, iv. ix. 12; Jews, on the Sabbath- 
 day, dined at the sixth hour. Life, sect 34; the sedi- 
 tious kill the Romans on the Sabbath-day, War, ii. 
 xvii. 10; unlawful to travel far on the Sabbath-day, 
 Antiq. xiii. viii. 4; pretended to be unlawlul either to 
 make war or peace on the Sabbath-day. War, iv. iu 
 3; not allowed by some even in case of necessity, to 
 take arms either on the Sabbath-day, or the evening 
 before. Life, sect 32. 
 
 Sabbatic river, War, vii, v. 1. 
 
 Sabbeus, Antiq. xiii. iii. 4. 
 
 Sabbion. discovers Alexander's designs to Herod, Antiq. 
 XV. iii. 2. 
 
 Sabec, or Shobach, captain of the Syrians, Antiq. viu vL 
 3. 
 
 Sabinus, Caesar's steward in Judea, Antiq. xvii. ix. 3j 
 War. ii. iii. 2; he accuses Archelaus, Antiq. xvii. ix. 
 4; &lls hea\7 upon the Jews, c. x. sect L 
 
876 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Sabinas, one of th« marderers of Caius, Antiq. xix. ir. 
 3; he kills himself, sect. 6. 
 
 Sahinns, the hrotlierof Vespasian, takes the capitol,War, 
 iv. xi. 4; is killci by Vite.l;u», ib. 
 
 Sabiniis, by birth a Syrian, a man of great valour, War, 
 ri. i a 
 
 Sabmus (Domitian), one of the tribunes. War, iii. vii.34. 
 
 Sabtah, or Sabathes, Antiq. i. vi. 2. 
 
 Sabtecha, or Sabactas. Antiq. i. vi. 2. 
 
 Sacrifice of Abel was milk, and the firstlings of the flock. 
 Antiq. i. ii. I ; sacrifices were either private or public, 
 I iii. ix. 1; eit'ier all, or part only burnt, ib. ,- bow the 
 
 former were ottered, ib. ; how the latter, sect 2; how 
 ■in-offerinus were offered, sect 3; thuseof swine forbid- 
 den, xii V. 4; of those that were for recovering, health, 
 iii. ix. 4; Titus desires John not tolt-ave off the Jewish 
 sacririces. War, vi. ii 1; daily sacrifice, Antiq, xi. iv. 
 1; War. i. i. 1; and vi. ii. 1; ^acrifices every day for 
 Caesar's prosperity, ii. x. 4j Against Apion, ii. sect. 6; 
 omission thereof the beitinning of the Jewish war. War, 
 ii. xvii.2; offerings of foreigners usually received by the 
 Jews, sect. 3; the same prohibited by the seditious, 
 sect 2; what parts of sacrifice were due to the priests, 
 Antiq. iv. iv. 4; none but Jews to overlook the sacri- 
 fices in the temple, xx. viii. II; sacrifices not to be 
 tasted till the oblation is over, xii. iv. 8; not to be 
 bought by the hire ot an harlot, iv. viii. 9; meat-offer- 
 intrs joined to bloody sacrifices, iii. ix. 4; not to be 
 abused to luxury, Atainst Apion, ii. sect 25; ought to 
 be entire and without blemish, Antiq. iii. xii. 2; of 
 what were burnt-offerings, c. viii. sect 10; animals 
 not offered till the eighth day after their birth, c. ix. 
 sect 4; wine and oil reserved for sacrifices consumed 
 by the seditious. War, v. xiii. 6. 
 
 Sadduc a Pharisee, stirs up a sedition, Antiq. xviii. i. 1. 
 
 Sadducees deny fate, Antiq. xiii. v. 9; are contrary to the 
 Pharisees, c. x. sect, fi; observe only the precepts of the 
 written law. ib.; their opinions, Antiq. xviii. i. 3; 
 War, ii. viii. 14; have the rich men of their side, Antiq. 
 xiii. X 6. 
 
 Sadoc, or Zadok, high-priest, Antiq. vii. ii. 2; c. v. sect. 
 4; c. X. sect 4; c. xi. sect 8; c. xiv. sect 4; and viiL 
 i. 3: and x. viii. 6. 
 
 Sadrach, or .'^hadrach, Antiq. xi. iv. 9. 
 
 Sages, or wise men among the Israelites, Antiq. viii. ii. 
 6. 
 
 Sal.impsio, daughter of Herod, married to Pbasael, An- 
 tiq. xviii. V. 4. 
 
 Salaihiel, Zerobabel's father, Antiq. xi. iii. 10. 
 
 Salatis, king of Egypt, Against Apion, L sect 14. 
 
 Saleph, Antiq. i. vi. 4. 
 
 Salmana, or Zalmana, captain of the Midianites, Antiq. 
 V. vi. 5. 
 
 Salmanassar. or Shalmanezzer. king of Assyria, Antiq. 
 ix xiv. I; invades Syria and Phoenicia, ib. ; carries 
 the ten tribes away into Media and Persia, ib. 
 
 Salome, Antipater's daughter, Herod's sister, Antiq. xiv. 
 vii. 3; War, i. viii. 9; charges her husband Joseph 
 with adultery, Antiq. xv. iii. 9; and xvi. vii. 3; sends 
 a bill of divorce to her second husband Costobarus, xv. 
 vii. 10; envies Herod's sons and their wives, xvi. i. 2; 
 c. iii. feet 1. See.-, she clears herself, ib.; Herod forces 
 her to be married to Alexas, xvii. i. 1; she discovers 
 to Herod the conspiracy of Antipater and Pheroras, c. 
 ii. sect 4; War, i. xxix. 1; what Herod left her by his 
 will, Antiq. xvii. viii. 1; what Caesar gave her, c. xi. 
 sect ."i. 
 
 Salome, Herod's daughter by F.lpis. Antiq. xvif. i. 3. 
 
 Salome, grand-daughter of Herod the Great and daugh- 
 ter of Herod Philip, by Herodias, Antiq. xviii. v. 4; she 
 is married to Philip the tettach, and afterwards to Aris- 
 tobulus, the grandson of Herod, and brother of Agrippa 
 senior, ib. 
 
 Salt sown upon the ruins of a demolished town, Antiq. 
 V. vii. 4- 
 
 8alt-tax, and crown-tax, remitted to the Jews by Deme- 
 trius, Antiq. x}\\. ii. 3. 
 
 Samacha, Abennerig's daughter. Antiq. xx. ii. 1. 
 
 Saraaralla, Antiq. xiv. xiii. 5< War, i. xiii. 5. 
 
 Samaria built, Antiq. viii. xii. 5; whence its name was 
 derivtd. »b,; it is bv sieged by the Syrians and wonder- 
 fully relieved, ix. iv, 5; a mother there eats her own 
 son in a famine, sect 4; is besieged again by Hfrcanux, 
 suffers famine, is taken and levelled with the ground, 
 Antiq xiii. x. 2, 3; War, i. ii. 7. 
 
 Samaritans, a colony from Ciitha in Persia, Antiq. ix. 
 xiv. 3; and X. ix.7j pretended to be the posterity of 
 JoM>ph. xi viii. rtj they sometimes uoiiy, and Bome- 
 tiraet profoas themselves Jews, ix. xiv. 3; and xi. viii. 
 
 6; and xii. V. 5; they harass the Jews antler Onias, 
 the high-priest, c. iv. sect 1 ; pretend to be .Sidoniana, 
 c. V. sect 5; their temple upon Mount Gerizzim, xi. 
 viii. 7: they pollute the temple of Jerusalem, xviii. ii. 
 2; they areenemies to the Jews, xi. iv. 9; an<l xx. vi. 1; 
 they dispute with the Jews in Egyplabout their temple, 
 xiii. iii. 4; they give Antiochus the title of a god, xiL 
 V. 3. 
 
 Sambabas, A ntiq. xi. iv. 9. 
 
 •Sameas, Pollio's disciple, Antiq. xiv. ix. 3; and xv.i. 1 ; 
 c. X. sect 4; his speech against Herod, xiv. ix. 4; he 
 is honoured by Herod, ib. 
 
 Samgar, or Semeiiar. Antiq. x. viii. 2. 
 
 Sampsigeramus, king of t'mesa, Antiq. xviii. v. 4. 
 
 Samson's birth, Antiq. v. viii. 4; he marries a woman 
 of the Philistines, sect. 3; kills a liim, ib.; proposes a 
 riddle at his wedding, sect 6; burns the Philistine's 
 corn, sect. 7; he is delivered up to the Philistines, sect 
 8; he slays them with the jaw-bone of an ass, ib. ;^e 
 carries the gate of Gaza away upon his shoulders, sect. 
 10; he falls in love with Delilah, sect 11; he is be- 
 trayed by her, sect 11; he is bound, and his eyes put 
 out, ib. ; he pulls an house down upon the Philistines, 
 and slays three thousand of them, sect 12. 
 
 Samuel is born and consecrated to God, Antiq. v. x. 3; 
 God calls to him, sect 4; he conquers the Philistines, 
 vi. ii. 2; his sons prove very bad judges, c. iii, sect 2; 
 he is offended at the people's demanding a kiig, sect 
 3; he tells the people the manners of a king, sect, o; 
 c. iv. sect. 4; threatens Saul with the loss of his king- 
 dom, c. vi. sect. 2; anoints David to be king. c. viii. 
 sect 2; he dies, c. xiii. sect. 5; is raised out of Hades, 
 and foretells Saul's death, c. xiv. sect. 2. 
 
 Sanctum sanctorum, or holy of holies, Antiq. iii. vi 4. 
 
 Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, Life, sect. 12; none oould be 
 put to death but by the sanhedrim, Antiq. xiv. ix. 3. 
 
 Saphan, or Shaphan, the scribe, Antiq. x. iv. 1. 
 
 Sappinius, Antiq. xvu viii. 5. 
 
 Sapphora, or Zippora, Moses' wife, Antiq, iii. iii. 1. 
 
 Sarai, or Sarah. Abraham's wife, Antiq. i. viii. I; she 
 goes with him into Egypt, c. viii. sect I ; the king falls 
 in love with her, ib. ; her death, c. xiv. sect. 1. 
 
 Sardians, their decree in favour of the Jews, Antiq. xiv. 
 X. at 
 
 Sarea-s, or Seraiah. high-priest, Antiq. x. viii. 5, 6. 
 
 Sarepta, or Zarephath, its widow, Antiq. viii. xiii. 2. 
 
 Sarmatians invade Mysia, War, vii. iv. 3. 
 
 Saturnius (Sentius), president of Syria, Antiq. xvi. x. 8; 
 c. xi. sect 3; xvii. i. 1 ; c. iii. sect 2; and c. v. sect 
 2; War, i. xxvii. 2. 
 
 Sathrabuzans, Antiq. xi. i. 3; c. iv. sect 4. 7. 
 
 Saul, son of Kish, Antiq. vi, iv. 1; seeks his father'* 
 asses, and comes to Samuel, ib.; dines with Samuel, 
 and seventy others, ib. ; Samuel anoints him for king, 
 ib. ; he is actually made king, sect. 5; he promises to 
 assist the Gileadites, c. v. sect 2; is inaugurated again, 
 sect. 4; conquers the Philistines, c. vi. sect. 3; his 
 wars and family, sect 5; he makes war on the Ama- 
 lekites, c vii. sect 1; spares Agag against (iod's com- 
 mand, sect. 2; for which Samuel foretells him the loss 
 of his kingdom, sect 4; his cruel order for murdering 
 Ahimelech and the priests, c. xii. sect. 5, &c. ; being 
 forsaken of God, he consults with a necromantic wo- 
 man, c. xiv. sect 2; his death, sect. 7. 
 
 Saul, a ringleader of the robbers, Antiq. xx. ix. 4. 
 
 Scarus, president of Syria, War, i. vi. 3, &c.; c. vii, sect 
 7; and c. viii. sect I; he returns into Syria, Antiq. 
 xiv. ii. 3; he raises the siege of Jerusalem, ib. ; his ex- 
 pedition into Arabia, c. v. sect. 1. 
 
 Scopas, general of Ptolemy's army, defeated by Antio- 
 chus the Great Antiq. xii. iii. 1. 
 
 Sea. The seventy interpreters wash their hands in the 
 sea before they begin their translation, Antiq. xii. it 
 12. 
 
 Sea divided for the Israelites, Antiq. ii. xvi. I. 
 
 Seba, Antiq i. vi. 2. 
 
 Sebas, the son of Illus, Antiq. vii. xii. 4. 
 
 Sects of the Jews, Antiq. xiii. v, 9; and xviii. 1, 2, &c.j 
 1-ife, sect 2; War. ii. viii. 2, &c. 
 
 Sedecias, or Zedekiah, a false prophet, Antiq. viii, xr. 4. 
 
 Sedecias, or Zedekiah, king of Judea, Antiq. x. vii. 1, 
 &c. ; revolts from the Babylonians, sect 3; calls for 
 Jeremiah's advice, sect. G; is darried captive to Baby- 
 lon, c. viii, sect. 2; his death, sect. 7. 
 
 Sedition among the prie.nts, Antiq. xx. viii. 8; sedition 
 of Corah and his followers, iv. ii. 1, &c. ; of the IsraeU 
 ites, Antiq. iii, xiv. :); is quelled by Joshua, sect. 4; 
 sedition at Cftarea between the Jews and Syrians, xx. 
 viii. 7, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 877 
 
 annd^siit to death, Antlq. xrill Ti 8. 
 
 Sisan. the scribe, Antiq. vii. iv. 4. 
 
 Selene, queen of '^yia, otherwise called Cleopatra, An- 
 tiq. Tk\\>. xvi. 4. 
 Si'lenciis possesses Syria after the death of Alexander the 
 • Great, Antiq xii. i. ,• he is called Nicator (the con- 
 queror), c. iiL sect. 1: his bounty towards the Jews, 
 
 ih. 
 Seiencus Soter, or Philopater, son of Antiocbus the Great, 
 
 Antiq. xii. iv. 10. 
 Seleucus, son ot Antiochus Grypus, Antiq. xiii. xiil. 4; 
 
 his denth, ib. 
 Sella, or Zillab, Lnmech's wife, Antiq. i. ii. 2. 
 Seilum, or Shalliun. Antiq. xi. ix. I. 
 Sem, or Shem, Antiq. i. iv. 1 , his posterity, c. vL sect. 4. 
 Semeuar. or Sanitcar. Antiq. x. viii. i. 
 Semfi. or .Shemei, the son of Gera, Antiq. vii. ix. 4; c. 
 
 xi. sect. 2; and c. xv. sect. 1; be is put to death by 
 
 Solomon, viii. i. 5. 
 Semelins, Ant-q. xi. ii. 2. 
 
 Sempronius (Ca u^), son of Caius, Antiq. xiii. ix. 2. 
 St-nebar. or Shemelur, Antiq. i. ix. I. 
 Sennicherib makes war on Hezekiah, Antiq. x. L 1; his 
 
 death, sect. 5 
 Senate of Rome's decree concerning the Jews, Antiq. xii. 
 
 X. ti; thfv renew their leaaiie with the Jews. xiv. viii. 
 
 5; another decree of theirs concerning the Jews, c. x. 
 
 sect. 19. 
 Sepphoris burnt, Antiq. xvii. x. 9; taken by Josephus, 
 
 l.'fe, sect. ()7. 
 Scraiah, high-priest, Antiq. x. viii. 5, 6. 
 S.»rebaeus. Antiq, xi. iii. 10. 
 Seron, k>eneral of the army of Coelesyria, Antiq. xii. vii. 
 
 Serpent deprived both of speech and feet, Antiq. i. i. 4. 
 
 Srrue, Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 Servilius (Publius), his letter to the Milesians in favour 
 
 of the Jews. Antiq. xiv. x. 21. 
 Sesac See Shishak. 
 Scth, son of Adam, Antiq. i. ii. 3; his posterity's pillars 
 
 in the land of Siriad. ib. ' 
 
 Sethon, king of Eg>pt, Against Apion, i. sect. 26. 
 Sethodis, or Sesostris, king of Egypt, A.gainst Apion, i. 
 
 scot 15. 
 Seventh day. See Sabbath. 
 Seventy-two interpreteis sent by Eleazar, the high-priest, 
 
 with the books of the law, Antiq. xii. ii. 10; their arri- 
 val at Alexandria, ib. ,- they bring with them the law 
 
 written upon parchment in golden letters, ib. ; they 
 
 wash in the sea before they fall to their work, sect. 12; 
 
 they finish the translation in seventy-two days, ib. 
 Scxtus Caesiir, president of Syria, Antiq. xiv. ix. 2, 4; 
 
 Wat, i. x. 7, &.C. ; he is slain by Cecilius Bassus, c. xL 
 
 sect. 1. 
 SbRdrach. Antiq. x. x. 1. 
 ^^Ilum, Antiq. ix. ix. 1. 
 Snalmaneser. See Salmanasser. 
 Shamegar, son of Anath, succeeds Ehud as judge, Antiq. 
 
 V. iv. ;}. 
 Sharezer, Antiq. x. f. 5. 
 Sheba, Antiq. i. vi. 2. 
 Shechem, the place of Joshua's habitation, Antiq.- v. i. 
 
 19. 28. 
 Shechemitts meet Alexander the Great, Antiq, xi. viii. 
 
 6; their kindred with Raguel, Moses' father-in-law, vi. 
 
 vii. 3. 
 Shekel, a coin equal to foar Attic dracbmse, Antiq. iii. 
 
 viii. 2. 
 Shrm, Antiq. i. iv. 1 ; his posterity, c, vi, sect. 4. 
 Shemeber, king of Zeboim, Antiq. i ix. 1. 
 Shield covered the left eye in war, Antiq. vi. v. 1. 
 Shield, a token of league between the Jews and Romans, 
 
 Antiq. xiv. viii. r> 
 Shimei, «o^ of Gera, Antiq. viL ix. 4; c. xL sect 2; c. 
 
 xvii. sect. I ; put to death by Solomon, viii, i. 5. 
 Ships sent to Pontus and Thlace under Ahaziah, son of 
 
 A hah. Antiq. xi. i 4. 
 Shishak, or Sesac, king of Egypt, Antiq. vii. v. 3; and 
 
 viii. vii. 8; o. x sect. 3. 
 Siba.s, or Zibah. Antiq. vii. v. 5; c ix. sect 3; Saul's 
 
 freed man, c. xL sect 3. 
 S bbechai, the Hittite, Antiq. vi. xii. 2. 
 Sicarii, or banditti, flee to Alexandria, War, vii. x. 1; 
 
 cannot be forced to own Caesar for their lord, ib. 
 Sichon, or Sihon, king of the Amorites, conquered, An- 
 tiq. iv. V. 1, &c. 
 Sidon, Antiq. i vi. 2. « 
 
 Sikhs appearing before the destroction of Jemaalem.WMr. 
 
 Silanus, president of Syria, Antiq. xviii. ii. 4. 
 Silrts, governor of Tiberias, Life, sect 17, 53. 
 Silas, tyrant of Lysias, Antiq. xiv. iii, 2. 
 >ilas, an attendant on king Agrippa senior, in his advcr. 
 • sities. Antiq. xviii. vi. 7; and xix. vii. 1; he becomes 
 troublesome to the king, ib.; he is killed, c. viii. sect 
 
 Silus, a Dabylonian, War, ii. xix. 2; and iii. ii. 4, 
 
 Silo, a Roman captain, Antiq. xiv. xx. 1 — .5. 
 
 Silo, or Shiloh, a town where the tabernacle was fixed, 
 Antiq. v. i. 19, 20, 
 
 Silva (Flavins), governor of Judea, War, vii. viiL 1? he 
 besieges Masada, sect. 2, 6. 
 
 Silver of little value in the days of Solomon, Antiq. viii. 
 vii. 2. 
 
 Simeon, son of Gamaliel, War. iv. iii, 9. 
 
 Simon, son oi Koethus, made hi;;h-priest Antiq. xv. ix. 3; 
 his daughter married to Herod, ib.; he is deprived, xvii. 
 iv. 2. 
 
 Simon, son of Camithi, made high-priest, Antiq. xviii 
 ii 2. 
 
 Simon, son of Boethns, sornamed Cantheras, made high 
 priest, Antiq. xix. vi. 2; he is deprived, sect 4. 
 
 Simon, son of Cathlas, War, iv. iv. 2. 
 
 Simon the Just, Eleaz.ir's brother, high-priest, Antlq. xii. 
 ii. 4; c. iv. sect 1. 
 
 Simon, son of Ouias the high-priest, dies, Antiq. xii. it. 
 10. 
 
 Simon, the Essen, a prophet, Antiq. xvii. xiii, 3. 
 
 Simon, son of (iioras. War, ii. xix. 2; and iv. ix. 3; fighta 
 with the Zealots, iv. ix. 5; conquers Idumea. sect. 7; 
 is made prisoner, and reserved for the triumph. War, 
 vii. 2; is put to death at the triumph, c. v. sect. tj. 
 
 Simon, brother of Judas and Jonathan, the Maccabees, 
 beats the enemy in Galilee, A ntiq. xii. viii. 2; is made 
 captain of the Jews. c. x. sect 6; he makes a speech 
 to them, xiii. vi. 3; is made their prince, sect. 3, 4; is 
 made high-priest, sect 6; War, i. iL 2; is killed by 
 Ptolemy his son-in-law, sect 3 
 
 Simon, son of Arinus, War, v. vi. 1. 
 
 Simon, son of Dcsitheus, Antiq. xiii. ix. 2. 
 
 Simon, captain of the Idumeans at Jerusalem, War, It. 
 iv. 4. 
 
 Simon, a lifeguard-man to Josephus, Life, sect 24 
 
 Simon, of Jerusalem. Antiq. xix. vii. 4. 
 
 Simon, a magician, Antiq. xx. vii. 2. 
 
 Simon, a Pharisee, Life, sect 38. 
 
 S mon Psellus, Josephus's grandfather, Life, sect I. 
 
 Simon, a servant of Herod, assumes the crown, Antlq. 
 xvii. X. 6. 
 
 S'mon, son of Saul, War, ii. xviii. 4. 
 
 Simon persuades the people to exclude Agrippa from the 
 temple. Antiq xix. vii. 4. 
 
 Simonides Agrippa. Josephus's son. Life, sect 76. 
 
 Siphar, the Ammonite, Antiq. vii. ix. 8 
 
 Sisera, oppresses the Israelites, Antiq. v. v. 1; is killed 
 by Jael. sect. 4. 
 
 Sisines, Antiq. xi. i. 3; governor of Syria and Phoenicia, 
 c. iv. sect. 4, 7 
 
 Slaughter, the greatest that ever was in ont» battle, An- 
 tiq. viii. xi. 3. 
 
 Smlomites and their associates conquered by the Assy- 
 rians, Antiq. i. ix. 
 
 Sodomites so wicked that they are burnt with fire from 
 heaven. Antiq. i. xi 
 
 Sohemus, tetrarch. Antiq. xvii. iii. 2; Life, sect. 11. 
 
 S.)hemus, king of Emesa, succ«eds bis brother Azizas, 
 Antiq. xx. viii. 4; War, vii. vii. 1. 
 
 Sohemus of iturea, Antiq. xv. vi. 5; betrays Herod's 
 secret order for killing Mariamne, c. vii. sect 1 ; is put 
 to death by Herod, sect. 4. 
 
 Solomon, son of David, Antiq. vii. iiL 3; promised to 
 David, c. »v. sect 4; born, c. vii. sect 4; anointed 
 and proclaimed king, c xiv. sect 5; anointed and pro- 
 claimed a second time, sect 11; marries Pharaoh's 
 daughter, Antiq. viii. ii. 1 ; determines the case of two 
 harlots, sect. 2; his power, grandeur, and wisdom, 
 sect 3, &c.; the books he wrote, sect 5; his letter lo 
 Hiram, king of Tyre, sect. 6; he builds the temple, 
 sect 9; and c. iiu. his addresses to God and the peo- 
 ple af)er it was built, r. iv. sect 2, &c. ; he offers abun- 
 dance of sacrifices, .sect. 4; he builds himself a royal 
 palace, c. v. sect I, &o. ; solves the problems, proposed 
 by the king of Tyre, sect. :J: Dius says Solomon could 
 not solve them all, ib.; he fortifies Jerusalem, and 
 bni'ds several towns, c. vi. sect. 1 ; lays a tax on the 
 remaining Canaanites, sect 3; fits out a fleet »ect 4; 
 his great riches, c. vii. sect. 2; his immoderate ioveof 
 women, sect. 6; his death, sect 8. 
 
878 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 golymse, or Salem, the old name of Jerusalem, Antiq. 
 
 Tii. iii. 2. 
 Sophonius, or Zephaniah, the second priest, Antiq. x. 
 
 viii. 5. 
 Sosibius, of Tarentum, Antiq. xii. il, 2. • 
 
 Sosius, a Roman captain in Judea, Antiq. ziy. XT. 9 ; c. 
 
 xvi. sect. 1; joins with Hen-d against Antigonus, lb. ; 
 
 War. i. xvii. 2; he takes Antigonus prisoner, and car- 
 ries him to ADthonv. Antiq. xiv. xvi. 4; VI ar, i. xviii. 
 
 2,3. 
 Souls of heroes, slain in war, supposed to be placed 
 
 amon^ the stars, U ar, vi. i. 5. 
 Speech of Herod to his army, Antiq. xr. v, 3; to the 
 
 people, c. xi. sect. 1 ; speech of Moses to Corah and 
 
 the people, iv. iL 4, &c. ; to the people before his death, 
 
 c. viii. sect. I. 
 Spies sent by Moses, to view the land of Canaan, Antiq. 
 
 iii. xiv. 1. &c.; by Joshua to Jericho, v. i. 1; they bring 
 
 back a faithful account, sect. 2. 
 Spoils of barbarians reposited in Herod's temple, Antiq. 
 
 XV. xi. 3. 
 Spoils in war to be equally divided between those that 
 
 fight and those that guard the baggage, Antiq. vi. xiv. 
 
 6. 
 Stars supposed to have their virtue from the sun and 
 
 moon. Antiq ii. ii. 3. 
 Stechns, Antiq. xviii. vi. 7. 
 Stephanus, Caesar's servant, Antiq. xx. v. 4; War, ii. xii. 
 
 2. 
 Sterility of the country is one of the punishntents for the 
 
 king's doing ill, Antiq. vii. iv. 4. 
 Stratton tyrannizes over Bersea, Antiq. xiii. xiv. 3. 
 Subjects follow the manners of their princes, Antiq. viii. 
 
 X. 2. 
 Snmober, or Shemeber, king of Zeboim, Antiq. i. ix. 1. 
 Supplicants in Syria, used to come with a baiter about 
 
 their heads, Antiq. viii. xiv. 4. 
 Siir, or Zur, a king of the Midianites, Antiq. iv. vii. 1. 
 Sylla, a captain of king Agrippa's life-guards, Life, sect 
 
 Sylleus, an Arabian, first minister to king Obodus, An- 
 tiq. xvL viL 6; War, L xxiv. 6; c. xxvii. sect. 1; he 
 goes to Rome, xvi. ix. 2; accuses Herod before Angus- 
 tus, sect. 3; demands Silome in marriage, c. vii. sect. 
 6; is refused because he would not turn Jew, ib ; is 
 charged with several murders, xvii. iii, 2; is accused 
 
 ■ before Augustus by Nicolaus of Damascus, Antiq. xvL 
 X. 8: received sentence of death, sect. 9. 
 
 Synedrion, or Sanhedrim. St-e Sanhedrim. 
 
 Syrian commodities, Antiq. ii, iii. 3. 
 
 Syrians' hatred to the Jews, War, i. iv. 3; a Syrian king 
 of Mesopotamia, Antiq. viL vi. 1. 
 
 Tabernacle built, Antiq. iii. vi. 1; its description, sect 
 2; its purification, c. viii. sect. 3. 
 
 Tabernacles (Feast of), a creat festival of the Jews, An- 
 tiq. viii. iv. 1; and xv. iii. 3; celebrated in war by the 
 leave of king Antiochus, xiii. viii 2; celebrated for 
 fourteen days upon the dedication of Folomon's temple, 
 viii. iv. 5; Jews then carry boughs with fruit, whereby 
 Alexander the hieh-priest was pelted, xiii. xiii.5; Jews 
 then fixed tabernacles in the temple, War, vi. v. 3; it 
 is celebrated after the Babylonian ca]>tivity, Antiq. xi. 
 iv. 1 ; c. V. sect. 5. 
 
 Table (of shew bread), golden, made by Ptolemy, Antiq. 
 xii. ii. 7, &c, ; with his cups, and vials, sect. 9. 
 
 Table, Delphic, Antiq. iii. vi. 7. 
 
 Table in the court of the priests, Antiq. iii. vi. 7. 
 
 Tachas, Antiq. L vi. 5. 
 
 Tanganas, Antiq. xi. iv. 9. 
 
 Tartan, a captain of the Assyrians, Antiq. x. i. 1. 
 
 Tears, natural signs of great joy or sorrow, Antiq. xii. 
 ii 10. 
 
 Teba, Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 Temple built upon Mount Gerizzim, Antiq. x. viii. 7; 
 and xiii.iii. 4: like to that at Jerusalem, xi. viii, 1. 
 
 Temple built by Herod near Paneas, in honour of Augus- 
 tus, Antiq xv. x. 3; War, i. xxi. 3. 
 
 Temple of the t'olden calf. War. iv. i. 1. 
 
 Temples in Egypt, many and different, Antiq. xiii. iii. I. 
 
 Temples of the Canaanites were to be demolished, An- 
 tiq. iv. viii 2 
 
 Temple* of foreign nations not to be plundered, nor their 
 donfttions taken away, Antiq. iv. viii. 10. 
 
 Temple of Hercules and Astarte, at Tyre, Antiq. viii. v. 
 3 
 
 Temple of Demus and the Graces at Athens, Antiq. xiv. 
 viii. .'>. 
 
 Temple of Belus. at Babylon, Antiq. %. ix. 1 
 
 Temple built by Herod at Samaria, Antiq. xv. viii, 6. 
 
 Temple (Herod's) at Jerusalem described, Antiq. xt. ix 
 3,6. 
 
 Temple Onias in Egypt, buUt like that at Jerusalem 
 Antiq. xii. x, 7 ; and xiii. iii. 1, 3; c. x. sect. 4 ; anc 
 XX. x, 
 
 lemple ot Diana at Elemais, Antiq xii. ix. 1 ; of Dagon 
 at Ashdod or Azotus, xiiL iv. 4; of Apollo .at Gaza, c 
 xiii. sect. 3. 
 
 TeAple of Jerusalem rebuilt by Zorobabel, Antiq, xi. i. ; 
 c. iv. sect 3, &c.; xx. x. ; the Jews hindered in build- 
 ing it, xi. 2; they go on by order of Darius, c. iv. sect 
 1, &C.; it is finished in seven years, sect 7; sixty cu- 
 bits lower than Solomon's temple, xv. xi. 1 ; it is plun- 
 dered by Antiochus Epiphanes, xii. v. 4; taken by 
 Pompey, and its most holy place seen by him, but 
 without detriment thereto, xiv. iv. 4; War, i. vii. (\; 
 new built by Herod, Antiq. xv. xi. 3; burnt by Titus, 
 War, vi. iv. 6, &c. ; Titua goes into the most holy place, 
 sect. 7. 
 
 Temple of Solomon described, Antiq. viii. iii. 2, &c. ; de- 
 dicated by Solomon, sect 4; foreigners could go but to 
 a certain partition wall in Herod's temple, xv. xi. 5; 
 women excluded the two inner courts, ib. ; open to Sa- 
 maritans and other nations for prayer, xi. iv. 3; Da- 
 vid's armory in the temple, ix. vii. 2; tax out of the 
 temple treasure remitted by Demetrius, xiii. U. 3; Da- 
 niel's prophecy of Antiochus' profanation of the temple 
 fulfilled, xii. vii. 6. 
 
 Tephetus of Garsis, War, v. xi. 5. 
 
 Terah, Abraham's father, Antiq. i. vi. 5. 
 
 Terebinth, or turpentine tree, near Hebron, supposed as 
 old as the world, War, iv. ix. 7. 
 
 Terentius, or Turnus Kufus, War, vii, ii. 
 
 Teresh. Antiq. xi. vi. 4. 
 
 Teridates, or liridates, king of Armenia, Antiq. xx. iiL 
 3 ; War, vii. vii. 7. 
 
 Tero. an old soldier, Antiq. xvi. ix. 4, &c.; War, i. xxvii. 
 4, &c.; charged with treason by Trypho, Herod's bar- 
 ber, sect. 5. 
 
 Tethmosis, or Thumosis, king of Egypt, Against Apion, 
 i. 14. 15, 26. 
 
 Tetrarchies, Antiq. xiii. iv. 9. 
 
 T hamar, David's daui;hter, Antiq. vii, iii, 3. 
 
 Thamar, Absalom's daughter, married to Rehoboam, An- 
 tiq. vii. X. 3. 
 
 Thaumastus. Antiq. xviii. vi. 6. 
 
 Theatres erected at Jerusalem by Herod, Antiq. xt. viii. 
 1; War, i. xxi. 8; at Cesarea, Antiq. xv, ix. 6. 
 
 Theft how punished by the law of Moses, Antiq, iv.viii. 
 27, &« 
 
 Themasius, Antiq. xiii. iii. 4. 
 
 Theodorus, son of f-sno, Antiq. xiii. xiii. 3; War, i. iv. 
 
 Theodosius, Antiq. xiii iii. 4. 
 
 '1 beophilus. son of Ananus deprived of the high-pritj^ 
 hood, Antiq. xix. vi. 2. ^ 
 
 Theophilns, brother of Jonathan, mad- high-priest, An- 
 tiq. xviii. V. 3. 
 
 Thermus, a Roman ambassador, AgainJt Apion, ii. sect 
 5. 
 
 Thermusa, Phraataces's concubine, and then wife, An- 
 tiq. xviii. ii, 4 
 
 Theudas, an impostor, Antiq. xx. v. 1. 
 
 Theudion, brother of Doris, Antipater's mother, Antiq. 
 xvii. iv. 2. 
 
 Thobel, or Tubal Cain, Antiq. i. ii. 1. 
 
 Tholomy, son ot Sohernus, Antiq. xiv. viii. 1. 
 
 Thumosis, or Tethmosis, king of Egypt, Against Apion, 
 i, sect. 14, 15, 26. 
 
 Thrygammes, or Togarmah, Antiq, i. vi. 1. 
 
 Tiberius Alexander, procurator of Judea, Antiq. xx. v. 
 2. 
 
 Tiberius Alexander, governor of Alexandria, War, ii. 
 xviii. 7; and v. i. 6; he brings Egypt over to Vespa- 
 sian, iv. X. 6. # 
 
 Tiberius the emperor. Anti()t xviii. ii. 4; War, ii, ix. 2, 
 3; his dilatory proceedings, Antiq. xviii. vi. 5; his 
 8ki4l in astrology, sect 9; his prognostic of a successor 
 ib.| his death, ib. 
 
 Tibni, Antiq. viii. xii. 5. 
 
 Tidal, Antiq. i. ix. 
 
 Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, Antiq. ix. xl. I. 
 
 Tigranes, king of Annenia, Antiq. xiii. xvi. 4; and xt 
 iv. 3i and xviii. v. 4; War, i. v. 3; c. xxviii, sect 1. 
 
 Tigranes, son of Alexander and Glaphyra, Antiq. xviii. 
 V. 4. 
 
 Timnus. king of Egypt. Against Apion, i, Boct 14. 
 
 Timidius, Antiq. xix. i. 5. 
 
.:,^ 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 879 
 
 Timius, a Cirp'lo** Antiq^^xrliL r. 4. 
 
 Timotheas, Antiq. xiL viii. 1,3; he i* pat tofligatby 
 
 J udas. sect 4. 
 Tiras. Antiq. i. yi. 1. 
 
 riridates, king of Armenia, Antiq. xx. iii. 3. 
 Fithfs and tirst-fruits, given to the Invites, Antiq. iv. iv. 
 3; their tithes or tenth parts given to the priests, sect. 
 4, this law restored by ilcrzekiah, ix. xiii. 3. 
 Titins, president of Syria, Antiq. xvi. viii. 6. 
 Titus Caesar, son of Vespasian, sent to Alexandria, War, 
 iii. ;. 3; he brines a great number of troops to Vespa- 
 sian, c iv. sect. 2; his piety towards his father, c vii 
 sect. 22; he and Vespasian take Jotapata, sect. 31; his 
 mildness to Josephus, c viii. sect. 8, 9; be is sent against 
 Taricheae. c x. sect. 1 ; his valour in this expedition, 
 sect. 3; bis speech to the soldiers, sect 4; he takes Ta- 
 richeae, sect 6; he is sent to Rome, with king Agrippa, 
 to compliment Galba. iv. ix. 2; the order of his army, 
 V. ii. 1 ; he arrives at Jenisalem. and is exposed to great 
 danger, sect 1, 2; his great valour, sect 2, 5; his great 
 concern to save Jerusalem, c. ix. sect 2; and the tem- 
 ple, vi. ii. 4; c iv. sect 3; his speech to his soldiers, 
 c. i. sect 5; he receives acclamations from the army, 
 c. vi. sect 1; his speeches to the Jewish tyrants, sect 
 2; he ascribes the conquest of the city to God, c. ix. 
 sect. 1; he thanks the army and distributes rewards, 
 vii ii. 3; :elebrates his father's and brother's birth- 
 days, c. iii. sect I ; is greatly moved at the <'ght of the 
 ruins of Jerusalem, c v. sect 2; he makes great shows, 
 c. V. sect. I ; comes to Antioch, sect 2; and to Rome, 
 sect. 3; what persons he carried with him for the 
 triumph, ib.; his approbation of Josephus's history, 
 l.ife, sect 65; his nenerusity to Josephus, sect 75w 
 
 Tobias's sons expelled Jerusalem, War, i, i. 2. 
 
 Togarraah, Antiq. i. vi. I. 
 
 Toparchies (three) or prefectures, added to Jadea, Antiq. 
 xiii. iv. 9. 
 
 Tower of Bahel, and the Sibyl's testimony concerning it, 
 Antiq. i. iv. 
 
 Trachonites rebel, Antiq. xri ix.l. 
 
 Traditions of the Pharisees, unwritten, Antiq. viii. x. 6. 
 
 Trajan, captain ot the tenth legion. War, iii. vii. 31. 
 
 Translation of the law, made by seventy-two elders, An- 
 tiq. xii. ii. 12; Against Apion, ii. sect. 4. 
 
 Treasure (secret) kept in the temple by some of the 
 priests, Antiq. xi. v. 2. 
 
 Tribes of Israel, and their portions of land determined by 
 Idt, Antiq. v. i. 22. 
 
 Tribute paid out of Judea to Antiochns Pins, Antiq. xiii 
 viii. 3; great men farm such tributes, xii. i v. 3; poll- 
 money paid the kings of Syria by the Jews, xiiL ii. 3; 
 ten thousand drachmae paid out of the temple to them, 
 ib. ; three hundred talents paid by Jonathan tc *t^me- 
 trius for tribute, c. iv. sect 9; Jews freed from paying 
 such tribute by Simon the Maccabee, c vi. sect 6; high- 
 priests used to pay twenty talents tribute to the kings 
 
 •*of Eeypt out of their own revenues, xii. iv. 1; poll- 
 money and crown-tax, &c.. forgiven the principal 
 orders of the Jews by Anliiichus the Great, c. iii. sect 5, 
 
 Triumphal gate at Rome, War, vii. v. 4. 
 
 Triumphal pomp described. War, vii. v. 4, 5, &c. 
 
 Trophies give offence to the Jews, Antiq. xv. viiu 1. 
 
 Trumpet, its invention and form. Antiq. iii. xii. 6. 
 
 Truth and justice complained to be gone out of the world, 
 Amiq. xvi. xi. 4. 
 
 Truth and accuracy to be observed by an historian, Antiq. 
 xiv. i. 1; observed accordingly by Josephus, Life, sect 
 66. 
 
 Try pho, the tyrant brings young Antiocbus back to Syrii, 
 Antiq. xiii. v. 3; his periidious behaviour to the same 
 Antiochus, c. vi. sect 1; he draws Jonathan into a 
 snare, sect. 1,2; he makes an irruption into Judea, 
 sect 4; imposes upon Simon, ib.; kills Jonathan, sect 
 5; he causes Antiochus, whose guardian he was, to be 
 killed, c viL sect 1; he is made king by the army, ib,; 
 he IS killed at Apamia, sec^ 2. 
 
 Trvpho, king Herod's barber, Antiq. xvi. ix. 6, &c.; 
 War, i. xxvii. 5. 
 
 Try pho, king Ptolemy's darliag, Antiq. xii. iv. 9. 
 
 Tuhal-Cain. Antiq. i. it 2. 
 
 Tyrannius Priscus. War. ii. xix. 4. 
 
 Tyrannos, deposition a^^ainst Alexander, Antiq. xvi. x. 
 3; War, i. xxvi. 3. 
 
 Tyre, when built Antiq. viii. iii. 1. 
 
 Tyre, oppressed by Marion. Antiq. xiv. xii. I. 
 
 Tyre, besieifed seven months by Alexander the Great 
 Antiq xi. viii. 4. 
 
 Tj IP> i»,a name of a castle built by Hyrcanus, Antiq. xii 
 1.. 
 
 Tyrians, their god Baal, Antiq. ix. tL 6; their ancient 
 records, Against Apion, L sect 17; they beat the Assy- 
 rians at sea, Antiq. ix. xiv. 2; their temple of Jupiter 
 Olympius, viii. v. 3; Against Apion, i. sect 18; of 
 Hercules, ib ; of Astarte, ib. 
 
 Valerian, a decurion. War, iii. ix. 7. 
 
 Valerius Gratus. procurator of Judea, Antiq. xviii. iii. 2. 
 
 Valerius Asiaticus, Antiq. xix. i. 14, 20. 
 
 Varo, president of Syria, Antiq. xv. x. I. 
 
 Varus (Quintilius), president of Syria, Antiq- xvii. v. 2, 
 6; c. ix. sect 3; Life, sect 11; War, i. xxxL3; and 
 ii. iii. 1 ; he comes to succour Sabinus, Antiq. xvii. x. 
 9; War, ii. v. 1; be punishes the mutineers, Antiq. 
 xvii. X. 1, 9. 10. 
 
 Vashti, wife of king Artaxerxes, Antiq. xL vL 1. 
 
 Vatinius, Antiq. xix. i. 13. 
 
 Veils of the tabernacle, Antiq. iii. vii. 7. 
 
 Veatidius Bassus. bribed by Antigonus, Antiq. xir. xiT. 
 6; c. XV. sect 1; sent to repel the Parthians, War, L 
 XV. 2; he kills Pacorus in battle, and defeats the Par- 
 thians, Antiq. xiv. xv. 7. 
 
 Veranius, Antiq. xix. iii. 4. 
 
 Vespasian and Titus's generosity towards the Jews, An- 
 tiq. xii. ilL 2; his wars in Judea, War, book iii. and iv. 
 at large. 
 
 Victory does not depend on numbers, but op «"i!onr, An- 
 tiq. i. X. 1 ; and on piety towards God. Antiq. xii. vii. 1. 
 
 Vindex rebels against Nero, War, iv. riii ' 
 
 Vine (golden) in Herod's temple, Antiq. xv. ziii. 3; an- 
 other sent to Rome, xiv. iii 1. 
 
 Vinicius (Marcus), Antiq xix. i. 14. 
 
 Virtue its own reward, Antiq. iv. viii. 2. 
 
 Vh-tiies (royal), Antiq. vii, xv. 2. 
 
 Vitellius, president of Syria, Antiq. xv. xi. 4; War, vii. 
 iv. 2; he is highly treated by the Jews, Antiq. xviii. 
 iiu 3; c. V. sect. 3; his expedition ajiainst Areta», ib. ; 
 is ordered by Tiberius to enter into an alliance with 
 Artabanus. c iv. sect 4. 
 
 Vitellius is made emperor after Otho, War, iv. ix. 9; he 
 is slain, c. xi. sect 4. 
 
 Vitellius Prorulus, Antiq. xix. vi. 3. 
 
 Ummidius Quadratus, president of Syria, Antiq. xx. vi 
 
 Onexpected events the most shocking, Antiq. y. ix. 3. 
 Unleavened bread. See Passover. 
 Voice heard in the temple, War, vi. v. 3. 
 Vologesses, king of Parthia. Antiq. xx. iv. 2; War. vii. 
 
 V. 2; c. vii. sect 3; he declares war against Izates, 
 
 Antiq. xx. iv. 2. 
 Voliimnius, procurator of Syria, Antiq. xvi. ix. 1; c. xl. 
 
 sect 3; Uar, i. xxvii. 1,2. 
 Vonones, Antiq. xviii. ii. 4. 
 Vow of Jephtha to sacrifice his daughter, neither lawful 
 
 nor acceptable to God, Antiq. v. viL 10. 
 Ures, Antiq. viii, ii. 3. 
 Uriah slain, Antiq. vii. vii. 1. 
 Urias, bigh-priest, Antiq. x. viiL 6. 
 Uz, Antiq. i. vi. 4. 3. 
 Uzzah, smitten by God, for touching the ark, Antiq. viL 
 
 iv. 2. 
 Uzziab, or Azariah, king of Judah, Antiq. ix. xi. 3; his 
 
 acts and encomium, c. ix. sect 3; he burns incense in 
 
 the temple, sect 4; be is smitten with the leprosy for 
 
 usurping the priest's oflBce, ib. 
 
 War not begun with foreign nations till ambassadors are 
 sent. Antiq. iv. viii. 41; and v. ii. 9. 
 
 War (laws of) among the Jews, Antiq. iv. viii. 41, &c< 
 Against Apion, ii. sect 30. 
 
 War (Jewish), whence begun. War, ii. xiii.; c xiv. sect. 
 4; c. XV. sect 5; c. xvii. sect 1. &c 
 
 Water of Bethlehem, offered to God by David, Antiq. vii. 
 xii. 4 
 
 Water (sea). See Sea. 
 
 Witch, or necromantic woman of Endor, comforts Saul, 
 Antiq. vi. xiv. 3; her eulogium, sect 4. 
 
 Women's power, Antiq. xi iii. 3; their cunning in pre- 
 venting accusations, ii. v. 5; their dress forbidden men, 
 iv. viii, 43; foreign women not to be meddled with by 
 Jews, xii, iv, 6; when divorced, cannot marry another 
 without their former husband's consent, xv vii. ID; 
 Persian women, or wives, not to be seen by strargers, 
 X. vi. 1 ; not allowed to be witnesses, iv. viii. 15. 
 
 Xaothicu*, the Ryro- Macedonian name of the Jewish 
 month Nisan, Antiq, i. iii. 3; and so elsewhere. 
 
 Xerses succeeds Darius, Antiq, xL v. 1; his letter t9 
 I'zra, ib. 
 
880 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Xylophorla, a Jewish festival, when they carried wood to 
 thts temple for the sacrifices. War, iL xvii. 6. 
 
 Year, two beginnings of Jewish years, Antiq. i. i. 3. 
 Year {Great}, a period of six hundred common years, 
 Antiq. i. iii. 9. 
 
 Zabdiel, a prince of the Arabians, Antiq. xiii. iv. 8. 
 Zabidus, an Idumean, Af^ainst Apion, ii. sect. 10. 
 Zachariah, king of Israel, Antiq. ix. x. 3; his death, c. 
 
 xi. sect. 1. 
 Zachariah, son of Jehoiada, a prophet, is stoned, Antiq. 
 
 ix. viii. 3 
 Zachariah the prophet, Antiq. xi. iv. 5, 7. 
 Zacharlas, son of Baruch, Wan, iv. v. 4; he is murdered 
 
 in the temple, ib. 
 Zacharias, sou of Phaiek, War, iv. iv. 1. 
 Zachariah, son of Ahaz, is slain by Maaseiah, Antiq. ix. 
 
 xii. 1. 
 Zaduc, or Sadoc, high-priest, Antiq. vii. ii. ; c. v. sect. 
 
 4; c. X sect. 4; c. xi. sect. 8; c. xiv. sect. 4; and viii. 
 
 i. 3; and x. viii. 6. 
 Zaimunna, a captain of the Midianites, Antiq. v. vi. 5. 
 Z:imaris, a Babylonian Jew, Antiq. xvii. ii. 3. 
 Zarepheth, or Sarepta, thg widow's habitation, Antiq. 
 
 viii. xiii. 2. 
 Zealots, War, iv. iii. 9, 13, 14; c. iv. sect 5, &c.; c v. 
 
 sect. 1, 6; and vii. viii. 1. 
 Zeb, or Zeeb, captain of the Midianites, Antiq. T. vi. 5, 
 
 Zebndah, moth«ir of Jehoiaklm, Antiq. x, v. 3. 
 Zedekiah, a false prophet, Antiq. viii. xv. 4. 
 Zedekiah, king of Judah, Antiq. x. vii. 4, &c.; he revolt 
 
 from the Babylonians, sect. 2; calls for Jeremiah's ad 
 
 vice, sect 6; he is carried captive to Babylon, c. viiJ 
 
 sect 2 ; his death, sect 7. 
 Zebina (Alexander), king of Syria, is conquered by An 
 
 tiocbus Grypus, and dies, Antiq. xiii. ix. 3. 
 Zebul, Antiq. v. vii. 4. 
 Zeno, styled Cotylas, tyrant of Philadelphia, Antiq. xiii. 
 
 vii. 1. 
 Zonodoras, Antiq. xv. x. 1, &c.} War, i. xx. iv.; hie 
 
 death, Antiq. xv. x. 3. 
 Zerah, an Ethiopian king, Antiq. viii. xii. 1 ; defeated by 
 
 Asa, sect 1, 2. 
 Zeruiah, Antiq. vi. xiii. 9. 
 Zuxis, Antiq. xii. iii. 4. 
 Ziba, Saul's freed-man, Antiq. vii. v. 2. 
 Zillab, Lamech's wife, Antiq. i. ii. 2. 
 Zimri, prince of the Simeonites, Antiq. iv. Ti. lOj his 
 
 speech against Moses, sect. 11. 
 Zimri kills Elah, Antiq. viii. xii. 4, 5; his death, ib. 
 Zipporah, Moses' wife, Antiq. iii. ii. 1. 
 Zizus, an Arabian, Antiq. xiii. xiv. 3. 
 Zoba (king of), Antiq. vii. vi. 1. 
 Zoilus, a tyrant, Antiq. xiii. xii. 2. 
 Zorobabel, Antiq. xi. i. 3; c. iii. sect 1, &e. 
 Zur, king of tiw Midianites, Antiq. iv. vii. |« 
 
 THE^END, 
 
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