HOW HEROD SENT HIS SONS TO ROME; HOW ALSO HE WAS ACCUSED BY ZENODORUS AND THE GADARENS, BUT WAS CLEARED OF WHAT THEY ACCUSED HIM OF AND WITHAL GAINED TO HIMSELF THE GOOD-WILL OF CAESAR. CONCERNING THE PHARISEES, THE ESSENS AND MANAHEM. FJAJ 15.71
1. WHEN Herod was engaged in such matters, and when he had already re-edified
Sebaste, [Samaria,] he resolved to send his sons Alexander and Aristobulus
to Rome, to enjoy the company of Caesar; who, when they came thither, lodged
at the house of Pollio, (19)
This Pollio, with whom Herod's sons lived at Rome, was not Pollio the Pharisee,
already mentioned by Josephus, ch. 1. sect. 1, and again presently after
this, ch. 10. sect. 4; but Asinine Pollo, the Roman, as Spanheim here observes.
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 Trachon, and Batanea, and Auranitis,
which he gave him on the occasion following: One Zenodorus (20)
The character of this Zenodorus is so like that of a famous robber of the
same name in Strabo, and that about this very country, and about this very
time also, that I think Dr. Hudson hardly needed to have put a overlaps
to his determination that they were the same.
had hired what was called the house of Lysanias, who, as he was not satisfied
with its revenues, became a partner with the robbers that inhabited the
Trachonites, and so procured himself 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 neighboring 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 Zenodorus
When these matters were laid
before Caesar, he wrote back to Varro to destroy those nests of robbers,
and to give the land to Herod, that so by his care the neighboring countries
might be no longer disturbed with these doings of the Trachonites; for
it was not an easy firing to restrain them, since this way of robbery had
been their usual practice, and they had no other way to get their living,
because they had neither any city of their own, nor lands in their possession,
but only some receptacles and dens in the earth, and there they and their
cattle lived in common together
However, they had made contrivances to
get pools of water, and laid up corn in granaries for themselves, and were
able to make great resistance, by issuing out on the sudden against any
that attacked them; for the entrances 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, but have several revolutions.
But when these men are hindered from their wicked preying upon their neighbors,
their custom is to prey one upon another, insomuch that no sort of injustice
comes amiss to them
But when Herod had received this grant from Caesar,
and was come into this country, he procured skillful guides, and put a
stop to their wicked robberies, and procured peace and quietness to the
neighboring people. FJAJ 15.72
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 dominions, and, as they thought, upon
a more justifiable occasion; for Zenodorus, despairing already of success
as to his own affairs, prevented [his enemies], by selling to those Arabians
a part of his principality, called Auranitis, for the value of fifty talents;
but as this was included in the donations of Caesar, they contested the
point with Herod, as unjustly 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 troublesome 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 a 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 tumults. FJAJ 15.73
3. Now when Herod had already reigned seventeen years, Caesar came into
Syria; at which time the greatest part of the inhabitants of Gadara clamored
against Herod, as one that was heavy in his injunctions, and tyrannical.
These reproaches they mainly ventured upon by the encouragement of Zenodorus,
who took his oath that he would never leave Herod till he had procured
that they should be severed from Herod's kingdom, and joined to Caesar's
province
The Gadarens 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 indeed 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 offenses that were committed elsewhere
And while they accused
Herod of injuries, and plunderings, and subversions of temples, he stood
unconcerned, and was ready to make his defense
However, Caesar gave him
his right hand, and remitted nothing of his kindness to him, upon this
disturbance by the multitude; and indeed these things were alleged the
first day, but the hearing proceeded no further; for as the Gadarens 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 torments 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 destroyed themselves
of their own accord; which accidents seemed a sufficient condemnation of
the rashness and crimes they had been guilty of; whereupon Caesar made
no longer delay, but cleared Herod from the crimes he was accused of
Another
happy accident there was, which was a further great advantage to Herod
at this time; for Zenodorus's belly burst, and a great quantity of blood
issued from him in his sickness, and he thereby 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 favorite, Caesar preferred no one to
Herod besides Agrippa, and Agrippa made no one his greater friend than
Herod besides Caesar
And when he had acquired such freedom, he begged
of Caesar a tetrarchy (21)
A tetrarchy properly and originally denoted the fourth part of an entire
kingdom or country, and a tetrarch one that was ruler of such a fourth
part, which always implies somewhat less extent of dominion and power than
belong to a kingdom and to a king.
for his brother Pheroras, 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 Caesar to the sea, and
was returned home, he built him a most beautiful temple, of the whitest
stone, in Zenodorus's country, near the place called Panlure
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 frill 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 further by the erection of this temple, which
he dedicated to Caesar. FJAJ 15.74
4. At which time Herod released to his subjects the third part of their
taxes, under pretense 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 the people every where 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; and 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 every where, both in the city and in the
roads, who watched those that met together; nay, it is reported that he
did not himself 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 prosecuted 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 continue certainly so to do, in his management
of the government; and indeed a great part of them, 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 generous disposition, and had indignation at
the force he used to them, he by one means or other made away, with them.
He endeavored also to persuade Pollio the Pharisee, and Satneas, and the
greatest part of their scholars, to take the oath; but these would neither
submit 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, were 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 fully elsewhere
However, it is but fit to set down here
the reasons wherefore Herod had these Essens in such honor, 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. FJAJ 15.75
5. Now there was one of these Essens, whose name was Manahem, who had
this testimony, that he not only conducted his life after an excellent
manner, but had the foreknowledge of future events given him by God also.
This man once saw Herod when he was a child, and going to school, and saluted
him as king of the Jews; but he, thinking that either he did not know him,
or that he was in jest, put him in mind that he was but a private man;
but Manahem smiled 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 I know how thy whole conduct will be, that thou wilt
not be such a one, for thou wilt excel all men in happiness, and obtain
an everlasting 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 mindful of them, and punish time for
them." Now 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
Manahem did not tell him the full length of his reign;
wherefore, upon that silence of his, he asked him further, 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 replies, and gave Manahem his hand, and dismissed him; and from
that time he continued to honor all the Essens
We have thought it proper
to relate these facts to our readers, how strange soever they be, and to
declare what hath happened among us, because many of these Essens have,
by their excellent virtue, been thought worthy of this knowledge of Divine
revelations. FJAJ 15.76