HOW ANTIPATER WAS HATED BY ALL THE NATION [OF THE JEWS] FOR THE SLAUGHTER OF HIS BRETHREN; AND HOW, FOR THAT REASON HE GOT INTO PECULIAR FAVOR 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 HEROD'S WIVES AND CHILDREN. FJAJ 17.3
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 not succeed to his mind, as to the
rest of his life; for although he was delivered from the fear of his brethren
being his rivals as to 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 disagreeable circumstance, the affair of the soldiery grieved
him still more, who were alienated from him, from which yet these kings
derived all the safety which they had, whenever they found the nation desirous
of innovation: and all this danger was drawn upon him by his destruction
of his brethren
However, he governed the nation jointly with his father,
being indeed no other than a king already; and he was for that very reason
trusted, and the more firmly depended on, for the which he ought himself
to have been put to death, as appearing to have betrayed his brethren 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 himself: and this was
the accursed state he was in
Now all Antipater's contrivances 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 against
his brethren were occasioned by the hatred he bore his father
But at this
time he was more than ever set upon the execution of his attempts against
Herod, because if he were 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 of necessity then 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 him
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 favor of Saturninus's brother with the large presents he bestowed on
him; as also he used the same art to [Salome] the king's sister, who had
married one of Herod's chief 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 hate.
But he could not impose upon his aunt, who understood him of a long time,
and was a woman not easily to be deluded, especially while she had already
used all possible caution in preventing his pernicious designs
Although
Antipeter's uncle by the mother's side was married to her daughter, and
this by his own connivance and management, while she had 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
for him, to marry Alexas; which match was by her submitted to at the instance
of Julia, 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 Caesar'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 had 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. FJAJ 17.4
2. Now Herod brought up his sons' children 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 befall 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 education.
He also caused them to be betrothed against they should come to the proper
age of marriage; the elder of Alexander's sons to Pheroras's daughter,
and Antipater's daughter 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 made these espousals for the children, out
of commiseration of them now they were fatherless, as endeavoring to render
Antipater kind to them by these intermarriages
But Antipater did not fail
to bear the same temper of mind to his brothers' children which he had
borne to his brothers themselves; and his father's concern about them provoked
his indignation against them upon this supposal, that they would become
greater than ever his brothers had been; while Archclaus, a king, would
support his daughter's sons, and Pheroras, a tetrarch, would accept of
one of the daughters as a wife to his son
What provoked him also was this,
that all the multitude would so commiserate these fatherless children,
and so hate him [for making them fatherless], that all would come out,
since they were no strangers to his vile disposition towards his brethren.
He contrived, therefore, to overturn his father's settlements, 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 Antipater himself should marry 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. FJAJ 17.5
3. Now Herod (1)
Those who have a mind to know all the family and descendants of Antipater
the Idumean, and of Herod the Great, his son, and have a memory to preserve
them all distinctly, may consult Josephus, Antiq. B. XVIII. ch. 5. sect.
4; and Of the War, B. I. ch. 28. sect. 4; in Havercamp's edition, p. 336;
and Spanheim, lb. p. 402--405; and Reland, Paleslin. Part I. p. 178, 176.
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
daughter; 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 Olympias;
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 Rome
Pallas
also was one of his wives, which bare him his son Phasaelus
And besides
these, he had for his wives Phedra and E1pis, by whom he had his daughters
Roxana and Salome
As for his elder daughters by the same mother with Alexander
and Aristobulus, and whom Pheroras 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. FJAJ 17.6