Chapter 13.
HOW ARCHELAUS UPON A SECOND ACCUSATION, WAS BANISHED TO VIENNA.FJAJ 17.77
1. WHEN Archelaus was entered on his ethnarchy, and was come into Judea,
he accused Joazar, the son of Boethus, of assisting the seditious, and
took away the high priesthood 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 village 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 (23)
Spanheim seasonably observes here, that it was forbidden the Jews to marry
their brother's wife when she had children by her first husband, and that
Zonaras (cites, or) interprets the clause before us accordingly.
and married Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, who had been the wife
of his brother Alexander, which 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 was still living.FJAJ 17.78
2. But in the tenth year of Archelaus's government, both his brethren,
and the principal 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 commands of Caesar,
which obliged him to behave himself with moderation among them
Whereupon
Caesar, when he heard it, was very angry, and called for Archelaus's steward,
who took care of his affairs at Rome, and whose name was Archelaus also;
and thinking it beneath him to write to Archelaus, he bid him sail away
as soon as possible, and bring him to us: 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, upon hearing what certain
accusers of his had to say, and what reply 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.FJAJ 17.79
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 beof great importance to him, he sent for the diviners, whose study
was employed about dreams
And while some were of one opinion, and some
of another, (for all their interpretations 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 change in the affairs of Archelaus, and
that not for the better; that oxen, because that animal takes uneasy pains
in his labors, denoted afflictions, and indeed denoted, further, a change
of affairs, because that land which is ploughed by oxen cannot remain in
its former 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.FJAJ 17.80
4. The like accident befell Glaphyra his wife, who was the daughter
of king Archelaus, who, as I said before, was married, while she was a
virgin, to Alexander, the son of Herod, and brother of Archelaus; but since
it fell out so that Alexander was slain by his father, she was married
to Juba, the king of Lybia; and when he was dead, and she lived in widowhood
in Cappadocia with her father, Archclaus divorced his former wife Mariamne,
and married her, so great was his affection for this Glphyra; who, during
her marriage to him, saw the following dream: She thought she saw Alexander
standing by her, at which she rejoiced, and embraced him with great affection;
but that he complained o her, and said, O Glaphyra! thou provest that saying
to be true, which assures us that women are not to be trusted
Didst not
thou pledge thy faith to me? and wast not thou married to me when thou
wast a virgin? and had we not children between us? Yet hast thou forgotten
the affection I bare to thee, out of a 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 indecent and imprudent manner hast entered into my house, and hast been
married to Archelaus, thy husband and my brother
However, I will not forget
thy former kind affection for me, but will set thee free from every such
reproachful action, and cause thee to be mine again, as thou once wast.
When she had related this to her female companions, in a few days' time
she departed this life.FJAJ 17.81
5. Now I did not think these histories improper 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 confirmation
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 one does not believe
such relations, let him indeed enjoy his own opinion, but let him not hinder
another that would thereby encourage himself in virtue
So Archelaus's
country was laid to the province of Syria; and Cyrenius, one that had been
consul, was sent by Caesar to take account of people's effects in Syria,
and to sell the house of Archelaus.FJAJ 17.82