Antiquities of the Jews — Book 17, Chapter 6

1. Now Herod's ambassadors made haste to Rome; but sent, as instructed
beforehand, what answers they were to make to the questions 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 Archelaus and Philip,
which the calumnies of Antipater had raised against them. He also
bequeathed a thousand talents to Cæsar, and five hundred to Julia,
Cæsar's wife, to Cæsar's children, and friends and freed-men. He also
distributed among his sons and their 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, for he
was about the seventieth year of his age, he grew fierce, and indulged
the bitterest 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 Saripheus, and Matthias, the son of
Margalothus, two of the most eloquent men among the Jews, and the most
celebrated interpreters of the Jewish laws, and men well beloved by the
people, because of their education of their youth; for all those that
were studious of virtue frequented their lectures 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
erected contrary to 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 had forbidden, that his other misfortunes, and this distemper
also, which was so unusual among mankind, and with which he was now
afflicted, came upon him; for Herod had caused such things to be made
which were contrary to the law, of which he was accused by Judas and
Matthias; 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 temple.
Now the law forbids those that propose to live according to it, to erect
images 6 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 acquire an everlasting fame and commendation;
since they would be both commended by the present generation, and leave
an example of life 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 thing for those
who are in love with a virtuous conduct, to wait for that fatal hour by
such behavior as may carry them out of the world with praise and honor;
and that this will alleviate death to a great 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 reputation 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, and as they were upon this bold attempt, in a foolish
presumption rather than a cautious circumspection, as is usual with the
multitude, 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 Matthias, 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 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 virtuous courage as becomes men; for
we have given our assistance to those things which were dedicated to the
majesty of God, and we have provided for what we have learned by hearing
the law; and it ought not to be wondered at, if we esteem those laws
which Moses had suggested to him, and were taught him by God, and which
he wrote and left behind him, more worthy of observation than thy
commands. Accordingly we will undergo death, and all sorts of
punishments which thou canst inflict upon us, with pleasure, since we
are conscious to ourselves that we shall die, not for any unrighteous
actions, but for our love to religion." And thus they all said, and
their courage was still equal to their profession, 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 theater, and because he could not himself
stand, he lay upon a couch, and enumerated the many labors that he had
long endured on their account, and his building of the temple, 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 honor 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 procured himself a reputation after
his death. He then cried out, that these men had not abstained from
affronting him, even in his lifetime, but that in the very day time, and
in the sight of the multitude, they had abused him to that degree, as to
fall upon what he had dedicated, and in that way of abuse had pulled it
down to the ground. They pretended, indeed, that they did it to affront
him; but if any one consider the thing truly, they will find that 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 and to inflict punishment on them, said what was
done was done without their 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 wife'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 fast. 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, 7 to
have conversation with his wife; and because he could not officiate
himself on that account, Joseph, the son of Ellemus, his kinsman,
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
eclipse of the moon. 8

5. But now Herod's distemper greatly 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
outwardly, 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 ex-ulcerated, 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, further, his privy-member
was putrefied, and produced worms; and when he sat upright, he had a
difficulty of breathing, which was very loathsome, 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 increased his strength to an
insufferable degree. It was said by those who pretended to divine, and
who were endued with wisdom to foretell such things, that God inflicted
this punishment on the king on account of his great impiety; yet was he
still in hopes of recovering, though his afflictions seemed greater than
any one could bear. He also sent for physicians, and did not refuse to
follow what they prescribed for his assistance, and went beyond the
river Jordan, and bathed himself in the warm baths that were at
Callirrhoe, which, besides their other general virtues, were also fit to
drink; which water runs into the lake called Asphaltiris. 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 choleric, 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 men of the entire Jewish nation, wheresoever they lived,
should be called to him. Accordingly, they 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 ground for
accusations; and when they were come, he ordered them to be all shut up
in the hyppodrome, 9 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 he 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 alleviation of his great sorrows on this occasion; for
that if they do not refuse him their consent in what he desires, he
shall have a great mourning at his funeral, and such as never had any
king 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 honor 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 honorable 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 his which
savored of no humanity; since he took care, when he was departing out of
this life, that the whole nation should be put into mourning, and indeed
made desolate of their dearest kindred, when he gave order that one out
of every family should be slain, although they had done nothing that was
unjust, or that was against him, nor were they accused of any other
crimes; while it is usual for those who have any regard to virtue to lay
aside their hatred at such a time, even with respect to those they
justly esteemed their enemies.