Antiquities Book 18, Chapter 5
Herod The Tetrarch Makes War With Aretas, The King Of Arabia, And Is Beaten By Him As Also Concerning The Death Of John The Baptist. How Vitellius Went Up To Jerusalem; Together With Some Account Of Agrippa And Of The Posterity Of Herod The Great.
1. About this time Aretas [the king of Arabia Petres] 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, 15 who was his brother indeed,
but not by the same mother; for this Herod was the son of the high
priest Sireoh's daughter. However, he fell in love with Herodias, this
last Herod's wife, who was the daughter of Aristobulus 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 made for her to change her habitation, and come to him as
soon as he should return from Rome: one article of this marriage also
was this, that he should divorce Aretas's daughter. So Antipas, when he
had made this agreement, sailed to Rome; but when he had done there the
business he went about, and was returned again, his wife having
discovered the agreement he had made with Herodias, 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 in the borders of
the dominions of Aretas and Herod, without informing him of any of her
intentions. Accordingly Herod sent her thither, as thinking his wife had
not perceived any thing; now she had sent a good while before to
Macherus, which was subject to her father and so all things necessary
for her journey were made ready for her by the general of Aretas's army;
and by that means she soon came into Arabia, under the conduct of the
several generals, who carried 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 his enmity between him and Herod,
who had also some quarrel with him about their limits at the country of
Gamalitis. So they raised armies on both sides, and prepared 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 [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 very greatly moved [or pleased] by hearing 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 thing he should advise,] thought it best, by putting him
to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself
into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when
it would be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's
suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was
there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of
this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's
displeasure to 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 armature,
and of the horsemen which belonged to them, and were drawn out of those
kingdoms 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 principal men met him, and desired that he would not
thus march through their land; for that the laws of their country would
not permit them to overlook those images which were brought into it, of
which there were a great many in their ensigns; so he was persuaded by
what they said, and changed that resolution of his which he had before
taken in this matter. Whereupon he ordered the army to march along the
great plain, while he himself, with Herod the tetrarch and his friends,
went up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God, an ancient festival of
the Jews being then just approaching; and when he had been there, and
been honorably 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 informed 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 winter quarters there, since, upon the devolution of the empire
upon Caius, he had not the like authority of making this war which he
had before. It was also reported, that when Aretas heard of the coming
of Vitellius to fight him, he said, upon his consulting the diviners,
that it was impossible that this army of Vitellius's could enter Petra;
for that one of the rulers would die, either he that gave orders for the
war, or he that was marching at the other's desire, in order to be
subservient to his will, or else he against whom this army is prepared.
So Vitellius truly retired to Antioch; but Agrippa, the son of
Aristobulus, went up to Rome, a year before the death of Tiberius, in
order to treat of some affairs with the emperor, if he might be
permitted so to do. I have now a mind to describe Herod and his family,
how it fared with them, partly because it is suitable to this history to
speak of that matter, and partly because this thing is a demonstration
of the interposition of Providence, 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 revolution of a hundred years, the posterity
of Herod, which were a great many in number, were, excepting a few,
utterly destroyed. 16 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 I shall now also speak accurately about
them.
4. Herod the Great had two daughters by Mariamne, the [grand] daughter
of Hyrcanus; the one was Salampsio, who was married to Phasaelus, her
first cousin, who was himself the son of Phasaelus, Herod's brother, 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.
Phasaelus had five children by Salampsio; Antipater, Herod, and
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. Agrippa had by Cypros
two sons and three daughters, which daughters were named Bernice,
Mariamne, and Drusius; but the names of the sons were Agrippa and
Drusus, of which Drusus died before he came to the years of puberty; but
their father, Agrippa, was brought up with his other brethren, Herod and
Aristobulus, for these were also the sons of the son of Herod the Great
by Bernice; but Bernice was the daughter of Costobarus 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 arrived at 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
Aristobulus, the third brother of Agrippa, married Jotape, the daughter
of Sampsigeramus, king of Emesa; they had a daughter who was deaf, whose
name also was Jotape; and these hitherto were the children of the male
line. But Herodias, their sister, was married to Herod [Philip], the son
of Herod the Great, who was born of Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the
high priest, who had a daughter, Salome; after whose birth Herodias took
upon her to confound the laws of our country, and divorced herself from
her husband while he was alive, and was married to Herod [Antipas], 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 childless, Aristobulus, the son
of Herod, the brother of Agrippa, married her; they had three sons,
Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus; and this was the posterity of Phasaelus
and Salampsio. But the daughter of Antipater by Cypros was Cypros, whom
Alexas Selcias, the son of Alexas, 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, Alexander and Tigranes, by
the daughter of Archelaus, 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, 17 the daughter of Antiochus, the king of Commagena; 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 befell Agrippa, and how he got clear of them, and was advanced to
the greatest height of dignity and power.
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, 15 who was his brother indeed,
but not by the same mother; for this Herod was the son of the high
priest Sireoh's daughter. However, he fell in love with Herodias, this
last Herod's wife, who was the daughter of Aristobulus 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 made for her to change her habitation, and come to him as
soon as he should return from Rome: one article of this marriage also
was this, that he should divorce Aretas's daughter. So Antipas, when he
had made this agreement, sailed to Rome; but when he had done there the
business he went about, and was returned again, his wife having
discovered the agreement he had made with Herodias, 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 in the borders of
the dominions of Aretas and Herod, without informing him of any of her
intentions. Accordingly Herod sent her thither, as thinking his wife had
not perceived any thing; now she had sent a good while before to
Macherus, which was subject to her father and so all things necessary
for her journey were made ready for her by the general of Aretas's army;
and by that means she soon came into Arabia, under the conduct of the
several generals, who carried 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 his enmity between him and Herod,
who had also some quarrel with him about their limits at the country of
Gamalitis. So they raised armies on both sides, and prepared 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 [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 very greatly moved [or pleased] by hearing 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 thing he should advise,] thought it best, by putting him
to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself
into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when
it would be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's
suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was
there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of
this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's
displeasure to 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 armature,
and of the horsemen which belonged to them, and were drawn out of those
kingdoms 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 principal men met him, and desired that he would not
thus march through their land; for that the laws of their country would
not permit them to overlook those images which were brought into it, of
which there were a great many in their ensigns; so he was persuaded by
what they said, and changed that resolution of his which he had before
taken in this matter. Whereupon he ordered the army to march along the
great plain, while he himself, with Herod the tetrarch and his friends,
went up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God, an ancient festival of
the Jews being then just approaching; and when he had been there, and
been honorably 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 informed 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 winter quarters there, since, upon the devolution of the empire
upon Caius, he had not the like authority of making this war which he
had before. It was also reported, that when Aretas heard of the coming
of Vitellius to fight him, he said, upon his consulting the diviners,
that it was impossible that this army of Vitellius's could enter Petra;
for that one of the rulers would die, either he that gave orders for the
war, or he that was marching at the other's desire, in order to be
subservient to his will, or else he against whom this army is prepared.
So Vitellius truly retired to Antioch; but Agrippa, the son of
Aristobulus, went up to Rome, a year before the death of Tiberius, in
order to treat of some affairs with the emperor, if he might be
permitted so to do. I have now a mind to describe Herod and his family,
how it fared with them, partly because it is suitable to this history to
speak of that matter, and partly because this thing is a demonstration
of the interposition of Providence, 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 revolution of a hundred years, the posterity
of Herod, which were a great many in number, were, excepting a few,
utterly destroyed. 16 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 I shall now also speak accurately about
them.
4. Herod the Great had two daughters by Mariamne, the [grand] daughter
of Hyrcanus; the one was Salampsio, who was married to Phasaelus, her
first cousin, who was himself the son of Phasaelus, Herod's brother, 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.
Phasaelus had five children by Salampsio; Antipater, Herod, and
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. Agrippa had by Cypros
two sons and three daughters, which daughters were named Bernice,
Mariamne, and Drusius; but the names of the sons were Agrippa and
Drusus, of which Drusus died before he came to the years of puberty; but
their father, Agrippa, was brought up with his other brethren, Herod and
Aristobulus, for these were also the sons of the son of Herod the Great
by Bernice; but Bernice was the daughter of Costobarus 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 arrived at 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
Aristobulus, the third brother of Agrippa, married Jotape, the daughter
of Sampsigeramus, king of Emesa; they had a daughter who was deaf, whose
name also was Jotape; and these hitherto were the children of the male
line. But Herodias, their sister, was married to Herod [Philip], the son
of Herod the Great, who was born of Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the
high priest, who had a daughter, Salome; after whose birth Herodias took
upon her to confound the laws of our country, and divorced herself from
her husband while he was alive, and was married to Herod [Antipas], 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 childless, Aristobulus, the son
of Herod, the brother of Agrippa, married her; they had three sons,
Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus; and this was the posterity of Phasaelus
and Salampsio. But the daughter of Antipater by Cypros was Cypros, whom
Alexas Selcias, the son of Alexas, 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, Alexander and Tigranes, by
the daughter of Archelaus, 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, 17 the daughter of Antiochus, the king of Commagena; 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 befell Agrippa, and how he got clear of them, and was advanced to
the greatest height of dignity and power.