On the Destruction of Jerusalem 1.25–1.30

Antigonus too met Caesar in Syria. Though it would have befitted him to lament either his father's misery—killed by poison through Pompey's friends—or the punishment of his brother, whom Scipio with the utmost cruelty had struck with the axe as a criminal, he played the part of resentment rather than grief. With most bitter complaint he aggravated the charge that Hyrcanus and Antipater were sitting on what belonged to others, what had been snatched by crime from him and his brothers; that he had been made an exile from his father's home, and the land in which he was born was denied him; yet his own wrongs seemed more bearable, those by which the whole Jewish nation was afflicted by Hyrcanus and Antipater much more bitter. They claimed credit, he said, for good service in Egypt, though that duty of helping Mithridates had been rendered not from any zeal born of goodwill toward Caesar, but had been wrung from them by fear arising from awareness of their partnership with Pompey, to serve as a cover for their offense. Against this Antipater, returning not words for words but a proof in deeds, tore his garment, and, stripped of his clothes and full of wounds, his armor and cloak removed, showing to the eyes of the bystanders tested marks of courage, said: “See the evidence of my ill will toward Caesar! Let these defend the accused, which shine like the lights of the mind. These scars I give you, Caesar, as hostages of my inner will. These I lay down as pledges of my loyalty, and I bear the letters inscribed on my heart. If citizens are not believed, let enemies be asked for whom I received these wounds. What else were they pursuing in me but the loyalty I was bringing to you? But he reproaches me with Pompey's favor. I confess, Caesar, that I was a friend not to men but to the Roman name, and that I strove eagerly to spend my services on your republic. So I served not one but all. Pompey may have been dear to me, but he began to be my friend before he began to be Caesar's enemy. He was your son-in-law, and you his father-in-law. When he was in the region of Judea, I helped him as a Roman commander; yet I did not receive for him the wounds I received for you. For you I offered death as my surety, and I received the blows of hostile weapons. But what wonder if a captive does not know the glory of wounds, and a fugitive does not know what loyalty is? And what does a perpetual enemy reproach me with, except your friendship? It seems strange indeed that Antigonus should come to the Romans, whom he habitually attacks in war, to accuse anyone, and complain before them that he has been stripped of a rule whose use and business he desired not for his own power nor for the honor of his house, but to provoke Roman arms and avenge the deaths of his father and brother. Ungrateful for his life, he not only does not fear the Roman tribunal but even dares to attack it, though he knows that here his partner in rebellion paid the penalty.” When Antipater had finished speaking, Caesar declared that Hyrcanus seemed more worthy of the priesthood, and he gave Antipater the choice of his own power. Then he, asking that the same man be arbiter and regulator of his honor, and placing the measure of the honor in the one who gave it, cleverly and modestly enough won both distinction and an increase of power. For Antipater was made procurator of all Judea. Indeed he asked to rebuild the walls of Judea that had been destroyed in the war; and, secure in the trust given him, he both asked and obtained so great a matter. And, as was the custom of Roman commanders, the honors Caesar judged fit to confer on Antipater were inscribed at Caesar's direction on the Capitol, so that evidence of his justice and of the man's merits would remain for the knowledge of posterity too. Antipater, having escorted Caesar out of Syria, turned his march toward Judea. And first he restored to its former state the wall that Pompey had destroyed. Then he put down disturbances, meeting individuals with a parent's affection, now with gentler warnings, now with threats, so that they would think they must follow the ways of peace rather than of war and not exasperate the king's mind. If he remained unoffended, he would show himself a citizen; if provoked, a tyrant; and though Hyrcanus was gentle by nature, they should take care not to exasperate him by insult. He too, he said, was eager to take counsel for the common good, out of devoted concern, not for power; but if they tried to stir anything up, he would not lack the will to punish. They should try the Romans' friendship rather than their domination; for who could doubt that from friends they would burst into arms if they learned that the man whose kingdom they had confirmed had been stripped of it? At the same time, because he knew that Hyrcanus, through the mildness of his temper, was slow to carry out the demands of public duties, he thought the care of guarding the region should be divided among his own sons, since Hyrcanus was unequal to so great a burden and rule. So he made Phasael, the elder of his children, governor at Jerusalem and commander of the troops. Herod too, the younger and quite a youth, he set over Galilee with equal honor. As soon as Herod obtained power, being by nature keener in undertaking affairs, he at once found material for his talent.

For Syria was suffering from the raids of the brigand Ezekias. As leader of a band of plunderers he was troubling the whole province and was a menace everywhere. Herod seized him and ordered him to be put to death, and killed many of the robbers; this won him great glory for courage, so that he was in favor with the Syrians. Hence in the cities and villages he was celebrated in song, as if he had restored public peace and quiet after a long time. This talk, with the favorable rumor of the common people, stirred in Phasael a devoted rivalry with his brother's praise, so that he matched his younger brother by kindness of mind, drawing the more eminent into the place of leading men by goodwill, to temper severity with favor. Hence the greatest honor was paid to Antipater as to a public father; yet he changed nothing of the goodwill and loyalty with which he was accustomed to respect Hyrcanus. But it is hard to be free of envy in prosperity. At first Hyrcanus was silently stung by the young men's praises; yet he was more violently exasperated by the brilliant deeds reported in Herod's actions, seeing that he had gone beyond the laws of the Jews and the measure of a private man, so that, with his brother and father, he was claiming all power for himself, and they were stripping the king of all honor, so that nothing remained to him but the name, which, empty of power, displayed a hollow show. In the end, they said, very many had been put to death without consulting him, killed without royal orders, whom the law of the fathers would not allow to perish. So many said that Herod ought to be summoned to trial to give an account of why he had violated the law that forbade men to be condemned to death unheard; Hyrcanus ought to rise up, or at least test by this whether Herod was acting as a king or a private man. If, when summoned to trial, he did not appear, it would be plain to what his great insolence had aspired. By these and similar speeches of the royal attendants Hyrcanus was gradually inflamed through envy; they reproached him with the shame of a cowardice too much his own, that he had given up his right to royal affairs and transferred power to Antipater and his sons, whom he had made masters, his own freedom to reign diminished. Roused by this, he decided that Herod should not fail to appear at his trial to clear himself of the charges of usurpation against the laws. Herod, though indignant at being summoned to trial, still came, whether at his father's warnings or by a calmer counsel, having first secured the strongholds of Galilee; yet neither with a column that would arouse resentment, as if he seemed to threaten war, nor again without a safe guard, so as to betray his safety. He was supported also by the favor of Sextus Caesar, which breathed on him. Sextus, fearing that some plot might be laid against the young man, had prescribed to Hyrcanus with stern orders that he should keep back from the danger of a heavier judgment. Hence Herod credited his acquittal to Sextus rather than to Hyrcanus's will; although Hyrcanus, even though he had yielded to the accusers in summoning him to trial, willingly acquitted him then, since he preferred to save him rather than to pursue him. But Herod, resenting the injury with youthful heat and ungrateful for his acquittal, went to Sextus with the set intention of not obeying if summoned again, and gave the detractors ground for accusation. Although Hyrcanus did not rise to take vengeance, seeing that Herod was the stronger, still Herod, roused by the memory of the injury (which grows by being dwelt on), gathered an army and marched on Jerusalem to destroy all Hyrcanus's power. He would almost have done it, had not his attack been checked by his brother and father, who begged him to think it enough to have risen up and to set a limit to his threat of vengeance. He should keep from the ruin of the ruler under whom he had won no small favor, so that they had attained such power. He seemed wronged, indeed, in being summoned to trial, but again favored in being acquitted. It would be too harsh to pursue the injury and be ungrateful for his safety; and the outcome of wars was doubtful and uncertain; and there was the heavy burden of odium if he took up arms against his own ruler, a man who had cherished him with a father's affection, had often helped him, and had never harmed him—except that, using bad counselors, he had raised a shadow of injustice by which Herod thought himself mocked.

With these and similar words they broke the young man's impulse, and civil war was removed from Judea; but by the intervention of the Romans it was transferred and turned against them. For Sextus Caesar was killed by treachery by Caecilius Bassus; and afterwards Julius Caesar, having held perpetual power for three years and seven months, because he had gone beyond the bearing of a private citizen, paid a heavy penalty in the senate, Cassius and Brutus being the authors. So when the cities had been gathered, and Julius's adopted son, with Antony joined to him, had determined to avenge his father's death, because Herod was thought to have helped the greatest part of the war by sending aid, the care of ruling all Syria was entrusted to him. This was the cause of Antipater's deadly ruin.

For Malichus, fearing Antipater's power, which was being increased by Herod's courage, bribed one of the royal servants and prepared poison for Antipater. When he had drunk it, Antipater died at once after a banquet—a man of tireless ability in other matters, and above all vigorous in winning and establishing Hyrcanus's rule. Herod took his father's death hard and, setting his army in motion, promised to avenge him; but called back by his brother's advice, lest Judea be harassed by civil war between Herod and Malichus—Malichus being ready to resist and above all pretending that he had no knowledge of Antipater's murder—he was easily led to another kind of revenge. Having accepted Malichus's assurance that Antipater had not died through any fraud of his, Herod invited Hyrcanus and Malichus to dinner; and on the advice of Cassius, who had also given this task to his own men, sent to carry out the vengeance, centurions and officers of the Roman army were ready, met Hyrcanus and Malichus on the shore as they came, and surrounded both of them with drawn swords. Yet they slaughtered only Malichus, pierced and torn with many wounds, to his final death. Hyrcanus, stunned by that terror, lost his senses and collapsed, all strength of mind and body gone. But when he recovered a little and asked Herod who had ordered Malichus to be killed, and learned from the officers that he had been killed by order of Cassius, the Roman commander, he at once replied: “Then Cassius has been the salvation of me and of my country, for he has destroyed the man who plotted against both.” But whether Hyrcanus said this out of fear or meant it is not plainly clear, nor can it be decided by our judgment. Helix had risen up, wishing to avenge Malichus's death out of brotherly kinship; but because he did not dare to provoke Herod, he thought he should attack his brother Phasael. When Herod learned this, wishing to move, he was held back by bodily illness. Meanwhile Helix had seized certain strongholds, especially Masada, and put garrisons in them. But when vigor of health returned to Herod, everything was recovered, and Herod let Helix himself go from the stronghold of Masada at his entreaty. Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, had interrupted his power with the help of Ptolemy, his father-in-law; Herod routed them in battle, drove out Antigonus, and returned to Jerusalem a victor. He had great favor from his recent triumph, and especially from a new marriage. For first Doris had been joined to him as wife, by whom he had a son, Antipater; afterwards he had united to himself in a second marriage Mariamne, daughter of Alexander son of Aristobulus, the granddaughter of Hyrcanus, and therefore endowed with royal nobility. Yet he did not escape envy, for having aimed at snatching the kingdom from Hyrcanus. For when, in the Macedonian war, Caesar and Antony crushed Cassius and Brutus, and of the victors one hastened to return to Italy and the other thought he should hurry to Syria, as many embassies flowed in, all the leading men of the Jews came to Antony and went on into Bithynia, accusing Herod and his brother Phasael of having seized by violence the power over all affairs and having left Hyrcanus only the name, for a show of honor. But Herod's presence and favor prevailed, for he had bound Antony's mind to himself not only with no small sum of money but with rich gifts. So, not touched by a single word of reproach from Antony, he made void the odium of the embassy directed against him. Again about a hundred men of the Jews set out all the way to Antioch to accuse him with no less spirit, and found Antony at Daphne, already wholly given up to his love of Cleopatra and serving her lust; and there they began to charge the intolerable power of the brothers. Messala, standing by Hyrcanus, refuted them and rebuked the insolence of the nation, which, stirred up by the faction of a few, disparaged its own, sought outsiders, and pretended an injury to Hyrcanus, though Hyrcanus had preferred what suited the citizens. So, having heard the pleas of the parties, Antony asked Hyrcanus whom he judged more fit. Since his feeling agreed with Herod and his brother, and the answers matched Antony's own wish, Antony was very pleased, being bound to the brothers by the tie of their father's hospitality: when he came to Judea with Gabinius, Antipater had received him most kindly as a guest and honored him with many services. He appointed Herod and Phasael tetrarchs and charged them with administering all Judea. From this the number of complainants also multiplied. For although he had put some of the envoys under guard and treated others with insult, yet afterwards, when an uprising was raised at Jerusalem, a further embassy set out to Antony, who was staying in the city of Tyre, and the citizens' will did not fail them. And though the protesters had been severely punished, they dared to raise an uproar again. The governor of Tyre was sent by Antony to seize those guilty of insolence, while both he himself and Herod and Hyrcanus tried to keep the matter from producing there very heavy punishments, disturbances of the country, and causes of wars. When nothing was achieved, but everything began to be thrown into confusion by unreasoning contention, Antony sent armed men, by whom some were killed and others badly wounded. Yet from Hyrcanus the dead obtained the favor of burial and those who had been able to escape the favor of medical care; so they gave occasion for a double kindness, by which his goodwill toward the citizens was shown. The others who had fled so exasperated Antony by stirring up the city that he ordered the extreme penalty even for those he was holding in chains.

Insolence had given way to harshness; but after about two years the army of the Parthians poured into Syria, with Pacorus, the king's son, and Barzapharnes, the Persian satrap, leading the column of barbarians. Lysanias, son of Ptolemy, whose surname was Mennaeus, joined them as instigator after his father's death. Already holding power through that satrap, he solicited Pacorus with a promise of a thousand talents of silver and five hundred women, to give the kingdom to Antigonus and end Hyrcanus's priesthood. Pacorus gave part of the cavalry to the royal cupbearer (since he himself was detained by rebellions within Syria), to cross into Judea, act for Antigonus, and help his cause. But even this would have made little progress, had it not been proposed, on Antigonus's suggestion, while the Jews were fighting among themselves—Herod and Phasael leading on one side and Antigonus on the other—that they should receive Pacorus as a mediator of peace. Phasael, from an easy disposition, approved this at the time, against Herod's opposition, and soon found it fatal to himself; he learned that barbarians are faithless by nature. For he was sent to Barzapharnes as if to carry out a peace, and, setting out with Hyrcanus, met the satrap, who cleverly enough cloaked his plot under a show of kindness. In the end he gave them gifts as they were about to set out, and by his arrangements settled how they were to be trapped. Men escorted them more as guards than as companions in danger. Reports were brought that the Parthian had been bought with a thousand talents for the destruction of the men named. Ophellius too urged flight, because he had learned from Saramalla, the richest of the Syrians, that a plot had been prepared against them. But not even so was Phasael persuaded to leave Hyrcanus and look to himself; instead he attacked the satrap with heavy reproaches, that he was betraying his faith for a price and valued money more than justice; he himself would give more for his safety than Antigonus would count out for the kingdom. But the Persian, trying to win back by perjury the faith he had betrayed and to drive off all suspicion, carried out his treachery not long after. For when he had gone to Pacorus, those to whom they had given this task seized Phasael and Hyrcanus, who, since they could do nothing else, uttered curses, wishing vengeance on the perjury of the barbarians and the faithlessness of their betrayal. No less had the cupbearer, sent into Judea, put forward tricks to capture Herod; but heavy concern to be on guard occupied him, who had long suspected the barbarians' plots, and he kept himself within the fortifications. Nor, when orders were feigned from Pacorus that he should meet his brother about Phasael's insolence, did he think he should go outside the walls and trust himself to talks with the enemy. Learning that his brother and Hyrcanus were held, he sent his people ahead by night into Idumea, and he himself with his servants routed the barbarians who pursued. After killing many, he betook himself with hurried step to Masada; yet he found the Jews who pressed on him as he fled more troublesome than the Parthians, and having taken vengeance on his pursuers, he placed his people within the fortifications. He himself, leaving garrisons to protect his mother and younger brothers, hastened to Arabia Petraea. The Persians poured into Jerusalem, rushing into the houses of those who had fled; everything was turned to plunder, war, and tumult. Their injustice went so far that the kingdom was handed to Antigonus, and Phasael and Hyrcanus were consigned to his power to suffer whatever he pleased. He could not restrain himself long: at once he made an attack on Hyrcanus and cut off his ears with his teeth, so that by no turn of affairs would a way back to the priesthood ever be open to him. For the high priest must be unmutilated, and it is clear that the law does not allow anyone with a mutilated body to exercise the office of high priesthood. Phasael forestalled insult by the swiftness of a death he chose for himself, dashing his head against rocks that happened to be at hand, disdaining to be kept for mockery or to die at another's command when, though his hands were bound and a sword was denied him, he could find a way out of life. There was, however, another story about him: that Antigonus brought a physician to him when he was wounded, by whom poison was poured into the wound as if it were medicine. Whatever their end, it had its beginning in a fiercer spirit. It is said that in his last moments, as he was already breathing out his spirit, on learning that Herod was alive and had escaped the plot by flight, he added that he died gladly, because he left a survivor to avenge him. Herod hurried to Arabia, hoping to receive money—by which alone, he believed, barbarian greed could be bent—to ransom his brother from captivity; and if he found the Arab forgetful of his father's friendship or too tight-fisted in repaying favors, he would ask for a loan as the price of redemption, and for this he would pledge his son, a boy of seven whom he had brought with him for this purpose. But the devoted zeal of brotherhood was forestalled by Phasael's death, and Herod pursued so diligently the duties of brotherly service in vain. Yet before he learned of his brother's death, he found Malchus, king of Arabia, whom he believed a friend, estranged: for he changed his loyalty with the times and forbade Herod, already approaching the borders of Arabia, to enter, pretending that the Parthians' messengers had warned him not to think of receiving their fugitive into the kingdom of Arabia and so producing the cause of a very heavy war for himself. Offended by this, Herod at once replied what the pain of just indignation prompted, and from there turned toward Egypt. Soon, however, Malchus repented of the friendship he had violated and sent men to call Herod back, but Herod was ahead of them. When he entered the region where the people of Rhinocorura lived, the news was made plain to him, without any trickery, both of his brother's death and of the captivity of Hyrcanus, who had been led away in chains into Parthia; and he took on as much grief as he laid aside anxiety, so that he prepared flight instead of war. At last he made with all eagerness for Alexandria, and there he was received with honor by Cleopatra, because she thought a man of so great a name should be sought as a commander of troops for her side. Hence, setting aside the queen's requests, he sailed for Rome, thinking the storms of winter and the disturbances reported in Italy lesser than the waves of Cleopatra's fickleness, which he dreaded as worse than any shipwreck. In the end, setting out with unexpected winds, he fell into danger off Pamphylia, but escaped; and changing ship he came first to Brundisium and from there to Rome. There, by the privilege of his father's friendship, he went to Antony and lamented his own misfortunes and those of his family, besieged, for whom he had come to Rome to plead. He moved Antony, who took pity from so great a reversal of fortune: that a king lately most powerful, who had often brought help to the Roman state, should suddenly, like a shipwrecked man, lacking everything and without help, his own people in danger, humbly implore aid, having lost his seat. Antony was inclined toward him readily for the sake of the hospitality he had had with his father Antipater, and especially because, having made him tetrarch, he had left him destined for kingship.

Caesar, however, more generous by natural goodwill, held dearer both Antipater's service in Egypt, endured in all the battles of his father Caesar, and the bond of hospitality, as if the pledges of favor had been renewed; yet he suspected the king's crafty character, set perversely not on what was fair and good but on the advantage of his own affairs. When Herod was given leave to approach the senate, before which Messala and Atratinus set forth his father's good deeds and Herod's own services to the Roman state, it was decreed by the authority of the fathers that Herod's kingship seemed useful to the Roman empire, because—as Antony urged—it would be advantageous in waging the war against the Parthians for the alliance of that king to be joined to the Romans. When the senate was dismissed, Caesar and Antony and Herod went out of the senate house together and were escorted by the attending magistrates. On the first day after the kingdom had been conferred on Herod by decree of the senate, Antony prepared a banquet and invited the king. At about the same time Joseph, Herod's brother, had planned to flee by night for lack of water; but so great a force of rain suddenly poured on the earth that it filled all the water channels. So, calling off the flight he was preparing to the nation of the Arabs, he routed the forces of Antigonus, who was besieging him, partly by ambushes, partly by encounters and open battle; but he himself often withdrew into the fortress after an unsuccessful outcome. And now Herod had unexpectedly arrived from Italy at the Syrian city of Ptolemais; quickly leaving his ship, he went against Antigonus with a great force of citizens and foreigners, joined by Ventidius and Silo, commanders of the Roman army, whom Antony had ordered to assist in bringing Herod back. Dellius, sent by Antony for this purpose, though they were averse in zeal because Antigonus had bribed both of them, had persuaded them to make a show of coming nearby. For Ventidius was staying in the nearby cities to put down the disturbances of the Parthian war, and Silo, stationed within Judea, was making an open alliance with Antigonus for money. Yet Herod did not need help, for all except a few Galileans had joined him. And because his aim was to rescue his people from the siege at Masada as soon as possible, he took by fighting Joppa, which lay in between and was full of his opponents' troops, so as not to leave an enemy behind him as he advanced further. And though Antigonus wished to block his march, he recovered Masada with little trouble and freed his people from danger. Then he set out for Jerusalem, having done everything to avoid the necessity of fighting, declaring that he had taken up battle for the citizens against rebellion, not against his own people. Provoked by Antigonus's supporters, he forced those who were harassing him from the wall with arrows and light javelins to flee. Nor would there have been any delay to victory, had not Silo, commander of the Roman column, suborned soldiers to raise complaints about want, to plead that everything around the walls was laid waste, that supplies were hard to come by and food scarce, and that the time had already come when they ought to go into winter quarters; they threatened to break off obedience unless it was granted them. The mutiny would already have grown strong, had not Herod placed himself in the midst of the centurions and Roman soldiers alike and begged them not to desert one whom Caesar and Antony and the senate too had entrusted to their protection, promising especially that nothing needed would be lacking. Having finished his speech, he went out into the countryside and suddenly had an abundance of everything supplied to the army, so that Silo had no pretext left; and then, the spirits of all being raised, he recovered Idumea with two thousand foot and five hundred horse. While the Roman column was quiet and stationed in winter quarters, Joseph was chosen as commander for a lighter task, so that he should not think of attempting anything against Antigonus at greater risk. Herod himself, having brought his people from Masada and settled in Samaria, after providing what he believed would serve for defense and use, in a freezing winter with every place filled with snow, anticipating the news of his arrival, entered without any battle Sepphoris—called by that ancient name, but afterwards named Diocaesarea—and judged it suitable for refreshing those whom the winter frosts and roads made harsh by ice had worn out; for there was also a great store of food there. When they had been refreshed with food and a halt in quarters, he thought he should attack the brigands, who, overrunning the whole region, wore down the inhabitants with raids no less than those of war. So he first sent ahead part of his horse and foot to the village of Arbela, and he himself arrived with the rest of the force after forty days. The brigands were not terrified by the sight of an army, but, thinking they should meet it in arms, they displayed military discipline along with the daring of brigands. When battle was joined, Herod's left wing gave way; but Herod quickly restored it, brought up reinforcements, steadied his men, struck the pursuers, and broke their charge. They could not withstand Herod fighting hand to hand, and as they gave way he followed them to the Jordan and put them to death. All the rest scattered beyond the river, so that Galilee was freed from all fear of raids—except only those who, hiding themselves in lairs and as it were burying themselves in caves, delayed the victory. For in the steep places of the mountains there were bristling caverns, hollow in the sides of the rocks, among rugged cliffs, with an approach pathless on every side and impossible except to the local people. These men, by cross paths and narrow tracks by which alone the caves were usually reached, had made themselves safe, through experience of danger, against the danger of being caught. Inside, the recesses of the caves were dark; at their front a rock jutting out, as with a continuous ridge, down to deep gatherings of water, shut out hope of approach, the site being slippery on every side, with waters falling from the brow of the mountains and the crashing course of torrents, so that the downrush of the streams and the overhanging rock gave all the more terror. For some time the king remained uncertain, not finding how to conquer nature. Afterwards he used this device: in a defense constructed like chests he shut the strongest men, and lowered them armed with ropes to the very mouths of the caves. They easily began to kill those who were unarmed and yielded, with all their kin and offspring; and if any dared to resist, to burn them by throwing in fire. There was no room for mercy. Indeed, though Herod wished to snatch many from death and give them confidence to take refuge with him, he rather turned them away, so that no one joined Herod willingly; and if any were forced, they preferred death to captivity. In the end one of the old men, who had seven sons and a wife with him, whose safety he could have secured, killed them all in this way: ordering each to come forward one by one, he stood at the entrance and killed each of his sons as he came out. Herod, looking down on so sad and pitiable a deed, touched by a father's feeling, held out his hand and begged him in words to spare his children, promising impunity. But he, not bent at all by any words, and reviling the king besides, killed his wife as well as his sons, threw the bodies of his sons down from on high, and at last hurled himself headlong into the depths. Antigonus, terrified by this, because Herod had so easily overcome the multitude of brigands and the difficulty of the places, avoided his presence; but he turned against Ptolemy, whom Herod had placed in command of part of the army, and, being a man very well fitted for the stealth of war, through those whose custom it was to trouble Galilee he had Ptolemy killed in a sudden attack. Joseph too, Herod's brother, while Herod was occupied elsewhere, he destroyed as he fought back vigorously with Roman soldiers who had been rashly gathered and had come to help him. Not content with so great a triumph, he added to his victory a grave insult against the dead man, leaving him with his head cut off; for it Pheroras, the brother of the slain man, offered fifty talents, and did not obtain it. By this victory the support of very many in Galilee again turned to Antigonus, and the business of war was renewed. Herod had gone to Antioch, and was resting there in the quite pleasant place they call Daphne. When he received the news of his brother's death, he groaned a little, postponed his grief to his suffering, and prepared vengeance. Antigonus did not face him raging with grief, but hid within his fortifications. Herod broke in to pursue the authors of so great a crime and easily turned back the columns that met him. The slaughter of many was very great; the roads were blocked by the bodies of the fallen, so that the very routes were filled with the corpses of the slain. The war would have been finished, all being put to flight, had Herod thought he should march straight on Jerusalem. Antigonus had thrown away his spears, dreading the last punishment. All were confused with fear, so much so that when Herod, called back from pursuit by the harshness of winter, had laid down his arms and entered a bath accompanied by a single servant, three men with drawn swords met him, and then more, who had fled from the battle and were looking for hiding places. These, on seeing the king, were thrown into fear, ran past, and hurried to the exit of the bath to escape—men who could have killed the king and ended the war. In the end there was no one to seize them as they fled. From this Herod, guessing how great a fear was in the enemy, pressed on with the battle, killed Pappus himself, commander of the opposing column, and ordered his head to be cut off, because Joseph, the king's brother, had been killed by him.