having formerly bribed him for the office of tetrarch, and now repeating the application to be made king of the Jews. The contest he was now engaged in with Antigonus, and his hatred to him as a seditious person, and an enemy to the Romans, were of no less weight than his regard for Herod. Cæsar was still better inclined to forward Herod's advancement, and to assist him in his designs, as remembering the toils of war he had shared with his father Antipater in Egypt, the hospitable treatment and peculiar kindness he had received from him, and the activity he saw in Herod himself. He wished also to gratify Antony's zeal for Herod. He therefore called the senate together. Messala first, and afterwards Atratinus, produced Herod before them, enlarged on the benefits they had received from his father, and reminded them of the son's good will to the Romans. The senate was moved by these reasons, and irritated at the Parthian treachery. Antony then came in, and proved to them how much it was for their advantage in the Parthian war, that Herod should be king. They all voted for it accordingly. When the senate adjourned, Antony and Cæsar went out, with Herod between them. The consul and the other magistrates went before them to offer sacrifice, and to deposit the decree in the Capitol. Antony made a feast for Herod on the first day of his reign.

The chronology of Herod, both as to the time when he was first made king at Rome, and the time when he began his second reign without a competitor, on the conquest and slaughter of Antigonus, is principally derived from the last three

chapters of the fourteenth book of Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews.

army

Herod, on quitting Italy, sailed to Ptolemais, where he assembled a considerable army, both of strangers and of his own countrymen, and marched through Galilee against Antigonus. Silo and Ventidius came to his assistance on the persuasion of Dellius, who was sent by Antony to assist in bringing Herod back. Herod's increased every day as he advanced, and Galilee, with a few exceptions, joined him. His first object was to save those who were besieged in the fortress of Massada, because they were his relations. But it was necessary to remove the obstacle of Joppa, a city at variance with him, that no strong hold might be left in the enemy's possession when he should go to Jerusalem. When Silo made this a pretence for rising up from Jerusalem, and was thereupon pursued by the Jews, Herod fell upon them with a small body of men, put the Jews to flight, and saved Silo when he was very little able to defend himself. After this Herod took Joppa, and then made haste to rescue those of his family who were in Massada. Herod had now a strong army. he marched on, Antigonus prepared ambuscades in the passes and other places best adapted for them; but they did little mischief to those against whom they were planned. Thus Herod delivered his family out of Massada, and the fortress Bessa, and then went on for Jerusalem. The soldiery with Silo, and many of the citizens who were afraid of his power, accompanied him. As soon as he had pitched his camp on the west side of the city, the soldiers on guard there shot their arrows, and threw their darts at him. Great numbers made a

As

sally, and fought with the first ranks of Herod's army hand to hand. He ordered proclamation to be made about the wall, That he came for the good of the people, and for the preservation of the city; not to revenge himself on even his most inveterate enemies, but with the desire to forget their most grievous offences. Antigonus, in reply to Herod's proclamation, said before the Romans and before Silo, That they would not do justly if they gave the kingdom to Herod, who was no more than a private man, and an Idumean, or half Jew. This assertion of Antigonus, made in the days of Herod, and almost to his face, carries much greater authority than the pretences of his favourite and flatterer, Nicolaus of Damascus, that he derived his pedigree from Jews as far backward as the Babylonish captivity. Josephus always esteems him an Idumean, though he affirms his father Antipater to be of the same people with the Jews, and a Jew by birth. But the Idumeans were in time considered as identified with the Jews.

Herod was not fond of lying still. He sent out his brother Joseph-against Idumea with two thousand armed footmen, and four hundred horsemen, while he himself went to Samaria, and left his mother and his other relations there; for they had already departed from Massada. He then went into Galilee to take certain places held by the garrisons of Antigónus, and passed into Sepphoris; as God sent a snow, while the garrisons of Antigonus withdrew themselves, and had great plenty of provisions. He had now brought over to him all Galilee, excepting the inhabitants of the caves, and distributed money to all his soldiers, to the amount of a hundred and fifty drachmæ apiece, with much

larger sums to their captains, and sent them into winter quarters. At this time Silo came to him again, and his commanders with him, because Antigonus would no longer pay his treachery, having supplied his people with provisions for no more than one month. More than that, he had sent to all the country round, and ordered them to carry off their provisions, and retire to the mountains, that the Romans might perish by famine. But Herod committed the care of the supplies to his younger brother Pheroras, and commanded him to repair Alexandrium.

Antony was now staying some time at Athens, and Ventidius, who was in Syria, sent for Silo, and commanded him first to assist Herod in finishing the present war, and then to send for their confederates for the war they were themselves engaged in. Herod went in haste against the robbers in the caves, and sent Silo to Ventidius while he marched against them. One old man was caught within one of these caves, with a wife and seven children, who were earnest to go out, and surrender to the enemy: but he stood at the mouth of the cave, and slew every child who attempted a passage, till he had destroyed them all. He then killed his wife, and threw the dead bodies down the precipice, and himself after them, preferring death to slavery. Before this final act of despair, he reproached Herod scornfully with the meanness of his family, notwithstanding his adventitious royalty. Herod wishing to prevent the execution of his rash design, stretched out his hand, and offered him assurances that his life should be safe. All the caves were at length entirely reduced.

Herod joined his troops with those of Antony

at the siege of Samosata, and was received with great honour. His post was in the rear. On one occasion, when the first ranks had passed, an ambuscade, to the number of about five hundred, fell suddenly on them, and put the foremost to flight. The king, with the forces about him, came riding hard and immediately drove back the enemy. Thus he so emboldened his own men to go on, that those who ran away before returned, and the barbarians were slain on all sides. The king followed up the carnage, and recovered all the baggage, with many beasts of burden and slaves. He then proceeded on his march. Many of those who had attacked them had got into the woods, near the passage that led into the plain. On these he made a sally with a strong body of men, put them to flight, slew several, and rendered the way safe for those that were to come after, who considered him as their saviour and protector.

On his arrival at Daphne, near Antioch, messengers came to inform him that his brother Joseph was slain in Judea. This was not unexpected; as his dreams, or as he conceived, visions, had clearly foreshown his brother's death. In the course of his subsequent campaign, on one occasion his soldiers got on the tops of houses which were full of enemies, pulled up the upper floors, and destroyed the people beneath. This must have been effected by ladders from the outside. It appears from several texts in the New Testament, that this was no uncommon mode of ascending on ordinary

occasions.

The generals at the siege of Jerusalem were two: Sosius, sent by Antony to assist Herod, and Herod on his own account, to take the government from