92
[Whiston sect. 1] [sect. 14] ARCHELAUS went down now to the sea-side, with his mother and his
friends, Poplas, and Ptolemy, and Nicolaus, and left behind him Philip,
to be his steward in the palace, and to take care of his domestic affairs.
Salome went also along with him with her sons, as did also the king's brethren
and sons-in-law. These, in appearance, went to give him all the assistance
they were able, in order to secure his succession, but in reality to accuse
him for his breach of the laws by what he had done at the temple.
[Whiston sect. 2] [sect. 16] But as they were come to Cesarea, Sabinus, the procurator of Syria,
met them; he was going up to Judea, to secure Herod's effects; but Varus,
[president of Syria,] who was come thither, restrained him from going any
farther. This Varus Archelaus had sent for, by the earnest entreaty of
Ptolemy. At this time, indeed, Sabinus, to gratify Varus, neither went
to the citadels, nor did he shut up the treasuries where his father's money
was laid up, but promised that he would lie still, until Caesar should
have taken cognizance of the affair. So he abode at Cesarea; but as soon
as those that were his hinderance were gone, when Varus was gone to Antioch,
and Archclaus was sailed to Rome, he immediately went on to Jerusalem,
and seized upon the palace. And when he had called for the governors of
the citadels, and the stewards [of the king's private affairs], he tried
to sift out the accounts of the money, and to take possession of the citadels.
But the governors of those citadels were not unmindful of the commands
laid upon them by Archelaus, and continued to guard them, and said the
custody of them rather belonged to Caesar than to Archelaus.
[Whiston sect. 3] [sect. 20] In the mean time, Antipas went also to Rome, to strive for the kingdom,
and to insist that the former testament, wherein he was named to be king,
was valid before the latter testament. Salome had also promised to assist
him, as had many of Archelaus's kindred, who sailed along with Archelaus
himself also. He also carried along with him his mother, and Ptolemy, the
brother of Nicolaus, who seemed one of great weight, on account of the
great trust Herod put in him, he having been one of his most honored friends.
However, Antipas depended chiefly upon Ireneus, the orator; upon whose
authority he had rejected such as advised him to yield to Archelaus, because
he was his elder brother, and because the second testament gave the kingdom
to him. The inclinations also of all Archelaus's kindred, who hated him,
were removed to Antipas, when they came to Rome; although in the first
place every one rather desired to live under their own laws [without a
king], and to be under a Roman governor; but if they should fail in that
point, these desired that Antipas might be their king.
[Whiston sect. 4] [sect. 23] Sabinus did also afford these his assistance to the same purpose
by letters he sent, wherein he accused Archelaus before Caesar, and highly
commended Antipas. Salome also, and those with her, put the crimes which
they accused Archelaus of in order, and put them into Caesar's hands; and
after they had done that, Archelaus wrote down the reasons of his claim,
and, by Ptolemy, sent in his father's ring, and his father's accounts.
And when Caesar had maturely weighed by himself what both had to allege
for themselves, as also had considered of the great burden of the kingdom,
and largeness of the revenues, and withal the number of the children Herod
had left behind him, and had moreover read the letters he had received
from Varus and Sabinus on this occasion, he assembled the principal persons
among the Romans together, (in which assembly Caius, the son of Agrippa,
and his daughter Julias, but by himself adopted for his own son, sat in
the first seat,) and gave the pleaders leave to speak.
[Whiston sect. 5] [sect. 26] Then stood up Salome's son, Antipater, (who of all Archelaus's antagonists
was the shrewdest pleader,) and accused him in the following speech: That
Archelaus did in words contend for the kingdom, but that in deeds he had
long exercised royal authority, and so did but insult Caesar in desiring
to be now heard on that account, since he had not staid for his determination
about the succession, and since he had suborned certain persons, after
Herod's death, to move for putting the diadem upon his head; since he had
set himself down in the throne, and given answers as a king, and altered
the disposition of the army, and granted to some higher dignities; that
he had also complied in all things with the people in the requests they
had made to him as to their king, and had also dismissed those that had
been put into bonds by his father for most important reasons. Now, after
all this, he desires the shadow of that royal authority, whose substance
he had already seized to himself, and so hath made Caesar lord, not of
things, but of words. He also reproached him further, that his mourning
for his father was only pretended, while he put on a sad countenance in
the day time, but drank to great excess in the night; from which behavior,
he said, the late disturbance among the multitude came, while they had
an indignation thereat. And indeed the purport of his whole discourse was
to aggravate Archelaus's crime in slaying such a multitude about the temple,
which multitude came to the festival, but were barbarously slain in the
midst of their own sacrifices; and he said there was such a vast number
of dead bodies heaped together in the temple, as even a foreign war, that
should come upon them [suddenly], before it was denounced, could not have
heaped together. And he added, that it was the foresight his father had
of that his barbarity which made him never give him any hopes of the kingdom,
but when his mind was more infirm than his body, and he was not able to
reason soundly, and did not well know what was the character of that son,
whom in his second testament he made his successor; and this was done by
him at a time when he had no complaints to make of him whom he had named
before, when he was sound in body, and when his mind was free from all
passion. That, however, if any one should suppose Herod's judgment, when
he was sick, was superior to that at another time, yet had Archelaus forfeited
his kingdom by his own behavior, and those his actions, which were contrary
to the law, and to its disadvantage. Or what sort of a king will this man
be, when he hath obtained the government from Caesar, who hath slain so
many before he hath obtained it!
[Whiston sect. 6] [sect. 33] When Antipater had spoken largely to this purpose, and had produced
a great number of Archelaus's kindred as witnesses, to prove every part
of the accusation, he ended his discourse. Then stood up Nicolaus to plead
for Archelaus. He alleged that the slaughter in the temple could not be
avoided; that those that were slain were become enemies not to Archelaus's
kingdom, only, but to Caesar, who was to determine about him. He also demonstrated
that Archelaus's accusers had advised him to perpetrate other things of
which he might have been accused. But he insisted that the latter testament
should, for this reason, above all others, be esteemed valid, because Herod
had therein appointed Caesar to be the person who should confirm the succession;
for he who showed such prudence as to recede from his own power, and yield
it up to the lord of the world, cannot be supposed mistaken in his judgment
about him that was to be his heir; and he that so well knew whom to choose
for arbitrator of the succession could not be unacquainted with him whom
he chose for his successor.
[Whiston sect. 7] [sect. 37] When Nicolaus had gone through all he had to say, Archelaus came,
and fell down before Caesar's knees, without any noise; - upon which he
raised him up, after a very obliging manner, and declared that truly he
was worthy to succeed his father. However, he still made no firm determination
in his case; but when he had dismissed those assessors that had been with
him that day, he deliberated by himself about the allegations which he
had heard, whether it were fit to constitute any of those named in the
testaments for Herod's successor, or whether the government should be parted
among all his posterity, and this because of the number of those that seemed
to stand in need of support therefrom.
Ch. 3