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The Antiquities of the Jews

F >> Flavius Josephus >> The Antiquities of the Jews




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, Mariarune, 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 ason 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.

CHAPTER 6.

Of The Navigation Of King Agrippa To Rome, To Tiberius Caesar;
And Now Upon His Being Accused By His Own Freed-Man, He Was
Bound; How Also He, Was Set At Liberty By Caius, After Tiberius's
Death And Was Made King Of The Tetrarchy Of Philip.

1. A Little before the death of Herod the king, Agrippa lived at
Rome, and was generally brought up and conversed with Drusus, the
emperor Tiberius's son, and contracted a friendship with Antonia,
the wife of Drusus the Great, who had his mother Bernice in great
esteem, and was very desirous of advancing her son. Now as
Agrippa was by nature magnanimous and generous in the presents he
made, while his mother was alive, this inclination of his mind
did not appear, that he might be able to avoid her anger for such
his extravagance; but when Bernice was dead, and he was left to
his own conduct, he spent a great deal extravagantly in his daily
way of living, and a great deal in the immoderate presents he
made, and those chiefly among Caesar's freed-men, in order to
gain their assistance, insomuch that he was, in a little time,
reduced to poverty, and could not live at Rome any longer.
Tiberius also forbade the friends of his deceased son to come
into his sight, because on seeing them he should be put in mind
of his son, and his grief would thereby be revived.

2. For these reasons he went away from Rome, and sailed to Judea,
but in evil circumstances, being dejected with the loss of that
money which he once had, and because he had not wherewithal to
pay his creditors, who were many in number, and such as gave him
no room for escaping them. Whereupon he knew not what to do; so,
for shame of his present condition, he retired to a certain
tower, at Malatha, in Idumea, and had thoughts of killing
himself; but his wife Cypros perceived his intentions, and tried
all sorts of methods to divert him from his taking such a course;
so she sent a letter to his sister Herodias, who was now the wife
of Herod the tetrarch, and let her know Agrippa's present design,
and what necessity it was which drove him thereto, and desired
her, as a kinswoman of his, to give him her help, and to engage
her husband to do the same, since she saw how she alleviated
these her husband's troubles all she could, although she had not
the like wealth to do it withal. So they sent for him, and
allotted him Tiberias for his habitation, and appointed him some
income of money for his maintenance, and made him a magistrate of
that city, by way of honor to him. Yet did not Herod long
continue in that resolution of supporting him, though even that
support was not sufficient for him; for as once they were at a
feast at Tyre, and in their cups, and reproaches were cast upon
one another, Agrippa thought that was not to be borne, while
Herod hit him in the teeth with his poverty, and with his owing
his necessary food to him. So he went to Flaccus, one that had
been consul, and had been a very great friend to him at Rome
formerly, and was now president of Syria.

3. Hereupon Flaccus received him kindly, and he lived with him.
Flaccus had also with him there Aristobulus, who was indeed
Agrippa's brother, but was at variance with him; yet did not
their enmity to one another hinder the friendship of Flaccus to
them both, but still they were honorably treated by him. However,
Aristobulus did not abate of his ill-will to Agrippa, till at
length he brought him into ill terms with Flaccus; the occasion
of bringing on which estrangement was this: The Damascens were at
difference with the Sidonians about their limits, and when
Flaccus was about to hear the cause between them, they understood
that Agrippa had a mighty influence upon him; so they desired
that he would be of their side, and for that favor promised him a
great deal of money; so he was zealous in assisting the Damascens
as far as he was able. Now Aristobulus had gotten intelligence of
this promise of money to him, and accused him to Flaccus of the
same; and when, upon a thorough examination of the matter, it
appeared plainly so to be, he rejected Agrippa out of the number
of his friends. So he was reduced to the utmost necessity, and
came to Ptolemais; and because he knew not where else to get a
livelihood, he thought to sail to Italy; but as he was restrained
from so doing by want of money, he desired Marsyas, who was his
freed-man, to find some method for procuring him so much as he
wanted for that purpose, by borrowing such a sum of some person
or other. So Marsyas desired of Peter, who was the freed-man of
Bernice, Agrippa's mother, and by the right of her testament was
bequeathed to Antonia, to lend so much upon Agrippa's own bond
and security; but he accused Agrippa of having defrauded him of
certain sums of money, and so obliged Marsyas, when he made the
bond of twenty thousand Attic drachmae, to accept of twenty-five
hundred drachma as (18) less than what he desired, which the
other allowed of, because he could not help it. Upon the receipt
of this money, Agrippa came to Anthedon, and took shipping, and
was going to set sail; but Herennius Capito, who was the
procurator of Jamhis, sent a band of soldiers to demand of him
three hundred thousand drachmae of silver, which were by him
owing to Caesar's treasury while he was at Rome, and so forced
him to stay. He then pretended that he would do as he bid him;
but when night came on, he cut his cables, and went off, and
sailed to Alexandria, where he desired Alexander the alabarch
(19) to lend him two hundred thousand drachmae; but he said he
would not lend it to him, but would not refuse it to Cypros, as
greatly astonished at her affection to her husband, and at the
other instances of her virtue; so she undertook to repay it.
Accordingly, Alexander paid them five talents at Alexandria, and
promised to pay them the rest of that sum at Dicearchia
[Puteoli]; and this he did out of the fear he was in that Agrippa
would soon spend it. So this Cypros set her husband free, and
dismissed him to go on with his navigation to Italy, while she
and her children departed for Judea.

4. And now Agrippa was come to Puteoli, whence he wrote a letter
to Tiberius Caesar, who then lived at Capreae, and told him that
he was come so far in order to wait on him, and to pay him a
visit; and desired that he would give him leave to come over to
Caprein: so Tiberius made no difficulty, but wrote to him in an
obliging way in other respects; and withal told him he was glad
of his safe return, and desired him to come to Capreae; and when
he was come, he did not fail to treat him as kindly as he had
promised him in his letter to do. But the next day came a letter
to Caesar from Herennius Capito, to inform him that Agrippa had
borrowed three hundred thousand drachmae, and not pad it at the
time appointed; but when it was demanded of him, he ran away like
a fugitive, out of the places under his government, and put it
out of his power to get the money of him. When Caesar had read
this letter, he was much troubled at it, and gave order that
Agrippa should be excluded from his presence until he had paid
that debt: upon which he was no way daunted at Caesar's anger,
but entreated Antonia, the mother of Germanicus, and of Claudius,
who was afterward Caesar himself, to lend him those three hundred
thousand drachmae, that he might not be deprived of Tiberius's
friendship; so, out of regard to the memory of Bernice his
mother, (for those two women were very familiar with one
another,) and out of regard to his and Claudius's education
together, she lent him the money; and, upon the payment of this
debt, there was nothing to hinder Tiberius's friendship to him.
After this, Tiberius Caesar recommended to him his grandson, (20)
and ordered that he should always accompany him when he went
abroad. But upon Agrippa's kind reception by Antonia, he betook
him to pay his respects to Caius, who was her grandson, and in
very high reputation by reason of the good-will they bare his
father. Now there was one Thallus, a freed-man of Caesar, of whom
he borrowed a million of drachmae, and thence repaid Antonia the
debt he owed her; and by sending the overplus in paying his court
to Caius, became a person of great authority with him.

5. Now as the friendship which Agrippa had for Caius was come to
a great height, there happened some words to pass between them,
as they once were in a chariot together, concerning Tiberius;
Agrippa praying [to God] (for they two sat by themselves) that
Tiberius might soon go off the stage, and leave the government to
Caius, who was in every respect more worthy of it. Now Eutychus,
who was Agrippa's freed-man, and drove his chariot, heard these
words, and at that time said nothing of them; but when Agrippa
accused him of stealing some garments of his, (which was
certainly true,) he ran away from him; but when he was caught,
and brought before Piso, who was governor of the city, and the
man was asked why he ran away, he replied, that he had somewhat
to say to Caesar, that tended to his security and preservation:
so Piso bound him, and sent him to Capreae. But Tiberius,
according to his usual custom, kept him still in bonds, being a
delayer of affairs, if ever there was any other king or tyrant
that was so; for he did not admit ambassadors quickly, and no
successors were despatched away to governors or procurators of
the provinces that had been formerly sent, unless they were dead;
whence it was that he was so negligent in hearing the causes of
prisoners; insomuch that when he was asked by his friends what
was the reason of his delay in such cases, he said that he
delayed to hear ambassadors, lest, upon their quick dismission,
other ambassadors should be appointed, and return upon him; and
so he should bring trouble upon himself in their public reception
and dismission: that he permitted those governors who had been
sent once to their government [to stay there a long while], out
of regard to the subjects that were under them; for that all
governors are naturally disposed to get as much as they can; and
that those who are not to fix there, but to stay a short time,
and that at an uncertainty when they shall be turned out, do the
more severely hurry themselves on to fleece the people; but that
if their government be long continued to them; they are at last
satiated with the spoils, as having gotten a vast deal, and so
become at length less sharp in their pillaging; but that if
successors are sent quickly, the poor subjects, who are exposed
to them as a prey, will not be able to bear the new ones, while
they shall not have the same time allowed them wherein their
predecessors had filled themselves, and so grew more unconcerned
about getting more; and this because they are removed before they
have had time [for their oppressions]. He gave them an example to
show his meaning: A great number of flies came about the sore
places of a man that had been wounded; upon which one of the
standers-by pitied the man's misfortune, and thinking he was not
able to drive those flies away himself, was going to drive them
away for him; but he prayed him to let them alone: the other, by
way of reply, asked him the reason of such a preposterous
proceeding, in preventing relief from his present misery; to
which he answered, "If thou drivest these flies away, thou wilt
hurt me worse; for as these are already full of my blood, they do
not crowd about me, nor pain me so much as before, but are
somewhat more remiss, while the fresh ones that come almost
famished, and find me quite tired down already, will be my
destruction. For this cause, therefore, it is that I am myself
careful not to send such new governors perpetually to those my
subjects, who are already sufficiently harassed by many
oppressions, as may, like these flies, further distress them; and
so, besides their natural desire of gain, may have this
additional incitement to it, that they expect to be suddenly
deprived of that pleasure which they take in it." And, as a
further attestation to what I say of the dilatory nature of
Tiberius, I appeal to this his practice itself; for although he
was emperor twenty-two years, he sent in all but two procurators
to govern the nation of the Jews, Gratus, and his successor in
the government, Pilate. Nor was he in one way of acting with
respect to the Jews, and in another with respect to the rest of
his subjects. He further informed them, that even in the hearing
of the causes of prisoners, he made such delays, because
immediate death to those that must be condemned to die would be
an alleviation of their present miseries, while those wicked
wretches have not deserved any such favor; "but I do it, that, by
being harassed with the present calamity, they may undergo
greater misery."

6. On this account it was that Eutychus could not obtain a
bearing, but was kept still in prison. However, some time
afterward, Tiberius came from Capreae to Tusculanum, which is
about a hundred furlongs from Rome. Agrippa then desired of
Antonia that she would procure a hearing for Eutychus, let the
matter whereof he accused him prove what it would. Now Antonia
was greatly esteemed by Tiberius on all accounts, from the
dignity of her relation to him, who had been his brother Drusus's
wife, and from her eminent chastity; (21) for though she was
still a young woman, she continued in her widowhood, and refused
all other matches, although Augustus had enjoined her to be
married to somebody else; yet did she all along preserve her
reputation free from reproach. She had also been the greatest
benefactress to Tiberius, when there was a very dangerous plot
laid against him by Sejanus, a man who had been her husband's
friend, and wire had the greatest authority, because he was
general of the army, and when many members of the senate and many
of the freed-men joined with him, and the soldiery was corrupted,
and the plot was come to a great height. Now Sejanus had
certainly gained his point, had not Antonia's boldness been more
wisely conducted than Sejanus's malice; for when she had
discovered his designs against Tiberius, she wrote him an exact
account of the whole, and gave the letter to Pallas, the most
faithful of her servants, and sent him to Caprere to Tiberius,
who, when he understood it, slew Sejanus and his confederates; so
that Tiberius, who had her in great esteem before, now looked
upon her with still greater respect, and depended upon her in all
things. So when Tiberius was desired by this Antonia to examine
Eutychus, he answered, "If indeed Eutychus hath falsely accused
Agrippa in what he hath said of him, he hath had sufficient
punishment by what I have done to him already; but if, upon
examination, the accusation appears to be true, let Agrippa have
a care, lest, out of desire of punishing his freed-man, he do not
rather bring a punishment upon himself." Now when Antonia told
Agrippa of this, he was still much more pressing that the matter
might be examined into; so Antonia, upon Agrippa's lying hard at
her continually to beg this favor, took the following
opportunity: As Tiberius lay once at his ease upon his sedan, and
was carried about, and Caius, her grandson, and Agrippa, were
before him after dinner she walked by the sedan, and desired him
to call Eutychus, and have him examined; to which he replied, "O
Antonia! the gods are my witnesses that I am induced to do what I
am going to do, not by my own inclination, but because I am
forced to it by thy prayers." When he had said this, he ordered
Macro, who succeeded Sejanus, to bring Eutychus to him;
accordingly, without any delay, he was brought. Then Tiberius
asked him what he had to say against a man who had given him his
liberty. Upon which he said, "O my lord! this Caius, and Agrippa
with him, were once riding in a chariot, when I sat at their
feet, and, among other discourses that passed, Agrippa said to
Caius, Oh that the day would once come when this old fellow will
dies and name thee for the governor of the habitable earth! for
then this Tiberius, his grandson, would be no hinderance, but
would be taken off by thee, and that earth would be happy, and I
happy also." Now Tiberius took these to be truly Agrippa's words,
and bearing a grudge withal at Agrippa, because, when he had
commanded him to pay his respects to Tiberius, his grandson, and
the son of Drusus, Agrippa had not paid him that respect, but had
disobeyed his commands, and transferred all his regard to Caius;
he said to Macro, "Bind this man." But Macro, not distinctly
knowing which of them it was whom he bid him bind, and not
expecting that he would have any such thing done to Agrippa, he
forbore, and came to ask more distinctly what it was that he
said. But when Caesar had gone round the hippodrome, he found
Agrippa standing: "For certain," said he, "Macro, this is the man
I meant to have bound;" and when he still asked, "Which of these
is to be bound?" he said "Agrippa." Upon which Agrippa betook
himself to make supplication for himself, putting him in mind of
his son, with whom he was brought up, and of Tiberius [his
grandson] whom he had educated; but all to no purpose; for they
led him about bound even in his purple garments. It was also very
hot weather, and they had but little wine to their meal, so that
he was very thirsty; he was also in a sort of agony, and took
this treatment of him heinously: as he therefore saw one of
Caius's slaves, whose name was Thaumastus, carrying some water in
a vessel, he desired that he would let him drink; so the servant
gave him some water to drink, and he drank heartily, and said, "O
thou boy! this service of thine to me will be for thy advantage;
for if I once get clear of these my bonds, I will soon procure
thee thy freedom of Caius who has not been wanting to minister to
me now I am in bonds, in the same manner as when I was in my
former state and dignity." Nor did he deceive him in what he
promised him, but made him amends for what he had now done; for
when afterward Agrippa was come to the kingdom, he took
particular care of Thaumastus, and got him his liberty from
Caius, and made him the steward over his own estate; and when he
died, he left him to Agrippa his son, and to Bernice his
daughter, to minister to them in the same capacity. The man also
grew old in that honorable post, and therein died. But all this
happened a good while later.

7. Now Agrippa stood in his bonds before the royal palace, and
leaned on a certain tree for grief, with many others, who were
in bonds also; and as a certain bird sat upon the tree on which
Agrippa leaned, (the Romans call this bird bubo,) [an owl,] one
of those that were bound, a German by nation, saw him, and asked
a soldier who that man in purple was; and when he was informed
that his name was Agrippa, and that he was by nation a Jew, and
one of the principal men of that nation, he asked leave of the
soldier to whom he was bound, (22) to let him come nearer to him,
to speak with him; for that he had a mind to inquire of him about
some things relating to his country; which liberty, when he had
obtained, and as he stood near him, he said thus to him by an
interpreter: "This sudden change of thy condition, O young man!
is grievous to thee, as bringing on thee a manifold and very
great adversity; nor wilt thou believe me, when I foretell how
thou wilt get clear of this misery which thou art now under, and
how Divine Providence will provide for thee. Know therefore (and
I appeal to my own country gods, as well as to the gods of this
place, who have awarded these bonds to us) that all I am going to
say about thy concerns shall neither be said for favor nor
bribery, nor out of an endeavor to make thee cheerful without
cause; for such predictions, when they come to fail, make the
grief at last, and in earnest, more bitter than if the party had
never heard of any such thing. However, though I run the hazard
of my own self, I think it fit to declare to thee the prediction
of the gods. It cannot be that thou shouldst long continue in
these bonds; but thou wilt soon be delivered from them, and wilt
be promoted to the highest dignity and power, and thou wilt be
envied by all those who now pity thy hard fortune; and thou wilt
be happy till thy death, and wilt leave thine happiness to the
children whom thou shalt have. But do thou remember, when thou
seest this bird again, that thou wilt then live but five days
longer. This event will be brought to pass by that God who hath
sent this bird hither to be a sign unto thee. And I cannot but
think it unjust to conceal from thee what I foreknow concerning
thee, that, by thy knowing beforehand what happiness is coming
upon thee, thou mayst not regard thy present misfortunes. But
when this happiness shall actually befall thee, do not forget
what misery I am in myself, but endeavor to deliver me." So when
the German had said this, he made Agrippa laugh at him as much as
he afterwards appeared worthy of admiration. But now Antonia took
Agrippa's misfortune to heart: however, to speak to Tiberius on
his behalf, she took to be a very difficult thing, and indeed
quite impracticable, as to any hope of success; yet did she
procure of Macro, that the soldiers that kept him should be of a
gentle nature, and that the centurion who was over them and was
to diet with him, should be of the same disposition, and that he
might have leave to bathe himself every day, and that his
freed-men and friends might come to him, and that other things
that tended to ease him might be indulged him. So his friend
Silas came in to him, and two of his freed-men, Marsyas and
Stechus, brought him such sorts of food as he was fond of, and
indeed took great care of him; they also brought him garments,
under pretense of selling them; and when night came on, they laid
them under him; and the soldiers assisted them, as Macro had
given them order to do beforehand. And this was Agrippa's
condition for six months' time, and in this case were his
affairs.

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