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[314]
But Aristobulus repented immediately of this slaughter of his brother;
on which account his disease increased upon him, and he was disturbed in
his mind, upon the guilt of such wickedness, insomuch that his entrails
were corrupted by his intolerable pain, and he vomited blood: at which
time one of the servants that attended upon him, and was carrying his blood
away, did, by Divine Providence, as I cannot but suppose, slip down, and
shed part of his blood at the very place where there were spots of Antigonus's
blood, there slain, still remaining; and when there was a cry made by the
spectators, as if the servant had on purpose shed the blood on that place,
Aristobulus heard it, and inquired what the matter was; and as they did
not answer him, he was the more earnest to know what it was, it being natural
to men to suspect that what is thus concealed is very bad: so upon his
threatening, and forcing them by terrors to speak, they at length told
him the truth; whereupon he shed many tears, in that disorder of mind which
arose from his consciousness of what he had done, and gave a deep groan,
and said, "I am not therefore, I perceive, to be concealed from God,
in the impious and horrid crimes I have been guilty of; but a sudden punishment
is coming upon me for the shedding the blood of my relations. And now,
O thou most impudent body of mine, how long wilt thou retain a soul that
ought to die, in order to appease the ghosts of my brother and my mother?
Why dost thou not give it all up at once? And why do I deliver up my blood
drop by drop to those whom I have so wickedly murdered?" In saying
which last words he died, having reigned a year. He was called a lover
of the Grecians; and had conferred many benefits on his own country, and
made war against Iturea, and added a great part of it to Judea, and compelled
the inhabitants, if they would continue in that country, to be circumcised,
and to live according to the Jewish laws. He was naturally a man of candor,
and of great modesty, as Strabo bears witness, in the name of Timagenes;
who says thus: "This man was a person of candor, and very serviceable
to the Jews; for he added a country to them, and obtained a part of the
nation of the Itureans for them, and bound them to them by the bond of
the circumcision of their genitals."
1
1 HOW ALEXANDER WHEN HE HAD TAKEN THE GOVERNMENT MADE AN EXPEDITION AGAINST PTOLEMAIS, AND THEN RAISED THE SIEGE OUT OF FEAR OF PTOLEMY LATHYRUS; AND HOW PTOLEMY MADE WAR AGAINST HIM, BECAUSE HE HAD SENT TO CLEOPATRA TO PERSUADE HER TO MAKE WAR AGAINST PTOLEMY, AND YET PRETENDED TO BE IN FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM, WHEN HE BEAT THE JEWS IN THE BATTLE.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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