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[284]
When they had taken this resolution, and that by common consent,
they went into the theater, hoping that, in the first place, Herod himself
could not escape them, as they should fall upon him so unexpectedly; and
supposing, however, that if they missed him, they should kill a great many
of those that were about him; and this resolution they took, though they
should die for it, in order to suggest to the king what injuries he had
done to the multitude. These conspirators, therefore, standing thus prepared
beforehand, went about their design with great alacrity; but there was
one of those spies of Herod, that were appointed for such purposes, to
fish out and inform him of any conspiracies that should be made against
him, who found out the whole affair, and told the king of it, as he was
about to go into the theater. So when he reflected on the hatred which
he knew the greatest part of the people bore him, and on the disturbances
that arose upon every occasion, he thought this plot against him not to
be improbable. Accordingly, he retired into his palace, and called those
that were accused of this conspiracy before him by their several names;
and as, upon the guards falling upon them, they were caught in the very
fact, and knew they could not escape, they prepared themselves for their
ends with all the decency they could, and so as not at all to recede from
their resolute behavior, for they showed no shame for what they were about,
nor denied it; but when they were seized, they showed their daggers, and
professed that the conspiracy they had sworn to was a holy and pious action;
that what they intended to do was not for gain, or out of any indulgence
to their passions, but principally for those common customs of their country,
which all the Jews were obliged to observe, or to die for them. This was
what these men said, out of their undaunted courage in this conspiracy.
So they were led away to execution by the king's guards that stood about
them, and patiently underwent all the torments inflicted on them till they
died. Nor was it long before that spy who had discovered them was seized
on by some of the people, out of the hatred they bore to him; and was not
only slain by them, but pulled to pieces, limb from limb, and given to
the dogs. This execution was seen by many of the citizens, yet would not
one of them discover the doers of it, till upon Herod's making a strict
scrutiny after them, by bitter and severe tortures, certain women that
were tortured confessed what they had seen done; the authors of which fact
were so terribly punished by the king, that their entire families were
destroyed for this their rash attempt; yet did not the obstinacy of the
people, and that undaunted constancy they showed in the defense of their
laws, make Herod any easier to them, but he still strengthened himself
after a more secure manner, and resolved to encompass the multitude every
way, lest such innovations should end in an open rebellion.
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