1
[
431]
HOWEVER, fortune was avenged on Herod in his external great successes,
by raising him up domestical troubles; and he began to have wild disorders
in his family, on account of his wife, of whom he was so very fond. For
when he came to the government, he sent away her whom he had before married
when he was a private person, and who was born at Jerusalem, whose name
was Doris, and married Mariamne, the daughter of Alexander, the son of
Aristobulus; on whose account disturbances arose in his family, and that
in part very soon, but chiefly after his return from Rome. For, first of
all, he expelled Antipater the son of Doris, for the sake of his sons by
Mariamne, out of the city, and permitted him to come thither at no other
times than at the festivals. After this he slew his wife's grandfather,
Hyrcanus, when he was returned out of Parthin to him, under this pretense,
that he suspected him of plotting against him. Now this Hyrcanus had been
carried captive to Barzapharnes, when he overran Syria; but those of his
own country beyond Euphrates were desirous he would stay with them, and
this out of the commiseration they had for his condition; and had he complied
with their desires, when they exhorted him not to go over the river to
lierod, he had not perished: but the marriage of his granddaughter [to
Herod] was his temptation; for as he relied upon him, and was over-fond
of his own country, he came back to it. Herod's provocation was this, -
not that Hyrcanus made any attempt to gain the kingdom, but that it was
fitter for him to be their king than for Herod.
[
435]
Now of the five children which Herod had by Mariamne, two of them
were daughters, and three were sons; and the youngest of these sons was
educated at Rome, and there died; but the two eldest he treated as those
of royal blood, on account of the nobility of their mother, and because
they were not born till he was king. But then what was stronger than all
this was the love that he bare to Mariamne, and which inflamed him every
day to a great degree, and so far conspired with the other motives, that
he felt no other troubles, on account of her he loved so entirely. But
Mariamne's hatred to him was not inferior to his love to her. She had indeed
but too just a cause of indignation from what he had done, while her boldness
proceeded from his affection to her; so she openly reproached him with
what he had done to her grandfather Hyrcanus, and to her brother Aristobulus;
for he had not spared this Aristobulus, though he were but a child; for
when he had given him the high priesthood at the age of seventeen, he slew
him quickly after he had conferred that dignity upon him; but when Aristobulus
had put on the holy vestments, and had approached to the altar at a festival,
the multitude, in great crowds, fell into tears; whereupon the child was
sent by night to Jericho, and was there dipped by the Galls, at Herod's
command, in a pool till he was drowned.
[
438]
For these reasons Mariamne reproached Herod, and his sister and mother,
after a most contumelious manner, while he was dumb on account of his affection
for her; yet had the women great indignation at her, and raised a calumny
against her, that she was false to his bed; which thing they thought most
likely to move Herod to anger. They also contrived to have many other circumstances
believed, in order to make the thing more credible, and accused her of
having sent her picture into Egypt to Antony, and that her lust was so
extravagant, as to have thus showed herself, though she was absent, to
a man that ran mad after women, and to a man that had it in his power to
use violence to her. This charge fell like a thunderbolt upon Herod, and
put him into disorder; and that especially, because his love to her occasioned
him to be jealous, and because he considered with himself that Cleopatra
was a shrewd woman, and that on her account Lysanias the king was taken
off, as well as Malichus the Arabian; for his fear did not only extend
to the dissolving of his marriage, but to the danger of his life.
[
441]
When therefore he was about to take a journey abroad, he committed
his wife to Joseph, his sister Salome's husband, as to one who would be
faithful to him, and bare him good-will on account of their kindred; he
also gave him a secret injunction, that if Antony slew him, he should slay
her. But Joseph, without any ill design, and only in order to demonstrate
the king's love to his wife, how he could not bear to think of being separated
from her, even by death itself, discovered this grand secret to her; upon
which, when Herod was come back, and as they talked together, and he confirmed
his love to her by many oaths, and assured her that he had never such an
affection for any other woman as he had for her, - " Yes," says
she, "thou didst, to be sure, demonstrate thy love to me by the injunctions
thou gavest Joseph, when thou commandedst him to kill me."
2
[
443]
When he heard that this grand secret was discovered, he was like
a distracted man, and said that Joseph would never have disclosed that
injunction of his, unless he had debauched her. His passion also made him
stark mad, and leaping out of his bed, he ran about the palace after a
wild manner; at which time his sister Salome took the opportunity also
to blast her reputation, and confirmed his suspicion about Joseph; whereupon,
out of his ungovernable jealousy and rage, he commanded both of them to
be slain immediately; but as soon as ever his passion was over, he repented
of what he had done, and as soon as his anger was worn off, his affections
were kindled again. And indeed the flame of his desires for her was so
ardent, that he could not think she was dead, but would appear, under his
disorders, to speak to her as if she were still alive, till he were better
instructed by time, when his grief and trouble, now she was dead, appeared
as great as his affection had been for her while she was living.