1.175
But now as Gabinius was marching to the war against the Parthians,
he was hindered by Ptolemy, whom, upon his return from Euphrates, he brought
back into Egypt, making use of Hyrcanus and Antipater to provide every
thing that was necessary for this expedition; for Antipater furnished him
with money, and weapons, and corn, and auxiliaries; he also prevailed with
the Jews that were there, and guarded the avenues at Pelusium, to let them
pass. But now, upon Gabinius's absence, the other part of Syria was in
motion, and Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, brought the Jews to revolt
again. Accordingly, he got together a very great army, and set about killing
all the Romans that were in the country; hereupon Gabinius was afraid,
(for he was come back already out of Egypt, and obliged to come back quickly
by these tumults,) and sent Antipater, who prevailed with some of the revolters
to be quiet. However, thirty thousand still continued with Alexander, who
was himself eager to fight also; accordingly, Gabinius went out to fight,
when the Jews met him; and as the battle was fought near Mount Tabor, ten
thousand of them were slain, and the rest of the multitude dispersed themselves,
and fled away. So Gabinius came to Jerusalem, and settled the government
as Antipater would have it; thence he marched, and fought and beat the
Nabateans: as for Mithridates and Orsanes, who fled out of Parthin, he
sent them away privately, but gave it out among the soldiers that they
had run away.
1.179
In the mean time, Crassus came as successor to Gabinius in Syria.
He took away all the rest of the gold belonging to the temple of Jerusalem,
in order to furnish himself for his expedition against the Parthians. He
also took away the two thousand talents which Pompey had not touched; but
when he had passed over Euphrates, he perished himself, and his army with
him; concerning which affairs this is not a proper time to speak [more
largely].
1.180
But now Cassius, after Crassus, put a stop to the Parthians, who
were marching in order to enter Syria. Cassius had fled into that province,
and when he had taken possession of the same, he made a hasty march into
Judea; and, upon his taking Taricheae, he carried thirty thousand Jews
into slavery. He also slew Pitholaus, who had supported the seditious followers
of Aristobulus; and it was Antipater who advised him so to do. Now this
Antipater married a wife of an eminent family among the Arabisus, whose
name was Cypros, and had four sons born to him by her, Phasaelus and Herod,
who was afterwards king, and, besides these, Joseph and Pheroras; and he
had a daughter whose name was Salome. Now as he made himself friends among
the men of power every where, by the kind offices he did them, and the
hospitable manner that he treated them; so did he contract the greatest
friendship with the king of Arabia, by marrying his relation; insomuch
that when he made war with Aristobulus, he sent and intrusted his children
with him. So when Cassius had forced Alexander to come to terms and to
be quiet, he returned to Euphrates, in order to prevent the Parthians from
repassing it; concerning which matter we shall speak elsewhere. note
note
1.183
NOW, upon the flight of Pompey and of the senate beyond the Ionian
Sea, Caesar got Rome and the empire under his power, and released Aristobulus
from his bonds. He also committed two legions to him, and sent him in haste
into Syria, as hoping that by his means he should easily conquer that country,
and the parts adjoining to Judea. But envy prevented any effect of Aristobulus's
alacrity, and the hopes of Caesar; for he was taken off by poison given
him by those of Pompey's party; and, for a long while, he had not so much
as a burial vouchsafed him in his own country; but his dead body lay [above
ground], preserved in honey, until it was sent to the Jews by Antony, in
order to be buried in the royal sepulchers.
1.185
His son Alexander also was beheaded by Sci-pio at Antioch, and that
by the command of Pompey, and upon an accusation laid against him before
his tribunal, for the mischiefs he had done to the Romans. But Ptolemy,
the son of Menneus, who was then ruler of Chalcis, under Libanus, took
his brethren to him by sending his son Philippio for them to Ascalon, who
took Antigonus, as well as his sisters, away from Aristobulus's wife, and
brought them to his father; and falling in love with the younger daughter,
he married her, and was afterwards slain by his father on her account;
for Ptolemy himself, after he had slain his son, married her, whose name
was Alexandra; on the account of which marriage he took the greater care
of her brother and sister.
