58. BOOK II, CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI.
The Jews greatly complain of Archelaus, and desire that they may be made subject to Roman governors. But when Cæsar had heard what they had to say, he distributed Herod's dominions among his sons according to his own pleasure.
1. BUT now came another accusation from the Jews against Archelaus at Rome, which he was to answer to. It was made by those ambassadors, who before the revolt, had come, by Varus' permission, to plead for the liberty of their country; those that came were fifty in number, but there were more than eight thousand of the Jews at Rome who supported them. And when Cæsar had assembled a council of the principal Romans in Apollo's temple, that was in
¹ This holding a council in the temple of Apollo, in the emperor's palace at Rome, by Augustus, and even the building of this temple the palace, (this was what he had himself built and adorned, at a vast expense,) the multitude of the Jews stood with the ambassadors, and on the other side stood Archelaus, with his friends; but as for the kindred of Archelaus, they stood on neither side; for to stand on Archelaus' side, their hatred to him, and envy at him, would not give them leave, while yet they were afraid to be seen by Cæsar with his accusers. Besides these, there were present Archelaus' brother Philip, being sent thither beforehand out of kindness by Varus, for two reasons: the one was this, that he might be assisting to Archelaus, and the other was this, that in case Cæsar should make a distribution of what Herod possessed among his posterity, he might obtain some share of it.
2. And now, upon the permission that was given the accusers to speak, they in the first place, went over Herod's breaches of their law, and said, "that he was not a king, but the most barbarous of all tyrants, and that they had found him to be such by the sufferings they underwent from him; that when a very great number had been slain by him, those that were left had endured such miseries, that they called those that were dead happy men; that he had not only tortured the bodies of his subjects, but entire cities, and had done much harm to the cities of his own country, while he adorned those that belonged to foreigners, and he shed the blood of Jews, in order to do kindness to those people that were out of their bounds; that he had filled the nation full of poverty, and of the greatest iniquity, instead of that happiness, and those laws which they had anciently enjoyed; that, in short, the Jews had borne more calamities magnificently by himself in that palace, are exactly agreeable to Augustus, in his elder years, as Aldrich and Spanheim observe and prove, from Suetonius and Propertius.
from Herod, in a few years, than had their forefathers during all that interval of time that had passed since they had come out of Babylon, and returned home, in the reign of Xerxes: that, however, the nation was come to so low a condition, by being inured to hardships, that they submitted to his successor of their own accord, though he brought them into bitter slavery: that accordingly they readily called Archelaus, though he was the son of so great a tyrant, king, after the decease of his father, and joined with him in mourning for the death of Herod, and in wishing him good success in that his succession; while yet this Archelaus, lest he should be in danger of not being thought the genuine son of Herod, began his reign with the murder of three thousand citizens; as if he had a mind to offer so many bloody sacrifices to God for his government, and to fill the temple with the like number of dead bodies at the festival: that, however, those that were left after so many miseries, had just reason to consider now at last the calamities they had undergone, and to oppose themselves, like soldiers in war, to receive those stripes upon their faces, [but not upon their backs, as hitherto.] Whereupon they prayed that the Romans would have compassion upon the [poor] remains of Judea, and not expose what was left of them to such as barbarously tore them to pieces, and that they would join their country to Syria, and administer the government by their own commanders, whereby it would [soon] be demonstrated that those who are under the calumny of seditious persons, and lovers of war, know how to bear governors that are set over them, if they be but tolerable ones." So the
¹ Here we have a strong confirmation that it was Xerxes and not Artaxerxes, under whom the main part of the Jews returned out of the Babylonian captivity, i.e. in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The same thing is in the Antiquities, B. XI. ch. v. sect. I, Vol. II.
Jews concluded their accusation with this request. Then rose up Nicolaus, and confuted the accusations which were brought against the kings, and himself accused the Jewish nation, as hard to be ruled, and as naturally disobedient to kings. He also reproached all those kinsmen of Archelaus' who had left him, and were gone over to his accusers.
3. So Caesar, after he had heard both sides, dissolved the assembly for that time, but a few days afterward, he gave the one half of Herod's kingdom to Archelaus, by the name of Ethnarch, and promised to make him king also afterward, if he rendered himself worthy of that dignity. But as to the other half, he divided it into two tetrarchies, and gave them to two other sons of Herod, the one of them to Philip, and the other to that Antipas who contested the kingdom with Archelaus. Under this last was Perea, and Galilee, with a revenue of two hundred talents: but Batanea, and Trachonitis, and Auranitis, and certain parts of Zeno's house about Jannia, with a revenue of a hundred talents, were made subject to Philip; while Idumea, and all Judea, and Samaria, were parts of the ethnarchy of Archelaus, although Samaria was eased of one quarter of its taxes, out of regard to their not having revolted with the rest of the nation. He also made subject to him the following cities, viz. Strato's Tower, and Sebaste, and Joppa, and Jerusalem; but as to the Grecian cities, Gaza, and Gadara, and Hippos, he cut them off from the kingdom, and added them to Syria. Now the revenue of the country that was given to Archelaus, was four hundred talents. Salome also, besides what the king had left her in his testaments, was now made mistress of Jannia, and Ashdod, and Phasaelis. Caesar did moreover bestow upon her the royal palace of Ascalon; by all which she got to-
CM KEIS.
(GADARA.)
The architectural remains embraced in this view demand some attention. They mark, as it is believed, the site of Gadara, a place very frequently mentioned by Josephus. They occur at a spot bearing S.E. by E. from the southern extremity of the Sea of Galilee, at the distance of about six miles from its borders, and very near to a bend of the Yarmak—the principal tributary of the Jordan—being a confluence, collecting the streams that drain the East Country, or Bashan, far and wide.
In the plate before us the direction of sight is nearly east. The reader is referred to a passage from the Journal of Irby and Mangles distinctly describing the objects which are presented in this plate. The "street" there mentioned is here seen in front, and on the face of its dislocated pavement it exhibits the tracks of wheels which, nineteen centuries ago, rumbled through the crowded ways of a populous city. On either side of this pavement the fallen columns show where stood its temples, halls, and palaces. Similar remains of the architectural magnificence of the place are scattered over the uneven surface around, far and wide.
Josephus tells us, Book III, c. 7, that Vespasian not only abandoned the inhabitants to an indiscriminate slaughter; but overthrew the city itself. That it was however afterwards restored appears from the fact of its having long held an important rank among the metropolitan cities of Syria, after the establishment of Christianity. Some confusion, however, attaches to the historical notices of this place, from the circumstance that there were one or two other cities of Palestine of the same name.
gether a revenue of sixty talents; but he put her house under the ethnarchy of Archelaus. And for the rest of Herod's offspring, they received what was bequeathed to them in his testaments; but besides that, Casar granted to Herod's two virgin daughters five hundred thousand [drachmae] of silver, and gave them in marriage to the sons of Pheroras: but after this family distribution, he gave between them what had been bequeathed to him by Herod, which was a thousand talents, reserving to himself only some inconsiderable presents in honour of the deceased.