Antipater Brought to Court

Now the affairs of Herod’s family fell into greater and greater disorder and weighed ever more heavily on him, because of Salome’s hatred of the young men, which had passed down to them, as it were, by inheritance. As she had fully succeeded against their mother, she went on to such a pitch of madness and presumption as to try to leave none of Mariamne’s offspring alive who might have the power to avenge the death of the woman she had brought to her end. The young men, for their part, had something brazen and resentful in their attitude toward their father, owing to the memory of what their mother had unjustly suffered and to their own desire for power. The old grudge was revived as well. They cast reproaches on Salome and Pheroras, who repaid the young men with malicious schemes and actually laid treacherous snares for them. The hatred was equal on both sides, but the way it was shown was different. The young men were rash: they insulted and affronted the others openly, and were inexperienced enough to think it the noblest course to speak their minds so fearlessly. The others did not take that course. They used slander in a subtle and spiteful way, continually provoking the young men and expecting that their brazenness might in time turn to violence against their father. For since the young men were not ashamed of the supposed crimes of their mother and did not think she had suffered justly, their enemies supposed that this might at last pass all bounds and lead them to think they should take vengeance on their father, even by killing him with their own hands. At length the whole city was full of their talk, and, as usually happens in such contests, the young men’s inexperience was pitied. But Salome’s scheming was too much for them, and the charges she laid against them came to be believed because of their own conduct. For they were so deeply affected by their mother’s death that, since Salome spoke ill both of her and of them, they were eager to show that their mother’s end was pitiable, as indeed it was, and that they too were to be pitied, since they were forced to live with those who had been her murderers and to share their life with them. [a]

These disorders increased greatly, and the king’s absence abroad had given them a fit opportunity to grow. But as soon as Herod had returned and made the speech to the people mentioned above, Pheroras and Salome at once let fall words suggesting that he was in great danger, and that the young men were openly threatening not to spare him any longer but to avenge their mother’s death on him. They added a further detail: that the young men had fixed their hopes on Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, expecting through him to reach Caesar and accuse their father. On hearing such things Herod was at once disturbed, and all the more alarmed because the same things were reported to him by others too. He then called to mind his former calamity, and reflected that the disorders in his family had kept him from enjoying any comfort from those dearest to him, or from the wife he had loved so much. Judging that what had now befallen him was heavier and greater than those earlier troubles, he was in great confusion of mind. For divine Providence had in fact bestowed on him a great many outward advantages for his happiness, even beyond his hopes; but the troubles he had at home were such as he had never expected to meet, and they made him unfortunate. Indeed, both came upon him to a degree no one could imagine, and made it a doubtful question, when the two were compared, whether he ought to have exchanged so great a success in outward things for such misfortunes at home, or whether he ought not rather to have chosen to avoid the calamities of his family, even if in return he had never possessed the admired grandeur of a kingdom. [c]

Disturbed and distressed as he was, and wanting to humble these young men, he brought to court another of his sons, born to him when he was still a private citizen; his name was Antipater. He did not yet indulge him as he did later, when he was completely won over by him and let him do whatever he pleased. Rather, he meant to curb the insolence of Mariamne’s sons and to manage Antipater’s advancement so that it would serve as a warning to them; for he thought their bold behavior would not be so great once they were persuaded that the succession to the kingdom did not belong to them alone or need necessarily come to them. So he brought in Antipater as their rival, imagining that he had made good provision for checking their pride, and that once this had been done to the young men, there might be a proper time to expect them to be better disposed. But the outcome was not what he intended. The young men thought he had done them a very great injury. And Antipater, being a shrewd man, once he had gained this measure of freedom and begun to expect greater things than he had hoped for before, had only one design in his head: to distress his brothers and by no means yield them the first place, but to keep close to his father. Herod was already estranged from them by the slanders he had heard and ready to be worked upon in any way Antipater’s zeal against them might suggest, so that he grew ever more severe toward them. So the reports that were spread abroad did not come from Antipater alone, for he took care not to seem to be the informer himself. He preferred to use as his helpers people who were not suspected and who might be believed to speak the truth because of their goodwill toward the king. There were already not a few who courted Antipater’s friendship in the hope of gaining something by him, and these were the men who most of all persuaded Herod, since they seemed to speak out of goodwill to him. And while these joint accusations, coming from different sources, supported one another’s credibility, the young men themselves gave Antipater further openings. They were often seen weeping over the injury done to them, and they had their mother’s name constantly on their lips, and among their friends they ventured to reproach their father for not treating them justly. Antipater maliciously stored all this up in his memory against a suitable opportunity; and when it was told to Herod, with additions, it increased the disorder so much that it brought great turmoil into the family. For while the king was very angry at the charges laid against Mariamne’s sons and wanted to humble them, he kept increasing the honor he had given Antipater, and was at last so won over by his persuasions that he brought Antipater’s mother to court as well. He also wrote frequently to Caesar in his favor and recommended him particularly and earnestly to his care. And when Agrippa was returning to Rome after finishing his ten years’ government in Asia, Herod sailed from Judea; and when he met him, he had no one with him but Antipater, whom he handed over to Agrippa to take with him, together with many presents, so that he might become Caesar’s friend. Things already looked as though Antipater had all his father’s favor, and the young men were wholly cut off from any hope of the kingdom. [e]