The Opening of David’s Tomb

As for Herod, he had spent vast sums on the cities, both outside and inside his own kingdom. He had heard earlier that Hyrcanus, who had been king before him, had opened David’s tomb and taken three thousand talents of silver out of it, and that a far greater amount was left behind, enough indeed to meet all his needs. He had long intended to make the attempt, and at this time he opened the tomb by night and went in. He tried to keep it from being known at all in the city, and took only his most trusted friends with him. He found no money laid up, as Hyrcanus had, but only the gold furnishings and the precious goods stored there, and all of these he took away. Still, he greatly wanted to make a more thorough search and to go farther in, even as far as the very bodies of David and Solomon. There, as the report went, two of his guards were killed by a flame that burst out on those who went in. He was terribly frightened and went out, and to atone for the fright he had had, he built a monument of white stone at the mouth of the tomb, and that at great expense too. Even Nicolaus, his historian, mentions this monument Herod built, but he does not mention his going down into the tomb, knowing that the deed was disreputable; and he treats many other things in his book the same way. For he wrote in Herod’s lifetime and under his reign, to please him and as his servant, touching on nothing but what tended to his glory, openly excusing many of his notorious crimes and very carefully concealing them. Wishing to put a fair face on the deaths of Mariamne and her sons, which were barbarous acts of the king, he tells falsehoods about Mariamne’s unchastity and about treacherous plots of the sons against their father. So he went on through his whole work, praising extravagantly whatever just acts Herod had done and earnestly making excuses for his unjust ones. Indeed, as I said, a good deal may be said in excuse for Nicolaus, for he wrote not so much a history for others as something to serve the king himself. As for me, I come of a family closely related to the Hasmonean kings, and for that reason hold an honored place, the priesthood. I think it improper to say anything false about them, and accordingly I have described their actions honestly and uprightly. And although I revere many of Herod’s descendants who still reign, I pay greater regard to the truth than to them, even though it sometimes happens that I incur their displeasure by doing so. [a]

Indeed, Herod’s troubles in his family seemed to grow worse because of this attempt he made on David’s tomb. Perhaps divine vengeance increased the calamities he was under so as to make them incurable; or perhaps fortune attacked him at such a moment that the timing made people firmly believe the calamities had come on him for his impiety. At any rate, the turmoil in his palace was like a civil war, and their hatred of one another was such that each strove to outdo the other in slanders. Antipater, meanwhile, was constantly using stratagems against his brothers, and very cunningly. Through others he heaped accusations on them, while he himself often took the part of their defender, so that this apparent goodwill toward them would make him believed and further his schemes against them. By these various means he got around his father, who came to believe that he alone did everything for his safety. Herod also commended Ptolemy, who was the chief manager of the affairs of his kingdom, to Antipater, and he consulted with Antipater’s mother about pressing affairs as well. These were all in all: they did what they pleased, and turned the king against any others as they thought it would serve their own advantage. But the sons of Mariamne were in a worse and worse state. They were thrust aside and set in a more dishonored rank, though by birth they were the noblest, and they could not bear the disgrace. As for the women, Glaphyra, Alexander’s wife and the daughter of Archelaus, hated Salome, both because of her love for her husband and because Glaphyra seemed to behave rather haughtily toward Salome’s daughter, the wife of Aristobulus, whose equality with herself Glaphyra took very ill. [d]

Besides this second quarrel that had arisen among them, the king’s brother Pheroras did not keep himself out of trouble either, but supplied his own particular ground for suspicion and hatred. He had fallen in love with a woman who was his slave, and was so mastered by her, to the point of madness, that he scorned the king’s daughter, to whom he had been betrothed, and set his whole heart on the slave woman. Herod was grieved at the dishonor done him, since he had bestowed many favors on Pheroras and raised him to such a height of power that he was almost a partner with him in the kingdom; he saw that Pheroras had made him no fitting return for his labors, and counted himself unfortunate on that account. So after Pheroras’s unworthy refusal, he gave the girl to the son of Phasaelus. But some time later, when he thought his brother’s passion had cooled, he blamed him for his earlier conduct and asked him to take his second daughter, whose name was Cypros. Ptolemy also advised Pheroras to stop insulting his brother and to give up the woman he loved, since it was a disgraceful thing to be so infatuated with a slave as to lose the king’s goodwill, become a cause of trouble to him, and make himself hated by him. Pheroras knew that this advice was to his own advantage, especially since he had been accused before and forgiven. So he put his wife away, although he already had a son by her, promised the king that he would take his second daughter, and agreed that the wedding would be on the thirtieth day after. He also swore that he would have nothing more to do with the woman he had put away. But when the thirty days were over, he was such a slave to his passion that he kept none of his promises, but went on living with his former wife. This made Herod grieve openly and made him angry, and the king was constantly letting fall one remark or another against Pheroras; and many people used the king’s anger as an opportunity to slander him. The king no longer had a single quiet day or hour, but one fresh quarrel after another arose among his relatives and those dearest to him. For Salome was harsh and spiteful toward Mariamne’s sons. She would not allow her own daughter, the wife of Aristobulus, one of those young men, to bear goodwill toward her husband, but persuaded her to tell her if he said anything to her in private; and whenever any misunderstanding happened, as is common, she raised a great many suspicions from it. In this way she learned all their affairs and made the girl spiteful toward the young man. To please her mother, the girl often said that the young men spoke of Mariamne when they were by themselves; that they hated their father; and that they kept threatening that if they ever got the kingdom, they would make Herod’s sons by his other wives village clerks, since the education now given them and their diligence in learning fitted them for that work. And as for the women, whenever the young men saw them dressed in their mother’s clothes, they threatened that instead of their present finery they would be dressed in rags and shut up so closely that they would not see the light of the sun. Salome at once carried these stories to the king. He was troubled to hear them and tried to make peace; but these suspicions afflicted him, and growing more and more uneasy, he came to believe everyone against everyone. Still, after he rebuked his sons and heard the defense they made, he was easier for a while, though a little later much worse things befell him. [f]

For Pheroras came to Alexander, the husband of Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, as I have already told you, and said he had heard from Salome that Herod was in love with Glaphyra, and that his passion for her was incurable. When Alexander heard that, he was all on fire with youth and jealousy. He put the worst construction on the instances of Herod’s kindness to her, which were very frequent, because of the suspicions raised by the word Pheroras had let fall; nor could he bear his grief at it, but went to his father and told him, in tears, what Pheroras had said. At this Herod was more disturbed than ever. Unable to bear so false a slander, which brought shame on him, he was greatly upset, and he often lamented the wickedness of those of his household, how good he had been to them and what bad returns they had made him. So he sent for Pheroras, reproached him, and said: “You vilest of all men! Have you come to such boundless and extravagant ingratitude as not only to suppose such things of me but to speak of them? Now I see what you are after. You did not bring such words to my son aiming only at slander; you meant them as a plot against me, a poison to destroy me. And who is there, unless he had a good spirit at his side as my son has, who would not take such a suspicion of his father to heart and avenge himself on him? Do you suppose you have only dropped a word for him to think about, and not rather put a sword into his hand to kill his father? And what do you mean by it, when you really hate both him and his brother, to pretend kindness to them, only in order to raise a slander against me and to talk of things that no one but an impious wretch like you could either devise in his mind or utter in words? Get out! You are a plague to your benefactor and your brother. May that evil conscience of yours go with you, while I still overcome my relatives with kindness, and am so far from avenging myself on them as they deserve that I bestow greater benefits on them than they are worthy of.” [j]

So the king spoke. Then Pheroras, caught in the very act of his villainy, said that Salome had framed this plot and that the words came from her. As soon as she heard that, for she was close by, she cried out, like one who wished to be believed, that no such thing had ever come out of her mouth. They were all trying hard, she said, to make the king hate her and to get her out of the way, because of the goodwill she bore Herod and because she was always foreseeing the dangers coming on him; and at present she herself was plotted against more than ever. Since she was the only one who had persuaded her brother to put away the wife he now had and to take the king’s daughter, it was no wonder if he hated her. As she said this she kept tearing her hair and beating her breast, and her face made her denial believable; but the perverseness of her character showed at the same time that she was dissembling in all this. Pheroras was caught between them and had nothing plausible to offer in his own defense. He admitted that he had said what was charged against him, but was not believed when he said he had heard it from Salome. So the confusion among them grew, and their quarrelsome words to one another. At last the king, out of his hatred for his brother and his sister, sent them both away; and after praising his son’s restraint, and that he had told him of the report himself, he went in the evening to refresh himself. After such a quarrel as this, Salome’s reputation suffered greatly, since she was thought to have started the slander. The king’s wives were angry with her, knowing she was a very spiteful woman who would be a friend at one time and an enemy at another, so they were constantly saying one thing or another against her; and something that now happened made them bolder in speaking against her. [l]

There was one Obodas, king of Arabia, an inactive and sluggish man by nature, and Sylleus managed most of his affairs for him. He was a shrewd man, though still young, and handsome besides. This Sylleus came to Herod on some business, and while dining with him he saw Salome and set his heart on her; and learning that she was a widow, he talked with her. Because Salome was at this time less in favor with her brother, she looked on Sylleus with some passion and was very eager to marry him; and whenever they came to dinner in the days that followed, there were many, and immoderate, signs of their understanding. The women carried this news to the king and laughed at the impropriety of it. Herod inquired further about it from Pheroras and asked him to watch them at dinner and see how they behaved toward each other; and Pheroras told him that from their nods and glances they were plainly both in love. After this Sylleus the Arabian, being under suspicion, went away; but two or three months later he came again, as if for that very purpose, spoke to Herod about it, and asked that Salome be given him as his wife. The connection, he said, would not be to Herod’s disadvantage, through a union with Arabia, whose government was already in effect in his hands and would more plainly be his hereafter. So when Herod spoke with his sister about it and asked whether she was willing to the match, she at once agreed. But when Sylleus was asked to come over to the Jewish religion first, and then he could marry her, since it was impossible on any other terms, he could not bear the proposal and went his way, saying that if he did so he would be stoned by the Arabs. Then Pheroras reproached Salome for her lack of self-control, and the women did so much more, saying that she had had relations with the Arabian. As for the girl the king had betrothed to his brother Pheroras, whom Pheroras had not taken because he was in love with his former wife, as I related before, Salome asked Herod to give her to her son by Costobarus. Herod was very willing to the match, but was dissuaded by Pheroras, who argued that the young man would not be kind to her, since Herod had killed his father, and that it was fairer for Pheroras’s own son, who was to succeed him in his tetrarchy, to have her. So he begged Herod’s pardon and persuaded him to do so. Accordingly, with this change in her betrothal, the girl was given to this young man, the son of Pheroras, and the king gave a hundred talents as her dowry. [m]