Antipater Fights for Caesar

When Pompey and the senate fled across the Ionian Sea, Caesar became master of Rome and of the empire. He released Aristobulus from his chains, gave him two legions, and sent him in haste into Syria, hoping that through him he would easily win over that country and the regions around Judea. But envy forestalled both Aristobulus’s eagerness and Caesar’s hopes. Aristobulus was poisoned by Pompey’s partisans, and for a long time he was not even given burial in his own country; his body lay preserved in honey until Antony sent it to the Jews to be buried in the royal tombs. [a] His son Alexander was also put to death with the axe by Scipio at Antioch, on Pompey’s orders, after he had been accused before the tribunal of the harm he had done the Romans. His brother and sisters were taken in by Ptolemy son of Mennaeus, the ruler of Chalcis below Mount Lebanon, who sent his son Philippion to Ashkelon for them. Philippion tore Antigonus and his sisters away from Aristobulus’s wife and brought them to his father. Then he fell in love with one of the sisters and married her, and afterward his father killed him because of her; for Ptolemy killed his son and married Alexandra himself, and because of this marriage he took all the more care of her brother and sister. [b]

After Pompey’s death Antipater changed sides and courted Caesar. Mithridates of Pergamum, with the force he was leading against Egypt, had been shut out of the approaches at Pelusium and was held up at Ashkelon. Antipater persuaded the Arabs, whose guest-friend he was, to help him, and came himself leading about three thousand Jewish heavy infantry. He also roused the men of power in Syria to come to the rescue, Ptolemy who lived on Lebanon and Iamblichus, and through them the cities of that region readily joined in the war. Mithridates, now confident in the strength he had gained through Antipater, marched on Pelusium, and when he was refused passage he laid siege to the city. In the assault Antipater distinguished himself above all: he broke through the part of the wall facing him and was the first to leap into the city, with the men around him. [d]

So Pelusium was taken. But as Mithridates advanced, the people who held the district called the land of Onias blocked his way again; they were Egyptian Jews. Antipater persuaded them not only to let him pass but even to supply his army with provisions. As a result the people around Memphis did not fight either, but joined Mithridates of their own accord. He now went around the Delta and engaged the rest of the Egyptians in battle at a place called the Camp of the Jews. When he was in danger in the battle with his whole right wing, Antipater rescued him, wheeling around along the bank of the river, for he had already beaten the enemy facing him on the left wing, which he commanded. Then he fell on those who were pursuing Mithridates, killed many of them, and chased the rest so far that he took their camp. He lost only eighty of his own men, while Mithridates lost about eight hundred in the rout. Mithridates himself, saved beyond his hopes, became an ungrudging witness before Caesar to Antipater’s achievements. [f]

Caesar then spurred the man on with praise and hopes to face further dangers on his behalf. In all of them Antipater proved a most daring fighter, and from wounds over almost his whole body he bore the marks of his courage. Later, when Caesar had settled the affairs of Egypt and returned to Syria, he granted him Roman citizenship and freedom from taxes, and by other honors and marks of friendship made him a man to be envied. It was for Antipater’s sake, too, that he confirmed Hyrcanus in the high priesthood.