Herod Returns to Judea

Meanwhile Antigonus was besieging those in Masada. They had enough of all other supplies but were short of water. For that reason Joseph, Herod’s brother, planned to escape to the Arabs with two hundred of his people, having heard that Malchus regretted his offenses against Herod. He would have left the fortress already, had there not been a heavy rain on the very night he was to go. The cisterns were filled with water, and he no longer needed to flee. Instead they now made sallies against Antigonus’s men and killed a good many, sometimes in open fighting, sometimes from ambush. Not that they succeeded every time; there were occasions when they themselves were beaten and fell back. [a] Meanwhile Ventidius, the Roman general, had been sent from Syria to drive back the Parthians, and after dealing with them he came on into Judea. His pretext was to help Joseph and his men, but in fact he meant to extract money from Antigonus. He camped very close to Jerusalem, and when he had his fill of money he withdrew with most of his force. But he left Silo behind with a part of it, so as not to make his bribe-taking obvious by removing all his troops. Antigonus, hoping that the Parthians would come to his help again, courted Silo in the meantime, so that he would cause no trouble before that hope was realized.

By now Herod had sailed from Italy to Ptolemais. He gathered a considerable army of foreigners and of his own people and marched through Galilee against Antigonus, with the help of Ventidius and Silo, whom Dellius, sent by Antony, had persuaded to join in restoring Herod. Ventidius, as it happened, was busy in the cities settling the disturbances caused by the Parthians, and Silo was in Judea, corrupted by Antigonus’s money. Still, Herod did not lack strength. As he advanced his forces grew every day, and all Galilee, with few exceptions, came over to him. The most pressing task before him was Masada, to rescue his relatives from the siege first. But Joppa stood in the way. That city was hostile and had to be taken first, so that no enemy stronghold would be left at his back when he moved on Jerusalem. Silo gladly joined him, having found a pretext for pulling out, and the Jews pressed hard on him in pursuit. Herod sallied against them with a small band, quickly routed them, and rescued Silo, who was defending himself badly. [b] Then he took Joppa and hurried to Masada to rescue his relatives. Of the people of the country, some were drawn to him by friendship with his father, some by his own fame, some to repay the kindnesses of both, and most by hope in him as a king firmly established; so an army hard to shake had now gathered. As he advanced, Antigonus laid ambushes for him at suitable points along the passes, but in these he did the enemy little or no harm. Herod easily recovered his relatives from Masada, took the fortress of Rhesa, and went on toward Jerusalem. The soldiers with Silo joined him, and so did many from the city, awed by his strength. [d]

When they had camped on the west side of the city, the guards on that side shot arrows and hurled javelins at them, while others ran out in bands and tested the front ranks. Herod first ordered heralds to proclaim around the wall that he had come for the good of the people and the safety of the city, that he would take no revenge even on his open enemies, and that he would give an amnesty even to his bitterest opponents. But Antigonus’s men shouted counter-appeals and would let no one listen to the proclamations or change sides. So Herod then gave his own men leave to retaliate against those on the wall, and they quickly drove them all from the towers with their missiles. [e]

Here Silo exposed his bribery. He got many of the soldiers to cry out about the shortage of supplies, to demand money for food, and to call to be led away to winter in their own quarters, since the whole area around the city had been laid bare, Antigonus’s men having stripped it beforehand. He set the camp in motion and tried to withdraw. But Herod went to the officers under Silo and to the soldiers in a body, and begged them not to abandon him, sent as he was by Caesar, Antony and the senate; he would relieve their needs that very day. After this appeal he went out at once into the countryside himself and brought back such an abundance of supplies that he cut away all Silo’s pretexts. To make sure the supply would not fail in the days to come, he sent word to the people around Samaria, a city that had come over to him, to bring grain, wine, oil and livestock down to Jericho. When Antigonus heard of this, he sent men through the countryside with orders to stop and ambush the convoys. They obeyed, and a great body of armed men gathered above Jericho and posted themselves on the hills, watching for those who brought the supplies. But Herod was not idle. He took ten cohorts, five of Romans and five of Jews, with mercenaries mixed among them, and a few horsemen besides, and came to Jericho. He found the city deserted except for five hundred who had seized the heights with their wives and children. These he captured and released, while the Romans fell on the rest of the town and plundered it, finding the houses full of all kinds of valuables. The king left a garrison in Jericho and returned, and he dismissed the Roman army to winter quarters in the districts that had come over to him: Idumea, Galilee and Samaria. Antigonus, for his part, through Silo’s bribery, obtained leave to quarter part of the army at Lydda, as a way of courting Antony. [f]