Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/440

Rh 426 H ERODES. § 3, B. J. i. 19, 20 ; comp. Plut. Ant 72 ; Tac. Hist. V. 9 ; Stmb. xvi. p. 765.) Just before he had proceeded to Rhodes, Herod had thought fit to re- move the only person whom he could any longer regard as in any degree a competitor for his throne, by putting to death the aged and feeble Hyrcanus, on a charge, real or pretended, of treasonable cor- respondence with Malchus, king of Arabia. Thus secured in the possession of an ample sovereignty, and supported by the favour of one who was now undisputed master of the world, Herod was appa- rently at the highest summit of prosperity. But his happiness was now clouded by a dark domestic calamity, which threw a shade over the whole of his remaining life. He was passionately attached to his beautiful wife, Mariamne ; but with a strange and barbarous jealousy, he had left orders, when he repaired to meet Antony at Laodiceia, in b. c. 34, that in case of his falling a victim to the machinations of his enemies, Mariamne should be immediately put to death, to prevent her falling into the hands of Antony. The same savage com- mand was repeated when he went to Rhodes to meet Octavian : on both occasions the fact became known to Mariamne, and naturally alienated her mind from her cruel husband. Her resentment was inflamed by her mother, Alexandra, while Cypros and Salome, the mother and sister of Herod, did their utmost to excite his suspicions against Mariamne. The king was at length induced to bring her to trial on a charge of adultery ; and the judges having condemned her, he reluctantly con- sented to her execution. But his passion appears to have been unabated ; and so violent were his grief and remorse, that he was for a long time on the verge of insanity, and was attacked by so vio- lent a fever, that his life was despaired of. He recovered at length, but his temper was henceforth so gloomy and ferocious, that the slightest suspicion would lead him to order the execution even of his best friends. Immediately after his recovery he put to death Alexandra, whose restless ambition had been intriguing to obtain possession of Jerusa- lem, in case of his death : and not long afterwards, at the instigation of his sister, Salome, he ordered the execution of her husband, Costobarus, together with several of his own most intimate friends and counsellors. (Joseph. Ant. xv. 3. § 5 — 9, 7, B. J. i. 22.) But Herod's domestic calamities did not in any degree affect the splendour either external or in- ternal of his administration. He continued to cul- tivate with assiduity the all-important friendship of Augustus, as well as that of his prime minister and counsellor Agrippa, and enjoyed throughout the remainder of his life the highest favour both of the one and the other. Nor were his services ever wanting when called for. In B. c. 25 he sent a chosen force to the assistance of Aelius Gallus, in his expedition into Arabia ; and in B.C. 17, after having received Agrippa with the utmost honour at Jerusalem, he set out himself early in the follow- ing spring with a powerful fleet to join him in his expedition to the Bosporus and the interior of the Euxine Sea. For this ready zeal, he was re- warded by obtaining, without difficulty, almost all that he could ask at the hands of Augustus ; and when the latter, in b. c. 20, visited Judaea in person, he not only refused to listen to the com- plaints of his subjects and neighbours against Herod, but increased his dominions by the addition HERODES. of the district of Paneas, as he previously had by those of Ituraea and Trachonitis. (Joseph. Aid. XV. 10. § 1—3, B. J. i. 21. § 4 ; Dion Cass. liv. 9.) Herod displayed his gratitude for this new favour by erecting at Paneas itself a magnificent temple of white marble, which he dedicated to Au- gustus. It was indeed b}' costly and splendid public works that he loved above all to display his power and magnificence : nor did he fail to avail himself of these opportunities of flattering the pride of the Roman emperor by the most lasting as well as conspicuous compliments. Thus he rebuilt the city of Samaria, which had been destroyed by Joannes Hyrcanus, and bestowed on it the name of Sebaste; while he converted a small town on the sea-coast, called the Tower of Straton, into a magnificent city, with an artificial port, on a scale of the utmost grandeur, to which he gave the name of Caesareia. And not only did he adorn these new cities with temples, theatres, gymnasia, and other buildings in the Greek style, but he even ventured to erect a theatre at Jerusalem itself, and an amphitheatre without the walls, in which he exhibited combats of wild beasts and gladiators, according to the Roman fashion. But these innovations naturally gave the deepest offence to the Jewish people : a conspiracy was formed against the king by ten persons, who attempted to assassinate him in the theatre : and though, after the discovery of this plot, we hear no more of any distinct attempts upon the life of Herod, he was obliged to guard himself against the increasing spirit of disaffection, not only by the employment of numerous spies and secret agents, and by prohibiting all unusual assem- blages, but by the construction of several fortresses or citadels around the city of Jerusalem itself, by which means he sought to hem in the populace on all sides, and prevent any possibility of an out- break. The most remarkable of these forts was that called An tenia, in the immediate neighbour- hood of the temple : another of them, called the Hyrcania, was converted into a prison, into which all persons who incurred his suspicions were hurrii-d at once, without form of trial, and from whence they never again appeared. At the same time we find him repeatedly endeavouring to conciliate his subjects by acts of munificence and liberality, in all of which we discern the same spirit of ostentaticus grandeur which appears to have been so deeply implanted in his character. Thus, on occasion of a great famine, which afflicted Judaea, as weU as all the neighbouring countries, he at once opened the hoards of his treasury, brought up vast quan- tities of corn from Egypt, and not only fed the whole mass of the population at his own cost, but supplied many of the neighbouring provinces with seed corn for the next harvest. (Joseph. Ant. xv. 9.) More than once also we find him remitting a great part of the heavy taxation, which was usually paid by his subjects. Yet these occasional acts of indulgence could but imperfectly compensjite for the general arbitrary and oppressive character of his government : and the magnificence displayed in his public works, far from conciliating the minds of his subjects, served only to increase their mistrust and disulFection, as a proof of his leaning towards an idolatrous religion. In order, if possible, to dispel this feeling, he at length determined on the great work of rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem itself, which, on account of its being frequently used as a fortress, had suffered much during the late wars