From the Taking of Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes to the Death of Herod the Great - Flavius Josephus
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Chapter 9<br />
Antipater Cultivates a Friendship With Caesar<br />
1. Now, upon <strong>the</strong> flight <strong>of</strong> Pompey and <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> senate beyond <strong>the</strong> Ionian<br />
Sea, Caesar got Rome and <strong>the</strong> empire under his power, and released<br />
Aris<strong>to</strong>bulus from his bonds. He also committed two legions <strong>to</strong> him, and sent<br />
him in haste in<strong>to</strong> Syria, as hoping that <strong>by</strong> his means he should easily conquer<br />
that country, and <strong>the</strong> parts adjoining <strong>to</strong> Judea. But envy prevented any effect<br />
<strong>of</strong> Aris<strong>to</strong>bulus's alacrity, and <strong>the</strong> hopes <strong>of</strong> Caesar; for he was taken <strong>of</strong>f <strong>by</strong><br />
poison given him <strong>by</strong> those <strong>of</strong> Pompey's party; and, for a long while, he had<br />
not so much as a burial vouchsafed him in his own country; but his dead<br />
body lay [above ground], preserved in honey, until it was sent <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> Jews <strong>by</strong><br />
An<strong>to</strong>ny, in order <strong>to</strong> be buried in <strong>the</strong> royal sepulchers.<br />
2. His son Alexander also was beheaded <strong>by</strong> Sci-pio at Antioch, and that<br />
<strong>by</strong> <strong>the</strong> command <strong>of</strong> Pompey, and upon an accusation laid against him before<br />
his tribunal, for <strong>the</strong> mischiefs he had done <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> Romans. But P<strong>to</strong>lemy, <strong>the</strong><br />
son <strong>of</strong> Menneus, who was <strong>the</strong>n ruler <strong>of</strong> Chalcis, under Libanus, <strong>to</strong>ok his<br />
brethren <strong>to</strong> him <strong>by</strong> sending his son Philippio for <strong>the</strong>m <strong>to</strong> Ascalon, who <strong>to</strong>ok<br />
Antigonus, as well as his sisters, away from Aris<strong>to</strong>bulus's wife, and brought<br />
<strong>the</strong>m <strong>to</strong> his fa<strong>the</strong>r; and falling in love with <strong>the</strong> younger daughter, he married<br />
her, and was afterwards slain <strong>by</strong> his fa<strong>the</strong>r on her account; for P<strong>to</strong>lemy<br />
himself, after he had slain his son, married her, whose name was Alexandra;<br />
on <strong>the</strong> account <strong>of</strong> which marriage he <strong>to</strong>ok <strong>the</strong> greater care <strong>of</strong> her bro<strong>the</strong>r and<br />
sister.<br />
3. Now, after Pompey was dead, Antipater changed sides, and cultivated<br />
a friendship with Caesar. And since Mithridates <strong>of</strong> Pergamus, with <strong>the</strong> forces<br />
he led against Egypt, was excluded from <strong>the</strong> avenues about Pelusium, and<br />
was forced <strong>to</strong> stay at Asealon, he persuaded <strong>the</strong> Arabians, among whom he<br />
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