Josephus, The Jewish War 1.543-1.551
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Text
ἔνθα δὴ μετέωρος ἥ τε Συρία πᾶσα καὶτὸ Ἰουδαϊκὸν ἦν ἐκδεχομένων τὸ τέλος τοῦδράματος: οὐδεὶς μέντοι ὑπελάμβανενἔσεσθαι μέχρι τεκνοκτονίας ὠμὸν Ἡρώδην. ὁδὲ σύρας τοὺς υἱοὺς εἰς Τύρον κἀκεῖθενδιαπλεύσας εἰς Καισάρειαν τρόπονἀναιρέσεως τοῖς μειρακίοις ἐσκέπτετο. Παλαιὸς δέ τις τοῦ βασιλέως στρατιώτης, ὄνομα Τίρων, ἔχων υἱὸν σφόδρα συνήθη καὶ φίλον Ἀλεξάνδρῳ καὶ αὐτὸς ἠγαπηκὼς ἰδίᾳ τὰ μειράκια, δι᾽ ὑπερβολὴν ἀγανακτήσεως ἔκφρων ἐγίνετο, καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐβόα περιιὼν πεπατῆσθαι τὸ δίκαιον, ἀπολωλέναι τὴν ἀλήθειαν, συγκεχύσθαι τὴν φύσιν, ἀνομίας γέμειν τὸν βίον, καὶ πάνθ᾽ ὅσα μὴ φειδομένῳ τοῦ ζῆν ὑπηγόρευε τὸ πάθος. τέλος δὲ καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ τολμήσας προσελθεῖν “ἀλλ᾽ ἐμοὶ μέν, ἔφη, κακοδαιμονέστατος εἶναι δοκεῖς, ὅστις κατὰ τῶν φιλτάτων πείθῃ τοῖς πονηροτάτοις, εἴ γε Φερώρα καὶ Σαλώμης καταγνοὺς πολλάκις θάνατον πιστεύεις τούτοις κατὰ τῶν τέκνων, οἵ σε τῶν γνησίων περικόπτοντες διαδόχων ἐπ᾽ Ἀντιπάτρῳ καταλείπουσι μόνῳ, τὸν ἑαυτοῖς εὐμεταχείριστον αἱρούμενοι βασιλέα. σκέψαι μέντοι γε, μή ποτε κἀκείνῳ γένηται μῖσος ἐν τοῖς στρατιώταις ὁ τῶν ἀδελφῶν θάνατος: οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ὅστις οὐκ ἐλεεῖ τὰ μειράκια, τῶν δὲ ἡγεμόνων καὶ φανερῶς ἀγανακτοῦσιν πολλοί.” ταῦθ᾽ ἅμα λέγων ὠνόμαζεν τοὺς ἀγανακτοῦντας. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς εὐθέως ἐκείνους τε καὶ αὐτὸν καὶ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ συνελάμβανεν. Ἐφ᾽ ᾧ τῶν ἐκ τῆς αὐλῆς τις κουρέων, Τρύφων ὄνομα, προεκπηδήσας ἔκ τινος θεοβλαβείας ἑαυτοῦ μηνυτὴς γίνεται. “κἀμὲ γάρ, ἔφη, Τίρων οὗτος ἀνέπειθεν, ὅταν θεραπεύω τῷ ξυρῷ σε διαχειρίσασθαι, μεγάλας τέ μοι παρ᾽ Ἀλεξάνδρου δωρεὰς ὑπισχνεῖτο.” ταῦτ᾽ ἀκούσας Ἡρώδης τόν τε Τίρωνα σὺν τῷ παιδὶ καὶ τὸν κουρέα βασάνοις διήλεγχεν, καὶ τῶν μὲν ἀρνουμένων, τοῦ δὲ μηδὲν πλέον λέγοντος, στρεβλοῦν ἐκέλευσεν τὸν Τίρωνα σφοδρότερον. ὁ δ᾽ υἱὸς οἰκτείρας ὑπέσχετο τῷ βασιλεῖ πάντα μηνύσειν, εἰ χαρίσαιτο τὸν πατέρα αὐτῷ. κἀκείνου δόντος εἶπεν, ὡς ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ πεισθεὶς Ἀλεξάνδρῳ θελήσειεν αὐτὸν ἀνελεῖν. τοῦθ᾽ οἱ μὲν εἰς ἀπαλλαγὴν τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς αἰκίας πεπλάσθαι, τινὲς δὲ ἀληθὲς ἔλεγον. Ἡρώδης γε μὴν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ τῶν τε ἡγεμόνων καὶ Τίρωνος κατηγορήσας τὸν λαὸν ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἐστρατολόγησεν: αὐτόθι γοῦν ἀναιροῦνται μετὰ τοῦ κουρέως ξύλοις βαλλόμενοι καὶ λίθοις. πέμψας δὲ καὶ τοὺς υἱεῖς εἰς Σεβαστὴν οὖσαν οὐ πόρρω τῆς Καισαρείας προσέταξεν ἀποπνῖξαι. καὶ τελεσθέντος αὐτῷ ταχέως τοῦ προστάγματος τοὺς νεκροὺς εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειον ἐκέλευσεν ἀνακομισθῆναι τὸ φρούριον συνταφησομένους Ἀλεξάνδρῳ τῷ μητροπάτορι. τὸ μὲν οὖν Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Ἀριστοβούλου τέλος τοιοῦτον.1
Translation
And now all Syria and Judea was in great expectation, and waited for the last act of this tragedy; yet did nobody, suppose that Herod would be so barbarous as to murder his children: however, he carried them away to Tyre, and thence sailed to Cesarea, and deliberated with himself what sort of death the young men should suffer. Now there was a certain old soldier of the king's, whose name was Tero, who had a son that was very familiar with and a friend to Alexander, and who himself particularly loved the young men. This soldier was in a manner distracted, out of the excess of the indignation he had at what was doing; and at first he cried out aloud, as he went about, that justice was trampled under foot; that truth was perished, and nature confounded; and that the life of man was full of iniquity, and every thing else that passion could suggest to a man who spared not his own life; and at last he ventured to go to the king, and said, "Truly I think thou art a most miserable man, when thou hearkenest to most wicked wretches, against those that ought to be dearest to thee; since thou hast frequently resolved that Pheroras and Salome should be put to death, and yet believest them against thy sons; while these, by cutting off the succession of thine own sons, leave all wholly to Antipater, and thereby choose to have thee such a king as may be thoroughly in their own power. However, consider whether this death of Antipater's brethren will not make him hated by the soldiers; for there is nobody but commiserates the young men; and of the captains, a great many show their indignation at it openly." Upon his saying this, he named those that had such indignation; but the king ordered those men, with Tero himself and his son, to be seized upon immediately. At which time there was a certain barber, whose name was Trypho. This man leaped out from among the people in a kind of madness, and accused himself, and said, "This Tero endeavored to persuade me also to cut thy throat with my razor, when I trimmed thee, and promised that Alexander should give me large presents for so doing." When Herod heard this, he examined Tero, with his son and the barber, by the torture; but as the others denied the accusation, and he said nothing further, Herod gave order that Tero should be racked more severely; but his son, out of pity to his father, promised to discover the whole to the king, if he would grant [that his father should be no longer tortured]. When he had agreed to this, he said that his father, at the persuasion of Alexander, had an intention to kill him. Now some said this was forged, in order to free his father from his torments; and some said it was true. And now Herod accused the captains and Tero in an assembly of the people, and brought the people together in a body against them; and accordingly there were they put to death, together with [Trypho] the barber; they were killed by the pieces of wood and the stones that were thrown at them. He also sent Sebaste, a city not far from Cesarea, and ordered them to be there strangled; and as what he had ordered was executed immediately, so he commanded that their dead bodies should be brought to the fortress Alexandrium, to be buried with Alexander, their grandfather by the mother's side. And this was the end of Alexander and Aristobulus.2
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Works Cited
- 1 Flavius Josephus, De Bello Judaico Libri VII: Machine Readable Text, ed. B. Niese (Medford, MA: Trustees of Tufts University, 2013), section: 1.543-1.551.
- 2 Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews: Machine Readable Text, trans. William Whiston (Trustees of Tufts University, 2009), section: 1.543-1.551.
Additional Bibliography
- Josephus, De Bello Judaico Libri VII, in Flavii Iosephi opera, ed. Benedict Niese, vol. 6 (Berlin: Weidmann, 1885), section: 1.543-1.551.
- Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, in The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus: The Celebrated Jewish Historian. Comprising the History and Antiquities of the Jews, with the Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and Dissertations Concerning Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, James the Just, and the Sacrifice of Isaac, Together with a Discourse on Hades, or Hell ; With His Autobiography, trans. William Whiston (Chicago: Donohue, Henneberry & Co., 1895), 498–707, section: 1.543-1.551.
How to Cite This Entry
Bianca Gardner et al., “Josephus, The Jewish War 1.543-1.551,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published March 30, 2020, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/20.
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Bibliography:
Bianca Gardner et al., “Josephus, The Jewish War 1.543-1.551.” In Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, edited by Joseph L. Rife., edited by Joseph L. Rife. Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project, 2020. Entry published March 30, 2020. https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/20.About this Entry
Entry Title: Josephus, The Jewish War 1.543-1.551
Authorial and Editorial Responsibility:
- Joseph L. Rife, general editor, Vanderbilt University
- Joseph L. Rife, editor, Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia
- David A. Michelson, Daniel L. Schwartz, and William L. Potter, technical editors, “Josephus, The Jewish War 1.543-1.551”
- Bianca Gardner and Joseph L. Rife, entry contributors, “Josephus, The Jewish War 1.543-1.551”
Additional Credit:
- TEI encoding by William L. Potter
- Electronic text added by Bianca Gardner
- Testimonia identified by Joseph L. Rife