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the high priesthood for her son from Antony. But when Antony was rather slow concerning the request, Dellius, coming to Judea and seeing Aristobulus, was amazed, and no less Mariamne who was living with the king; and he persuades Alexandra to send portraits of both children to Antony; for he said that upon seeing them he would fail in nothing she asked for. So she sends the portraits to Antony, but he was ashamed to summon the girl, being married to Herod, and at the same time he avoided the slanders against Cleopatra. But he wrote to Herod to send the boy, adding, if it did not seem burdensome. But Herod, judging it disadvantageous to himself for Aristobulus, being most beautiful and pre-eminent in birth, to come to Antony, who was as powerful as no other Roman, and ready and susceptible to loves and pleasures, wrote back that if the youth left the country, everything would be filled with turmoil. And so he put Antony off, and gathering his friends, he accused Alexandra of plotting so that he himself might be deprived of his rule. "But I myself," he said, "will not be unjust because of this, but now I give the priesthood to the youth; for since he was altogether a child previously, for this reason I made another the high priest." As he said these things, both joy and fear possessed Alexandra, 1.365 joy on account of the honor for her son, but fear on account of Herod's suspicion. And she defended herself, weeping, that she had been eager for the priesthood, but had not attempted for the kingship; and now she accepted the honor for her son, and she affirmed that she would be obedient in everything. Having spoken thus, they parted, as if all suspicion had supposedly been removed. And when the high priesthood was given to the boy Aristobulus, it seemed that the affairs of the house had been healed. But to Herod, Alexandra was suspect, and he demanded that she stay in the palace and do nothing on her own authority, and there were some who were carefully watching her. But she was becoming wild, preferring to endure anything whatever than to live with servitude and fears; and she called upon Cleopatra to help, making clear the circumstances she was in. And she commanded her to escape to her with her son. So, having prepared two coffins as if for carrying out dead bodies, she intended to place herself and her son in these, having ordered those of her servants who were in on the secret to carry them out by night and bring them to the sea, where also a ship had been prepared for them in which they intended to sail to Egypt. Herod, having learned these things from one of her servants, and having allowed them to proceed as far as the attempt, arrested them in the very act of the escape. But he pardoned the offense out of fear of Cleopatra, not out of clemency. And he had decided to do away with the youth. Therefore, being in his seventeenth year, he went up to the altar, to sacrifice during the feast of tabernacles, adorned in high-priestly fashion. And an impulse of goodwill toward him arose in the crowd on account of both his beauty and 1.366 the size of his body and the dignity of his lineage, and they rejoiced and at the same time were stirred, and they sent forth acclamations mixed with prayers. Moved by these things, Herod was all the more set on his plan against the youth. And when the feast had passed, after a banquet, treating the youth kindly, he acted young and played along with him to please him. And they swam in the swimming pools; but Herod's friends, swimming with them as if in sport, who knew the secret, did not let up, continually pressing Aristobulus down and immersing him until they drowned him. And thus he perished, not yet having completed his eighteenth year, and his suffering was considered by all a personal misfortune. And Alexandra, understanding also the cause of his destruction, was even more gripped by grief, but she endured it out of fear of other evils. But Herod contrived everything to get rid of the suspicion, both weeping and being distraught and displaying a costly funeral. But Alexandra was softened by none of these things, but wrote to Cleopatra about the destruction of her son by Herod's plot; and she stirred up Antony to avenge the boy's murder. Therefore Antony sends word, ordering Herod to come to Laodicea and defend himself. But he the

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παιδὶ παρ' ̓Αντωνίου τὴν ἀρχιερωσύνην. ̓Αντωνίου δὲ νωθέστερον διατεθέντος περὶ τὴν αιτησιν, εἰς ̓Ιουδαίαν ἐλθὼν ∆έλλιος καὶ ἰδὼν τὸν ̓Αριστόβουλον ἠγάσθη, οὐχ ηττον δὲ τὴν Μαριάμμην τὴν συνοικοῦσαν τῷ βασιλεῖ· καὶ πείθει τὴν ̓Αλεξάνδραν ἀμφοτέρων τῶν παίδων εἰκόνας τῷ ̓Αντωνίῳ στεῖλαι· θεασαμένου γὰρ ειπε μή τινος ἀτευκτήσειν ων ἀξιοῖ. ἡ μὲν ουν πέμπει τὰς εἰκόνας τῷ ̓Αντωνίῳ, ὁ δὲ τὴν μὲν κόρην ᾐδέσθη μεταπέμψασθαι γεγαμημένην ̔Ηρώδῃ, καὶ αμα τὰς εἰς Κλεοπάτραν διαβολὰς ὑπεξέκλινεν. ἐπέστειλε δὲ τῷ ̔Ηρώδῃ πέμπειν τὸν παῖδα, προσθέμενος, εἰ μὴ δοκοίη βαρύ. ̔Ηρώδης δὲ ἀσύμφορον ἑαυτῷ κρίνας ὡραιότατον οντα τὸν ̓Αριστόβουλον καὶ γένει προύχοντα πρὸς ̓Αντώνιον ηκειν, ἰσχύοντα ὡς οὐδεὶς ̔Ρωμαίων, ετοιμον δὲ πρὸς ερωτας καὶ πρὸς ἡδονὰς εὐκατάφορον, ἀντέγραψεν ὡς, εἰ ἐξέλθῃ τῆς χώρας τὸ μειράκιον, απαντα ταραχῆς ἐμπλησθήσεται. καὶ ουτω μὲν παρῃτήσατο τὸν ̓Αντώνιον, τοὺς δὲ φίλους ἀθροίσας ᾐτιᾶτο τὴν ̓Αλεξάνδραν ὡς ἐπιβουλεύουσαν ιν' αὐτὸς ἀφαιρεθῇ τὴν ἀρχήν. "ἀλλ' οὐκ αὐτός" εφη "διὰ τοῦτο αδικος εσομαι, ἀλλὰ νῦν δίδωμι τὴν ἱερωσύνην τῷ μείρακι· παιδὸς γὰρ οντος παντάπασι πρῴην διὰ τοῦτο ετερον ἀρχιερέα ἐποίησα." ουτως εἰπόντος χαρά τε αμα καὶ δέος τὴν ̓Αλεξάνδραν ειχε, 1.365 χαρὰ μὲν διὰ τὴν τιμὴν τοῦ παιδός, δέος δὲ διὰ τὴν ὑποψίαν ̔Ηρώδου. καὶ ἀπελογεῖτο δακρύουσα, περὶ μὲν τῆς ἱερωσύνης σπουδάσαι, βασιλείᾳ δὲ μὴ ἐπιχειρῆσαι· καὶ νῦν δέχεσθαι εἰς τὸν υἱὸν τὴν τιμήν, εσεσθαι δὲ πρὸς πᾶν ὑπήκοος διεβεβαιοῦτο. Ουτως ὁμιλήσαντες διελύοντο, ὡς πάσης δῆθεν ὑποψίας ἐξῃρημένης. τῆς δ' ἀρχιερωσύνης τῷ παιδὶ δοθείσης ̓Αριστοβούλῳ, εδοξε τὰ κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν θεραπευθῆναι. ̔Ηρώδῃ δὲ ἡ ̓Αλεξάνδρα υποπτος ην, καὶ ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις διατρίβειν αὐτὴν ἀπῄτει καὶ μηδὲν ἐπ' ἐξουσίας δρᾶν, καὶ ἐπιμελῶς αὐτὴν ησάν τινες φυλάσσοντες. ἡ δ' ἐξηγριοῦτο, πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ὑπομεῖναι προκρίνουσα η μετὰ δουλείας καὶ φόβων βιοῦν· καὶ τὴν Κλεοπάτραν παρεκάλει ἐπικουρεῖν, τὰ ἐν οις ειη δηλώσασα. ἡ δὲ σὺν τῷ παιδὶ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀποδιδράσκειν ἐκέλευε. δύο γοῦν λάρνακας παρασκευασαμένη ὡς εἰς ἐκκομιδὴν σωμάτων νεκρῶν, ταύταις εμελλεν ἑαυτὴν καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἐμβαλεῖν, ἐπιτάξασα τοῖς συνειδόσι τῶν οἰκετῶν νυκτὸς ἐκφέρειν καὶ κομίζειν πρὸς θάλασσαν, οπου καὶ πλοῖον αὐτοῖς ῳ πλεῖν ἐπ' Αιγυπτον εμελλον παρεσκεύαστο. ταῦτα ὁ ̔Ηρώδης εκ τινος τῶν οἰκετῶν ἐκείνης μαθών, καὶ προελθεῖν ἐάσας μέχρι τῆς ἐγχειρήσεως, ἐπ' αὐτῇ τῇ πράξει τοῦ δρασμοῦ συνέλαβε. παρῆκε δὲ τὸ ἁμάρτημα φόβῳ τῆς Κλεοπάτρας, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπιεικείᾳ. ἐδέδοκτο δ' αὐτῷ ἐκποδὼν ποιήσασθαι τὸ μειράκιον. εβδομον ουν καὶ δέκατον γεγονὸς ετος ἀνῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν βωμόν, θῦσον κατὰ τὴν τῆς σκηνοπηγίας ἑορτήν, ἐστολισμένον ἀρχιερατικῶς. ὁρμὴ δὲ τῷ πλήθει πρὸς αὐτὸ εὐνοίας ἐγένετο διά τε τὸ κάλλος καὶ 1.366 τὸ τοῦ σώματος μέγεθος καὶ τὸ τοῦ γένους ἀξίωμα, εχαιρόν τε αμα καὶ συνεχέοντο, καὶ φωνὰς εὐφήμους ἠφίουν εὐχαῖς μεμιγμένας. τούτοις κινηθεὶς ̔Ηρώδης μᾶλλον εθετο τῷ κατὰ τοῦ μειρακίου σκοπῷ. καὶ τῆς ἑορτῆς παρελθούσης μεθ' ἑστίασιν φιλοφρονούμενος τὸ μειράκιον ἐνεανιεύετο καὶ προσέπαιζεν αὐτῷ χαριζόμενος. κἀν ταῖς κολυμβήθραις ἐνήχοντο· οἱ δ' ̔Ηρώδου φίλοι συννηχόμενοι ὡς ἐν παιδιᾷ, οι συνῄδεσαν τὸ ἀπόρρητον, οὐκ ἀνῆκαν συμπιέζοντες ἀεὶ τὸν ̓Αριστόβουλον καὶ βαπτίζοντες μέχρι τοῦ ἀποπνίξαι. καὶ ὁ μὲν ουτως ωλετο ουπω τὸν ὀκτωκαιδέκατον ἀνύσας ἐνιαυτόν, πᾶσι δὲ τὸ πάθος οἰκεία νενόμισται συμφορά. καὶ ̓Αλεξάνδρα συνεῖσα καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἀπωλείας, ετι μᾶλλον τῷ πάθει συνείχετο, ἐνεκαρτέρει δὲ φόβῳ κακῶν ἑτέρων. ̔Ηρώδης δὲ πάντα ἐπετήδευεν ἀποσκευαζόμενος τὴν ὑπόνοιαν, καὶ δακρύων καὶ συγχεόμενος καὶ πολυτελῆ τὴν ἐκφορὰν ἐνδεικνύμενος. ̓Αλεξάνδρα δὲ τούτων οὐδενὶ ἐμαλάττετο, ἀλλὰ τῇ Κλεοπάτρᾳ γράφει τὴν ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς ̔Ηρώδου τοῦ υἱέος ἀπώλειαν· ἡ δὲ τὸν ̓Αντώνιον ἠρέθιζε τίσασθαι τὸν τοῦ παιδὸς φόνον. πέμπει τοίνυν ̓Αντώνιος κελεύων ἐλθεῖν ̔Ηρώδην εἰς Λαοδίκειαν καὶ ἀπολογήσασθαι. ὁ δὲ τὴν