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of those present. And he entered the palace, still wearing the purple robe. Those at the gates, at any rate, receive Antipater, but keep out his friends. And he was already troubled, understanding to what he had come, since his father also pushed him away as he approached to embrace him, calling him both a brother-killer and a plotter against his life, and said that Varus would be the hearer and judge of these things on the morrow. And so he departed amid such evils, and his mother and his wife met him, and she was the daughter of Antigonus 1.397 who had reigned before Herod; from whom, having learned everything, he prepared himself for the trial. On the next day, Herod and Varus sat in council, and the friends of both came together, and the relatives of Herod, and the informers of the things planned by Antipater, and his mother's slaves, bearing a letter from her not to return, as all things had become known to his father, and that Caesar alone was left to him as a refuge, and not to fall into his father's power. And when Antipater fell before his father and begged him to hear him and then to pass judgment, he ordered him to be led into the middle, and he himself lamented the disposition of his children and that his old age had come to this pass with Antipater, and he said he was astonished how Antipater could have proceeded to such things, though having been written down as successor to the rule, and being able to do all things while he himself was alive, and instead of these things, inciting his relatives to his murder. As he said these things, he turned to tears. And Nicolaus of Damascus, with the king's permission, accused Antipater, recounting everything in order. And many others also spoke against Antipater of their own accord. And Varus, when Nicolaus had ceased speaking, ordered Antipater to make his defense. But he lay prostrate on his face, calling upon God to witness for him that he did no wrong. And as nothing was said by Antipater except the calling upon God, he ordered the poison to be brought into the middle. And when it was brought, one of those condemned to death was ordered to drink, and having drunk, he died immediately. And Varus, rising up, departed from the council, and Herod immediately bound 1.398 Antipater, and sends letters to Caesar in Rome concerning him. And then a small letter was also seized, sent by Antiphilus to Antipater, saying, "I have sent to you the letter from Acme, not sparing my own life. For you know that I am again in danger from two houses, if I should be discovered. But may you have good fortune in the matter." But the king also sought the other letter. And the slave of Antiphilus insisted that he had not received another. But someone, seeing the slave's inner tunic sewn up, conjectured that the little letter was hidden there; and so it was. They take, therefore, the letter, declaring that, "Acme to Antipater. I have written to your father such a letter as you wished, and having made a copy of the one to my mistress as if sent from Salome, I sent it, which I know that he, upon reading it, will punish Salome." And the letter to Herod was as follows: "I, making it my business that nothing done against you should escape your notice, having found a letter from Salome to my mistress against you, I have sent a copy of it to you, at great risk to me, but for your benefit." Now Acme was a Jewess by race, and she served Julia, the wife of Caesar, and she did these things, having been bribed with much money by Antipater. And Herod was immediately minded to kill Antipater as a confounder of great matters, and Salome urged him on, beating her breast and demanding that he kill her, if he should find any credible proof against her, but restraining himself, he sent for his son, bidding him, who suspected nothing, to answer the charge. But he laid the blame for everything 1.399 on Antiphilus. And Herod again sent letters to Caesar with the accusation against Antipater, declaring also how much Acme had been found to have colluded in evil-doing; and he also sent copies of her letters. And in the meantime the king, having fallen into an illness, writes a will, giving the kingdom to the youngest of his sons, out of hatred toward Archelaus and Philip from the slanders of Antipater. And despairing of living any longer, being about seventy years old

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ἐνεστηκότων. καὶ εἰσῄει τὰ βασίλεια πορφυρίδα ετι φορῶν. οἱ γοῦν ἐπὶ ταῖς θύραις δέχονται μὲν τὸν ̓Αντίπατρον, τοὺς δὲ φίλους ἀνείργουσιν. ἐθορυβεῖτο δὲ ηδη κατανοῶν οι ἐληλύθει, ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτὸν ἀσπάσασθαι προσιόντα ἀπώσατο, ἀδελφοκτόνον τε καλῶν καὶ ἐπίβουλον αὐτοῦ τῇ ζωῇ, ἀκροατήν τε τούτων καὶ δικαστὴν εσεσθαι τὴν αυριον τὸν Ουαρον ελεγε. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ τοιούτοις κακοῖς ῳχετο, ὑπαντῶσι δ' αὐτῷ η τε μήτηρ καὶ ἡ γυνή, αυτη δὲ ην παῖς ̓Αντιγόνου 1.397 τοῦ πρὸ ̔Ηρώδου βασιλεύσαντος· παρ' ων απαντα ἐκμαθὼν πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα παρεσκευάζετο. τῇ δ' ἑξῆς συνήδρευον ̔Ηρώδης καὶ Ουαρος, συνῆλθον δὲ καὶ οἱ ἀμφοῖν φίλοι καὶ οἱ συγγενεῖς ̔Ηρώδου καὶ οἱ μηνυταὶ τῶν ̓Αντιπάτρῳ μελετωμένων καὶ δοῦλοι μητρῷοι τοῦ ̓Αντιπάτρου, ἐπιστολὴν φέροντες αὐτῆς μὴ ἐπανήκειν, ὡς πάντων τῷ πατρὶ ἐκπύστων γενομένων, μόνην τε αν καταφυγὴν αὐτῷ λείπεσθαι Καίσαρα καὶ τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι τῷ πατρὶ ὑποχείριον. ̓Αντιπάτρου δὲ προσπεσόντος τῷ πατρὶ καὶ δεομένου ἀκροάσασθαι αὐτοῦ καὶ ουτω ψηφίσασθαι, τοῦτον μὲν εἰς μέσον ἀπάγειν ἐκέλευσεν, αὐτὸς δὲ ὠλοφύρατο τὴν τῶν παίδων διάθεσιν καὶ οτι τὸ γῆρας αὐτοῦ περιέστηκεν εἰς ̓Αντίπατρον, τεθηπέναι τε ελεγεν οπως ̓Αντίπατρος ἐπὶ τοιαῦτα χωρήσειε, διάδοχος μὲν τῆς ἀρχῆς γεγραμμένος, ζῶντος δ' αὐτοῦ τὰ πάντα δυνάμενος, καὶ ἀντὶ τούτων πρὸς τὸν αὐτοῦ φόνον ἐρεθίζων τοὺς συγγενεῖς. ταῦθ' αμα λέγων εἰς δάκρυα τρέπεται. καὶ Νικόλαος ὁ ∆αμασκηνὸς τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπιτρέψαντος κατηγόρει τοῦ ̓Αντιπάτρου, πάντα ἑξῆς διηγούμενος. πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ αλλοι κατ' ̓Αντιπάτρου αὐτεπάγγελτοι ελεγον. Ουαρος δὲ Νικολάου παυσαμένου τῶν λόγων ἐκέλευε τὸν ̓Αντίπατρον ἀπολογεῖσθαι. ὁ δ' ἐπὶ στόμα εκειτο ἀνατετραμμένος, τὸν θεὸν ἐπικαλούμενος ἐπιμαρτυρῆσαι αὐτῷ μηδὲν ἀδικεῖν. ὡς δ' οὐδὲν παρ' ̓Αντιπάτρου ἐλέγετο πλὴν τῆς ἀνακλήσεως τοῦ θεοῦ, τὸ φάρμακον εἰς τὸ μέσον ἐνεχθῆναι ἐκέλευσε. καὶ κομισθέντος, τῶν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ τις ἑαλωκότων πίνειν κεκέλευστο, καὶ πιὼν εὐθὺς εθανε. καὶ Ουαρος ἐξαναστὰς ἀπῄει τοῦ συνεδρίου, ̔Ηρώδης δὲ αὐτίκα εδησε τὸν 1.398 ̓Αντίπατρον, καὶ εἰς ̔Ρώμην ὡς Καίσαρα γράμματα πέμπει περὶ αὐτοῦ. ̔Εάλω δὲ τότε καὶ ἐπιστόλιον ὑπ' ̓Αντιφίλου σταλὲν πρὸς ̓Αντίπατρον, φράζον "επεμψά σοι τὴν παρὰ ̓Ακμῆς ἐπιστολήν, μὴ φεισάμενος τῆς ἐμῆς ψυχῆς. οισθα γὰρ οτι αυθις κινδυνεύω ὑπὸ δύο οἰκιῶν, εἰ γνωσθείην. σὺ δ' εὐτυχοίης περὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα." ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς καὶ τὴν ἑτέραν ἐζήτει ἐπιστολήν. καὶ ὁ τοῦ ̓Αντιφίλου δοῦλος μὴ λαβεῖν ἑτέραν ἀπισχυρίζετο. ἰδὼν δέ τις τὸν ἐντὸς τοῦ δούλου χιτῶνα ὑπερραμμένον, εικασεν ἐκεῖ κεκρύφθαι τὸ γραμμάτιον· καὶ ειχεν ουτως. λαμβάνουσιν ουν τὴν ἐπιστολὴν δηλοῦσαν ὡς " ̓Ακμὴ ̓Αντιπάτρῳ. εγραψα τῷ πατρί σου οιαν ηθελες ἐπιστολήν, καὶ ἀντίγραφον ποιήσασα τῆς πρὸς τὴν ἐμὴν κυρίαν ὡς παρὰ Σαλώμης ἐσταλμένης, επεμψα, ο ἐπελθὼν οιδα ὡς τιμωρήσεται Σαλώμην." ἡ δὲ πρὸς ̔Ηρώδην ἐπιστολὴ τοιάδε ην "εργον ἐγὼ ποιουμένη μηδέν σε λανθάνειν τῶν κατὰ σοῦ γινομένων, εὑροῦσα ἐπιστολὴν Σαλώμης πρὸς τὴν ἐμὴν κυρίαν κατὰ σοῦ, τὸ ἀντίγραφόν σοι αὐτῆς εστειλα, ἐπικινδύνως ἐμοί, ὠφελίμως δὲ σοί." ην δὲ ἡ ̓Ακμὴ ̓Ιουδαία τὸ γένος, ἐδούλευε δὲ ̓Ιουλίᾳ τῇ Καίσαρος γυναικί, καὶ επρασσε ταῦτα χρήμασι πολλοῖς ὠνηθεῖσα ὑπ' ̓Αντιπάτρου. ̔Ηρώδης δὲ ωρμησε μὲν εὐθὺς ἀνελεῖν τὸν ̓Αντίπατρον ὡς κύκηθρον μεγάλων πραγμάτων, ἐξώτρυνε δὲ αὐτὸν ἡ Σαλώμη στερνοτυπουμένη καὶ κτείνειν αὐτὴν ἀξιοῦσα, εἰ ευροι πίστιν τινὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς κατ' αὐτῆς ἀξιόχρεων, κατασχὼν δ' ἑαυτὸν μετεπέμψατο τὸν υἱόν, κελεύων ἀντειπεῖν μηδὲν ὑπιδόμενον. ὁ δὲ ̓Αντιφίλῳ τὴν πάντων 1.399 αἰτίαν ἀνετίθει. ̔Ηρώδης δ' αυθις γράμματα πρὸς Καίσαρα εστειλεν ἐπὶ κατηγορίᾳ τοῦ ̓Αντιπάτρου, δηλοῦντα καὶ οσα ἡ ̓Ακμὴ συγκακουργήσασα ευρητο· εστειλε δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐκείνης ἐπιστολῶν τὰ ἀντίγραφα. Εἰς νόσον δὲ μεταξὺ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐμπεσὼν διαθήκας γράφει, τῷ νεωτάτῳ τῶν υἱῶν τὴν βασιλείαν διδούς, μίσει τῷ πρὸς ̓Αρχέλαον καὶ Φίλιππον ἐκ τῶν ̓Αντιπάτρου διαβολῶν. ἀπεγνωκὼς δὲ βιῶναι ετι περὶ ετος ων ἑβδομηκοστὸν