but God, by sending rain in the
night time, prevented his going away, for their cisterns were thereby
filled, and he was under no necessity of running away on that account;
but they were now of good courage, and the more so, because the sending
that plenty of water which they had been in want of seemed a mark of
Divine Providence; so they made a sally, and fought hand to hand with
Antigonus's soldiers, [with some openly, with some privately,] and
destroyed a great number of them. At the same time Ventidius, the
general of the Romans, was sent out of Syria, to drive the Parthians out
of it, and marched after them into Judea, in pretense indeed to succor
Joseph; but in reality the whole affair was no more than a stratagem, in
order to get money of Antigonus; so they pitched their camp very near to
Jerusalem, and stripped Antigonus of a great deal of money, and then
he retired himself with the greater part of the army; but, that the
wickedness he had been guilty of might be found out, he left Silo there,
with a certain part of his soldiers, with whom also Antigonus cultivated
an acquaintance, that he might cause him no disturbance, and was still
in hopes that the Parthians would come again and defend him.

CHAPTER 15. How Herod Sailed Out Of Italy To Judea, And Fought With
Antigonus And What Other Things Happened In Judea About That Time.

1. By this time Herod had sailed out of Italy to Ptolemais, and
had gotten together no small army, both of strangers and of his own
countrymen, and marched through Galilee against Antignus. Silo also, and
Ventidius, came and assisted him, being persuaded by Dellius, who was
sent by Antony to assist in bringing back Herod. Now for Ventidius, he
was employed in composing the disturbances that had been made in the
cities by the means of the Parthians; and for Silo, he was in Judea
indeed, but corrupted by Antigonus. However, as Herod went along his
army increased every day, and all Galilee, with some small exception,
joined him; but as he was to those that were in Masada, [for he was
obliged to endeavor to save those that were in that fortress now they
were besieged, because they were his relations,] Joppa was a hinderance
to him, for it was necessary for him to take that place first, it being
a city at variance with him, that no strong hold might be left in his
enemies' hands behind him when he should go to Jerusalem. And when Silo
made this a pretense for rising up from Jerusalem,