or of that country without having any just claim to it, he was
afraid, and that upon reasons good enough, of a change in his condition,
and so made what haste he could to get Hyrcanus into his power, or
indeed to put him quite out of the way; which last thing he compassed
afterward.

4. Accordingly, when Hyrcanus came, full of assurance, by the permission
of the king of Parthia, and at the expense of the Jews, who supplied him
with money, Herod received him with all possible respect, and gave him
the upper place at public meetings, and set him above all the rest
at feasts, and thereby deceived him. He called him his father, and
endeavored, by all the ways possible, that he might have no suspicion of
any treacherous design against him. He also did other things, in order
to secure his government, which yet occasioned a sedition in his own
family; for being cautious how he made any illustrious person the high
priest of God, [2] he sent for an obscure priest out of Babylon, whose
name was Ananelus, and bestowed the high priesthood upon him.

5. However, Alexandra, the daughter of Hyrcanus, and wife of Alexander,
the son of Aristobulus the king, who had also brought Alexander [two]
children, could not bear this indignity. Now this son was one of the
greatest comeliness, and was called Aristobulus; and the daughter,
Mariamne, was married to Herod, and eminent for her beauty also. This
Alexandra was much disturbed, and took this indignity offered to her son
exceeding ill, that while he was alive, any one else should be sent
for to have the dignity of the high priesthood conferred upon him.
Accordingly, she wrote to Cleopatra [a musician assisting her in taking
care to have her letters carried] to desire her intercession with
Antony, in order to gain the high priesthood for her son.

6. But as Antony was slow in granting this request, his friend Dellius
[3] came into Judea upon some affairs; and when he saw Aristobulus, he
stood in admiration at the tallness and handsomeness of the child, and
no less at Mariarune, the king's wife, and was open in his commendations
of Alexandra, as the mother of most beautiful children. And when she
came to discourse with him, he persuaded her to get pictures drawn of
them both, and to send them to Antony, for that when he saw them, he
would deny her nothing that she should ask. Accordingly, Alexandra
was elevated with these words of his, and sent the pictures to Antony.
Dellius also talked ex