he garrison of Alexandrium was caught
and tortured; for he was accused to have promised to receive the young
men into his fortress, and to supply them with that money of the king's
which was laid up in that fortress, yet did not he acknowledge any thing
of it himself; but his son came ill, and said it was so, and delivered
up the writing, which, so far as could be guessed, was in Alexander's
hand. Its contents were these: "When we have finished, by God's help,
all that we have proposed to do, we will come to you; but do your
endeavors, as you have promised, to receive us into your fortress."
After this writing was produced, Herod had no doubt about the
treacherous designs of his sons against him. But Alexander said that
Diophantus the scribe had imitated his hand, and that the paper was
maliciously drawn up by Antipater; for Diophantus appeared to be very
cunning in such practices; and as he was afterward convicted of forging
other papers, he was put to death for it.

5. So the king produced those that had been tortured before the
multitude at Jericho, in order to have them accuse the young men, which
accusers many of the people stoned to death; and when they were going to
kill Alexander and Aristobulus likewise, the king would not permit them
to do so, but restrained the multitude, by the means of Ptolemy and
Pheroras. However, the young men were put under a guard, and kept in
custody, that nobody might come at them; and all that they did or
said was watched, and the reproach and fear they were in was little or
nothing different from those of condemned criminals: and one of them,
who was Aristobulus, was so deeply affected, that he brought Salome,
who was his aunt, and his mother-in-law, to lament with him for his
calamities, and to hate him who had suffered things to come to that
pass; when he said to her, "Art thou not in danger of destruction also,
while the report goes that thou hadst disclosed beforehand all our
affairs to Syllcus, when thou wast in hopes of being married to him?"
But she immediately carried these words to her brother. Upon this he was
out of patience, and gave command to bind him; and enjoined them both,
now they were kept separate one from the other, to write down the ill
things they had done against their father, and bring the writings to
him, So when this was enjoined them, they wrote this, that they had laid
no treacherous designs, nor made any preparations against their father,
but that they