s of its returns; he had also
convulsions in all parts of his body, which increased his strength to an
insufferable degree. It was said by those who pretended to divine, and
who were endued with wisdom to foretell such things, that God inflicted
this punishment on the king on account of his great impiety; yet was he
still in hopes of recovering, though his afflictions seemed greater than
any one could bear. He also sent for physicians, and did not refuse
to follow what they prescribed for his assistance, and went beyond
the river Jordan, and bathed himself in the warm baths that were at
Callirrhoe, which, besides their other general virtues, were also fit to
drink; which water runs into the lake called Asphaltiris. And when the
physicians once thought fit to have him bathed in a vessel full of oil,
it was supposed that he was just dying; but upon the lamentable cries
of his domestics, he revived; and having no longer the least hopes
of recovering, he gave order that every soldier should be paid fifty
drachmae; and he also gave a great deal to their commanders, and to his
friends, and came again to Jericho, where he grew so choleric, that it
brought him to do all things like a madman; and though he were near his
death, he contrived the following wicked designs. He commanded that all
the principal men of the entire Jewish nation, wheresoever they lived,
should be called to him. Accordingly, they were a great number that
came, because the whole nation was called, and all men heard of this
call, and death was the penalty of such as should despise the epistles
that were sent to call them. And now the king was in a wild rage against
them all, the innocent as well as those that had afforded ground for
accusations; and when they were come, he ordered them to be all shut up
in the hyppodrome, [9] and sent for his sister Salome, and her husband
Alexas, and spake thus to them: "I shall die in a little time, so
great are my pains; which death ought to be cheerfully borne, and to be
welcomed by all men; but what principally troubles me is this, that
I shall die without being lamented, and without such mourning as men
usually expect at a king's death." For that he was not unacquainted with
the temper of the Jews, that his death would be a thing very desirable,
and exceedingly acceptable to them, because during his lifetime they
were ready to revolt from him, and to abuse the donations he had
dedicated to God that it therefore was their