at were laid up in it, and with them armed every one of those that
were with him, and carried away what money was left there; and he became
terrible to all men, by tearing and rending those that came near him;
and all this in order to raise himself, and out of an ambitious desire
of the royal dignity; and he hoped to obtain that as the reward not of
his virtuous skill in war, but of his extravagance in doing injuries.

6. There was also Simon, who had been a slave of Herod the king, but in
other respects a comely person, of a tall and robust body; he was one
that was much superior to others of his order, and had had great things
committed to his care. This man was elevated at the disorderly state of
things, and was so bold as to put a diadem on his head, while a certain
number of the people stood by him, and by them he was declared to be a
king, and thought himself more worthy of that dignity than any one else.
He burnt down the royal palace at Jericho, and plundered what was left
in it. He also set fire to many other of the king's houses in several
places of the country, and utterly destroyed them, and permitted those
that were with him to take what was left in them for a prey; and he
would have done greater things, unless care had been taken to repress
him immediately; for Gratus, when he had joined himself to some Roman
soldiers, took the forces he had with him, and met Simon, and after a
great and a long fight, no small part of those that came from Perea,
who were a disordered body of men, and fought rather in a bold than in a
skillful manner, were destroyed; and although Simon had saved himself by
flying away through a certain valley, yet Gratus overtook him, and cut
off his head. The royal palace also at Amathus, by the river Jordan,
was burnt down by a party of men that were got together, as were those
belonging to Simon. And thus did a great and wild fury spread itself
over the nation, because they had no king to keep the multitude in good
order, and because those foreigners who came to reduce the seditious to
sobriety did, on the contrary, set them more in a flame, because of
the injuries they offered them, and the avaricious management of their
affairs.

7. But because Athronges, a person neither eminent by the dignity of his
progenitors, nor for any great wealth he was possessed of, but one that
had in all respects been a shepherd only, and was not known by any body;
yet because he was a tall man, and excelle