one of his most intimate friends; for both the king and all that
were about him had a great regard for this Spartan, on account of his
country. [41]

2. Now as soon as this fellow perceived the rotten parts of the family,
and what quarrels the brothers had one with another, and in what
disposition the father was towards each of them, he chose to take his
lodging at the first in the house of Antipater, but deluded Alexander
with a pretense of friendship to him, and falsely claimed to be an old
acquaintance of Archelaus; for which reason he was presently admitted
into Alexander's familiarity as a faithful friend. He also soon
recommended himself to his brother Aristobulus. And when he had thus
made trial of these several persons, he imposed upon one of them by one
method, and upon another by another. But he was principally hired by
Antipater, and so betrayed Alexander, and this by reproaching Antipater,
because, while he was the eldest son he overlooked the intrigues of
those who stood in the way of his expectations; and by reproaching
Alexander, because he who was born of a queen, and was married to a
king's daughter, permitted one that was born of a mean woman to lay
claim to the succession, and this when he had Archelaus to support him
in the most complete manner. Nor was his advice thought to be other
than faithful by the young man, because of his pretended friendship
with Archelaus; on which account it was that Alexander lamented to him
Antipater's behavior with regard to himself, and this without concealing
any thing from him; and how it was no wonder if Herod, after he had
killed their mother, should deprive them of her kingdom. Upon this
Eurycles pretended to commiserate his condition, and to grieve with him.
He also, by a bait that he laid for him, procured Aristobulus to say the
same things. Thus did he inveigle both the brothers to make complaints
of their father, and then went to Antipater, and carried these grand
secrets to him. He also added a fiction of his own, as if his brothers
had laid a plot against him, and were almost ready to come upon him with
their drawn swords. For this intelligence he received a great sum of
money, and on that account he commended Antipater before his father, and
at length undertook the work of bringing Alexander and Aristobulus to
their graves, and accused them before their father. So he came to Herod,
and told him that he would save his life, as a requital for the favors
he h