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[120]
So Vitellius prepared to make war with Aretas, having with him two
legions of armed men; he also took with him all those of light armature,
and of the horsemen which belonged to them, and were drawn out of those
kingdoms which were under the Romans, and made haste for Petra, and came
to Ptolemais. But as he was marching very busily, and leading his army
through Judea, the principal men met him, and desired that he would not
thus march through their land; for that the laws of their country would
not permit them to overlook those images which were brought into it, of
which there were a great many in their ensigns; so he was persuaded by
what they said, and changed that resolution of his which he had before
taken in this matter. Whereupon he ordered the army to march along
the great plain, while he himself, with Herod the tetrarch and his friends,
went up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God, an ancient festival of
the Jews being then just approaching; and when he had been there, and been
honorably entertained by the multitude of the Jews, he made a stay there
for three days, within which time he deprived Jonathan of the high priesthood,
and gave it to his brother Theophilus. But when on the fourth day letters
came to him, which informed him of the death of Tiberius, he obliged the
multitude to take an oath of fidelity to Caius; he also recalled his army,
and made them every one go home, and take their winter quarters there,
since, upon the devolution of the empire upon Caius, he had not the like
authority of making this war which he had before. It was also reported,
that when Aretas heard of the coming of Vitellius to fight him, he said,
upon his consulting the diviners, that it was impossible that this army
of Vitellius's could enter Petra; for that one of the rulers would die,
either he that gave orders for the war, or he that was marching at the
other's desire, in order to be subservient to his will, or else he against
whom this army is prepared. So Vitellius truly retired to Antioch; but
Agrippa, the son of Aristobulus, went up to Rome, a year before the death
of Tiberius, in order to treat of some affairs with the emperor, if he
might be permitted so to do. I have now a mind to describe Herod and his
family, how it fared with them, partly because it is suitable to this history
to speak of that matter, and partly because this thing is a demonstration
of the interposition of Providence, how a multitude of children is of no
advantage, no more than any other strength that mankind set their hearts
upon, besides those acts of piety which are done towards God; for it happened,
that, within the revolution of a hundred years, the posterity of Herod,
which were a great many in number, were, excepting a few, utterly destroyed.
One may well apply this for the instruction of mankind, and learn thence
how unhappy they were: it will also show us the history of Agrippa, who,
as he was a person most worthy of admiration, so was he from a private
man, beyond all the expectation of those that knew him, advanced to great
power and authority. I have said something of them formerly, but I shall
now also speak accurately about them.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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- LSJ, οἰωνοσκοπ-έω
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