die for it, in order to suggest to the king what injuries he
had done to the multitude. These conspirators, therefore, standing thus
prepared beforehand, went about their design with great alacrity; but
there was one of those spies of Herod, that were appointed for such
purposes, to fish out and inform him of any conspiracies that should be
made against him, who found out the whole affair, and told the king of
it, as he was about to go into the theater. So when he reflected on the
hatred which he knew the greatest part of the people bore him, and on
the disturbances that arose upon every occasion, he thought this plot
against him not to be improbable. Accordingly, he retired into his
palace, and called those that were accused of this conspiracy before him
by their several names; and as, upon the guards falling upon them,
they were caught in the very fact, and knew they could not escape, they
prepared themselves for their ends with all the decency they could, and
so as not at all to recede from their resolute behavior, for they showed
no shame for what they were about, nor denied it; but when they were
seized, they showed their daggers, and professed that the conspiracy
they had sworn to was a holy and pious action; that what they intended
to do was not for gain, or out of any indulgence to their passions, but
principally for those common customs of their country, which all the
Jews were obliged to observe, or to die for them. This was what these
men said, out of their undaunted courage in this conspiracy. So they
were led away to execution by the king's guards that stood about them,
and patiently underwent all the torments inflicted on them till they
died. Nor was it long before that spy who had discovered them was seized
on by some of the people, out of the hatred they bore to him; and was
not only slain by them, but pulled to pieces, limb from limb, and given
to the dogs. This execution was seen by many of the citizens, yet would
not one of them discover the doers of it, till upon Herod's making a
strict scrutiny after them, by bitter and severe tortures, certain women
that were tortured confessed what they had seen done; the authors of
which fact were so terribly punished by the king, that their entire
families were destroyed for this their rash attempt; yet did not the
obstinacy of the people, and that undaunted constancy they showed in
the defense of their laws, make Herod any easier to them, but he
still strengthene