h Of John The Baptist.
How Vitellius Went Up To Jerusalem; Together With Some Account Of
Agrippa And Of The Posterity Of Herod The Great.

1. About this time Aretas [the king of Arabia Petres] and Herod had a
quarrel on the account following: Herod the tetrarch had, married the
daughter of Aretas, and had lived with her a great while; but when he
was once at Rome, he lodged with Herod, [15] who was his brother indeed,
but not by the same mother; for this Herod was the son of the high
priest Sireoh's daughter. However, he fell in love with Herodias, this
last Herod's wife, who was the daughter of Aristobulus their brother,
and the sister of Agrippa the Great. This man ventured to talk to her
about a marriage between them; which address, when she admitted, an
agreement was made for her to change her habitation, and come to him as
soon as he should return from Rome: one article of this marriage also
was this, that he should divorce Aretas's daughter. So Antipus, when he
had made this agreement, sailed to Rome; but when he had done there
the business he went about, and was returned again, his wife having
discovered the agreement he had made with Herodias, and having learned
it before he had notice of her knowledge of the whole design, she
desired him to send her to Macherus, which is a place in the borders of
the dominions of Aretas and Herod, without informing him of any of her
intentions. Accordingly Herod sent her thither, as thinking his wife
had not perceived any thing; now she had sent a good while before to
Macherus, which was subject to her father and so all things necessary
for her journey were made ready for her by the general of Aretas's army;
and by that means she soon came into Arabia, under the conduct of the
several generals, who carried her from one to another successively;
and she soon came to her father, and told him of Herod's intentions. So
Aretas made this the first occasion of his enmity between him and Herod,
who had also some quarrel with him about their limits at the country of
Gamalitis. So they raised armies on both sides, and prepared for war,
and sent their generals to fight instead of themselves; and when they
had joined battle, all Herod's army was destroyed by the treachery of
some fugitives, who, though they were of the tetrarchy of Philip, joined
with Aretas's army.. So Herod wrote about these affairs to Tiberius, who
being very angry at the attempt made by Aretas, wrote to Vitellius to
m