rkened to such as had some frigid
hopes by raising new troubles to get themselves some gain, they should
then find him to be their lord instead of their procurator; and find
Hyrcanus to be a tyrant instead of a king; and both the Romans and
Caesar to be their enemies, instead of rulers; for that they would not
suffer him to be removed from the government, whom they had made their
governor. And, at the same time that he said this, he settled the
affairs of the country by himself, because he saw that Hyrcanus was
inactive, and not fit to manage the affairs of the kingdom. So he
constituted his eldest son, Phasaelus, governor of Jerusalem, and of the
parts about it; he also sent his next son, Herod, who was very young,
[13] with equal authority into Galilee.

5. Now Herod was an active man, and soon found proper materials for his
active spirit to work upon. As therefore he found that Hezekias, the
head of the robbers, ran over the neighboring parts of Syria with a
great band of men, he caught him and slew him, and many more of the
robbers with him; which exploit was chiefly grateful to the Syrians,
insomuch that hymns were sung in Herod's commendation, both in the
villages and in the cities, as having procured their quietness, and
having preserved what they possessed to them; on which occasion he
became acquainted with Sextus Caesar, a kinsman of the great Caesar,
and president of Syria. A just emulation of his glorious actions excited
Phasaelus also to imitate him. Accordingly, he procured the good-will of
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, by his own management of the city affairs,
and did not abuse his power in any disagreeable manner; whence it came
to pass that the nation paid Antipater the respects that were due only
to a king, and the honors they all yielded him were equal to the honors
due to an absolute lord; yet did he not abate any part of that good-will
or fidelity which he owed to Hyrcanus.

6. However, he found it impossible to escape envy in such his
prosperity; for the glory of these young men affected even Hyrcanus
himself already privately, though he said nothing of it to any body; but
what he principally was grieved at was the great actions of Herod, and
that so many messengers came one before another, and informed him of the
great reputation he got in all his undertakings. There were also many
people in the royal palace itself who inflamed his envy at him; those, I
mean, who were obstructed in their designs