Excerpt from The Works of Flavius Josephus, Vol. 2 of 2: Comprising the Antiquities of the Jews; A History of the Jewish Wars; And Life of Flavius Josephus
Herod's law concerning Thieves - Salome and Pheroras calumniate Alexander and Aristobulus upon their return from Rome.
As King Herod was very zealous in the administration of his entire government, and desirous to put a stop to particular acts of injustice which were done by criminals about the city and country, he made a law, noway like our original laws, and which he enacted of himself, to expose housebreakers to be ejected out of his kingdom, which punishment was not only grievous to be borne by the offenders, but contained in it a dissolution of the customs of our forefathers; for this slavery to foreigners, and such as did not live after the manner of Jews, and this necessity that they were under to do whatsoever such men should command, was an offence against our religious settlement, rather than a punishment to such as were found to have offended, such a punishment being avoided in our original laws; for those laws ordain, that the thief shall restore fourfold; and that if he have not so much, he shall be sold, indeed, but not to foreigners, nor so that he be under perpetual slavery, for he must have been released after six years. But this law, thus enacted, in order to introduce a severe and illegal punishment, seemed to be a piece of insolence in Herod, when he did not act as a king but as a tyrant, and thus contemptuously, and without any regard to his subjects, venture to introduce such a punishment. Now, this penalty thus brought into practice, was like Herod's other actions, and became a part of his accusation, and an occasion of the hatred he lay under.
Now, at this time it was that he sailed to Italy, as very desirous to meet with C?sar, and to see his sons, who lived at Rome: and C?sar was not only very obliging to him in other respects, but delivered him his sons again, that he might take them home with him, as having already completed themselves in the sciences; but as soon as the young men were come from Italy, the multitude were very desirous to see them, and they became conspicuous among them all, as adorned with great blessings of fortune, and having the countenances of persons of royal dignity. So they soon appeared to be the objects of envy to Salome, the king's sister, and to such as had raised calumnies against Mariamme; for they were suspicious that when these came to the government, they should be punished for the wickedness they had been guilty of against their mother; so they made this very fear of theirs a motive to raise calumnies against them also. They gave it out that they were not pleased with their father's company, because he had put their mother to death, as if it were not agreeable to piety to appear to converse with their mother's murderer.
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