But now, Christ having been born in Bethlehem of Judaea, in accordance with the prophecies, at the times indicated, Herod—at the inquiry of the Magi from the east, who were asking where was the new-born king of the Jews (for they had seen his star, and this had been to them the cause of so long a journey, since they were eager to worship as God the new-born child)—was no little agitated at the matter, his rule being, as he supposed, endangered. Having inquired of the teachers of the law among the nation where they expected the Christ to be born, when he learned that the prophecy of Micah proclaimed Bethlehem beforehand, he commanded, by a single edict, that the male infants in Bethlehem and in all its borders, from two years old and under, according to the time he had accurately ascertained from the Magi, should be put to death—supposing that Jesus too, as was likely, would meet the same fate as those of like age.
The child, however, anticipated the plot, having been conveyed away into Egypt, his parents having learned beforehand of what was to come through the appearing of an angel. These things, indeed, the sacred Scripture of the gospel also teaches.
And it is worth while, in addition to these things, to observe the wages of Herod's audacity against Christ and those of like age with him: how immediately, with not even a brief delay, the divine justice overtook him while he was yet alive in this life, displaying the prelude of the things that awaited him after his departure hence.
How, then, he darkened the prosperities reputed his throughout his reign by successive calamities in his household—by the murders of wife and children and the rest of his nearest and dearest kin—it is not even possible now to recount, since the matter concerning these things overshadows every tragic drama; and Josephus has related it at length in his histories.
But how, immediately upon his plot against our Saviour and the other infants, a God-sent scourge laid hold of him and drove him to death, it is not amiss to hear the very words of the writer, who in the seventeenth book of the Jewish Antiquities describes the catastrophe of his life, word for word, in this manner: 「But Herod's disease grew the more violent, God exacting punishment for the crimes he had committed.」
「For there was a fire, gentle indeed, which did not betoken to those who touched him so great an inflammation outwardly as it added to the inward affliction; and a dreadful craving to take something, which it was impossible not to indulge; and an ulceration of the intestines, and grievous pains especially in the colon; and a moist, transparent humour about the feet.」
「And there was a like affliction about the lower belly. Moreover, a putrefaction of the privy parts, breeding worms; and an upright tension of the breath, this too exceedingly distasteful both from the offensiveness of the discharge and from the frequency of the gasping. And there was a convulsion in every limb, adding strength not to be endured.」
「It was said, at all events, by those who interpreted oracles, and to whom it was given by wisdom to pronounce such things beforehand, that God was exacting from the king this penalty for his great impiety.」 These things, then, the aforesaid writer notes in the work indicated.
And in the second book of his Histories he hands down the like concerning the same man, writing somewhat thus: 「Thence the disease, spreading through his whole body, distributed it among various sufferings. For there was a fever, not raging; an unbearable itching over the whole surface of the skin; pains of the colon; swellings about the feet as of one dropsical; an inflammation of the lower belly; and a putrefaction of the privy parts, breeding worms. Besides these, an orthopnoea and difficulty of breathing, and convulsions of all the limbs; so that those who interpreted oracles said that his maladies were a penalty.」
「But he, wrestling with so many sufferings, nevertheless clung to life, hoped for recovery, and devised remedies. So, crossing the Jordan, he made use of the warm springs at Callirrhoe; these flow out into the Asphaltite (Dead) Sea, and from their sweetness are even fit to drink.」
「And when it seemed good to the physicians there to warm his whole body again with hot oil, he was let down, relaxed, into a tub full of oil; whereupon his eyes failed and turned up as those of a dead man. When an uproar arose among his attendants, he revived at the outcry; but thereafter, despairing of recovery, he commanded fifty drachmas apiece to be distributed to the soldiers, and much money to the commanders and to his friends.」
「But he himself, returning, came to Jericho; and being now in a melancholy mood, and well-nigh threatening death itself, he proceeded to the contrivance of a lawless deed. For he gathered together the notable men from every village out of all Judaea, and commanded them to be shut up in the place called the Hippodrome.」
「And having summoned his sister Salome and her husband Alexander, he said: 『I know that the Jews will keep festival at my death. But I can be mourned through others, and have a splendid funeral, if you will be willing to minister to my commands. As soon as I have breathed my last, kill these men who are kept under guard, stationing the soldiers around them, that all Judaea and every household may weep over me even against their will.』」
And a little further on he says: 「But again—for he was racked both by want of food and by a convulsive cough—being overcome by his pains, he set himself to forestall his fate. Taking an apple, he asked also for a knife; for he had been accustomed to cut and eat. Then, looking about lest anyone should be there to hinder him, he raised his right hand as if to strike himself.」
And in addition to these things the same writer relates that, before the very last end of his life, Herod put to death by command yet another of his genuine sons—a third, two having already been slain before him—and forthwith breathed out his life, not without grievous pains.
And such was the end of Herod's death, having paid a just penalty for the children he had slain about Bethlehem, for the sake of his plot against our Saviour. After which an angel, standing by in a dream to Joseph as he sojourned in Egypt, bade him depart, together with the child and his mother, to Judaea, declaring that those who sought the life of the young child were dead. And to this the evangelist adds, saying: 「But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; and being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the parts of Galilee.」