Now there was one section of the Jews that prided themselves on their strict observance of inherited traditions and professed (to know) the laws[386] in which the Deity takes delight.[387] They had obtained complete control over the women-folk.[388] They were called Pharisees, and showed foresight in resisting an all-powerful monarch[389] and temerity in proceeding to open hostility and opposition. For instance, when the whole Jewish nation took the oath of allegiance to Cæsar and to the king’s government, these men, to the number of upwards of six thousand, refused to swear. The king imposed a money penalty, whereupon the wife of Pheroras[390] paid the fine on their behalf. In requital for this service of hers the Pharisees, who through divine inspiration were endowed with the gift of foreknowledge, foretold that God had decreed the downfall from power of Herod and his family, and the transfer of the kingdom to her and Pheroras and their children. These words, coming to the knowledge of Salome,[391] were reported to the king, who was further informed that the Pharisees were corrupting some of his courtiers. The king thereupon put the principal offenders among the Pharisees to death together with the eunuch Bagoas and one Carus, the most famous beauty of his time and a royal favourite. He also killed all the members of his household who were implicated in[392] the Pharisees’[393] prediction. Bagoas had been led by them to believe that he would be called the father and benefactor of the king whose rise they foretold; that monarch, they said, would be omnipotent and would enable Bagoas to marry and beget children of his own.—_Ant._ XVII. 2. 4 (41-45). Footnote 386: Lit. “laid claim to the laws.” But the text is doubtful. Others read, “... observance of the laws of their fathers, and pretended that the Deity took delight in them (the Pharisees).” Footnote 387: Cf. Rom. ii. 18 (“knowest the will”). Footnote 388: That is, apparently, the women of Herod’s family. The word denotes the harem of a prince. Footnote 389: Text and meaning doubtful. Footnote 390: Herod’s brother. Footnote 391: Herod’s sister. Footnote 392: Or “had associated themselves with.” Footnote 393: Gr. “Pharisee’s.” IX. JEWISH THEOLOGY, SCRIPTURES AND CUSTOMS (61) Some Aspects of Jewish Theology. Moses as Religious Educator Our Polity a Theocracy