I find confirmation for my belief that this passion was the key to his character in the manner in which he conferred his honours on Cæsar and Agrippa and the rest of his friends. He looked for a return in kind of the service which he paid to his superiors; his gifts were the most excellent he could conceive, but the way in which he gave them revealed his desire to receive the like. The Jewish nation, however, is by its law alienated from all such things; its training has taught it to prefer righteousness to the pursuit of glory. For this reason it was out of favour with Herod, because it was incapable of flattering the king’s vanity by erecting images or shrines or by any such practices. This, I think, explains at once the crimes of which he was guilty against his relatives and advisers and his benefactions to foreigners and those outside his family.—_Ant._ XVI. 5. 4 (150-159). Footnote 118: Most MSS read: “even those who were less (_or_ least) honoured (by him).” Footnote 119: Lit. “moderation.” Footnote 120: The Greek is difficult and the sense a little obscure. The phrase, κακῶν ποριστὴν (lit. “provider of evils,” “purveyor of misfortunes to his victims”), seems to be a reminiscence of Thuc. VIII. 48. (20) Reflections on the Tragic Fate of Herod’s Sons A quarrel extending over many years between Herod and his sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, after a reconciliation had been effected first by Augustus and then by others, ends in his putting them to death on the charge of treason. [Sidenote: (?) 7 B.C.] Alexander and Aristobulus were then, by their father’s orders, removed to Sebaste[121] and there strangled. Their bodies were conveyed by night to Alexandrium,[122] where their mother’s father[123] and most of their ancestors lay buried. Now some, perhaps, may not find it strange that a long cherished hatred should grow so great as to surpass all bounds and overpower the natural affections. Yet the apportionment of the guilt for so grave a crime may well give pause for reflection. Should it be laid to the charge of the youths that they drove their father to extremities[124] and by long and persistent recalcitrance paved the way for their own ruin? Or was the father himself the culprit—without feelings and so extravagant in his lust for dominion and fame that he was prepared to sacrifice any one[125] to ensure unquestioning obedience to his every whim? Or, again, was it Fortune—Fortune whose power is mightier than any considerate thought,[126] so that we believe that human actions are foreordained by her by an inevitable necessity, and we call her Destiny, because we think that nothing happens of which she is not the ultimate cause?