(HEROD the Great by his first wife, Doris (Jos. Ant. 14.12.1), a monster of wickedness and craft, whose life is briefly described by
Josephus (Bell. Jud. 1.24.1) in two words--Bell. Jud.
1.22.1), but recalled him afterwards, in the hope of checking, by the presence of a rival, the
violence and resentment of Mariamne's sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, who were exasperated by
their mother's death. Antipater now intrigued to bring his half-brothers under the suspicion
of his father, and with such success, that Herod altered his intentions in their behalf,
recalled Doris to court, and sent Antipater to Rome, recommending him to the favour of
Augustus. (Jos. Ant. 16.3, Bell. Jud. 1.23.2.) He
still continued his machinations against his brothers, and, though Herod was twice reconciled
to them, yet his arts, aided by Salome and Pheroras, and especially by the Spartan Eurycles
(comp. Plut. Ant. p. 947b.), succeeded at length in bringing about their
death, Ant. 16.4-11, Bell. Jud. 1.23-27.) Having thus removed his rivals, and been declared
successor to the throne, he entered into a plot against his father's life with his uncle
Pheroras ; and, to avoid suspicion, contrived to get himself sent to Rome, taking with him,
for the approbation of Augustus, Herod's altered will. But the investigation occasioned by the
death of Pheroras (whom his wife was suspected of poisoning) brought to light Antipater's
murderous designs, chiefly through the disclosures of the wife of Pheroras, of Antipater's own
freedman, and of his steward, Antipater the Samaritan. He was accordingly recalled from Rome,
and kept in ignorance of the charges against him till his arrival at Jerusalem. Here he was
arraigned by Nicolaus of Damascus before Quintilius Varus, the Roman governor of Syria, and
the sentence against him having been confirmed by Augustus (who recommended, however, a
mitigation of it in the shape of banishment), he was executed in prison, five days before the
termination of Herod's mortal illness, and in the same year as the massacre of the innocents.
(Jos. Ant. 17.1-7, Bell. Jud. 1.28-33; Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1.8.12.) The death of Antipater probably called forth the
well-known sarcasm of Augustus : " Melius est Herodis porcum esse quam filium." (Macrob. Saturn. 2.4.)