From the Taking of Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes to the Death of Herod the Great - Flavius Josephus

this by exhorting him to carry his revenge no further than to threatening and
affrighting, but to spare the king, under whom he had been advanced to such
a degree of power; and that he ought not to be so much provoked at his being
tried, as to forget to be thankful that he was acquitted; nor so long to think
upon what was of a melancholy nature, as to be ungrateful for his
deliverance; and if we ought to reckon that God is the arbitrator of success in
war, an unjust cause is of more disadvantage than an army can be of
advantage; and that therefore he ought not to be entirely confident of success
in a case where he is to fight against his king, his supporter, and one that had
often been his benefactor, and that had never been severe to him, any
otherwise than as he had hearkened to evil counselors, and this no further
than by bringing a shadow of injustice upon him. So Herod was prevailed
upon by these arguments, and supposed that what he had already done was
sufficient for his future hopes, and that he had enough shown his power to
the nation.
10. In the mean time, there was a disturbance among the Romans about
Apamia, and a civil war occasioned by the treacherous slaughter of Sextus
Caesar, by Cecilius Bassus, which he perpetrated out of his good-will to
Pompey; he also took the authority over his forces; but as the rest of Caesar's
commanders attacked Bassus with their whole army, in order to punish him
for the murder of Caesar, Antipater also sent them assistance by his sons,
both on account of him that was murdered, and on account of that Caesar
who was still alive, both of which were their friends; and as this war grew to
be of a considerable length, Marcus came out of Italy as successor to Sextus.
Footnotes:
1. What is here noted by Hudson and Spanheim, that this grant of leave to
rebuild the walls of the cities of Judea was made by Julius Caesar, not as
here to Antipater, but to Hyrcanas, Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 8. sect. 5, has
hardly an appearance of a contradiction; Antipater being now perhaps
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