Cave of Treasures

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I am a priest, and I minister in the Temple of the Lord; I do not know where the Child and his mother are. And because of these words Zacharias was slain between the bench (or, steps) and the altar. Now, Elizabeth had taken John and gone forth into the desert. The Death of Herod And as for Herod, a divine punishment that was pitiless overtook him, and he fell ill of a sickness, through which he stank, and his body melted away into a mass of worms, and he suffered most grievous pains, and at length people were unable to come near him because of his putrid smell. And through that bitter suffering [Fol. 43a, col. 2] his soul departed into outer darkness. Nevertheless, by his death he destroyed many. [Note: First of all, he slew his wife and his daughter, and he killed one man of every family, saying, "At the time of my death there shall be mourning and weeping and lamentation in the whole city." His bowels and his legs were swollen with running sores, and matter flowed from them, and he was consumed by worms. He had nine wives and thirteen children. There was a knife in his hand, and he was eating an apple; and by reason of the severity of his pain, he drew the knife across his throat, and cut it with his own hand; and his belly burst open, and he died and went to perdition. An evil fate also overtook Bôzîyâ, the daughter of Herodias, who begged for the head of John the Baptist on a charger. Having given the saint's head to her mother, she went out to dance upon the ice, but the ice broke and she sank into the water up to her neck, and no one could deliver her. At length men came with the sword which had been used in beheading John, and they cut off Béztya's head and gave it to her mother. The right hand with which Herodias took up John's head withered, and when she saw the heads of the saint and her daughter she became blind, and Satan entered her and bound her with fetters. See Book of the Bee (chapters xxxix and xli).] Now Herod had said unto Archelaus his son, and unto Shâlôm his sister, "Immediately I am dead, let those whom I have fettered in prison be slain"--now he had imprisoned one person from every house. And he said, "I know that the Jews will feel great joy at my death. But in order that they may not rejoice and be glad whilst ye are sorrowful and are weeping, let all those whom I have shut up in prison be slain, so that through their death they may cause lamentation unintentionally." And Archelaus and Shalém did as Herod commanded them, and when this order had been carried out in all Judea there remained not one house in which there was not lamentation, even as it was in Egypt [in days of old]. Christ returns to Galilee 100 of 130