Herodes
Surnamed "the Great," followed the fortunes of Brutus and Cassius, and afterward those of Antony. He was made king of Judaea by the aid of Antony, and after the battle of Actium he was continued in power by submission to and flattery of Augustus. He rendered himself odious by his cruelty, and, as he knew his death would be a cause for rejoicing, he ordered a number of the most illustrious of his subjects to be confined and murdered directly he expired, that there might appear to be grief and shedding of tears for his own death. Herod died in the seventieth year of his age, after a reign of forty years.