14.When the rigor of winter was over, Herod removed his army, and came near to Jerusalem, and pitched his camp hard by the city.Now this was the third year since he had been made king at Rome; and as he removed his camp, and came near that part of the wall where it could be most easily assaulted, he pitched that camp before the temple, intending to make his attacks in the same manner as did Pompey.So he encompassed the place with three bulwarks, and erected towers, and employed a great many hands about the work, and cut down the trees that were round about the city; and when he had appointed proper persons to oversee the works, even while the army lay before the city, he himself went to Samaria, to complete his marriage, and to take to wife the daughter of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus; for he had betrothed her already, as I have before related.
CHAPTER 16.
How Herod, When He Had Married Mariamne Took Jerusalem With The Assistance Of Sosius By Force; And How The Government Of He Asamoneans Was Put An End To 1.After the wedding was over, came Sosius through Phoenicia, having sent out his army before him over the midland parts.He also, who was their commander, came himself, with a great number of horsemen and footmen.The king also came himself from Samaria, and brought with him no small army, besides that which was there before, for they were about thirty thousand; and they all met together at the walls of Jerusalem, and encamped at the north wall of the city, being now an army of eleven legions, armed men on foot, and six thousand horsemen, with other auxiliaries out of Syria.The generals were two: Sosius, sent by Antony to assist Herod, and Herod on his own account, in order to take the government from Antigonus, who was declared all enemy at Rome, and that he might himself be king, according to the decree of the Senate.