lethargic_man | Antiquities of the Jews, fit the thirty-second, concluding Book XIV

In the conflict between Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, Hyrcanus had come out tops, with the help of Herod's father Antipater and the Romans; however Aristobulus's son Antigonus invited the Parthians in to try and install him as king, deceiving Hyrcanus and Herod's brother Phasael, who were taken hostage. Phasael having managed to get a message through to Herod, Herod fled from Jerusalem with his family, making his way southeast and then ultimately to Rome, where the Romans would proclaim him king, and send an army back with him to turn declaration into reality.

Before this happened, though, in the early stages of his flight, when at any moment it looks like he might have been overtaken and captured, Josephus tells us (XIV.13.356):

But for Herod himself, he raised his mind above the miserable state he was in, and was of good courage in the midst of his misfortunes; and as he passed along, he bid them every one to be of good cheer, and not to give themselves up to sorrow, because that would hinder them in their flight, which was now the only hope of safety that they had. Accordingly, they tried to bear with patience the calamity they were under, as he exhorted them to do; yet was he once almost going to kill himself, upon the overthrow of a waggon, and the danger his mother was then in of being killed; and this on two accounts, because of his great concern for her, and because he was afraid lest, by this delay, the enemy should overtake him in the pursuit: but as he was drawing his sword, and going to kill himself therewith, those that were present restrained him, and being so many in number, were too hard for him; and told him that he ought not to desert them, and leave them a prey to their enemies, for that it was not the part of a brave man to free himself from the distresses he was in, and to overlook his friends that were in the same distresses also. So he was compelled to let that horrid attempt alone, partly out of shame at what they said to him, and partly out of regard to the great number of those that would not permit him to do what he intended. So he encouraged his mother, and took all the care of her the time would allow, and proceeded on the way he proposed to go with the utmost haste, and that was to the fortress of Masada. And as he had many skirmishes with such of the Parthians as attacked him and pursued him, he was conqueror in them all.

Interesting to reflect on how different subsequent history would have been—and how much less bloody, in the next few decades—if Herod had succeeded in killing himself at that point.

Herod has a reputation as being extremely bloodthirsty, but it seems to me that in the earlier part of his reign, he only killed people when he was whipped up by others into paranoia, and then mostly only family members of his. Only in his latter years does he become a force of terror to the whole population. And, though he would go on to order something truly horrific on his deathbed, there is not a trace in Josephus of the Massacre of the Innocents referred to in the Gospel of Matthew; this story seems to be borrowed in its entirety from the similar episode at the beginning of Exodus.

XVII.6.175 describes what Herod ordered on his deathbed:

He came again to Jericho, where he grew so choleric, that it brought him to do all things like a madman; and though he were near his death, he contrived the following wicked designs. He commanded that all the principal men of the entire Jewish nation, wheresoever they lived, should be called to him. Accordingly, they were a great number that came, because the whole nation was called, and all men heard of this call, and death was the penalty of such as should despise the epistles that were sent to call them. And now the king was in a wild rage against them all, the innocent as well as those that had afforded ground for accusations; and when they were come, he ordered them to be all shut up in the hyppodrome, and sent for his sister Salome, and her husband Alexas, and spake thus to them: "I shall die in a little time, so great are my pains; which death ought to be cheerfully borne, and to be welcomed by all men; but what principally troubles me is this, that I shall die without being lamented, and without such mourning as men usually expect at a king's death." For that he was not unacquainted with the temper of the Jews, that his death would be a thing very desirable, and exceedingly acceptable to them, because during his lifetime they were ready to revolt from him, and to abuse the donations he had dedicated to God that it therefore was their business to resolve to afford him some alleviation of his great sorrows on this occasion; for that if they do not refuse him their consent in what he desires, he shall have a great mourning at his funeral, and such as never had any king before him; for then the whole nation would mourn from their very soul, which otherwise would be done in sport and mockery only. He desired therefore, that as soon as they see he hath given up the ghost, they shall place soldiers round the hippodrome, while they do not know that he is dead; and that they shall not declare his death to the multitude till this is done, but that they shall give orders to have those that are in custody shot with their darts; and that this slaughter of them all will cause that he shall not miss to rejoice on a double account; that as he is dying, they will make him secure that his will shall be executed in what he charges them to do; and that he shall have the honor of a memorable mourning at his funeral. So he deplored his condition, with tears in his eyes, and obtested them by the kindness due from them, as of his kindred, and by the faith they owed to God, and begged of them that they would not hinder him of this honourable mourning at his funeral. So they promised him not to transgress his commands.

"King Herod rejecting the treacherous Embrace of his Son Antipater, who had formed a Conspiracy against his Life in order to Usurp his Throne"

Fortunately, Salome and Alexas had some humanity in them, and managed to get the people released before the soldiers guarding them found out Herod had died.

Herod's death also brought to a conclusion the long-running saga of his son Antipater, who had engineered the deaths of his step-brothers the sons of Mariamne who had stood in the way of his rise to the throne, and then eventually, out of patience for his father to go the way of all men, conspired against him himself. Herod found out, put Antipater on trial, then put him in jail whilst he waited to hear back from Augustus. But when Antipater wrongly thought that Herod, who was on his deathbed, had died, he instantly tried to bribe his way out of jail and back to power. Herod furious, instantly had him executed, which, frankly, was all he deserved.

[Please comment at my collected Book XIV notes post, on Dreamwidth for preference, or on LiveJournal.]

Josephus notes