122 MATTHEW 0 Ï WESTMUTSTEB. Α.Β. 3. that he took Alexander, his eon, with him to Borne, and accused him before Csesar of having prepared poison for him. And as he was travelling through Sicily, hearing that the ships of the people of Tarshish had conveyed the Magi, he, being vehemently enraged, burnt the ships of Tarshish, so that the prophecy of the Psalmist was fulfilled, " In an angry spirit,'1 &c. But when he had pleaded his cause against his sons, before Caesar, a reconciliation was made up between them, on these conditions, that the young men should obey their father in all matters, and that he himself should leave his kingdom to whoever he chose. And when he came to Jerusalem he convened the people, and relating the peace that had been made between them by Csesar, he declared that he would appoint an heir. Thus being more firmly established in his kingdom than before, he ordered the children to be put to death ; the greater part of whom are buried at the third milestone from Bethlehem, on the southern road. Chrysostom says that the star appeared during the year before the Nativity of the Lord, and that Herod believed that the Lord had been born at that time, and therefore he thought that the Lord was two years old with the addition of a few days ; and therefore he slew all the children of two years old and upwards, up to five years, but none less than two years old ; and he speaks below of the age of two years according to his calculation of the number. For as from a calculation of the time, those who are younger than two years old are inferior to those who are born after them, so by calculation of number, those who are more than two years old are inferior to them, because they are reckoned after them. And it appears, to prove this assertion, that some bones of the Innocents are considered so large that they cannot belong to children who were but two years old. But it may be said to this, that men at that time were far taller and larger than of late. This year also was Bissextile, consisting of three hundred and sixty-six days, and it was called Bissextile, because the sixth of the calends of March was reckoned twice. A.D. 3. By the cunning of the before-mentioned Antipater, Alexander and Aristobulus were a second time rendered objects of suspicion to Herod ; and on this account the father wrote to Augustus and accused his sons of many crimes. Cassar therefore sent Saturninue and Piarius, his lieutenants, with a rescript,