Now suppose you had been on the other side. Suppose you had secretly supported the assassination of Julius Caesar. Or suppose you had wanted Antony to win in the final showdown. I suggested a moment ago that this news might mean it was time for you to leave town in a hurry. But there was an alternative. Herod the Great, a powerful warlord in the Jewish homeland, had been made king of the Jews by the Roman authorities. He, like much of the Middle East, had supported Antony. He was now on the wrong side. But Herod was both bold and clever. He went straight to Octavian. Don’t think, he said,
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