From Antioch Cleopatra made her way up the valley of the Orontes to Apamea, whence she travelled past Arethusa and Emesa to the Anti-Lebanon, and so to Damascus. From here she seems to have crossed to the Sea of Galilee, and thence along the river Jordan to Jericho. Hereabouts she was met by the handsome and adventurous Herod, who came to her in order that they might arrive at some agreement in regard to the portions of Judea which Antony had given to her; and, after some bargaining, it was finally decided that Herod should rent these territories from her for a certain sum of money. Jericho’s tropical climate produced great abundance of palms, henna, sometimes known as camphire, myrobalan or _zukkûm_, and balsam, the “balm of Gilead,” so much prized as perfume and for medicinal purposes. Josephus speaks of Jericho as a “divine region,” and strategically it was the key of Palestine. It may be understood, therefore, how annoying it must have been to Herod to be dispossessed of this jewel of his crown; and it is said that, after he had rented it from Cleopatra, it became his favourite place of residence. The transaction being settled, the Queen seems to have continued her journey to Egypt, at the Jewish King’s invitation, by way of Jerusalem and Gaza--that is to say, across the Kingdom of Judea; but no sooner had she set her foot on Jewish territory than Herod conceived the plan of seizing her and putting her to death. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem ascends the steep, wild mountain-side, and zigzags upwards through rugged and bare scenery. It would have been a simple matter to ambush the Queen in one of the desolate ravines through which she had to pass, and the blame might be placed with the brigands who infested these regions. He pointed out to his advisers, as Josephus tells us, that Cleopatra by reason of her enormous influence upon the affairs of Rome had become a menace to all minor sovereigns; and now that he had her in his power he could, with the greatest ease, rid the world of a woman who had become irksome to them all, and thereby deliver them from a very multitude of evils and misfortunes. He told them that Cleopatra was actually turning her beautiful eyes upon himself, and he doubted not but that she would make an attempt upon his virtue before he had got her across his southern frontier. He argued that Antony would in the long-run come to thank him for her murder; for it was apparent that she would never be a faithful friend to him, but would desert him at the moment when he should most stand in need of her fidelity. The councillors, however, were appalled at the King’s proposal, and implored him not to put it into execution. “They laid hard at him,” says _naïf_ Josephus, “and begged him to undertake nothing rashly; for that Antony would never bear it, no, not though any one should lay evidently before his eyes that it was for his own advantage. This woman was of the supremest dignity of any of her sex at that time in the world; and such an undertaking would appear to deserve condemnation on account of the insolence Herod must take upon himself in doing it.”