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But these successes did little towards compensating the Jewish king for the loss of the affections of Mariamne, who persisted in rejecting his caresses, and reproaching him with his cruelty towards her family. At this juncture the envious Salome suborned the royal cupbearer to accuse the queen of having bribed him to poison his master. This new accusation filled Herod with such rage that he ordered Mariamne’s favourite eunuch to be put to the rack. The wretched man denied all knowledge of the plot, but confessed that the secret orders given to Soemus had excited the queen’s hatred and disgust. Furious at what he deemed a second proof of her infidelity, Herod directed that Soemus should be instantly executed, and arraigned Mariamne before a tribunal of judges on a charge of adultery. The judges, too terrified to do any thing but obey his bidding, pronounced her guilty, and sentenced her to death. But though he had procured her condemnation, the tyrant shrunk from proceeding to her execution. His mother and sister, however, suffered him to have no rest, and so worked upon his feelings that at length he signed the fatal order for her execution, and Mariamne was led forth to die, B.C.29.