his projects of conquest, and subdued Gilead and Moab. Three years later he had advanced against Gaulonitis, a district in the north of Batanea, when he was defeated, with the total loss of his army, by the Arabian king, Orodes.

The whole Jewish nation now rose in rebellion, and a civil war ensued for six years. Alexander's mercenaries at first gave him the upper hand; but, when he asked the people on what terms they would submit, they called out to him to cut his throat. At length, by the aid of Demetrius Eucarus, one of the rival kings of Syria, Alexander was defeated, and his mercenaries cut to pieces, he himself flying to the mountains. By an unexplained reaction of public feeling, he soon recovered all he had lost; and, having finished the civil war by the capture of Bethsura, he brought his prisoners in triumph to Jerusalem. Then was seen the incredible spectacle of a high-priest, the great-grandson of Simon the Maccabee, sitting at a banquet with his wives and concubines, to gloat his eyes upon the crucifixion of 800 of his enemies and the massacre of their wives and children. The nickname of "Thracian" expressed the impotence of public indignation; his opponents fled the country, to the number of 8000; and the remainder of his reign was undisturbed by open revolt.

Alexander spent some years in extending his dominions to the east of Jordan, and defending them against the Syrians and Arabians. He died of an ague at the siege of Ragaba, after advising his wife to convene the leaders of the Pharisees, and, having placed his dead body at their disposal, to offer to govern by their counsels. This last propitiation of his inveterate enemies was entirely successful. Alexander's remains were honored with a splendid funeral: his widow succeeded to the civil government, and his eldest son, Hyrcanus, to the high-priesthood.*

§ 3. ALEXANDRA (B.C. 78-69) gave up all real power to the Pharisees, who recalled the exiles of their own party, and demanded justice on those who had advised the crucifixion of the 800 rebels. But a strong opposition was organized under Aristobulus, the younger son of Alexander, secretly favored by his mother. She sent the accused persons to garrison some of the frontier towns, and dispatched Aristobulus on a secret expedition against Damascus, in which his success gained him the favor of the army.

Amid the general silence of the classical authors, it is interesting to find Strabo speaking of Judæa as now "openly governed by tyranny,"

and naming Alexander (though inaccurately) as "the first who, instead of a priest, assumed the state of a king" (xvi. p. 762).

§ 4. The result was seen when Alexandra, dying at the age of 73, was succeeded nominally by HYRCANUS II., who already held the high-priesthood (B.c. 69). Aristobulus fled from Jerusalem before his mother breathed her last; and, collecting an army from the garrisons, he defeated the forces of the Pharisees at Jericho, and advanced upon Jerusalem. Hyrcanus took refuge in the tower of Baris, which he surrendered after a short siege, yielding the civil and pontifical crowns to his brother, who permitted him to retire into private life.

§ 5. ARISTOBULUS II. (B.C. 69-63) had scarcely achieved his victory over the Pharisees, when a new enemy arose in the person of ANTIPATER, whose son Herod was destined to raise a new throne on the ruins of the Asmonæan dynasty. Antipater was by birth an Idumæan noble, the son of Antipas, who had been governor of Idumæa under Alexander Jannæus. Brought up at the royal court, he embraced Judaism, at least in name, and became the bosom friend of Hyrcanus, whose feeble mind he now easily bent to his own ambitious schemes. Persuading him that his life was in danger from his brother, Antipater induced Hyrcanus to fly to ARETAS, king of the Nabathæans of Arabia Petræa, a new power which had been growing up around the rock-hewn city of Petra. They soon returned with an army of 50,000 men under Aretas, who defeated Aristobulus, and besieged him in the Temple, his last refuge. The passover came round, and the besieged had no lambs to offer. We have seen a Syrian king, Antiochus Sidetes, furnishing victims during a former siege; but the allies, though partisans of a high-priest, mocked the besieged by promising to supply them, if they would let down baskets over the wall with the price of the victims, and then, taking the money, they left the baskets to be drawn up empty, or placed in them swine instead of the lambs.

5

Another striking incident of the siege relieves the monotonous story of these civil discords. Onias, an aged man in the camp of Hyrcanus, was required to offer his prayers, which had proved effectual during a great drought; and he besought God, since His people were on one side and His priests on the other, not to hear the prayers of either for each other's hurt. For this impartial patriotism he was stoned to death.

§ 6. Amid such scenes it was time for the appearance of that stern arbiter-the Iron state of Nebuchadnezzar's vis"Respecting the origin and history of this people, see the Dict. of Bible, art. NEBAIOTH.

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ion-to which Providence had assigned the work of crushing the effete despotisms of Asia, and reducing the civilized world under one government, in preparation for the coming of the Christ. ROME, though never wanting a pretext for interference with other states, might plead her alliance of a century old with the Asmonæan princes as making her intervention a duty. Her supremacy in Western Asia had long been disputed and imperiled by Mithridates, whose son-in-law, Tigranes, king of Armenia, had seized Syria in B.C. 83, and remained master of the country, till Lucullus defeated Tigranes, and restored the last of the Seleucidæ, Antiochus XIII., in the first year of Aristobulus, B.C. 69. Three years later the conduct of the Mithridatic war was committed to the famous Pompey; and while he defeated Mithridates, and plunged in pursuit of him into the regions south of Mount Caucasus, his lieutenant Scaurus was sent to take possession of Damascus and settle the affairs of Syria. After deposing Antiochus XIII. and conquering Syria for Rome (B.c. 65), Scaurus received at Damascus the envoys of Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, who now occupied the positions in which we left them at Jerusalem. Both offered the large bribes of 400 talents, and Scaurus decided in favor of Aristobulus, who was master of the treasures in the Temple (B.C. 64).

Aretas retired at the Roman's command; and Aristobulus, falling on his rear, gave him a signal defeat. The same year, Pompey himself, having reduced Colesyria, appeared at Damascus to receive the homage and presents of the neighboring kings. Aristobulus sent him a golden vine, worth 500 talents; but Pompey took care to hold the balance in suspense between the prince who had possession of Jerusalem and his feeble rival. He returned to Syria, and came again in the following spring to Damascus, to hold a formal court for deciding, not only between the two brothers, but between them and the Jewish people, who now ventured to complain of the hierarchical kingdom as a usurpation. Hyrcanus was represented by the wily Antipater, who had taken care to enforce his argument from the right of the elder brother by bribing more than a thousand of the most distinguished Jews to appear before the tribunal as his adherents. In contrast with this venerable band, there appeared on the part of Aristobulus "a troop of insolent youths, splendidly arrayed in purple, with flowing hair and rich armor, who carried themselves as if they were the true nobles of the land." (Milman.)

The story of the Mithridatic Wars belongs to the history of Rome.

The orators of his party pleaded that the imbecility of Hyrcanus rendered him unfit to govern. The Roman behaved to both with that cold and ambiguous reserve, which Cicero has drawn as a leading trait of his character, and while studiously courteous to Aristobulus, he left reason to suspect that his decision would be in favor of Hyrcanus, whose incapacity was sure to give a pretext for converting protection into conquest. From some such fear, or from the consciousness of a bad cause, Aristobulus no sooner saw the departure of Pompey on an expedition to secure the rock-hewn city of Petra, the great trading capital of the Arabs, than he began to prepare for resistance. The rapid return of Pompey disconcerted his plans; and Aristobulus, unable to disobey the mandate to come forth from the stronghold of Alexandrion, was compelled to sign orders for the surrender of all his fortresses. The restless prince still tried the last resource of fleeing to Jerusalem and attempting to defend the city. The Roman legions advanced along the high-road from the East through Jericho, where Pompey's admiration was excited by the palmgroves that gave name to the city, and the odoriferous shrubs which yielded its far-famed balsams. Once more Aristobulus came forward to offer the surrender of Jerusalem; and he was detained while Pompey sent forward his legate, Gabinius, to take possession of the city. On its unexpected resistance, Pompey threw Aristobulus into chains, and advanced with his whole army. He was admitted by the party of Hyrcanus, who had now gained the upper hand. The friends of Aristobulus shut themselves up in the Temple, which held out for three months, and was at last taken by assault, with the slaughter of 12,000 Jews. The priests, who were engaged about the daily sacrifices, calmly continued their service, and many of them were slain at the altar. The Temple was profaned by the entrance of the Roman general, the images on whose standards had long ago been indicated by Daniel's prophecy of "the abomination that maketh desolate" (B.C. 63): but, as on former occasions, a long respite, filled with golden opportunities, followed the first step of the threatened judgment, before the desolation was completed. Pompey entered the Holy of Holies, where he was amazed to find no statue or other symbol of the Deity. He left the sacred vessels and the vast treasures untouched,' and ordered "It excites natural surprise to find millions sterling. The explanation the Temple, at this stage of Jewish is to be found in the offerings sent by history, still in possession of treasures the pious Jews from every province which have been computed at two of the Roman empire, of which we

the Temple to be purified. He conferred the high-priesthood and principality upon Hyrcanus, limiting his territory to Judæa Proper, and forbidding him to assume the crown. He imposed a tribute, and demolished the walls of Jerusalem. Aristobulus was carried off, with his two sons and two daughters, to grace the victor's triumph; but Alexander, the elder son, escaped on the way; and Antigonus, the younger, as well as Aristobulus himself, made their escape from Rome at a later period. Meanwhile, the Jews regarded Pompey's sacrilege as the fatal turning-point of his history; and when the civil war broke out, they warmly embraced the party of Cæsar. 87. HYRCANUS II. (B.c. 63-40) was restored to a power which was merely nominal; for Judæa was really governed by Antipater in complete subservience to the policy of Rome. In fact, Judæa seems to have been annexed by Pompey to the newly-formed province of Syria, though under a separate administration, both judicial and financial. The progress of Alexander, who soon appeared at the head of 10,000 foot and 1500 horse, left Hyrcanus no choice but Roman protection. Gabinius, the proconsul of Syria, besieged Alexander in the fortress of Alexandrion; but the interest of Alexander's mother with the Romans obtained her son an amnesty, on condition of his surrendering that and his other fortresses. The celebrated MARK ANTONY acted in this campaign as the lieutenant of Gabinius. The intervention of Gabinius led to a new settlement of the civil government. He deprived the high-priest of the supreme power, which he divided among five "Great Sanhedrims," seated at Jerusalem, Jericho, Gadara, Amanthus, and Sepphoris, and modeled on the Great Sanhedrim of 71 members, which had administered justice at Jerusalem from the time of the Maccabees. Thus the desire of the Jews for emancipation from the temporal power of the high-priest was gratified at the expense of the loss of a central seat of government. This state of things lasted till the restoration of Hyrcanus to the principality by Julius Cæsar, B.C. 44.

have an incidental notice in Cicero's praise of Flaccus for forbidding the export of such offerings from the province of Asia. "This very remarkable passage," says Dr. Milman, "shows, curiously enough, the Jews as already exporters of gold, though but religious offerings, yet affecting the markets of the world; their great numbers, and clamor in the public

assemblies in the cities of Asia Minor; the astonishment that Pompey had the moderation, for which Cicero is perplexed to account, not to plunder the Temple, and was unwilling to expose himself to the reproaches of a people so likely to be heard as the Jews."

Sce Notes and Illustrations (A), THE SANHEDRIM.