the infamous Cleopatra at Alexandria, the Parthians, with Labienus and the remains of the Pompeian faction, had invaded Syria with a powerful army; and having taken Sidon and Ptolemais, sent a detachment towards Judea, with the avowed purpose of setting Antigonus up as king of that country; upon a contract to deliver to Pacorus, the Parthian monarch, one thousand talents and five hundred Jewesses. Antigonus having collected an army of Jews near mount Carmel, and being joined by the Parthian general, marched into Judea, and defeating an army that was sent against him, followed them into Jerusalem; but being vigorously opposed by the two brothers, took shelter in the mountain of the temple, whilst the Herodians seized upon the palace. As the feast of Pentecost was approaching, and multitudes flocked to the city from all quarters, the waste of human blood became shocking even to the perpetrators, and Antigonus proposing to leave their disputes to the decision of the Parthian general, to which, the two brothers having acceded, he was received into Jerusalem with five hundred horse, and lodged in Phasael's house; into whose confidence he so effectually insinuated himself, as to prevail upon him, contrary to the advice of Herod, to go with Hyrcanus upon an embassy to Barzaphanes, the prefect of Syria under Pacorus.†

Phasael and Hyrcanus were at first received by the Parthian general with distinguished honour, but he soon threw them into chains, a fate which had been also intended for Herod, but which he escaped by a sudden flight from Jerusalem, with his family, and such troops as he could hastily collect.

Pacorus, cupben to Pacorus, the son of Orodes, king of

thia. Prid. ii. 592.

Prid. ii. 594.

ambassadors and suppliants, several Jews of rank and consequence applied to him against Phasael and Herod; but the latter were so firmly settled in his good opinion, and Herod had bribed him so effectually, that they met with no success. On the other hand, other ambassadors came from Hyrcanus praying for the restoration of the lands and territories which Cassius had taken from them, and also for the redemption of those Jews whom he had sold into captivity, and these petitions were immediately granted.*

Having arrived at Daphne, near Antioch, one hundred of the principal Jews came to him with renewed complaints against the sons of Antipater, when he gave them a hearing and demanded of Hyrcanus, who was present, whom he thought the most proper person to conduct the civil government under him; and upon his declaring in favour of the two brothers, he appointed them to be tetrachs,† and committed all the affairs of Judea to their management, and imprisoned fifteen of the ambassadors, whom he would have put to death if Herod had not interceded for them. Such, however, was the discontent of the Jews, that notwithstanding their former discomfiture and narrow escape, upon Antony's coming to Tyre, no less than one thousand of them came to him with reiterated complaints against the two brothers; and which the imperious Roman construing into a tumultuous contempt of his former decision, ordered his troops to fall upon them, when they slew and wounded a great many.‡

Whilst Antony was living in the grossest criminality with

the infamous Cleopatra at Alexandria, the Parthians, with Labienus and the remains of the Pompeian faction, had invaded Syria with a powerful army; and having taken Sidon and Ptolemais, sent a detachment towards Judea, with the avowed purpose of setting Antigonus up as king of that country; upon a contract to deliver to Pacorus, the Parthian monarch, one thousand talents and five hundred Jewesses. Antigonus having collected an army of Jews near mount Carmel, and being joined by the Parthian general, marched into Judea, and defeating an army that was sent against him, followed them into Jerusalem; but being vigorously opposed by the two brothers, took shelter in the mountain of the temple, whilst the Herodians seized upon the palace. As the feast of Pentecost was approaching, and multitudes flocked to the city from all quarters, the waste of human blood became shocking even to the perpetrators, and Antigonus proposing to leave their disputes to the decision of the Parthian general, to which, the two brothers having acceded, he was received into Jerusalem with five hundred horse, and lodged in Phasael's house; into whose confidence he so effectually insinuated himself, as to prevail upon him, contrary to the advice of Herod, to go with Hyrcanus upon an embassy to Barzaphanes, the prefect of Syria under Pacorus.+

Phasael and Hyrcanus were at first received by the Parthian general with distinguished honour, but he soon threw them into chains, a fate which had been also intended for Herod, but which he escaped by a sudden flight from Jerusalem, with his family, and such troops as he could hastily collect.

Pacorus, cupbe to Pacorus, the son of Orodes, king of

thia. Prid. ii. 592.

Prid. ii. 594.

found himself in danger of being overpowered by the Egyptians in the interest of Ptolemy, Cæsar having formed an illicit connexion with, and, therefore, favouring the interests of, his sister Cleopatra.* Having dispatched Mithridates, one of the sons of Orodes, king of Parthia, to collect and bring him succours from Syria, and the neighbouring provinces, he was furnished by Antipater and Hyrcanus with a large auxiliary force of Jews, the former marching at their head and displaying great prowess throughout the Alexandrian war, besides rendering the additional service of inducing the Jews who inhabited the city of Onion to declare in favour of Cæsar. In return for these services, before Cæsar quitted Egypt, he confirmed the Jews in the enjoyment of all their ancient privileges in Alexandria; and ordered a pillar to be erected, whereon, as well the privileges themselves, as his decree confirming them, were inscribed.§

Nor was this all the advantage which Antipater derived from his Egyptian expedition, for Cæsar having at length left Alexandria in order to resist the inroads of Pharnaces, king of Pontus, in passing through Syria; he was applied to by Antigonus, the surviving son of Aristobulus, who besought him to adopt the interests of his family, urging as a claim that both his father and brother had lost their lives in his cause; making, at the same time, heavy complaints against

Prid. ii. 557.

In a temple, called the Serapeum, at Alexandria, Ptolemy Soter and his successors collected and deposited a famous library. And another in a museum or college in a particular part of the same city, called Bruchium. During this war, the library at Bruchium, with four hundred thousand volumes, was accidentally burned; as was the Serapeum, with its subsequent valuable addition, by the Saracens, (A. D. 642.) upon the ground that the Coran alone was necessary for mankind. Prid. ii. 33. 35. See p. 357.

both Antipater and Hyrcanus. The interest of the former, however, was so great, and such his influence over the Roman commander, and so necessary was he become to the Romans, that he not only refused to listen to the representations of Antigonus, but confirmed Hyrcanus in the office of high priest and the principality of Judea, to him and his family in perpetuity, appointing Antipater, at the same time, to be procurator of Judea under him; and directed that his decree should be engraven in tables of brass and Latin, and be hung up in the capitol of Rome, and in the temples of Tyre, Sidon, and Askalon, in Phoenicia.*

By virtue of this decree, Antipater settled the civil government of Judea under Hyrcanus, in the same manner as it had been previous to the ordinances of Gabinius, all of which he abolished, and appointed Phasælus, his own eldest son, governor of Jerusalem, and Herod, his second son, governor of Galilee.†

One of the first acts of the latter prince, who was then in the vigour of youth, was to suppress a gang of banditti who invested and ravaged Galilee and the neighbouring parts; and having taken Hezekiah, their ringleader, with several of their associates, he put them all to death, and thus attracted the notice and favour of Sextus Cæsar, the president of the province.+

Those, however, who envied the growing greatness of Antipater and his family, represented this transaction to Hyrcanus as a violation of the laws by putting the above mentioned depredators to death without a legal trial, and induced him to summon the young governor before the Sanhedrim. Herod appearing there clothed in purple, and surrounded by his guards, neither Hyrcanus nor any other member of the Sanhedrim durst accuse him, except Sameas, who not only

• Prid. ii. 565.

+ Prid. ii. 568.

+ Prid. ii. 569.