invested; but whilst the operations were going on, he went to Samaria to consummate his marriage with Mariamne, whom he had formerly betrothed.* Being joined by Sosius, whom Anthony had left as his lieutenant in Syria, they prosecuted the siege with eleven legions, and six thousand horse, besides auxiliaries, and with much difficulty took the city at the end of six months, the Romans committing great slaughter and cruelty in spite of all that Herod could do to prevent it; for upon making complaint to the Roman general, that he would make himr king of a desert only, he obtained no redress, and was finally obliged to redeem the city and inhabitants with a large sum of money.† Antigonus surrendered himself prisoner to Sosius, but discovered such abjectness of mind, that the Roman treated him with contempt, and sent him to Anthony in chains, who had intended to reserve him for his triumph; but at the repeated solicitations of Herod, excited thereto by the unwillingness of the Jews to submit to his authority, he at last put him to death as a common malefactor, and with him ended the male line of the Asmonean family.‡ Herod having at last attained the object of his ambition, put to death great numbers of the opposite faction, and amongst others, all the Sanhedrim except Pollio and Sameas,§ who had declared in his favour. Not, however, *She was the daughter of Alexander, the son of king Aristobulus, by Alexandra, the daughter of Hyrcanus II, and therefore was granddaughter to both these brothers. She was a lady of extraordinary beauty and great virtue, and in all other laudable qualifications accomplished beyond most others of her time. Prid. ii. 610 + Prid, ii. 611. Prid. ii. 612. These were the famous Hillel and Shammai, from whose school all the modern rabbies and their rubbish have sprung. Prid. ii. 615. et seq. as it would seem through any affection which they bore to him, for they told the people that their sins were now grown to such a height, that God would deliver the city into the hands of Herod as a just punishment, and therefore, that it would be in vain to resist him. The rest of the Sanhedrim, however, cried out, The temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah, and excited the people to a fierce and obstinate resistance; in revenge of which it was, that as soon as Herod got them into his power, he put them all to death; as well as from the recollection of their having sat in judgment upon him for the death of Hezekiah, whilst he was governor of Galilee.† On the death of Antigonus, Herod made Ananelus high priest, an obscure member of the pontifical family, then residing in Babylonia, and who had been formerly known to him; besides which, his foreign parentage and little acquaintance with the local politics of Judea, together with his obscurity, made it unlikely that he would oppose Herod in his views.+ Hyrcanus had still continued a prisoner at Seleucia, but when Phrahates§ succeeded his father Orodes on the throne of Parthia, although a man of most detestable cruelty, he shewed both kindness and generosity towards the Jewish + Prid. ii. 614. Prid. ii. 647. See p. 425. His father had surrendered up the kingdom to him during his own life, and the first act of his power was to murder all his brothers by another mother; and, upon his father's expressing resentment, he murdered him also. At first he attempted it only by giving him hemlock. But that, instead of killing him, became a medicine to cure him of the dropsy which he then laboured with; for it working off in a violent purgation, it carried off the disease with it. And, therefore, to make sure work of it, the parricide caused him to be stifled to death in his bed; and after that he put to death all his * prince; for understanding who he was, he released him from his chains, and allowed him to live at full liberty amongst the Jews who then resided in Babylonia, and who paid him so much respect, that he might have lived and died amongst them in peace and affluence. The amor patriæ, however, predominated over all other feelings, and receiving information that Herod was established on the throne of Judea, he made no doubt that prince would gladly receive and protect him, and this feeling Herod himself so effectually encouraged, and so earnestly invited his return, that Hyrcanus, contrary to the advice of all his friends, left Babylonia and returned to Jerusalem.t The appointment of Ananelus to the office of the high priesthood had given great offence both to Mariamne, Herod's queen, and to Alexandra, her mother, for they considered that it belonged of right to Aristobulus, the son of Alexander, who had been put to death by Q. M. Scipio. Alexandra, indeed, had written to Cleopatra, and applied to Dellius, a favourite of Anthony's, to use their influence with the Roman commander; so that Herod found it necessary, in order to restore peace in his own family and avoid some unpleasant rupture, to depose Ananelus and appoint Aristobulus, who was then only seventeen years of age, in his room.§ Having succeeded to this extent, and conceiving that her "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sate down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song, and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing Jehovah's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." Ps. cxxxvii, 1—6. Prid. ii. 648. ‡ See. p. 423. § Prid. ii. 656. son was as well entitled to the kingdom as to the high priesthood, she renewed her application to Cleopatra, to use her influence with Anthony for that purpose; which Herod suspecting, confined her to the palace and set spies upon her conduct. Full of resentment for this restraint, she availed herself of an invitation she had received from Cleopatra, to fly with her son into Egypt, and had provided a ship at the seaside for that purpose; when Herod, who had been regularly apprized of all her motions, caused them both to be apprehended; but fearing the influence and resentment * By her he was grandson to Hyrcanus, and by Alexander, his father, he was grandson to Aristobulus; and, therefore, had the interest and right of both those brothers centering in him. By his descent from the latter, he had the high priesthood, (that going in the male line); but, by his descent from both, he claimed the crown, thus. of Cleopatra pardoned them, through an affectation of clemency.* An occurrence, however, soon took place which shewed what secret malice lurked in the heart of the Idumæan tyrant, for Aristobulus having officiated as high priest at the feast of tabernacles, the beauty and gracefulness of his person was so set off by the splendour of the pontifical robes, and the favour he was daily acquiring with the people, became so evident, as to excite the envy and fury of Herod beyond restraint. Having, therefore, prepared an entertainment at Jericho a few days after, he took Aristobulus with him, and as the attendants of Herod were bathing after dinner in a fish pond, this interesting youth was prevailed upon to join the party; but had no sooner entered the water than his companions, who had been previously instructed, by repeatedly plunging him under water, as though in sport, effectually drowned him; the hypocritical tyrant shedding tears, and making bitter lamentations for the unfortunate and melancholy accident.+ Alexandra, however, was not deceived by this pitiful farce, for still urging her cause and wrongs to Cleopatra, that princess accompanying Anthony into Syria, prevailed upon him to summon Herod before him to answer for his atrocious conduct. The Idumæan obeyed, and succeeded so well in mollifying Anthony, that the prosecution was abandoned; Cleopatra's influence being counteracted, by her paramour bestowing upon her the province of Cœle-Syria instead of Judea, to possess which, in case of Herod's being deposed, had been her chief object in adopting the interests of Alexandra.+ But how justly and how constantly does the retributive justice of God overtake those who break his laws; and how constantly is exemplified that solemn declaration, "there is no Prid. ii, 657. + Prid. ii. 658. Prid. ii. 660. |