chiefly irritated him, and influenced him so far, that he made him leave the party of the Pharisees, and abolish the decrees they had imposed on the people, and punish those that observed them. From this source arose that hatred which he and his sons met with from the multitude. But when Hyrcanus had put an end to this sedition, he after that lived happily, and administered the government in the best manner for thirty-one years, and then died, leaving behind him five sons. He was esteemed by God worthy of the three privileges the government of his nation, the dignity of the highpriesthood, and prophecy; for God was with him, and enabled him to know futurities; and, in particular, that, as to his two eldest sons, he foretold that they would not long continue in the government of public affairs; whose unhappy catastrophe will be worth our description, that we may thence learn how very much they were inferior to their father's happiness."

CHAPTER II.

REIGN OF THE MACCABEAN KINGS.

THE popularity of the Maccabean family ceased with prince Hyrcanus. The people never forgave his alliance with the Sadducees. This sect consisted chiefly of men of rank and pleasure. The multitude admired and followed the Pharisees, who, by high pretensions to patriotism, disinterested zeal for religion and sacred reverence for every religious observance, sanctioned by Moses, or by the traditions of the ancients, dazzled and blinded the eyes of the ignorant and unreflecting, and perverted their judgments, so that they either wholly overlooked or justified the unsatiable ambition, and implacable antipathies and resentments of their leaders, and discredited every report of their secret acts of injustice, oppression, and licentiousness. And the character and conduct of the descendants of Hyrcanus, who succeeded him in power, were not adapted to undermine the influence, or expose the evil deeds of religious hypocrites. He was scarcely numbered with the dead when his eldest son Aristobulus, discovered no respect for his memory, or natural affection for his kindred. Selfishness and vanity swayed his heart; and made him a prey to the intrigues of those who knew how to awaken in him imaginary fears or delusive hopes. To guard against any sudden insurrection or tumult in the city, which he had reason to apprehend from the subtlety, power, and malice of his popular enemies, he erected a castle or palace in a strong position, in which he and his successors ever after resided, till the dominion of Judea passed to another race. Simon having erazed the tower which commanded the temple, and which had been long almost uninterruptedly occupied by a Syrian garrison, Hyrcanus judged it expedient to raise strong fortifications around the temple. Within these he erected, on a lofty rock, his palace of polished marble, and employed every means to render it invulnerable. It was named at first Baris or Castle, which Herod afterward

exchanged for Antonia, in honour of his friend Marcus An tonius.

Hyrcanus, before his decease, had committed the government to his wife, and advised her to appoint any of his sons, in whom she had most confidence, to conduct, under her direction, the affairs of the nation. Her eldest son Aristobulus, having no inclination to be guided by her wisdom, instantly proclaimed himself the successor of his father, and assumed the lofty title of king. He is said to have loved and admired the Greeks; and he certainly surpassed them not in moral excellence. His first royal act was to embrue his hands in the blood of his venerable mother, to secure himself in the possession of sovereign power. She was imprisoned and starved to death; all his brothers were shut up in prison, except Antigonus, whom he loved, or whose services he was not willing to lose. Being not less ambitious of the fame of a conqueror than of royal titles, he invaded Iturea, the region lying northeast of the inheritance of Manasseh, and stretching to Damascus. It derived its name from its ancient inhabitants, the descendants of Itur or Jetur, one of the sons of Ishmael; from whom it had been taken by the Israelites, sometime after their conquest of Canaan; 1 Chron. v. 18-22. And the fact that they once occupied it may have induced Aristobulus to regard it as a part of the Holy Land. This opinion is the more probable from the circumstance, that when the inhabitants were at this time subdued, the Jews compelled them either to emigrate or to be circumcised and obey the laws of Moses. In consequence of an attack of disease, Aristobulus soon returned to Jerusalem, and left Antigonus to prosecute the war.

Jealous

of his influence over the king, the queen and court conspired to destroy him. They succeeded in exciting the enfeebled and wicked prince to suspect his fidelity, and, by an act of diabolical deception, stimulated him to order his guards to murder him. Antigonus entering Jerusalem in triumph, during the festival of tents, instantly ascended, in full armour, to the temple, to render thanks for the complete success which he had obtained. His enemies appealed to the king if this was not proof sufficient of his treacherous designs, and suggested that were he to summon him to his presence, he would not appear unarmed. To put him to the test, the king requested him to visit him, but not in his warlike dress; and, at the same time, commanded the royal guards to kill him, if he approached in his armour. The queen enjoined the messenger to deliver the opposite message. And as he passed

through a subterranean gallery, which Hyrcanus had constructed between the palace and the temple, he was assassinated by the guards. Aristobulus soon discovered the truth, and the guilt of murder kindled a fire in his conscience which hastened his end, and rendered him inexpressibly miserable. Josephus remarks, that "he grew worse and worse, and his soul was constantly disturbed at the thoughts of what he had done, till his very bowels being torn to pieces by the intolerable grief he was under, he threw up a great quantity of blood. And, as one of those servants that attended him carried out that blood, he, by some supernatural providence, slipped and fell down in the very place where Antigonus had been slain; and so he spilt some of the murderer's blood upon the spots of the blood of him that had been murdered, which still appeared. Hereupon a lamentable cry arose among the spectators, as if the servant had spilled the blood on purpose in that place; and, as the king heard that cry, he inquired what was the cause of it; and while nobody durst tell him, he pressed them so much the more to let him know what was the matter; so, at length, when he had threatened them, and forced them to speak out, they told; whereupon he burst into tears, and groaned, and said, 'So I perceive I am not like to escape the all-seeing eye of God, as to the great crimes I have committed; but the vengeance of the blood of my kinsman pursues me hastily. O thou most impudent body! how long wilt thou retain a soul that ought to die, on account of that punishment it ought to suffer for a mother and a brother slain! how long shall I myself spend my blood drop by drop! let them take it all at once; and let their ghosts no longer be disappointed by a few parcels of my bowels offered to them.' As soon as he had said these words, he presently died, when he had reigned no longer than a year."

The queen immediately liberated the brothers, and raised Alexander, surnamed Jannæus, to the throne. He commanced his reign by killing one of his brethren, who was suspected of treason, B. c. 105. He had to struggle during the greater part of his reign with civil war or foreign enemies, but finally triumphed, and disgraced his last years by unrestrained sensual indulgences. Several important cities dependent on Syria or Judea revolted, and had called in the aid of Ptolemy Lathyrus, who had been permitted by his mother Cleopatra to reign over Cyprus, after she had deposed him from the throne of Egypt. His army defeated that of Jannæus, near the banks of the Jordan. Öf fifty thousand whom

Jannæus led to battle, few were not either killed or taken prisoners; and the enemy proceeded, without opposition, to lay waste the whole country. The utter ruin of the Jews seemed only averted by Cleopatra, who advanced to the support of Jannæus. It was not, however, from friendship to him that she delivered the Jews, but from the apprehension that if her son should possess Judea and Phenicia, he would speedly at tempt to recover Egypt. On the appearance of the Egyptian army, Ptolemy judged it expedient to return to Cyprus; and though some flattered Cleopatra that she might easily take possession of Judea, yet by the advice of her chief servants, who were Jews, she very soon departed to Egypt. From this time Jannæus extended his dominions, although not without occasional repulses, and the loss of many of his soldiers. His victories had, however, no charms to procure him the approbation or applause of his subjects. Pursuing the policy of his father in relation to the Pharisees, that sect poisoned the minds of the people, who, by repeated tumults and insurrections, brought on themselves extreme wretchedness. Jannæus perceiving his danger, from the machinations and power of his ambitious and revengeful enemies, procured from Pisidia and Cilicia six thousand men, who, as a guard, accompanied him everywhere. This scheme was more calculated to inflame than allay the wrath of the Pharisees. In one of his expeditions against the Arabians, his army was entirely destroyed. On his return to Jerusalem, the multitude cast off his authority, and hoped to overcome him before he could raise a new army. He, however, quickly found troops to subdue them. A civil war now prevailed six years, during which about fifty thousand of the rebels were cut off. When by many losses they were unable to meet him in the field, they sought an asylum in Belhome, a city or fortress unknown. Having captured it, he carried eight hundred to Jerusalem, and crucified them all in one day, on a spot where he and his wives and concubines could survey their last agonies. When they were fixed on crosses, he ordered his soldiers to cut the thoats of their wives and children, in their presence. This savage deed was followed with peace to the despairing citizens, B. c. 86; but he continued to carry on war some time longer with success, and then surrendered himself to intemperance, and died after an unenviable reign of twentyseven years. He left two young sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, and appointed Alexandra, his wife, to administer the government, and urged her to put herself under the direction