A. M. 3897. A. C. 107; O., ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 5305. A. C. 106. JOS. HIST. b. xiii. c. 19-END OF b. xv. Zoilus, and the Gazeans sent ambassadors, desiring his | from all thoughts of it; so that, having concluded an assistance against Alexander's forces, which they were amicable alliance with Alexander, she returned with her not able to oppose. army to Egypt. Ptolemy, being very glad of any opportunity to make an honourable retreat from before Ptolemais, readily marched his army to their relief; but Alexander, not thinking it advisable to hazard an engagement with him, withdrew his army into their quarters, and there thought to gain by policy, what he could not attain by force. To this purpose he entered into a treaty with Lathyrus, and engaged to pay him four hundred talents of silver, on condition that he would deliver Zoilus, and his territories, into his hands, which Lathyrus agreed to do, and accordingly had got Zoilus into his custody; but when he came to understand, that at the same time Alexander was clandestinely treating with Cleopatra, to bring her upon him with all her forces, he, detesting such double dealing, broke off all friendship with him, and resolved to do him what mischief he could. The two armies therefore met the next year, and a very fierce battle ensued near Asophus, not far from the river Jordan, wherein Alexander being vanquished, lost thirty thousand of his men, besides those that were taken prisoners. After this victory, Ptolemy made every where great havoc, and spread the terror" of his name throughout all the province; but his mother Cleopatra being fearful, lest so much success should make him powerful enough to invade Egypt, set out with a large fleet, and a numerous army, which she landed in Phœnicia, and thence proceeded to Ptolemais, expecting that the people would have opened their gates to her; but finding the contrary, she invested the place to take it by force; while Ptolemy, believing that it would be easy for him to recover Egypt in the absence of his mother and her army, left Syria, and went upon that expedition; but meeting with more opposition than he expected, he was obliged to return to Gaza, where he passed the winter, and from thence went back again to Cyprus. As soon as Cleopatra had taken Ptolemais, Alexander went thither with considerable presents, and was kindly received as an unhappy prince, who was Ptolemy's enemy, and had no other refuge but the queen's protection: and therefore when some about her suggested, that now she had an opportunity to seize on him and his dominions, Ananias, one of her generals, who by birth was a Jew, and by descent a relation to Alexander, by representing to her the danger and injustice of such a procedure; how base and injurious to her own honour, which for no considerations whatever ought to be tarnished; how prejudicial to her interest, by provoking all the Jews in the world against her; and how contrary to the rules of faith and common honesty, which are observed among all mankind, it would be to treat a friend and ally in this manner; he prevailed with her to desist a There is a very cruel and barbarous act, which he is said to have done at this time, namely, that, coming with his army in the evening after the victory, to take up his quarters in the adjoining villages, and finding them full of women and children, he caused them to be all slaughtered, and their bodies to be cut in pieces, and put in caldrons over the fire to be boiled, as if they had been for supper; that so he might leave an opinion in that country, that his men fed upon human flesh, and thereby create the greater dread and terror of his army. This barbarous cruelty Strabo and Nicholaus, as Josephus tells us, make mention of. Jewish Antiq. b. xiii. c. 21. As soon as the country was clear of these foreigners, and Alexander had recruited his shattered forces, he marched into Cœlo-Syria, where, after a siege of ten months, he took Gadara, and after that, the strong fortress of Amathus, where Theodorus, the son of Zeno, prince of Philadelphia, had laid up all his treasure; but Theodorus falling suddenly upon him, as he was returning from the conquest, not only recovered his treasure again, but slew ten thousand of his men, and took all his baggage from him. All these misfortunes, however, did not discourage this prince. The next year he marched his forces again over the Jordan; and after having taken some neighbouring places, came, and sat down before Gaza, with a design, if he took it, to use the people with the utmost severity; but Apollodorus, who commanded the town, made a gallant defence, and in a sally with twenty thousand of his men, one night fell so furiously upon Alexander's camp, that he had like to have ruined him and his whole army; but as soon as the day appeared, the Jews, discovering who they were, (for they thought in the dark that Lathyrus was come again to the assistance of Gaza,) rallied again, and repulsed the Gazeans into the city, with the loss of a thousand of their men. The city, however, still held out, till Lysimachus, envying the credit and esteem which his brother Apollodorus had gained in the defence of the place, treacherously slew him, and then as treacherously delivered up the city to Alexander; who, as soon as he had got possession of it, let loose his soldiers upon it, with a full license to kill, plunder, and destroy, which produced a sad scene of barbarity. The Gazeans, thus finding that they were to have no quarter, stood upon their defence, and sold their lives at so dear a rate, that in the carnage and sackage of the place, Alexander lost as many men of his own, as he killed of the enemy; but had the horrid pleasure, before he went away, to see this ancient and famous city reduced to utter ruin and desolation. When he returned to Jerusalem, he was far from finding matters there in any peaceable posture. For, in the feast of tabernacles, while he was offering the usual sacrifices as high priest, the people who were assembled in the temple, had the insolence to pelt him with citrons, (for during the festival it was a custom among the Jews to carry branches of palm-trees, and lemon-trees in their hands) and to give him very opprobrious language, telling him, that he was a slave, c gine to have been the forbidden fruit, that our first parents ate The word in the original is Attrog, which the Jews ima in paradise. It very much resembles a citron or lemon, except that it has a very rough and uneven rind, which they fondly imagine, was originally occasioned by Eve's impressing her teeth on it, and that these marks it has still retained. The custom of carrying these in their hands is in testimony of their joy, but on the seventh day, which closes the festival, they break their branches, and throw them away; and therefore it is supposed, that it was on this day, when the mutinous multitude pelted the high priest with these attrogs, which, at this time, were very common in Palestine.-Universal History, b. ii, c. 11. c In this they alluded to what Eleazar, a leading Pharisee, had said to his father Hyrcanus, namely, "That his mother was moved with compassion, and went over to him: and Demetrius, being content with the first advantage he had gained, or fearing, perhaps, that the rest of the Jews would do the same, retired into Syria, leaving the rebels to make war against their king with their own forces. A. M. 3897. A. C. 107; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 5305. A. C.106. JOS. HIST. b. xiii. c. 19—END OF b. xv. and unworthy to go up to the holy altar to offer solemn | they saw him reduced to this distressed condition, were sacrifices, which enraged him to such a degree, that he fell upon them with his soldiers, and slew six thousand of them. After this he surrounded the court of the priests, wherein the altar and the temple stood, with a wooden partition, to hinder the people from coming near him, while he was officiating, and to secure his person against all future attempts, he took guards into his pay from Pisidia and Cilicia, (for he durst not trust his own countrymen,) and of these he had six thousand always about him. Having thus, in some measure, laid the storm at home, he marched his forces against the Moabites and Ammonites, and made them become tributary to him. He attacked again the fortress of Amathus; but Theodorus, not daring to stand his coming, had removed his treasure, and withdrawn the garrison, so that he took it with- | out opposition: but in his war with Thedas, an Arabian king, he had not the like success; for falling into an ambuscade which that prince had laid for him near Gadara, he there lost most of his army, and not without some difficulty escaped himself. This loss, added to the hatred which the Jews had conceived against him, made them fly out into an open rebellion, so that here a civil war commenced, which lasted for six years. In most encounters he had the advantage of his subjects; but so exasperated were they against him, that he could never bring them to submit: for having one day asked them what they would have him do to please them, they all with one voice replied, "That he should cut his own throat; for upon no other terms would they be at peace with him; and well it were," they said, "considering the great a mischiefs he had done them, if they could be reconciled to him, even after he was in his grave;" and thereupon they sent deputies to Demetrius Eucharus who was then king of Damascus, to desire succours from him against their sovereign. Demetrius, at their request, came into Judea with an army of three thousand horse, and forty thousand foot, Syrians and Jews. Alexander marched against him with six thousand Greek mercenaries, and twenty thousand Jews, who continued faithful to him; but in the engagement he was quite vanquished. All his foreign troops were lost to a man; and the greatest part of his other forces was so miserably broken, that he was forced to flee for shelter to the mountains, with the poor remnant he could get together. This misfortune, which, in all appearance, must have totally ruined his affairs, proved the very means of re-establishing them. Six thousand of those very Jews, who had so lately appeared in arms against him, when a captive taken in the wars, and he, consequently, disqualified to be their high priest." But assuredly the true reason of their exaspiration against him was, that he followed his father's steps, and not only gave countenance to the contrary sect, but continued the penal laws against those who should observe the traditions and customs introduced by the Pharisees.-Universal History, b. 2, c. 11. a The fourth book of the Maccabees (chap. xxix.) tells us, that this war was chiefly between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and that Alexander, having declared himself against the former, had put fifty thousand of them to death within the space of six years, which so exasperated the rest, that they would hearken to no accommodation.-Universal History, b. 2, c. 11. In most of the conflicts that happened between them Alexander defeated them, but still he could bring them to no terms of peace; till at last coming to a decisive battle, he cut off the major part of them, and the rest he shut up in a place called Bethome. This he besieged, and took; and having carried eight hundred of the rebels prisoners to Jerusalem, he there caused them to be crucified all on one day, and their wives and children to be slain before their faces, as they were hanging on the crosses, whilst he made an entertainment for his wives and concubines near the place where this scene of terror was acting, with an intent chiefly to feast himself and them with this horrid sight. This was a savage and unheard of cruelty and, upon this occasion, the people of his own party called him Thracides, that is, as cruel as a Thracian, as no man indeed could be bad enough to express so inhuman a procedure. After these civil wars were ended, Alexander led his army against the two kings of Damascus, Antiochus first, and afterwards Aretas, who, at different times, had invaded his kingdom. He took several strong places. in the neighbouring territories, and, after an expedition of three years' continuance, returned to Jerusalem, and was well received by his subjects. But that felicity he did not long enjoy for having at a certain time drank to a great excess, he thereupon fell sick, and was afterwards seized with a quartan ague, which he was never able to shake off. This, however, did not interrupt his military undertakings, till, being quite exhausted, he was forced to submit to fate, while he was besieging the castle of Ragaba, in the country of the Gerasens, His queen Alexandra, who was with him at the siege, observing him to draw near his end, was exceedingly troubled at the ill state wherein she and her children should be left at his death. She knew how much he had exasperated the Pharisees, then a powerful sect among the Jews, and how great hatred the generality of the people, at their instigation, had contracted against them; and therefore she saw nothing else, but that she and her family would be given up to destruction, and made victims to the public rage; and thus she sat by his bedside, lamenting and bemoaning herself, while he lay a-dying. To ease her mind from these dismal apprehensions, the advice which he gave her was this: "That she should conceal his death till the castle was taken, and then, carrying his dead body with her, should lead back the army in triumph for this success; that, as soon as she was come to Jerusalem, she should send for some of the leading men of the sect of the Pharisees, lay his dead corpse before them, and tell them, that she resigned it wholly to their pleasure, either to treat it with indignity, as his treatment of them had deserved, or to dispose of it as they thought fit; and, withal, that she should not forget Joseph. Antiq. b. xiii. c. 23. This Aretas was king of Arabia Petræa, but, upon the death of Antiochus, was chosen king of Damascus likewise. A. M. 3897. A.C. 107; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A.M. 5305. A. C. 106. JOS. HIST. b. xii. c. 19.-END OF b. xv. to assure them, that, as her husband had made her regent | ness in applying to him, accepted their presents, and during her children's minority, she would do nothing in the administration without their advice and participation." After the reduction of Ragaba, Alexandra returned to Jerusalem in the manner that was prescribed, and in every thing else observed her husband's directions most punctually which succeeded so well, that the usual invectives against him were changed into encomiums. All deplored the loss of so valiant a prince, and honoured his funeral with a more than ordinary pomp and solemnity; all pitied the queen-dowager, and, in obedience to her husband's will, settled her in the supreme government of the nation. Alexander, when he died, left behind him two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus; but the regency he invested in the queen, who had indeed the name of the government, but the administration was entirely in the power of the Pharisees. The first thing therefore that they did, was to have the decree of John Hyrcanus against their traditionary constitutions abolished; next to release all the prisoners, and recall all the exiles that were concerned with them in the late civil wars; and then to demand justice against all those by whose instigation and advice the eight hundred rebels above mentioned had been crucified. To this purpose they exhibited articles against one Diogenes, a noted confidant of the late king's; had him condemned and executed; and proceeded in like manner against several others; so that the late king's friends and adherents, seeing no end of these persecutions, went at length to the queen in a body, with Aristobulus, her younger son, at the head of them, to remonstrate against these proceedings. They had been old officers to the king, and had faithfully adhered to him in all his wars and difficulties; and therefore they requested, that if no regard were to be had to their services, they might at least be permitted to depart the land, and seek their safety elsewhere, or else, to be out of the reach of their enemies, might be sent into the several garrisons of the kingdom: and to this last demand of theirs the queen consented. assured them of his good inclinations: but the true reason of all this civility was, that Lucullus, the Roman general, in pursuit of Mithridates, had entered Armenia, and was putting the country under military contribution, which obliged Tigranes to return home, and so delivered the Jews from the apprehensions of an invasion from that quarter. Alexandra, when she was declared queen, made Hyrcanus high priest, and left Aristobulus to lead a private life; but a private life was not agreeable to his aspiring temper. As soon therefore as he perceived that the queen was sick and past all hopes of recovery, he privately in the night went out of Jerusalem, attended only with one servant; and having visited all the castles, in which, by his procurement, his father's friends had been placed in garrison, in fifteen days' time he secured to his interest twenty of these fortresses, and thereby in a manner made himself master of the rest of the strength of the kingdom; so that when his mother died, which was not long after his departure from Jerusalem, though she had declared his brother Hyrcanus her successor, he nevertheless met him in the plains of Jericho ; but as the two armies were going to engage, most of the forces of Hyrcanus deserted, and went over to Aristobulus, which obliged Hyrcanus to come to a treaty with his brother; in which it was agreed, that he should make resignation of the crown and high priesthood to Aristobulus, and submit to live quietly upon his own private fortune; which accordingly was ratified by public sanction. Hyrcanus was a quiet and peaceable man, a lover of retirement and ease, and therefore his resignation of the crown was not so great a grievance to him, as it was to some about him. Among these Antipater, the father of Herod, surnamed the Great, was the chief; who having persuaded Hyrcanus, that, while he continued in Judea, his life was in danger, and that he had no other choice left, but either to reign or die, advised him to make his escape to Aretas, king of Arabia, and with him he appeared before Pompey, he plucked his crown or royal tiara from off his head, and cast himself prostrate on the ground before him.-Plutarch in the Life of Lucullus and Pompey. In the mean time news was brought to Jerusalem, that Tigranes, king of Armenia, with an army of five hundred b Eusebius and Julius Africanus tell us, that the father of thousand men, had invaded Syria, and would in a short this Antipater was a heathen, and an inhabitant of Ascalon; time be in Judea. This put the queen, and all the Jews, took this young Antipater, the father of Herod the Great, who, that a company of robbers having pillaged a temple near Ascalon, into a terrible fright; and therefore they immediately at that time, was the priest of the temple, away with them; and dispatched away ambassadors, with presents of great that his father being not able to redeem him, they carried him value, to court his friendship, and divert the storm. into Idumæa, where he settled, and made his fortune. But The ambassadors found him laying close siege to Ptole-tory of the Jewish wars, (b. i. c. 5.) tells us of this great man there is much more probability, that what Josephus, in the hismais, and when they were introduced, for he was a man ☐ of great pride and state, he commended their forwarda This vain man assumed to himself the title of king of kings; and, to make his claim to it the better appear, having taken several petty princes prisoners in his wars with them, he made them wait on him as his domestic servants. He never went abroad but he had four of them to attend him; two running by him on one side of his horse, and two on the other; and thus, in like manner, he was served by some of them at his table, in his bed chamber, and on all other occasions, but more especially when he gave audience to ambassadors; for then, to make the greater ostentation of his glory to foreign nations, he made all these captive kings, in the posture and habit of servants, to range themselves on each side of him. But as proud as he was, when once he came to feel the power of the Roman arms, he was soon brought to such a state of mean and abject humiliation, that when may be true, namely, that he was the son of another Antipater, who was made governor of Idumæa by Alexander Jannæus; and as to his religion, there is no question to be made, but that he was a Jew and circumcised; because the Idumæans had long before received circumcision and the religion of the Jews, even when Hyrcanus made a conquest of their country. This Antipater, having had his education in the court of Alexander Jannæus, and Alexandra his queen, who reigned after him, had wrought himself into the good graces of Hyrcanus, the eldest of their sons, in hopes to rise by his favour, when he should come to the crown after his mother; but when Hyrcanus was deposed, and Aristobulus made king in his place, all the measures which he had taken for his advancement were broken; and being too obnoxious to Aristobulus ever to have any prospect of favour from him, he thought himself obliged, both in his own interest and defence, to act the part we find he did.-Calmet's Dictionary, under the word; and Prideaus's Connection, anno 65. A. M. 3935. A. C. 69; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 5342. A. C. 69. JOS, HIST. b. xifi.c. 19—END OF b. XV. to stipulate for forces for the recovery of his kingdom. | a thousand of the principal Jews. What Aristobulus Hyrcanus did so; and upon condition that he would re- had to say, in answer to this, was, "That Hyrcanus store the towns which his father Alexander had taken was superseded in the government, by reason of his infrom him, Aretas supplied him with fifty thousand men, capacity to rule, and not through any ambition of his; who, being joined with the Jews that were of Hyrcanus's that his sloth and inactivity had brought upon him the party, gave battle to Aristobulus, and having obtained contempt of the people, and that therefore he was forced a complete victory, pursued him to Jerusalem, and thence to interpose, merely to preserve the government from to the mount of the temple, where they besieged him, falling into other hands." And, to witness the truth of and committed some outrageous acts." In the mean this, he produced several young gentlemen of the nation, time, Scaurus, one of Pompey's lieutenants, being come who by the gaudiness of their dress, and the levity of with a Roman army as far as Damascus, Aristobulus their carriage, did no great credit to the cause which they took care, with the promise of four hundred talents, to pretended to support. engage him on his side; so that he sent to Aretas to withdraw his forces from Jerusalem, and threatened him with the Roman arms in case of refusal. Hereupon Aretas was forced to raise the siege and march off'; but in his retreat Aristobulus fell upon his rear, and destroyed about seven thousand of his men. Not long after this Pompey himself came into Syria, and took up his residence at Damascus, where he was attended with ambassadors from several nations, and, among the rest, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus sent their deputies, desiring both his protection and determination of the controversy depending between them. But when Pompey had heard what they both had to say, he ordered that the two brothers should appear in person before him, that so he might be better able to inquire into the merits of the cause, and determine it in such a manner as justice should direct. The two brothers accordingly waited upon Pompey to receive his decision; and, at the same time, several chief men of the Jews came to remonstrate against them both. The Jews pleaded, "That it had been formerly the usage of their nation to be governed by the high priest of the God whom they worshipped, who, without assuming any other title, administered justice to them, according to the laws and constitutions transmitted down to them from their forefathers. They owned, indeed, that the two contending brothers were of the sacerdotal race, but then they alleged, that they had changed the old, and introduced a new form of government, in order to enslave the people, and thereupon they prayed that they might not be governed by a king." Hyrcanus on his part urged, "That, being the elder brother, he was unjustly deprived of his birthright by Aristobulus, who, leaving him only a small portion of land for his subsistence, had usurped all the rest, and, as a man born for mischief, practised piracy at sea, and rapine and depredation at land, upon his neighbours." And for the attestation of all this, there appeared above a One barbarous action of this kind is thus related by Josephus:-At this time there was at Jerusalem one Onias, a man of great reputation for the sanctity of his life, and who, by his prayers, had been thought to have once obtained rain from heaven in an extremity of drought. Upon a fond imagination, therefore, that his curses would be as prevalent as his prayers, the besiegers brought him into the camp, and there pressed him to curse Aristobulus, and all that were with him. He opposed their request as long as he could; but at length, finding no rest from their importunities, he lifted up his hands to heaven, and, as he was standing in the midst of them, said, “O Lord God, ruler of the universe, since both we, that stand here before thee, are thy people, and they that are besieged in the temple, are thy priests, I humbly beseech thee not to hear the prayers of either of them against the other." Whereupon they who brought him thither, were so enraged against the good man, that they fell apon him, and stoned him to death.-Jewish Antiq. b. xiv. c 3. Upon this hearing, Pompey could not but perceive the injury which Aristobulus had done his brother; but for the present he dismissed them with fair words, and referred the full determination of the matter, until himself should come to Jerusalem, which he would not fail to do, as soon as he had finished the Arabian war. Upon the whole, Aristobulus perceiving which way Pompey's discourse and inclinations tended, left Damascus without ever taking leave, and, returning to Judea, there armed the country in his defence. Pompey had soon done his business in Arabia, and thence coming to Judea, found that, upon his approach, Aristobulus had shut himself up in the castle of Alexandrion, which was a strong fortress, built by his father (and therefore called by this name) on a high mountain, that stood in the entrance of the country of Judea, towards the Samaritan side. Hither Pompey marched his army; and, having encamped before it, sent a messenger to Aristobulus to come down to him. Aristobulus, though with much reluctancy, was forced to comply; and when Pompey demanded of him to deliver up his castles, and to sign orders to that purpose to all who commanded in them, he durst not refuse doing it, though he complained of the force that was thus put on him; and, as soon as he got out of Pompey's hands, fled to Jerusalem, and there prepared for war. Pompey was not long before he marched after him; but when he drew near to Jerusalem, Aristobulus, ¿ repenting of what he had done, went out to him, and, endeavouring to reconcile matters with him, promised an entire submission for the future, and a considerable sum of noney besides, if he would but withdraw his forces. Pompey accepted the proposal; and accordingly sent Gabinius, one of his lieutenants, with a body of men, to receive the money; but, when he came to Jerusalem, he found the gates shut against him, and was told from the walls, that those within would stand to no such agreement. This was such treatment, that the Roman general, without any more to do, clapped Aristobulus, whom he had taken with him, in chains, and so marching forward with his whole army, was, by the prevalence of Hyrcanus's party, received into Jerusalem; but the other faction, retiring to the mount of the temple, broke down the The fourth book of the Maccabees (chap. xxxvi.), says nothing of this submission of Aristobulus to the Roman general, but tells us, that Pompey marched directly against Jerusalem, where observing the situation of the place, the strength of its walls, towers, &c. he resolved to try to gain Aristobulus by fair means; that he invited him to come into his camp, and promised him all the safety that he could desire; that accordingly he came to him, and engaged to deliver up all the treasure of the temple, if be would but declare for him; but that the priests having refused to ratify the king's promise, this made the general lay siege to the temple. Universal History, b. i. c. 11. A. M. 3935. A. C. 60; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 5342. A. C. 69. JOS, HIST. b. xiii. c. 19-END OF b. xv. a b bridges over the deep ditches and valleys that surrounded | put into the hands of such magistrates as himself made it, and so resolved to defend the place: but there was choice of; and having divided the whole land into five no withstanding a Roman army long. In three months' provinces, appointed a court of justice, with power ultitime Pompey became master of the mount, which he mately to determine every thing, over each of them. carried sword in hand; and, having made a dreadful Aristobulus, late king of Judea, after he had been five carnage upon this occasion, he caused afterwards all years a prisoner at Rome, having with his son Antigosuch prisoners to be put to death, as were found to nus made his escape, returned to Judea, with some few have been the principal incendiaries of this war. forces which he had got together, was endeavouring to raise fresh troubles. But Gabinius came upon him before he was prepared to make a sufficient resistance; and having taken him and his son prisoners, sent them both again to Rome, where his father was kept in durance; but his children, upon the intercession of Gabinius, were immediately sent back to Judea. Not long after this, the difference between Cæsar and Pompey occasioned a distraction in the Roman affairs, and a general contention all the empire over. Pompey had left some forces in Syria; and Cæsar, to oppose against these, had set Aristobulus at liberty, and pro Before he left Jerusalem, he, with several other chief officers accompanying him, went into the temple, and caused the most sacred parts of it, even the holy of holies, into which himself entered, to be opened. He visited the treasuries likewise, where he found two thousand talents of silver, besides vessels, and other things of great value; but c touching nothing of all this, he left it entire for the sacred uses to which it was appropriated. He thought it advisable, however, to destroy the walls of Jerusalem; and though he restored Hyrcanus to the high priesthood, and made him prince of the country, yet he deprived him of all the new conquests which his prede-posed to have sent him with two legions into Judea, in cessors had made; would not permit him to wear a diadem; and obliged him to pay an annual tribute to the Romans: and having thus regulated all matters, he set forward on his journey home, carrying with him Aristobulus, his two sons, Alexander and Antigonus, and two of his daughters, as captives, to be led before him in his triumph. Alexander, oy the way, found means to make his escape; and, after three years, returning into Judea, gathered forces, and possessed himself of several places; but Gabinius, the Roman governor in Syria, defeated him in all his attempts, and then coming to Jerusalem, confirmed Hyrcanus in the priesthood: but the civil administration d he took from the sanhedrim, and a It is supposed by Josephus, that the mount of the temple would have hardly been taken so soon by the Romans, had it not been for the superstition of the Jews in their observation of the sabbath. For though they now held it lawful to defend themselves vigorously on that day, yet they would not stir a hand to annoy the enemy, or obstruct them in any of their works. This Pompey observing, ordered his men to employ the sabbath-day in nothing else but in making their approaches, wherein the besieged giving them no molestation, their engines of battery were brought forward, and without opposition placed just as they pleased; and so being fitted, and raised to advantage, soon made a breach in the wall large enough for an assault.-Josephus's Jewish Wars, b. i. c. 5. 6 Among these, it is supposed, that Absalom, a younger son of the famous John Hyrcanus, suffered; he had lived a private life, without meddling with public affairs, under the protection of his brother Alexander Jannæus: but having unhappily married his daughter to his nephew Aristobulus, he was, by that means, drawn into his son-in-law's party, and being taken prisoner, in all probability was put to death: because from that time we find no farther mention made of him.-Joseph, Antiq. b. xiv. c. 8; and Universal History. c But though Pompey was thus modest, yet Crassus soon after coming that way, not only extorted the two thousand talents, and a large bar of gold, by way of bribe, to restrain him from farther plunder, but, contrary to the promise which he had given upon oath, ransacked the temple all over, and robbed it of every thing that he thought worth taking away, insomuch, that the whole of his sacrilegious plunder amounted to the value of ten thousand talents, which is above two millions of our money.Joseph. Antiq. b. xiv. c. 12, and Jewish Wars, b. i. c. 6. d Before this, the government had been managed under the prince by two sorts of councils, or courts of justice; one consisting of twenty-three persons, called the 'lesser sanhedrim;' and the other, of seventy-two, called the 'greater sanhedrim,' Of the first sort there was one in every city; only in Jerusalem, | order to secure that province; but before he could get out of Rome, he was poisoned by some of Pompey's party, and his body remained a long time there, embalmed in honey, till M. Anthony procured it to be carried into Judea, where it was honourably interred in the royal sepulchre. When Cæsar returned from the Alexandrian war, Antigonus, the second son of Aristobulus, (for Scipio, by Pompey's order had caused his elder brother's head to be struck off at Antioch,) met him in Syria, and having complained of the hard fate which his father and brother had met with, he charged Hyrcanus and Antipater with having possessed themselves of the government by force; but Antipater, who was then with Cæsar, defended his own and Hyrcanus's cause so very well, that Cæsar, instead of restoring Antigonus, as he desired, made it a e decree, that Hyrcanus should hold the office of high because of the greatness of the place, there were two, which sat apart from each other in two distinct rooms. Of the latter sort there was only one in the whole land. The lesser sanhedrim despatched all affairs of justice arising within the respective cities where they sat, and the precincts belonging to them. The great sanhedrim presided over the affairs of the whole nation, received appeals from the lesser sanhedrims, interpreted the laws, and, by new institutions from time to time, regulated the execution of them. All this Gabinius abolished; and, instead thereof, erected five courts, or sanhedrims, and invested them all with sovereign power, independent on each other. The first of them he placed at Jerusalem; the second at Jericho; the third at Gadra; the fourth at Amathus; and the fifth at Sepphorus; and having, under these five cities, divided the land into five provinces, he ordered the inhabitants of each to repair to the court which he had there erected, and from which there was no appeal, except it was to Rome. Besides the two sorts of sanhedrims above-mentioned, there was a third court among the Jews, which was not affected by any of these alterations, and that was the court of three, instituted for the deciding of all controversies about bargains, sales, contracts, and all other such matters of common right between man and man. In all which cases, one of the litigants chose one judge, and the other another, and these two chose a third, which three constituted a court to hear, and ultimately determine the matter in contest.-Talmud on the Sanhedrim; Lightfoot's Prospect of the Temple, c. xx. and xxii; and Joseph. Antiq. b. xiv. c. 10. e This decree, which at once abolished the aristocracy which Gabinius had lately set up, and restored the Jewish state to its pristine sovereignty, according to Josephus, runs in this form:"Julius Cæsar, emperor, the second time dictator, and Pontifex Maximus, &c. Forasmuch as Hyrcanus, the son of Alexan |