THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS CONTINUED. ARTICLE I. ABRIDGMENT OF THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS, FROM ARISTOBULUS TO HEROD THE IDUMEAN. As the history of the Jews is often intermixed with that of the kings of Syria and Egypt, I have taken care, as occasion offered, to relate those circumstances of it which were most necessary and suitable to my subject. I shall add here what remains of that history to the reign of Herod the Great. The historian Josephus, who is in every one's hands, will satisfy the laudable curiosity of such as are desirous of being more fully informed. Dean Prideaux, of whom I have here made much use, may be also consulted for the same purpose. SECT. I. Reign of Aristobulus I. which lasted two years. Hyrcanus, high-priest and prince of the Jews, had left five sons at his death. The first was Aristobulus, the second Antigonus, the third Alexander Jannæus, the fourth's name is unknown, the fifth was called Absalom. Aristobulus, as the eldest, succeeded his father in the highpriesthood and temporal sovereignty. As soon as he saw himself well established, he assumed the diadem and title of king, which none of those who had governed Judæa since the Babylonish captivity had done besides himself. The circumstances of the times seemed favourable for that design. The kings of Syria and Egypt, who were alone capable of opposing it, were weak princes, involved in domestic troubles and civil wars, little secure upon the throne, and not maintaining themselves long in the possession of it. He knew that the a A. M. 3898. Ant. J. C. 106. Joseph. Antiq. xiii, 19, &c. Id. de bell. Jud. 7.3. Romans were much inclined to authorize the dismembering and dividing the dominions of the Grecian kings, in order to weaken and keep them low in comparison with themselves. Besides, it was natural for Aristobulus to take advantage of the victories and acquisitions made by his ancestors, who had given an assured and uninterrupted establishment to the Jewish nation, and enabled it to support the dignity of a king amongst its neighbours. Aristobulus's mother, in virtue of Hyrcanus's will, pretended to the goverment; but Aristobulus was the strongest, and put her in prison, where he caused her to be starved to death. With respect to his brothers, as he very much loved Antigonus, the eldest of them, he gave him at first a share in the government; but some short time after, upon a false accusation, put him to death. He confined the other three in prison during his life. a When Aristobulus had fully possessed himself of the authority which his father had enjoyed, he entered into a war with the Ituræans, and, after having subjected the greatest part of them, he obliged them to embrace Judaism, as Hyrcanus had compelled the Idumæans some years before. He gave them the alternative, either to be circumcised and profess the Jewish religion or to quit their country and seek a settlement elsewhere. They choose to stay, and comply with what was required of them, and thus were incorporat ed with the Jews, both as to spirituals and temporals. This practice became a fundamental maxim with the Asmoneans. It shows that they had not a just idea of religion at that time, which does not impose itself by force, and which ought not to be received but voluntarily and by persuasion. Ituræa, which was inhabited by the people in question, formed part of Colosyria, on the north-east frontier of Israel, between the inheritance of the half tribe of Manasseh on the other side of Jordan and the territory of Damascus. A distemper obliged Aristobulus to return from Ituræa to Jerusalem, and to leave the command of the army to his brother Antigonus, to make an end of the war he had begun. The queen and her cabal, who envied Antigonus the king's favour, took advantage of this illness to alienate the king against him by false reports and vile calumnies. Antigonus soon returned to Jerusalem, after the successes by which he had terminated the war. His entry was a kind of triumph. The feast of tabernacles was then celebrating. He went directly to the temple with his guards, completely armed as he had entered the city, without giving himself time to change any part of his equipage. This was imputed to him as a crime with the king, who, otherwise prejudiced against a A. M. 3898, Ant. J. C. 106. Joseph, Antiq. xiii. 19. Id. de. bel. Jud. i. 3, him, sent him orders to disarm himself, and come to him as soon as possible; conceiving, that if he refused to obey, it was a proof of some bad design; and in that case he gave orders that he should be killed. The person sent by Aristobulus was gained by the queen and her cabal, and told him the order quite differently; that the king desired to see him completely armed as he was. Antigonus went directly to wait on him, and the guards, who saw him come in his arms, obeyed their orders and killed him. Aristobulus, having discovered all that had passed, was violently affected with it, and inconsolable for his death. Tormented with remorse of conscience for this murder and that of his mother, he led a miserable life, and expired at last in anguish and despair. SECT. II. Reign of Alexander Jannæus, which continued twenty-seven years. a Salome, the wife of Aristobulus, immediately after his death, took the three princes out of the prison, into which they had been put by her husband. Alexander Jannæus, the eldest of the three, was crowned. He put his next brother to death, who had endeavoured to deprive him of the crown. As for the third, named Absalom, who was of a peaceable disposition, and who had no thoughts but of living in tranquillity as a private person, he granted him his favour, and protected him during his whole life. No more is said of him, than that he gave his daughter in marriage to the youngest son of his brother Alexander, and that he served him against the Romans at the siege of Jerusalem, in which he was made prisoner 42 years after, when the temple was taken by Pompey. Whilst all this passed, the two kings of Syria, of whom Grypus reigned at Antioch, and Antiochus of Cyzicum at Damascus, made a cruel war upon each other, although they were brothers. Cleopatra, and Alexander, the youngest of her sons, reigned in Egypt, and Ptolemy Lathyrus, the eldest, in Cyprus. Alexander Jannæus, some time after he returned to Jerusalem, and had taken possession of the throne, had set a strong army on foot, which passed the Jordan, and formed the siege of Gadara. At the end of ten months, having made himself master of that city, he took several other very strong places, situated also on the other side of the Jordan. But, not being sufficiently upon his guard on his return, he a A. M. 3899. Ant. J. C. 105. Joseph. Antiq. xiii, 20. Ad, de bell. Jud. i. 8. b Joseph, Antiq. xiv. 8. was beaten by the enemy, and lost 10,000 men, with all the spoils he had taken, and his own baggage. He returned to Jerusalem in the highest affliction for this loss, and the shame with which it was attended. He had even the mortification to see, that many people, instead of lamenting his misfortune, took a malignant joy in it. For, since the quarrel of Hyrcanus with the Pharisees, they had always been the enemies of his house, and especially of this Alexander. And, as they had drawn almost the whole people into their party, they had so strongly prejudiced and enflamed them against him, that all the disorders and commotions with which his whole reign was embroiled flowed from this source. This loss, great as it was, did not prevent his going to seize Raphia and Anthedon, when he saw the coast of Gaza without defence, after the departure of Lathyrus. Those two posts, which were only a few miles from Gaza, kept it in a manner blocked up, which was what he proposed when he attacked them. He had never forgiven the inhabitants of Gaza for calling in Lathyrus against him, and giving him troops, which had contributed to his gaining the fatal battle of the Jordan, and he earnestly sought all occasions to avenge himself upon them. As soon as his affairs would permit, he came with a numerous army to besiege their city. Apollodorus the governor of it, defended the place a whole year, with a valour and prudence that acquired him great reputation. c His own brother Lysimachus could not see his glory without envy; and that base passion induced him to assassinate the governor. That wretch afterwards associated with some others as abandoned as himself, and surrendered the city to Alexander. Upon his entrance, it was thought by his behaviour, and the orders which he gave, that he intended to use his victory with clemency and moderation. But, as soon as he saw himself master of all the posts, and that there was nothing to oppose him, he let loose his soldiers, with permission to kill, plunder, and destroy; and immediately all the barbarity that could be imagined was exercised upon that unfortunate city. The pleasure of revenge cost him very dear. For the inhabitants of Gaza defended themselves like men in despair, and killed him almost as many of his people as they were themselves. But at length he satiated his brutal revenge, and reduced that ancient and famous city to a heap of ruins, after which he returned to Jerusalem. This war employed him a year. Some time after the people affronted him in the most heinous manner e. At the feast of tabernacles, whilst ht # A. M. 3904. Ant. J. C. 100. ~A. M. 3907. Ant. J. C. 97. b A. M. 3906. e Joseph. Antiq. xiii 21. Ant. J. C. 98. was in the temple, offering the solemn sacrifice, in quality of high-priest, upon the altar of burnt-offerings, they threw lemons at his head, calling him a thousand injurious names, and amongst the rest giving him that of "Slave ;" a reproach which sufficiently argued, that they looked upon him as unworthy of the crown and pontificate. This was an effect of what Eleazar had presumed to advance; that the mother of Hyrcanus had been a captive. These indignities enraged Alexander to such a degree, that he attacked those insolent people in person, at the head of his guards, and killed 6,000 of them. Seeing how much the Jews were disaffected towards him, he was afraid to trust his person any longer to them, and used foreign troops for his guard, whom he caused to come from Pisidia and Cilicia. Of these he formed a body of 6,000 men, who attended him every where. a When Alexander saw the storm which had been raised against him a little appeased by the terror of the revenge he had taken for it, he turned his arms against the enemy abroad. After having obtained some advantages over them, he fell into an ambuscade, wherein he lost the greatest part of his army, and escaped himself with great difficulty. At his return to Jerusalem, the Jews, incensed at his defeat, revolted against him. They flattered themselves, that they should find him so much weakened and dejected by his late loss, that they should experience no difficulty in completing bis destruction, which they had so long desired. Alexander, who wanted neither application nor valour, and, who besides had a more than common capacity, soon found troops to op pose them. A civil war ensued between him and his subjects, which continued six years, and occasioned great misfortunes to both parties. The rebels were beaten and defeated upon many occasions. Alexander, having taken a city wherein many of them had shut themselves up, carried 800 of them to Jerusalem, and caused them all to be crucified in one day: when they were fixed to the cross, he ordered their wives and children to be brought out, and to have their throats cut before their faces. During this cruel execution, the king regaled his wives and concubines in a place from whence they saw all that passed; and this sight was to him and them the principal part of the entertainment. Horrid gratification! This civil war, during the six years that it lasted, had cost the lives of more than 50,000 men on the side of the rebels. Alexander, after having put an end to it, undertook many other foreign expeditions with very great success. Upon his return to Jerusalem, he abandoned himself to intemper◄ a A. M. 3910. Ant. J. C. 94: VOL. VII. 6 A. M. 3912, Ant. J. C, 92. Ant. J. C. 86, c A. M. 3918. |
