ance and excess of wine, which brought a quartan ague upon him, of which he died at the end of three years, after having reigned 27.

"He left two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus; but he decreed, by his will, that Alexandra, his wife, should govern the kingdom during her life, and choose which of her sons she thought fit to succeed her.

SECT. III.

Reign of Alexandra, the wife of Alexander Jannæus, which continued nine years.

According to the advice of her husband, Alexandra submitted herself and her children to the power of the Pharisees, declaring to them, that, in doing so, she only acted in conformity to the last will of her husband.

By this step she so well conciliated them, that, forgetting their hatred for the dead, though they had carried it during his life as far as possible, they changed it on a sudden into a respect and veneration for his memory; and, instead of the invectives and reproaches which they had always abundantly vented against him, nothing was heard but praises and panegyrics, wherein they exalted immoderately the great actions of Alexander, by which the nation had been aggrandized, and its power, honour, and credit, much augmented. By this means they brought over the people so effectually, whom till then they had always irritated against him, that they celebrated his funeral with greater pomp and magnificence than that of any of his predecessors; and Alexandra, according to the intent of his will, was confirmed sovereign administratrix of the nation. We see from hence that a blind and unlimited conformity to the power and will of the Pharisees was with them a substitute for every kind of merit, and made all failings, and even crimes, disappear as effectually as if they had never been, which is very common with those who are fond of ruling.

When that princess saw herself well established, she caused her eldest son, Hyrcanus, to be received as highpriest: he was then near thirty years of age. According to her promise, she gave the administration of all important affairs to the Pharisees. The first thing they did was to repeal the decree, by which John Hyrcanus, father of the two last kings, had abolished all their traditional constitutions, which were afterwards more generally received than ever. They persecuted with great cruelty all those who had declared themselves their enemies in the preceding reigns, with

a A. M. 3925.

Ant. J. C. 79.

A M. 3926. Ant. J. G. 78. Joseph. Antiq. xiij. 23, 24. et de bell, Jud. i. ←

out the queen's being able to prevent them; because she had tied up her own hands, by putting herself into those of the Pharisees. She had seen in her husband's time what a civil war was, and the infinite misfortunes with which it is attended. She was afraid of kindling a new one; and, not knowing any other means to prevent it than by giving away to the violence of those revengeful and inexorable men, she believed it necessary to suffer a less evil, in order to prevent a greater.

What we have said upon this head may contribute very much to our having a right notion of the state of the Jewish nation, and of the characters of those who governed it.

The Pharisees still continued their persecutions against those who had opposed them under the late king. They made them accountable for all the cruelties and faults with which they thought proper to blacken his memory. They had already got rid of many of their enemies under this pretext, and invented every day new articles of accusation to destroy those who gave them most umbrage amongst such as still survived.

The friends and partisans of the late king, seeing that there was no end to these persecutions, and that their destruction was sworn, assembled at last, and came in a body to wait on the queen, with Aristobulus, her second son, at their head. They represented to her the services they had done the late king, their fidelity and attachment to him in all his wars, and in all the difficulties with which he had been involved during the troubles. That it was very hard at present, that, under her government, every thing they had done for him should be made criminal, and to see themselves sacrificed to the implacable hatred of their enemies, solely for their adherence to herself and her family. They implored her either to put a stop to such sort of inquiries, or, if that was not in her power, to permit them to retire out of the country, in order to seek an asylum elsewhere: at least they begged her to put them into garrisoned places, where they might find some security against the violence of their enemies.

The queen was as much affected as it was possible to be with the condition she saw them in, and the injustice done them. But it was out of her power to do for them all she desired; for she had given herself masters, by engaging to take no steps without the consent of the Pharisees. How dangerous is it to invest such people with too much authority! They exclaimed, that it would be putting a stop to the course of justice, to suspend the inquiries after the culpable; that such a proceeding was what no government ought to suffer, and that therefore they never would accede to it. On a A. M. 3931, Ant, J. C. 73. Joseph, Antiq. xiii. 24. et de bell. Jud. i. 4.

the other side, the queen believed that she ought not to give her consent, that the real and faithful friends of her family should abandon their country in such a manner; because she would then lie at the mercy of a turbulent faction without any support, and would have no resource in case of necessity. She resolved therefore upon the third point they had proposed to her, and dispersed them into the places where she had garrisons. She found two advantages resulting from that conduct; the first was, that their enemies dared not attack them in those fortresses, where they would have arms in their hands; and the second, that they would always be a body of reserve, upon which she could rely upon occasion in case of any rupture.

a Some years after, queen Alexandra fell sick of a very dangerous distemper, which brought her to the point of death. As soon as Aristobulus, her youngest son, saw that she could not recover, as he had long formed the design of seizing the crown at her death, he stole out of Jerusalem in the night, with only one domestic, and went to the places, in which, according to a plan he had given them, the friends of his father had been placed in garrison. He was received there with open arms, and in 15 days time 22 of those towns and castles declared for him, which put him in possession of almost all the forces of the state. The people as well as the army were entirely inclined to declare for him, weary of the cruel administration of the Pharisees, who had governed without control under Alexandra, and were become insupportable to every one. They came therefore in crowds from all quarters to follow the standards of Aristobulus, in hopes that he would abolish the tyranny of the Pharisees, which could not be expected from Hyrcanus, his brother, who had been brought up by his mother in a blind submission to that sect; besides which, he had neither the courage nor capacity necessary for so vigorous a design; for he was heavy and indolent, void of activity and application, and of a very mean capacity.

When the Pharisees saw that Aristobulus's party augmented considerably, they went, with Hyrcanus at their head, to represent to the dying queen what was going forward, and to demand her orders and assistance. She answered, that she was no longer in a condition to intermeddle in such affairs, and that she left the care of them to the Pharisees. However she appointed Hyrcanus her heir general, and expired soon after.

As soon as she was dead he took possession of the throne, and the Pharisees used all their endeavours to support him upon it. When Aristobulus quitted Jerusalem, they had

a A. M. 3934. Ant. J. C. 70.

caused his wife and children, whom he had left behind him, to be shut up in the castle of a Baris, as hostages against himself. But, seeing this did not stop him, they raised an army. Aristobulus did the same. A battle near Jericho decided the quarrel. Hyrcanus, abandoned by most part of his troops, who went over to his brother, was obliged to fly to Jerusalem, and to shut himself up in the castle of Baris; his partisans took refuge in the temple. A short time after they also submitted to Aristobulus, and Hyrcanus was obliged to come to an accommodation with him.

SECT. IV.

Reign of Aristobulus II. which continued six years.

It was agreed, by this accommodation, that Aristobulus should have the crown and high-priesthood, and that Hyrcanus should resign both to him, and content himself with a private life, under the protection of his brother, and with the enjoyment of his fortune. It was not difficult to reconcile him to this; for he loved quiet and ease above all things. Thus he quitted the government, after having possessed it three months. The tyranny of the Pharisees ended with his reign, after having greatly distressed the Jewish nation from the time of the death of Alexander Jannæus.

The troubles of the state were not so soon appeased: these were occasioned by the ambition of Antipas, better known under the name of Antipator, father of Herod. He was by extraction an Idumæan, and a Jew by religion, as were all Idumæans, from the time that Hyrcanus had obliged them to embrace Judaism. As he had been brought up in the court of Alexander Jannæus, and of Alexandra his wife, who reigned after him, he had gained an ascendant over Hyrcanus, their elder son, with the hope of raising himself by his favour, when he should succeed to the crown. But, when he saw all his measures defeated by the deposition of Hyrcanus and the coronation of Aristobulus, from whom he had nothing to expect, he employed his whole address and application to replace Hyrcanus upon the throne.

The latter, by his secret negotiations, had at first applied to Aretas, king of Arabia Petrea, for aid to re-instate himself. After various events, which I pass over to avoid prolixity, he had recourse to Pompey, who, on his return from his expedition against Mithridates, was arrived in Syria e.

a Baris was a castle situate upon a high rock without the works of the temple, which were upon the same rock.

b Joseph. Antiq. xiv. I. et de bell. Jud i. 4. c A. M. 3935. Ant. J. C. 69. d A. M. 3939. Ant. J. C. 65. Joseph. Antiq. xiv. 2-8. et de bell. Jud. i, 5: e Id. Antiq. xiv. 5. Id. de bell, Jud. i. 5.

He there took cognizance of the competition between Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, who repaired thither according to his orders. A great number of Jews went thither also, to request that he would free them from the government of both the one and the other. They represented that they ought not to be ruled by kings: that they had long been accustomed to obey only the high-priest, who without any other title, administered justice according to the laws and constitutions transmitted down to them from their fore-fathers; that the two brothers were indeed of the sacerdotal line; but that they had changed the form of the government for a new one, which would enslave them, if not remedied.

Hyrcanus complained, that Aristobulus had unjustly deprived him of his birth-right, by usurping every thing, and leaving him only a small estate for his subsistence. He accused him also of practising piracy at sea, and of plundering his neighbours by land. And to confirm what he alleged against him, he produced almost a thousand Jews, the principal men of the nation, whom Antipator had brought expressly, to support by their testimony what that prince had to say against his brother.

Aristobulus replied to this, That Hyrcanus had been deposed only for his incapacity; that his sloth and indolence rendered him entirely incapable of the management of public affairs; that the people despied him, and that he, Aristobulus, had been obliged to take the reigns of the government into his own hands, to prevent them from falling into those of strangers. In fine, that he bore no other title than what his father Alexander had done before him. And, in proof of what he advanced, he produced a great number of the young nobility of the country, who appeared with all possible splendour and magnificence. Their superb habits, haughty manners, and proud demeanour, did no great service to his cause. Pompey heard enough to discern, that the conduct of Aristobulus was violent and unjust, but would not however pronounce immediately upon it, lest Aristobulus, out of resentment, should oppose his designs against Arabia, which he had much at heart; he therefore politely dismissed the two brothers; and told them, that at his return from reducing Aretas and his Arabians, he should pass through Judæa, and that he would then regulate their affair and settle every thing.

Aristobulus, who fully penetrated Pompey's sentiments, set out suddenly from Damascus, without paying him the least instance of respect, returned into Judæa, armed his subjects, and prepared for a vigorous defence. By this conduct he made Pompey his mortal enemy.

Pompey applied himself also in making preparations for