Herod passed only seven days at Rome in negotiating this great affair, and returned speedily into Judæa. He employed no more time than three months in his journeys by sea and land.

SECT. VI.-Reign of Antigonus, of only two years duration.

a It was not so easy for Herod to establish himself in the possession of the kingdom of Judæa as it had been to obtain his title from the Romans. Antigonus was not at all inclined to resign a throne which had cost him so much pains and money to acquire. He disputed it with him very vigorously for almost two years.

Herod, who during the winter had made great preparations for the following campaign, opened it at length with the siege of Jerusalem, which he invested at the head of a fine and numerous army. Anthony had given orders to Sosius, governor of Syria, to use his utmost endeavours to reduce Antigonus, and to put Herod into full possession of the kingdom of Judæa. Whilst the works necessary for the siege were carrying on, Herod made a tour to Samaria, and at length consummated his marriage with Mariamne. They had been contracted four years to each other: but the unforeseen troubles which had befallen him had prevented their consummating the marriage till then. She was the daughter of Alexander, the son of king Aristobulus, and Alexandra, the daughter of Hyrcanus the second, and thereby grand-daughter to those two brothers. She was a princess of extraordinary beauty and virtue, and possessed in an eminent degree all the other qualities that adorn the sex. The attachment of the Jews to the Asmonæan family made Herod imagine, that, by espousing her, he should find no difficulty in gaining their affection, which was one of his reasons for consummating his marriage at that time.

On his return to Jerusalem, Sosius and he, having joined their forces, pressed the siege in concert with the utmost vigour, and with a very numerous army, which amounted to at least 60,000 men. The place, however, held out against them many months with exceeding resolution; and, if the besieged had been as expert in the art of war and the defence of places as they were brave and resolute, it would not perhaps have been taken. But the Romans, who were much better skilled in those things than they, carried the place at length, after a siege of something more than six months.

The Jews being driven from their posts, the enemy entered on all sides, and made themselves masters of the city. And,

a A. M 3965. Ant. J. C. 39.

A. M. 2966. Ant J. C. 38. Joseph. Antiq. xiv. 27. Id de bell, Jud. i. 13

e A. M. 3967. Ant. J. C. 37.

to revenge the obstinate resistance they had made and the fatigue they had suffered during so long and difficult a siege, they filled all quarters of Jerusalem with blood and slaughter, plundered and destroyed all before them, though Herod did his utmost to prevent both the one and the other.

Antigonus, seeing all was lost, came and threw himself at the feet of Sosius in the most submissive and most abject manner. He was put in chains, and sent to Anthony as soon as he arrived at Antioch. He designed at first to have reserved him for his triumph; but Herod, who did not think himself safe as long as that remnant of the royal family survived, would not let him rest till he had obtained the death of that unfortunate prince, for which he even gave a large sum of money. He was proceeded against in form, condemned to die, and had the sentence executed upon him in the same manner as common criminals, with the rods and axes of the lictors, and was fastened to a stake; a treatment with which the Romans had never used any crowned head before.

Thus ended the reign of the Asmonæans, after a duration of 129 years, from the beginning of the government of Judas Maccabæus. Herod entered by this means upon the peaceable possession of the kingdom of Judæa.

This singular, extraordinary, and till then unexampled, event, by which the sovereign authority over the Jews was given to a stranger, an Idumæan, ought to have opened their eyes, and rendered them attentive to a celebrated prophecy, which had foretold it in clear terms; and had given it as the certain mark of another event, in which the whole nation was interested, which was the perpetual object of their vows and hopes, and distinguished them by a peculiar characteristic from all other nations of the world, that had an equal interest in it, but without knowing or being apprized of it. This was the prophecy of Jacob, who at his death foretold to his twelve sons, assembled round his bed, what would happen in the series of time to the twelve tribes, of which they were the chiefs, and after whom they were called. Amongst the other predictions of that patriarch concerning the tribe of Judah, there is this of which we now speak: "the sceptre shall "not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his "feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of "the people be." The sceptre or rod (for the Hebrew signifies both) implies here the authority and superiority over the other tribes.

All the ancient Jews have explained this prediction to denote the Messiah; the fact is therefore incontestable, and is

a Joseph. Antiq xiv. 27. Plut. in Anton. p. 932. Dion. Cass, xlix, p. 405. 6 Gen. xlix, 10,

reduced to two essential points. The first is, that as long as the tribe of Judah shall subsist, it shall have pre-eminence and authority over the other tribes: the second, that it shall subsist, and form a body of a republic, governed by its laws and magistrates, till the Messiah comes.

The first point is verified in that series of the history of the Israelites, wherein the pre-eminence of the tribe of Judah appears evidently. This is not the proper place for proofs of this kind; those who would be more fully informed may consult the explanation of Genesis lately published a.

For the second point, we have only to consider it with the least attention. When Herod, the Idumæan, and in consequence a stranger, was placed upon the throne, the authority and superiority which the tribe of Judah had over the other tribes began to be taken from it. This was an indication that the time of the Messiah's coming was not far off. The tribe of Judah has no longer the supremacy, it no longer subsists as a body from which the magistrates are taken. It is manifest, therefore, that the Messiah is come. But at what time did that tribe become like the rest, and was confounded with them? In the times of Titus and Adrian, who finally exterminated the remnant of Judah. It was therefore before those times that the Messiah came.

How wonderful does GoD appear in the accomplishment of his prophecies! Would it be making a right use of history not to dwell a few moments upon facts like this, when we meet them in the course of our subject? Herod, reduced to quit Jerusalem, takes refuge at Rome. He has no thoughts of demanding the sovereignty for himself, but for another. It was the grossest injustice to give it to a stranger, whilst there were princes of the royal family in being. But it had been decreed from all eternity that Herod should be king of the Jews. Heaven and earth should sooner pass away, than that decree of GOD not be fulfilled. Anthony was at Rome, and in possession of sovereign power, when Herod arrived there. How many events were necessary to the conducting of things to this point! But is there any thing too hard for the Almighty?

ARTICLE II.

ABRIDGMENT OF THE HISTORY OF THE PARTHIANS

The Parthian empire was one of the most powerful and most considerable that ever was in the East. Very weak in its beginning, as is common, in extended itself by little and little

a By F, Babuty, Rue St. Jacques.

over all upper Asia, and made even the Romans tremble. Its duration is generally allowed to be 474 years; of which 254 were before JESUS CHRIST, and 220 after him. Arsaces was the founder of that empire, from whom all his successors were called Arsacida. Artaxerxes, by birth a Persian, having overcome and slain Artabanus, the last of those kings, transferred the empire of the Parthians to the Persians, in the fifth year of the emperor Alexander, the son of Mammæa. I shall only speak here of the affairs of the Parthians before JESUS CHRIST, and shall treat them very briefly, except the defeat of Crassus, which I shall relate in all its extent.

I have observed elsewhere what gave a Arsaces I. occasion to make Parthia revolt and to expel the Macedonians, who had been in possession of it from the death of Alexander the Great, and in what manner he had caused himself to be elected king of the Parthians. Theodotus, at the same time, made Bactriana revolt, and took that province from Antiochus, surnamed Theos.

Some time after, Seleucus Callinicus, & who succeeded Antiochus, endeavoured in vain to subdue the Parthians. He fell into their hands himself and was made prisoner: this happened in the reign of Tiridates, called otherwise Arsaces II. brother of the first.

Antiochus, surnamed the Great, was more successful than his predecessor. He marched into the East, and repossessed himself of Media, which the Parthians had taken from him. He also entered Parthia, and obliged the king to retire into Hyrcania, from whence he returned soon after with an army of 100,000 foot and 20,000 horse. As the war was of a tedious duration, Antiochus made a treaty with Arsaces, by which he left him Parthia and Hyrcania, upon condition that he should assist him in re-conquering the revolted provinces. Antiochus marched afterwards against Euthydemus, king of Bactria, with whom he was also obliged to come to an accommodation.

e PRIAPATIUS, the son of Arsaces II. succeeded his father, and after having reigned 15 years, left the crown at his death to PHRAATES I. his eldest son.

Phraates left it to MITHRIDATES, whom he preferred before his own issue, upon account of his extraordinary merit. In fact he was one of the greatest kings the Parthians ever

a A. M. 3754. o A. M. 3768. c A. M. 3792.

Ant J. C. 212 See Vol. VI.

d The Abbe Longuerue, in his Latin Dissertation upon the Arsacidæ, ascribes? what is here said to Artabanus, whom he places between Arsaces II. and Priapatius. Justin says nothing of them.

e A. M. 3798. Ant. J. C. 206.

fA. M. 3840. Ant. J. C. 164.

had. He carried his arms farther than Alexander the Great. It was he who made Demetrius Nicator prisoner.

@PHRAATES II. succeeded Mithridates, his father. Antiochus Sidetes, king of Syria, marched against him at the head of a powerful army, under pretence of delivering his brother Demetrius, who had been long kept in captivity. After having defeated Phraates in three battles, he was himself overthrown and killed in the last, and his army entirely cut to pieces. Phraates, in his turn, at the time he had formed the design of invading Syria, was attacked by the Scythians, and lost his life in a battle.

ARTABANUS, his uncle, reigned in his stead, and died soon

after.

His successor was MITHRIDATES II. of whom Justin says that his great actions acquired him the surname of Great. He declared war against the Armenians; and, by a treaty of peace which he made with them, he obliged their king to send him his son Tigranes as a hostage. The latter was afterwards set upon the throne of Armenia by the Parthians themselves, and joined with Mithridates, king of Pontus, in the war against the Romans.

Antiochus Eusebes took refuge with Mithridates, who re-established him in the possession of part of the kingdom of Syria two years after.

It was the same Mithridates, as we shall see hereafter, who sent Orobazus to Sylla, to demand the amity and alliance of the Romans, and who caused him to be put to death on his return, for having given precedence to Sylla.

g Demetrius Eucerus, who reigned at Damascus, besieging Philip his brother in the city of Berea, was defeated and taken by the Parthian troops sent to the aid of Philip, and carried prisoner to Mithridates, who treated him with all possible honours. He died there of a disease.

Mithridates II. died after having reigned 40 years, generally regretted by his subjects. The domestic troubles with which his death was followed considerably weakened the Parthian empire, and made his loss still more sensible. Tigranes re-entered upon all the provinces which he had given up to the Parthians, and took several others from them. He passed the Euphrates, and made himself master of Syria and Phoenicia.

During these troubles, the Parthians elected MNASKIRES, and after him SINATROCCES, kings, of whom scarcely any thing more is known than their names.