with forgiving him his faults, he even restored him Libya and Cyrenaica, and also added some amends in lieu of the isle of Cyprus. That act of generosity put an end to the war between the two brothers. It was not renewed, and the Romans were ashamed of opposing any longer a prince of such extraordinary clemency. There is no reader, who does not secretly pay homage of esteem and admiration to so generous an action. Such inward sentiments, which rise from nature and prevent reflections, imply how great and noble it is to forget and pardon injuries, and what a meanness of soul there is in the resentment of the revengeful.

SECTION III.-OCTAVIUS, THE ROMAN AMBASSADOR IN SYRIA, IS KILLED. DEATH

OF JUDAS MACCABEUS.

We have seen, that the principal objects of the commission of the three Roman ambassadors, Cn. Octavius, Sp. Lucretius and L. Aurelius, who went first into Egypt, was to go into Syria, to regulate the affairs of that nation. When they arrived there, they found that the king had more ships and elephants than had been stipulated by the treaty made with Antiochus the Great after the battle of Sypilis. They caused the ships to be burned, and the elephants to be killed, which exceeded the number stated in that treaty, and disposed all things else in such a manner as they thought most to the advantage of the Romans. This treatment seemed insupportable, and exasperated the people against them. A person named Leptinus was so incensed at it, that, in his rage, he fell upon Octavius while he was bathing, and killed him. It was suspected that Lysias, the regent of the kingdom had secretly a hand in this assassination. Ambas sadors were immediately sent to Rome to justify the king, and to protest that he had no share in the action. The senate sent them back, without giving them any answer, to signify, by that silence, the indignation for the murder committed upon the person of Octavius, the examination and punishment of which they reserved to themselves. In the mean time, to do honour to his memory, they erected a statue to him among those of the great men who had lost their lives in defence of their country.

Demetrius believed, that the disgust of the Romans against Eupator was a favourable conjuncture, of which it was proper for him to take advantage, and addressed himself a second time to the senate, to obtain their permission to return into Syria. He took this step contrary to the opinion of the great number of his friends, who advised him to make his escape without saying any thing. The event soon showed him how much they were in the right. As the senate had always the same motives of interest for keeping him at Rome as at first, he received the same answer, and had the mortification of a second denial He then had recourse to the first advice of his friends; and Polybius, the historian, who was at Rome, was one of those who pressed him with the utmost warmth to put it in immediate execution with secrecy. He took his advice. After concerting all his measures, he left Rome under pretence of a hunting party, went to Ostia, and embarked, with a small train, in a Carthaginian vessel bound for Tyre. It was three days before it was known at Rome that he had escaped. All that the senate could do, was to send Tib. Gracchus, L. Lentulus, and Servilius Glaucia, some days after, into Syria, to observe what effect the return of Demetrius would produce there.

Demetrius having landed at Tripoli in Syria, a report spread, that the senate had sent him to take possession of his dominions, and had resolved to support

* A. M. 3847. Ant. J. C. 157.

†This Octavius had been consul some years before, and was the first of his family who had attained that honour.-Cic. Philip. ix. c. 4. Octavius, who became emperor, so well known under the name of Augustus, was of the same family with this Octavius, but of another branch, into which the consular dignity bad

never entered.

A. M. 3842. Ant. J. C. 162. Appian. in Syr. p. 117. Polyb. Legat. cxiv. et cxxii. Cicer. Philip ai. n. 4,5. Justin. 1. xxxiv. c. 3.

That ship carried to Tyre, according to custom, the first fruits of the lands and revenues of Carthaga.

him in them. Eupator was immediately looked upon as a lost man, and all the world abandoned him to join Demetrius. Eupator and Lysias, seized by their own troops, were delivered up to Demetrius, who ordered them to be put to death, and saw himself established by these means on the throne without opposition, and with astonishing facility.*

One of the first actions of his reign was to deliver the Babylonians from the tyranny of Timarchus and Heraclides, who had been the two great favourites of Antiochus Epiphanes. He had made the first governor, and the second treasurer, of that province. Timarchus having added rebellion to his other crimes, Demetrius caused him to be put to death. He contented himself with banishing the other. The Babylonians were so much rejoiced to see themselves freed from the oppression of those two brothers, that from thenceforth they gave their deliverer the title of Soter, or Saviour, which he bore ever afterwards.

Alchimus, whom Antiochus Eupator had made high-priest of the Jews after the death of Menelaus, not being qualified to be admitted by them in that capacity, because he had profaned the sanctity of the priesthood, by following the impious customs of the Greeks, under Antiochus Epiphanes, gathered together all the apostate Jews, who had taken refuge at Antioch, after having been expelled Judea, and putting himself at their head, came to petition the new king to defend them from the oppressions of Judas and his brothers, advancing a thousand calumnies against them. He accused them of having killed all persons that fell into their hands of the party of Demetrius, and of having forced him, with all those in his company, to abandon their country, and seek security elsewhere. Demetrius immediately ordered Bacchis, governor of Mesopotamia, to march into Judea at the head of an army; and confirming Alcimus in his office, he joined him in commission with Bacchis, and charged them both with the care of the war. Judas rendered all the efforts of this first army ineffectual, as he did of a second, commanded by Nicanor. The latter, enraged at the last defeat of the troops of Syria, and that a handful of men should withstand such numerous and warlike armies, and knowing that they placed their whole confidence with regard to victory in the protection of the God of Israel, and in the promises made in the temple where he was honoured, had uttered a thousand blasphemies against the Almighty, and against his temple. He was soon punished for them. Judas gave him a bloody battle; and of his army of thirty-five thousand men, not one escaped to carry the news of the defeat to Antioch. The body of Nicanor was found among the dead. His head and right hand, which he had lifted up against the temple when he threatened to destroy it, were cut off, and placed upon one of the towers of Jerusalem.

Judas, after this complete victory, having some relaxation, sent an embassy to Rome. He saw himself continually attacked by the whole force of Syria, without being able reasonably to rely upon any treaty of peace. He had no aid to expect from the neighbouring people, who, far from interesting themselves for the preservation of the Jewish nation, entertained no thoughts but of extirpating them in concert with the Syrians. He had been informed that the Romans, equally esteemed for their justice and valour, were always ready to support weak nations against the oppression of kings, whose power gave them umbrage. Accordingly he thought it necessary to make an alliance with that people, in order to support himself by their protection against the unjust enterprises of the Syrians. Those ambassadors were very well received by the senate, who passed a decree, by which the Jews were declared the friends and allies of the Romans, and a defensive league was made with them. They even obtained a letter from the senate to Demetrius, by which he was enjoined

* 1 Maccab. vii. viii. ix. et 2 Maccab. xiv. Joseph. Antiq. l. xii. xiii. Appian, in Syr. p. 117. Justin 1. xxxiv. c. 3.

not to distress the Jews any more, and war was threatened him, in case he persevered to do so. But before the ambassadors returned, Judas died. As soon as Demetrius received news of the defeat and death of Nicanor, he gave the command of a powerful army to Bacchus and Alcimus, composed of the choicest of all his troops, and sent them into Judea. Judas had only three thousand men with him when it arrived there, and these were struck with such a panic, that they all abandoned him, except eight hundred. But Judas, with that small number, through an excess of valour and confidence, had the boldness to hazard a battle with so numerous an army, in which he perished, overpowered by numbers. His loss was deplored throughout all Judea and at Jerusalem, with all the marks of the most lively affliction, and the government put into the hands of Jonathan, his brother.

Alcimus being dead, after having committed very great violence against the true Israelites, and Bacchis having returned to Antioch, the country remained quiet, and was not harassed by the Assyrians for two years. Demetrius had undoubtedly received the senate's letter in favour of the Jews, which obliged him to recall Bacchis.

Demetrius, indeed, was at this time very cautious in his conduct with regard to the Romans, and used all his endeavours to induce them to acknowledge him king, and to renew the treaty made with the kings, his predecessors. Having received advice, that the Romans had three ambassadors at the court of Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, he sent Menochares, one of his principal ministers, thither, to enter upon the negotiation. Finding, at his return, by the report he made of what had passed, that the good offices of those ambassadors were absolutely necessary to his success in it, he sent again into Pamphylia, and afterwards to Rhodes, to assure them, that he would conform entirely to their will; and by the force of pressing solicitations, obtained at length, by their means, what he desired. The Romans acknowledged him king of Syria, and renewed the treaties made with that crown.*

To cultivate their amity, he sent the same Menochares the following year, in conjunction with some others, upon an embassy to Rome. They were charged with a crown that weighed ten thousand pieces of gold, as a present from him to the senate, in gratitude for their good treatment of him, during his being a hostage at Rome. They carried also with them Leptinus and Isocrates, in order to deliver them up, on account of the assassination of Octavius. This Leptinus was the person who killed him at Laodicia. Isocrates was a Greek, by profession a Grammarian, who being in Syria at that time, had, upon all occasions, taken upon him to vindicate that equally base and unjust action. The senate received the ambassadors with all the usual honours, and accepted the present they brought; but would neither hear nor see two vile men, objects unworthy of their anger, reserving to themselves, without doubt, the right of exacting, when they pleased, a more distinguished satisfaction for the murder of their ambassador.†

It was about this time that Demetrius established Holofernes upon the throne of Cappadocia. He was soon after expelled, and took refuge at Antioch. We shall see how far he carried his ingratitude in regard to his benefactor.

Demetrius, who found himself without war or occupation, began to give up to pleasure, and to lead an idle life, not a little singular and fantastic in the manner of it. He caused a castle to be built near Antioch, flanked with four good towers, and shut himself up in it, for the sake of abandoning himself entirely on the one side to indolence, not being willing to hear any more of affairs, and on the other, to the pleasure of good cheer and excess of wine. He was drunk at least one half of the day. The memorials, which people were desirous of presenting to him, were never received; justice was not administered; the affairs of the state languished; in a word, there was a general suspension of Polyb. Legat. cxx.

*A. M. 3844. Ant. J. C. 160. †A. M. 3845. Ant. J. C. 159. Polyb. Legat. cxxii.

Appian. in Syr. p. 118. Diod. Legat. xxv.

government, which soon stirred up the whole people against him. A conspiracy was formed for deposing him. Holofernes, who continued at Antioch, entered into this plot against his benefactor, flattering himself with obtaining the crown, if the enterprise succeeded. It was discovered, and Holofernes put in prison. Demetrius would not deprive him of life. He chose rather to spare him, in order to make use of him upon occasion against Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, upon whose crown he had some pretensions.*

Notwithstanding the discovery, the conspiracy was not suppressed. The malcontents were supported secretly by Ptolemy Philometer, who had the affair of Cyprus at heart, and by Attalus and Ariarathes, who meditated revenging themselves for the war which Demetrius had undertaken against them in favour of Holofernes. Those three princes concerted together to employ Heraclides in preparing somebody to personate the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and to set up hereditary pretensions to the crown of Syria. This Heraclides had been one of the great favourites of Antiochus Epiphanes, and treasurer of the province of Babylon; at the same time Timarchus, his brother another favourite, was governor of it. When Demetrius succeeded to the crown, the two brothers having been convicted of malversation and other crimes, Tin.archus was executed, and the other having made his escape, had taken up his residence at Rhodes. It was there he took pains to form the man intended for the design I have mentioned. He chose for that purpose a young man, named Bala, of mean extraction, but very proper to act the part given him. He modelled him, and instructed him fully in all that was necessary to say or do.t

When he was fully prepared, he began by causing him to be acknowledged by the three kings in the secret. He afterwards carried him to Rome, as he did also Laodice, the real daughter of Antiochus Epiphanes, for the better concealing the imposture. By force of address and solicitations, he caused him to be acknowledged there also, and obtained a decree of the senate in his favour, which not only gave him permission to return into Syria, for the recovery of his dominions, but even granted him assistance for that purpose. Though the senate plainly saw through the imposture, and that all which was told of this pretender was mere fiction, they entered into every thing desired of them against Demetrius, with whom they were dissatisfied, and passed that decree in favour of the impostor. With this declaration of the Romans for him, he found no difficulty to raise troops. He then seized upon Ptolemais in Palestine, and there, under the name of Alexander, son of Antiochus Epiphanes, assumed the title of king of Syria. Many of the malcontents came thither to join him, and form his court.

This news made Demetrius quit his castle and his indolence, and apply himself to his defence. He assembled all the troops he could. Alexander armed also on his side. The assistance of Jonathan was of great consequence in this conjuncture, and both parties made their court to him. Demetrius wrote to him first, and sent him the commission of general of the king's troops in Judea, which rendered him at that time very superior to all his enemies.

Alexander, seeing what Demetrius had done for Jonathan, was thereby induced to make proposals also to him, in order to bring him over to his side. He made him high-priest, granted him the title of " Friend of the King," sent him a purple robe and a crown of gold, marks of the high dignity conferred upon him; for none at that time wore purple except princes and nobles of the first rank. Demetrius, who received advice of this, still outdid him, to secure to himself an ally of such importance. But, after the injuries he had done to all those who had the truest interests of the Jews at heart, and the nation in general, they dared not confide in him, and resolved rather to treat with AlexA. M. 3850. Ant. J. C. 154. Joseph. Antiq. I. xiii. c. 3. Athen. 1. x. p. 440. Justin. 1. xxxv. c. 1 A Appian. in Syr. p. 131. Athen. 1. v. p. 211. 1 Maccab, x. 1-50 A. M. 3851. Ant. J. C. 153,

Polyb. Legat. cxxxviii. et clx.

ander. Jonathan therefore accepted the high-priesthood from him, and with the consent of the whole people, at the feast of the tabernacles, which happened soon after, he put on the pontifical vestments, and officiated as high-priest.

The place had been vacant seven years from the death of Alcimus. The high-priesthood, which at that time came into the Asmonean family, continued in it till Herod's time, who, from its being hereditary, as it had been till then, made an employment of it, which he disposed of at pleasure.

The two kings having taken the field, Demetrius, who wanted neither valour nor good sense, when his reason was not impaired by wine, was victorious in the first battle; but it was of no advantage to him. Alexander soon received new troops from the three kings who had set him up, and continued to support him vigorously. Having, besides this, the Romans and Jonathan on his side, he retrieved himself, and maintained his ground. The Syrians also continually deserted, because they could not bear Demetrius. That prince, beginning to apprehend the event of the war, sent his two sons, Demetrius and Antiochus, to Cnidos, a city of Caria, so that they might be secure in case of misfortune. He confided them, with a considerable sum of money, to the care of a friend of his in that city; so that, if any accident should happen, they might remain there in safety, and wait some favourable conjuncture.*

It was at the same time, and perhaps in imitation of Alexander Bala, that Andriscus played the same part in Macedonia. He had retired to Demetrius, who had given him up to the Romans, from the hope of conciliating their favour.t

The two competitors for the crown of Syria, having assembled all their troops, came to a decisive battle. At first, the left wing of Demetrius broke that of the enemy which opposed it, and put it to flight. But being too eager in the pursuit, a common fault in battles, and which almost always occasions their being lost, at their return, they found the right, at the head of which Demetrius fought in person, routed, and the king himself killed in the pursuit. As long as he had been in a condition to support the enemy's charge, he had oinitted nothing that valour and conduct were capable of, which might con duce to his success. At length his troops gave way, and, in the retreat, his horse plunged into a bog, where those who pursued him killed him with their arrows. He had reigned twelve years. Alexander, by this victory, found himself master of the empire of Syria.t

As soon as Alexander saw himself at repose, he sent to demand Cleopatra, the daughter of Ptolemy king of Egypt, in marriage. She was granted him, and her father conducted her in person to Ptolemais, where the nuptials were celebrated. Jonathan was invited to that feast, and went thither, where he was received by the two kings with all possible marks of honour.§

Onias, son of Onias III. having been disappointed of the high-priesthood after the death of his uncle Menelaus, had retired into Egypt. He had found means to insinuate himself so well into the favour of Ptolemy Philumeter and Cleopatra his wife, that he was become their favourite and most intimate confidant. He made use of his influence at that court to obtain the king's permission for building a temple for the Jews in Egypt, like that in Jerusalem; assuring him that that favour would bring the whole nation into his party against Antiochus Epiphanes: at the same time the high-priesthood there was granted to him and his descendants for ever. The great difficulty was to bring the Jews to consent to this innovation; it being forbid by the law to offer sacrifices in any place but the temple of Jerusalem. It was not without difficulty he overcame their repugnance, by a passage in Isaiah, wherein the prophet foretells this event in these terms: "In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; the

A. M. 3852. Ant. J. C. 152. j1 Maccab. x. 51-5ỏ,

† A. M. 3853. Ant. J. C. 151.

A. M. 3854. Ant. J. C. 150. Joseph. contra Appian. ↓ is