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cidæ. Alexander was afraid of him, when he was marching against the Arabians; so he cut a deep trench between Antipatris, which was near the mountains, and the shores of Joppa; he also erected an high wall before the trench, and built wooden towers, in order to hinder any sudden approaches. But still he was not able to exclude Antiochus; for he burnt the towers, and filled up the trenches, and marched on with his army. And as he looked upon taking his revenge on Alexander, for endeavouring to stop him, as a thing of less consequence, he marched directly against the Arabians, whose king retired into such parts of the country as were fittest for engaging the enemy; and then, on the sudden, made his horse turn back, which were in number ten thousand, and fell upon Antiochus's army, while they were in disorder, and a terrible battle ensued. Antiochus's troops, so long as he was alive, fought it out, although a mighty slaughter was made among them by the Arabians; but when he fell, for he was in the forefront, in the utmost danger in rallying his troops, they all gave ground, and the greatest part of his army were destroyed, either in the action or in the flight; and for the rest, who fled to the village of Cana, it happened that they were all consumed by want of necessaries, a few only excepted. 8. About this time it was that the people of Damascus, out of their hatred to Ptolemy, the son of Menneus, invited Aretas [to take the government,] and made him king of Coelosyria. This man also made an expedition against Judea, and beat Alexander in battle; but afterwards retired by mutual agreement. But Alexander, when he had taken Pella, marched to Geresa again, out of the covetous desire he had of Theodorus's possessions; and when he had built a triple wall about the garrison, he took the place by force. He also demolished Golan, and Seleucia, and what was called the valley of Antiochus; besides which, he took the strong fortress of Gamala, and stripped Demetrius, who was governor therein, of what he had, on account of the many crimes laid to his charge, and then returned into Judea, after he had been three whole years in this expedition. And

although there remained still a shadow of another king of that family, Antiochus Asiaticus, or Commagenus, who reigned, or rather lay hid, till Pompey quite turned him out, as Dean Aldrich here notes, from Appian and Justin.

now he was kindly received by the nation, because of the good success he had. So when he was at rest from war, he fell into a distemper, for he was afflicted with a quartan ague, and supposed that by exercising himself again in martial affairs, he should get rid of his distemper; but by making such expeditions at unseasonable times, and forcing his body to undergo greater hardships than it was able to bear, he brought himself to his end. He died, therefore, in the midst of his troubles, after he had reigned seven and twenty years.

CHAP. V.

Alexandra reigns nine years, during which time the Pharisees were the real rulers of the nation.

§ 1. Now Alexander left the kingdom to queen Alexandra his wife, placing the greatest confidence in the Jews, that they would now readily submit to her; because she had been very averse to such cruelty as he had treated them with, and had opposed his violation of their laws, and had thereby got the good will of the people. Nor was he mistaken as to his expectations; for this woman kept the dominion, by the opinion that the people had of her piety, and cast those men out of the government that offended against their holy laws. And as she had two sons by Alexander, she made Hyrcanus, the elder, high-priest, on account of his age, also, besides that, on account of his inactive temper, no way disposing him to disturb the public. But she retained the younger, Aristobulus, with her, as a private person, by reason of the warmth of his temper.

2. And now the Pharisees joined themselves to her, to assist her in the government. These are a certain sect of the Jews, that appear more religious than others, and seem to interpret the laws more accurately. Now Alexandra hearkened to them to an extraordinary degree, as being herself a woman of great piety towards God. But these Pharisees artfully insinuated themselves into her favour by little and little, and became themselves the real administrators of the public affairs; they banished and reduced whom they pleased; they bound and loosed [men] at their plea

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the royal authority, whilst the expenses and of it belonged to Alexandra. She was a saga the management of great affairs, and inten gathering soldiers together; só that she incr the one half, and procured a great body of till her own nation became not only very po but terrible also to foreign potentates, whil other people, and the Pharisees governed her

3. Accordingly they themselves slew Di son of figure, and one that had been a frie der, and accused him as having assisted the advice, for crucifying the eight hundred me tioned.] They also prevailed with Alexan death the rest of those who had irritated him Now, he was so superstitious as to comply wit and accordingly they slew whom they please but the principal of those that were in danger bulus, who persuaded his mother to spare t count of their dignity, but to expel them out o less she took them to be innocent; so they w go unpunished, and were dispersed all over But when Alexandra sent out her army to Da pretence that Ptolemy was always oppressing got possession of it, nor did it make any co sistance. She also prevailed with Tigranes, nia, who lay with his troops about Ptolemais, Cleopatra, by agreements and presents, to g

*Matt. xvi. 19. xviii. 18.

Here we have the oldest and most authentic tion of binding and loosing, for punishing or abso for declaring actions lawful or unlawful, as some Jews and Christians vainly pretend.

# Strabo, B. xvi. p. 740, relates, that this Selene besieged by Tigranes, not in Ptolemais, as here, bu left Syria, in Seleucia, a citadel in Mesopotamia; when he had kept her a while in prison, he put her t Aldrich supposes here that Strabo contradicts Jo does not appear to me; for, although Josephus and in the Antiquities, B. xiii. ch. xvi. § 4, that T ged her now in Ptolemais, and that he took the c tiquities inform us, yet does he no where intimate tha the queen herself. so that both the narrations of St

cordingly Tigranes soon arose from the siege, by reason of those domestic tumults which happened upon Lucullus's expedition into Armenia.

4. In the mean time Alexandra fell sick, and Aristobulus, her younger son, took hold of this opportunity, with his domestics, of which he had a great many, who were all of them his friends, on account of the warmth of their youth, and got possession of all the fortresses. He also used the sums of

money he found in them to get together a number of mercenary soldiers, and made himself king; and besides this, upon Hyrcanus's complaint to his mother, she compassionated his case, and put Aristobulus's wife and sons under restraints in Antonia, which was a fortress that joined to the north part of the temple. It was, as I have already said, of old called the Citadel; but afterwards got the name of Antonia, when Antony was lord [of the east,] just as the other cities, Sebaste and Agrippias, had their names changed, and these given them, from Sebastus and Agrippa. But Alexandra died before she could punish Aristobulus, for his disinheriting his brother, after she had reigned nine years.

CHAP. VI.

When Hyrcanus, who was Alexander's heir, receded from his claim of the crown, Aristobulus is made king, and afterward the same Hyrcanus, by the means of Antipater, is brought back by Aretas. At last Pompey is made the arbitrator of the dispute between the brothers.

§ 1. Now Hyrcanus was heir to the kingdom, and to him did his mother commit it before she died; but Aristobulus was superior to him in power and magnanimity; and when there was a battle between them to decide the dispute about the kingdom, near Jericho, the greatest part deserted Hyrcanus, and went over to Aristobulus; but Hyrcanus, with those of his party who stayed with him, fled to Antonia, and got into his power the hostages that might be for his preservation, (which were Aristobulus's wife, with her children;) but they came to an agreement before things should come to extremities, that Aristobulus should be king, and Hyrcanus should resign that up, but retain all the rest of his dignities, as being the king's brother. Hereupon they were reconciled to each other in the temple, and em,

braced one another in a very kind manner, while the people stood round about them; they also changed their houses, while Aristobulus went to the royal palace, and Hyrcanus retired to the house of Aristobulus.

*

2. Now these other people which were at variance with Aristobulus, were afraid upon his unexpected obtaining the government; and especially this concerned Antipater, whom Aristobulus hated of old. He was by birth an Idumean, and one of the principal of that nation, on account of his ancestors and riches, and other authority to him belonging: he also persuaded Hyrcanus to fly to Aretas, the king of Arabia, and to lay claim to the kingdom; as also he persuaded Aretas to receive Hyrcanus, and to bring him back to his kingdom: he also cast great reproaches upon Aristobulus, as to his morals, and gave great commendations to Hyrcanus, and exhorted Aretas to receive him, and told him how becoming a thing it would be for him, who ruled so great a kingdom, to afford his assistance to such as are injured; alleging that Hyrcanus was treated unjustly, by being deprived of that dominion which belonged to him by the prerogative of his birth. And when he had predisposed them both to do what he would have them, he took Hyrcanus by night, and ran away from the city, and continuing his flight with great swiftness, he escaped to the place called Petra, which is the royal seat of the king of Arabia, where he put Hyrcanus into Aretas's hand; and by discoursing much with him, and gaining upon him with many presents, he prevailed with him to give him an army that might restore him to his kingdom. This army consisted of fifty thousand footmen and horsemen, against which Aristobulus was not able to make resistance, but was deserted in his first onset, and was driven to Jerusalem: he also had been taken at first by force, if Scaurus, the Roman general, had not come and seasonably interposed himself, and raised the siege. This Scaurus was sent into Syria, from Armenia, by Pompey the Great, when he fought against Tigranes; so Scaurus came to Damascus, which had been lately taken by Metellus and Lollius, and caused them to leave the place; and, upon his hearing how the affairs of Judea stood, he made haste thither as to a certain booty.

*That this Antipater, the father of Herod the Great, was an Idumean, as Josephus affirms here; see the note on Antıq. B. xiv. ch, xv. § 2.

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