2. Hyrcanus then began his high-priesthood on the third year of the hundred seventy-seventh Olympiad, when Quinaus Hortensius, and Quintus Metellus, who was called Metellus of Crete, were consuls at Rome: when presently Aristobulus began to make war against him; and it came to a battle with Hyrcanus at Jericho, many of his soldiers déserted him, and went over to his brother; upon which Hyrcanus fied into the citadel, where Aristobulus's wife and children were imprisoned by their mother, as we have said already, and attacked and overcame those his adversaries that had fled thither, and lay within the walls of the temple. So when he had sent a message to his brother about agreeing the matters between them, he laid aside his enmity to him, on these conditions, that Aristobulus should be king; that he should live without intermeddling with public affairs, and quietly enjoy the estate he had acquired. When they had agreed upon these terms in the temple, and had confirmed the agreement with oaths, and the giving one another their right hands, and embracing one another, in the sight of the whole multitude, they departed, the one, Aristobulus, to the palace, and Hyrcanus, as a private man, to the former house of Aristobulus.

3. But there was a certain friend of Hyrcanus's, an Idumean, called Antipater, who was very rich, and in his nature an active and a seditious man; who was at enmity with Aristobulus, and had differences with him on account of his good-will to Hyrcanus. It is true that Nicolaus of Damascus says, that Antipater was of the stock of the principal Jews who came out of Babylon into Judea; but that assertion of his was to gratify Herod, who was his son, and who, by certain revolutions of fortune, came afterward to be king of the Jews, whose history we shall give you in its proper place hereafter. However, this Antipater was at first called *Antipas, and that was his father's name also; of whom they relate this, that king Alexander, and his wife, made him general of all Idumea, and that he made a league of friendship with those Arabians, and Gazites, and Ascolonites, that were of his own party, and had, by many and large presents, made them his fast friends. But now, this younger Antipa

* That the famous Antipater's, or Antipas's father, was also Antipater or Antipas, (which two may justly be esteemed one and the same name, the former with a Greek or Gentile, the latter with an Hebrew or Jewish termination,) Josephus here assures us, though Eusebius indeed says it was Herod,

ter was suspicious of the power of Aristobulus, and was afraid of some mischief he might do him, because of his ha→ tred to him, so he stirred up the most powerful of the Jews, and talked against him to them privately; and said, that "it was unjust to overlook the conduct of Aristobulus, who had gotten the government unrighteously, and had ejected his brother out of it, who was the elder, and ought to retain what belonged to him by prerogative of his birth." And the same speeches he perpetually made to Hyrcanus; and told him, that his own life would be in danger, unless he guarded himself and got shut of Aristobulus; for, he said, that the friends of Aristobulus omitted no opportunity of advising him to kill him, as being then, and not before, sure to retain his principality. Hyrcanus gave no credit to these words of his, as being of a gentle disposition, and one that did not easily admit of calumnies against other men. This temper of his not disposing him to meddle with public affairs, and want of spirit, occasioned him to appear to spectators to be degenerous and unmanly; while Aristobulus was of a contrary temper, an active man, and one of a great and generous soul.

4. Since, therefore, Antipater saw that Hyrcanus did not attend to what he said, he never ceased, day by day, to charge feigned crimes upon Aristobulus, and to calumniate him before him, as if he had a mind to kill him; and so, by urging him perpetually, he advised him and persuaded him to fly to Aretas, the king of Arabia; and promised, that if he would comply with his advice, he would also himself assist him, [and go with him.] When Hyrcanus heard this, he said, that it was for his advantage to fly away to Aretas. Now Arabia is a country that borders upon Judea. However, Hyrcanus sent Antipater first to the king of Arabia, in order to receive assurances from him, that when he should come in the manner of a supplicant to him, he will not deliver him up to his enemies. So Antipater having received such assurances, returned to Hyrcanus to Jerusalem. A while afterward he took Hyrcanus, and stole out of the city by night, and went a great journey, and came and brought him to the city called Petra, where the palace of Aretas was: and as he was a very familiar friend of that king's, he persuaded him to bring back Hyrcanus into Judea, and this persuasion he continued every day without any remission. He also proposed to make him presents on that account.

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At length he prevailed with Aretas in his suit. Moreover, Hyrcanus promised him, that when he had been brought thither, and had received his kingdom, he would restore that country, and those twelve cities which his father Alexander had taken from the Arabians, which were these, Medaba, Naballo, Libias, Tharabasa, Agalla, Athone, Zoar, Orone, Marissa, Rudda, Lussa, and Oruba.

How Aretas and Hyrcanus made an expedition against Aristobulus, and besieged Jerusalem; and how Scaurus, the Roman general, raised the siege. Concerning the death of Onias.

1. AFTER these promises had been given to Aretas, he made an expedition against Aristobulus, with an army of fifty thousand horse and foot, and beat him in the battle. And when, after that victory, many went over to Hyrcanus as deserters, Aristobulus was left desolate, and fled to Jerusalem; upon which the king of Arabia took all his army, and made an assault upon the temple, and besieged Aristobulus therein, the people still supporting Hyrcanus, and assisting him in the siege, while none but the priests continued with Aristobulus. So Aretas united the forces of the Arabians, and of the Jews together, and pressed on the siege vigorously. As this happened at the season when the feast of unleavened bread was celebrated, which we call the Passover, the principal men among the Jews left the country, and fled into Egypt. Now there was one, whose name was Onias, a righteous man he was, and beloved of God, who in a certain drought, had prayed to God to put an end to the intense heat, and whose prayers God had heard, and had sent them rain. This man had hid himself, because he saw that this sedition would last a great while. However, they brought him to the Jewish camp, and desired, that as by his prayers he had once put an end to the drought, so he would in like manner make imprecations on Aristobulus and those of his faction. And when, upon his refusal, and the excuses that he made, he was still by the multitude compelled to speak, he stood up in the midst of them, and said, "God, the king of the whole world! since those that stand now with me are thy people, and those that are besieged

are also thy priests, I beseech thee that thou wilt neither hearken to the prayers of those against these, nor bring to effect what these pray against those." Whereupon such wicked Jews as stood about him, as soon as he had made this prayer, stoned him to death.

2. But God punished them immediately for this their barbarity, and took vengeance of them for the murder of Onias, in the manner following: while the priests and Aristobulus were besieged, it happened that the feast called the Passover was come, at which it is our custom to offer a great number of sacrifices to God; but those that were with Aristobulus wanted sacrifices, and desired that their countrymen without would furnish them with such sacrifices, and assured them they should have as much money for them as they should desire; and when they required them to pay a thousand drachmae for each head of cattle, Aristobulus and the priests willingly undertook to pay for them accordingly, and those within let down the money over the walls, and gave it them. But when the others had received it, they did not deliver the sacrifices, but arrived at that height of wickedness as to break the assurances they had given, and to be guilty of impiety towards God, by not furnishing those that wanted them with sacrifices. And when the priests found they had been cheated, and that the agreements they had made were violated, they prayed to God that he would avenge them on their countrymen. Nor did he delay their punishment, but sent a strong and vehement storm of wind that destroyed the fruits of the whole country, till a modius of wheat was then bought for eleven drachmae.

3. In the mean time Pompey sent Scaurus into Syria, while he was himself in Armenia, and making war with. Tigranes: but when Scaurus was come to Damascus, and found that Lollius and Metellus had newly taken the city, he came himself hastily into Judea. And when he was come thither, ambassadors came to him, both from Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, and both desired he would assist them. And when both of them promised to give him money, Aristobulus four hundred talents, and Hyrcanus no less, he accepted for Aristobulus's promise, for he was rich, and had a great soul, and desired to obtain nothing but what was moderate; whereas the other was poor, and tenacious, and made incredible promises in hopes of greater advantages;

for it was not the same thing to take a city, that was exceeding strong and powerful, as it was to eject out of the country some fugitives, with a greater number of Nabateans, who were no very warlike people. He, therefore, made an agreement with Aristobulus, for the reasong before mentioned, and took his money, and raised the siege, and ordered Aretas to depart, or else he should be declared an enemy to the Romans. So Scaurus returned to Damascus again; and Aristobulus, with a great army, made war with Aretas and Hyrcanus, and fought them at a place called Papyron, and beat them in the battle, and slew about six thousand of the enemy; with whom fell Phalion also, the brother of Antipater.

How Aristobulus and Hyrcanus came to Pompey, in order to argue who ought to have the kingdom; and how, upon the flight of Aristobulus to the fortress Alexandrium, Pompey led his army against him, and ordered him to deliver up the fortresses whereof he was possessed.

1. A LITTLE afterward Pompey came to Damascus, and marched over Coelosyria; at which time there came ambassadors to him from all Syria, and Egypt, and out of Judea also, for Aristobulus had sent him a great present, which was a * golden vine, of the value of five hundred talents. Now Strabo of Cappadocia mentions this present in these words: "There came also an embassage out of Egypt,

*This golden vine, or garden, seen by Strabo at Rome, has its inscription here, as if it were the gift of Alexander, the father of Aristobulus, and not of Aristobulus himself, to whom yet o-ephus ascribes it; and in order to prove the truth of that part of his history, introduces this testimony of Strabo's: so that the ordinary copies seem to be here either erroneous or defective, and the original reading seem to have been either Aristobulus instead of Alexander, with one Greek copy, or else Aristobulus the son of Alexander with the Latin copies; which last seems to be the most probable: for as to archbishop Ucher's conjectures that Alexander made it, and dedicated it to God in the temple, and that thence Aristobulos took it and sent it to Pompey, they are both very improbable, and no way agreeable to Josephus, who would hardly have avoided the recording both those uncommon points of history, had he known any thing of them; nor would either the Jewish nation or even Pompey himself, then have relished such a flagrant instance of sacrilege.