tioned by the new rulers of Syria, raised a large army, and led them to the land of the Philistines. Some of the cities voluntarily submitted; but Gaza resisted for some time, and saw the surrounding country laid waste. Having reduced this great city, Jonathan passed through the country to Damascus. The army of Demetrius had taken possession of Galilee, and he determined to expel them. In order to this, he sent his brother Simon to protect Jerusalem, while he himself advanced with the principal part of his army into Galilee. Unexpectedly attacked near the lake of Tiberias, a panic seized his troops, and they fled. They, however, soon recovered courage, and compelled the enemy to flee, leaving about three thousand dead. Their generals escaped, and assembled a second and larger army, which Jonathan encountered near Hamath. They declined battle, and avoided destruction by passing over, in the night, the Eleutherus, a river which waters the valley lying between Libanus and AntiLibanus, and falls into the Mediterranean. Simon had, in the meantime, captured Bethsura, garrisoned the strong places of Judea, and taken possession of Joppa.

The conquering generals, on returning to Jerusalem, called a council to decide on the measures necessary to be adopted to restore the fortifications of Jerusalem, strengthen the fortified cities of Judea, and particularly to obtain possession of the tower or strong place near the temple, still occupied by foreigners; for the promise of the Syrian king to withdraw his troops seems not to have been fulfilled. These measures Jonathan prosecuted with his accustomed vigour. To guard against the possible treachery of the Syrian court, he had, a little time before this, sent ambassadors to the Romans and Grecians to renew the alliances which his brother had made with these great nations. He informed them of the treacherous and murderous deeds of Tryphon, which exceedingly provoked the Romans. They publicly expressed their sympathy with the Jews, and sent them a ratification of their alliance, engraved on copper. Demetrius, in the meantime, had been invited by the governors of the regions east of the Euphrates to place himself at the head of their army, by which they proposed to subdue Parthia. While fighting against the Parthians, he was taken prisoner. In consequence of this event, Tryphon resolved to depose or kill the young prince, on whom he had conferred the nominal title of king, and declare himself the sovereign of Syria. He had, however, no hope of accomplishing this object while Jonathan retained power, aud believing that his fidelity to Demetrius was unalterable, he first, under the guise of great friendship, persuaded him to dismiss his troops, whose services were not required; and next he induced him to meet him in Ptolemais, under the pretence of delivering it into his hands. The upright and generous are generally the most unsuspicious, Jonathan entered the city, with about one thousand men; Tryphon instantly seized him, and put all the soldiers to death.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE MACCABEAN PRINCES.

THE heathen were no sooner apprized of the death of the Jewish chief than they vowed to take vengeance on the Jews; and Tryphon expressed his purpose, and prepared an army to extirpate them. "Now, when Simon heard that Tryphon had gathered together a great host to invade the land of Judea, and destroy it, and saw that the people were in great trembling and fear, he went up to Jerusalem, and gathered the people together, and gave them exhortation, saying, Ye yourselves know what great things I, and my brethren, and my father's house, have done for the laws and the sanctuary, the battles also and troubles which we have seen, by reason whereof all my brethren are slain for Israel's sake, and I am left alone. Now therefore be it far from me that I should spare mine own life in any time of trouble: for I am no better than my brethren. Doubtless I will avenge my nation, and the sanctuary, and our wives, and our children for all the heathen are gathered to destroy us of very malice. Now, as soon as the people heard these words, their spirit revived. And they answered with a loud voice, saying, Thou shalt be our leader instead of Judas and Jonathan thy brother. Fight thou our battles, and whatsoever thou commandest us, that will we do. So then he gathered together all the men of war, and made haste to finish the walls of Jerusalem, and he fortified it round about. Also he sent Jonathan the son of Absalom, and with him a great power, to Joppe: who, casting out them that were therein, remained there in it. So Tryphon removed from Ptolemais with a great power to invade the land of Judea; and Jonathan was with him in ward. But Simon pitched his tents at Adida, over against the plain. Now when Tryphon knew that Simon was risen up instead of his brother Jonathan, and meant to join battle with him, he sent messengers unto him, saying, whereas we have Jonathan thy brother in hold, it is for money that he is owing unto the king's treasure, concerning the business that was committed unto him. Wherefore now send an hundred talents of silver, and two of his sons for hostages, that, when he is at liberty, he may not revolt from us, and we will let him go. Hereupon Simon, albeit he perceived that they spake deceitfully unto him, yet sent he the money and the children, lest peradventure he should procure to himself great hatred of the people: who might have said, because I sent him not the money and the children, therefore is Jonathan dead. So he sent them the children and the hundred talents: howbeit Tryphon dissembled, neither would he let Jonathan go. And after this came Tryphon to invade the land, and destroy it, going round about by the way that leadeth unto Adora: but Simon and his host marched against him in every place, wheresoever he went. Now they that were in the tower sent messengers unto Tryphon, to the end that he should hasten his coming unto them by the wilderness, and send them victuals. Wherefore Tryphon made ready all his horsemen to come that night: but there

fell a very great snow, by reason whereof he came not. So he departed, and came into the country of Galaad. And when he came near to Bascama, he slew Jonathan, who was buried there. Afterward Tryphon returned, and went into his own land. Then sent Simon, and took the bones of Jonathan his brother, and buried them in Modin, the city of his fathers. And all Israel made great lamentation for him, and bewailed him many days. Simon also built a monument upon the sepulchre of his father and his brethren, and raised it aloft to the sight, with hewn stone behind and before. Moreover, he set up seven pyramids, one against another, for his father, and his mother, and his four brethren. And in these he made cunning devices, about the which he set great pillars, and upon the pillars he made all their armour for a perpetual memory, and by the armour ships carved, that they might be seen of all that sail on the sea. This is the sepulchre which he made at Modin, and it standeth yet unto this day. Now Tryphon dealt deceitfully with the young king Antiochus, and slew him. And he reigned in his stead, and crowned himself king of Asia, and brought a great calamity upon the land. Then Simon built up the strongholds in Judea, and fenced them about with high towers, and great walls, and gates, and bars, and laid up victuals therein. Moreover, Simon chose men, and sent to king Demetrius, to the end he should give the land an immunity, because all that Tryphon did was to spoil. Unto whom king Demetrius answered, and wrote after this manner: King Demetrius unto Simon the high-priest, and friend of kings, as also unto the elders and nation of the Jews, sendeth greeting: The golden crown, and the scarlet robe, which ye sent unto us, we have received and we are ready to make a stedfast peace with you, yea, and to write unto our officers, to confirm the immunities which we have granted. And whatsoever covenants we have made with you shall stand; and the strongholds, which ye have builded, shall be your own. As for any oversight or fault committed unto this day, we forgive it, and the crown tax also which ye owe us: and if there were any other tribute paid in Jerusalem, it shall no more be paid. And look who are meet among you to be in our court, let them be enrolled, and let there be peace betwixt us. Thus the yoke of the heathen was taken away from Israel in the hundred and seventieth year. Then the people of Israel began to write in their instruments and contracts, in the first year of Simon the high-priest, the governor and leader of the Jews. In those days Simon camped against Gaza, and besieged it round about; he made also an engine of war, and set it by the city, and battered a certain tower, and took it. And they that were in the engine leaped into the city; whereupon there was a great uproar in the city: insomuch as the people of the city rent their clothes, and climbed upon the walls with their wives and children, and cried with a loud voice, beseeching Simon to grant them peace. And they said, Deal not with us according to our wickedness, but according to thy mercy. So Simon was appeased toward them, and fought no more against them, but put them out of the city, and cleansed the houses wherein the idols were, and so entered into it with songs and thanksgiving. Yea, he put all un cleanness out of it, and placed such men there as would keep the law, and made it stronger than it was before, and built therein a dwelling-place for himself. They also of the tower in Jerusalem

were kept so strait, that they could neither come forth, nor go into the country, nor buy, nor sell: wherefore they were in great distress for want of victuals, and a great number of them perished through famine. Then cried they to Simon, beseeching him to be at one with them; which thing he granted them: and when he had put them out from thence, he cleansed the tower from pollutions; and entered into it the three and twentieth day of the second month, in the hundred seventy and first year, with thanksgiving, and branches of palm-trees, and with harps, and cymbals, and with viols, and hymns, and songs; because there was destroyed a great enemy out of Israel. He ordained also that that day should be kept every year with gladness. Moreover, the hill of the temple that was by the tower he made stronger than it was, and there he dwelt himself with his company. And when Simon saw that John his son was a valiant man, he made him captain of all the hosts; and he dwelt in Gazara."

Simon doubtless regarded the imprisonment of Demetrius in Parthia an adverse event; but it happily did not long prevent the fall of Tryphon, the deceitful and cruel enemy of the Jews: for the very deeds by which he imagined that he had fully attained the summit of his ambition hastened his ruin. The death of Jonathan dissipated his fear of the Jews; he immediately murdered the young prince, and ascended the throne of Syria. His power was soon broken; for Cleopatra, despairing of the liberation of her husband, requested his brother, Antiochus Sidetes, who resided at Rhodes, to join her at Seleucus, where she had found an asylum, and was surrounded by many of the military. The message was acceptable, and Antiochus was not slow to assume the title of the king of Syria. He raised an army of mercenaries in Asia and Greece, but before entering Syria he endeavoured to secure the assistance of the Jews. They had already acquired, by their valour, almost all the privileges which a Syrian monarch could grant them; and they had conferred on Simon their chief all the dignity and power which he could desire. The great council of his nation had publicly constituted him the sovereign prince and high-priest of the nation, with power to convey these dignities to his posterity. And he had been still more gratified by the acts of the council being approved by his most powerful allies. "Now," says the Maccabean historian, "when it was heard at Rome, and as far as Sparta, that Jonathan was dead, they were very sorry. But as soon as they heard that his brother Simon was made high priest in his stead, and ruled the country, and the cities therein, they wrote unto him, in tables of brass, to renew the friendship and league which they had made with Judas and Jonathan his brethren: which writings were read before the congregation at Jerusalem. And this is the.copy of the letters that the Lacedemonians sent: The rulers of the Lacedemonians, with the city, unto Simon the high priest, and the elders, and priests, and residue of the people of the Jews, our brethren, send greeting: the ambassadors that were sent unto our people certified us of your glory and honour; wherefore we were glad of their coming, and did register the things that they spake in the council of the people in this manuer: Neumenius, son of Antiochus, and Antipater, son of Jason, the Jews' ambassadors, came unto us to renew the friendship they had with us. And it pleased the people to entertain the men honour

ably, and to put the copy of their ambassage in public records, to the end the people of the Lacedemonians might have a memorial thereof: furthermore, we have written a copy thereof unto Simon the high-priest. After this, Simon sent Neumenius to Rome with a great shield of gold of a thousand pound weight, to confirm the league with them: whereof when the people heard, they said, What thanks shall we give to Simon and his sons? For he, and his brethren, and the house of his father, have established Israel, and chased away in fight their enemies from them, and confirmed their liberty. So then they wrote it in tables of brass, which they set upon pillars in mount Sion, in the third year of Simon the highpriest." Simon's grateful acknowledgment of the friendship of the Romans, and his munificent present, were so agreeable to them, that the Senate ordered Lucius Cornelius Piso, one of the consuls, to recommend the Jews to the principal allies of Rome. "Lucius, consul of the Romans, unto king Ptolemee, greeting: The Jews' ambassadors, our friends and confederates, came unto us to renew the old friendship and league, being sent from Simon the highpriest, and from the people of the Jews: and they brought a shield of gold of a thousand pound. We thought it good therefore to write unto the kings and countries, that they should do them no harm, nor fight against them, their cities or countries, nor yet aid their enemies against them. It seemed also good to us to receive the shield of them. If therefore there be any pestilent fellows that have fled from their country unto you, deliver them unto Simon the high-priest, that he may punish them according to their own law. The same things wrote he likewise unto Demetrius the king, and Attalus, to Ariarathes, and Arsaces, and to all the countries, and to Sampsames, and the Lacedemonians, and to Delus, and Myndus, and Sicyon, and Caria, and Samos, and Pamphylia, and Lycia, and Halicarnassus, and Rhodus, and Phaselis, and Cos, and Side, and Aradus, and Gortyna, and Cnidus, and Cyprus, and Cyrene. And the copy hereof they wrote to Simon the high-priest."

The letter of Antiochus Sidetes, besides conceding all that any of his predecessors had given the Jews, authorised Simon to coin money in his own name, and thus left him nothing to desire as a sovereign, independent prince. He added, "And as concerning Jerusalem, and the sanctuary, let them be free; and all the armour that thou hast made, and fortresses that thou hast built, and keepest in thine hands, let them remain unto thee. And if any thing be, or shall be, owing to the king, let it be forgiven thee from this time forth for evermore. Furthermore, when we have obtained our kingdom, we will honour thee, and thy nation, and thy temple, with great honour, so that your honour shall be known throughout the world." Simon availed himself of the uncommon grant to coin money; for some of his coins are extant, and bear various inscriptions in the old Samaritan character.

Secure of the favour of Simon, Antiochus conducted a fleet and many troops to Selucia; and having greatly increased his army, till it amounted to one hundred thousand foot and eight thousand horse, he advanced against Tryphon. The usurper could not raise troops to meet him; he therefore retreated to Dora, a strong place near Ptolemais, but finding himself unable to defend the place, he fled by sea to Orthosea, a seaport not far distant, and thence departed