thing defective in his conduct, that he might amend it. All united in giving him unqualified praise, except an old austere man, by the name of Eleazar, who sternly said, "If you would approve yourself a just man, quit the high-priesthood, and content yourself with the civil government." Upon being asked why he gave this advice, he said, "Because, we have it from good authority, that your mother was a captive, in consequence of which you are incompetent to hold the office, by the law of Moses."

Hyrcanus was much displeased, but receiving it as the ill saying of an individual, he intended to take no further notice of it. But Jonathan, a Sadducee, and an intimate friend, insisted that Eleazar merely expressed the sentiment of the whole. sect; and suggested that this could be put to the test by convening them again, and requiring them to declare what punishment this man deserved, for reviling God's high-priest. Hyrcanus pursued this method, and to his astonishment, he heard from them that defamation was not a capital crime, and could only be punished by scourging, or some inferior penalty. Hyrcanus was so much offended with the whole sect, especially as his mother's fame was called in question, that from that day he forsook them, and went and joined the Sadducees. Hyrcanus did not long survive this change of sect; for the next year he died, having held the supreme power of Jerusalem twenty-nine years after the death of Simon. This event occured in the year 107 B. C. He built the castle called Baris, on a steep rock, where afterwards all the members of the Asmonean family resided, and where the robes of the high-priest were laid up-the same spot on which the castle of Antonia was afterwards erected by Herod, cased with polished marble, so that it was impossible for any one to climb to the top.

SECTION XXII.

HYRCANUS SUCCEEDED BY ARISTOBULUS, HIS SON, WHO FORCES THE ITUREANS TO EMBRACE THE JEWISH RELIGION, AS HIS FATHER HAD THE IDUMEANS-SLAYS HIS BROTHER ANTIGONUS, BUT REPENTS AND DIES IN GREAT AGONY-STORY OF JUDAS THE ESSENE-ORIGIN OF THIS SECT-ALEXANDER SUCCEEDS HIS BROTHER, ARISTOBULUS-SIEGE OF PTOLEMAIS-DEFEAT OF ALEXANDER BY LATHYRUS-CIVIL WAR -ANNA THE PROPHETESS-DEATH OF ALEXANDER JANNEUS.

JOHN HYRCANUS, at his death, left five sons; Aristobulus, Antigonus, Alexander, and Absalom: the name of one of them, the fourth in order, is nowhere mentioned. Aristobulus, being the oldest, succeeded his father, both as high-priest and civil ruler; and as soon as he found himself settled in authority, he put a diadem on his head, and assumed the title of king; being the first elevated to this honour after the Babylonish captivity.

His mother by the will of Hyrcanus, claimed the sovereignty. while she lived; but Aristobulus cast her into prison, and there caused her to be starved to death. His brother Antigonus, was, for a while, his favourite; but his other brothers he shut up in prison, and kept them there as long as he lived.

Cleopatra being much displeased with her son Lathyrus, found means to expel him from the throne, and from Egypt; and calling from Cyprus her youngest son, Alexander, placed him on the throne; forcing Lathyrus to take Cyprus in place. of the kingdom of Egypt.

Aristobulus, when settled in his authority at home, made war on the Itureans, and compelled them to embrace the Jewish religion, as Hyrcanus had the Idumeans before. For he required them, either to forsake their country, and seek new habitations, or to become proselytes; and in this manner the Asmonean princes dealt with all the countries which they conquered. Iturea lay to the north-east of Judea, and was originally a part of Colo-Syria. It seems to have received its name from Hur, one of the sons of Ishmael; who, in our English version, is called Jetur; (Gen. xxv. 15.) Aristobulus, returning home sick from Iturea, left his brother Antigonus with the army, to finish the war which he had begun. This country is the same which is sometimes called Auranitis.

While Aristobulus lay sick, his queen, and some of his courtiers, were continually insinuating things to the disadvantage of Antigonus, his favourite brother. When Antigonus had completed the war, he returned in triumph to Jerusalem, and went immediately to the temple, to pay his devotions there, without putting off his armour or changing his dress. This was represented to Aristobulus, now sick in bed, as a very suspicious circumstance. On which he sent word to Antigonus to come. to him unarmed; and having stationed soldiers along a subterranean gallery, through which he must pass, he gave them orders, if Antigonus came unarmed, not to interrupt him, but if he came with his armour on, to fall upon him and put him to death. The queen having heard these orders, bribed the messenger to tell him, that the king wished him to come to him. completely armed, that the queen might see his new suit of armour, of which she had heard so much. Accordingly, Antigonus presented himself armed, when the guards, agreeably to their orders, fell upon him and slew him. No sooner was this murder perpetrated, than Aristobulus repented it grievously. His murder of his own mother now also rushing upon his conscience, occasioned such perturbation, that it brought on a vomiting of blood. The servant in attendance, in carrying out the basin of blood, stumbled and spilled it on the very spot where Antigonus had been slain; which accident affected him so

exceedingly, that he could no longer restrain his feelings, but bitterly accused himself of both these unnatural murders. So great was his agony, that, in conjunction with the disease, it soon brought him to a dreadful and premature death, after having reigned no more than one year.

Josephus relates a remarkable story respecting one Judas, an Essene, which, though it has not a little of the marvellous in its composition, it may not be improper briefly to state. This man, it seems, pretended to be a prophet, and had predicted that Antigonus should die at the tower of Straton, on that very day on which he returned to Jerusalem; but on seeing him come into the temple he was filled with indignation, thinking that his prophecy would fail of its accomplishment; for Straton's tower was two days journey from Jerusalem, on the seacoast. After the murder of Antigonus, however, he found upon inquiry, that the tower immediately over the spot where he was killed, was called by the same name. This, I believe, is the first mention of the sect of the Essenes, by Josephus. They were devoted to an ascetic life, and inhabited remote and desert places, far from the bustle of worldly commerce, and from the promiscuous intercourse of men. Their origin and history is buried, even in more obscurity than those of the Pharisees and Sadducees; and though largely treated of by Philo, and Josephus in other parts of his work, are not once mentioned in the New Testament. The most probable occasion of this sect was, the long and severe persecutions of the Jews, in consequence of which, many, for the sake of a good conscience, fled far into the recesses of the wilderness, where they devoted themselves to acts of piety and contemplation. Being shut out from the service of the temple and the synagogue, they formed a rule of life, according to which external ceremonies were little depended on; which mode of religious life they were so much delighted with, that they continued to pursue the same, after the necessity which first drove them into the wilderness had ceased to exist. Immediately upon the death of Aristobulus, his wife Salome released his three brothers, who had been kept in prison while he lived; and Alexander surnamed Janneus, the eldest, took the kingdom. His next brother, having made some attempt to supplant him, was put to death; but Absalom being contented to live a private life, enjoyed his favour and protection, and lived for forty years after this; and when Jerusalem was taken by Pompey, he was made a prisoner.

The wars between Grypus who reigned at Antioch, and Cycizenus who had Damascus as the seat of his kingdom, were incessant. This furnished an opportunity for many towns belonging to the Syrian empire to declare themselves indepen

dent. Others was seized upon by tyrants, who reigned without responsibility to either of the kings of Syria. This occurred in regard to Tyre, Sidon, Ptolemais, Gaza, Gadara, Straton's Tower, &c.

The year 106 B. C. was famous for the birth of two noble Romans, whose names fill a large space in the history of after time. The one was Cn. Pompey, the other Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Alexander, as soon as he found himself firmly established in authority, besieged Ptolemais. The inhabitants sent for aid to Lathyrus, now king of Cyprus; but on his arrival, they were as much afraid of him as of the Jews, and refused him admittance into their city; on which, he accepted the invitation of Zoilus the petty tyrant of Gaza, to join him in laying waste the country of Judea. Alexander now offered Lathyrus a large sum, if he would deliver up Zoilus; to which he consented; but before the treaty was executed, he found that Alexander was not acting with good faith, for he was at the same time treating with Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, about driving him out of Palestine. He, therefore, broke off the negotiation, and having now determined to do him all the harm he could, left a part of his army to besiege Ptolemais, while with the rest, he invaded the territories of this prince, and took several towns in Galilee, with many captives. Alexander now marched to meet Lathyrus, with an army of fifty thousand men. A great battle was fought between them, near the banks of Jordan; in which Alexander was completely defeated, and lost thirty thousand of his men. Lathyrus pursued the victory to the uttermost; and after the battle, finding the villages full of women and children, he slaughtered them as sheep, and put their limbs into great cauldrons, as if preparing for a feast.

The affairs of Alexander, after this defeat, must have been in a ruined condition, had not Cleopatra come to his aid against her own son; for she feared if he conquered Phenicia and Judea, he would become strong enough to recover Egypt. She, therefore, sent an army into Phenicia, under Chilkias and Ananias, the two favourite Jews already mentioned.

Ananias expected to be received into Ptolemais, and being refused, laid siege to the town; while Chilkias pursued Lathyrus into Colo-Syria, where he lost his life. Lathyrus now marched his army directly into Egypt, expecting that in the absence of his mother and the best troops, there would be little resistance made. But he was repulsed and driven back to Phenicia, where he took up his winter quarters at Gaza.

Cleopatra continued the siege of Ptolemais until it fell into her hands, after which she would have seized on Alexandria, and

brought the country under the Egyptian yoke, had it not been for the sage advice of Ananias; who alleged, that this would prejudice the world against her, and unite all the Jews in the world in opposition to her. Alexander was, therefore, permitted to return to Jerusalem in safety.

Ptolemy Lathyrus finding it in vain to continue any longer in Palestine, as his mother thwarted all his schemes, returned to Cyprus; but he carried on a negotiation with Cycizenus to aid in recovering Egypt, which becoming known to Cleopatra, she negotiated with his rival Grypus; and to engage him to declare war, she gave him her daughter Selene, whom she had taken away from Lathyrus. A new war therefore broke out. between the two kings, which prevented the invasion of Egypt.

Ptolemy Alexander, observing how his mother acted towards his brothers, and that nothing could stand before her ambition, fled from Egypt. Nor was it without great solicitation, that he consented to return; for the Egyptians would not permit Cleopatra to exercise the sovereignty in her own name.

Alexander, 102 B. C., marched an army beyond Jordan, where he took Gadara and Amathus; but Theodorus, prince of Philadelphia, collecting a large force, fell suddenly on him, overthrew him with the slaughter of ten thousand men, and not only recovered his own treasure, but took all Alexander's baggage. The Pharisees, who had become enemies to all the family of Hyrcanus, were especially inimical to Alexander; and having great influence with the people, soon rendered them disaffected to his government.

In the year 97 B. C., Alexander, after a long and destructive siege, took Gaza, which was delivered up to him by treachery. At first he showed clemency to the vanquished; but when he found the place completely in his power, he let loose his soldiers to plunder and kill at their own pleasure. This was in resentment for the injury which he had sustained in consequence of the Gazeans calling in Lathyrus to their aid, against him. In this same year, 97 B. C., died Grypus king of Syria, by the treachery of one of his dependents, named Heracleon. He left five sons-Seleucus, Antiochus, Philip, Demetrius Euchurus, and Antiochus Dionysius.

Ptolemy Apion died 96 B. C., and willed his kingdom of Cyrene to the Romans, which they would not receive; but gave freedom to the people, which, however, only served to bring them under the power of petty tyrants, who seized on particular cities, and subjected them to a more cruel bondage than they had endured before. Cycizenus, on the death of Grypus, seized on Antioch, and endeavoured to make himself sovereign of the whole empire; but Seleucus took possession of many