all future claims on Judea for tribute, publicly acknowledged Simon as prince and high-priest of the Jews, and solicited his friendship. Thus, after a war of a quarter of a century, carried on with several successive kings of Syria, this illustrious family succeeded in subduing their tyrannical oppressors, and established the independence of Judea. A general assembly was held at Jerusalem, (141 B. C.,) in which the people, out of gratitude to the house of Mattathias, made both the regency and the high-priesthood hereditary in the family of Simon. This decree of the assembly was engraved on plates of copper, and fixed to a monument erected in the temple. (1 Mac. xiv. 25—49.) Simon was treacherously assassinated in the castle of Jericho by his own son-in-law, Ptolemy, who aimed at the sovereignty. His ambitious design was, however, defeated by the accession of Hyrcanus. At his death, Hyrcanus left the princedom to his wife; but Aristobulus, his oldest son, soon usurped the government, and, as his mother refused to relinquish her claim, he threw her into prison, where she died of starvation.

He also imprisoned his three younger brothers; and having by these violent measures seated himself in the government, he assumed the diadem and the regal title, and was proclaimed King of the Jews; thus uniting the supreme sovereignty with the priesthood-an event which had been predicted by Zechariah four hundred years before. (Zech. vi. 9—15.) This dignity was enjoyed by his successors forty-two years, when, a dispute having arisen between Hyrcanus II. and his brother Aristobulus, the sons of Alexander Jaddæus, relative to the succession of the crown, both parties applied to the Romans to decide the quarrel. Scaurus, the Roman general, suffered himself to be bribed by Aristobulus, and placed him on the throne. Not long after, Pompey came to Damascus, and ordered the rival brothers to appear before him. Each of them brought witnesses to attest his claim, while others protested against them both, and accused them of having violated the national constitution, and perpetrated other enormities. Pompey deferred giving a final decision, and Aristobulus retired in high dud

Pompey congeon, to make further preparations for war. sidered this as a favorable opportunity for reducing Palestine under the power of the Romans. Accordingly, he marched his army into Judea; Aristobulus was taken prisoner, but his party took refuge in the temple, and defended themselves with great bravery for three months. At length a breach was made, and the temple taken. Twelve thousand Jews were put to the sword, including many priests; for the calamities of the siege had not been allowed to interrupt the daily service, and the appointed rites were going on as though nothing had happened, even at the moment when the murderous Romans were rushing into the temple; so that the priests were slain in the very act of burning incense and presenting offerings to Jehovah, and their blood was mingled with the sacrifices. Pompey created Hyrcanus High-priest and Prince of the Jews, but would not allow him to take the title of king

By this event, Judea was reduced to the condition of a province of the Roman empire, in the year 63 B. C. Julius Cæsar having defeated Pompey, confirmed Hyrcanus in the priesthood, but changed the form of the civil government from a monarchy to an oligarchical republic. (54 B. C.) Judea was divided into five cantons or provinces; each of which had an executive council appointed for its government. Thus was established the vassal aristocracy of the Jews, which lasted about ten years.

On Cæsar's return from his expedition in Egypt, (44 B.C.) in which the troops sent by Hyrcanus had been of eminent service to him, he dissolved the aristocracy, reinstated Hyrcanus in all his former dignity, and allowed him to resume his former title of Prince of the Jews. Antipater was made procurator of Judea, his eldest son, Phasael, was appointed Herod, governor governor of Jerusalem, and his next son, of Galilee. Shortly after, Antigonus, son of the late king, Aristobulus II., invaded the country, with a view to obtain his father's throne. In this attempt, he was assisted by his relative the prince of Chalcis, by the king of Tyre, and also by the Parthians, then rising into a formidable power, and

contending with the Romans for the empire of the East. Hyrcanus and Phasael were made prisoners by this people, but Herod contrived to escape, and fled to Rome. His cause was warmly espoused by Mark Antony, who, with the concurrence of Octavius and the Roman senate, made him sole ruler of Judea, with the title of king: (37 B. C.:) which title was afterwards confirmed by Augustus. When Herod arrived in Judea, the Parthians having placed Antigonus on the throne, had evacuated Syria, and retired across the Euphrates. The crown of Palestine was now sharply contested between Herod and Antigonus; and, for the space of three years, ths unhappy country became once more the theatre of a sanguinary intestine war. The miseries attending it were considerably aggravated by the venality and duplicity of some of the Roman generals who were sent to assist Herod; by the fury which they and their soldiers vented against the Jews; and by the fierce and unequal conflicts which Herod had to maintain with the banditti that infested the mountainous districts of Galilee, who were so numerous that they formed a regular army, and engaged in pitched battles, plundering and ravaging the neighboring country. While the contest for the throne was still undecided, Herod married Mariamne, the daughter of Alexander, the son of King Aristobulus, by Alexandra, the daughter of Hyrcanus II. By this opportune alliance with the Asmonæan family, so highly esteemed by the Jews as the authors of their former independence, Herod hoped to secure their good will and confidence. After several campaigns, attended with various success on both sides, Herod, assisted by the Syrian and Roman army, attacked Antigonus at Jerusalem. The Roman troops amounted to eleven legions, besides the Syrian auxiliaries, and six thousand cavalry. But notwithstanding all the exertions of so numerous an army, the city was not taken till the following year, (34 B. C.) So enraged were the Romans by the obstinate defence of the city, and so furious were the Jews of Herod's party against those of Antigonus, that when all resistance had ceased, the besiegers followed up their victory by universal pillage, and an indis

criminate and exterminating massacre; so that Herod repeatedly asked Sosius, the Roman general, whether he intended to leave him "king of a desert?" and, in order to stay the massacre, and save the city from total destruction, was compelled to pay him a large sum of money. Antigonus was sent to Antioch, and there beheaded by order of Antony, with whom ended the line of Asmonæan priests and princes, after they had held the government, independently, and under the Romans, upwards of a century.

CHAPTER III.

Reign of Herod the Great-Archelaus-Herod Antipas-Herod PhilipKing Agrippa-Agrippa the Tetrarch-Pontius Pilate-Antonius Felix -Porcius Festus-Albinus-Gessius Florus.

THE civil war having terminated in the destruction of the Asmonæan dynasty and the ascension of Herod to the throne, placed Judea under a cruel and sanguinary despotism. The new king, who had previously been the object of great dislike to the nation, rendered himself every day more detestable and more detested by his heartless cruelties. Magnificent in his notions of royalty; endowed with great talents and enterprise; successful in his schemes of ambition, and possessing a plausible and specious exterior, he acquired the surname of the Great; but his deep duplicity-his restless jealousy-his want of all natural affection—his cold-blooded, revolting, murderous selfishness-his slavery to furious passions-his readiness to sacrifice every claim, and every obligation, to his ideas of state policy, and his love of powerhave made his name a by-word for base, reckless, and unbridled despotism; and mark him out in the page of history, as worthy to be ranked among the Caligulas and Neros of Rome.

Herod began his reign by seizing on the treasures of the wealthy, in order to furnish himself with the means of purchasing the future services of Antony, and his other friends. He also put to death all the members of the Sanhedrim, or Great Council, excepting Pollio and Sameas, who were his partisans. Ananel, a Babylonish Jew, without influence to render him formidable to a tyrant, was appointed high-priest ; and Hyrcanus, who, in consequence of his having been maimed, could no longer claim that office, was insidiously inveigled to Jerusalem from the east, in order that no danger might arise from that quarter to the usurped throne, and that the aged ex-king and priest might be within the immediate reach of the fangs of the royal monster. At the earnest entreaty of Mariamne, and by the agency of her mother Alexandra, Ananel was deposed from the priesthood; and Aristobulus, Mariamne's brother, a youth seventeen years of age, was placed in his stead. This appointment gratified the people, in consequence of their regard for the Asmonæan family; but Herod, who could not endure even the shadow of a rival, was soon stung with envy and jealousy at the popularity of the youthful high-priest, and basely contrived that he should be drowned while bathing, which was effected by the royal servants holding him under water, as if in sport. Herod, with the most consummate hypocrisy, pretended great sorrow for the event, and made for his murdered brother-in-law a magnificent funeral. Alexandra persuaded Cleopatra, the celebrated queen of Egypt, to use her influence with Antony to punish the king; but bribery secured Antony's connivance, and Herod went on to fill up the measure of his iniquities.

To detail the murders which were perpetrated by this hateful and capricious tyrant, would fill a volume; and degenerate must have been that people who could tolerate such a king. His uncle Joseph was the next victim, in consequence of his having communicated to Mariamne the secret orders left by Herod when he set out to go to Antony; Herod having commanded that in case Antony should condemn him for the murder of Aristobulus, Joseph should have Ma